Dragon Lord Ember looked over her admittedly bleak holdings. The Dragon Lands were many things, but visually diverse was not one of them. That one brown guy had a point; the place could use some pillows. Ember supposed the dragons could, ugh, [i]trade[/i] for them.

The very thought of giving things away seemed to sicken Ember worse and worse until the building pressure in her guts culminated in a fiery belch. The flame and smoke folded in on themselves, forming a scroll that fell into her claws.

“Huh.” Spike had warned Ember about letting his purple pony write her at any time, but she hadn’t expected the questions to start so soon. However, the scroll's seal wasn't marked with the purple one's rump glyph.

It bore a sun.

[hr]

“Uh, Dad? I need some advice.”

Torch cracked open an eye. Dragon law might demand that he step down as lord, but it said nothing about him relinquishing his lair or the hoard that had made him enormous. He stretched from atop the wealth of a small nation, his wings brushing against the stadium-sized cavern’s ceiling. “Ember,” he said, “[i]you[/i] are Dragon Lord now. All draconic authority begins and ends with you. You can’t come to me whenever there’s a hard decision.”

“I know. Normally, I wouldn’t. But, well…” She held up something.

Torch squinted, making out a piece of paper. He sighed and said "Give it here," holding out one claw as the other dug into his bedding, pulling out a tremendous pair of spectacles made from telescopes. He set them on his snout and adjusted the lenses until he could read the letter.

[quote]To Dragon Lord Ember,

Firstly, congratulations on your victory in the Gauntlet of Fire. It is wonderful to see grace and guile trump brute strength, not least because your father now owes me a ten-carat diamond as per a bet we made last century.

However, it is not the past that concerns me, but the future. I would like to speak with you in person at your earliest convenience in either your realm or mine, whichever is easier for you. I eagerly await your response. I am sure we will have much to discuss.

Your fellow ruler,
Princess Celestia[/quote]

“Ah.” Torch took off his reading glasses. “You were wise to come to me, Ember.”

“I’ve heard things about Celestia, but I don’t know how much of it is true.” After a beat, Ember added, “Do you really owe her that diamond?”

“That and so much more. There’s a reason I never allowed dragons to burn and pillage Equestria as they saw fit. That reason is the Pony Lord.”

“Lord?” Ember grabbed the letter to look at it again. “She calls herself a princess.”

“Indeed. It is an example of a strange pony concept they call ‘humility.’ It means intentionally appearing weaker than you are.”

Ember took a moment to consider this. “Huh?”

Torch nodded. “I know; I’ve never been able to wrap my head around it either. But for all her humility, Celestia is a dangerous creature, and not just because she can conjure fire that burns even dragons.”

“She can [i]what?[/i]”

“That is merely her most obvious danger. Celestia embodies all of the strange strengths of the ponies: hard softness, possessive selflessness, deceptive honesty, all manner of things the minds of dragons cannot comprehend. She could wipe us out if she had a mind to, but she does something far more terrible; she lets us live with that knowledge. She’ll tolerate the odd raid now and again, but if we overstep our bounds…” Torch shuddered.

“Our [i]bounds[/i]?" Ember gawked at him. "They’re just ponies, and there’s only one Celestia.”

Torch shook his head. “For one, that’s no longer true. Her sister has returned, and from what Dragon Lord Bulwark told me when I took up the Scepter, she is even worse. And then there are the mortal ponies. On their own, they’re ideal prey; easily frightened meat that makes treasure. But together in enough numbers, they are dragonslayers, especially with Celestia or Luna leading them.”

Ember gulped. “And she wants to meet me face to face.”

“Yes. She prefers her introductions out of combat. I suppose it’s so she can go for your weak points immediately." Torch settled himself back on the treasure. "Step carefully around her, Ember. I have known Celestia for five hundred years, and I don’t understand her any better today than I did when I first met her.”