Little Ember wants to fit in with her Dragon family more than anything else. She finds a solution to her inability to fly, but her decision has some unexpected consequences.
It's hard growing up as Unicorn when your family is made up entirely of Dragons, Little Ember is feeling more and more as time goes on that she will never be able to fit in, but when she gets a hold of a copy of the spell Twilight used to Ascend, she will do anything in her power to fly with her clan.
Thing is, becoming an alicorn tends to be a big deal, and the Princesses are certainly going to take notice and action.
I yawned and stretched out against my mother’s side, soaking in the heat just a moment longer before brushing down my ash colored fur and blowing my deep red tangled mane out of the vision of my bright orange eyes. I had had that weird dream again, of when I was found, and I liked to stay close to her for a little while every time that happened. I considered going to see what my brother Amber had to say about that, he was obsessed with books and other weird things. There was a deep rumbling as my mother spoke. “Little Ember, I believe it is time for you to awaken.” With a groan I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes with a forehoof, priming a simple spell I learned from years of experience to make the scorching heat of The Caldera bearable and nodded in return. I couldn’t quite make the deep rumbling growls to respond properly in Draconic, and my Mother, who was, as usual, hosting The Great Meeting this year at her Lair, understood and let me go nonetheless.
I stepped away from Mother and began wandering around The Caldera, several first timers gave me odd looks but I was used to that and the regulars merely glanced at me with recognition. I understood that I didn’t look like a Dragon, that I looked instead like some silly creature called a pony, but since Mother was the only caretaker I knew, I had no doubt in my mind that I was a Dragon through and through… mostly. As I looked around it seemed hatchlings about my age, 17 years, were beginning to molt and develop wings in the safety of The Caldera… something which ponies didn’t do. Ponies didn’t even get wings unless they were born with them. I was lucky enough to have a horn though, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to cast out my fire or even tolerate the terrain my Mother liked to rest in. The bottoms of my hooves have scars, apparently from early failed attempts to traverse the more dangerous parts of The Caldera without protection before I figured out how to maintain a fire shield.
Having gotten a good look at the new arrivals in my home, I made my way to Amber’s old den. He had left last meeting to seek a Lair of his own, normally tradition dictates that as next in line I would claim his den and any treasures he had left behind, but since the small cave on the side of The Caldera was just as hot as outside, I had remained sleeping on Mother. She didn’t mind, I was small and would remain so for quite some time. While Mother was still warm, it was a pleasant warm, a safe warm. Without my protection I wouldn’t be able to stand The Caldera for very long and I would miss out when the older Dragonlings decided to dive into the lava pool as well, and that just wouldn’t do. As expected, Amber had returned for The Great Meeting and was resting in his den.
It had been a year since I had seen him and he had grown quite a bit, he was only a couple decades older than me but he had experienced a rapid period of growth and was now towering several times my height above me. I grinned up to him and spoke in clipped Draconic “Big time, grow big. Hoard book now time?” Amber turned from whatever he was doing in the back of the den on his hind legs and laid down to be at eye level with me.
He tilted his head up showing his softer under-scales in a sign of trust and responded. “And you’re still small. Maybe even smaller than before. I still maintain my Hoard of knowledge yes.”
Maintaining my lifted head I snorted at him playfully. “Silly child, book little weight.”
With a twinkle in his eye Amber rumbled, the barest hint of laughter in his words. “I would think you of all Dragons would understand the value of knowledge Little Ember, it was you that got me hooked after all.” I rolled my eyes dismissively, while gaining me as a clutch-sister had made him interested in ponies, I had done nothing to exasperate his intrigue. He continued with a burst of enthusiasm. “That reminds me, I found something you might be interested in.” He turned his back to me and I patiently waited as he pulled a small book down from a shelf, it seemed old and tattered but on its cover was an image of a pony casting some sort of spell, I couldn’t make out the meaning of the Equestrian title but I was indeed interested.
I looked back up at Amber with a questioning glare. “Little Ember little Pony Tongue.”
He waved a foreclaw as if to wipe away the notion that I didn’t speak Equestrian. “Well, that’s why I’ll teach you.” I raised one of my eyebrows as he continued his tirade. “Picking up all these books I’ve interacted with ponies amicably before and had to learn their language so we could understand each other and I could actually read their books.”
I shook my head no. I wanted no part of other ponies, this was where I belonged. With Mother and other Dragons. I tried to say as much. “Little Ember Dragon. Little Ember...” I once again shook my head no. It was one of the words that annoyed me due to my inability to properly enunciate it. “... pony.”
Amber grinned, and apparently decided to ignore my vehement head shaking. “So, since you admit that you are indeed a pony… then I’ll ask Mother’s permission to return until the next Meeting and teach you.” My horn flared up and I flicked him with my magic to wipe the smug grin off his face, I suppose it would make it easier to communicate with Amber at least, if he knew Equestrian I could tell him “no” to my heart's content. Rubbing where I flicked him with one claw he began turning pages in the book with the other, settling on somewhere near the final pages and looking back at me with an almost compassionate look. “Really, these pages are why I wanted to show it to you.” I glanced at the book and my eyes grew wide, the illustration for the spell showed a horned pony, one that looked much like myself, and an arrow pointing to a larger pony with both a horn and wings.
I snatched the book and looked at Amber with pleading eyes. “Little Ember wants Pony Tongue.” He chuckled, but he knew what I meant.
I woke up in a good mood and automatically cast my shield spell without thinking before sliding off of Mother and heading towards Amber's den. Six moons ago, Amber had requested formal permission from our Mother, the Matriarch of the nearby region, to remain in her Lair in order to help me. She would have been within her rights to deny him now that he had grown large enough to carve out a Lair of his own, and from what I gathered he had in a far away land that the ponies call “Saddle Arabia,” but she was willing to accept him until the next Great Meeting. My lessons had been going well and Amber was convinced I was ready to start reading “Twilight’s Tantamount Transmutation and Thaumaturgy Tome.” I didn’t understand what half of those words meant, but I doubted the title would be important to what I wanted to know, so I began reading the actual spells.
They were written much the same way as the title was. Techniques laid out using advanced and complicated terminology that I had little to no understanding of. I was getting discouraged until I found a spell I was familiar with. It seemed Twilight considered being able to touch lava safely an expert level spell, capable of being cast by only the strongest “unicorn” ponies, with long periods of practice and years up building up some sort of magical energy pool and even then, the longest she had seen it maintained was for an hour… I grinned at my fortune, it seemed that my life here had prepared me for the spells in this book, I just needed the technical knowledge to understand all the proper preparations, and it wouldn’t be long before I was able to cast “Starswirl’s Alicorn Ascension” labelled as being the “Ultimate Spell” and covering 7 pages of technical material in preparation for it to even have a remote chance of working.
Amber would help me with the language ‘twas what he was staying here for anyhow. It had been a struggle to grasp speaking Equestrian, it used sounds foreign to the Draconic language I was familiar with listening to, but I found that it was still easier than trying to produce Draconic rumbles and growls to speak. On the other hand, the writing was completely foreign to me, and after I got the basics of speech down the majority of the time Amber and I spent was getting me to understand how these symbols interacted to form words.
The Draconic language didn’t have a written aspect, and all our knowledge and customs were passed down through the generations orally, we shared news of the world at The Great Meeting and then went about our ways for another short year before we met again. Every 8 or 9 decades we would choose a new location to meet just to shake things up a bit, and according to my Mother a couple decades ago the decided upon location was The Caldera. We Dragons are fairly social beasts, everyone visiting each other yearly for a few weeks, we might care about our Territory but nodragon misses out on The Great Meeting.
I groaned at Amber and flipped through the book frustratedly, trying to talk to him in Equestrian. “Twilight is big dummy. Using big words I don’t know.”
He chuckled and gently set down the book he was perusing, replying in Draconic. “You’ve gotten good at Equestrian, but you still miss a word here or there.”
I huffed and gave him the nastiest look I could manage. “Not fau-” I stopped and scrunched up my nose in concentration. “Not my fault. Dragons don’t have some of these words.” He shrugs and looks at the spell I’m trying to get a handle on, it’s a “simple” light spell but when I tried to cast it my magic just released a burst of flame like I was used to. I couldn’t figure out what the second to last step was.
Amber raised a brow as he saw the spell I was having trouble with and traced his claw gently along the page. “Are you building the energy up in your horn?”
I rolled my eyes at him “Yes.”
“How about clearing your mind of other distractions?”
I gave him a pointed glare. “Yeees.”
His claw stopped on the step I was having trouble with and he translated it into simpler terms, finally. “Are you visualizing the light you want to make before releasing?”
I blinked before slapping my hoof to my face in exasperation. “Makes sense. I should have known was… THAT was what I was missing.”
Amber lightly patted my head with a foreclaw and I gave him a deathglare. He was the only Dragon that was gutsy enough to treat me like a pony, and if he wasn’t my brother he would get away with much worse than he did. I cleared my mind and focused my magic, maybe a shining red snout would make him reconsider doting on me. “Hey! That’s too bright put it out!” I giggled despite myself and flipped to the next spell as Amber batted at his face, glowing a bright unabated white. The spell didn’t exactly say I could change the color of the light, so I considered that a success.
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It was The Great Meeting. The 18th Great Meeting I had been around for to be precise. I had perfected my Equestrian in the eyes of Amber and I had everything I needed to attempt “Ascension.” I had a childhood of magic under my belt and on these weeks I had the entire Dragonic clan offering me support. The spell said a key ingredient was “The Magic of Friendship,” and a Dragon couldn’t hope for better friends. Mother, who had raised me as her own despite my differences, Amber, who had left his Lair unguarded to help me, and all the other Great Dragons in The Caldera this night, who treated me with nothing but respect though I had done little to earn it. I gathered together 6 precious gems, gifts from my kin and symbols of their caring, and recited the spell. “From all of us together…”
I had a massive headache as I woke up… I normally didn’t remember my dreams… and this was no exception, but I could tell it was different from all of my others. It felt less like a memory and more like I had had a conversation someone, and I was exhausted from the drain on my magic the spell had had. With a start I opened my eyes and looked to my sides, all thoughts of headache and cares for my dream gone as I fluttered my new wings and pranced in place, they were feathery unlike the other Dragon’s wings, but from the book I was expecting that… what was important was that now I could fly with my kin. I looked around, I was still in The Caldera and fortunately my fire shield had apparently persisted for however long I was out of it. Mother had a relieved look on her face and whispered conversation was spreading through the clan… I tried to pick up on what they were saying but was interrupted by Amber swooping up behind me and picking me up like some small child and squeezing me in a hug that felt just a bit too tight, especially on my new wings which felt fairly fragile. “Oh my Tiamat! Little E I was so worried you just disappeared and I thought something must have gone wrong and that I was responsible and Mother just gave me this look but then you were back and you had wings and it worked I can’t believe it worked oh great lady NEVER do that again!”
The hushed whispers came to a close rapidly and I could feel the vibrations in the ground as Mother began releasing a low growl and rising from her position on the highest rise of The Caldera. I looked up at Amber and if I hadn’t been getting quickly alarmed myself the bug eyed expression on his face would have been funny as hell. I wormed my way out of Amber’s grasp as he was frozen and wouldn’t move. Slowly I turned around… behind me, flying high in the air with all of the clan looking at… her I think... was a pony. Her mane and tail flowed like a wave of stars on a midnight backdrop. Her large wings flapped and seemed to leave sparkles in their wake. Her eyes shone white with untold magical power that put what I was capable of to shame… and her voice…”LITTLE EMBER OF DRAGONSPEAK CALDERA! WE SEEK AUDIENCE WITH THEE!”
Her voice, speaking in fluent if mildly archaic Draconic, was booming loud enough to almost rival Mothers when she raised her voice above the whisper she used to speak to me. Keyword: Almost. “You will NOT speak with my daughter without coming through ME Banished Sister.”
The already tense atmosphere seemed to further thicken as the pony’s voice lowered, what it lost in volume however it more than made up for in intensity. “Thou hast known that we have been absolved from our banishment for quite some time Matriarch of The Dragonspeak, and thou also knowst that ‘tis not we who drafted the law which now concerns thine…” she paused and seemed to glance towards me, sitting mute on the ground behind Mother, who I had barely noticed had moved to protect me.“... daughter. We do not seek trouble betwixt our little ponies and the dragons of Draconia, but that is the exact reason why we must beseech thee...” she had certainly turned towards me at this point, I slunk a bit further behind Mother and the strange pony who had come unannounced into our Territory with no fear… landed and after a moment's hesitation lifted her head, exposing her throat to Mother mere claw-lengths away from her teeth. “Wouldst thou please grant us the audience which we request?” All eyes were on Mother, most with cautious attention, but a few with rapt nervousness.
After a long moment, she replied in a guttural growl. “Very well. If my daughter comes to harm however, then I am holding you responsible, and there will be Tartarus to pay.” As Mother stepped aside, the stranger came forward, and I instinctively inched away wide-eyed. I am not ashamed to admit my tail was between my legs, I had never seen Mother so easily turned aside on any matter, and here this… I searched for the Equestrian word as I found calling her simply a pony to be insufficient… this alicorn was able to what… intimidate her into submitting? I looked upon the midnight alicorn, barely taller than me, and for the first time in years I felt fear. And then she spoke, she spoke with familiarity and calm, a soft voice just daring me to raise a flame against her as she certainly knew I would be incapable of striking her.
In Equestrian this time, she spoke. “I am sorry if my understanding of your language is lacking. I have been gone for a while and have hardly had a chance to brush up on it. Do you happen to speak Equestrian? That would rather simplify things.” I found myself nodding yes, completely stupefied by her civil question, I had expected an attack of some sort, some accusation, but a simple question? I had no idea what to think anymore… here was this awesome and terrible power, and she merely wanted to talk? Given my frozen expression of shock, she accepted the nod as the only answer she would get and continued. “Ah yes, this might all be surprising… and I’m sure you’ve likely never seen the Matriarch step aside on anything…” she huffed something under her breath about Mother being a stubborn old… shrew I think, and continued on. “...but she clearly understands that what has occurred here is a very important matter… tell me, do you remember your time In Between?” I merely shook my head ‘no’, but I had managed to shut my wide open mouth. A look of sympathy crossed her face and she started once more. “Then you have forgotten our meeting, this must truly be a surprise then. I suppose it is with great apology that I must announce to you that you will be coming with me to Canterlot… I’m afraid the rules my sister set in place are fairly strict, and certainly require your presence without question.”
I didn’t know where this Canterlot was, and I had almost a million questions but I was only able to get one out in choked Draconic, “Why?”
The alicorn titled the Banished Sister, gave a small smile, as if to attempt to comfort me. “New alicorns aren’t a common occurrence. Even after my good friend Twilight Sparkle published her book a few years ago, there have been no ascensions until you arrived in the In Between. Nevertheless, my sister has decreed that all ascended be brought to meet her… and me as well… and that they begin preparations to take a leadership role befitting them, as is the way of our nation.” I looked around at all of the faces I would be leaving behind, Amber looked paler than I was.
Clearing my throat I spoke quietly, but the reigning silence of The Caldera allowed me to be heard. “When… when will I be able to come home?”
The Banished Sister clearly smiled with sympathy… no… this was more a look of compassion. “I know better than anypony what it is like to want to return home, I can assure you, it will not be long, not even by the standards of the average pony. At worst you will be allowed to return for your clan’s next meeting. I also have no doubt that we will try to be as accommodating hosts as possible, and if something can be done to alleviate your homesickness, I myself will see to it.”
I found the nerve to ask one more question, barely holding back my tears of anguish at the mere thought of separating from my kin, the entire spell was supposed to bring me closer to them. “May I speak to Mother before I go Banished Sister of… Canterlot?”
Her eyes widened and I seized up, convinced that I did something wrong as she continued in a somewhat forced tone. “Uhm… I would appreciate if you could call me Luna, but if you must use a title you may call me the... The Lunar Sister? Canterlot is correct though, I would just rather not dwell in that other bit of my past… for many it is old news, though your Mother seems fond of bringing it up.” In Draconic, towards Mother louder but not as loud as her entrance, “T’was 20 years ago! Let the past remain therein Matriarch!”
Mother released a deep chuckle and the entire atmosphere visibly relaxed, and hushed gossip began again. “You are the one who brought 1000 year old linguistics to the table, and you should know better than any pony that 20 years is nothing!”
I quickly lifted my head and brought The Lunar Sister’s attention back to me. “I’m sorry, did no- I did not mean to disrespect, it’s just Moth- it’s just that Mother referred to you by ti- by the title so I assumed…” I was slipping into old mistakes, completely terrified that I had somehow angered a being who didn’t fear Mother.
She shook her head and touched a forehoof to my shoulder, bringing me completely petrified in shock. “There is nothing to be afraid of little pony.” I took note to file that away for later complaint. “To answer your question, I do not expect the official carriage to arrive for a week. I simply wished to arrive beforehand and give you prior warning and time to make any preparations in advance.” I merely nodded. “Good, expect us in a week's time. If you need to clear anything with your Mother or make any other farewells, be sure to do that. Though I’m sure everyone is hearing, it seems only that young dragon who fainted had any clue what we are talking about.” I glanced at Amber, sure enough, he was collapsed onto a small pile of rocks that looked like a different dragon had quickly pushed them under him as he fell, a fainting pile if you will.
The Lunar Princess backed away, and with a flare of her wings, and a final nod to Mother, she was off and took her starry mane with her. As she became nothing more than a dot on the horizon, I decided to take a cue from my eldest brother and promptly fainted myself.
Darkness, crying and then silence, cold loneliness.
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It was the morning of the day The Lunar Sister had said I should be expecting the official carriage, and with The Great Meeting ended the day before, it was the first and last chance for me to truly give Amber and Mother the goodbye’s I needed to. I had held in my tears until it was only us remaining, and I still felt shame at what a poor excuse for a Dragon I must have looked like. The agreement had been that Amber would remain until the end of the most recent Great Meeting, but Mother had in her generosity allowed him to stay in order to send me off. I kept my posture as straight as possible while tears streamed down my face, and to an outside observer Amber would seem the most upset, constantly fidgeting and looking around as if the carriage was going to materialize out of thin air.
He seemed to have worked himself into quite a tizzy because he wheeled on the spot and was going so far as to point an accusatory claw at Mother of all Dragons.“I probably desire and appreciate positive Dracono-Equestrian relationships more than your average Clan member… but even I think just letting one of their Princesses’ waltz in here like she owns the place and then effectively kidnapping the Matriarch’s daughter is just a step too far, don’t you? I mean, what of or pride? And what of Little Ember now being forced into their central lair without adequate warning whatsoever?” For my part in the conversation I stood to the side, a silent mess for both sides to see, not that Mother seemed intent on responding just yet. “I mean, look at her! She’s only barely past the age of being a hatchling, she is clearly not wanting to participate in this government of theirs, and she’s expected to, what, listen to a law made by an ancient tart without even the barest understanding of our culture and society?”
Mother lifted a claw to Amber and he froze mid tirade. She did not raise her voice but as usual her words still carried heavy weight. “That ‘ancient tart’ was a friend of mine from way back when. Though it has been too long since The Solar Sister has visited, I still hold her in high esteem. Furthermore, though Little Ember still looks like a hatchling to us, I have seen enough Pony folk to know that she is almost older than you both physically and mentally, and as such also needs to find her place in the world.” She turned her gaze to settle on me, lowering her claw again. “I am sorry Little Ember, as for the suddenness of this summons, I have no solution. It tears at my heart to have to let you go now, but I must remind myself as I remind your brother, you are a hatchling no longer.” I was beginning to have trouble seeing, I stumbled my way over to Mother and leaned against her snout, attempting to open my wings and embrace her with them. I could feel the warm air rushing out of her nostrils as she continued. “And do not worry about our pride either. You are my precious, treasured, beautiful daughter, and I could think of no better teachers for you than The Royal Pony Sisters.” Mother wrapped a wing around me and her head, and somehow lowered her voice to a whisper. Barely audible beyond a hum and only audible at all to me, pressed against her snout. “And I will not always be here to help you Little Ember, The Long Sleep approaches and I would trust no others to watch over me and keep my territories while I wasn’t truly present.”
Her wing furled up and I thought I understood. I backed away and tried to dry my tears the best I could as Amber stopped frantically searching the sky and then focused on something far away. “There they are! We aren’t missing anything are we? Oh I would hate for you to miss something and have me uncertain whether it was the difference between life or death and...”
I interrupted him in Draconic for the benefit of Mother, “Amber.”
“Yes?”
“Silly Child, have wings, have book weight, have pride.” Back to Equestrian. “I don’t need anything else.” As I turned back the chariot was pulling up, pulled by a team of 6 winged ponies dressed in either immaculate purple or golden armor, staring straight ahead without the slightest sign of personality. The carriage itself was ornate, large, and open, revealing the sole passenger of The Lunar Sister, seated in one of two exceptionally plush seats which seemed to have golden trim.
It looked more suited to preservation in a horde than actually using, but I held a strong pose anyways, lowering my head as to give off the impression of strength and dominance. If I was to learn how to be some sort of royalty, then I had better get used to conveying the feeling of power to those I would be overseeing. The Lunar Sister nodded at me. “Are you ready Little Ember?”
I boarded the chariot and nodded in return. “As ready as I’ll ever be Lunar Sister of Canterlot.” She seemed to shake her head at this but she commanded that the chariot move, and we were off to my new home for the foreseeable future.
Well masked fear, uncertainty for what is coming, anticipation
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The carriage pulled into “Canterlot” as the sun was beginning to set, I had done little talking with my escort, merely looking ahead and to what was coming. I noticed that Canterlot was a collection of pony structures, centered around a large stone palace. The Lunar Princess closed her eyes for a moment, and then the stars and moon began to populate the sky. “I am afraid I won’t have long before I get to work, but I can present you to my sister. She has prepared a small feast for you.” I simply nodded, I remembered Mother and how she only rose her voice to solve disputes or give advice… or defend me I suppose. Not that I thought I needed it, I was only getting better at taking care of myself as time went on.
Disembarking, we strode right into the palace, the decor was like something out of a dream, marble and gold filagree, a single one of the columns supporting the ceiling would make a horde for life, I was sure they also must have held riches in knowledge and actual gold as well, I was in awe, I had never seen Mothers horde, but I imagined it must have been at least as opulent as this. I had an important job ahead of me watching over it, but I didn’t see why spending time with ponies would help me with that.
The Lunar Sister guided me down a series of passages and I took note of the turns we took so I could make my way around in my own time… presuming they didn’t hold me like a prisoner. There were ponies in armor all around, the majority in Gold, the only ones wearing the purple I saw were the three that had started following us. We came to a door that opened up to a long banquet table, the table appeared on first glance to be loaded with food, and on one end sat an alicorn even larger than The Lunar Sister, her mane looked like the aurora, and her pelt was a pure shining white, she spoke with a voice dripping with honey and confidence, and I could just feel the power radiating off of her. “Ah, welcome, please, take a seat next to me. This table is sadly much too long, but I do not want to be distant for our first conversation.”
I nodded and walked up to chair directly to her left, hesitantly asking a question that I believed I knew the answer to. “Excuse me… but would I be right to assume you are The Solar Sister?”
Her eyes widened and she released a small chuckle. “Well, I haven’t been called that in years, I take it you were raised by Matriarch Fafnira?” I took in a quick gasp of air, names were typically reserved for family, strangers and even friends were referred to be titles. The Solar Sister continued. “If it would not be uncomfortable for you I would ask that you call me Celestia, but I understand if you feel it would be improper.”
I nodded in ascent. “Your sister asked for much the same… I understand now that I know you have been trusted with Mother’s name… but I would still feel much more comfortable referring to you by title.”
She nodded and in that small gesture she managed to convey both understanding of my opinion, and an inoffensive hope that I would at some point change my mind. “We can talk business later, you are to learn to be a leader in Equestrian society, a princess if you will, but for now, we should eat.
I looked at the table, the selection was truly magnificent, cakes and sweets alongside many fresh fruits and vegetables, everything from lettuce and kale to strawberries and cheesecake. I noticed The Solar Sister seemed to be only doling out various kinds of cake to her plate. I looked around confused, it seemed that something was missing. “Uhm… excuse me Solar Sister?”
She looked up from her plate, 3 layers of cake already upon it like she had been caught doing something wrong. “Yes… Daughter of The Dragonspeak Matriarch?”
I appreciated that she had used a title instead of my name, I did not personally have her as family or even know her that well, so I remembered the respect. “Where is the meat?”
There was a moment of silence and the wait staff all stopped what they were doing to stare at me as The Solar Sister blinked. She then made a small smile. “Of course, my apologies, it is not often we get a meat eater in the palace and if I don’t specifically request it of the kitchen the general assumption is a herbivorous meal. Since the wait staff heard your request I’m sure they’ll accomodate now.” She set down her utensils from her magic and the staff returned to their business before I asked about the food. She spoke again. “While we wait for that, why don’t you tell me the story of how you got that cutie mark of yours?”
I simply raised an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me?”
She chuckled again. “Ah, the mark that appeared on your flank.”
She gestured to her own, a large sun, and then at mine, a flaming oval ruby. I screwed up my face and tried to remember. “I was… it was shortly after Mother picked me up. The first Great Meet after then I believe… some of the other Dragons, they were accusing Mother of going soft for saving me, saying that I wasn’t a Dragon and didn’t deserve to be there.”
I paused to gather my thoughts, and The Solar Sister quietly interjected. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realize the story was like that.”
I shook my head to dismiss the notion. “Not at all, I haven’t gotten to the important part of it yet, little me, not really understanding that these were my elders, he he… I jumped out from behind Mother and roared at them.” I was beginning to laugh at the memory of how stupid I was. “I stood my ground and just roared at them! They were surprised by my ferocity and decided that I could fit in, Mother was so proud of me. Later I noticed I had this silly mark on my haunches, but I really don’t think too much of it. I belong, that’s what’s important.” A happy tear rolled down my cheek, and The Solar Sister just smiled at me. The food was beginning to arrive, it smelled delicious and reminded me of when Mother hunted and brought home whole flame-cooked deer.
I was beginning my first lessons in being an alicorn, apparently while important, the princess bit could come later. I had yet to actually try flight and was excited to get started, even if I would be learning from some strange pony I hadn’t met before. By pony standards, I would say he was huge. Rippling with muscles and probably in peak physical condition, but it somehow looked wrong on him. I was a little nervous about learning from him but The Lunar Sister had recommended him herself and from what I had seen with how other ponies reacted to her, she was top dog around here, second perhaps only the The Solar Sister. I only saw her for the banquet on the first night, but I wasn’t too concerned. The number of ponies in her city made me think there must have been some sort of Great Meeting going on, and I could understand being busy during that.
I followed Drill Sergeant Bulk’s instructions and spread my wings wide open as far as I could. I couldn’t help but notice that he had the smallest wings I had ever seen, and needed to flap about 4 times as quick as the other winged ponies to keep himself airborn. “Like this Drill Sergeant Bulk?” I extended my wings and gave a few experimental flaps as he walked around me and seemed to examine my form. I wasn’t happy about the scrutiny but I would attempt to play nice.
“YEAH!” I flinched a little at his loud acknowledgment of my success. He was right in my ear. In any case it seemed flying was going to be easy, just spread and flap and there shouldn’t be any problem. Before he could give me my next instruction I tried extending my wings rigidly and flapping them up and down, much like his. I was able to hover about a foot off the ground before I collapsed in sudden pain and my wings locked behind me.
Drill Sergeant Bulk dropped beside me and got into my personal space and I really was not ok with it, pushing him out of the way while trying to deal with my wings. “HEY! Do you want your wings and shoulders to stop hurting?”
I was startled by his question, no duh, of course I wanted it to stop hurting I wondered why would he even ask me that? All I managed to get out while cringing was “Yeah…”
He slammed his hooves right in front of my face and startled me for a moment. “YEAH?! Then you are going to let me help you with that dislocated joint or you’re gonna end up losing those fancy new wings you got!” I gave him a confused look and stopped struggling as he moved behind me… and hit me right between the shoulder blades. I cried out in surprise and turned to snarl at him, flapping my wings aggressively and… I flapped my wings again real quick.
He pointed at how my wings were flapping now. “YEAH! That’s closer to how you are supposed to do it. I got tiny wings so I gotta hold them rigid, you don’t let yours flap like that and it’s going to cause you pain in the long run.” Let it not be said that he lacked enthusiasm.
I turned my head upwards in gratitude and began walking away. “Thank you, Drill Sergeant Bulk, I think I’m done for today though.” He raised a confused eyebrow as I turned the corner to head to my assigned quarters. Decent sized, about as big as Amber’s den, but much colder. It seemed no matter where I went that problem persisted. It was always too cold, and I think it might have been affecting my flight performance.
As I began to curl up in a pile of pillows to rest my wings, they still hurt a bit, there was a series of knocks on the door, and I could almost… sense without opening it that it was The Lunar Sister. I opened it anyway and lightly ever so slightly angled my head up. I had come to trust her. “How may I help you Lunar Sister?”
She looked me up and down for a moment before responding with a question of her own, worry seemingly on her face. “Little Ember, are you feeling well?”
I responded with a quizzical look of my own and lowered my head to a neutral level. “Yes, is there any reason I should not be?”
She seemed to consider for a moment and merely shrugged, returning to her original purpose. “No matter, this is why I invited a couple of your magic tutors friends as well. I’m sure they’ll be able to help you.”
I was getting really confused. “I’m… sorry? Why do I need help?”
The Lunar Sister gave a small smile and shook her head. “Nothing for you to worry about yet I must say. Your alicorn magic instructor has arrived from Ponyville, though I suspect you are already familiar with her. Would you please follow me?” I nodded and rose to my feet, as long as I didn’t flap my wings around I decided I wouldn’t have a problem.
I was lead to a large library that seemed to be the center of animated discussion, something about spell matrices, fabric patterns and theoretically irresponsible magical accidents. I didn’t catch very much of it. The Lunar Sister directed me to the center of the library, featuring a large table nearly covered in books, a purple alicorn who seemed to be levitating hundreds of them at a time and looking at them one by one, and another pony, a unicorn with white coat and purple mane who was filing her hooves and casting overly dramatic looks at the alicorn while they continued their discussion. The Lunar Sister caught their attention with a chuckle. “I am sorry if I am interrupting, perhaps it would be better if your student met you at some other time Princess Sparkle?”
I looked in awe as all the books that were being levitated seamlessly flew back onto the shelves and Princess Sparkle just began to speak as though it was nothing. “Luna, we’ve known eachother for years, you know I just prefer Twi-whoah!” Her eyes widened as she turned and saw me. “What happened to you?”
I was getting a tad bit annoyed with people looking at me funny and I spoke in what I hoped was a sarcastic tone. “I grew wings.”
This seemed to stump her as she just started sputtering and tripping over her words her companion seemed to pick up where she left off though, rushing over to me and looking me up and down. “Oh no no no… this just won’t do. Hmmm, I hope you don’t mind Twilight darling, but I’m stealing your student for the day.” My eyes widened a I realized that this must be the Twilight that wrote the book, gee, I felt like a real jerk. I lifted my head to try and apologize as her friend practically dragged me out the door.
-----
“Hello and welcome to the Silver Cliff Spa, my name is Dew Drop and how may I help yooooOOOOOUUU!” I really was getting sick of ponies acting this way, what, did I have some carrion on my face? “What happened? Did you get in mud wrestling match with a minotaur or something?” Now that was just absurd, where on Draconia would she get that idea?
The Proprietor of the Carousel Boutique Fashion Chain, as I learned was one of her titles, butted in before I could speak up. “Dew Drop, we need one full treatment for my friend here and… oh… I don’t know… maybe a hooficure for me?” What was with these ponies calling each other by name? Were they all family somehow? That really didn’t make much sense. The spa pony gingerly took my hoof and lead me into another room to undergo “The Full Treatment.” I emerged hours later.
I was staring at a pony. One with ash gray fur, a long and curly deep red mane, and styled hooves. The pony was staring back at me, fiery orange eyes burning with the passion and pride of a Dragon. The pony was in the mirror. I was too shocked for words. The Proprietor tried talking to the pony. “Well look at you now! A whole new mare! No more mud in your coat or tangled unkempt Mane! You would make waves on the fashion circuit!”
I lowered my head, warning this pony to back off. “You stupid pony, this isn’t me! I’m not some pretty little pony I’m a mighty Dragon!”
She looked me with a quizzical expression “I’m sorry dear? What was that? There’s no need to bashful, just look at yourself you look beautiful!”
I was starting to growl out my words. “I said that I wasn’t pretty, or beautiful, or any word you would use to describe a fragile little pony like you!”
Confusion from everyone present, The Proprietor broke the momentary silence. “I’m sorry, but I can’t understand… whatever language that is…” With a start I realized I had been speaking in Draconic, but I had automatically thrown in the Equestrian words that fit in the holes of my speaking ability. It a chill down my spine and I knew I needed to go home. I screwed my eyes shut and started channeling magic into my horn, remembering the steps for Trailblazer’s Terrestrial Teleport from Twilight’s book. I opened my eyes and was greeted with shocked expressions before there was a bright flash, and I was gone.
Blurring, places and faces blurring, where is home?
-----------------------------------------------
I was home, back in the Caldera, Mother gasped in surprise, first time I’d seen that, I tried to rush to her but found my feet unable to move.
Another Flash.
I was high in the sky, flying… no… falling, I had no control over where I was going and I was scared.
Another Flash.
I was in a dark and scary forest, glimpses of memories mark this as the spot I was found, there is a decrepit cottage with a broken down door a little distance away.
Another Flash.
I was in a deep cave somewhere, the only lighting was from the magma that heated the space, this was what I was missing in Canterlot, I basked it in.
Another Flash.
I was in my assigned room in Canterlot, in the Lunar wing of the palace. A servant that was cleaning the sheets screamed as I appeared. My head was spinning and I threw up.
The servant ran out and I was left crying in my room, I could feel I had spent too much magic and was nauseous with a massive headache. I just didn’t understand, I told the spell to go home and it ended landing me here after a flurry of other places, some I could never remember being in. I was lost and alone, Mother was beyond my reach and everything around me screamed at me ‘YOU ARE A PONY, YOU BELONG HERE.’ A glance in the mirror revealed my mane was tangled again, the way it always was back home, my bouncing trip must have done that, but it was too red, it was missing the ash and dirt of The Caldera, it was even more wrong than when there was a stranger looking at me in the mirror. This was me. I was a pony.
A knock on the door. I didn’t want to deal with anyone so I ignored it. The Lunar Sister’s voice carried through the door. “Little Ember, are you still here?”
I shouted at her, in mangled Draconic and Equestrian, switching languages on a word. “Go away! I do not want to speak to anyone! Just let me be!” Muffled voices from beyond the door.
I could hear Twilight saying something to someone, then The Lunar Princess spoke again. “We brought someone who we believe might be able to help, you were supposed to see him before Rarity stole you, I hadn’t realized she would leave immediately, and it seems that we crossed a line. I would ask that you blame me for this if he is unable to help, but please just let him in?” I didn’t respond… I couldn’t stop them if they wanted to come in anyways… I was just a weak pony…
More hushed conversation. “Uh, hello?” A new voice spoke from the other side of the door, it sounded familiar though… it didn’t take very long to figure out why. The speaker was a Dragon. He spoke Equestrian fluently but there was always the low bass rumble underlying his words, he sounded like Amber would be if he was younger and Equestrian wasn’t just a side language for him. “May I please come in?” I bolted up and swung the door open, on the other side was a young Dragon, he had to be maybe a decade older than me, about the size of Amber before his most recent growth spurt. “Whoah! Hey!” I ignored my headache and yanked him in with my magic, shutting the door on the others out there.
He rubbed the back of his head, I had accidentally flung him against the back cupboard. “How did you do that?”
I just stopped and stared at him. “Uhm… sorry I just- ow ow ow ow.”
He sat on his hind legs and looked at me. “Oh, overused your magic huh? Tugging around Dragons isn’t easy you know. High natural thaumaturgic resistance.”
I lowered my head and glared at him. “I do it all the time. It’s the stupid teleportation that went to fritz.”
He seemed to hum thoughtfully. “Oh yeah, you got taken away from my sister’s first lesson for you didn’t you. Lucky the spell didn’t explode in your face, your new thaumaturgic entropy value going to take a bit of acclimation to.”
I stopped to look at him, piecing together what he was saying and how some of his phrases seem familiar. “Wait… are you… are you saying Princess Sparkle is your sister?”
He looked straight at me. “Well yeah. Aren’t you saying the legendary Matriarch of Dragonspeak is your Mother?” I opened my mouth to object but found I was unable to, instead I needed to find out why he was here.
Lowering my head as low as possible “What are you here for, why are you talking to me?”
He shrugged. “Well, for one, I enjoy making new friends. Part of being raised by a pony… and I also feel I might be the only one able to help you with your identity crisis. Might just be a bit of that old draconic pride kicking in, but I think it’s because I went through much the same thing as you.” I gave him an incredulous look.
He continued, claws behind his back and head held at a neutral level. I couldn’t get a read on him. “Couple decades ago, when I was a hatchling, I had a bit of a crisis of identity. Wasn’t exactly the same, I was convinced that I couldn’t be a pony because I was physically a dragon. And you seem to be having the opposite issue. I ended up going to the Great Meeting as it was changing locales, to Dragonspeak Caldera.” He had my attention, but I was hoping he was going to get to a point soon. “I ended up being right. I wasn’t a pony… and you aren’t a dragon.” Really starting to dislike what he was saying, he must have noticed it was upsetting me because he quickly added. “BUT. That’s not what’s important! I learned how to be a Dragon… and I returned home. Because that’s where my family is. My pony family.” He was giving a big toothy grin… but… he had a point. Mother didn’t love me because I was like her. She loved me because I was like me, and Amber too, he wasn’t teaching me to be more Dragon-like, everything he taught me… and that I wanted to learn… was making me more pony-like. I would never be a Dragon… but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be my family.
He gave me time to think. “Ok.”
He raised his eyebrows in expectation. “Hmm?”
I steeled my resolve. “Then teach me how to be a pony.”
His grin was stretching from ear to ear. “Ok. First lesson. We ponies all refer to each other by name. Sometimes we use a title, but there are lots of ponies who are made uncomfortable by that. Take me for example. You can call me The Dragon of Ponyville… or Spike. So who am I?”
I began to respond but payed attention to what he said and corrected. “The Dra- No… Spike?”
He clapped. “Great! There’s still a lot to learn.” I nodded and we continued, a twinkle in Spike’s eyes. “So you know how you have a habit of lifting your nose high in the air?”
I did it to show my recognition for what he was saying. “Yeah, shows I’m trusting them with my soft undersides… mostly symbolic in my case.”
He looked a bit guilty for a moment. “Well… sorry to break the news, but for ponies looking up like that gives the impression you feel you’re better than them and tends to be insulting.”
I froze. “Wait… what?”
A nervous grin from Spike.“Yeah…”
I thought back to all the servants and teachers and even the Siste- Celestia and Luna and… “Oh nooooooo…” I still have a lot to learn before I can return home.
