The Fifth Chapter With The Number 5

Proofread by Hunter Steel

Ponyville: Castle of Friendship (Cutiemap/Map/Throne/Table Room)

Spike entered the room to find the main six in their respective thrones along with Starlight who occupied a cushion, and Discord who was occupying his personal throne shoved up against Fluttershy’s. he had been extra clingy with her ever since he got back from Vanhoover, according to Fluttershy something has him worried, though he’s been doing his best to hide it.. “Alright,” Started Twilight “now that everypony is here we can get to business. Yesterday in Vanhoover a ship appeared out of nowhere...”.

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“So let me get this straight,” seethed Rainbow Dash “a bunch a weird ponies with even weirder magic showed up completely out of the blue and ponynapped the monster Discord and Princess Luna were chasing, am I right so far?".

"Um, that’s not exact but it’s a decent summary I suppose," Twilight replied.

"Alright, and after all that, they made fun of Princess Luna and won’t give back the creature they stole”.

“Well those are only some of the more important parts, they also said they were here as diplomats to try and make up for any problems they caused, so I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt in that regard at the least.” Twilight informed.

“Are you kidding me Twilight, we should just bust into their ship and take back the creature before sending them packing, as a matter a fact I’ll fly up to Vanhoover right now and show ‘em that they don't mess with Equestria.” By this point, Rainbow was hovering through the air and shadow boxing imaginary foes.

At the sound of a snap, the image of a Griffon clad in the armour of Stormfront was floating in the center of the room. “It won’t be nearly that simple,” interjected Discord “this is the armour they wear, and from what I was able to deduct, it’s almost completely impervious to magic”. The image of a griffon bowed and took a fighting stance before lunging for Rainbow. She easily flew out of the way but was caught off guard by the image turning on a dime to catch her and cradle her in it’s arms while rocking her and trying to regurgitate food in her face. Disbursing the illusion with a left hook to the face, she glared at Discord who only grinned at the snickers and looks of disgust from their friends.

Ignoring Discord's shenanigans, Twilight continued, “None of the reports from any of the ponies who encountered them said anything about magic proof armour, I think something like that would have been mentioned.”

"So you don’t believe me then.”

"I never said that, I just said it wasn’t in any of the reports".

Adjusting her hat the resident cowpony replied, "Ah Reckon Ah don’t need magic to give them a good bucking".

Sigh* "There’s no need to be so confrontational darling, yes they may have caused some problems but they at least seem willing to try and make up for it, why I’m certain we just need to find the root of the problem. Twilight, maybe we could invite them here to try and find out more about why they're doing this, It might not have been noted or maybe that particular document just isn’t in this folder but, I have been going over the minutes of the several meetings between both Princess Celestia, several Canterlotion diplomats and negotiators, and the Stormfront representatives, and they haven’t been able to find out why they are doing this, primarily because nopony seemed interested in asking. Most of those involved in the negotiations barring the princess and a few individuals just seem to be trying to gain as much as possible from the situation".

"Princess Celestia Asked that question when she first met with one of them named Deathly Belladonna, according to her the draconequus has something important to their country. Hmm, you know what Rarity I think you're right, I’ll write a letter to them inviting them here, maybe we can make some progress with them, if something important to Equestria ended up on their home, I’m pretty sure I would be desperate to get it back." Twilight replied.

"So she stole something from them, humph, well that certainly sounds like something one of them would do, I can only imagine the state their country is in". Discord's reply was accompanied by hovering images of barren wastelands and ponies struggling to seek out a living.

“I really don’t see how having dragon eyes makes her evil, I have dragon eyes and I’m not evil” Spike interjected.

“Nightmare Moon also had slitted pupils and she was evil, besides, you’re a dragon, you’re supposed to have dragon eyes”.

“Are you sure Discord, she didn't seem malicious when we met her in the Everfree”.

“Fluttershy, She punched Discord in the nuts and trapped all of us in a crystal cage, I don’t think we need any more proof it's evil, who knows what it would have done to us if Princess Luna didn’t fly off before she got trapped with us”.

“Rainbow that could have been because she was startled, I mean Discord did teleport behind her and pick her up by her tail”. At Fluttershy’s declaration a look of disbelief and betrayal came across Discord's features. “Um, well, that’s not to say she’s completely free of blame, but I think the whole situation could have been handled a lot better on both our ends.”

“This isn't getting us anywhere,” declared Starlight “while I have to agree with Fluttershy, debating on what could have been is only going to waste time that could be spent solving the issue.”

“I'm writing a letter to Princess Celestia informing her of what we intend to do right now.” replied Twilight.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Questioned Starlight.

“Well I’ll be in Vanhoover, I need to check up on something.” With a snap crackle and the residual smell of super powered cheese, Discord vanished.

“Ok, so what about the rest of us?”

“I know!” with that declaration Pinkie summoned a box of dominoes from her mane. “I bought this from a white thestral with a brown mark under her eye”.

“Don’t you mean batpony?” corrected Rainbow.

At that Pinkie's expression turned pensive, “Well yea, but don’t let her hear you call her that though, she wasn’t too happy when I did.”

“Um... ok so how do we play?”

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When Princess Celestia sent her response to Twilight’s letter, it was mid-evening, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity had left, and no one had managed to beat Starlight after the first round.

Spike's belch was quickly followed by the sound of a broken wax seal and purple eyes on paper.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I am both happy, proud and somewhat surprised I received your previous letter. I have received several letters from several nobles beseeching me to allow them to handle this issue, some of which I made the mistake of involving. However you are honestly the last pony I expected to receive one such letter from, let alone one so confidently and assertively written, even if the latter aspect wavered several times throughout your correspondence. Regardless you will eventually need to take on more political responsibility, however, this is not how I had intended to give you more exposure to the topic. I realise that you are likely confident in your abilities as a result of your success in befriending the yacks and gaining Equestria a new ally. But understand twilight that taking on this matter is a sink or swim situation not only for your political standing, but quite possibly Equestria as well, as I believe our relations with StormFront will colour how Equestria is perceived to the world as a whole. You have been in a sense neutral as the yacks, while difficult, were seen by almost all of the Canterlot nobility as, and I’m paraphrasing, savages we have nothing to gain or lose from associating with. This was one of the nicer comments I assure you. But understand Twilight, and I cannot stress this enough, this matter has turned out to be far more serious that I had initially thought, Equestria has been somewhat isolated over the last several thousand years, the result of negligence and overconfidence on my part. This has led to much of the rest of the world changing in ways I never thought possible If the Stormfront representatives are anything to go by, all the while we remain ignorant. As a result of this, I and my sister entered negotiations with the StormFront representatives with an unhealthy amount of confidence. Twilight, I have no doubt that the current stalemate will not be able to reach any form of peaceful agreement, as such my student I will allow you to do as you see fit in regards to this issue. Hopefully you will make a better impression and more progress than I and my sister’s team did. There are a few bits of information I must pass on in regards to our visitors to hopefully make the process easier for you. Firstly they are rather direct, which is not to say they are tactless, so you will make the most progress by keeping any frivolities when discussing business to a minimum, only enough to be polite is necessary. Secondly their guards are… unique, and their armour even more so, we have as of yet been unable to determine how many there are as the number and race present at any given time seems to change without notice, in addition they navigate the Canterlot Castle as though they lived here all their life. Twilight I do not need to highlight why this shouldn’t be possible. I am convinced that StormFront has spies in the capital. Third, be careful how you interact with the sheep of the group, Leccy Penumbra. while she is a sheep in body she is not such in mind. She is not particularly easily offended, however treating her as you would a farm animal will gain the ire of her associates and guards, I have seen first-hoof her intelligence and magic, yes magic. My final bit of advice is in regards to the Earth Pony of the group, Michelle Crescent. she has red slitted eyes as a result of her heritage and has received some amount of discrimination as a result, while I will not tell you not to comment on her eyes as she is quite proud of her heritage it is best if we avoid another situation like the one your zebra friend encountered before you arrived in Ponyville. Speaking of which, I am relatively sure there are zebras in their guard as well. Twilight this matter is far more serious than initially thought, and I am ashamed to say that as a result of our ‘negotiations’ the representatives are quite upset and intent on leaving as soon as the Draconequus is in stable enough condition. Do your best my student as I fear I have spoiled a golden opportunity. However fret not, for you need only live up to your title and make a few friends.

Remaining optimistic,

Princess Celestia.

Author's Note

What does it say about me that I don’t update until Exams are around the corner.

Anywho, I hate short chapters, NAY, I loathe short chapters, and because of that I endeavour to make my chapters a minimum of 4000 words, you know do onto others and all that stuff. However, I suppose I now see the functional reasons for short chapters, and decided to reduce my word limit for chapters significantly, to like, 1000 words. This will hopefully allow me to get more chapters out more often… hopefully……maybe……… no promises.

Regardless Thanks to my Proofreader Hunter Steel for his help to make this story more palatable.

This chapter was brought to you by Naruto Shippuden Abridged.