Gilda and I arrived in Manehatten after only a short time. The fact that Seth kept getting better at flying meant our travel time was reduced significantly. We searched around for a bit until we found the restaurant Maria was working at, a fairly bit place called the Carnivorous Claw. We sat, a waiter took our order (and autograph) and told Maria that we were there. I'm glad to see we didn't get any special treatment. Our meals arrived in a reasonable time just like every other patron, only Maria herself brought us our meal.

"Hey... uh... long time no see." I opened the conversation.

"Yes... it has been a while."

"Just stopping in to see how you're doing.

"I'm doing very well for myself actually. I'm head chef during the dinner rush at the largest 'meat-serving' restaurant in Equestria. Listen, I know you may want to chat and catch up, but I have customers waiting. That, and... while my time aboard the Possibility was certainly a learning experience for me, it's in the past and I'd rather not dwell on it. When we were down in that hole, I watched my friends die. It's not something I want to think about. Please, enjoy your meal."

"That was rather cold." Gilda stated, after Maria went back to the kitchen.

"Honestly, I can't blame her. We kind of roped her in to that whole adventure. It's not something she dreamed about. Not everybody is built for that kind of life, and even if you are, eventually you get tired of it. For her, it's wasn't something she wanted to do in the first place, and she'd rather just put it behind her. I'm glad she's got her own life and is doing something she enjoys. Really, that's all I came here to do, make sure she was okay. I know we still think of her as one of us, but she has her own life now. We should let her live it."

"Yeah. I agree."

After our meal, we headed to the edge of town to Steelhorn Forge, where the minotaur himself was pounding some iron on an anvil. Occasionally, he'd pop off his horn, take a swig of whatever booze he kept in there, wipe his brow, then go back to hammering. Every once in a while, he'd hold up the metal, and Shimmer, now about the same size as me, would blow on it, heating it up so he could hammer it again.

"Well, look at what we 'ave 'ere. I was wonderin when I'd see yoo again. Ah, and look at tha li'l one. What's yoor name?"

"Seth. Yours?"

"What? Did your pap not tell yoo aboot grandpa Steelhorn? Shame on ya. Tell me, is yoor pap still a crybaby?"

"What? Nooooo." Seth replied.

"Well, that's good ta here. So tell me, what brings ya around these parts eh?"

"Oh, just catching up with old friends. How have the two of you been?"

"Oh, cannit complain."

"Me neither." Shimmer piped in. "Lots of work, fancy ponies wanting new shoes, new bearings for cart wheels, fittings, that sort of thing."

"So, I heard you sold the Possibility."

"Yeh, to a bunch ah Canterloters. More like Canter-lot-of-money."

"And then I heard you donated almost all of it."

"Ah, ya heard that, didja?"

"Yeah."

"Ah never did tell ya the story of my wife, did ah?"

"No Steelhorn, you didn't."

"Well, it all started back when ah was a wee bull. Brooke, she was the ugliest girl in Minos I tell ya, but the lass knew how to work. Ah was a bit of a stallion ya see, and the lads and I made a bet. I wagered I could get any lass I saw. Then looked at me and said 'Any?' And I replied, any. So, they pointed me at Brooke. I didn't know what I was in fer. Of course, I'm not the sort of taur to give up on anythin. So, I asked her to let me prove myself, and that lass worked me down to the bone. I stopped being some young punk, and became a respectable bull. Now, still, I won my wager, but I used the prize to buy Brooke a ring and married that lass. I had spent so much time with her, I hadda fell fer her fer real. She had a dream of travelin the world, not just sittin around in ol Minos, gettin old. So.... we started workin on a boat. "But the water can only take ya so far" She said, so we decided to make an airship. Wasn't long after, she caught ill. The doctors in Minos had no idea what it was. I woulda sold everything, our dream, if it meant she could live, but they said no matter the denars i spent, they couuldn't help her. So Brooke told me our only chance was ta finish the ship and travel to a far off land, somewhere else, that had better doctors, better medicine. So there I found myself workin to the bone again, this time to save her life. No matter how hard I worked, she kept gettin sicker faster than the boat was gettin done. We set off early, with the ship not ready yet, so of course we crashed in the damned volcano land, and Brooke died of the sick. I spent years fixin that boat, gettin it off the ground, and I traveled the world with ya, but I did it fer her. I feel she could finally be at ease, so I sold the thing and donated the bits to medical research."

"That's sad." Seth replied.

"Indeed it is. Though, that trip did gain me somethin. I never had a child with Brooke, and now Shimmer is the daughter I always wanted, and that, I have you to thank for, ya crazy bird."

I closed my claw and put my fist over my heart. He mimicked the gesture, his fist pounding his chest with a single, resounding *Thud*.

"I think, at this point, we've all had enough of adventure."

"Oh, by the way." Shimmer added in. "About two months ago, I got incredibly itchy. We had no idea what was going on, and nobody in Manehatten knew either. After about a week, it went away. Do you have any Idea what it might have been about?"

"Huh, not a clue. Nothing happened to me, but I've been clean for years now."

"Dang, I thought you might. It was nice seeing you again, and nice meeting you Seth. Oh well, back to work!"

We left Steelhorn forge with the ringing of the anvil in our ears, seeming a bit more upbeat now.

More time spent in transit before we returned home to Signal once again.

"Hopefully, that's the last of our traveling for a while. Usually I'm one for wanderlust but this has gotten a little ridiculous. I'm looking forward to staying in the same place for a while."

And we did.

I arrived on the island of Signal, following Twilight's instruction. I was having difficulty understanding the friendship lessons she was sending me by letter, so she directed me to someone else she knew who struggled with friendship. She also stated that, since he's the king of the New Dominion, as the new dragon lord, it would be good for me to meet him. So, I donned my golden armor, brought my bloodstone staff to prove my position, and an entourage. Thuwag, Amethyst, and Garble.

I approached the door to a rather modest house, a single level with several windows to allow a breeze. I knocked on the door, then took a few steps back to allow it to open.

"Coming." A figure appears at the door, not a griffin, but something else. This must be the 'human' Twilight told me about.

"Hmm? A dragon has appeared at my doorstep." His strange, metallic eyes looked to my staff. "Armed." His gaze then returned to me. "Armored." Finally, he focused on the dragons behind me. "And with reinforcements. This wouldn't happen to be an act of... hostility would it?" His voice dripped with venom. Thuwag stepped forward, while Amethyst and Garble stepped back.

"You should be more respectful, you are addressing Dragon Lord Ember." There was a moment after he said 'Ember' that the man's eyes opened wide, revealing a bright blue ring in each. His hair stood on end, the cloudless sky filled with a raging storm, the earth shook, and his entire form erupted in black flames, obscuring his body. Only a pair of shining blue rings were visible in the cloud of black. He appeared to be a living shadow, but one which burned. It was.... hot. As a dragon, I do not say that lightly. The heat was enough to make even me sweat. I have never before felt fear. Okay, that's not true, I've been scared, but this, this was terror, pure, undiluted. I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I tried to fly but my wings clenched shut and refused to open. I took a step back, tripped on a step, and fell backwards. My helmet clanged against the ground and popped off my head, revealing my face.

In a voice like a hiss, he said, "You are not Ember, daughter of Coalheart..." Putrid black smoke, with the smell of sulfur, billowed from his mouth, a terrible maw, glowing a deep red.

"Uh... no... I am Dragonlord Ember, daughter of Torch." The sky calmed, the clouds drifted away, the earth stopped shaking, and his flames were doused, revealing the one who stood there before. He let out a short cough, ridding himself of a little plume of smoke that had settled in his lungs.

"Ah... my apologies. I believed you were someone else. As you might imagine, we have a history." He reached down and offered me his hand, to help me to stand. I took it hesitantly. Once I was on my feet he looked to the two dragons behind me. "Oh, Amethyst, Garble, I didn't see you. In any case, everyone, do come in."

"Rrrrg... I can't believe I did that! If I keep embarrassing myself, nobody is going to respect me as dragonlord!" She grumbled as I offered her a coffee. She scrunched her face up at the bitter taste, but seemed to like it none the less.

"Eh, don't worry too much. If you're too bothered with what other people think of you, it just makes you seem weak willed. To be fair, anyone else who's seen that has run away screaming. In any case, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Well, I recently became dragonlord a few months ago, with the help of Spike. Since then, Princess Twilight has been sending me letters with friendship lessons, but I've been having trouble understanding them. She said you also struggled with friendship and figured you could offer me some insights."

"Eh... okay."

"For example, in this letter she talks about how her friends were willing to help her, before they were even friends, risking themselves in the process. If they weren't friends, then why would they risk themselves for someone they've only known for a day? I get what makes the friends help one another, but I don't understand how you get to that point in the first place." Ember stated. "It's like when Spike helped me to get the bloodstone staff and become dragonlord. He helped me, even though he was hindering himself in the process. He had nothing to gain from it. I helped him after, because he helped me first, and my honor wouldn't just let that go, but then he kept helping me, and I kept helping him. What I don't get is why he helped in the first place."

"Hmm, well, think objectively. If you have something someone else needs, and they have something you need, it makes sense to trade. If you want someone to help you, you may have to help them first, even though it's costly to you, and there's no guarantee they'll even return the favor. In order to make friends, somebody has to make the first move. So, think of it like a bit of a gamble. If they don't help you in turn, well, then you lost whatever effort you spent to help them, but if they do help you, then you continue to help each other and you make a friend. Spike wasn't thinking of that though. He wasn't thinking 'If I help her, she'll help me'. You have to remember he was raised by ponies. That kind of thing is instinctual for him. That's how it works, but if you do it with that in mind, then it's just manipulating people. It has to be from an honest willingness to help, expecting nothing in return. A better way to do it is with a trade, and mutual gain. Make a deal, a small deal. And if it goes well, make another one, a little bigger this time. Keep it up, and eventually you know the person to be someone you can make deals with. You start to trust them."

"And what happens if they betray you?" The dragoness asked in turn.

"Then you cut ties with them. To be totally honest, I'm not sure why Twilight and Fluttershy took Discord back after he betrayed them to Tirek. I know I wouldn't have. I'm friends with him because he's never betrayed ME. Trust is hard to get, and even harder to regain after it's lost."

"I think I understand."

"Well, Gilda and I had a misunderstanding a few years ago. We both thought we had betrayed each other, but we talked it out, explained ourselves, and came to an agreement. Neither of us had meant to hurt each other, and it took a little while for us to get back to where we were. In any case, I think I'm going to go for a fly." I used my amulet to change forms, back to a griffin. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like. *Knock knock knock* Hmm? Now, who could that be?"

I walked up to the door and opened it. Standing on the other side was Ember. The OTHER Ember. I closed the door just how I had opened it.

"Griffin, please open the door."

In reply, I spoke in a mechanical, female voice. "I'm sorry, we're not home right now, if you leave your name, number, and a short message, we'll be sure to return your call." Then, in a deeper voice, I continued. "After the tone, please record your message, then hang up, or press # for more options....... *Booooooooop*" I turned to Gilda and whispered. "Grab Seth and go out the back door. It's other Ember."

"Oh, what, you didn't catch fire this time?" Dragonlord (DL) Ember scoffed.

I heard a sigh. "Griffin, please, I need to talk to you. I... just can't let things go the way they are. Please, just, let me talk to you. Uh... *click*"

"Yeah well, I kinda wasted the moment on you." I whispered back to DLEmber as I slowly opened the door.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy." I said as awkwardly as possible. The black dragoness was a bit taller than I remembered, she had also grown a pair of wings, though it seems she had lost one after that point.

"Uh... hi." She replied.

"This was a great talk. So long!" I began to close the door again.

"Wait! Please, I just... this isn't easy you know? I know you never wanted to see me again." She said as she found my floor mat incredibly interesting. All her body language screamed 'Nervous'.

"Alright, you're here, so, talk."

"It's just... I needed to apologize for what I did. I took your wing... that was unforgivable... though... I can see you got it back. Uh... So, yeah, I wanted to say sorry, and, to thank you, for helping me."

"Wait. What? Helping you? What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember?" Ember asked quizzically.

"No, I remember pretty well. I was a fucking psychopath, you beat the stupid out of me, I cleaned up my life. I mean, I was a drunk on power and being a proper tyrant, then you sobered me up. Yeah, I was mad at the time because I had a power trip hangover, still mad about losing my wing and eyes, but I'm doing alright for myself. What do you mean 'I helped you'?"

"Is? Is that really how you saw it? That I helped YOU?" She began to cry a little. "Back in that cave, I suppose I should start by explaining. I.... have multiple personality disorder. I'm Ember, and then, there's Gemina. My psychologist says Gemina was born from my unfulfilled desires, due to my overly strict parents. Kind of like in 'Me, Myself, and Irene.' Well, I know it doesn't excuse what I did, but, you try having multiple personalities and have them fight against each other. When you used your amulet, you split us up, which let us get some space and figure things out. I mean, we may not have known Coalheart for very long, but he was the first person in a long time to show us any kindness, and you killed him. Then you defiled his corpse, and we were both really mad about that, and I started arguing with myself, and that's how we ended up that way."

"Defiled?"

"Yes, Defiled! You cut off pieces of him and made a weapon! I was left to bury him by myself!"

"I made a weapon of his scales and bones, named it after the god of the dead, and used it to save lives. I may not have known him, but that blade was his epitaph. So long as I had it, I would never forget him, and his death would continually ensure my own life. That way, his death wouldn't have been in vain."

"I... had no idea you saw it that way. I didn't know that was your way of respecting him. Do you still have it? The shards I mean?"

"I do, though they're useless to me now. You can have them, if you want. Just let me go get them."

I turned around and walked back into the house. "Oh, I suppose you can come in, though I do have company." She slowly, carefully entered the house, as though the floor was made of eggshell, and let the door close behind her. Unwrapped the shards from the blanket they were in and showed them to her, then wrapped them back up.

"You have no idea how much this means, I feel like I'll finally be able to get some closure. Oh, Gemina too."

"So, basically, she's your id?"

"Pretty much.... no. No I'm not saying that. No. I won't. Shut up. I'm not saying that!"

"Saying what?"

For a brief moment, her face changed slightly, showing a completely different personality, before snapping back to normal.

"Whew, that was close."

"Thank you, I'll go bury these." She stood there awkwardly for a moment, before rushing towards me and giving me a hug.

"What the fuuuuuuu."

He entire body tensed up, then she whispered in my ear. "I want your babies."

"WHAT THE FUUUUUU"

"Damnit Gemina." She immediately backed off, then looked me in the eyes and pointed a claw at me. "You heard NOTHING."

"Lady, you need some help." I said.

"I've been getting help, but it's slow going." She replied.

"Okay, bye now. Like, now. Goodbye! Bye bye!" I said as she walked out the door with the remnants of my old sword to bury them. I closed the door behind her, then turned back to my guests as Gilda reentered from the back of the house.

I simply stood there and stared at everyone awkwardly.

"That did not happen. I refused to acknowledge it. When I went to answer the door, nobody was there." I held out the kettle to my guests. "More coffee?"

DLEmber Looked at me and giggled. "Now I don't feel nearly so embarrassed about my first impression, and I think I learned a lot about friendship."

After this event, I didn't hear from Ember again, though the dragon lord and I became pen pals. My book, Ruminations on the Art of War, became a best seller. I occasionally would fill a bag with new books and enter Sombra's diary to bring them to him, as he eventually did read every book on his shelf and was looking for new material. He began getting more curious about events in the outside world, and I didn't mind obliging him. Phalanx and I continued having matches every week. He became strong, very strong. So strong that I was confident leaving the New Dominion in his hands. One day, in front of all of Signal, I lost. It was intentional, but that doesn't mean I didn't make him earn it. I thought I had finally found my replacement, and I could relax, but it wasn't meant to be. Phalanx became king, but I didn't stop being king. He refused to let me, so we became known as the Twin Kings, one representing griffins, the other, diamond dogs. Our canine citizens were much happier having a representative of their own race not just in the council, but at the highest level of authority. Still, the council was effective most of the time without us, so we both had a great deal of free time to ourselves.

At the next international summit, Nadene returned, now leading the cats, who had learned their ancestral name, the Bast. She had unified the tribes and they were ready to join the world as a nation. They served as intermediaries between the Quetzals and the rest of the world. At one point, Fia and Ubi were married, and Nadene had 3 children of her own with some strapping young cat called Jack. I got a job as a teacher, teaching advanced battle magic and strategy at the Dominion Warmage Academy, strategically placed right next door to the 'Exotic Hospital', named for my doctor. I always kept improving my skills, but they weren't needed. It became more of a hobby. I never did become immortal. Celestia eventually explained that the magic leak was a 'failed ascension.' Eventually, as I got better control over it, it stopped. I could move mountains, and also forks without crushing them.

Also, as it turns out, Changeling queens, when they get overfed, don't get fat. They get pregnant. That's why she was so mad when I killed her batteries at the Canterlot wedding. They were the only things able to store enough power to let her continue the species. Well, I ended up taking that role. Of course, she still needed the 'organic component' which she got elsewhere, but she liked to tease me about demanding child support for 386 children. Speaking of children, Seth went to school and lived a normal life. Eventually, he forgot about his early years, about how we used to travel, about how his dad used to fight. Like every normal parent-child relationship I loved him to death, and he thought I was the most uncool person in the world. My life changed. I became... mundane. No more excitement, no more adventure,

I couldn't be happier.

Author's Notes:

I actually planned this scene out with the writer of Ember about a year and a half ago? I didn't remember all the details, and I had to change some stuff to make it make sense, but this is legit how she wanted that crazy dragoness to act.

WHEW EIGHTY NINE chapters. EIGHTY NINE. That's as many as nine tens, minus one. I'm not satisfied, but I felt like I was grinding to a halt. Months would go by without me writing a chapter. It would take forever for me to get my mind in the correct state needed. This is one game of endless tick tack toe that needed to end. I'm glad I wrote it, and I don't think I could ever be satisfied with the ending, but the longer it dragged on, the harder and harder it was getting, and I just didn't have the mental energy to spare anymore.

*Massive exhale*

OMG, I actually FINISHED a story! I broke my horrific trend of making them go on and on forever and ever. *Vomits* I feel good! then why did I vomit? Because I threw up rainbows. RAINBOOOOOW. It's 7 am, I've been up for 27 hours! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY Can't stop won't stop, I can do this all day!