Outside the Ashlands

Chapters

Chapter 3: Discovery
Prologue: Burried Under Ash
Chapter 1: Noble Education and Noble Foley
Chapter 2: Ash and Cinder
Chapter 4: Times Change
Chapter 5: Fleeing West
Chapter 6: Cyan Coated Weaponry
Chapter 7: A Son of Pharynx
Chapter 8: Minotaur Affairs
Chapter 9: A Princess and a Tree
Chapter 10: The Ocelli
Chapter 11: A Really Weird Family
Chapter 12: The Princesses and the Patrician
Chapter 13: Civilizing the Storm
Chapter 14: Green is a Stupid Color
Chapter 15: Global Council Convenes

Chapter 3: Discovery

Cinder walked along the beach on edge. The sand felt nice and warm, just like the ash that covered the insides of the caves back home. That, at least, felt familiar to her. Everything else however, was strange and foreign. The rocks which occasionally dotted the beach were a warm brown, nothing like the light gray that permeated the dark halls of her home, and the roar of the ocean behind her kept her from being able to focus on hearing if anything was sneaking up on her. Even then, Cinder kept her head held high as she held onto her backpack straps, an overexaggerated jaunt in her steps.

She felt she was ready for anything. "Rocs, Hydras, Tatzelwurms... Come on! I can beat em. I don't even need Ash!" She lied to herself. She needed it to feel better.

A large pinch on one of her feet caused her to jump into the air with a loud 'Eep!' She screamed and ran behind a rock. A monster was clearly here on the beach!

When she looked back she saw what had pinched her was merely a small red crab, whose shell she had rudely stepped on. "Phew..." She sighed, turning to walk away. "Sorry about that!"

The small dragon then came face to face with another sight which stole the breath from her lungs. Something to add to the ever-growing list of new experiences for her. Before the little drake, was a large mass of brown pillars sticking out of the ground. Green... fluff covered the tops of the pillars, and a similar colored fluff covered the ground. The weird green stuff covered the sky, not nearly enough to block out the sun, but enough to provide a comfortable amount of shade.

Cinder hesitantly stepped onto the green stuff below the pillars. She pulled her foot back, eyes widened when she felt it. It was.... Cool. Cool, wet to the touch and fairly comfortable to walk on? Surely she was imagining things right? She stepped her foot back onto the fuzz
and kept walking. She liked it!

Cinder smiled and resumed her jaunt into the wilderness, careful to not bump head first into one of the brown pillars. This was also the first time she managed to focus on her senses besides touch and sight. The air smelled so... so... clear. It was fresh. Not stuffy and smelly like her room and the tunnels below the dragon lands. She stopped and took a moment to smell the wondrous odors around her.

The morning dew, the aroma of flowers, all of this was so new to her. She could see why the Dragonlord and the General wanted to conquer the surface now. If this was even one percent of the wonders the surface had, then she would want to own it too.

She was so distracted in her wonder and amazement, she failed to notice an even smaller creature in front of her.

"Woah!" She heard, causing her to turn her head in alarm to said creature. They were about half her size and just plain bizarre in appearance. It stood on four legs, and had a curved horn on the top of its head. Its flesh looked like a bug's but covered in a small coat of fur. It was purpleish in color and had two compact, magenta eyes. Curly purplish hair covered the top of her head, and in place of a tail she had a bug like wing.

"You're a dragon!" The strange thing said in a high pitched voice which was vaguely undercut by a buzzing.

Cinder looked at it wide eyed. What was this thing? Was she even supposed to be seen? This was bad! The sounds of clopping hooves forced her to quickly dive into a bush. She certainly didn't want to be seen by any more creatures barring this one.

"Butterfly! There you are!" Came a feminine voice. Cinder's scaly fingers pushed apart the twigs and leaves, her blue eyes squinting through, seeing two more creatures enter the area.

The first one, who had just talked, was obviously a pony. She was tall, twice Cinder's height, and ran up to the smaller creature from before scooping her up. She was pink in color and also had purplish hair, but she lacked any of the bug like traits of the smaller one.

The other was best described as a bug pony. It also stood on four legs, and was of the same height as the pink pony. She couldn't really tell it's gender, only that is had a blue carapace like skin, had two yellow eyes. It also had a curved horn like the small one. It looked incredibly concerned as it ran up next to the pink pony and small creature.

The pony spread two bird like wings as she sat on her haunches. "What were you doing out here! It's dangerous in these woods! You had me worried sick!"

"Mommy Mommy!" 'Butterfly' said shaking her hooves and pointing at the bush Cinder was hiding in. "I saw a dragon!"

Cinder quietly whimpered and shrank down as she stared at the three.

"A dragon? Really Butterfly? Are you just making this up to get out of your chores?" Came a masculine voice from the bug pony.

"No Papa! It's right in that bush!" Butterfly said again pointing once more.

'Papa' sighed and sat down. "What are we ever going to do with you little one?"

"Oh come off it Pupa. She isn't as bad as your son." 'Mommy' said rolling he normal eyes.

The bug pony gave an exasperated sigh, glancing to Butterfly with a forced smile before looking back to the mare. "Not in front of Butterfly, Magenta."

'Mommy' or 'Magenta', which ever her name was, sighed deeply and stood up, putting Butterfly onto her back. "Whatever you say dear." She said, beginning to walk away from Cinder. "Let's go home, ok?"

"Aww... but what about the Dragon?" Butterfly complained, before the group fell out of earshot.

Cinder waited a good five or ten minutes before timidly stepping out of the bush, holding her claws close to her chest and nervously tapping the tips together. She started to walk in the opposite direction of the pony and bug thing. She didn't want to run into something again. What even were those bug things?

Prologue: Burried Under Ash

Cinder yawned as she pulled herself off of her pile of treasure. She rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes and opened them. It was as dark with them open as it was with them closed, but that was to be expected when you lived underground.

With an annoyed grunt, she shot a plume of yellow fire from her mouth and lit the wall sconce, bathing the room in light.

Cinder was a rarity amongst Dragons in the modern day. Most were red, orange and black in color, but she was a nice, warm yellow. While most nowadays had sharp spines that were more like blades, hers were dull, rounded and teal. She was clearly not a fighter, which made her easy pickings for the violent and aggressive older dragons.

The difference was made even more clear when comparing her treasure pile, which merely consisted of a small pile of gems she thought were too pretty to eat, when compared to the massive towering hordes of golden coins, pearls and shining gems owned by others.

Her eyes took a second to adjust before she looked around her room. It was barren aside from her pile and the torch burning against the wall. Said walls were made of stone, with ash piled against the walls. Such was the nature of fire breathers of course. Rather than a door, the room merely had a large, flat, disk shaped boulder against the hole which allowed her access to the rest of the subterranean Dragon Lands, which had been buried deep underneath ash centuries ago by the eruption of a Supervolcano.

This was her home. This was the only thing she had even known, and perhaps the only place she would ever know. It was dark, boring and violent, but was there really any other way to live? If there was, she didn't know.

She sighed as she pulled herself up. "Time to start the day I guess." She said, her voice echoing in the room. The small dragon, who didn't even have wings yet, started walking to the boulder to enter the hall and once again wander the halls looking for something, anything, to do while the days went by, when the boulder slammed 'off the hinges' before she could do it.

Standing in the door frame was a tall, black dragon with glowing red eyes. He wore a suit of dark grey armor which had small holes for his blood red spines to poke through along his back, and for his large black wings to flow behind him like a cape.

"Cinder." he said, his voice a guttural hiss. His name was Onyx, and he was one of the Dragon Lord’s many personal guards. The Blazeguard, as they were called. Elites, bullies and immune to any consequences they might entail due to their status.

"Hey Onyx..." Cinder started with a gulp. This was weird. Onyx usually waited until she stepped out of her room before laying into her. "C-can I help you with anything?"

Onyx slowly walked up to her, he towered over her, almost three times her size, and he looked like he wanted to step on her. Hate filled his glowing eyes, along with... jealousy? What did he have to be jealous of?

"The Dragon Lord and the General want to speak with you." He growled. So that's what he was jealous of. But why would they want to speak to her? She was one of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. She was weak. She couldn't even protect herself from other whelps and hatchlings.

"Now!" He yelled, causing Cinder to jump from her thoughts with a 'meep' before she rushed out of the room. Angering the Dragon Lord and the General were good ways to get stepped on, incinerated, then stepped on again. She certainly didn't want that.

Cinder rushed through the dimly lit ashen stone hallways, pushing past the other hatchlings, and ducking between the legs of the larger dragons. She ignored the tired grunts and gasps her lungs made as she ran, until she arrived at the large ominous doors to the Dragon Lord's Chamber.

The halls in this section of the kingdom were much, much larger than the hatchling quarter. These hallways were where the Goliaths of old walked. These were where the Dragons who could burn entire cities and forests rested and traveled through, each one at least five hundreds years old.

She didn't know why she was here. Hatchlings were not usually allowed in this part of the kingdom. If Onyx was just pulling a nasty trick on her, she could expect to be viciously beaten. She gulped before she slowly walked forwards towards the two Blazeguard at the gate, who each gave her a nasty red eyed glare.

"H-hello." She squeaked, her voice chalked with fear. "I w-was asked to come here..."

One of the Blazeguard grunted and opened one of the two large doors to the room. "Enter." He gruffly stated as he stared down at her. She recognized this one. His name was Ash, and he was the second in command of the Blazeguard under Captain Garble, the third largest dragon in the Kingdom. He was a professional rather than a bully. He did his job, and his job only. During his breaks he merely ate before going back to work rather than tormenting those smaller than him. There were even a couple rumors that he sometimes stood up for the hatchlings, but she never saw it, and she didn't want to bring it up.

Cinder nodded to Ash, before darting inside. She didn't want to keep her leaders waiting any longer than she needed too.

Just beyond the doors was a stone platform, looking over a vast cliff face. Cinder luckily noticed this before she took a very long, and nasty plunge. Burning at the bottom of the cliff, was a sea of smokeless fire which stretched on for what seemed like miles to Cinder. One half of the fire burned a dark amethyst, and the other a light green.

These were the colors of fire which sparked fear in the heats of the Ponies of old. The colors of fire which lead a wave of smoke and chaos which gripped the world with fear a thousand years ago. These were the colors of fire of the Dragon Lord, and the General.

Cinder slowly walked up to the edge of the cliff and cleared her throat. "Umm H-hello?! You asked for me to come here!" She shouted, her voice once again echoing throughout the room. There was no reply, until she saw stirring in the fire. There was a sudden blast of wind and heat which almost knocked Cinder off her feet. She saw movement in the fire, as in a slow movement, two dragons rose from the fire, colossal in size. They dwarfed all other dragons in the kingdom, and perhaps all other dragons in history.

To her right, rose Dragon Lord Ember. She was massive, her body coated in pure black armor. Every inch of her body was covered, even her wings. All that could be seen beneath the visor of her helmet were her blood red eyes, and the jagged white teeth of her snarling maw which had claimed the lives of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.

The Dragon Lord was a being of legend. It was said that a thousand years ago she covered herself in the black armor to mourn the loss of one she loved, before using it to protect her while she lead her forces against those who allowed him to die. The original color of her scales were lost to time. Some say they were as black as her armor, others say they were white, the color of death. More said her scales were as blood red as her eyes. None knew for sure, but those who knew her before she donned it, never told a soul.

To her left, rose General Spike. His purple scales and green spines were lashed with the fire which danced across his form. His legends were on par with Ember's. It was said he was a citizen of the ponies. Raised by them. That he was seen as a hero to them. That was until he had similarly loss someone close to him. The same one that Ember had lost. It is said his rage at the loss was so great he grew to his current size overnight, before he renounced his fealty to Equestria in a rampage.

Compared to Cinder the two were like gods. She was but a mere ant to them. She was so in awe of them that she nearly forgot to throw herself to the ground in a bow.

"Feh." Came the booming voice of Ember, which echoed through the room. "The others were right about this one." Cinder looked up to see Ember bringing her head closer to her, until her single blood red eye was the only thing in her vision. "She looks so small and pathetic."

"Indeed she does." said General Spike as he stared at her with his emerald green eyes. The massive behemoth slowly sat back on his haunches and brought a talon, thrice the size of Cinder to his chin. "That makes her the perfect candidate."

"Yes it does." Ember said, a smile slowly appearing on her armored face.

Cinder didn't know what they were talking about. She felt herself suddenly get grabbed by the tail and hoisted into the air by one of Ember's metal claws. "Tell me little one, what do you know about the outside world?" She asked.

"Th-That it's full of ponies and other creatures that are inferior to us dragons my lord..." She whimpered.

"Yes." Ember said with a dark smile. "Good girl. You get a gem for that." She said as she snapped her claws, which produced a deafening crack which shook the cavern.

Cinder covered her ears in response looking up and whimpering at what she saw. The dark roof of the room was filled with hundreds of pairs of glowing red eyes, all staring directly at her. One of the pairs broke away and slowly flew down from the ceiling,

It was a member of Blazeguard, and in his hands was the largest and most beautiful diamond Cinder had ever laid her eyes upon. Her mouth started to water as she stared at it. When the Blazeguard handed it to her she wasted no time in devouring it. Hatchlings were only ever given rock crystals and garnets. Gems of poor quality. The dragon equivalent of gruel.

When she was done with it she licked her lips. It was the best thing she had ever tasted.

Ember brought her closer to her face and stared directly at her. "Can you perhaps hazard a guess as to why you are here in our presence hatchling?"

"No ma'am."

"Hmph." Ember said as she placed Cinder down into Spike's open palm, allowing the small dragon to stand up. "For the past thousand years we Dragons have been buried under ash, hiding from the inferiors above. It has been FAR TOO LONG!" She roared, prompting Cinder to squeal and cover her ears.

"We say, no longer shall we stay beneath the ash. It is time for dragons to rise back into the skies. To rise into our destined place as the lords of this world!" Spike said as he carried Cinder up into the air, to be face to face with him. "And you, my little dragon, are going to help us achieve our goal."

"How would I do that sir?" Cinder said, her knees shaking.

Ember smiled as she looked at her. "You. You are small. Non-threatening. Weak. Those traits are shared with all members of that pathetic country of Equestria. You would fit right in." She said.

Cinder stared at her, before Spike finished the point. "You would be the perfect spy." He said.

A second Blazeguard suddenly landed right behind Cinder, and without warning latched a metal collar around her neck. Said collar had a clear red gem in the center, right below her chin. Cinder grunted before it activated, and the wall of the room, farthest from the cliff she was previously standing on suddenly came to life with a shimmer, showing all within the room Cinder's point of view.

"This collar with allow us to see everything you see." Spike said with a chuckle. A third Blazeguard, Ash, landed in front of Cinder and dropped a bag of supplies into her arms. "Now then. This guard will escort you out of the Kingdom, then fly you across the sea to Equestria. Once there you will head to the village of Ponyville. Do you understand?" He asked.

"Yes sir..." Cinder said.

"Good. Now go." Spike demanded. Cinder couldn't say anything before she was suddenly scooped up by Ash and carried out of the room.

Spike and Ember grinned towards the door, before they started to giggle together. Then chuckle. Then finally they threw their heads back, and laughed which was echoed by the Blazeguard's own maniacal chuckles. The Age of the Dragons would begin soon.

Author's Note

My attempt at making a serious story begins now lol

Edits have been made on 8/17/2019 thanks to my new editor Salty Alty

Chapter 1: Noble Education and Noble Foley

"Why do I even need to learn all of this stuff, mother!?" Cried a young voice, before she was silenced by a thwack, the sound of a ruler striking her on the knuckle.

"Hush,Galatea." Her mother corrected harshly. "You know what is expected of a future Emperor."

Galatea growled. She hated these meetings with her mother. They boiled down to nothing more than hours upon hours of her drilling the same points into her head over and over, and they were all on subjects she despised. Politics, military tactics, statesmanship. Why would she need to know any of that when she could simply hire generals and advisors and diplomats to do it for her.

She was the future Duchess of Talonswick, and a potential elect for the future Emperor of the Gryphons! It was her duty to be pampered by the peasantry.

Her mother sighed. "What am I ever going to do with you my little snow-hawk." She sat down and reached out, grabbing her daughter’s hand and slowly rubbing the place she had previously struck. "I keep telling you Galatea. You know how important this election is for the survival of our house. Only you can run, and you just can't seem to listen."

Galatea turned her head away from her mother and huffed, staring out the rooms only window to the outside world, a pure white, silver eyed gryphon staring back at her, contrasting with her mother's blue and yellow colors, a trait passed down from the founder of their house.

"Then to win this election, shouldn't we be practicing Gryphon politics?" She said with a frown as she turned to her mother. "You have been drilling me on global politics for weeks now. How can that possibly help me?"

Her mother stood up and shook her head. "Tell me, my snow-hawk. What happens if we loose and Arch-Duke Garek wins?"

Galatea sighed. She had heard this same speech a thousand times by now. "He will exile our house." She replied.

"And what happens to exiled houses?" Her mother asked again.

Galatea said nothing, pursing her beak and looking downcast, hands trembling. She felt her mother cup her chin, and bring the two eye to eye. "If you achieve a good relationship with the other nations of this world, they will not let that happen to us. Do you understand Galatea?"

"Y-yes mother." Galatea responded, lowering her head.

"Good. Let us begin again from the top." She said standing back up.

"The Changeling Factions." She started.

Her daughter sniffled, taking a deep breath and recomposing herself before straightening her back; releasing a trembling exhale. "They don't like each other, and they're kin... which means they probably despise us."

"Equestria." Her mother continued in alphabetic order.

"You skipped the Dragons..." Galatea said sheepishly.

Her mother scoffed. "They've been extinct for a thousand years. Now stop it with your childish fantasies. Equestria," she reaffirmed.

Galatea sighed. "Princess Twilight Sparkle and her niece have openly spoken out against Garek's policies of aggressive Gryphon expansion. They would gladly support our house if we open up to them"

"Good," Her mother said. "Greater Hippogryphia."

Galatea sighed. This was going to go on for a while.

Galatea groaned as she laid back in her salon chair. She sighed as she held her hand out, allowing it to be slowly polished by her subject.

"Difficult day my lady?" The peasant asked.

"You can say that again." Galatea said as she stared down at the servant giving her a rather nice paw massage.

"It seems that no matter what I do my mother is never satisfied." She stated, bringing her free claw to her nose bridge.

"Come now my lady, you over-exaggerate." The peasant polishing her claw said with a smile.

Galatea turned to the servant with a frown. She was about to interject, before she was interrupted by the door to the salon slamming open. "Lady Galatea," came a deep masculine voice, causing her and the servants to turn to the door.

Standing in the door frame were two gryphons in plate armor. Resting on their chests were the insignia of Galatea's house, House Gallus, a blue and yellow claw, grasping a lion pendant.

"You need to follow us on orders of your mother. We suspect an assassination plot is being carried out against you." One of the Knights said marching up to her.

"What? Are you sure?" Galatea asked as she got up out of her chair, fear covering her face.

"Yes." Said the Knight. "Numerous potential elects for the Throne, as well as the elector counts supporting them have turned up dead this morning. Judging by the location of the assassinations, you are their next target." The Knight suddenly grabbed her, much harder than he should have. "Come, quickly."

Galatea grunted as she was harshly pulled from her chair. The knights were rather rough as they dragged he towards the door and out into the hall. The three of them slowly started heading towards the castle's main gate.

"Galatea!" She heard coming from behind her. The gryphon quickly spun around and saw her mother, flanked by another guard.

"Mother?" She asked, before he heard something that made her blood run cold. The metal claw in her hand had become chitinous and rather full of holes. Everything went in slow motion as she slowly turned to the 'gryphon' she had just been following.

In its place stood a creature that looked vaguely equine. It had two large compact eyes that were locked on her. It was a changeling, and not one of the civilized ones who had followed Thorax’s teachings.

She whimpered as he eyes darted to the other, who simply smiled at her. "Sorry for lying." The changeling turned gryphon said, before unsheathing a sword, and bringing it towards Galatea's neck. She screamed in horror, closing her eyes and looking away. There was a loud clang, but the feeling of the blade going through her neck never came.

She opened her eyes to see a gryphon, a real one this time, holding the sword of the Changeling back with his own. The Changeling's eyes widened, before the gryphon delivered a punch to their face which sent them to the floor.

The valiant knight pushed Galatea towards her mother. "Go now!" The knight said, before blocking a blade swing from the second changeling.

Galatea didn't hesitate in running towards her mother. Her mother grabbed her with open arms and held her close. She heard a gasp emanate from her mother's throat, before she quickly spun around, putting herself between Galatea and the changeling assassins.

A loud crack echoed throughout the halls.

Galatea separated from her mother when she felt something wet splatter across her chest. Her pristine white feathers and fur were coated in red blood. The gryphon brought her claws to her chest in a panic, searching for the wound which had caused this, but there was no bullet hole in her chest.

She slowly looked up to instead see the hole in her mother instead. Her mother looked down at her, tears choking her face. "Mother!" Galatea cried, wrapping her arms around her as she collapsed. Galatea held onto to her sire, blood further matting her chest.

She looked ahead and witnessed the assassin who had previously dragged her from her room slowly lower a flintlock pistol, a smile on his face. The gryphon knight, who was grappling with the second changeling, looked back to her with a growl. "Damn it!" He shouted, before he kicked the changeling away and rushed towards Galatea.

The second Changeling wasted no time in pulling out a second pistol and aiming it squarely at Galatea's head, he fired it, but the knight blocked it with his armor.

Galatea felt herself get separated from her mother, whose body had started to cool, and picked up by the knight, who started to fly towards the nearest window.

"No! NO!" Galatea screamed in agony as she reached towards her mother. "MOTHER!!!" She screamed, before the knight smashed down the window, and dragged her through the air, the castle quickly shrinking in the distance behind them.

Author's Note

I want to give a HUGE thanks to Jackelope for giving me the encouragement and help with making this fic. If it weren't for him, it would likely never be made in the first place.

Edited 8/22/2019

Chapter 2: Ash and Cinder

Cinder covered her eyes and hissed in pain as Ash brought her out of one of the many secret exits to the Dragonlands. The light was so... bright. The other races must be blind, because how else could they be able to live up here on the surface?

"Push past the pain little one." Ash said when he noticed her vain attempts at not blinding herself. "Your eyes will adjust with time."

"I feel like Captain Garble just breathed fire in my eyes!" Cinder shouted meekly.

Ash didn't respond with anything more than a growl, prompting Cinder to shut up.

Cinder grunted as she found her vision slowly, and painfully coming back. It was nothing compared to the beatings she received from other dragons however, so she persevered.

The two were quiet for what felt like hours as they flew over the dead, flat light gray plains which made up the Ashlands. Cinder found herself getting quite bored as she watched the dead lands. There was the occasional boulder here and there alongside the incredibly rare giant skeleton, but other than that, it was empty. So very empty.

"I'm bored..." She said pathetically.

"And how is that my problem?" The larger form of Ash said as he stared ahead, zoned in on his job of ferrying her across the ocean only.

"Can you tell me a story or something?" She asked pleadingly, attempting to give the larger dragon puppy dog eyes. The larger soldier looked down at her his eyes narrowed before he relented with a grunt.

"The Dragonlord was right. You'd fit right in with those sickly sweet abominations." Ash said as the two continued flying. He was quiet for a few minutes until Cinder spoke yet again.

"So... about that story?" She requested, earning a growl from the Dragon above her.

"If your safety wasn't a mission requirement, I would drop you." He hissed before he cracked his neck and slowed down.

"Fine. I will tell you a story. You are of the age when you are supposed to be told this moment in our history anyway." Ash enunciated. "Tell me. Are there any worthy races upon this planet barring the dragons?"

"No. Not one. The Dragons are the only worthy race." Cinder said, dipping into her years of teaching and, for lack of a better term, brainwashing.

"Wrong." Ash said. "There is but one race on this planet that can say it has equal position with us dragons, if only because of one individual. The Changelings."

Cinder cocked her head to the side. She had never heard of these creatures before. The name gave her the smallest semblance of an idea however. They were lings who changed, obviously.

"There was a single creature amongst there number who we can consider worthy. His name is Thorax. He is colloquially known by us, and most races, as the Changeling God. For good reason." Ash said. "It is said that He, Ember and the General formed a great companionship. He and Ember were particularly close, but he was not perfect. In truth no one is."

"He was soft. Too soft for his own good. In his final moments, he offered a Queen of disgusting reputation redemption, only for that Queen to stab him in the heart with a spear."

Cinder stared at Ash as he told the story. She had never heard of this before, and she could tell why. This was glorifying a member of a non-dragon race, meaning it was a given that it would put doubts in the heads of the truly young and naive. Doubts if the Dragons truly were the greatest and most worthy race.

"His death is what sparked Dragonlord Ember and General Spike to track down the Queen and snap her neck in cold blood, before taking their wrath out upon the lesser races of the world who allowed their favored friend to die, for they watched and did nothing as Thorax and the Queen clashed. That is how the war which isolated us started little one. Remember this and hold the lesson to your heart. The other races care not for our allegiances and alliances. If helping us is too much of a bother, they will abandon us to die. Do not trust their honeyed words while you are in their land. Do you understand this?" Ash finished as he suddenly stopped flying and held Cinder before him in the air, staring her dead in the eyes.

"Yes sir..." Cinder finished.

"Good." Ash said, before he continued flying. Everything became quiet again. Quiet and boring. So very boring. That is until they arrived closer to the edge of the Ashlands. Cinder couldn't help but gasp at what she saw. A massive field of blue, as far as the eye could possibly see.

There was even a second sun in the middle of it, and as the two started flying over it, there was even a second her and Ash just below them.

"What is that stuff?" Cinder asked as they lowered themselves to the blue field, until they were mere inches above it.

"It is water. Have you never seen water before? How are you alive in that case?" Ash asked gruffly.

"Of course I have seen water before." Cinder said with a frown. "But isn't water that stuff that is in puddles and cups? why is there so much of it?"

Cinder reached her claws down and cupped some of the water in her hands before sipping it as they flew. She immediately spat it out and whimpered. "And why is it so salty?!?"

Ash rolled his eyes and didn't bother explaining. For several hours the two flew until finally, they arrived at a sandy beach. Ash simply dropped Cinder onto the beach and turned around. "If you tap the center of the gem on your collar, it will reveal a map to where you need to go. I will stay in this land and find a cave to shelter me. If you should ever require rescue, snap this gem in half."

He tossed a small stick-like orange gem over his shoulder which Cinder caught after a couple fumbles. "Good luck little one." Ash said, before he spread his wings and took off into the air.

Cinder stared at him for a couple minutes before she gulped loudly. She brought a shaky claw up to her neck and pressed the gem. A red holographic map shot out and shined in front of her. A small line slowly snaked its way across the map from a beach far in the south until it arrived at a small village in the center.

Cinder straightened her back stoically, before she began her slow march following the path. "I can do this." She repeated to herself several times.

Chapter 4: Times Change

Cinder let out a held in breath as she glanced behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed. She smiled as she continued walking. There was something nice in the air around here. It felt... so wet... and sticky.

She felt as though she had been submerged in one of the stagnant water pools of her homeland. The mucky waters would cling to the underside of your feet, only now she felt covered from head to toe in the irksome wetness of the air. She actually kind of liked it. It was really different from the hot dry air back home. It was always chock full of cinders and hot splinters that burned the inside of her nose with every breath.

Speaking of things that burned the inside of her nose... Cinder sniffed deeply, noticing the distinct and burning smell of copper staining the air. The little dragon covered her nose and grunted. It smelled bad. She didn't like it.

The little drake looked around she needed to know where it was coming from, so that she may escape the terrible smell.

There was a sudden and loud whack to her right, which caused her head to very quickly turn towards it. The dragon stared towards the sound's location frightfully. What was even out there? Her mind conjured horrible images of some kind of dragon hunting soldier who would find her and execute her.

There was another loud whack that grabbed her attention. Cinder felt herself shrink down. She couldn't help but slowly inch forwards towards the sound. Peeking through a bush, she caught a glimpse of something that greatly confused her.

A second bug pony was sitting in front of her, with his back to Cinder's hiding spot. The creature had a cyan carapace, and a deep blue back plate that it had opened to reveal its dragonfly like wings, which, too, were parted to give the creature access to its own back. It was smaller than the one she had met earlier however, but not as small as the strange pink creature.

What made it confusing was what it was doing to itself. For one, its horn was glowing cyan, and a whip was similarly glowing, floating in the air while rapidly turning around and striking him in the back, leaving large gashes which leaked a cyan liquid.

It didn't take much for Cinder to realize it was blood.

To make matters odder, the bug pony was kneeling before a statue of another bug pony, only it was much taller than him, and had two mandible like antlers emerging from his head. The creature would periodically let out whispers, before bringing the whip back and striking itself once more.

The creature hissed in pain before he suddenly raised his head and sniffed the air. Cinder quickly dove into a bush and covered herself quickly as the creature turned to her.

Cinder stayed in the bush hidden. What would this thing do to her? Maybe it would eat her? Or lay eggs in her eyes like a bug?

Yeah that was it! It was a bug pony! So it was gonna do something gross like that!

Cinder whimpered loudly and cried, screwing her eyes shut.

The creature simply sighed, which caused the drake's eyes to open in confusion, she turned her head back to the creature to see it bring a small white rag to it's back and wipe the blood off before, in a flash of cyan fire, the wounds disappeared.

He stood up and turned to look at her with two platinum white eyes. "I know you're there." It said with a young male voice. "Come out."

Cinder found herself blinking confusedly, her bodies shakes and quivers coming to a quick end. Honestly, even if she had heard the other bug ponies voice a couple minutes earlier, she expected it to be a deep hissing growl not what it was. It sounded like a teenage'd drake actually.

"I can smell how terrified you are.... just come out. It's ok." The bug spoke. She could tell that he was trying to be consoling, but really it just came off as creepy.

Cinder poked her head out from behind the bush and stared directly into his compact eyes.

The two stared at each other for a minute or two before the creature blinked twice and sat down. "You're not in disguise, right?"

"No? What do you mean by 'disguise?'" Cinder asked, face scrunched up.

"Oh sweet Thorax you are a dragon." He said as he put a hoof to his head. "Butterfly is going to freak out when she sees you."

"Of course I am a dragon! Why wouldn't I be?" Cinder said as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. She was shorter than the bug pony, but she knew she could take him on. Especially because he looked very... thin to say the least.

"Oh... cause of this." The bug said before he suddenly burst into flames again. Cinder jumped back with a loud 'eep'. Standing in front of her when the flames died down was... her?

"H-how?" Cinder asked as she stared at him. Reaching a hand forwards and poking at her... his chest revealed that his smooth carapace was gone as well, revealing reptile like scales which caused her to quickly retract her hand and nervously step away from him. What... was this?

"Oh, I am a Changeling." 'She' said in her own voice. "My name is Dactylus, and yours?" The mirror her stuck out her claw.

"I'm Cinder..." She said as she took it nervously. This is what changelings looked like? She honestly expected something else.

She wasn't exactly sure what that 'else' was, but not bug ponies.
After a second burst of surprisingly cold fire, the bug Dactylus returned with a warm smile.

"Ahhh…" He said quietly. "Dad and Magenta are going to freak when they hear about this."

Ash landed deftly in the dimly lit cave that he would call home for the next few days. He let out a large sigh as he idly swung his warhammer. The world had changed so much in the past thousand years. Nothing he had been taught of the outside world seemed correct.

It was so odd... feeling like everything you had ever been told was false. Feeling like you were trapped in the past. Ash gave an angry snort, spewing smoke from his nose. ‘I have orders. Thoughts come second.’

Without even thinking he swung his hammer and shattered a lunging wolf made of wood. Clearly he wasn't the only occupant of this cave, a passive expression etched into his facial features as he strode forwards, not even bothering to count how many were left.

A second lunged at him but broke its teeth on his armor in a pathetic display. He simply breathed in its direction and it burst into flame.

He huffed out smoke from his nostrils as the remaining one took off in an attempt to escape his flames. He stared at it until it disappeared into the dark, before he turned away, crouching in the cave's darkest corner, hiding. Not out of cowardice, of course. This was supposed to be a stealth mission after all.

Ash's mind started to feel his worries about the changing times dissipating. Even with all the changes over the centuries, Equestria's monsters were still pathetic. The inhabitants were clearly no different.

Chapter 5: Fleeing West

Garen's wings hurt.

That was an understatement. They burned. That is something you can come to expect after flying for hours on end in plate armor while carrying an adolescent. He would have stopped long ago but he needed to be sure he had good distance between Galatea and the assassins. He couldn't trust anyone, as anyone could be a changeling in disguise.

Speaking of said changelings... His mind had been rolling over every possibility as to who they could have been. He knew enough about global politics to piece a couple things together.

They were of a changeling sub-group referred to as the 'Chrysalasi' by themselves and the other changeling factions. The scum of the world. Spies and assassins who took the dirtiest jobs and asked no questions and expected none in return. Hiring them was one of the most dangerous things one can undertake in the modern day so it was always anonymous. Anyone could have hired them. Even if he had one in his claws he wouldn't be able to get anything from them.

Garen glanced down at the young lady held close to his chest. Her eyes looked dead. Hollow and dry. She cried for the first hour or two after they escaped the castle. Now she was doing nothing but blankly staring below at the trees and plains they were crossing.

Garen shook his head and continued staring ahead, zoned in on what he was doing. It was only natural that she was like that. He didn't want to meet the creature that looked good hours after what she went through.

The sun was setting, that was good. Moving under the cover of night was much safer. His plans came crashing down when he felt the teenage gryphon shiver in his arms. He froze in the air and hovered in place, looking down at her.

She was cold, and once again, he should have expected that. This was the farthest she had ever been from the heated furnaces of her estate. Garen looked every which way before his eyes locked on a clearing below. He certainly needed rest, as did Galatea.

The Knight growled as he snapped his flint and steel together for the fifth time, only making miniscule sparks.

"Oh the joy of having magic." He said to himself before he simply reached around and grabbed a flask from his waist. He really wanted to save this for a rainy day, but the noble always came first.

Unscrewing the tip, he poured the entire contents of the flask on top of the meagre pile of good firewood he had managed to accumulate. When he snapped the flint and steel together one last time, the pile almost instantly shot into life, the orange and yellow flames flickering in the dark night.

Garen sat back on his haunches and laughed to himself. "Ah... note to self, Hippogryphian Fire Wine is extremely flammable, who'd of thought?" He joked as he turned his head over to Galatea.

The young gryphon didn't respond as she curled up in front of the inferno. The Knight stared at her for a second before shaking his head. Once again he reached for his waist removing a small satchel which he started rummaging around in.

Pulling out a small bag and some wrapped travel rations, he turned over to Galatea once more. "Here my lady, eat. I know it isn't much but you need it." He said as he held his rations out to her.

The snow white gryphon stared at his claw for a few seconds before tentatively grabbing the wrapped square and pulling the paper apart. It was nothing more than a small box containing several strips of jerky and a single hard tack biscuit.

The noble sighed uncomfortably before grabbing a strand of the jerky and idly chewing on it. Garen smiled slightly before turning back to the fire.

Opening the bag he dumped the contents of the bag into the fire. A fine green dust poured forth and onto the fire. The fire quickly turned a sickly, pale green.

Retrieving a quill and some parchment from the same satchel, the warrior sat back and started to write.

'Lord Gasbar.

I am sorry to report but your wife, Galiene, has unfortunately lost her life today due to Chrysalasi assassins in pursuit of your daughter. I have decided that the best course of action is to bring her with me into the wilderness until I have confirmation that it is safe to return to the estate.

-Sir Garen.'

Once he was finished writing, the gryphon stamped it with the seal of House Gallus. The magic proof seal prevented copying and could only be used by one within the House. It was perfect for making sure there was no forgery within the politicking of the Gryphons, as cutthroat as it was. It did require a lot of Equestrian red tape, however.

Garen dropped it into the crackling fire, watching with narrowed eyes as it disintegrated into a swirling plume of smoke. The smoke quickly rose into the air and shot off in the direction of the estate.

It took several long, treacherous minutes for a scroll to emerge from the fire, the rolled up piece of parchment gently dropping into his lap. Garen unrolled it quickly before reading it with a desperate haste.

'Sir Garen.

Disregard your plan. You are to take my daughter to the Equestrian Capitol as soon as feasibly possible. Even if the team who took the life of my wife is dealt with, there is no telling how many there are. House Gallus has many enemies as you should know. She will be much safer in Equestria, as near to the Princesses as she could possibly be.

I will personally be there to retrieve her once it is safe to return home.

You are now her personal retainer, Garen. Protect my daughter with your life.

-Lord Gasbar.'

After examining the seal at the bottom of the page, Garen nodded to himself, before rolling the scroll back up and placing it comfortably in his satchel. Dumping another bag of sand on the fire to remove the spell, he turned back to Galatea.

Galatea stared at him as the fire returned to it's comforting yellow and orange. "What did my father say? Is he alive?" She asked.

"Yes. He has ordered me to take you to Equestria." Garen said leaning forwards and clasping his claws.

"What? No! Surely I should be back home! Protected by Gryphon Knights!" Galatea shouted in protest.

"You should very well know that House Gallus does not have enough knights to both mobilize the commoners to hunt down the assassins and protect two nobles. It is best to keep you in Equestria surrounded by pony guards at the current moment. Not to mention the fact that spreading the nobles of the House out keeps us from being decapitated with a single operation." Garen said sternly, giving her a pointed gaze.

"B-but.." She started but was cut off by Garen.

"No buts. This is not a matter of getting pampered in the castle anymore. There are enemies after you now. Dangerous enemies. Your safety is the top priority of the House now. Do you Understand?" He said as he stood up and marched over to her.

"Y-yes sir..." Galatea said quietly, shrinking back into herself.

"Good. Now, get some sleep, we need to move early in the morning. I will take watch." Garen said as he sat back down. He heard Galatea open and close her beak a couple times before huffing and lying down.

Garen sighed and drew his sword, twirling it idly as he craned his neck every which way. "For the lady." He mumbled under his breath, watching her out of the corner of his eye..

Author's Note

I am actually really proud of this chapter.

I hope ya'll liked reading it as much as I liked writing it.

I am also sure you saw the new cover art. Big Thanks to Mix-up Aka Amalgamzaku. His art is really good.

Chapter 6: Cyan Coated Weaponry

The quiet of the woods was suddenly interrupted by the loud droning of buzzing changeling wings.

"Where is she? I know they went in this direction!" Tarsus growled out as his eyes scanned the horizon. His compound eyes finally locked on the small glow of a distant campfire. The changeling couldn't help but grin to himself, dragging his tongue across his fangs.

"I see our prey." The soldier said, pointing in the direction of the fire with the tip of his saber. "Capture the knight, and kill the noble. With the money we are going to get from this, we will be able to afford dozens of slaves from Klugetown. We're never going hungry again!"

The other changelings whooped and hissed as they descended to the ground. The dark undergrowth kept them hidden, but it wasn't enough.

The group shapeshifted, giving themselves brown and dark green carapaces, blending in with the woods. Their eyes became those of cats to better see, and avoid detection. Glowing compound eyes were bad for stealth some times.

The squad of five stealthily snaked through the bushes and tall grass with cat-like grace, their tip toeing hooves making no noise as they slowly stalked towards their prey.

One among them, a lesser ranked assassin named Grub, suddenly stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air. He smelt something. Something terrible. He knew it just from the emotions he smelt on the air. Death was approaching.

His eyes started to dart in every direction as he dropped his disguise in a sudden panic. None of the others smelt it.
His leader and pack mates turned to him and growled. "What are you doing Grub?" Tarsus demanded quietly.

"I'm out." He hissed back, turning tail and running off into the woods.

"Get back here!" Tarsus growled before another put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't lose track of the mission. We will deal with him later." Ephem, Tarsus's second in command, replied, gesturing back to the clearing, which was close now. So very close.

Tarsus narrowed his eyes, nodding back to Ephem. The joy of the kill was close now. This would all pay off. It was Grub's loss, not his.

The pack reached the edge of the clearing seconds later. The darkness of the forest was defined by the light of the fire which shone throughout the dense cluster of trees and bushes surrounding the open area of the clearing. The changelings kept themselves pressed against the large trunks in the shadows, or snugly within bushes just out of sight.

Their target was curled up asleep near the fire as a rather tall gryphon in plate armor stood over her, pacing back and forth near the fire, watching every which way for any form of threat. He was cautious and paranoid, two traits which gryphon warriors were well known for.

They weren't like ponies, those gryphons. Ponies were overly trusting and friendly. Easy to trick. Gryphons on the other hand were always looking around for any kind of threat who would steal from them. Any individual who would swindle or rob them.

Perks of being naturally greedy, Tarsus supposed.

"Careful, this knight is fairly skilled. Grub and I are still pretty sore from the thrashing he gave us." Ephrem whispered as the gryphon suddenly sat down, his back towards them. Tarsus barely heard him unbuckle something from his belt.

"Good thing we never fight fair." Tarsus grinned as he turned to the other two changelings in the group. "Erop, Tera. You and Ephem rush the knight. I will go for the target."

The changelings nodded as they turned back to the camp, blissfully unaware of the distant pair of eyes locked on them with murderous intent.

"Go!" Tarsus hissed as the four of them broke cover and rushed their targets.

Garen suddenly spun around and fired a flintlock pistol with a loud bang which awoke Galatea with a jump. The noble rose her head in time to see the bullet strike one of the changelings rushing them in the shoulder, piercing through the leather brigandine it wore.

Cyan blood shot forth from the wound as the changeling dropped to the dirt of the forest floor. Two of the others rushed the knight, prompting Garen to bring his longsword to bear. The gryphon raised his sword and parried a sabre strike from a changeling, before pivoting back on his paws and forcing the bug away.

The second attacker didn't have time to strike as Garen elbowed them in the face and sent them careening away.

"Run, my lady!" Garen shouted as a third changeling closed in on the juvenile gryphon.

Galatea scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could. She only made it a few steps before she was suddenly tackled from behind.

She landed on her back as she stared up at the Chrysalasi vagabond. The changeling licked their lips as it raised a dagger into the air.

Galatea's face was suddenly covered in some kind of liquid after a loud snap. Galatea turned away shaking it out of her eyes. She looked up at the changeling nervously.

Said changeling was now missing a foreleg. He confusedly blinked in shocked. He barely had time to look up, before, with another snap, his body slumped off of Galatea.

Garen blocked another strike from the first attacker. He was about to counter when the changeling suddenly gasped. All three of the assassins in front of him took fearful steps back. Dread covering every inch of their chitinous faces.

Garen was confused. They seemed completely fine with fighting him just seconds earlier. What had caused this sudden shift from bravado to fright?

He raised his sword ready to block any strike they might send at him as he slowly turned his head behind him. What he saw made him spin around almost instantaneously and take a step back, his eyes widened in shock.

Standing over Galatea was a sight he hoped he would never see in his long life.

It was tall, twice the size of the average pony or changeling, and it was coated in a suit of cyan armor.

A horn emerged from it's helmeted head, which showed no emotion past a black visor which reflected the changelings and Garen perfectly. Alongside the horn were two mandible like antlers which glowed an eerie, ghostly shade of blue. A platinum white halberd floated in the air behind it, the blade's tip black and coated in blue blood.

It was the greatest breed of soldier, belonging to the most powerful of the three changeling factions.

A Pharate of the Pharynxi.

Garen took a few shaky steps backwards, before turning away from the Chrysalasi and booking it towards Galatea. He picked the right time too, as the Pharates suddenly rushed forwards.

Getting between a Pharate and their prey was one of the surest ways to die.

One of the changelings raised a pistol and fired it at the Pharate, but the bullet easily bounced off of his light armor, not even leaving a scratch.

In a second, the Pharate closed the gap and cleaved clean through the changeling that fired at him, cutting them in half with his halberd like it was nothing. A second barely had time to scream before the hoof of the larger warrior shot out and caved in its exoskeleton head.

The Pharate slowly turned to the last changeling. The one Garen had shot earlier.

"No no no! Please! Have mercy!" The changeling cried out, begging for it's life.

The Pharate didn't reply as it flourished its halberd, slowly stalking after the remaining target. It's slow stride bridging the gap between the two, even as the wounded changeling attempted to escape.

The Pharynxi elite slowly rose the tip of his halberd and pressed it against the back of the remaining assassin's head. A dark metallic chuckle emanating from it's helmet.

A cyan beam of magical energy shot forth from the tip and went clean through the remaining changeling's head.

"Wh-what is that?" Galatea asked.

"That… that is death." Garen replied with narrowed eyes.

Chapter 7: A Son of Pharynx

Galatea and Garen were still, their breaths caught in their throat. Their eyes were locked on the form of the larger Pharates who was standing still on the clearing's edge after executing the last Chrysalasi. The Pharynxi elite slowly raised his halberd and stared at the bloody edge of the weapon, it's visor portraying no emotion, and it's body language portrayed nothing but strength.

There was a sudden hiss as steam started to emerge from it's helmet. Plate along the creatures helmet started to shift and retract into it's gorget, the magical armor shifting and changing to match it's user's current wishes.

The Pharates' head was soon free of all metal covering, allowing Galatea a full look upon his face. He was a changeling, that much was already obvious. He was also a member of the 'reformed' changeling race, otherwise known as Thoraxi. His smooth carapace was a warm yellow, and his compact eyes shined a deep orange. His antlers, light green in color, were shorter than the armor made them appear, but they were incredibly sharp. Sharp and serrated.

The statues and paintings of the ancient king of the changelings showed his antlers to have been sharp yes, but they were majestic and pretty. These were clearly violent and intimidating.

The changeling looked... deceptively young, as if in his early 20s. Garen knew that wasn't even near the truth. The Pharates were the hundred sons of Pharynx, born over 900 years ago. Each was the veteran of countless battles, and each had killed countless creatures.

Both of them were knocked out of their thoughts as the Pharates slowly dragged the edge of the halberd up to his face. He opened his maw and a forked tongue emerged, snaking past a jaw of sharp teeth.

Galatea whimpered when the changeling started to slowly drag it's tongue across the flat of the halberd's blade, licking up the blood of it's victims. He was very clearly enjoying the taste of copper that permeated changeling blood.

Garen grabbed Galatea by the arm and started to slowly back away. The noble followed his lead that is until one of her back paws stepped upon a twig, which made a rather large snap. The Pharates' head immediately snapped in their direction, it's eyes insane.

That Pharates rather quickly calmed down however, as a sudden smirk appeared across his face. "Oh my. I sincerely apologize for snapping like that. I forgot you two were there." The Pharates said, his voice showing off a very surprising level of sophistication.

Garen held his shield up as he slowly continued to back away from the taller warrior. He saw Galatea out of the corner of his eyes. She was approaching him.

"Lady Galatea!" He exclaimed in a hushed tone. Whether Galatea heard him, or was conscientiously ignoring him, he did not know. He would have rushed after her, to stop her from making a mistake, but he couldn't bring himself to move towards the changeling before them.

Against almost any other creature, he would have been fearless. He would have stared them right in the face and stood his ground, but not against a Pharates. Not against something that had seen almost nothing but death and battle for centuries.

The Noble cleared her throat as she reached the halfway mark between the Pharates and her protector. The Pharates kept his eyes locked on her, a small smirk on his face, his eyes dancing with curiosity as to how this interaction would play out.

He would soon fail his mission. The Pharates would murder her. Those thoughts were all that danced in his head.

"I-I wish to thank you, noble warrior, for protecting my life from these vile assassins. House Gallus is in your debt sir." She said with a bow, her voice shaking and unsure of herself.

A low chuckle erupted from the from the Pharates, whose brow cocked suddenly in confusion.

"You thought I was trying to save you?" He said, ceasing his chuckling, lips cracking into a grin; showing off his razor-sharp teeth.

Galatea took a nervous step back from the warrior, confusion written across her face. "T-then why else would you do it?" She asked as she looked up at the taller warrior.

The Pharates suddenly brought his halberd down and impaled it through the chest of the closest Chrysalasi. His eyes narrowed as he slowly lifted the corpse up via the blade, bringing it face to face with him.

"I smelled the disgusting rot of these abominations for miles around." He said as he brought his face closer to that of the cadaver's. "There is one left out there in the woods, and I plan to hunt it down and show it my father's mercy."

He then turned back to Galatea as he swung his halberd and the blade came free, throwing the body over his shoulder like trash. "That means kill it, for those out of the loop." He explained, a 'friendly' smile on his face.

Galatea took a step back, her mouth agape. "W-well may I at least have your name? So that I may do something in exchange for your... accidental aide?"

The Pharates rolled his eyes and turned to the woods, slowly walking towards it as his helmet snapped closed again.

"It's Tegmen, and I'd be surprised if you could." He said, his voice a metallic reverb which shook her to her core.

She stared into the dark of the woods for what felt like hours after he left. 'Are monsters like that common out here? Is this what the real life is?' She thought to herself, before she felt herself get roughly grabbed.

She spun around to see Garen, who had taken his helmet off, allowing her to see the Knight for the first time in her life.

His feathers were short and brown, the most common color amongst the gryphon race, and his beak was a golden yellow in color. His two green eyes were locked with hers. A long, deep scar was scratched across his face going from his left temple to his right cheek. She didn't know how he got it, but it looked deep.

He looked, angry. So very angry.

"What were you thinking?" Garen asked as he lifted her up by her shoulders.

"I-I just..." She started before Garen cut her off.

"That thing could have ripped us both apart without even trying! Why would you do something so reckless?" Garen said as he brought his face inches away from hers.

Galatea found herself frowning back at him. "He saved our lives Garen. Even if accidently. It is the duty of the house to offer recompense for every act of charity, lest you forget."

Garen growled, before relenting and placing her down. The motto of House Gallus. An odd one amongst gryphons, no doubt, but she had just invoked it, and it was his duty to abide by it.

"Of course my lady." Garen said as he turned away, marching back to where he had dropped his helmet. He turned back to the carnage, a frown on his face.

"You should get that stuff off you, and then we should continue moving westwards." Garen said as he gestured to Galatea's chest.

The snow white feathers were coated in changeling blood.

Grub whimpered as he shook within the confines of his hiding place, a small overturned and hollow log. He had felt it all.

The last emotions of his pack mates as their lives were picked off one by one, within seconds of each other. Fear, pain, sadness, agony. It was disgusting, and he knew... He knew the Pharates was coming for him next.

Those things were why the Chrysalasi were so hidden. Why every dealing with them was anonymous. The Pharates were the hunters of his race. Intent on driving them extinct, for the sins of a queen who was dead for a thousand years.

Grub let out a gasp as he heard the sound of a blade passing through a tree, and then the cracking of the tree slowly falling to the ground near him.

"Where are you insect?" He heard, the dissonant and deep voice causing him to shake in place. "Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

He saw a metal cyan hoof stomp onto the ground in front of him. It was all he could do, to keep from squealing in terror. "I know you're here~!" He shouted in a sing song voice.

Grub suddenly felt a crushing weight on his back after the hoof before him jumped. The Pharnxi was standing on the log he was hiding in, and he felt the weight on two place. It was standing on it's hind legs.

Likely with his halberd raised in the air, about to bring it down on top of him. The Chrysalasi's eyes grew wet. He knew what was about to happen next. He found himself praying. Praying to his long dead Queen.

And his prayers were answered when the Pharynxi suddenly stopped.

"This is Tegmen." The Pharates said.

"What do you mean I have to return Father? I am about to carry out an execution!" He replied to some unknown entity.

"Very well..." The Pharynxi said before growling.

"Saved by the bell." He hissed, before the weight on Grub's back was lifted off, accompanied by a deep buzzing which faded into the night.

Chapter 8: Minotaur Affairs

Candour looked over the ledger with a morose gaze. It was typical of him. Smiles ill-suited his sagged, wrinkled face, and at his age he hated unnecessary strain. His sunken eyes followed along with the numbers, trailing down from top to bottom of the tome which was nearly as old and worn as he was. He flipped the page, finding a fresh, empty line in which to take the record. He reached for the quill, his arthritic fingers gripped the frayed feather from its pot, dipping the cut utensil a few more times before placing it to the page; ready to scratch in new numbers. “How many crates of the Vanhoover Liqueur did you manage to move?” he asked, looking to his at his nephew with an expectant eye.

The young, trimmed and finely dressed minotaur was leaning against the fireplace. He watched the flame’s dance for a few moments more, seemingly entranced by the movements. Candour waited, patiently, fingering one of the silver rings he wore looped through a string around his thick, black-furred neck. He seemed preoccupied. “Eighty crates. Not one of their forked tongues has a taste for it. Every coin I earned from selling those bottles felt like charity...” he bemoaned, trailing off as he directed a sneer to the flames before he gave Candour a pointed stare. “Damn that blonde bastard. Swindled me. Me!” he growled, before letting out a heavy exhale, gaze softening. “Why not sell to the griffons instead? They’re heavy drinkers aren’t they? And as much they pretend not to, they have a taste for the sweetness that only ponies produce.”

Candour pursed his lips, releasing a patronizing snort as he scrawled the earnings down. “Then our profits would have shrunk even smaller,” he drawled, sucking his teeth before looking back to his iron-jawed nephew. “The Caru family have managed to gain something of a monopoly over the griffon-pony trade routes. The Celestial Sea is covered coast to coast with their caravels and sloops, and money is pouring on them like rain. I would wager they stocked every inn and tavern from Griffonstone to the Talon Isles from their cargo alone.”

“Then the hippogriffs when they come in to dock? I’m certain they’d prefer the taste of sweet liqueur to sour lemon juice,” his nephew proposed. Candour shook his head.

“What if, due to an overabundance of alcohol, we hear word one day of a hippogriff fifty-decker crashes off the coast of the badlands?” Candour countered, bushy brows furrowed. “We can’t risk unloading several dozen boxes of alcohol onto a ship of disciplined sailors. We’re not the Dites.”

His nephew shrugged. “Hypotheticals you old bull. Besides, they can breathe underwater, can’t they? So what if it crashes? Is every arms merchant responsible the deaths their weapons cause, is every pipeleaf seller responsible for each customer who gets lung rot?”

Candour shook his head, clenching his frail jaw. “You’re but a calf, nephew. You care not for the finer points of merchanting. You have to show finesse, care for the long term. Diplomacy.”

The young minotaur scoffed. “When have we ever cared for diplomacy over profit?”

“When the world deemed that trust became the one luxury you can’t negotiate a price for,” Candour said, closing shut the ledger and placing the quill back into its pot. His nephew scowled at the floor like an angry toddler, and Candour earned his attention by smacking his hand against the desk; the authoritative bull snorted and sneered. “Whatever happened to wisdom? Is it a mythical concept to you? You’re certainly my brother’s son if you’re so stubborn!”

The young bull pouted, but Candour’s exclamation - despite its harshness - calmed him. “Then what do you propose I do with this burning hole in my ledger, uncle?”

“You keep selling to those bugs. Force it down their throats if you have to, you just want it gone. Take the loss and move on, that’s how business works,” Candour answered, his tone softening, the brief explosion of volume left him fatigued. He hated being old. He noticed something then, a subtle twitch in his nephew’s face. “What is it?”

His nephew squinted, as though he was trying to force his idea into clarity. He trailed over to Candour’s desk, leaning on it, his steel ring dangling from his neck; lip curled. “What if we’re selling to the wrong changelings?”

“What are you thinking?” Candour sought clarification, leaning towards him.

“The Pharynxi-”

“What would they need alcohol for?”

The young minotaur shrugged. “Disinfectant.”

“Pony alcohol is weak. Even then, they wouldn’t drink it. They don’t want it,” Candour parried, swatting the thought dismissively with his wrinkled hand.

“Then…” he paused, giving the desk a few taps before taking a seat in the chair before it; eyes glinting with inspiration. “We trade it for something they do want.”

The old bull gave a half smile, intrigued. “Like what?”

“Oil.”

Candour blinked, his lips straightening back out again. “Like the kind they put in street lamps?”

He shrugged, wearing an innocuous smile. “Or fuel an entire swathe of Solenata.”

Candour felt a breath escape him, yet curiosity bade him inquire. “You want to fuel their burnings? What… what you’re proposing is a hair’s width away from arms dealing. The ponies won’t allow weapons to pass over their lands, air or caravan.”

“What? On what grounds can they seize such innocent merchandise? Oil is a necessity in many places. They need it for light, to power radiators and steam engines. In fact, not selling them oil would be the cruel thing to do,” he argued with the saccharine cadence of Crystal Empire denizen, but with the subtle deceit of a Chrysalasi spy.

“Oh, look at you. A good samaritan are you? I suppose you’ll be selling it to them at cost then?” Candour jested.

His nephew scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “I might be a kind-hearted and charitable soul, uncle. But I’m not a lunatic.”

Candour leaned back in his chair, scrunching up his features, pondering. “I’ll entertain this idea, nephew. But where could you possibly get a pot of oil for a crate of liqueur?”

“Kludgetown,” he replied.

Candour cocked a brow. “What does Kludgetown have aside from slaves, unwilling concubines and indentured servants with permanent contracts?”

“They also sell stolen and less-than-savory goods. But for the honest merchant, as rare as they are in Kludgetown, there’s one thing they can sell. Something that is abundant to them as gems are to diamond dogs, only they’re not as clingy about it: oil,” the younger minotaur tapped the desk with his forefinger before sitting back, self-satisfied. “Now, those things make them dissuade people from buying from them, but when have you known a minotaur to prejudiced about customers or sellers?”

“But non-minotaur do discriminate. ‘Business ethics’, whatever the hell that is. And many do believe in the notion of guilt by association. Buying from merchants in Kludgetown could get us blacklisted from the E.E.L, and we do need them for caravan routes across the mainland.”

“Ah, but we won’t be the buyers. The Pharynxi will. We’ll just be a... intermediary,” he phrased it delicately, his words as unsteady as his ethics.

Candour filled his lungs to release a weary sigh, dragging his tongue over his dry lips he uncrossed his arms to stroke his chin; tugging at a lone wisp of long fur. “How do you make the first transaction, get the first batch for sale?”

The younger minotaur shook his half, lip curled. “The transaction wouldn’t be financial. It’ll be barter, a trade of goods, not the purchase of them. It doesn’t have to be recorded under our law. The only ones who’d know anything at all are us, the seller, and the caravan driver. And I’ve been to Kludgetown. The only time I’ve seen paper is when it’s hanging from the inside of an outhouse.”

Candour nodded, listening. “What about the driver?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t have to be a ‘driver’, driver. There are plenty of mercenaries who’d see it as an easy payday, especially when you throw on a discretion fee.”

“Won’t that get recorded down? You are paying for their services.”

He smirked. “‘Discretion’, discretion fee.”

“And you’d be willing to pay that premium?”

“I’d consider it an investment. If the Caru can have a monopoly over spirits and pastries with the griffons, then we could have a monopoly over business conducted with the entire Pharynxi if we foster that ‘trust’ that you’re so fond of. Not just on oil, but on everything! Imagine it,” he pitched, and Candour was unsure if he was ready to catch. “We’ll be swimming in amber and marble, gems and gold.”

Candour saw avarice in his nephew's eyes but felt it grip him also. The last time their treasury was full, and caravans full of wealth travelled to and fro from anywhere, was when his horns were but stubs barely several inches from his head. He grabbed a hold of one of the rings he wore in a necklace around his neck. As he grew older, he began to feel the weight of them more. Copper, bronze, iron, and silver. His place as a merchant, as an esteemed member of their society. But the silver. The silver marked him as an important elder. A wealthy and important elder. But to him, it was the ring given to those who had lived long enough without achieving a single, memorable thing.

“Do you know how to be discreet, calf?” he asked, boring into his nephew with a firm stare.

Candour saw the turn in the minotaur’s expression, the hardening of his face, certainty in his eye. “Like a shadow in the dark, uncle.”

Candour nodded. “Then do it. If you succeed in this endeavor, there may be some hope for this family after all,” he then gave him a fleeting smile.

“Thank you, uncle.”

Thereafter, a pause followed, and after a few more moments Candour grumbled, sighed, and reopened the ledger. He reached for the quill, pulled it from the pot and put it to a new line, looking at his nephew with a plain expression. “Now, with that matter is resolved. What of the yak timber?”

Author's Note

This was a chapter my great friend Jackelope said he wanted to write for my story, and I said of course.

Hope you all enjoyed his work, cause I certainly did.

Chapter 9: A Princess and a Tree

Princess Twilight Sparkle was many things. A leader, a powerful sorceress, and a diplomat nearly without compare. However, an oracle was never one of those things.

Celestia almost always seemed to be like that. In fact, as far as she remembered was only one or two events in all of history that really surprised her. It is honestly a shame she didn't have the guidance of her former mentor.

Twilight mentally slapped herself for that. Even after a thousand years she failed to recognize that the two were peers now, even if Celestia and Luna had retired.

Standing before her was the crystalline Tree of Harmony, surrounded by intricate stone work in the center of a round design, showing her old friends orbiting around the tree in mosaics. Both her and the tree stood inside of the grand hall of her new palace in the center of her Equestrian capital of Ponyville.

The old palace was unfortunately destroyed when... She decided to not think about that. The memories were painful to say the least. All that matters is that her old palace was embedded into the side of a mountain nearby.

Moving the Crystal Tree to the center of her new palace was a challenge. She had to use all of her magical prowess and years of research to move the tree without disrupting or breaking the roots of the tree that provided it's power.

Although in the end, it did seem like a fools errand at the time. After the deaths of her friends, the elements of the tree had turned... dark and dull. One by one the elemental gems died, aside from hers.

For a thousand years the tree was dead and distant. Only existing to provide Twilight memories of her earlier life. That is, until sixteen years ago.

The first element to switch back on was Laughter, and a month later Generosity joined it. Before long they had all returned. She only had the foggiest idea what that meant.

First of all, it meant that a new group of elements was born, but she searched almost every corner of Equestria, and could only find a single pony who was attuned to the elements. Said pony was a 15 year old Crystal Pony in the North. She had alerted her sister in law Cadance about her and she would have to be tested soon. Maybe in the same way Twilight had been tested all those years ago...

As for why the elements had only been activated now of all times... It was hard to say. The most likely reason? The Tree of Harmony could tell the world was in danger in the coming years, as it was a thousand years ago... but if she couldn't find the other five element, what chance did she have?

"You're doing it again." A voice said, which caused her to jump, her wings fluttering wildly with surprise. She quickly turned her head over to where the voice said.

Leaning against one of the many columns in the room was her niece, Flurry Heart. A smirk on her face as she cocked her head to the side.

"Flurry Heart! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Twilight said after getting her heartbeat back under control.

Flurry Heart giggled as she walked up to her Aunt. "Kinda hard not to. The entire palace could collapse around you while you're in one of these moods, and that still wouldn't phase you."

Twilight couldn't do anything but pout in response as she examined her Niece, she could tell something was off. Her pale pink fur was cleanly presses and shimmering, her ethereal flowing purple and teal mane flowed as always.

Flurry Heart was also adorned in her silver tiara and gem encrusted silver slippers, which was something she honestly rarely wore. Flurry Heart honestly attested such shows of wealth. She had always said she was more at home in the clothes of the common pony than in the richness of royalty.

"What's going on? Why are you so heavily dressed today?" Twilight asked skeptically, cocking her head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

Flurry Heart promptly levitated a small scroll up towards Twilight who took it in her hooves and sat down on her haunches. "This came this morning via a courier spell from Lord Gasbar of House Gallus. He is calling in a favor to have us shelter his daughter from Chrysalasi assassins. I wanted to make a good first impression for her. She apparently lost her mother recently."

Flurry Heart's explanation was confirmed by the scroll itself, which featured House Gallus's royal seal at the bottom. "Ahh, House Gallus. Founded by a former student of mine. I always liked him - a good student! What time will she be getting here?"" Twilight said as she rolled the scroll up and handed it to an assistant standing near one of the room's sets of double doors via levitation.

Flurry Heart raised a hoof and looked at her wrist as if staring at a watch. "Oh... I'd say in about... fifteen minutes." Flurry Heart slyly said.

Twilight did a double take before placing her hooves on the sides of her heads in a panic. "Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" Twilight shouted as she quickly went about summoning her golden tiara and slippers sliding them on quickly. She checked her reflection in the tree of harmony, pulling a myriad of faces and checking her head at various, needless angles, mimicking her old friend Rarity ensure she was presentable

Flurry Heart couldn't help but burst out laughing at her aunt's panic. Twilight glared at her niece as she tried to calm herself down.

"S-Sorry!" The younger Alicorn said between bouts of laughter before finally bringing herself down from her glee. "I would have told you sooner but you seemed busy. Why are you so captivated with that tree?"

"The Tree of Harmony activating means dark times ahead of us... I think." Twilight said to herself quietly, a degree of doubt in her voice. She looked back to the Tree, bringing her hoof steadily forwards and tapped it against the center most design etched into it. A star, one which was shaped into the symbol on her flank: the element of magic.

Flurry Heart's glee immediately fell as she shook her head.

"Tell me Twilight. Can you name a single threat that Equestria and her allies can't deal with without the elements." Flurry said with her eyes narrowed.

Twilight sighed. Flurry always brought this up. She always pointed out that the elements were no longer needed in the modern age. That the threats of the modern day were capable of being dealt with via diplomacy and Equestria's military should it come to it.

Normally she would stop after this, she wouldn't argue the point, but now, now she knew she had to argue the point.

"Tell me, Flurry, can you expect the Equestrian military to be able to hold the line against the Slave armies of Kludgetown? To fight against innocents who are shepherded into fighting under the threat of death." Twilight said glaring at her niece.

Flurry rolled her eyes. "Kludgetown's military is overly reliant on slaves. Do you know how easy it would be to convince the slaves of Kludgetown to rebel should a fight break out?"

"Well what about Ember and the Dragons?" Twilight said with a degree of firmness as she stepped towards the pink Alicorn.

"They've been dead for a thousand years. Even if we didn't find their bodies, I don't think any one can argue they survived being buried under tons upon tons of ash." Flurry countered.

"What if Tirek escapes from Tartarus again?" Twilight said as she came face to face with her niece.

"We have contingencies in place for that event. Not to mention, Discord is much more likely to cooperate this time." Flurry once again replied apathetically, as if she had practiced this many times.

"What about Pharynx and the Pharates, Flurry." Twilight finished with a smirk.

Flurry opened her mouth as if to speak before closing her mouth and stopping. "I... I can't really argue that. But, I guess if they did want to conquer Equestria, they would have done it along time ago Twilight." Flurry Heart explained quietly as she put a hoof on her aunt's shoulder.

"You just need to calm down." Flurry said calmly with a small smile. "If there are dark times ahead or whatever, I am sure the elements will come to us rather than the other way around."

Twilight gave a slight smile and a content sigh. Flurry was right. She should just wait and see what happens next. Celestia always did that after all?

A second assistant entered from a set of two double doors. "My princesses, a pair of gryphons has arrived to speak with the both of you." The mare said with a bow.

"Why don't we go meet our new guests." Flurry said giving her aunt a couple pats on the shoulder as both of them turned towards the exit, and walked towards it, away from the shimmering crystal tree.

Author's Note

MFW no one cares about this story when I am writing it, but when I cancel it I get a bunch of messages telling me to not cancel it.

Chapter 10: The Ocelli

Cinder and Dactylus stared at each other awkwardly as they continued slowly shaking hands, sweat pouring from their brows. "So uhhh…" Dactylus said nervously. "Are you going to breath fire on me now?"

"No... Are you going to lay eggs in my eyes?" Cinder asked shakily.

"What the heck? Of course not!" Dactylus said in shock as he pulled his hoof from her grasp. The bug pony looked justifiably offended at that comment. "Why would I ever do that?"

"I mean... you are a bug pony thing..." Cinder tried to explain as she took a step back.

"First of all, I am a male, thought that would be pretty obvious! Secondly-" Dactylus started before he was cut off by Cinder.

"I'm sorry ok? Sheesh." Cinder said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm just a little nervous because I've never seen a changeling before jeez."

Dactylus sighed and shook his head. "It's fine. Lot's of the pony upper class say worse things...." He said with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

Cinder decided she needed to change the subject. "Soooo..." She started as she leaned to the side, peering past Dactylus towards the statue of the taller changeling and the whip, which was now sitting in the center of a small shrine in front of it. "What were you uhhh… doing to yourself."

Dactylus perked up with a frown and stepped to the side, blocking Cinder's view. "That is none of your concern." He sternly voiced as he brought his face an inch away from hers.

Cinder took a step back with her eyes wide open. "Uhhh… are you sure or..." She started before Dactylus silenced her with a hoof pressed against her mouth.

"Yes." He curtly said.

"O-Ok." Cinder replied slowly. The awkward silence returned full force as the two continued to stare at each other for what seemed like hours.

"Sooo… Cinder..." Dactylus said as sudden determination flashed in his compact eyes. "Are you evil by any chance?"

"What?!? Of course not!" Cinder shouted at him. Dragons weren't evil! They were just superior to all other races! Well... actually... According to Ash, apparently Changelings were equal to Dragons.

"Good!" Dactylus said as he suddenly straightened himself up, grinned and started walking past her. "I'm going to introduce you to my little sister. She's always wanted to meet a dragon!"

Cinder was hesitant as Dactylus walked past her. The Dragon Lord and the General would certainly not want her deviating from her mission! She had to reach Ponyville! The second the changeling had his back to her, Cinder turned and raised her leg as if to run.

The collar around her neck suddenly squeezed tightly, cutting off her airflow. Blood red letters shot out of it and into her line of sight. "Follow him." They spelled out simply, before shooting back into the gem in the center.

"Are you coming?" Dactylus asked as he turned his head to look at her.

Cinder coughed as her magical collar loosened allowing her to catch her breath again. "Y-yeah! Just a second!" Cinder said as she turned and ran off to join him.

The dragon and her new unexpected companion slowly walked down a winding dirt path through the forest floor. Along the entire way Cinder found her eyes drawn to her surroundings.

She found herself loving the plants and animals she saw, from the towering oaks, to the adorable bunny she saw jump past them. (Ignoring the fact that when she first saw it, she ended up latching onto Dactylus's leg out of fright. Dactylus had to spend several minutes explaining to her that it was just a mere rabbit, and no threat at all.)

It was noon by the time the two of them arrived atop a hill looking down at a rather large clearing in the center of the forest. Cinder could make out a small hamlet at the center of the clearing, made up of barely two dozen or so houses. The Hamlet was odd in appearance to say the least.

Half of it seemed to be made up of wooden houses with thatched roofs ,Which she had been drilled in exactly how to burn to the ground in her youth, while the other half were ovular in shape and made of stone. They appeared to be shaped like beetle shells actually. Minus legs and antennae of course.

Those were probably where the Changelings lived actually. It only made sense because of their whole buggy appearance.

"Whelp, there it is. My hometown." Dactylus said with a smile as he turned to Cinder. "You like it?"

"It's a lot better than the place I grew up in..." Cinder lied. The Dragon lands were much better than this group of highly flammable matchboxes and stone bugs.

"Where was that?" Dactylus asked as he started walking down the hill to reach the hamlet.

"A hole underground..." Cinder said. Ok, the Dragon lands were great. She just lived in a bad part of it.

"Uh huh... yeah I can see that." Dactylus said with a nod.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cinder grunted back, her eyes narrowed.

"That my village is better than a hole underground." Dactylus replied.

"Oh."

"What did you think I meant?"

"Something not nice."

The two continued a minor banter until they arrived at the entrance to the small village, a small cobblestone pathway leading up to a center plaza. The two of them were very suddenly stopped by the somewhat intimidating sound of buzzing wings above them.

They both looked up in time to see a changeling in silver Equestrian Guard armor slam down in front of them. He rose to his full height and stared down at them with anger in his compact eyes.

"Who goes there?" The changeling said in a very deep and intimidating voice which caused Cinder to visibly flinch. The yellow dragon found herself once more latched onto Dactylus in fright.

"Spinneret! I thought your dad told you to stop pretending to be an Ecotes! You keep scarring Butterfly." Dactylus said with a frown as he gestured to Cinder with a hoof.

"Oh that's butterfly?" The scary changeling said with a... little fillies voice? There was a flash of light as the guard transformed into a small pink changeling, only slightly larger than the one she had seen in the forest earlier. "Sorry, I thought that was a mean dragon that was holding you hostage!"

"Dragons are extinct Spinneret. Everyling knows that." Dactylus sighed as he pleadingly cast a glimpse over to Cinder.

"Nuh-uh! I saw one yesterday." Spinneret replied with a frown.

"That was just a really big bird if anything." Dactylus said before he grunted. "Shouldn't you be playing with Lightning Shine right now?"

A neon yellow unicorn colt suddenly ran up to 'Spinneret' and tackled her from the side. "Caught you!" The pony yelled as Dactylus ushered Cinder to move. The taller changeling started to quickly shimmy away from the colt and filly while their attention was on each other.

"Hey no fair!" Spinneret shouted. "We agreed that all games had a truce in place when I turned into an Ecotes!"

"But you weren't an Ecotes when I caught you." The colt explained cheekily.

Spinneret grunted before turning her head over to Dactylus and Cinder who were practically running now.

"Hey Dactylus!" She shouted, prompting them both to freeze in place. "Can you and Butterfly come play hide and seek with us? It's boring when it's just us two..."

"Maybe later!" Dactylus hesitantly called back just before the two left earshot.

"What was that about?" Cinder asked as Dactylus pried her off him.

"Oh those two. They're the only kids in the village besides Butterfly, and they get really annoying about my 'playing with them.'" Dactylus said with a sigh as he turned his head.

"No I mean why did you call me Butterfly? Also, mind if I ask what an Ecotes is?" Cinder asked as the two closed in on the village center. The little drake was honestly surprised at the village's population as she glanced around. It seemed rather equally split between ponies and Changelings as the groups went about their business not paying the two much mind besides the occasional smile and wave.

"I told you. Butterfly likes dragons. And the Ecotes are the Changeling equivalent of soldiers I guess." Dactylus said.

"That's kind of a weird name for them..."

"Oh well, the scientific name for soldier ants is Ecotini, so we replaced the ini with es to make it sound intimidating. Boom, soldier ant soldiers." Dactylus said as the two passed a large flagpole in the center of the plaza.

Cinder found her eyes drawn up to the flag waving in the wind. It was the Equestrian flag, that much was certain. It had the two, apparently retired, princesses Celestia and Luna circling a sun and moon combo thingie. The weird thing about this particular flag however, was the fact that in the center of the sun and moon was what looked to be the cyan silhouette of a changeling's head, which, like the statue in the woods from before, had two mandible like antlers.

"What's with the flag?" Cinder asked as she stopped in place and craned her neck to stare directly at it.

"Oh, that's the flag of the Ocelli. It's a faction of Changelings that lives here in Equestria. Named after our founder, Ocellus." Dactylus said as he too stopped. "The head in the center represents our god, Thorax. Most of the Ocelli live in a big old city a couple dozen miles to the north east of here. It's called Succoria."

Cinder cocked a sudden eyebrow. "You mean that statue in the woods was Thorax?"

"Yeah."

"That's not how I pictured him honestly." Cinder said scratching her head.

"You've heard of him before?" Dactylus asked with honest surprise in his voice. "And here I was thinking you lived under a rock your entire life."

"I did though..." Cinder replied.

There was a crack as Dactylus hit himself in the face with a hoof. "It's just an expression, now come on." Dactylus said with a sigh.

The dragon and changeling finally arrived at their destination, the largest house in the village. It was one of the beetle shaped one and had two large double doors in front, alongside some screen windows, and a rocking chair on a small wooden porch. A pile of firewood sat drying just off to the side of her vision, which struck her as fairly odd considering the fact that she had never experienced the concept of 'cold' in her life.

"Wait out here. I'll go get Butterfly." Dactylus said as he opened one of the buildings double doors and stepped inside.

It took approximately five seconds before Cinder heard shouting from inside which prompted her to open one of the doors and peek her scaly head inside.

Dactylus was angrily staring down a red Pegasus teenager with a messy purple mane who was sitting smugly at a table in what seemed to be a kitchen/dining room. An archway towards the far wall opposite the door she was at seemed to lead further into the house.

"You're back pretty soon Dactylus. Your punishment must have been pretty quick today huh?" The Pegasus said in a rather devious voice.

"Shut your mouth, heathen." Dactylus replied, which caused the Pegasus to slam her hooves onto the table in front of her and stand up.

"Don't call me a heathen you fanatic!" She yelled back at him.

"Atheist!"

"Cultist!"

"Harlot!"

The Pegasus loudly gasped before they both suddenly turned to the archway and simultaneously screamed a single word;

"DAD!!!"

Cinder found herself gasping when, suddenly Pupa and Magenta, the two adults she had met in the woods earlier, came running through said archway. "What? What is it?" Pupa or Papa or whatever his name was said with great worry.

Dactylus and the Pegasus pointed at each other. "He/she called me a Harlot/Cultist!" The said, once again simultaneously, using a different word respectively.

Magenta sighed and sat down, clasping her face with her hooves while Pupa simply pursed his lips. "Guys... We talked about this. A lot."

"She started it!' Dactylus grunted, just before there was a loud creak as the door Cinder was hiding behind pushed forwards and Cinder fell through, face planting onto the stone floor of the house.

"Butterfly." This time it was Magenta speaking. "We also talked about you not leaving the house alone, and not disguising yourself as a dragon. It could scare people."

"Woah!" They all heard from their right, causing all of them to turn over to the kitchen proper where the purple little hybrid was sitting in a tall stool, coloring with crayons. "Mommy! Papa! That was the Dragon I saw out in the woods!" She excitedly shouted.

Magenta, Pupa and the Pegasus turned their heads back to the dragon lying on their floor. "That's not one of your friends pulling a prank on us, right Dactylus?" Magenta asked in shock.

"Dactylus doesn't have any friends." The Pegasus said equally shook by the sight.

Pupa's compact eyes rolled back as he suddenly fell backwards onto the ground unconscious.

Chapter 11: A Really Weird Family

Cinder stared at the passed out Changeling father with a mix of concern and dread written on her face.

"Cinder..." Dactylus started slowly and awkwardly as he walked next to her and closed the door behind her. "This is my family."

He pointed first to Magenta, who was simply frozen in shock. "This is my stepmother, Magenta Dye. The unconscious guy next to her is my dad, Pupa."

"What's a Stepmother?" Cinder asked with a cocked eyebrow as she looked over to her changeling companion.

"It's a faker who marries your dad and starts calling herself your mom." Dactylus stated bluntly.

"Dactyyyy! That's not nice!" Butterfly said she took to the air on two insect like wings and started to hover over to the two.

"Sorry Butterfly." Dactylus sighed before he turned back to Cinder. "Anyway, I digress."

"That's my dirty non-believer Stepsister, Berry Flight." He continued as he gestured to the Pegasus sitting at the table, "And this, is my little sister Butterfly. Well... Half sister really."

Butterfly suddenly flew right up in front of Cinder's face with a large smile, little cute fangs sticking out next to flat pony teeth. "Hi!" The little hybrid loudly said. "Is it true that dragons breath fire? If you're a dragon where are your wings? Were you born out of an egg? Is it true you can swim in lava?"

The barrage of questions the hybrid spewed out were so rapid fire that Cinder barely had time to comprehend them. The drake blinked several times as she tried to comprehend what she was asked, before Butterfly was suddenly grabbed by a pair of magenta hooves and quickly yanked away.

"Stay away from that thing!" Magenta loudly screamed as she held onto her daughter.

"Magenta..." Dactylus started.

"Why would you bring that thing to our house!" The purple Pegasus asked as she backed away from the dragon.

"If she were evil, she probably would have killed me when she first found me." Dactylus said rolling his eyes, although it was hard for Cinder to tell, what with his eyes being compact and all.

"Maybe it's just counting on you to bring it to town so it can burn the entire place down!" Berry Flight said, before recoiling in fright when Cinder turned over to look at her. "Y-you're a maniac so you're probably in on it!"

"Why would I be in on it?" Dactylus asked throwing his forehooves in the air in a shrug.

"It just lulled you into to a false sense of security so it can assassinate your Father!" Magenta cried out.

"I really didn't." Cinder stated in a monotone. "And why would I ever want to do that?"

"Oh, my Dad is part of the Council of Ocellus. They're the six changelings that rule the Ocelli." Dactylus quickly stated.

"Don't tell it that! Now it knows!" Magenta shouted.

"SEE! I told you Dactylus was in on it!" Berry screamed.

"STOP IT!!!!" Butterfly shrieked in a high-pitched voice which caused everyone to stop and cover their ears for a second.

Everyone turned to the small hybrid as she wrested herself free of her mother's tight grip and took to the air between them. "Stop shouting at each other. Let's just let Cinder talk!"

"Thank you Butterfly!" Dactylus said as he sat down with a frown and crossed his forehooves over his chest.

"Ok... Um.... Hi." Cinder started with a wave. "My name is Cinder, as Dactylus said. I just met him like.... 20 minutes ago in the forest."

"Uhhuh…" Berry said slowly. "And why are you in Equestria…?"

The gem inside Cinder's collar immediately squeezed down around Cinder's neck, once again cutting off airflow.

"I am trying to get to Ponyville." Cinder found herself saying. It was like it was speaking for her. "I heard that a couple of non-evil dragons used to live there, and I am trying to reform myself and my race."

Dactylus found himself staring at Cinder with a greater amount of intrigue, while Berry and Magenta seemed to relax a tad, even if their faces were skeptical.

"Oh! Like Thorax!" Butterfly suddenly said happily as she flew up to Cinder's face. "I knew you weren't evil from the moment I saw you in the woods!" The little hybrid wrapped her forehooves around Cinder in a hug, which was odd because this was the first time they had talked.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by reform your race?" Magenta asked inquisitively.

"I'm apparently the last dragon." The collar spoke again. "So I thought I should make sure we aren't all remembered as bloodthirsty monsters..."

"That's a nice goal I guess..." Berry stated with a shrug.

"She wasn't lying either." Dactylus stated. "Usually creatures let out some contempt or fear when they're lying, but I didn't feel any coming from her."

"I guess I'll put out an extra plate out for our new guest tonight... after I wake up your father." Magenta stated suspiciously as she walked over to her husband and tried to resuscitate him.

The Collar loosened around Cinder's neck causing her to take in a deep breath.

"Are you alright?" Butterfly asked curiously as Berry and Dactylus joined the Pegasus matriarch.

"Yeah sorry, this collar can get really tight sometimes." Cinder stated as she gestured to it idly.

"Why not take it off?" Butterfly asked with a cocked head.

"Sorry, I can't. It's a cultural thing." Cinder stated.

"Oh... ok!" Butterfly said.

"Anyway... can I keep asking questions?" The hybrid asked with puppy dog eyes.

Cinder sighed. "Yeah... sure."

"The Ocelli still exist? I'd of thought the ponies would have exterminated them by now." Spike's voice boomed as he idly watched the magical viewing screen as Butterfly suddenly jumped into a second tirade of meaningless questions.

"Indeed. And that disgusting hybrid shows that perhaps the Changelings have lost their worthy status. Perhaps they will need to be burned away too." Ember said with a twitching eye.

"Let us not be so hasty." Spike stated as the Changeling patriarch was shaken awake. He started a second freak out when he saw the small drake again. "The Pharynxi are probably still alive. They are likely still the dominant faction of changelings. That certainly puts points in their favor, does it not?"

Ember smiled and shook her head at that, reminiscing about ancient memories. "Ah Pharynx. He always was pretty intense, wasn't he. I remember what happened when me and Thorax first started dating."

Spike chuckled. "I remember he shoved you into a seat and gave you a spiel about how; 'Thorax was a gentle soul, if you ever hurt him he would make sure you suffered.'" The two laughed lightly.

There was a pause. The changeling on the viewing screen had been calmed down. He mentioned something about, 'getting the rest of the Council together and talking to Princess Twilight.'

"Do you think Pharynx actually managed to do it? Wiped out the Chrysalasi?" Spike asked his partner.

"No. Those scum are like cockroaches. No matter how many of them you kill, they will always find a way to hide and come back. Five years. It took us five years of constant searching to find that WITCH! Even after Pharynx ripped off her leg, she managed to evade us for FIVE YEARS!" Ember shouted. Her claws clenched and cracked the ground below her at the bottom of the sea of fire, causing a booming crack which rattled through the chamber.

"Hmmph. Do you think, if that's the case, Pharynx would be a potential ally?" Spike asked as he idly thrummed his claws. "If he is still alive of course. He didn't really show any signs of aging way back when, but that might have just been a longer lifespan."

"I guess we will have to see..." Ember stated. "That Dactylus... He also seems interesting. I've never seen somedrake so devoted that they would flay their backs with a whip. And to be so devoted to Thorax? I think I've found my third favorite changeling!"

Spike once again chuckled. "We should keep him as a pet once we're done with the ponies." The two broke out into vicious cackling at that.

Chapter 12: The Princesses and the Patrician

Galatea sat in a cushioned gold and silver chair as she idly thrummed her claws against a rather small mahogany table in the center of an opulent dinning room. Directly across from her were two much larger chairs and a large set of double doors which lead out of the room and into a large hallway that she and Garen had been escorted through by Equestrian guards.

It was rather odd actually. The ponies had inlaid the walls of the room with gold and silver, and the furniture alone looked like it would be able to buy a mansion on beach front property, but the room had no busts or painting of the pony nobility, which was odd to say the least. She was used to nobles covering every open wall with a self portrait or a statue of themselves.

The Changelings were honestly the worst when it came to that kind of thing. The one time she had been invited along on a diplomatic mission with her mother, literally every wall in the mansion they stayed at had a massive intricately designed mural of Thorax in some grand larger than life pose, light flying out from his holy form. That, and the insignia that the changelings literally put on everything, that being a cyan silhouette of a antlered changeling's head. She had never been to the changeling capital itself, no one really had, but she only imagined how bad it would have been.

Her mother had often joked about the vainness of the other nobles. Sweet Boreas did she already miss her mother's laugh. Galatea lowered her head and shut her eyes, fighting away tears. She had already cried so much in the past few days, she didn't want to do it anymore.

She felt an armored claw rest itself on her shoulder. An attempt from Garen to comfort her it seemed. It honestly just caused her to jump slightly, she was so lost in thought.

"Focus my lady, I think I hear them coming." Garen said in a calm voice. Galatea smiled up at him. At least he was trying to take care of her. She hadn't even heard from her father yet. She would have thought he would have tried to reach her to say something, anything.

"Thank you, Garen. I have had too much on my mind recently." She said to the armored Gryphon with a shake of her head.

"Worry not my lady. You need not explain yourself to me." Garen explained with a comforting grin, although she didn't see it, due to his helmet.

Galatea nodded to the knight before she too heard the clopping of hooves outside the doors. What really wierded out was the fact that she only heard two sets of hooves. The two were coming alone? Sure Alicorns were reportedly insanely powerful, only Pharynx and Discord being able to apparently rival them, but surely no matter how powerful you were you needed guards right?

Galatea shook her head and straightened her back, placing her claws in her lap, as was expected of her.

'Show time.' She thought to herself.

Twilight and Flurry Heart kept heir heads held high regally as they walked through the marble laden floors of the Palace the two shared. Twilight turned to her niece as the two walked. "Hey, quick question, should I teleport to the Crystal Empire real quick and grab your mother? She really likes diplomatic visits, even ones as small as this."

"Oh, please don't. I really don't want to talk to her right now." Flurry Heart sighed deeply.

"Fine, but you have to explain to her why there are two gryphons running around the palace next time she visits." Twilight grinned.

Flurry Heart deeply sighed as she neared the doors to the room containing the two gryphons. "You really like unwinnable situations don't you?"

Twilight giggled as she too walked up to the door. "Only when they happen to you." She jested with a stuck out tongue.

The Purple Alicorn pushed the double doors open with her hooves and slowly walked into the room with a smile, flanked by her niece.

The snow white gryphon sitting across from her rose from her chair and gave a deep bow for the Alicorns.

Twilight heard Flurry Heart sigh deeply, obviously rolling her eyes.

"Please arise, I don't even let my own subjects bow to us." Twilight said comfortingly as she pulled her chair back and sat down.

The small gryphon raised an eyebrow and turned to her body guard who merely shrugged at her. She cleared her throat and sat back down as Flurry took her own seat. The Gryphon straightened her back in a very rigid position as she placed her claws on her lap once more.

"Now then, Galatea, I am so sorry to hear about your mother." Princess Twilight said as she placed two hooves gently on the table. Flurry Heart's horn glowed as she brought a steaming kettle and several tea cups to the table for them. "I am sorry to say I did not know her well, as I mostly spoke with your father during diplomatic visits."

"I would rather not speak about my mother right now. She is unimportant to this meeting." Galatea said almost robotically, which caused her guard to stiffen slightly, and the two pony rulers to shoot each other rather concerned looks. The small gryphon took her cup of tea and shakily rose it to her beak.

"I..." The gryphon cleared her throat. "I am sure my father already explained the situation yes?"

Twilight shook her head and sighed. She should have expected this honestly. Gryphons tended to hide their emotions in political meetings. Their nation was resoundingly cut throat when it came to that sort of thing.

"Of course." Flurry continued as she leaned her upper body against the table, an act which caused Galatea to shoot a confused glance at her guard. "Your family has always been close to Equestria, and we have been put in your debt many times in the past. It is the least we can do to shelter you here in our palace until such a time as you are once again safe. You are being given free reign of the palace and we will put you up in our best guest room."

Galatea's eyes widened. "S-surely you jest! Free reign of the palace?!?" Whatever was wrong with these ponies? Were they truly that trusting?

Garen suddenly stepped forwards and placed a claw on the table. "What is the catch?" The Knight spoke for his lady, with eyes narrowed.

"No catch at all." Twilight said with a genuine smile and cocked head. "We simply want one of our closest allies to feel as at home as possible. Especially after what happened to you."

"This is HIGHLY unorthodox!" Galatea said rising from her chair and placing her claws on the table in front of her.

"Overly uptight and get's offended when we are nice? Are you sure she is not a member of the Unicorn Nobility?" Flurry Heart joked, which earned her a rap on the shoulder from her aunt.

"It may be odd for a Gryphon, what with how much court espionage you subject yourself to, but make no mistake," Twilight said in a comforting voice. "We in Equestria take care of our friends."

Galatea was quiet for a few minutes before she let out a deep exhale. "Very well your Highnesses." She said as she pushed aside her chair and dropped down in a deep bow. "I will make sure this debt is repaid, at least tenfold."

Twilight shook her head endearingly. "Ahh, youth." She mumbled to her self.

"What did we say about the bowing?" Flurry Heart grumbled.

Twilight was very suddenly reminded of something. "Oh, I will have to ask you a favor which Flurry just reminded me of."

"Name it."

"If you find yourself speaking to a member of the Unicorn nobility, please tell them that I didn't give you free reign of our palace? I would desperately like to not spend the next two decades with a constant migraine." Twilight said which Flurry backed up with nod.

"Freaking classist morons." She mumbled.

"It will be done." The noble said with a nod.

"Good. Now then, I will call several servants and get a feast going to formally welcome you to-" Twilight started before she was interrupted as a guard in purple armor burst open the doors and ran into the room.

"My Princess!" The Guard shouted to Twilight. "I bring word from the council of Ocellus! A Dragon was sighted near Succoria!"

The Princesses and the Gryphons stared at the guard in shock.

"That's not good." Flurry Heart exclaimed.

Author's Note

Thanks for all the support I have been getting on this story recently guys. I really love getting comments, even they are critism so feel free to say anything you want in the comments.

Thanks again ya'll!

Chapter 13: Civilizing the Storm

The fields to the far south. Peaceful and welcoming. Past deserts, jungles and mountains, was a land almost as fertile and peaceful as Equestria, owned by the Hippogryph race. While Hippogryphs were mainly sustained by fishing, farms were occasional of course, and one of those farms were dealing with an issue regarding... pest control.

Standing atop a hill was a grouping of Hippogryphs, and one among them was a rather young deep blue male. His eyes were a fiery orange and he wore a rather strapping purple uniform complete with several medels and two ceremonial shoulder boards. Before them swarmed an army of yeti, the former storm troopers of the long dead First Storm King.

The creatures trampled over the farms crops of wheat and rye in a mad dash towards their ancient enemy. While the creatures were rather savage, they weren't diamond dogs who were rabid and unorganized. There were hints of organization amongst them, but it was loose to say the least.

Rivol stared down at the horde impartially before turning to his father, who was of the same color and wore a similar uniform, only much more richly decorated with medals. His father opened his beak to speak to a third Hippogryph.

"Are you sure you want to be here for this your majesty? The battles with these pests are more often than not bland and unentertaining." His father spoke simply with an idle roll of his claw.

Sitting in a rather comfortable looking folding chair, and sipping tea from a saucer he held in his claw, was a pure white Hippogryph with a purple mane. He wore a rich deep purple suit and a solid gold crown inlaid with an amethyst in the center.

"Oh yes indeed, one would think these creatures would attain at least some level of civility." King Velox the Third said. "My wife and daughter were persistent in wishing to see the troops in action." The king gestured to another two Hippogryphs, one with golden feathers and a cobalt mane, and another who was a light pink in coloring with a sky blue mane.

"Very well then sir." His father replied with a deep nod before he turned to the rest of the Hippogryphs who faced the encroaching army in ranks.

The flag of Hippogryphia flew before them. It was split between purple on top and cerulean on the bottom. A cerulean Hippogryph stood in the purple, and a purple seapony sat in the cerulean. It was a symbol of pride for both sides of the Hippogryph coin.

"Would you like to give the order Rivol?"

Rivol perked up and raised an eyebrow. His father wanted him to give the order? "O-of course father!" Rivol said excitedly.

"Very well then. Proceed." His father said. The Storm creatures were mere feet away from the Hippogryph Regiment now.

"Spears up!" Rivol shouted as he raised his hand. The soldiers lowered their weapons in perfect unison.

"Fire!" The young soldier shouted as he quickly threw down his claw.

A deafening series of cracks and booms followed, as the vision of the group was cut off by a pure cloud of white gunpowder.

The king and his family wrinkled their beaks in response to the smell of blood and smoke which assailed their senses, but Rivol and his father did not even bat an eye.

The smoke clouds soon dissipated, allowing the five too see the damage. The Storm horde was very obviously scattered as more then four fifths of their number had been cut down rather harshly. Those that remained were fleeing with their tails between their legs.

"The fact that those things still exist definitely put a negative light on our military skills." The King grunted as he watched the army start to reload their muskets.

"I know. They just seem to keep popping up from the south pole to be honest." Rivol's father replied. A servant approached with a tray and several wine glasses filled with liquid courage.

Rivol took a glass and raised it. "A toast to this victory, and a toast to King Velox. Long may he yet rule."

The King took his glass and gave the colt a side ways glance. "Are you old enough to drink?" Velox asked.

"I'm old enough to fight and die for my King, but not drink for him?" Rivol replied with a cheeky tone, which earned a snicker from his father and the princess to Velox's right.

"Fair point. Carry on then." The King said with a nod before he joined in on the toast.

"To Hippogryphia!" Rivol toasted.

"To Hippogryphia!" His company replied before bringing their drinks back.

A second servant landed next to the king as the king finished his drink. He raised an eyebrow before the servant bent down and whispered something into the king's ear. The servant then handed a letter to the king before turning and flying off.

"What is it Velox?" The Queen asked as she set her glass down.

The King sighed and brought his tea to his beak once again. "A letter from Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. It's likely nothing too important all things considered. She is likely inviting me to Equestria's new friendship games or something stupid of that caliber."

The King sipped his tea as he opened the letter and read it idly. The group was shocked when the spat his drink out in fright.

'This isn't good.' Rivol thought. "Only the worst news imaginable would cause the King to spit out his tea.'

"What's wrong my liege?" Rivol's Father asked as he put a claw on the King's shoulder.

"Dear, take Venerum back to the palace." Velox said to his wife, who nodded and grabbed the princess. The two took to the skies together in the direction of Mount Aris, which peaked over the horizon nearby.

"Nautus. Ready your troops, we set sail for Equestria, very soon." Velox commanded as he rose from his chair.

"My lord?" Rivol's father, Nautus, asked as he approached. "What is wrong?"

Velox turned to Rivol and Nautus with a deep frown. "A Dragon is in Equestria."

Author's Note

Would ya'll say Hippogryph use words like Colt and Filly? I'd say yes, considering they are half horse.

Chapter 14: Green is a Stupid Color

Emerald Mark gave a deep sigh as she walked down the moonstone sidewalk of the streets of the Crystal Empire. She turned her head to stare at her reflection in the windows of the towering crystal skyscrapers that now made up the empire. She tried to ignore the clanking and rattling of the dozens of carts behind her, but this close to the center of the city, that was a fools effort.

A deep green Crystal Pony, that's what she was. That's where her name came from anyway. Deep green was not a good color in her opinion. She found herself wishing she was.... cerulean or something. Yeah. That was a good color.

Stopping at one of the skyscrapers, an even deeper sigh escaped her lips. She was really not looking forward to going home today. She hung her head in shame as she entered the lobby of the apartment building that housed her family. Ignoring the cheery greetings of the valet she simply stepped onto the elevator and sat down on a bench inside, dropping her knapsack off besides her.

"What floor ma'am?" A pegasus attendant in a red uniform asked. Emerald once again sighed, stood up and walked past him, pushing the button herself.

The sixteenth floor was where she lived. The worst floor actually. Right below the penthouse where all the idiots with money went to waste it having loud parties. At least there was no one occupied that penthouse now. Maybe she might be able to sleep tonight.

Another disadvantage to living on the sixteenth floor? Long elevator rides, and everyone wanted to talk to you on long elevator rides. Emerald wished she had some earplugs or something, but nope, the attendant kept blabbing on and on to her about stupid stuff. Why should she care that his son who she will never meet just got into high school?

She reached into her knapsack besides her and pulled out a notebook. The front of the notebook was emblazoned with her cutie mark, an emerald with a landscape inside of it. It wasn’t really all that original. Just like her name to be honest.

She flipped through the dozens of pictures she had drawn inside of it, all of them of her on some great adventure, like robbing an ancient temple, or sneaking into an impregnable fortress or something. All of the pictures included her in a different color. When she finally reached an unused page the elevator had already dinged and started to open.

Emerald mentally face hoofed for not getting the book out sooner, or opening from the back or something. She didn't thank the attendant as she gathered her stuff and left the elevator. Walking past the dozens of doors in the hallway, she finally arrived at her apartment.

She loudly pushed the door to the room open to announce her arrival to her parents and slammed the door behind her.

Emerald wasted no time in walking to the fridge and opening it.

"Hey honey! How was your day?" Asked her mother, a little awkwardly.

Emerald grunted in reply as she fished out a soda and walked away, closing the fridge behind her with a back hoof. She opened the soda as she started to make her way to her room, down a hall past an arch which lead to the family room.

"Sweetie, before you go hiding away in your cave again, someone here wants to see you," Her dad said causing her to sigh yet again as she glared into the family room at whoever it was here to see her.

Her mother and father were sitting on the rooms couch, wearing strained smiles on their faces.

Her mother was a deep yellow in color, with a light blue mane, and her father was light blue in color with a deep yellow mane. Honestly the two looked like they were meant for each other.

She gave the pony sitting adjacent to her parents a cursory, careless glance, taking a sip of her soda. However, it didn't take long for what she just saw to register, and she spewed the fizzy drink from her maw as he locked eyes with the familiar stranger.

"Hello, Emerald. Nice to meet you," greeted the mare, her coat pink, mane long and elegant, her back sporting a pair of large feathered wings and her head a long spiraled horn.

It was Princess Cadance.

Cinder found herself sitting at the head of a large dining table in Dactylus's house. Across the table, a veritable feast of weird foods were set out for her and the rest of the changeling's family.

There were roasted plants, a big roasted fish (although unlike the cave fish back home, this one had eyes?) and some kind of mushroom looking thing. A pie, Magenta had called it.

She had never tasted any of this stuff before, but it honestly smelled so good that she couldn't wait to dig in. Before she could grab anything Dactylus and Pupa had to do some kinda prayer thing.

Cinder would have listened in to try and learn something, but they were talking in some completely different language involving chitters and buzzes. Butterfly tried to join in, but she didn't have the vocabulary. Magenta and Berry looked kinda annoyed the entire time.

By the time they could finally eat, Cinder noticed that the ponies were only going after the green stuff while the changelings only went for the fish. It caused her to raise an eyebrow as she went and grabbed a little of both. Butterfly did the same, of course, she was a hybrid.

Cinder decided to chalk it up to ponies being plant eaters and changelings being meat eaters. Or well... Fish eaters in this case.

Cinder grabbed one of the fish with her hand, earning a couple mutters from Magenta about bad manners before several knocks came from the front door.

Magenta raised an eyebrow as Pupa cleared his throat and stood up.

"I didn't think she'd be here this quickly." Pupa said, earning a nervous gulp from Cinder.

Pupa walked over to the door and opened it. What was on the other side cause Cinder to nearly scream in shock. It was Princess Twilight Sparkle and several Equestrian Guards in purple armor.

Cinder scrambled from her chair before being caught in a, surprisingly comfortable, purple aura. The tiny drake clawed at the ground as she was dragged towards the Princess. She had heard the stories of her. How she had the ability to level mountains with her magic. How she had killed thousands of dragons during the ancient war.

As she was brought before Twilight the dragon couldn't help but whimper and cover her face. "Shh shh shh. It's alright."

Twilight said consolingly, which caused Cinder to blink in confusion.

"W-what?" She asked.

"No no please! Mercy!" A black changeling cried before being silenced as a halberd blade dug into their chest.

The Pharates wielding said halberd grinned under his helmet before violently twisting it, ripping the blade out of the changeling. "Hmph. You'd of thought these insects would have learnt after all these centuries of genocide." He said in a cold, unfeeling metallic voice.

"Yeah, you'd think they'd learn to just roll over and die by now, right?" His brother said as he swung his halberd behind him and decapitated a lunging brave, but foolish changeling.

The two of them were in the middle of a rather large cave, standing atop a pile of Chrysalasi corpses, mercilessly finishing off the stragglers that still remained.

The first Pharates was alerted to the sound of buzzing to his right. Good thing he didn't swing, because it was just a mere Pharynxi Ecotes in a suit of full cyan armor, which included a visor like the Pharates' own.

"A message for the High Marshall, my lord." The Changeling said with a deep bow as he presented a scroll with the mark of the Equestrian royalty.

The Pharates gave a cold glare as he took it in a hoof.

"Message for you Dad!" The second Pharates idly said as he snapped another changeling in half over his knee.

The scroll was grabbed from the first Pharates in a cyan aura and dragged towards a Changeling in a black great coat which was coated in dripping cyan blood. Said Changeling was standing atop a pile of ash that had once been the army of this cave.

The changeling opened the message a read it idly, a single glowing amythest eye was all that the two Pharates could see of their father.

A laugh echoed through the dark cave soon after.

"Change of plan, my sons. We have a meeting in Equestria to tend to."

Author's Note

Ok so, Season 9s and the shows ending is out and honestly, it has made me unbeliveably depressed that the show is over, and all that jazz.

Just making it known because everyone has probably already asked this question. This is a thousand years after Season 8 not 9. Season 9 doesn't exist in this story. Guess that means I gotta add the AU tag huh?

Chapter 15: Global Council Convenes

Cinder found herself pacing back and forth inside what appeared to be a large ballroom. Her scaled feet clicked and clacked against the marble floors of the room, which was rather dim thanks to large velvet curtains covering the room's tall windows. She felt dozens of eyes on her back, mostly belonging to guards in crystalline, pink and purple armor. She knew, however, that six of those eyes belonged to the Princesses of Equestria, each of which could flatten her like a pancake without even trying.

The little dragon's heart raced in her chest, enough to hurt in fact. What would Dragonlord Ember and General Spike say now that she was the captive of the Equestrians? Would they want her dead or was this part of the plan the entire time? The thoughts were giving her a panic attack!

Cadance blinked a couple of times as she watched the little dragon grab either side of her head and whimper. "Is she going to be ok?" She asked her Alicorn compatriots.

"She's been like this since I brought her here," Twilight said rather dejectedly. "I think I might have made a mistake showing up at Pupa's door like that..."

"I think she should be ok, so long as the nobility shows up to mess everything up." Flurry Heart said, sitting down and crossing her arms over her chest. "What a bunch of-"

She was cut off by Cadence. "Flurry!" She chastised.

"I'm over a thousand years old mom! I can swear if I want to!" Flurry shouted, just before the door to the room slammed open and three unicorns marched in.

The first to enter was a tall Stallion, with white fur and blond hair, he wore an oily black tuxedo. A silver circlet rested on his head.

The second was a mare in a rich looking dress that seemed to shine with diamonds. Her fur was a deep blue, and her hair was almost bleached white. A rich platinum and sapphire tiara rested on her head as she looked at everyone in the room, even the princesses who ruled over her, with a sense of superiority.

The last to come in was a similarly all-white unicorn with black hair. He wore a suit of golden armor, Cinder recognized him as a member of the Equestrian Sun Guard, apparently, after Celestia nad Luna stepped down a thousand years ago, the Sun and Moon guards were relegated to more ceremonial roles, and the new Twilight, Crystal and Heart guards took up their roles.

Bleh, Equestrians had such lame names for military services. The Blazeguard had a much cooler name!

"Where is it!" The lead stallion said as he walked in, gazing around the room. "Where is the little salamander!"

His eyes eventually locked on the little yellow form of Cinder who looked up at him with a mix of fear, and offense. Salamander? Why that was like calling a pony a Cavehorse!

The armored stallion took a step back in disgust, before turning to the purple suited guards in the room. "Guards! Kill it before it has a chance to burn down the palace!"

The guards merely stood still or rolled their eyes.

Twilight took a step in front of the small dragon and glared at the Unicorns. "Since when, Golden Heart, did you have the authority to command my guards?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

Cadance stepped forwards to diffuse the situation. "Slick Sleen, Glossy Locks, Golden Heart. So nice to see you." She said in an obviously forced tone. Flurry Heart was obviously struggling to keep calm.

"Princess Cadance. It has been too long since we last talked. I hope your Protectorate is doing well." Glossy Locks, the mare, said taking Cadance's hoof into her own. Even Cinder, as bad as she was at politics and social cues, could tell Glossy meant that as a passive-aggressive insult.

Cadance, like a champ, took it all in strides. She inhaled through her nostrils before smiling down at the Unicorn. "It is, very well in fact. A recent trade agreement with the Minotaurs finally went through, so our economy has never been better."

"I certainly hope you got permission from the Princesses for that," Glossy replied before turning to Twilight and letting go of Cadance's hoof. Cadance's eye twitched.

"Like how you should have gotten permission from us before bringing this... thing to the capital!"

Twilight opened her mouth to say something before shutting it and placing a hoof between her eyes in exasperation.

Cinder just watched the Princesses and the Unicorns argue in a passive-aggressive manner before she felt a hoof on her back which caused her to jump in fright.

She adopted a defensive pose and quickly turned around to see Flurry Heart.

"Come on. I think we should get you out of here quickly before the Twilight and Cadance get actually angry. I heard the other leaders have arrived, we should meet with them." She said, gently leading Cinder towards the exit.

The Princesses and the Nobles were too busy talking to notice them leave.

Galatea sat at her chair in the large disk-shaped table that made up the global council's meeting room in Canterlot sullenly, idly sipping at a tea which a pony servant was more than eager to refill for her whenever it ran low. Garen stood behind her, still as a statue yet observing the room for any potential dangers.

The room was full of all manner of creatures, from the large forms of yaks, to the slender forms of Hippogryphs. Speaking of Hippogryphs, one, in particular, caught her eye. Or rather, he had been staring at her since he arrived.

The tall white and purple hippogryph wore a sold gold crown and a flowing purple cape over a similarly purple suit. He started to approach her, flanked by a blue adult gryphon, who was clearly an Admiral in rank, and a... blue teenager? She assumed he was the son of the Admiral. She guesses she couldn't judge if someone wanted to bring their kid with them to diplomatic meetings or not. She had been involved in those since she was ten.

Behind those three was a line of the purple uniformed linemen of the Hippogryph Empire. Purple Coats as they were endearingly referred to by Equestrians. The 6 soldiers each wielded a musket and a stood firmly, perfectly disciplined in their duty to protect their leader.

"King Velox... what a pleasure." She said in a faux-pas attempt at sounding diplomatic. "How has life in Greater Hippogryphia been treating you?"

King Velox smiled, as the teenaged hippogryph grimaced at her. "Oh, simply delightful, the Novan Dynasty has really fixed the problems House Gallus did during our ill-fated co-rulership. Our ocean empire has never been more powerful!" He said smugly, placing a claw on his chest and looking into the air with a smirk.

Galatea heard Garen grunt beneath his armor, glancing back they saw his eyes roll under his visor.

"Speaking of House Gallus's incompetencies," Velox said staring down at her with a sudden seriousness in his tone. "Why would your mother send a child in her place?"

Galatea's eyes widened before she shut them and looked away from the king. Velox raised an eyebrow and opened his beak to speak, but was shut up by the slamming of metal on stone.

Garen marched forwards and pressed his face against the King's, armored beak to beak. His eyes narrowed under his helmet. "Back off, Horsetail." He growled.

The King instinctively stepped back with fearful eyes as the teenaged hippogryph rushed in front of him, shielding him with his body. The Admiral stepped forwards and drew a saber, pointing the blade tip between Garen's eyes.

With seemingly unnatural speed, Garen raised his longsword and cut the flimsy saber blade in two, causing him to tumble back. The blue hippogryph looked at his destroyed blade then to Garen, who hissed and raised his shield, dropping into a combat stance.

"Spears up!" The Admiral suddenly shouted, and the King's Purple Coat guards raised their muskets, aiming them squarely at the knight.

All eyes in the room were now on the squabbling half birds. The Hippogryphs and the Knight did not notice as they stared each other down until the doors to the room slammed open.

The walk through the palace was a quick and uneventful one, the Princess leading Cinder through back passages and secret doors so as to not cause a ruckus amongst the pony guards and staff. Even then it only took them about five or ten minutes to traverse the entire length of the palace.

She thought it should have taken longer, but then again, she lived in a culture where the leaders were the size of mountains. She was used to castles and palaces taking hours or even days to traverse on her stubby little legs.

"Do... do you think some of the p-people you called would try to hurt me?" Cinder asked timidly out of the blue.

Flurry Heart suddenly straightened up and turned to the little yellow drake. She saw the fear plain in her eyes and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry," Flurry Heart said patting the dragon on the back. "I guarantee that the creatures on the other side of this door are perfectly stable and rational individuals."

The Alicorn, to prove her point threw open the doors and-

Immediately on the other side of the door was Garen, sword raised staring down six heavily armed Hippogryphs.

Cinder blinked several times at the sights as all eyes diverted from the standoff to the little yellow dragoness.

"That why you called Yaks here?" A deep voice said, belonging to a hulking, tall bull-like creature, who was surrounded by equally large creatures who wore scale mail armor and hide and iron helmets.

Cindar knew what those were. The dimwitted yet strong Yaks of the far north. She had heard they were the strongest creatures on the planet, baring the dragons of course, and should not be trifled with. She gulped before scanning the rest of the room.

The first thing she noticed was a rather sizable group of changelings off to the side, on the opposite end of the circular table in the center of the room from the bird people who had been fighting. There were six adult changelings of varying colors who wore flowing pale blue robes alongside necklaces which dangled from their necks, an eye-shaped insignia making up the pendant of the amulets. She recognized Pupa as one of them, making an educated guess that the six bug horses were the Council of Ocellus she had heard about.

Dactylus and Butterfly stood next to Pupa. Dactlyus merely looked bored out of his mind, while Butterfly was clearly excited from the way she was shaking, clearly looking at the many varied inhabitants of the room.

Next to the Changelings stood a Yak with dark grey fur, which was highlighted by small strands of white fur. He was obviously old, that much was for certain, though she couldn't guess how old he was. He wore a tribal crown and was escorted by four all black-furred guards, each of which holding a war axe that looked as heavy as Ash's entire body, a fully armored draconic elite.

She gulped and moved on. Next were the two groups of... bird things... that looked ready to murder each other. She had no idea why. As far as she was concerned, they looked almost identical, barring the fact that the ones in purple were taller and more slender in appearance. The all-white one sitting at the table did throw her off a little. She did a double-take after looking past her. At first, she assumed she was really old, what with how white her fur and feathers were, but no, she was a child!

Last, and certainly least as far as she was concerned, an all green pony sat in the corner, a notebook opened on her lap. She assumed she was a crystal pony, judging from the fact that despite lacking wings or a horn, she still seemed to shimmer with magic.

A large orange curtain seemed to divide the room in half just behind the table. She thought that was odd. Wasn't this an important meeting? What was amazing to her however, was the fact that in the middle of the room, the table surrounding it like a ring, was a pure crystal tree! It looked absolutely delicious! Her mouth couldn't help but salivate while she looked at it.

Flurry Heart stepped forwards.

"Excuse me. I could have sworn we all agreed, centuries ago, that this room was neutral ground and that there would never be any blood spilt here, for all time?" She said marching into the room.

The armored bird with the shield grunted.

"Feh," he hissed, sheathing his sword and marching away, standing behind the snow-white gryphon and returning to a completely still guard pose.

The taller slender birds grunted and returned to their section of the table, the one with the crown sitting down.

"Far be it from me to deny the will of my great great great grandfather." He sighed.

"As far as Prince Yerick concerned, he not make treaty, so it not matter to him." The massive dark grey yak said as he too sat down at the table, crushing the chair he tried to claim for himself, but he didn't care.

The six changelings of the council quietly bowed to the princess and were the last to take their seats.

Flurry sat down too, bringing Cinder with her and putting a chair next to her for her to sit on. She took it and gulped, expecting a barrage of questions and insults she wouldn't have been able to deal with. Instead everything remained quiet. For several minutes nothing happened as everyone in the room simply stared at her, although the Hippogryph with the crown started thrumming his claws on the table after the first minute went by.

"Of course those two would be the ones to keep us waiting. Far be it from the purple wonder to be punctual." He grumbled under his breath.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doors opened again, and Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance entered the room, with visible bags under their eyes. They were followed by the three nobles from before, who marched in smugly.

The doors were closed behind them as the Nobles took their seats, between the changeling council and the princesses, while Twilight and Cadance sat to Cinder's left.

Cinder could have sworn she heard one of the Unicorn Nobles mumble something about 'having to sit next to filthy bugs' but she ignored it. She had always been taught that ponies, especially Unicorns, were a very specist lot.

Flurry Heart stood up with a smile. "Now then, if there are no further interruptions, allow me to begin the 756th meeting of the Global Council open. We shall first bring up the following issue, the possible resurgence of the draconic-"

She was cut off when a guard rushed into the room, slamming the doors behind her, panting heavily, as if he had just ran the length of the entire palace as fast as she could.

Flurry Heart looked straight into the air and groaned loudly. "What is it!" She shouted in annoyance.

The guard looked up to see all eyes in the room, baring those of Cinder, was staring at her in pure annoyance.

"H-he..." She started as she caught her breath. She only succeeded in getting everyone more annoyed in her.

"Well! Spit it out mare!" Golden Heart, the armored noble, shouted at her.

"He's here." She finally said. The looks of annoyance in the room instantly turned to a tense sense of dread or pure fear.

"Wh-who's he?" Cinder asked Flurry Heart. She got no response.

"MY HERO!" Dactylus suddenly cried in pure glee as he took to the air, his wings buzzing as he brought his forehooves to his face, shaking with excitement as the sudden sound of metal striking stone became aware to her. She knew what that sound was. The sound of something in metal armor marching towards her.

The doors to the room slammed open for the fourth time that day, only this time, the force was enough to produce a burst of wind which put out every candle, torch, and brazier in the room, leaving it in total darkness, aside from the glow of the Crystal Tree.

Cinder saw a sight that made her heart filled with a sense of danger. She felt that she could die soon, just from looking at it.

It was a black silhouette with two glowing purple compact eyes that seemed to stare into her very soul. Sharp, violent looking mandible shaped antlers emerged from its head, alongside a horn, forming a three-pronged crown-like shape.

It was flanked by two additional silhouettes of the same shape, although they lacked the glowing purple eyes. Every torch in the room reignited with cyan fire, giving her a better view of the creature.

It was a changeling, that much was obvious, and its antlers were blood red, while his carapace was a dark, dark cyan. He wore a black opened military overcoat over armor that was the same shade as his carapace.

Two Pharates stood on either side while he marched forwards, an oddly out of place warm, kind smile on his face which did nothing to alleviate her fears or the tenseness of the room.

"Did you seriously think you could have a global meeting without me?" He said in a flat, almost emotionless voice. "Oh Twilight. I'm hurt."

Author's Note

I'm back baby!

Yeah, I don't know why I got really sad about the fact that this story was underperforming, but screw it, I am gonna write this story and not give a damn about how well it does XD