Chapter 22: Rightful Place

Celestia and Luna were both smiling as Nox cheered at seeing the familiar castle again while Strong Shield and Flux were both picking up bags and carried them inside. A moment later the whooshing sounds of Odio’s portal faded away followed by a loud thud.

Dave coughed as he picked himself off the ground and glared at Odio’s innocent whistling. “If you ever drop me onto my face again then I am gonna take away your video games.”

“Oh come on, it was hardly like I was doing it on purpose,” Odio scoffed as he floated to Dave’s side. “Only joking, I was super bored while you were away.”

“Well next time read a book or something,” Dave groaned as he brushed himself off, looking up to see a group of guards approaching. “I’m guessing that there is trouble.”

Celestia and Luna both turned to face the approaching guards, the leader quickly saluted as he caught his breath. “P-princess Celestia, I’m afraid I have to report that Queen Chrysalis and Mike have both been arrested.”

“What do you mean arrested?” Celestia frowned. “Chrysalis was meant to act as me while we were gone, did she betray us?”

“Uh… no,” The guards all glanced away as the leader tapped his chin. “Well… Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armour returned to Canterlot and they discovered Chrysalis’ identity.”

Luna rubbed her forehead with one of her hooves, “I guess we should have seen that coming.”

“And what exactly have they done?” Celestia asked as her frown grew.

“Well they kinda… imprisoned Mike and Chrysalis before setting the guards on high alert and forcing us to triple patrols around the city and rounding up anypony suspicious,” The leader saluted as Celestia stepped closer and stared down at him.

“So the entire city is panicking?” Celestia asked quietly as she saw a bead of sweat fall from the guard’s face. “I hope you all managed to contain the situation.”

The guards exchanged glances before the leader cleared his throat, “W-well instead of patrolling we just go to one of the bars and wait until we are supposed to head back to the castle to report.”

“So wait, you guys got paid to go have drinks?” Dave asked as he walked over to join the conversation.

“Well… yeah I suppose so,” The guards nodded and smiled.

Dave nodded and gave the guard a pat on the back, “Nice.”

“Well everything is secure and we shall prepare for you to return to the throne,” The guards saluted before leaving the family behind, Dave rubbed his neck as he smiled to Celestia and Luna.

“See? Everything turned out fine,” Dave smiled at the unimpressed stares. “Well apart from a couple of mishaps.”

Nox froze as everypony began to walk away, heading back to their respective positions, Celestia stopped as she noticed her son wasn’t following. “Is everything alright Nox?”

“Mum… Is Discord real?” Nox asked nervously as he looked up at the white alicorn. “Are the stories you told me true?”

“Discord was real a very long time ago,” Celestia said reassuringly as she stepped back to her son’s side and nuzzled him gently, attempting to calm the colt. “Why do you ask?”

Nox shuffled his wings as he stared at the floor, “There was a man that said he was Discord and he had the Element of Generosity with him.”

“Discord was imprisoned and no magic could break him free,” Celestia said softly as she gently placed one of her long wings over Nox and began to guide him inside. “I’ll even check on the elements later to show that everything is alright.”

“He knew a lot about our friends,” Nox stayed as close as he could to Celestia as he stared at the ground. “He made me talk about Adamas.”

“Adamas?” Celestia paused before giving Nox a reassuring smile. “Adamas is too kind hearted to be involved with anything mean so don’t worry.”

Nox was silent the rest of the walk as he followed his mother into the castle, the corridors were oddly busy as maids and guards prepared for the royal return. A few maids bowed to Nox and even the guards gave a sigh of relief when they saw that the colt was home safe.

As the mother and son passed the kitchen they saw Dave attempting to coordinate a busy kitchen. His other troubles didn’t seem to be weighing on his mind as he tried to answer a barrage of questions.

“No I don’t eat hay, I don’t like daffodils and that includes the soup!” Dave said hastily as he was swarmed by chefs and maids. “All I wanted was an apple! And stop calling me Prince Dave! It’s just Dave!”

Celestia rolled her eyes as she guided Nox down the corridor, “Listen Nox, I’m going to be busy with this Cadence and Chrysalis situation so I want you to stay in the castle for today.”

“Ok I’m gonna go to my room,” Nox said happily as he flapped his wings and flew above the heads of all the ponies. Celestia watched him fly away before making her way to the throne room, guards saluted as she approached and opened the doors for her to enter.

As the doors closed gently behind her, Celestia gave an exhausted sigh and walked over to the throne, relaxing as she sat down. Her rest was short lived as the doors opened again and the sounds of bickering instantly met her ears.

Celestia looked up to see Shining Armour and Mike standing between Chrysalis and Cadence. The two mares were both spitting snide comments to each other, trying to get the other angry. The two males on the other hand glared at each other silently, waiting for the other to make an attack.

“All of you be quiet!” Celestia commanded and silence immediately took over. Cadence was still red with anger as she reluctantly stood aside with her husband. Mike looked relieved that the dilemma was going to be solved whilst Chrysalis sat down impatiently.

Cadence glared at Chrysalis before looking up at the princess of the sun. “Is it true you asked for her help?”

“Yes it is,” Celestia responded bluntly. “And I would ask for it again because she had done a marvellous job even when you came along and almost ruined it.”

“B-but you didn’t tell me that she was going to pretend to be you,” Cadence protested as she glared at the smug changeling. “If you had told me that she was going to be here then I could have helped.”

Celestia rubbed her temples with her hooves, a small headache beginning to form in the front of her mind. Mike saw the stressed princess and cleared his throat, “Princess Celestia did what she did for very personal reasons, I was here not only to guard Chrysalis but also keep her in line, all the guards were informed and all precautions were taken.”

“And what is all that meant to mean?” Shining Armour grumbled.

“We didn’t involve you because we had it under control, this was a family matter that concerned my kingdom,” Celestia said clearly as she looked down at the princess of love. “You have you own kingdom yes? So you should understand my actions were perfectly valid.”

Cadence was stunned by what she heard, she wasn’t staring up at her Auntie Celestia but instead she was being looked down upon by Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. Her protests would fall on deaf ears so she restrained herself to a mild nod. “I am sorry for my actions.”

“I will accept your apology seeing as no true harm came from your actions,” Celestia rolled her eyes. “We were lucky that the guards had faith and took some matters into their own hooves.”

Shining Armour gritted his teeth before saluting, “Your highness, I request that you allow us to assist in any way possible for the duration of our stay so you may recover from your journey and spend time with your family.”

Celestia paused at the thought, “I’ll accept on a few conditions, Princess Cadence, you must report on every single ruling you make at the end of each day.”

“Thank you Princess Celestia,” Cadence bowed before nuzzling her husband.

“Shining Armour, you will resume your old position as Captain of the Guard but you will have Strong Shield work alongside you,” Celestia turned her attention to Mike and Chrysalis. “Queen Chrysalis, I thank you for your actions so I will allow you to stay in the castle for the next few days before your journey home.”

Chrysalis paused, thinking of some reason as to why she should leave. She glanced up at Mike and saw the small smirk on his face and growled quietly to herself. “I would be honoured Princess Celestia.”

“And finally Mike,” Princess Celestia turned to the human. “You will write down everything you know about these rouge humans and hand in that information to Dave or I.”

“I will get started right away,” Mike bowed before the group was dismissed and Celestia slumped against the back of her throne and allowed her eyes to fall shut, her exhaustion kept her stuck firmly to her seat.

Outside the throne room the two pairs of rivals had paused to speak with each other before going their separate ways, Mike and Shining Armour made amends and complimented each other’s fighting skill whilst Cadence and Chrysalis muttered apologies and walked away.

Mike and Chrysalis walked back through the castle, avoiding the crowds if possible before bumping into Dave, his hands full of apples and other random fruits. “Uh hey guys, either of you want a snack?”

Mike took a banana from Dave as they stepped to one side, “So how was Earth?”

“Well beyond some more whacky humans and getting shot… it was alright,” Dave sighed as he took a bite out of an apple. “I heard you both had problems of your own.”

“Well it is harder to gain somepony’s trust when they think you are a villain,” Chrysalis snorted as she glared at the floor. “Stupid Princess of Love.”

Mike and Dave exchanged glances before having a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Dave quietly celebrated his victory as Mike sighed and turned to Chrysalis.

“Listen, you did a good thing these past few days,” Mike placed his hand on Chrysalis’ back, her black body tensed at the touch but slowly relaxed. “You deserve a break and now ponies will begin to see that changelings aren’t as bad as they seem.”

The Changeling Queen grumbled before turning to face Mike, “Fine, I’ll… rest for a while before returning to my hive, my sister isn’t that used to commanding the swarm even if they are mindless slaves sometimes.”

“Well don’t worry so much,” Dave groaned as he picked up all his fruit and stood up. “Everything has worked out so far, there can’t be that many humans left to deal with so everything is almost over.”

As Dave turned to leave the castle shook and caused the group to fall over, Dave landed on all his fruit and he looked down to see the stains on his shirt. “Aww come on really? I just got changed as well.”

“What was that?” Mike asked as he helped Chrysalis to her hooves. “Was it an earthquake?”

“No but something magical has shown up,” Dave growled as he rubbed his bandaged arm. “But the question is what.”

Dave hurried to a window and began to search the surrounding land, his gaze eventually shifting to the castle runway. “Oh Adamas is here… do you know him Mike?”

“No who is he?” Mike hurried over and peeked out to see a massive diamond dragon stood on the runway, his massive tail was draped over the castle wall and his closing wings were enough to cover the area in a dark shadow.

“Adamas and I have a small history but for the past few years he has been teaching dragons to be generous which is harder than it sounds.” Dave narrowed his eyes and saw Celestia hurrying out to meet the dragon.

Mike turned to see the guards were casually continuing their duty, “So is this normal?”

“Kinda,” Dave leaned against the window as he saw Adamas crouch down to speak to Celestia. “When Adamas started becoming generous he began to use magic, his diamond scales are proof enough about how far he has come.”

“So who called him?” Chrysalis asked as she joined the two humans. “I heard that he is usually busy with being an Ambassador.”

Dave hummed, “So neither of you contacted him? Well there is no way he heard about Nox’s disappearance so he can’t be here to try and help.”

Meanwhile…

Celestia stared up at the dragon, his large eyes focused on the princess, “Ambassador Adamas, you wouldn’t have come along unannounced unless it was an emergency.”

“Princess Celestia, I have… alarming news,” Adamas reached over and opened his claw, showing the princess what he had in his grasp. Celestia froze when she saw the purple gem staring back at her, the golden necklace glistening like the last time she had seen it.

“The Element of Generosity?” Celestia stared in confusion before turning to face her guards that stood by the doors to the castle. “Send troops to where the elements are being held, send word to Ponyville to see if Twilight and her friends are safe and somepony find my sister!”

The guards bumped into each other as they rushed to follower her panicked orders. Celestia gave a sigh as she looked back at the dragon, “Nox was right, Discord did talk to him… how did he escape?”

“I wish I could do more but I can’t,” Adamas apologised. “I must leave as soon as possible.”

“I understand,” Celestia’s horn glowed as she levitated the element from Adamas’ palm. “Thank you for… Adamas?”

The cracks amongst the scales in Adamas’ claw were glowing soft silver as the Element of Generosity refused to move. Celestia gently applied more magic only to feel the resistance grow, Adamas slowly closed his claw and cut Celestia’s magic ties.

Celestia slowly looked up and saw Adamas’ pupils had resorted to small slits, his fangs bared. “I understand why Discord gave this to you, I know how hard it is to resist your primal greed but the Adamas I know would do the right thing.”

“I told you about your own security failure,” Adamas growled. “But I… can’t give you what you want.”

“Adamas I want nothing more than to help you and all of Equestria but I can’t do it without that Element of Harmony,” Celestia spoke softly and calmly, attempting to keep the situation from escalating.

Adamas seemed to shake, as if fighting himself from giving up his prize, “I have done so much for others and have got nothing in return… I’ve given so much and now I’m left with so little…”

“That is not true, you are one of the purest creatures I know,” Celestia said sweetly. “Discord knows exactly how to root out the worst in us but you have to fight him.”

“Every single race looks down on us dragons as beasts but I’m different I… I’m…” Adamas reared on his hind legs as he opened his wings, the gust sent Celestia flying back and she barely managed to recover before slamming into the castle.

Celestia looked up to see the diamond dragon open his large jaws and a roar was unleashed that shattered any nearby windows. “Adamas don’t!”

“I’M THE ONE WHO DESERVES TO HAVE IT ALL!” Adamas roared before he unleashed his flame into the sky, the blazing inferno rocketed into the sky. Celestia slowly backed away as she made her way to the castle.

Everypony in the castle gasped as they saw the flames rise into the sky, Adamas continued to push the flames up like an erupting volcano before slamming his jaws shut and thick smoke began to pour from his nostrils. “Dragons were here long before any other and it is time everypony recognised that fact.”