Dragons are good at fighting. Very good at it. Supurb, even.
So why are the dragonlands utter garbage?
This was the question that plagued Princess Ember when she became the Dragonlord. She had already proven her strength and power in the gauntlet of fire. In the end, though, it was Spike who retrieved the Bloodstone Scepter. Spike the clanless, whose form had no power, who worked with ponies of all things...
Something was going to need to change. And one thing Ember knew, Dragons... disliked... change.
This was originally for the Imposing Sovereigns competition, but was not able to complete it at the time. Cover art by Cider-Crave.
Chapters (1)
Ooh, nice, gripping start. Looking forward to more of this!
*Sees Picture* *Imitates Mako* Between the time when the oceans drank (insert Atlantis horse pun here), and the rise of the daughters of Faust, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Ember, destined to wear the jeweled crown of the Dragonlands upon a troubled brow. It is I, her chronicler, who alone can tell thee of her saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!
A
princessruler who actually gets stuff done? You have my attention.References to The Silmarillion and D&D? Nice touch.
...now this is going to be epic...
Ember does make for a good imposing sovereign, capitalized or otherwise. Looking forward to her efforts at modernization now that she has a grasp on dragon psychology.
Well, this is definitely going to be interesting.
Way to go master weaver
Is spike gonna be revelant to this story?
Interesting start. I do want to point out, before you go overboard on the idea that dragons are basically cave-men, that the dragons we saw were wearing detailed armor that appears custom-crafted for them, so they have access to some form of fairly advanced metalworking.
8707158
In that same vein, it's also worth reminding that they've been established being capable of reading...in Equestrian. And, by association, should mean they should be capable of writing as well. And where there's reading and writing, there's bound to be the intellectuals, even if few, out there who have exploited that skill beyond the average of others.
But I think the dragons problem is less that they're dumb and more than they've let themselves become idle and non-industrious, much like the griffons in "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone." They aren't putting to use what they already have and have gotten, frankly, lazy.
But we'll see where this story goes with the concept.
8707509
It could also simply be a matter of them being in recovery, rather than being in a rut.
The dragons seem to have a gap in leadership. Sure, they had Ember's dad as Dragon Lord but "Gauntlet of Fire" demonstrated a serious lack of 'not-much-younger than Torch, but MUCH older/bigger than Ember'-dragons. If thats the case; dragons still have a ton of power, but most of them are simply young and lazy so the ones who actually DO something are few and disorganized enough to outmatched by a concentrated pony/griffin/yak/whatever counter.
As for the story itself... eh...? More premise, not enough setup.
Now, and capitalize "or."
Those.
Oh hell to the fuck yes.
Ember's inner monologue is a lot more formal than I imagined it would be.
8707509
I've always wondered just how a dragon implied to be little more than a bully and thug knows so much about ponykind. He can read Ponish. He can even tell how they smell. Where might he have learned all of that?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/2/6/822419__safe_artist-colon-punzil504_garble_sunset+shimmer_alternate+universe_baby+dragon_dragon_pony_simple+background_transparent+background_unicorn_v.png
8733368
It's not just limited to Garble though--though not yet explicitly demonstrated in-episode that I can recall, it's still been implied that Ember can read the pony language (whatever we might want to call it) too, if only because it can be deduced through circumstances she has been presented in by now. That then suggests a trend that would say that several dragons can read in such a language too.
As for how and why though, that can really only be speculated upon. I don't think the show has actually demonstrated clearly that the dragon's possess their own language separate from that of the ponies (that at least is still being actively used, spoken or written, in modernity) though, so from the show's point of view, it might be that they just possess the same language...which seems to be the case with many of non-pony cultures too if true, so this wouldn't be too special or unexpected.
But given just how long Equestria has been around and how much of influence it has held for most of that, at least upon its region of the world, that wouldn't be so surprising anyway--the farthest reaching language across the land tends to be the one spoken by the leading political power(s) in that land. This is why Latin grew to be so widespread and influential in its day, because it was the language of choice for the Romans, both as a Republic and as an Empire, and why English is so widespread today, because it's the leading language of the leading world powers of today (US and UK, among others).
But for the purposes of this fic, it's already been implied to flat out established that the dragons have their own established language of their own (though it may be dying out in favor of other languages), so the fact that they know the language of the ponies too makes it all the more noteworthy in it's universe.
Chiefly though, I was more implying that the average dragon likely can read and probably read well, regardless of age, because if they can read a nonnative language, that usually implies they already know how to read in their own language just as well, if not better. And if they can read, they can write too, most usually. And if they can read and write, that in turn implies a higher intelligence than some fic writers give the dragons credit for at times.
8733407
And not even a single sentence wasted on the pic?
My failure is abject.
8733440
Sorry...I thought the pic was largely self explanatory.
An interesting idea, but I don't really have anything of note to say about it, admittedly.
EDIT: though I suppose I should note that, given that dragons seem to age slower (barring no greed-based bursts), that would imply, at least in my mind, that Garble would be significantly older...which would in turn imply Sunset is significantly older in order for events to all line up properly...and that doesn't seem to be the case, the way EqG portrays thing.
But then again, exactly when the falling out with Sunset that led her to fleeing Equestria for parts more human was has always been a point left frustratingly vague...given how long Twilight was around Celestia during her time as her student, were Sunset's tenure as a student as well be too recent, then surely the two would've crossed paths before and at least known enough about each other to know of each other's existence (because Twilight may have been anti-social at the time, but that didn't mean she wasn't oblivious of the ponies around her).