• Published 13th Dec 2011
  • 16,757 Views, 1,221 Comments

The Ambassador's Son - Midnightshadow



A colt loses his family, Celestia deems his best hope lies not with ponies, but a dragon.

  • ...
31
 1,221
 16,757

Courting Disaster

The ══════════
Ambassador's
══════════ Son

Chapter Ten
Courting Disaster
An MLP:FiM Fanfiction by Midnight Shadow


"Flying lessons?"

Chip nodded, mouth full of hay fries, "Uh huh."

"When I said the weirdest thing your dad makes you do, flying lessons was something I didn't expect, bro."

"Uh huh. How abou' 'oo?" Chip kept his eyes on the dragon in front of him, perched on a small crate.

"Okay, and this is pretty cool you know, I... can post letters."

Chip raised an eyebrow as Spike beamed. "That's it?"

Spike pouted, "Okay, fine... let me show you."

Somehow, and Chip didn't catch how, the dragon produced a quill and parchment. The dragon then quickly scribbled a few lines and finished it off with a flourish. Then he rolled it up, tossed it in the air and incinerated it with a brief burst of green flame. Chip's jaw dropped.

"You can... post letters with dragon fire?"

"Yup." The dragon beamed again, then belched. A rolled-up scroll materialized in mid-air as the new burst of flames subsided, and fell to the table, still faintly smouldering. "Heh, er, eh-heh, there's only one problem. I can only post them to Celestia."

Chip's mouth fell open again, and then he fell over backwards laughing, "Oh boy are you in trouble! You wrote a letter to the princess? What was in it?"

"I just kinda..." Spike reddened, "said I was havingdinnerwithacoolfriendwho'sadragon." Spike coughed..

Chip perked an ear up, "What?"

"You're the first dragon that hasn't tried to eat me, okay? Or set fire to Ponyville... and Twilight's supposed to write letters about the magic of friendship to Celestia, and so are we..." Spike wrung his paws together nervously.

"You wanna be my friend?" Chip asked as he got up, walking around the small table, poking the dragon with a hoof.

"If you want... I spent ages trying to get Twilight to-"

Chip hugged the dragon in a sudden lunge that took the creature by surprise. "I could do with a friend. I... my dad..."

"I never knew my parents. Twilight hatched me, and I've been with her ever since. Is that what happened to you?"

Chip shook his head, "My parents... died. Sharptooth adopted me. We're on the way t-to the fu-funeral." Chips sniffed, breathing deeply, "I miss them. A lot."

Spike unrolled the scroll, "I'm happy with Twilight, even though her taste in pets is lame. She's got this dumb owl... don't say I said that."

"What's the scroll say?"

"Celestia says she is happy that I've found a new friend, but is hoping you're not a dragon who will burn down Ponyville. Again. You won't, right?"

"What do you mean, again? Uh, I mean, no, no. My dad does think I need fire-breathing lessons though."

It was Spike's turn to raise an eye-ridge, "Fire-breathing? You... can breathe fire?"

Chip shook his head, "My dad's weird like that. He thinks I need lessons on all sorts of... dragon-y things."

"Your dad is weird."

"Tell me about it, all parents are weird."

"Twilight's crazy too..."

Chip blinked as Spike stopped talking. He looked up as a shadow fell over him.

"Hello, son. Don't mind me... us."

Chip grinned nervously up at Sharptooth, before sharing a glance with Spike.

"Hi Twi, uh, nice weather we're having, huh?"

Twilight narrowed her eyes at Spike, "Spiiike..!"

♦♦♦

"Ow!"

"Sorry, darling, please stay still..." Rarity pulled the pin out and placed it back much more carefully. The piece of cloth was positioned with expert grace and the unicorn took more notes.

Chip shuffled his hooves, "But my nooosseee itches!" He lifted a hoof and rubbed his muzzle with it.

"Really, dear, this is not pret-a-porter! I must get your measurements right."

Chip sulked and pouted as Rarity fluttered around him with a tape-measure. Sharptooth lay outside in the sunshine, Chip was quite sure the dragon was smirking. Chip wondered if standing at attention whilst a pony measured chest-size was something to do with being a dragon or just an adult. He wanted to go outside, darn it! His hooves itched, his nose was running and he was booorrreeed! He sniffed. He sniffed again.

"Miss Rarity?"

"Hmm? Yes?" Rarity looked up from her measuring tape and notepad, mumbling as she continued making notes, "Six hands... why are they called hands anyway..?"

"Can I have a g-gem?" Chip asked, eyeing an intriguing looking basket.

"Gem? Hmm? Oh if you must, just stand still... not that one, not that one either. Yes, yes that one. And that... whatever do you want them for?"

Chip put two on the podium and a third in his muzzle, where he idly chewed it. It was a diamond, it tasted almost minty and a bit sweet.

"You eat them?"

Chip nodded. Rarity blinked, spied that he had a small collection at his hooves and sighed loudly, "You're as bad as that scamp Spike. Really. Anyway, almost done and... there! Oh you are a strapping young stallion. You'll make a filly very happy one day."

"I can go?"

"You may go."

The bell above the shop door tinkled loudly before Rarity had even finished the sentence. She shook her head and chuckled as she turned to her desk. The bell tinkled again, and the white unicorn raised her muzzle from the desk where she had seated herself, pushing her glasses up with a hoof as she turned to see who had entered.

"Are you really sure, madame, that we are not putting you out?" Sharptooth snaked his head in through the open door, the shop just a tiny bit too small and full of clothing to comfortably enter.

"Oh no, no, no, it's qui-ite alright," Rarity said, waving a hoof the accentuate her wording, "the chance to design clothes for an aristocrat such as yourself! One simply must make a few sacrifices."

"Nothing major one hopes. Anyway, madame, we shall return tomorrow morning for final fitting and payment."

Rarity eyed the basket of gems she'd collected for her more showy clothing pieces, then the door to her shop. Gingerly, checking at every step to see if there were anypony looking in, she picked up a gem in her mouth and rolled it around experimentally with her tongue. She bit.

"Ow!"

♦♦♦

Chip trotted happily back through Ponyville, generally in the direction of the strange treehouse-home of the local librarian, Twilight Sparkle. It was now the late afternoon, he was extremely happy to be out of the shop, and school appeared to be out. Two new saddlebags lay proudly on his back, both gems, with an extra for luck, were stuffed into one of them. He caught up with Spike as the young dragon was returning from a shop called 'Sofas and Quills' with a bunch of quills in one paw and a crumpled-up pamphlet explaining the need to replace old sofas every few years in the other.

"Do you have any idea how many quills that mare goes through? Or how much ink and parchment? And she makes me double check them every single time."

"Wow. You need a holiday."

"A what?"

"A vacation. You know," Chip turned his head, cocking it at the dragon thoughtfully, "time off. Doesn't she have anypony else to help her?"

"There's always Owloysious..." The dragon clenched his fists slightly as he said it.

"You gotta do what I always do, always worked with my... with my mum and dad." Chip looked pained for a second, "Wait until they're real busy doing something, and then ask 'em."

"Think that'd work on Twi?" Spike looked up at Chip hopefully.

"Does she ever get distracted doing something?"

"Reading. She once spent a whole week locked in the library at Canterlot. It was Spring Break and nopony noticed she was there."

"Alright, this is what you gotta do..."

♦♦♦

Twilight was engrossed in another copy of one of the books about the diamond dogs that the strange draconic ambassador had wanted. Apparently they'd had one single High King at some point, though nopony was really sure if it was all just a legend. Twilight suspected it was, after all he'd had a magical castle that nopony could find, and a set of magical gemstones as crown jewels. Whichever troll possessed the gems was the rightful ruler of all the diamond dogs, they were supposedly magical and gave the owner great insight and wisdom. Twilight snorted, typical atavism.

"Hey Twi, mind if I go with Chip to-" Spike called suddenly from the doorway. He mumbled the last few words.

"Hmm? Wassat?" Twilight lifted her head, eyes unfocused. Spike... her number one assistant was babbling on about something, hadn't she sent him somewhere? Oh yes, he seemed to have quills in his paws...

"I said TwilightcanIgotoCanterlotwithChip-"

"Sure, sure, whatever." Twilight waved a hoof, once more enamoured with the ancient text.

"Great! Thanks Twi!"

The door slammed, loudly, and there was a pattering as if tiny feet were running away very, very fast. Twilight put the book down, blinking, her muzzle screwing up as she frowned. The door had slammed. Before that she'd been asked something by somepony... something about going with some other pony somewhere... Uh oh.

"Spike... SPIKE! SPIKE GET BACK HERE!" Twilight ran out of the library, hooves skittering on the polished wooden floor.

"Quick Chip! Cheese it!"

"Get in! Take off! Take off!" Chip waved frantically at the four pegasi who looked at each other and grinned. They started trotting and flapping their wings as the madly-dashing mare made to catch up.

"Spike you delinquent dragon! Get back here!" Twilight leaped through the door, slamming it open with a loud crash as the four-pegasus chariot accelerated rapidly and ascended into the sky.

"Sorry Twilight!" called the dragon, leaning over the rails of the rapidly-disappearing chariot and waving, "I can't hear a thing! I'll be back tomorrow!"

"Spike! Spike! Drat. I will have words with that recalcitrant reptile! I'm going to send a message to Celestia at on-" Twilight looked down over at the pile of quills, ink, parchment, and complete lack of dragon-fire to send it. "Oh. Oh horsefeathers."

♦♦♦

Spike rocked back and forth in the red plush softness, chewing on his tail, "Twi's gonna be so mad..."

"Relax, what's she gonna do?"

"Replace me with an owl? Stuff me back in my egg and post me back to Canterlot? Make me... well she already makes me clean up the library..."

"Heh, you did ask her permission though." Chip grinned as the chariot sped through the skies.

"That's not gonna work. She's gonna ground me, and then she's gonna ground me again. Can she do that? Can she ground me twice?"

"What, like, for more than one day?" Chip thought for a second, tapping his muzzle with a hoof.

Spike stopped chewing his tail for a moment, "I guess that does make sense."

"Worth it though."

"I'm so dead..."

♦♦♦

The trip was uneventful, the landing smooth, the telling off from Sharptooth embarrassing. Chip was, as the older miscreant, put in charge of keeping an eye on Spike. The green and purple dragon hopped up on Chip's back as if he'd always been there and pointed out into the great wide city of Canterlot. As Spike started babbling about all his favourite old haunts, Sharptooth realized that, angry or not as Twilight may be, Spike probably did deserve a break. He was certain Chip did.

Sharptooth made his slow way through the bustling city. It was, at this point, much as he remembered it. The cobbled paths were now often lined with marble, the penants flew a little higher and the colours shone a bit brighter, but he remembered Canterlot. It hadn't changed, not the core of it. Celestia's domain was almost as eternal as she was. He had fond memories of the old castle of the alicorn sisters in what was now the Everfree Forest, how they had surrounded themselves with nature. Magic had been wilder in those days, or so it now seemed. Then again, he'd been a thousand years younger.

Pegasus guards fell into step with him, bowing politely. He dipped his own head in return, stepping softly through the crowds of curiously staring equines. He knew none of them, it saddened him at times. Ponies lived such brief, bright lives. It was only the most adept of unicorns and the eternal pony sisters that a being such as he had any chance of really getting to know. He sighed, wiping a single tear from his muzzle, surruptitiously turning his head as if to check upon his chest which was following him at a suitable distance, hovering in the air through the power of his magic. He was no great mage, but he was a dragon. A simple levitation spell was hatchling's play.

The pegasus guards stood at attention before the great stone archway into the castle proper. Another two pegasus guards appeared, bowing. These wore different armor, mostly ceremonial in a time of peace such as the current era. They bade him follow, and he did so gallantly. They stopped, eventually, before two ornate doors that reached up into the shadowy ceiling of the great hallway. These were the doors to the Royal Throneroom, where the Celestial Court was in session. A herald opened the doors and stepped through, his hooves clip-clopping noisily. As the doors opened, a hush descended upon the crowd of nobles and petitioners.

"Hear ye, hear ye!" began the herald. He raised a bugle to his lips and blew a loud fanfare. He lowered it and took a deep breath, "May all bid welcome to his Excellency, Lord Sharptooth Longclaw Leatherback!"

Sharptooth made to step forwards, but there was another fanfare.

"Ambassador to Equestria!"

He shuffled from claw to claw, sighing, twitching as the fanfare rang out again.

"Protector of the Diamond Throne!"

"Excuse me-" he whispered, clearing his throat.

"Potentate of the Diamond Expanse!"

Shells and shards but he hated this sort of - he cringed. The fanfare. again.

"Former map-maker to the crown!"

This time the fanfare was cut short with a sound not unlike that made when a bugle is squeezed shut and the exhalation of breath is instead forced out the ears of the bugler. The herald looked up with horror as the dragon took the now long, thin and overall flat piece of metal and purposefully bit down on it and started chewing. There were some horrendous crunching noises followed by swallowing. Oh Celestia, the swallowing.

"My dear sir," said Sharptooth, picking his teeth with the shiny remains of the instrument, "I think that's quite enough of that."

"Y-y-y-yessir!" the herald said, christening the carpet before he fled.

Celestia shook her head as she approached with her regal head held high, "Terrorizing the staff again, I see?"

Sharptooth spread his forepaws wide, innocently, "My dear Celestia, would I do such a thing?"

"Yes," the monarch said simply, a twinkle in her eye, "yes, you would. I was led to believe all dragons were impeccably polite."

"You mean that wasn't a snack? Oh I do appologize."

"Quite alright. What brings you all this way, my dear ambassador?"

"I was talking with our mutual friend and he happened to point me in the way of some most interesting literature. I thought it a wonderful idea to have a private discussion with you about it."

"Oh? Do tell."

"In private." Sharptooth repeated, steely expression not wavering.

"I see." Celestia turned, bowed deeply to her assorted courtiers and spoke rather softly, "My friends, I regret to inform you that this evening's court must be brought short. My dear sister Luna will happily extend to you the uses of her Night Court. Be off with you now, chop chop."

Sharptooth watched as the room emptied, amongst a collection of sighs and mumbled complaints. "I do apologize, Tia. I have not much time and this may be my only chance to beg your assistance before whatever plot may abound is put into motion."

"Plot? You speak of plots?"

Sharptooth smiled, laughing, "I fear it is doomed to fail, but I am quite sure that it will be messy. When dealing with dragons, it usually is."

Celestia glared for a moment, and nodded slowly, "Indeed. Enlighten me. This is about our diamond dog friends, yes?"

Sharptooth followed the princess as she walked the surprisingly long distance back to her throne. "My old pastime of cartographer comes back to haunt me, I fear. In my impetuous youth, I sought to create a perfect map of the nine realms. I failed, as so many had before me, but not before the truth of our realms had presented itself."

"Mmm, you know of the Ways, then?" Celestia paused, looking deep into the dragon's eyes.

Sharptooth bowed his head, "The magics one such as yourself must employ to stabilize those paths is phenomenal. Such awesome enchantments are far beyond the ken of one such as myself."

Celestia laughed softly, easily, "It is easier than you would think, but I thank you. Equestria has ever been in flux, it is only now in an age such as this that the deficiencies in those ancient grounding spells becomes apparent. The endless Southern Ocean suddenly becomes a mere sea, adjacent to the land of the naga and zebra, North is no longer nothing but snow and ice, now it is home to the windigo tribes and the pooka..."

"And I thought, in my hubris, that I would map it." Sharptooth laughed, "I only managed to map but one land, my dear princess, and that is Equestria, except for one small addition."

"And that is?"

"I found another realm. A Path led me there; not so grand as a Way, it was a mere break in the mountains, through a disused cave that travelled deep into the bowels of the Burning Circle. It led to a land unlike any other, with a green sun and a yellow sky, with eternal clouds covering the vastness of the ground."

"Most bizarre. Is there a point to these musings?" Celestia sniffed, indicating the emptied throne-room.

"The denizens of this realm ride upon six-legged lizards, very similar to us dragons. I thought at first we may be cousins, but they were mere mindless beasts."

Celestia sighed, "Out with it!"

"The denizens of this land seldom see their sky, covered as it is with clouds. I think they feared their sun. Even now, in their new home of Equestria, the lost tribes of the diamond dog prefer to live away from your sun, underground."

Celestia hissed, her breath caught short, "You found their homeland?"

"Once. I found it once. A natural Path, very unstable, more than likely to have moved on."

"And so they seek not the foal, but you. Their natural disposition to intrigue and inner strife has made what now appears in hindsight to be nothing but an accident, seem more than it was."

"Quite. In my foolishness, I detailed the location and nature of this Path. There are but two copies of the map. One lies with me, safe. The other is lost to the shifting sands of time."

"The treasure they seek most of all, home. A home which would no longer recognize them, would most likely leave them wanting, yet they seek it all the same. And in my... hasty machinations, I have put a piece in play which does not belong there."

Sharptooth rumbled his dissent, "The board is large, my dear Tia, and you and I are not the only players. Your chess seems to be oft inadequate to describe the games that those such as you and I play."

"Checkers, maybe, with all this leaping about?" Celestia's eyes laughed, a wry smile playing across her features.

"Indeed. My piece has been kinged and is now free to change direction. I would see him safe. Safe from those who would use him to get to me, and safe from... safe from me."

Celestia stopped walking, now wearing a troubled expression on her brow, "You are incapable of harming such an innocent, my friend."

"Intentionally yes, but... through a cruel twist of fate, he has lost his parents. In bowing to your wishes, I did what I thought necessary. I feel it is too much, too soon. I would not see him ache in this way."

"You think your being his adoptive sire brings him pain?"

"He cries in his sleep, Celestia, such heart-wrenching sobs as tears my heart out. One word hurts the most, monster. I would not have my son feeling he is a monster. To this end..."

"You would abandon him, again?" Celestia was angry, her stomping hoof cracked the marble.

"Celestia please! He has an uncle. I wish to make it clear to both you and he that this is for but a short time, and would suit both our purposes. I shall send him to Stalliongrad, to be amongst ponies, earth ponies at that. There are no diamond dogs there, so far north. They do not much like the cold, and the nature of the rock upon which that city is built precludes their subterranean incursions. I ask you place a small ward upon the city; should a diamond dog enter the walls you will be alerted, and my kith and kin will take care of the rest."

"You ask me to allow dragons to..."

"No, you do not allow, you merely... look the other way. We will be discrete, should it come to it. I feel it will not, the boy is a pawn to them. When taken out of reach, they will ignore him."

Celestia sighed, "Very well, but should I discover dragons acting against the best interest of the crown by taking matters with other subjects under my protection into their own claws, then I shall have my best people investigate."

"My dear Tia, I would protect the boy with my life, should it come to that."

Celestia narrowed her eyes, "It may." She turned, "It will be done. Go now, find your son, if he still is such."

Sharptooth nodded, hurt, "I made him my son, the only way that could end is by his own hoof. I... love him. I'm an old, lonely foolish dragon but I love him. I wish to see him safe."

Celestia nodded again, slumping into her royal throne, "I see that, my friend. Go now, I sense the lad has discovered the one shop in all of Canterlot which attracts all manner of children from any species, including dragon. Twilight will not be amused by your additional travelling companion, I feel."

Sharptooth laughed as he ambled out of the throne room, "Neither am I, but youth must be allowed to transgress occasionally."

♦♦♦