Ember always hated gatherings.
She hated her mother adorning her in jewelry. Hated the fawning she got from both mother dragons and precocious young drakes. Hated that she wasn’t allowed to fight, as it was ‘inappropriate for any girl, especially the Princess, to brawl at a gathering’. Which wasn’t what her mother used to say. It had been her mother’s suggestion she spar with Garble in the first place, but now she’d spout platitudes about a time and a place. Most of all, she hated gatherings when Garble did not attend. Garble was many things. Stupid, arrogant, stupid, persistent, stupid, and egotistical – but he was also a welcome distraction. Especially when her closest neighbor was Scales Sunwing, who looked almost as bored as her atop her treasure pile.
Without him around, all Ember could do was sit on a pile of gold and gems, and watch as lovestruck boys fought for her favor, hoping they’d move on to Scales or another girl soon. At least, she guessed they were lovestruck. A part of her wondered how many of them actually liked her, and which ones were just trying to get into her Dad’s good graces. Considering such displays happened exclusively at a gathering, perhaps it was the latter only. Something else she could thank Dad for. Once he’d declared her out-of-bounds, revealing she was the Princess, boys were a lot more eager to fight each other over her than they were to fight her. They were terrified at the mere thought of fighting her.
Resting her head in her palm as she watched the scuffling below, Ember held back a snort, knowing her mother wouldn’t approve of the unladylike behavior. Speaking of approval, those boys were too young to understand that gaining her favor would do them no good. While she doubted her father would go so far as to crush a whelp, he’d never stand for any boy to lay their eyes on her, no more than their fists.
She didn’t mind her father’s protectiveness in this case. If there was one thing Ember felt sure of, it was that she didn’t plan to marry. Ever.
“Mind if I sit down?”
It startled Ember to see who had spoken. A little orange dragon stood a few feet away, staring up at her with big blue eyes. By the look of things, while Garble may not have chosen to attend this gathering, the Ironscale Clan had not gone completely unrepresented. Smolder had come wearing jewelry of her own, a gold anklet and bracers.
Ember peered at Smolder, her brow knitting together. She hadn’t dealt with the younger dragon since she spent a week at the Ironscales’ cave. Nights she didn’t want to think about right now. She still needed to punch Garble after he’d wrapped his arm around her on that first night.
“Is it just you here?” Ember asked.
“Oh, um,” Smolder said, in an oddly wavering tone. “Spike came too. He actually wanted to come and Mama said okay, but she’s busy talking with your mama. I’m just watching out for him.”
Indeed, a glance towards the edge of the quarry revealed that Heathspike had attended the gathering, except he had real playmates with him this time. Ember recognised some young drakes, one named Javelin and the other named Tuft. Upon spotting one another, smiles and sounds of excitement filled their little play area, and a fight broke out immediately, if their hugging and wrestling each other to the ground counted as a fight.
The young girls their age who were present had broken up into three groups, each cheering on their favored drake as they tussled. While a drake like Javelin may have the most in his corner due to being considered the cutest of the three boys, Spike’s cheerleaders seemed to be the most passionate. The loudest and most devoted of the bunch was little Jade Spiketail, who cheered for Spike with all her heart, calling on him to win for her.
Ember could now say she hated witnessing Spike's merriment, as it only served to remind her of what she could not do. Holding down the anger that burnt inside her, Ember tore her gaze away, to look at Smolder suspiciously.
“If you’re looking out for him, shouldn’t you be over there?” Ember growled at her. “I didn’t think you’d back off from a fight.”
In truth, Ember wasn’t too sure why she said that. Ironscales were renowned for their feistiness, even amongst dragons, and Smolder should be no exception. Yet now she thought about it, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Smolder fighting.
Smolder shuffled on her feet, hands behind her back.
“I just felt like watching how my brother handles himself. He doesn’t need me butting in yet. We’re Ironscales, we can fight our own battles!”
From what Ember could tell, it seemed that Spike was doing well. She shrugged. Smolder’s explanation didn’t make total sense to her, but if the smaller dragon couldn’t fight either, they might as well share in their misery. In any case, Smolder couldn’t be a worse neighbor than Scales.
“Fine by me,” Ember said gruffly, gesturing at a spare patch of rock. “So long as you keep it down.”
Without saying a word, but smiling, Smolder took her seat. The smaller dragon could watch what passed for a fight between her brother and other hatchlings if she liked. Ember decided her would-be suitors’ contest might be more interesting after all. Not by much, mind you. When one drake won a fight, he would invariably end up losing to another drake not long after, succumbing to fatigue. The sole exception to the rule was Arrow Firefang. Ember didn’t like him, but she respected him to an extent. Of all the contestants, he wasn’t vying for her hand. He couldn’t care less about her personally, and she knew it.
When Arrow fought, it was to prove he was strong. And prove it he did. He was accepting all challengers, up to a maximum of three drakes at a time. Teams were formed, jokes were made about how a shrimp like Ember had given him a run for his money – the nature of the contest hadn’t stopped the boys from making quips about her short stature, much to Ember’s growing ire – or how Garble had beat him with one punch, yet still Arrow handily stomped them all into the ground.
Much like Spike’s little fight, Ember’s “suitors” had drawn some attention with their contest, from girls who mustn’t have understood what they were fighting about. Or rather, who they were fighting for. Of course, with a string of victories under his belt, Arrow didn’t seem displeased by the attention, but he wasn’t basking in it either. His goal was to remind everyone who he was and what he was capable of. Ember silently scoffed at him. She’d take him seriously when he either beat Garble, or could beat her in a fair rematch. Until then, as far as she was concerned, Arrow was a dragon wearing a bronze medal.
A new contestant entered the ring. There was a collective pause.
The newcomer was one of the girls. With that pink all over her scales, to say nothing of a tail longer than her upper body, it could only be Ballista Axebeak. Briefly, Arrow showed a bemused look on his face, hesitant even, but he then shrugged. Whether Ballista didn’t get the fight’s purpose, or did and just wanted an excuse to brawl, made no difference to him. She had the right to challenge him, and he wasn’t going to turn any fight down. The situation was certainly uncommon at a gathering, but not unheard of.
For her part, Ember didn’t care why Ballista was fighting – only that she disliked the idea of another girl beating Arrow. Feeling her mind wander, Ember peeked to one side and saw that Smolder had stood up, staring and waving at the contestant ring with hopeful eyes, presumably for anyone remotely close to her age. However, when she wasn’t granted so much as glance, Smolder sat back down, a little deflated.
“What are you doing?” Ember felt compelled to ask, out the corner of her mouth. “Some of these boudlerheads are too old for you.”
At that, Smolder stuck out her lip in pout. “Well, how do you do it, getting everyone's attention?”
Ember should have guessed. Of course the real reason Smolder wanted to sit next to her was to grab a piece of the attention.
“It’s not like I want them to,” Ember grumbled. “They’re only interested because I’m the Princess. That title doesn’t even do anything, other than let dragons know who my Dad is! It would be better if they thought I’ll be the next Dragon Lord.”
“But Garble’s gonna be the next Dragon Lord.”
“That’s what everyone thinks!”
Her words must have come out wrong, because Smolder looked at her as if she’d been slapped, which made Ember tense up. Meanwhile, a hard knocking sound echoed from the contestant ring.
“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” Smolder said with a gasp. “No drake’s better than Garble!”
Ember grumbled. “Apparently not! He takes over my fights twice, and everyone thinks he’s the greatest thing since lava baths!”
“He did what?”
Immediately, Ember realized she’d said too much. Again. “You didn’t hear about that?” she asked, trying to hide her nervousness.
“No!” Smolder said, her tail starting to wag. “Spike told me about Garble’s fight, but he did that for you?”
“It wasn’t for me.” Ember sighed. Might as well come out with it. “I challenged a buncha drakes to a fight over a gem I found and-and I might have been in over my head. Then Garble came along and made fun of them for it, then he challenged Arrow and won! Next thing you know, they leave me alone and I’m left embarrassed.”
“Oh,” said Smolder, sounding strange. “So that was the first time, right? What about the second time?”
“Heh. That time, I got to fight that moron,” Ember said, pointing at Arrow. “I was winning at the start, but then I tripped and sprained my ankle. I didn’t give up, so Arrow kept attacking me. Garble got between us and put a stop to it.”
Maybe it was a trick of the light, but Smolder was physically vibrating. “How did he stop it?” she asked, leaning in closer.
Ember fumed, her eyes narrowing. “He punched him and that was it.”
To her frustration, Smolder started making excited noises.
“Fine, okay, he’s strong! But you gotta admit, your brother is still a moron.”
Coughing, Smolder calmed down. “Sometimes, yeah,” she said with a shrug. “That doesn’t mean he isn’t the coolest.”
“Uh-huh,” Ember muttered, not looking at her. “Anyway. Why are you so interested in getting everyone’s attention?”
“Isn’t that the point of a gathering?” Smolder asked. “Getting compliments and wearing nice presents? Who wouldn’t want to do that!”
Smolder didn’t get an immediate answer. Having turned her gaze away, Ember was looking back towards the contestant ring. Unsurprisingly, with her signature three-spiked tail as a lethal weapon, Ballista had lasted longer than most against Arrow, yet the outcome remained the same. Although his scales sported bruises from taking a couple of hits, Arrow had just finished dodging Ballista’s tail and grabbed her horns, pinning her to the ground.
Grinning unpleasantly, Arrow brought his foot down hard, to stomp the curve of Ballista’s namesake, beak-like snout. A popular finishing move in a dragon fight. While there were more ways than one, nothing asserted dominance like grinding a vanquished opponent’s snout into the dust.
“What about fighting?” Ember said, staring wistfully. “It’s more fun than this.”
“I do that with my brothers all the time!” Smolder bemoaned, springing up. “When we do anything else, they never wanna play any of my games.” She crossed her arms and looked sulky. “The most I get nowadays is an afternoon for reading, but they never want to read my books anymore! It’s, it’s always those stupid action ones Spike likes, or poetry, or adventures. You know what else? Sometimes, they just want to play with each other. When I try to join, they say it’s a boys-only game, and I can’t join because I’m a girl. It’s unfair!”
Listening to Smolder list off her complaints, it was the last one which made Ember feel a twinge of pity for the little dragon, and growing rage towards her brothers. She knew boys were stupid, and somewhat inconsiderate. But Smolder wasn’t some random dragon they bumped into, she was their sister! Where was the give-and-take here? Well, she’d sure have to give Garble a good punch for this.
Feeling a gap in the pit of her stomach, Ember realized that perhaps she was too kind for her own good. Which was why the next thing said was meant to help Smolder feel better about herself.
“Your jewelry doesn’t work.”
Smolder was taken aback. As her lip began to quiver, she dropped down on her patch of rock and hugged her legs close to her chest.
“Oh. I didn’t know.”
“I-I didn’t mean it like that! It’s fine, but it could be better,” Ember clarified. “It’s your color. Your scales don’t work that well with gold.” Ember took some of her trinkets, and held them out to the little dragon. “Here, I’ll trade you my circlet and necklace for your anklet and bracer.”
Initially surprised and hesitant, Smolder was quick to accept, and quicker to put on her new jewelry. “Do I look good now?”
“Yeah.”
And it was true. Smolder certainly looked better. Ember’s silver was more noticeable compared to gold, but the gemstones embedded in the trinkets could be changed. Sapphires or opals would bring out her blue eyes better than rubies would. Smolder’s mood seemed to have brightened as well. However, Ember could sense that she was expecting further compliment.
“You look nice, but you need to stop doing that.”
Smolder twinged, but soon registered the compliment, a beaming smile forming on her face. Yet when Smolder was about to return to her usual show-boating, Ember held out her hand and shook her head.
“Hold on. Do nothing.”
“What do you mean?” Smolder said, cocking her head to the side.
“Just sit there. Don’t try to get their attention. Don’t even give them a glance.”
“Um, why?”
“Because they won’t be able to leave you alone!” Ember said, speaking from weary experience.
“How does that work?” asked Smolder, who was doing nothing to sit still.
“I don’t know!” Ember admitted. “Boys are dumb! When you try to get their attention, they ignore you, but if you ignore them, then they won’t leave you alone. It’s annoying, but that’s just how it works.” As it happened, Ember knew the perfect example to showcase the effect. “Look at her!”
As she said these words, she pointed to Scales.
Sure enough, Scales’ complete and utter disregard for every drake present, as well as everyone else, had earned her a small following, second only to Ember’s. A few boys fought close to her pile of treasure, many of them contestants who’d been left disappointed by Ember, hoping that their displays of strength would at least earn them that much-yearned-for glance.
“I guess,” said Smolder, still failing to follow Ember’s advice about not moving. “but you constantly try to get Garble’s attention, and he never ignores you.”
“That’s different. I’m not trying to make him like me, I’m trying to teach him his place!”
Instantly, Smolder’s mind wandered to her fairytales and other books, and her eyes went wide. There was just a twinge of familiarity to this, one that she couldn’t ignore.
“You mean at your side?” she said, eyes wide in wonder.
“Exactly! Someone gets it. Paladins need to be at their Lord’s side, that’s like the rule!” Ember said, wearing a faint smile.
Images of Ember in a princess’s dress, sitting on a throne with her brother clad in armor next to her, flashed before Smolder’s eyes. And for different reasons than Ember, Smolder whole-heartedly agreed. Her tail began to wag again. “It’s just like in the princess books,” she said in a whisper.
“Those are just stupid stories,” said the princess. “They don’t really have anything to teach you.”
“You liked those books when you stayed at our cave.”
Since they both knew it was true, Ember didn’t bother trying to deny it. All she did was not admit how much she’d liked having someone to read for her. They’d poured a lot of time over books together, in that week. While Spike and Garble did read their books to her, Spike did it purely to establish a form of dominance, while Garble, well, he probably did it because she was the Princess, same as everyone else.
“Yeah, those ‘stupid’ action books your brother reads,” Ember reminded her. “You know I don’t do any pony princess-y stuff, like picking flowers, singing, exchanging necklaces or whatever else they do.”
Without saying a word, Smolder stroked the trinkets Ember had given her. She also recalled that near the end of the book, Princess Spark was attending the Knight Classes, meaning learning how to fight.
“Are you sure?” she said slyly. “I mean, you are a princess…”
Ember could have felt irritated, yet she smirked instead. “That means I know about being a princess, and other things. You don’t.” She waved her hand airily. “Now stay quiet, watch and learn. See how predictable these guys are.”
“Are you sure it’ll work?” Smolder inquired, as her fantasy about Ember and Garble began to recede into the recesses of her mind.
“Just sit there. I’ll give you a garnet if I’m wrong.”
And so, at last, Smolder obeyed. She acted just as disinterested in any of the passing drakes.
Slowly but surely, there came to be several repeat passersby. And after a short while, two drakes who had been trying to catch Smolder’s eye slightly bumped into each other, by accident, presumably. Regardless, this quickly devolved into shouting, then shoving, before a small fight just so happened to break out.
It was as fierce a fight as any fight involving two seven-year-old drakes could be. Smolder’s smile couldn’t be brighter and Ember could barely hold back the same.
“See?” Ember said. She beamed with pride, having been proven right. Smolder let out an excited giggle.
Yet some of the glow inside Ember soon receded. Here they were, two girls, and the first thing they’d really talked about was boys. Which was the kind of talk Ember usually found so annoying in other girls. It had felt good helping Smolder, yes, but if boys were all she thought about, Ember didn’t think she’d want her around for long.
“So, you’re brothers never play your games,” Ember quickly said, eager for a change of subject. “What- what kind of games do you never get to play?”
She really was too kind for her own good, remembering Smolder’s complaints about her brothers.
“I want to have a tea party!” Smolder chirped without hesitation. Ember gave her a confused look. “It's where you and your friends sit around eating small snacks and having tea, and talking, and wearing pretty dresses! We don’t have dresses, but we can wear what we have now.”
That sounded incredibly boring, and only slightly less awful than the usual gathering. Her every instinct wanted to say no. And yet, with how excited Smolder looked, Ember supposed she could make a small sacrifice. After all, if Smolder was forced to put up with boulder heads like Heathspike and Garble, Smolder deserved someone to play with.
It could actually work out in her favor. When he saw how kind she was to his sister, Garble may finally realize who was more fit to be Dragon Lord.
“Fine.” It was a touch stiff, yet Ember had agreed. She paused, thinking. “And could you bring that book we were reading when I stayed with you? I wanna know what happens next.”
Smolder nodded. “Ooh, you know what, I could teach you to read if you want.”
For the first time in her life, Ember practically squealed with joy.
Scales heard Ember’s cut-off squeal and wondered what had happened to cause her treasure-pile neighbor to act so uncharacteristically joyous.
Her heart nearly seized when she saw what was happening. Smolder had her arms wrapped around Ember’s neck, thanking her profusely. Very clever of the Princess. She’d assumed that Ember was just trying to eat up Garble’s attention, but here she was, getting along with his sister. Very clever indeed. With Smolder in Ember’s corner, it was more likely that when it came down to finding a girl, Smolder would nudge her brother in a particular direction.
Huffing, Scales decided to get up so she could clear her head, leaving her pile of treasure unguarded, a move which drew a lot of surprised glances to which she paid no attention. No whelp would dare ‘borrow’ from her pile. Children’s fights were one thing. There were far more serious consequences for felony in the Dragonlands. Maybe on a walk, she could think of something.
As she wandered towards one of the emptiest, most secluded areas of the quarry, deep in thought, Scales tried to conjure a way to counter this move, but came up empty. Perhaps she could do the same? She knew Garble also had a kid brother, but from what she’d heard, his opinion was that the only girl Garble should get involved with was no girl at all.
When she looked back on this moment in future, Scales would ask herself if fate had played a hand, for her trail of thought was interrupted by a whimpering.
Scales’ ears perked up and she explored, following the sound, until finally she came across a gray dragon, with fur growing from his collar around his neck. He had sharp claws and spines, and at the end of his tail protruded a sickle. Scales recognized him as one of the boys who’d normally stomp around a quarry. Slicer Steelspine. He could make large gashes in stone with his claws and tail, and win slashing competitions with ease. The only material he couldn’t scratch was Platinum. ‘You’re vying for second place’, was his favorite saying to challengers. Or it used to be. Slicer had grown reserved and reclusive in the past few days.
Even his sister, Gemstone, had changed ever since those slayers had destroyed their family’s egg. Scales had spotted her glaring at the Ironscales several times, be they adults or children. Especially if they were children. Scales had heard rumors that the change happened a week ago, after she had left her apprenticeship under Topaz Goldwing.
Scales recalled the long talk her parents had subjected her to regarding that day, covering the ponies to the Steelspines. Her parents’ one edict had been that if she ever encountered a Steelspine, she was to treat them with the utmost respect and kindness. Well, if Slicer was feeling sad, perhaps someone should try and brighten his mood. Why not her? Anyone would be happy for someone as delicate and adorable as her to notice them. Word of her kindness would spread, and Garble may realize what a catch she was.
She bit her lower lip and slowly approached. “Are you okay?”
Slicer could have leapt out of his scales the moment he heard her. He looked at her for a moment, before turning and curling into a ball, facing a rock wall.
This was not the exact reaction she was hoping for. “Uh, do you want to play a game? You have sharp claws, right? We could have a contest.”
He mumbled something inaudible.
Scales started to grow annoyed. Did he not know who she was? She was Scales Sunwing! She was the closest thing the Dragonlands had to nobility! The only other dragons that came close were the Ironscales, and that was just because they had armor for skin!
So, she tried again. “Maybe a race? There’s a lot of drakes, you could try playing with them. Of course a lot of them want my attention.”
Another inaudible mumble.
“Come on, you can’t just sit in a corner all day!” Scales said, growing angry with the whelp.
“I just want to be left alone,” he managed to say softly.
Scales fumed at his utter disregard for her tender loving care. She was going to be nice to him whether he wanted her to or not. Roughly, Scales grabbed a startled Slicer by his arm and dragged him all the way back to her pile of treasure. He protested as much as he could, but she didn’t relent, and he was in no fit state to properly tussle her.
Observing from the lip of the crater, Scales’ mother was mortified. Scales paid her no heed.
“Scram!” Scales ordered all the drakes that were near, baring her teeth. They did so without hesitation. She sat him down on the floor, dug through the treasures, and pulled out two gems. “Here,” she said, forcing on both a smile and sweet sounding voice, holding out the bigger gem towards Slicer. “I think you might like this one.”
“I-I’m not hungry,” he murmured.
Scales rolled her eyes and grabbed his cheeks, opening his mouth before shoving the gem into his maw.
“Why are making this so hard? I’m being nice to you. You should realize when someone is trying to be nice to you. And stop doing that!”
“Dmffing whaft?” Slicer asked, his mouth full of sapphire.
“Being alone and looking sad! It’s making me feel bad. You really need to start talking to dragons more.” Scales said, haughtily. She squinted her eyes and inched her face closer to his. Suddenly, she smiled. “Alright, I decided I’m going to make sure you’re not sulking all the time. You can thank me later.”
She patted his cheek in a uniquely condescending manner. Which was only proper, as she’d been taught that ‘condescension’ was a gracious display from high-ranking people towards those of lower status. Thereupon she turned to go ask her parents if they could go home, leaving Slicer behind, confused and most distraught.
Her mother did not stop yelling at her that night. For her display, Scales was banned from attending the next gathering, and forbidden from leaving the cave for the next week. But Scales Sunwing did not care. While her parents may not see it now, she had taken the first step on her path to helping Slicer see reason, painting herself as a kind and benevolent figure.
As for Slicer Steelspine, while he hoped this would be the last time he ever encountered the girl, it was merely the start of a very odd relationship.
Meanwhile, after having a laugh with Blaze at the expense of the Sunwings, Amber felt a sudden pull on her tail. Turning, she found her daughter wearing not gold trinkets, but rather silver ones with rubies. Before Amber could ask Smolder what had happened to her jewelry, she also saw Ember standing right next to her daughter, wearing Smolder’s gold trinkets.
“Goodness, Smolder,” said Amber. “Why are you wearing those?”
“I traded with Ember! She says that it’s better for me to wear these. Oh, she also says that we can play tomorrow. Can I play with her, mama, can I?”
Amber watched as her daughter bounced excitedly in place. Never before had she seen her so excited. She did look cuter in silver, Amber had to admit it.
“Ember did that? Said that?” Blaze asked, looking at her own daughter, who looked down at the ground, flushing red from embarrassment.
Something was wrong. Ember would never do something like that, not unless she had a scheme, or something upset her so much that she had to get back at someone and this was somehow that. Blaze wondered if Ember was taking advantage of Smolder’s innocence, trading silver for gold of all things.
“Her brothers are jerks and they never want to play with her,” Ember was heard to mumble. “So I’m going to and then they’ll see how stupid they are for ignoring her.”
Blaze could at least sigh in relief that her daughter hadn’t been replaced by a changeling. As far as spiteful revenge ploys went, this was one of the better ones. And if pressed, she could admit that Smolder looked better in silver. Perhaps this was just youthful ignorance.
Amber had her own reasoning for the imbalanced trade. They were little girls and didn’t understand the value of their trinkets. This was nothing more than young dragons trading without understanding what trading was. Ember’s behavior likely stemmed from having some of Blaze in her. Her mother was more typically feminine than the average dragoness. Even if Ember tried hard to pretend otherwise, it stood to reason that she’d pick up a few tricks.
“You may play with her tomorrow,” said Amber, “but Smolderessence, don’t trade jewelry again without asking me first. Understood?”
Smolder nodded, grabbed Ember’s wrist and together they dashed off back to their hoards.
“I’m so sorry, Amber,” said Blaze, putting her claws to her eyes. “So sorry about that.”
“For what?” Amber asked, confused.
“Ember,” Blaze said. “I don’t know why she thought a trade was okay, but I can get it back to you–”
Amber waved her off. “No worries about that. We would have done something similar if we were them.” She chuckled. “Now they know not to do this unless we give them permission. If you really want to make sure, we’ll keep a close eye on them, but I doubt your daughter suggested it out of malice.”
“I know,” Blaze sighed. “I just need to be sure.”
“Besides,” Amber mused, “this could be very good for both of them. Ember makes a friend, and Smolder finds someone new to look up to.” Noticing the queer look she got from her friend, Amber elaborated. “Blaze, you would not believe what it’s like, being outnumbered by boys. I see this as a chance for her to have a sister. I can hardly imagine your daughter wouldn’t have anything of value to teach mine. And, I think we know how much Ember will enjoy having a little protegée.”
Blaze too chuckled at the mental image. Not only that, but she could picture the two of them scheming to defeat Garble.
‘What a dastardly duo!’ she thought to herself. Amber was right, this was a good thing.
After all, Ember had always wanted a sister.