Fire and Steel

by shirotora

First published 3rd of July, 2019

A man finds himself in a strange world in a body he knows very little about. Now, with a little help from his reluctant acquaintance Ember, he must either find a way home, or a reason to stay

My name is Luke. Once upon a time, I was just a 32 year old guy on regular old Earth. That all changed one night during a blizzard with a strange light from my neighbors’ house.

Suddenly, I found myself in a world I don’t know, in a body I only know from Super Smash Brothers and bits of a movie my neighbor Leo was watching when I was helping them with a ceiling fan.

If that wasn’t enough, I also found myself taking care of a dragon lady named Ember after she went and got herself injured.

Also, why the hell does she look familiar?

---

This story takes place in the same universe as Symphonicdysonince's story Equestrian Eeveelution. While you don't need to have read that to be able to follow this, I would still recommend reading the first two chapters at least, as there's a lot of information in those that won't be in this. Plus, it's just a really good story.

Chapter 1: One Heck of a Bllizard

I sat in silence, centering myself. My mind was clear and my breathing was calm as I felt the world around me.

I was one with the universe.

I could only succeed.

My enemies would fall before me.

... Or they’d gank me from the grass and I’d have to wait to respawn... again.

I looked out the window into my neighbor's across our yards and sent the little bastard a one finger salute. “Fuck you, Zann.”

The ass hole just sent me a grin back.

I normally don’t play League of Legends, but it can be fun with friends, even ones I wasn’t that close to.

Really, our relationship was more of ‘friendly neighbors’ than actual friends. I mean, sure, we’d game together and I’d invite them over whenever I’d cook out, but I was a good decade older than them. Sure, I was the young-at-heart kinda guy, but I still felt old around them. I mean, I had a mullet when they were cool. They can’t really identify with that.

And, yes, mullets were cool once. Just google ‘MacGyver’ and you’ll see why.

Anyway, I was playing LoL, because my Monster Hunter group lost power already. It was day four of the worst blizzard I had ever seen, and, honestly, I was just trying to get as much time online while I had it.

The fact that I was getting my ass handed to me by a smug pincushion didn’t detract from the fun of it.

After losing two more matches and a few dozen deaths, Zann bid me goodnight.

I wasn’t really tired yet, though, so I decided to get a little exercise. I ran through a quick, basic set of the usual; stretches, sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, and so on, ending with a little time on the wooden man.

I was a bit of a mold-breaking nerd. While I wasn’t ripped, I kept myself in good shape and could easily kick the crap out of any jock that tried to pick a fight with me. Almost two and a half decades dedicated to the martial arts does that to you.

As I was cooling down, though, I noticed something out my window. There was this strange, pulsing light coming from nextdoor.

I was about to just dismiss it as one of them playing a hand-held, when a wave of light silently burst from within.

My reaction was the reaction anyone would have in that situation.

I stared dumbly as my brain failed to comprehend the light before it slammed into me.

I had been sitting there, staring at the water for at least an hour. I was certainly doing better than I was when I first woke up. Details of that moment will never be shared with another living soul other than to say, ‘I freaked out’, so don’t ask.

Most people would, though, when they wake up in a strange forest and their hands were turned into weird black and blue paws with a steel spike jammed through the back.

After I calmed down, I decided to find anything reflective. Luckily, I found a spring after only an hour of searching. What I found looking back at me was, to say the very least, unexpected.

Apparently, I was Lucario.

“Why?” was the only thing I could say.

I mean, it’s weird that that was where my mind went, but I was still freaking out a little.

Still, it was a valid question. Why was I turned into a freaking pokemon? I hadn’t cared about pokemon since gen two. The only thing I know about Lucario was that he was in Super Smash Bros, a couple things I gleaned from fan art on the internet, and part of a movie Leo was watching one day when they asked if I could help install a new ceiling fan for them (guess how many nerds it took to screw in that lightbulb).

The only thing I could figure from that was that he’s a legendary psychic/fighting type.

I think.

Well, maybe the homebrew race for D&D Leo found, but I doubt that was a credible source.

Finally, I managed to tear my eyes from my reflection to look around. Birds flew above, and squirrels ran through the treetops, so I wasn't transported to the Pokemon universe, but at the same time it didn’t look like Earth. It was too colorful.

“Damn it,” I cursed. “This is just perfect.”

I got to my feet, because I’m not calling them paws, bouncing slightly, trying to get a feel for my new body. I figured pokemon were physically superior to humans, so it would be a good idea to get a better idea of what it could do.

I felt light. A simple hop launched me a good six feet up. I was tempted to try an actual leap, but I felt that was probably a bad idea. Instead, I hopped back and forth, left to right.

Then, I stopped, took a breath, and pushed off my back foot, launching myself into a sprint. In the blink of an eye, I cleared thirty yards and slammed face first into a tree.

I couldn’t help but start laughing hysterically. It was amazing. I was so fast and agile, and even hitting that tree barely hurt. I had to admit, it was a pretty good consolation prize.

Staring up at the patches of blue I could manage to glimpse through the canopy, my mind wandered. I was still trying to come to grips with what happened.

Maybe this isn’t so bad. I mean, as long as I find a way home soon, this is just some crazy adventure. How often does things like this ever happen?

With a sigh, I got back up.

“I’ll start heading East,” I thought out loud. “Hopefully, I’ll get out of these woods and find someone that can help me.”

Earth or not, I needed to find civilization as soon as possible. My only hope of finding out where I was and what happened would be where their were sentient beings or an ancient temple.

If my experience in Dungeons & Dragons taught me anything it’s that shit like this is the fault of some ancient artifact.

Or a mad god, but that one was pretty unlikely.

Arceus glared at Discord.

“Yeah... Sorry,” the chaos spirit said, defensively. “I didn’t mean for it to hit him, honest!”

Damn, I was fast.

The trees blurred past. I had to be hitting thirty-five, at least.

I had been spending the last few hours just getting a feel for my new body’s abilities, and I had to admit, it was pretty sweet.

I came skidding to a stop near a few boulders.

“Ah, let’s test my strength, shall we?” I said, sauntering over to one about the size of my head.

I reached down, grabbed hold, and lifted. It was as if it were made of styrofoam. I tosses from one hand to the other a few times before dropping it where I found it and moved on to another that was as big as my body.

I wrapped my arms around it and heaved. The thing came up rather easy. This thing had to weigh at least seven hundred pounds, but I was lifting it as easily as if it weighed seventy.

When I set it back down, another idea hit me. With a smirk, I dropped into a fighting stance and punched the boulder as hard as I can.

“Fuck!” I cried, clutching my hand.

Who would have thought punching a boulder would hurt my hand?

Of course, I quickly forgot the pain when I noticed a crack in the stone where I hit it.

“No freaking way,” I gasped.

“Hell yeaAAAHHH!” I yelled as I found myself sixty feet in the air, having forgotten I could jump like that, new. “Crap, crap, crap, crap!”

And then I landed perfectly on my feet without effort.

When I let that sink in, I grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

I crouched down, tensing my leg muscles and sprang straight up. The tree tops quickly fell away as I rocket through the canopy. I flew up to at least a hundred and thirty feet before gravity decided I went high enough.

A small tinge of fear shot through me at my decent, but I fought that down and let my body take over. I landed on all fours, only a slight bit of pain shaking my joints as they strained a little with the impact.

“Holy shit, this is awesome!” I cheered. “I’m like a-”

I froze as I suddenly realized something.

Lucario could use that psychic ball attack that Mewtwo uses.

I looked down at my hands, wincing at the still unfamiliar sight.

“Okay, but... how do I actually do it?”

I put my hands close together, palms facing each other and concentrated. I focused all my mind on willing a psi-ball thing into being.

Nothing.

I tried for twenty minutes before I decided to stop and think about it. I tried to summon up what little I knew about Lucario.

“Okay, so, he’s psychic, but he’s not like other psychics,” I mused, pacing with one hand scratching my chin. “He seems more like the guys that make Pokemon pointed at DBZ and said, ‘Make that a pokemon.’ So, maybe he uses his psychic powers more like DBZ? Couldn’t hurt to try.”

I stopped my pacing and relaxed my body. I took slow, deep breaths, calming my mind.

It was a familiar exercise. I was a long time practitioner of qigong, and was familiar with the techniques.

I reached into my core and channelled my qi. Between my palms, a glow started to form. It was so amazing and surprising, I lost focus and it vanished even faster.

Letting out a huff of frustration, I tried again. This time, I didn’t lose focus. I stayed calm and relaxed as the light returned. That light grew until it formed a sphere, floating between my palms.

I wanted to cheer. I wanted to jump around and proclaim how utterly amazing it was, but I reigned that in and looked toward the boulder.

I struck out at the boulder with a palm thrust, sending the ball rocketing... about forty feet to the left of my target.

But, hey, I blew a tree up, so there’s that.

I settled in to start practicing, in the hopes I might improve enough to at least have the accuracy of a Stormtrooper.

I hadn’t even been practicing for an hour when a sound drew my attention. It sounded like a deep buzzing.

Soon enough, its source burst through the trees, roaring and heading straight at me.

The thing was a monster. Like a grizzly bear with a panda’s color scheme and a few yellow markings, six legs, insect-like wings, and a stinger.

I didn’t stop to think, I screamed, blindly shot a psi-ball at the thing, somehow scoring a direct hit to its face, and hauled ass like ass has never been hauled before.

I ran for a good. Solid hour before my mind came down from the panic, but I didn’t stop running. My once again logical mind telling me that running is still very much logical. However, I was able to at least think.

What the hell was that? There’s no way that thing is natural... unless this isn’t Earth. It was like a bear... bug... Maybe it was the stress, or maybe I just went a little crazy for a bit, but I started laughing.

I was laughing so hard, I had to stop for a bit.

“A... A bear bug!” I laughed. “A bug... bear! Bugbear! I was attacked by a fucking pun?!”

As I came down from my adrenaline rush, the implications started to set in. There were monsters here. Yet another thing to worry about.

However, a more pressing matter revealed itself as I noticed the sun’s position. It was going to start getting dark in a few hours, and I needed to prepare.

First thing first, I would need a fire. Luckily, I remembered seeing some rocky outcroppings as I ran that looked like they might have had flint. It only took me around fifteen minutes to find the spot, and another five to get a nice piece.

As a nice bonus, the rocks formed a nice little alcove I could use for shelter.

With that taken care of, I went to gather some wood. Found some milkweed while I was looking, and figured I would harvest that to make into rope.

I always had an interest in survival techniques like making fire, rope, shelters, and so on. I never thought I would ever need it, though. I just found it fun. Sometimes I would go camping without anything but a knife, but I always knew if it got too rough, I could just go back home.

I didn’t have that option here, and I can admit, I was a little worried. Luckily, while I was running and goofing off, I noticed several edible plants and signs of plenty of game animals, so I didn’t think food was going to be too much of a struggle.

And so, I spent the next several hours scavenging for firewood, edibles, a bit more milkweed, and even found a decent amount of flax.

When I found what I would need for the night, I started gathering materials I might need to travel.

I had just enough daylight to make a simple flint hatchet, and the frame for a backpack. I figured in the morning, I could weave the flax around it so I could actually carry stuff with me. Then I could spend another day or two preparing things I might need and start heading East.

That night, I confirmed that this really wasn’t my world, but it obviously wasn’t just another planet. I recognized so many stars and constellations that it had to be Earth, but at the same time, the moon was huge and its face looked nothing like the one I knew.

The only thing I could think of was that, somehow, I got sent to a parallel dimension. With that realization came fear. I wasn’t even in my own universe. Was it even possible to get home?

It was strange. I wasn’t really leaving much behind, if I couldn’t. I had acquaintances, but no real friends. What family I had, I wasn’t on speaking terms with. I didn’t have a girlfriend. I liked my job alright, but losing that wasn’t a tragedy. Yet, despite that, the thought of never going back terrified me.

With a sigh, I laid on my side, watching my fire crackle and burn.

Hopefully, I’ll find civilization soon, I thought, as I closed my eyes. I’ll probably be able to find something within a few weeks. I’ll just keep heading East.

Author's Notes:

Before anyone goes correcting me, I know Lucario is fighting/steel, and isn't a legendary. Luke, however, thinks he's psychic because he can communicate telepathically, and Aura Sphere is very visually similar to the move Mewtwo uses in the first movie, and he thinks he's legendary, because usually the movies are centered around a legendary.

Chapter 2: Kill Stealing B****

Honestly, I’m still not sure where my mental state was after several months(?) of wandering the forest alone. I doubt it was good, though.

Admittedly, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I tried to keep myself busy with any task I could; foraging, hunting, crafting tools, training.

It didn’t take me long to realize I had arrived in fall and would have to prepare for winter. That meant stocking up on food, firewood, and getting something warm.

I found a nice cave, and decided that would be where I was going to spend the colder months. I set up a nice firepit and a drying rack nearby to dry fruits and meats.

I hunted some larger game for pelts I could use for bedding and to make a warm cloak. Of course, I held off on making the cloak just in case my new fur was enough.

Too soon, winter fell, and I found that I did in fact need a cloak. Food was a bit more common than I thought it would be, though still hard to find enough that I was thankful that I prepared ahead of time.

Eventually, the snow melted and spring came, allowing me to finally start on my journey.

Once again, my life became the constant dredge of; wake up, eat, take care of my fire, walk East, scavenging on the way, stop, build a fire, eat, maintain or replace tools, sleep, repeat. The only thing that ever changed was that every so often, I would hunt.

It was on one of those hunting days that something finally happened.

I had been stalking an elk through the forest for three days, and finally I was moments from the kill.

It wasn’t quite in sight, yet, but I could sense it. It was feeding not far from where I was.

I closed my eyes, focusing on my qi, gathering it into my hand. A glowing orb of spirit energy faded into existence, the light it shed being shielded by my other hand. Using my spirit sense, I took aim, and fired.

The sound of the orb alerted the elk, but not soon enough to completely avoid the attack. I scored a glancing blow across its haunches, but it wasn’t enough to bring it down.

Even though it was wounded and too slow to outrun me, it was still a large herbivore with dangerous antlers. I followed close by enough to keep it running, but not getting close enough for it to lash out at me.

It was starting to get tired as it entered a clearing, its breath obviously labored.

That was the time to strike. I leapt from the brush and rushed to make the kill.

Only for a blue blur to streak from the sky and plow into my prey.

“What the fuck?!” I growled.

“Oh, yeah!,” a voice cheered out. “Perfect ten point kill!”

“What the hell?!” I yelled. “That was my kill!”

“Huh?” the speaker stood up, looking in my direction.

It was a reptilian creature with a lithe build, covered in light blue scales with two horns curving down and forward and a pair of wings that didn’t look big enough to lift it. If its voice was any hint, it was likely female.

“I’ve been hunting that thing for days now,” I growled. “If you’re hungry, I’ll gladly share, but I did the work of bringing it down, so it’s my kill.”

The reptile creature just looked at me in confusion, one eyebrow raised. “Is that the only word you know?”

I looked at her, blinking in confusion for a few seconds before I realized.

God damn it. I forgot, Pokemon can only say their names, I thought to myself. But, wait, I’m a psychic type, right? That lucario from that movie could talk telepathically, so shouldn’t I be able to, too?

I focused on her, channeling my qi into my thoughts and directed them toward her.

”Can you hear me?”

The lizard chick jumped, scanning around. “Who said that?! Come out, and I’ll rip you apart!”

”Shouldn’t that be ‘or I’ll rip you apart?”

She twisted around, her eyes wide in shock as she took in my admittedly cocky smirk.

“W-was that... you?” she asked.

It took all my willpower not to leap for joy.

”Yes, and you stole my kill. I was hunting that elk. I injured it, and I chased it into this clearing.”

“Yeah, well, I took it down, so it’s mine, now,” she said, brushing me off.

I grit my teeth, taking deep, calming breaths. “Look, I’d rather not fight over this. Why don’t we split the kill? It’s more than either of us could eat, anyway.”

“I’m not sharing,” she said. “Go get your own. Maybe after I finish, I might let you have the scraps.”

I was starting to lose patience, quickly. “I’m trying to be reasonable, here, but I’m not going to let someone just show up after I did all the work and take what’s mine. So you can either be nice and we share, or I take it all and leave you however hurt you need to be to get the message.”

She looked at me, eyes narrowed. “Not many creatures have the guts to trash talk a dragon. You honestly think you’re a match for me?”

“You really want to find out?”

The dragon smirked. “Well, You really do have guts, then. Alright, how about-” Her eyes suddenly shot open. “Look out!”

I dove to the side before I even consciously comprehended her warning. I barely saw the form of a massive feline like monster covered in scales soar through where I was standing an eighth of a second before.

The dragon turned to fly away, but the thing pounced at her, it’s jaws clamping onto her wing and slamming her to the ground. She tried to scramble away, but a giant claw batted her body into a tree.

I scrambled to my feet and, without even thinking, fired on the monster. My psychic ball slammed into its side, throwing it to the ground.

Moving faster than I ever had before, I rushed to the dragon’s side, scooped her up, and ran.

The crashing behind me told me the creature was giving chase.

I don’t know if it was the adrenaline, or just pure will that not only pushed my body faster than ever, but also let me focus on my spirit senses to keep track of it, and watch where I was going at the same time, but I was glad I was.

I leapt to the side, changing direction just as the monster pounced, landing right where I would have been.

I was running faster than ever, probably doing fifty, yet this thing was just a little faster. If it wasn’t for my senses, both me and the dragon would have been lunch.

Another pounce. I barely managed to move, actually kicking off the side of its snout.

It was getting more and more accurate. If this kept up, my luck was going to run out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted our salvation. To my left, a wide chasm streaked through the forest, nearly parallel to my path. When the thing pounced again, I shot toward it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to jump as far while carrying the dragon, and the gap was wider than I had ever jumped before, but I wasn’t exactly thinking.

Instead, I was acting on pure terror and adrenaline. So, I planted my foot on the edge of the cliff and jumped harder than I ever jumped before.

I chanced a quick glance back in hopes of seeing the monster give up. Instead, my blood chilled as the massive reptilian feline followed, leaping with far more force that I.

In desperation, I did the only thing I could. I twisted my body around and focused all the power I could into a psy-ball and launched it at the monster’s face. The force of firing it added to my momentum and the impact stole the creatures.

It let out a fearful howl as it fell into the deep dark of the fissure.We landed with all the grace one could expect from someone after all that. I lost my hold on the comatose dragoness, and we both went tumbling a good dozen feet.

I laid there for several seconds, just trying to catch my breath and make the world stop spinning. I would have laid there a little longer, but a groan reminded me of the dragon.

I got to my feet as quickly as I could and looked around. She was lying a few feet away from me, on her back.

Finally getting a good look at her, I feared all my effort saving her would have been in vain. One of her wings was a tattered mess, the bones broken and flesh shredded. The claw marks across her chest and belly were bleeding pretty bad, and it looked like she had lost a lot of blood.

I checked to make sure my belt was secure and its contents intact. It was a small first aid kit I put together and had come in handy multiple times, but it wasn’t meant for injuries like hers.

Still, it had a needle and thread as well as a few other things that could be useful. The needle was bone, and the thread flax, so it hurt like hell, but luckily for the dragon, she was unconscious.

I examined the wounds. They weren’t quite as deep as I feared, but still deep enough that if left untreated, she will either bleed out, or get infected.

I pulled my first aid kit off my belt and pulled out a poultice I made from yarrow, plantain, and comfrey to help stop the bleeding. Then, I threaded my needle and got to work.

It was extremely hard getting the needle in. Her scales were incredibly tough and forced me to search out the gaps in between.

After that, I had to get to work on doing what I could for her wing. All I could do was set the bones and splint it. I would have to find something to make an actual cast, later. Though, I doubted she would ever fly again.

After about two hours and exhausting my kit, I was done. It looked hopeful, but her survival was up to her.

She was still too injured to be moved, and I didn’t want to abandon her, so I gathered up some firewood, and set up camp.

With a fire to keep my patient warm and dissuade predators, I went to find a stream.

I was covered in blood, and wanted to at least wash that off before settling down for the night.

As I cleaned myself, it finally sank in. There was another person here. An actual, sapient being.

And she’s a dragon.

With that, I went back to camp, finding a small patch of plantain on the way. Using the extra leaves, I covered what bits of the dragon’s wounds I couldn’t before and put the rest in my kit. Replenishing it should be easy, considering how ridiculously bountiful this forest really is.

I sat down by the fire and looked down at the dragon. She didn’t look as pale as she did, but then that might have been the light. Her breathing was definitely easier, though. All in all, it really looked like she’d make a full recovery.

As I sat there, looking at her, though, I couldn’t help but think.

Why did she look familiar?

Chapter 3: Ember

The morning sun beamed through the forest canopy, stirring me from my sleep.

I sat up, stretching and yawning a little before tossing a few more logs onto the smouldering fire to fight off the early spring chill.

With that done, I decided to run down to the stream to refill my waterskins and look around for more yarrow. After about twenty minutes, I returned with the water, but not the herb, sadly.

I did find some more plantain, though, so I could at least change the bandaging.

I kneeled beside my patient, feeling her forehead to see if her temperature had changed. Just like yesterday, she was quite warm, but it felt the same as before, so I was hoping that was a dragon’s normal body temperature.

Slowly and carefully, I peeled the plantain leaves away.

I flinched at the sound of the dragon’s groaning voice. “Darn it, Garble, I said go away.”

Delicately, I reached out my thoughts, just like I did yesterday, “Miss, I need you to stay calm.”

Unfortunately, she decided to do the opposite. She jerked awake, took one look at me and tried to scramble away, only to hiss in pain, and clutch at her chest.

“Wh-what?” She stammered before her eyes locked onto mine, narrowed in hostile mistrust. “What happened?! What did you do to me?!”

“I treated your wounds,” I explained. “You were injured and would have likely died if I hadn’t.”

The dragon winced at the memory of the monster and looked down at the stitches going across her chest and belly.

She looked back up at me, this time more in suspicion. “Why? What do you get out of it?”

“The ‘why’ is simple; it was the right thing to do. You were injured, and I had the means and knowhow to help,” I explained. “As for what I get, honestly, I’m just happy to have someone to talk to after so long alone.”

She raised an eyebrow at that. “So, you saved me from that monster, just so you could talk? Speaking of which, where did that monster go, anyway?”

“It’s dead,” I answered.

Her eyes shot open, clearly not expecting that. “Wow,” she smirked. “I might have misjudged you. You’re tougher than you look. So... how bad was I? Was I out long?”

“The attack was just yesterday,” I explained. “As for your injuries, you lost a lot of blood, but it didn’t seem to hit anything vital, but... I’m no expert, but I think your wing might be a lost cause.”

“M-my wing?” She looked back, taking note of the splint and torn skin.

I continued to explain, “I set the bone, and that splint should hold until we get something better, but, well, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about fixing the flesh of the wing.”

“Th-that’s fine,” she said, choking up a bit. “I-it’ll heal... eventually.”

She was trying to put on a brave face, but I could not only see, but even sense her pain.

“My name’s Luke, by the way,” I said, as much to distract her as to properly introduce myself.

“Huh?” She turned back to me, having barely heard me. “O-oh... I’m Ember.”

“Well, Ember, happy to meet you,” I stuck out a hand, and she just looked at it in confusion.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“It’s a handshake, a traditional greeting among my people,” I explained. “Just stick out your hand.”

She hesitantly did so, and I grabbed it in my own and gently shook. “There you go. Now, why don’t I take a look at your wounds?”

Ember looked up. “Oh, uh, yeah, I guess.”

“Alright, go ahead and lay down.”

She did as I asked, and I examined the injuries. I washed them with some of the water from my waterskin, trying to be as gentle as I could, though her twitches and barely restrained groans told me I wasn’t completely successful.

Then, I took several of the plantain leaves and applied them over the wounds.

“What’s that stuff?” Ember asked.

“Plantain. It’s a medicinal herb that makes for a good makeshift bandage. It’s also good for treating poisonous insect or spider bites and stings. It also helps relieve pain.”

When I finished with that, I stood up. “Alright. You’re healing incredibly fast. I’d even say you might be up for travel in another two or three days. For now, you need to stay here and rest. I’m going to retrace my steps to try and find my pack. I’ll be back in an hour or two, hopefully with food. What all can you eat?”

She thought for a moment before answering, “Uh... pretty much anything. Meat, fish, fruits, gems, vegetables, pretty much anything anyone else can eat.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can find.” And with that, I was off.

I had just reached the chasm when her words caught up to me.

Did she say she eats gems?

It took me nearly half an hour to find a spot I was confident I could cross. After that, it was easy to retrace my steps and find where I set my pack. A quick check on that clearing showed what I thought it would. My elk was already taken by scavengers.

Still, I managed to bag a nice sized rabbit, so we had some meat, at least. I almost got a duck, but it managed to avoid my attack.

Other than that, I found a raspberry bush, a couple wild potatoes, and some edible mushrooms. That coupled with a few things I should still have in my pack, and we should have a nice little lunch. Then, I could look for more.

Ember was sleeping when I got back, so I just let her be and got to cooking.

While I was a man of many talents, cooking wasn’t really one of them. Granted I wasn’t a bad cook, I just wasn’t a good one. Combine that with a lack of readily available ingredients and what I was able to make was subpar at best.

Still roast rabbit with potatoes, carrots, and basil was one of the better meals I’ve had since coming to this world. That, and the raspberries would make for a fine dessert.

The smell of cooking must have been at least good enough to rouse Ember.

“Oh, hey,” she greeted, stretching gently so as to not aggravate her injuries. “You cook?”

“That depends on your definition of ‘cook’,” I replied.

Ember cocked an eyebrow, “Burning meat until it stops bleeding.”

I laughed. “Then, yes. I can cook.”

Ember looked at me, her curiosity apparent. “So... what are you, anyway?”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’ve been wondering that myself.”

“You don’t know what you are? How does that work?”

I flipped the rabbit before leaning back on my hands. “What I am isn’t what I was. What I am is a pokemon, specifically, a lucario... but, I’ve only been one for a few months.”

“Then... what were you?” Ember asked.

I replied, “Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t from this world?”

Ember shrugged and said, “I’d say it’s not the weirdest thing in the world.”

I looked up at my dragon companion, not sure how to take her easy acceptance.

“Well, then I guess I’m not as weird as I thought,” I said. “So, yeah. I’m pretty sure I’m an alien. I mean, where I’m from, dragons were only myth, but here... well." I gestured toward her.

“Yeah, I am pretty amazing,” She said, trying to strike a pose, only to aggravate her injuries. “Ah! Darn, that hurts.”

I chuckled, “Just try to keep your awesomeness from popping your stitches.”

I placed a few chunks of rabbit and two potatoes each on two broad pieces of bark and placed one in front of Ember before helping her sit up.

“That’s not a lot of meat,” Ember said, looking down at her food.

“Well, if you don’t want it...”

“N-no no! It’s fine,” she said, quickly. “I was just thinking... Why are you really sharing this with me? I mean, it’s really not a lot of food. Heck, both these plates together wouldn’t be much of a meal, so why would you go hungry?”

“Two reasons,” I began. “First, is the same reason I gave when you asked why I saved you. Second, this forest is unnaturally bountiful. I can’t take ten steps without finding something useful. I find more fruits and vegetables than I would ever need. Even small game animals are all over the place.

“The only thing that isn’t common is big game, and the only thing I get from them that I can’t really get from smaller animals are their pelts.”

“So... basically what you’re saying is... there’s plenty of food here?”

I shrugged as I chewed my food, One benefit of being psychic is that I can talk with my mouth full “Yeah. The only reason I didn’t get more was because I was more worried about getting my stuff. I’m going to be getting a few small things for dinner. Any requests?”

“Something made of meat,” Ember answered.

I chuckled. “Sounds good. One last thing.”

I gave her half the raspberries I found. She looked down, wide eyes. “No way! How’d you know these are my favorite?!”

I smirked and said, “I think we’re going to be good friends.”

I stared in surprise at Ember’s wounds as I inspected them the next day.

“That’s impossible,” I said aloud. “There’s no way it’s healed this well.”

Ember raised an eyebrow, “You know I can’t understand you when you aren’t doing that freaky brain-speak.”

“Oh, right,” I said, shaking my head to clear it. “I’m just baffled by how fast you healed. Is this normal for dragons?”

Ember looked down at her chest. “Eh, maybe a little faster than normal.”

I looked back up. “I’m going to press slightly on you. Tell me if there’s any pain.”

And so, I examined the area of the injury. Obviously, she wasn’t fully healed. The wound still looked painful, and she didn’t have the full range of motion, but she was far better off than she had any right to be.

I sat back, leaning back on my hands. “Alright, you’re healing nice enough that I think we can start traveling at a slow, steady pace.”

“We?” Ember recoiled a bit. “What do you mean, ‘we’?”

I shrugged, “I figured we could travel together. We could both use the company. Besides, you’re still injured and can’t fly. If something like that monster finds you, you’re lunch.”

Ember looked at me, scowling in indignation. “Are you saying I’m not tough enough?”

“Oh, you’re plenty tough,” I replied. “You survived getting half eaten, for christ’s sake. But even as tough as you are, you’re injured."

She looked like she wanted to argue, but I could see the thoughts race through her mind.

She let out a growl. “Fine, but we’re only traveling together for the company. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” I conceded. “I want the company more, anyway

And so, after spending that morning getting ready, we set off.

After walking for a good hour, Ember decided to break the silence. “So, where are you heading?”

“East.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “East?”

“East.”

“Okay... why?” Ember asked.

“Because I have no idea where civilization is, and I figure the only real way to find it is to choose a direction and start walking” I answered.

Ember looked at me like I was stupid. “Or you could just ask me.”

I stopped, dead in my tracks. I had been so used to just heading East it was just what I did.

“Are you telling me you’ve been heading East since the end of last Fall?”

“Uh... yeah.”

“‘Cause, uh... if that’s true, you probably would have gotten to a town in a few days if you went West.” She said, hesitantly. “In fact, the only way you didn’t pass through it would be if you’re really slow, or camped out in one spot for a while.”

Have you ever felt your mind snap? It’s an interesting feeling, but not one I’d recommend you ever try.

Everything I’d been through.

Everything I’d endured.

All for nothing.

I could only start laughing.

“Uh... you okay?” Ember asked.

“I... I’ve been alone for months,” I said, out loud, as I laughed. “All this time... because I went left?!”

Ember, meanwhile, not able to understand poke-speak, could only watch on as I completely lost it.

At some point, my laughter turned into crying.

With that one revelation, the illusion I wove around myself shattered.

This wasn’t some grand adventure. Everything wasn’t just going to work itself out. I wasn’t just going to stumble into the one thing I needed.

And chances were, I would likely never see home again.

Chapter 4: A New Destination

It had been three days since my breakdown. I was still in kind of a funk, but at least Ember was feeling better.

It was strange. I had thought she would have been only well enough to travel for a couple hours a day, at most, by this time, but her wounds on her chest and belly were almost completely healed.

Ember was already on her feet, stretching. “Man, I feel great! I can’t wait to get moving again.” She looked to me and asked, “So, where to?”

I sighed, dousing the fire. “Where ever you want to go, I guess.”

“Oh, come on, Luke,” she growled. “So things didn’t go your way. It happens. Moping won’t do anything.”

I just continued making sure our fire wouldn’t cause problems when we left.

“Alright, how about this,” she stepped in front of me, hands on her hips. “Since you saved my life, I’ll do you a favor. We’ll go to my place, and I’ll ask my dad to take you to that village, the one you missed.”

I looked up at her. “How far is your place?”

“About a week or two,” Ember answered. “I don’t really walk long distances, so I’m not completely sure, but it shouldn’t be much longer than that if I’m wrong.”

I thought about it for a bit. “Why not. I honestly don’t have any idea where to go, now, anyway.”

I finished stowing everything and strapped my pack on, ready to get moving. It felt nice having an actual destination in mind.

“So, which way?” I asked.

“East,” she replied.

At my deadpan stare, she chuckled and said, “Your plan wasn’t completely useless. You would have reached the dragon lands eventually. Of course, you might have gotten eaten as soon as you got there.”

I rolled my eyes and started leading my dragon friend through the woods.

“How do you even know which was is East?” Ember asked after a few hours. “For that matter, how do you know what’s edible and what makes good medicine?”

Without looking back, I answered, “I’ve just always been interested in wilderness survival. I never thought I would need it, but I liked it and thought it couldn’t hurt to learn.”

“Good thing you did, huh,” Ember stated with a chuckle. “Think you can teach me?”

“Sure,” I replied.

As we walked, I began pointing out various plants, herbs, mushrooms, fruits, and even a couple minerals and their uses.

Not long after a light lunch, Ember saw something and let out a cheer. “Oh, heck yeah!”

I watched in confusion as she sprinted toward a tree.

“Dude! It’s a magnolia tree!” she said, happily.

I looked at it, then back to her. “Yes, it is. Congratulations.”

“Help me pick some flowers,” she said, furthering my confusion.

She had seemed like a bit of a tomboy the whole time I knew her, so it felt a bit out of character for her to suddenly want to pick flowers.

“Why? I asked. “You never struck me as the flower picking type.”

Ember rolled her eyes. “I’m not. I’ve never been a fan of most of them, but magnolia flowers are freaking delicious.”

“What?

“What?” she returned. “They’re tough and spicy.”

“You eat flowers?” I asked, quite surprised.

“I told you, dragons can eat pretty much anything,” she answered. “Now we just need some meat. Hey, how do you hunt, anyway?”

“With powers beyond your mortal comprehension,” I said in a mockingly ominous tone.

Ember laughed. “So, the same magic you use to talk? Sidekick magic, or whatever.”

I chuckled. “It’s ‘psychic’, not not sidekick. And it’s not magic.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said, ‘sidekick’,” Ember repeated. “And since you’re my sidekick, you clearly get your power from me. Now, show your master your power.”

“Your leaps in logic are mind boggling,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m great like that.”

I could just chuckle and shake my head as I set off to find some small animal to eat.

Like I said, this forest is pretty much set to easy mode, so we found a pair of nice fat pheasants. I closed my eyes, focusing on my sixth sense. Both hands raised up, a glowing orb of psychic energy in each. They flew true, striking both birds down.

“Okay, I’ll admit, that was pretty awesome,” Ember said, a touch of admiration in her voice. “Don’t know what was with the whole closed eyes and wiggling head tentacle thing, but the lightshow was cool.”

“I close my eyes to better sense my target’s qi. The ‘head tentacles’, as you called them, I’m pretty sure help me sense it,” I explained. “What about you? I take you breathe fire? Or at least some other type of breath attack.”

“What other kind of breath would there be?” Ember asked.

I grabbed my kills and looked up at her. “How good is your breath at cooking meat?”

“Unless you like eating ash, not very,” she said. “Besides, my chest still hurts. I’d rather not use my fire if I don’t have to.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “So, where exactly are we going?”

“My cave is right on the border of the Dragon Lands,” Ember began. “I bet if you climb a tree, you can probably see the smoke from the mountain.”

I leapt up, easily clearing the canopy and gazed in the direction we were walking. Sure enough, there seemed to be a thick cloud of smoke and ash just visible on the horizon.

When I landed, Ember was looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. “Or, you can just jump. Seriously, what are you?”

I just laughed and said, “Lucario.”

And so, for the next several days, we traveled. As we went, I showed her some of the tricks I had learned. I showed her what kind of plants can be used for first aid. I showed her how to spot edible mushrooms. I even showed her how to make a couple simple traps. It was kind of cute seeing her reaction when she caught her first squirrel.

It was even cuter when she realized she was hopping around, cheering and tried to reassert her tough girl image.

It was only slightly less cute when she punched me in the face for saying as much.

At night, we usually sat in silence, sometimes talking about one thing or another we saw or did that day.

One night, the fourth of our journey, I asked, “So, what are dragons really like? Like, what can I expect when we get to the Dragon Lands?”

“Aww, you wanna know about me?” She said in a mocking tone. “You getting a crush on me, or something, dog-boy?”

I grinned, “Oh, absolutely. I dream of the day we have a litter of dragon-dog mutant babies.”

She let out a guffaw at that. “Keep dreaming, mut.

“Anyway, I don’t know what to tell you, really,” she said. “I mean, dragons are dragons. We’re big, tough, and rude.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. “Well, you're tough, sure, but you aren’t so big, and you aren’t really all that rude.”

She blushed and folded her arms in a huff. “I can be rude. I just don’t feel like it.”

I studied her for a moment before coming to the conclusion, “You aren’t like most dragons, are you?”

“What?!” she said, glaring at me. “I’m just as much a dragon as any other!”

“That goes without saying,” I said. “Maybe even better than most. That said, I still can’t help but think you’re different. I may not know much about dragons, but I think I can figure a few things out about them based on the things you’ve said.”

Ember sat there, quietly for several moments. “Most dragons are dumb as a brick. I mean, I get that being tough is a big deal, but... dragons used to be the most powerful, most dominant race on the planet, but now...” Ember sighed. “Now, we’re seen as vermin. The other races don’t fear us anymore, and why should they? I don’t care how tough you are, an enchanted ballista bolt will punch straight through scales.

“We’ve become a shadow of what we once were, and do you want to know why?”

“Because the other races use their brains,” I supplied.

“Because other races use their brains,” Ember confirmed. “Every other race in the world is inventing stuff and making new discoveries that make them stronger, while we just sit on our tails and get left behind.”

“Sounds like you want to change that, though,” I observed.

Ember Looked at me for a few moments, clearly in thought, before finally speaking again. “What I’m about to tell you stays a secret, you got that?”

“You have my word.”

“I’m planning on becoming the next Dragon Lord,” she said with conviction. “If I do, I can start encouraging dragons to start working out their brains, as well as their brawn. Then, maybe we’ll start to take back that glory we once held.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. “Well, that’s a damn fine goal.”

“Yeah, but it isn’t an easy one,” Ember said. “Most dragons just laugh when I tell them. Even my father. He just tells me that I need to find a mate and wait until I’m bigger and stronger, because then I’d ‘understand why being smart is not the dragon way’.”

“So, your father wants you to be the good little daughter and marry someone so you don’t upset the status quo,” I summed up.

Ember scoffed. “Yeah, pretty much. He thinks I wouldn’t stand a chance in the Gauntlet of Fire, but I’m going to show him.”

“What’s the Gauntlet of Fire?” I asked.

“It’s how we choose the new Dragon Lord. It’s a contest of strength, usually a race to retrieve the Bloodstone Scepter.”

“And you want to do it so that you can lead the dragons down a path of intellectual growth.” I summed up. “Alright, count me in.”

“Huh?” Ember gave me a confused look. “‘In’ what?”

“In on your plan,” I stated. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you become Fire Lord.”

“That’s ‘Dragon Lord’,” Ember corrected. “But, why? You’re leaving aren’t you? You’re going to go find a way home. None of this will even affect you.”

“Well, what else are friends for?” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, dragons don’t really do ‘friends’,” Ember said, crossing her arms.

“They also don’t do ‘smart’,” I countered.

Ember gave me an appraising look. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe dragons could use friendship.” She gave me a cocky smile. “Alright then. I’ll do it. I’ll bring friendship to the Dragon Lands when I’m Dragon Lord.

“Now, I just need to find a way to convince my father to let me compete,” she said, her mood dropping a bit.

“Just ask him,” I said. “If he says no, just do it anyway.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Luke,” Ember said. “If my father forbids me from going, I won’t physically be able to go.”

My eyes widened in shock at that. “Your father has that kind of power over you?”

“He has that kind of power over every dragon,” Ember said. “He’s the Dragon Lord.”

“Oh... well, shit.”

That certainly complicated things.

“Well, hey, we have at least until after the Gathering, so several months at the least,” Ember assured.

“And what’s the Gathering?” I asked.

“It’s an ancient dragon tradition, every... hundred years...” Ember stopped talking, looking around. “Do you hear that?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Hear what?”

“It... It sounds like singing,” Ember said.

“Singing?" I asked. “What kind of singing?"

"I don't know, but..." Ember looked around, trying to pinpoint the source. “It’s coming from this way. Come on, let’s go see who it is.”

“Uh... are you sure that’s a good idea, Ember?” I asked, cautiously.

Ember rushed off, away from our destination. “Why wouldn't it be? Besides, it sounds so... familiar.”

I followed as she led us through the forest to a large hill, covered in stones. As we approached, though, I saw the stones weren’t just random rocks. They were covered in some kind of writing. I couldn’t even come close to reading it, but something told me that this was a place one makes sure they don’t desecrate.

“Up here,” Ember said, leading us to the top of the hill. “Here... I hear it coming from... beneath us?”

We looked around, trying to find anything of significance.

“Ember, I don’t think there’s anything-” before I could even finish, the ground fell away, and we were swallowed up by darkness.

Author's Notes:

And at that moment, Luke regretted never learning how to make a parachute from squirrel bones and dandelion fluff.

Anyway, this is the last premade chapter, but chapter 5 is nearly done. I'm going to try to keep up the once a week pace I've been keeping, but no promises on how long that'll last.

Chapter 5: Dungeon Crawl

The only sound besides the rushing wind was Ember’s yelling as we fell, somehow managing to grab hold of one another.

With a splash, we landed in an underground river and were instantly swept away. The world twisted and tumbled, slamming us against rocks and the riverbed, knocking what little air we had out of our lungs.

Somehow, through all that, we managed to hold onto each other.

I didn’t know how well dragons could hold their breath, but my lungs were starting to burn and my head was getting fuzzy when we were shot out into open space.

I barely had time to fear for my life when we once again hit the water, this time a calm, but deep, lake. We managed to struggle to the surface (Or, I struggled. Ember was apparently a pretty good swimmer) and suck in precious air.

“Th-th-this w-way!” Ember stuttered, her teeth clacking together.

I couldn’t see anything, but I trusted Ember. Dragons lived in caves, after all. So, I followed her, using my spirit sight.

Thankfully, we managed to find dry land and hoisted ourselves onto it. As soon as we did, Ember curled up, shivering.

I crawled to her and grabbed her, pulling her into me. I had expected her to resist, but instead, she clung to me like a lifeline. I focused on my qi, trying to will it to warm me, and through me, her.

It was a trick I picked up over the winter.

“I-i-if y-you tell a-anyone about th-this...” She tried to threaten me.

“Tell anyone about what? We’re on opposite sides of the cave.” I stated, as if it were obvious.

“Y-yeah... w-w-we are.”

We stayed like that for a while, until Ember could will a little fire from her breath. Once she could do that, her body warmed quickly to the point where she was warming me.

“Alright. I think we’re warm enough,” she said.

“But you’re so comfortable and warm.”

“You wanna be warm for the rest of your life?”

I let her go and got to my feet. As tempting as it was to keep messing with her, I wasn’t going to call her bluff.

Mostly because I wasn’t sure it was one.

I focused my qi into my hand, creating one of my psy-balls. The light wasn’t much, but with our enhanced night vision, it was enough.

“Where are we?” Ember asked, spouting a little fire on her hands.

“I don’t know. That river could have taken us miles away,” I replied.

Ember scoffed. “Great. So how do we get out of here?”

I squinted my eyes, looking at something on the other side of the shore. “What is that?”

I formed another ball, a smaller one, in my other hand and launched it. It flew to the anomaly, lighting it up.

“Is that... masonry?”

We gave each other a hopeful look before rushing toward it. Sure enough, when we arrived, we found a man made (or whatever other race made it) tunnel, lined with stone bricks and unlit torches.

“Someone built this. And that means it has to have a way out, right?” I asked, hopefully.

Ember looked at me, then back into the hallway. “There’s only one way to find out.”

With that, she walked in. I moved to stop her, but I was too slow. However, instead of the trap I half expected, the torches on the walls suddenly lit with a soft glow. What was strange, though, was that it wasn’t fire, but they didn’t seem like light bulbs, either. They seemed almost like a powerful bioluminescence.

Still, it got Ember to stop. Plus, it gave us plenty of light, so I could extinguish my light-ball.

“Okay, let’s take it slow.” I told her. “That could have easily been a trap.”

“Y-yeah,” Ember said. “You think your weird sight thing can spot and traps?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” I said.

I activated my sight, but all I really saw were the lights.

“I’m not seeing any traps, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.” I said, taking the lead as we took our first steps into the structure. “Still, keep your eyes open for anything on the floor or walls that stands out.”

“Right,” Ember complied.

We slowly made our way through the hallway. My sight was wide open, but I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. That just made me nervous. At least if I had seen traps I would know they were there.

We walked for at least half an hour before we came to a large stone door, covered in some kind of glowing red writing and symbols.

“Well, that isn’t ominous, at all,” Ember said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

As we approached though, she squinted her eyes. “Wait a minute. I think I recognize some of these words.”

“You can read this?” I asked, more than a little surprised.

“Not really, but I know a couple of the words,” Ember corrected. “Dad’s cave has a lot of writing on the walls, and these are the same letters.Heck, I know some of these words.” She pointed to one. “This one mean ‘dragon’. And this one over here... I think means ‘value’? Or maybe ‘treasure’? That one there, I don’t remember what it actually means, but I remember it has something to do with old legends.”

I pondered that for a moment. “So, it has something to do with dragons, something of value, and something else associated with old legends...”

“That doesn’t really tell us anything,” Ember grumbled.

“No, it tells us something very important. This place was likely built by, or for dragons.” I explained.

“Great, and that helps us, how?” Ember asked.

“Because you're a dragon, meaning it was made for your people,” I stated.

“I guess. So, what are we waiting for? The sooner we do this the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Agreed,” I said. “So... any clue how to open this thing?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Ember asked.

I shrugged, “You have a better chance of figuring it out than me.”

Ember looked back to the door and sighed. “Can’t argue with that. Let’s see...” She approached the door to get a better look and places a claw upon it.

Immediately, the door shuddered, the runes glowed brighter, and the door slowly slid up into the ceiling.

“Well... That was easy,” Ember said. “So... I guess we go inside?”

I looked past the opening.

Well, I tried to. It was so dark, I couldn’t even see the floor after less than two feet. Considering how much light was in the hall, I knew that couldn’t be natural.

“Might as well,” I said, hesitantly.

We walked in, and as soon as we did, the door slammed shut behind us.

“What the heck?!” Ember shouted, accompanied by the sound of a scalie fist pounding on stone. “Darn it, why’s it so dark?”

As soon as she asked, torches lit up the room. It was just like the hall outside, with polished marble floors, walls, and ceiling, however, in the center of this room was something I could only describe as an altar.

I was quite large, taking up the majority of the room, at least twenty feet wide. It was set like a curved wall, with a mural carved into it. It depicted what I could only assume were dragons. They were all decked out it armor, wielding rather impressive looking weapons.

Though, it was what was in the center that drew my attention, and apparently the reverence of the dragon warriors in the image. It was a dragon, floating above the rest, claws aflame and ringed in runed circles.

“No way...” Ember gasped. “That’s not possible. Th-that dragon... she’s using magic.”

“I take it dragons can’t normally use magic?” I asked, turning back to my companion.

“No,” Ember replied, moving closer to the image. “The only magic we have is our fire breath, but that, what she’s doing, is actual magic. Or, at least it looks like it is. Don't know what else it could be.”

As she neared, I felt the fur on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Ember!” I mind-shouted, rushing forward just as the eyes of the wizard dragon began to glow. “Look-”

Light flooded the room.

“Dren vor’kah torgol,” A voice rang out. “Na tema voltu kinasat, Meg’eela.”

“Wh-what?” I heard Ember say. “Who’s there? Luke is that you?”

“That isn’t me,” I said.

Again, the voice bellowed out into our minds, it was... loud, for lack of a better word, and ,more than a little suspicious, but it didn’t seem hostile. “Who are you, that intrude upon this temple? A fallen dragon and a creature not of this world? How did you get here? How did you find this place?”

“I-I heard singing,” Ember replied. “It lead me to a hill, and then the ground opened up and we fell.”

There was silence for a time before the voice responded. “You heard the song?”

“We apologize if we are intruding.” I tried to broadcast my thoughts, hoping the voice would hear. “The door opened when Ember touched it. We assumed it was an invitation.”

When the voice ‘spoke’ again, it was much softer. “You heard the song, and the door opened for you? interesting... Tell me, little one, why are you accompanying this creature?”

Ember’s tone became surprisingly angry. “Luke’s not a ‘creature’, he’s my friend, and I’m accompanying him because I’m trying to help him get home.”

Suddenly, the light faded and we found ourselves in a grand chamber, decorated in polished marble with ebony columns and fine red carpeting leading to a raised throne carved from the largest diamond I ever saw.

And upon that diamond throne sat a dragon.

She was only slightly taller than Ember, but she radiated power and wisdom. Her scales were like polished gold and the horns sprouting from her head like a crown looked like they were cast from platinum. Finally, she wore robes of the finest lavender silk.

Ember and I looked up in awe at the dragon that greeted us, neither of us knowing what to think.

“You surprise me,” The dragon began with a warm smile. “You truly became angry when I called this being a ‘creature’ and declared him to be your friend.”

“Y-yeah, what of it?” Ember said, trying to act like she wasn’t nervous.

The golden dragon stood as gracefully as a ballerina and descended from the dais. She flowed to us, circling around us as she studied us.

“You, young one - Ember, I believe your friend called you - are different than I expected,” the dragon stated. “You are not like most of the other brutes our kind has become, are you?”

“If you mean I actually use my head for stuff other than smashing rocks, yeah,” Ember said. “But I can still smash plenty with it.”

The gold dragon stopped and stared at Ember. “Yes... I see. Perhaps you are the one I’ve been hoping for. The one I need.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What would you need her for?”

She looked back at me with a kind smile. “Why, for an heir, of course. My legacy must be passed on, and I refuse to pass it on to one who is unworthy.”

“And what is this ‘legacy’?” Ember asked. “Why’s it so important?”

Goldie smiled. “It is the key to returning dragon kind to greatness.”

Ember and I shared a look.

“But what is this key? How will it help dragon kind?” I asked. “Or, even better, if it can make dragons great again, why haven’t you used it to do just that?”

A sudden sadness fell over her as she answered, “Sadly, I cannot leave this place. Not until I pass on my legacy. My time has passed. It is time for someone new to take the throne.”

“And you think that should be me?” Ember asked, still a bit skeptical. “You just met me.”

“Yes, but I can see your soul,” the gold dragon said. “You have a pure heart, and a desire to see our people stand tall once more.

“Let me give you my gift, so that you may bring the dragon race back from the shadows.”

I looked to Ember, speaking only to her, “It’s your call.”

Ember thought for a bit before giving her answer. “Alright. If this will help me become Dragon Lord, then I’ll accept your legacy.”

The gold dragon smiled. “Then receive the blessing of your bloodline. Ascend, Ember, Archon of Fire. And you, Luke, I offer you a blessing as well. You shall be her guardian, her companion, her right claw. Take your place at her side, Luke, the Steel Soul.”

Her eyes began to glow bright white and I felt a warmth flow through me. My spirit sight was flooded with the energy flowing around us. The power swirled like a storm, lifting us off our feet as it infused out bodies.

"Oh, and do be careful on your way out," Goldie said. "Some rather nasty things have moved in to my old home."

Then the energy burst and all I saw was white.

Chapter 6: Awakening

Author's Notes:

I was going to wait until tomorrow to publish this, but I felt like doing it a little early. Enjoy.

Slowly, the world returned as my mind groggily tried to piece together why I was sleeping on stone.

The memory of the last hour came back to me, and I jolted upright, Ember mirroring me.

“What? What the hell?” I asked. “Where are we?”

It didn’t take long to see we were back in the room with the strange altar.

“What the heck happened?” Ember asked. “Was that a dream?”

“No,” I said with utmost certainty. “I’m not sure how I know, but that was no dream. She called you the ‘Archon of Fire’.”

Ember’s eyes widened in shock at that. “How did you... it was real?”

I nodded my head. “At least I believe so. The only other explanation is that somehow I may have linked our minds psychically.”

Ember looked up at the altar, confusion on her face. “If that’s true, though, what the heck is this legacy she gave me?”

“I don’t know. Do you feel any different?” I asked.

“Honestly, yeah,” Ember admitted. “I feel like there’s... something inside me. Like... the feeling I get when I’m about to breathe fire, but it’s different. This feels... more.”

“More?”

“Yeah, I don’t really know how to explain it,” Ember admitted.

I sighed. I was worried about what that dragon might have done to us. A part of me feels she was up to no good. I mean, she didn’t even give us her name. “Well, we won’t find any answers just sitting around here. Let’s get going. There has to be an exit somewhere.”

“Yeah, let’s just get home,” Ember agreed. “We can figure out what happened there.”

And so, we got to our feet. It didn’t feel like we’d been laying there for too long, but we couldn’t be sure. After all, we still didn’t know if we were sleeping and just had a vision or if we had been transported.

Regardless, we found a door on the opposite side of the room from where we entered. Like the previous door, it opened at Ember’s touch.

We crossed through into another short passage, this one was short, with only two other doors, one in the middle of the hall and the other at the opposite end.

Like the previous doors the one in the center had to be opened by Ember. This one, though, guarded what we could only call a ritual chamber. It had six stones arranged around a circle carved into the floor, both stones and circle adorned with unknown writing, all still glowing with power.

And in the middle of the circle laid the bones of a dragon.

A dragon with very familiar horns.

“She couldn’t leave,” Ember said, so quietly I barely heard.

I looked solemnly at the remains. I couldn’t help but wonder why she died here. Was this the reason she was able to speak to us?

Regardless of the answers, I didn’t feel right leaving her there.

“How do dragons handle their dead?” I asked.

Ember looked at me in surprise. “Uh... Well, usually we just throw them into a volcano. You know, return them to the fire of the earth.”

“Is there anything we can do here and now?”

Ember looked down at the dragon’s remains and shook her head. “No. Not here.”

If I hadn’t lost my pack in the water, I could have bundled her up in one of my skins, but we had nothing to carry her in.

“We’re coming back for her,” it wasn’t a request or suggestion. I couldn’t leave her like that. “If we don’t find something in this place to carry her, I’ll get something after we leave and come back.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ember said.

“Thank you.”

We left the chamber, making sure it was sealed behind us.

The next door wasn’t locked like the others, and I was able to open it myself. Of course, by ‘open’, I mean try to open it only for the hinges to crumble into dust and the door to fall into the next room with a loud thud.

That was when I remembered something else the unnamed dragon told us. Some rather nasty things had moved in. And I pretty much just rang the dinner bell.

The first sign had been the sound of scuttling. The moment I heard it, I readied a psi-ball, ready to blast anything that even seems like it might be hostile.

“I think we should run,” Ember said.

“Not until we can figure out where it’s coming from,” I said. “If we run now, we risk running right into whatever’s coming.”

We stood near the door I knocked down, listening and watching. I had my spirit sense running as hard as it could, hoping to sense it before it can possibly see us.

There were three doors leading out of the room, and I felt creatures just past all of them.

“Shit, we’re surrounded,” I warned. “Get ready for a fight.”

“Darn it, we should have run!” Ember growled.

“If we ran, we would have definitely run into them,” I countered.

“Yeah, the ones through one of the doors, not all three!”

“Both options were risks, okay. Besides, now I can pick them off from a range.”

Which I showed her as I loosed a blast right at one of the doors just as I sensed one of them getting ready to peek through. I didn’t even see the thing before it was blown to pieces.

My cocky smile was wiped away as, like a kicked hornet’s nest, a hoard of giant cricket looking things with unfairly big mandibles exploded into the room.

I fired ball after ball, not even charging them very much just so I could fire quicker. I was certainly doing damage, but not every hit was a kill.

“I don’t think your magic ball things are going to be enough,” Ember said.

“Can you use your fire?”

Ember took a deep breath and exhaled hard. A few sparks flew, but no flame.

“Darn it!” Ember roared. “We’re going to die. None of this would have happened if I didn’t get hurt. Stupid wing! Stupid breath! Stupid freaking bug monsters need to just die!”

As Ember roared her frustration, I felt a sudden spike of energy with my spirit sense. I turned to see Ember slash at the air with her claws, only for a wave of ice shards to blast out through the air.

It was only my supernatural reflexes that saved me from being impaled. The bug monsters, though, had no such ability. Both of us could only gape at the destruction Ember had somehow caused as every bug in the room was shredded.

Ember finally found her voice, “Wh-what... What was-”

I interrupted, grabbing her hand and running through the door that looked like it had the least monsters still in there.

The sudden forced movement and the sound of scuttling behind us snapped Ember out of it quickly enough, and she ran under her own power.

We hauled ass as fast as we could, only slowing slightly so I could blast one of the monsters in our path.

“Any chance you can do that again?” I asked as we ran.

“I don’t even know what that was!” Ember shouted, on the brink of panic.

“I’m still not a hundred percent sure what it is that I do either, but I do it. Now, can you?”

“I don’t know,” Ember replied as we rounded a corner into another room. “I just... did it.”

“Try to figure it out, if you can.”

“Easier said than done!” Ember shouted.

We kept running, me blasting the big ass bugs and Ember putting her claws to good use against any that leapt at us from behind.

Luckily, it seemed that most of them were behind us, and we were a bit faster.

Suddenly, a trio of bugs leapt at us from a door to our right. I tried to form a psi-ball, but they were too close, so I just swung at them, forgetting the ball was still in my hand.

The psi-ball elongated, forming a glowing staff of qi that pulverized the little monsters like the insects they were.

“That’s new,” Ember commented.

I faltered for an instant before getting back to running. With my new weapon, I plowed through the bugs, seeing something ahead that nearly brought a tear to my eyes.

“Light!”

With only a couple bugs between us and freedom, we poured everything we had into speed, no longer worrying about the monsters.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we burst through some hanging vines and into the sun.

The few creatures that followed us, didn’t follow far before retreating to the safety of the underground. And when we felt we were far enough away, we collapsed, gasping for air.

We laid there for at least an hour and just relished in the sun.

“So...” Ember finally began. “You got some weird new power, too, huh?”

“Kinda, but not really,” I stated. “I’m pretty sure that was Bone Rush. It’s something I technically could already do, I just didn’t know how.”

“Oh... So then...” Ember sat up and looked at me in thought. “What the heck did I do?”

I sat up, too, before I answered. “Considering what we saw in that altar carving, I’m guessing that was the ‘legacy’ that gold dragon mentioned.”

“So... what, I can do magic, now?” she asked, almost sarcastically.

“Maybe.”

“But... Dragons don’t use magic like that,” Ember said. “All we have is our fire breath.”

“The way Goldie spoke, I think maybe dragons did have magic a long time ago.”

Ember was silent for a while, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I don’t know. If this was her legacy, then wouldn’t that make it a rare gift only a few dragons had?”

I sighed. “I don’t know, but I think we should get moving. Those bugs retreated back underground when they came outside, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay there come night.”

“Yeah, we can figure out what the heck happened when we get to my place,” Ember agreed. “Can you jump up and see if you can see the volcano?”

I got to my feet and looked up. “Yeah, give me a second.”

My muscles were already getting stiff, so I had to stretch them out a little before jumping up.

When I landed, I said with a smile, “Well, good news. Our little river ride didn’t take us too far off course. In fact, I’d guess, we’re only about three days walk from it.”

“Then let’s get going,” Ember said, standing up. “The sooner I’m home, the better.”

We set a pretty tough pace, and by the middle of the third day, we finally arrived at our destination.

“Welcome to my home,” Ember said, waving at a very plain, ordinary cave entrance with absolutely no adorments whatsoever.

I didn’t really know what to expect, but it sure wasn’t that.

When we went inside, however, my opinion of the place changed. It was like stepping into a cave claimed by a Viking princess. There were animal pelts and skull trophies adorning the walls. There was a massive fire pit in the center of the cave that Ember was in the process of lighting.

She got a blaze going pretty fast and filled the space with light, allowing me to see the back. Not only was there a massive bed, covered with furs and silks, but beside the bed was the biggest pile of treasure I had ever seen.

Gold, silver, jewels, ivory, and things I couldn’t readily identify, all piled as tall as me and three times as wide.

“Piece of advice,” Ember spoke up beside me, startling me. “Staring at a dragon’s hoard is fine, but touch it and you probably won’t live much longer. That includes mine, friend or not.”

I could only nod.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m beat, and I want to sleep in my actual bed for once,” Ember said, stretching as she made her way toward the back. “We’ll talk to my dad in the morning and see if we can get you a ride.”

“So, where am I sleeping?” I asked.

She stopped for a second, as if in thought. “I guess, you can sleep on the other side of the bed. B-but you better not get any ideas. Keep your paws to yourself if you want to keep them.”

“I shall be a perfect gentleman,” I said, giving an exaggerated bow.

She gave a little chuckle at that as she climbed into bed, right beside her treasure pile. “Whatever, as long as you behave.”

I climbed in on the opposite side from her. “Oh, god, this is heaven. It’s been far, far too long.”

Ember chortled. “Whatever, dweeb. Just go to sleep.”

Chapter 7: Wisdom of the Elders

“Oh, Luke,” the sexy redhead moaned. “You’re so big.”

“That I am,” I replied as her hands slid across my back.

I closed my eyes, to bury my muzzle into her neck as I squeezed her tight ass.

Which, for some reason felt... scaly?

I opened my eyes, fighting off sleep, to find out why, only to see cyan scales.

“Ah!” Ember screamed in my ear and threw me off the bed.

I landed with a painful thud.

“Dafuq? What happened?”

Ember yelled. “I thought I said no funny business.”

I looked up to see Ember glaring down at me, face bright red. “Wait, were we on my side of the bed?”

Ember looked around, the realization sinking in. “Yeah, well... first of all, it’s my bed, so every side is my side. And second, you were grabbing my butt!”

I felt my own face heat up. “I didn’t mean to. I was... having a dream.”

“I can see that,” she replied, her gaze flicking down to my groin.

I quickly shifted to hide indecency. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I swear.”

Her eyes softened slightly, but the blush remained, if not quite as bad. “Fine, it was an accident. But your sleeping somewhere else from now on.”

I let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, well, obviously. I’m going to that town you mentioned before today, right?”

“Oh... yeah... right.” I didn’t need my spirit senses to tell that she was feeling down all the sudden. And it didn’t take a genius to figure out why.

“Of course, there’s really no rush,” I said. “I mean, that town will be there next week, right? Maybe I can hang out here, with you for a bit?”

Ember looked up at me with stars in her eyes. “Really?!”

And then quickly forced her ‘tough girl’ mask back on. “I mean, yeah, sure. That might be cool.”

I smiled. “Yeah, besides, I want to help you figure out what this ‘legacy’ is.”

“Oh, right,” Ember said.

“First things first, though,” I said. “Shouldn’t you introduce me to your father? I’m not sure how it is with dragons, but among my kind, a father might get a little... protective if he finds some strange male in his daughter’s home.”

Ember waved it off. “Nah, dad’s just as likely to squish you if I introduce you to him as if he found you in my cave when I’m not here.”

“Oh, well that makes me feel safe and secure,” I said, injecting as much sarcasm into my mind-voice as I could. “Whatever, I’m going to go find me some food. You want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Ember said.

“Alright, be back in a bit.”

And with that, I leaped down the mountain and ran back into the woods.

The whole time, I couldn't get the feel of Ember's ass out of my mind.

Ember waited until Luke was out of sight before she started to climb further up the volcano.

There were no paths, much to her frustration, but her claws were good for clinging to the volcanic stone of the mountain. As such, it wasn’t too difficult to make it to another cave entrance near the top.

She took a deep breath and stepped inside.

“Hello?” she called. “It’s me, Ember. Are you here, Star?”

“Ah,” a powerful, yet motherly voice echoed out. “I was starting to worry, young one.”

Another dragon stepped out. She was, in a word, ancient. Her pale white scales seemed dry and cracked in places, and her horns were worn to mere nubs. Her eyes, however, still held that spark of life.

“I was worried something...” The dragon’s smile vanished when she got a good look at Ember, seeing the scars across her body and tattered wing. “Something did happen.”

Ember’s eyes went to the floor. “Yeah, I was attacked by this big thing that looked like a cat, but with scales.”

“A dingonek?!” Star exclaimed, surprise evident in her tone. “However did you survive? Those beasts are relentless, powerful, and fireproof. Forgive me, but I can’t imagine you defeating one.”

Ember grumbled a little at that. She wanted to say that she only got beat because it snuck up on her, but she learned long ago that if Star said something it was likely true.

“I didn’t,” Ember admitted. “I was saved.”

Hearing that, the ancient dragon not only calmed down, but found herself quite intrigued. “By who?”

“That’s where things get a little weird,” And so, Ember told the elder dragon about everything that transpired in and beneath the forest, skimming over most of the boring stuff.

“... but, I guess they didn’t like the sun, because they didn’t chase us far after we got outside. After that, it was an easy trip back here.”

Star lounged on the floor, eyes closed as she absorbed what Ember told her.

“So, I figured if any dragon knows anything about this ‘legacy’ and that dragon in those ruins, it would be you,” Ember explained.

Star, however, started laughing, much to Ember’s surprise and irritation.

“I fail to see what’s so funny?” Ember growled.

Star wiped a tear from her eye and answered, “Congratulations, girl, you’ve found the one story older than me.”

“But, nothing’s older than you!” Ember said before she realized it and clamped her claes over her mouth.

Star just laughed harder. “That’s only mostly true, little Ember. This is one of the few that are. It was a story my mother used to tell me about the great dragon kingdom, Wyr, and the dragon sorcerers that ruled.”

“The diamond throne,” Ember muttered. “That wasn’t just some crazy dragon I met, was it?”

Star smiled. “No, I don’t believe so. I believe you met the last dragon empress, Empress Aurora.”

“Empress? But, she was so small, barely taller than me.” Ember’s brow furrowed in confusion. “There’s no way she could have been an empress. She was tiny. Some other dragon would have took it from her.”

Star replied, “Did you ever wonder why the Bloodstone Scepter is so small, when it’s held by the biggest and strongest?”

Ember had to admit, she had found it strange. It was actually rather comical seeing her father holding something so important that looked like a toothpick in his claws.

“That is because it was forged by the dragon sorcerers of old to be used not by the biggest, but the most magically powerful. As dragons age, we grow. However, the way we grow depends on the path we take. Those who follow the path of the body, grow in body. Those who follow the path of the sorcerer, grow in magic

“If you wish to follow the sorcerer’s path, you will not grow much larger than you are now, if at all, yet even a dragon as mighty as your father would be nothing but an irritating fly next to your power.”

Ember let that soak in for a while. “We were really that powerful?”

Star chuckled. “Who do you think moved the sun and moon before ponies came into their own magic?”

“So... I can learn magic? Like the ponies?” Ember asked.

“Not quite like the ponies, no,” Star said. “What you can do with it are the same, but how it is used is quite different.

“Where ponies use spells using formulae and books, dragon magic is pure will. However, you will have to understand how something works if you wish to affect it. That is something I can teach, if you wish.”

Ember sat and thought for a bit, before she asked, “Mind if I sleep on it?”

“Take all the time you need.” Star assured. “Besides, I want to talk about this Luke.”

“Wh-what about him?” Ember asked, dreading that she knew the answer already.

Star gave Ember an evil grin. “Well, you have a male staying in your cave, a moon from the Gathering.”

Ember growled, even as she blushed. “Why did I know your mind was going to go there? I swear, you’re such a perv! He’s not even a dragon!”

“First I’m not a perv, I’m old and living vicariously through you,” Star corrected, “and second, who cares what he is. He’s strong and cares for you. Plus with how much magic he seems to have, you might even be able to have an egg together, regardless.”

Ember brushed a claw down her face. “I Swear, first Luke grabs my butt, now this. This day couldn't-”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Star asked with a huge grin.

I was humming a jaunty tune, happy that I had found a nice size boar so soon into my trip. Add onto that the mint I spotted during the chase and I was looking forward to-

My ears perked up and birds scattered as a roar echoed down through the forest.

That almost sounded like Ember, I thought to myself. Nah, even she’s not that loud.

Star blinked from behind a wall of earthen spears. “Perhaps I should refrain from so much teasing until you get a better handle on your magic.”

Ember, meanwhile was looking on in horror. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean to!”

“It’s find, child,” Star assured as she broke the spikes and tossed them over her shoulder. “I may be old, but I’m still spry enough to dodge a few sharp rocks.”

“But... what if you don’t next time?” Ember asked in a near panic. “What if I do something worse?”

“Calm yourself, Ember,” Star said. “Everything will be fine.”

Ember took a deep breath. “You’re right. Everything will be fine, because I’m not sleeping on this. I need to learn how to control this before I hurt someone I don’t want to.”

“That’s a shame,” Star said. “When Garble inevitably tries to get you in his cave come time for the Gathering, you could do unspeakable things to him and still have the excuse that you can't control it.”

Ember stopped and thought about that for a moment. “That is a good point, and certainly tempting, but you and Luke tend to annoy me, too, and I’d rather not hurt you.”

“Are you absolutely certain you wish to learn?” Star asked, her voice becoming very serious.

“Yes,” Ember replied. “But, I have to wonder, how do you know how to teach me? You don’t have magic, do you?”

“No, child,” Star answered. “At least not like you. I do have a form of magic, but it is turned within. It’s how I’ve lived longer even that a dragon’s natural lifespan by many centuries. My mother was the last of the dragon sorcerers, and it is thanks to her that I know how it works.

“We’ll start now, with a lesson on how to keep from using your magic accidently,” Star said. “After that, I would like to meet this Luke.”

I walked up towards Ember’s cave with my boar slung over my shoulder.

“I thought I heard you talking to someone,” I broadcast my voice to both Ember and her other guest.

“Ah, you must be Luke,” the other dragon greeted.

She was much bigger than Ember, but not as big as I imagines a full grown dragon to be. At least, I figured she was full grown. She did look rather old, though again, just a guess.

“I am,” I greeted. “And to whom do I have the pleasure?”

The older dragon gave Ember a mischievous grin, “My, he’s a polite one. You can call me Star. I’m something of a... what’s the term? Godmother to little Ember here.”

“Ah,” I gave a little bow. “I’m glad to make your acquaintance.”

“Really, Luke?” Ember gave me a flat stare. “Where was all that polite junk when we were traveling together?”

“We’re friends, we don’t have to be polite to each other,” I stated.

Star just laughed. “Oh, my. You two really are just adorable together.”

Ember facepalmed. “Darn it, Star, can you lay off it, already?”

“Oh, fine. You’re just so cute when your angry,” Star said to Ember before turning to me. “Isn’t she cute when she’s angry.”

I grinned. “Absolutely adorable.”

“I will hurt you,” Eber said, plainly.

Star chuckled and said to me, “I would like to thank you for saving her life and healing her. There aren’t many that can face a dingonek and survive. You must be very powerful.”

“Well, I just used my head and managed to knock it into a ravine.”, I explained. “I’m not even sure it’s dead.”

“Well, regardless, you saved her. However, something Ember told me has me curious. Tell me, what was the gift that you were granted?” Star asked.

I had to stop and think for a few seconds to know what she meant. “Ah, she already told you about our little adventure. I’m not sure what it was. She said something of a ‘Steel Soul’, but I don’t know what that means.”

Star gave a little snort of amusement. “Yes, my mother always said the Empress loved being dramatic. That’s just a title, and I doubt it has much, if any, relation to your gift.”

Well, that was one clue as to what she did to me gone.

“Ember said you suddenly gained an ability that you claim you were already able to do but did not know how.”

“Yes, I did,” I focused on my power and drew it out into a staff of energy. “It’s called ‘bone rush’.”

The elder dragon hummed in thought as she examined the glowing staff. “And here Ember said you used psychic abilities.”

I blinked in surprise. “But... I do... don’t I?”

Star laughed. “You really are a stranger to your own body, aren’t you? No, this is not psychic power. This is Aura.”

“Aura?” I had to admit, the name did sound familiar. Did they call it that in that movie Leo was watching? And when I thought about it, I think Smash called that psi-ball thing something like Aura Ball or Aura Sphere.

“Yes, Aura,” Star confirmed. “It is the power of the soul. I can understand your mistake. Many of the traits of Aura can be similar to psychic abilities. For example, your ability to speak without speaking. Normally, when one thinks of telepathy, they think of a psychic linking their mind to another. With Aura, however, you link your soul.”

I stood there, stunned by this. It made sense, to be honest. I always used it the same as I would qi. Qi is from the spirit, not the mind. I felt rather stupid for not realizing it before.

“How do you know all this?” I asked.

She just looked at me with a knowing smile as a voice echoed in my head, “Did you think you’re the only one?”

Author's Notes:

Edit: Woo! Chapter got featured!

Chapter 8: Secret of Aura

I was, in a word, surprised.

Ember, however, was so far beyond that.

“Wh-what the heck, Star?!” Ember shouted. “Are you telling me you have freaky powers like Luke and never once did you think to tell me?”

“Like Luke?” Star guffawed. “Hardly. I can’t do much with it, I’m afraid. You’ve just seen almost the full extent of my ability to actually use Aura. Even that much is not easy for me.”

“Still, that would have been something I might have wanted to know,” Ember said, crossing her arms in a huff. “Maybe I would have wanted to learn it. Did you ever think about that?”

“I did, in fact,” Star declared. “Do you remember when we used to play that game where I’d blindfold you and tell you to find me?”

Ember thought for a moment before replying, “Yeah, I remember?”

“That was to see if you had any gift for Aura. I’m sorry to say, you don’t.”

“So, are there dragons that can use the same powers I have?” I asked, finally getting over my surprise.

“Not for over a thousand years,” Star replied.

“What happened to them?” Ember asked.

“Let’s not concern ourselves with such things,” Star said, though I could see, for the briefest moments, a glint of sorrow in her eye. “Instead, why don’t we take a look at your friend, here. Show me what you can do.”

And so, I gave her a demonstration of what I could do. I ran sprints, jumped as high as I could (Both of which I swore were faster and higher than before), I punched a rock and broke it in half, then I fired off my... I’m going to just call it aura sphere. I’m pretty sure that’s what it was called in Smash, and even if it’s not it sounds better than aura ball. Finally, I ended with bone rush, smashing another boulder to pieces.

Star watched me the whole time, her face serious. By the look in her eyes, I was quite sure she was watching more than just what one could see. She was watching my Aura.

“Very good,” Star said. “And you say this ‘bone rush’ ability is something you just figured out how to do?” I nodded. “I see. I believe I may know what your gift is, but I’m not certain. Even then, I can’t help but feel it’s only part of it.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“She may have given you some kind of instinctive knowledge of your abilities,” Star explained. “Of course, this meant her gift would be little more than a shortcut. I can’t help but feel there’s more to it than that.”

“What do you think it might be?” I asked.

Star chuckled at that. “Child, it’s nothing more than a gut feeling. I can’t even so much as speculate what it could be.

“Regardless, you may have been granted knowledge, but you still need to learn how to actually use what you know. That, unfortunately, isn’t really something I can teach.”

I nodded. “I understand. Thank you. You’ve been more than helpful.” I looked over at my lunch. “You want some boar?”

Star laughed. “I think if I did, there wouldn’t be enough left for you. I saw some rather fat looking deer in the forest yesterday. Keep your kill. Maybe share it with Ember? I’m sure she’d love to dine with you.”

“Star,” Ember groaned, rubbing her snout in frustration.

“Fine, fine,” Star relented. “I’ll be going and giving you two some privacy. Have fun.”

With that, she spread her wings and took to the sky, circling toward the forest.

“Well... she’s an interesting one,” I observed.

Ember sighed. “She’s a pain in the scales... but yeah, she’s cool.”

“So, you want some boar?” I asked. “I doubt I can eat the whole thing.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ember replied.

And so, we both made our way back inside, pig in tow.

The next day saw the two of us on top of the mountain, trying to get a handle on our powers. Mostly, it was Ember, seeing as I already knew the basics of mine.

“Alright,” Ember began. “I can do this.”

Ember held out her hands, face scrunched up in concentration. Slowly, like an old neon light, they started to flicker. Eventually, the glowing stabilized and she had a lovely red glow.

She held it for several seconds before focusing on a nice sized boulder about the size of my head.

“Good, now, will the rock to fly into the lava,” Star instructed.

Slowly, the same red light started to envelop the boulder. It was unstable, but it was holding. Then, she willed it to fly...

And instead it melted.

“Dang it!” Ember shouted. “I had it! It was this close to doing what I wanted.”

“Hey, don’t feel down,” I said. “You melted it. That at least means your magic is working on it.”

“He’s right,” Star said. “The fact that you’ve come so far as to already be able to channel your magic and affect objects hints that either you’re a natural or Aurora gave you knowledge, too.”

Suddenly, I had an idea. “Try it again. I want to see what this really looks like.”

Ember understood the moment I closed my eyes and my dreadlocks started twitching.

She repeated the process and summoned up her magic, willing another boulder to throw itself into the lava.

Instead, there was a loud crack and the boulder split in two.

“Ah, I think I see the problem,” I said. “You’re coming at it too aggressively. Strong doesn’t mean forceful. You need to be strong, but gentle.”

“‘Strong but gentle’? What the heck does that even mean?” Ember asked.

I smirked. “So glad you asked.”

I walked over to an area that was clear from debris and created my staff. With it, I carved two parallel lines, about ten feet long and five feet apart, and stood at one end.

“Come here,” I requested. “I want to show you something.”

Ember gave me a suspicious look as she slowly approached.

“Try to get past me.”

Her expression was deadpanned as she replied, “Do what?”

“Without crossing these lines, I want you to get past me. You can use whatever means you can, save your magic or fire breath. You can punch me, kick me, claw me, whatever you want. I, meanwhile, can’t strike you at all. I can only gently move and push you.”

Ember burst out laughing. “What? Really?! Alright. This’ll be easy.”

As I expected, she charged me, intent on running me down.

I just used my body to turn her momentum around and she stumbled back the way she came.

“Wh-what? What the heck just happened?” Ember asked.

“Certainly not you getting past me,” I taunted.

“Oh, you got jokes, huh,” she snarled. “Joke this!”

She came at me again, this time with her fist drawn back. Once again, she found herself twisted around and off balance. A light push between the wings sent her stumbling right back where she started.

She got her feet back under her and turned to glare at me. “Alright, how the heck are you doing that?”

“I’m being powerfully gentle,” I answered.

“I’ll claw your eyes out in your sleep.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, fine. It’s like a warrior philosopher from my world once said, ‘Be like water.’”

“Water?” Ember asked, confused.

I waved her over as I began explaining. “Water is the most destructive element. It tears down mountains and pulverized boulders into sand, yet it’s also gentle. It doesn’t crush those boulders through force, but with a gentle caress.

“When you tried moving that boulder, you slammed your will into it, trying to move it through brute force. Instead, try moving it the way I moved you.”

“The way you moved me...”

Ember turned to face another boulder and closed her eyes. I ‘saw’ her power flow, not in a rushing torrent of power, but a gentle river. It didn’t strike the boulder head on, but swirled around it.

The boulder started wobbling, faster and faster until it launched through the air and splashed down into the lava.

"Yes!," Ember cheered. "I did it!"

"That you did," I gave her a little applause. "I knew you were a bad ass."

She looked away, trying to hide a blush. "Well, I am, but you helped... a little."

That warmed my heart, a little, to be honest.

"So, who was that warrior philosopher you mentioned, anyway?" Ember asked.

I smiled as I let myself fall back on nostalgia. "Bruce Lee. He was a master of martial arts and a philosopher. His style of Jeet Kune Do is one of the styles I learned."

"He sounds like he would have made a great dragon." Ember said.

"Well, I mean, that was one of his titles..." it was then I realized something. "Where's Star?"

"Ember!" a thunderous voice boomed.

Ember's face dropped. "Oh no. Act cool! Be tough! Don't-"

She was cut off as the biggest dragon I ever imagined landed behind her with enough force to shake the mountain.

Ember turned back to face the mountain of a dragon and forced a smile. "Hi dad, it's good to see you."

My jaw dropped. I suddenly found myself wishing I could disappear.

"Where have you been?!" Ember's father demanded. "You have been missing for weeks." Then his eyes locked onto me, and it took every ounce of willpower not to show fear. "And what is that?"

Ember's demeanor shifted to a firm protectiveness. "'That' is Luke, and he saved my life. I was attacked by a dingonek. Luke killed it and treated my wounds."

The enormous death lizard actually looked worried the moment Ember mentioned the monster.

He looked at me and asked. "You expect me to believe this tiny mammal vanquished a creature that hunts dragons?"

"I threw it down a chasm in the forest," I stated.

He looked at me in disgust. "Do not do that! Speak like a normal creature!"

"He can't," Ember came to my defense. "He can only speak with Aura."

"Then he will not speak!"

"Hey!" Ember roared. "I'd be dead if not for him! You will show him respect!"

I could only look at Ember as if she had lost her mind. It was an expression mirrored on her father.

"I see..." her father said in a much calmer tone. "Very well." He turned to me. "Strike me."

"Wh-what?!"

"My daughter says you defeated a dingonek. I find this hard to believe," he said plainly. "Show me this strength she claims you have. Strike me as hard as you can."

I looked to Ember who just nodded.

I just sighed and dropped into a fighting stance. I focused my Aura into my first and struck him as hard as I could with a loud crash.

His head shifted away so he could look down at me in surprise.

"Do that again!"

I looked to Ember again, but she was struck dumb.

Without much other options, I did as I was asked and hit him again.

Then he started laughing.

"I can't believe it," he said as tried to catch his breath. "I actually felt a tiny bit of pain from that!"

He stood back up to his full, imposing height. "I approve."

With that, he turned around and flew off, still laughing.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked.

Ember's only answer was was a groan.

"And just where did you run off to?" Ember demanded when she finally found Star near the bottom of the mountain.

"What? I wasn't going anywhere near that," Star defended. "I wouldn't have been able to help, anyway. "

"So you just disappear. A little heads up at least would have been appreciated," Ember admonished.

"But if I did that, I wouldn't have gotten such a fantastic show."

Ember faceclawed. "Of course you were watching."

"From a safe distance, of course. So..." Star's expression shifted to her snarky smirk. "Your father approves."

Ember growled. "I told you, it's not like that!"

"Hmm, that's a shame," Star pretended to study her claws. "Garble would be more likely to leave you be if you already had a mate."

Star gave one last smirk as she took off.

Ember skulked away, her thoughts storming.

"Darn it, Star," she growled as she squeezed into a little cave hidden away in the shadows. "Why can't she just drop it."

Ember found her way to the back of the little cave where she leaned her back to the stone. "It's not like it could work, anyway. He's going home the first chance he gets."

She slid to the ground, holding her knees to her chest, eyes shimmering with held back tears.

Author's Notes:

If you're enjoying this fic, I would very much appreciate the support.

https://www.patreon.com/Shirotora

Chapter 9: Getting Ready for the Gathering

Ember wandered around the volcano, munching on a few rubies. Her mind wandered about, mostly to Luke.

More specifically, she pondered her feelings toward him. She wasn’t going to lie to herself, she wanted him to stay with her. He was the first male she really liked, and she didn’t want to lose him.

She sighed, throwing a rock with her magic. “Of course, I finally find a guy that’s strong and smart, and he’s an alien. I should just admit that I’m not going to do better than Garble.” Ember shuddered at the thought of it.

She was not looking forward to putting up with him. “Maybe I should just not go to the gathering.”

She hated thinking that. She had been looking forward to the Gathering for several years and didn’t want to have to wait another hundred for the next.

Her thoughts drifted back to what Star said and an idea started to form. Maybe she could go after all.

And maybe she might get at least a taste of what she wanted while she was at it.

Ember turned toward her cave and picked up her pace. She had a plan forming and she wanted to get started on making it a reality.

I let out a loud yawn as I stretched out my muscles.

Ember and I were laid out in a clearing in the forest, the remains of our lunch encased in a block of ice.

As Ember improved, she found she had a particular affinity for fire and ice magic. That came in handy for picnics in the forest so we can relax right after eating without worrying about attracting anything.

We had been growing rather close the past few weeks. We would hang out, practice our abilities, shoot the shit with Star, go hunting, and tell stories.

"Man, that was good," Ember complemented. "You're getting better at cooking."

"Thanks," I replied. "Star actually told me about that weird looking root thing."

"Oh, the all knowing Luke didn't know something?" Ember teased.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure those don't exist on Earth," I replied. "Besides, now I do know about them, so I'm back to being all knowing. "

"I guess you are," Ember chuckled.

We laid there for a while before Ember finally spoke again.

"So... the Gathering is next week."

I peeked an eye open and asked, "And what exactly is the Gathering? I've heard you and Star mention it, but not what it is."

"So much for all knowing," Ember joked. "The Gathering is an old tradition. These days it's just a big party where dragons migrate from all over to get together and compete with other dragons and brag about their hoards. The older dragons share gossip about what's happening in other parts of the world and talk about whatever might affect them."

"Sounds like a big, extended family reunion," I said.

"Yeah, except it started as a means to find a mate," Ember added.

I looked at her and chuckled. "An Arkansas family reunion, then."

"Anyway," Ember said, quickly, cutting off anything else I might have tried to say. "It was started way back when dragons were... well, an endangered species. Because we tend to roam and spread out, the Gathering was started to make sure a dragon could find a mate. Otherwise, it would be nearly impossible.

"Anyway, while that's not the main reason for it anymore, a lot of dragons still go for that reason."

"Okay, so it's a party that people have a tendency to hook up," I summarized.

"Pretty much," Ember confirmed. "Anyway, so there's this guy..."

"Oh, you're sweet on him, huh? Need me to not be around?"

"No!" Ember said in a near panic. "The complete opposite. The guy's a total creep and... well," she started twiddling her thumbs. "I was hoping you would go with me."

I was absolutely floored. I couldn't believe what I heard.

"I figure if you pretend to be my mate, he'll buzz off."

"Oh."

"We don't have to do anything lovey-dovey," she quickly tacked on. "We can just say we're mates, sit close to each other, hang out together, and punch anyone that tries to put the moves on the other."

"I see." I thought about it for a moment. "Are you sure that’s what you want?"

“Of course it is?” Ember said, defensively. “I said that was the reason, didn’t I?”

I gave her a sceptical look before just shrugging and saying, "Sure. Let’s do it."

“Really?” she sat up in mild surprise. “You don’t mind? I mean, I know I said we don’t have to do lovey-dovey stuff, but we’ll still have to pretend to be mates and that involves, you know, being close and maybe being a little touchy-feely.”

I pushed myself up to sit beside her. "Fine by me."

“Thank you!” Ember threw her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug before realizing what she was doing and let go. “I-I mean, thanks. This is pretty cool of you.”

I gave her a shit eating grin. "Aww, you’re so adorable when you blush like that."

She growled and swung a fist at the back of my head.

In the blink of an eye, I moved around her to her opposite side, grinning at her like a madman.

She just blinked in confusion. “Wh-what? How?”

"I learned a new ability," I said smugly. "I’m pretty sure that one’s called ‘quick attack’, but I’m not completely sure seeing as I can use it when not attacking."

“Awesome,” Ember said with a smirk. “I learned a new one, too.”

My smile vanished just before the ground opened up and swollowed my up to my neck.

“Now, what was that you said about me?” she asked wearing a cruel smile.

"Uh... I said you’re awesome and totally not adorable, even when you blush?"

“That’s what I thought.”

"This is going to be awkward."

I decided to go for a little walk to try and clear my head.

I was wrapped up in a sitcom cliche, except instead of a high school reunion, it was an ancient dragon sex party.

Okay, so the sex part isn’t what it’s all about anymore, but that didn’t change that I had to pretend to be Ember’s mate.

“You seem like you’re having a bit of trouble,” came a voice from above. I looked up to see the ancient smiling face of Star.

"Hello, Star," I gretted. "And, yeah, you can say that."

“Ember?”

"Ember."

Star hopped down and laid near me. “So...”

I hopped up on a rock that let me look at her at eye level. "Ember wants us to pretend we’re mates at the Gathering so the males leave her alone."

Star cocked an eyebrow. “That... could work. I fail to see the problem.”

I took a deep breath and sighed. "It’s a problem because... I like her."

Star’s eyes widened in surprise. “You don’t say.”

"And to make it worse, she likes me, too."

Her expression shifted to confusion. “Okay, I say again, I fail to see the problem.”

"The problem is I don’t belong here!" I shouted before wincing at my outburst. "I’m sorry. It’s just, I don’t belong here, not in the dragon lands and not in this world. All this is going to do is make it hurt worse when I have to leave."

Star reached out toward me with a claw.

And flicked me hard in the head.

"What the fuck was that for?!"

“Did it knock any sense into you?” She asked.

"Huh?" I eloquently replied.

“First, who says you don’t belong here?” Star asked. “The dragon lands are for the strong, and you’re strong. You say you don’t belong in this world, yet here you are. Tell me, what did you leave behind?”

I thought about that for a moment. I didn’t really have anything back on Earth. The only relationships I really had was with my neighbors, and even then we weren’t exactly close.

"It doesn’t matter. I’m not from this world. I’m a freaking alien." I said with a dejected slump. "It’s time E.T. went home."

Star sighed. “Fine, say for whatever ridiculous reason you actually did have to go home. Why can’t you spend the time you have here making the most of it? Yes, it will hurt more when you say goodbye, but after it will only make the memories all the sweeter.”

I spent the rest of the day in the forest, thinking about what Star said. It was ridiculous to me. Those kinds of whirlwind romances only happened in cheesy romance stories.

But at the same time, Ember said that when Star gave advice, even her father listened.

“Damn it, why can’t things like this ever be easy?!” I growled out loud.

I wandered aimlessly for another few hours, just trying to get my head together.

“There you are,” came Ember’s voice. “I thought I heard you. You alright? I don’t usually hear you actually speaking. Or... whatever that is.”

I froze. I had apparently wandered back to Ember’s cave without even realizing it. "I... was hunting. And... some bird crapped on me."

“Oh,” Ember snortled. “Yeah, I’d be mad, too.”

I really had intended to hunt while I was out, but I was just too distracted.

“Come on,” Ember waved me on. “I still have some meat from last time I went.”

As Ember walked into her cave, my gaze drifted downward. I could have sworn she was swaying her hips more than usual.

And I knew her tail never moved like that.

Damn it, Ember. Why do you have to make this so hard?

A little Steve Carell spoke up in the back of my mind and I had to force back a groan.

Ember lit the firepit with a puff of her breath and went to the back of the cave where a big stone box sat. She closed her eyes and her hand lit up with her magic. The side of the stone box slid open and she grabbed a large, frozen deer leg. Another glow of magic and the leg thawed.

“Here you go,” she tossed the meat to me so I could get started.

A little over an hour later, and we were sitting by the fire with full bellies.

"So, when do dragons usually start arriving for the Gathering?"

“Most will be coming all at once, in about five days,” Ember said. “But a few will be arriving in a day or two. Maybe even tomorrow.”

"Ah, so I might finally get to meet a normal dragon?" I said with a smirk.

Ember opened her mouth to reply but paused. “Huh... I guess you really haven’t met any normal dragons? Or, typical ones, anyway.”

"Any advice?" I asked.

“Yeah, beat the crap out of the fist one that tries to mess with you,” she stated.

"Really? Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’m not going to like it, though."

“Yeah, yeah,” Ember said standing up and stretching. “Well, I think I’m going to lay down.”

"That sounds like a good idea," I said, mimicking Ember.

I was making my way toward my bed of furs when Ember stopped me as she climbed into her own bed. “Y-you know, you don’t have to sleep on those if you don’t want to.”

I froze for an instant. "Aren’t you worried I’ll grab you again?"

Ember quickly turned away from me. “Well... I mean, I trust you.”

I felt myself move, as if I wasn't in control. As I climbed onto the soft bed, my mind raced. Warring thoughts clashed for dominance.

“So...” Ember started as I settled in on the side opposite her. “I was wondering. What if the others don’t believe us? That we’re mates, I mean.”

"We tell them to fuck off."

“You do realize I’m probably the least stubborn dragon in the world, right?” she reminded. "Seriously, though. What if they find out we aren't mates?"

"What if we were?"

Ember turned to me, eyes wide. "Wh... what?"

I took a deep breath, trying steel my nerves. "They can't find out we're not mates... if we are."

Ember looked at me like a man dying of thirst being offered a glass of water. "You... you mean... you actually want to be my mate? But... what about when you leave?"

It was then that I sealed my fate. I made the one declaration I knew I couldn't come back from.

I crawled across the bed to sit beside Ember and took her hands in mine.

"I'm not leaving."

Ember gasped. “B-but... what about everything you left behind? What about your home?”

"There’s nothing there that I’ll really miss. As for home... well, this can be my home just as easily as the place I left behind.

“Look, I like you, Ember. And I know you like me. So... Ember... will you be my mate?"

Ember didn’t answer me with words. Instead, she threw her arms around me and tackled me to the bed, pressing her lips to mine. It didn’t take me long reciprocate, my own hands on her sides.

After who knows how long, she pulled away. Biting her lip She reached down, grabbed my hand and slid it down to her rear.

We looked into each other's eyes and saw our desires reflected back at us.

That night, Ember and I became mates.

Author's Notes:

For those of you that are interested, you can find out what exactly happened that night by looking for the mature version under my stories. Sorry, but I can't link it here as that's a violation if FiM Fictions' rules. Still, it's easy o find. Just look for Fire and Steel (Mature) under my stories.

Chapter 10: The Gathering

Author's Notes:

The next chapter may be delayed a bit, so I probably won't release a chapter next week.

This chapter has a 'Mature' version. If you want to read the mature version, you can read this chapter in its entirety with the adult scenes on the 'Mature' version of Fire and Steel.

Also, if you like my work, you can help support me on Patreon here; https://www.patreon.com/Shirotora

As wakefulness slowly returned, I felt a smile cross my face.

It was the second time I woke up grabbing a blue scaled ass. This time, though, I gave it a little squeeze.

Ember stirred awake. “Mmm, good morning to you, too.” She returned the favor. “As much as I would love another round, we might want to bathe before any dragon arrives. I’d rather not smell like sex.”

"Oh, so you don’t want the others to know you’re mine?" I teased.

Ember giggled. “Silly dog. I’m not yours. You’re mine.”

I pretended to think that over. "Uh... nope, I’m pretty sure I’m the alpha of this relationship."

“Oh, really?” She gave me a playful glare before forcing herself on top of me. “Who’s the alpha?”

"Seeing as I got you exactly where I want you, I still say me."

“What’s that supposed to-Ah!”

So much for not having time for another round.

After washing each other off in a stream in the forest (and another quickie), we decided to go to the top of the volcano and see if we could see anyone approaching.

“See anything? Ember asked.

"Not yet, but who knows. We might see someone by the end of the day."

“I just hope it’ll be a dragon I know and actually like,” Ember mumbled. “Oh, hold on. I just had an idea.”

I looked at her, curiously. She lifted her hands as they started to glow. She closed her eyes in concentration, the glow increasing until it burst. Motes of light swirled around us for several seconds until they gathered to the west and slightly north.

“Ha! It worked!” Ember chered.

"What worked?" I asked.

Ember smirked. “A small group of five will be here by a little after noon.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, looking at the motes of light. They were gathered in five little bunches and glowed a bright yellow.

"You’re getting good with your magic," I commented.

“I told you she was given knowledge.”

Me and Ember jumped in surprise, twisting around to find Star laying on a large rock right behind us.

"How is someone as large as you so quiet?"

“How is someone as small as little Ember so loud?” Star rebutted. “‘Oh, Luke! Yes, yes, luke! Breed me!’”

Both me and Ember blushed brightly.

“Wh-what were you doing listening in on us?” Ember demanded.

“I wasn’t intending to,” Star defended. “I was just going down to the stream for a drink. You were the ones to decide to use such a commonly used watering hole for your fun.”

Ember groaned and hid her face in her hands.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Star said, waving off Ember’s embarrassment. “I’m actually happy for you two. Though, I am a little saddened by the fact that an egg can’t come from this.”

Ember looked back up in surprise. “What? But I thought you said that Luke had enough magic that we could?”

“That was when I thought he had magic,” Star explained. “His powers aren’t magic, though, and your magic isn’t powerful enough to alter his seed. I’m sorry, but an egg isn’t possible.”

"Actually, that might not be true," I stated. "Pokemon are, by their nature, genetically flexible. Because of that, they can breed with pokemon of completely different species."

“You don’t say?” Star said, scratching her chin in thought. “Then, come time, I would recommend caution unless you wish to have an egg.”

“That’s still a while from now,” Ember said. “We don’t have to worry about that yet. Also, can we please change the subject?”

"Any idea who would be coming so soon?" I asked, nodding toward where the dragons were going to be coming from.

“Other than you two?” Star asked with an evil smirk. “No, I have no idea who it could be. Probably just some drake that was nearby and bored.”

Ember groaned. “If I could, I’d fly over and see, but, well...” She flexed her still torn wing.

I winced. "It looks better, at least. The smaller holes are all closed up."

Ember sighed, “I know. I just can’t wait to be able to fly again. It sucks being grounded.”

I shrugged. "It doesn’t bother me."

“Yes, well, you aren’t a being that’s meant to fly,” Star pointed out. “Well, I think I’ll go let Torch know the first guests will be arriving today. You two might want to use this time to get the hormones out of your system. Once they arrive, you’ll likely be expected to be around, being the dragon lord’s daughter, and all.”

With that, Star took to the air, using the heat from the volcano to rise up high before turning and lazily gliding toward the next peak over, where I assumed Torch’s cave was.

I turned back to see Ember bent over a rock with her tail waving in the air. “You heard her. Best get to it.”

I grinned. "Yes ma’am."

The few days following Ember and I getting together were busy days. Mostly, it was her showing the dragons that arrived early where to stay and most of that was in her father’s mountain, so we didn’t get a whole lot of time together. Though, at night when we went to bed we more than made up for it.

I was just glad Ember wouldn’t be fertile for another few months. Otherwise, I was pretty sure we would have been expecting before things even officially started.

The Gathering was divided into two main sections. Her father’s mountain held the elder dragons while Ember’s had the younger ones. Of course, there were exceptions. Star, for example, stayed on Ember’s mountain, but that might have been because she lived there.

Then, finally, they arrived. Ember called me to the top of the volcano where I was greeted with an amazing sight.

The sky was filled with the colorful shapes of dragons. It had to be thousands of them, ranging from Ember’s size to some that looked like they were almost as big as Torch.

"Beautiful."

Ember smirked. “Yeah, it’s an impressive sight. It makes me wonder how we’re so low on the world’s totem pole.”

I managed to tear my sight from the spectacled flying toward us and looked to my mate. "Because they lost their way. But that which is lost can find its way. They just need someone to guide them."

Ember gave the incoming dragons a fierce look. “And this is where I start making a name for myself.”

"And I’ll be by your side the whole time."

“And I’ll be by yours,” Ember said with a smile as she leaned to to give me one more kiss before things got crazy. “You mind being a guinea pig one more time?”

"What kind of spell?"

“Hopefully one that’ll keep you from being instantly incinerated if one of them decide to play rough.”

"Hmm," I pretended to think it over. “Risk incineration now from you, or risk it later from someone else?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Ember chuckled.

"Finally picking up some of my lingo, eh?" I teased. "Fine, let’s do it."

“Alright, let’s hope you don’t blow up,” she said.

I laughed.

Then I realized she was serious.

"Wait-"

Too late, I tried to stop it as a beam of pale blue shot out and struck me right on the chest.

I flinched, half expecting pain, but instead, all I felt was a coolness flowing through me. I suddenly felt less like I was hanging out in an active volcano and more like I was back in the forest in spring.

“There,” Ember said with a nod of approval. “How do you feel?”

I checked myself over real quick. "I feel great, actually. I think it worked."

“Wanna test it out?” she said with a teasing grin.

"I might be, regardless," I said, pointing at the sky.

The dragon flock had arrived, the first dragons landing in the crater and staking their claim. A few fights broke out almost immediately for the best spots.

One large dragon, about the size of Star, landed, looming over us on our perch. He glared down at us and roared, “Move it runts! This is my spot!”

Ember looked at me with a bored expression. “Would you like to handle this or should I?”

I gave a bow and gestured for her to go ahead.

“Why, thank you, Luke,” Ember said, playfully.

The big dragon just looked at in and laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about-”

That was as far as he got before getting slammed into the side of the crater by an invisible force.

“What was that?” Ember asked, sweetly.

“N-nothing!” the dragon quivered.

“That’s what I thought, now get off my perch,” Ember glared death at him.

She didn’t even wait for an answer before turning around and walking back to where I waited.

As expected, the dragon decided to take advantage of her dropped guard and tried to pounce at her.

Unfortunately, all he got was a high speed fuzzy foot to the face, courtesy of yours truly.

"She told you to get off her perch," I said, calmly. “I would suggest you do what she asks.”

The dragon slowly got to his feet and with a beat of his wings, took to the sky. “You little worm! I’ll burn you to ashes for that!”

He inhaled a deep breath and spit out a massive fireball that slammed into the mountain and exploded in a deadly inferno.

When the flame cleared, and all he saw was Ember, he grinned. Ember, though, just pointed above him.

Confused, he looked up, only to see me with a fully charged Aura Sphere above him.

I launched my attack at point blank range, giving him no time to dodge. It slammed into him with the force of a meteor, blasting him back down into the volcano.

I landed just as he struggled to get to his feet. “You little...”

He trailed off at the sight of Ember, floating three feet off the ground, and eyes glowing white.

Her voice reverberated through the crater. “I said off!”

The dragon’s eyes widened in fear as he scrambled as fast he could to get as far away from us as he could. A few seconds later, we saw him take to the air, flying away from the Gathering.

As he fled in terror, three more dragons landed behind us.

Ember and I turned, ready to face the newcomers if needed.

Instead, the lead one, a female, smiled. “That was pretty awesome. You two are pretty tough, for small fry. What are your names? And what are you?” The last question was directed to me, obviously.

“I’m Ember, and this is Luke,” Ember introduced us.

“I’m Ivory, these are my flunkies, Obsidian, and Blaze,” the dragon replied.

"As for what I am, I am a warrior from a far away land," I said.

Ivory looked at me in surprise.

"I apologize, I can’t speak any other way."

“You talk like a pansy, but you fight like a dragon.” Ivory said, as if conflicted. “Meh, I guess you’re cool.” She turned back to Ember. “I just want to know how you did that? The whole glowy, floaty thing was pretty hard core.”

Ember shrugged and said, “You just gotta get a blessing from the spirit of an ancient dragon empress.”

Ivory blinked in confusion before laughing. “Oh, is that all? I like you. You should totally hook up with my little brother. He’s a tough little dweeb.”

“I already have a mate, thanks,” Ember said with a dismissive wave.

Ivory looked at her, then to me, then back to her. “I see. Well, I can’t fault you for that. I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

“Yeah, take it easy,” Ember waved as the trio walked off, talking amongst themselves.

"Well," I said with a grin. "I think you’re off to a great start."

Ember mirrored my expression. “Yeah, I’d say we are.”

“Well, well, well,” came a particularly irritating voice from behind us. “If it isn’t my soon to be mate. I didn’t know you were bringing a pet.”

I didn’t need spirit senses to feel Ember’s irritation.

“Garble,” Ember spat. “I thought I smelled stupid.”

"So, this is the guy that can’t take a hint?" I broadcasted.

Garble, showing himself to be exactly as Ember described him, started looking around. “Who said that? Come out so I can pound you!”

I smiled as I said only to Ember, "Oh, I’m going to have fun with this guy."

Garble shook his head. “Who cares. So, Ember, you wanna do it in your cave, or would you rather just do it out here?”

Ember groaned. “Sorry to break it to you, but I already have a mate. And we’ve already ‘done it’ many, many times.”

Garble scoffed at that. “Oh, yeah? Where is he?”

"I’m right here, dumbass," I said, stepping between him and Ember.

Garble looked at me, confused for a second before he busted out laughing. “You’re kidding, right? There’s no way Ember would choose some mutant diamond dog over me. Come on, Ember, no need to play hard to get. We both know you want me, now stop the act and let’s go.”

I was starting to get pissed. The way he was speaking to my girlfriend was inexcusable, and I was very close to breaking his jaw.

Luckily, Ember stepped in before I could lose my temper. “Listen, you little turd. I don’t like you. I’ve never liked you. The only way you’re touching me will be when my fist is breaking your nose. Now go crawl back under a rock and leave me alone, because if not, my mate here is probably going to tear your arms off.”

I wondered if she thought she was bluffing. Granted, I might not have torn them completely off, but they would have definitely been broken.

Garble scoffed. “Whatever, you know where I’ll be. Come on by when you want a real dragon to show you a good time.”

"That’s it, his arms are coming off."

Ember stopped me, pushing me back before I took more than one step toward the walking corpse.

“Luke, don’t. He’s not worth it.”

“Oh, the doggy’s got teeth?” Garble taunted.

Ember growled, but instead of hitting him like I expected - and wanted - her to do, she instead pulled me in for an incredibly passionate kiss.

Seeing where she was going with that, I reached down and grabbed her ass, pulling her tightly against me.

I could sense the indignation coming from Garble. I had to admit, I was loving it.

Garble let out a growl. “That’s just gross. Whatever, I can have any female I want. I don’t need some disgusting dog banger like you. Come on.” He commanded his toadies and skulked away.

Ember and I broke apart. "You know this isn’t the last we’ll have to deal with him."

Ember shrugged. “Who cares. He’s an idiot, and either one of us could take him without breaking a sweat.”

I just felt bad for anyone he decides to let out his frustrations on. Knowing his type, it would someone smaller than him that can’t defend themselves.

I think I should keep an eye on him.

Chapter 11: Apprentice

The next day, Ember and I decided to spend a bit longer in her cave. Every dragon there knew to stay away from it, as it was technically a part of Torch’s hoard. That, and he made it a command on the Bloodstone Scepter that no dragon is to approach unless he or Ember gave them express permission.

Surprisingly, we only spent most of the morning having sex. There was, like, a whole hour we weren’t going at it like bunnies.

Not all at once, but one total hour. Did I mention that I was never a furry or scaly back on Earth? I think that’s important to mention.

Anyway, after a while we decided to actually see the sun.

"So, what’s first on the agenda?" I asked.

“Well, I want to go to dad’s volcano real quick to see if some dragon came,” Ember explained. “She’s a little young, and her mother's kinda over protective, so she’ll be with the hatchlings.”

"Oh? A little sister you never told me about?"

“More of a... I don’t know, what do you call a student that’s not really a student?”

"A protege?"

“Sure, we’ll go with that,” Ember replied with a shrug.

"Alright, let’s go meet her, then," I said.

We headed out of her cave and across the crater to the opposite side. As we left, I noticed a stubby legged, derp-faced reptile.

"What the hell kind of dragon is that?" I asked.

Ember looks over and shrugs, “Probably one of Crackle’s cousins, or something.”

It took about two hours to get to the other mountain, and we arrived just before noon. Torch’s mountain wasn’t quite as active as Ember’s, so it was a little cooler.

Like Ember had said, most of the dragons here were much older, or too young to find a mate. One group of younger dragons were wrestling across a pile of rocks stacked up high.

One of them, a cute little orange dragon with darker spines and rather thick horns threw the last of the youths off the pile and stood triumphantly to proclaim, “I’m queen of the hoard!”

Ember applauded as we approached. “Not bad, squirt. Still the toughest one here.”

“Ember!” the young one exclaimed as she flew over to give her a fist bump. “What’s up? Come to convince mom to let me go to the cool side?”

Ember chuckled. “We’ll see. Anyway, I want to introduce you to someone.” Ember waved me up. “Luke, this is Smolder. Smolder, this is Luke. He’s my mate.”

“Your mate?!” Smolder shouted in shock. “But, what about my big bro?”

Ember winced and looked at me. “You mind giving us a minute?”

"Of course. I’ll be nearby." And with that, I left them to their privacy.

Smolder huffed, crossing her arms. “You chose... whatever that thing is for a mate over my brother?”

Ember sighed. “Smolder, I’ve told you before, I’m not interested in your brother.”

“So, what, you came over here to rub it in, or something?” Smolder grumbled.

“Of course not,” Ember said. “I actually wanted to show you something awesome. Hopefully, you’ll be able to help me with something even more awesome.”

Smolder shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”

“Come on,” Ember turned to lead her away.

“Holy cow!” Smolder's eyes shot open. “What happened to your wing?!”

Ember sighed. “I’ll tell you later.”

I got strange looks from several of the dragons present. Most of them had seen me arrive with Ember, though, so they weren’t giving me any trouble. Or, at least, I assumed that was why they weren’t.

Ember went off somewhere with that Smolder girl. I kinda wondered who her brother was. Ember did say a few dragons wanted to be her mate, but the only one I met was that Garble guy and there was no way a cute girl like that was related to that douche.

I would have to ask later.

“Ah, Luke,” came a booming voice that was impossible to forget.

I turned to see Torch approaching me, and gave him a respectful bow.

“You have my permission to speak in my head,” he said. “If you do anything else in there, though, I will squish you.”

"Of course, my Lord," I replied.

He raised a massive eyebrow. “Since when am I your lord?”

I suddenly felt a chill of fear shoot through me as I prepared myself to say what was needed.

I swallowed thickly and said, "Since... Your daughter and I are... mates."

“Ah, yes, I suppose that would make sense, then,” he said, not at all reacting how I thought he would. “So then you have decided to become one of my subjects, then?”

"Y-you don’t mind that your daughter and I are together?" I asked.

“Why would I mind? You are strong and will sire strong offspring,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Did I not already say you had my blessing?”

Ah, that’s what he meant, I thought to myself.

“So, why are you here and not with Ember?” Torch asked. “There are many other males that wish to be my daughter’s mate. Should you not be protecting her from them?”

"I think it would be more accurate to say I would be protecting them from her," I said.

“Yes, I heard she did something strange to a dragon that tried to challenge her,” Torch said. “I think she may have left out something when she told me what you and her went through getting here.”

"Yes."

Torch gave me a calculating look. It wasn’t a look I often saw from dragons. It certainly told me that Torch wasn’t just a brute.

“My father told me that once, long ago, dragons were the masters of this world, with the power to move the very heavens,” Torch said, proudly. “But we lost that power.

“Tell me... did my Ember find it again?”

"Yes. We found the spirit of the last dragon Empress, Aurora, and she granted Ember the power."

Torch let out a thoughtful hum. “Then, as my subject, I have an order for you.” His massive head swung down to gaze into my eyes with an unrivaled fierceness. “Help my daughter become strong. I will not have my successor as Dragon Lord be weak, magic or not. I expect her to win the Bloodstone Scepter when my time as Dragon Lord comes to an end.”

I gave a small smile and a bow, "It would be my honor, my Lord."

I found Ember near where we parted, along with Smolder.

“There you are. I was worried you got eaten, or something,” Ember greeted.

"Actually, I was talking to your father," I said.

That got Ember’s attention. “About what?”

"About you and I, and what he expects of me as your mate," I said.

After we talked for a bit, Torch had asked me not to mention our talks about her magic or his intention to let her compete in the Gauntlet of Fire when it comes around.

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” Ember asked.

"Like how he expects strong offspring from us," I said.

Ember chuckled. “Well, of course our babies will be strong. We’re us. I don’t know why he thought he had to say anything about that.”

“Are you really that strong?” Smolder asked. “You don’t look that tough.”

“Oh, he is,” Ember assured. “Even my dad said his punch stung a little.”

Smolder's eyes shot wide open in surprise. “No way?! Dragon Lord Torch actually felt your punch?! You gotta show me!”

“Later,” Ember interrupted. “I want to get back.”

"Alright, then. It was nice to meet you, Smolder. Maybe we can hang out before the Gathering ends." I gave her a wave as we started heading back.

Ember chuckled at that. “Yeah, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to. She’s coming with us.”

I turned around, and sure enough, there she was, following us. "Aren’t you worried some of the older dragons might bully her?"

“Nope,” Ember said with a smirk. “Because she’s staying with us.”

I looked at Ember and asked, "Are you sure? I mean, what if we want to do... you know... mate stuff?"

Ember snorted in amusement. “‘Mate stuff’? Really? What about it? You’ve seen how big my bed is.”

I groaned. "I’m not talking about sleeping arrangements. I’m saying it’ll be hard to have any fun with her staying there."

Ember blinked in confusion. “Why would it be hard? How would mating be any different with her on the other side of the bed? Wait, you don’t think you have to mate with her, too, do you?”

I stumbled, nearly faceplanting. "Wh-what?!"

“I’m just saying, you don’t have to if you want to. I don’t think she’s interested, anyway,” Ember continued. “Hey, Smolder, are you even interested in mating?”

I turned back to the younger dragon, praying the answer was a very resolute ‘no’.

Instead she shrugged. “Meh, I didn’t really come here for that, but I might not say no if the right male asks.”

"Uh... Ember... How old is Smolder?" I asked, again, fearing the answer.

Ember slowed, trying to think. “Smolder, how old are you, now?”

“Twenty, why?” Smolder replied.

I let out a sigh. "Oh, thank god. I thought you were, like, twelve or something."

“Wait, is that why you were weirded out by her being in our bed?” Ember asked.

"Well, that was part-"

“Dude, you thought I was a hatchling? Really?” Smolder asked, incredulously. She flared her wings. “Do I look like a hatchling to you?”

I gave her a flat look. "If I knew what a hatchling looked like, I’d be able to answer."

Ember chuckled at that. “Hatchlings don’t have wings.”

"Oh... Well, then no, you don’t look like a hatchling," I said. "I’m sorry for that. I’m still learning about dragons. In fact, I still don’t know how old Ember is."

Ember just chuckled. “Thirty-one.”

After that, we fell into pleasant conversation. Mostly, it was Ember and Smolder telling stories of things that happened since they had last seen each other.

“... And then, Luke just said, ‘Hey, forget pretending. I’m hot, you're hot, let’s just be mates.’”

Ember finally finished telling the story of how we met and our journey here. She went into a bit more detail then she did with her father, but not quite as much as when she told Star.

"She’s paraphrasing, of course," I added.

Ember rolled her eyes. “Well, excuse me for not talking like a dweeb,” she teased.

I just laughed.

The mirth was cut off, though, by a strange feeling. I glanced around, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

“Hey, Luke, what’s up?” Smolder asked.

"I don’t know," I replied. "I’m getting the strangest feeling that something’s wrong, though."

“It’s probably nothing,” Ember said, though I could sense her worry.

I tried to ignore it, but the feeling just kept getting stronger and stronger. Finally, I couldn’t resist it any longer. I turned and ran off, heading toward the forest.

“Wait up!” Ember called.

I tried to hold myself back as to not lose her. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, but if it was bad, I might need her to back me up.

And I had a feeling it was bad.

Author's Notes:

Surprise, motha huggas! Bet you didn't expect to see this today, did'ja?! An update from EE and F&S in the same day?! Surely, this is only a coincidence and has no further meaning, what-so-ever.

Anyway, can't say how long it'll be before the next chapter, but hopefully it won't take as long as this one did.

Chapter 12: An Unexpected Encounter

Author's Notes:

This chapter was co-written by Symphonicdysonince. Hope you enjoy.

We rushed through the crater, over the lip, and into the forest. The whole time, that feeling was only getting worse.

“Luke, slow down!” Ember called behind me.

I couldn’t, though. I couldn’t explain why, but I just couldn’t slow down. I just knew if I did something terrible was going to happen.

Then, I heard a voice through the forest. “-but you just pissed me off. You take a single step towards my dragon, and you'll be in for a bad time.”

It was answered by another, more familiar voice. "Right, now I'm mad!"

I came through a line of trees saw Garble facing down a small group of animals.

Or, at least I thought they were animals, until one of them spoke. “You don't know how much you're gonna regret that.”

I staggered, slightly, shocked at what I was seeing. It looked like a an eevee standing in front of a vaporeon and a group of... Oh, hell no.

My thoughts were put on pause as the eevee began to glow and Fume growled, “Screw that!”

He took in a deep breath, fire building in his throat.

I focused my aura into my legs, giving me a burst of speed

The world seemed to slow down as I rushed toward the endangered pokemon. It was already too late to stop Fume from unleashing a torrent of flames. Already the blaze was leaving his maw, so instead, I aimed for the little eevee.

I could feel my fur singe as I scooped up the little animal just before it was roasted.

I skidded to a stop a dozen yards away.

<<Wh-what?>> The little eevee in my arms said, looking up at me in surprise.

“Are you alright, little guy?” I said, focusing on the eevee alone.

He shook his head. <<I’m fine, but, my friend->>

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this bully,” I assured. “See to your friends.”

I set the eevee down and turned to face Garble and his toadies. <<Yeah, they can take care of themselves just fine.>> He stated, stepping up beside me.

The Vaporeon stepped up to my other side. <<You’ll need all the help we can give.>>

I glanced back to see Twilight had raised a shield spell around Rarity and Spike. Rainbow seemed to be missing. ”Fair enough,” I nodded at the pokemon. I broadcasted to everyone present. “I knew you were a coward and a weakling, Garble, but are you really so pathetic that you have to pick fights with cute, fuzzy, little woodland critters?

“Well, I’m cute and fuzzy,” I said before injecting all my disgust at him in my ‘voice’ and adding, “Come pick on me.”

<<So you’ve got the red fuck?>> The grey Eevee confirmed. <<We’ll keep the others off you. Try to stick to psychic or fighting moves, I don’t think ground types will work on them.>>

Garble scoffed. “Are you stupid, or something? There’s a bunch of us and only one you.”

“Then why are you hesitating?”

Garble growled. “Alright, you want a piece of me?”

He charged at me, fist cocked back. I let out a chuckle. Even when I was human an attack like that would have been easy to counter.

I waited for him to get close and throw his criminally telegraphed punch before barely shifting to the side and letting the punch and the idiot it was attached to soar past me with a slight push to the back of his head to send him face first into a tree.

“Well, that was more embarrassing than I thought it would be.”

Garble snarled as he regained his bearings and turned to face me again.

“That’s it!” Garble took a deep breath.

In a flash, I drove my elbow into his gut, forcing all that air back out over my head in a cloud of noxious smoke.

“Hey, nobody messes with us and gets away with it!” one of the forgettable flunkies spouted, clearly well versed in the ‘cliche bad guy lines handbook’. Whatever he was going to say next was drowned by a torrent of water the Vaporeon sprayed at him.

I saw the grey one blur into the brown lackey’s gut, causing him to double over. “Not again.” He groaned out. I couldn’t focus too much on them as Garble had regained his wits.

He charged, swinging wildly in an attempt to hit me. I formed my bone shaped staff to better deflect his assault. Whenever I saw an opportunity, I would lash out with my staff, though it didn’t seem to do much through his scales. He managed to get a headbutt through my defense, both of us using the chance to gain some distance.

I quickly checked up on the rest of the fight. The Vaporeon had a band of water flowing around her, and water was constantly streaming from her mouth onto the purple dragon. It was all he could do to stay upright on the soaked and muddy ground.

The Eevee looked like he was dancing around the larger Clump, darting in and out of reach. It almost seemed like he knew what Clump would do before he’d do it. Clump, for his part, was slowing down, exhaustion starting to kick in.

Where are you, Ember? I thought, refocusing on Garble. He glared at me before breathing deep. Realizing what he was about to do, I dismissed my staff, and quickly created and threw an Aura Sphere at him. The attack threw his aim off, but I still felt searing pain in my shoulder, causing me to cry out.

Garble’s glare transformed into a cruel smirk as he gathered more flame. Just before he could breathe out, though, everyone paused as something yelled out from the bushes.

<<All friendlies, clear the area!>> I looked towards the sound of the voice, only to quickly jump straight up as a bright ball sailed underneath me. I saw the other pokemon rush under Twilight’s shield.

I watched the ball land in the midst of the dragons, and a large explosion blossomed from the impact point. What the hell was that?!

I landed in a crouch in the crater it left behind, I glanced back to the attack’s origin to see Rainbow Dash carrying over another Eevee. It tiredly waved at me. <<So yeah, hi. I don’t think I can do that again for a little bit. How’s everyone else?>>

<<Running dry, darling.>> The Vaporeon admitted.

The gray Eevee nodded. <<I’m down to my status moves.>>

I gingerly touched my shoulder. ”Yeah, Don’t want to do that again.” I hissed.

“Hah!” Garble’s shout caused us all to look back at him. Although he was bruised, and was the better looking of the trio, he was clearly walking with a limp. “I knew Ember’s pet was weak! We’re still going strong!”

“Really?” Ember said, having finally caught back up with me. “That’s funny, ‘cause-”

She reached out toward them, as if trying to grab them, and a giant spectral hand materialized and flew at them, grabbing them all as if they were a bouquet of daisies.

“-it looks like you were all leaving.”

And with a flick of her wrist, the lot of them were sent flying into the nearby trees.

“Well, that was kinda fun,” I said. “Now... Garble. You still want to push your luck?”

Garble struggled to his feet, glaring daggers at me and Ember. “Y-you... I’m gonna get you for this.” He coughed a bit and took to the air, flying away from the gathering as he called back. “Just you wait, Ember. I’ll get you! You and your little dog, too!”

I turned to look back at the group I saved. The eevee and vaporeon were helping The other Eevee that was knocked out before. The poor thing was staggering.

As for the others, one of the ponies approached us.

Ponies.

As in, ‘My Little Ponies’.

As in Twilight freaking Sparkle.

I recognized her from the moment I saw her, but only then did it really hit me. I was in the My Little Pony world. Was that why I recognized Ember? Was she in the show at some point? I had only seen up to the third episode of the second season, so I didn’t know.

“That was incredible,” Twilight said. “Thank you for your help. My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.”

“Pleasure.”

“S’up.”

She gestured to the little dragon behind her. “This is Spike, my number one assisstant.”

“Dude, that was awesome!” he exclaimed. “You showed that jerk who’s boss!”

Twilight giggled and gestured to the eevees and the vaporeon. “And those are Yomega, Leo, and Lulu.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What did you say their names are?”

Twilight flinched in surprise, glancing around in confusion before looking back at me.

“Uh... Yomega, the one you saved, Leo, the one that’s barely conscious, and Lulu, the bigger, blue one... why?”

I could only stare at the trio of pokemon for several seconds before I was moving. I wasn’t sure when I started to move, or even if it was voluntary. I just moved.

I approached the pokemon timidly, as if one wrong step could break the illusion.

I spoke out loud, “Y-yomega?”

<<Y-yeah?>> The grey- Yomega asked, glanced at the others.

<<You okay, man?>> Leo asked.

Why does he sound so off? Part of my mind thought. Maybe he’s just so tired? The hell did Garble do before I got here? Blinking away a tear, I reached out and grabbed the Eevees into a crushing hug.

<<And now we’re hugging?>> I heard Lulu awkwardly ask.

<<... Oh.>> Yomega leaned into the hug to get closer to my ear. <<Barely any time, hold the hug. Ponies don’t know we’re from earth, thinking we’re native to Equis, pokemon are summons, they don’t know we are pokemon, and some rules of pokemon don’t apply. I can try to get Spike to send messages to you if you need more.>>

“What?” I thought at him.

<<We’ll explain fully later.>> Yomega promised. <<Good to see you again, Skywalker.>>

<<Wait…>> Lulu paused.

<<... Oh, Arceus. You got dragged into this, too?>>

“Luke,” Ember tentatively approached, “You okay? You’re acting a little… weird.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I gently set my displaced friends down. “Just meeting some old friends I never thought I’d see again.”

<<Yeah. He’s from our old range!>> Leo squeaked out to the ponies. Only Rainbow seemed to understand him, though.

Rarity gave the little Eevee a small smile. “Very sorry, dear, but we can’t really understand you without Fluttershy here.”

“Not really?” Rainbow coughed into her hoof.

Twilight turned an arched eyebrow to the pegasis. “What do mean, Rainbow?”

“I~ may have created a Soul Bond with Leo a while back, and that lets me understand her…” She blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Didn’t really want to bring it up and step on Fluttershy’s hooves. She already knows about this and has been helping me understand her better.”

I directed my thoughts to Yomega. “Uh... Did Rainbow just say ‘her’?”

<<Long story.>> Yomega answered as Leo cringed. <<She’s a chick now.>>

I nodded, directing my thoughts to everyone. “Yeah, we used to share the same territory. What happened to the rest of your… Pack?” Thinking quickly, I fired a quick thought to Ember. “Play along with this, please. They don’t want the ponies to know we’re from another world.”

Ember gave me a confused look, but nodded.

Twilight smiled. “The rest of them that came here are back in Ponyville. I don’t know where the larger pack they came from went to, although they are most likely deep in the Everfree.” Twilight went into scholar mode and began musing.

“Okay, so they’re friends of yours.” Ember shrugged. “That explains how they could hold themselves against Garble. Do you want some time to catch up with them?”

Before I could answer, everyone’s attention was drawn to the bushes, the Eevee’s tenseing for a fight. From the rustling, Smolder emerged.

“Whew.” She panted, pointing at Ember and I. “Thanks for leaving me behind, jerks. Good thing I just ran towards the explosion, or I don’t think I would’ve found you.” She glanced at the ponies. “Oh, hey. What’re ponies doing here?”

<<We were following->> Yomega started.

“Oh, shut up, I don’t what to play.” Smolder snapped.

“Hey, I know what they look like,.” I glared at her. “But these are my friends. They aren’t just animals, they’re smarter than you think.”

“Okay, sorry.” She pointed at the ponies. “Doesn’t answer my question, though.”

Ember crossed her arms. “I’m kinda curious now, myself.”

“We were following Spike.” Rainbow stated.

The little drake whipped around to stare at the mares. “You followed me?!” I could hear the tears in his eyes. “Why?”

“<<We just wanted to make sure you were safe.>>” Twilight and Yomega said at the same time.

<<I- we were worried about you>> Yomega continued.

“We didn’t want to impose,” Twilight sighed, “and we didn’t want to influence your quest of self discovery.”

“And you’re here, because…?” Smolder insisted.

Spike seemed to deflate. “I just wanted to know more about my kind.” I saw Ember and Smolder share a confused look. Spike apparently caught it, too. “Twilight hatched me, and I grew up amongst ponies. I don’t know anything about my own kind.” He sniffed. “I was hoping to learn more about us... You... Our kind on this migration. And then Garble ruined that for me.”

Smolder drew in a deep breath as she rolled her eyes, closing them mid way. “Right, I gotta tell mom about this. Big Brother is in so much trouble…”

I blinked. “Garble’s your brother?” I quickly shook my head. “ Wait no, we can focus on that later. Spike!” I addressed the drake. “Trust me when I say that, while most dragons are aggressive, they aren’t as bad as that group. I think it might do you some good to stay for a bit. Unless you would rather just go home.”

“I...” He looked back at the ponies, then back to us. “I… Think I want to go home. I think I’ve learned enough…”

“Well, I might have another solution.” I glanced back at Ember. “Yomega mentioned that you can send messages? How do you do that?” Of course, I already knew, but I didn’t want them to know that.

“Magic infused fire breath.” Spike shrugged while Ember jolted. “I burn up the letter while thinking of its recipient and infuse my fire with mana.”

“I think I see where this is going. Can you teach it?” Ember asked, with that twinkle in her eye she gets when she gets excited about something.

“Yeah, I think so,” Spike said, scratching his chin in thought. “Though it’s mostly intuitive.”

“Great. Then you can teach me,” Ember said with a smile. “And I can show you what a real dragon is like.”

“Great! I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. “Why don’t we all come to our cave and I’ll make us some lunch?”

Chapter 13: Lunch With Friends

I rummaged through our ice box, grabbing a couple things as I asked, “Who eats meat and what kind?” I looked back at the ponies. “Am I right to assume you ponies are all vegetarian?”

Twilight nodded as Yomega came up to me. <<When you get a chance,>> he murmured as he looked over my shoulder, <<let’s try to get a bit of privacy. There’s things we need to talk about. How’s your arm?>>

<<It’s sore, but healing fast.>> I said. <<Ember learned a nice healing spell, so I’ll be back at one hundred percent by morning.>> I chuckled and added, <<It’s kinda weird actually talking to someone out loud after so long.>>

“Alright, we don’t have a ton of veggies, but I can at least get you guys a light lunch.”

Rarity gave me a warm smile and offered, “Dear, why don’t I handle the food. I’m sure you have a lot to catch up on with your friends?”

“That’s true,” Twilight said. “I mean, Lulu must be unrecognizable to you.”

You have no idea, I thought to myself.

“Thank you,” I said before turning back to Yomega. <<Shall we?>>

I led my old neighbors back outside to the cliff face overlooking the forest.

<<So, first things first,>> I began, looking at Yomega, <<how the heck did you know it was me? I don’t exactly look the same.>>

He shrugged. <<Some intuition, some logic.>> He admitted. <<You seemed to recognize our names, and us by extension, not to mention the fact you got too emotional for someone who’s never met us before. We’ve never met a Lucario before, so you’d have to be either a time traveling summon, which is unlikely, or you used to be human, too.>>

Leo stared at the grey Eevee. <<You got all of that just from his reaction?>>

<<No.>> Yomega sighed. <<I’m just very good at rationalizing my gut feelings…>>

<<How have you been finding Equis so far, Luke?>> Lulu asked.

<<Is that what this world's called?>> I shook my head. That wasn't really important, anyway. <<Well, if you asked me that last winter, I would have said it sucked, but that was only because I was completely alone until I ran into Ember about... a couple months ago, I think?>>

I told them a slightly abridged version of my time here, and meeting Ember.

<<I'll tell you all about our stint as Laura Croft and Indiana Jones another time. Suffice it to say, Ember came out of it with magic powers.

So, I guess, that's just a long way to say, I love it here. I have awesome powers, my friends are here, and I got a badass girlfriend. What's not to love?>>

<<Missing legs.>> Leo groused. Noting my arched eyebrow, he- she elaborated. <<Zann’s here, too, and lost a leg to a timberwolf our first day. Other bullshit that’s happened so far are my genderswap, some evolutions, and several broken bones and eggs later, here we are.>>

<<Eggs?>> I looked at Leo in surprise. <<Leo... are you a mommy?>> I couldn't keep the shit-eating grin off my face.

Leo's blush was all I needed. <<Oh, god, you are! Who's the daddy? Yomega, is it you?>>

<<One of them…>>

Lulu cackled. <<Conner and the Duo are the others!>>

<<Speak for yourself!>> Leo snapped. <<You’ve mated with Conner and Zann!>>

I was rolling with laughter at this point. <<oh god! I mean, I knew you weren't exactly straight, Leo, but not even a year as a chick and you got three boyfriends?!>>

<<Moon.>> Yomega stated as if by rote.

<<Spring was an awkward time of year.>> Leo shook herself. <<But, hey! Enough of that. There’s other things that you need to know!>>

I reigned in my laughter and sat back up. <<Yeah, I figured. Go on, then.>>

<<Oh, boy. Where to start?>> Leo asked.

<<Summons.>> Yomega stated. <<Basically, Pokemon are summonable creatures that most races use. There’s rules for summoning, but we can go over those later. You can tell if you’re facing a summon because they will be Poke-speaking in their non-English names, and you won’t be able to understand what they’re saying.>>

<<You may want to check in with Ember to see if dragons summon at all.>> Lulu interjected.

Leo nodded. <<We’ll check in with the Crusaders to see if Lucario is a summon. If they are, you may be in for some trouble…>>

I blinked, confused by something. <<They? Wait, Lucario isn't a legendary? But... he had a movie?>>

The three stared at me as if I had grown another head. Eventually, Leo smacked a paw over her muzzle. <<Fuck, right.>> She sighed. <<You weren’t a Pokemon buff like us. No, Lucario isn’t a legendary, you evolve from a fighting type called Riolu. Your best stats are attack, special attack and speed.>>

<<You can even Mega evolve if you and Ember have a special stone that I don’t think naturally exists in this world.>> Lulu added. <<Figured you might want to know if you ever find an odd looking pair of stones.>>

<<If you do, you’ll gain a substantial stat boost, but it won’t change your types.>> Yomega finished.

<<Speaking of,>> Leo smirked, <<How’s life with a fire type?>>

I raised an eyebrow. <<Ember's not a pokemon. But, if you mean a fire breather, it's pretty nice.>>

<<Don’t matter if she’s a Pokemon or not.>> Leo stressed. <<Twilight could barely levitate Abes after he evolved into an Umbreon. He’s dark type, which psychic type isn’t effective against. And unicorn magic appears to match up with psychic typing.>>

<<Ah, I guess that makes sense. Still, it's great. Living in a volcano kinda sucks, but Ember has a spell to help me feel more comfortable in the heat.>>

Leo whistled. <<Playing pretty risky there, Luke.>>

<<How's that? I stay away from the lava.>>

<<You’re a fighting and steel type.>> Yomega answered. <<Fire is super effective against you. You’re lucky you’ve not had more burns.>>

"First off, steel? I thought I was fighting psychic! I even have Mewtwo's move from the movie. I mean, sure, I use it with this aura stuff Star mentioned, but... It's something totally different isn't it?>> I finished, resigning myself to the fact that I knew squat about Pokemon.

<<Whatever! It's not important. What is, is that if fire is super effective, why doesn't it hurt more? I mean, Garble blasted my shoulder, and it hurt, but it was pretty minor.>>

<<Don’t know.>> Leo shrugged. <<We only know the mechanics and theory.>>

<<If I had to guess…>> Yomega paused to gather his thoughts. <<It might be because he wasn’t using a proper move? That’s assuming that it was a fire type move and not a dragon type move, or that it was a move in the first place.>> He waved a paw. <<Irrelevant right now. If it wasn’t a proper move, then it might not properly fully follow the Pokemon mechanics. This is, sorta, backed up by the levitating example Leo gave earlier: if Twilight’s magic was truly psychic type, as per the games, then she wouldn’t have been able to lift Abes at all.>> He got up to pace. <<But dragon type is weak to steel, as in, they deal half damage. Which might explain the lesser wounding?>>

Leo sighed as Yomega began to mumble. <<And there he goes. He’ll be at this for a while.>>

I suddenly had an idea. <<Couldn't moves have two types? I mean, this isn't the game, so maybe his breath is fire and dragon type. And since Twilight used magic, maybe it was more like psychic and... what's that new one? Pixie... fairy... something?>>

<<You had it right with fairy.>> Lulu tapped her chin. <<With the dual typing attacks, well, going from game mechanics, they would cancel each other out? I mean, one deals half damage, and the other doubles it, so it’s like multiplying by two then dividing by two?>> She squinted at Yomega, before splashing him out of his muttering.

<<Hmm, what?!>> He blinked at us. <<Uh, yeah, something like that.>>

I gave him a deadpanned stare. <<You didn't hear a thing we said, did you?>>

Back inside the cave, Rarity hummed a little tune as she prepared a nice, light lunch. Meanwhile, Spike and Smoulder talked together in the corner and Rainbow caught a quick nap on the enormous bed.

“So...” Twilight began, trying to put her thoughts into words. “I’m curious. What was that magic you used? I’ve never seen anything like it?”

Ember looked at the pony with a suspicious gaze. “You mean my sorcery? Yeah, long story, but this old ghost dragon empress gave it to me. Why?”

“Oh, nothing, really,” Twilight replied. “I’m a student of magic and I just enjoy learning about it. I’m kind of curious how it works. Is is runic based? Or maybe it uses circles or matrices?”

Ember cocked an eyebrow. “I have no idea what any of that is. I just kinda look at reality and say, ‘Hey! Do what I want, or else!’ and it does it.”

Twilight’s face scrunched up in confusion. “So... you... intimidate reality into changing for you? I... don’t think that’s possible.”

“Neither is Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash commented, nonchalauntly from the bed.

“Fair enough,” Twilight conceded. “And, you say a ghost gave you this power?”

“That’s right,” Ember said. “Star said it was the last dragon Empress, Empress Aurora.”

“I wasn’t aware dragons ever had an empress,” Twilight admitted.

Ember waved her off, “You’d have to ask Star. I don’t know much about it.”

“I might do that,” Twilight said. “You know, I have to admit, I’m learning quite a bit about dragons here. You’re culture is a lot more nuanced than I thought it would be.”

Ember snorted in amusement. “Nuanced? Pony, are you sure you’ve been paying attention? We dragons are far from nuanced. We’re straightforward and blunt.”

“You aren’t.”

Ember grunted, folded her arms and scowled. “Yeah, well, I’m different than other dragons.”

“Still, I wouldn’t mind getting to know a bit more about you, your people, and your magic,” Twilight continued. “Perhaps I can convince you to visit Canterlot sometime?”

“What the heck is a Canterlot?” Ember asked.

“It’s the capital city of Equestria, and the home of the Royal Sisters,” Twilight explained. “I would have to speak to the princess and arrange something, but I’m sure she would love to host you.”

“I’ll think about it,” Ember said, though she didn’t think she would want to actually go.

Twilight continued with, “Plus, the princess is the most gifted magic user on Equus, so she might be able to help you learn a little more about your magic. She might even know something about Luke’s magic.”

That did get Ember’s attention. Maybe it would be worth seeing this pony city. “Luke doesn’t use magic. He uses Aura. It’s kinda like spirit energy, or something. I don’t understand it very much.”

“Well, I’m just glad to learn that not all dragons are like that brute and his friends,” Rarity added.

“Hey!” Smoulder growled, glaring at Rarity. “My brother isn’t a brute! He’s just being stupid because he wants to impress those losers he calls friends. He’s a very nice, sensitive dragon!”

“I apologize... Smoulder, wasn’t it?” Rarity gave the younger dragon a sad smile. “But even if that is the case, the side he showed us today was far from that.”

Smoulder harumphed. “Yeah, well, mom’s going to tan his scales when I tell her. Don’t you worry about that.”

“Hey, if he was just acting like that to impress his jerk friends, maybe he just needs new friends,” Spike offered.

Smoulder rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think I tried telling him that? I love my big bro, but his head’s thicker than than cold lava.”

“Cold lava is just rock,” Twilight stated.

Everyone else just gave her a flat look.

After explaining everything we had just said to Yomega, he went back to thinking, while me, Leo, and Lulu let him to it.

We talked a bit more, telling each other about everything that happened to us while we were here. Obviously, they had a lot more to talk about, seeing as most of my time in this world was spent just surviving.

According to them, we were still in the season two timeframe, a ways past where I left off in the show. That meant I knew absolutely nothing about coming events. Of course, Leo and the rest weren’t much better off, considering how much our being here had changed things.

I also found out why Ember looked familiar. She’s in the show, apparently, though she didn’t meet the ponies until much later. I must have seen fanart of her, somewhere.

Eventually, we came back to their living arrangements and the fact that the ponies didn’t know who or what we were and where we came from.

<<You guys know, you’re going to have to tell them the truth eventually,>> I said. <<I really don’t understand why you haven’t already. You’ve already shown you’re not a threat, so I doubt they’ll treat you any different. If it’s a question of communication, I could always explain it for you.>>

<<It’s not about a lack of communication.>> Leo shrugged. <<Three ponies can understand us well enough. It’s Twilight and Moon Dancer that are the problem.>>

Lulu nodded. <<Darling, you don’t live in Ponyville. They’ve already filled a room with everything they think know about us. The information they could gain from Earth would need its own castle!>>

<<Nevermind what having them have knowledge of the future would do to the timeline.>> Leo cut back in. <<We want things to conform as close to what we can expect as much as possible. And that’s if they can get past the existential dread. And if you doubt Twilight’s manic need to know, you can ask Ember what Twilight got up to while we were out.>>

<<Seriously? The timeline? That's what you guys are worried about?>> I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. <<You guys watch too much TV. Alright, look, I may not have gotten far in the show, but I think it's safe to assume that Pokemon were never a part of it, yes? Don’t you think that would be a pretty big deal?

I hate to break it to you, but this isn't the show. The timeline you're trying to protect doesn't exist here. There may be similarities, but it's not the same. The only thing you can really do is warn of possible threats. Even then, though, those threats may not take the same form. One of the big bads may have a host of summoned Pokemon, or maybe a Pokemon will be one of the major villains.

Besides, if you're really worried about the timeline, just don't tell her about the show. Tell her how we're from another world and we used to be human. Trust me, it’s better than lying to them. The longer you lie, the more hurt and betrayed they’re going to feel when you tell them. Right now, you at least have the excuse that you didn’t think you could properly communicate what you are, but you won’t have that for long, especially with me here.>>

<<I tried, once.>> Yomega admitted. Leo and Lulu turned to him in shock. <<I can write Equish, and I wanted to write a book about earth, and us, and the show. Everything would’ve been laid bare! But I just couldn’t get the words out onto the paper.

So I wrote a different book, just about Earth. I was able to get the prehistory mostly written, but the damn thing disappeared shortly after the zapp apple harvest. Every other attempt has either vanished, or I would get pulled away before I could write anything.>> He shrugged. <<So I gave up trying. I mean, we can try again later, but right now just doesn’t seem to be the time…>>

<<Another gut feeling, dear?>> Lulu asked. Yomega sighed and nodded.

Leo spoke up. <<When we first arrived, we didn’t know about the summoning. We kept quiet because we didn’t want to be barraged with questions and experiments before we had a chance to settle. Get used to our new home, y’know? I’m not sure about the others, but I like it here. If the Princesses can send us back to earth, I wouldn’t be going home. I love living here, helping with the weather, training with my pony, helping out around Ponyville...>>

Lulu nodded. <<Dress making with my Rarity, trying to keep Sweetie out of trouble...>>

<<Going on adventures with Spike!>> Yomega added. <<Helping him organize the library and making sure Twilight gets enough sleep!>>

Leo smiled. <<We’ve built up a life here. If they find out, we will give them our reasonings, and go from there. But I highly doubt that it will ever come up.>>

I sighed. <<I still think it's better to tell them, but I can't make you. If you don't want them to know, I won't tell them, but I will say that I doubt the princesses would be so cruel as to force you away from your new lives. Especially since they would have to separate you from your... eggs? Or did they hatch?>> I shook my head. <<Whichever. I doubt Pokemon can exist in our world, so they wouldn't be able to return with us. That's even if they know anything about other worlds. Well, other than maybe that weird Equestria Girls world. Is that even a thing?>>

Leo shook her head.

<<Then, yeah. There's obviously multiple universes out there. They'd have to find ours. I mean, maybe that Discord guy could...>> I paused for a moment, thinking.

Nah, he's stone. I dismissed the idea before it even fully formed.

<<Whatever.>>

Our conversation was put on pause by Smoulder coming out and calling, "Hey! Come get your food before I eat it!"

I looked back at my old neighbors. <<Well, who's hungry?>>

Leo seemed to vanish, before what sounded like Rainbow gave out a squawk of surprise. Lulu chuckled. <<Come on, let’s go before she eats it all.>>

We returned to the cave in time to hear Ember asking, “So, how long do you think you’ll be staying.”

“As much as I’d like to meet with Star and explore your people’s history, we really should be heading home soon.” Twilight sighed. “So not for very long.”

“Hey, we still have some time!” Spike spoke up. “I still need to teach Ember the Mail Breath, remember?”

"The offer to keep Spike for a day or two is still open. We can even escort him back ourselves. I said.

"We can bring him when we visit that Canterlot place," Ember added.

“Well...” Twilight dragged to word out.

I decided to step in. "How about this. It's getting kinda late, and the sun should be setting in a few hours. Why don't you stay the night and sleep on it. We can arrange a ride for you in the morning."

The mares all shared a look, before Twilight turned back to Spike and his pleading eyes. “We can stay that long at the least.” She relented with a smile.

While we had been eating, Yomega had been sniffing the air. Finally, he turned to look at me with a twinkle in his eye. <<Just so long as you avoid fucking somedrake in the night, we should be good.>>

I grinned. <<No promises.>>

Chapter 14: Yet Another Roommate

The next morning found all of us bidding our farewells.

<<You better come visit, soon,>> Leo said as we released our hug.

I smiled at her. <<Only if I can play with the kids when they hatch.>>

<<Deal, but the same goes in reverse,>> Leo agreed. <<I want to see what kind of dragon comes from a Lucario.>>

<<And don't forget to try to unlock a couple of those moves. Seriously, what self respecting Pokemon only knows three moves?>> added Yomega.

They had spent a couple hours just telling me about all the moves I could learn. I had to say, a lot of them sounded useful.

Plus, discovering that I could learn the move psychic made me think that Pokemon, in reality, are probably not restricted to just two types. More likely, one could list a Pokemon's types as percentages.

We guessed that Lucario really was psychic type, though only about fifteen percent. The others were fifty-five percent fighting, thirty steel.

Of course, those were just theories, but we were going to try to figure out how to test it some time.

Not far from us, a much more tearfilled goodbye was taking place.

"... and don't forget to brush your teeth every night. Don't go anywhere without Luke or Ember, maybe Smoulder."

"Geeze, Twilight, come on," Spike said, both annoyed and touched by how much Twilight was fretting. "I'm not going to be gone long. And when I get back, I'll be able to teach you all about dragons."

Twilight wiped a tear from her eye with a small smile. "I know. It's just... you're growing up so fast. I'm so proud of you."

"He's in good hands," I said. "We'll have your son back to you unharmed and a better dragon."

Twilight blushed and looked away. "Oh, he's not my son..."

Rainbow cut in, "Well, he kinda is. I mean, you hatched him, you raised him, fed him, taught him..."

"You do fill the role quite nicely," Rarity added. "Much like how Rainbow Dash fills the role of sister for little Scootaloo."

"Anyway," Ember interrupted. "Let's go ahead and get you that ride."

"Oh, right. I am curious who would be willing to take us back to Equestria," Twilight pondered.

Ember chuckled. "'Willing' has nothing to do with it."

She looked up and spotted a certain dragon, the one that tried starting trouble on the first day of the Gathering.

She raised her claw and the same spectral hand that she used the day before against Garble and his friends shot into the sky, snatching the poor dragon up.

<<Hey, doesn't that almost seem like Bigsby's Grasping Hand?>> Yomega asked.

<<Oh yeah, it does,>> Leo agreed.

<<And she did say her magic works by imposing her will onto reality,>> Lulu added.

I looked back at them, brows furrowed in thought. <<You saying her magic comes out of D&D?>>

<<She did call it sorcery,>> Yomega finished.

The dragon was slammed down in front of Ember.

She snarled and said, "Hey, jerkwad! You're gonna take my friends here back to their town. Got it?!"

The sad little dragon just stuttered a, "Y-y-yes, ma'am!" As the ponies watched on, jaws slack in shock.

I intercepted any possible issues by saying to the ponies, "Dragons respect strength and ferocity. It drives them to better themselves and become strong so they can protect what's theirs from the dangers of the greater world. This dragon tried to start trouble with us and was beaten, thus he owes Ember a favor. However, out here, one cannot simply ask for what is theirs, one must show they deserve to keep it.

"Don't worry, though, we will show Spike that this is only something that applies to the Dragon Lands. We won't send him back jerk."

"I-I suppose," Twilight said, approaching the dragon. "Thank you, sir, for giving us a ride."

The dragon just grumbled.

The ponies carefully climbed up onto the dragon’s back, even Rainbow settling in in front of the wings. Twilight’s horn began to glow as she anchored her friends to the dragon.

“H-hey, Yomega?” Spike called as the Eevees began to climb up. “Can I ask you to do something for me?”

Yomega paused, hopping back down off the dragon’s tail. <<Sure, what’s up?>>

Spike pulled a red and yellow egg from behind his back. “Could you take care of Peewee for me? I want him to be somewheres safe. A-and I’m not saying it’s not safe here, I just don’t want Garble to come and find it here, and-”

Yomega reached up and placed a paw on his mouth. <<Sshh. I get it. Peewee’s gonna be safe with me. I’ll raise him like my own.>> Yomega sighed, his ears drooping.

“And take care of Twilight for me.” Spike knelt down, placing the egg to the side. “... I’ll miss you.”

Yomega leaned up to hug Spike. <<I’ll miss you, too.>> The Eevee began to glow.

I look at my tiny friend glow, a proud smile on my face. <<Ten bucks he's an Espeon.>>

”Suckers bet.” Yomega’s voice echoed in my head. The light faded to reveal a lime green cat-like creature sitting on its haunches while still holding Spike. It’s twined tip tail flicked from side to side, large tufts of fur sprouting from under its ears rubbing against Spike’s cheek.

Yomega opened his almost pure lavender eyes. ”you have my word, Spike. I will do everything in my power to keep them both safe.” He smiled. ”I look forward to talking with you again when you finally come home.”

Spike waved as Yomega joined the others on the dragon’s back, the Espeon floating the egg up to him. “I’ll write whenever I find the time.”

“We look forward to them.” Twilight said, love clear in her voice.

"You guys must be used to this, I said to the ponies. "Not even a reaction?"

“Darling, I think half the pack have spontaneously changed by now.” Rarity tittered.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, it’s like they insta grow or something.”

Twilight sighed. “If only they would all change the same way.” She tried to throw her hooves up, but was thwarted by her own spell. “Each one has been completely unique! Just how much redundant DNA do you things have!” She directed the last bit at Yomega.

"Do you want to know about the known evolutions, or the potential ones?" I asked with a smirk. I knew I was poking the bear, but I just couldn't help it.

“P-potential ones?!” Twilight gasped.

With a roll of his eyes, the dragon got tired of waiting, and took off.

“Wait, I have so much to ask you!” Twilight’s shout faded into the distance.

Yomega was going to put me through a wall for that... but, it was worth it.

I turned back to Spike and said, "Come on, kid. Why don't we first take you to see some dragons your own age."

The young drake looked at me, a bit of melancholy in his eyes. "Yeah... I guess."

"Don't worry, Spike," Ember said. "You'll be back in Ponytown before you know it."

"Ponyville."

"Whatever."

As Smoulder introduced Spike to some hatchlings his own age, Ember and I sat on a rock nearby, watching.

"So... those were your friends."

I chuckled. "Yeah. I really shouldn't have been surprised that they're here. I mean, the light that sent me here came from their house."

"I'm glad you got your friends back," Ember said. "They seem pretty cool. They're tough for their size. I swear, they gotta be part breezie."

"Breezie?" I asked.

"Little, butterfly winged creatures that pack a mean punch," Ember explained. "So, you and thet Leo girl seem pretty close."

She was good at hiding it, but I was getting good at sensing emotions. She was worried.

"Leo was the one I was closest to," I explained. Predictably, her worry got stronger. "Of course, Leo was a male then."

The worry vanished, replaced by confusion. "Male?"

I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. "That's right. No need to worry that she's going to steal me away. Besides, she's with Yomega."

"Well, well, if it isn't the love birds," came a familiar, aged voice.

We turned back to see Star approach.

"Hey, you missed an interesting visit," Ember said.

"Oh? I was wondering why I was smelling pony."

We told Star all that happened. She seemed especially interested in Spike. I supposed that made sense, him being a dragon raised by ponies.

She found Yomega's evolution to be interesting as well, but who wouldn't. It's not everyday you see something transform so suddenly.

"So, that's the hatchling?" Star asked, gesturing towards Spike.

The young dragon, as if on cue, let out an impressive stream of flame, showing off for the others. Ember let out an impressed whistle.

"That's him. Hatched by Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia." I said.

Star looked thoughtfully at Spike. "Interesting... that was certainly an unusually impressive display for one so young."

"So, me and Luke were invited to some place called Canterlot to meet their princesses," Ember said. "I bet they wouldn't mind meeting you to."

Star laughed, "Oh, absolutely not. I don't feel like dying."

"They wouldn't just try to attack you just because you're a dragon," I said. Especially if they know we're coming. "

"Oh, no, dear," Star said. "They'd try to kill me because I'm me."

"Oh, so they met you," Ember stated nonchalantly.

Evening came and found us back home, as Spike gushed about finally meeting dragons his age as I made supper.

"... and then, Barb tried and fell off, but luckily, I swooped in to save the day! She was all like, 'Oh, thanks, Spike, you're so awesome!'"

I wondered if I should tell him that his heroics earned him an admirer. If he was going to visit regularly - and I think he'd be quite welcome to, if he does - he might be seeing her often. I hadn’t really met this Barb before today, but she was a cute kid, and I definitely like his chances with her more than Rarity.

"Well, I gotta admit, you are impressive for your age," Ember said. "You're a lot stronger and faster than a hatchling should be."

"It's probably because he was hatched with magic," I said. "It probably infused his body with it, almost as if he were part pony. Considering how strong ponies are for their sizes, it would make sense."

Spike looked at me with a confused expression. "Yeah, Princess Celestia said something like that... but how did you know I was hatched by magic?"

I barely kept myself from faltering.

"Well, how else would a pony hatch you? They don't exactly have volcanoes to warm the egg," Ember said, saving my bacon.

"Oh, right," Spike blushed in embarrassment.

"So, Spike," I started as I started plating the food. "Does Twilight feed you meat?"

Spike looked at me like I had just asked if the sky really was blue. “Yeah, I’m a dragon. You don’t think she’d actually starve me of something I need, do you?”

"No, I doubt she would ever do something to harm you," I said as I passed out the plates. "I just don’t know how ponies typically see eating meat."

“Oh,” Spike said, relieved that I wasn’t trying to suggest anything by that. “Well, most ponies don’t really eat meat, other than occasionally fish or chicken. Even then, not all ponies do. Like, Pinkie and Fluttershy are completely vegetarian, but Rainbow Dash really likes fish, like, a lot. Me, though, Twilight usually gets me chicken or pork, but she hates the smell of it cooking, so I do it myself.

“What’s funny, is that we actually found out that the meat she got me while we lived in Canterlot actually came from Sweet Apple Acres, the farm run by our friend Applejack.”

"Have you ever had venison?" I asked. At his clueless expression, I clarified. "Deer meat."

“Oh!” he said looking down at the food. “No, I haven’t. So... you actually hunt and gather all this yourselves?”

“Yeah, dragons don’t exactly do farming,” Ember said. “Of course, I don’t really know as much as Luke does about the gathering part, but I’m figuring it out.”

Spike took a bite of the venison. “Mm, dish ish gud!” he said with his mouth full.

“So, what do you do for fun, living with ponies?” Smoulder asked.

Spike swallowed his mouthful and replied, “Well, mostly I hang out with Yomega, play O and O with Big Mac, and help Rarity in her boutique.”

“O and O?” Ember asked.

“Well, O and O is a game where you make a character and pretend to fight bad guys,” Spike answered.

“That sounds kinda lame,” Ember said. “Why pretend when you can actually go out and kick something’s butt?”

Spike shrugged, “Well, usually it’s more than just beating some bad guy up, it’s saving the world and stuff.”

“What the heck is a Boutique?” was Smoulder’s inquiry.

“Oh, a boutique is a shop that specializes in pretty dresses for special occasions,” Spike explained.

“O-oh? Pretty dresses? Heh, that sounds lame,” Smoulder said, but I felt both intrigue and embarrassment from her.

"There’s nothing wrong with pretty dresses," I said. "They can help accentuate a female’s appeal. Plus, there’s something undeniably sexy about a woman that can kick ass in a dress. If you come with us to visit Canterlot, maybe you should take a look at some? You’re already an attractive female. A nice dress would only make you moreso."

Smoulder blushed. “Yeah, well, I don’t care about being attractive. I already told you I’m not looking for a mate right now.”

“It doesn’t have to be for a mate,” Spike said. “Rarity always says that a mare always feels more confident when they dress up.”

"Well then, maybe we should get one for Barb, then?" I said, teasingly. "I’m sure you’d love that."

“Wh-what?!” Spike stammered. “No way! I already have my eye on somep... one.”

“Aw, but she’s so adorable,” Ember added. “I bet if we get her in a nice dress you’re eyes will be on her.”

Spike could only blush and shovel a mouthful of food in his face.

Author's Notes:

So, this concludes the crossover, for now. There will be a few more instances of the EE gang in this but that will be a rather minor part of the story. We do have one significant crossover event in the works (I bet you can guess what that is) but most of it will be little tidbits and you won't have to read both stories to understand them.

Also, be sure to check out my other story, Chaotic Harmony: Do Over: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/316499/chaotic-harmony-do-over

Also, you can help support me on Patreon. Every little bit helps, and none of my content will ever be paywalled.

https://www.patreon.com/Shirotora