Prince Blueblood felt restless. It was early in the morning and he briskly trotted through Canterlot Palace’s corridors, as a slower pace would have made him arrive late to the meeting of Equestria’s nobility that was scheduled every two months. These meetings were usually boring, as more often than not only tedious issues were brought up. However, Blueblood suspected that this meeting would be different. Born and raised among Canterlot’s nobility, he had developed a sixth sense that warned him when something big was going to happen in the Palace. Today, his sense was bugging him like it hadn’t since Discord was released or the changelings crashed Cadance’s wedding. Because of this, he had spent twenty minutes more than usual combing his hair and trying to look as charming and pristine as possible, which was why he was running instead of walking. ‘If something terrible is going to happen, I would rather deal with it while looking like a proper prince, not a filthy peasant,’ he thought.

He walked into the room where the nobles awaited until Celestia and Luna appeared and started the meeting, trying to hide the fact that he was panting. The first thing he noticed was that everypony was grouped in the same corner of the room, instead of occupying the whole room. The second thing he noticed was an enormous diamond dog standing on the opposite corner of the room, staring intently at a painting and wearing a black suit with a black shirt and a white tie. The diamond dog also sported a belt with a sheathed sword around his waist. What is that ARMED beast doing here? If he’s some sort of ambassador then he should know that he can’t attend to this meeting. Hm... It seems like nopony has dared to talk to him... I will look like a coward if I do the same, but those teeth are huge... No! None of that! I am Prince Blueblood, I am not a little foal afraid of getting close to a big dog!

Blueblood slowly approached the diamond dog, his bloated ego managing to keep the fear in check. “I believe we have not been properly introduced.” He noticed that the rest of the ponies were paying close attention to him.

The diamond dog continued to stare at the painting as he talked. “I was wondering how long it would take for any of you to come and talk to me. I would have done it first, but some of them looked like they would faint if I made the slightest move. My name is Drogur, Lord of Granite Back and Sapphire Pit.”

‘So that is it. He is the leader of a diamond dog pack and he has probably come to beg for something and maybe take a few slaves on the way back while he is at it.’ Blueblood thought, his face not betraying what he was thinking. “My name is Blueblood, Prince of Equestria. I am sure that there is a solid reason for your presence here, but we the princes and lords have gathered for our bimonthly meeting.”

“Good, that is why I came here.”

Oh, great, I am going to have to explain it to him over and over again until the point drills through his thick skull. “This is a meeting of Equestria’s nobles, in which we will discuss matters of great importance and, in some cases, confidentiality. Due to this, those who aren’t nobles from Equestria can’t be in the meeting.”

“That seems reasonable, we can’t have people from other nations learning about our secrets, now can we?”

“I am glad you understand. Now, the Princesses will arrive shortly. They will probably be annoyed if they have to ask a foreigner to leave the room so we can start.”

“They most certainly will. I think that will be of little help for someone who wants something from them two.”

“Precisely.” Blueblood concluded, and waited for the total of fifteen seconds before speaking again. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Why are you still here?” Blueblood asked, annoyed.

“Because of the meeting, of course.”

Blueblood groaned. “Only Equestrian lords and royals can be in this meeting.”

“I think you have already said that. Maybe you should take a seat and rest until the princesses arrive. I’ll stay here looking at this painting. It’s hard to find such beauty in diamond dog lands.”

Blueblood decided to give up and let the princesses scold the dog for being where he shouldn’t. He joined the other ponies, who had sprawled over the entire room after Blueblood proved that Drogur wasn’t dangerous. Just as he was going to ask Lord Pendletrot about his two older twin brothers, who had suddenly disappeared a few weeks ago, a flash of light announced Celestia and Luna’s arrival. Everypony and diamond dog bowed, save for Blueblood, who wasn’t expected to do so due to his royal blood.

“Welcome, my little ponies, to Canterlot,” Celestia greeted them. “Today we have a new member among us. We have been looking forward to meeting you, Lord Drogur. We know you are very busy, but it was important that you attended to this meeting.”

‘WHAAAAAAT?!’ Blueblood thought, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. ‘A diamond dog can’t be a lord! Can he?!’

“The feeling is mutual, Princess Celestia,” Drogur replied. “I am not worthy to share a room with you, my Queen Moon.”

Luna’s neutral expression led to surprise. “Queen Moon? I have never heard such title before.”

“The legends of-” began Drogur.

“This is no time to discuss legends, Lord Drogur,” Blueblood piped in. “I have a question, though. Since when a diamond dog is a lord of Equestria?” A few ponies muttered in approval.

Celestia’s horn was enveloped with a golden light, and scrolls appeared in front of everyone. “These are copies of the royal decree in which Princess Cadance accepts the inhabitants of Granite Back as citizens of the Crystal Empire, and by extension Equestrians, and grants Drogur lordship over that domain.”

“She can do that?” Blueblood asked.

“Yes, she can. As the sovereign of the principality known as Crystal Empire, one of her powers is to name vassal lords.”

Two hours later, they were done discussing Cadance’s powers and why the other nobles didn’t have them. Then they moved to whether or not diamond dogs were considered sapient creatures such as ponies. Drogur cut that conversation short by stating that he would prove his sapience by writing a poem with the blood of anypony who dared to question it. More topics were discussed, such as what to do with the diamond dogs who lived in caves all over Equestria. By the time they were done discussing, hours had passed since Celestia and Luna moved the Sun and the Moon so the night could start. It had taken lots of explanations and sugar-coating, but most nobles had finally accepted that the diamond dogs would benefit Equestria.

“Lord Drogur,” Luna called as the nobles walked to the exit. “We would like to have some words with you in private.”

“Anything you wish, Queen Moon.”

“Why do you call me Queen Moon? I am Luna, and I am a princess.”

“Many of our legends talk about a future in which we will become a single nation under the rule of a Diamond Wolf that will become the Alpha of Alphas. They also say that the Diamond Wolf will marry the Moon herself. You were the Mare in the Moon, so it’s obvious that the Diamond Wolf will marry you, and so you are the Queen Moon.”

“Well, those legends have yet to come true, so I would appreciate that you referred to me by my proper name and title. Now, we have some questions about the draconequus known as Havoc. From what we have gathered, he lived in your warren for some time.”

“Indeed. He came to us disguised as a dog, and he quickly stood out due to his intelligence. Not that it’s hard to do that when you live with diamond dogs, I’m afraid that we aren’t famous for our great minds. In any case, I had to expel him. He was an anchor for dangerous beings.”

“That’s to be expected, given his condition,” Celestia said. “What we wanted to know is whether he was dangerous or not on his own.”

“He was as dangerous as any other powerful magician. No dog has dared to move to his cave since he left, weird things happen in there. However, during all the time he lived among my dogs he never caused any trouble. He was eccentric, yes, and sometimes strange stuff happened around him, but I don’t think he would willingly harm anyone for no reason.”

“You think he isn’t evil, then?”

“Exactly.”

“Fine, that’s good to know. Now, there is another matter we wanted to bring up...” Luna told Drogur. “Why are we in war with not one, not two, but three diamond dog clans?!”

For the first time in several years, Drogur felt scared enough to stutter. He knew of Luna’s temper, but he wasn’t expecting to feel it first-hand. “W-well, it all be-began with Sapphire Pit.”

“We know about Sapphire Pit, what we want to know is why you are fighting with Copper Depth, Marble Heart and Ebony Fang!” Luna angrily demanded.

“They are using guerrilla warfare on us. Every morning, we find dogs and ponies with their throats slit while they slept, or a devastated farm, or missing foals. When two warrens have an argument, the Alphas fight and the winner takes whatever we were fighting over. We do this because we know that a war will only weaken us and allow other warrens or a dragon to take advantage of our situation. The problem is that, as they know that I can defeat them, they have decided that siding with ponies allows them to treat me like a pony and attack all of us. The only way to end this is to defeat their Alphas and take over the warrens.”

“And then what? Fight against ten more clans?” Luna asked. “Soon they will be too much for you and Cadance to handle.”

“It’s a shame that they would resort to violence,” complained Celestia. “We can’t reach an agreement with them while they kill and kidnap our subjects, though. To make it worse, the warrens that have released their slaves to join the griffin pirates and fight against the slavers are on the other side of Gem Fido, so they can’t help... Lord Drogur, how influential is this Queen Moon legend among diamond dogs?”

“Even the proudest Alpha would surrender if a Diamond Wolf proclaimed himself Alpha of Alphas.”

“Well, we don’t have a Diamond Wolf, but his bride will do,” Celestia said, looking at Luna.

“Egads, no! We are not going to mate with a diamond dog!” she exclaimed, bewildered.

“You know it won’t come to that, Luna. Unless this legendary Diamond Wolf appears AND you consent, of course. I was only suggesting that, if you travel to the Crystal Empire and do something spectacular our enemies might consider negotiating.”

“Are you sure about this? Won’t ponies feel worried if I disappear from Canterlot? What if the changelings attack again?”

“Don’t worry about that, sister,” Celestia replied, and then she faced Drogur. “We need you to do something in return. We need scouts capable of finding diamond dog warrens, can you do something about that?”

“Any diamond dog can find warrens with ease, but I guess you want dogs capable of finding settlements and convincing the inhabitants to release their slaves and join Equestria’s society. I think I might be able to find around ten dogs smart enough to do that.”

“Ten are too few to search all over Equestria, but it will have to do, for now,” Luna said. “Now, I must prepare for the travel. You will be guided to your chambers by a Royal Guard. We will depart on the morrow.”

“Yes, Princess Luna,” Drogur replied, bowing as he left.

“Well, what do you think of him?” asked Celestia when Drogur was gone.

“We have to keep him on a shorter leash before he causes serious trouble.”

“Wow, Luna, if you think that a war with three different diamond dog clans isn’t serious then I don’t want to see serious.”

“I fear that he will drag all of us into a war against dragons. You know as well as I do that they would set the whole world ablaze if they were given a reason to fight as a nation.”

“You will be there to make sure nothing of the sort happens. I think we are on the brink of a new era, in which ponies won’t be the only inhabitants of Equestria. The diamond dogs are only the first step, and griffins could be the next. A new era of friendship among species and fundamental...” Celestia stopped mid-phrase.

“Oh no, it’s never good when you do that,” Luna commented, worried.

“Fundamental changes,” Celestia concluded as she turned to face the window, from which Canterlot’s statues garden could be seen.

“Really? So soon? I expected him to remain trapped for at least three centuries, and you think that he will break free before the current Element bearers pass away?”

“With all the chaos and changes brought by the game he started, I fear he will be free in less than a decade.”

“There must be a more permanent way to deal with him.”

“I have an idea that might work, but it's risky. Don’t worry about him, we have more urgent problems to take care of.”

AN: Yes, yes, I know. This chapter is very short and it's been long since I last updated. I fear that I won't be able to write in August, so yeah, sorry about everything. I expect to write more in September, as I am more productive when I don't have holidays. Now, I would also like to share with you some info about my particular chessverse:
Despite being non-canon, I try to stick to the canon chessverse so it’s easier for those of you who also read canon chessverse stories (that means most of you, I guess) to understand what’s going on. However, I have developed my own original ideas and I think that some of them should be explained to avoid confusions.
First, Equis itself. In Havoc’s Equis, the Changeling Wastelands are located south of Equestria, between the Great Southern Rainforest and the Volcanic Wastes. The Crystal Empire is located where the Changeling Wastelands are in the canon universe. This explains why a changeling swarm flies over Wethoof in Echo the Diamond dog, and it allows the Crystal Empire to be close to Gem Fido. The rest of the world is similar, with the desert south of the Rainforest and all of that, because as Havoc has never gone there I think that there’s no point in making changes.

Second, government. Equestria was founded by three tribes that were very different. Unicorns had feudalism, earth ponies had democracy and pegasi had stratocracy (the state and the military are the same entity). Because of this, some cities founded by earth ponies have a mayor, like Ponyville, while others are ruled by a lord, like Trottingham (the sheriff was appointed the provisional ruler by the old lord because the heir is missing). Cloudsdale, being a pegasus city, is ruled by the military (maybe a council of retired Wonderbolts? I haven’t decided it). All the cities recognise Celestia and Luna as the supreme rulers, but they princesses don’t enforce a particular government. They allow ponies to choose how to rule themselves as long as it works and everypony is happy.
Blueblood is a prince because Princess Platinum is his ancestor, whereas Cadance is a princess because she’s a descendant of the rulers of the Crystal Empire who were overthrown by Sombra. Due to this, Blueblood has only power due to his wealth and how close he is to Celestia, as he has no lands or armies to back him up.

Third, I think I have said in the story that the Crystal Empire is only the city AND that the Crystal Empire has many smaller towns surrounding the capital. I’m going to choose one and go with it until the end: the city is the capital, the Empire is the city and a couple of small villages made mostly of farmers and such. Before Sombra happened, the Empire also spanned over most of Gem Fido, and there were many crystal pony settlements on the surface that worked together with the diamond dogs.

On a related note: the lands where the three tribes of ponies lived until the windigoes attacked them are the frozen lands that surround the Crystal Empire. These lands are still plagued by windigoes, but they didn’t appear because Sombra was powerful enough to scare them away, or the emo spell he used on the crystal ponies made the windigoes unable to feed on their misery, or something. Now they can’t attack the Crystal Empire because the Crystal Heart protects the land from them. The presence of windigoes explains why the Frozen Lands that surround the Crystal Empire are frozen, whereas Gem Fido is only a cold place. The crystal ponies were originally earth ponies ruled by mortal alicorns (Cadance’s ancestors) who refused to join the other ponies when they decided to move to Equestria, and they “evolved” after centuries living under the influence of the Crystal Heart.