The Baby Dragon

by Spikey_Wikey

Chapter 1: The Threat

Chapter 1: The Threat

“Have the pegasi returned yet?”

Luna’s voice echoed through the conference hall. Celestia turned to look at her sister, her rainbow mane lightly brushing against the marble floor. “No, though I believe they will be returning soon,” she replied.

“I hope they hurry up. I fear that we’re running out of time.”

Celestia looked out of one of the giant glass windows and was met with the familiar view of the Everfree Forest. It was beautiful at this time of year, the end of summer.

“What are we going to do about this?” asked Luna. “Our entire land is in danger.”

Celestia turned away from the window and walked over to her sister, her hooves clacking against the floor, which stretched across the entire room to meet the stone walls enclosing it. “Once the pegasi return with the necessary information, we can form a plan, sister, but for now we must wait,” replied Celestia.

“I still don’t understand why we can’t use the Elements of Harmony to fix this problem. If they stopped a creature as powerful as Discord, surely they can take care of a few dragons.”

Celestia gave her sister a look. “I’m surprised at you, Luna. You should know that the Elements can only be used once per year. It has only been a mere five months since we defeated Discord.”

Luna sighed and sat down at the table. “But you cannot deny that it would be an easy victory for us, Celestia.”
Slightly annoyed with her younger sister’s ignorance, Celestia responded, “You should not underestimate the Dragon Empire, Luna. Dragons are powerful creatures, and very destructive ones at that."

With her voice slightly raised, Luna retorted, “Do not speak to me as if I am a filly. All I am saying is that-”

She was cut off by a knock on the door, and a pegasus slowly peeked into the room. Luna turned around to face him.
“Oh!” she said. “Celestia, the pegasi have returned. Come in, Cirrase.”

The light grey pony proceeded into the conference hall, followed by three other pegasi. Cirrase had a hurricane as his cutie mark. The second one in the room was called Cumulase. Her plain white mane and tail matched the rest of her, including her cutie mark, which was an ordinary cloud, outlined by a light silver line. The third’s name was Stratase, a plain grey pony, whose mane matched his color, except for its slightly yellow tint. His cutie mark resembled that of fog, yet had a small glow to it. The last one was named Nimbase. She was a dark grey pegasus with a mane and tail to match and had raindrops as her cutie mark.

The four pegasi began to bow. “Never mind that; there’s not much time,” said Celestia, “Let’s sit at the table, and you can all tell us what you’ve learned.”

They all sat down, the pegasi wondering to themselves who should speak first. None of them had any happy news to report. After a few moments, Nimbase broke the silence. “The Dragon Empire had an agreement with Discord: in exchange for their exodus from Equestria he would provide them with all the jewels they wanted. After you defeated him, not only did they stop getting jewels, but their homeland was also taken from them. Needless to say, they are not happy.”

Celestia nodded. “Go on.”

“So, they’ve begun training dragons that they’ve deemed old enough to fight. They have many empty fields set up to train their flyers and their ground fighters, and the fields hold an average of forty dragons each.”

“Forty?” Luna had suddenly spoken out, somewhat surprised.

“That’s not all,” Nimbase continued. “We also-”

At this point, Stratase had decided he wanted to say something as well. “If it’s all the same to you, I would like to tell them this next part, Nimbase.”

“Very well,” she replied, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Thank you.” He turned in his seat to face the two pegacorns, taking notice of Celestia’s cutie mark. It looked like the sun. ‘That’s appropriate,’ he thought. ‘I just wonder if I should tell-’

“Stratase, we’re all waiting for you,” said Luna.

“Apologies, princess. As Nimbase was saying (Nimbase looked at him, slightly surprised that he gave her credit), we were able to eavesdrop on some of the conversations that took place at the training camps. One that we overheard revealed when and where the dragons plan to attack Equestria first. In two months they will make their first strike on the north side of the Everfree Forest, just east of the Griffon Kingdom.”

Celestia and Luna took this in, now a little more than concerned. Two months was not a very long time to prepare. This wasn’t looking good. A plan had to be thought out very soon.

Celestia turned to Cirrase and Cumulase. “And what about you two? Did either of you learn anything else?”
Cirrase thought for a moment, remembering one particular conversation they had all overheard. He looked at Cumulase, who ever so slightly shook her head, and then he looked back at Celestia. “No, princess,” he responded. “That was all we were able to find out.”

Stratase looked at him, somewhat incredulously. ‘What is he doing? Doesn’t he think that the names of the dragons’ leaders would be important information? But then again…’ Stratase looked down at the table in contemplation. Nimbase had also had a similar thought and noticed Stratase’s reaction, but then again, there weren’t many things she didn’t notice about him, especially the way his mane rested smoothly against his crest, and how his cutie mark glowed brighter in the darkness… Luna’s voice shook both ponies out of their thoughts.

“Well, then, if that’s all, you may leave,” said the pegacorn.

“What my sister means is that we thank you for your help and sacrifice.” Now it was Luna’s turn to give Celestia a look.
“Go rest now. We have a lot of preparation to do over the next two months, and everypony will have to perform at their best.”

Stratase hung back as the other three ponies left. Celestia had gone over to the fountain on the far side of the room for a drink. “There is one more thing we’ve learned,” he said. “The names of their rulers.”

“I’m assuming they have a king and queen?” asked Luna, who was closer to him.

“Yes,” replied Stratase. “Only their names…”

“What are they? And for that matter, why didn’t you simply tell us this before?”

Stratase chose to ignore both questions and lowered his voice, “I don’t know if it would be a good idea for her to hear this. The meaning of the king’s name is very-”

“Stratase, we need to know everything we can. I’m sure Celestia and myself can handle whatever it is you have to say.”

“Well, if you insist. The queen’s name is Sothia and the king’s name is…Apophis.”

Celestia, who was still drinking, immediately began to cough.
“Are you alright, sister?” asked Luna.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered. “It’s nothing. Thank you, Stratase. You may go now.”

“No, not yet,” said Luna. “There is one more thing I would like to know.” She now lowered her voiced and asked, “Why were you so intent on telling us the time and place of the attack?”

Stratase shifted, a little embarrassed. “Well, I, um, I guess I thought it was really important, and I wanted to be the one to tell you two.”

Luna gave him a small smile, knowing the feeling of wanting to impress one’s elders. “Well, thank you Stratase. You can go now.”

“Of course,” he said. He left the hall to see that Nimbase had been waiting for him. Once she was sure they were both out of earshot, Luna walked over to the fountain where Celestia was.

“What is going on with you? There must be a reason you reacted the way you did.”

“There is,” replied the white pegacorn. “But I didn’t want to tell him.”

“Well, it seems to me that whatever it was, he already knew. All of them seemed to, in fact. They just didn’t tell us.”
“No, they didn’t, and I appreciate why, but all the same…”

“Celestia, tell me what is going on.”

The princess looked at her sister, glancing briefly at her cutie mark, the moon. ‘I’ll only tell her my part,’ she thought to herself. Luna stared at her, waiting for her answer.

Celestia stared right back, looking her sister directly in the eyes. “Apophis,” she said, “means ‘enemy of the sun.’”

Comments

[Magius]

OOOOOOOOOOH, dis gon' be good

[Spikey_Wikey]

So just to be sure, everypony is so far alright with the fact that the castle is in the Everfree Forest and not in Canterlot? Just want to be sure.

[Doublesims]

1267924 It makes sense that it's in the Everfree, but didn't the girls use the elements twice in one year? Nightmare and Discord

[Spikey_Wikey]

1277383 Well, without giving too much away, I'll say that only Discord was defeated in the year this chapter takes place. I'll leave it at that for now, but trust me, it's all going to make sense eventually.

[Doublesims]

1277570 Well keep me posted I like to see where this ends up.

[Spikey_Wikey]

1278188 Will do!

[Spikey_Wikey]

Wow, so I just found about four errors in Chapter 1 that both me and my editor completely missed. They're fixed now. Sorry about that.