> Letters From a Princess to a Dragon Lord
>  by NotanImportantPony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	‘Dear Dragonlord Ember,

        Thank you soooooo much for letting me ask you questions about Dragon Culture! I don't want to send too many questions at once otherwise Spike might get a bellyache. But onto the questions;

        Question One: When do dragons get their wings?

        Spike was really curious. When we were in the Dragon Lands everypo-every dragon we saw had wings and but Spike did not.

        Question Two: How long do dragons live for?

I’ve gone through all the dragon reference books I could find and there’s no real  data on the lifespan of dragons.

        Question Three: How long can a Dragonlord rule before they choose a successor?

We remember Dragon Lord Torch saying, “-according to dragon law, it is time for [me] to step down.”

        Question Four: In reference to the brief exposition from question three; What is ‘dragon law’. Are there more laws? If so, what are they, when were they made, and who were they made by?

        Question Five: How old is the Dragon Culture?

From what we saw when we were in the Dragon Lands, there were no real structures nor any evidence of a draconic culture.

Thank you for helping Spike and accepting us as your friends. I-We hope you are making some other friends.

        Sincerely,

        Your friend,

        Princess Twilight Sparkle

        P.S. Spike was wondering if you'd ever like to come and visit Ponyville. He knows some really great places to eat!

        P.P.S. What is your favorite type of gem. Sapphire is my favorite. - Spike'

        Twilight finished narrating and a few moments later Spike finished up his writing, all they needed to do was wait for the ink to dry and then send the letter off to Ember. O-Or Dragonlord Ember. Twilight didn't know how to properly address the letter. Was it Dragon Lord Ember? Or just Ember because they were friends? She had to make sure. It wouldn't do to improperly address a new friend. Wait a second...

        Twilight whirled around, her horn sparking, her face set in a desperate scowl only to find Spike's green flames consuming the potentially erroneous letter.

        Twilight stared at Spike, her visage crumbling in the face of her mistake.

        Meanwhile Spike was brushing his claws free of any soot or residue. Finishing that, he spoke up,

        "Well, that's done! So what's next Twilight?"

        A slight squeaking noise came from Twilight's mouth. Spike turned to look at her with a quizzical expression.

        "Umm... Twilight?"

        Twilight's right ear flicked forward. Spike looked at her and rolled his eyes.

        "Twilight relax, I know it’s the first letter we’re sending Ember but she did say that you could ask her about Dragon Culture.”

        Twilight's eyes poignantly swiveled towards Spike and he jumped back, alarmed at her expression.

        "Whoa Twilight! What's wrong!" Spike said as he moved towards her.

        He padded towards her and as soon as he touched her Twilight seemed to jump  ten feet into the air. On the way down her worries spilled from her like water breaking through a dam.

        "Spike! What if we just insulted Ember! Dragon Lord Ember! Ember the Dragon Lord! I-I don't know what to call her!"

        Twilight slid to the floor, her hooves and wings covering her eyes.

        "What if we messed up Spike?"

        Twilight's left wing moved uncovering one of her purple eyes. She peered up at Spike.

        "Huh! What if I messed up, again! You remember the Yaks right?! Do you remember what they were like? Do you-" Twilight launched up from the floor and latched onto Spike’s face, their noses were touching "-want that to happen again!"

        Spike took a step back. Twilight slid off of him, thumped onto the floor and promptly curled up into a fluffily distressed alicorn sized puffball.

        "Mlfsovremrhtsme."

        Spike peered down at Twilight's poor imitation of one of Celestia's prized pillows and sighed.

        "Twilight." Spike flatly prompted.

        A few more hairs and feathers stuck up from the purple Twi-puff. Spike pinched the bridge of his nose, throatily inhaled and drew in a big breath.

        "TWIIIILIGGGHT!"

        Unceremoniously Celestia's patented purple plush puff-pillow precisely pounced on Spike with a wild gleam in its glowing eyes and Spike reflexively roared.





        Ten minutes later...





        After Spike had caught Twilight and extinguished her flaming mane, coat, and tail with a bucket of sudsy water he helped to dry her off. Not that there was much to dry off anymore...

Withdrawing his towel from Twilights neck she was revealed in all her maneless glory. And she was not a happy pony.

“Spike... Mirror... Now.”

Spike did not dare disobey Twilight. Her eyes were twitching.

Finding a bathroom, Spike slowly proceeded back down the hall with an old hoof mirror that he had dug out from one the cabinets under the sink. Approaching Twilight carefully he watched for any signs of reignition on her now thoroughly ashy coat and muzzle. Both of their noses were crinkled because of the smell of burnt hair. Reaching a safe distance away from Twilight, Spike held out the mirror and was immediately yanked off his feet as a magenta glow surrounded him and the mirror. Twilight’s face did not improve.

Hoping to improve the heated atmosphere Spike cracked out,

“Well... you were going to get your mane styled anyway? Right? Heh. Heh. It was painless right? And now your maneless...”

Twilight did not move, but the mirror and --by unwilling attachment-- Spike did. Twilight lifted the mirror up until she could look Spike dead in the eyes.

“Spike.”

Spike felt himself sweat from the heat of Twilight's boring eyes. And he knew fear.

“Yes-” He gulped nervously “-Twilight?”

She looked at him, her eyes glazed over from something.

“Where did you send my mane?”

Spike looked anywhere but at Twilight.

“I-I-” Spike the Brave and Glorious, the one who had helped save the Crystal Empire and raced against a mad king curled himself into a purple and green ball “-don’t know. Celestia I think...”

Twilight’s eyelids violently twitched.





        Sixteen minutes earlier





        Princess Celestia sat at her desk going over tax laws, tax loopholes, tax deductibles, tax write-offs, tax proposals. She was not a happy Princess. In fact, one could say she was absolutely miserable. She hated doing taxes. It’s why she had a secretary but nooooo Raven just had to take one day off and that left Celestia with taxes and she hated them.

        A knock sounded at her door, breaking the monotonous sea of ink and paper.

        “Come in.” she added a near silent “Please” to the end of her request.

        Her bedroom door opened and Luna trotted in, closed the bedroom door behind her and made a beeline for the mountain of paperwork Celestia was holding back. Celestia gazed despondently from the pile of papers to Luna and back again, a near begging expression entering her face as she did so.

        Luna simply snickered. Celestia would be receiving no help from that quarter. She shot her sister a look.

        “That’s for the moon, isn’t it.”

        Luna did not respond to that statement. Instead, her brow furrowed and she nosed her way past Celestia in order to get a better look at dear sister Celly had wrote.

        With unconcealed glee Luna knickered,

        “It’s Taxes you-”

        -Luna’s mouth was forcibly closed by an irate looking Celestia. But even through her sister's magic repression Luna still looked smug.

        Across the signature line of form 41-B section X subsection C Celestia had wrote ‘I hate Texas.’

        She would burn all the taxes. All of them. As she prepared to use the Royal Canterlot Voice to issue the order for the Royal Guards to execute order sixty-six, a green flame sprung up in and around the aforementioned mountain of tax papers. The green flames brought with them the horrible smell of burning hair, ink, and paper. After a few seconds the green flames died.

        Sitting there atop the smouldering ashes of tax forms 1 through 42 Celestia saw the most beautiful thing. Turning to her sister, Celestia saw the same awe struck look. They turned to each other and nodded, smiling gleefully.





        Sitting atop her heated rock Ember, the new Dragon Lord read her only piece of mail and laughed. Where had friends been all her life? But, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were probably expecting a response. She set the parchment in a protected nook on her rock, picked up a nearby rock slab, bent down and got to work.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The only real aspect of dragons and their culture that Twilight could find deep in the Canterlot archives was an old adage by a forgotten Dragon Lord who came to Equestria seeking treasure.

        “Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

        Twilight found it rather disturbing.

        But that was one of the farthest things from her mind as she tried to stealthily sneak around Ponyville so she could get to Rarity’s in order to fix whatever it was that she had messed up. Although, sneaking through town whilst looking like a moving mophead really didn’t help her situation.





        Ten minutes earlier.





        “Is that spell really going to work?” Spike said as he leaned over Twilight’s muzzle and peered at the writing in ‘A Mare’s Guide to Hair: How to Maintain Your Beautiful and Luscious Appearance!’

        Twilight looked at him with derision and huffed.

        “Yes Spike, it’s going to work.” Under her breath she groused, “If it doesn't, I’m writing a letter to the editor.”

        Spike gulped, backed away and donned his armour. Oven mitts; for gloves, baking sheets; for a chestplate, and a pasta strainer; for the helmet. He was prepared. Ducking behind his trusty table he stuck his thumb out, giving Twilight the green light.

        Tucking his claw behind the table Spike saw a small folded card laying on the floor next to him. He unfolded it. Looking at it, Spike read it in horror.

        ‘To whom it may concern. This edition of ‘A Mare’s Guide to Hair: How to Maintain your Beautiful and Luscious Locks’ has been recalled because of a fatal flaw in the ‘Coat and Mane Growth Spell.’ Please return to the following address;

        ‘666 Hairway, Canterlot’

        Spike’s eyes widened and he stood up intending to stop Twilight from casting the spell. He hit his helmeted head on one of the table legs and bounced down to the floor. He slowly crawled out from behind the table but he was too late.





Twilight rolled her eyes at Spikes antics. It was a simple Coat and Mane Growth Spell; ‘Guaranteed to make your coat and mane as good as new!’ At least Discord wasn’t around so nothing bad would happen.

Twilight lit her horn and began use her magic to activate various aspect of the spell.





        At Fluttershy’s cottage Discord sneezed. Fluttershy handed him a kerchief, Discord accepted it with a smile and a nod. They went back to their tea.





        Ten minutes after the fact, thanks to Spike’s constant guidance, Twilight pulled into the final stretch. A brief walk across the packed Ponyville Plaza and she would be homefree. Rarity would be able to fix Twilight’s mane and coat.

        Preparing for her final run Twilight told Spike,

        “Remember to act natural. If we do this right, nopony will notice.”

        Spike face clawed and shook his head slowly then moved to grasp Twilight’s overgrown mane as she abruptly started trying to walk forward. It was more of a shuffle. But it was progress.

        Spike directed Twilight through the crowded plaza using her now plentiful beard hair as reins. Throughout the public ordeal Spike maintained a thoroughly embarrassed composure.

        They were halfway through the plaza when Spike heard rapid wing beats approaching, he braced himself for the impact.

        In a rainbow colored flash, Spike, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash went rolling across the plaza in a blur of purple, green, and rainbow. They continued until they systematically thumped into a very solidly built apple stand.

        ‘Thump. Thump. Thump.’

        The entire plaza was silent. More importantly, they were staring at the front of Applejack’s applestand.

        An apple fell from the stand and hit Rainbow on the head.

        With a groan, Spike shoved Rainbow Dash off his face. He peered up at the applestand.

        “Ow.” He moved his hand to rub the spines on top of his head.

        “Oh. Howdy there Spike... Twilight?-” Spike nodded, Applejack nodded back “-Rainbow.”

        Rainbow Dash raised her right hoof high in the air and wriggled it around.

        “Shorry Shpitfire Ma’am. Wo-hic-Won’t happen again. Promish”

        Applejack raised an eyebrow, huffed and looked at Rainbow’s head again. Little Spitfire’s were flying around it.

        Coming around the side of her stand Applejack booped Rainbow on the nose.

        Snorting, Rainbow Dash flared her wings, eliciting a pained “Ow!” from the wrapped form of Twilight. Rainbows wings snapped back to her sides.

        Twilight squeaked again as Spike sat up, pulling her beard, and again as Rainbow tried to flare wings a second time. Twilight was a very unhappy, very hairy, very annoyed pony.

        Everypony stopped what they were doing when they were blinded by a flash of light. After they had recovered, Applejack, Spike, Rainbow and Twilight looked a the source of the offending light.

        Twilight was the first to react.

        “Discord! What did you do! You did this didn’t you?!”

        Discord’s gaze flattened and he bent over, getting in Twilight’s face.

        “Me?! Me?! Why of all the-” He shook his head “-I’m reformed now sooo no Princess I did not do that-” He waved at Twilight’s everything “-because you see, I was having tea with kind Fluttershy here.” Discord pulled Fluttershy into a hug --Fluttershy squeaked-- and snapped a picture.

        He let go of Fluttershy and snapped again. A moth eaten book appeared in the air next to him. He placed the camera into it with a grin.

        “One for the scrapbook!”

        He closed the book. It made a crunching noise and Discord flinched.

        “Oops.”

        He noticed that everypony in the plaza was staring at him.

        “Shoo.” He made a shooing motion with his claw and the ponies scattered. A bowl of strawberries and a glass of chocolate milk fell to the ground. Discord picked them up and his ‘friends’ stared at him. He stared back.

        He glared at them.

        “Five second rule.” He pouted as he chucked a strawberry into his mouth.

        “I can see I’m not wanted here.-” He turned to Fluttershy “- Dear Fluttershy, I’ll be back at the cottage enjoying my piece of that quaint quiet cake you made.”

        He snapped his lion’s paw, fell backwards, shattered into a flock of Discord faced butterflies and flew back to Fluttershy’s cottage.





        The plaza was empty now with the exception being the five little pastel ponies that were within it’s borders. Five arguably annoyed ponies.

        “Applejack please be careful! That’s my tail!”

        Applejack mumbled something through her teeth as she tried to undo the tangled mess that was Twilight Sparkle.

        “Come on AJ I thought you were good with knots. You know, cause you’re a farmer.”

        Applejack shot a glare at Rainbow who once again tried to free herself from Twilight’s all encompassing hair. That elicited a screech from Twilight and a “Consarnit” From Applejack as her last five minutes of progress -her only progress- was undone.

        “Goshdarnit Rainbow woulda hold still! And knots don’t have anythin ta do with farmin.”

        Rainbow wiggled.

        “Sorry AJ. But I don’t like this. I can’t move. I can’t fly. Do you know how annoying that is?”

        Twilight and Spike shot Rainbow a look that immediately melted into one of relief as Rarity walked out of the Carousel Boutique and primly trotted over to them.

        She stopped as she caught sight of the mess in front of Applejacks stand.

        “OH-oh my goodness darlings whatever happened here!?”

        Twilight quickly filled Rarity in on the situation. Retaining her ladylike composure Rarity smiled and nodded along with the story at the proper intervals and grimaced when Twilight told her that Discord brought himself into the picture. When Twilight was finished her exposition Rarity gave a light chuckle.

        “Darling, you said you used ‘A Mare’s Guide to Hair: How to Maintain your Beautiful and Luscious Locks’  correct?”
        
        Twilight nodded and Rarity clapped her hooves,

        “Do you know what month and edition it was?”

        Twilight shook her head. Spike curled into a ball.

        “Well dear, I can tell you that I can fix this.”

        The faces of everyone involved grew into smiles upon hearing Rarity say that.

        “Now let me just get my scissors-” taking a closer look at the bundle of ponies and hair she shook her head. “-I take that back, I’ll need my gardening shears to cut through all...that.” She motioned primply with a manicured hoof to the shaggy pony pile.

        The faces of those in said shaggy pony pile sank.

        Rarity came back a couple of minutes later with her shears. She made short work of Twilight’s overgrown mane. As soon as Rainbow was free she shot off into the sky leaving a rainbow trail behind her. Her friends smiled at her antics.

        Returning to her work, she freed Spike who stood up, stretched his cramped muscles and promptly hugged Rarity who blushed and patted his head. Turning to Twilight she grimaced.

        “Darling, come with me. I have a wonderous idea!” Rarity dragged Twilight Sparkle into the Carousel Boutique.

        What Twilight remembered after that was nothing but a swirl of colors, the sound of scissors and the faint sense of a montage being made.

        As the sun was just beginning to set, Rarity stepped out of the Boutique with Twilight Sparkle in tow. Twilight’s coat, mane and tail were back to normal. She and her friends crowded around Rarity, congratulating her on a job well done. Rarity blushed and insisted that it was nothing, it was only what a good friend would do when all of a sudden a dark and foreboding shadow passed over them.

        From across town they heard somepony yell,

        “Twitchy Tail! Run for your lives!”

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Twitchy Tail! Everypony run for your lives!”

         And they did.

        All across town, mares bundled up their fillies and colts and ran into the nearest shelter. The remaining ponies in the plaza ran for the Carousel Boutique in an effort to make it to safety. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. With a resounding thud a stone slab landed in front of Spike who ran into it and bounced off.

        Accompanying that thud was a dragon. A teenage dragon. One that Spike thought was familiar what with all the fangs, the scales, and the wings. Spike shook his head, clearing his blurry vision.

        The dragon beside him stared down at him and took a step back, mumbling.

        “Oh geez. Oh geez. I just hurt Spike. Ember’s going to have my spines for that.”

        Quickly overcoming his growing fear, the brown dragon --whom Spike recognized as the one who talked about plundering all the pillows from Equestria when he became Dragon Lord-- quickly helped Spike up. As he did so he asked about Spike’s health.

        “You okay? You’re not hurt are you?-” His eyes widened as he saw a broken spine on Spike's head “-Oh-Oh dear-”

        His worrying was quickly interrupted by a flash of light and he found himself holding air, Spike was gone and in his place was an irate purple Alicorn.

        “-YoU! Just who do you think you are to drop stones at innocent ponies! Somepony could’ve gotten hurt!”

        Bowing his head under his wing for protection the brown dragon muttered,

        “I’m sorry scary pony lady. I-I-”

        “-Shush. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay M-Mr. D-D-Dragon.” Muttered a voice right outside his wing.

        “The ‘scary pony lady’s name is Twilight. She won’t hurt you.” Fluttershy turned to Twilight and glared at her, “Isn’t that right?”

        Twilight meekly nodded and Fluttershy went back to comforting her fearful charge.

        “See, there’s no reason to be afraid. Just tell us why you’re here and it’ll all be okay. I promise.”

        Cautiously the brown dragon pulled his head out from under his wing and spoke.

        “My name is Koal and-and I was sent here by Dragon Lord Ember to bring you a Dragonstone.”

        Everypony looked over at the Dragonstone with Pinkie lackadaisically resting on top of it with a tray of emerald cupcakes in one hoof and a milkshake in the other.

        ...

        Everypony and every dragon did a double take.

        Koal was the first to speak up,

        “How did you-”

        Pinkie held up a hoof with an emerald cupcake in it, “Abubub...Don’t question it.” She then tossed the emerald cupcake into Koal’s open maw.

        He stood there for a second, unmoving but as the flavour of the cupcake stirred him he slammed his jaws shut with a simultaneous crunch and snap as he enjoyed what was possibly the best and only confectionary he’d ever been given.

        Pinkie smiled and hopped down off the Stone and landed with the tray on her back and the milkshake on top of her head.She turned around to look at the result of her ‘Twitchy Tail.’

        “Huh... So that’s why... Okay!” She turned around and chucked another emerald cupcake into Koal’s jaws, again with a crunch and a snap they closed and the cupcake was gone.

        Pinkie stood there next to Spike as she pondered something.

        “Aha... Hi Pinkie.” Twilight mumbled, her brain still rebooting from what she had seen.

        With a deep ground shaking rumble Koal settled into a better position.

        That-Th-”

        Pinkie held out a hoof, “Nope! No need to thank me. I just do what I do because I can do. But thank you anyway.” Her hoof returned to it’s position under her chin as she squinted her eyes at the Dragonstone.

        Koal shook his head and resumed speaking,

        “Right. Ummm... Well, this Dragonstone is from Dragon Lord Ember. She asked that I give it to you so she could talk without send a dragon to carry her messages and-”

        He was cut off by Twilight Sparkle eagerly asking,

        “But can’t she just use her flames to send it like Spike did?”

        Koal’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

        “What Spike did was not dragon magic, that’s pony magic. Dragons naturally can’t send letters with their flames, they burn stuff. But as I was saying, The Dragonstones are paired, one is with Dragon Lord Ember, the other one is here with us, and-”

        “-Guys! Come check this out! There’s writing on here!”

        Koal rolled his eyes in irritation and grumbled.

        “Stupid ponies interrupting me all the time. They don’t have manners.”

                Everypony rushed past Koal and crowded around Spike, ignoring the Koal’s protest that the slab is meant for Twilight and Spike only. Nonetheless, the Mane six read it but Twilight is the only one who read it out loud.
 
                “From Dragon Lord Ember, Lord of the Dragon Lands, Lord of the Flame Cano Islands, Lord of the Dragons

                “To Twilight and Spike,
 
                “I appreciate the letter you sent me, it had some very good questions however, I will need to question my father about the answers to some of the questions that you posed so my complete reply will be some time in coming.
 
                “This rock is very special, it is one of two, whatever is written down on this one is portrayed on the other and visa versa. It is old dragon magic. Please be careful with it, even though my father is not the Dragon Lord anymore, he is still a dragon, besides that he gets all shouty when he’s angry. It’s annoying.
 
                “But yeah, because Spike is a dragon he should be able to write on this rock. I don’t think you ponies can. I don’t think I’ll be able to visit any time soon. I’m still learning what it is like to be a Dragon Lord. I have to do work. I have to listen to dragons complain and talk and whine. Generally annoying crap like how the lava pools aren’t hot enough, how there aren’t enough gems, stuff like that. Besides, I can’t control lava or gems.
 
                “-Ember
 
“P.S.?? My favorite gem is Ruby.”
 
                Twilight finished reading Ember’s letter and sat back, her eyes wide. She turned to Spike,

“Spike! This is exactly like Sunset Shimmer’s journal! I wonder if they work the same way!”

Spike did not hear her as he was busy playing around with the surface of the Dragon Stone, he found that he could mold it like wet clay, it was funny and cool. He started drawing shapes and figures in it but jumped back when the surface suddenly smoothed out.

The first couple of words carved themselves in the rock and Spike let out an awed “Whoa!”

The mane six looked at him, then at the rock.
 
                ‘Spike? Twilight? Is that you? Who was just messing around with the Dragonstone?

                -Ember’
 
                Spike and Twilight looked at each other, Spike shrugged and grinned cheekily. Twilight rushed up to the slab and started trying to write on it with her hooves, when that didn’t work she transitioned to her horn, then magic, but nothing she did worked.
 
                Under the previous line of text a ‘Hello?’ appeared.
 
                Spike coughed and gently pushed Twilight off the rock, her hooves scrambling for purchase, she found none. The tip of the pointer claw on Spike’s right hand sunk into the surface of the Dragonstone and he started writing.
 
                ‘Spike here… This rock is sooo cool. Thanks allot Ember, how’re you?

                -Spike’

Beneath the two lines of text Ember began a third.

                ‘It sucks. There’s so much stuff that I have to do and my dad’s like do this, do that. No! Don’t do that.’

‘It’s annoying.

‘Besides that, it’ll take a while to get the answers back for you two. We have to get dragons to go through the Dragon Archives. My dad’s being really annoying about it. He won’t talk about Dragon Culture or Dragon Law. Ugrh. Everydragon’s just been a real pain in my tail. Some of them, the older ones, still treat me like a hatchling. It’s infuriating. But it’s better than what some of those other losers wanted to do. I mean seriously, stealing all the pillows from Equestria, I mean come on! But yeah-’

Ember paused. Then hurriedly wrote,

‘-I gotta go, Dad’s yelling again.

‘-Em’
 
Spike and everypony else sat there in silence as they read through Ember’s writing,
 
“Looks like she’s having a rough time.” Spike mumbled, but his expression brightened and he turned to Twilight, 

“I know! Twilight, maybe you and the other Princesses can send Ember some lists’ on how to be a good ruler. I think that’ll help her.”
 
Most of the group nodded in silent assent. Twilight pondered Spikes request with a hoof under her muzzle.
 
“I don’t know Spike. Being Dragon Lord sounds different than being a Princess and I don’t really want to bother the other Princesses with something like this.”
 
“But if Ember is having as much trouble as she says she is then shouldn’t we --as her friends-- help her?”
 
Twilight was silent for a moment as her friends spoke up.
 
“I-think Spikes right Twilight. N-Not that you’re wrong either. It’s just, remember what it was like when you first became a Princess?” Fluttershy inquired.
 
Rainbow Dash followed up with a quick and confident quip. “Yeah. What Flutters said.”
 
Twilight thought about what Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy said and slowly nodded her head.
 
“Okay. I’ll send a letter to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance-” She took a step back and lit her horn, lifting the stone slab. “-But first we need to put this somewhere safe.”
 
The mane six started back towards Twilight’s crystal castle only to stop when they felt the ground rumble behind them. They stopped and turned around, looking at Koal, he had followed them. Spike was the first one to speak up.
 
“Umm… Hey there big guy. Don’t you have to go back, you know... to the Dragon Lands?”
 
Koal looked down at Spike and nodded,
 
“Yep. But first, I want pillows. The best pillows you ponies have. Or else.”
 
        He tried to look threatening. He wasn’t.

The mane six and Spike looked dumbstruck. They spent the next minute picking their jaws off the ground. When they were done with their jaws they looked at Rarity and shoved her forwards. She shot them a glare.
 
“Um-ah-well… Hello Mr. Dragon. I’m Rarity, Owner of the Carousel Boutique where every-”
 
“-Do you have pillows?”
 
Rarity looked peeved at being interrupted, but she swallowed her remarks,
 
                “Yes…-” She looked perplexed “-Yes I have pillows. And I know just what to get you. Now stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.”
 
                Rarity quickly trotted back into the Carousel Boutique, the plaza was silent for a minute. Koal stared at where Rarity had gone. The mane six stared at him. And Spike stood there, waiting.
 
                After about five minutes of waiting in which Pinkie got bored and started lobbing emerald cupcakes into the air for Koal to try and catch, Spike built up the courage to ask about Garble.

Hearing Garble’s name, Koal looked at Spike and was promptly creamed by a speeding cupcake. Shaking his head Koal used his tongue and wiped the cupcake off the side his face. When he was done he bent down and looked at Spike.

        Leaning in close Koal whispered,

        “Last I heard he was only halfway home and he had only hugged about 683 dragons. Quite a few of them didn’t like. He’ll get home with a few scrapes, bruises and burns. Hah. And for the way he’s been acting he deserves all of them.”

        Spike stared at Koal, his wide eyes were filled with amusement. Another cupcake came speeding at Koal, he reached up a claw, caught the cupcake and devoured it. As he did so, Rarity primly trotted out of the Carousel Boutique with a bag in her magic.
 
                Walking up to Koal, Rarity handed him the bag.
 
                “Inside you will find the best pillow I could make on such short notice.”
 
                Koal turned the bag upside down and caught the contents with his right palm.
 
                The pillow was the color of Twilight who looked very peeved upon seeing a reminder of her failure.
 
                        “Rarity…psst, Rarity!” Twilight hissed.
 
                        “Hush darling, let him have it. I have more inside.” Rarity hissed back, covering her mouth with her left hoof.
 
                Twilight shot Rarity a look. Koal didn’t notice because he was so enraptured by his pillow. It was the best pillow he had been give- that he had pillaged from the ponies.
 
                Looking up from his prize he nodded to Rarity then spread his wings and took off, leaving a cloud of dust and dirt in his wake.
 
                Rarity looked infuriated.
 
                “Why that ungrateful- of all things. That wasn’t a gift! He never paid me! Come back here you! You never paid me!”
 
                The dragon paid her no mind as he flew west, towards the Dragon Lands.
 
                “I’ll never give anything to a dragon again!” Rarity huffed as she trotted passed a stricken Spike. Rarity stopped and patted Spike on the head.
 
                “Except for you my dear Spikey-Wickey.” Spike’s fallen face markedly improved.

                With the last interruption gone, the mane six made their way to Twilight’s castle to find a safe place for the Dragonstone, and to have Twilight compose a letter to the Princesses for Ember. All in all, it was just a regular day in Ponyville much to Discords disappointment.
 
                “Why do all the fun things happen on Saturday?” He groused as he finished his piece of quiet.

        Cleaning up with a snap of his talons Discord noticed something peculiar back at Twilight’s Castle, as he laughed he snapped his talons again.





        Starlight Glimmer, having just arrived from the Crystal Empire shivered under her new blankets and squeezed her new plushie as she dreamed special dreams, courtesy of Discord. At least she would be comfortable in her new bed.

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Carrying the Dragonstone in her magic, Twilight kept up with the steady flow of conversation from the girls with the occasional input from Spike. They were discussing what questions they wanted to ask Ember. However, Twilight told them they needed to write a letter to the other Princesses first. As they didn’t have parchment with them that meant they had to go to Twilight’s Castle. Walking to the front doors of Twilight’s Castle Applejack opened them and led the group inside.

“So Twi, where do you want to put that there rock?”

        Upon hearing Applejack refer to the Dragonstone as a ‘rock’ Twilight entered her lecture mode and led the group to the doors of the throne room.

        “Applejack! The Dragonstone isn’t a rock, It’s a special instrument enchanted by old dragon magic so that they could communicate over long distances! It’s a priceless artifact and we should take care of it. Besides, it’s not a rock, it’s more of boulder.”

        Twilight went to open the door to the throne room but Pinkie stood in front of her and she was staring at Twilight with a small gleam in her eyes.

        “Umm... Pinkie, are you-”

        Twilight stopped and flinched back as Pinkie zoomed onto her face,

        “You’re not wrong Twilight but you're not right either. That-” Pinkie pointed to the object Twilight had suspended in her magic “- is not a ‘boulder.’-” turning to Applejack's smirking face Pinkie continued “-It is not a ‘rock’... It’s quite simple, really! Let me show you!”

        Pinkie drew back from Twilight and Applejack and turned to a blackboard on the wall next to the throne room doors. She reached up into her pink hair, pulled out a lab coat, chalk, and a pair of glasses with a big nose and a mustache. Setting the chalk in it’s holder Pinkie twirled and when she stopped she had transformed into... The Maud Pientist.

        Blinking owlishly, The Maud Pientist stared out at the other ponies who had crept away from her and raised her hoof to the now systematically decorated board and began her lecture on the difference between boulders, rocks, gems, and Magically Enhanced Communication Devices in the Form of Rocks via the most effective teaching method; sock puppets.

        The class fell asleep a quarter way through it. At the end The Maud Pientist wiped the board down and left the impromptu lecture hall by way of a conveniently placed trap door. A few seconds later, Pinkie Pie walked through the throne room doors, saw everypony plus one dragon sleeping, she nodded and stepped back into the throne room, softly closing the doors as she did so.

        Several minutes later she opened the throne room doors again, aimed her party cannon, fired and withdrew.

        With the crowd outside the throne room doors now wide awake, Pinkie stepped out and gently closed the doors behind her. She turned around with a guilty grin on her face.

        All of her friends were shooting her dirty looks. Her grin increased and she squeaked. She held it for a minute and Twilight sighed then smiled.

        Pinkie hugged her and ruffled her mane.

        “Morning sleepyhead. Did you have a nice nap?”

        Twilight nodded and yawned.

        “Well that’s good. But The Maud Pientist said that she’d never teach you silly fillies again. Apparently you girls fell asleep in record time.”

        “That-That’s nice Pinkie.” Twilight yawned, “But we really should get the Dragonstone somewhere safe.”

        Pinkie sagely nodded.

        “Right this way then.”

        Pinkie pushed open the throne room doors and led the group in, she stayed behind and made sure to close them.

        Applejack was the first one to speak up.

        “So, whaddaya’ll say we just plunk that hunk o’ rock down on the table and get back to sleep.”

        Twilight shook her head,

        “While it would be nice to go back to sleep, we should put the Dragonstone somewhere that’s not so... open. I was thinking a nice locked room where I can study it and see how it works. Maybe I’ll even be able to write on it!”

        Spike pinched the bridge of his nose and poked Twilight, she meeped.

        “Yes Spike?”

        He looked at her flatly.

        “Twilight. Ember said that only a dragon can write on it. Besides, it matches the roots from the Golden Oaks Library.”

        Twilight and the gang went silent when they were presented with Spikes logic and an easy out. They looked at each other, nodded, and one of them snored... Snored?

        Twilight quickly looked around for the source of the snoring. She didn’t find it first, Rarity did.

        “Oh-oh my. Girls- Girls look!”

        They all turned around at Rarity’s voice and followed the direction that her hoof was pointing. Their eyes widened as they saw Starlight Glimmer sleeping on Twilight’s throne, a purple blanket was draped over her, it had a giant Twilight face on it. They could see her legs twitching about underneath the blanket. The discovery was followed by a unanimous d’awwww from the Mane six.

        Starlight didn’t hear any of it for she was sleeping and dreaming.





        The Crystal Empire was beautiful. Especially the Crystal Faire. But the best part was that she was spending time with her childhood friend, Sunburst. They had done everything at the Faire together, they had played ski-ball, bought flugel horns, played the flugel horns, and bought hoof made baskets and balloon animals. But the awesome thing was that she could talk with Sunburst.

        “So... Sunburst how’re things here?”

        Sunburst just nodded and smiled.

        “Oh I’d say things’re going pretty well lately. Of course taking care of Flurry Heart can be a bit... difficult. Even with her magic limited she is still a hooful. But we love her anyways.”

        He stopped walking and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.

        So, how’re thing with you. You know being Princess Twilight’s student and all. Heheh.”

        Starlight looked down, not meeting his eyes.

        “It’s good I guess. I mean before I left, Twilight went to the Dragon Lands because Spike was being summoned by the Dragon Lord. I guess they’ll tell me how it was after I get...back.”

        Finishing her statement, Starlight looked up at the Crystal Castle.

        “Su-Sunburst?”

        “Ye-Oh-oh dear.” He voiced as he turned around and saw the purple and green dragon curled around the base of the tower.

        Suddenly it’s head swiveled in their direction and it’s eyes narrowed.

        “StArLiGt!” Starlight suddenly found herself before the great serpent. Her legs failed her and she plopped onto the ground.

        The great serpent picked her up in one of it’s great purple hands and shook her. She didn’t scream, she was too deep in shock to do anything. It stopped shaking her and raised her to it’s great yellow eyes. It blinked.

        “Pah. You’re no fun anymore. Wake up.”

        And it dropped her.





        Spike had called Starlight’s name, he had shaken her and she didn’t wake up. He turned to look at the girls and shrugged. Twilight rolled her eyes and got up. Spike smiled. Then he was gone as a beam of turquoise magic flung him at the far wall of the throne room.

Starlight was up and her sleeping mask hung from her sparking horn, blocking her view.

She pulled it off of her and only got the barest glimpse of where she was before Spike crashed into her because he rebounded off the far wall.





        The mane six waited an hour for Starlight and Spike to wake up. The argument about the Dragonstone was forgotten. Now they were focused on the pair in front of them. And for the fifth time Pinkie was narrating what happened to Starlight. It was getting on everypony’s nerves.
        “And then Starlight was like ‘waaaah’ and Spike went ‘whoosh.’ Starlight was so confused. Heheh. And then Spike hit her and they were like ‘bleh’.” Pinkie finished by lolling her head to the side and sticking out her tongue. Thankfully though at that time, Spike sat up and promptly fell over onto his side and curled up into a ball upon seeing Starlight.

        Twilight trotted over, nuzzled his side and stared at Starlight’s unconscious body with an unhealthy vigour.

        Growing tired of waiting, Twilight lit her horn and gave Starlight a shock. Nothing happened. Twilight gave Starlight another shock, a slightly harder one this time. It got a moan out of Starlight and she sat up rubbing her head.

“Twilight?” Starlight asked confusedly. Twilight nodded to her and grinned.

“It’s nice to see that you’re awake now.” Twilight nodded to Pinkie.

        Pinkie closed her eyes and hoisted the bucket over Starlight. She tipped the bucket and ice cold water fell out.

        It struck Starlight and washed off her. It was ineffective. But Starlight was awake. Twilight shocked her again and Starlight jumped up.

        “Burst! I’m already awake!”

        Pinkie giggled, and Twilight smirked, then dumped a second bucket of water on Starlight.

        Dumbstruck, Starlight just stood there.

        “That was for the smell.” Twilight snarkled.

        Starlight sat down and rolled over,

        “Why... Just why? What did I do to deserve this life?”

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Spike! Spiiike... mmmm.” Twilight hummed in annoyance as she didn’t hear the clitter clatter of Spikes feet. Clearing her desk off with her magic and discarding certain ‘failed’ letters Twilight got up, suspended her one successfully written letter in her magic and went to look for her number one assistant. Of course, these days he could be found pretty much sitting in front of the Dragonstone every time he had a free minute.

        Today was no different, for only a week prior Spike had fallen asleep and Twilight had carried him to his basket and lay him to sleep. The next morning Spike had ran into Twilight’s room and told her that Ember had written back. Twilight quickly teleported herself, Spike, two stacks of parchment, one dozen quills, five correctly labeled folders, and one sheet of five questions for Ember to the Dragonstone’s room.

        Apparently Ember had just finished writing down the answers to the five questions Twilight had sent her when Spike walked in. He had a short written conversation with Ember then left to get Twilight.

        Now that she was there, Twilight set herself up to record whatever Ember had wrote.

        Twilight had Spike tell Ember that they would work on transcribing the answers and that they would be silent for some time.

        Twilight gave Spike the go ahead to start reading.

        “Question One: When do dragons get their wings?

        “Ember wrote that dragons get their wings through maturity. Dragon’s wings start appearing when they begin puberty and they grow to match the dragons size at the end of the first pubescent cycle. During that time Dragons will go through multiple growth spurts of varying intensities. Sometimes the growth spurts will be induced by greed, in which case dragons are usually restrained by their parents until the urges subside. Other times, if the dragon is growing naturally they will shed their scales and new ones will grow in, it is at that point the beginning of wings will appear. This process usually lasts anywhere from six months to three years.”

“You better hope that Spike gets through his in six months otherwise he’ll be ‘laying claim’ to all the mares around him.”

Spike stopped reading and scrunched his brow,

        “Twilight? Why would I want to ‘lay claim’ to-”

        “-Nope! No need for that Spike, just keep on- keep on reading.”

        Spike raised an eyebrow at Twilight but continued reading.

        “Question Two: How long do dragons live for?

        “Ember says that; Dragons can live for as long as they want but, every so often they will enter a Dragonsleep where they will sleep from a year to several dozen centuries depending on their age. They usually begin their sleep cycle a century or two after the end of their pubescent cycle. They often sleep with whatever they have managed to horde however, if even the smallest thing from their horde is stolen they will wake up and well, there’s a reason why no-one disturbs a sleeping dragon. You’d have to be an idiot if you want a several thousand year old dragon chasing you.”

Spike stopped reading and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Heh. Oops.”

Twilight up from her papers,

“Hey Spike, don’t worry you didn’t know too much about dragons when you did that.” Twilight reassured and comforted Spike.

“Yeah... Thanks Twi.” Spike took a breath and continued.

“Question Three: How long can a Dragon Lord rule before they choose a successor?

“Dragon Lords can rule for a thousand years but if they break Dragon Law the dragons  can determine a new Dragon Lord. A very good example of this was Dragon Lord Flame, he choose to attack other dragons who defied his rules. Those who defied him went to the Council of Dragon Elders to press their case. They were decided to be right in their act of rebellion and the strongest of their warriors were dispatched to rein in Dragon Lord Flame. Flame resisted and he lost. The leader of the rebellion, Coal was elected to the position of Dragon Lord. He took to the position readily and expanded the dragons borders, trade routes, and he ordered the construction of great cities in the most notable spots in the newly formed Dragon Lands.

“The greatest of these new cities was the capital Torch, it lay in the greatest caldera known to dragonkind, what you now know as the Flamecano Islands. During the time of the  Great Construction, Coal peacefully disbanded the Council of the Dragon Elders and gave them positions of power in his new regime. At the end of his reign dragons from all over the world traveled to Torch to celebrate the end of Coal’s reign. His reign, one that had transformed the dragons from nomadic and barbaric packs to a proud and powerful civilization that superseded Equestria ended in tragedy.

“Upon passing the Bloodstone Scepter to his son-- my great grand dragon-- Steam, The caldera exploded, vaporizing everything around it for miles.        Those dragons that did not attend, those too young or too old wept for the loss of everything they held dear. But they survived, they did not thrive, they could not thrive and eventually those great cities crumbled into ruin and the dragons went back to their nomadic ways for they were without a leader.

“I talked with my dad and he told me a story from his youth, He was the one that found the Scepter. He gathered the dragons of his clan together and made home for themselves on the outskirts of the city of Torch. That was how he got his name. He shut up after that and didn’t talk too much after that. He actually looked pretty tired. I guess being old and retired does that o dragons, But yeah, That’s the story of our culture. Be proud of it.”

        Twilight and Spike gazed at each other, Twilight in awe at the amount of history she had at the tips of her hooves and Spike at the fact that he had something to be even prouder of. But Spike still had two more questions to read and Twilight was chomping at the bit for moar.

        Spike drank from a cup of water by his side, took a big breath and began again.

        “Question Four: What is Dragon Law?

        “Dragon Law or more appropriately, Dragon Laws are a set of rules that were put down by Dragon Lord Coal to ensure peace and prosperity throughout the Dragon Lands. They worked very well for the duration of his rule. After the destruction of the majority of Dragon Culture, Dragons, and the city of Torch, Dragon Law faded from existence but resurfaced when my father found the Bloodstone Scepter and began his rule as Dragon Lord. I wasn’t able to get much information out of him or the dragons that went to the Dragon Archives. It was really freaking annoying!”

        Spike and Twilight shared a small chuckle at Ember expense. Taking another sip from his mug, Spike swallowed and began the fifth question.

        “Question Five: How old is Dragon Culture?
        
        “It depends. If you want to know the age of the current Dragon Culture it’s roughly one-thousand years old. It really changed under each Dragon Lords rule. So really each Dragon Culture is a thousand years old plus or minus a few hundred years.”

        Twilight’s eyes glistened as she walked up to the Dragonstone and hugged it.

        “Thank you Ember.” Twilight shifted her head down as she felt something scratch her stomach. She sat back on her haunches and saw what Ember had written.

        ‘Twilight. Thanks for asking me about Dragons and their culture. I found out a bunch of stuff even I didn’t know. It’s awesome. Thanks girl!’

        Twilight shook her head and quickly turned to Spike.

        “Spike! Can you tell Ember that we have some more questions for her?”

        Turning back to Twilight, Spike set down his mug of water, set his claw to the stone and nodded.

        Twilight began narrating.

        “Questions Six through Ten.

        “Question Six: Do Dragons have pets?”

        “Many of my friends have pets, Applejack, an Earth Pony has a dog named ‘Winona’, Pinkie Pie who is also a very interesting Earth Pony has a toothless gator named ‘Gummy’ and you’ve met Rarity, she has a cat named ‘Opalescence’ oh and Fluttershy has allot of pets, she takes care of them all, she has this cute little rabbit named ‘Angel’; Rainbow Dash a pegasus has a tortoise named ‘Tank’; and I have a pet owl, his name is Owlowiscious.”

        “Question Seven: Why didn't any of the older and larger dragons answer Dragon Lord Torch’s summons and try to become the new Dragon Lord? It seemed like it was just all the adolescent dragons like Garble, Koal and their buddies!

        “Question Eight: During the Gauntlet we noticed that many of the dragons were wearing armour. How and why do Dragons have armour. And can I have some to study?

        “Question Nine: Would you allow me to visit the Dragon Archives?

        “Question Ten: When Spike starts his first pubescent cycle. How do I deal with it?”

        At the end of the tenth question Spike shot Twilight a look.

        “Really Twilight? I’ll be able to control myself. Don’t worry.”

        Twilight just rolled her eyes and smiled. Turning around she asked Spike to follow her to the Castle’s Library to help her organize her notes and papers for her upcoming book on dragons.

        Spike dutifully followed her out the door of the refurbished storage closet and closed the door gentley behind them with a light ‘click’. Inside the room the Dragonstone’s surface was wiped clean and a few words, unreadable in the dark appeared and they waited to be read.

> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ember had not responded for six weeks, six days, and six hours. Twilight Sparkle knew all that because she had been counting, and waiting. And waiting. And eating and sleeping. And waiting some more. Sure there were the convenient weekly problems but nowadays all she had to do was have her friends or faithful student go out and fix them. If all that failed it usually came down to using the Elements; they gave off a pretty light show for those in attendance. Or magic lasers; Twilight’s favourite. So far her actions were eerily familiar but for the life of her she didn't know why.

        But today... Today was going to be different. Today Twilight knew she would get a response from Ember. Totally not because of the screams and shouts of panicking ponies and the roar of a creature Twilight desperately hoped was not an angry dragon.

        Crash!
        
        “The horror! The horror!”
        
        Stomp!
        
        Twilight poked her head out of her balcony door and looked down into Ponyville then promptly mashed her right hoof deep into her face. It was a dragon. Why oh why was there a dragon in Ponyville?!
        




       Six weeks, six days, and five and a half hours ago... In a land inhabited by dragons...





       “And besides. I said NO!”

       Ember was... annoyed to say the least. Like she told Twilight, ‘my dad’s like do this, do that. No! Don’t do that.’ She had grown used to the pure volume of work that was dumped on her. That work included but was not limited to, listening to petitions from different dragons, issuing orders and countermanding some overzealous peons who thought they could act in her best interests plus she had to keep the dragons in line and ensure peaceful relations between the Dragon Lands and Equestria, as for the rest of the races, Diamond Dogs, Griffins, and Yaks Ember could care less about them. But, like always, it was annoying. The only real spot of light came from the questions Twilight sent her way.

       However, a major problem surfaced in the shape of her father. As much as she loved him and he her, it was like watching over a teething dragon. Ember would never volunteer to do that again; teething dragons were vicious, you could never find them when you needed to, and they were slippery when they wanted to be. Such was her father when she pressed him for answers to Twilight’s questions.

       The first one was easy enough, all her life Ember had seen ‘powerful’ dragons with pets and they tended to flaunt them and make a show out of them. It was ridiculous.

       As for the second question, Ember could only speculate as her father either obviously redirected the questions, or just pretended to be asleep. He was surprisingly good at acting asleep.

       As for the armour, That was a secret. Ember had sworn not to tell anyone except for her fellow dragons. Easy solution, she would tell Spike whenever he got his wings.

       As for the ninth and tenth question, they gave Ember ideas. Wonderful ideas. And of course like any good father Torch was right in her way before she could even act on them. He refused to even think about letting a pony into the dragon lands even if it was a Princess. He pulled the ‘I’m your father and you’ll do as I say’ card more than once, of course Ember the daughter of Torch couldn’t do anything. But Ember the Dragon Lord had power over all dragons and she used it. Conveniently enough, as she was going to leave a week after receiving Twilight’s questions, a set of ancient dragon laws showed up at her cave entrance.

       Turned out she had to appoint a regent to act in her stead if she had to leave, ensure that her regent knew the risks and responsibilities by assuming the position of Dragon Regent and she had to ensure that all stonework concerning the matter had to be filled out. For her Regent, she chose Koal. He was smarter than he looked even if he did have a stupid affinity for pony pillows. Really, did he think he could hide the smell of the pony made pillow under his bed? She’d have to do something about his obsession when she got back.

       As for the stonework, Ember was not too happy about it. It seemed to her that everything in the set of Laws she had in front of her was tailored specifically for her. But she was tired and annoyed and she wanted this to be over so she could get out of her new quarters and get to this Ponyville place. It couldn’t be that hard to get there because Twilight had left directions when she was here for the gauntlet. It was simple,
        
        ‘Fly northwest across the Celestial Sea until you get to Baltimare, follow the Horseshoe River (The only river there) and when it splits take the left branch and follow it past the Castle Ruins (Don’t go in them), Rambling Rock Ridge, and Froggy Bottom Bog (Watch out for Hydras) and eventually you’ll get out and into the Saddle River, you should be able to see Ponyville from however high up you’re flying. Good luck!
        
        ‘See you soon,
        
        ‘Princess Twilight and Spike’
        
        Reading the note again, Ember sighed. It had been six weeks, and a couple of days and she was dying to get out. She still had a mountain of work to do... Or maybe... She grinned.
        
        “Oooh Koal! I have something for you!” Ember asked in a sweet, promising voice.
        
        Koal was not long in answering.
        
        “Gimme a minute! I’m busy!”
        
        Ember huffed, steam blowing out her nose and she smirked.
        
        “I know your secret. I know about...her.” She said in a foreboding and dangerous tone of voice.
        
        She had a response within seconds.
        
        Koal came into the room with a burst of wind.
        
        “No Ember please don’t tell them about Chell, please!” Koal had gotten down on his knees and was begging. Ember laughed.
        
        “Thanks for getting here so quickly Koal. I have a very, very important job for you. If you do it properly I won’t tell any dragon about Chell. Okay?”
        
        Koal feverently nodded, Ember grinned and patted Koal on the back.
        
        “Alright big guy. You see that stuff over there?” Ember pointed out the pile of stone slabs with propositions, laws, and other junk on them. Koal’s eyes widenend.
        
        “Emb-”
        
        “That’s Dragon Lord Ember to you. You’re my Regent have fun. I’m going now. Bye.” As Ember was saying all that she quickly flew behind a stone pillar, dug around and withdrew a flying pack, stuck the Bloodstone Scepter in it, settled the pack under her, waved goodbye to Koal as she flew out of the cave entrance and began her journey to Ponyville.
        




        A few hours later...





       Ember had followed Twilight’s directions to the letter and she had made good time. However, she had picked up a companion along the way. A big green dragon. His name was Nail. And Ember regretted his company. He was telling her his life story and she needed an out.

        “And I was sooo bored! So I thought to myself, ‘I don't care what happens I want action!’ Low n’ behold this lil’ green runt prances into my cave and starts eating my gems! So I ask him all threateningly like, ‘What are you doing in my cave? And why are you eating my gems?’

        “That little punk tried to make up some excuses like how he ‘didn't know it was my cave’ and how he ‘didn't know they were my gems!’ So I growled at him and you know what he says? He says that it's us dragon against the world! Ha! That was the only thing he said that made any sense.”
        
        Ember turned her head to look at Nail and venomously narrowed her eyes,
        
        “Did you happen to find out that ‘runts’ name?”
        
        Nail didn’t even look at her. The one time that she wanted to actually be the Dragon Lord and she couldn’t reach her scepter.
        
        “Yeah, it was Spick or something like that. But now I want to know, what’s a little dragon like you doing wandering around the Everfree Forest. It’s a dangerous place. And then there’s that little Pony town. I’ve been meaning to pay them a visit... Say, do you-”
        
        Ember spat at him.
        
        “No! You won’t lay a claw on those ponies or I’ll banish you from the Dragon Lands and Princess Twilight will banish you from Equestria!”
        
        Nail stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes wide and his pupils shrunk.
        
        “D-Dr-Dragon Lord Ember?” He squeaked.
        
        Ember smiled.
        
        “Yeah. That’s me.” Nail’s wings snapped to his sides and he plummeted. Ember barked out a light laugh but it caught in her throat as she heard a voice shout,
        
        “Twitchy T-OH Sweet Celestia! Dragon! Run for your lives!”
        
        Nail crashed down onto the mainstreet of Ponyville and somehow managed to not knock down any of the buildings or destroy any pony homes.
        
        In short, Ember had arrived.


> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight Sparkle burst off her balcony leaving a halo of feathers behind her as she sped towards the rampaging dragon in the middle of town. Rather, she sped towards a frantically fleeing dragon in the middle of town.

Circling around town, Twilight alighted upon the top of the town hall, turned towards the green dragon and shouted,

“Excuse me!”

The dragon didn’t take notice of her, instead it sinuously slithered past the town hall, barely brushing the siding. Twilight tried again.

“EXCUSE ME MISTER DRAGON!” Twilight shouted, giving her voice a bit more ‘umph’ that time by using magic to enhance the volume of her voice. And much to her relief, the dragon stopped in mid hop, fell to the ground, rolled over then turned to look at her and promptly prostrated itself before her.

“P-P-Princess T-Twilight! Please don’t banish me from Equestria! It’s my home!”

The dragon held it’s head to the ground and begged Twilight not to banish it. Needless to say, Twilight Sparkle was very, very confused. Thankfully, a solution became immediately apparent in the form of Ember the Dragon Lord.

With a light clink Ember landed behind Twilight and climbed up the sloping side of Ponyville’s town hall.

“Princess Twilight,” Ember stood off to the side and looking rather abashed, she raised her head up and grinned feebly then waved a blue claw at Twilight. “Umm...Hi.”

        Twilight waved and gave a stiff smile,

        “Hi Ember I’ll talk to you in a second, I just have to deal with that dragon.”

        Twilight turned around and faced the prone green dragon and her eyes went wide. Using her wings, Twilight spun around and stared, slack jawed at Ember. The silence seemed to stretch on for an hour. Finally after a couple of seconds Ember broke the ice.

        “Yeeeeah... It’s Nails fault and-”

        Twilight brutally interrupted Ember,

        “Em-Ember! What are you doing here?!” Twilight spun and looked over the town in dismay. “Oh-Oh Sweet Celestia! The town’s not cleanedthere’sadragonsittingintownand-”

        Ember tapped Twilight on the head with the Bloodstone Scepter. Twilight's mouth shut with an audible snap. Twilight stared at Ember with wide tearful eyes and screamed inside. Ember knelt down and looked Twilight in the eyes.

        “Hey. Twilight. It’s cool. Alright?”

        Standing up, Ember withdrew the Scepter and turned to Nail,

        “Nail.”

        Quivering, Nail looked up at his Dragon Lord.

        “Y-Yes Dragon L-Lord Ember?”

        Looking contemptibly down at Nail, Ember decreed,

        “Nail go home.”

        In a green flash, Nail had spread his wings and flew over town hall and circled around towards the Everfree Forest. Ember put down the Scepter and smirked.

        “That’ll teach you to mess with my friends.”

        A purple feathery wing touched Embers shoulder. Ember stiffened then cautiously turned around with a nervous grin.

        “Ahh hehe... Hi Twi-”

        And Ember was cut off with a drastic sounding puh as Twilight glomped her, wings and all.

        “EMBER! You’re here!”

        Twilight stiffened.

        “You’re here!”

        Quickly disengaging herself from Ember, Twilight turned to fly back to her castle.

        “I’ve got to clean everything!”

        With a quick flap of her wings Twilight shot to the end of the roof and came to a jarring halt as Ember grabbed hold of Twilight’s fluttering tail. Twilight fell down to the roof with an audible grunt as air was forcefully expelled from her lungs.

        “Twilight. Twilight!” Ember shook Twilight’s tail again, gaining her attention.

        Twilight turned around and owlishly blinked at Ember.

“What?” 

        “Calm down. I- I just stopped by to get- to get to know you and Spike better! Yeah that’s it!”

        Twilight cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow and gestured to the Ponyville’s mainstreet. Ember followed the path of Twilight’s hoof and looked over the town. They were both silent for a minute as Ember took time to digest what Twilight showed her.

        Ember swallowed nervously, turned to Twilight and gestured to the town.

        “I-I can pay for it?”

        Twilight face-hoofed and sighed. Ember could barely hear whatever it was that Twilight mumbled through her covered mouth. Shaking her head, Twilight removed her hoof and pointedly said,

        “No. No, you don’t have to pay for any of that. Having had helped rebuild Ponyville several times I set up a special fund specifically for the purpose of rebuilding the town. So, no worries. I’ll just- I’ll just- ugg!”

        Twilight collapsed in a feathery heap and covered herself with her wings. Ember just sat there, staring at her.

        “You ponies have a... fund specifically made to help pay for damages against Ponyville?”

        Twilight mumbled an affirmative. Ember sat down and tentatively draped a scaly arm over Twilight. They spent a couple of minutes like that during which Twilight made a couple of snorting noises. Eventually after one particularly violent snort, Ember poked Twilight in the side.

        “Hey. Hey Twilight. You okay?”

        Twilight snorted again and her right wing twitched. Ember gaped.

        “You’re- You’re... sleeping.”

        Seeing the numerous ponies gathered at the base of the town hall, Ember prodded Twilight a bit harder then last time. It worked.

Twilight's head snapped up with a loud ‘snort-wumpf’ as she snorted and flared her wings at the same time. Ember went skidding off the roof because of the strength of Twilight’s flared wings. While Twilight blearily blinked and looked around, Ember flew back up to where Twilight was sitting.

“Wow you’re strong!” Ember said and brushed off some dust from her left shoulder.

“Spike turn off Celestiaaaaa,” Twilight yawned in response and settled down to sleep.

Ember looked at Twilight in exasperation and flew over to her then prodded Twilight’s fluffy purple flank with the Bloodstone Scepter. Twilight blearily looked up.

        “Wasimesit?”

        Ember groaned and booped Twilight on the nose with the Scepter. Twilight went cross eyed then shook her head and yawn.

        Coming down off her yawn, Twilight saw Ember and immediately jerked upright only to catch the tip of Ember’s Scepter on the crown of the head. Twilight stopped and rubbed the spot with a hoof.

        “Owwww. Ember!”

        Ember jerked her head back,

        “Well sorry Princess. You were snoozing.”

        Twilight paused and took a deep breath,

        “Let’s go back to the castle okay? We’ll be able to talk more there.”

        Without time to let Ember talk, Twilight lit her horn and in a flash of purple sparks, Twilight teleported herself and Ember into the throne room of Twilight’s Castle. They fell on the crystal table with a combined sound of ‘whumpf’. Ember’s Scepter clattered off to the side. There was a few seconds of silence and no one talked. The situation was resolved when the throne room doors opened and a tired purple and green dragon stepped through them.
        
        “What’s with all the noise?” Spike said as he looked around the room from his position by the door. Peering curiously at the table he saw Ember and Twilight.

“Oh hi Twilight. Hi Ember.” Having found the source of the disturbance, Spike closed the door. Ember and Twilight exchanged a look and Ember raised an eyebrow.

        “Wh-” Ember was cut off by a purple and green blur that suddenly glomped her and attached itself to her waist with a cry of,

        “Ember! You’re here,” Spike’s eyes widened in dread. “Oh Celestia, you’re here! I-I better go clean the castle. Uh just stay here until I’m done! I’ll be done in a jiffy!”

        Spike shot back into the guts of the castle and within seconds the raucous sounds of mops, feather dusters, brooms, and muttered words reached the two rulers.

        Twilight gave Ember a wry grin. Ember raised an eyebrow.

        “Well Spike’s certainly excited to see me.”

> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Silence. Silence was nice, especially the peaceful, thoughtful silences.

        'Sip... Sip...'

        But this was not one of those silences. Instead it was one of those silences where everyone else wanted someone else to speak first.

        'Sip... Sip...'

        Fortunately, there was someone who wanted to speak. Enter Spike the brave and glorious, number one assistant to Princess Twilight Sparkle.

        "So..." Twilight and Ember's eyes locked onto Spike. He quailed beneath their gaze but timidly continued speaking.

        "So... Ember," Spike gestured emphatically. "What's been happening in the Dragonlands?"

        Ember gazed flatly at Spike over the rim of her third teacup and mumbled into it. Spike and Twilight leaned forward eagerly awaiting for Ember to continue. Setting down her third teacup atop her second saucer Ember leaned back on her little camping stool and began to speak.

        "Well let's see, I get these dragons coming into open court every day with some of the most ridiculous things. Some want power, some want land. Others want conflict. And I am stuck in the middle of everything trying to keep everydragon in line. Do you know how hard it is to get everything done when you are treated like a hatchling by every other dragon? It's impossible!

        "Not to mention my father! He is helpful don't get me wrong but when I asked him about some of your questions he wasn't any help. He just distracts me or he pretends like he's sleeping. It's infuriating!"

        At the end of her rant, Ember found herself blinded by smoke pouring out of her nostrils. Embarrassed, she blew the smoke away with a flap of her wings revealing an awestruck Spike and a studious Twilight. Blinking to make sure she was not hallucinating, Ember was greeted by the same sight. Spike was leaning on the table with stars in his eyes and Twilight had her head buried in notes.

        "Really? Really you two?"

        Hearing Ember speak broke Spike and Twilight’s trances. The stars disappeared from Spike’s eyes as he shook his head.

        "Whoa Ember that was so cool do you know when I'll be able to do that?"

        "Practice."

        Spike looked at her with determination in his eyes.

        "Right, practice."

        Spike walked out of the throne room sending off a wave to Ember as he did so.

        "I'll be back soon, I'm not allowed to burn stuff in the throne room. I'll be back when I can do that neat smoke trick."

        The doors closed, leaving Twilight and Ember staring after Spike. Ember glanced at four lights notes. Twilight looked at Ember.

        "So... Ember, do you have time to answer a couple of questions?" Twilight asked as she held up a quill and parchment.

        "Yeah."

        Twilight's face gave off a nice rosy glow as she smiled, "Great!" She sidled closer to Ember placing her muzzle next to one of Ember's ears, then whispered in an embarrassed tone,

        "So... how do I take care of a Spike during his pubescent cycle?"

        Silence.

        Ember's mouth opened and closed several times but no sound came out. Twilight prodded her some more.

        "Well?" 

        Ember let her head fall to the table in exasperation.

        "Why. Why did you have to start with that one?"

        Twilight huffed and ruffled her wings.

        "Well, you see Spike is like a little brother to me. I want him to be safe and happy."

        Sighing, Ember said the first thing that came to mind.

        "You don't have experience with pubescent dragons. I do. When he starts his cycle tell me and I'll take care of it. I'll even have a Chronicler present to record everything for you, okay?"

        Twilight frowned, "Why couldn't I-"

        "- How did you become a Princess?" Ember hurriedly asked.

        The question died on Twilight's lips as she thought about Ember's obvious deflection.

        "Ember, I am sorry if I was prying. But, umm… Right, I became a Princess when I completed Starswirl the Bearded's greatest unfinished spell-" as Twilight went on and on about her magical mystery cure Ember's attention waned. Eventually Ember's gaze locked onto a mark of four diamonds. They were oddly familiar. She pondered their meaning.

        Twilight stopped speaking as she noticed Ember's unfocused eyes. Looking to where Ember was staring, Twilight saw that Ember's eyes were locked on Rarity's throne, specifically Ember's eyes were locked onto Rarity's Cutie Mark.

        "Hey Ember."

        Ember shook her head and turned to Twilight.

        "Yeah?"

        "Why are you staring at Rarity's Cutie Mark?"

        Huffing, Ember stood up and gestured to multiple spots on her body. They all shared the same pattern as Rarity's Cutie Mark.

        "Well Twilight, I just noticed that your friend Rarity has the same Cutie Mark as some of my scale patterns. I just thought that it was interesting is all."

        "Oh," Twilight got up out of her seat to take a closer look "You're right!"

        Twilight sat down on the crystal floor with her right half resting under her chin as she pondered the coincidence presented to her. Much to Amber's chagrin twilight began her attempt to unravel the supposedly relation between member and rarity.

        "Twilight."

        "-Could be destiny? Nah-"

        "-Twilight."

        "-Magical interspecies harmony? Maybe-"

        Shaking her head, Ember took her scepter and tapped it in front of Twilight breaking her pensive stance.

        "Bwah!" Twilight’s wings flared pushing her onto her back.

        Ember leaned on her scepter looking down at Twilight as her legs kicked futilely in the air.

        "Twilight, I was born this way."

        Twilight's legs stopped kicking.

        "Oh."

        "Yeah, that makes a bit more sense then what ever it was that you were rambling about."

        "You're right," Twilight's left leg involuntarily kicked out. "Oh, Ember-whoa!"

        Twilight suddenly found herself being pulled upright by Ember. When she was upright Twilight found herself facing Ember.

        "Thanks Ember."

        Ember smiled and pat Twilight on her back.

        "No problem Princess."

        Twilight’s smile wavered. "Ember-"

        Whatever Twilight was about to say was interrupted when the throne room doors were slammed open and the rest of the Mane six ran or flew in.

        "Twilight!" They cried, barreling into her.

        "Oh Twilight dear," Cried Rarity. "We are so sorry that we couldn't get here sooner. We had to help Fluttershy calm down her animals. Right Shy?"

        As one the pony pile turned to the trembling form of Fluttershy. Rarity was the first one to notice that something was off. Extracting herself from the pile, Rarity trotted over to her friend.

        "Fluttershy dear you okay?"

        "D-D-DR-"

        "-What was deary, I couldn't hear you."

        Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep stammering breath then cried out in the loudest voice she could muster,

        "DRAGON!"

> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Leaning back in Celestia’s throne Discord contemplated the dis-harmonic elements that made up his singularly unique piece of cake and himself. In many ways they were similar.  Both he and the cake were messy and inherently chaotic. For example, when Discord took his first bite of cake, he cried though he would deny that he did so. Now, if one didn’t cry upon tasting cake then there was a problem and that problem would have to be fixed. Of course Discord and cake loved new and exciting things, to a point. That is where the different flavors came into effect. With the introduction of different flavors came an interesting combination of texture and experience. To be more precise, there were six flavors.

The first flavor; the first layer was that of a butter yellow creme reminiscent of a similarly colored Pegasus. The second flavor that hit the tongue was reminiscent of a marshmallow in texture and flavor. The rest of the cake though, it wanted to be eaten. So Discord opened his stomach and threw the cake inside. He closed his belly with a belch. He politely covered his mouth because that's what one does when in the presence of company.

“Scuse me.”

Discord would never admit it but his piece of cake was absolutely delicious. Now he knew why old Sunbutt stole off to the castle bakery in the wee hours of the morning. ‘Hmming’ and hawing Discord debated over a most important question. Was it better to have cake and eat or was it better to never have eaten such a delectable morsel? Well he couldn't decide on his first piece so maybe a second helping would decide for him. Arching his back over the right side of Celestias throne, Discord carefully reached past Sunbutts scowling mug and cut out a nice rainbow colored piece of her effervescent mane. Celestia huffed in an annoyed tone and shot Discord an exasperated look. Discord ignored her and started to eat his new piece of cake.

“Pwuh!”

The new piece of cake didn't taste anything like the previous piece of cake! 

“Ugh!”

Discord snapped his talons. A sponge and a bucket of suds landed next to him. He dunked the sponge in the suds and vigorously attempted to  eviscerate the flavor that permeated his oral cavity. Beside him Celestia smirked.

“Discord-”

A lion's paw adhered itself to her face preventing her from speaking.

“-nuh uh...gurgle.”

Discord gurgled and spat out the violating flavor of not-cake that was Celestia’s mane. Withdrawing his paw from Celestia’s muzzle Discord allowed her to speak. Arching her right eyebrow Celestia tittered,

“So Discord how was the mane? Did you like it?”

Discord stared at her with his puffed up tongue attempting to crawl out of his mouth.

“Thelestia-” Discord sucked his tongue back into his maw. “Celestia... What. Was. That.”

Princess Celestia smirked again and leaned close to Discord.

“A little present from mine sister you snake.”

The facade of ‘Princess Celestia’ shimmered then faded away and Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night haughtily stood in her place.

“Ha! Take that Discord, Master of Pranks!” Luna crowed much to Discord’s inward annoyance and dismay. Outwardly he was calm, suave, and collected.

“Oh Moonbutt I see that you've dethroned your sister already” Discord teased, “And here I thought that you had reformed! I guess I'll just have to get the element bearers.”

Luna's face portrayed her immediate dismay upon hearing Discords disappointed tone. She knew he would spin a tale of woe if only to reach his goal: revenge. She couldn't let that happen! Reaching out with her magic and front hooves Luna pleaded.

“Discord! Wait don-”

-With a ‘snap’ of his talons Discord vanished with a dramatic strike of thunder and lightning.

Luna stood in place frozen by the realization that Discord could very easily put his plan into action. Her worries were cast aside though when the sound of metal striking stone reached her ears. Cantering, Luna turned and shot towards the incoming sound of gold gilded hooves. Rounding the doorway to the servants entrance Luna skidded to a halt as she came muzzle to muzzle with her sister.

“Sister! We- I hath made a grave error.”

Celestia arched one crumb covered eyebrow indicating that Luna should continue.

“We-I fear that I have given Discord cause to enact a most terrible prank upon us.”

Celestia furrowed her brow.

“Luna, what happened?”

Luna hurriedly explained everything and at the end of her sisters brief explanation Celestia gently placed her head against the cool stone wall.

“Luna-”

“-Yes sister?”

Celestia took one slow breath in and one slow breath out.

“I'll take care of it. Just go and get some sleep okay?”

Luna took a step forward and figeted. Celestia hummed. Luna continued forward and hugged her big sister.

“Thank you. For everything.”

Smiling, Celestia affectionately returned the hug. They stayed like that for some time, just two sisters enjoying the bond they shared. But they had jobs to do. So sadly one or the other had to let go. Luna was the first one to let go and return to her duties, Celestia was the second one. Luna made the sojourn to her bed while Celestia attended to that day's court session. Oddly enough there were no petitioners, Celestia would not find out the cause of her unexpected relaxation until the end of her court session. She opened the throne room doors and looked to the guards that stood on either side. Then she stepped out of the throne room and looked at the door, rather, she looked at the sign that was attractively placed on one of  her doors. It read:

‘An in-depth Lecture on Friendship and its Benefits.’

By Princess Celestia

P.S. Attendance is optional.





With Celestia otherwise occupied for the day Discord had time on his side. His dramatic teleport resulted in him drifting down right outside the crystal throne room doors of Twilight’s Castle. Snickering, Discord approached the doors and prepared for his big entrance but stopped as he heard a shout from inside. Quirking an eyebrow Discord popped off his right ear and placed it against the door.





“Fluttershy darling,” Rarity insisted. “I think Ember has had enough don’t you think?”

Fluttershy shook her head and clung to Ember even harder than before.

“Mmm... Nope! She’s just sooo sparkly and- and Rarity, she’s a Dragon. A Nice Dragon!” Fluttershy turned back to Ember and nuzzled the choking Dragon Lord. “Oh I can’t wait to show you to my all my cute little fuzzy wuzzy animal friends!”

Ember’s eyes widened as Fluttershy continued talking and hugging her.

“Ohh! First there’s Angel Bunny, he’s a real sweetheart once you get to know him. Then there’s Harry, he’s a bear-” Ember gasped for oxygen “- Oh don’t be scared! He’s a real gentlebear. And I just know you’ll love Regal the Eagle!”

As Fluttershy spoke to an imprisoned Ember their friends desperately tried to separate them. First they tried to persuade Fluttershy to release Ember; Flutters kept saying “Nope”  and tightening her hug. All the while Ember started turning a progressively darker shade of blue. Applejack and Pinkie Pie tried to pry Ember and Fluttershy apart; it didn’t work. Even Twilight and Rarity’s magic didn’t work. Ember had started to tremble by the time the Mane six realized their efforts were futile. Her life was in her own claws now.

Stretching her right hind leg out, Ember felt it brush up against a cold metal shaft. It was the shaft of the Bloodstone Sceptre! Ember desperately wiggled and wormed her way closer to her Sceptre all the while ignoring Fluttershy. Wiggling her hind claws around Ember pinched and moved the Sceptre into a position where she could grab it. Trying for one last ditch effort, Ember wrapped her hind claws around the shaft. Using the dexterity that younger dragons are known for, Ember maneuvered the shaft into one of her free hands. Getting a good grasp on it, Ember tapped Fluttershy on the side of her head. The butter yellow pegasus pulled away from Ember with a dazed look in her eyes and an incoherent mumble. Ember was only just able to hear what Fluttershy said.

“So- so sorry. I didn’t mean to-to-”

Hastily regaining her breath Ember waved Fluttershy off with a trembling hand and she obeyed. Turning around Fluttershy attempted to stuff herself under the map table. Fluttershy’s sudden change didn’t go unnoticed.

“Hey Shy,” Rainbow Dash whispered as she crouched under the table’s edge. “Y- you okay?”

Fluttershy didn’t verbally respond, instead she curled up into a small little ball of down and fluff with her pink mane covering her head. Rainbow calmly continued to speak and work her way towards FLuttershy’s still form.

“You can come out Flutters, Ember’s not mad or anything. She’s just surprised is all.”

Despite Rainbow’s gentle pleas, Fluttershy didn’t respond. Extending a hoof Rainbow gently poked Fluttershy in one of her several ticklish spots.

“Hey Fluttershy, quit messin’ around alright?”

There was no response so Rainbow’s face slowly formed a potent scowl. She didn’t want to do that to Fluttershy but if it meant getting her to respond... Rainbow quickly ran her hoof over Fluttershy’s primary feathers. The quick action resulted in a rather violent reaction. Fluttershy bolted upright with an ‘eep!’





Hearing Fluttershy’s shriek temporarily deafened Discord’s right ear much to his annoyance. Ripping his donkey ear off the door Discord waved it about to get the ringing noise out. Once the ringing noise subsided discord taped the ear back on and snapped his talons around it a few times to make sure it worked correctly. All his snaps went in one ear and out the other, exactly as they should. Sighing in relief, Discord prepared to re-make his Big Dramatic Entrance only to be temporarily stopped by an aqua colored shield.

“Discord” Starlight Glimmer sweetly asked, “What are you doing?”

> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Looking back, Starlight Glimmer could see that her whole day was peculiar.







First, she had been rudely awoken when a scroll materialized above her then fell on her snout. Having been woken up by the scroll Starlight read it with bleary eyes. What she read did not make sense. Rubbing her eyes dry on her bedsheet did not improve anything. Sunbursts letter, and she knew it was Sunbursts letter because of the sunburst sigil in the upper right corner, was complete gibberish. The text was nigh indecipherable, letters were different sizes and shapes, there were ink splotches everywhere and-


-Starlight looked down, the bottom left corner was soaked with ink, it was dripping onto her new down comforter. Starlight banished the letter to the floor with a hiss and tried using her magic to make the ink stains disappear. Leaky Quill’s Ink Stopper Spell didn’t work; Ink Splotch’s Ink Lifting Charm didn’t work; even Dirty Stains’ Instant Stain Removal Enchantment didn’t work. Starlight was left red faced and considerably worn down from her endeavours. Sighing, she looked down at her bed. Sleep it was.


Crashing down onto her mattress felt like falling into Celestia’s flank. Not that that event had ever happened. Nopony would acknowledge it. Not Nopony. Not no how. If the Princess said something didn’t happen it didn’t happen. Heh, a mare can dream can’t she?


        Just as she was about to fall off the edge of consciousness and into sleepy oblivion another letter materialized above her head and fell. It’s descent was stopped by a vague cloud of turquoise magic. Grinning tiredly Starlight opened the letter and read it. What she read sent her bolting upright. It was a actual letter from Sunburst. And even better, it was legible.




‘Hey Starlight, I'm sorry about that last letter, I'm teaching Flurry Heart how to write and she took the initiative. Sorry. I know you were up here two months ago but if you have time could you possibly come up to the Empire for a week. There are some things I’d like to talk to you about.




‘Sunburst’


-P.S. Flurry Heart can’t wait to see you again.’


Upon reaching the end of the letter Starlight had an affectionate smile on her face.


“Well Sunburst, it looks like you're having fun.”


Setting Sunbursts’ letter down on her headboard Starlight levitated Flurry’s letter and set next to Sunbursts letter. With her mind abuzz Starlight knew she wouldn’t get back to sleep. Seeking to distract herself Starlight crumpled up an old piece of parchment, aimed, then tossed into the nearest trashcan. It was across the room but she made it despite the distance. She celebrated with a quick hoof pump and a cocky smile.


“Oh yeah! Still got it.”


        The impromptu celebration was rudely interrupted by a roaring sound coming from her stomach. Rolling over, Starlight began the journey to the kitchen.







The kitchen. That was where the second disturbance of the day awaited Starlight Glimmer. 


        Trotting down the hallway Starlight felt an uneasy feeling crawl in her stomach. Then it hit her. Smoke! She smelled smoke. Following her nose she quickened her pace to a gallop and soon she arrived at the kitchens. Before bursting through the doors, Starlight drew a deep breath and lit her horn in preparation to cast a water spell. Dividing her attention for a second, Starlight opened the kitchen doors with her telekinesis then walked in. As soon as she opened the doors, smoke billowed out and into the hallway. Thinking quickly she cast a shield charm over the entrance trapping the smoke inside.


        Stepping into the kitchen Starlight cast Air Bubbles’, Air Filtration Spell over head. Crouching low to the ground, Starlight looked for the source of the fire. She didn’t hear or see anything that looked like a fire. A quick flash of movement was caught in the corner of her left eye. Turning, Starlight saw two little green legs stumbling around. Starlight quickly made her way towards them and as she drew closer she easily recognized Spike and he was… blowing smoke out of his nose and mouth? Shaking her head in confusion Starlight copied her Air Filtration Spell and placed it around Spike’s head. He twirled around looking for the source of magic but was blinded by the light of Starlight’s horn as she started searching for and opening all the windows in the kitchen.


        In a few minutes the air in the kitchen had cleared but as Starlight learned, the smell lingered and it would not go away. She used Smelly Ends’ Anti-Silent Butt Deadly enchantment and she even tried Shar’ Tings’ Spell for Sudden Smells. Nothing worked, again. She just had to maintain the air bubbles around her and Spike that was easy enough. But, like always, there was a problem. Spike couldn’t talk because he lost his voice from producing so much smoke so he resorted to writing in the black film that was left behind.


“Sorry about the mess Starlight. I was practicing a trick that Em- Dragon Lord Ember showed me.”


“Neat trick.” Starlight jabbed.


“I don't think it worked.”


        “Yeah.”


        The two compatriots sat in silence for a while, their thoughts running through their heads. Then seemingly at once, their stomachs rumbled. Turning towards Spike, Starlight asked,


        “Hey Spike, do you want breakfast?”


        Spike waved his left claw at her, motioning for her to wait.


        “Nah. I’m good. I stuffed myself. But I can cook for you if you want.”


        By the time Spike had finished writing, Starlight was at the stove and levitating her ingredients towards herself. Spike walked over to her and rolled his eyes.


        “Sheesh, you’re only here what, four months and you’re already replacing me?”


        “You know it.” Starlight said in a smug tone seemingly having not seen what Spike wrote.


        Shaking his head, Spike jokingly inscribed,


        “Heh, yeah. Let me guess, you’re gonna take over Ponyville. By cooking.”


Starlight’s activities slowed to a halt and a sad sigh was wringed from her. Spike realized his mistake and wiped his previous text away then began a new one.


“Hey, I-I mean Pinkie and Applejack would probably give you a run for your money an-”


“-The eggs are burning. I’d better get back to my cooking.” Starlight yelped with the enthusiasm of a foal about to get a shot.


“Right, you get cooking. I’ll just be over here cleaning. Yeah cleaning.”


The atmosphere in the kitchen had become somber with Spikes last remark. The only change was the occasional clink or crack from Starlight’s cooking implements. Spike cleaned but he didn’t do a very good job of it. With the uncomfortable atmosphere around him he kept thinking back to what he wrote and how he should’ve handled it. Feeling guilt for the pain he cause his friend Spike stood up and made his way over to Starlight. Bending down he wrote out a short script on the ash coated floor then tugged on Starlights tail. Turning around Starlight saw what he wrote and a reluctant smile broke across her muzzle.


“I’m sorry.” She read. “Will you forgive me?”


Looking up, Starlight brushed a tear away from her right eye with one ash laden hoof. It left a wet black streak stretching over her cheek.


“Oh Spike.” She cried softly. “You didn’t need to. I already forgave you.”


Then they embraced. Fur tickled scale and a young dragon warmed the heart of an older mare. Pulling away, Spike put a wet rag to Starlights cheek and helped wash away the ash streak. Leaning down, Starlight gave Spike a peck on the forehead.


“Thank you Spike.”


“You’re welcome.”


Starlight didn’t hide her smile.


“You’re such a gentledrake.”


Spike blushed and motioned for Starlight to stop. She rolled her eyes and stood up levitating her breakfast to her left side.


“Now, Spike.” The young dragons ears perked up. “You said that Twilight and the Dragon Lord were in the throne room?”


Spike nodded and Starlight took a sip of her orange juice.


“Awesome. I think I’ll go pay them a visit.”







        Turning the last corner to the Throne Room brought with it a surprise. Discord was listening at the door. Proceeding cautiously Starlight got close enough to see Discord rip his ear off the door with a pained expression. After waving it around for a while Discord ends up slapping it back onto his head, presumably where it belongs. Starlight, still very confused by Discords actions drew one conclusion. With the Dragon Lord and Twilight in the next room Discord was obviously planning a prank. She could let his prank happen… or she could do her duty as Twilight’s friend. She went with the second option. Just as Discord was going to burst through the throne room door Starlight cast a shield on it, momentarily stopping the Draconequus.


        “Discord,” Starlight Glimmer sweetly asked. “What are you doing?”


        The subject of Starlights attentions paused in his actions and turned towards the mare with a grin on his face. 


        “Oh Starlight Glimmer, there you are! I was hoping you could tell me where I could find other megalomaniacal ponies who want revenge on our dear Princess Twilight Sparkle. Seeing as you have experience with that sort of thing, I thought you could help me out. Whaddya say, hmmmm?”


        Starlight stared at Discords smug mug and stammered,


        “Ex-Excuse me!”


        Discord rolled his eyes and placed his Smug Mug back on the floor then bent down to Starlights level. His goal: explain his request at a level Starlight could understand. So, understandably she tried to shy away from him as he scootched her to his side with his eagle talon.


        “Now, we’ll have none of that.” Discord totted as he moved a very uncomfortable Starlight to look him in the eyes. “You were a megalomaniacal dictator, yes?”


Starlight recovered and gave Discord a withering glare as her temper rose.


        “Yeah! I was a megalomaniacal dictator. Thanks for bringing it up! I’ve tried to be better but-” Discord snapped his talons and Starlight’s rant was silenced as a zipper zippered her mouth shut.


        “Now, now Starlight Glimmer, there’s no need to be so...testy, it was only a question. Thanks for your-”


        “-Hmmf!” Starlight grunted, interrupting Discord who raised an eyebrow in a show of confusion. Starlight lit her horn and the zipper unzipped itself then disappeared with a crack.


        “Discord.” Starlight growled. The Draquencaus quirked his left eyebrow.


        “How wonderful,” Discord taunted. “The little Unicorn knows how to do a little magic!”


        Starlights face went beet red and a vein started throbbing in her temple.


        “A ‘little magic’” Starlight spat out in anger. “I’ll show you a ‘little magic’”


        Focusing, Starlight began to cast her spell. Even as two discolored layers of overglow and a beady dribble of pearlescent liquid formed on her horn Discord looked down on her. He was as he would put it, not impressed.


        “I’m not impressed.”


        Starlight released her spell with a grunt. The personal affects of her casting vanished as her spell took hold of Discord. Looking up smugly at Discord she pointedly said,


        “How’s that for a ‘little magic’, ‘Lord’ of Chaos.” Then she promptly fell, gasping onto her left side.


        Discord, suspended as he was in Starlights spell could only look on her performance in dismay. Whatever that little Unicorn had done rendered his body immobile. Even as Discord tried to escape Starlights spell he could feel its effects take hold. He felt his body morph and change into something vaguely familiar and wholly unwelcome. As the spell’s light increased, Discord shut his eyes, covering them with a furry leg.


        The only indication Discord had that the spell wore off was a short drop and a sudden stop. Albeit the drop was only two feet and the stop was considerably more comfortable than was expected seeing as he landed on a conveniently placed pony. Both parties produced equally hilarious noises. While falling, Discord let out a shrill shriek reminiscent of a falling bomb and when he stopped the sound that was made was that of a sadly deflating balloon. The same could not be said for Starlight as the only sound she made was what one would usually expect to be produced upon having a Draconequus turned pony land on her side.


        Lounging on Starlights struggling body like one would on a fine couch Discord flicked his ears back and forth trying to get used to being a pony. While he would never say it outloud he was impressed by Starlights magical ability, the only other Unicorn that came close to matching her raw power had been one of Celestia’s failed students, Sunburst Spackle…No. Sunset Glimmer...maybe, but they all sounded the same. Speaking of Glimmer. Discord was abruptly thrown away from Starlight Glimmer as she scrambled to her feet in an adrenaline filled rush. Looking around she spotted Discord’s body at the base of the throne room doors. Stalking towards him she grunted,


        “Ha! How’s it feel D-”


        With a triumphant cry of, “Sunset Shimmer!” Discord lept up and landed on his hind hooves, teetered forwards for a second then windmilled his front hooves in an effort to stay upright. It didn’t work. He fell backwards, propelled by his flailing forelimbs only to be caught in Starlights telekinetic field. Discord let out an irritated sigh.


        “Oh right. Normal ponies don’t stand on their hindlegs.”


        Starlight gently lowered Discord down to the floor where he twisted, turned, and fought to get onto his hooves. He only succeeded after a bit of help from Starlight.


        After she helped him up, Starlight stood back as Discord examined his new body. Knobbly gray legs led up to a dappled grey and brown coat. The pattern remained the same all the way to his face where a striking pair of red pupils roamed over his body. Just over the silence Starlight could barely hear muttering coming from the ponified Lord of Chaos.


        “Terrible. Absolutely terrible. What pony in their right mind would not make me an Alicorn? Of all the things…”


        Shaking her head in confusion, Starlight drew Discords heated gaze upon herself. The she heard a sound that should never come from a pony’s mouth.


        “You,” Discord hissed. “you did this to me.”


Starlight backed away from Discords steady advance. Smelling her fear, Discord clucked his tongue and kept walking forwards.


“You… You did this to me! You made me into a pony!”


Starlight grimly nodded.


“I look horrible. I look like some adolescent pony’s OC! My colors don’t match... and my eyes! I look horrible as a pony.” Squinting at Starlight, a light shone in Discords red eyes. “But you, you look so nice. You have a matching coat, mane and tail! You would make such a great looking pony…” Discord stopped talking for a second as if waiting for something then confusedly continued, “pie.”


…


‘SPLAT!’


Discord stopped his monologue and advance as Starlight was replaced with a pie. With a grin stretching itself over his muzzle Discord sidled up to the pie and licked some of the filling off the side.


“Mmh. Blueberry pie is delicious if I do say so myself, right Starlight?”


He received no response. He patted his hoof on the pie tin.


“It’s okay Starry. I know you must be having a… berry good time in there.”


The pie jiggled. Discord withdrew his hoof and clicked his tongue three times. Nurse Redheart appeared in front of him and a doctors uniform draped itself over him.


“Well Starlight, I’m only trying to nurse you back to health.”


Nurse Redheart glared at him.


“That was bad. And you should feel bad.”


The pie rumbled and Nurse Redheart disappeared with a ‘pop’ leaving a strawberry lollipop in her place. As Discord reverently lifted up the lollipop, Nurse Redhearts’ voice echoed down the hallway making the pie convulse.


“Paging Doctor Discord to the PI-ER. Doctor Discord to the-”


The pie exploded and goupy blueberry filling, crusty crust, and some tinny tin tin coated the hallway leaving an enraged Starlight Glimmer at the epicenter. Leaping out of the ruptured innards of the poor blueberry pie with a manic grin on her face Starlight descended upon Discord’s frozen goup covered form with a chilling scream,


“Why so blue!”