Shadow of the Dragon Lords
D. G. D. Davidson
My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.
Chapter 2: Ambassador of the Dragons
While Luna brooded, Princess Celestia entertained the most important guest Canterlot could receive: Severin, the official ambassador of the dragons.
Severin was not a dragon himself, but a member of the servant race that called the dragons masters. He was, at least to pony eyes, a monstrous and misshapen creature: bipedal and tall, with a dark mane atop his head and delicate, pinkish, nearly hairless skin, he wore heavy, uncomfortable-looking garments of blackened leather, some pieces of armor that were more decorative than functional, and a coarse cloak. Walking only on his hind legs, he had grotesque, short forelimbs ending in ugly but clever-looking appendages with five jointed digits, the tips of which were backed by thin, curved sheets of hardened epidermis like tiny hooves. The sight of him manipulating objects with these nimble little hooves could make a pony's skin crawl, but his most objectionable feature was undoubtedly his face: it was like a caricature of a pony's face, shortened and flattened until it had become monstrously ugly, with eyes too small and beady, a fleshy nose like an elongated pear, and a mouth that, instead of sitting at the end of a proper muzzle, looked like a gash made across his face by a knife. Surrounding this mouth were thin little lips that, in contrast to the rest of his skin, were red, almost like blood.
Severin's appearance would have been less objectionable if it were not accompanied by a sour smell, most of which seemed to emanate from his greasy, black mane.
Still, though nopony could find his company entirely pleasant, he was well mannered. He had neither the arrogance of a powerful politician nor the scraping obsequiousness that might be expected of a member of the race that had spent most of its existence under the dragons' cruel claws. He was refined without pomposity, polite without affectation. Most ponies who spent sufficient time in his presence grew to like him; they soon recognized that he couldn't help his appearance, and it was entirely possible he couldn't help his smell, either.
He had arrived at Canterlot's high gates early in the morning three days before, when the Canterlot Cliffs were shrouded in clouds and the rocks were wet with dew. Severin visited his homeland of Draconium only rarely; most of the year he spent journeying to the various lands with which the dragons did business. He had no entourage; so bound were the slaves to the dragons' will, his masters confidently sent Severin forth alone, knowing that he would always represent their desires to the peoples he visited. He had no armed escort, either, but traveled with only a staff in his hand and a saber at his belt. Since his earliest childhood, the dragons had trained him in numerous forms of combat, as any robbers who beset him on the road would inevitably learn to their detriment.
Upon his arrival, the Pegasus guards swiftly ushered him into Celestia's audience hall, where the princess sat in her high golden throne, from beneath of which flowed a constant stream of water. Early morning sunlight broke through the clouds outside and shone through the tall stained-glass windows, turning Celestia's white coat into a kaleidoscope of glowing colors. Severin knelt before her and made his formal greeting, praising the queen of the ponies who was mistress of the sun. She stepped down from her throne and gave him a gilded hoof to raise him up, but he took it and kissed it.
"It is good to see you again, Ambassador," Celestia said.
"Likewise, Your Highness," he answered.
They spent most of the morning walking together through the pleasure garden surrounding the palace. Severin's visits always followed certain unspoken rules: Celestia's conversation with Severin began as witty, courtly banter and only gradually moved to the subject of politics. When it did, they discussed first the affairs of lands that bordered on neither Equestria nor Draconium, but then they by degrees began to discuss issues more serious and closer to home. At the end of this long process, they would at last talk of the relations between their own two countries.
They reached this final stage after a few days, on the morning after Nightmare Night, while they were breaking fast. Severin's diet was entirely different from a pony's, but Celestia had prepared for his visit ahead of time, ordering the kitchen to produce breads, stewed fruits, cooked vegetables, and other foods she knew the ambassador could digest, and to refrain from serving hay or grass or other things she knew he couldn't. All his food was flavored, too, with imported spices nopony could stomach, but which Celestia knew would please Severin's palate.
As he had on the days previous, he complimented the repast, though deep in his heart, he was looking forward to journeying to other lands where he could eat meat and drink liquor, neither of which could be found in the whole of Equestria.
"We are honored that the ambassador so enjoys our humble table," Celestia said.
"Nonsense," Severin answered. "There is nothing humble about this feast, Your Highness. I spend much of my time traveling in the service of my masters, but it is Canterlot I most look forward to visiting, almost as if it were my second home."
"Be careful, Ambassador," Celestia replied. "In one of your stories is the tale of a man who must sit under a dangling sword for the sin of overpraising royalty."
"You honor me again, Your Highness. I am pleased that you have looked into the legends of my people. But I am servant of the dragons, am I not? I know what it means to sit under a dangling sword."
He tapped a set of his peculiar little digits on the tabletop and watched her. Amusement and a hint of uncharacteristic insolence sat in his eyes.
Servants quickly and quietly cleared the table, and the ambassador and princess put aside idle chatter for the less pleasant business to which they had been building.
"Excuse my abruptness, Your Highness, but I had expected to see the hostage by now. Where is he? Why has he not joined us at table?"
Celestia looked away from him, a hint of embarrassment passing over her equine features. "He is not in Canterlot."
"Please do not jest with me, Your Highness. Our treaty is quite clear, and to remove the hostage from your capitol would clearly violate it."
"The treaty is almost two millennia old, Ambassador."
"All the more reason it should be honored." Severin gestured to the lavish room around him. "I am well aware that, after you put your sister away, you relaxed the formalities that once characterized ponydom's high court. But the dragons are not so casual. Nor, in fact, are the dwarves, the demons, the fairies, the elves, the wyverns, the imps, the rock giants, the pixies, the lava monsters, the griffons, nor any of the other peoples I must visit. Only ponies are interested in tearing apart the dignities that separate nobles from common folk, and only ponies, I might add, are interested in violating ancient agreements."
"We no longer think of these hostages, as you call them, as hostages, Ambassador. They are honored guests. They are-"
"Then why do you still take them, Your Highness? Do you forget that the very ground on which this castle stands was once the abode of dragons? Do you forget that ponies, unprovoked, took it by force?" The hint of insolence entered his eyes again. "Of course you forget. You don't tell that part of the story in your little Hearth's Warming Eve plays, do you? You like to pretend this was empty land when you arrived."
"That was before my time, Severin."
"I am aware of that, and no doubt the invasion never would have occurred if you had reigned over the ponies then, but my masters do not care. Dragons have long lives and long memories. They are mortal, but some of them are older than you."
"If it were my choice, Ambassador, we would stop taking hostages from the dragons. But it is not my choice, precisely because the dragons insist on continuing to bear a grudge against ponyfolk two millennia after we wronged them and took their land. Still, after all this time, the threat of a draconic uprising looms over us, so still we regularly take the egg of a dragon lord to ensure continued peace. I, too, know what it means to sit under a dangling sword."
Severin sat back in his chair. "Where is the hostage, Your Highness?"
"Since he hatched, he has been the assistant of my personal protégé. A little over two years ago, she moved away from Canterlot. The two of them had grown quite attached to each other, so he went with her."
Severin stood from his chair and pushed it up to the table. "Then I must see him. Prepare me an escort."
"That will not be necessary. I will call him here to Canterlot."
"No, Your Highness. I must see where he lives. I must report to my masters on the conditions in which you keep him."
"Severin-"
"Do you deny that I am within my rights?"
Celestia thought for a moment. Finally, she closed her eyes and released a deep sigh. "You are within your rights, of course. I will give you an escort to Ponyville."
Severin bowed deeply. Celestia wondered how he could bend his body like that without falling over. "Have we further business this morning, Your Highness?" he asked.
"No official business, Ambassador. I can provide for your amusement until I have made the arrangements for your trip."
"That will not be necessary. I shall be in the splendid room you have provided until then."
Severin took his leave and left the hall.
Celestia immediately went to her chamber and wrote a letter to Twilight Sparkle: "Dearest Twilight, Ambassador Severin of the dragons, a member of their slave race, is coming to see Spike. Please show the ambassador every courtesy. Don't serve him grass, hay, or flowers. He can't eat them and will see them as an insult. Feed him cakes or fruit or things of that sort."
Celestia thought for a moment, remembering how Twilight and her friends had almost destroyed the royal ballroom during the Grand Galloping Gala, and how they had later crashed the Canterlot Garden Party. Celestia, who disliked the pomposity of formal parties, found those events amusing, but she knew Severin would have a different opinion. She continued: "He is very picky about formalities. Please be extremely polite to him and assure him that Spike is well treated. This visit is politically sensitive. I am counting on you. Sincerely, Princess Celestia. P.S., don't let Pinkie Pie near him."
She threw the letter into the fireplace, knowing that within moments Spike the dragon would be belching it in the library of Ponyville. After a moment's consideration, she wrote a second letter, markedly different in tone but only slightly different in content, to Ponyville's mayor.
That done, she thought about the best way to send Severin to Ponyville. It would look suspicious if Celestia accompanied him herself, but he would be insulted if she sent him with a mere servant. She could call on a prince of her family to go with him, perhaps, but the spoiled and egotistical Prince Blueblood was unfit for any sensitive political tasks, and Prince Shining Armor was away on business. Since Celestia was immortal, she had, naturally, accumulated more and more power to herself over the centuries, so Equestria no longer had a proper nobility, but the descendants of the ancient nobles still formed Canterlot's high society; she could perhaps call on a wealthy aristocrat to accompany Severin, but she wasn't sure she could count on any of them to have the skills to deal with an ambassador.
Then she hit on an idea and felt slightly ashamed that she hadn't thought of it first. She left her chamber and cantered down the hall: it was time she made a call on Luna.
Next: The Princess's Protégé