**Dragon Hoard
Chapter 1
The Royal Council**
I woke up in the dead of the night. It was unlike me to wake up this late. I checked the clock that hung at the far end of my room. I’m sorry. It was unlike me to wake up this early. Now what in Equestria could have spooked me that much? Well, it’s as my mentor Luna says, ‘the nighttime is the right time.’
I hopped out of bed and stretched my body to its full extent. Due to reflexes, my wings spread out and five feet of feather and bone unfurled in my small room. I carefully folded my wings and trotted out of the room to get an early morning breakfast.
I pushed open my front door. A wave cold night air hit me and I shivered under my scarlet coloured coat. I shook it off. Luna despised weakness. I spread out my wings and took off.
I loved flying. I know that’s sort of mandatory for a Pegasus pony but I loved it to no end. About the only times I was grounded was in my house and in the presence of the Princesses. My wings were stronger than average Pegasus you see. I train with Princess Luna; I practice wingups in the palace every morning and some nights we practice flying all over Equestria.
As I flew over Canterlot, I watched the lights slowly turn on. I could see my friend, Gentle Wind, trying to get to the store early. The night air pushed against me but I broke through it easily. I flipped my body and reverse rotated my wings so that I could fly upside down. The stars above me twinkled beautifully. They soon began to creep me out though. I knew that Luna had one edge over her sister, she could see anywhere that her stars were and I wasn’t too thrilled about exposing my underbelly to her. I flipped again.
“Hey! Hey Rain Flash!” I heard someone calling.
I looked down and saw Gentle Wind herself jumping around to get my attention. Several ponies threw open their windows to tell her to shut up. I spared her further embarrassment by swooping down to join the purple Earth pony. I assured the other ponies that I would keep Gentle quiet so they could go back to sleep. They spared us one last resentful glare then closed their windows and doors.
“What’s up?” I asked. My wings began to twitch. I guess they didn’t like having their flight interrupted.
Gentle Wind looked thoughtful. I didn’t believe it. She had forgotten what she wanted to say. I tapped my hoof impatiently on the ground while she tried to remember.
“Oh yeah!” she exclaimed a little too loudly.
I clapped my wing over her mouth and glared at her. I leaned in close, careful not to take away my wing.
“Can you whisper what you wanted to tell me?” I asked.
She nodded.
I carefully took away the wing. Gentle was not known for being silent. Her voice overshadows the Royal Canterlot Voice any day.
“Nightmare Moon is looking for you,” she said quietly.
“Her name is Princess Luna!” I snapped. Call me defensive but I did not like people to refer to my tutor by her previous title. “Sorry,” I said and took off once again.
“Bye Rain!” she called after me.
“SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!” hissed a multitude of voices from the surrounding houses.
The fly to the castle was a very short one. When I was within a few meters, I folded my wings and cascaded gently to the ground. As soon as my feet touched royal soil, the palace doors burst open in a fury of black fire.
“RAIN FLASH!” roared a Discordant voice. “Where in my sister’s name have you been?”
I bent my forelegs and bowed down. “I’m sorry Princess,” I apologized. “I’m afraid that I only just received your message from Gentle Wind.”
A dark sapphire blue alicorn strode up to me. Her cyan eyes pierced into my heart and froze the blood there. Her misty cobalt blue mane spawned from her head and presented it self, flowing, on her right side. This was my mentor, the co-ruler of Equestria, Princess Luna.
She smiled. Though kind at heart, Luna’s smile has been known to freak the hay out of hydras.
“It’s alright,” she said lifting my chin on her hoof. “I called you here for an important meeting. Follow me.”
I followed Luna across the royal garden, up the royal stairs and into the royal palace. I had never seen the palace so busy before. Guard ponies ran all over, some shouting orders others carrying them out. Luna walked through the throng as if it was simple mist. When it was my turn, I was bumped into, run over and poked by a couple horns. By the time I was deposited on the other side beside Luna, I was a wreck.
Luna motioned for me to stand. I got to my feet and looked up. There was giant crystal door, guarded by two gray unicorn ponies. The Princess tapped her hoof once. The guards turned to the door and their horns began to glow. A white line appeared, running vertically down the middle of the door. The doors were telekinetically pushed inwards.
At first, a bright light temporarily blinded me. When it cleared, I could see a large circular table. Around it was seated some the most prominent Royal Guards around. To one side were Crystal Star, General Scar and Lord King. To the other half sat, Gemstone Fire, Hail Storm and the captain himself, Shining Armor. To the north of the room, not far from the table, was an elevated platform on which Princess Celestia herself stood.
I looked to Princess Luna to ask what was going on when I realized that she had flown off. She landed right beside her sister on the platform. The doors closed behind me and the Royal Counsel began.
“What’s all this about?” I asked.
A few of the guards shot me dirty looks.
Princess Celestia returned the favor on my behalf. “He has the right to know,” she said. She turned to Luna expectantly.
“Fellow Equestrians!” she said in the Royal Canterlot Voice. It was basically like an enhanced version of her voice, loud enough to reach all over the city. The walls of the palace were enchanted and once behind them, no one on the outside could hear. “This meeting is called to inform you of our crisis at the moment!” she continued.
“We know of the crisis,” snapped Hail. “We need a solution.”
Luna glared at him. Under the gaze of the Princess of the Night, Hail Storm cowered. It was then that I realized that his body was singed. His, normally snow-white pelt, was edged with black burn marks. His icy blue mane was covered in an irremovable layer of ash. Now that I had seen him, all the other guards looked like they had been frolicking in the royal forgery.
“What exactly happened?” I asked firmly. It was too damn early for me to be in some Royal Council meeting that I knew nothing about.
“The Elements of Harmony have been stolen,” informed Princess Celestia.
The full urgency of the disaster did not reach me. I mean so what if her pretty jewelry was stolen. The only problem was finding out who would dare take from the Princess. No real trouble.
“By a dragon.”
I turned to Shining Armor; there was a certain tone in his voice that scared me. After actually thinking about it, I realized how serious this was. The Elements were the most powerful magical artifacts in ponydom. They were used to defeat my mentor’s bitter alter ego, Nightmare Moon, and the spirit of chaos, Discord. From my (very few) lessons with Princess Celestia, I learned that she and her sister had once wielded their power to defeat Discord the first time. Celestia kept the Elements behind a magically sealed door that not even Luna could open. How a mere dragon had been able to break this seal was astonishing. Dragons and magic do not mix; one might call them complete opposites.
I looked back to Celestia and Luna. They both looked so calm. Luna glanced up at Celestia and they exchanged a few words. The ponies at the table decided that it was best for them to do the same. Crystal and Shining spoke for a while, threw me a couple obvious glances before Shining trotted over to me. In all the times that I had been to the palace, not once had I even spoke directly to the captain of the Royal Guards.
“So you’re Luna’s faithful student,” he acknowledged. “Rain Flash.”
I nodded once. I tried to look as ridged as I could but his moderate cerulean eyes scanned me and made me self-conscious. This was the big shot in Canterlot, besides the Princesses and Fancypants. Would he find me to be up to his standards? Was I good enough to be in his presence? I heard his sister was studying under Princess Celestia, was training under Princess Luna good enough? I swear to Celestia that I did not usually feel this way. I guessed that I was just nervous and tired. Shining smiled.
He proceeded to fill in the missing details of the meeting. He told me about how there had been a roar all throughout the city (mysteriously, I had not been roused by this) and when he rushed to the palace, the Elements had been gone. He also explained how Hail and the other guards had fought against the gargantuan monstrosity only to end up fried.
By the time he finished talking, I realized that the Princesses were ready to address us again. The whole room became quiet. Even from inside, I could here the other Canterlot guards running around outside. I could hear the spears being sharpened and the sound of unicorns having target practice. I had a feeling that we would soon have an all out war on our hooves.
“We’re calling off the hunt,” announced Princess Celestia.
“What?!” exclaimed the guards. Even Shining looked surprised.
Luna nodded. “Whatever did this is obviously very powerful and a simple army will not be enough,” she added.
“So how do you propose we get back the Elements,” asked Crystal.
General appended, “If that dragon should misuse their power or worse, destroy them, then Equestria will fall.”
“It is impossible to corrupt the Elements,” said Celestia. “But destroying them is not out of the question. We need someone to find this draconic fiend and take back the Elements.”
“A war must be averted,” stated Luna.
“What will our course of action be Princesses?” asked Shining.
Luna looked at me and smiled. I shivered all over again. She turned back to her Council. “We will have someone infiltrate the Dragonlands. This will be done with the help of an allied dragon.”
Lord King looked up. “And who will your chosen champion be?” he asked.
Celestia pointed her horn straight at me. “My sister’s student, Rain Flash,” she said.
“Me?” I asked pointing my hoof at my chest.
“You will first stop off at Ponyville,” the Princess said. “Where you will meet up with the allied dragon. A rare breed, A magic dragon named Spike. After meeting up with him you will stay in Ponyville and await further instructions.”
“And what if I refuse?” I wondered aloud. “Doesn’t my opinion count?”
I could see Luna’s eyes narrow as she glowered at me. “You will be doing the kingdom a great favor,” she said. “When you return, you will be revered as a hero.”
“If I return,” I said. “If the Canterlot Royal Guards can’t do it, then I can’t.”
I wasn’t usually such a scaredypony, but this thing was far over my head. I was not ready to take on a fire-breathing monster of destruction.
“Exactly,” agreed Hail. “He’s a youngling and a weak one at that.”
“I beg your pardon,” I asked.
Then he actually repeated himself. “You. Are. Weak.”
“That’s what I though you said,” I growled at him. I spoke to the Princess, “I accept.”
She looked surprised. “Are you sure? This is not just any dragon that we are talking about,” she said. “This is a fully grown, Ancient Dragon. It is probably two thousand years old.”
I gulped but stood fast. “I, Rain Flash of Canterlot, accept the task of retrieving the Elements of Harmony,” I declared, then added softly, “so I can wipe the smug grin off Hail Storm’s face.”
Luna smiled at me.
“Before you make your decision,” said Celestia. “I want you to see exactly what you are going up against.”
She flew over the table and landed beside me. Luna did the same. The crystal doors swung open and the meeting was adjourned.
The three of us trotted through the thick crowd of bustling ponies. I decided to stick by the Princesses this time to avoid getting hurt. We walked down a long hallway, edged by stained glass. I looked at each of them and tried to remember the story behind them.
After walking for quite a bit, I asked Luna where we were going.
“To the scene of the crime,” she said.
They were going to show me the chamber where they kept the Elements. When I arrived, I was rather shocked by the damage. The most I had expected was a burning room with fallen rubble and debris.
There was no chamber. Where the holding for the Elements had once been was just a gaping hole that let in the first few strands of morning light.
