The Path of the Consort
What does it mean to go through growth? The physical change between adolescents to adult when growing up? Does one do the quick change of allowing their greed to control them and jumpstarting them to adulthood? Does the nature vs nurture come to play and only allow sampling of greed? Or does one allow other fruitions of emotions to come into play?
The proper play to begin is at the beginning of all history. Where the first dragons were born of the elements of the world, being earth, wind, fire or water. Many modern dragons don’t consider the sea serpents apart of their kin but they are dragons none the less. Still it is unprecedented that all dragons come from one common ancestor. Draco, The Dragon of the Stars and His mate, The Great All Mother, Wistala the Wise, the Mother of Dragons.
Many still get confused by their titles however, the simple understanding is that Draco had modeled the dragons in his own image and it was his mate, Wistala that gave birth to that image.Not just the modern dragons but dragons of all kinds. From the Wyverns of the North and east with wings larger than their bodies, to the dragons bound to the very earth, bulky and unmoving with scales that stem from the strongest of earthly metals and rock. The fire breathers that many are familiar with that are considered the superb of the dragon species that are seen vastly around the world to finally the sea serpents of the rivers and oceans that control the very waters of the planet.It was Draco whom gave these dragons life but it was they whom adapted to their elements. But with the adaptation of their elements, their came needs for them. Greed, power, strength and they were all willing to kill one another for it all. However, none more so needed then the Dragons of the land and fires that sought more. The serpents had their own place, The Heart of the Ocean while the Wyverns more or less stayed to somewhat feral and low intellect that never really caused much outcry amongst their kind.
The Bloodstone Scepter was created with the drop of Draco’s Blood and fire from the earth itself. With it, Draco used it to give Dragons intelligence and power, though it was nothing compared to the actual power that the Bloodstone held. The stone was just half the power of what Almighty Draco could do but it still held power with great consequences if misdirected.
“Misdirected.” Spike muttered. He held the red scroll in his claws, reading that sentence over again before turning towards Ember. The light blue dragoness was currently reading her own scroll, though that one was she had was about her courtships, on how they will tie in as her rule as being Dragon Lord. As far as she was aware, she is only the second female in history to gain title of Dragon Lord. The first one dating back almost 2000 years prior. She was the one to establish a peace between species and created a boundary for dragons to safely pass through pony lands during the Great Migration along with negotiations to the more… civilized dragons.
Refocusing, Spike adjusted one of the pillows he sat on. Ember had brought them over, though not before she had insisted that she retrieved the pillows herself though it took her almost 10 minutes of searching her pile for the ‘perfect pillow’.
‘The birth of Greed comes when a hatchling is born and is instantly entranced by the hoard of their parents, regardless of size or quality. However, a hatchling born into a view of hoards of any kind, it being jewels, shinny objects or even food or trinkets, will develop greed but outside of it, the hatchling will not develop a ' great greed', rather find an outlet to focus on and stick with it until a form of need or want is developed or not. This outlet can be many things but none more so when a dragon establishes a bond for a living thing. One case had shown that when a dragon whelp is left in the care of another creature, a pony for instance, had developed a strong intellectual understanding and never enacted greed.
“Huh.” Ember looked up from her own scroll and turned to Spike.
“Find something?” she asked.
He nodded and pointed to the scroll.
“Yeah, it says here that dragons prior had left hatchlings with ponies before. I thought I was the only one.”
Ember paused, looking up a bit before giving a small nod.
“A vague memory comes to mind on it, with my father telling me of how ponies use to have dragons in their midst. Though I don’t know full details, I am pretty sure we can get clarity. These scrolls after all are not the full set, rather simplistic readings that future Dragon Lords must read in order to understand ruling. Perhaps if we ask the Dragon Archivist. He might something about it.”
“Is he around the dragon lands?”
She shook her head.
“Despite a lot… no, more like a sizable portion of dragons not wanting to meddle in the affairs of ponies, few actually stick near their areas and work along side them. The archivist is but a few of them that is in pony lands that keeps historical records.”
“Really?”
She nodded.
“He is the one who currently handles dragon history, documents and all that. I’m pretty sure he’ll know any history between pony and dragons, though I sometimes forget his name. Though judging by the lack of your knowledge of dragon and pony history together, I can say that maybe it wasn’t something grand or important.”
A little deflated but not entirely dishearten, he took it with some opportunity to say that maybe he could add it to dragon history with ponies and dragons coexisting with one another, stronger than before.
“Well, maybe in the future, we can make a better future for both kinds as more than just ‘boundaries’ and such.”
Ember gave a smile and nod.
“I wish for that too, Spike. If dragons in this or the next generation can grow up as kind hearted and loving as you, maybe then we achieve peace beyond just borders.” She paused then motioned towards the scrolls. “Again, the archive as well as a few others have established proper or decent understandings with ponies or other kinds.”
“Huh… why is it that I am only hearing this from you now?”
Ember shrugged. “It’s you and your friends that have traveled farther than I, Spike. I figured you would know if other dragons work along side ponies or other creatures?” She stated, pointing her scroll at him.
He shook his head, looking over the scroll in his claws.
“You, Garble, the Migration and the Gauntlet of Fire are the only times when I have interacted with dragons. Well, short of the two whom had a settlement near Ponyville a few years back, though I believe they are long since gone by now.”
“Probably one of the few that decided to no longer be bound by dragon rule or just out looking for a den away from other dragons, just so they can keep their own hoard in check. Either way, as I said, we maybe the first ones to establish a proper understanding between dragons and ponies. It may take time, but I am sure that we could succeed where other’s have failed.” She made a small scoff and grinned. “Then again, time is meaningless to a dragon.”
Spike looked up from his scroll, cocking his head to the side.
“What do you mean, ‘meaningless’? How could time be ‘meaningless’ to us? Just because we age slower?”
Ember gave a nod before gazing up a bit in thought. “We are ageless Spike. Yes, we do grow but we truly never just die off… unless we die of disease, are killed off or just don’t take care of ourselves but we never die off like normal creatures. The only reason are population hasn’t ravaged the world is because most dragons go into the ‘Eternal Sleep’ and never wake up. In a sense, we sleep, then die without lack of proper self care. However, if a dragon avoids the ‘Eternal Sleep’, then we can continue on and on.” Her eyes met Spike’s as if he was fully not aware of his long immortality. She sighed as she realized once more… ‘raised by ponies’… came to mind.
Shaking her head, something else popped into mind.
“With all that you have been surrounded by, I figured that some dragons would have established a small settlement with ponies. Maybe a community town of some sort, or even an event where creatures of all intellect come to celebrate peace amongst others.”
Spike shrugged.
“If it does exist, I have not been apart of it.” He scoffed. “Maybe in some other universe there’s a convention like that?” Ember cocked her head in question but he waved it off. “Anyways, with the trials going on tomorrow, your dad didn’t really leave me much to go on with how to approach them. And who is going to be judging me?”
Ember felt a bit guilty about not knowing as much as him, so she only indulged what she knew. Sitting by him, she made herself comfortable with her ‘consort’.
“Well, from what my mother told me, I begin the trials with stating that you are my choice in the bonding and if I want to bring others in, I can… which I won’t.” Thoughts of her and Amethyst came up, but they were shot down… with a parachute to allow save landing. “You however, can choose to be much more than just my consort. Other’s have appealed and tried to be Co-rulers with authority, elder, advisors, or even try to succeed their mate’s as Dragon Lord.”
Spike pondered at that, wondering what his role would be. Feeling the question come, he blurted out. “What do you want me to be then to you?”
Ember gazed at him with her amber eyes and she felt like this was something that needed to be dealt with now, then during the trials tomorrow. Inhaling softly, she brought her wing over and laid it upon him, something a dragon does to another dragon to comfort one another.
“That… I am not even sure myself,” she answered truthfully. “I only, at the time, was thinking how to get you to stay with me until this we could deal with the problem of the Bloodstone Scepter. After which, if I figured you would only stay with me just to keep us alive, so more a less… a part of my ‘hoard’.” Instantly, she heard what she said and quickly tried to resolve. “Not that I don’t want you as anything less Spike but… I was truly scarred at this might have turned out if you refused.” She swallowed a bit of dryness in her mouth before speaking again. “Though now that you know the truth of it all, I had no plans to establish what you are to be later on. The trials more or less determine how other dragons would see you, not just here but throughout the world and our history.”
“Wait.” He asked, a bit of panic began to form in his voice. “I am going to be put in the trials, with a bunch of dragons there to see? As in the whole Dragon Lands!?”
Giving a sorrow nod, she brought him closer to the point where she could feel his trembling small body, against hers. She could feel his heart beating faster and his breathes in quick short bursts. Wrapping her arms around him, she held the younger dragon and began to coo at him. Something that her mother would do in her cold nights or when she was scared of her own father.
The reaction was almost instant and she could feel Spike easing up well and his body began to relax. Still, the worry was there and she knew that in the end, it would be difficult and the fear was too high to ignore. When it came down to how the mate of the consort would be, it generally was that the mate of the Dragon Lord would choose to either stay as a mate, a hoard member or concubine really. But… those were all the times the Dragon Lord was ‘male’. If there was a female Dragon Lord, the mate of them might want more of the share. This had only happened once… with the first female dragon lord two thousand years prior.
She had won and already had selected her mate. She wanted him just as a mate, nothing more. He however, wanted a title to go with it, something more than just being her ‘mate’. Male ego tended to rise fast and, so it was he whom took the trials to be ‘co-ruler’ or ‘successor’, should she fall.
The true purpose of the trials, regardless of the Dragon Lord’s choice, was to see where they would fit in as the Dragon Lord’s future. The choices were Advisor, Elder, Co-ruler/Successor, Mate or hoard which fell into the same category as Consort. That was the choice they had in it and she knew that her mate was only a mate and not much else. Despite her choice being the key factor, she allowed her mate to endure in the trials as something else, knowing he wouldn’t succeed in them and her hoping it would calm his ego.
Sadly, that didn’t happen, and he had failed the trials like she anticipated, causing him to be regarded as nothing more than just her mate. In a fit of rage and humiliated teasing from others, he had disconnected himself from his mate, triggering a feedback upon her. With no mate to properly establish a lasting bond, the Scepter began to fill her with unstable energy and caused her to have pain spikes and feedback from the stone for days.
Fearing early death and unmistakable power indifference, she had taken on a small hoard of dragons. They had quickly chosen to just be her ‘hoard’ nothing more, preventing her premature death and difficult rule. The ‘hoard’ balanced the Scepter’s power when she took on a single male and female as her hoard. They were kept close to her and the energy came and flowed in a gentle cycle between them.
In retaliation for her ‘ex-mate’s’ sudden abandonment and near cause of death, she had him exiled from the lands, to forever be branded as a coward and used the Scepter to never give him a chance to find a proper mate again. Never again was there to be an incident such as that so, the trials were put automatically as soon as a mate or mates were chosen and immediately deal with the aftermath should they not like their ideal placement.
Ember’s fear was that Spike would not like his choice when she told the truth and he would leave her. Now a new choice was being made and she feared their might be a second leave of absence.
Pushing him back a bit, she gazed into his emerald eyes and spoke clearly to him.
“What I want from you, is to be happy… by myside. I never want to treat you as more than just another piece of my hoard. I never want you to think you are just here to satisfy my needs or quarrels. I never want you to think that… you cannot be less than you are just now. I have already lied and nearly turned you against me, I don’t want to be the burden that weighs on you for your future. Most dragons settled for the simple life as being the Dragon Lord’s mate, consort, hoard or so on and that is the story from then on. You are too smart to stay by myside and be nothing more. Truthfully, you wanted to bring our race close to the others, like ponies, gryphons and so on, so maybe you can be and Advisor and share some common or interested grounds. As an Elder, you will be able to record the history and share what you learn to younger generations or older dragons, but unlike an Advisor, your words carry more weight and even in a thousand years after being with a Dragon Lord, you will still carry Law on your own. But if you think you can stand by me, help me, guide me, support me and maybe speak words that will get others to hear you and your stories when you are by myside, then you can be my Co-ruler or should I not be able to rule for a time period, be my Successor. I give you that choice.”
Spike stared at her amber eyes and felt truth pouring from her words. He had been lied to before and it nearly shattered him, but with the lie, a truth was revealed, and it saved him. Now that Ember knew what it might do to him if she lied once more or had planned him his nothing more, this would certainly send him back home, regardless of the consequences might be. Maybe he could ask Twilight or the Princesses for a spell to stop it but he would never be sure.
Now here she bore onto him what his future may hold here. The fact that he was given options with a much better understanding on each one, he felt happy that he could choose. However, he wasn’t sure what each action might bring and how the dragons would see him.
Thinking out loud, he said, “Well, if I were Twilight, I’d probably read on each one and see what the end product would bring.” Feeling his words leave his mouth he nodded to the scrolls and Ember felt a smile across her snout.
“A true Advisor, Elder, Co-Ruler or Dragon Lord studies their roles before choosing. I think that is a great start.”
Ember went back to the walls, muttering to herself as she selected a few scrolls from the walls. Three small, blood red ones, each one old and covered with some dust where they are showing a bit ware on the sides showed use. Handing them over, Spike held each one close, seeing they bared some old runes or symbols on the sides.
“Each one was created, written, and signed by the first Elder, Advisor, and Co-Ruler after the first few dragon lords had passed. With each scroll, holds a small history of the first and each time one dragon becomes one, they add a bit of their own scales to write their time as one.” She pointed to the first one. “Dracis Amon, The first Elder.” She pointed to the second. “Zennth, the first Advisor.” She pointed to the last. “Talonyia, the First Co-Ruler and Successor.”
“Wait, I thought you said there was only one female Dragon Lord?” Spike asked.
“Seraphina, the first female Dragon Lord, got her status for being the first female to gain the Bloodstone Scepter through the Gauntlet of Fire. Talonyia was the first one to succeed her mate after he had gotten ill.” Pulling that scroll back from him, she unrolled it to show a depiction of a brown dragon, made with triangles and other shapes to form a dragon, and her holding the Bloodstone Scepter. “After he had gotten ill, she was the first to succeed her mate and rule for a time. She was also widely regarded as the best co-ruler, for many went to her for advice and more.”
Pointing the wall with the scroll, he joked, “I don’t suppose there are scrolls about being a great consort or mate?” Ember blinked before turning away and went to the wall. Spike’s face went slack before he commented, “It was just a joke!” Whether she heard him or not, she returned with two blue scrolls in palm and a small smile on her face.
“I know of the joke Spike,” she teased, “But I am sure you wish to also know if the consorts played any importance in the past.” He gave a single nod before looking at them. They seemed relatively new and untouched. “Though they might not be as important as the higher titles of Advisor, Elder or Co-Ruler, mates of previous Dragon Lords tended to have insight on how to be great to their Lords, whether they were supportive, how they dealt with their own set of challenges and what you could expect when being a mate to a Lord. Now, as I said, I don’t want you to be nothing less to me because you are too smart to just being a figure in my shadow, but I want you to have a comfortable future. Despite the lie had I eased you in, I rather make sure that our future is as clear as daylight.”
Feeling a bit of grace in her words and honesty that would make Applejack proud, he nodded and opened the first scroll, reading… what he could. He still had trouble with ‘Ancient Common’. It’s a good thing Ember was the smartest dragon around.
What was two hours that had passed, that Spike finished the last scroll, agonizing over each word to properly understand it when Ember explained it to him. He felt exhausted just reading everything but he had managed to push through. Even though what he was reading was considered ‘The basics’ it felt more like a learning a single history of each scroll. How is it that these scrolls hold so much information, yet each one is roughly the size of the ones he would have sent to Twilight before? Then again, one of the things that were briefly mentioned was ‘Dragon Magic’ and how ‘size alteration’ ‘fire manipulation’ and all that was involved.
“Hey Ember?” He asked. The Dragoness was currently in her final scroll, one with the final preparations in Dragon Lord tasks as well as maintaining a proper ruling.
“Yes?” Her claws rested the scroll she was reading onto her lap.
“How did you gain so much insight and knowledge. I mean, not to say your dumb or anything but you’re a lot tamer and more easier to be with then other dragons.”
“You calling me soft?” she growled with a teasing smile. Before they met, he would have hesitated and backtracked on his words. Prior to this day, he would have said it as just a question through some caution; now he actually understood that when it comes to the Dragon Lord and him being her consort, he knew she meant it as a joke.
Giving her a smirk, he shrugged playfully. “Yeah, I think you’re a little soft. I mean after all, you choose me as your consort, probably one of the softest, cuddliest dragon around to hug. Not to mention that when it comes down to it, I can make you blush and your turn into a cute ‘ness’ yourself.”
Her teasing smile turned to a devious grin and she at once took on a feral stance. His reaction switched almost instantly, and he went wide eyed with a bit fear. “Wow, okay I was just kidding about the ‘cute ness’, thing!”
Her teeth flashed. “Now he doesn’t think his own ‘Consort’ is ‘cute’,” she landed on all fours and stalked her way towards her ‘prey’. Spike began walking backwards, slowly dreading his stalking… ‘consort’ with a fear that was all to legit. Yet… somewhere in his heart, he knew that this was just a tease or game to her, to him… she was in control. She was going to dominate him, make sure he understood that she was ontop. Knowing that it was inevitable, he jumped to a running start. Oh… bad move! With a small growl and a grin to match her father, she took off after him.
The little Drake yelled as he was chased around the giant, mostly spacious cave, with Spike weaving and dodging as Ember tried to pounce him or snatch. Each one slipping pass her claws. At one point, she did a single great leap at him, shot out her wings and grabbed him by the arms, pulling him in the air.
“Whaa!” His form was lifted and a maniacal laughter (almost too real of one) left her as she flew around in the cave carrying him high above.
“You are a slippery one! But I am the Dragon Lord! I am your Lord! For I control your life from here on out.”
She circled around the cave for a few laps, continuing to tease her younger mate. She roared, with a laugh that might have sound pure evil, she circled around until they were over her mountain of pillows. With a final laugh, she dropped him.
“Ahhhh!” He fell almost a story down… only to softly land in the giant mountains of pillows where a soft ‘pomp’ was heard with a muffled scream. Then it stopped.
Ember hovered over with a glee most evil and she laughed at how she had just managed to get Spike to realize he was so wrong for calling her ‘soft and cute’. It was a tease, but she knew only he could call her that. However, realizing that she had just dropped her mate in her mountain pillows where not a week prior… she had her ‘sessions’ there and not fully cleaned them out. Her face dropped to horror in seconds as there was no audible noise coming from the pillow mountain.
Immediately, she dove into the mountains in a steep descent, disappearing into the pillows. She dove deep enough to where Spike had been burrowed deep and saw the tiny dragon, staring up at her with a dazed look but heavy breathing.
“S-Spike!” She called out, reaching out towards her ‘Consort’. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” A bit of an emotional wave came showed through her face. “I-I-I’m sorry if I did and I really was just p-playing around!”
Spike finally snapped out of his dazed look and his heavy breathing almost ceased when he stared up at his mate. Quickly shaking his head, he gave a small nod with a smile.
“Yeah, I’m okay Ember.” He paused seeing that she really looked worried but he was fine. Why did she continued to look worried. As if to answer his own thoughts, a strong scent of something filled his nostrils. The heavy breathing as he had been dropped had only allowed the scent lingering in the pillows to enter his system faster. Being surrounded by pillows that only allowed so much clean air, left all the wondering scent to being inhaled directly into his lungs.
She saw his nostrils flared that had Ember feeling fluttering in her stomach, watching as Spike inhaled deeply, his eyes once more becoming dazed and half lidded. Oh ‘Great Draco’, he was inhaling it. Despite not all the pillows having her ‘left over fluids’; any that did, had trapped the air with the ones in and creating a ‘hot box’.
Before she could even think of anything remotely to say, Spike suddenly reached out and pulled her over him. It was her turn to yelp as he his face was pressed against her breast; it allowing him to deeply inhale her. He knew that scent was her’s but the one he was smelling was much more… ‘sweeter’, more ‘alluring’.
“Ember?” his voice was filled with a hazed, confusion. He was a bit dizzy but it was gentle disorient as he continued to hold and inhale Ember. “I… I feel funny.”
‘Oh Great Draco!’ It was his first time smelling a Dragoness in heat. It was her pre-heat but it still carried the same luring effects of a real heat. Ponies might have gone to heat but either it smelled different or it was not appealing to him but Ember was the first Dragoness he actually had encountered according to him. She was being smothered by a ‘pre-teen drake’, whom was never taught the basics of Dragon maturity, let alone Dragon Mating. Fearing this might quickly get out of claw, she quickly began to dislodge herself from him.
“Spike, what your smelling is… from me.”
“I know that,” he responded, still trying to smell her, only now he was rubbing his head against her breast back and forth, trying to rub that alluring scent onto his own. “But… its so nice to smell and I feel funny. Not ha-ha funny but… its nice, and wonderful, and sweet…”
He was beginning to ramble. Oh he was really deep into her scent! She could even feel herself becoming intoxicated, not just by her own smell but by his. He was young still, yet already the traces of a ‘teenaged drake’ was starting to develop. The scents only brought memories as she visualized not too long ago about him and her, stirring up her own body. She twisted her legs, trying to keep them tight and closed.
Struggling more, she managed to overpower the drake and pulled herself off before shuffling a punch of pillows out of the way, trying to bring in some fresh air. She cleared an opening, bringing in fresh air to herself, she was about to pull out of it, just as Spike grabbed her legs.
“…!” She wanted to yelp, she wanted to cry out in surprise but what really left was a gasp… followed by a shriek of what Spike had just done. It was too late, the young Drake had succumbed to his inner instincts and he lost himself.
A true yelp left her as she was pulled back into the mountain of pillows and her consort’s true simulation came into fruition. Instincts had won him over.