Bloodstone Ch. 2 Opening Ceremony

Bloodstone Ch. 3 Legend of the First Dragon Lord

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by DragOrion

Gallery

It had been quite some time since Spike and Smoulder had last laid eyes upon the Dragonlands, but they were just as they remembered them to be, a very arid and rocky terrain that felt like a scorching Summer day no matter what time of the year it was thanks to system of lava deep beneath the ground that connected to numerous volcanoes in the region. While stone was plentiful here, there was no trace of plant life anywhere due to the perpetual drought the heat caused. It was rare for rain to fall here, or at the very least hit the ground before evaporating. As a result, the ground was so dried out that it was covered in cracks from one end of the Dragonlands to the other like a true marvel of nature.

The only bodies of liquid that did exist in the Dragonlands were made of molten rock from the many still active volcanoes throughout the land. To most creatures this was a very dangerous land to live in that was even less habitable than that. The only creatures that could survive such a brutal environment was the current residents of this land, the dragons themselves. Thanks to being covered in scales capable of easily withstanding extreme high temperatures, they saw bodies of lava as ideal spots to going swimming or even lava surfing, if it had a strong enough current for it.

“It feels good to be home,” commented Smoulder, feeling the welcoming warmth blanket her body. During her stay in Ponyville the drop in temperature made the town feel almost frigid when she first arrived.

As she and Spike descended, they touched down upon the meeting grounds of the dragons, a large, flat area with a large peninsula looming over it that had been crudely carved into a throne-like shape. That was Throne of the Dragonlord and the place where there leader addressed their fellow dragons when they gathered just like they were doing now.

Already, there was a vast quantity of dragons gathered with many more coming in from caves all over the Dragonlands and some making their way from even the other end of Equestria just to be here for the festival.

“Looks like we made good time after all,” commented Spike seeing how other dragons were still just arriving and many were on their way and visible in the distance skies. “Looks like things won’t get started for at least another couple hours or so.”

“Allowing us time to unwind till then,” Smoulder smiled and inhaled the familiar scents of ashe and magma that hung heavily in the air. “Ah, you certainly don’t get air like this back in Ponyville.”

“You certainly don’t,” agreed Spike who had his claws on his nose, the odors here not so pleasant to one who had lived a life more accustomed to the aromatic fragrances of things like flowers and freshly baked confections.

“That’s the same face I made when I first arrived at the school,” chuckled Smoulder. “But after I got used to it, I found that flowers and plants do have a rather nice smell to them.”

“I’m still trying to adjust,” stated Spike attempting to wean himself into the environment by taking little sniffs of the air. “I haven’t stayed in the Dragonlands save for when some sort of event is going on and I’ve never been here for longer than a day. This’ll be the longest I’ve ever been here for.”

As Spike worked on his breathing, more and more dragons continued to show up. Looking around, Spike took notice of them all, each clad in bright colorful scales that rivaled the number of vibrantly hued ponies in Equestria. He also observed how much the mythical lizards varied in size.

The younger dragons were about as small as Smoulder, though many of the teens were easily larger than any adult stallion by at least a head or two. The adult dragons were even larger, most big enough to make even Celestia and Luna look up to have a conversation with them and they were by far the tallest ponies Spike knew. The more long-lived dragons were far more massive still, showing just how massive a dragon could become with both time and a body that never stopped growing. A few were even large enough to rival Twilight’s castle in height, while standing upright on two legs.

“And I’m still the smallest dragon around,” thought Spike unable to deny he had hoped that he wouldn’t be the smallest dragon every time he came around and from what he could currently see, that seemed to be the case this time too.

About an hour passed before Spike finally felt comfortable enough to tolerate the smells of the Dragonland and not cover over his muzzle. By this time, the meeting grounds were starting to get so overly filled with dragons that many couldn’t land and had to remain airborne. “Is it always so crowded with dragons like this?” wondered Spike as the two young dragons did their best as the room on the ground became increasingly confining.

“Hardly,” Smoulder answered. “Dragons aren’t typically the type to gather to such a degree unless something is going on like the Festival of Dragon Lords. Teen dragons usually gather in a small group to pal around with and kill time by competing against one another. Adult dragons typically enjoy spending their time in solitude guarding their treasure if they haven’t yet settled down and started raising a family.”

“I should probably write that down in my notes when I get a chance,” replied the small, purple dragon as he looked around in the crowd of dragons. “But, for now, I better focus on finding Ember. She’s gotta be around by now so better find her before things get started.”

“I need to find my friends too,” added the taller orange dragon. “But I’ll make sure you Ember, before that, of course.”

“Did Twilight ask you to keep an eye on me?” assumed Spike, not all that surprised if that was the case. “Things might not have gone as well as I’d have liked before, but I’ve grown since then. I’m not some helpless, little dragon who can’t take care of himself.”

“Hey, look! It’s the shrimp!” laughed a taunting voice that Spike quickly recognized.

“Ugh,” groaned Spike as he placed a hand on his temple as a migraine was coming on. “Not these guys again.”

Looking to where the voice had come from, it belonged to the teen dragon, Fume. He had purple scales a couple shades darker than Spike’s and was more than twice his size with a far more slender build, almost appearing scrawny. The scales on his belly were yellow and unlike most dragons, he had blond hair atop his head that covered over his eyes and the everything else above his muzzle, save for two large purple spikes that protruded out the crown of his head.

“Been a while since the runt’s shown himself around here,” said one of two dragons hanging out with him. This one’s name was Clump, an musclegutted, brown dragon, sporting thick, yet short arms and legs and a much meatier tail with a spiked ball tip. He had a pair of red wings that were questionable as to whether or not such small things could life his girth off the ground. He had beady red eyes with yellow sclera. Atop his head it he had a large, v-shaped shaped set of indigo horns.

While Spike turned a deaf ear to their laughter and mocking atitudes, he was more focused on the third member of their group, the one who was often the most antagonistic of the three, but remained unusually silent. Instead, he opted to give Spike a hateful glare that looked like he was trying to burn a hole through him just by staring.

This dragon was named Garble. Out of all the teenage dragons around, he always stood out as the most aggressive and sadistic when it came to picking on creatures smaller and weaker than himself. His build was the middle ground between the other two dragons, being strongly built, but not being round and unnecessarily bulky. He had dark red scales over most of his body and pale yellow ones on his chest. He had yellow wings that were slightly torn, but still flightworthy. The sclera of his eyes was yellow and he had black irises topped with bushy, black eyebrows. There were pointy, orange spikes running down his back, not the least bit uniform in any way and ended with a large spike on the tip of his tail. From the crown on his head to the middle of his neck he had spikes that were more like the crest of a chicken. As he scowled, his teeth were visible and every bit as pointy and gnarled as ever.

“Friends of yours?” asked Smoulder sarcastically.

“If by the first dragons I ever tried to connect with and failed fantastically then yes,” answered Spike before cautiously approaching them. “Hi there, I can see you two are doing just as well as ever.” Looking at Garble, he merely snorted smoke out of his nose when Spike looked at him. “Uh, Garble, are you okay?”

He didn’t answer with words, but spat some flames at Spike, making him just back in fright.

His two cohorts laughed hysterically at that. “Dude, nice one,” cackled Fume as he patted Garble on the back. “That’s showing the twerp.” Garble merely grumbled to himself and swatted his friend’s arm away before flying off as mad as ever, leaving the rest of them clueless as to what was eating at him.

“That dragon has issues,” stated Smoulder to Spike as they decided to move on before Fume and Clump turned their attention back on them.

“No kidding,” nodded Spike with a look of concern. “Last time I met Garble, Rainbow Dash and I got the better of him. It didn’t improve our relationship, but it wasn’t so bad as to make him hate my guts this much, could it?”

“Who knows, but no sense in dwelling on it,” Smoulder advised him. “We have better things to do than be concerned with a disgruntled dragon like him.”

Weaving around the countless other dragons, Spike and Smoulder did their best to find the Ember in a crowd of hundreds. The effort only growing more difficult as dragons continued to arrive while the ones already there moved around too. Any area that searched was filled with completely different dragons, essentially undoing all the looking they had just done and added to their frustration.

“I wish we had set up a meeting place with Ember before we came,” sighed Spike. “The festival will be over before we find her at this rate.”

“Yeah, but the Dragonlands don’t have too many landmarks, just a whole bunch of scorched rocky terrain,” Smoulder replied. “So, sending a letter to Ember about where to meet wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“Actually,” pondered Spike as an idea came to him. “That might make perfect sense.” Going into his backpack, Spike retrieved a quill, some ink, and tore a piece of scroll paper from the roll. He simply wrote, “Hi, Ember.” on the paper and rolled it up. Then with a tiny puff of flames, he ignited it, quickly reducing it to a puff of smoke that began to swirl through the sky and weaved around the groups of dragons.

“Yeah, you can do that,” remembered Smoulder as they started to chase after the smoke, while attempting to maneuver around all the other dragons in the process. “But I didn’t think you could use it like this.”

“Neither did I,” replied Spike as they began to run after the sent scroll.

“Sorry. Pardon me. Excuse me,” Spike said as they scurried by, barely able to focus on their surroundings while they feared losing sight of the smoke as it’s trail dispersed in the air as quickly as it was made.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to go far before the smoke reached a svelte, cyan dragon that was taller than Smoulder. She had red eyes and dark blue spikes that were bent back atop her head. She also had horns on the back of her head that curved around for the pointed end to face forward. Her wings were purple and the scales going from the front of her neck and ran down her chest and belly were a lighter shade of blue. There was also a number of blue diamond marks all over her body.

“Hi, Ember,” she read upon unrolling the scroll.

“Hi, Ember!” called Spike, waving as he and Smoulder ran over to her ran.

“Spike! Smoulder!” she waved back to them. “What’s with this note?”

“It was all I could think to find you,” he explained as he gave her hug as he always did upon greeting her. Blushing, she patted him a couple of times on his head and waited for him to let go.

“That was clever,” she told him and looked at his back to see his folded up wings for the first time. “Glad to see you’re doing well and happy to see you’ve finally gained your wings.”

“Yeah,” he nodded stepping back to open them up and show them off. “I had always wondered why other dragons had wings and I didn’t, but I’m glad I finally have mine.”

“You know, I never expected to see a wingless dragon participate in the Gauntlet of Fire,” commented Ember. “My dad only called for dragons from our generation that had already left their dragon parents to come and compete. That typically would have just covered the dragons that have already undergone the molt, which is our rite of passage into adulthood.”

“A rather scary one involving lots dragon-eating predators in it,” shuddered Spike, as that massive roc that nearly ate him, Rarity, and Zecora came to mind.”

“Nobody ever said it was easy,” she admitted before continuing. “At first, I thought you might have just been some runt abandoned by his parents, but I guess dad’s call didn’t account for a dragon being raised by ponies.”

“I never considered why I was called to compete back then, when I was so much younger than everyone else there,” commented Spike with a chuckle. “But I didn’t do half bad, did I?”

“There were plenty of dragons who were considered a long shot to win the gauntlet, but who would have thought that, in a million years, a dragon who hadn’t even obtained his wings would end up becoming the Dragon Lord?”

“Hold on,” interrupted Smoulder upon hearing this tidbit of info. “Spike was in the gauntlet… the Gauntlet of Fire gauntlet… and he won?”

“I didn’t do it on my own,” admitted Spike. “I teamed up with Ember and we were able to make it to the end together. I grabbed the Bloodstone Scepter first, but, after that, I gave it to Ember to be the Dragon Lord since I knew I could trust her to be a better ruler and keep the ponies of Equestria safe from dragons who’d want to harm them.” Spike snickered a bit before he continued. “Oh, but I did issue one order to Garble, before that. I had him give every dragon he met on the way home a hug.”

“I’m starting to see why he has so much animosity towards you,” laughed Smoulder at such a humiliating thing for a big, strong dragon to be forced to do. “But more importantly than that, what kind of dragon just gives up the title of Dragon Lord after working so hard to get it?”

“I didn’t want to be the Dragon Lord in the first place,” Spike told her. “It would have meant having to leave my friends in Ponyville. I just did it to keep them safe. Luckily, I made a friend in Ember so I didn’t have to be the Dragon Lord after all.”

“Technically, you were the Dragon Lord,” pointed out Ember. “So, today is a festival celebrating you as well, Spike.”

“O-Oh, really? I had no idea,” he answered with surprise on his face. “But I guess I didn’t really achieve much of note from just holding the title for all of three minutes.”

“Well, if we didn’t work together neither of us might have become Dragon Lord at all and I might not have accomplished all I have if not for you and your friends offering me so much support. You deserve as much praise as I do for everything I’ve done. Plus, you do have a couple of accomplishments of your own.”

“I do?” asked Spike curiously.

“Uh huh,” she nodded. “You were the Dragon Lord with the shortest reign, not to mention, the first Dragon Lord to willingly give up the title to another dragon. All other dragons either had the Bloodstone Scepter stolen by another dragon or retired willingly and cooked up some challenge to decide on a successor.”

“Wait, anyone can become the Dragon Lord simply by stealing the scepter?” asked Spike not liking the sound of that.

“I guess I never did tell you the story, ‘A Dream Come True,’” said Smoulder. “But, yeah, a dragon doesn’t have to wait for the current Dragon Lord to choose to retire. Any dragon can take the title for themselves just by, well, taking it.”

“Most dragons believe that only the strongest have the right to be in charge,” added Ember. “So, if a Dragon Lord is weak enough to lose the Bloodstone Scepter then that just proves they are no longer fit to lead. But, if you are worried about me losing the title, don’t be. Just having the Bloodstone Scepter gives me influence over the other dragons so most won’t bother to try knowing I could stop them effortlessly. But even without its help, I’m more than tough enough to take on any dragon who would try to take it from me. I’ve already had my fair share of dragons challenge me, but none of them have even gotten close.”

“That’s a relief,” smiled Spike. “I definitely wouldn’t be cut out for Dragon Lord if I had to contend with dragons trying to take the scepter from me.”

“I’m sure you’d have done fine,” replied Ember, though it was hard to tell if she meant that earnestly or was just saying that to be nice since it was a moot point. “So, how have things been going for you, Smoulder? Have you learned a lot about friendship?”

“I definitely have,” she nodded. “And I’ve even made a few friends too. You remember… they were the ones I ran away with back at the start of the school year. Again, sorry about that.”

“Everything worked out for the best though,” Ember pointed out. “And I think you’ve grown from your experiences too. Just speaking with you I can see you’ve come far.”

“Maybe a bit,” she nodded and blushed, feeling happy that her hard work had been acknowledged for it.

“The opening ceremony is still a bit of time away,” Ember informed them as she looked up at the sky and used the position of the sun to guesstimate the time. Would you both care to accompany me to the Throne of the Dragon Lord?”

“It’ll definitely beat then being crammed together with a few thousand dragons down below,” joked Smoulder before she recalled that she had something she needed to do before the ceremony. “Actually, I’ll have to skip on it. I, actually, wanna try to meet up with my old gang. By any chance have you seen them?”

“No I haven’t,” the Dragon Lord shook her head. “It shouldn’t take them long to get here. Maybe check your old hangout to see if they’re in the middle of procrastinating.”

“We did do that a lot,” Smoulder admitted as she didn’t waste any time in flying off to check it out. “Okay, I’ll go take a look.”

“How about you, Spike?” asked Ember about her offer to join her on her throne. “It’ll be easier than having to find each other after the opening ceremony is over, plus it’s the best place to watch the sky burn.”

“Sounds good to me,” he agreed and followed her as she flew into the sky towards the large plateau. “Uh, and what exactly is the sky burn?”

“Guess this will be your first time seeing it,” chuckled Ember. “Trust me, you’ll love it.”

“The old haunt,” Smoulder told herself as she flew down to an area a short flight from where all the dragons had gathered together. There she approached a narrow crevice that was extremely easy to miss seeing if one didn’t already know it was there. It was too small for any adult dragon to fit into or even the bulkier teens, but a dragon of Smoulder’s petite size was able to slip in easily and enter into a small cave within it. Once inside, she found there were three other young dragons there, lazily lounging around with a bored expression on their faces. They seemed to almost be in a trance-like state as they didn’t even notice that Smoulder was standing right there.

The first was one with his back flat against a large lumpy stone that’d make one get back pains just from looking at him. He was a green-scaled dragon with black scales on the front of his neck that went down his chest and flat stomach and even to the tip on the underside of his tail. This dragon possessed an unusually pointed muzzle that was shaped like the blade of an axe. There were some small, black spines running uniformly down his back to the tip of his tail that resembled a double-bladed axe.

Every few seconds, this dragon he blinked his blue eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled a green flame straight up at the ceiling. The spot he hit was scorched and blackened from just how many times he must have done this for. Seeing him not even attempt to budge from his uncomfortable-looking spot, it seemed likely that he’d just keep on doing this so long as no outside force disturbed him.

There next dragon was a short, white one that was only abou a foot taller than Spike, though with his heavyset build, it gave him the appearance that he was even larger than that. His round gut dropped down a bit, almost down to his waist and he possessed a small pair of saggy pecs. There were two rows of rounded spikes running down from the base of his neck to his tailbone. The end of his thick, stubby tail had three prongs like a fork. His eyes were gray and he had a number of pointy teeth poking out of his maw even when it was closed.

This dragon was preoccupied stuffing his face with a rather impressive stash of gems, eating like it was his first meal in weeks, though the extra space his gut took up in the cave said otherwise. The dragon’s muzzle sparkled from all the gems he had been eating and the floor at his feet was a mess with broken shards that broke from the gems as he slovenly chewed them up. Showing no concern for the mess he was making, he merely snatched up another clawful of gems to stuff into his maw and munch them up in a slovenly manner.

The last one was a pink dragon with a messy of droopy spikes atop her head that looked more like unkempt hair. She had purple eyes and star-shaped marks all over her body in the same hue. Out of the three, she was the tallest, almost up to Ember in height. Her dark purple spikes had a water drop shape to them and started from the crown of her head and reached down to the end of her tail. Her eyes were a lovely shade of gray and she also had a couple of stubby, gray horns poking out from the sides of her head and curved upwards.

She spent her time scratching into the walls of the cave with her claws, creating a graffiti of random designs all over it. There was hardly any room left to add more, but that didn’t stop her from trying to use up with little remained. Her work was actually very impressive, considering the difficulty the jagged and uneven cave walls proved to be.

“I thought I was away for a lot longer than a day,” commented Smoulder. “Cause it feels like you three lumps haven’t moved an inch from the time I left.”

“Smoulder?” wondered the green dragon, the first to answer as they turned to face the entrance of their cave and stared in awe. He sat up from his spot and stretched before making his way over to her. “H-Hey, Smoulder! Long time no see. We kept the place a mess for you.”

“That was… thoughtful of you, Ax,” she replied, pounding her fist against his. Looking around, Smoulder was not certain if the cave had been as musty and dirty back then as it was now. It was something she had never even considered back then, though her stay at the School of Friendship had gotten her into the habit of picking up after herself.

Compared to where she had been living, the cave looked to be an absolute pigsty with the floor as a trashcan, making it impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on something. Smoulder could hardly believe she had allowed herself to live in such conditions before or that she was only realizing this now. And it didn’t just stop with the mess on there ground either. There was a foul and musty odor wafting around that she could only compare to a bunch of sweaty clothes in a laundry basket after an exhausting workout in gym class. In fact, it was even worse than that as it even started to make her eyes burn and water a little. It forced Smoulder to have to cover her snout with her hands in order to tolerate it the stench. In contrast, her friends acted like such foulness didn’t exist, a clear sign that they were blind to it after living with it for so long, something Smoulder figured had once been the case for her as well.

“I bet you are glad to be back here with us in the Dragonlands after being all the way in, uh…” continued the fat, white dragon, his cheeks wobbling a bit as he spoke. “What was it called again? Ponytown or something like that, right?”

“Ponyville,” corrected Smoulder.

“Whatever. You’re probably hungry from the trip over,” he said carrying over his bowl of gems. He didn’t offer her any and just kept on munching on them himself. “You should really find something to eat.”

“Ever the bottomless pit, Gorge,” joked Smoulder. “Actually I ate before I came and had a little snack on the train ride on the way over. But If you want to talk about things to eat, there’s a bakery in Ponyville that makes the most delicious gem cake you can imagine, but even better.”

“Hmm? What was that about gem cake?” asked Gorge as he paused from eating to say that and only seemed to hear the part about delicious gem cake. Before Smoulder could answer, he returned to loudly munching on the crunchy gemstones and added more shards to the already messy floor with his hoggish eating tendencies.

“I’ll tell you when you’re finished eating,” she decided and turned to the last of her trio of friends. “So, what name are you going by now?” Smoulder asked the pink dragon. “It was Nails, last time, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Yeah, but now my name is Karma,” the pink dragon answered. “So, tell me, what do you think of my latest masterpieces? Those two have been no help in critiquing it.”

“We said it looks nice,” stated Ax quite irate.

“Ugh, that is just a generic, safe response one makes when they have no real feedback offer,” she argued. “You probably can’t even tell which of my drawings is abstract realism or which are modern impressionism.”

“Like you even know what any of that means either,” commented Smoulder to Karma as she walked through the messy cave to where her friend had currently been digging her nails into the wall. “But this does look nice. I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a dog or a dolphin, but I definitely see some improvement. Now, maybe try on a material that isn’t a crude cave wall.”

“Yes,” cheered Karma happily.
“Brutally honest with a hint of praise and a dash of snark. Oh, how I missed you.”

“We all did,” nodded Ax. “The cave felt so empty, though Gorge has been trying his best to fill the void you left when they hauled your tail off.”

“Hey!” snapped Gorge. “Was that a fat joke? I just have big bones. Also, I have a gem deficiency. Also, also, shut up.”

“Yup, nothing seems to have changed here,” thought Smoulder, not sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

“So, was the pony school as lame as we thought it’d be or even lamer?” asked Karma.

“Were all the ponies hugging, spontaneously starting to sing, and sharing their feelings,” added Ax. “And picking flowers to give to each other?”

“Well, we didn’t do anything like that,” retorted Smoulder. “Well, actually, we kind of did most of that stuff, but only a little. All in all, it actually wasn’t bad. It was-”

“You didn’t actually like going to pony school, did you?” asked Gorge spewing gems as he talked.

“Me? Enjoy silly pony stuff,” Smoulder replied nonchalantly. “An hour in and I was already ready to gag on all that cutesy frou frou stuff. They practically had to chain me to my desk just to keep me from ditching class every day and muzzle me so I wouldn’t burn the place to the ground.”

“Whoa!” gasped Ax as he and the others listened to her falsehoods intently. “Still as hardcore as ever. I bet those wussy ponies are glad you’re gone. They probably let you leave hoping you won’t ever come back.”

“Uh, yeah,” she continued to fib, sprinkling a bit of truth in as well. “They even threw me a going away party to celebrate.”

“So, are you back for good or do you plan to go back and terrorize them some more?” wondered Karma.

“They are probably relocating it somewhere else to avoid just that,” commented Ax.

“That’d be a shame if they did,” stated Karma. “I’d love to see the horror-filled upon their faces as you return for more pony school.”

“Can we please stop talking about the school?” suggested Smoulder, already seeing how deep she a hole she was digging herself into. “Shouldn’t we get going to the opening ceremony? It should be starting soon and it’s already getting pretty crowded over there.”

“Why do you wanna bother with that?” asked Ax. “It’s just the Dragon Lord going on about how great she is. I doubt you’d wanna see her since she’s the one who sent you to that stupid school in the first place.”

“Yeah, but she’d probably really send me to Tartarus if I don’t go,” Smoulder fibbed. “Besides, I hear they are going to do a sky burn and I’d like to get the see something cool after being in such a lame place for so long.”

“Good point,” Gorge agreed as they made their way out of the cave, the butterball of a dragon having a bit of trouble squeezing through the narrow crevice.

Smoulder was the last to leave, sighing as she rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to comfort herself. Every lie she uttered left a foul taste in her mouth. “Things sure are a lot different than I remember them being,” she thought to herself. “Or, rather, I am.”

“Smoulder? Hurry up!” Ax called to her, snapping her out of her momentary funk and she headed out with them to the opening ceremony.

“Nice view,” commented Spike from atop the throne of the Dragon Lord. Looking around, he could see countless dragons on the ground below, their colorful scales hiding the dried, cracked ground they stood on. There were many dragons flapping their wings as they remained stationary in the sky too. “It looks like every dragon in Equestria is here for the opening ceremony.”

“More likely for the sky burn,” answered Ember taking a few deep breaths. “But first, I have to get past my speech. I just… need… a few minutes.”

“I didn’t take you to be the nervous type,” commented Spike.

“Nervous?” replied Ember defensively. “I am the Dragon Lord. Why would I be nervous?”

“Cause you are trembling and look like you’re about to gnaw your claws off,” Spike point out.

“Oh,” replied Ember not realizing she was indeed biting on her nails. “I guess I am nervous about doing this.”

“What’s the problem?” wondered Spike as he gestured for Ember to sit down and took a seat beside her.

“I’ve been doing things a lot differently than most Dragon Lords have in the past,” she replied. “Mainly the whole being friends with ponies and other creatures. It was a rather bumpy transition with a few teen dragons who are at that age to rebel against authority and just cause trouble for no good reason. I’ve had to clean up quite a few messes and get them to apologize to reduce the damage they caused.”

“Did you use the Bloodstone Scepter?” asked Spike curiously. “Or did you just show them who is the top dragon around here?”

“Neither, actually,” she admitted with a smile. “I could have and it probably would have been a lot easier and faster, but after becoming the Dragon Lord I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about just what kind of leader I want to be. Certainly not one who uses magic and fear to get others to do what I want. What kind of leader would I be then?”

“King Sombra, Chrysalis, Starlight before she was reformed,” Spike listed off as he extended a claw for each. “Oh, and your father a little bit.”

“Yeah, not the kind of Dragon Lord I wanna be,” she chuckled. “But the young dragons causing trouble has been the least of my problems. The real issue is the older dragons. A lot of them are set in their ways and stubbornly oppose changing the way things have always been. It’s one of the times I’d have liked to use the Bloodstone Scepter to get them to cooperate, but forcing them to agree wouldn’t be the same as making real change. Instead, I had to be more strong-willed and patient till I could finally work out a compromise with them. Thanks to that, I was able to make the changes I wanted to for this festival and make it more than just listening to the Dragon Lord prattle on for hours.”

“And you should be proud of what you’ve done,” the young dragon praised her.

“I am, but this is the first time I’ve ever done something this big,” she explained. “I’ve set up stands for food vendors, and got a lot of games for the younger dragons to play like bobbing for gemstones. There’s going to be demonstrations for different dragon crafts glass blowing and fire shaping too. And of course some exhibitions with dragon dueling, gorge surfing, and fire breathing competitions.”

“Sounds like you really did put a tremendous amount of effort into this festival!” Spike told her. “I can’t wait to check all that out.”

“But all of that’ll be meaningless if I blow the opening ceremony,” she trembled. “The dragons might see me as unworthy to be the Dragon Lord and decide not to participate in the rest of the festival. If that happens no dragon would ever willingly agree to my ideas again and my rule as Dragon Lord will be a shameful one. Oh, is this why that pink pony friend of yours acts the way she does? The stress from all the big parties she throws all the time?”

“Pinkie is just Pinkie,” explained Spike. “And to be nervous about being in charge is natural for a leader who cares about doing the best she can for those around her and doesn’t want to let anyone down. Right now, you remind me a lot more of Twilight than you do of Pinkie.”

“Twilight’s always seemed so confident and fearless,” commented Ember. “I mean, she’s saved all of Equestria on multiple occasions. I can’t even imagine her freaking out over something like a festival.”

“Trust me,” he assured her. “I’ve been around Twilight enough and seen her freak out about far less than this even before she got her wings. Just remember, all the dragons out here believe in you and I do too. Ember, you got this.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, Spike,” smiled Ember standing up. “I think I’m ready now.”

“Go get them,” whispered Spike as he moved further away to watch over on the side.

“Ahem, Dragons of Equestria!” announced Ember as she held up the Bloodstone Scepter for them all to gaze upon. “Today begins the Dragon Lord Festival. It is a time we have celebrate every year to remember all the Dragon Lords who have helped shape our culture into what it is today. This chain of leadership has been made possible ever since the first Dragon Lord, the great dragon, Lord Critias, forged the Bloodstone Scepter countless generations ago. It has been the glue that has united us ever since and helped us to be able to come together as a society.”

“Dragon Lord Critias?” thought Spike as he listened to Ember speak. Taking out some paper and a quill, he jotted that down as a reminder for later.

“It is on this day we look back to commemorate his contributions and all the Dragon Lords that have succeeded him and carved out their own legacy in our history. Many proudly led to uphold the honor and dignity of the dragons. Many took up arms to display our might. Some even chose to be diplomatic and show the world we are more than large beasts that turn all in our sight to ash.” Her words got quite a few chuckles from the dragons listening. “Seriously, though, we’re more than living fire hazards and we’re not just creatures of the Dragonlands. We’re residents of Equestria living with many other creatures, but while we have coexisted, we have not taken many steps to truly live among them. I have been working hard to fix that. I wish for that to be the legacy I leave behind as Dragon Lord. To show the world the hand of the dragon, palm out and offering it in friendship.” As she said this, she gestured by holding out her own hand. “But this is not a goal I can reach alone. It will require the efforts of each and everyone one of you. So, I ask you, not as your Dragon Lord or even as Princess Ember, but as a fellow dragon to please try your best to help me achieve this.”

As her speech came to an end, the teen dragons started to cheer, some even began to chant Ember’s name. Many of the older dragons clapped their hands in applause. Hearing all this, Ember calmly caught her breath and gave a simple bow before turning to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

“That was great!” Spike told her. “They really loved you out there.”

“I’d say it was more because I’m the Dragon Lord and I kept my speech short,” she explained. “When my dad was making these speeches he’d go on till the sun went down and came back up again.”

“Heh, I knew he liked to yell a lot,” chuckled Spike. “But I had no idea he was such a big windbag too.”

“You might wanna keep it down,” commented Ember, pointing to where former Dragon Lord Torch sat way in the back. “My dad is out there and his hearing is quite acute.”

“It is?” worried Spike, looking out at the mountainous behemoth. He had bluish gray scales, reddish orange wings and curled horns like his daughter, albeit a hundred times as big. He had several teeth poking out from the top of his maw, each one as large as a teen dragon. Spike had always been the small one when compared to other dragons, but against Torch, he was but a tiny burning beside a raging inferno by comparison.

The tiny, purple dragon could make out Torch’s expression as a stern one, though it was hardly different then how he normally looked. He then took a breath, causing thick, black smoke to gush out of his nostrils like steam from a teapot. Neither indicated that Torch was upset at him given his usual gruff disposition, but Spike didn’t like the thought of a creature who could squish him beneath his pinkie claw being upset with him.

“But don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” she promised him. “If you’ll help me out with the festival.”

“Sure, anything,” agreed Spike quickly and she gave him a little pat on his head to give him some comfort.

With a smirk on her face, she turned to the dragons once more. “Before we burn the sky, I would like you all to hear a few words from a close friend of mine, whom without I probably wouldn’t be standing here today. His name is Spike and he is here with us today to take part in our celebrations as my special guest. Now, he’d like to say a few words to you all.”

“You want me to speak?” whimpered Spike, starting to think he’d prefer dealing with Torch. “But what do I say? I don’t have anything prepared.”

“Just tell them about yourself,” she replied. “I was only able to become the Dragon Lord and learn what it means to have a true friend because of you. I might be the one trying to advocate friendship, but, truly, you are the one who started all of this. All this is because of you.”

“M-Me?” replied Spike as he looked down at all the dragons now looking up at him. Shaking and sweating, now, he was the one who was getting stage fright.

“Just remember what you told me,” Ember whispered to him. “You’ve got this.” Hearing those words gave Spike the bit of confidence he needed to calm down and collect himself. Taking a breath, Spike looked over the dragons before him once more before starting to speak.

“H-Hello,” he called out to them. “My name is Spike the Dragon. As the name implies, I’m a dragon, like you all. But, unlike all of you, I did not grow up in the Dragonlands. Actually, I was raised by ponies all my life. For as long as I could remember, I was a dragon living among ponies, but I never really thought that was strange. Then the day of the Great Dragon Migration happened and I started to question who I was. Was I a pony or was I a dragon? To find out, I went to join the migration with the hopes of self-discovery. That ended up being a disaster, but I got another chance during the Gauntlet of Fire. It was there I first met Ember and we were able to connect as friends. That was the first time I was able to connect with another dragon just by being myself. That’s when I realized that she wasn’t all that different from all the pony friends I’ve made. In truth, it doesn’t matter if you’re a dragon, a pony, a changeling, or whatever kind of creature you are. We are all just as capable of being friends with each other no matter the differences. I think that’s what Ember wants us all to understand. Thank you, everybody.”

Looking around, the dragons didn’t start to applaud him like they had Ember. He got a few soft claps from some. Spike smiled, happy to have gotten that. “At least they didn’t decide to pelt me with tomatoes,” he thought to himself before he turned to walk back to Ember.

“Ready to see the sky burn?” asked Ember to Spike.

“Yes, if only to see what that is,” replied Spike.

“Trust me, you’ll love it,” she answered and raised the Bloodstone Scepter, the red stone glowing faintly as she called upon its power.

“I thought you didn’t like to use that,” he commented.

“It still has it’s use from time to time,” she explained. “Like giving the dragons their cue to begin.”

“Begin what?” asked Spike before several large adult dragons took off into the sky around the throne of the Dragon Lord, flying straight up into the heavens above. The way they flew in sync with one another reminded Spike of one of the Wonderbolt’s routines, but seeing it done by such large creatures made it all the more amazing. Reaching the zenith of their accent, they all opened their maws and unleashed a torrent of flames, each a different color and began to fill the sky above in a glow of flames that mixed and blended with one another’s.

“Pretty good, right?” said Ember as she turned to Spike, who was unable to look away from the spectacle above him with his mouth wide open in awe.

“It’s amazing,” he answered, refusing to look away or even blink as the dragons continued to fly, now separating into groups of two as they flew off in five different directions, leaving a trail of flames behind them as they continued to exhale them. “It’s like they’re all painting the sky with their fire.”

“That’s the general idea,” she told him. “And always a crowd pleaser for the dragons.”

“It definitely looks that way,” he nodded, taking a peek at the crowd below and saw they were all just as captivated by the multicolored embers flickering on the blue canvas overhead. “I definitely gotta remember to tell Rainbow Dash about all of this.”

The flames remained visible for several minutes before they ran out of oxygen to burn and bit by bit started to fade into pale gray smoke that slowly faded away too and returned the clear blue sky. It was a performance that only lasted a short time, but the psychedelic mashup of colors as the dragons flew across the sky and even through their own flames ingrained the image into Spike’s memory.

As the dragon descended back to the ground, the audience was quick to burst into applause and rush over to applaud the fliers for such a magnificent performance. “Looks like this opening ceremony was a big success,” commented Spike.

“Yeah, it was,” nodded Ember. “And with the rest of the festival just about fun and games there isn’t anything we need to worry about.”

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