-1000 Years Ago, Before Luna’s Banishment-

A clear blue sky was all that could be seen from a golden chariot as a young Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were sitting in a chariot with one of the ambassadors of Equestria. Celestia looked to be twelve while Luna herself seemed about ten. Celestia was bored while Luna wouldn’t stop bouncing around in her chair, unable to sit still with how impatient she was; she was getting irritated at how long the ride was taking. The noble they traveled with was a stallion named Silent rose and he was supposed to be their escort since their parents couldn’t be there to visit their fellow royals. He was a dark blue alabaster unicorn with green eyes and a Cutie Mark of a Red rose with a music note behind it. He adorned fancy robes in the respective colors of the princesses' coats.

“How much longer?” Princess Luna asked.

“Not long, your Highness, we just have a few more miles to go before we can land,” he said with a smile.

“Where is this place anyway? All our parents told us was we’ll be seeing some island, yet I fail to see anything but the open ocean.”

“Worry not, your Highness. We were told it’d be here, and I’d doubt your parents would send you off just to get rid of two young and soon beautiful princesses,” Silent said with a smile.

“Hey!” They said in unison, a mix of annoyance and sadness.

“Now, now, relax; I’m sure we’ll be there soon,” he added.

“So, what did our parents say the island was like?” Princess Celestia asked, looking outside the window.

“Yeah, what’s it like?” Luna asked.

“I’m not sure, but your parents did say that the island was a lush paradise and that the locals are very friendly,” he added. “They didn’t tell me about the locals, but they do say that they help anyone they meet and, from what I’ve heard, are very adept at magic. Rumor has it they made a special gift for the current dragonlord.”

“Really now?” Luna asked.

“Yes. It’s said they even grow special jewels and use them for certain items and rituals. Nopony knows what they are for, but I suspect they have magical powers too.”

“That’s amazing,” Princess Celestia said with excitement on her face.

“I don’t see what’s so interesting. We’re flying to some goddess forsaken island in the middle of nowhere, and we have absolutely no idea if it’s even there,” Luna huffed impatiently.

“Well from what your mother and father told me, they are rather friendly and usually keep to themselves. They rarely trust outsiders besides the other races that live on the island with them,” he mentioned.

“Wow, really?” Celestia asked with enthusiasm. “It sounds like a paradise island.”

“Indeed, it does,” he said with a smile. The island was getting closer and closer as the chariot began to slow down and descend. A few minutes later the two sisters soon gazed upon the island, it was lush in verdant green trees that covered a portion of the coast all the way to its southern tip while the north had what looked like an ancient volcano with most of it exposed to the elements. “We’ll be getting to our destination soon, my young maidens.”

“I was getting bored on this flight anyway,” Luna said in annoyance, but was pretty excited to see the size of the island. “Wow, is that a volcano?”

“It’s amazing,” Celestia added with a smile. A few minutes later, the chariot touched down onto a sandy beach, where there weren’t many locals around. Both royal sisters were surprised, “Are those dragons?”

“It would seem so,” the ambassador said with a sigh. “Your parents never mentioned this to me.”

“I think they wanted to surprise us,” Celestia said with a smile.

While they were along the beach, they spotted a few houses made of what appeared to be carved stone and noticed a few dragons walking about minding their own business. Some welp dragons as well as fledglings were playing with their parents on the beach. They looked at Celestia, Luna, and their escort with a smile, giving a friendly wave.

Seeing their friendly nature, the pairing alicorns and their escort proceeded through the pathway leading up through the forest. Along the way, they saw other species of dragons, some webbed feet and hands, and they even had fins on their arms, legs, and faces too. Another type they noticed they almost mistook for a pony. But upon closer inspection, they noticed scales around parts of their bodies, mostly on their back and muzzle while a long slender tail came out with a tuft of fur on its end. But the most interesting feature was the long-curved horns they each had, varying in shape too. It made the pair wonder if they were some kind of dragon unicorn hybrid.

“Are their other races besides dragons that live here?” Celestia asked.

“It looks that way,” Luna added. While on their walk, they heard the ground rumbling near them. It looked to be coming from the right and was approaching faster and faster. The ground sank, opening a hole upon which three more dragons slithered out. Two of them were larger and one was smaller, a family maybe. They had long bodies with large colorful feathers adorning their head like a sort of natural headdress going all the way to their tails where their spines would have been and had longer groups of feathers on their arms that to Celestia appeared as a sort of wings, maybe to fly but the solar diararch wasn’t too certain how since they weren’t built like her wings.

What surprised them the most though was the younger one disappeared from sight and then reappeared on the older one's back, a content smile on its face. Apparently, these ones were able to camouflage themselves.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Celestia said with a smile that was one of awe and excitement. “I’ve never seen creatures like this before.”

“How many dragons live here?” Luna asked looking back up at their escort. “I’ve never seen this many species before.”

“It seems the rumors of several other dragon species living here are true,” their escort told them. “We may see more the further we go into the island.”

“Okay,” both princesses walked further into the forest spotting more and more dragons minding their own business while marveling at some of the flora and fauna that existed on the island. When they came across some mysterious shrubs that were in the way, they all noticed a mysterious light coming from it. Their escort pushed past with his magic and both royal princesses were in awe at what they saw.

Several dragons were going about their day in a large village. The buildings all had different forms of dragons sculpted into each of them. Some of the buildings adjacent were very large, supported by beams under them, despite the heavy volcanic rock. Columns of pure marble with sculpted dragon skulls on top symbolized who this island belonged to. The streets had unique carvings on the floors as did some of the buildings; they depicted dragons either dancing or working and were the pique of craftsmanship. The mountain side was very large and had several caves that seemed to lead into the volcano.

“This is incredible,” Celestia said in amazement. “It’s even bigger than when we were in the air just now.”

“I must admit, this is rather incredible,” Silent Rose said.

“Oh, you must be the princesses from Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos’s lineage,” a female voice called out, getting their attention. “Welcome to Mystic Scale Island.”

All three looked into the direction the voice had come from discovering a dragoness who was now touching down onto the ground. She was rather tall and curvaceous, as well. Her body was wrapped in a cloth that resembled a toga, and her majestic wings were folded back. She had a leaf crown atop her head with silverish scales and a cream underbelly. Her emerald eyes gleamed like shining gems and her smile was radiant as she looked at the children.

“Wow, a dragon, I never thought I’d meet one up close,” Celestia said with a smile. She wanted to run up to it, but was held back by their consort.

“Princess, let's not be rude to our hosts,” he told them.

“It’s quite alright, they're only young after all,” she told them. “I’m the king's consort, Spectral Flare,” she told them. “And I’m going to be your tour guide to our lovely island.”

“A tour, is that right?” Silent asked.

“Yes, his royal highness has even prepared a gathering in your honor,” she said with a smile. “My name is Diamond Scales, and I’m going to be your tour guide.”

“That would be lovely,” the escort said as he, Celestia, and Luna followed the silver dragoness with smiles on their faces.

“We’ll start off with showing you some of the mines that we get the ore with which we use to create our gems.” She pointed towards a large mine that was being used to cultivate different gemstones by other dragons, some giving friendly waves towards the four individuals.

“Interesting, you can make gems here?” Celestia asked with curiosity.

“Yes, we grow fire rubies here.”

“That’s quite peculiar,” Celestia and Luna’s escort said. “I’ve never heard of gemstones that could be grown that way.”

“How exactly does that work?” Luna added.

“Excellent question,” she began as she sat on a rock that was near them, “we first extract the ore from our dig sites and then once done, we have specially selected workers that carefully grow and age them into perfect fire rubies.”

“Amazing!”

“Wow!”

“It’s not just Fire Rubies we grow and age here,” she added. “We also grow Ocean Sapphires, Forest Emeralds, and our own special jewels that only age properly at night called Moonstones and Sunstones.”

“Moonstones?” Luna asked.

“Sunstones?” Celestia asked.

“Yes,” she added, “wait here for a moment.” She left and entered the cave. A minute later she came back with two glimmering gems, one in each hand, and gave them to the sisters. They were mesmerized by their glow as they each shone beautifully.

“These are our Sunstones and Moonstones, both of which have unique characteristics,” Diamond said with a smile. “The Moonstone at night gives off a special glow in the dark that makes it seem as if the moon is shimmering, while the Sunstone has a special heat it gives off during the coldest of nights. We normally have these stones for when the Summer and Winter Solstice comes into play.”

“That sounds amazing,” Celestia said with a smile.

“Is there anything else like this on the island?”

“There is actually, but we have one of each type of gem that is within our apothecary,” she said with a smile.

“As much as I appreciate the idea of seeing more of the island, we should be meeting with-”

“We’d love to see more,” Luna grinned widely.

“Yes, show us more please,” Celestia added, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“B-but princesses-”

“Oh, come on, we at least want to see the whole island while we’re here,” Celestia said, pulling on his pants leg.

“We can also learn more about the natives this way,” she said with a smile. Their escort was flabbergasted but sighed knowing how children and their antics often could not be so easily calmed and decided to simply go along with it instead.

“Alright, but we must meet with the king when we’re finished,” he mentioned. Both girls smiled as they turned back to their guide Diamond Scales who smiled seeing their beaming faces. Their tour continued as they explored the island around them. They saw more of the gem mines and the different unique gems and their special effects.

The Ocean Sapphire for example, sounded like the literal ocean. They also saw large deposits of Fire Rubies that had been cultivated over the years. The next set of gems they came across were Fulgur Garnets, a special type of gemstone that actually emitted electricity and doubled as lightning rods for severe thunderstorms. What had the girls the most intrigued were the gemstones called Skymeralds, that would allow anyone without wings to walk on clouds so long as they wore it. Every few days they would need to be recharged; thankfully recharging stations had been set up all around the kingdom. Another type she explained were Dreamstones which served as a therapeutic method for residents who were plagued with nightmares or mental health issues.

“Okay, that completes our tour of the gems here,” Diamond said with a smile.

“This is so amazing,” Celestia said as she and her sister eyed the pretty gems around them.

“Now, we should show you the Apothecary,” she added.

“Okay,” Luna added. She and her sister followed Diamond with their escort following closely behind, unaware of a flash in his eyes. After a while, they stepped out of the gem-filled caves and back into the town where they came upon a large number of shops.

“Is this your marketplace?” Silent asked.

“That’s right, and here we have the local apothecary where we store and distribute potions, tonics, and medicine to all of the island residents,” Diamond added, pointing to one of the shops that was in front of them.

“Ooohhh.” They both marveled at all the sparkling glass containers of the shop which held different symbols and shapes of bottles.

“What’s in those bottles?” Celestia asked.

“We use them for our scented oils and flowers that we grow here,” Diamond added.

“Scented oils?” both royals asked.

“Exactly, we have to use special chambers to create them to make sure that they don’t cause problems for the others that visit here. We heat them and everything else at a proper temperature before moving them up for sale.”

“Wait, how is everything heated here if you're not using magic?” Luna asked.

“That is thanks to the engineering that our kind and the other races here have developed, allowing us to create a specialized generator that’s connected by a series of tunnels that tap deep beneath this caldera. It utilizes the magma deep below in a subterranean chamber, running it through those tunnels to power some of our machines, forges, and even bathhouses throughout our kingdom.”

“You have bathhouses here?” Celestia perked up, reminiscing of the bathhouse that her and Luna used back home, they wondered if it worked similarly to theirs.

“Yes, we have both public and private ones to suit the needs of our chosen guests to help them be as comfortable as possible while they visit.”

“Wow…” both royal sisters said with smiles on their faces. “That must take a lot of magic to regulate that much magma.”

“It does,” Diamond said with a smile on her face. She then looked at the sky to see that it was close to evening before looking down to face her guests. “Look how late it's gotten; we really must be going if we're going to make it in time to greet his highness.”

“That would be nice,” Silent said as he nodded in agreement.

An hour later they came across the dead volcano and what looked like a large series of buildings, upon closer inspection they seemed to be intricately carved into the volcanic rock and some seemed to shimmer. It wasn’t until the Princesses noticed when climbing up that the buildings and monuments were lined with a countless number of jewels and had intricate patterns that adorned the front in a menagerie of colors.

A pair of giant doors opened up, revealing a large cavern inside, it was very spacious and held large golden crystal chandeliers that illuminated the room with their lustrous glow.

Once they fully opened, Diamond Scales led them into the cavern where they gazed upon the locals that were walking around the building. They could see several other dragons roaming around doing normal and daily tasks, such as cleaning, standing guard, working, or tending to the nursery where most of the eggs are.

“I do hope that the negotiations with our royal monarch run smoothly,” Diamond said with a smile.

“We hope so as well, madam,” The aristocrat said as they finally made it to a pair of double doors. The doors were different compared to the first two. The doors were black with a crest showing a pair of crimson dragons on the front with a sword in the center. A pair of guards were on each side of the door as they lowered their spears for the group, allowing them to pass.

“Their royal highnesses, King Ryu and Queen Tiamat, are expecting an audience with our honored guests, the Alicorn Princesses of Equestria,” Diamond said, turning to one of the guards posted at the door. He nodded and flew deeper inside to announce their arrival.

Once inside, they spotted a massive throne room separated by a second pair of opened doors flanked by several guards at the threshold with a few servants working on the decorum inside of the chamber. Diamond then signaled the three to wait while she walked up to the thrones to welcome their royal guests.

“Presenting their royal highness, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria, to their royal highness, King Ryu and Queen Tiamat of the Mana Dragons.” Diamond announced as the trio moved along the smoothed volcanic rock that created a beautiful black glossy surface which was further enhanced by being adorned with shells and gemstones which made it shimmer under the glowing lights.

Once they reached the end of the grand hall, there was a dais with a pair of onyx black thrones with golden inlay set in intricate patterns. The owners of said thrones were a pair of dragons, the one on the left had purple scales and a light green underbelly with green spines dotting her back and longer spines covering the top of her head like long tresses of hair that almost covered her ruby red eyes. She wore a beautiful royal purple and crimson robe that clung tightly to her perfect hourglass figure. A calm yet serene smile spread across her lips as she witnessed the pair. Her figure was practically gorgeous as well as her curves which would leave most creatures stunned by her beauty. She has a single Fire Ruby in the shape of a diamond in her crown.

The other dragon next to her was male, he had glossy black scales with a silver underbelly and spines paired with piercing green eyes, he wore green and purple toga with the family crest emblazoned on the front of his muscled chest. His large, muscled arms rested on his throne while a strong tail hung lazily to the side of his throne. He was dressed in what looked like a royal garb as his left shoulder was covered but his right shoulder wasn’t. A sash was wrapped around his waist and the crown on his head had three specific jewels. One a Fire Ruby, one an Ocean Sapphire, and Skymerald in three sockets of the crown.

The guards that stood on either side of the room wore little to no clothing on their upper bodies including some of the females, much to the sisters' surprise. Their bodies glistened like fine metal from thick reflective scales that gave them an appearance of a knight wearing polished armor, their snouts had a small spine-like horn that jutted out around a few inches from their faces, long spindly tails hung from them looking thin as a whip yet were adorned with spikes along with their wings which were tucked back like spiny cloaks.

“Greetings, your majesties,” Queen Tiamat said with a smile on her face “It’s so nice to meet you. It is an honor having the daughters of the sun and moon grace our island.”

The alicorn sisters bowed in return. “And we are honored you have allowed us to see such a paradise.”

She smiled, as she and her husband stood from their thrones. “Forgive my confusion, but weren’t we supposed to be meeting with the Royal King and Queen of Equestria?” Queen Tiamat said, gesturing towards the smaller alicorns.

“The royal majesties have a pressing matter to attend to in the northern lands, and they asked the royal daughters to take their place,” Silent spoke in defense of the sisters.

“We came here, in our parents' place to help with a peace treaty between our two kingdoms,” Celestia said with a smile.

“Well given how sweet you are, maybe we could work something out,” Tiamat added with a smile.

-Later-

Celestia and Luna were smiling as negotiations went smoothly. Soon enough a couple hours had passed, talks of creating relations were over, and after they were given a tour of the castle to show off the rest of the structure to the diarchs.

“And this is where we have our Dragon Nursery,” Tiamat said as she pointed at the eggs that were currently near special rocks.

“Aww, I bet they look so cute tucked inside, like they are sleeping waiting to see their parents.” Celestia cooed looking at a clutch of black and grey spotted eggs.

“But why do you have some of these clutches here, shouldn’t they be with their families until they hatch?” Luna inquired.

“Yes, normally they would be, this is strictly just for our staff or any others who live onsite with the royal family. It allows us to keep close tabs on the young in case urgent care is needed.”

“What about the rest of the kingdom, do they do the same thing?” Celestia asked, arching a brow.

“No, but those are in separate nurseries for the rest of the subjects who live in the kingdom.”

“So you have multiple nurseries around the island?”

“Yes, but it also depends on what dragon class we have as each of the eggs are grown differently, even those of the royal family.”

“Then where does the royal family hold their eggs?” Celestia wondered.

“I’m sorry your highness, but that’s information only the king and queen can’t disclose, especially to outsiders.”

“Even to us?”

“Sorry, but I don’t make the rules,” Diamond said with a sigh. “But hopefully we can open up our borders to yours in the near future.”

“I’m sure that ponykind would be open to meeting if my sister and I convinced them,” Celestia said with a smile. Luna followed suit as did the Aristocrat, and Diamond continued their tour around the Castle. They saw an array of things, like armories, servants running around doing daily tasks, and clothing being cleaned.

“What’s that?” Celestia asked as she pointed at some of the fabric that was currently being hung on clothes lines. There was one that caught her eyes that looked like a striped sun pattern and another that held a moon and star pattern on it. “They're so pretty…”

“You’ve got some good eyes, kids,” a female voice said, getting their attention. “Just finished crafting both of them a few hours ago.”

Celestia, Luna, and the unicorn all turned towards the voice and spotted another female dragon. The girls and the unicorn were stunned when they saw her though. It was another dragon species that was different from the others. What got their attention was that she didn’t have one or two arms, but six arms and she was holding several strands of what look like strings through her hands. She had silverfish blue scales with a cream underbelly. Part of her scales had green patches near her, and instead of wings, she had six long legs sticking out from behind her. Two long horns protruded out of her head, as she looked at both Celestia and Luna with two of her six eyes.

“Wh-what’re you?” Celestia asked, a mix of fear and curiosity on her face.

“I’m what you call a Silk Drake,” she said with a smile. “The names Silk Scales, and I create some of the special fabric around here. Including the ones that you’re looking at right now.”

“Wait, you made this?” Celestia asked in surprise.

“Yes, from my very own silk no less,” she added, confusing the aristocrat and the royal sisters.

“Wait, from your own Silk?” Luna asked.

“That’s right, I can give a demonstration if you’d like,” she added as she moved the six back legs out in front and began creating webs from the legs. Spinning the web she began to create the special fabric, in a matter of minutes a series of intricate patterns began to appear before their eyes.

Soon enough she was done weaving and what she made was a simple toga in the princesses size, they were amazed at how little time it took her to make such a thing

“That’s amazing,” Luna said with a smile on her face, seeing the fabric being woven so elegantly.

“Thank you, I take pride in my work and love making such beautiful garments for everyone on the isle here, you can keep this as a gift from me, to you.”

“Really?” Celestia asked. Silk simply held out her hands and gave it to Celestia. She smiled at her and did the same for Luna, giving her one of her fabrics.

“Thank you, Miss. Silk,” Luna added, waving at her while she looked on at the trio warily as the royal sisters, the unicorn, and Diamond walked away from her.

“As you can see, she’s very friendly,” Diamond explained.

“Not to be rude, but what exactly was she?” Silent asked. “I’ve never seen anything like her before.”

“Silk drakes can weave and make threads in minutes, focusing allows them to create many kinds of woven masterpieces,” Diamond said with a smile on her face. “There are several on the island that help create clothing for the locals here.”

“That’s amazing,” Luna added.

“That’s not all we have here,” she pointed to what looked like a large room that was holding young dragon hatchlings inside. Some were looking at a board, others were reading, while others were practicing magic in the room. Sparks were flying and there

“What is all this?” Celestia asked.

“And here we have our designated school for arcane learning, where most of the dragons that are able to use magic are sent to learn, maintain, and control their magical abilities.”

“Incredible,” Luna said in amazement.

“But I thought dragons couldn’t use magic?” Celestia wondered, making the dragoness chuckle.

“Well, you are mostly correct, to our knowledge, the Mana Dragons are the only race of dragons that exist with the ability to use magic like you ponies.”

“Interesting, do they get cutie marks as well?”

“You mean those marks on your shoulders? No, each and every one of these students will leave this school on a path of their own choosing.”

“You mean… they make their own choice?”

“Exactly,” Diamond added with a smile. “We don’t really need a mark to show we’re special, we just try to prove what we do with our actions instead.”

“As interesting as that sounds, we should really be leaving soon,” Silent saide, getting the attention of both princesses and the escort. “Your parents are going to return in a few days, and they request that you’d be home by then.”

“Aw, do we have too?” Celestia said with big sad eyes.

“I wanted to explore and meet more of the locals,” Luna added.

“It’s your parents' order, dear sisters,” he said with a sigh.

“Ok…” Both girls said with a defeated sigh.

“I think I can help you with your little problem,” Diamond said as she reached into her pocket and began rummaging through it, taking out a bag. “You can use this to come back anytime.”

“What is it?” Celestia asked as she and her sister took the bag and looked inside to see several rainbow-colored crystals inside.

“These are portal gems,” she said with a smile. “You can use them to instantly come back here whenever you want.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” they both said with a smile.

-Present-

“Whoa, whoa, hold on,” Spike said getting the royal sisters attention.

“What is it, Spike?” Luna inquired.

“I don’t understand,” Spike said in confusion, hearing this part of the story with Celestia and Luna sighing. "If one of the noble families at the time had attacked the island, why didn’t they do it right here? And how did they even get to the island if only you had the means to go there?”

“They wanted to wait until they were vulnerable, and they didn’t do it alone,” Luna began. “It was right before we made a deal with the king that involved your egg. The one that he gave us.”

“But how? I’ve never met them, and I doubt that they would know-!” It was then Spike realized what she just said, the gears turned as several connections became clear within his mind. “Wait, are you saying that this King Ryu, who I never met, is my father?”

“Yes Spike,” Celestia said with a sigh, as a small tear trailed down her cheek. “He and Queen Tiamat are your parents; we were hoping for the right time to tell you about and based on the circumstances that time is now.”

“Wait, does that mean I’m royalty technically? Why would you hide this from me?” Spike asked, feeling hurt by this revelation.

“We were afraid of how you would react if you knew the truth,” Celestia added. “We’d thought that you would assume the worst of us.”

Spike’s face softened, he still felt frustrated but reigned it in while taking a deep breath for a few moments. “Ok I guess I can understand how bad that would sound, but I don’t hate either of you. Sure, I’m a little angry that you never told me until now, but that doesn’t change how much I love the both of you. Plus, you do remember that I have been living with six of the craziest ponies around and one of them happens to defy all logic too.”

Spike took a moment as he thought back on what they told him. He wondered why they would cover the fact he was on the island of an old settlement of dragons where apparently his birth parents lived. They didn’t say much about his father besides his earlier conclusion and the only thing that made sense was that he was connected to the royal family of the island that was horribly massacred and he was apparently the lost heir to said kingdom. Spike had so many questions but didn’t know where to start after what his mother and aunt had told him. He was still mentally reeling at the fact they knew who his birth parents were. Taking a deep breath, he then let it out slowly as he composed himself, then looked back towards his adoptive mother with a calm smile.

“Ok I guess I can accept that at the moment.” He conceded.

“Thank you Spike, but how did you come to the conclusion from what we just told you?” Luna asked, arching a brow in intrigue.

“You live with somepony smart like Twilight long enough, you tend to pick up a few things.” He added. “So, the nightmares that I’ve been having, are a sign of him trying to take over my body for his revenge?”

“Yes,” Celestia added. “He was so filled with rage for what they’ve done, but we didn’t want any more blood on our hands.”

“But I don’t understand. If my father was wary of outsiders like you said he was, then why would he attack the Everfree castle? What happened here that led to him wanting to destroy Equestria of all places?” Once hearing that, the royal sisters frowned sorrowfully in remembrance of what came that dreadful day.

“It was what happened after we left, Spike. The greatest crime anypony or anyone could ever have foreseen,” Celestia followed up. “And our naivety of what was to come had cost us a new nation and a new friendship.”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked.

-Everfree Castle Grounds-

It was a quiet evening as the rolling fields outside of the castle moved along as the royal chariot flew over the boundary of the castle grounds nearing the princess's home. The pair were happy they got to return but sad they couldn’t stay any longer back on the island to learn more about the kingdom. Ponies were going about their usual days here and there, trying to live out their lives. Near the small villages was a giant chasm where the castle of the Royal family resided.

They would stop when they notice the Royal chariot going to castle grounds. The Chariot finally touched down onto the grounds, guards waiting and welcoming the chariot with raised spears.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Welcome Back,” The guards said as they saluted the royal sisters.

“At ease everyone,” Silent told the guards as he helped out the princesses from their ride and walked towards the castle. “Come now you two, you both had a long journey now and we should get you girls to bed.”

“But when are mum and dad getting back?” Luna asked with a sigh.

“I’m sure that they’ll arrive later in the evening,” their escort told them. Around that time, a guard showed up with a letter in hand, it had the royal seal and was wrapped in a ribbon indicating that it was an urgent message to be delivered straight to the royal family.

“My liege!”

“What is it?” Silent asked. The guard simply handed him a letter.

“Oh, a letter from mother and father. I wonder what news they have for us?” Celestia mused as she unfurled the scroll and began to read it.

“What’s it say, sister?”

“It says that they won’t be back for a few more days due to a cosmic event they will be handling, until then we will just have to wait to inform them of what we learned.”

“Hmm, I wonder what it is?”

Celestia shrugged. “The letter never said, just that they will be busy related to it.”

“Hmm, then it seems that they won’t be back for another few days then,” Silent said. “Which reminds me, I should really get you girls to bed.”

“But we…‘yawn’… aren’t tired yet…” Celestia began

“That yawn says otherwise,” he added with a sigh. “Now why don’t we go to your bedroom and go to bed my young maidens?”

“Very well, I suppose we can… yawn...lie down…” Luna added as she and her sister were tired from the trip.

“All right then,” he said with a smile as he carried both girls in his arms. He then entered the castle. Once inside, they walked past the other guards, and they saluted them as they walked towards the princess's bedroom.

“We’re here girls,” he told them. “Would you like me to-!” He stopped when he noticed both of the young alicorns slowly drifting off. They sleepily walked to their beds while unknown to them, the bag holding the crystals fell out of their sash. Sadly, they didn’t notice since they were too tired from their trip. But their escort saw it, grinning to himself at the opportunity he quickly grabbed the bag in his magic. Once in his grasp, he quickly checked to make sure the powder had done its work, neither of them stirred. Carefully walking out of the princess's bedroom, he closed the door behind him and smiled to himself.

“Sir?”

“Ah!” He yelped, nearly dropping the bag and quickly hid it behind his back trying his best to stay calm without gaining the suspicion of the Pegasus guard that was floating just a few feet in front of him. “Goodness, you startled me.”

“Forgive my actions sir, but I wanted to see how you and the princesses were doing after your voyage.” the guard asked. “Are the princesses alright?”

“Yes, yes they are alright,” Silent added with a sigh. “I just took them to their bedroom and they both fell asleep quite rapidly. The little tykes must’ve been exhausted. And aside from you startling me after I just put them to bed, I’m fine.”

“I understand sir, carry on with your night,” he added as the Pegasus guard flew away.

“Too close,” Silent said to himself quietly as he left their bedroom, the princess blissfully unaware of the events to come. What was unknown to the stallion, was that two of the crystals from the bag that he just took, fell under the crack of the bed and into the princesses Bedroom.

-Elsewhere-

In a secret location, the unicorn stallion was walking through the streets towards a meadow that was just outside of the castle and town’s borders. The valley itself was called Silent Meadows and it was a quiet open field with very few buildings out there. Out in the meadow was a building that he saw just above the horizon. He took one last look around him to make sure that he wasn’t followed by anyone, before entering the building. He went inside, and as soon as he closed the door, torches around the room began to light up. He was met with several ponies that had hoods covering them and their faces.

“What took you so long?” one patron in the dark room said. Silent Rose was with twenty other ponies, but they were all hidden in the shadows inside of a large room.

“Was putting the princesses to sleep,” Silent Rose told them. “I used a spell to lull the girls to sleep. It was all I could to keep from arousing suspicion. To anyone else, it looked like they were tired from their trip.”

“Good, now we must talk about your encounter with these so-called magical dragons,” another patron said in annoyance. “How can they be more advanced than us ponies? We’ve always seen them as mindless greedy raging beasts.”

“They already pose a threat to our position as the greatest country in existence,” one of the figures spoke. “The fact that they can use magic and have different branches and resources that we don’t is an insult to everything we’ve worked hard for.”

“If these dragons make an appearance, they’ll destroy everything we as ponies have worked so hard for in this council to be forged,” another responded. Many within the room murmured in agreement.

“So how do we handle them then, we can’t just openly attack them on our own, we’ll be ruined if found out we were responsible.”

“We shall make plans with a raiding party. We’ll use some swords for hire from outside of our country, then set sail for the isles. We’ll wipe these dragons and the rest of those freaks off the face of Equestria. And if the royals ask, we tell them the dragons planned an attack on us and we had to act in self-defense.”

“We do have mercenaries on standby, and they can be at the island within days to not draw suspicion,” one of the nobles responded.

“Actually, you could be there within minutes,” Silent followed up. He then pulled out a bag of the crystals that were given to the princesses he thankfully had swiped from them.

“These magic crystals allow instant teleportation to their kingdom; with these we can successfully infiltrate them with a fleet of ships and strike at their castle before they could be able to defend themselves.”

Many of those present looked towards one another in hesitation, they wanted to do something about these mana dragons but were not sure how to without being pinned for such a heinous plan. While others wondered what to do, something else brought up a valid point for the plan.

“We still can’t be too sure with how well adapted you said they are in magic,” one of them added. “You are suggesting attacking a kingdom full of magic users, who are dragons no less. What if they do have ways to defend themselves as well and respond?”

“I have something for that as well,” he added. Silent reached into his satchel and pulled out a small black rock that seemed to reflect the light off the surface, the tabular shape of the dark stone wasn’t the only thing the ponies in the room noticed, extending his arm he smirked, “Observe.” And when he dropped it, his horn began to glow, and the stone stopped for a moment, but the aura fizzled out. He attempted to lift it up again, but the rock stayed on the floor. The audience was intrigued at first and wondered what exactly the noble was playing at.

“What is it?”

“This my fine friends is the answer to our problem, a special type of stone that can absorb and nullify all forms of magic. There’s no name to this substance but the potential property of this stone is near limitless at what we can do.” He grinned.

But most of the nobles were not very impressed. “And where do you have the means of acquiring these anti-magic stones?”

Silent Rose grinned even wider when asked. “That’s a good question, I heard from a trader that lived on the island along with gaining this sample, an island not too far from where the mana-dragons lived. An island of shapeshifters that has a near unlimited supply, and it’s said they used this in almost everything.”

“And you’re suggesting that we attack this island discreetly so we can gain the material needed to raid the mana-dragons kingdom, and how exactly, Silent Rose do you expect such a plot to succeed without anypony finding out?”

“Well, we would need to eliminate all witnesses first and modify whatever we find for our gathered forces for the attack, but I do suggest one of several weapons we can use or create once we finish the first phase.” He said and with a flick of his glowing hand a large magical holographic display showed several designs of both weapons and armor. One of them caught their attention the most, which was a large square shield that seemed to be made out of a slab of the same stone. A pair of large chains was wrapped around the top and bottom as a form of hand hold, while a metal frame in the back acted as a means of support for the wielder.

Everyone was intrigued by the displays the stallion showed them, the thought of using such a material that could absorb magic of any kind was very appealing, many wondered what advantage it could give them if they used it against the princesses, or any other magic users for that matter.

It would make them unstoppable.

“Wait.” A tentative voiced called out interrupting the rooms brief moment of grandiose they turned to its owner, he was a young stallion with a blue mane and tail as well as a white coat. He was dressed in ceremonial garbs and battle armor that had his cutie mark of a Shimmering Saber surrounded by stars.

“And what is it you have to say Sir Saber Star?”

The now named stallion flinched as everypony in the room stared at him with a critical eye, gulping to himself he cleared his throat, straightening his shoulders up. “I understand the need to eliminate the dragons themselves, but to attack another race for just the means to an end. It doesn’t sit well for me, and I don’t know too much if it should be done?”

“What exactly are you saying Sir Saber?” Silent glares.

“Uh, well maybe we can think of an alternative to our plan than just go and slaughter this whole island of shape shifters for a bunch of rocks, how do you know the information acquired is true and not some lie?”

Silent smiled at the young pony. “Because I had it confirmed when I asked the king and queen about exploring uncharted territory and told me what they are capable of.”

The group remained Silent to Sir Saber’s question, until one of them spoke up in annoyance.

“Need I remind you Sir Saber that the only reason we are including you in this meeting here is that the father of your household had insisted on proving his family of joining our inner circle, and furthermore to help wipe away the debt your family owes to representative Silent Rose here. The fact you question the methods he is suggesting makes us wonder whether or not you are what you say to be as a warrior, or nothing but a coward that hides at the first sign of conflict,” One of them mentioned.

“It would be quite a shame if the whole of the castle, nay the kingdom found out the entire Saber family was just a bunch of soft-spoken cowards instead of the best guardsmen that the king and queen have seen since this castle was uprighted.” Silent mocked. Saber clenched his fists when he heard that, it was one thing to be belittled in such a way in front of the noble families, but it was another when having his family name and status put under question.

“I’m no coward, representative and I’ll show you what I can do.”

“Then prove it with action, not just empty promises. Or is that all a scared little colt like you can do, such a disappointment if you ask me.” He sneered.

“No! I have what it takes! Just… just tell me what I can do, and I’ll do it.” He said shakily but kept his stance firm but couldn’t stop the slight shiver in him as his mind toiled in a cloud of uncertainty.

“I sense the doubt in you boy, don’t think I'm a fool for not seeing it,” Silent replied piercing his gaze down at the young stallion

“Then let me put this in a way you will understand, if you are not with us. Then you will not be useful in what we intend to do?”

He gulped. “What?”

With that question, the white coated red maned elder unicorn smiled sinisterly and snapped his fingers. The next thing the young unicorn realized, a sword was magically flung from one of the guards' hips and whizzed just an inch past his head and horn impaling itself against the wall.

“Let me remind you Sir Saber that you will not be the only one we will make an example of. Your wife and family would be included as well whether they are aware or not. Do I make myself clear?” Silent said evenly which got a firm nod from the guard as he did his best to relax his heart rate.

“So, we’re all in agreement then?” one of them added and a plethora of agreements filled the room.

“Alright Silent Rose, we’ll go with your plan, but we need to know what creatures live on that island,” another patron mentioned.

“Let’s just say that they are enemies of Equestria and some that I personally have grudges with,” he added. “We’ll be ready within days.”

With that said, the room was drowned in a cacophonous noise of cheering as the rest of the nobles in the room gathered together in union. Once they finished, they walked out of the room and Silent Rose watched the riled-up party as he walked off with a malicious grin on his face.

-Mystic Scale Island/1 Day Later-

Back at the island, Queen Tiamat and King Ryu find themselves in the middle of a deep conversation over the idea of possibly opening their kingdom to the ponies in the future. They only had one visit, but the princesses left a positive impression on the royal couple and hoped it would mean being able to see Equestria one day.

“So, Ryu, what do you think would happen when we meet with the parents of the two princesses that arrived on this island?” Queen Tiamat asked.

“I’m not sure, but I do hope that things are smooth with meeting them, and hopefully we can broaden our horizons after being isolated for so long,” King Ryu added with a smile on his face.

“If this works, we can have a better bond between our kin and theirs,” Queen Tiamat followed up. “It can create a new level of trust between other races as well.”

“Still, it feels like there a wave of-”

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and a dragon flew into the throne room, landing in front of the king and queen, panting as if he had run non-stop, the royal couple was confused at the sudden intrusion.

“Whatever is the matter, youngling?” Queen Tiamat inquired while the dragon in question caught his breath.

“Your majesties, something is terribly wrong.”

“What is it?”

“A fleet of unmarked ships have appeared over the western horizon; it looks like a war fleet!”

“Are you certain of this?” King Ryu asked.

“I’m positive, my king, they appear to have several ships and could be here any-”

A loud explosion slammed against the castle causing it to shake, making dust fall to the floor. The guards tensed up brandishing their weapons in readiness.

“What was that?” Queen Tiamat asked as she and her husband rushed outside with their guard in tow and what they saw left them in shock. Fires billowed from destroyed buildings as arrows tipped with fire while magical blasts assaulted the island in a mass of destruction and ruin.

“Who told us where we were?” Queen Tiamat asked.

“I don’t know,” King Ryu added. “I’m going to fly ahead and see what is going on, you stay here. I can’t risk you getting hurt. Especially not with our son still inside.”

“Please be careful,” she told him as she hugged her lover. King Ryu returned the hug and turned to his two guards.

“Keep her safe,” he told them. The two guards saluted as King Ryu turned to another group of guards. “I’ll need you three to come with me.” King Ryu and the three guards then spread their wings and took off, leaving his wife and her two guards behind. Flying into the air, Ryu along with his guard flew towards the owners of whomever would dare to savage their lands in such an act of cowardice.

Once they arrived, they were left in horror as a fleet of ships appeared along the coast of the isle bombarding its shores in a mass of ballistae, magic, and slews of gryphons, minotaur's, diamond dogs, and few ponies along with a mix of other races thundering down upon their people like a swarm of locusts.

Many of the citizens fought back with their own magic but it only fizzled out the moment they casted, only to be quickly dispatched by a sword or arrow piercing their nigh impenetrable scales.

“Go destroy them all, leave no survivors!” A minotaur shouted.

“Leave nothing left alive, burn this island to the ground!”

“Find all of their eggs and destroy them!”

Ryu heard their comments and was enraged. Whoever sent them wanted to wipe out the kin that lived on his peaceful island.

“What is the meaning of this?" Ryu demanded the guard dragon.

“It’s the invaders your majesties,” the dragon panted as he was glad that their king arrived. “They came out of nowhere. I don’t know how or why but they're trying to slaughter us all.”

Ryu growled. “How dare they commit such a grievous act, and they have no means to explain themselves. Do you know who their leader is?”

“No sire, we only know that they suddenly appeared from the southeastern edge and then split off, I think they're trying to take the island from two fronts.”

“Then that means they’ll be meeting us at the center cutting us off.” Ryu huffed. “And what of their weapons and armor is there anything they have we can use against them?”

“The only other thing that I’ve seen is whenever someone attempts to use magic against them it has no effect.”

“But how's that possible, the only thing capable of that power would be…” Ryu replied but then absolute horror registered on him as he realized where they had acquired the means.

“They… they wouldn’t dare…”

“Send a messenger as soon as you can to- AGH!” Ryu grunted as an arrow hit him in the leg. It wasn’t too powerful since it grazed his scales, but it stung a little to him. Turning to the owner of that attack growling in rage he bore his gaze upon a griffon archer notching a black arrow with a spiraled tip. Before he could launch another the king rocketed towards him unsheathing his claws, he swiped straight into his side leaving deep long gashes as one of his wings was shredded making the griffon fall to his death. Ryu quickly grabbed the arrow in his grasp with his tail and flew back to the group while inspecting the projectile.

The arrow had a thick black shaft with a series of markings indicating it was inscribed with runes to cause who knows what kind of damage and a long-spiraled tip that had curved hooks at the base of the head meaning it would dig into the flesh of its unfortunate victim and upon closer inspection the king realized the material was made of enchanted obsidian. One of the few known strongest materials used in a weapon which meant one thing.

These creatures were fully prepared to kill dragons.

A sudden chill of dread crawled up the dragon's spine, he worried what this meant for him and his kind, what did want? Money, power, resources, land? No, he was no fool, based on the weapons, the armor, and the number of forces that were gathered. They were organized and determined to ensure him and his race along with the others that lived here on the island were utterly eliminated. This was no mere invasion or raid, this… this was an extermination.

“Gather our forces, we may have to evacuate everyone on the island,” he said towards the guards. “They’re here to annihilate us all. We may have to evacuate and figure out who sent them to attack us to begin with.”

“Understood,” they said as they left to go and aid the others.

Once they cleared, the king looked over towards a group of civilians that were either running or trying to fly away from the crumbling building but noticed a few more were struggling to get out. Quickly, he dove to them and before a section of carved rock would land on them, he smashed it with his strength. Landing next to the group, he saw one of them trapped under some rocks. He moved over to lift them using his magic he freed the dragons using his tail as a handhold for one that was struggling on a bad leg.

“Get yourselves to safety, we are evacuating the island immediately.” He commanded.

“Yes, your highness.”

After checking that no one else was left in the area Ryu beat his wings, taking him up into the air and quickly headed in the direction his queen was currently located.

He flew as fast as his wings carried him until he was suddenly blindsided by a barrage of black arrows and magical blasts. Weaving in and out through the fire, he swerved and twisted, zig-zagging the best he could until a couple arrows hit his left wing and a magic blast clipped him in the side of his torso. He began to rapidly lose altitude, and desperately tried to right his angle but was unable to fix his trajectory until he slammed into a mountainside. Tumbling down from the impact until he hit the ground hard. Groaning out in pain, but thanks to crashing into the loose rocks above caused a chain reaction in which a rockslide soon fell over where Ryu lay. The last thing he saw before darkness enveloped him, burying him under a pile of boulders and debris.

A low groan could be heard as the king began to awaken, he felt dizziness and a throbbing headache pound throughout his head. He could only see darkness which right now indicated he was still currently buried in rubble.

Grunting in both anger and pain he used his dragon strength to push away the rock and debris finally able to see sunlight washing over him once again. He then desperately looked around to find a few dead guards and civilians either scorched by powerful magic or from the blades of obsidian weapons.

That was when he realized that his wife and egg were waiting for him back at the evacuation point, knowing there was little time he opened up his wings and ignoring the pain on his body, flew towards the area as fast as his wings could carry him. Once he arrived at the entrance, he noticed nobody was guarding it, it was an old cave mouth that led down to what looked like a normal animal den but had a secret system of tunnels and caverns that were interconnected to certain parts of the island allowing for quick and safe passage for any of the denizens during an attack.

He pulled out the hidden door which to normal ponies or creatures would’ve been too heavy to move on their own and set it aside on the cave wall, revealing a long dark cavern. Using his fire breath, he grabbed a stick to make a torch and quickly followed the path to the dock where the evacuation ships were stationed thanks to bioluminescent moss they used as a guide.

Along the way he noticed a few splatters of blood here and there while smelling the coppery scent of it throughout the tunnel, which meant many wounded had escaped through here. Ryu continued following the path until it led out to a large cavern that then morphed into a wide opening out into a lagoon where the docks for the ships parked there were maintained.

But to the king's shock, several of the ships were either burning or shattered to splinters, bodies of his subjects covered the ground, turning the beautiful white pearlescent sands, staining it into a dark crimson. The docks connected to the ships were the only thing that seemed to be standing, and to the king's relief a couple of ships were left at the far end.

Then he heard the sound of groaning, looking over at a pile of scorched wood. Quickly he moved over and shoved away the splintered planks to reveal a female sea dragon and a young male rock drake who was currently nursing an arm. Looks of relief washed over them seeing someone that wasn’t trying to end them.

“Your majesty, you’re alive.” The seadragon replied. “We’d thought we’d be dead.”

“And you’re not now, what happened?”

“A group of marauders came here and destroyed the escape ships, and they… they.... they must’ve followed us so…” The young drake trailed off while the seadragon rubbed his shoulder in comfort.

“They killed the others and then lit the ships on fire so we couldn’t escape, they were brutal, merciless. If it weren’t for some debris covering us, we probably would have met the same fate,” she said grimly looking towards the lifeless bodies in view.

Ignoring the bodies, Ryu focused on the two that still lived, feeling determination ignite inside of him, his eyes hardening. “Can you both stand?”

They nodded, setting themselves upright shakily. Ryu then found a spear embedded into a ship's hull and tossed it to the sea dragon, who caught it and set its blunt end to the ground looking back at her ruler.

“Gather any survivors and supplies you can find, then get on the ships at the end of the dock there and run as far away from here as possible.”

“But what about you, your highness, what will you do?” The rock drake wondered.

“I’ll be fine, when I find my family, we’ll find a way out of here. You only need to worry about yourselves now.” He spoke.

“But-”

“As your active king I royally order you to do so.” He growled, shocking them out of their hesitation. Nodding resolutely, they headed off while Ryu looked on, making sure that they were safe until they disappeared from sight. Turning in the other direction he spread his wings and flew off from the hidden cove to find his family, hoping his wife and unhatched child still lived.

“Please be alive,” he said to himself as he was inching closer to his castle.

A few minutes later he landed at the front of the palace seeing the countless dead bodies of both his people and a few mercenaries littering the front entrance. Seeing the front doors smashed open, he ran up the steps passing through what was the remains of a blockade and signs of a serious fight.

Scorch marks both magic and flame covered the room, weapons such as spears, arrows, and swords from both sides were either dropped on the floor, run through the now dead bodies of either side, arrows left embedded to the floor, wall, or ceiling as dark quills of death.

Moving swiftly, Ryu ignored the devastation around him, the only thing that mattered to him was finding his beloved wife and egg safe and sound. He continued running through the hallways of the castle until he reached the doors leading to the throne room, the door was shattered like some kind of explosive amount of force was used to open the reinforced door.

Walking through slowly the king saw the many dead of his personal guard who were either grouped around the door or towards his throne, where what he saw next made the fire in his heart run cold as ice.

“No…” His entire body froze with fear as he saw his dead wife on the floor, right next to his throne. “TIAMAT!” He yelled as he rushed over to his wife’s corpse. He turned her over to see her face. She had a blank lifeless stare on her face as her eyes were void of any life. She had a severe stab wound in her abdomen and her mouth was leaking blood, a small trail leaving a tiny river of crimson that flowed down from her chin all the way to the smooth stone floor.

“Please…no…not like this…” he said as tears began to form in his eyes. He began to channel his magic through his body to try and perform a healing spell, channeling some of his magic into his fire. He opened her mouth gently, while keeping one hand to her chest and breathed in his magic flames praying to all gods that it works.

He did this for a minute, but for every moment was wasted, the more and more he felt his heart sink as the look in his beloved never changed. He kept up using his hands to implement whatever healing he could but saw zero changes to his tearful dismay.

“Please, now like this,” he said to himself, hugging his wife in his arms. He was overwhelmed with emotion as everything he built was taken away from him. He continued to weep as he carried his deceased wife in his arms and set her onto the floor. He then sits on his throne as he sombers to himself of everything that took place.

‘How did this happen?’ he thought to himself. ‘What did we ever do to deserve any of this?’

As he was about to stand up, he noticed a gleam on the floor. He then looked down, and everything he felt in his body made him freeze in place.

“It…can’t be…” He said as he looked down on the ground. Right there, on the ground he could see the symbol of the Equestrians on the front of the emblem of a dead soldier. The pain and shock he felt was very intense. The very creatures that he allowed to enter his homeland, were the very ones that betrayed him.

“They…betrayed… us…” he growled. That’s when he felt it. A great roiling wave of fire building up inside of him. A fire so hot and intense it was burning greater than the queen of the sun herself as his heartbeat rapidly, his eyes thinned to slits, and a deep menacing rumble emanated from his maw as he stared upon the dead body of his beloved wife and mate. Only one emotion could describe his state right now.

Pure. FIERY. RAGE!!!

The next thing that everyone within miles of the island heard was a loud piercing roar big enough for the two that managed to escape for them to hear.

Author's Note

And finally, Part one is fully setup. I'm sorry this took so long. I was working on other stuff that wasn't mlp related for a while on my fanfiction account. Trying to broaden my step. But I truly thank everyone for their patience for waiting on this chapter. There's going to be more to this story than you realize later down the line, but I won't say what. Forgot to give major credit to Path_Of_Cloud, phoenizcolt45, and Yoshikage Kira.