The ash and clouds had returned the next day, and though it was hard to see the position of the sun, all the dragons interested had gathered by the cliff that separated the mainland from the Flamecano island.
Most of them wore some form of metal armour to protect them from the type of dangers within the flamecano that scales alone would not be suitable, though a few had opted to go without.
A few notable dragons were there waiting for the start of the contest. Ember stood there confident, her helmet currently held under her arm as she scanned the crowd and tried to judge the competition. Garble was there too, though far more relaxed. He was one of the dragons that had decided to forego armour in favour of trusting his scales to keep him safe.
They all gathered under the scrutinizing eye of Dragon Lord Torch. Although currently his gaze was drawn to one dragon in particular.
“What are you doing here weakling? I thought we agreed you didn’t have to come?”
Maybe it was the fact this time she came with a purpose, or maybe she was just getting used to being under the heavy gaze of the Dragon Lord, but Twilight managed to mostly keep her composure this time. “We agreed that participation was voluntary,” She replied. “Well, here I am, volunteering.”
She heard Garble snort behind her. Of course he was going to make a comment. “Since when did you grow a spine?”
Twilight smiled, still riding high on the excitement. “In case you hadn’t noticed,” she began, turning her back directly towards him, “I have several.”
“Uh, I meant a backbone,” he said lamely.
“I know, and I chose to ignore it.”
“Enough!” Torch said, drawing their attention. “All dragons are welcome to compete, but they do so at their own peril. The flamecano is filled with traps and obstacles I have designed, and any one of them could kill a lesser dragon in an instant!”
Twilight’s excitement faltered as she remembered exactly what was at stake. This wouldn’t be some casual flight, there was real danger here.
Torch pulled himself up to his full stature. “The Gauntlet of Fire begins now! The one who retrieves the Bloodstone Sceptre shall be your new Dragon Lord!” He bellowed, officially beginning the challenge by launching a gout of flame that split the sky.
As one, the assembled dragons flapped their wings, jostling each other as they took to the air, some even throwing a sucker punch or sneak attack to hamper their rivals.
Twilight made her way to the edge, sidestepping other dragons, but didn’t lift off just yet, instead she waited a moment, letting other dragons get ahead as she scanned the ocean surface. Last night, she’d done some research, and so she was aware of some of the dangers, if not all of them.
Then she saw the first of the shadows underwater. Long swimming shapes just under the surface. The Bane-Eels erupted from the water, shooting gushes of water directly up at the flying dragons, occasionally knocking one out of the air.
Twilight counted them carefully and leapt into the air. She was trailing at the back of the pack, but as long as she recognized the signs of a Bane-Eel before it emerged and fired, she should be safe.
Comparatively, most of the other dragons were simply gunning it for the island, or panicking and swerving on reactions alone, crying out in surprise or shock whenever a dragon was struck by the projectile. It wasn’t going well for them, as many flying in a straight line were easy targets for the predatory fish, while those panicking made little ground.
Twilight kept her eyes on the ocean surface, watching carefully for the shadows and steering clear, as well as glancing ahead of her to avoid the floundering dragons.
“Come on Twilight, slow and steady” She chanted to herself in her head.
“Augh!”
The voice came from nearby, and drew Twilight’s attention. She recognized the voice, as well as recognizing the limp form that sailed past her, crashing into the water.
She gasped in realization when Ember continued to sink under the surface. “She was knocked unconscious! Her armour is going to drag her to the bottom and she’ll drown!”
Twilight stopped where she was and looked around. It didn’t seem any other dragon had noticed or cared about their princess, not even Torch seemed to be making any movement from his place back on the mainland, simply staring out at them with a stern frown.
There was nothing for it. She’d be wasting time, but she had to do something. Tilting sharply, she narrowed her body like a bullet and pierced the surface of the waves.
The impact with the water was harsher than she’d expected. She knew theoretically how to dive, but it was different actually doing it, and she was left disoriented for a moment under the water, but she still managed to find Ember in the gloom and pulled her back to the surface. Lifting her mouth above the water, but unable to fly while holding so much extra weight, Twilight began the slow swim the rest of the way to the island.
“Augh, what was I thinking?!” Twilight groaned as she pulled Ember to the lonely shore. She coughed out some water that seeped into her lungs and looked up to see a large number of dragons flying overhead towards the next challenge. “I wasted what little lead I had managed completely.”
“But you did the right thing,” Spike said.
“AH!” Twilight leapt back in surprise to find Spike standing right beside her. “Wha… Spike!? How did you… what are you doing here!?!” She asked, looking around for any sign of how he made his way all that way completely dry and unscathed.
“I can’t interfere with the Gauntlet, but there’s nothing stopping me from cheering you on,” he said gleefully. “But like I was saying, you did the right thing, you saved Ember’s life!”
Another coughing at her feet reminded her of Ember, and she helped Ember take her helmet off and roll onto her knees so she could throw up the seawater she had swallowed. “Are you okay?” She asked.
Ember weakly glared at Twilight. “ugh, what are you even doing?”
Twlight huffed. “I’m starting to wonder that myself.”
“I don’t need your…” she stopped when she spotted the second figure beside them. Ember leapt to her feet and pointed accusingly “A Pony!? What are you doing here!?”
Twilight lowered Ember’s hand with her own, reassuringly. “It’s fine, he’s not here to interrupt anything, just watch.”
“Yeah, that and support my friend from the sidelines,” Spike added cheerfully.
Ember’s brow furrowed. “Friend? Dragon’s don’t do friends.”
Twlight sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I told him too. He’s not the best at listening.”
“Hey,” Spike frowned.
“Augh, I don’t have time for this!” Ember grumbled, turning away and spreading her wings.
“Wait,” Twilight urged.
“I’m not waiting around for you, that sceptre is mine and I’m not…”
“You’re not going to get it,” Twilight interrupted her.
Ember turned around with a snarl on her face. “What did you say?”
“I’m not finished,” Twilight stated with the same, calm demeanour. “I’m saying you can’t get the sceptre, not as you are. You’re not strong enough.”
The blue dragon flared her wings, and licks of flame danced between her teeth. “Are you saying I’m weak?!”
“Yes,” Twilight said flatly, surprising Spike, who stepped back a hoof. “But so am I.”
Ember blinked, taken aback a moment by the blunt admission. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously a moment later. “What are you playing at?”
“We’re both weak, or at least seen as such by the rest of the dragons, and especially by the current Dragon Lord.” Ember snorted at the mention of her father, but otherwise kept her silence. “Neither of us are as strong, or as swift as most of the other dragons in this contest. So instead, we need to play to the strengths we do have. Our intelligence, and for that reason, I propose… an alliance.”
Twilight reached out her hand in a gesture of goodwill, but kept the serious look on her face the entire time.
Ember for her part, eyed the hand and Twilight, measuring her up. “There’s only one sceptre, only one of us could be Dragon Lord in the end.”
“Exactly, which is why the moment either one of us first spot the sceptre, it’s every dragon for herself. As long as we’re clear on that from the start, neither of us can claim the other betrayed them. But before that, we work together, helping each other get further in this challenge than either of us could alone.”
“Why should I listen to you?” Ember questioned. “What good are you if you admit you can’t even keep up with me?”
Twilight anticipated something like this, and had a rebuttal prepared already. “A second pair of eyes will always help in avoiding the various traps your father has set up for us. But more than that, I’m studying to be a Soothsage, remember? This island shows up in a number the old laws, and it’s been mapped for posterity. I’ve never been here before, but I have memorized those maps. There are innumerable chambers you could search and never find the sceptre, but based on how Dragon Lord Torch delivered the sceptre here, I can calculate the position to a couple of rooms.”
Ember blinked in surprise and looked down at the offered hand. “You really thought this through, didn’t you?”
A crash nearby broke them from their conversation as a boulder slammed on the sand nearby. The three of them looked further up the island to see dragons ducking and weaving around boulders being tossed by enormous beasts.
“Those Slingtails will be an issue,” Twilight stated. “They’re surprisingly accurate, but keeping our distance while we look for an opening will give us plenty of reaction time.”
“Our distance?” Ember questioned suspiciously. “I didn’t agree to anything yet.”
Twilight gave the other dragon an appraising look. “Does that mean you refuse my offer? Or shall we shake and get a move on?” she asked, raising her hand again.
Ember’s mouth twisted frustrated as she looked up the island again. “Fine!” she said finally, grasping Twilight’s hand in her own. “But we only work together till the sceptre is in reach.”
They shook once and released. “That was the deal.”
Ember picked her helmet from the ground and put it back on. “Come on, let’s look for an opening like you said.” And with that, she leapt into the air.
Twilight relaxed, letting out a breath and softened her features. Holding that attitude had taken a bit out of her.
“I told you!” Spike said gleefully. “It’s not that hard to make friends.”
Twilight rolled her eyes with a sigh. “That was a temporary alliance Spike. It’s not friendship, but it’s probably the closest any dragon will probably do. Unless something happens before we reach the sceptre, there’s going to be a fight.”
The pony’s face fell. “But… you’ll be working so well together?”
Twilight shook her head. “I know you want some friendship lesson or problem to solve Spike, but that’s a pony thing, and we’re dragons. We don’t do friendship.”
“Are you coming or not!?” Ember called from the air, impatient at the delay.
Twilight said no more and hardened her expression again, leaping into the air and taking wing to catch up with Ember.
Twilight and Ember huffed from stress and exhaustion at the foot of the tunnel just past the Slingtails. “Okay, that was a little more harrowing than I expected,” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s one thing to hear about their accuracy, but another thing entirely to be on the receiving end.”
She was still stunned at just how many other dragons had been knocked back down to ground level by a boulder larger than both of them combined. Twilight found it amazing they’d managed to avoid everything together. She could only imagine how many dragons had already given up from injuries alone.
“Yeah,” Ember agreed. “You made some good calls back there. I thought you were a coward, but turns out you’re pretty good at keeping a cool head under pressure.”
“No kidding, I was just watching, and I was really impressed!”
The two of them startled at the log that spoke to them in Spike’s voice. Twilight could see the smile from his eyes through a pair of peepholes and he was somehow waving a branch from inside to catch their attention.
“What?” Ember exclaimed. “But how did you…”
“Don’t ask,” Twilight groaned, raising a claw to interrupt. “I don’t think we’ve got the time. The Shifting Spines are next, and we’ll need precision and timing to get through safely.”
Ember cringed. “Do I want to know what that means?”
“Probably not, but you’ll find out soon enough.”
They were interrupted by a scorching sound as an eruption of flame shot out of the cave, just above their heads. A couple of dragons that had been flying past were thrown entirely out of the cave, badly singed and sent sailing back to the start of the island.
They both blinked in surprise. “Oh yeah, and fly low,” Twilight suggested. The Flamecano is constantly erupting out of every opening, and it burns hot enough to singe even dragon scales.”
Ember’s face was a mix of confusion and deep concern. “Noted.”
“Good luck girls!” Spike the log cheered after them as they rushed into the depths.
Twilight had had better days. She was tired, singed, and everything hurt from exhaustion and exertion. But weirdly enough, she felt accomplished. Progressing past the Shifting Spines, the Crushing Crystals, lava geysers and constantly evading the flamecano eruptions had been the most activity she’d ever done, but somehow between the two of them, they’d made it to the Crevice of Chambers. A maze of openings and false corridors to leave any dragon confused and lost for hours. Bridges and pathways scattered about the winding passages, many circling back to where they started.
But most of all, there didn’t appear to be any other dragons in sight. Unless another dragon had managed to get incredibly far ahead, Twilight and Ember were solidly in the lead.
“Hi girls!”
The two dragons looked up to a higher ledge to find the same purple pony waving down at them with a broad grin on his face.
Ember frowned. “Seriously, how does that pony keep getting ahead of us like that?”
Twilight shrugged, starting to get used to the absurdity that was Spike. “Not sure, but I think I heard once that the horned ponies can actually teleport. Maybe that has something to do with it.”
“No kidding? Guess it’s a good thing he’s not after the sceptre,” she smirked. “Can you imagine if a pony came back with the sceptre? My dad would flip out.”
Twilight found herself giggling despite herself. “Considering how little he seems to know about the old laws, do you think he’d believe me if I said it was a valid result?”
Ember burst out in laughter, almost bringing herself to tears. “Oh my gosh! I would love to see that!”
Spike carefully leapt down step by step until he met the dragons on their level, but he tilted his head in confusion at their laughter. “Did I miss something?”
She couldn’t help but laugh as well at the face he was making. Twilight would never admit it, but there was something adorably endearing about the way the pony looked. He was just so innocent.
“Uh, not that I’m glad you two are getting along, but shouldn’t you get a move on?” he said, looking around. “Who knows when another dragon could show up?”
As if on cue, an angry voice echoed from the caves behind them. “Augh, I hate this place! OW!”
“Pony’s got a point,” Ember said, suddenly serious again. “You’re the expert, which path should we take?”
Twilight stepped forward, casting her gaze over the grey, white stone and the many openings. She had been keeping a mental map in her mind as they’d been travelling for this moment. Almost every path had been carved to disorient any dragons who came through, leading them back to the central cavern without them realizing. Judging the distance they’d already travelled, and estimating how deep any tunnel could go before looping back, she eliminated a handful right off the bat.
“Come on,” She urged, moving forward with intention, looking around for anything that would serve as a landmark. “We have to find an opening close to the centre of the flamecano, that’s the only place it could have dropped from the outside.”
“How can we tell?” Ember asked, taking to the air and scanning the openings. “They all look the same, or at least similar enough.”
“It’ll be on the ground level, close to where the eruptions occur,” Twilight said. Her eyes fell upon a slightly larger opening, tucked away in a corner, and within was a dull glow of lava. “There!” she called, pointing and dashing towards it.
Spike and Ember followed closely behind, entering an elaborate cavern bathed in a deep orange glow. A thin bridge of stone wound its way over a wide pool of lava to a central platform, on top of which was a deep red crystal growth. And there, resting on its side, caught within the edges of the crystal growth was the Bloodstone Sceptre.
Twilight ground to a halt before the bridge that would take them the final distance, and the other two caught up and stood either side of her.
“There it is,” she said, the weight of the moment finally coming to her. The end was in sight, the struggles, the danger, it had all led up to this point.
“You found it!” Spike said excitedly. “And you’re first! There aren’t any other dragons in sight.”
“Yeah,” Ember said, a hint of melancholy seeping into her voice. “I guess we did.”
Spike looked at her strangely. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s a shame really,” Ember stated, rolling her shoulders. “I was… almost starting to have fun.”
Twilight looked down, her gaze drifting across the lava below them. “Yeah, me too.”
“I don’t understand, why aren’t you more excited?”
The moment she turned to reply to Spike, she felt a striking pain across the back of her head.
Twilight had known it was coming, just not in what form. She should’ve known where the sucker punch would hit her as soon as she exposed a weakness. The pain in the back of her head hurt terribly, but somehow, the pain in her chest hurt even more.
She knew it was coming, it was part of the deal she laid out from the start. She couldn’t even call it a betrayal, really. So why did it still sting so much to lose that trust she had built with Ember?
Twilight was thrown forward, almost falling over Spike, but she planted her talon firmly on the ground before her and twisted to lash out at her attacker before Ember escaped.
Ember had taken to the air immediately, so Twilight barely managed to grab Ember’s tail as she tried to escape.
“Rrgh, let GO!” Ember snarled back, as Twilight dragged her down, ruining her flight as they both came crashing down on the bridge, half way to the prize.
They both grunted as they hit the ground, but weighed down by her armour, Ember seemed hit the ground a little harder and took longer to get up.
Twilight took the opportunity and threw herself onto Ember, the two of them wrestling to gain the upper hand.
Claws swiped at each other, scales started breaking, and somewhere in the middle Ember’s helmet came off but neither managed to do much damage to the other. Ember glared bloody murder at Twilight, and she could only imagine the look on her own face as they struggled with each other.
Spike gasped and danced back when Twilight almost fell over him, and was shocked when she turned around with such ferocity at Ember, and how quickly they started fighting. He could do nothing but watch as the two of them crashed to the ground, barely inches from falling into the lava.
“No!” Spike cried out, wanting to help, but unable to or risk interfering. “You can’t fight now! You’re so close!”
“A pony!?” came a now familiar voice behind him.
“Uh oh,” Spike uttered as he turned around to find Garble staring down at him.
He stepped forward, appearing even more imposing than usual under the glow of the lava around them. “I knew if I followed the sound of fighting I’d find something, but what the heck is a pony doing here!?”
Spike stepped back a short way, daring a glace back behind him, but there was so little space before the edge, he had nowhere to go. “I’m not here to interfere, I swear!” he promised.
“I don’t care about that,” Garble growled menacingly, the tips of his mouth curving into a cruel smile, misshapen teeth glowing ominously in the light of the lava. He chuckled to himself and cracked his claws. “I’m just going to enjoy this.”
“Oh boy.”
The two of them wrestled on the ground, Twilight felt more of her scales break, and was sure she was bleeding from her claws where they had to grab Ember’s spiky tail. But she pushed through the pain. She knew she wasn’t as strong as Ember, so she had to press the advantage while she had the upper hand.
Her claws grasped around Ember’s neck and began to squeeze. Ember scrabbled on the ground, trying to find purchase to move. Her tail whipped around, striking Twilight with little effect, and her wings flapped uselessly between the ground and the rest of her body.
“that’s right, focus on my claws around your neck. Panic and lose track of how much air your loosing” Twilight thought, focusing every iota of her concentration on the fight. “Just lose consciousness, it’ll be best for all of us!”
Ember spat fire at Twilight, but it was little more than an annoyance to another dragon, especially a firebreath so unfocused and imprecise.
The armour around Ember’s neck made this more difficult, but it was the best chance she had.
“Why do you even care?” Ember spat at the lavender dragon through her clenched throat. “You’re nothing but a wannabe Soothsage! Why would you do this?! Why take this from me?!”
“Because I’ve never had anyone believe in me before!” Twilight yelled, the answer surprising even herself. The words spilled out of her mouth, only consciously realizing the full truth as they did, fueling her hands around Ember’s neck with determination. “If I do this, I can be free! I can do what I want and no-one can tell me otherwise. No dragon can tell me I’m silly, or stupid, or foolish for wanting to act like, or be like something other than a dragon!” She felt a hot wetness running down her cheeks, but ignored it, focusing on anger to pull her through.
“Free?” Ember struggled in Twilight’s grasp. “If you become dragon lord you’ll just be stuck here for the rest of your life with the responsibilities! I thought you’ve never felt at home here, and now you want to be trapped?”
“If I’m in charge I can delegate!”
“Aaah!”
The familiar voice that cried out in distress snapped Twilight out of her frenzy, and a chill went down her spine. “Spike?” she turned, only to find Spike had slipped off the path with only his front hooves clinging to the edge, rivets being dug into the dirt, and Garble standing over him menacingly.
“No,” she gasped quietly, suddenly struck by indecision.
Her grip lessened, and Ember took the chance, grasping her helmet where it lay on the ground and swung it hard into Twilight’s cheek.
The blow knocked her to the ground, her ears ringing from the impact.
Twilight struggled to her knees, desperately trying to get her world to stop ringing and focus her vision from the blur it had become from the blow.
As reality came back into focus, she found Ember coughing on the ground next to her, barely able to stand.
Twilight’s eyes darted to the sceptre. She had a clean run. She could make it. She could be fix everything she knew was wrong with the Dragon Lands.
But on the other side, there was Spike, holding on for dear life. And Garble was right there.
She had no time to deliberate. Twilight was literally halfway between two paths. A practical crossroad stood before her, and she had to make the ultimate choice.
“Ha ha!” Garble laughed as Spike scrabbled on the edge.
Spike tried to push himself back up to safety, but his hind legs couldn’t find purchase on the fragile rockface. Glancing down, Spike could feel the heat of the lava below him. If he could concentrate, he might be able to teleport back to safety, but the panic was making it harder,
“This is almost too easy, you’re not even fighting back,” Garble laughed, and Spike looked back up to the gruff dragon. “This is just the start too,” he said, leaning down with a cruel smile. “Once I’m Dragon Lord, I’m gonna get all the dragons together to finally put you dumb ponies in your place.”
“But why?” Spike begged. “Why do you hate ponies so much? What did we ever do to you?”
Garble came to a stop, staring down at Spike with contempt. He stared for a moment in silence, but then shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, it’s something to do.”
Spike blinked in confusion, not sure if he’d heard him right. “Wait… what?”
Garble laughed. “What? You think there’s some deep emotional deal or something happened in my past so I’ve sworn vengeance or some dumb stuff like that? I couldn’t care less! You ponies are weak, you’re pathetic and it makes me sick to my stomach that somehow, you’re supposed to be so special and wonderful. Dragons are superior, period! And it’s about time you learned your place!”
Garble lifted his foot, ready to smash down on Spike.
“NO!”
“huh?” Garble stopped with his foot still in the air and looked towards the source lamely, only to be knocked aside, sailing over the edge and down past Spike after Twilight came crashing into him. The dragon, caught off guard as he was, wailed as he fell and fell into the lava with a wet splat.
Spike gasped as he watched Garble quickly sink below the surface, and again as he felt a pair of claws grasp his front legs.
“I’ve got you Spike, just hold on!” Twilight exclaimed, pulling him back to safety. Now with the added support, he was able to finally get the leverage on his back hooves and clamber up to safety.
Panting heavily, he looked up to Twilight to find she was doing the same. She was bleeding from her side, and a lot of her scales looked damaged, but it was more than that. There were tears streaming down her face. “T-Twilight!? You saved me!”
“Of course I did!” she blurted out. “I’ll admit, I still don’t get any of it, caring about others or working together for the sake of working together or… or, any of this friendship stuff. But letting him do that to you was just…” she was starting to hyperventilate as everything felt like something was crumbling down inside of her.
Dragons were strong. Dragons didn’t care. Dragons stood alone. Dragons didn’t cry. Dragons didn’t do friendship.
And she hated it.
“I just couldn’t let him hurt you!” She sobbed. “I don’t know what it means to be friends, but I want to try because… because… I just want something to change!”
“I’m glad really, but…” Something was wrong, Spike was looking at Twilight like he was afraid of her, and he stepped back away from her.
Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. Had she done something wrong? Barely a few minutes into the new world of friendship, and she had already messed something up.
“You didn’t have to kill him!” he said finally.
Twlight frowned, the high emotion of the moment swiftly replaced with confusion. “What? No I didn’t!”
“But the lava!”
A coughing from the side drew both their attention as Garble hovered in the air, spitting out lava from his lungs, with splashes of molten rock dripping off his scales and flapping wings. “The heck are you doing? Are you seriously taking the pony’s side?”
Spike slapped a hoof to his forehead. “Oh right. Dragon,” he deadpanned.
Garble landed with a wet thud on the ground before them, as the last of the lava splattered off his scales and sizzled on the stone. Twilight instinctively stood between him and Spike, spreading her wings defensively.
“Stay away from him!” she yelled, the ferocity in her voice surprising Garble who pulled back a fraction, before frowning in irritation. She honestly wasn’t sure what she could do if Garble actually decided to fight her. He was much bigger than Ember, and Twilight only got the upper hand over her by chance. There was no question that if it came down to a fight, Garble would win.
But she would make him work for it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he groaned. “You’re defending that pathetic little pony?”
“Don’t call him pathetic!” Twilight snapped. “Spike is my friend!”
“What is wrong with you?” Garble snapped back. “Dragons don’t do friendship!”
“Well maybe we should!”
“Shut up both of you!” Ember yelled at them.
Garble pointed at the source without looking and yelled back “Stay out of this princess, I don’t care what you have to say.”
“That wasn’t a request,” she calmly yet firmly stated. “It was an order.”
The three of them all turned slowly to the voice that suddenly held a lot more authority. There was Ember, still slightly scuffed from her fight with Twilight, her helmet still hung under one arm, but in her other hand was the Bloodstone Sceptre slightly glowing with a soft magic.
Flames of magic pooled around the sceptre for a moment, before erupting in a pulse and filling the chamber with light. The chamber, and likely the whole island rumbled as in announcing there was a new master of dragons.
“KNEEL!” she bellowed, her voice amplified by the chamber, and the two dragons complied instantly, dropping to their knees. Twilight wasn’t sure if it was a magical component of the sceptre, an inherent nature of dragons to follow the orders of the Dragon Lord, or if Ember was just really intimidating right now.
Regardless, Ember pulled back slightly in surprise, but a smile quickly followed. “Huh, I think I’m starting to see why he enjoys this now,” she said, glancing at the sceptre in her grasp.
Dragon Lord Ember flew over to where they were, and Twilight could now see in greater detail the damage she had done in their fight. Ember had a swollen eye, and one of the spikes on her tail had been ripped, as well as a hole in one of her wings. Her armour had taken the brunt of Twilight’s attacks, but the neckplate was certainly dented and she could see some rough edges around the scales on her neck. It was all superficial and would heal in time, but it still crushed Twilight to see what she had done in the heat of the moment
“Garble,” Ember started. “You’re a sorry mess. It’s funny, if you’d just ignored the pony, you had a perfect opportunity to grab the sceptre for yourself while Twilight and I were fighting. What do you think you’ve learned from this?”
Garble hesitantly looked up at Ember. “Learned?”
“Yes, learned!” She snapped. “Dragons have been too stupid for too long, so I’m going to get you numbskulls to actually learn something for once! Starting with you! Now what did you learn? What would you do differently?”
“Uh…” Garble looked around frantically, trapped in a situation he clearly wasn’t built for. “I guess… I’d shove him in the lava earlier?”
Spike pulled back with a disgusted look on his face, and Ember rolled her eyes. Or at least her good eye. “Well, I guess it’s something, just not the direction I was hoping.” Pointing her claw at him she continued. “Maybe learn that picking fights with ponies for no reason is a bad idea. And as punishment, I want you to apologize to him.”
“What!?” Garble leapt back. “Apologize!? To a pony?!”
She brandished the sceptre before her with a vicious smile. “Yes.”
Garble turned around, grumbling the whole time. He crossed his arms and didn’t even look Spike in the eye as he mumbled almost imperceptibly. “…sorry.”
“Wow, that was honestly pathetic,” Ember deadpanned. “Okay new plan,” she said, turning to face Spike. “Pony, or… Spike was it?”
“Yeah, that’s my name,” he replied, unsure where this was going.
“Cool. How about you decide Garble’s punishment?” she grinned.
“What?!” both Garble and Spike exclaimed at once.
Ember simply nodded as her grin grew wider.
Spike thought for a moment, and then a grin grew on his face to match Ember’s. “Okay, Garble, you are to go home, and give every dragon you meet on the way a hug.”
“What!? No way!”
“And,” he added. “You’re not allowed to tell them why.”
Ember burst into laughter. “Hah! I love it. You heard the pony Garble. Off you go.”
“But…” he looked around for some way out of it, but finding none he slumped in defeat and marched off, grumbling the whole way.
“And as for you Twilight.”
Twilight flinched where she was still kneeling. She’d managed to escape attention so far, but expecting to be ignored entirely had proven to be nothing more than a hope.
She looked up at the new Dragon Lord apprehensively, who stared down critically at her in turn.
Silence held the air, and the tension was palpable. Spike shifted uncomfortably, and was about to speak up for Twilight, but Ember raised a hand to silence him, without even breaking eye contact.
Eventually, Ember’s face softened into another smirk, and she rubbed a claw under her swollen eye. “You’ve got a pretty decent right hook there.”
“Ember?” Twilight questioned.
“You can stand up now,” Dragon Lord Ember told her, and she did so, rising to stand eye to eye. “You confused me too. I saw you. Just like Garble, you had the opportunity to grab the sceptre for yourself. But you didn’t make a mistake in the heat of the moment. You actively chose to stop Garble instead. Why would you do that? You could’ve had everything, but instead you gave it all up.”
“Well,” Twilight said, taking glance back toward Spike, who beamed back at her with a grin that filled her with a funny kind of warmth. She smiled, feeling more satisfied than she ever had felt before. “I think I found something more important.”
Ember gave a friendly snort. “More important than everything huh? It’s weird, but seeing your face right now? It almost makes me feel like I somehow got the short end of the stick.” She looked down at the sceptre in her grasp. “Maybe there’s something to this whole friendship thing after all.”
Twilight nodded. “Maybe there is.”
The reveal of the new Dragon Lord to the old, went about as Twilight expected. Torch complained, Ember stood up for herself, Torch accepted the result, and declared Dragon Lord Ember a worthy successor.
And Twilight happily stayed well away from the spotlight, slinking quietly away to her cave. She had other things to focus on. Namely keeping Spike safe, away from the other dragons.
Though that wouldn’t be a problem forever. Ember had promised that she was going to get the dragons to play nice with ponies. Of course, Twilight suggested she wait a little before making that particular announcement. While Garble had lost some of what little respect other dragons had for him thanks to the hugging punishment, he still knew how much Spike was involved near the end, and he could accuse the ponies of interfering if she announced it too early.
Ember didn’t like the idea that any dragon would take Garble at his word, but she listened to the Twilight’s advice and would keep quiet for now.
“Well, that was an adventure,” Spike said as they entered Twilight’s home. “And I should know, I’ve been on a few of them.”
“Certainly more exciting than I’m used to,” Twilight said, stretching through the pain of exhaustion in her muscles. “I hope you don’t mind if I avoid any epic adventures in the near future. I think I’ve had enough excitement for a lifetime.”
Spike gave a shrug. “Eh, you get used to it. Though we usually get a few days to a week before the next adventure.”
Twilight’s smile fell. “Is it really that rough?”
He just laughed in response. “Nah, it’s tiring, but getting to go on adventures, meeting new ponies, or in this case dragons, and making friends with them is the greatest. It’s what I love doing!”
“Oh.” Twilight stopped as a thought came into her head, and her shoulders slouched. “I guess… that means you’ll be leaving soon.”
“Probably,” Spike said cheerfully. “A lot has happened here, and I think I should write a letter to let Princess Celestia know everything. And maybe get her to start thinking about sending an ambassador to meet with the new Dragon Lord Ember.”
“Yeah… that makes sense,” Twilight mumbled absently.
Of course things would be moving with everything that had happened. She was so eager for things to change, but what was going to really change for her? Spike had a home elsewhere, and it sounded like he had other ponies to talk to and work to do. He couldn’t stay here.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Spike’s hooves wrap around her waist, and his head rested against her chest. Twilight flinched slightly at the touch and looked down to find Spike’s beaming face looking up at her.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s called a hug.”
“I know what it is, I’m just… I thought it was a punishment when you got Garble to do it to everyone.”
“It was only a punishment because he didn’t want to hug anyone. But giving hugs feels great, give it a try. Try hugging me back.”
“Okay…”
Unsure what to exactly do with her arms, she tentatively wrapped them around Spike’s neck, feeling his soft coat under her claws. She was careful not to scratch him, but something about the gesture filled her with a strange sense of warmth.
It wasn’t a heat like fire, or lava, or even the sun. It was something that seemed to well up from inside her. A comfort she’d never really experienced before. It was slow, but absolute, and paradoxically she felt a tremble up her throat as tears pricked her eyes again.
She didn’t understand. She’d felt tears threaten when she was anxious or afraid, and she had actually cried earlier today when the thought of Spike getting hurt sent her emotions into overdrive. But this was something different again. A somehow satisfying, cathartic cry as she knelt down and shifted her grip more around the barrel of his chest, and he shifted as well.
She sniffed loudly and pressed her head into Spike’s neck, spreading tears over his coat as she clenched her eyes shut, but he didn’t seem to mind at all as she began to openly sob.
“See?” Spike said softly, stroking his hoof down her back in a comforting manner. “Feels good to let it out, doesn’t it?”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Huh? What for?”
“I failed,” Twilight shivered, her voice wavering, and she squeezed ever so slightly tighter. “You said your mission was to get me to become the Dragon Lord. But Ember became Dragon Lord instead.”
She felt him tapping a hoof against her back. It was surprisingly comforting. “Well then, I guess I made a mistake. That was never the mission I was sent on after all. Though, I have a couple of ideas of what it could be.”
“I’ll help,” she said without hesitating. “Whatever it is, I’ll help you find it. I just… I want to thank you. For becoming my friend.”
A dim light and a soft sound like a tinkle of bells caught Twilight’s attention. Opening her eyes and blinking a few times to wash away the bleary tears, she spotted something strange on Spike’s side.
“Um… are your… pictures supposed to be doing that?” She asked, noticing the light and sound was coming from his flank.
“Heh, I thought that was the case,” he chuckled.
Finally feeling the it was time to pull away, she released him, and he followed suit, looking down at his own flank. “That’s just the map telling me that my mission is complete. It was never about the Gauntlet itself, though I’m sure that contributed,” he said, beaming his friendly smile her way. “It was you. Teaching you about friendship!”
“What?” Twilight stammered, her breath catching in her throat, her hands reaching to her head.
No this was all wrong.
“But… No! I was supposed to be helping you! We were going to work together to find what you needed,” she flustered, tears beginning to well up once more. “But if you’re done, and you leave I… I’m not ready to say goodbye yet!”
She was silenced as Spike placed his hoof on her shoulder. He smiled again. That comforting, friendly smile. “Then don’t,” he said, as if it were that simple. “Why don’t you come with me back to my home?”
“Your… home?”
He nodded. “Yeah, why not? You said it yourself, you don’t really have anything that’s keeping you here.”
She blinked in disbelief. “But… a dragon? In pony lands?”
“Why not? You’re my friend, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters!”
Twilight stared at him blankly for a moment, struck by how simple it all sounded.
She stared around the cave that had been her home for as long as she could remember. There really was nothing that she was attached to. Her tutelage under Cracklewing, learning the dragon’s history and law, it only mattered because it was something to do and put her mind at work. Even her carving of the night sky on the ceiling was something she treasured, but only because she had nothing else.
Next to the promise of friendship. None of it mattered.
She turned back to Spike, smiling ear to ear. “Okay,” she answered getting to her feet. “Let’s go home.”
“I’ll have to introduce you to the girls back in Ponyville. I’m sure they’ll love to be friends with you too,” Spike said animatedly as they left Twilight’s home, practically dancing on his hooves.
“That sounds wonderful. And maybe while you’re at it, maybe you can finally show me what these fabled books are.”