Chapter Three: The Agreement
It tore Princess Celestia apart. It honestly and truly did. King Talonblaze's words swam through her mind the entire evening, causing her to barely get any rest. She knew that the calf's mother was free to think less of her, if she so wished, for not informing the Draconian monarch ahead of time. If she did not forgive the princess… she would understand, and she did not expect as such. The alicorn had promised the mother bovine that she would do anything and everything within her power to make sure she was duly and appropriately compensated for her loss, and she had spent the next morning making good on said promise.
Once that was out of the way, Princess Celestia turned to a more pressing duty-one she had been dreading since getting up that morning… Meeting King Talonblaze in one of her conference rooms to discuss the alliance.
Hopefully the rest would have served him well. He had all morning to hunt, and she hoped he would be far more… tolerable to deal with.
King Talonblaze's attitude remained relatively the same, only more reserved and calm - outwardly, anyway. Not bothering with an afternoon greeting when he met her in the room, he sat himself down at the table in the seat across from her. He idly wondered about his general considering he had not seen or heard of him all morning.
"Any word on my general's whereabouts?"
"Currently in the infirmary," came the curt reply. "I must say, you did quite the number on him. I haven't been in to see him just yet, but I got a report that he's stable-if asleep.
"In any case. Shall we get right down to business?"
"Asleep now? I highly doubt that. He's usually up before dawn, even with broken bones."
The Draconian nodded once, giving the mare the physical signal that he was ready.
Princess Celestia thought it best not to ask about that particular quirk. Then again, perhaps it was possible that the younger dragon had gotten up since she had received her report on his condition. She had not actually gone to check on him since she left him in the care of the medical crew last evening, and made a mental note to go do just that once she and King Talonblaze were done here.
"Well, in any case, you mentioned you had… much to offer?"
Right when the Draconian opened his mouth to respond, Rhem-having followed the scents of both monarchs-entered the room with an unusual spring in his step, his catlike pupils inflated twice their normal width.
Right behind the dragon, a doctor and nurse came running in and halted at the doorway, panting heavily from chasing after him.
"What… the hell… have you done to my general?!"
King Talonblaze stared with his mouth agape, completely baffled at his general's behavior.
His surge of energy could have had something to do with the mountain high pile of pancakes drenched in sugary maple syrup the nurse had fed him not too long ago. After all, with his lifelong protein strict diet, his body wasn't accustomed to absorbing so much sugar-or even a little sugar.
Princess Celestia opened her mouth in bewilderment as Rhem burst into the room loopier than a swizzle straw.
"Oh, dear," she mumbled, realization as to what was going on not hitting her until a moment later. It was then she pressed a hoof to her face with a groan. In her haste to go to bed the previous night, she had failed to forward a message to the medical staff of the dragon's ongoing punishment that he wasn't to be fed.
"Well…" the nurse heaved. "The causation of… his sudden burst of energy could… very well be the… pancakes and… syrup we… gave him…"
"You fed him?!" the Draconian king snarled, his face contorting with rage, causing the nurse and doctor to recoil and tremble in fear.
"Y-yes, o-of course! H-he w-was h-hungry!"
The alicorn raised a hoof, placing it on the table.
"King Talonblaze, allow me to offer my sincerest apologies for this mistake. That was my fault-I did not inform the medical staff he was not to be fed, though I assure you I had every intention of doing so. I was, unfortunately, distracted last night and never got around to it. I'm afraid it must have slipped my mind."
She stole a quick glance at the doctor and nurse.
'I have to make sure those two are properly rewarded…'
King Talonblaze huffed with a snort as he dismissed the doctor. His eyes circled the room in search of his general. He was overcome with confusion as he was unable to spot him. Seconds later, the light red dragon emerged from under the far table with a mischievous glint in his fiery orange eyes.
"W… what do we… do about him, Your Majesty?" the nurse asked as she gestured at the jittery dragon.
Princess Celestia inwardly smiled, finding him rather… cute, in a matter of speaking-though, more silly than anything else.
"Take him outside to the courtyard and labyrinth. Maybe some fresh air will do him good."
'Maybe a good frolic among the flowers will help get his sugar rush down,' she thought, having to suppress breaking out in laughter at the mental image of Rhem bouncing through the flowers.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Bowing deeply to the alicorn, the nurse attempted to approach Rhem to escort him, but the large reptile leaped out of reach. As she ambled towards him again, he only jumped away a second time, his eyes challenging her to catch him. "Please, General Rhem. Hold still and let me-"
Once she reached to place a hoof on his upper arm, he sprung right over her and pranced several feet away.
The dragon king was embarrassed at his general's mannerisms. It was absolutely ridiculous, and in no way was a Draconian supposed to perform such tomfoolery!
The princess had half of her face covered by her mane and hoof, creating an odd coughing noise. Truthfully, she had actually begun laughing and attempted to cover it up so that King Talonblaze wouldn't get any more enraged than he already was.
"General Rhem?" She removed her hoof from her face and distributed a smile. "Could you please go with the kind nurse? She is not going to harm you."
"Yes, and have someone keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get anything to eat!" added the draconic monarch with a piercing glare.
Meeting the princess of the sun's warm face, Rhem considered it, but he still distanced himself from the nurse.
"Please, General," the small mare practically begged.
"Hmmm. You know, this room is a little stuffy. Why don't we all head outdoors? It is a rather lovely day," she ventured upon noticing Rhem's reluctance, speaking aloud to nobody in particular.
"I would rather stay inside," the dragon king said before tossing a glare at the younger dragon. "Get out. Now."
Rhem didn't hesitate. Nodding wordlessly, he followed the medic out with a springy gait.
'Well, THAT worked. Not what I would have done.'
"Now that we have gotten that settled," the mare began, returning her attention back to King Talonblaze. "What do you have to offer?"
"We have many kinds of large fruit that go uneaten that you might be interested in," he presented, arching a brow. "We also have frequent rainfall. Would you happen to need extra water?"
She paused at this. Extra water would definitely be useful, either for irrigation or colonization efforts. There had been several explorers who expressed interest in expanding out west beyond the Palomino Desert, but lacked the necessary water supplies.
"Extra water is always appreciated… Though, you said large fruits?" she pressed, looking somewhat intrigued. "What kind? How large are we talking?"
"Larger than my head at the smallest when they are ripe," he responded. "The melon-like fruit I have seen grow over three times the size of your ponies… on average."
Three TIMES? Something like that could potentially feed entire families for a week!
"That would certainly help out a lot with some of the hunger issues we've been having in the outlying cities…"
"Hunger issues?" This was the opportunity King Talonblaze had been waiting for. "My country is battling hunger as well."
"Are you now?" the mare questioned, gaining a sympathetic expression. "I'm… sorry to hear that, King Talonblaze."
The Draconian nodded with a grunt, his stoic visage never changing.
"I mentioned the frequent rainfall. It causes flooding and we lose grazing grounds for our livestock until the water disperses.
"Perhaps you can help us out by allowing us to move livestock to some of your land."
This actually relieved Princess Celestia somewhat-she had half expected him to request that he and his dragons to feast on her citizens. The fact that he said livestock…
"Livestock…" she repeated. "As in… cows, and sheep?"
"Cattle, boars, sheep, goats, deer, and birds," King Talonblaze listed, drumming his curved claws on the table a few times in boredom. "Only they will be touched. I can see to it that any Draconian who tries to eat anything else will be severely punished."
'At least the lesson I imparted on him won't be lost,' she mused, silent for a couple of moments as she mulled things over.
"This… could work to our mutual benefit," she said at last. "We recently returned from a war from the griffons, and part of the conflict was over this bordering territory. Their forces had been assailing what few citizens that had tried to settle in these parts-and we had to pull out because the griffons would not stop capturing our cattle and using them as food.
"If we annexed it to YOUR territory, then maybe they might think twice before trying to invade Equestria again…"
It was a bit of a risky gambit, Princess Celestia knew. While an alliance with the Draconians would mean protection from the griffons-if King Talonblaze ever turned HIS forces on HER…
King Talonblaze was not at all worried, even at the thought of griffons attacking his own troops. They would be no match for his sturdy dragon soldiers.
"Hmph! What ever attempts to attack us will be gravely sorry," he stated, a glint of bloodlust glimmering in his stone eyes.
"Which is why I felt it would be appropriate to offer this piece of land. It's quite large, plenty of room for livestock to graze… and, well, if any of the neighbors don't particularly agree, then… I have the best confidence you would be able to handle them. I'm sure a good show of your might and they would never bother you again.
"There are even quite a number of mountains. Plenty of gemstones and chances to carve out barracks, training bases… I understand dragons are mostly a subterranean species anyway?"
"My soldiers have been trained to handle a variety of terrains." The dragon's eyes flashed once again, his face contorting with fierce seriousness. "They are also trained to kill anything that doesn't belong on our territory. If any of your own wander on the land and disappear, it's not my problem."
"Duly noted," Princess Celestia deadpanned, making a mental note to be sure Draconian borders were to be heavily watched at all times.
She got the feeling she was possibly making a mistake.
"Are we in agreement then?" she queried.
The Draconian monarch nodded, internally pleased with how things were turning out.
"Any more land you feel serves no purpose to you?"
Princess Celestia shook her head.
"No, this is really the only territory that me and my little ponies have no use for."
If anything else, she surmised, they would likely be better off expanding westwards and beyond the Palomino Desert. There might be some fertile lands off in that direction that had yet to be explored-wild and untamed by ponykind.
"I suppose that settles that. It was a pleasure doing business," he stated with no hint of friendliness. As smoothly as conversing went, his bitterness towards the princess did not subside in the least. "Have someone fetch my general and have him train with some of your soldiers. Just because we're not in our land, it doesn't mean he's not going to slack off with his work."
The alicorn nodded, getting to her hooves, and making no effort to even extend a hoof to King Talonblaze. Having assumed that they once reached an agreement, he would probably be leaving. As she opened her mouth to offer him a grand tour of the castle, he got up and left the room. Closing her mouth and pursing her lips, she sighed.
This seemed to be far too easy. King Talonblaze appeared to be too readily agreeable to this… The Equestrian princess felt a cold chill course her spine. Could he have been planning on taking the land anyway in the future?
Something told her to keep an eye and ear out for him. She didn't trust the draconic king as far as she could have physically thrown him.
Meanwhile, at the hedge maze, the hyperactive dragon had hidden himself away within one of the bushy walls and out of sight of the pegusi who were looking for him. Since he was here, he might as well test their abilities in any way he could.
One of the guards gave up the search and took it upon himself to report to the princess of Rhem's disappearance in the labyrinth. Streaking into the castle and locating the alicorn in the hall, he skidded to a halt before her and slapped a hoof to his forehead in a salute.
"Your Highness! General Rhem has gone missing in the maze. A number of us have searched every inch above, but none have been able to find him."
Princess Celestia had been walking down the hall to head outside and get some air when she received the news from her guard. Blinking in bewilderment, she nodded in understanding.
"Thank you, soldier… I shall go there myself to conduct a search there, then."
It had been far too long since she had gotten lost in her own shrubberies, and had no further scheduled business planned for that day. Smiling lightly at her sentry to dismiss him, the princess made her way outside-pausing only long enough to catch a deep breath of the sweet aromas of the garden's abundance of flowers.
"Now…" she said softly to herself, her prismatic mane billowing in front of her left eye. "… If I were a half-ton dragon, where would I hide in the maze…?"
The pegusi decided to join a group of three unicorns on the ground in hopes of finding any footprints embedded in the grassy earth that might lead them to their missing dragon.
Rhem spotted one of the unicorns nearing his position. Remaining silently still, he waited for him to pass before reaching out with his head, teeth closing down on the end of his tail and giving it a tug to alert him.
Startled, the guard released a loud yelp that carried over the labyrinth. Mechanically, the soldier whirled around and whacked Rhem on the snout with the flat of the blade on his spear. Realizing what he had just done to a dragon, he froze with terror. The Draconian lunged at the pony, jaws wide open. The equine clenched his eyes shut and braced for an attack, but he only felt his weapon yanked from his grip. Opening his eyes, he met the dragon, his face scrunched up in a challenging expression, with the spear held firmly between his fangs.
Rhem then turned tail and fled deeper within the maze.
"H… HEY!"
Princess Celestia entered the maze on her own, though she knew there were guards further on ahead and was planning to rendezvous with them.
Hearing the yelp from one of them, she gasped and followed the sound, emerging from a corner on time to see the tip of a scaled red tail disappear from around another turn. Worried, she came up to the guard and lowered her head to his eye level.
"Are you all right?" she queried, more concerned for her soldiers than of the dragon.
The baffled stallion nodded, looking around the alicorn and into the direction where the winged reptile took off.
"The boy just ran off with my spear!"
As Rhem reappeared from the corner to wait, the unicorn rolled his eyes and gave chase. Disappearing around the corner again, the Draconian buried himself into the hedge wall a second time. As the guard rounded the turn, his eyes widened to see no sign of the dragon down the long hall of shrubbery.
"What the-Where the heck did he go?!"
While Princess Celestia was relieved he was unharmed, she was confused. Why would the dragon want to steal his spear? She assumed he was still probably acting a little childish, and briefly wondered if his metabolism didn't quite break down the sugars like ponies did. It didn't occur to her that his diet never allowed for him to have such energy from pancakes and syrup in the first place-simply because he had never ATE them before.
Regardless, she dismissed the idea as she followed the soldier-eyes opening wide in surprise as she saw the dragon had vanished again. Narrowing her eyes, she stepped forward and down the path, her eyes constantly shifting from left to right for anything unusual.
