“Rainbow! I need your help!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, although it wasn’t necessary. The cyan Pegasus with a prismatic looking mane came over and hovered near the edge of the shimmering crystal railing, looking at Twilight suspiciously.

“What is it this time, Twi? I thought that we were going to just have a normal lazy friendship summit. Don’t need to do anything to prepare for that… But even if we did, Pinkie’s got us covered.” Dash replied, wearing a half scowling, half smiling expression.

“Oh Celestia!” Twilight shouted. “This is bad! Very, very bad! Did I not tell that today is the day where we visit a DRAGON AMBASSADOR?!” Twilight’s mane became a bit frazzled, but Dash just scoffed.

“Come on, Twi! Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll show this dragon ambassador who’s boss!” Dash remarked confidently. Twilight didn’t seem assured, and she also frowned deeper. The lines on her face grew more concerned, for Dash’s well-being and for the fact that her friends, or at least Rainbow, didn’t know what an important day it was.

A new face appeared through the crystal spiked doorway to the Friendship Council and chairs. She laughed heartily. “Now Twilight, Ah certainly do remember y’all tellin’ us that we’re gonna meet this mighty dragon ambassador today. Rainbow here must’ve ‘hit er head on a wall again if she doesn’t remember what y’all told us. It was pretty hard ta forget.”

“Applejack! I’m so glad you’re here! Can you help me with this painting? It's a bit crooked." Twilight said before Applejack started talking. She then paused as she heard what she had to say. "Thank goodness! I thought we were going straight to disaster like what happened with the yaks." She paused and blushed as Applejack noticed her frazzled hairs and tired eyes. "Um, sorry."

"So, what were ya sayin' about that paintin'? Ah'm sure ah could help, just show me where it is. Also, Ah think I saw Rarity and Fluttershy on their way over here, so if ya need any more help, Ah guess you've got it," Applejack replied to Twilight's first question, then scanned the room. Two paintings hang up up on either side of the room, and Applejack squinted, trying to figure out which one was a tiny bit tilted.

"Hellooo!" A musical voice sounded out through the hallways. "I haven't seen you all in foreverrr!" Just soon enough, a bounce, bounce, bounce sound could be heard outside of the main hallway that lead to the Friendship Council. A pink figure stuck her head in. "Come on, guys! We've got work to do!"

"Pinkie Pie, we saw each other yesterday at our weekly poker game," Applejack noted to the pink, bouncing, energized ball. She frowned as last night's game came back to mind. Rarity had really won that one, and Applejack couldn't say she was happy for her. She had almost won. Almost!

"I know, right! But that was sooo long ago! It seems like it's been forever since then!" She paused. "Hmm... Do you think that somehow we got transported into the future?"

"No, Pinkie." Twilight sighed. "I don't. But it would be great if you could help us! I need some vegetarian muffins made in two hours. Are you up for it?" she inquired.

"Up for it? I'm always up for it, silly! Will I do it? Duh, of course!" Pinkie giggled. "But," she calmed down for a little, "I might make a few changes."

"... Alright then. Everybody, I've made a checklist and assigned you all to your tasks. Fluttershy, Rarity?" she called out.

"We're here, darling! We'll be with you in a minute!" cried Rarity, who had just walked in the main entrance door. She dragged the shy Pegasus in the rest of the way in, and the door slammed shut hard, echoing all throughout the palace. Fluttershy jumped and immediately hid behind her long pink mane. "Come on, Fluttershy, dear... Twilight always welcomes you! Why are you so scared?" Rarity asked, but with it the question answered itself. "It's not because of the dragon, darling, is it?"

"I'm sorry! Um.. It's just that they're so bigandscaryandthey'regoingtoeatmealive!" Fluttershy whispered to herself, and Rarity cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry darling, I didn't quite catch that."

"They're so big and scary and they're goingtoeatmealive!" replied Fluttershy, shaking.

"Darling, Twilight has this all under control. She will make sure that no one eats anyone and that there's not even going to be a disagreement! Everything will go just fine. I promise. Now come along, darling! I'm sure she has lots of work for us to get to. After all, our dragon is going to be here in about two hours. We need to fix this place up! I'm sure everything will be fine." Rarity repeated, and hooked Fluttershy in her magical field. "To work!"

"Well! Now, we're all done, and I think the ambassador should be here soon." Twilight swung around to look at the clock on her wall. "Alright, more like two minutes... Well! I will stay calm. Does anybody need a drink?" Twilight raised four canisters.

"Ah'll take one, Twi. Thank ya kindly!" Applejack moved over and took the canister, drinking it fast. "Well, Ah'm mighty surprised at how this looks, Twilight. Ah guess rearranging all that furniture for two hours paid off."

"Hey Twi," Rainbow floated down and slumped on her back, "you do know that it's possible that the ambassador might not be here right at 10 o'clock, right?"

Twilight scoffed. "Of course not! Dragons are very strict about-" she was interrupted by a large fist knocking on the door. "What'd I tell you?" she said smugly as she cast a glance at the clock. She walked up to the door, wearing a dress and her crown. She opened it slowly, revealing a fairly small dragon. He was midnight purple.

"Princess Sparkle? It is an honor to meet you." He bowed low. Twilight immediately did the same. She came up with a flourish and nodded at the other five elements.

"Ambassador Hard Scales? Come in, please. Do you bring anyone else with you?" she asked regally.

"No. I figured that you would not mind, but if?" Hard Scales inquired, but Twilight shook her head. The dragon and the resident ponies headed inside, where Spike awaited them. "Oh!" said Hard Scales. "I did not know you already had a dragon with you."

"This is Spike, Ambassador Scales. I hatched him out of an egg when I was young, and have taken care of him ever since. Spike, meet Ambassador Hard Scales." He stared up in awe at the larger dragon. The sunlight reflected of his back-ish scales, making them glint. Spike suddenly had an idea.

He bowed. "Ambassador Hard Scales, pleased to meet you. Spike at your service. If I may?" He motioned towards the Ambassador's scales, and Hard Scales shrugged.

"Go ahead. I didn't see why not."

Spike tapped them with a claw. There was a clinking sound. "Hmm..." Spike mused. "Odd." Hard Scales tensed up, and Spike caught a warning glance from Twilight, which basically said, "don't screw this up."

"What's odd, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Ambassador Hard Scales' scales are as hard as you. Those are some hard scales, even for a dragon." Spike elaborated. "Diamond hard scales? Never seen anything like it, but truth be told, I haven't met many dragons either."

"Well, there is a reason I'm called Hard Scales. It's because my scales are hard. But what do you mean, 'as hard as you'? I assume you are talking to Princess Sparkle, but that doesn't make much sense. Are you implying that she is as hard as diamond? Or am I just missing an important fact here?" Hard Scales raised a confused eyebrow.

"Ah. I'm sorry. You are not the first one to make this mistake. Say, have you ever been to the Crystal Empire?" Twilight smiled.

"I have never been in it, but it is very pretty. The train I rode on took a stop there. There were some, uh, 'crystal ponies', as someone called them, who came on. They were really quite the sight..." Hard Scales trailed off when he saw Twilight's look. "You do not mean to say that these 'crystal ponies' are actually made of crystal, right?" he asked in disbelief.

"That is exactly what I mean. I am diamond, although I was not affected. My change occurred after I became an alicorn. First I was amethyst, and my friend Rarity is quartz." Rarity waved from behind. "Applejack is orange sunstone, Rainbow Dash is aquamarine," she cast a glance at Dash, "Fluttershy is yellow sphene, and Pinkie Pie is pink flourite." She waved a hoof to all of them behind. They all smiled, except for Fluttershy, who hid behind her mane.

"I-I'm sorry... I had no idea. I guess I just made a wrong assumption too fast." Hard Scales stuttered, looking at them all in amazement and awe. Twilight shrugged.

"No big deal. Lots of people before you have made the same assumption." Twilight smiled kindly.

"So, Mr. Hard Scales, would you like a slice of cake? It's yummy!" said Pinkie Pie.

Author's Note

If you all could point out any grammatical errors (I'm sure there's lots..), that would be great! I seriously suck at writing AJ.

Just a random thought that's been buzzing around in my head for a while. My headcannon on why ponies can break rocks (just watch Dragonshy!), but it's not true, so AU for it. Because I'm pretty sure you don't need a massage when you're as tough as ~~a rock~~ Tom.
That joke had to made sometime