Author's Notes:

New chapter, yay! Alright before we start though, I want to thank all of you for the love and support that I've been getting lately. It's been amazing to see that you guys are actually enjoying the story after so long of me doing it, and it's great to see new faces in the comment section. You all have a voice, and I always love to hear it. For those that's been sticking around since the jump, thank you so much. You guys made this story what it is now, and I really appreciate it.

Much love to all of you guys, till next time!~

High Moon Ch. 34:

Tests

Hovering high above the land, Quill and Frost glared into each other’s eyes. The two lovers had been exchanging blows all day long. Ranging from normal physical attacks, aerial tactics, they had even added their magic into their training.

Ever since last night, when an unexpected flush of raw emotions overtook the two, forcing them to act upon those impulses, they both had planned to push their bodies further in hopes of counteracting whatever caused it.

Quill was still unaware of what Wolf, Blaze, and Isis had done last night, or the reason they were unable to even get close to the door. Frost, on the other hand, had a more than just a feeling of what caused it, and she had been curious about it ever since she got to High Moon.

There was something with Blaze...her magic, her knowledge of dragon culture, and the way she was able to accurately know what to do for both Spike and Cyclone within just a few moments of speaking with them. There was a secret that the mare and dog were hiding from the rest of them and Frost was only able to fully sense it last night.

While it could just be her imagination, and Blaze really could be as powerful as she seemed to be, there could be more to the mare than she first thought. However, that wasn’t why Frost and Quill had come out here.

Blaze and Wolf weren’t the only couple that was hiding something from the others. Both Frost and Quill had plans of taking her mother’s crown, and gaining control over the entire changeling race dwelling in Everfree. Their goal, selfish at first glance, could prove to be High Moon’s greatest blessing.

Not only would they have an entire army backing them, eyes and ears in the deepest pits of Equestria, but they’d also have the means of fully rebuilding the former city capital to its fabled glory. And as if all that wasn’t enough, Frost would be able to achieve her other goal of changing the way Equestrian changelings think, and with the crown in her hands, it wouldn’t be that hard.

Over the generations, ever since one of her ancestors was murdered by his brother, and indirectly sparked the Nightmare Rebellion, changelings had firmly believed that the only way to survive was to take the love from others.

It was this belief that gave the changelings their dreaded reputation across Equestria, that of monsters, mindless beasts that only cared about power and taking control of others’ minds. And Chrysalis’ failed attempt had only exacerbated the problem.

Well, since Chrysalis refused to see reason, and their mother would most likely kill the both of them on sight, Frost was going to have to redeem the changeling race. Even if she had to fight her mother to do it.

“Hey Frost,” Quill called out as she used her magic to create several purple and green fireballs in the air around her. “You know, we should wrap this up, and start heading back,” she finished in a slightly smug tone as she was able to land several hits on Frost.

However, the changeling was able to do a bit more. “Aww,” Frost started, batting her eyelashes with an innocent smile on her face, and using her arms to press her breasts together while her magic created several spears of frozen ice. “Is my little hatchling feeling tired?” she mocked as she was able to use Quill’s lack of proper training to keep her off balance.

Each time Quill tried rushing at her without a single plan, Frost made her pay by throwing her around in the air, shooting her with frozen spears of ice, blasting her off her flight course with a surge of wind, or slapping her in the face with a stream of water from the river below.

However, Quill was far from a pushover, and returned the changeling’s defense in full. In single rushes of fire, Quill was able melt any barrage of frozen spears, and after several times of falling for the same trap, was able to dodge Frost’s streams of water and wind.

During the fight, Quill was given a burning thrill from fighting someone as strong and smart as Frost, as it pushed her to change the way she went about things. It was incredible and the only other time she felt this way was when she fought Dusk or Wolf.

While Quill felt a flame in her chest, Frost felt like her whole body was on fire from being constantly surprised at how fast Quill adapted to situations around her, and that fire only burned hotter when Quill started to get the advantage.

Soon, it became harder for Frost to hold back her dragon-blood from surging forth as her nails sharpened to talons, her mane became sharp like Quill’s head-spines, and her scorpion tail began to drip a blue neurotoxin of its own accord.

However, that only made Quill more excited to fight her. She didn’t know that her own dragon’s instincts pushed her body to grow stronger and fight more powerful opponents. All she knew was that this fight was a thrill, that she wanted to keep pushing her limits...

And finally prove who wore the pants in the relationship.

“Ha! Well, this ‘little hatchling’ has a few surprises of her own,” Quill returned Frost’s mocking as she started to actually plan something out. During the fight, Quill noticed that Frost had always waited for her to strike first so she could counter, and right after that moved in to attack. Well, she was going to use that to her advantage. “I hope you’re ready Frost, ‘cuz here I come!”

As a preemptive strike, Quill sent a couple of the fireballs towards Frost, and followed behind them with the rest of her small arsenal. However, Frost simply lowered her eyes, and smirked at her lover’s predictable plan.

In counter, Frost flicked her wrists, sending a few of her own frozen ice-spears to meet Quill’s fireballs, and launched the remaining portion to catch Quill off guard and to throw her off balance again, leaving her open for a counter-strike. Just like Quill thought she would.

Smirking, Quill slowed her flight before creating a larger purple and green fireball, throwing it before sending the rest of her fireballs to meet Frost’s ice-spears. The head-on collision of fire and ice magic caused a thick white cloud of steam, giving Quill the perfect opportunity to set her plan into motion.

Using the cloud of steam as distraction, Quill quickly dove straight down to the ground, and hid in the cover of the tree line. Frost was able to peer through the thick cloud of steam and spotted Quill flying down the to the tree canopy. “Sorry love,” Frost started, quickly understanding what Quill was doing, and easily though of a counter to her plan. After stretching her hand from her body, Frost began to create a short frozen halberd in her left hand. “As clever as that is, it will not work.”

Snapping her wings shut, Frost dove straight down to the forest floor, and slowed her fall before landing on a tree branch. Frost, in all honesty, thought that Quill would have tried to ambush her from the start, however it seemed that the dragoness was learning.

But Frost wasn’t one to be caught in a trap so easily, and this time was going to be no different. “Oh Quilly~ Sweetie,” Frost started in a siren's voice to draw out her dragoness lover. “Do stop hiding. Everyone is expecting us to be back before dinner and all this running isn’t going to do any good.” Frost began hopping from one tree branch to another, so as to not give Quill the time to plan a counterattack, never imagining that she already had.

“Quill, really now,” Frost said with the halberd spinning in her hand while she walked along an abnormally large tree branch. “We’re only training, so there’s no need to push yourself.” While Frost continued the search for her lover, Quill hid a few trees away, and knew that Frost wouldn’t be able to find her until she started to use magic. Which she wouldn’t need.

Thanks to the whole day of sparring with her lover, Quill had learned a few things about Frost. For one, Frost secretly enjoyed managing to catch Quill in any trap of hers. Two, somewhat like Spike, Frost bought time in order to fully plan ahead while Quill was either recovering or dealing with her traps.

Three, Frost seemed to lose some of her changeling abilities when her dragon-blood surged forth, as she could no longer trace Quill by her emotions. And four, Frost couldn’t think like a hunter. Unlike Quill.

And this was Quill’s advantage against Frost.

Quill’s trained eyes followed Frost as she jumped to another tree branch and smiled when she remembered the first time she’d gone hunting with Wolf. Slowly, Quill lowered her hands to the wooden tree branch, and started to move to the edge on all fours.

Once in position, all Quill had to do was wait for Frost jump to the right tree branch, and it’d be a straight shot towards her. As Quill continued to follow Frost’s movement, her pupils flexed with a beating hunger as she looked over Frost’s body.

Large breasts any mare would be proud to have, long slender legs that trailed up to wide hips, and connected her chest with a tone abdomen. Every inch of Frost beat with power that superseded any that Quill had faced before. No normal pony could do the things that Frost could do, only Dusk was comparable, and he was already in a relationship with two mares. While Frost was hers.

During the fight, Quill started to feel this rush of primal instincts. It was almost the same as when she went through her greed-growth, however this time it felt much different. When her greed took over, there was this hollow feeling eating away at her, clouding her mind.

With Frost, though, it was something very different. Instead of it feeling like she wanted to keep Frost to herself, it was more like a need to do this, and here the mare was displaying some of her dragon heritage to her. ‘Screw dinner, I want a cold dessert.’ Quill started to lick her lips as faint memories of last night ran through her head. She didn’t know what came over her and Frost, but she could care less.

Suddenly, right as Frost’s feet landed on the right tree branch, Quill launched herself straight through the forest, catching her mare off-guard. Quill’s surprise attack was quick enough to pin Frost to the tree branch, and drop her frozen weapon. Before Frost could do anything about the dragoness on top of her, Quill sealed her lips in a lustful kiss that forced some of Frost’s changeling-blood to resurface, and she could sense her lover’s emotions again.

Frost moaned from being fed Quill’s love and lust as the whole day of training had her far beyond tired. Upon the first taste of the two powerful emotions, and her lover’s forceful tongue, Frost gave Quill complete control as she enjoyed letting the dragoness have her way.

As she kept Frost’s hands pinned above her with her left hand, Quill slowly moved her right hand down her mare’s body, taking a brief moment to tug lightly at the collar of the green T-shirt that Frost was wearing. After a few moments of teasing, Quill’s right hand resumed its travel down to the hem of the shirt so she could slip it in, dancing her claws up Frost’s tone body before taking the mare’s breasts in her hand.

A sharp gasp came from Frost through the kiss when she felt Quill’s claws slip underneath her green T-shirt and move straight to her breasts. Quill started to smile when she felt her mare’s nipples already hardening and quickly came up with a ‘fun’ plan.

Right as Frost was getting ready to beg her dragoness for more, Quill suddenly removed her hand from her breasts, and sat up in her lap. “Q-Quill, don’t you dare stop,” Frost threatened, not knowing how much longer she could deal with the bothersome feeling burning in her chest and marehood.

However, Quill didn’t listen to her mare’s small threats, and started to giggle with a victorious look on her face. “I win,” she boasted with a proud tone in her voice. For a moment, Quill didn’t think Frost would fall for her plan, but with the mare shooting her a hungry and begging look look, she took that as victory. “Come on Frost, Wolf will give us an ear full if we don’t get back before sundown.”

“Quill please,” Frost pleaded, grabbing onto Quill’s slender hips to keep her there. “Just one time, please~” To emphasize her need, Frost began lightly bucking her hips into Quill’s while she made Quill make a few small thrusting motions. “I need you, love.”

Quill raised an eyebrow towards the mare, making note that she could shift through her instincts quicker than she thought she could. Slowly, Quill moved her head down to Frost’s ear, and whispered, “Fine, you’re treating me tonight, but for now,” Quill paused to move her hands back into Frost’s shirt, again reaching up to her breasts. “I want my prize.”

Frost took in another sharp breath when Quill took hold of her breasts, pinching and twisting her nips with her claws. A visible shiver went down Frost’s spine from the flush of longing lust from Quill, licking her lips at the thought of having a dragoness for dessert tonight. “Of course my love,” Frost hissed from the rushing of emotions from Quill, wishing it was nightfall already.

Quill moved to take Frost’s ear in her teeth, biting down on it to get her mare to moan in appreciation. Quill figured that by now Frost was driven up a wall every time she fed on Quill's love, and that was even before Quill began toying with her.

Quill could only imagine the feeling that Frost went through as she was feeding on her love and lust, so she was going to make sure that she was stuffed full of it. “Mm...how you feeling Frost?” Quill asked as she subconsciously flexed her wings outwards to give her the appearance of dominance. Yet again, Quill waved this off as her mind finally giving into her dragon mating instincts. Not like it didn’t bother her much, they felt good, they felt...natural.

“O-oh Quill please,” Frost begged, moving her hands down to Quill’s slender and powerful thighs to lift them up on her body. “Love, please, more...sh-show me more. It feels so incredible.”

Quill wickedly smiled at the begging tone in Frost’s voice, finding it irresistible with every syllable that she spoke. A part of Quill wanted to do nothing but give her mare exactly what she wanted, but it was alway more fun to make her wait.

“Good,” Quill said, slipping her hands away from Frost’s breasts, and sitting back up in a quick motion that left Frost blinking a few times. “Now come on, let’s head back.” Before Frost could say another word, Quill opened her wings, and took flight towards High Moon.

Frost sat up off the tree branch, watching Quill quickly flying back towards the temple. Slowly, Frost realized that Quill wasn’t going to stop for her, and shot off after her lover. “Quill, wait up!” All the dragoness did was giggle at her half-breed mare while she continued to fly back to High Moon. After using some of her changeling magic to expand her wings and catch up with Quil, Frost was hit with an odd emotion from Quill.

It was respect, for Wolf.

Well, when she thought about it, the more it seemed right. Quill looked up to the dog as a father and treated everything he said with the utmost care. Hell, she even called him her father. Adoptive or not, Quill held respect for the dog above the others, and Frost could see why.

Wolf, at times blunt about things, was a caring dog that welcomed any change to High Moon with open arms, but knew how to take care of his own. He also was things that Frost hoped to be when she was overseeing her hive of scorpios. Strong, influential, quick-minded, and adaptive. All of these gave Wolf his real power as ruler over High Moon.

What made him stronger was his ability to make things appeal to others, to convince them that it help both them and High Moon. To make things seem to work out for them in exchange for a few favors around the ruins.

It was the perfect plan. Help others, give them a home, food, and a strong shoulder to lean on when they needed it. And in return, gain their trust. Put work in, get work out. This seemed to be Wolf’s main way of getting everyone to do the things that he needed done around the ruins and the valley that they lay in.

Wolf was a ruler that acted like he wasn’t one. In fact, he was the hardest worker of all of them in High Moon, and showed little intentions of stopping. It was this fact that made everyone want to work with him.

After realizing that Wolf was the definition of an exemplary leader, Frost made sure to model after him when, not if, when she took her mother’s crown. It’d be slow at first, that was for sure, but with time Frost was sure it’ll work.

However, that was for the future, after she did take the throne with Quill standing proudly at her side.

“Hey Frost,” Quill started, breaking through Frost’s thoughts, and starting to slow her flight. Soon, the two came to a stop above a cloud near the temple ruins, but still high enough to be out of sight. Once Frost had fully landed on the soft cloud, Quill wrapped her arms around her waist, and pulled her close.

Frost was taken back by Quill’s sudden move and barely was given time to sense her emotions before she started to speak. “You okay? You were just absently flying with a worried look on your face.”

“Yes Quill,” Frost sighed happily as she returned Quill’s embrace, wrapping her arms around Quill’s neck to bring her dragoness’ head towards her chest. “I was just thinking about things, that’s all.” Frost let out a small groan when she felt the flatness of Quill usually fiery emotions and knew her dragoness wasn’t happy with the vague answer. “Fine, I was thinking about what we’re going to do after we take the throne.”

“Frost,” Quill started, lifting herself off of Frost’s chest to look her in the eyes while the cloud slowly drifted the rest of the way towards High Moon. “Don’t you think that you’re thinking far too ahead? I haven’t even been able to beat Wolf in a fight yet,” Quill argued, knowing that it was extremely dumb to go after Frost’s mother anytime soon.

Quill was surprised when Frost suddenly kissed Quill on the cheeks while her hands moved down towards the base of her wings. Quill began wiggling a little in her lover’s playful embrace, but still didn’t move away, allowing Frost to dance her tongue over her reddening cheeks.

Frost moved her tongue over to Quill’s ear-fill and nibbled on it with her fangs, catching a small dose of Quill’s appreciation before she let her dragoness free. “You’re right Quill,” she started, moving away from Quill a little, but only to press her larger chest against Quill’s.

Frost giggled a little when she saw the red shine on Quill’s cheeks, finding it cute when she was blushing. “Oh Quill, you’re so cute sometimes,” she giggled before tickling Quill’s nose with her the tips of her fork-like tongue. “Mother isn’t going to go anywhere and we have time. Let’s enjoy it while we have it.”

Without another word, Frost let Quill out of her embrace, opened her wings, and began to float down to the ground below. “Frost?” Quill stood on top of the cloud with a confused look on her face. For a moment, there was a sense of sadness in Frost’s voice towards the end, almost as if she feared what the future held in store for them, and wanted to prolong the present for as long as she could.

That’s when Quill realized that Frost was worried of what would happen if they tried to take on her mother in the state they were at now. Quill slowly looked down her hands, hands that had been through much in these last two months, hands that could do so much more. “Don’t worry Frost, we’ll get stronger. No matter what.”

Quill quickly jumped off the cloud and used her wings to guide down to Frost’s side. The two locked eyes, one slightly nervous of the future ahead of them, and the other unwilling to let those worries stop her.

However, neither spoke anything of this, somehow knowing what the other was thinking. Frost wasn’t just worried about fighting her mother, but also about the aftermath; becoming queen. Quill was determined to find any way to make the both of them strong enough to even start thinking about taking on Frost’s mother.

As they walked towards the wooden structure, which Wolf had been planning on improving, Quill started to wonder if the dog and other two females were finally up by this point, and still wanted to question him about the barrier around the door was for.

However, before she could even as the question, the answer came in the form of seeing Wolf, Blaze, and Isis walking towards them. Isis rather closer than she once thought but paid that no mind as most of Isis' actions and reasoning was based on the past culture.

“Oh...well, well, well,” Quill started, leaning against a wooden beam while the three quickly approached, and taking note of the blushes on both Isis and Blaze’s faces. “Look who finally decided to roll out of bed.”

Wolf rolled his eyes at the dragoness' remark as he too didn’t like the fact that he slept most of the day, but still wouldn’t change anything that had happened. “Yeah, yeah Miss Obvious,” Wolf quickly retorted as he used the fire stones in his collar to open the door so everyone could enter the temple. “Well, I just hope that you and your mare enjoyed your day off, cause tomorrow you all will be doing something important.”

Frost raised an eyebrow towards the dog as she walked beside Quill. From the way Wolf made it sound, it was of great significance, but she couldn’t understand what he meant. “By ‘you all’ you mean…”

“It’s just something I wanted to see from all you dragons here,” Blaze finally spoke up, looking back towards Frost with her usual motherly smile before she turned her head back around. “Think of it like a...test. Don’t worry, I’ll tell all of you more about it when everyone is here,” she finished as Wolf opened the final door to her work area.

Once all through, Wolf found the others were all waiting on them and Spike was already starting to fix dinner. Frost quickly moved to help the drake with the task while Quill walked over to the dinner table where the two newcomers sat at. It wasn’t long before the five started to talk with each other, mostly asking Cyclone if everything was alright, and what happened her and Spike in Ponyville.

While the younger members of the High Moon pack talked amongst themselves, Lily slightly surprised Wolf by not questioning what happened to them this morning, and quickly moved on to say that she and Veil found some rather interesting things around High Moon.

When questioned, she moved to say that they found a cave that led deeper into the earth. Isis quickly recognized that Lily was talking about as the burial tomb of Celestia’s first fallen general and first lover. She continued to say that the stallion was able to wield an odd weapon called Sol est Spiritus, or ‘the Sun’s Wind.’

Wolf made note of the tomb as he had never came across it before and the thought of having an arsenal of ancient weapons, if they hadn’t been broken by time, on his side did sound appealing. However, at the moment, there was far too much for him to be wasting time diving into tombs.

And since all the dragons were here, he thought that it would be best that Blaze inform them about their ‘test.’ “Blaze,” Wolf started, looking towards his mare while she happily munched on a fruit salad. “If you want to tell them, now’s the time.”

“Alright Wolf,” Blaze said, sitting up from her chair, and walking over to the dragons. Lily silently watched Blaze. She knew that whatever Blaze had planned for the dragons, it was important, so she didn’t think to question it.

Once Blaze was at the dinner table where the younger members of High Moon were all sitting at, she smiled towards each and every single one of them. “Hey guys, there’s something I want to talk to you about,” she started with the same motherly smile on her face. After guessing the mare would be there for awhile, Spike stood up from his seat so Blaze didn’t have to stand.

When Blaze saw that Spike was giving her a place to sit, her smile got even brighter, and he quickly took the gentledrake’s offer. “Aww, thank you Spikey.” All Spike did was smile and return the nod before going back to eating his fish dinner. “Speaking of which,” she started again, this time, turning towards Cyclone who was sitting next to Veil. “What did the half-blood have to say Cyclone?”

“Who, Dusk?” Blaze nodded her head, prompting Cyclone to sigh a little. “Nothing good, and we could barely talk to him. When we got there, he was busy getting ready for a date with his marefriends, and from the sound of it, a really important date.”

Blaze’s smile leveled a bit, she was hoping that Dusk would know more of what to do, or that Cyclone would make some kind of connection with him like the twins had. “Oh I see, well I guess it can’t be helped. Maybe next time?”

“Yup, that’s what he said,” Cyclone quickly answered the mare’s question and worries. “He said that he’ll be free tomorrow, but after that he and his mares will be out of town for a few days. Something about a gig in Canterlot.”

“Um...what’s a ‘gig?’” Blaze asked, never having heard the term before, and curious as to what the half-breed was doing out of town. “Is it like a ritual?”

This time, Quill was the one to speak up before the other dragoness. “Not exactly,” she started with a mild giggle before fully answering Blaze question. “It’s more like a show or performance, usually of the musical kind.”

“Ah, so it’s like a sonsa,” Blaze quickly caught on with a happy remembrance sigh of her youth back in her native country. “When I was a filly, we would put on the biggest of shows for visiting chief leaders and shamans, and we had to wear the cutest of outfits.”

As the mare recalled her youth, Frost was hit with waves of her happy reminiscing, and forced her to think back to a time where most ponies didn’t even know of changelings or when her own mother wanted her gone. A time where she could happily eat with Chrysalis, her mother, and even her father. A time where Frost didn’t fear her own father and looked towards him for hope.

But that time was over.

“Well, we’re just going to have to wait until he gets back then,” Blaze continued, pulling Frost back into the world, and out of the dreading memories of her past. “We have more important matters to attend to.”

Frost quickly realized that Blaze was talking about the ‘test’ she suddenly had planned for her and the other dragons in High Moon and silently wondered what it could be. While Quill was more direct with her thoughts. “Like what?” she asked after finishing her dinner, and chewing on a deer bone.

“Well...think of it like a test,” Blaze started, sparking the curiosity of Spike upon hearing about a test. He had no problems with the idea, in fact, the idea was appealing to him as it would give him a base point in a certain field he may need to work on.

However, Cyclone was less than excited. She had never taken a test before and the way Blaze was talking about it made her slightly nervous. On top of that, she’d only been there for a day now, and didn’t know of the mare’s standards. Whatever she had planned, Cyclone needed to make sure she passed it lest she failed and got her and Veil kicked out of High Moon.

“Now, all of you had some kind of experience with your dragon’s greed, correct?” Suddenly, the mood around the table dropped, and it made Frost sick to her stomach. Even if she was a half-breed, Frost could still feel her dragon-blood beating for her to take everything for herself, sometimes surging forth when she was alone Quill.

However, due to her changeling-blood, Frost had never experienced a greed-growth like the other three dragons, and didn’t know of the atrocious feeling of losing every rational thought. Frost was pulled out of her thoughts when Quill’s grip tightened around her and she started to shake uncontrollably.

That’s when she remembered that both of the twins had undergone a greed-growth a few years ago, and that the memory was still fresh in their minds. Or at least in Spike’s mind, as Quill admitted she couldn’t recall much of what transpired over the next few days afterwards.

Then there was Cyclone. She herself had came from a greed-growth five years ago, roughly the same age as the twins did, and lost a good portion of her dragon’s soul from it. Frost could only imagine the feeling of hacking up a piece of herself and then giving it to someone she trusted.

Frost admired the dragoness for her choice of not taking the pink gem away from the hound, however, the choice could one day prove fatal if she isn’t careful.

While the dragons and hound remained silent, Blaze looked over into each of their eyes, and noted the small pings of fear in them. “I’m taking the silence as a yes?” All four dragons were pulled out of their thoughts at the eerie sound of Blaze’s calm voice versus her cheerful one, which was the one they all wished she’d go back to. “It’s okay guys, this test shouldn’t draw out too much of your greed, but it will pull on it a little.”

“But why would you want to do that?” Veil half-growled, remembering how destructive Cyclone was when she was overtaken by her greed, and not sure if she could bear to see her only friend in that state again. “Wouldn’t preventing their greed from taking control be top priority? I mean-”

However, before the hound could continue, Blaze held up her hands to stop her from speaking, and so she would calm down a little. “Veil, sweetie, I know. The last thing any of us want is for them to lose control over themselves. However…” Blaze paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing. “However, I don’t want any of you getting hurt, but I need to see how much control you have over yourselves.”

Spike and Quill dropped their heads for their own reasons. Everything Spike did was to avoid losing control; that only became more evident after his greed-growth, and now he was paying for it with the ghost-heart. Meanwhile, Quill wasn’t sure if she had any control over herself at all, but wasn’t going to let that stop her.

While the twins brewed over their thoughts, Blaze quickly moved to ease the worry in their mind. “Listen guys, I promise that none of you will lose control, but you’ll still have some kind of reaction. It’s that reaction I’m looking for. Alright?” she asked towards the others, hoping that they would trust her enough to agree to the test.

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” Quill started, knowing that whatever Blaze had planned was going to help them in the long run, and it couldn’t hurt to hear the mare out. That’s when she turned her attention to her brother to see if he was on the same page. “What about you Spike?” All Spike did was nod his head with his eyes closed, still trying to think about what the test could mean for him.

Quill, who knew Spike better than even himself, knew the drake was worried about the test just as much as she was, but if anyone of them would pass it it was him. “Frost, Cyclone, what about you two?”

“I’m with you on this Quill,” Frost said nuzzling her head against Quill’s cheek so she could silently whisper, “As I’ll always be.” Blaze, who slightly caught what the half-breed said, turned towards Cyclone who was slightly shaking with a look of sickness on her face.

“Cyclone, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Blaze spoke up, getting the dragoness to flinch a little, and becoming more concerned for her. “None of you have to do this, I’m just asking.”

Cyclone started to feel the collective stares from the others falling on top of her, only adding to the nervousness she was feeling, and started to make her feel like a heavy weight was on top of her shoulders.

At this point in her life, she wasn’t too sure about anything around her any more, and the thought of succumbing to her greed scared her. However, if what Blaze says was true, then she wouldn’t be overtaken by greed. She’d only have a visible reaction to it.

“Okay,” Cyclone whispered in a slight sigh while Frost was sensing dangerous amounts of worry coming from her. At this rate, there was a chance she could succumb to ghost heart, and would be fighting for her life just like Spike. “Okay, I’ll do it. It’s just a test right, and nothing bad will happen if I fail...right?”

Blaze, hearing the worry in Cyclone’s voice, made a mental note to make things easier for her, and slowly shook her head. “No, no, absolutely nothing bad will happen. In fact this may prove to help all of you in the long run.”

“See Gustie,” Veil started, waving a dismissive hand towards Cyclone, and wearing a smile on her face. “Alpha-Mother has everything under control, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“I thought I told you not to call me that,” Cyclone pouted, crossing her arms underneath her chest, making them stick out more. The dragoness' absent-minded move made Spike turn his head with a slight blush on his face upon first sight of most of Cyclone’s breasts.

Frost quickly picked up the small signs of attraction from Spike as well as his drake-lust for an attractive female, however, only made a small note to confront him about it in the future. “I’ve told you that I hate that name,” Cyclone continued with an embarrassed blush of her own, truly hating that nickname.

Veil would normally listen to the dragoness, however, she was having too much fun with it, and really it was to keep Cyclone’s spirits high. “Haha...Gustie, Gustie, Gustie!” Veil continued to chant getting the dragoness to blush even more from the meaning behind the nickname.

Even with her shooting an angry look towards Veil, Cyclone still had the faint look of a smile on her face, and was giving off much more happy emotions to Frost. “Ahh, Clan-Mother, make Veil stop,” she begged almost in reflex.

Blaze, who was laughing slightly at the two, still needed the dragons’ attention before they could afford to get distracted like this. While Veil continued to throw more ‘insults’ towards Cyclone, Blaze reached a hand over to behind the hound’s ear, and started to scratch a certain spot.

Suddenly, Veil’s eyes and body visibly relaxed as she laid her head on the table with a content sigh, and started to mutter something incoherent. Cyclone stared at Veil, never seeing her so content before, and couldn’t begin to understand what Blaze did to the hound.

Then the table’s attention was drawn to the mare as she continued to rub behind Veil’s ear. “Oh come now guys,” Blaze started with a giggy smile while she increased the pace she was rubbing behind Veil’s ear, getting her tail to waggle back and forth faster. “Eight years of being with the a diamond dog alpha, you have to learn a few tricks.”

Everyone, including Lily and Isis, started to nod their heads, no longer needing an explanation for how the mare was keeping the hound tame. “So where was I?”

Frost was going to answer the question when a low hum came from Veil as she open one eye towards Blaze. “Mm...you were talking about what the test was for,” Veil moaned lightly while Blaze continued to move around on the hidden spot behind Veil’s ear.

“Thank you Veil,” Blaze said with a slight giggle as the hound was having the same reaction to the ear rub that Wolf did as well. Blaze’s paise to her was rewarded with a small happy bark from Veil, prompting Blaze to move her hand towards the back of her head. “Yes well, like I’ve already stated, this test is to see just how much control all of you have over your dragon greed, and you’ll be taking it tomorrow.”

Once she got a nod from everyone of the dragons, Blaze turned her head over to Wolf, but still continued to rub and scratch along certain points on Veil’s head. “Wolfie,” she started, batting her eyelashes towards the dog, getting a goan out of him when he realized what they were for. “You think you and Veilie can have everything set up by tomorrow?”

“Sure Blaze,” Wolf answered through the bone in his mouth, knowing in order to find a good spot that he and Veil would have to wake up pretty early in the morning. “Veil.” As a sign of acknowledgment, Veil let out a long moaning sigh towards the alpha. “Be ready to be up really early tomorrow.”

“Mm...sure thing Alpha.”

Wolf sighed at the hound’s blank response, however, after being in her same situation before, he couldn’t expect much more from her. “Right then, dragons, I want all of you to make sure to get a good night’s sleep. Cyclone, you make sure hound over there gets up in the morning.”

One look down to her friend told Cyclone that Veil was going to get more than a good night’s sleep. “Sure thing, Clan-Father.” Wolf nodded his head towards the dragoness, trusting her to do what he asked before turning to the rest of them.

“Alright, if that’s everything-”

“Actually Wolf,” Frost started, standing from Quill’s lap, and looking the dog dead in the eyes. “There’s something I want to talk with you about.” Everyone looked towards the half-breed changeling, who had started to walk towards the arcane doors leading out of the temple, and was paying no attention to the emotions that were being thrown towards her. “In private.”

Wolf nodded his head and started to follow the mare out the door with everyone still looking their way. “Mm...Alpha-Mother,” Veil started, only just glancing towards the arcane doors, but minus the curious and worried looks from the others. “What’s Frost got to talk with Alpha about?”

Slowly, the collective looks of the room fell on Blaze as she continued keeping the hound docile. “I don’t know, but if it was any of our business, they would have discussed it in front of us.” Quill opened her mouth to further question the mare, as she didn’t know what was suddenly up with her mare, but soon realize that she couldn’t argue with her statement.

So, they continued their conversations about the test that the dragons would be taking tomorrow while Isis and Lily continued to speak of the general’s tomb and what to do with it. However, Blaze still kept glancing towards the door, a curious look in her eyes when she did.

While the others were making plans, Frost continued to lead Wolf out of the temple, but had to allow him to open the door as she didn’t have a fire-stone of her own to use. Once outside, Wolf noted the full moon hanging high in the sky above, and as they walked along a dirt path, recited a diamond dog saying about the moon’s pale-blue light.

Frost took interest in the saying as it spoke of how dogs, of all kinds, would gather underneath its light, and howl towards it. The howls were prays to Cerberus’s fallen sister, Cadjo, for safe passage during the night, and as tribute to her fearful power which at one point consumed her.

It seemed from the story that Cadjo was swallowed whole by her own shadow and flew to the night sky to become the dark side of the moon while the light side was her trying to escape. When Frost finally asked how that could be a bad thing, Wolf told her that Cadjo is the hound of dreams and minds.

What made the story more interesting was that Cadjo could either give late-night travers pleasant, blissful dreams to see them through their journey, or dreadful nightmares until they killed themselves.

“Well, that rather...dark,” Frost said as they continued down the path and stopped in an open clearance where the moonlight seemed to be its strongest. “If she was a kind hellhound, then why would she drive travelers to the brink of insanity? It is as if…”

“Yeah, she is,” Wolf started, nodding his head, and keeping his eyes to the moon in the sky above. “Cadjo, she only kind when you give her acknowledgment. No one likes to be ignored when they’re right above our heads or below our noses.”

Following Wolf’s finger towards the ground, Frost knew that he was speaking about Cerberus, and if he is guarding the gates of Tartarus, then what is his sister doing on the moon? “So Frost, what you want to talk about anyways?” Wolf asked, breaking Frost out of her curiosity of his canine culture and back into what she needed to speak with him about.

“Yes, right,” Frost started, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath. While Frost thought of where to start with the alpha so as not to say the wrong thing too early, the gentle breeze of the autumn season brushed across their furs, and added sound to the heavy silence that came over the night. “Wolf, I want to be queen.”

Wolf stared at the changeling with a slightly flat look, the sudden confession had him confused, but he was going to let the changeling speak her peace before he denied her of her goals.

“Ah, so it’s one of those talks,” Wolf started, nodding his head, taking a seat on the soft grass, and motioning Frost to do the same. Hesitantly, Frost sat next to the dog with her legs folded underneath her while Wolf rested his wrists on his keens. “So, what’s this about you wanting to be queen?”

At first, Frost was worried that Wolf would violently react to her, but after sensing no shifts in his emotions, she felt more open to speak. “I know how it sounds. Your adoptive daughter brings home an abandoned changeling princess, they’re in a ‘relationship,’ and the mare wants to become queen. I know I sound awful but-”

“Frost,” Wolf cut in, getting her to jump violently from his deep voice cutting through all other sounds of the forest. Again, Frost quickly thought that Wolf was going to yell or be angry with him, but was proven wrong when he surprisingly wrapped his arm around her.

However, before Frost could even begin to question the sudden embrace, Wolf spoke in a low tone. “Now, I don’t have the ability to sense emotions like you, but that doesn't mean I’m a dense dog. I can tell that you really do love Quill and that she loves you back.”

A happy sigh was forced from Frost’s lips from the dog’s strong embrace. ‘So this is why he’s a father figure to her,’ Frost silently thought to herself, missing the embrace of someone like Wolf, and remembering when her father would hold her as a filly.

“Now,” Wolf started, breaking Frost out of her thoughts of her past, and back to the work of the present. “Mind telling me where this ‘I want to be queen thing’ came from? I would have guessed that you’ve wouldn't want anything to deal with your past any more.”

No longer able to help it, Frost laid her head on Wolf’s shoulder, and kept it there when she didn’t sense any objections from him. “My mother…” Wolf looked down to the changeling mare as she started to somewhat shake in his arm, as if she was physically sick just from remembering her past. “She doesn’t deserve to rule. She took the throne from my father and no one has made any moves to reclaim it.”

“And you want to,” Wolf asked, still unsure of the changeling’s past, but feeling that she didn’t have a pleasant life. Slowly, Frost nodded her head, but didn’t let Wolf see the sadness in her eyes. “Mm...overthrowing your mother, taking the changeling throne, and doing all of that without getting killed.” Frost only became more saddened after Wolf had listed her biggest fears with her goals and knew each of them would be harder than the last. “You got a plan on how?”

Again, all Frost could do was slowly shake her head, and sigh at the improbability of her dreams ever coming true. “No, no, I don’t. I’m not even strong enough to even think of fighting her, even with Quill saying she’ll fight with me.” Suddenly, there was a small twitch in Wolf’s emotions, and it briefly scared Frost. “I’m sorry, it came up after Quill tried taking me back to High Moon after the fire at Veil’s and Cyclone’s old home, and she...vowed to help me reach my goals.”

Much to Frost’s surprise, Wolf shook his head with a slight smirk on his face, and the feeling of pride coming from him. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve forgotten that you can sense emotions for a moment there.” Even with the sincere tone and emotions coming from Wolf, Frost was still slightly fearful of the dog’s wrath, and made sure to answer things more carefully when it came to the twins. “Okay, so you and Quill need to get stronger to take down your mother. I get that. What I don’t get, is what you need from me?”

“Last night,” Frost started with a slight sigh before continuing. “Last night, there was a massive flush of raw…feeling,” Frost paused to suppress a shiver from the memories of the unexplainable rush of emotions and magic that seeped through to her and Quill. “and I need to know, what was it?”

“Blaze,” Wolf started with a slight chuckle, filling Frost with the senses of love, devotion, and that ever so present dash of lust that any healthy couple seemed to have for each other. “That mare went and whipped up a potion to help her gain better control of...another part of her magic, and for our cub to have better control of it when they’re born.”

Frost took a moment to think about the way Wolf explained what happened last night. The way he said it, the sudden curve in his emotions, and her theories about the mare’s magic. It all pointed towards one thing. “She has dragon-magic, doesn’t she, Wolf?”

Wolf chuckled, having suspected the mare would be able to piece together the dark secret from Blaze’s past with what little he'd told her, and knew at some point they all would have to know.

“Yeah, yeah,” Wolf started with a nod while his eyes moved back up to the moon. Frost started to sense slight worry from Wolf along with his grip tightening around her meant that the subject was somewhat touchy. “However, it isn’t my place to speak on it, and it isn’t your place to question her about it with the others around. Understand?” he asked in a commanding voice, which, along with flatness in his emotions, told Frost that she’d regret it if she did question the mare about it where the others could hear.

“Y-yes, I understand, but that’s not what I wanted to know.” Wolf raised an eyebrow towards the mare but stayed quiet until she had fully explained herself. “That potion, I want, no, need that power.”

Another gentle breeze overtook the forest, betraying the emotions swirling around Wolf’s head, and the feeling of nervousness from Frost. Suddenly, Wolf started to chuckle before breaking out into a deep laugh, and even had to let go of Frost. “No,” he said before resuming the laughter and straightening out enough for Frost to take him seriously. “No, no, no, no….no. Frost, Blaze had twelve years to master the dragon’s soul inside of her, and she completely lost control. Even dragged Isis into it and forced the both of us to act on impulse.”

Even with the list of reasons not to do it, Frost still was considering whatever potion Blaze used to make her and Quill stronger, and Wolf could see it in her eyes. “Frost, no. I’m telling you this as a friend, there’s no way of knowing what will happen to you two. I mean, if you couldn’t handle being in the next room away from it, how in the world do you think that you can take it in the middle of it?”

“Wolf, please I-”

“No Frost, not even after Blaze’s test, and I don’t even want to hear you looking for a way to recreate it.” One look in the dog’s eyes told Frost that he was drawing the line in the sand and going against his wishes would be the last mistake she’d make. “Look, I don’t mean to insult you two, but face it Frost. Every time I look your way, one of you is on top of the other, and we don’t know how much control you have over yourselves.”

After sensing the dog’s concern in his voice, Frost dropped her head, but still gave a nod of acknowledgement. However, Wolf still saw the slight tear building in Frost’s eyes, and knew that she was really counting on the potion to help her achieve her goals.

He still knew little of the mare, in spite of her being a part of his pack, and her happiness was his business. “Frost,” Wolf stated, wrapping his arm around the mare again, and pulling her to his chest. Frost’s eyes snapped open from the compassion coming from the dog as she only felt anything like this from her past with her father. “Don’t let your ambitions cloud your mind. You’ve got too much to let it consume you.”

That’s when Frost no longer could hold back her own emotions and wrapped her arms tightly around Wolf, letting the tears fall on his chest. “I-I’m sorry...I’m s-so sorry,” Frost began repeating as years of pent up frustrations and sadness started to finally make themselves known.

All Wolf could do was rub the length of Frost’s blue mane while she continued to mutter her own songs of sadness into his chest. “I just...it’s my f-fault.” Again, all Wolf could do for the mare was remain silent while she cried into his chest. “M-my father lost control because of me...I-I lost my hive because I’m a f-failure, the o-one thing that would make it all better, and I couldn’t even handle it. I-I’m nothing but a failure…”

“Frost,” Wolf finally started in his usual commanding voice that got Frost to look up to him from his chest. “You’re far from a failure. You are a very smart and powerful mare that has something most changelings can’t understand.”

More tears began swelling up in Frost’s eyes before she again buried her head into Wolf’s chest. However, this time, they were tears from having someone like Wolf care for her. Everything about the dog: the way he thinks, the way he speaks to others, and how he handles the things that needed to get done...All of it reminded her of her father before her mother took over.

The moment her mother’s flanks touched that throne, everything in Frost’s calm, normal life was changed. She and Chrysalis were ripped apart, forced to rule over their own smaller hives while most of their freedoms were taken away, and under constant guard. Even back then, it had blatantly obvious it wasn’t for their safety.

It was to keep watch over them.

For much of Frost’s adolescence, she had the sickening feeling that her mother feared that one day one of her daughters would come to overthrow her, and she was right. First, it was Chrysalis with her invasion of Canterlot. However, after her crushing defeat, their mother stripped Chrysalis of her hive, and was left to defend herself on her own while her connection to the hive mind was severed.

Frost had never been too close to the cold mare; they always argued, and rarely agreed on anything. Frost knew that she couldn’t force her sister to see her view on things, but that didn’t mean she had to like them. This slight animosity only increased after her failure in Canterlot that had gotten exceedingly high numbers of changelings killed and placed a massive target on the changelings’ backs.

However, it wasn’t long before she too was caught trying to find away to take her mother’s throne, and suffered the same fate as Chrysalis. Though, something told her that she was better off than Chrysalis, and wherever Chrysalis may be, she was paying for her sins.

“Frost,” Wolf began, adding a slight rocking to his embrace to help calm her down. “Know that you’re not alone any more, Quill isn’t the only one that cares about you, but...there are some things not all of us can help you with. You understand me?” Wolf asked, he wanted to help the mare, but he couldn’t risk the other’s lives for a goal that almost seemed to be a fool’s dream. “We’re here for you Frost, so don’t go getting yourself killed okay?”

“O-okay Wolf,” Frost started, biting back any more tears, and wiping the ones around her eyes away. Wolf simply watched with a wary concern for the mare as she tried to regain some of her composure. “S-sorry, it’s just...I was never given someone to cry on before, and...sorry.”

Wolf shook his hand as he rubbed Frost’s arm, still rocking as it seems to help somewhat. “Don’t be,” he started with a slight smirk and a chuckle following after. “We all need a shoulder to lean on, that’s why we’re a pack. To help one another.” Frost turned her head towards Wolf only to see his shining green eyes facing straight at the moon, which only highlighted his strong features. “You going to be okay Frost?”

“Now I am,” Frost started, leaning her head back into Wolf’s chest, and nuzzling into his growing coat. “Father.” Of course, Frost was able to feel Wolf’s emotions jump a bit, but soon felt them turn back to compassion of a real father.

“Come on Frost, let’s head home.”