It was late in the afternoon up in the high northern mountains of my Equestria dreamscape. Upon one of the gentle windswept, barren, gray granite slopes there was a brilliant blue flash of light, when it subsided two alicorn mares stood surveying the alpine scenery.
 
The slope where the two alicorns stood was very similar to surrounding mountains but for one unique landmark identified this location as being special; about hundred yards in front of the two sisters stood a obelisk of roughly hewn steel-grey granite thirty feet in height. For a thousand years this lone monolith had stood guard as sentinel between Equestria and Realm of Dragons. Through centuries of bitterly cold winters and blazing hot summers this ancient monolith had performed its silent duties. On the side facing Equestria still visible as worn relief carvings were the very stylized cutie marks of Celestia and Luna. The other side of the monolith was covered with jagged, geometric ornamentation.
 
Celestia scanned the terrain around them for several seconds then looked up at the brilliant cobalt blue sky and observed the physical proof of her office and the source of much of her power. Performing a quick set of mental calculations she smiled and silently nodded her head.
 
Right on the mark and five minutes before the appointment. Thought the princess of the Sun. I haven’t stood here in five hundred years but I could still nail it on the first try!
 
Luna stood silently with her eyes closed for a few seconds; slowly she opened them and spoke.
 
“Our unicorn guards and mages are staged in the correct location as agreed to in the terms of this meeting. Five miles to the south of our current position, also the two squadrons of pegasi are there in standard orbit at about twelve thousand feet.”
 
Celestia nodded her head while staring continuously at northern horizon. She knew that the officers in charge of the Royal Guard detail were unhappy with having this much distance separating them from the Royal Sisters, but this was one of the terms for the meeting.
 
Besides. Thought the Princess of the Sun. If things went truly bad there was very little they’d be able to accomplish except to die in the service of the crown. Either she or Luna would have to handle the situation or it would be a lost cause.
 
However this was suppose to be diplomatic meeting, and for that reason the sisters had decided to wear their regular court regalia and not to their Royal War Barding. However they had prudently cast a few very potent defensive spells on themselves before teleporting from the Throne Room in Canterlot.
 
And if push came to shove Luna had a couple, one thousand-ton solid nickel-iron asteroids holding station high above the surface of the planet. Always wise to have a backup plan.
 
“Do you believe they will arrive at the appointed time or force us sit her for couple hours like the last time?” Grumbled Luna. “I find it very infuriating when they do that!”
 
“That’s why they do it.” Said Celestia in a soft voice. “It is a way they can unsettle and disrupt your mental serenity and make you feel you are not in control of the situation. Don’t let it get to you. We’ve lived for over a thousands years a couple hours will make little difference.”
 
Luna grumbled something unintelligible to her self but didn’t contest her sister’s observation.
 
The appointed time for meeting came and went and Celestia began to wonder why she never brought a book or at least a snack to these little diplomatic gatherings. However it was then that she became aware of something heading toward them from over the northern peaks. Slowly but surely two gigantic flying figures approached the two sisters location. The other half of this meeting had arrived.
 
Two great dragons slowly flew toward the Royal Sisters. Even miles away from the sisters they could hear the rhythmic rumble of the dragons wing beats. The air around the two titanic figures rippled and roiled with magic, as if the two dragons demanded the atmosphere to support their terrible weight. The dragons had very distinctive features and colors.
 
The smaller of the two, for some value of smaller, led the way. The main body color was a slightly mottled bronze-green. Its belly and lower jaw were a dull pale-green gold. Along its back was a single row of jagged spines that rose like twisted pikes about fifteen feet in length. The dragon’s head had five, twisted great horns over sixteen feet in length. Two horns jutted back along its neck, two projected from either side of its jaw. A final bent horn grew from between the drake’s eyes like some grotesque parody of a unicorn’s beautiful alicorn.
 
The dragon’s body was crisscrossed with numerous scars of varying depth, age, and violence. Great, stained, yellowed fangs longer than a pony’s leg gave the dragon a distinctly crocodilian leer. When the dragon got within a couple hundred yards of the two princesses it flared its two hundred foot wingspan and settled to the ground with surprising grace and elegance.
 
The second dragon approached the two sisters like a great, black thundercloud. It simply appeared too massive to remain in the air. The sweep of its great, dark soot-gray wings was like a gale through a mountain pass. The very air seemed to moan under its vast bulk. Beneath its wing flaps the ground was punished with hurricane-like winds that stirred up great clouds of dust and gravel and caused the scrawny alpine conifers that eked out a meager existence on these high mountain slopes to rock and sway.
 
Its face had a short, squat muzzle and a jaw like a massive stone cliff face. Jagged fangs longer than a pony jutted the dragon’s jaw; its brow ridge was a twisted line of cruel looking spines. Four, enormous, black, ribbed horns erupted from it skull and gave the dragon a positively demonic appearance. Red-orange eyes glowed like pools magna amongst cooling fields of dark, dull grey stone. Its gigantic, muscled body bore the scars of countless battles. Unlike the lead dragon when it flared its three hundred and sixty foot wings and landed the ground shuddered as its great bulk settled on it.
 
For several seconds the two great dragons stared silently at the two comparatively tiny alicorns then slowly began strolling up the slope toward them. The two sisters waited motionlessly as the two monstrous beings bore down on them.
 
“To be continued.
 
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