1 Lukewarm
It seemed like another one of those times when Nyx opted to leave Ponyville while it was having a thunderstorm, but actually, by now she wasn’t as bothered by them as before; she just enjoyed going with Spike to the Crystal Empire every so often. Usually, they spent the night in the Crystal Castle, but some of their recent visits were spent with Sunburst. Nyx liked hearing about the sorts of magical theory he could never quite manage to put into practise. Sunburst was never shy about this because he knew Nyx wasn’t too great at magic herself, although he was aware that she was slowly progressing. Spike and Nyx were planning to bunk with Sunburst on this visit, but when they arrived at his house, he had a suggestion for them.
“I think Impulsoria’s depressed,” he told them. “I couldn’t tell you why though. Cold’s Blood’s Guide to the Large & Scaly tells me virtually nothing about dragon mood swings, and since we know less about crystal dragons than we do about ordinary dragons, I think the only way to learn what’s upsetting her is to spend time with her.”
“I can tell you plenty about dragon mood swings,” said Spike. “They happen when ponies shove a quill and parchment in front of their faces while they’re trying to eat cake batter.”
“I think Impulsoria’s mood stems from something harsher than cake batter deprivation,” said Sunburst. “Remember when I recommended Fledgling’s Forbearance for use on Princess Flurry Heart to control her magic?”
Spike and Nyx nodded.
“The book I found that spell in only contains records of use of unicorn foals, and no alicorn foals,” Sunburst went on. “Since Flurry Heart’s more powerful than a unicorn, it stands to reason that she’ll feel more and more stifled as she gets older. And I think the same thing goes for Impulsoria.”
“But Impulsoria hasn’t had Fledgling’s Forbearance used on her,” remarked Nyx.
“She did have the Element of Kindness used on her,” remembered Spike. “So that she could control her hereditary dragon greed.”
“Exactly,” said Sunburst. “She was maturing at the time Fluttershy used her Element of Harmony on her, so maybe she’s in a bad state of health because her congenital urges are being repressed.”
Not long after they got to Impulsoria’s cave, they found that Sunburst’s hypothesis wasn’t quite on the mark.
“I hear you met the Dragon Lord,” Impulsoria said to Spike.
“Uh, yeah,” nodded Spike.
“And then you almost became the Dragon Lord,” went on Impulsoria.
“Right.”
“Unless I’ve heard wrong,” said Impulsoria, “you got the Bloodstone Sceptre first, but gave it so another dragon.”
“That’s right,” said Spike. “I let my friend Ember have the sceptre so she could show her dad Torch that she was capable of leading all the dragon and that I could stay in Equestria.”
Impulsoria frowned. “Why was I never in the running?”
Spike, Nyx, and Sunburst had no answer.
“I never got the call of the Dragon Lord,” Impulsoria went on.
“That’s not really a bad thing,” said Spike, remembering how itchy he’d been when his scales had glowed white.
“Also, how do you know you’re not still the Dragon Lord?” asked Impulsoria.
“He just said he gave the Bloodstone Sceptre to Ember,” said Nyx.
“But are you sure that’s how the magic in the sceptre works?” Impulsoria said with a hard look at Nyx.
“W-well, Torch did say the dragon who brought the sceptre back to him would be the new Dragon Lord,” Nyx gulped.
“Are you suggesting that Bloodstone Sceptre itself dictates the Dragon Lord?” asked Sunburst.
“I’d like to see you prove that Spike isn’t the Dragon Lord even though he was the first one to get touch the sceptre.”
As if on cue, Spike’s scales glowed white.
“There we go!” cried Sunburst. “How can Spike get the call of the Dragon Lord if he was the Dragon Lord.”
Impulsoria’s face brightened as Spike began scratching himself.
“I guess Ember needs me,” he said through gritted teeth. “She could’ve just sent Twilight a note.”
“It might be urgent,” said Nyx.
“Then let’s get going,” said Impulsoria.
“What? You want to come?” asked Spike.
“But you’re not getting the call,” put in Nyx.
“I don’t care. My whole world is not this cave,” snapped Impulsoria. “I want to find out for myself what the score is.”
Spike shrugged. “Fine, then. Do either of you want to come?”
A quick nervous glance from both Nyx and Sunburst told Spike all he needed to know.
“Okay,” said Spike, climbing on Impulsoria’s back. “I’ll point the way to the Dragonlands.”
“I’ll go home and tell Twilight what’s going on,” said Nyx and Impulsoria exited the cave.
“Thanks,” said Spike.
“Too bad Thorax isn’t around anymore,” said Impulsoria as she ferried Spike across Equestria. “He could’ve transformed into a dragon OC and come along with us.”
Spike remembered Thorax’s alter ego Crystal Hoof. “You heard about that, huh?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t involved, of course. As usual.”
Spike tried not to convey his weariness of Impulsoria’s moaning, but then his scales began itching again, so he tried to carry on dwelling on how much of a downer she’d become.
“What would we call his dragon character, anyway?” she asked.
“Uh…”
Spike looked down at the crystal dragon’s back.
“Shiny scales?” he suggested.
“Better than my name,” shrugged Impulsoria. “I don’t even remember how I got it.”
Spike’s impatience with Impulsoria’s complaining trickled away as he realised she was hardly any different from him; not knowing where she came from, who her parents were, or how she ended up in the home she has now.
“Impulsoria, do you think you’ll find out who you are if you visit the Dragonlands?” he asked, unable to contain his curiosity. “Because I didn’t get much the first time I went there. And I didn’t see any dragons that look like you either time.”
Impulsoria didn’t answer. She stopped on the shoreline south of Horseshoe Bay.
“Do I have to swim across water?” she asked.
“Do you know how to swim?” asked Spike.
“Sure, I can swim,” she replied. “But water? I’d have expected lava.”
Spike squirmed. “I’m glad we didn’t have to swim across lava during the Gauntlet of Fire. Twilight and Rarity wouldn’t have been able to follow us without getting caught.”
Crossing the ocean did Spike some good, as he was able to cool his itching skin off in the cold water. Soon, the Dragonlands loomed into view.
“Hey. What’s that?”
Impulsoria pointed to the shore.
“Looks like a beached sea creature,” she said.
Spike squinted. The large shape looked familiar.
“Wait a minute!” he cried as they neared the beach. “That’s Torch!”
“The old Dragon Lord?”
“Yeah. He’s Ember’s dad,” said Spike. “Good. He can tell us what she needs.”
They soon found otherwise. When they arrived at the shoreline and stepped onto the beach, the ground shook with the sound of Torch’s snores.
“Looks like he’s been putting his claws up and drinking pina colavas now that he’s not the Dragon Lord anymore,” Impulsoria observed, taking an audacious sip from Torch’s beverage.
Spike shouted in Torch’s ear, but he gave no response at all. Impulsoria joined in, but again, the large dragon carried on sleeping. Spike looked around at the tall, thick vegetation beyond the beach.
“D’you think our shouting might get someone’s attention?” he asked.
They strained their ears, but they heard no sound of approaching footsteps and saw no sign of flying creatures from above the forest.
“Guess not,” decided Impulsoria. “Now where did you go the last time you got the Dragon Lord’s call? Let’s go there.”
Spike led the way through the jungle and past the rock faces. They stopped to have a bite from the supply of gemstones they’d brought with them for a trip, and then pressed on. Soon the volcano was in sight. There were dragons in the trench pottering about.
“Look,” said Impulsoria quietly. “None of these dragons’ scales are glowing. And they don’t look itchy to me.”
Spike wondered. “Am I the only one Ember’s calling?”
They consulted for a minute, and agreed that Impulsoria would approach the dragons.
“Whoa! Look at her!” shouted a red dragon.
The group looked at Impulsoria with curiosity.
“What’s with the shiny?” asked a blue dragon.
“I had a bath,” said Impulsoria. “And it seems I’m the only one around here.”
Spike was beginning to regret this. He only agreed to this because he thought there must be a reason Ember was only calling him, and he didn’t want to let the other dragons see him glowing.
“What kinda dragon bathes in water?” sniffed a black dragon. “I’ll bet she can’t even breathe fire.”
Impulsoria huffed, and shot a burst of brilliant blue flames straight up into the air from her mouth.
“Whoa!” exclaimed the red dragon. “Cool! That water cleans her fire, too!”
“I gotta try that,” said the blue dragon.
The other dragons seemed to fall for this as well.
“Hang on!” shouted Impulsoria as all the dragons got up and headed towards the beach.
Spike had to conceal himself in a crevice in the cliff face so as not to be spotted. He did his best to resist scratching himself as the dragons passed by him.
“Well, that was a waste of time,” groaned Impulsoria when all the dragons had gone and Spike had come out of his hiding place.
“At least none of them suspected anything,” said Spike, scratching his sides vigorously.
“But we still don’t know where Ember is,” said Impulsoria. “We need information.”
Spike looked around. “Come to think of it, I don’t know exactly where the Dragon Lord is supposed to be.”
They both looked towards the volcano.
“Is it not an active volcano?” asked Impulsoria.
“It was the last time I was here,” said Spike.
“I’d have expected smoke to be coming from an active volcano,” remarked Impulsoria.
With that, Spike realised that the sky above the Dragonlands was a lot clearer than he remembered. It appeared that smoke from the volcano was not clouding everything over in a haze of dark grey.
“Either it’s not active anymore, or something’s keeping it from smoking,” pondered Spike. “Let’s check it out.”
Impulsoria groaned. “More swimming.”
Again, Spike had a spell of relief from his itchy scales, and then they reached the volcano. Spike stepped onto the brimstone.
“Huh. It’s not nearly as hot as last time,” he remarked. “I mean, it’s not cold, but it’s not hot either.”
Impulsoria said nothing and led the way towards the volcano’s entrance. Since neither of them could fly, it would take them a lot longer to climb the side of the tall mountain of lava.
“Huh. Now it’s hotter,” said Spike.
“Yeah, I noticed,” grunted Impulsoria.
Then a trickle of lava slithered down the mountainside.
“I guess there’s still some life left in it,” said Impulsoria.
But as they carried on climbing, the heat ebbed away from the rock they dug their claws into. Then they saw something confusing.
“Is that snow?”
A white glistening powder was sitting atop of a stone.
“Maybe it’s salt,” suggested Impulsoria.
Spike touched the powder. It quickly melted under his hand.
“No. It’s snow. Or just crushed ice. One or the other.”
“Well, good to know we didn’t waste all that time and energy,” said Impulsoria with genuine pleasure. “Now we know there’s something odd going on with this volcano.”
When they found an opening into the volcano, there was no doubt about it.
“Why is there a sheet of ice on the ground?” wondered Spike.
Impulsoria attempted to slide across the ice, but it broke under her weight and she crunched to a standstill.
“It’s not very cold ice,” she said.
Spike stepped into the volcano. “There’s some more down there. And there are a few puddles of lava too.”
“So something’s causing things to even out in here so it’s not really hot or really cold,” said Impulsoria.
“Or someone is causing this,” put in Spike. “Come on.”
They proceeded deeper into the volcano, turned a corner, and stopped. A glacier was floating in a pond of lava close to where they were standing.
“This just got insane,” remarked Impulsoria.
Spike jumped up, bounced off Impulsoria’s head, and leapt across the lava to land on the glacier. He sighed contently as he pressed his white glowing scales against the ice.
“Insaner and insaner,” muttered the disgruntled crystal dragon.
Spike only removed himself from the wall of ice when Impulsoria told him she could see something red poking up from the lava. He looked down. It looked like a ruby at first, but then he recognised the shape.
“It’s the Bloodstone Sceptre!”
He dove into the lava and grabbed the object. The molten rock slid off the sceptre quickly, and they could see that it was intact.
“But where’s Ember?” asked Spike, climbing back onto the rock floor with the sceptre.
He and Impulsoria carried on. More lava and ice met them along the way through the caverns, and the temperature remained moderate all the way. Soon they entered a den, and there at last was the dragon they were looking for. Dragon Lord Ember was thrashing around on the hard rock floor trying to break the large chunks of ice that were encumbering her. Her claws her held together with ice, her wings were held together with ice, her tail was anchored to the ground with ice, and her mouth was clamped shut with ice. Spike dashed towards her and breathed a stream of green fire around her face. The ice on her mouth melted.
“You’re here!” Ember shouted with delight.
“Yeah,” Spike panted, as to his relief, his scales stopped glowing and itching.
Impulsoria stepped forward. “I guess I’m supposed to bow or something.”
“Who’s this?” asked Ember as the crystal dragon inclined her head a little bit.
“This is my friend Impulsoria,” said Spike. “She helped me get here when I got the call.”
“Why is she so shiny?” asked Ember. “She’s not an ice dragon, is she?!”
“No. She’s a crystal dragon,” said Spike quickly, slightly alarmed by Ember’s sudden anger.
“Never heard of a crystal dragon,” said Ember with a raised eyebrow.
“I’ve never heard of an ice dragon,” replied Impulsoria.
“Well, appearently they exist. I know because one attacked me,” growled Ember.