Princess Ember is not the biggest, strongest, or meanest dragon out there. In fact, she ranks pretty low in all three categories. Despite these disadvantages, she managed to pass her father's trials and become the Dragon Lord. Only one question remains: Now what?

While Friendship helped her win the day, it failed to give her a run-down of the intricacies of draconic politics, or lack thereof. Lucky for her, her father Torch is here to guide her down the path of a true leader. Soon, dragons across the world will be spreading the magic of friendship the best way they know how.

With fire.

'Other' tag for Torch, Ember, and a few cameos. Properly tagged with the update. Still needs a 'Stupid' tag though.

Set shortly after the final scene of Season 9.

Months after the end of it all, Spike and Ember have a conversation on a familiar, lonely cliffside. Because even when it's over, the friendships we made along the way will go on. They look different—everything is different—but if you look hard enough, you might still be able to recognize the same magic. Faded, but still growing.

✔ Fimfiction Featured Box – June 17-20, 2021
✔ Reached the Top of the Featured Box

Cover Image: "Everything's Clear Now" by Tamersworld

Twilight wanted to teach Ember pony customs. Instead, she learned about unicorns, dragon eggs... and Ember’s mother.

Special thanks to ChappedPenguinLips for editing.

Dragons, as a rule, are not subtle creatures.

Dragonlord Ember is far from a typical dragon.

Garble wishes he had a sane dragon for a Dragonlord, instead of some Cunning Optimist who's going to get them all killed.

Change is coming to dragonkind, one way or another.

Received an Honorable Mention in FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns Contest. (It was in the "Ember the Mad" slot.)

Edited by SirNotAppearingInThisFic.

Cover Art borrowed from DeathPwny.

Spike has always lived among ponies, who don't know much about dragons. There was lots of guesswork involved in raising him. He had to be his own baseline for expectations. Then he met other dragons, and found out how different his upbringing made him. But he was so busy with social differences, no one noticed another key difference...

Twilight the dragon has never really felt at home in the Dragon Lands. Unlike most dragons, she values intelligence, and is seen as a pariah for it. But things change when she comes across a purple pony named Spike, who has come to the dragon lands on a "Friendship Mission."
But he must be in the wrong place. After all, dragons don't do friendship.

Written for the Choices Species Change Contest, November 2022

(OMG, This story was featured! I'm so honoured and humbled!)

Thorax has the nerve to mysteriously, suspiciously go missing at a political summit that every single major power in Equestria is attending.

It's up to Pharynx has to find him and chew his ear out and make sure he's safe and sound and destroy whoever took him away.

No, he's not worried. That would be stupid. It's just that if he doesn't find Thorax quick enough he's going to raze Bitaly to the ground.

Everything is fine.

Spike has been Twilight's loyal Friendship Ambassador for many years, sorting problems and building bridges with other nations.

Sadly, the customs of his ancestral home remain a mystery to him. On a diplomatic visit to the Dragon Lands, Dragon Lord Ember decides to enroll Spike in a ceremony that all young dragons must pass, the communion with the deity of the dragons.

Yet, in this unfamiliar realm, a world of dragons he knows so little about, Spike is forced to grapple with profound questions of identity-who he truly is, what he aspires to become, and whether he can ever embody the essence of what it is to be a dragon.

Surely speaking with a God can't be that bad?

Set sometime before The Last Problem during Generation 4

Art is by Noben at https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16601690/ all credit goes to the artist and their works exclusively.

Spike was the strangest of dragons, living his charmed life so far removed from his heritage. Knowing so much. How to be a good friend. How to be a hero.

How to have fun.

But actually being a dragon? Not so much. Barely at all, really.

Ember didn't know what to make of her friendship with the little drake, but she did know two things. Spike needed a teacher, a proper dragon teacher, to show him the way.

And second, that this was going to be fun.

Thirty years ago, after laying her and Torch's first and only egg, Ember's mother Glazier gathered up her entire hoard and flew off, vanishing without a trace. Torch has constantly refused to talk about the whole affair, and Ember's been torn ever since becoming Dragon Lord: should she use the Bloodstone Scepter to force some answers out of him?

But then she learns where a piece of her mother's hoard might be hidden, and investigating it points her toward zebra shamans on the other side of the world.

Except...didn't Spike mention a zebra shaman when he was telling his whole story about going through the molt? And Ponyville's a lot closer than Zebrabwe...

Inspired by Charlie_K's request, I started this story as an entry for the Original Pairing group's May 2021 Contest, but I couldn't finish by the deadline. So here it is now!