//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: A Growing Fire In My Heart // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// None of them knew how much time had passed since they fell into the trap devised by Lord Redskull and Queen Chrysalis, but Ember was pretty sure they didn’t have long left. Already she could barely move her body as she leaned against the wall of the giant cell she and her allies were trapped in. Her useless scepter lay beside her in its depowered state. A grim reminder of her failure. Everyone else was looking just as drained, laying on the floor or against the wall as they waited for their end. Twilight had spend as much magic as she could to blast the glowing death crystal above them, or the shield preventing them from escaping, but neither was damage before she collapsed into unconsciousness. It was only the rising of her chest that signaled she was still alive. Ember could feel her body wishing to sleep as well. To just be lay there peacefully until death took her into its embrace. Yet the thought that Spike was going to be used as a weapon for those traitors to cause war between her dragons and the ponies kept her awake. Gritting her teeth, Ember looked a her glaw with a hateful glare. She failed Spike. Her father. Her kingdom. Everything she worked hard to achieve was going to end up destroyed because of one greedy bastard, and that little roach bitch. Have the gods really forsaken me? Is this really how it ends? Ember thought as she looked over her friends. A crying Aquafire was curled up beside Blitz who had a wing placed over her as if trying to shield her from the pain. Gods, if you have to take me fine. I should have died anyway in the trial. Just not them. Not my friends. Not Spike. She began wince at the thought of the future fate he was doomed to find himself in. Rage potions and greed potions were deadly on their own for any dragon. The former allowed great strength and power but at the cost of madness. The latter temporarily increased the aging of a dragon into a bigger and deadly beast. A side effect of the dragon’s greed trait. Combined, she didn’t know what they would do, but she could only imagine the carnage Spike would leave in his wake in Ponyville. Her best friend needed her and here she was lying in her future tomb. Shaking her head, Ember smacked herself. Can’t give up. Have to save him. Save us all. How? You can barely fly at the moment! Her mind was telling her. It’s over. We failed. Dragons don’t give up. Not until the end! Thought Ember as she struggled to get up, using the wall as support for her efforts. “... a-a-are you s-s-s-scared?” asked Aquafire to Blitz as Ember overheard them. “Kinda... always thought....I-I’d go out in a b-b-blaze... of glory instead of...like this,” muttered Blitz, wincing from the power of the crystals power. “I swear, I’ll never look... a-a-a-at gems again a-a-a-after t-t-t-this...” He looked down at Aquafire who was sobbing again. “H-h-hey... it’s...o-o-okay...w-w-we-w-we’re going down...together...” “I k-k-know... b-b-but...” Aquafire gasp in pain, kneeling over a bit before gasping. “I... I never... I never...” She took a deep breath and stared at Blitz. “I never... told you...how I...I...I...felt.” Despite his condition, Blitz was able to blush and stare at his friend with wide eyes. “Y-y-y-you... Aqua...you...” “I thought... y-y-you were... a-a-already...going...to be given...a life mate...” she sighed, wiping her tears. “So... I never... said anything...but now?” Blitz put a single talon on her lips and stared at her with eyes that saw her in a different light. He slowly brought her closer, letting Aquafire rest on his chest as he wrapped his arms and wings around her. “Shhh... just...hold me...” Ember gave a small smirk at the sight of her friends embracing each other. At least if this ends poorly, they’ll die with no regrets. “Hey, Ember?” She turned around and saw Gable struggling to walk towards her. Granted, he was using the wall as support as well, but the two of them were the only ones still standing. Even King Thorax could barely move as he lay on his back, surrounded by his dying changing guards who were using what little love they had to keep him alive. “S-s-some...s-situation...huh?” “Y-yeah,” growled Ember, glaring upwards at the death crystal that was killing them all. “I’m... not... done... y-yet...need...to...save...Spike...and...others.” Garble nodded and, to her surprise, began to chuckle. “Even when death... is in y-y-your face...you...s-s-still think about...tha-a-at loser.” “Yeah...” whispered Ember, closing her eyes as she slowly fell on her haunches. “I wish... I wish... I could... hug him... one more time...” “Remember... w-w-when he... ordered...m-m-me to... hug...all those dragons?” Ember snorted at the memory. It was the only order Spike ever gave as The Dragon Lord before handing it over to her. “Yeah. It was funny seeing my dad... react to you... hugging his nose.” The two chuckled again and stared at each other. Whatever feelings of dislike they had somehow seemed to be fading from them as they reminisce of the trial in their heads. That, or maybe dying feels like this? Coming to peace with those you’ve hated all your life? “... these changes... your vision?” asked Garble, shaking his head. “Do you really think they can help our people?” Ember, using what little strength she had turned to him, and nodded. “Yeah. I do.” “... well, better be like a proper guard and save your royal butt,” replied Garble as he slowly spread his wings. Ember tilted his head as he grinned towards her. “I’m not doing this for you... or Spike... I’m doing this because I hate my old man.” “Garble?” asked Ember before he let out a roar that alerted everyone. To their shock, despite the power of the crystal draining his energy, he flew up into the air. “Garble!” She watched in horror and awe as he rose straight up to the crystal, doing his best to ignore the painful rays of its deadly magic as he got closer. Ember half expected him to fall to his death as it continued to drain more from him as he got closer, but to her shock he still flew forward despite the toil it was taking on his body. More then once, he faltered, but he kept going. His sweating face one of pure determination as he managed to reach the crystal at long last. He was able to half wrap it around his arms, but it wouldn’t come down. “Garble! Don’t!” shouted Ember, gasping as she struggled to get up. “You heard what... Crystalis said! The closer you....get the more energy...it drains!” “Screw... that!” grunted Garble, before he started to cough uncontrollably. He coughed so hard that blood started to come out both his mouth and his nose. Despite this, he gritted his teeth before roaring so loud it even woke those unconscious up like Twilight Sparkle. They all stared at the dying, determined dragon who was using every ounce of his strength to slowly rip the crystal off the ceiling. “I am Garble Redskull! Heir to the Redskull clan! I am a Scale Guard to the Dragon Lord and a proud dragon despite what my butthole of a father thinks! My duty is to protect and serve and die for my Lord and my nation! And I will not fail that duty to something I eat and shit for breakfast!” Everyone’s jaw dropped as he managed to roar one last time and rip the crystal out of the roof. “He did it!” shouted one of her other Scale Guards. “But how... do we destroy it?!” screamed Aquafire. At that moment, Garbled looked down at Ember who saw in his eyes something akin to acceptance. He gave her a smirk before closing his eyes and diving towards the energy shield. In an instant, Ember realized with horror what he was going to do. “Garble! Noooo!” He didn’t say anything as he dived without stop. A few seconds later, he and the crystal connected with the shield as a burst of light blinded them. The sounds of two powerful magics clashing echoed in their ears as they ducked down, covering their heads. It went on for what seemed like an eternity, but it was only a brief moment in time before there was a large shattering and an explosion that followed. The force of the blast pushed them all back a bit, but when they were done, they felt a sense of energy rush towards them. Slowly, all of them opened their eyes and felt as if weights were lifted off their chest. Blitz, helping Aquafire up, stood and took in deep breaths as he looked around for any sign of the crystal or its power. He let out a joyful laugh when he realized it wasn’t there. “We’re alive! He did it!” Nearly everyone whooped out for joy as they their once weakened hearts began to beat with life once again. Twilight, activating her magic, levitated some rocks nearby and sighed in relief. “And we got our magic back! We’ll need time to recover, but I’ll be able to teleport us out of here when I can!” “This is great!” shouted Aquafire, hugging Blitz. The two looked at each other and quickly seperated with red cheeks. “Uh, well, now that we’ll be free soon! We can now stop Redskull and Chrysalis from... Ember?” Everyone turned to the direction of the shield were Ember lay on her knees, holding something in her claws. They slowly made their way to her and saw that she was shedding tears... while holding the burned remains of a ruined Scale Guard armor. Everyone quickly knew who it belonged to and realized what it meant. “Garble... he’s... is he?” asked one changeling. “...yes,” whispered Ember, as she wiped away her tears before standing up. Gently, she handed the burned armor to one of her other scale guards. She paused before summoning her scepter and banged it on the ground. “As Dragon Lord, I proclaim Garble Redskull will be given full honors at his funeral and his remains be buried in the Cavern of Heroes like others before him. May our ancestors welcome him into the stars and our gods grant him peace in death. He will be remembered in the years to come as an example of a true dragon for sacrifice and the pride of our people. I also award him, posthumous, the title of Lord Redskull and relinquish it from his father who I deem, and all those allied with him, traitors and enemies of the dragon kingdom. May Garble serve as an example and paragon for the Scale Guards... and for our people.” The dragons nodded and bowed their heads. “Now...” Ember gripped her specter hard as flames burst from her nostrils. “Garble sacrificed himself so that we may live and we must not let that be in vain! We must stop Redskull and Chrysalis from causing a war between two nations and save Spike. We cannot fail.” She closed her eyes and growled. “We must not fail.”