It had been a few weeks since she became Dragon Lord and right from the start Ember had started changing things for her young reign. While she wouldn’t admit it in front of other dragons, letters filled with suggestions from Spike and Princess Twilight proved a big help with governing. She never realized just how smart ponies were and was even surprised that Spike, a little drake, matched them in terms of intellect. He wrote that living with Twilight meant you had to keep up with her in terms of education. While he would never surpass her, he was ahead of his peers and Ember admired that. Too many dragons focused on brawn than brains.
Thanks to their help, she had established a few new changes. One was the Council of Flames, where a representative from every clan would help her govern by having a say in what should be done for the best of every dragon and give her advice on what to do. In return, she would use her authority as Dragon Lord to help them with problems they were dealing; such as food shortage, clan disputes, or judging criminals. It was a busy workload, but she was up to the task.
The second major thing she did was form the Scale Guards, a suggestion from Spike when he mentioned how Princess Celestia and Luna always had guards for them despite their power. Ember wasn’t the strongest dragon there was, she was still a teenager actually, and her father worried for her safety. More than one Dragon Lord had been killed before in history.
This time Ember did choose the strongest and most dedicated dragons of all ages, both her age and older, to be her guards. She gave them ruby-red and obelisk-black armor to make them look fiercer and more intimidating. They were loyal to her, willing to die for her if need be. This would also be the first step to help building a royal army, but that would take a few hundred years to restore order and discipline as most dragons cared mostly for themselves.. Many of the other races were watching the Dragon Lands at all times in fear of another invasion of them. If Ember was ever to gain trust with the other lands, she would have to show civil changes before investing in military.
Besides these changes, and a few new laws, she had begun a project that Princess Twilight had been most helpful in assisting: the construction of a great library. Long ago, dragons did have libraries and castles until their great fall. Very few clans kept scrolls or books from those old days. Ember sought to educate the dragons once again, to make them smarter than the brutes they currently were, her second step being a school next to the library when it was completed. She choose Mt. Velca, named after the Dragon Goddess of Wisdom, as the place to build her library and she was overseeing the construction. The clans had agreed to lend their scrolls and books, provided it was completed first and protected, and Equestria was already planning on sending a mountain of books as a gift to their new alliance. In return, Ember promised to send a few of her Scale Guards near the borders of the Badlands to deal with some monster activity.
“A little higher!” shouted Ember as she guided a statue of the goddess up to the center platform that was being held by two large dragons. “Perfect, now drop!”
A satisfying thud made her smile before checking her blueprints for the rest of the library. At the rate they were going, they would be finished in a year or so, but would have plenty of space to put in the books and scrolls for the dragons to read.
“I still think this is all stupid.”
Ember sighed and glanced behind her where Garble, dressed in Scale Guard armor, was glaring at her with his arms crossed. “Yes, you have had said so about twenty times.”
“Why are you bothering with something as useless as a library? We should train how to burn our foes and raising an army! We need to show the world our might!” shouted Garble.
Ember rolled her eyes, thanking the gods she was Dragon Lord and not him. “Garble, there’s more to life than becoming strong and burning others. I’m trying to bring us back to the glory days. You’re just here to guard me, not complain like a crybaby.” She still hated the fact that she had to have the idiot as a guard, but he was a strong dragon for his age. That, and his father was very influential. For political reasons, she decided to make his heir a guard. Plus, it would be better to keep an eye on him this way instead of letting him do something stupid on his own.
“This is all that stupid pony loving dragon’s idea, isn’t it?” asked Garble, snorting. “One has to wonder if you're not just some puppet for those pansy ponies in Equestria.”
Ember raised an eyebrow. “Those same pansy ponies who happen to have defeated us in war before? Multiple times? The ones who defeated and tamed the Spirit of Chaos, an enemy we couldn’t defeat who brought our downfall? The same ones that move the sun, moon and weather for all of us to live?” Garble blushed and grumbled something too soft for Ember to hear. “Maybe the reason they’re so much better than us is because they do something else beside fight and horde. Do you want us to be respected?”
“I want us to be feared!” shouted Garble, getting a few dragons glaring at him with hostility. Speaking up to a Dragon Lord was something few tolerated. “I want us to have glory like we once did.”
“And if you want that glory, you’ll follow me whether you like it or not,” growled Ember as she wielded the Blood Scepter. “I am your Dragon Lord. You will obey me and do as I command!”
“Fine, but I don’t have to like it,” muttered Garble as he walked away, stomping as hard as he could.
Idiot, thought Ember as she shook her head. Dragons like Garble she would have to deal with eventually, but she had bigger fish to fry.
Just then a green flame like mist appeared and she quickly felt her anger leave her upon seeing a message from Spike. She smiled and quickly took the scroll that had appeared before her with glee. Opening it, she read with a smile on her face:
Dear Ember,
Sorry I couldn’t write to you this past week, but you will never guess what happened! I finally grew my wings! It was kinda painful and the process lasted all night, but I finally got them! I’ve been trying to learn how to fly with my friend, Rainbow Dash, but I don’t think it’s working. The crashed windows I had to help repair can be my testament to that... heh heh.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight think it might be due to the fact that dragon wings are structured differently from pegasi wings. Not to mention that pegasi are born with the instinctive knowledge how to fly in a basic form while we dragon's get them later as a sign of maturity (I’ve also grown up a lot from that little dragon you saw last time). As such, we think it might be best if I had a dragon to teach me so I thought maybe you could? I can come over and help with the library construction for a while and we would get a chance to hang out! I’ve missed you actually, and I hope you aren’t too busy as Dragon Lord to help me out.
Write to me as soon as you can,
Your Friend,
Spike
Ember was surprised. The fact that Spike had grown his wings so quickly was indeed a sign of growing up, but that they were grown at his age showed much maturity. Ember didn’t even get her wings until a few years older than him.
The idea of seeing her friend again and teaching him began to excite her. She had started slowly getting more dragons as “friends” but she really wanted to see Spike more than anything. For a second, that kiss she gave him on the cheek appeared in her mind, but she pushed it away; the two of them just joking about it time to time and putting it past them. Or at least trying too.
Quickly requesting a quill and scroll, she began to write a reply:
Dear Spike,
I would be happy to teach you! Just come by the way you did when you entered the Dragon Lands for the call and I’ll have my guards escort you to me. Don’t worry, it won’t be Garble. I’ll make sure he’s far away from here when you arrive.
It might take some time to teach you, so warn your friends about this before you come over. Don’t worry, you will be under my constant protection my friend.
Can’t wait to see you soon,
Your Friend,
Ember
She rolled the scroll and sent it away with a puff of blue flame, hoping that Spike would come soon.
A smashing sound made her turn to her left where a dragon was stuck between the floor and a fallen storage wall. Sighing, Ember went back to work, but with a bit of a smile on her face this time.