Üā Sūt Cktüis (How to be Dragon)

by Rammy

Chapter 1: Lūzt ar Vēstuli (A Request by Letter)

Author's Note:

This is the new fresh posting of the what was then the prologue to Üā Sūt Cktüis (How to be Dragon). Now why did I do this? 1 to make sure that ppl reread it and 2 its basically completely new with massive changes and 700 more words between the original prologue and the now 'new' chapter 1. The old chapter 2 (Now 3) is also a fresh reposting for similar reasons. The 'new' chapter 4 has some chucks rewritten but not quite to the decree as the new 1 and 3 so I just made it publicly published again. Same goes for all the other old chapters which have had only minor changes like oopsies and maybe a line or paragraph here or there where I added/edited somthing there is NO need to reread those (other then the long time since that last posting of a new chapter)

What is a dragon? ~ Ancient Dragon Riddle

---

Dragon Lord Ember,

Recent events have brought to light that Spike's upbringing by ponies may be effecting his emotion and physical health in adverse ways. First Spike recently went through what Smolder told us was 'the molt.' While Smolder meant well when she explained it to Spike, he did not take the explanation well. If what Smolder said is typical (correct me if I am wrong), then when a dragon is found to be going through the 'molt' they are kicked out of the metaphorical nest. Given the less than pleasant symptoms, I can understand the reasoning, but it brought up fears that being a dragon that he would be abandoned or driven out by ponies, even though these fears are unfounded. He still struggles with the fallout from the incident on his birthday.

Also, in my excitement in assisting Spike in learning to fly, I had forgotten that Spike's wings were not a pony's wings. It took Smolder to point out my obliviousness: dragon wings are more like a bat not a bird and at least at this stage of his development are positioned for a bipedal stance, not quadrupedal.

I feel that our current 'arrangement' may not be enough. I know that what I am about to ask is a long shot, given that dragons and ponies still are not terribly keen about each other, but is there a dragon that would be willing to come to Ponyville to tutor us directly on dragon rearing and biology? I think neither one of us want to be blindsided again.

Your friend

Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle

Ember sighed as she rolled the scroll back up. It was times like this that she found herself wishing she never agreed to the exchange of letters. She really liked Spike and all, and it was never far from her mind that without Spike she would not be DragonLord. But she had enough issues sending one dragon to attend Twilight's school sending a second one to teach a dragon what it meant to be dragon might be enough to cause a full on revolt. She didn't want her reign to end with with a dragon like Garble pulling off a Scales the Usurper.

"Another letter from the ponies?" Torch questioned pulling Ember from her musings.

"Yes..." Ember answered gloomily, looking over as he stepped into the large pool of lava nearby. She rolled her eyes as he loudly groaned in relief.

When her dad remained silent she let her mind wonder back to the letter. Something it was bothering her, more then just the request. If she recalled correctly Spike was way too young to molt and a bit small too, right? Putting the scroll down she dug around her hoard until she found the bag that held all the previous letters. One after the other she scanned until she found the one asking about dragon's and birthdays.

"Twenty?!" Ember exclaimed in shock, sitting down hard. She was sure that a dragon couldn't molt before a century and Spike had molted at twenty?! "Dad... have you heard of a dragon molting at twenty?"

"What?!" Torch snorted in amusement. "Where did you hear such nonsense!? I swear that if you heard that as a pickup line..."

"DAAAAD!" Ember sputtered in embarrassment. That was the one subject she never wanted him to talk about again, ever. "No drake has dared to try, not after word got out about what you did to the last one..."

"No." Ember spoke after a short pause to rid the image of the poor drake from her mind. "Spike apparently molted and..."

"Ah yes the cowardly tiny wingless drake from Equestria..."

"DAD..." Ember threatened, tapping her claws on the grip of the Bloodstone Specter. She knew of her father's distaste of Spike. Whether it was because the circumstances surroundings how Equestria had come into the custody of a dragon or if it was him being overprotective of his 'little princess' she knew not.

"Fine, fine." Torch yielded, sighing as he slowly lowered himself further into the lava pool.

Ember sighed as Torch used a claw to pick at his teeth. She knew what he was doing, he was being difficult, like always. She was not a little hatchling any more, she was the magma loving Dragon Lord for lava's sake. 'You may be Dragon Lord now but you don't know what it means to be it yet...'. The question was what 'lesson' was it this time and how aggravating would he be.

"But there is one dragon that might know..."

"And who this dragon?" Ember asked, idling tapping her claws trying and failing to keep the rising irritation out of her voice.

"A friend." Torch whispered nostalgically. Ember nearly lost her grip on the Bloodstone Scepter at that. A friend?!? Dragon Lord (now former) Torch had a friend? Until recently dragons didn't do friends they did rivals! He continued, obvious to the turmoil going on in her mind. "Last I heard he lived on an island in the middle of the Greater Western Sea... But then again he was one to travel..."

Ember grumbled. Why had it be the Greater Western Sea? It was a vast uncharted ocean that even sea serpents didn't wander. If this dragon truly lived in the middle of it could the scepter's power even reach that far? Still it wouldn't hurt to try.

"No. No." Torch chuckled as he slowly lowered the scepter with a tip of a claw. "The scepter will not help you here. He lives outside the range of its influence. If you want his help you are going to have to ask him in dragon."

"Okay then, how may I find him?" Ember resisted the urge to growl in irritation. If it wasn't one thing it was another!

She resisted the urge to back up as Torch leaned towards her his gigantic head filling up her entire vision. "You really care for the runt?"

Ember opened her mouth but hesitated. Her hold on the title Dragon Lord was tenuous at best. There are factions that were very opposed to some of her changes to dragon law and culture and if she left now... But then again Spike was dragon and as Dragon Lord she felt that was her duty to help if she could, especially as without him she would not be the wielder of the BloodStone Scepter. She sighed. "Yes..."

Ember immediately regretted uttering it as Torch's grin turned outright sinister. If she didn't love her father she would so tell him, as the ponies would say, 'to buck off...' right after saying 'buck me.'

---

The crossing of the Celestial Sea and the Zebra savannah had been easy, but then on the forth day she caught the sight of something that nearly made her fall out of the sky. Having lived in, around, or on tall mountains and having one of the largest dragons ever to live had made her shrug at exclamations of awe and fear whenever someone saw her father or the central volcano of the dragonlands for the first time she found herself in that awe and fear. The tales of the 'Razor's Spine' did not due them justice. Every single mountain that she could see made the central volcano look like small pebble. They just kept rising and rising. Even the highest clouds couldn't stop them. And here was her father leading them right towards them.

---

Ember signed in hopeful relief as she caught sight of a vast area of water that she hoped was the edge of the Greater Western Sea. The past week traversing the mountains followed by a vast hot and humid jungle had been the worst of her life and still they kept going without rest. If her wings weren't burning so much she might have appreciated flying over lands she had never seen or heard of before. Her hopeful sigh of relief turned to horror when Torch chuckled darkly.

Ember wanted to groan. What now!?

"Do you remember the rules for flying over bodies of water?" Ember did, any flyer worth their wings knew them. One, never ever fly beyond the sight of land unless you know exactlywhere to go and exactly how to get there. And two, if one needed to fly beyond the sight of land only do so at night and only if one could read the stars. "We are going to break a few."

Now she really groaned, flying through the Razor's Spine was nuts but she was sure this was going to be a close second...

---

Uncharted island, Greater Western Sea, one week later

---

Ember sighed as Torch examined the outside of another cave, the fifth one so far on this island alone. Three weeks of near constant travel from sun up to sun down had been exhausting and she just wanted the search to be over. She was beginning to wonder if Torch was just lost and didn't want to admit it or this was another one of his convoluted 'lessons'. If it was she was NOT going to be happy. At least they had shelter if that storm she saw to the south decided to move north.

Šizra! Ember nearly jumped. She was used to her father boisterous voice but the cave seemed to amplify it more then usual.

'Ancient Draconian.' Torch had shrugged when she asked what Šizra meant. 'Šizra, the old mine, is the only dragon alive that can or even cares to still speak it.'

"Šizra! Get your lazy pyrite ass out here!"

"You know if you would just let me use the scepter..." Ember grumbled, rubbing her ringing ears.

She stopped as a pair of glowing red eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness. Could they be from this Šizra? She stole a glance to her father who was sporting a smug grin. The grin turned evil when Torch caught her gaze and winked. Frowning, Ember returned her attention to the eyes that were now slowly getting closer

"Cktüis Zuserthators... Lāckta..." A deep voice echoed out when the eyes stopped. Even for a dragon the voice was dry and coarse, like he had not used his voice in a long time. "I know it's been... a while, but how many times have I told you..."

"You have being living in a frozen rock far too long Šizra, my reign ended two years ago. This is my daughter, and current Dragon Lord, Ember."

"I see..." The eyes moved from Torch to Ember. It was hard to tell for sure but they almost seemed... bored... "Cktüis Zuserthators Ember, what do you want?"

Cktüis Zuserthators? Lāckta? Ember wondered. Clearly it was more Ancient Draconian. But what really got her pondering was how small his eyes were. They were eyes of dragon near her age. How then could a dragon that young know Ancient Draconian when she hadn't heard of it before today? And why was he remaining in the darkness outside of her sight? And why was her father's smirk only getting smugger?

"I was told that you could assist me..." Ember gulped out trying to suppress all the warning bells going off in her head.

"Clearly."

"Right." Ember growled, trying to resist the urge to pinch her brow. One Torch was enough, now she had two. At least it made sense why Torch would consider him a 'friend.' "A drake by the name of Spike...

"Don't care."

"He molted at twenty and..."

"Again, don't care."

Ember hissed, gripping the scepter harder. What was with this dragon?! She wasn't even able to finish a single sentence before he dismissed her! If she was her father she would have already used the scepter to end this farce. Maybe if she turned the tables... "Spike's guardians are ponies!"

"Interesting..." Ember had to resist the urge to back up as Šizra's glowing red eyes now bored down on Ember with an intensity she didn't think was possible from such a small pair of glowing eyes. "Where can I find this... 'Spike'?"

Comments

[AstralFlare42]

Why am I getting Skyrim vibes from this dragon?

[Rammy]

11646950 Funny thing you should say that as Ancient Draconian does share some mechanics to the Thu'um...

[Dinojo]

Spike molted at the age of 13

[Rammy]

11859137
Um, I'd like to direct you to the AU tag.