//------------------------------// // The Drake and the Diamond // Story: Lagging Dragon // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// The dragon lands, one of the hottest places in Equestria. The dragons living here were far from pushovers, in fact, they're kind of violent. Some prefer to be called bullies but they are incredibly dangerous. As if fire breath isn't bad enough, they also have short tempers, and this doesn't blend well with their strength and pride. Dragon Lord Ember has acknowledged this and tried asking Spike for some advice about friendship. When the School of Friendship she had Smolder enrolled. And after Garble helped save the newborn dragons when there was a lack of lava, he was rewarded for his actions. She was making sure to build better with the other creatures. Even though some dragons were happy to join with others were heavily against this. They said it made them weak, but Ember just simply ignored them, but only some. "Explain how it makes us look weak," Ember said to some complaining dragons. "You're teaming us up with the ponies," a green dragon complained. "And that's a problem, why? If we're ever in need of assistance in a battle I think they might have a spell that could stop them. Or they could just levitate them." "Well... I..." "Try to actually think before you complain to me." Ember flew off with the scepter in her claw. She heard a bit of taunting around the lava pools and found some dragons picking on another one. This would just be a normal fight but Ember noticed the dragon's design. He was lanky, tall, and green. His horns were orange and his chest was partly purple just like some sort of creature she knew. "So, you going to jump or want?" a bulky dragon asked. "Look, I don't feel like swimming," the green lanky dragon said feeling very unconfident. "Aww, does someone need his mommy to put on his floaties?" a tubby dragon asked. "How about you leave him alone," Ember said grabbing their attention. "Oh, Dragon Lord Ember," the bulky dragon said nervously. "We were... Just leaving." The dragons flew off leaving the lanky one and Ember alone. "Thank you," he said, "Dragon Lor..." "Thorax, I know it's you." The "dragon" sigh as he changed back into a changeling. "I knew I should've gone with yellow," he sighed. "Yeah, plus your loincloth is a different design." She wasn't wrong, the changeling's loincloth was colored violet to match his wings while the other loincloths, like Ember's, were simple brown. "What are you even doing here?" "Well, my brother Pharynx has... Been wanting to know more about the dragon lands but he was needed elsewhere." The changeling gave a nervous chuckle and saw that the dragoness wasn't buying it. "Okay, I just wanted to see how you were doing." "That's nice and all but I'm fine. Who's watching your kingdom?" "My brother. He does that when I'm needed elsewhere." "I think you should head back home. It's nothing personal, it's just he's like a dragon. Violent with a short fuse." "Right, maybe we could meet up later and check on how the students we enrolled at Twilight's school are doing." Ember just gave a shrug. "Maybe." Thorax sighed in response. "Look, I know you mean well, and I'm sure your powers come in handy." "They really do. Like when you need to defend your friends." "Like Spike?" The changeling gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, I don't think that was his best day." "He did help me in the past." "How so?" "Well, before I was king, I was just a simple changeling. We were all hungry and hunted for love. Still, we were pretty hungry until Spike helped me befriend the Crystal Empire." "Crystal Empire?" "Yeah, it's a place where the buildings are made of crystals." The Dragon Lord's mouth started watering. "So, how did Spike help you." "Oh, the Gauntlet of Fire. It's a challenge to see who will be the next Dragon Lord. I don't think I would've won if it wasn't for Spike. He's been helpful even before he got his wings." "Yeah, he said that was from molting. What's that?" "It's sort of dragon pub... Don't you have a kingdom to keep in order." "I know, I just want to visit with some of my friends. I guess that's something you need to sacrifice when you're in charge. See you, Ember." The changeling king flew off leaving the Dragon Lord to pick up her scepter. "Not to mention a lot of problems you have to deal with." "Hey, Ember," Garble said walking up to her, "There are some more dragons who want to whine about us being pushovers." He put some air quotes at the end of his sentence. "I just got done with another pest. Tell them I don't have time for them." "Should I tell them what you told me to tell them?" "Yep. You want to try poetry later?" "You know it." They both gave a thumbs up as the Dragon Lord flew off. Garble walked off as he found one of the complaining dragons he met earlier. This dragon, in particular, was a rusted orange with golden horns with a garnet red chest and wings and was half a foot taller than Garble. "Look, she said..." "I want to hear what she says," the dragon said obviously not happy. "Look, she told me..." "I said I want to hear what she says." "Look, dude, if you want to talk to her, go find her. Hopefully, I'll find someone who isn't a pain." Garble walked off as the dragon flew away. The dragon flew over to see some more pacifistic dragons. Some sharing gems with others, others hugging, and even some drakes giving their special dragonesses a kiss. "They know nothing about dragons' pride. We'd never act like this in the old days. This is the Dragon Lord's fault." Speaking of which, he could see Ember flying above one of the lava pools to get a better look of the land. "Hey, you!" "Oh gosh," Ember groaned. "Look, I've dealt with..." "I actually have a reason to complain. You're making a whole generation of the strongest creatures in Equestria into nothing but..." "Pushovers? I've heard this before and I don't care anymore. Huh, I guess Garble's poetry is growing on me." "You're giving up being a true dragon just to play on some drums and writing rhymes?" "Yes, I am. In fact, I think I'm going to get started now. I'll show you what've I've got." With a smug look on her face, the dragoness flew away. The drake gritted his teeth and flew in the opposite direction. "There's no talking to her. There's no use in the dragons' pride." He landed outside of a cave and punched a part of wall in frustration, making it crack a bit. "She doesn't deserve the title. She only won because of the little purple kid. He didn't even have wings. I'm the one who should the leader. The king." Suddenly, he saw a glow coming from inside the cave. Out of curiosity, he walked inside and found a diamond stuck in the wall. He felt a bit better knowing he would a nice snack but when the drake reached to pull the diamond out of the wall he was taken by surprise as it just shot into his chest. There wasn't any blood but still the drake tried to pull it out. The diamond wouldn't budge though. He ran outside to see if he could find something that could help him break it. He grabbed a rock tried smashing it on his chest but it only caused him some pain. "What the heck are you doing?" asked an olive green dragoness. "Is that a diamond?" "No, it's a birthmark," the drake said sarcastically. "Of course it's a diamond. It's stuck in my chest." He tried to pull it out again but again, it only caused him pain. "Maybe I could try eating it." "Don't touch it." The drake pushed the dragoness when the diamond in his chest suddenly glowed. They dragoness's eye turned completely blue as she stumbled back a bit. "Wha... What happened. How did I get here?" "Excuse me?" "Who the heck are you? Where's Ethi?" The drake was confused before he looked down at the diamond in his chest. "Frisa," called an orange dragoness landing behind her. "Ethi, thank goodness. I literally forgot what just happened. Where were..." She stopped talking as the drake walked over to them. "Do you mind, I was talk..." She could finish as she and her friend had the drake place his claw on each other their foreheads. Their eyes turned completely blue and after a few seconds, the drake released them. "Wha... What happened?" "Who are you?" both dragonesses asked each other. "Girls, it's okay," the drake said. "You just bumped your heads. I'll help catch you up. My name is Pyrite and you're both my girls." He looked at the green and orange dragonesses and then thought of their names. "You're name is Emma, and you'res is Garnet. (respectively)" He wrapped his wings around them and they both felt much more comfortable. Pyrite thought for a moment as he got an idea for another dragoness. Ember was taking a little break and was thinking about taking a dip in lava when she saw the drake from before flying towards her with his "girlfriends" flying beside him. "You again?" Ember asked. "Do you have a good reason to talk?" "Indeed I do," the drake said. "Emma, Garnet, could you leave us alone?" "Okay, sweetie," both said. They walked away with an exaggerated swing in her hips as their "boyfriend" and the Dragon Lord flew off. "Where are we going?" Ember asked as she held the scepter close to her. "I just want to have a little privacy with you," Pyrite said. "I was just about to have my break. Just tell me what you want and we can get this over with." The drake kept quiet until he saw they were flying over a river. "Hey, are you listening?" "Of course. Let me tell you about myself. My name is Pyrite and I'm the one who deserves the throne. You only got to be the Dragon Lord thanks to a friend of yours. The other dragons and I had to do the gauntlet singlehanded. Don't you think that's a little unfair?" "I thought that's how most dragons fight." "So, like this?" He lunged forward and struck Ember right in the nose. "Seriously? If you wanted to fight, I would've broken your back in seconds. You've already got me mad." The dragoness tried to smack the drake to the ground by Pyrite grabbed her by the claw. Ember headbutted him sending back and tried breathing fire at him. "Yawn." Pyrite avoided her attack and kicked Ember in the head. She managed to recover tried to ram into him but her head was grabbed by the drake's claw. Ember's anger suddenly plummeted as she started getting lightheaded. "Wha... How did I get here?" "I'll take this." The drake snatched the scepter out of Ember's claw. "Give that back!" Ember was only given a claw to the head as she started getting another lightheaded feeling. "What...? Are you...? Doing?" "I don't feel like I need to explain. You'll forget everything in about a minute." Ember tried to fight back but she was forgetting everything in seconds. Losing some much of her memory caused her to pass out. Figuring out she wouldn't remember anything about being Dragon Lord, Pyrate dropped her into the river. After seeing her splash into the water he looked at the scepter. "It's time for the new Dragon Lord." He flew back to the Dragon Lands as an unconscious Ember floated down the river. She floated for a couple of miles until something flew over her then scooped her up. At the changeling hive, Pharynx, who was disguised as Thorax, was sitting on the throne trying to keep up his brother's attitude. "Come on, where is he?" he thought. "Psst." The pretend king looked to see the real one hiding behind some bushes and rocks. Pharynx quickly flew towards him and he changed back to his normal form. "Finally. Do how hard I've tried to act like you while you were gone?" "Sorry, Pharynx," Thorax said as he walked over to his throne. "I just had to take of business." "What kind of business?" The changeling stopped and blushed. "...Uh, I was... Checking on Ocellus." The king's brother wasn't so easily fooled. "Did she shapeshift into any particular dragons? Particularly one that's a Dragonlord?" "Shut up." The king's face was as red as a rose as he sat down. "Just... You can do your normal thing." "Alright." Pharynx laughed to himself as he walked away. Thorax sighed as he knew his brother was just joking. He could hear some thunder and could see some dark clouds forming in the sky. "Oh, dear. Everyone, get inside." The changelings listened to the king and flew inside to avoid the rain. A few minutes later, a changeling duo flew into the hive, completely soaked. "Where were you?" "You said to double check to see if there weren't any wild animals that could bring danger to the hive," one of the changelings said. Thorax knew this must've been his brother's order. "Did you find anything?" "Well, we found a dragon," said another changeling. "She was blue and was out cold." A third changeling flew in carrying Ember, who was still out cold. "Oh my. She doesn't look so good." The changelings lied Ember down on some soft pillow-like bushes as Thorax bent down next to the unconscious dragon. "Ember, can you hear me?" He nudged the dragoness's shoulder as she let out a groan. Ember slowly opened her eyes and saw the changeling king beside her. "Oh, thank goodness." Ember looked around. She was quite weirded out by all the plants growing all over the place the various changelings. "I'm glad you're awake. This isn't how I wanted to show you the hive." The dragoness kept looking around confused and a little scared. "Can you speak?" "Y... Ye... Yeah," she stuttered. "Where am I?" "The changeling hive. Are you feeling okay?" "I don't know. I... I don't remember I came or even myself. Who am I?" Thorax was nearly as worried as the dragoness. "Look, you just need to calm down. My name is Thorax, I'm the king of the changelings after the last one's defeat. You are Dragon Lord Ember." "That's a long name." "You can just be called Ember. I'm not sure how you got here." "She was just floating in the river," said one of the changelings who had also brought a loincloth and bra. The dragoness's loincloth and bra were pretty worn from floating down the river. The new said was as white as snow. "We can give you a moment alone to change." "Why?" Ember asked. "It's just... Awkward, just let us know when you've put your new clothes on." They left the room Ember was in as the changelings looked at their king. "It just seems to be amnesia," said one. "It does but what could've caused it. Dragons are built tough and that doesn't explain why you found her in the river." "So, what do we do?" asked another. "I'll take Ember back to the dragon lands tomorrow morning. Hopefully, someone could jog her memory." "But what about the rest of the hive?" "I'm sure Pharynx can look over here until I get back." "I've done it before," Pharynx said. The changelings looked at each other before staring at the king, who gave a nervous chuckle. "Hey, Thorax," Ember called. "You can come back in now." The changeling walked back to see Ember in her new bra and loincloth. "This feels pretty comfy." "Thanks," Thorax said. "We've managed to make those and others out of some leaves." "That's nice. I wonder where I got my clothes." "Probably an animal. Ember, the first thing tomorrow I'm going to help you get your memories back." "You'd do that for me?" "Trust me, you and I know each other pretty well." He gave his friend a hug before he walked away. Ember didn't know what to think. She just lied down on the bush and thought about what her life was like. Who was she? She kept thinking these questions until she fell asleep.