//------------------------------// // Triple Threat // Story: A New Hero // by Alex The Lone Wolf //------------------------------// "Everything looks good over here." I reported after giving a quick scan around the train station. There was hardly as many decorations as there were over at town hall, but Spike wanted Athena and me to make sure that none of the "friendly flyers" he put up about the Dragon Lord coming for an official visit didn't somehow fly away or disappear. Spike had been pretty hung up about this visit ever since it was planned, and I believed it was only natural that he'd want any ponies coming in for a visit to not freak out at the sight of an actual dragon in Ponyville while the meeting was actually occurring simultaneously. "I really wish Spike would calm down." Athena mentioned as she poked one of the flyers to make sure it was firmly in place. "It's just Ember coming over, right? I'd be worried if it was any other dragon, but Ember seems pretty cool." She pulled away from eyeing the flyer to focusing her attention on me. "Hey, isn't this the first time she'll technically be meeting the both of us?" "What do you mean?" I wondered. "She, for sure, saw me back at that Gauntlet competition, and I think she saw you when we were trying to keep Garble away from Spike." "Psh. She was too busy fighting Garble to notice me. You, on the other hoof… She hasn't met the real you, remember?" She reminded. "Boy, she's going to be in for a real shocker." "Oh, yeah…" It had just occurred to me that I had been wearing a "disguise", per se, at the time. "You're right about that. We heard the train coming to a screeching halt behind, causing us to take a curious glance back at it until the doors opened up. We stayed and watched a few ponies to see if they would notice the flyers that had been posted for their sake. Some merely passed by it whether they noticed it or not. Others stopped and looked over its contents for a moment. Those who read the friendly warning exchanged looks with each other and proceeded to take part in short-lived conversations. "A dragon is coming here to Ponyville?" "Looks like it's part of a 'mutual friendship exchange' between ponies and dragons." "Hey, if I don't have to worry about dragons invading Ponyville anytime soon, it's fine by me." "Guess Spike's flyers worked." I told Athena after witnessing the small crowd that gathered nearby. "I can't say they were a bad idea. It's good to keep others informed if they don't normally get word of events around town." "Yeah, I could totes understand that." Athena agreed. "I don't think Ponyville has ever had a dragon come to town before, right? Well, except Spike, of course." Before I could give her a simple answer to her question, she unexpectedly looked past my shoulder and released what sounded like a soft gasp. I turned to try to get a look of whatever it was she saw, but all I noticed was a young-looking yet mature mare seeming to struggle with a few bags of her own. Her mane consisted of a kind of rich autumn brown color, and it was stylized in a ponytail with her bangs leaving strands of hair on both sides of her face. Her coat looked like it had been made with a milky and creamy vanilla color, and from what I could see at my angle, her eyes were an attractive set of sky blue. She was an Earth Pony, so she didn't have any kind of magic with the few bags she had been trying to gather with her mouth. She looked like she was alone, so it wasn't a surprise when Athena suggested that we give her a hoof. "Why don't we help her out?" She asked. "Yeah, sure. I don't see why not." I nodded and proceeded to approach this mare. She appeared to have been just barely able to carry what she had as she turned away from the train, but our sudden approach proved how unstable the method of her mouth had been. She unintentionally released her bags as our presence in front of her startled her. "I'm sorry." I quickly apologized. "Can we help you with that, miss?" She switched glances between both of us several times before she responded with a bit of a wide-eyed expression. "Oh, there's no need. Really. I can handle it." "Please, let us help you!" Athena threw out a bit too enthusiastically. "You looked like you were having a hard time, and I don't think anyone else is with you, are they?" "No, I'm by myself." She answered with a smile that seemed to lack a bit of confidence. "But, I wouldn't want you to trouble yourself with me." "It's no trouble." I stated. "Can we at least help bring your bags to wherever it is you're going?" As if she was hoping to convince her into allowing us to help, Athena released a beaming closed-eye grin. The mare noticed this sunshine-etched expression on her face and studied it for a short moment. Afterwards, she gave us her answer. "If it's really no trouble, I suppose I could use the help." "Please, excuse me, then!" Athena, for the sake of helping, picked up one of her bags and smiled adorably in response. I stretched out a warm and friendly smile at this mare and picked up the rest of her bags with my magic. "Where are we going?" "Are you two familiar with Ponyville?" She asked. "Totes!" Athena immediately answered. "We've lived here forever." I explained. "It's a small town, so getting around and used to the place is easy." "I see." She pulled out a small note and presented it towards us. "Could you take me to where this is?" On the small sheet of paper were an address and some brief directions. I wasn't completely familiar with the address, but it was definitely in a place we've all pretty much been at before. "Sure. Leave it to us." I told her and began walking ahead. "Let's go, Athena." "Gotcha!" She responded as she nearly hopped alongside me. "Oh, so your name is Athena?" The mare asked behind her. "Mm-hm!" "Oh, shoot." I had just remembered something pretty crucial and important. "We didn't even introduce ourselves yet. Athena here's my sister. My name's Alex. It's nice to meet you." "Athena and Alex, huh?" She repeated to herself. "Those are quite some interesting names. You wouldn't happen to be one of the princes of Equestria I believe I've heard about before, would you?" Feeling a bit embarrassed, I answered her with slight reluctance. "Yes, ma'am. Although, you don't need to worry about addressing me formally or anything." "I see." She calmly nodded with a small yet sweet smile. "It's nice to meet you both as well. My name is Hazel. Hazel Meadows. But, Hazel is absolutely fine." "So, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you to Ponyville?" I ignited some friendly small talk between us. "I don't mind. I'm actually moving here. I suppose it's a good thing I don't have much on me in the first place." She shared with a short chuckle following after. "Oh, yeah? Where from?" Athena questioned next. "Baltimare." She answered. "Oh, so you're a city mare?" "Hmhm." Hazel chuckled warmly once more. "Hardly. I didn't do much other than work and stay at home. I figured there wasn't really a point in being in the city on my own when I could stay in a small town without any trouble. A friend of mine referred me to Ponyville." "I guess I could understand that." I said. "As you mentioned earlier, I'm a prince, yet Ponyville is pretty much my permanent home. I mean, it's also where the friends I couldn't do without live, not to mention my…um…special somepony." "Aww. How cute." Hazel seemed to find my visible embarrassment adorable to look at, and it only made me feel even hotter. "Hey! Maybe you might just find your special somepony here!" Athena whipped out excitedly in response towards Hazel. "Me?" Hazel laughed gently. "Oh, Celestia. No. I'm well out of the dating scene." Athena and I unintentionally found us stopping in our tracks, and we both simultaneously turned our heads to look directly at the last pony that spoke. We took a good look at her to make sure we weren't being deceived. "What?!" Athena exclaimed out loud. "But, you're so young! Don't tell me you've given up on love!" Hazel remained silent for a moment. She looked clearly surprised at our reaction, but then she began laughing out loud joyously. "It's quite the opposite, honey. Although, I appreciate you still consider me a young mare." "Huh…?" Athena looked a bit puzzled by her vague response, but I decided to keep moving, considering we were still in the middle of helping Hazel move in. "It should be somewhere around here." I looked around as we entered the part of the area where her address belonged to. "Maybe this one?" I led the two to a particular vacant-looking house. Standing in front of it, I doubled checked the note she had given me with the address and made sure I was at the right place. "Yeah, should be it." "Oh, the key." She pulled out a small key and walked towards the door, shortly unlocking it afterwards. We brought her things inside and were allowed a brief look around. It was a little bothering to see how barren it was, but that's just how moving into to someplace new always was. At the very least, it had a few pieces of basic furniture to start with, such as a couch, table, and the like. "Thank you, both." She expressed as we placed her things down. "You've been a really big help." "Sure, no problem. If you want a real treat, you can stop over at a place called Sugarcube Corner. One of our friends, Pinkie Pie, works there. If you let her know you're new, she'll give the best welcome no pony in Equestria can ever match up against." "I'll keep that in mind." She returned with a smile as she began opening her bags and unpacking particular items of hers. "Um, so, I'm a little curious." Athena stepped forward, losing a bit of the sunshine that had been plastered on her face earlier. "…is anyone else coming by?" "Hm? Oh no." She replied as she placed down a framed photo on top one of the small tables by the wall. "If you're wondering if any pony else will be needing help bringing their things here, you don't have to worry about that. I'm the only one staying here." Athena exchanged a kind of worried glance with me. It was pretty clear that something had been bothering her, but I didn't have a clue of what it might have been. She turned back to Hazel, who seemed to have also noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong, sweetie? You look like you have something on your mind." "Oh…! Um…" Athena was pretty shocked to have received the kind of response that she did. "Well… I don't want to get into any personal business. We just met after all. But, to be honest, I was wondering about what you meant earlier. It's probably stupid of me to ask, but you said you were out of the dating scene. And, when I asked if you had given up on love, you said it was the opposite? Does…that mean you already have a special somepony…?" "Mm." She didn't respond immediately and spent a few seconds turning towards the photo she had placed down a moment ago. "Yes, you could say that." "But, you also said you were on your own in Baltimare, not to mention that you're staying by yourself right now. Is it…a long-distance kind of relationship?" "Hmm…" Hazel closed her eyes and appeared to hang her head in thought as a small smile slightly stretched from her lips. "Yes. You could say that there is definitely a vast amount of distance between us." "Forgive me for sticking my nose where it most likely doesn't belong, but wouldn't you want to be where he is then?" Athena pursued. "…Athena…" I felt the need to finally say something, afraid that she might scare this pony away. Nevertheless, Hazel didn't look like she minded at all. At least, I had hoped so. "He's…somewhere I can't exactly reach him yet." She responded with yet another vague response. "…oh. He's not in Equestria? I guess I can understand that…" Athena returned with a kind of gloomy voice. "It's a little more complicated than that." Hazel added, catching any wavering attention of ours. "How can I put it? Hm…" She tapped her chin with her hoof. "He's… 'no longer with us'. I believe that's the right way of saying it." It was safe to say that both of our pairs of eyes had shot open at the remark. It wasn't just the new information she had given us that shocked us, but it was also the fact that she seemed completely calm about it. "I-I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea! Me and my big mouth! Please forgive me!" Athena immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness in front of Hazel. Nevertheless, Hazel slipped out a small chuckle from her lips. "You don't need to apologize." "…but…" As Athena propped herself up from the floor, a small trickle of water began escaping from her right eye. Hazel studied Athena's somber face for a bit with a warm smile. "Hm. I can't help but wonder if she would have been just like you." "Huh?" Athena, appearing to notice the tear streaming down her face, picked up her hoof and rubbed her cheek. "Who?" "Many years ago, I was due to have a daughter. Unfortunately, it seems she went to go stay with her dad instead." She seemed to make an attempt in giving us the truth gently through a touch of lighthearted humor. It was like she was trying to convey an appropriate answer to a colt or filly, but both of us had been old enough to understand what kind of answer she was trying to put out. Athena placed both of her forehooves in front of her mouth in shock. "…I'm…really sorry." Despite the ill-fated topic of conversation that so happened to be shared between us, Hazel stretched her warm smile and placed a caring hoof on Athena's shoulder. "If it's me you're worried about, I'm absolutely fine. I've moved on, just like I'm sure they would've wanted me to." "Y-Yeah…" Athena began wiping any other tears that had been leaking out after being blown away by that last answer, looking around the house shortly after. "Um, is there anything you need help with? Unpacking, maybe?" It was a kind of a relief to hear Hazel chuckling again. "I appreciate the help, but I'm sure I have everything under control now. It's just a few things. However, if you'd like, I wouldn't mind you two showing me around sometime later. Perhaps, you could take me to this Pinkie Pie you mentioned a few minutes ago?" "Y-Yeah, sure!" Athena immediately nodded and then turned to me. "We can totally do that, right, Alex?!" "Of course, but first, we kind of have some dragon business to take care of soon." I reminded. "'Dragon business'?" Hazel's eyes widened out of peaked interest and curiosity. "Ah. I guess you didn't get to see the flyers when we approached you at the station." I recalled. "There'll be a dragon visiting Ponyville. In fact, she might just be here right now. You don't need to worry though. She's friendly, and that's kind of why she's coming over in the first place. She wants to learn more about friendship for her dragons and herself." "A dragon, huh?" Hazel wondered as she seemed to ponder the idea of it. "I might just take a look for myself after I'm done unpacking. It seems like something not a lot of ponies get to see very often." "Well, we did sort of just make friends with them not too long ago…" Athena rubbed her head with a bit of an embarrassed giggle. Hazel seemed to enjoy the sight of Athena's expression, and after exchanging a few more words with her, we parted ways so we could return to the business of welcoming Ember to Ponyville. Arriving back at Town Hall, we managed to catch Ember in the middle of a conversation with Spike and Starlight. It seemed Spike had already gone through his official speech, but oddly enough, I didn't see any of the trumpeters he had gathered together. That wasn't the only weird thing. There was a strong odor of smoke and ash. I knew Spike had some kind of "Dragon Fire Flame of Friendship" going on, but there wasn't any odor like the one I was smelling last time I was here. "Nice to see you were able to find the place." I greeted her as I approached the small group. "It's good to see you again." "Hi." Athena waved gently at the sight of the friendly Dragon Lord. "Oh…! I remember you, I think. Weren't you that random pony that popped out of nowhere when we were wrestling with Garble?" Ember recalled. "That's me." Athena beamed proudly. "I didn't realize it first, but that was actually pretty cool! How'd you do that? Seriously! Does it also have to do with pony magic? I could totally use some kind of camouflage when it comes to combat!" Ember seemed to have been getting a little too excited. "Well, she doesn't exactly have a horn." Spike mentioned. "Usually, only ponies with horns can handle magic." "Besides, it's kind of complicated." Athena continued. "Let's just say it's something only I can do." "Well, I'm totally willing to do whatever it takes if it means I can learn that trick you used." Ember looked like she was going to ramble on about the glory of war, but her eyes finally caught sight of me. "Oh yeah. I forgot you were standing there. Um, have we met before? I mean, I don't remember ever meeting you, but the way you look is ringing a bell for me for some reason." She mentioned as she rubbed her chin curiously with her claws. "We have, actually." I responded, the memory of being under a spell at the time coming to mind. "But, uh…I guess technically this is the first time we're meeting each other like this." Ember continued to stare at me silently with her claws crossed before she finally spoke up once again. "You've lost me. Have we actually met or not?" Ember was definitely pretty upfront and brash when it came to social matters, but knowing she was from a different culture, I didn't really mind it all that much. "Remember that blue dragon that was with Spike at the Gauntlet? The one that was kind of around your size? That was me." She seemed to spend a moment to herself thinking as she unknowingly quietly sent me a blank stare. "Wait. Wait. Wait. Hold on. You were him? What? That doesn't make any sense! Ponies can become dragons?!" "He was actually just under a spell that Twilight used." Starlight informed the clueless dragon in front of her. "Magic can do lots of things. Trust me." "Oh. I…guess that makes sense…?" Ember still looked to be majorly confused about the entire situation, but I suppose that's why she was here to learn. "Um. Can pony magic make gems appear out of thin air by any chance?" "Not that I know of…?" Starlight answered. "Well, nice to meet you again then." She turned back to me, awkwardly shaking my hoof with her claw. "Wait, am I supposed to do the hug thing too?" She wondered as she tapped her chin. "Hoof, uh, Claw shake is fine…" I stated before she could possibly hurt herself with how many questions she might have had already grown in her mind, despite just arriving here. "Seriously, though." Ember seemed to return to the topic on hoof. "Challenging a dragon like that? Were you nuts?" "It's not like I was alone." I reasoned with. "Oh, right. The friendship thing. I keep forgetting about that. Well, your courage is admirable. That's always a good thing to have." She now began turning her head in another direction. "Alright, Spike. Let's get going to—" Ember paused to begin searching around her. Spike, who had been here only a moment ago, was suddenly nowhere in sight. "Uh…Spike?" "He, um, probably went to go take something for his stomachache!" Starlight answered. "Spike has a tummy ache?" Athena questioned. "Y-Yeah…" Starlight nervously laughed in response. "It just like came out of nowhere." "He's probably already at this castle then. Let's go." Ember stated as she began walking ahead of us. "You sure you don't want to look around somewhere else? I could give you a tour of Ponyville." Starlight seemed to push the idea a little too much for some reason. "Later. I want to hi to Twilight too, y'know? Dragon learning friendship, remember?" She stopped to say before continuing on ahead. Starlight sighed lightly. "Oh, boy…" "What's going on?" I asked, feeling out of the loop of something. "Long story short: Spike accidently invited Ember and Thorax to Ponyville on the same day." She explained. Athena's eyes immediately lit up. "Thorax is here?!" "He's at the castle! That's why I was trying to stop Ember from going there." "Ember and Thorax are here. So, what? Do Dragons and Changelings have something going between them?" I asked. "Uh. Well. I don't think so." Starlight stated unconfidently. "But, the issue here is that he's supposed to be with both them!" "I don't get the problem." I answered with a puzzled state of mind. "Can't he do just that?" "You're talking about a changeling who was a softie out of his entire pack and a dragon who's literally the leader of a ruthless group of dragons. I'm not so sure it'll work out if they're both together." "I mean, maybe before the Gauntlet happened, but things are different now. She wants to know more about friendship, after all." Starlight sighed once more. "For now, let's just catch up with Ember and make sure things don't get out of hoof at the castle. She could already be there." I honestly still didn't see what was so problematic about it. Yeah, I can see how it could be a problem with Spike inviting the two of them to Ponyville with the notion of spending the day with them separately, but all he really has to do is fess us to his mistake, right? With the kind of changeling Thorax is, I'm sure he'll understand. As for Ember? Well, I can't be too certain about how she'd react, but then again, I don't think she's exactly the type to let her emotions get the better of her, right? "Come on, Alex! I want to go see Thorax!" Athena exclaimed, pulling me out of my thoughts and nearly dragging me along with her. Ember was already taking a look around inside the castle interior by the time we caught up with her. Her head turned side-to-side as she rested her claws on her hips. It seemed she was looking for something in particular. "Spike, you in here?" She asked before facing in the direction of a particular hallway. "Oh, there you are! How's the stomachache?" Spike had been lightly jogging towards us, but it didn't seem as if he had been expecting us to show up the moment he arrived in the main hall. "Huh? What stomachache?" He asked a little nervously. "Um…the one you said you were feeling coming on?" Ember reminded. "Oh! Right! That! Uh. You know how it is. Gotta tough it out. Heh heh." "Um, okay." Ember seemed to find Spike's nervous behavior strange, but she didn't think too much of it as she soon switched over to a casual tone to speak with him. "So, where's Twilight?" "She's, uh…busy right now!" Spike answered. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't I start us off with an official Friendship Banquet? You'll love the food here." "Sounds good. I could use a bite to eat." Ember began walking on ahead with gusto after Spike pointed in the direction of the dining hall. Starlight decided to follow after her since Spike was lagging a bit behind. "Spike, you don't need to do all this." I caught his attention for a moment. "Just tell Thorax and Ember that you accidentally invited them to Ponyville on the same day." "Huh?!" He nearly shouted out loud enough for the others up ahead to hear. "How'd you know that?!" "Starlight filled us in." Athena answered. "You should tell the truth, Spike." "You know I can't do that!" He exclaimed in a hushed whisper, looking back to make sure Ember wasn't hearing any of it. "Ember and Thorax might get mad and fight!" "…I can't see that happening…" Athena shared. "I think Thorax is pretty understanding." "Besides, if you keep this up, it might escalate to a point you don't want it to go. Just saying. Remembering being princess for a day?" I brought up. Spike sighed heavily and seemed to calm himself down just a tad bit. "Look, I appreciate the advice, but I just need some time to think things through for a bit. I don't want to rush an apology. Just…give me some time to think about how I'm going to handle this." "Spike?" We could hear Ember calling from a distance. "C-Coming!" He fearfully answered back before turning back to us. "Do me a favor, please? Twilight is keeping Thorax busy, but Ember is no doubt going to want to meet Twilight soon. Please please please stick with Thorax until I can get some breathing room?" "I've been wanting to see Thorax anyway." Athena happily obliged. "Where is he?" "In the library." Spike responded as he began jogging away from us towards the dining room. "I owe you one!" Once he was out of sight, I couldn't help but sigh lightly and shake my head a bit. I understood the pressure he was in, but I was still insistent on telling the truth before things got out of hoof being the best course of action to take for this circumstance. If Spike ends up being caught doing what he's doing by one party, much less both, it could lead to a serious misunderstanding. But, it looks like he might have to learn the hard way, just like he did with covering Twilight for a day back at Canterlot that one time. Athena was pretty visibly excited as she hopped on over to the library. When she reached the door, she pushed it open and poked her head inside. "Thorax, you in here?" She asked with a jubilant smile. "Athena! Hey!" I heard, walking in to see Athena racing over to Thorax to give him a bubbly hug. On the other hoof, I heard a drawn-out sigh accompanying me to my left. It was Twilight, and she looked pretty exhausted. "I didn't think talking about chairs would be so…stressful." "I told him to just tell them the truth." I mentioned. "Did he ask for your help too?" Twilight asked, realizing I had known about the situation already. "Yeah, kind of." I replied. "He wanted us to keep Thorax busy, but I don't see anything good coming out what he's been doing so far." "Well, right now, we're just trying to, um, figure out the best way to approach this. I think telling them the truth is a good idea too, but Spike's afraid it might end up leading to a war between dragons and changelings. I know. It sounds a little far-fetched, but we are focused on establishing friendships. If we can have some time to ourselves to think things through on letting them know without hurting anyone's feelings, that would be great." "Well, let's just hope your plan doesn't backfire." I anticipated, taking a glance at Athena and Thorax as they appeared to have a lively conversation between the two of them. "By the way, Ember wants to meet you. I'm pretty sure Athena has a lot to talk to Thorax about, so right now would probably be the best time to go see her." "Right. I'll go do that." She said before leaving the room to us. "Um, hey, is Spike going to come back anytime soon? I really need to talk to him." Thorax asked as his face filled with worry. "Why? Is something wrong?" Athena inquired, tilting her head caringly in response to the expression on his face. "Uh. It's just…I'm kind of having a problem with leading my pack. You know how we all just literally evolved from love-sucking changelings? Well, a lot of us are happy with our new life. Happy that we don't have to feed anymore like the way we used to. Unfortunately, not every changeling agrees with that. Some of them still want to feed off of love, and me being a leader, I'm like, "Hey let's not do that anymore", but they won't listen. I've tried everything to show them that it's not our thing anymore, but none of it works." Thorax sighed heavily. "I don't know what to do anymore, so that's why I wanted to talk to Spike and see if he had any ideas." "Maybe you need to kick some changeling butt?" Athena returned with a mischievous smirk. "Oh, no." Thorax shook both his hooves and head in disagreement. "I couldn't do that. It'd make me seem like some kind of tyrannical leader. Kind of like…well…how Chrysalis used to be. I want my pack to understand me through words, not by violence." "Well, you've gotta show them who's boss somehow." I advised a bit myself. Thorax sighed once more. "I know. I just wish Spike was here. I'd feel a lot better, but him disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere constantly kind of makes me a lot more nervous." "Spike's…actually pretty busy right now." Athena tried to say without spilling the beans. "N-Not that he doesn't want to talk or hang out with you, of course! It's just…sometimes things will pop out of nowhere for him, but I'm sure you'll see him soon!" "Oh, really?" Thorax answered a little sadly. "Oh… Well, maybe I should just go home then…" "No, no!" Athena placed her hooves on him to stop him from leaving. "Like I said: It probably won't be too long before he's done. Why don't we hang out to pass the time?" "Are you sure?" Thorax asked, lightly lifting up a smile. "I guess that would definitely be a better option than going back home with no idea how to handle my pack." "I'm going to go check and see if Spike can use my help." I decided to excuse myself, believing Athena would be able to stick with Thorax. I began making my way back to the dining room, but I unexpectedly heard pretty loud voices coming from the map room during the walk. Out of curiosity, I poked my head through the ajar door and found two ponies and a dragon having a frantic kind of conversation bubbling between them. Most importantly, for the first time ever, I noticed Spike's spikes glowing oddly. It definitely wasn't because he was being summoned to the Dragon Lands. It's kind of glow reminded me of something else, but I couldn't quite put my tongue on it at the moment. "Uh, did I miss something?" I asked as I walked into the room. "H-Hey, what are you doing here?!" Spike dashed over to me, his continuously flashing spikes distracting me easily. "Don't tell me you brought Thorax with you!" He said in a hushed voice as he worriedly looked past me. "Relax. He's with Athena right now. What's going on? Why are your scales flashing like that?" I asked. "He's being called by the map. Look." Twilight answered, directing my gaze over to the transparent three-dimensional map hovering over the table. "Ponyville?" I pondered. "I didn't even know you could be called by the map. I thought it was just us ponies because of our cutie marks or something." "Well, now we know it's a thing. Talk about timing." Starlight lightly ranted. "What are you going to do about Ember and Thorax now, Spike?" Spike nervously groaned. "I just can't ignore the map, can I? Why is this happening to me?!" He nearly sounded as if he was about to pass out from the stress he was encumbered with. "It's only calling you. Whatever the problem is, it wants you to fix it." Twilight reminded. "Luckily, you don't have to go too far. It's right here in Ponyville. Why don't you go out and see who's having the problem? We'll keep Ember and Thorax busy." "Maybe you two can go out and help him." I offered, finding that even though they weren't called by the map, they could actually still somehow help locate the problem so things could be resolved quicker. "I think Athena's already got Thorax covered. I can spend some time with Ember. I don't want to put any more pressure on you Spike, but Thorax really wants to talk to you." "Do you have a clue on what you're going to do to keep Ember busy?" Starlight asked. "Thorax is another thing, but Ember seems like she's pretty impatient, and I don't think it'll be too long before she's had her fill with Twilight's walls." "She's here in Ponyville to learn about friendship, right? I think I can come up with something. I did with you, didn't I?" I recalled the day I had with Starlight Glimmer. "I guess it doesn't hurt to help look for the problem…" Twilight concluded as she rested a hoof on her chin. "We all live in Ponyville anyway. It's not like we can just stay inside." "Then, it's settled!" Spike pointed out, looking ready to dash out the door. "You two come with me and help me look for any kind of fighting between friends. The faster I can get rid of this problem, the better!" "We'll be back soon." Twilight told me before she followed the jogging dragon out of the room. "Good luck." Starlight wished before she headed after them. "For some reason, I feel like you might need it." "…tell that to Spike…" I murmured underneath my breath after they all had left. I sighed a bit heavily and decided to resume the walk toward the dining hall. I could only hope that Ember wasn't blowing fumes in the bad sense. I heard loud and sharp crunching by the time I arrived at the dining room. In fact, it kind of sounded painful. "Ember? Are you in here?" I called. As I took a look inside, I was shocked to find the décor practically shredded apart. Ironically, the only thing that wasn't touched was the actual food lined up on the table. So, that's what Starlight meant when she was talking about Twilight's walls. Ember had just finished taking a huge chunk out of a particular piece of the wall before belching loudly after. "I've gotta say. This kind of food is fit for a Dragon Lord!" Ember commented before noticing me at the door. "Oh, hey. It's you. Um…" She tapped her chin with her claw in thought. "Wait. Did I ever get your name? Because I'm drawing a blank right now." "It's Alex." I answered. "…Owl Licks?" She repeated cluelessly. "No. Alex. A-L-E-X." I corrected. She returned another blank stare before she shook her head and held a claw to her head. "I'll never understand these pony names. First, you have something like Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and now there's a name like that? What gives?" "If it bothers you that much, then you can just stick with Owl Licks." I compromised with. "No, no." Ember shook her head. "I'm here to learn about friendship. No point if I can't even get a pony's name right. Which reminds me. How is Spike doing? The last thing I knew, his spikes were flashing weirdly. I don't get it. Is that how ponies get stomachaches or does it also have to do with the magic you guys have?" "Uh… You could say it's magic." I took a moment to think to myself and realized it might not be so bad to give her a bit of the truth. After all, it had the potential to allow her to be a bit more understanding in regards to Spike's frequent disappearances. "You see… We have this map in the castle that sometimes calls us to solve 'friendship problems' from all over Equestria." During my explanation, I realized something a bit strange and thought out loud for a second. "Actually, now that I think about it…I wonder why we never had any calls to the Dragon Lands. I mean, obviously, there's not much friendship going on between you, after all." I finally found that I had been getting a bit off topic, so I shook my head to get me back on track. "Anyways, it's really bad timing, but Spike got called all of a sudden. And it's not something we can easily ignore. He's actually working on solving whatever it is he needs to do so he can get back to his meeting with you." "Oh, really?" Ember raised an eyebrow, but she didn't seem to get angry by it. "Wow. I never knew ponies had such important responsibilities with friendship. Man, there really is a lot I don't know. Well, that's too bad. I wasn't expecting to hardly see Spike at all today. It kind of annoys me, but it's not like it's his fault by the way you put it. There're just some things you have to do whether you like it or not. I can understand that as a dragon. Do you have any idea when he'll be back?" "Actually, I don't…" I replied honestly. "These friendship problems can take days to do, but I think this is the first time Ponyville has shown up on the map. So, who knows? Might only be half an hour or a few hours at most." "…so, should I just go home then?" Ember wondered. "Well, I wouldn't want your trip to be a waste. If it's cool with you, I can probably show you around town. In my opinion, Ponyville is one of the friendliest places to be. I'm sure you can learn a lot here." "That's not a bad idea actually." She returned a smile of approval. "What better way to learn about friendship than to make new friends?" "That's the spirit." I felt a bit glad that she was enthusiastic about this. "Come on. I'll show you around." I knew that Spike was most likely flailing his claws around town, but I was sure it wouldn't pose much of a problem since I told Ember the technical truth for his absence. She was pretty understanding about it, so I was sure it'd work out as long as Spike didn't spill the beans out of nervousness. I gave Ember a brief tour around Ponyville, giving her the names of different businesses, places, and events in Ponyville. She looked pretty interested yet confused from culture shock. I could only imagine how different it must have been for her as it was for us when we had visited the Dragon Lands. "So, this 'ice cream'." Ember brought up to me. "You're saying it's like the opposite of lava?" "Pretty much, yeah." I said. "I'm curious. Do you ponies have a pool full of ice cream you like to swim in?" "Um… You might have to ask another one of our friends about that…" I responded a bit awkwardly with Pinkie in mind. "Whoa! There really is a dragon here!" A familiar voice exclaimed out. Ember and I looked back to see who had approached us. To my surprise, it had been Vinyl who nearly shrieked that remark out. However, she had two others accompanying her. Beside her, I found Octavia holding cup of, what I could only assume was, hot tea, and Derpy, who held up a brand new and untouched muffin. "Interesting. Very interesting." Octavia reacted calmly, eyeing the two of us instead of only Ember. Ember exchanged a quick glance with me before facing the ponies before her and puffed out her chest. "Hello." She greeted after clearing her throat. "I am Ember, daughter of Torch, winner of the Gauntlet of Fire, and lord of all dragons!" She proclaimed valiantly before she gave out a firm battle cry with a cloud of flames and smoke to go with it. "No way! It's attacking Ponyville!" Vinyl fell to the ground as if she was trying to avoid the flames. "Don't burn my setup! Please! Anything but that!" "Hm." Octavia returned rather casually as she simply watched the show Ember put on as if they were fireworks. Derpy was too busy licking her lips at her now lightly toasted muffin. "Uh…how about we don't do that unless you want to burn a house down…" I suggested to Ember. "Was that wrong?" Ember looked over to me with a puzzled expression on her face. "Usually when I do that, the dragons are eager to meet me." "Well, ponies aren't dragons." I simply answered. "Ah." Ember grew a grin on her face as if she had just hatched a perfect idea in her head. "I get it." Just as Derpy was about to take a bite out of her muffin, Ember borrowed it and immediately began scraping it against a nearby wall as if it was some kind of marker. "This is a weird friendship thing you ponies do, right?" An uncomfortable and odd silence ensued after. Even I couldn't comprehend what brought her to do something like that. "…my muffin…" Derpy mumbled sadly as her ears flopped down. "…uh…why don't we get you another one, huh?" Vinyl suggested, returning a nervous grin as she began pulling her away from us. Judging from the look on her face, it seemed she was more concerned about not getting burned than getting Derpy a replacement muffin. Octavia continued staring at the two of us for a moment longer as she sipped her drink. "Have fun." She mentioned before turning around to join the others. Ember continued silently watching them leave as I turned my head over to her to raise the first question on my mind. "What exactly made you think ponies decorate random walls with their friends' food?" I seriously questioned. "What?" Ember asked with a bit of an upset tone. "That's what Spike and Starlight did! Why else would I be eating off the walls in your castle." I had no response lined up for what she told me. I mean, I understood why she'd think that, but I didn't know what I could say back since I never thought I'd have to tell someone other than a foal to not paint the walls with food. Before I knew it, two other ponies had been walking into the scene, but it didn't seem like they were interested in checking out the dragon in town. In fact, it sounded like they had been bickering to each other. "Well, I think vanilla strawberry cream is overused!" It was Lyra Heartstrings, and she had been speaking with some pony that I wasn't exactly acquainted with. It was somepony I remembered seeing every now and then in Ponyville but never actually made any conversation with. "Hmph!" The pony Lyra had been facing turned her head away with gusto as she frowned disapprovingly. It was inevitable that they'd see us in their path, and they were both fairly shocked when they did based on the noticeable gasps they gave. "Hey! It's the dragon the town's talking about!" Lyra noticed Ember first before her gaze slid over to me. "And…the prince! Hi, Alex!" "Hey, Lyra." I greeted. "Long time no see." I glanced over to Ember and decided I should introduce her before she herself could botch it up. "This is Ember. She's from the Dragon Lands." "Um, hi." Ember awkwardly waved her claw. It seemed she had taken the reception of her previous greeting into account. "Hang on." Lyra's friend suddenly cut in as she looked straight at me. "I think I've seen this guy before." "Duh!" Lyra answered a bit bitterly. "He's a prince." "No, before that!" She clarified in a similar tone and thought to her self out loud. "When was it…? I remember being with Cherry Berry…oh yeah! I remember now! He was with that pony that dumped garbage all over us!" I frantically tried to remember such a time when literal garbage was involved, but I couldn't come up with anything on the spot. "What are you talking about, Bon Bon?" Lyra questioned with slightly infuriated and unamused eyes. "I'm talking about that day I was helping Cherry Berry move carts full of garbage. This pony couldn't wait one minute for her to tell me a quick joke before she bathed us in complete filth! I couldn't get the smell out for weeks!" Ohhh. Now, I know what she was talking about. "Alex, is this true?" Lyra asked me with some kind of pleading stare, almost as if she was hurt to hear that such a thing happened. "…yeah, I remember." I reluctantly admitted. "Well, in her defense, you were blocking the whole bridge." "But she had wings! She could've easily just flown around us!" Bon Bon argued. "Uh…I'm just going to let you do your thing…" Ember cut in for a short moment, clearly looking like she felt out of place with the current conversation. "Let me know when you're done. I'm just going to walk around for a bit…" Ember left quickly, and I didn't really have time to come up with something to tell her in response. So, I was now dragged into the middle of a possible dispute. "Look, let's just both agree that both parties were at fault, okay?" I suggested, wanting to deescalate the situation as soon as possible. "You don't block an entire path if there's a pony behind you, even if it's for a minute, but at the same time, nothing warrants having trash dumped all over you, okay?" "Yeah, Bon Bon." Lyra quickly agreed with me. "You should've known better. He's a prince, after all." "Ugh!" Bon Bon scoffed in disgust. "You're only agreeing with him because you don't want to have vanilla strawberry cream cupcakes with me!" "What's this about what now?" I intervened, remembering that they had apparently been fighting before they bumped into us. "Oh, hold on. Time out for a second." Lyra paused and looked straight towards me. "Hey, Alex, since you're a prince and all, do you think you could help us out with something?" "…sure?" "You see, Bon Bon and I like to hang out a lot, but for some strange reason, there have been ponies from out of town coming by and acting strange to us. Apparently, they all heard a rumor about us from other places in Equestria and they, like, ask us these really weird questions. Like, it makes us super uncomfortable. I don't know why, but they have this really awkward idea of us. Can you do anything about that?" "Um…" I replied as I tried to understand her request clearly. "I don't know what 'awkward idea' they have of you two, but I don't think I can make some kind of announcement to all of Equestria to fix it. All I could suggest is…maybe letting them know their idea of you two is actually wrong?" "We've told them! But, it's like they don't listen, and they won't stop bugging us about it! We end up just ignoring them, but it's still annoying. It actually happened not too long ago today. Bon Bon and I were deciding what to eat for lunch when some ponies from out of town saw us and bugged us. I was so mad that when Bon Bon was recommending me vanilla strawberry cream cupcakes, I kind of just blew up." "Well, now that you've calmed down a bit, are you still in the mood to fight over cupcake flavors?" I asked, finding the argument a bit silly, to begin with. "Oh, my goodness." Lyra returned with a wide-eyed expression before she faced her friend. "I can't believe I didn't realize it until now, but I didn't mean to yell at you like that, Bon Bon! I was just—" "Yeah, I know. You were angry at those other ponies. I get it." Bon Bon seemed to understand. "I get frustrated too, you know? I don't like it when you take it out on me like that." "I'm really sorry, and as a token of my apology, I will havevanilla strawberry cream cupcakes with you. Even if I'm not a big fan of them." Lyra gestured. "Gee, thanks." Bon Bon rolled her eyes. However, she looked content with Lyra's apology. "So, I take it you worked out the argument between you two?" I asked. "Sure thing!" Lyra responded gleefully. "But, I wouldn't mind putting an end to ponies randomly coming up to ask us personal questions." "I can try to figure something out, but, to be perfectly honest, I don't think there's much I can really do… After all, sometimes, you just can't change someone's mind at all." Lyra sighed lightly. "I guess you're right. Well, here's to hoping it all blows over soon!" She now faced her friend with a beaming grin on her face. "Come on, Bon Bon! I'm ready to head straight on over to Sugarcube Corner!" She turned back to me to ask me a quick question. "You wanna come with?" "Thanks, but I've gotta go look for my dragon friend." I answered as I began looking around the area I had been in. "Oh, yeah!" Lyra said as if she had forgotten all about the one dragon that was in town. "Well, I guess I'll see you soon. Later! Tell Twilight I said hi!" I returned a light wave as I saw them off for a bit before I continued roaming around the streets in search of Ember. I ended up following the direction that Lyra and her friend Bon Bon took in an attempt to find Ember. Thankfully, due to the fact that she was a dragon, it wasn't hard to find her as anticipated. However, just as I was about to call out to her, I noticed her speaking to somepony at one of the tables outside of the bakery. Actually, it wasn't particularly somepony. It was more like…someone. Someone who didn't exactly fit in with the other ponies here as well. I found myself racing over in a slight panic just in time to hear bits and pieces of their conversation. "You know you don't have to be sappy or huggy-feely about it! But you should let your friends know how you feel." "That sounds like it's going to be a real challenge…but I guess that's what being a dragon is all about. Thanks." Ember had been talking to Thorax. The one changeling that Spike didn't want her around with at all. I wasn't sure what to think of the situation, but I was pretty satisfied to see that they hadn't been exactly fighting as Spike had been worrying about in the first place. Despite the two, I had found Athena watching the conversation between the two of them. It appeared that she had initially taken out Thorax for some food… "Oh, hey!" Ember finally spotted me slowly creeping over to Athena. "Guess what? I made a new friend today! "Alex!" Thorax noticed me as well. "I didn't know you two knew each other!" "Yeah… We met each other a while back when we went to the Dragon Lands." I responded as casually as I could. "She gives out amazing advice! I might just know what to do about my pack now!" Thorax complimented excitedly. "…and I have a lead on how to start when it comes to friendship." Ember reiterated a bit hesitantly as if the idea made her uncomfortable. "That's great. Glad to see you two getting along." I didn't exactly want the truth about Spike purposely keeping the two of them apart to slip out. At this rate, he might just get out of his trouble quite easily after all. Nevertheless, I continued to lean over to Athena to whisper by her ear. "I didn't know you were bringing Thorax out here." Athena shrugged with a sheepish grin. "I thought he might be hungry, and I didn't want him to see the mess the dining room was in. So, I decided it might be good for him to get some fresh air and eat outside. Next thing I knew, Ember came strolling along, noticed me, and started talking to Thorax." "Well, looks like we might not have anything to worry about after all." I stated as I carefully watched the two apparently get along with each other. "All that's left to do is Spike letting them know the truth gently before they find out on their own." "Friendship problem? Anypony got a friendship problem?" We heard Spike's voice yell out. Before we knew it, he was jogging past us at a light pace. He nearly had missed the sight of us, but it seemed he had caught on at the last second. "Gah!" He almost screamed out loud when he turned in our direction. "Spike, there you are! I've got something incredible to tell you!" Thorax exclaimed happily. "Spike!" Ember now called out. "I just actually made a friend today." Thorax and Ember both raised their eyebrows after hearing each other call out to Spike and turned to each other in confusion. "Hold on. You know Spike too?" Thorax asked. "Yeah, he invited me to Ponyville today to learn more about friendship." "Oh, really? He also invited me over today because I needed to talk with him about my problem." To be honest, it didn't look like they were going to be at each other's throats, but Spike must have seen otherwise. He ended up throwing himself over to the table the two had been and began babbling out what could have come across as incoherent nonsense. "Equestria as we know it is over!" He acted out rather dramatically, almost as if he had been Rarity in disguise. "The war that pits changeling against dragon is about to begin! And it's all my fault! My title of Equestria's friendship ambassador is a lie—! Oh. Hey. You guys aren't fighting?" He finally seemed to slow down a bit and noticed. "What the heck has gotten into you?" Ember questioned, clearly surprised by Spike's unexpected reaction. "Why would we be fighting?" "Oh. Um…because…I…accidentally invited you both over to Ponyville on the same day?" Spike flinched heavily as if he was expecting some substantial artillery feedback from the two guests. "So what?" Ember and Thorax simultaneously responded with. "Well, I… I was afraid that if you two found out that I had invited you both, you'd get angry and fight each other, so I was trying to keep you apart for the entire day." "Wait. Hold on a second!" Ember physically pointed out with her claw. "I thought you were too busy handling a 'friendship problem'!" "I-I was!" Spike stuttered, noticing the fire that was beginning to ignite within Ember's eyes. "Obviously not!" She rebuked. "You couldn't be solving a friendship problem if you're too busy trying to keep us apart! You're only making one!" Ember suddenly paused as if she came to a sudden realization. "Wait a minute. I get it! I am the friendship problem, aren't I? You think that just because I'm a dragon and bad at friendship, I would be making a whole bunch of problems elsewhere?!" "No, no, of course not! But— Wait. Isn't that kind of why you're here?" Spike felt the need to include, earning a facehoof from me. "I can say I'm bad at friendship. You can't say it about me! And you know what? I'm still learning. In fact, I'm learning a heck of a lot more on my own instead of with you like you had promised! Forget it. I'm out of here." Just before Ember could take off, Thorax suddenly grabbed a hold of her and called out. "Wait!" Ember angrily looked back and responded with an attitude. "What?" "Remember what we talked about?" Thorax reminded. "I gave you some good advice on how to get better at friendship, and I'd say right now is the perfect time to put it into practice." Ember returned a swift glance at Spike before she turned back to Thorax. "Do I really have to talk about my feelings?" Thorax simply nodded. "Rragh!" Ember groaned loudly before she inhaled a heavy breath and slowly exhaled it out. She then slowly approached Spike who began to soon cower at the sight of her. "P-P-Please…! I-I-I'm really sorry!" Spike pleaded. "Let me talk about this!" Ember violently yelled, shutting him up immediately. "I…feel…mad." I had a front row seat when it came to how difficult it actually was for her to talk about her feelings. Honestly, it seemed like this was one of the things you wouldn't believe at face value until you actually saw it for yourself. For a strong and extremely assertive dragon, she seemed to have trouble finding the words to express herself clearly… Ember had groaned exhaustively, which led Thorax to roll in with some encouragement. "Okaaaay... That's a good first attempt. Now maybe try to be more specific?" Ember then stretched herself out as much as she could before she began fanning herself as she breathed deeply. "I'm…" She managed to say before releasing a drawn-out sigh. "…upset!" She finally finished with a great burst of enthusiasm and energy. "You have every right to be…" Spike responded with a guilt-ridden and shame-filled expression. "I know I do!" Ember yelled out right at his face. She certainly wasn't pulling any punches. "And I know I need to tell you how I feel because my friend Thorax said it would make me feel better. And it does!" "What about you, Thorax?" Spike turned to him. "Are you mad at me too?" "No, not really." Thorax lightly shook his head. "…but I do think what you did was wrong! And, I have no problem telling you that because my friend Ember is helping me be more assertive!" Spike was quite literally taken aback as Thorax firmly stood his ground. "Whoa." Ember straightened out her back after having to catch her breath as if she had been physically exhausted. "Nice." The two of them slapped hooves/claws and exchanged friendly laughter with each other. "You guys should be mad at me." Spike admitted. "I was so worried about how it could go wrong, I didn't even think about how it could go right." With a heavy sigh, he practically bowed and pleaded in front of them. "Can you forgive me?" "I really do feel better. So, yeah. I'm good." Ember answered casually. "Hah. Me, too. After all, as bad as this situation may have been, each of us ended up learning something worthwhile, haven't we?" Thorax shared. He turned to both Spike and Ember, and once he received nods of approval, he immediately grabbed a hold of them and hugged them both tightly. Ember, of course, still didn't look too used to the idea. "Again?" She groaned out. Spike laughed in response until the spikes on top of his head began shimmering. "No way! It's finally happening! I solved the friendship problem!" "Actually, you created the friendship problem by not trusting your friends." Starlight's voice drew into the conversation. Either they had noticed from afar or just happened to catch the scene that unfolded in front of us, Starlight and Twilight had been joining into the conversation unexpectedly. "Yeah, but then I solved it by learning my lesson. I should have told my two friends about each other immediately instead of assuming they wouldn't get along." "I know right…?" I bumped my elbow against Athena who simply giggled back softly. "Good job, Spike." Twilight congratulated. "Is this another part of pony friendship?" Ember asked. "Telling each other what you learned all the time?" "Yeah, pretty much." Starlight answered nonchalantly. "There's actually something I had planned for your visit here in Ponyville, Ember, but now that you two are both here, mind helping me out a bit?" Spike questioned a bit shyly. "Sure." Ember replied, puffing her chest out in poise. "If it has to do with friendship, I'm always willing to learn some more new things." "Count me in." Thorax reacted eagerly. For Spike's next planned event, Athena and I decided to include a special guest we had given a simple promise to earlier in the day. Nearly all of Ponyville had been gathered in front of town hall as both Ember and Thorax were given the center of attention. I supposed having not only a dragon but a changeling show up as well was enough to garner the eyes of so many unsuspecting ponies. "So, as a show of unity, I present the Dragon Fire Flame of Friendship to both Dragon Lord Ember and Thorax, leader of the changeling pack!" Spike announced loudly towards everyone in the vicinity. "May the flame of friendship burn for eternity." Confetti fell from the sky as ponies around us cheered loudly. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Ember's nose didn't take too kindly to the thin pieces of colored paper as she soon released a bellowing sneeze, shooting out a fairly huge ball of flame straight towards an ice sculpture that had been made in honor of the ceremony. The crowd was shocked in response, but Ember managed to save herself, whether she wanted to or not, by treating the accidental sneeze lightheartedly. "You should have more things made of rocks." She suggested to Spike, opening a collective laughter between the three of them. "My, my…" The guest Athena and I had invited over now revealed her reaction to the ceremony. "It's not every day where you see a dragon and changeling like this. Never in my life in Baltimare could I imagine something like this happening." "To be honest, if you're going to be living here with us in Ponyville, you might have to get used to it." Athena shared truthfully. "Other than that, I promise it's a really fun place to stay, Hazel!" I nodded in agreement. "It may be a small town, and you might find that a bunch of weird things happen here. But, this kind of place might just work out for you. That is…if you don't mind things like this happening." "No, no." Hazel shook her head and smiled warmly at us. "As big as Baltimare is, life on my own there was a bit…bland. If what I'm seeing is right, Ponyville might just have the kind of excitement I need." She then shared a hearty chuckle before expressing her thanks to us. "Thank you, you two. I think I'll be enjoying my stay here." "No problem." I returned with a smile of my own. "And remember, if you ever need anything…" "You can count on us!" Athena exclaimed joyfully. From there on, Athena and I decided to spend a little more time with Hazel before she'd head on home to finish getting settled. We didn't know exactly what it was, but there was just something about her that was welcoming to the community. Nevertheless, we both agreed that she was a pretty strong pony for what she had been through. And with that, we were both looking forward to seeing her around town in her new home.