Old Friends, New Family

by Frost Bear

Gauntlet of Fire

“Twilight!” Rarity yelled, “Something’s wrong with Spike!”

Spike charged in, scratching his glowing scales.

“Oh ok… this is new,” Twilight blinked, “Do you know anything about this?”

Celestia nodded, “This is the call of the Dragon Lord.”

“All dragons must adhere to the Dragon Lord’s call,” Luna expanded.

“Wait wait wait, I thought ponies knew nothing about dragons?” Twilight questioned.

“We would know more if it wasn’t for a… minor mistake,” Luna glared at Celestia.

“How was I suppose to know dragons had an aversion to ice?!”

“You could’ve listened to me when I talk about my nightly patrols.”

“Excuse me, princesses,” Rarity cut in, “What are we suppose to do about Spike?”

“He will have to go to the dragon lands.”

“They are very dangerous, to ponies, you must be careful.”

Twilight brightened up, “We’re going to the dragon lands?! Oh this is so exciting! I’ll get my notebook and quills!”

“Twilight, it’s dangerous to go to the dragon lands,” Luna stopped her, “You will need protection.”

Luna conjured a bottle and levitated it towards Twilight. Twilight gave it a weird look but put it in her saddlebag regardless. Spike was stopped scratching and held his chest. Rarity grabbed her saddlebag with some odd contents in it. The three of them set off to the dragon lands via air balloon, since no train went in that direction.

Once in the dragon lands, Rarity and Twilight hid under a rock disguise. Spike leaned on the disguise as they waited for the dragon lord. More dragons showed up as time went by. Most were unrecognizable while others were…

“I’ve never seen you before,” Garble snorted, “Why don’t you have any wings?”

“Hello, Garble, long time no see,” Spike sneered.

“I have no idea who you are,” Garble examined Spike, “You do look familiar, though.”

Spike rolled his eyes and looked up. The Dragon Lord just landed and a small female dragon hovered near him.

“Who’s that?” Spike asked.

“Uh, the Dragon Lord? You been living in a cave or something?”

“Not him, her!”

“Oh, that’s Princess Ember,” Garble sighed, “Trust me, she ain’t worth it. You’d have to stand up to her dad, the Dragon Lord, to get to her.”

“What? No! I’m not interested in her.”

Garble elbowed him hard, “Ha! Sure you’re not.”

“DRAGONS OF EQUESTRIA!” Dragon Lord Torch shouted, “ACCORDING TO DRAGON LAW, MY TIME AS DRAGON LORD IS OVER. SAD, I KNOW… BE SAD!!!”

The dragons faked tears on command.

“NOW THEN, IN ORDER TO DECIDE WHO IS BEST FIT TO BE DRAGON LORD, YOU WILL ALL PARTICIPATE IN THE GAUNTLET OF FIRE! WHOMEVER RETRIEVES THIS SCEPTER AND BRINGS IT TO ME WILL BECOME THE NEW DRAGON LORD!”

“Um, excuse me,” Spike called out.

“WHO DARES SPEAK BEFORE THE DRAGON LORD?”

Princess Ember flew down to Spike, “Just some Drake. No wings.”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT, LITTLE DRAKE?”

“I… don’t really want to go through the gauntlet so is it ok…”

“SILENCE!” Torch commanded, “YOU ARE A STRANGE DRAKE AND YOUR LACK OF WINGS GIVES YOU REASON NOT TO PARTICIPATE. YOU ARE EXCUSED FROM THE GAUNTLET.”

“Um… thanks?”

The glow around the dragons went away. Several dragons flew off including Ember.

“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?”

“To prepare for the gauntlet.”

“OH NO YOU’RE NOT! THIS GAUNTLET IS FOR BIG STRONG DRAGONS!”

“What?! I’m smarter than all of these meatheads and you know it!”

“I DO KNOW THAT, BUT IT TAKES MORE THAN SMARTS TO BE DRAGON LORD!”

Ember huffed and flapped away.

Meanwhile, the dragons around Spike were gloating about what they would do when they became Dragon Lord.

“Belching will be a mandatory greeting,” the pink one proclaimed.

“That’s it? When I’m Dragon Lord, all of Equestria’s pillows will be ours! Why should ponies sleep comfortably while we sleep on rocks?” the brown one whined.

“You’re all thinking too small!” Garble growled, “When I’m Dragon Lord, we’re going to get revenge on all those ponies.”

The dragons flew off, leaving Spike and the two mares alone.

“Oooh, I thought I’d never say this but I hope that pink dragon wins,” Rarity cried.

“None of them can win! It’ll spell doom for Equestria!” Spike stated.

“What are you going to do, Spike?” Twilight asked.

“I’m going to win the gauntlet and save Equestria!”

“That’s very nobel of you,” Rarity complemented, “We’ll be right behind you to cheer you on.”

“Gee, how helpful.”

“Well… We can’t do much against dragons.”

At the start of the gauntlet, many dragons got ready. Torch hovered at the edge of the cliff and threw the scepter in an active volcano.

“I THOUGHT I EXCUSED YOU,” Torch directed towards Spike.

“I changed my mind,” Spike squeaked.

Torch rolled his eyes, “THE FIRST DRAGON TO BRING ME THE SCEPTER BECOMES THE NEW DRAGON LORD… GO!!!”

Garble turned to Spike, “May the best dragon win,” he offered his claw. Spike reached for the claw and was pushed off the cliff, “That’d be me, by the way. Hahahaha!”

“Thanks, Garble, I wanted to swim anyway,” Spike grumbled as he dog paddled through the first obstacle.

Giant sea serpents spitting streams of water. Several dragons fell from the sky into the water. Many, including Garble, fell behind trying to stay in the air in a desperate struggle to avoid the serpents. A particular dragon in armor fell and sunk like a rock.

“She’s going to drown!” Spike shouted before diving to save the armored dragon.

Spike managed to pull the dragon out of the water onto shore of the volcano. He took her helmet off and made sure she was breathing.

“What are you doing?” Ember coughed up water.

“Saving your life?” Spike blushed.

Ember gave him a confused look, “Thanks… I suppose…”

Rarity sneezed underneath some seaweed.

“Who’s there?!” Ember pulled the seaweed off, “Ponies?!”

“Don’t freak out! There my friends!”

“Dragons don’t do friends.”

“Well, I’m his mother,” Twilight chimed in.

Ember gave a shocked and disgusted look.

“It’s a long story.”

A roar interrupted the moment. Rocks flew across the sky, smashing into dragons left and right. Garble was struck down and plummeted to the sandy ground Spike and Ember were. Rarity pulled seaweed over herself and Twilight, Ember put her helmet on, and Spike hid behind the seaweed cover.

Garble vainly tried to push the rock off before looking over to Spike, “Hey can you help me out? I don’t want to be left alone out here!”

Spike sighed and pushed the rock off of Garble. Garble immediately pulled him down and kicked sand over him.

“Thanks for the assist, pal,” Garble sniffed the air, “Ugh, what smells like pony?”

He turned around, sniffing the air. He stopped at the seaweed cover Rarity and Twilight were under. Ember stood in front of him.

“Hey, what gives?”

“That smell’s me,” Ember bluffed, “I just got back from robbing some ponies!”

“Heh, good on you,” Garble turned to Spike, “You could learn a few things from this guy. Later losers!”

Garble flew off before being pelted by another rock.

“Why did you save him? You could’ve taken out of the competition.”

“I could ask you the same thing. Why did you help out my friends?”

A sudden scream of the Wilhelm variety echoed from above. Ember and Spike looked up to see dragons being taken out by rocks fling by weird creatures with catapults for tails.

“Yeesh, looks rough,” Ember cringed, “But that’s what makes it a challenge.”

“Are you crazy?” Spike gawked, “Those rocks are huge! No way you can pass them on your own.”

“And what do you suggest? You don’t have wings and you’re too big to hop on my back… Not that I would let you get on my back,” Ember blushed.

“Um, pardon me,” Rarity coughed, “Couldn’t you just climb up the mountain?”

Spike gave Rarity a confused stare.

“There’s a straight path that leads up to the cave that looks like a mouth.”

“Huh, how about that?” Ember tilted her head, “We’d be easy targets for those rock lobbers, though.”

“And being in the air is different?” Spike snorted, “Listen, we may be vunerable on ground but we got plenty more cover and places to hid from those things. Besides, we have a unicorn and an alicorn with us.”

“Hmm, good point. Land walk it is then.”

“Oh great! I can interview you on dragon culture and study your habits or-“ Twilight trailed on before she noticed Spike and Ember already walked away, “Or you and Spike can have some alone time…”

Later, the group made it up the mountain.

“Wow… I really didn’t expect to be the first ones here,” Ember whistled.

“So much for fair competition,” Spike grumbled, “It’s a regular video game dungeon in there! Moving spikes and platforms! This is the easiest thing I’ve been through.”

“You sound confident,” Ember growled, “Not all of us had the luxury of playing pony games.”

“I’ll help you through if you want.”

“I don’t need you help to win,” Ember crossed her arms, “B-But I’ll accept it for this part of the gauntlet.”

Spike and Ember slithered through the next section of the gauntlet using well timed jumps and careful study of patterns. Garble was seen getting knocked out by jabbing crystals along with other dragons.

“Made it!” Spike cheered.

“Good job, Spike!” Twilight rang.

“How did you two get here before us? Actually, where were you for the entire section we passed?”

“Magic,” Rarity snorted twice before the cavern started shaking, throwing her off balance.

Rarity stumbled near the edge where lava pits spouted and hissed. Spike swiftly ran over and pulled her to safety. Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity could’ve sworn she saw Ember pout.

“Why did you risk you life for her?”

“Um, I wouldn’t say risk my life,” Spike scratched his head, “I’m a dragon, dragons have immunity to lava.”

“The fall would’ve still injured you.”

“Well, saving each other is just what friends do.”

Ember coughed, “Then I guess we can’t be friends, not that I wanted to or anything. There can only be one dragon lord and it’s going to be me!”

“Oh… ok, see you around,” Spike waved goodbye to Ember as she flew off.

After wandering around for several hours, the three of them found the scepter.

“Huh, that was easy.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Garble tackled Spike, “I’m not letting a wimp like you become Dragon Lord!”

Garble pushed Spike on Twilight and Rarity. Their disguises fell off.

“What the? Ponies?! Oh you’re so pathetic,” Garble sneered as he waddled to the two mares.

Ember arrived at the last minute to save them, much to the confusion of Garble.

“What are you doing? They’re ponies!”

“I’m helping a friend,” Ember growled, “Spike, get the scepter!”

Spike nodded and ran to the scepter.

“Gah! No way! That looser’s more pony than dragon,” Garble kicked Ember in the leg and threw her into some rocks.

Spike noticed and decided to go help her. He jumped on Garble’s back, pushing his weight ontop of him. Garble used all his strength to push Spike off and shoved him over the edge. Ember flew over and picked him up in time.

“You need to lay off the gems!” she scolded.

“Well excuse me, princess,” Spike remarked.

Garble made way to Twilight and Rarity. He backed the two of them to a corner of the room. Both of them were scared and couldn’t run away. Twilight then remembered the bottle Luna gave her and took it out of her saddle bag.

“What’s that? Some friendship token? Hahahaha,” Garble mocked.

Twilight opened the bottle hoping for the best. Nothing actually happened except a tiny pink puff ball popped out of the bottle, hovered around Rarity and Twilight, and just floated there.

“Uh… what the heck is that?” Garble tried not to die laughing.

“I… think it’s a… fairy?” Twilight raised her brow in confusion. Why would Luna give her a fairy? How was a fairy going to help her in the dragon land?

Garble stopped laughing. A sudden look of dread dawned on his face. The fairy hovered closer to Garble. Garble jumped back. The fairy got a little bit closer. Then Garble ran off screaming like a little girl.

“…Well… that was super effective, wasn’t it?” Rarity stated in a confused state of amusement, relief, and concern.

“Dragons apparently have an aversion, not only to ice but, to fairies as well,” Twilight noted in a notebook.

Spike and Ember returned with the scepter, “Hey guys, what happened to Garble? We saw him running away from you two.”

“What did you two-“ Ember started before the fairy hovered in front of her face, “AAAAAAAHH!!! GET IT AWAY! GET IT AWAY!”

Twilight grabbed the fairy with magic and forced it into the bottle.

“Thank you,” Ember sighed with relief, “You do not know how terrifying those things are.”

“Ok… well we got the scepter. That means you’re the Dragon Lord now, Ember,” Spike smiled as he gave Ember the scepter.

“ME? But all the stuff you did for me and your friends… you deserve to be Dragon Lord more than me.”

“Nah, I’m already a hero to the Crystal Empire, Guardian of the Elements of Harmony, and adopted son of the Princess of Magic. Being Dragon Lord is one title too many.”

Ember blinked, “Oh… Ok, thanks. Hope you come back to the dragon lands soon.”

“So, we’re friends now?”

“Absolutely,”

Spike gave her a hug.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s called a hug.”

“Hmm, it’s nice.”

A large brown dragon came over with a large frown. Spike rolled his eyes and gave the big lug a hug.

It made the large dragons day.

Comments

[DavisSentoV5]

I wish you continue this series

[Sonic Rainboom Dash]

“I… think it’s a… fairy?” Twilight raised her brow in confusion. Why would Luna give her a fairy? How was a fairy going to help her in the dragon land?

was that a legend of Zelda reverence?

[johnnie]

Yes please continue on please