High Moon Ch. 31:

Dragon’s Blessing

Twelve long years ago, a young dull-blue unicorn filly stood in her family’s hut back in her native country of Zebraican. All the filly had to call as clothes were dried pieces of brown cloth wrapped around her small underdeveloped chest and her petite left shoulder. While it was simply brown cloth, the pelts of animals she had faced in her short young life were sewn into the shoulder strap as a sign of her victories.

Her flat, toned stomach, showing no signs of the baby-fat of two summer seasons ago, was open to the elements while her lower body had a larger amount of the brown cloth tied around around her waist with dried animal hide, trailing down the back of her long slender legs in a long skirt.

The blood-red in the filly’s short mane and tail couldn’t compare to the fiery crimson of her eyes as she started walking towards her goal: a large, muscular dull-blue earth-pony stallion. The stallion’s clothing was slightly similar to the filly’s, the main difference being his had the pelts of lions, leopards, and even cheetahs covering his left shoulder, while a buffalo's dried skull was attached to his right shoulder by a thin brown leather strap going across his built body.

Each pelt, the skull, and even the black vulture feathers tied to the skull were all symbols of his tactical mind, ingenuity, and bravery as chief of the expanding village. All that lived within the safety of the village’s walls looked towards the stallion for reassurance and guidance in times of hardships. And in times of peace, they praised him as though he was the great descendant from their gods; the Guardians.

While the stallion’s fur was clean for the most part, black and sky-blue paste, gathered from the many fruit and plants that thrived in the country, covered much of the filly’s body, forming patterns of tribal markings. The thick, tar-like paste matted against her fur, feeling slightly uncomfortable as it always did, was entirely ignored by the filly.

The only thing on the young filly’s mind was achieving her own life’s goal and being recognized for all of her struggles that she faced in her upbringing. The filly had dreams of seeing the world, of knowing what was truly out there, and achieving a power that couldn’t be found in her home.

“Blaze Soul,” the stallion started in a deep and gruff voice, looking down the filly with his arms crossed. However, the filly refused to break her stare at the wall behind the stallion; for she knew he was testing her focus. “My first born daughter, my precious child,” the stallion said, walking around Blaze to continue testing her focus. “Tell me, just why would I allow you to risk your life for something such as this?”

“Father,” Blaze faintly spoke in a dark tone, despite her high pitched voice. “I can do this, this it what you’ve trained me to do since I first began to use magic. Is this not so, father?” The sound of her father stopping behind her told Blaze that she was on the right track. “From my first spark, I’ve been trained in the arts of the fabled fire-breathers. I’ve taken down opponents twice my own size, and I’ve bested every male in this village aside from you. I know I can do this.”

Blaze awaited her father’s response, each second growing longer than the previous one as she knew he was musing over all of her training. It was true, from her first step, Blaze had been trained to defeat opponents others would run from, and she could easily take on any other male in the village.

And that only became more evident when her horn began sparking untold magic. Magic strong enough to bend steel and other rare ores that were found in the deep mines to the south of the village. Magic strong enough to set fire to whole fields of grass, even when raining.

All of this was true about his daughter, undoubtedly the strongest mage-hunter in the village of ponies, zebra, and small number of diamond dogs. What was even more true of the filly’s words was the fact that she could draw magic from others.

The feat, shocking at first, helped the small village grow much stronger after the attack from the dragon dwelling in the far east. A dragon that took his sons and was now his daughter's target.

“My child, there is a difference between sparking a grass fire, and taking on an elder dragon,” Blaze’s father continued to argue with her, obviously displeased that she would even start to think of revenge as atonement for the elder’s crimes. “Blaze, you can barely look at a small centipede without succumbing to fear. How can I trust that you’ll be able to take on an elder dragon?” Blaze’s body tensed up at the sound of the multiple legged insect that she had feared from near birth, but she didn’t allow her father to see this, steeling herself as she remain rooted to the ground.

Upon seeing his daughter's refusal to listen to reason, her father sighed, and started to bring up an unwanted past. “Please, we have already lost far too much, don’t follow your brothers’ fates. I don’t know if you’re mother’s heart can take much more.”

Blaze closed her eyes to keep her nerves calm, remembering when she was but a mere five years of age, hearing the screaming of her mother when news reached of her brothers’ and other village members grim fates. Ever since then, she swore...she vowed to avenge her brothers’ deaths, and she had pushed her body everyday since.

“Blaze, I will not allow-”

“Father,” Blaze cut in, turning to face the old stallion who was falling from his prime while she was coming to it. “To this very day, I can hear mother begging the great Guardians to bring my brothers back. I know this wish of hers can never happen,” she paused for a moment to choke off a tear before snapping her eyes back to her father’s, “but allow me this. I do not act on vengeance. This is my path given to me by the Guardians themselves.”

Blaze’s father continued to stare in her eyes, burning with a fierce fire that even frightened him, and an unyielding will that could move mountains. Slowly, to his displeasure, the stallion began to understand why his daughter felt this way.

“The visions,” he said with a steady tone, as if he didn’t like the answer. “You’re still having the visions, of another land to where the sun dwells?” Blaze continued to lock her eyes onto her father’s, with the same flame in them as from the day she was born, and nodded her head. “Very well, if you truly believe that the Guardians have plans for you, my child, then I have no power to stop you.”

“I do father, there is no more mistaking it,” Blaze continued to say in a passionate voice that showed no intentions of giving in. “Father, I came here to get your blessings, but I will seek out my destiny on my own if it comes to it.”

The tall stallion dropped his head with a slight chuckle, he had seen many moons come and go, and not once had he met someone as stubborn as his daughter. However, he knew that if she ventured out to her destiny, then she will never return to his arms again. Whether she failed or succeeded, once she stepped foot out of the village walls, he’d never see the bright smile of his daughter's face again.

“Very well,” Blaze’s father gave in with a long sigh, suddenly clapping his hands together several times to summon two identical light-blue pegasi, dressed in the same kind of robes, to his hut. After gazing into his daughter's eyes once more, the stallion turned towards the two mares knelt before him. “Ensure my daughter will have all the provisions she will need for her journey east,” he commanded the two before sending them off to gather everything Blaze would need for her wayward journey.

Once the mares were gone, Blaze’s father walked over to a massive dark-brown chest that too up a good portion of the left side wall. As he opened the chest, Blaze knew exactly what he was retrieving, and was shocked that he was entrusting something as sacred as it to her. Out of the chest, he pulled a long dark-brown staff with the bright sky-blue and black feathers of the wide variety of birds native only to their country, leading up to a tempered red-steel curved blade.

Blaze knew that it was her family’s...no, the entire village’s pride, and it had mystical powers that could be only harnessed by the strongest of mages; mages such as herself. She had been raised on tales of her village’s past being saved by the staff from obsidius monsters that plagued the grasslands, of only the strongest of unicorns being able to fully master it’s power, and of the destructive forces it had.

And her father was entrusting that power to her.

“Father, the Red Fang…” Blaze always became speechless every time she laid her eyes upon the god-like weapon, and even if she only saw it in full use once, just knowing of it’s powers was enough for Blaze to lose the ability to breath. “I can’t, I simply can not take it from the village. There will be other mages, far stronger than I.”

“No,” her father said in a threatening and commanding voice that got her to shake a little in fear of his rage. Blaze didn’t just fear what the bladed-staff could do, she also feared her father somewhat. After seeing him rip apart a thorn-fang with his bare hands, you would have had to be under some kind of mental sickness to not.

“No,” her father again repeated, placing the staff end of the weapon to the ground, and walking towards her. “I will not allow my child to go into battle ill-prepared. You have been blessed by the Guardians with the strength to wield this weapon, and you will do so.”

Blaze took the staff in her hands, already feeling it attempting to fuse with her magic, and she knew best not to fight it. All the members of her family were trained in the art of fighting with a staffed weapon, and knew that it was to act as an extension of herself. The Red Fang was no different, instead of just an extension of herself, it was also an extension of her magic, and she needed to accept that fact if she wanted to have a chance of winning.

Her father’s hand on her shoulder was enough to pull her out of the thoughts of the staff. When she looked up to his face, all Blaze saw was the proud smile of her father. A strong leader she looked up to much of her life and aspired to become. “Come,” he started with a gentle voice, resigned to the destiny the Guardians had for his daughter, but still fearing for his daughter’s well-being. “You have a long journey ahead of you and there is much to do to prepare.”

It didn’t take much for Blaze to hear the sadness in her father’s voice, and why wouldn’t it be? He was letting go of his last living child to the fate of the great Guardians, he was letting go of the joyful smile that she placed on everyone’s faces, and he was letting go of his pride and joy. Any father in his position would be greatly saddened by the fate that their daughter was faced with.

“Y-yes father,” Blaze said, holding back tears as she and her father left the hut to deliver the news of Blaze’s departure and journey to the rest of the village, and to enjoy the last few peaceful moments together before her unavoidable future.

After sitting down with her family one last time, she was fed a warrior’s feast as a sign of the village’s farewells, and she ate it with pride. One after another, other members of the village, friends, relatives, and loved ones all gave their respective blessings.

Once that was done, Blaze’s father had her equipped with any tools he thought best for her to carry, and also had the village artisans to make her more battle-ready attire. Her old pieces of cloth were thrown away and replaced with dried armored leather clothing. A strong leopard and alligator hide vest now covered her upper-torso. Her skirt was mostly left alone, only adding a belt holding several pouches of water and knives. The manes of lions were sewn into her vest, going around her left shoulder, and connecting to a holster for the Red Fang.

Lastly, the small skull of a lemur was strapped to her right shoulder. A sign of her quick and sharp mind and her ability to adapt to any situation around her.

Her mother, a tall and beautiful unicorn mare of the same colors as her only daughter, had one final private moment with her precious mage by straightening out her mane with the cleaned rib-cage of a small bird, and once finished, tied it with a strap of alligator leather from the river near the village.

Blaze was worried that her mother would fall apart upon hearing her choice to seek out her destiny. However, she was given a shocking surprise when her mother said that she would be fine. “I have faith in you, my little mage.” Upon hearing those words, Blaze almost broke down in her mother’s arms, but somehow was able to stop the tears from flowing.

Of all the things that needed to be done before she left, Blaze fully believed that speaking with her mother in private would be the hardest. On top of raising her, Blaze’s mother taught her everything that she knew of magic, and cared for her like any other loving mother would.

With both of her parent's blessings, Blaze was given a final rest in her bed alone for the night so she could plan out her destiny and how to face it. Alone in her room, Blaze practiced wielding the Red Fang, and quickly got used to its heavy weight. After placing all of her clothing, the Red Fang, and any other personal treasures aside for the morning, Blaze took the time to pray to the great Guardians for a safe passage come the morning.

By the time sunrise was upon her, the same pegasi twins made final preparations. The both of them sat a bowl of colored paste in front of her, one of black, and another of sky-blue; the colors of the great Guardians. The two quickly got to work placing more warrior-like markings on her body, and both gave their prayers to her; just as they had done for her brothers.

Once the markings were in place, Blaze quickly put on the garbs that had been given to her for her departure, grabbed anything that she thought would be of import, and made her way towards the village walls. Along the way, everyone silently watched her make her way out to the open world, and all prayed for her safety in life.

Most shed tears, other quietly pushed aside their feelings, and some wanted to go with her. However, her father was the only one to remain strong, and even if a lone tear ran down his face, it was partially out of joy, seeing his filly grow into a fine mare.

Blaze, once at the open gates of the village walls, turned to each of the faces that had helped raise her at some point of her life, and finally let tears fall. “Thank you, all of you,” she started with tears falling down her cheeks. “I promise, I will not forget anything any of you have done for me, and I will not let it go in vain.”

The filly’s word were heightened in strength when the bright light from the raising sun followed her after her words. All in the village knew of the filly’s impressive power for her age and of Blaze’s ability to make the best of any situation. Now, with the bright warmth of the sun behind her, she was given a god-like appearance, and would be told of in tales thereafter as the descendant of the sun guardian herself; Yhi, the guardian of light and creation.

During Blaze’s long journey, she traveled through several other villages, and was able to gain their assistance in her goal. When each village learned of her family's name and her goals, they were quick to give her aid in any way possible. Food, water, a bed to sleep on, training, and weapons. These were the gifts village chiefs and tribal shamans gave her after they heard she was going to end the life of the dragon towards the east.

Even when she came to villages with injuries from fighting off the dangerous creatures laying hidden in the cover of the night, they set aside whatever they were doing to give her aid. Blaze also encountered a tribe of all female mages, named Gerudo. It was there she learned a variety of spells ranging from simple and quick healing spells, to more furious attack ones with the Red Fang.

A part of Blaze wanted to take the leader of Gerudo’s offer of staying becoming a member of their clan in order to further her knowledge in the magical arts. However, she had a destiny and promise to fulfill, and she wasn’t about to turn a blind eye to it. After thanking the tribe for their kindness, Blaze continued her journey onwards towards the east.

She was even allowed to drop off her personal stuff in the care of the last village’s shamans, for when she returned from her battle with her fate.

Blaze was more than grateful for their kindness as she still had much to do before her inevitable fate. However, her time of preparing was over as she stood outside of a massive stone cave entrance. The falling sun behind the cave, the pitch-black, ominous smoke emanating from the sky-high entrance...none of it was able to place a shred of fear in her heart..

As she took those first few steps in the cave, flashes of her entire life came before her, and she slowly realized that it had all been leading up to this one moment. From birth as the chief’s first-born daughter, to her first steps as a mage-hunter, and her first spark which caused the ground to be forever scorched from her heat. All of it, every moment of her life, was working towards this. To avenge her fallen brothers, to claim her right as a unicorn mare, and to walk on the path of the destiny.

And there is no running from destiny.

Soon, quicker than she thought, she came to the elder dragon’s den, and her eyes furiously scanned over the beast. Bright, yet faded, blood-red scales on her massive back, tall razor sharp off-white spines jetting out of her head trailed all the way to her spiked tail. However, despite the dragoness' massive size, Blaze could feel her magic was weak for some reason, and was growing weaker by the moment.

But she didn’t dwell on that thought.

While she didn’t know why the elder dragoness was weak, she wasn’t going to question a blessing from the Guardians. For she had a destiny to fulfill. “Dragon!” she called out to the beast, thinking she was asleep, or purposely ignoring her magical presence as an insult to her. However, the dragoness seemed to still be unresponsive to her calls, seeming content to just puff out more towering clouds of smoke.

Blaze gritted her teeth at the dragoness' refusal to acknowledge her as it was another insult to her whole reason for having ventured so far out. Thinking the dragoness needed extra incentive to acknowledge her presence, Blaze pulled the Red Fang from its holster on her back. She lowered the blade to the ground as she channeled her magic to flow within the blade.

Her horn sparked a bright crimson hue before sending some of her magic towards the red-steel on the staff. Once fully charged, Blaze swung the blade from the ground and over her shoulder, sending a burst of her magic to the dragoness' back, and landed a blow on her back spines.

The sudden impact of magic on her body got the attention of the dragon, but she still refused to look Blaze’s way. Her horn and eyes burned with rage at the dragoness' inattentiveness, as she had pushed herself for five straight years for this day, only to be faced with a dragoness that refused to move.

“Dragon!” Blaze shouted as she unleashed a fury of magical attacks with the Red Fang, each one growing in force than the last. “I won’t let you run from destiny!” Finally, after the tenth slash of pure magic, the elder dragon started to move a sign that she was now willing to pay attention to Blaze, and started to swing her head towards her.

Both locked eyes, both having the same shine of crimson in them, but only one was burning with rage while the other held a sickly tone to it. “Leave,” the dragoness started in a heavy tired breath as though she had been drained of all of her energy. “L-leave...me alone, dragon-seeker,” she finally finished after a winded pause.

Blaze ignored the dragon’s pleas as she launched another sweep of her magic at the dragoness, only for her to take it as if it was the hardest attack she had suffered in her long, lonely, life. “No, no you’re not going to trick me dragon.” The dragoness, who slowly recovered from the unwarranted attack, galred at the filly before her, but had little time or energy to deal with her. “I’ve came here to take what the Guardians have in store for me, and that’s what I’ll do. Even if I have to do it one attack at a time.”

The dragon, of a size large enough to crush more than half of the villages Blaze had came across in her travels, growled at Blaze, and started to move closer towards her. Though each step took longer than the last, she soon stood at the ledge to the rest of her den.

As she puffed smoke and ash into Blaze’s face, Blaze remained unmoved by it, and in fact took it as another insult to her purpose in life. In response, Blaze launched another burst of her magic from the Red Fang, catching the dragoness in the jaw, and throwing her back for moment. “You have ravaged these lands for generations, taken my brothers from me, and now are a part of my destiny. I will not leave this cave until you give up your dragon’s soul.”

While the filly continued to speak, the dragon’s vision started to blur, and everything felt heavy to her. Even the air around her felt as though it could crush her. Blaze’s voice soon started to become deaf to her as sound began leaving her as well. “Do you hear me! I will claim my right as a mare!” Blaze finished with another blast of magical slash from her bladed staff.

The attack from the filly, while tiny in comparison to the dragoness’ size, was enough to send the dragoness to the ground with a massive thud. As she landed on his hoard of gold, gems, and metal ores, Blaze started to feel the effects of using the Red Fang more than she should have. Since she had oh-so foolishly wasted more than half of her magic just getting the dragoness' attention, Blaze was forced to use the staff to keep herself from falling to her knees.

“Why do you insult me dragon?” Blaze questioned in an accusing tone of voice while the dragon used all of her remaining strength to get back up. “My whole life...every single second of it was to prepare for this fateful moment. So why, why are you failing to acknowledge my power!”

Once the dragon was up again, Blaze raised the blade of her staff over her head, and was ready to put all the magic she had into one final attack when the dragoness blew out a sudden gust of ash and smoke.

The rushing winds were full of dark clouds that were strong enough to knock Blaze back on her flanks and break her of her concentration. She was forced back by the sheer strength of the winds, before she drove the blade of the Red Fang into the ground to halt her movement, and used one arm covered her eyes.

When the gust finally ended, Blaze opened her eyes again as she coughed out some of the smoke that she had unintentionally inhaled. However, she still forced her body to get up from the ground, pulling the Red Fang out of the ground, and quickly faced the dragoness as she suspected another surprise attack from her.

As Blaze got ready to counter whatever attack she had planned, the dragoness suddenly dropped her head at the very end of ledge, causing the ground to shake slightly, and nearly knocking Blaze over. Once she was able to regain her balance again, Blaze looked at the slow breathing dragoness with disbelief. Of all the things the dragoness could have done to her, she had simply collapsed mere feet away from her.

“What are you-”

“P-please,” the dragon begged again in the same tired and raspy voice, breathing out thick clouds of pitch with breath she took. “I-I...please, leave me alone. I just want to be alone before I meet the four makers.”

Blaze took a step back from the dragon, examining her facial features, and slowly coming to an answer for her lack of magic and energy. ‘Wait she isn’t…’ “N-no, no, no, no...you are not dying of old age.” The sound of the dragoness weakly chuckling told Blaze much more than what she wanted. “No,” she shouted as she drove the Red Fang into the solid stone of the cave ground where her eyes started to burn holes in the stone ground. “No, you were to prove my power, you were to be my right to call myself a true mare. You will not die simply because of old age!”

“Gha, ha, haha…” the dragoness started to weakly laugh, only to be stopped by hacking out more sickly black smoke. “Y-you have,” she was forced again to pause for breath, her time growing closer with every passing second, but forced herself to speak. “high standards...set for yourself, d-dragon-seeker.”

Blaze snapped her head up to the dragoness as she again forced her body to move on her command. As she rose to her full height, Blaze couldn’t help but feel fear going through her whole spine, but she refused to let the dragon see it.

“T-tell you this...dragon-seeker,” the dragoness started again, her vision and hearing fading again, and she couldn’t tell which was Blaze and what was the ground. “I-I have no further purpose...no offspring to live my legacy, but you,” she paused to take a deep breath to remain living long enough to act on one final plea of the four makers. “h-have a long life in front of you. Y-you want power? You want to...know what it really means to live? V-very well,” she finished with a massive breath of air.

The inhale of air was so large that Blaze had to use the Red Fang to keep herself from being pulled in. Through the dust and other material littering the ground, Blaze looked up to see a massive fire ball being formed above the dragoness' open maw.

Crimson, white, and black. Those were the only colors the rapidly growing ball of consisted of. Suddenly the ball began to collapse in on itself, and Blaze sensed a large buildup of magic, it felt impossibly dense to be that ever-shrinking orb. It was much worse when she had to undergo magic-weight training a few months ago and she didn’t know if she could take much more of it.

However, she wouldn’t have to as the dragoness shut her maw over the small overly concentrated flame ball, and anxiously awaiting for the dragoness' next move. She didn’t have to wait long before the dragoness’ body started to give off massive amounts of scalding steam, pulled her head back, and let loose a misty--almost spritical--pure crimson torrent of fire towards her.

Frozen in fear, it was far too late for Blaze to even try to run away from the inferno, and feared the dragon was taking her with him to the grave. However as Blaze slowly cracked her eyes open, she was beyond stunned to find that the pure blood-red fire wasn’t even hot, and that the Read Fang was unaffected by it.

Instead, it seemed that she and the weapon were absorbing the magical flame as they were lifted off the ground. Scared and not knowing what was happening, Blaze fought against whatever forces was lifting her off the ground, but even her best efforts proved to be fruitless.

As her arms and legs were straightened out wide, restrained by whatever magic was going on around her, Blaze felt her magic reaching out to this new power around her while the Red Fang floated in front of her, trembling.

Tears begin to stream down the sides of her cheeks as her horn was being forced to withhold majority of the elder’s magic while the Red Fang’s blade started to tremble even more. Slowly, black dragon markings started to burn into Blaze’s dull-blue fur while her mane and tail became denser. Two fangs sprouted from the top row of her teeth while her nails lengthened and became sharper as they continued to extend outwards.

Whilst the crimson flame started to swirl around to Blaze’s horn and the blade staff, Blaze’s eyes and horn were glowing a bright blood-red, lighting up the fresh tears coming down her face.

It wasn’t because of the pain she felt as she had felt worse than this, but it was nothing in comparison to what the elder dragoness had called a life. Alone, lost, and always fighting for her next meal; her right to live. While she was suffering alone, numerous equines, canines, and few felines came one after another, attempting to end her miserable excuse of a life. Over the generations, the dragoness had become cold, and distant towards the rest of the world. She had learned the truth of the world:

She was doomed to kill those that she did not want to. Doomed to a life of loneliness and constant bitterness towards a world that refused to understand her. Doomed to a horrible fate worse than death itself. She had no purpose, no reason to live. Yet she had to do so; in spite of all of her riches, and power, she’d always been too afraid to cut her own thread short and end lonely suffering.

However, this filly, this small soul, held a burning will and passion that surpassed any she had gazed upon. Her magic was powerful, she was young, and she had the drive to go so far. Maybe this filly was a blessing in disguise from the great four makers to allow someone to carry out her legacy.

Blaze could no longer hold back her screams as generations of strife and hardship the dragoness had endured flashed before her eyes. The pain of her always and forever suffering, the loneliness that ate away at her hollow heart, and fear of someone finally ending her miserable and pitiful life.

As the marking of a dragon’s skull edged its way on her stomach, with sharp fiery-looking black spirals coming off of it and to the rest of her body, the surge of magic finally began to abate.

Blaze’s feet soon hit the ground along with the Red Fang floating in her bright blood-red of her magical aurora. With tears in her eyes, Blaze closed them and started to breath a small shot of crimson and white flames.

Her hand moved from her side and reached out to the staff in front of her, dropping her magical grip on it, but catching it before it could even touch the ground. As she turned away from the dragoness’ den, she failed to acknowledge the dying elder that blessed her with such power, thanking her with a silent prayer to the Guardians for her safe passage to the great spirit world where she could finally rest in peace.

Once outside, Blaze’s body started to heat up the cooling air of the cold night time, but paid it no attention. There was now only one thing on her mind, her real purpose in life hadn’t been to defeat the dragon. No, it was to give her redemption, and to give her the chance to leave behind a better legacy.

It was to master this incredible power.

“M-more,” she whispered to the high stars and moon above her head, her voice nowhere as high-pitched as it was before, and her eyes held a different kind of inferno. “I want...I want more!” Suddenly, Blaze raised the Red Fang above her head, and slammed it down into the stone ground.

The shining blood-red blade sparked with black and white flames before shooting out two separate streams of fire; one black, one white. As the two streams surged out from the blade, everything they touched was instantly incinerated and consumed by the rushing fire-streams. The white flame rapidly started to move away from the black one, and began carving a jagged spiral pattern on the ground.

Once the black flame had spread out for a half mile, it abruptly stopped, and shot out into two smaller streams that encircled the symbol the white flame just finished making. Even if she wasn’t able to fully see what the two flames had created, Blaze had a feeling, no, she knew what the symbol was.

A black flame circle with white dragon markings that translated into two words: Ignis vitae, Fire’s life, which she later found to be her cutie mark. Even with knowledge that she had her cutie mark now, she felt no elation. She had the power of a dragon, the dragon’s blessing, and she wanted more.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay guys, me and my editors have been working on all the chapters that I've had written, and I wanted him the kinda catch up to where I was. Also I was potting out the endgame for this story, changing it a few times, and thinking about the lead up for it. Then there was a few other projects that I started, again with friends. And finally, I'm not sure how many of you know of my earlier works, but a large number of those will be going under massive edit hauls and rewrites when I'm done with this story.

Uploads might be a wee bet slow for a moment, but I got no plans of ever stopping. So, don't worry about that, I'm just letting you guys know that I may not upload again for awhile. I also want to thank the much loved support that I'm getting from all of you. It helps out much more than you guys know, and it lets me know what you're looking forward to seeing.

Comments also help out a huge ton. I may not reply back to all of them, but I do read each one with care. It always means so much to me that you guys are still enjoying the ride as much as I am writing. Thanks, you guys the best.

-Till Next Time!