The sky was gray. Smoke filled the air as, on the barren rugged ground that extended for miles on end, dragons ranging from big to very big walked and flew about, minding their own business—here, a lanky pink dragon gathered up plenty of gems from a nearby cave; there, another dragon was busy making blades by an anvil, using his fire-breath to heat up the metal into malleable form; by a mountain, Dragon Lord Torch—who was humongous since he was as tall as the mountain—listened to a few ponies who were only as tall as one of his blue fingers as they showed him how a cannon worked.
This was the Dragon Lands.
By the coast, overlooking the Celestial Sea with its calm and undulating waves and without any sign of greenery whatsoever, Smolder and another dragon—blue and taller than her—stood by the cliffs, feeling the ocean breeze.
“I know you are worried about your buddy,” Ember spoke with crossed arms, “but you have to obey Torch. If he wants all of the dragons here, then he is going to get all of the dragons here, whether you like it or not.”
Smolder sighed in rebellion as evidenced by not looking at her superior.
“You don’t belong there,” Ember continued, pointing across the sea. “You belong here—“ pointed at the sooty ground below “—in the Dragon Lands; this is where you live and where you work. You understand me, Smolder?”
She nodded, silent.
“If they fall, let them fall. Those hippogriffs think they’re the last ones left.” She snorted. “Haven’t they forgotten we’re here to help them?—if we’ll help them?” A pause. “They’re going to take it, and they’re going to get what they deserve.”
“But if we let them lose,” Smolder spoke up in a whiny tone, “then we’re letting them die and that means less creatures who’ll save the world!”
“Of course, we don’t want the changelings to take over the world!” Ember shouted, scolding her. “But, I want you to think long-term. Guess why we’re letting the hippogriffs suffer.”
Smolder tapped her chin, thinking. “To lose?”
“No!”
“Uh, to come in and save them at the last minute?”
“No!”
“Wait, wait...um, to ambush the changelings?”
“Not even close!” Ember yelled, saliva splashing on her more than the seawater. “The reason why we’re doing this is to make sure the world will be ruled by us.”
Smolder stopped a gasp before it started. “Wh-Why? I-If we take over the world, are we any better than the changelings?”
“Yes, we are!” Ember declared. “Instead of enslaving everyone, we enslave the oppressors!...and others.”
Smolder gulped as the waves billowed. “Does that mean every pony, every griffon, every zebra—“
“It will be on a case-by-case basis,” Ember explained. “However, don’t think about that. Think about how you’re going to be happy in a dragon-led world. You’ll enjoy everything a dragon needs with all the gems and precious stones you want. Lots of opportunities to terrorize helpless villages!”
Smolder blinked, stumped.
“It’s not going to be bad,” Ember said, putting a firm claw on her shoulder. “It’s going to be...pretty much the opposite.”
Smolder looked at her, scared. “But...Silverstream is out there without me. If she dies, I’ll..." faced away, "I’ll regret not being there for her.”
“She’s a hippogriff,” Ember said with a twirl of her hand. “Let her be that way.”
Smolder let out a gasp, clutched her chest in sorrow.
Ember noticed it. “So what? We’re going to rule the world, hippogriffs or no hippogriffs. Now, come with me—one of those ponies found another hidden spot for gemstones!”
Ember took off to the air, flapping her scaly wings and…
“Hey!” she shouted, yelling at the disobedient dragon staying on the ground. “Stand up and fly!”
Smolder rolled her eyes and groaned. “Fine.”
So the two dragons flapped their wings and flew away from the cool coast.
Smolder walked through the torrid cave with Ember beside her. Plenty of gems and other precious stones shone under the light of a pony’s mining helmet.
“We got lots of things here!” shouted the pony, his coat blue and his mane black. “It’s not that much, but we got amethysts, quartz, onyx, even some turquoise over here.” He pointed at a group of shiny stuff on one of the jagged walls and, true enough, those unfashioned jewels laid there in their bulky forms, waiting to be cut and inserted into a necklace. “Trust me; it's not the richest cave ever, but it’s the best you can get around here...I think, I think….”
“I’m not letting a pony tell me they know more about my own home than I do!” Ember yelled, spit flying on the poor pony’s face.
Smolder scratched her own back, smiling sheepishly for the stallion spat on. “So, do you have diamonds? Any kind of diamonds here?”
The pony shook his head, the light on his helmet moving with him. “Haven’t seen one of the shiniest ones yet, but we’ll get there.”
Ember smacked him on the helmet. “Then keep on looking! And don’t forget the emeralds, too!”
The pony shuddered and took up his pickaxe and started digging at the end of the cave.
Smolder sat down on the stony ground.
Ember patted her on the shoulder again. “We all thought this was a dud. Torch even said he didn’t like it because there’s so much fool’s gold inside. But, Assembled Triplet here...he found something really good all because he was bored!” She let out a hearty laugh as the pony whimpered under the labor. “See, Smolder? Things are going to turn out alright.”
Smolder looked up, seeing the stalactites and straws hanging over them. “Yeah, that’s true…but, what about the non-dragons?”
The blue pony did a spit-take, spitting out his pickaxe. “Did you just say what I heard you say?”
Smolder stood up and nodded, facing the pony with a resolute grimace targeted at Ember.
She opened her mouth in disdain at this open rebellion. “What?!”
“That’s right, Princess Ember,” Smolder announced, striking her chest with a proud fist. “I care for this pony.”
Ember rolled her eyes. “You’re supposed to take care of the ponies! You let them eat inside your cave when it’s raining; that should be good enough!”
“But, what about Silverstream?!” Smolder protested.
“She’s not a pony!” Ember cried out.
“But she’s not a slave to me!”
The pony groaned. “I want to get out of here and you’re not even talking about me?!”
Ember pointed at him. “Stay out of this conversation or you’re fired!”
The pony screamed, picked up his pickaxe, and picked away at the cave’s walls before him, chucking the dirt out of the end of the tunnel.
“I’m taking you to your rightful place!” Ember grunted as she dragged Smolder through the ground, the young dragon’s feet grating out grooves in the rocks, in the open rocky fields. “You are staying here and that’s final!”
“It’s not final if I have anything to do about it!” Smolder moaned, pulled closer and closer to the towering mountain and the huge dragon before them, enduring the suffering her feet accumulated.
“I will have you know that dragons are supposed to be tough!” Ember yelled, tightening her grip on Smolder, about to crush her hand. “I don’t want you to be a softy ‘cause no one here likes a softy.”
Smolder struggled to yank her arm free, but to no avail. “Why don’t they like softies, then? Is it because they want to be loners?”
“We have each other!”
“What about Silverstream?!”
Ember slapped herself on the face. “You’re not going to win this argument by begging about her!”
“She's more than a hippogriff to me!” Smolder yelled, still being dragged through the ground and still feeling the pain in her toes. “She was a dependable partner, a loyal companion, and an awesome flier, but, most of all...”
“’Most of all’ what?” Ember asked in spite.
Smolder closed her eyes, inhaling. Then: “Silverstream is my friend!”
Ember dropped her arm and gasped. “Did you say...friend?!”
Smolder nodded, crossing her arms. “I don’t care if it’s not a dragon thing. She got me through hard times and I got her through hard times. We got each other through hard times, and we were becoming a good duo!”
“The only duo you’re getting is an uppercut and a burning when I’m done with you!” Ember yelled, poking her on the head.
Smolder opened her wings.
Only for Ember to grab those wings and fold them back closed to pull her back towards the mountain.
Finally, they reached the mountain and, over there, Dragon Lord Torch himself, still fearsome and fierce with his tremendous height and size as he sat on ground level. His eyes were the size of multiple dragons and ponies, some of his teeth were missing but those that remained were sharp, the spikes on his back were colossal and pointed, his open wings had wounds and scars but were otherwise fine, his tail was long and thick enough to make craters out of the ground, his armor was broad and black while being made of hard metal, and on his head was a humongous crown made of onyx and fire-like crystals.
Before him was the vast landscape of rocks and more rocks, canyons and cliffs notwithstanding. Then, a speck across his vision, coming closer and closer to form the figures of Ember and Smolder, the former dragging the latter through the air.
Torch slowly raised his head. “What are you doing?!” he roared, the sheer volume of his voice causing the both of them to bend back at the force. “My daughter, you cannot merely pull random strangers in front of me!”
Ember cleared her throat. “I have the right to do that, Dad, and I did not pull Smolder here just because I wanted to.”
Torch slowly rubbed his massive fingers together. “Do you think she has committed a crime?”
Ember nodded. “Yes, Dad. She doesn’t believe that we should be ruling the world with iron claws. She wants us to live with everyone else.”
Torch raised his brows and raised his head farther. “Ah! A potential traitor!”
Smolder screamed. “I-I’m not a traitor!”
“Every dragon must desire a world run by dragons!” Torch proclaimed, his voice booming. “What could’ve possibly swayed your mind to adopt such a pathetic mindset?”
Smolder sighed. “Silverstream, sir.”
“Silverstream?!” Torch yelled in confusion and exasperation. “Is she not the hippogriff we saved from the ship a month or so back?!”
Ember stepped in front of Smolder. “Yes, Dad, but why should we listen to a hippogriff like her?”
Torch nodded his head once, his movement lethargic.
Smolder shook her head vigorously, holding her hands out towards him. “We should listen to her once in a while! We don’t always have the great ideas!”
“We dragons do have the greatest of ideas!” Torch yelled. “To think otherwise is to not be a dragon—no, it is to forfeit being a dragon!”
Smolder shuddered, looking at the two dragons before her—near her, Ember; farther but more imposing, Torch; both of them, looking at her with those indicting eyes.
The young dragon stretched her arms, took a huge gulp. Then: “If you’re not letting me help out Silverstream, then I’ll do it myself!”
And Smolder flew out of the mountain, flapping her wings and quickly disappearing into the gray horizon.
Ember held her arms up in dismay, seeing that dragon fly away. “What?! Dad! Why are you letting her go?!”
Torch held up a huge open claw. “Let her learn the hard way. It is not like one missing dragon would affect us so much, would it?”
Ember crossed her arms, looking upon the rocky desolate landscape before her. “I hope you’re right.”
The sun was high in the sky, bearing down on the calm ocean. Not much happened here really; when the surroundings were nothing but more water, then there was only the sea’s immensity to behold, although that alone was something beautiful.
Smolder flapped her wings over the water, her reflection shown there. She had a bag around her torso, fitted with gems inside the pockets.
She looked ahead of her with a bold face. “You can do this, Smolder. This is your friend you gotta save and protect. Can’t be that hard...maybe a little with some changelings on the side, but they will just be obstacles...yeah, just obstacles! Silverstream can keep herself alive.”
Smolder continued to flap her wings, feeling the cool wind flow past her scales.
“They’re going to welcome me,” Smolder said. “They’ll be happy I’m helping to keep the world safe from those evil changelings. They’ll see I did not break any promises—not that I made any, but they’re supposed to be happy I’m gonna be on their side! They’ll know that I’m gonna contribute, that I’m going to burn the flies to crisp, and we’ll save the day!”
And Smolder flew on, doing her best to fight the tears though failing.