The elder unicorn sighed as he neared the door to the royal audience chamber, the small jingle of the bells on his hat filling the empty hallway. Discord had just been overthrown, the royal princesses were restoring peace to Equestria once more undoing the chaos that he had spread. One would think that peace would come easy after so hard won a victory, but the shouts coming from inside the room reminded him that true peace was not so easily gained. When Luna and Celestia had first defied Discord it had been easy to think that if they won all the problems he caused would end immediately, after all the suffering pony and non-pony alike had endured anything less would mean that Discords defeat was meaningless. Looking back, he realized it was nothing more than the desperate hopes of an aging stallion that had seen too much conflict and was ready for rest. Which as small as it was he did get when he finally pushed through the large wooden doors, it had been the largest and most impressive room in what was once Discords castle. Now the castle belonged to the princess’s and the only remaining symbol of Discords rule was a long rectangular table in the middle and had been added towards the end of his reign when it amused him to listen to the desperate pleas of pony and non-pony alike. The walls that had held long stain glassed windows depicting whatever odd scene of chaos Discord could dream up had been shattered at the initial confrontation between Discord, Luna, and Celestia, so now the days early light poured into the hall unobstructed. The bells that adorned his hat and cape caught the attention of everyone sitting at the table which was enough to silence them for the moment. He took that moment to see who had actually shown up, from the pony representatives there was Cloud breaker a dark blue Pegasus in his prime with a black mane and a cutie mark of a thundercloud split in two. He had become greatly respected among the pegasi for keeping them safe during the final battle of Discords reign, when the combined magic of the three had caused the clouds to go out of control and threatened to destroy them, he stepped in seeing him here was no surprise. The unicorn at the meeting was a light purple mare named sunrise whom Star Swirl had met a few years earlier during the worse of the Chaos when she had been defending a group of fillies from an ursa minor, it looked like she was the only one in the room glad to see him. The earth pony attending the meeting was the grandson of the onetime earth pony chancellor pudding head a light brown stallion with a gardeners hoe for a cutie mark. Five other races were in attendance four of which the Griffons, Zebras, Buffalo, and Diamond dogs had sent the ones they deemed best fit to lead them. The last member of the meeting who sat by himself at one end of the table could only have been an emissary sent to secure interests for no adult dragon would have been able to fit in this meeting room. Star swirl looked at the dragon a moment longer he was a dark blue winged dragon named Grim Wing with scales that almost blindingly reflected the sunlight, most likely polished for this meeting and red underdeveloped spikes that ran from head to tail giving off the appearance of a great cut running down his back when they were not upright. Star Swirl sighed though it was true he was looking at a young dragon, that was only when compared to the others of his kind the one facing him now had already outlived him at least twice and would likely still be living long after he had died. He would have gone on to ponder just how it was that dragons could live so long when he was brought back to the matter at hand by a cough coming from the leader of the Griffons, Gale. “I thought we came here to meet with Luna and Celestia not some past his prime unicorn.” Others at the table voiced their agreements spurring the griffon to continue “Do they think so little of the rest of us simply because they were the ones to beat discord, that they can just assume leadership in his place without question?” It was true that during the brief lull after the battle the sisters took it upon themselves to take Discords place as rulers of Equestria and at the time it had been accepted without question and great praise. However when word of their new ruler ship started to spread and word reached the other citizens of Equestria, that these new rulers had not only taken Discords palace for their own but intended to rule over everyone not just pony kind Star Swirl had feared that a war between every race in Equestria was coming. But instead of armies they had either sent their own leaders or in the case of the dragons an emissary who could fit inside the castle, they had shown that they could rise above their emotions for now and it was up to Star Swirl to make sure it stayed that way. “Celestia and Luna had intended to be here for this important meeting but even more urgent matters have called them away Equestria has not yet completely healed from Discords rule and until it does a great many threats still plague the land and it is by their power alone that every citizen of Equestria is kept safe.” Trying to keep his voice as level as possible, as the royal representative for this meeting coming off as argumentative was the last thing he wanted to do. “And I was sent in their place because I am a trusted advisor and it was through my magic that many citizens of Equestria were kept safe from harm.” Star swirl took a small moment to catch his breath, truthfully only a handful of zebras had been living close enough to him to be protected during those final hours but if he had a chance to improve relations with anyone at this table he would take it, he was about to speak again when Cloud Breaker decided to join in slamming his hoof on the table to grab attention. “You’re wasting our time Griffon everyone knows Star Swirl is more than acceptable to represent the princess’s at this meeting, the real problem here is what right does an earth pony have to attend? What did they do when Discords chaos was the rule of the land, nothing they did nothing but run and hide while the rest of us struggled to fight against his rule? They don’t even have anything to contribute to the new free Equestria the unicorns can learn to plant and it was the combined inherent magic of the unicorns and pegasi that allowed Luna and Celestia to triumph.” While Star Swirl silently agreed with that statement he had already seen what infighting between the earth ponies, unicorn, and pegasi would accomplish and he knew that for a new peaceful Equestria to succeed then everyone needed to have a say and that no pony should be discriminated against, especially since the last thing that this meeting needed was a disagreement among the ponies that would give the others more reasons to challenge the rule of the princesses. If this meeting went poorly then the potential for fighting amongst the various races was too high, there was already large amount of animosity between certain groups and without a recognized leader to act as an arbiter than Equestria was likely to see war of some kind which would likely end in tragedy and leave Equestria fractured and become a wasteland. “Celestia and Luna defeated Discord with the elements of harmony Cloud, not with their wings or unicorn magic everypony has a right to say who will govern them and you know full well that earth ponies always gave help to those who needed it.” Cloud Breaker didn’t say anything but huffed and sat back in his chair, Star Swirl chanced a smirk at his small victory that faded quickly when Grim Wing started laughing “ Your words matter little bearded one, Discord was little more than an occasional nuisance for the dragons we lived well and prospered under his rule, the only thing you’re so called princesses have done is upset what has been the norm in Equestria for years simply because they didn’t have It best, sticking Discord in their yard like some kind of lawn ornament as warning to those who may oppose them.” Smoke slowly began to bellow out of the dragon’s mouth as he spoke, it was true out of all those who lived in Equestria none had it better under Discord then the dragon’s the chaos was perfect for them to loot as they pleased and create nests of gold and jewels some of which could rival the palace in size. These were more problems that had kept Star Swirl from a peaceful night’s sleep in the last few days. He had argued fiercely with the princess’s about the fate of the now stone Discord, he had wanted discord locked up somewhere no pony could find him and he could just be forgotten about, unfortunately as respected as he was his voice did not carry the same weight with Celestia as her sisters did and Luna was able to convince her that keeping him in sight by the maze where their new castle was being constructed in Canterlot would be the best option. On top of that if the sisters were recognized as rulers by all then it would be very likely that those who the dragons had stolen from would demand some form of compensation from them which would undoubtedly end in conflict. “Dragons only liked Discord because he let you steel precious gems from US” the leader of the diamond dogs shouted trying to look as threatening as he could while staring down a dragon three times his size. “The gems used by the dragons were not yours Lucky, it would not be possible for a dragon to get into your underground pits and you do not hold claim to all the gems in the land.” Star Swirl was slightly taken aback, the speaker was not the dragon as he had expected but Chief DiamondHooves leader of the buffalo. The meeting was going downhill for Star Swirl and fast these were not the kind of alliances he had hoped would form from this meeting. “Please listen we need to move forward and put anything that happened during Discords rule behind us those were dark times for all and in a chaos free Equestria we need to rise above our collective past and come together to create a more unified Equestria where peace is the norm.” Star Swirl had lived through so much conflict, he had seen the pony races almost destroy themselves with arguing, seen Discords rise to power, and lived through the turmoil he brought he would not let all of Equestria fall into destruction now after all it had survived. “If we do not succeed here today and make clear and permanent decisions that everyone can agree to then the Equestria we leave this room to meet will be far worse than anything we have ever faced before, if we thought we knew suffering under Discord what we face without a unified Equestria and petty grievances that will escalate without check will make us all wish for his return.” Star Swirl paused a moment to let his words sink in; it looked like his words had touched the pony representatives and maybe the buffalo. The Diamond Dog and Dragon were still staring daggers at one another and the Zebra Elder simply stood there quiet like all he was meant to do was watch and not actually contribute anything to the discussions. Star Swirl desperately wished that he would say something though they lived fairly isolated from the other races of Equestria they were well respected for their potion making abilities and wisdom. “Everything you’ve said may be true Star swirl but that only applies for you ponies, the zebra, and the buffalo, we griffons, the dragons, and the diamond dogs don’t share your problems we survive perfectly well on our own away from others we don’t need the support of you ponies and we definitely don’t need the leadership of some weird hybrid ponies.” On any other day a statement like that would have gotten Gale thrown out of the palace but Star swirl needed to bring over as many creatures as he could to the idea that Celestia and Luna could be acceptable rulers, the Diamond dog and the dragon were now engrossed in their own private argument and Cloud breaker looked like he was ready to fly across the table and attack Gale. “you are wrong feathered one, it is true that your kind thrives on their own at the moment but without proper cohabitation among all citizens of Equestria you will find that all of our futures will end poorly we Zebras have seen this and now at this meeting I’m more sure of that than ever Luna and Celestia can count on Zebra support Star Swirl.” The first true ray of light in this meeting Star swirl had to fight himself hard not to show how relieved he was with Zebra support, now he believed the meeting might just succeed. Gale looked at the elderly zebra for a moment then stole a quick glance at Cloud Breaker before she spoke again. “The griffons might be inclined to join in on your cohabitation, but we’re gonna need something in return, like say weather control” Sunrise’s quick thinking magic was the only thing that kept Cloud in his seat “Equestrian weather belongs to the pegasi NOT THE GRIFFONS.” It was clear Gale was taking great pleasure in watching the pegasi struggle against the unicorn magic and would have continued to agitate him further if a loud yelp coming from the end of the table followed by Lucky’s body flying across the room and crashing into the wall by the door. All eyes in the room turned towards Grim Wing who was looked just smug as Gale had been moments before, the dark blue dragon simply looked at his claws as if nothing had happened. Chief DiamondHorns and the zebra elder simply looked sad, Sunrise, Cloud Breaker and Gale looked shocked, and Green Acres the earth pony representative just looked at the mangled body of Lucky with a smirk. Star Swirl looked from Lucky to Grim Wing his worst fears about the meeting had happened right in front of him, and it had happened so fast he was powerless to stop it. He could not fail the princesses at this crucial moment, if his next actions alienated the others then Celestia would need to find somepony else to speak for her the dragons were the biggest threat to Equestrian peace and if they would only respond to a show of strength then so be it. As calmly as he could Star Swirl stepped up onto the table and began to walk towards Grim Wing, a small blue glow enveloping his horn as he felt out with his magic and began to slowly crush the dragon’s windpipe. Slowly letting his anger at both the dragon and his failure to stop the murder he began to speak. “You were invited here to PEACEFULLY discuss the future of Equestria, and you came willingly to this neutral place where that peace was achieved.” Grim Wings eyes widened as his claws began to scratch at his throat desperately trying to remove the nonexistent bindings, fear began to show on his face as he looked down at the elder unicorn unable to do anything to stop the magician. Star Swirl looked on with fierce determination as he delivered his ultimatum, his voice filling the room so that non would misunderstand what he had to say “I DON’T CARE HOW WELL THE DRAGONS LIVED UNDER DISCORD BUT THAT TIME IS OVER, IF YOUR ACTIONS HERE ARE AN ANY INDICATION OF HOW THE REST OF YOUR KIND WILL REACT TO PEACE THEN I WILL SEND YOU BACK TO THEM NO BETTER OFF THEN LUCKY.” Releasing his magic grip on the dragon he softened his tone “But if you can learn the ways of peace and publicly apologize to the diamond dogs for your crime and submit yourself to their justice then we can move forward and achieve the harmony we all came here to build.” Every creature in that room expected the unicorn to burst into flames in a brutal retaliation for what had just happened but none came. Grim Wing still grasping for breath only uttered one word “war” and turned away breaking through one of the window slots and flying away leaving one dragon sized hole in the wall. Star Swirl turned to the other representatives with a tired look upon his face. “I think that this would be an opportune time for a break, if you wish to continue the peace talks rooms can be found for you and we will continue tomorrow until then this meeting is over.” Chief DiamondHooves, Gale and he zebra elder began to exit the room each taking a moment to look at the corpse of the Diamond Dog leader. Sunrise, Could Breaker, and Green Acres rushed to Star Swirls side by the now much larger window. Green Acres was the first to speak. “He shouldn’t have done it during the talks but honestly if Grim wing hadn’t done it I would have.” Sunrise looked shocked at her companion’s words “How can you say that, after everything we have been through you would kill another creature in cold blood.” He snorted “Don’t be ridiculous Sunrise now more than ever we earth ponies need as much of the land as we can get for farming and we can’t get much if the diamond dogs keep digging every worthwhile patch of land up looking for gems, at least the dragons use them for food they have no purpose for dogs.” Sunrise looked to the other two ponies hoping for some kind of backup. Cloud Breaker spoke next but it wasn’t the peace affirmation Sunrise had been hoping for “You’re wasting your time worrying about the diamond dogs Green, the dragons and griffons are the real threat and I can’t help but notice that the crystal empire didn’t send a representative to this little meeting.” Star Swirl sigh as he looked out the window “Your right Cloud, my little stunt may have alienated the dragons and I know the griffons will fight very hard for control of the weather which no self-respecting pegasi would let them have, but we have the support of the Zebras and I do believe that Chief DiamondHooves will give us his support in time, the important thing here is that no matter what even if it means trouble with dragons and griffons we fight and we fight hard to keep the peace Celestia and Luna have given us.” Turning to leave the room Star Swirl took one last glance at the spot where Luckys body had been before the guards took it away and desperately hoped that he would be the only casualty of this new post Discord era.
