Succession of the Sons

In the twenty-five years of my life I have enjoyed a position of power in what is undoubtedly the greatest country in our world, or any other for that matter. For ten of those years my brother, Starbright, and I have served our Majesty, Queen Celestia, her King, Discord, and her Prime Minister, Luna, passionately, selflessly, and without flaw. In return for our service, as well as the memory of our father’s, we are granted luxuries far beyond our need.

But we refuse them.

Gold, by the ton, has been offered to us as reward for our deeds.

But we refuse it.

Grand riches, obscene wealth, and any material desires we could possible long for would be given to us by her Highness should we even whisper of them.

But we refuse.

And while we have excepted enough to ensure our families will never want my brother and I refuse to these gifts and payments as our father’s voice rings in our minds telling us of our duty to protect this land and those who dwell here. With his magic in our veins and his knowledge in our heads and his love in our hearts we protect Equestria. Not for wealth, not for fame, not for royal favors, but because we were given the power to do so. And do so we shall.

Our father, the late, revered Lafayette Ryder, taught us from the day we were born to the day he died how to control our powers and how to serve this country with them. In our years we have accomplished more than most men or ponies achieve in their entire lives. We have lead armies, we have conquered entire continents, and we have united the many races of our world into a single nation. We have swept the globe and claimed it in the name of the Solar Empire, the Lunar Republic, the Discordant society that is Equestria.

With the ponies- Earth, sea, unicorn, and Pegasi-, Dragons, Humans, Diamond Dogs, Griffins, and a handful of other races and species consolidated into one grand union peace and prosperity as never before seen have enveloped our world. For nearly five years that utopian peace has held unscathed and intact. But now with my father’s passing and the recent death of the Dragon king Sujenymos the peace may shatter. The dragon hordes, wyverns and serpents as well, held alliance to Sujenymos and Sujenymos alone. Sujenymos held his Alliance not with his brother Duwiqdencaf, or the Triarchy or Equestria but with father. Now that they both are gone only Duwiqdencaf holds power over the hordes and his authoritative grip is fast loosening. He has done all in his power to control his and his brother’s kin but they hold no respect for an aging underling such as Duwiqdencaf. In the wake of his falling reign a group of Dragons, Serpents, Wyverns, and even Constalite Beats have gathered to form the Beatus Ignis. The Holy Fire they call themselves. They plot to remove Duwiqdencaf from power, corral the horde, and succeed from the nation of Equestria. Evidenced by their previous actions they do not intend to approach this in a civil manor, no they appear to be anticipating a war. We have offered our support but Duwiq is too old, stubborn, and set in his ways to accept it. I doubt Duwiq will see more than another week of life. Should such a tragedy occur nothing will stand between the horde, Beatus Ignis, and war with Equestria.

So now even as I lay my son to sleep, join my wife in bed, and drift off into a land of slumber my calm demeanor is strained and for the first time in my adult life I worry. My Queen and my father both saw war, both fought for their countries both home and adopted and they won. But what they saw was nothing compared to a civil war between the Dragon horde headed by Beatus Ignus and the might of the Equestrian army. The bloodshed will be like nothing ever before seen in our world… And my brother and I will be at the head of it all.

Just as sleep catches my dreary mind a line from an epic written long ago comes to my lips unbidden and unexpectedly. My shivering body freezes as the words spill forth…

Demons spawn in the dark,

And Dragons ride at dawn.