Draco sat in his old room, just remembering his life there. The times he kept up with Moon, when he wrote to his mother, when he drew for fun…
…and when he spoke with Ember.
The dozens of drawings decorating the walls were each painted by him, but there was one he cherished the most. It was a disgrace to all drawing and painting methods, a mess of colors on a white canvas. But he loved it. He loved every thickly painted line and every smudge of ink on it.
It was Ember's first drawing. Where he and her were supposed to be holding hand and claw while smiling.
Draco moved the pin keeping the picture in place, bringing it closer for him to see. He smiled as he recalled that day, begging Ember to at least try. She grabbed the quil and did her best to draw him, her tongue sticking out as she looked at him over and over. Her scales were covered in paint, the patterns imprinted on the blob of green she called grass. He had called it her artist's signature, and he put it in the one place everydragon could see it.
Right on the ceiling above his bed.
A tear dropped between the two of them, creating a small smudge mark on their arms. He put the drawing on the desk, then went stumbled as his foot hit the emerald leg. Draco grabbed onto the drawer handle, pulling it out entirely and spilling his own clothes on him. Something hard hit his head, and he pushed away all the shirts and pants until he was grabbing it.
Ember's ruby flute.
It was her form of payback for making her draw. She made him play the hardest flute solo he had ever heard. Needless to say, he blew it and she was laughing and snickering as he messed up several notes. But unlike her with drawing, she encouraged him to learn. He liked the music she could make, since she was much better. She never missed a note, never made a wrong one, and never stopped until she was done. He had heard every song she was interested in, and it was what urged him to learn. He wanted to make music like her, so maybe they could do a sort of duet together.
Draco turned the flute every which way, admiring the fine and accurate carvings needed to make the instrument. He blew a single note, drawing it out for a while. With his room utterly destroyed, and the only thing left to do now was to jump off the cliff, he decided to do one last thing. He kicked aside the broken gem furniture and walked through the halls, ignoring the worried and concerned looks of the fighters. Draco stepped out onto the open cliff, looking up to his aunt's moon and basking in its beams for a moment. He sat cross-legged on the ledge, the same place he cried for hours after Ember's passing. He exhaled deeply, clearing his mind and letting the notes flow.
Not a symphony she played, or any he heard. This was coming from him… from his heart.
He put the flute to his mouth, and after a minute of thinking, he began with a steady low note. The music echoed into the valleys below, and it summoned memories.
Watching her pass, watching as she was beaten by the griffon in Gryphos, when she attacked him… and Dasher's death.
The note climbed just a bit higher, going through the forests below.
He remembered meeting Ember for the first time. Then when he met Moon. Rainbow… Twilight… his aunt… and the other Elements.
The music climbed higher, drawing a group of high-flying birds to perch themselves on his shoulders and beside him. He thrummed his fingers rhythmically on the holes that made the lovely music, creating a high-pitched symphony that was running through his mind. It climbed even higher, and he let his heart guide every short hop of his fingers that made the composition.
He remembered playing with Rainbow Dash in the halls, wrestling with her and Dasher. And after she moved, Twilight took her place and used her magic to be just as tricky. Memories of Moon and him wrestling to decide which of them was stronger, but the endless tie summing up their goes. He recalled talking with Ember on the ledge, occasionally watching her puff images made from her clouds of smoke.
His music reached the highest point, the birds around him beginning to take part and chirping similar melodies. Draco funneled the best memories, and the best music came out. When he and Ember laid beside each other, when he rested his head on her lap. And when he and Moon would stay awake until the dawn's rays, talking and laughing together as brothers instead of cousins. And of course… being with his mother. When she cared for him as a child, always told her how much she loved him, and welcomed him back with open hooves and wings. The motherly warmth that no other pony could give him. The brotherly love that made their rivalry all the better. And Ember's love.
His heart brought the music to a quick noted rhythm that had the birds creating slower notes to add to the beautiful song that echoed into the valleys below. He remembered always having Ember to turn to, even though Moon was an option he wouldn't overlook. When he wanted to make her smile, to just see her and know that she was happy. To see how beautiful she had become, despite all of the negativity she said about herself. The smell of lilac that stimulated his senses, the feel of her gentle scales, and the warmth of her body that he longed for.
Tears streamed down his eyes once again as he began lowering the pitch, until the last note died off into the forest below. The birds scattered once he stood up, looking at the flute. He held it up to the moon… and inscribed on the side was…
…believe.
He smiled, a soft laugh making its way out of him even as he spread his arms and let the wind blow away the tears. His eyes closed, and his heart raced as he began thinking of what would the other side be like. Assuming It didn't save him, he believed it would be beautiful. Like an endless garden, or a field of grass that spread on forever with trees and flowers sprouting here and there.
But a claw turned him around.
Draco gasped as he looked upon the fighter before him. Dark grey - almost-black - scales, purple belly scales, red wing flaps, dark purple pikes at the end of the tail, and green spines with some atop the head tipped with blue. And the eyes… the eyes that he would never forget. Even with the yellow smear of color slashing across them he could remember.
Those lovely emerald eyes.
They embraced, harder than ever. Ember moved back and smiled at him, as did he. "I'm back."
Draco tilted his head, but her lips answered his question before it could come out. She eagerly and excitedly pulled his head forward, kissing him with passion and intensity that she had always dreamed of. Draco found his wits and put a hand behind her head and did the same, tilting his head opposite from hers and caressing her body. Ember felt her tail swinging wildly, and her wings were quickly stiffening.
But she didn't care.
The flute symphony had brought it all back. Everything. All of the time she spent just wishing she could be with him. The pain that he had shown her, and the unrelenting care that he gave her. Ember seperated her lips from him, tears running down her cheeks along with him. Draco nuzzled her… another strained sob leaving him.
"I'm never going to leave you, Draco," she whispered. "Never."
He smiled and kissed her lips again. "I'm counting on it," he replied shakily, holding the sides of her head as if she were the most precious gem in the stars.
And to him… she was.
She had her claws gently run through his mane, just like she used to. He guided her back into a kiss, this time going the extra yard. Ember smirked lightly and opened her mouth, allowing his short tongue a chance to prod. Then, her forked tongue forced him back into his own territory, and she reveled in the way he struggled to keep up with her swirls and tugs. Draco's left hand moved down to her lower back, while his right went up to her wing joints. She moaned into his mouth as he rubbed them between his index and thumb. Her leg moved up his side, and he immediately pulled her up. She kissed him from her new vantage point, going wild with the feel of his powerful body trying to tame her.
Pellets of rain began to sprinkle over them, and it only became known to them when it was pelting them. Laughing together, Draco carried her inside and went straight to her room, letting her shut the door before they went back at it. He placed her against the stone wall roughly, fighting her surprisingly skilled tongue with his thicker one. She giggled and moaned as his eagerness matched her own, and she pulled off the shirt she was still wearing. Instead of letting him take his own off, she tore through the fabric with her claws and ripped it open, revealing his muscled body. Her axe-like tail did the same with his pants, and he smiled as the message became clear.
Draco went over to her bed, caressing her while he kissed and bit her neck roughly, relishing in the noiss she let loose. She pulled away suddenly, her tail tugging at his underwear playfully.
"I want this, Draco... I want you." He smiled affectionately and nuzzled her, reaching down as her tail moved away.
The last piece of cloth fell, Ember staring with slight embarrassment. And thus began one of their most memorable nights.
Ember layed naked beside her lover, their hour long "activities" having wasted both of them. She rested her head on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around her, her tail spiraling around his right leg while the left was laying between her legs. Draco ran his fingers over her belly, drawing images for her to guess.
"The mountains." Draco smiled, giving her reward in the form of his lips.
Now, it was her turn. She had done several already, and she was running out of ideas. An idea popped into her mind, and she turned to Draco. He rose a brow whilst she smiled, and she blew a puff of smoke at him.
In the shape of a heart.
Draco chuckled softly and kissed her lips, drawing the same image on her belly. "I love you, Ember," he whispered.
She leaned her head against his chest and let out a soft exhale. "And I love you, Draco."
He pulled the covers over them, pulling Ember close for one last kiss. She nuzzled his cheek and leaned into his chest, draping her claws around him. Draco closed his eyes, and fell asleep. Their smiles lasted throughout the night, Draco finally being ready to choose.