//------------------------------// // Season 6: Episode 11 - Gauntlet of Fire AU // Story: My Little Pony: When Friendship Shimmers - Reboot // by RobtheMorpherPony //------------------------------// It was a normal day in Ponyville, but things suddenly changed when Ray, Spike, and Smolder all started glowing. "Oh...this is going to be interesting..." Smolder said. "Wh-what's going on?" Sunset asked. "I think we may need to ask Twilight about this." Spike said. "No need; this is basically the call of the dragon lord, and the only way to make it stop is to answer it." Smolder said. "Still, we better grab Twilight and perhaps Starlight as well." Sunset said. The three ponies had managed to sneak their way into the dragon lands to hear about Dragon Lord Torch's challenge about the Gauntlet of Fire. Smolder was not really too interested in participating, and while Spike & Ray were the same, Garble went off about how he was going to declare war on the ponies and kill them all when he won. The Red Dragon went towards the place that had the scepter. "Oh of all the rotten things for that no-good brother of mine to even do. That's just so uncalled for." Smolder said. "He can't win this. No matter what." "Don't worry Smolder, I'm not about to let him win. And neither is Spike." Ray said before he dashed off. "Hey, wait up!" Spike said before heading off after Ray. To say the volcano where the challenge took place was treacherous was putting it mildly. Place was fairly challenging, though Spike & Ray were detirmined to beat Garble to the prize. Neither one wanted him to win. Along the way, the duo found a blue dragoness trying to get out from under a rock. To which, Spike managed to lift up off her. "What the...why did you do that for?" The blue dragoness asked. "Well why not? I don't care if this is a race, you were in trouble." Spike said. "Tch. You must be those two I heard that came from Ponyville. Listen here you two: In this race, it's every dragon for themselves. Though that's the way it's always been around here." The Blue Dragoness said. "Hey, weren't you with the dragon lord earlier?" Ray asked. "So you noticed that." The Blue Dragoness said. "I came here to prove to him that I was worthy to succeed him." "So, that means your his daughter, huh?" Ray asked. "Wha-how did you..." The Blue Dragoness said. "Pretty easy to figure it out, to be honest. When you live with the two ponies we have, you tend to figure things out quickly. Me more so." Ray said. "We better get on ahead. We don't want Garble to wage his war against the ponies." Spike said. "And you, try to be more careful. I'd hate for some dragon to have to tell your father you got trapped in here." The duo left, but the dragoness known as Ember was a little stunned. "War? Why would any dragon want to--" Ember then gasped. "Th-the egg that was reported missing...I'm fairly sure that it belonged to Garble's family." She then started to head after Spike & Ray, and even managed to catch up. "Oh hi again." Ray said. "You want to stop Garble right? I'm not saying this because I owe you one, but I also don't want a war between the ponies and the dragons. So, let me tag along." Ember said. "If that's what you want to do, I'm not about to stop you." Ray said. "Neither am I. But is there a reason you don't want the war?" Spike asked. "Garble wants the war because he blames ponies for the egg that went missing. There was this egg that was unaccounted for and Garble believed ponies stole it." Ember said. "But from what I've learnt being near dad, is that Princess Celestia gives dragon eggs she finds or is handed to dad. There was this one time, she found this yellow dragon egg, and she handed it over to dad. Thing is, he told her to keep it since all of the dragon eggs that year were accounted for. That's what dad said anyways." Ember said. "Yellow egg? Did your dad ever say if the egg had red spots?" Ray asked. "Actually yes, that is the egg dad was referring to." Ember said. "That egg was mine then. Funny how that works." Ray said. "Wow. That is ironic. So, got a name then?" Ember asked. "Names Ray. Nice to meet you." Ray said. "Ember, it's a pleasure." Ember said. "And I'm Spike." Spike said. "I think we're getting close now." Thanks to the combined efforts of Spike, Ray, and Ember, Garble failed to be the one that grabbed the sceptor, in fact, Ember was the one who managed to grab the sceptor. "Gah...the ponies should've paid...they should have paid..." Garble said. "Ember told us everything. And even told us more then that. She told us not only had an egg that belonged to your family went missing and how you believed ponies stolen it; but she also explained about the yellow egg with red markings that Princess Celestia found and tried giving to Torch, only for it to turn out that all the eggs were already accounted for." Ray said. "Why do you care so much about that egg anyways? At least that one I can't blame for." Garble said. "Because Ray hatched from that egg, and thus, if Princess Celestia found out about an egg theft, don't you think if she was given a second dragon egg, she'd inquire about it with Ember's father?" Spike asked. Garble's face fell. "I...your right...your absolutely right..." He said. Some time later, there was a meeting between Celestia, Torch, Ember, Garble, and Smolder with Twilight, Sunset, Starlight, Spike, Ray, and Smolder present. "So...you didn't inform me that an egg had gone missing until now." Celestia asked. "That's strange. I thought I sent a messenger to the castle when it was discovered the egg was missing..." Torch said. "...By any chance, did you send them to the castle in the Everfree Forest?" Celestia asked. "Why yes actually; is that important?" Torch asked. "Because you should know I haven't been in that castle since the construction on the new one was finished, which was fifty years ago." Celestia said. "Oh. I thought you were still in the Everfree at that point. I'm going to say that one's on me." Torch said. "Way to goof dad." Ember said. "So, whatever happened to that dragon then?" Garble asked. "I'm willing to bet the Everfree Forest got to them. That place is always known for having some wonky physics to it." Twilight said. "...Yeah, I guess that would be something." Garble said. "Well I'm just glad everything got cleared up. In fact, I was hoping that since we cleared this up, you might like to attend a festival next week." Twilight said. "Well, I suppose attending the festival is the least I can do to make up for the huge misunderstanding." Garble said. "We can do better: We'll help set it up." Ember said. "That'll be great! It's going to be my first ever planned festival. And I honestly would love it if everything went well." Twilight said. Little did any pony or dragon knew at that time, but the festival Twilight was planning, would mark the return of one particular tyrant that we knew was coming, we just didn't expect when they'd show up... Future Spike wrote down.