Dancing Flames, Cooling Ember

Chapters

Chapter Two, A Father at Last?
Chapter Three, Wingless
Chapter Five, Are Any Dogs Clean?
Chapter Six, I Guess Dog's are a Person's best friend
Chapter Seven, Who Ever Said I Was Alone?
Chapter Eight, Yay, Even more Drama!
Chapter Nine, On The Road at Last!
Chapter Ten, Why Are Dogs So Physical?
Chapter Eleven, Trapped Inside My Mind
Chapter Twelve, Am I The Only One Scared by This? Okay then….
Chapter Thirteen, Enter Shop, Make Rock.
Chapter Fourteen, Crosscountry, Literally.
Chapter Fifteen, Buck Me Once, Shame On You, Buck Me Twice, Shame On Me.
Chapter Fifteen, Dead Dogs Tell No Tales.
Chapter Sixteen, Cue the Palette Tow....Nevermind
Chapter One, Never Let a Psycho Buy You a Meal
Chapter Four, Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Feathers May Just Kill Me.
Chapter Seventeen, Silver Gilded Treatment
Chapter Eighteen, I'm sorry.

Chapter Two, A Father at Last?

Chapter two
A Father at Last?

There is going to be alternating voices in Ember’s head. Red is Ember and purple is, well, you’ll see.

I felt as if I had my head had just slammed into a concrete wall at 40mph, and yes, that actually happened to me. Sparring with your kickboxing teacher can do that to you. My brain felt fuzzy, and I couldn’t even open my eyes for the pain.

‘Wait, why are my eyes closed? Why does my body felt lighter yet….harder? And why the buck am I standing up?’ I then realized that, even though I was standing, the only part of my body I could completely feel was my head. The rest felt strangely numb. Wait, numb? Oh dear lord, did I get drugged!?!

“Ha, ha, ha….bellyful o happy in ten seconds flat.” I muttered deliriously.

‘Wait, why had I been I asleep in the first place? Wasn’t I talking to that psycho woman in the black suit? Her hair even looked like mine for crying out loud. Wait, she said Equestria……!’And my eyes suddenly sprung open, eliciting an almost inaudible groan to emanate from my mouth, the pain coursing through my head forcing me to shut my eyes again in a hurry. I remembered what the hell had happened just a bit ago, and man was I angry.

‘Wait, if I was in Equestria, then was I a pony? I need to check few things. Need to make a checklist.’ It took a while, but in the end, I had made a pretty neat mental list.

Learn how to move my new body.
Find out where in the Everfree forest I was in.
Find the bitch that sent me here.
Kick her to kingdom come.
Find a way home.
?
Profit.

‘Well then, why don’t I try working on #2’ I thought as I struggled to open my eyes. They opened ever so slowly, but even after they had opened, all that greeted my eyes was a wall of pure black. ‘Okay then, do my eyes work or not? I mean walls of black usually mean......wait, I know, let’s see if I can use the rest of my body.’

Keeping my eyes open, I tried lifting my left arm, and to my surprise, I felt a limb similar to the corresponding human limb raise itself into the air. ‘What kind of mare has arms? I thought you had to learn a whole new way of moving?’ I tried lifting my other arm, and, lo-and-behold, I felt it rise into the air as well. I then tried to move my fingers, and realized with a stab of shock that I only had four fingers. ‘What the hell happened to my pinkie, it got tired and ran away?’

So then, I knew that I had two arms, four digits on each hand (no pinkie), and even a tail, but it didn’t feel like a bunch bush of hair, but rather like a single long muscle, almost an extension of my torso. Scales seemed to cover me all over, making my body feel hard…. Scratch that, plated. I also had better hearing than before, and as soon as I realized that I discovered that something was bugging me, as if I had overlooked something obvious.

‘Just what happened to me? If I’m dreaming, then I guess I’ve finally cracked due to stress.’

My eyes had also adjusted enough to see in the reduced light, but it wasn’t exactly reassuring. There were a few shapes in the darkness with……outlines? But the shapes looked like scales. Wait, if they were scales, then that meant *gulp* d-d-dd-d-DRAGONS! Sure enough, when I strained my ears, I could hear a horribly deep snore that I hadn’t noticed before. At least I had found out what had been annoying me for so long

My brain shut down. I had just lost my life, my body, and now I thought that I lost my sanity. I felt like screaming, crying, and shouting obscenities all at once, and I proceeded to do just that. I started screaming like a banshee, and my mouth randomly formed swears that I proceeded to say in a voice high enough to shatter glass. Even as I started screaming, I cradled my head in between my hands, my face now sporting twin streams of tears. For some odd reason my eyes started to hurt as I cried, causing me to add a massive migrane to my list of grieviances.

The dragon next to me stirred, raising itself up to its full height and out of its slumber. I finally got a good look at my surroundings, and realized that we were in a cavern that reached up to at least seventy feet. The great drake in front of me took up over three quarters of it.

‘Smart move, genius. Wake up one of the only creatures that can eat you in one bite. That's just a briiiiiiliant plan.’

‘Shut up. Sarcasm isn’t going to save us.’

‘Nope, but it will make me feel better.’

‘I said, Shut Up!’

Yes, I was having a mental argument as a dragon, pissed off at me waking it up, roused itself and decided to get its bearing. It was staring down at me, and I had dissolved into gibbering non sense while cradling my head in my hands, looking for all the world as if I had just gone insane. Then again, maybe I have.

‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die,’

“Look up little one” rumbled a deep, booming voice.

‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die,’

“Look up hatchling, and let me see you better.” The voice ordered again, agitation creeping ever so slightly into his…. yea, his tone.

‘HOLY CRAP I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’M GOING TO DIE!’

“LOOK UP LITTLE ONE!” boomed the voice, shaking the entire cavern, almost bowling me over.

Using every bit of my willpower, I forced myself to look up. A huge, scaly black head was right in front of me. It had a beautiful sheen to his scales, pearly white teeth, a pair of huge, yellow horns, and purple plates upon the top of his head. What struck me though were his eyes. Those eyes, they weren’t filled with hunger or anger, but rather with tenderness and even, I kid you not, love.

“Where is your tribe young one?” he asked, genuine concern painted across of his face.

“I don’t know, I just know that I’m alone.” I replied after a while, deciding to play the tragic genocide survivor.

“You mean that your family has abandoned you. I too was abandoned by my tribe, but I rose above it. I feel sorry for what you must have been through, young hatchling. If you need, I will raise you, for all hatchling need a tribe, be it strong or not.”

I just stood there, jaw to the ground, my eyes the size of dinner plates. Was it really that easy? REALLY? I guess I must have looked rather ridiculous, for his sad eyes flashed with a brief spell of amusement. It was only after a minute or two that I realized that he was waiting for me to respond.

“Yes sir, if you don’t mind.” I said quietly. Dear lord, I’ve suddenly become both Nodoka and Fluttershy at once. At least the vermin ermine wasn’t around.

'What about me?'

Scratch that, Kamo's in the house everyone.

“They must have decided that your plight was underneath them, believing that they have no ties to a child once it hatched.” he stated, his voice now reaching what was probably the equivalent to a dragon’s deathbed voice. His eyes continued to gaze at me sorrowfully, full of empathy for what I must have been through.

But, dear lord, his words had struck a soft spot. I wanted to say he was wrong, to shout that my parents loved me and always cared about what I thought, but the words just got themselves caught in my throat. Now that I think about it, my dad never cared if I was having emotional problems, he only cared if I was better than everyone else, and mom never once talked to me when I cried, never held me, not when dad was around. I guess that what he said was closer to the truth than any story I could or would come up with. It was only after I had processed all that when his last words finally registered. ‘Wait, plight, what plight? Did something happen to me? Why did he say plight? What happened to me?!’

'Search me.'

“I’m sorry for your misfortune, young one, I believe that they would have been most beautiful otherwise.” he said.

“What would have been beautiful.” I asked squeakily.

He gave me one long, sorrowful look, and then said two words.

“Your wings.”

*Loading*

*Click*

“WHAT THE BUCK?!”

Chapter Three, Wingless

Chapter 3
Wingless

“BUT HOW? I’m a dragon with no WINGS!?! Isn’t that vital? Oh god, not only am I completely and utterly bucked over, I’m even bucked UP!” I shouted deliriously, my brain shutting down for the third time in less than two hours. I had been thrown into a world I didn’t believe in, found myself inside a new body, been scared to death by a dragon, and he then told me that I was supposed to have wings, but they were bucking GONE!

‘Hi there Misery Ville, missed your only occupant?’

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” I screamed in pure and utter frustration, running my hands across the scales on my head. SCALES for crying out loud!

‘Great,’ I thought, ‘just perfect. I’m mocking myself, inside my own bucking head for Pete’s sake!’ But as I took a deep breath, preparing to launch myself into yet another tirade, I felt a weight alight itself upon my shoulder.

“Hush little hatchling, it will be alright.” The dragon said his voice low like a whisper, one of his fingers upon my shoulder. Oddly enough, his voice’s natural deep bass made the end result of his whisper a deep, soothing rumble of words that seemed to flow out of his mouth, more musical than any song I had heard before.

‘Okay then, deep breath, deep breath, it’s all okay, everything is all right.’ After repeating this mantra a few time I felt myself calming down. It took a long time, but, after I had finally cooled off, I decided to look at my surroundings, learn exactly where I was. I was in a huge cave as I already said, but it was smooth, with few to no irregularities, almost as if it had been made by an animator or something, someone who was so lazy they couldn't be bothered with details. Every color was a uniform gray, almost poetic in its perfection. I also had just noticed that it was night time by the moon that hovered past the opening of the cave, and, now that I had both stopped screaming my head off and assessed where I was, I decided it was time to find out what my host looked like.

He held himself strongly, his face seeming almost regal with the shadows falling upon it, and his chest was a deep purple, turning into a light black, his scales shining in the moonlight. Each of his four legs were as thick as a tree trunk and about twice as tall as me. His wings would have spanned the length of a football field when unfolded, and his claws were each the size of my torso. He looked frightening, powerful, commanding, and even, well, beautiful.

‘Whoa, slow down there sister. Don’t you think that a dragon who’s at least over a century getting a young girl of fifteen just a bit of cradle robbing?’ said a mocking voice.

‘Oh come on, it’s not like that. It’s more like when your brother can look impressive when he saves you from a pack of ravenous dogs.’

‘So you want your brother on top of this older man? Incest and age difference, how terribly riske.’

Just as I was about to retort in yet another mental argument between me and my other self (is it my other self?), the person in question spoke up, shaking me out of my stupor.

“What is your name little hatchling?” he asked, his voice still in that low, comforting rumble, and a smile adorning his lips, obviously getting a chuckle from my antics.

“Um, it’s Ember sir.” I said as courteously as I could, my voice no longer choked and squeaky.

“I am no sir, but rather, I am your father.” he chuckled, shaking his head at my politeness. “But your name, it suits you well. For, like an ember, you are covered by the ash of the brilliant fire that preceded you, but your true potential is the flame that lays within you, forever hot, forever strong."

He put a claw to my heart, and I could feel heat emanating from his touch, warming me throughout my whole body. It felt as if he had put a blessing upon me, his words weaving themselves into a force, almost tangible in their strength. I didn’t know if it the sensation felt scary or comfortable.

‘Mreow, calm down little kitty. Letting him touch the goods on the first date? Ooh, how naughty.’

‘Shut it.’ I said, my face suddenly morphing into a scowl.

“Is something wrong?” father asked, his smile turning into a frown of worry, taking his claw away from my chest. He was looking at me questioningly. "Why are you blushing?"

'Oh god, I must look like a plum now.'

“I’m sorry s….father, but it’s nothing. I do have a question though. What is your real name?” I asked hurriedly, trying to change the conversations course.

He looked at me, his frown still there, and a look of puzzlement crossing his brow. It was rather comical to see a cartoon dragon with a look of confusion that severe, especially when the dragon in question was over seven times my height alone.

“You want to know my name?” he asked, hesitance in every syllable.

“Yes, is that strange?” My face was starting to mirror his. Are elder dragons’ names sacred? Did I just insult him? Please don't be angry!

'We're completely bucked now, eh?'

'I'm going to kill you!'

'No you aren't.'

His face broke into a smile upon my reply however, true happiness radiating from his whole body. “I have never been asked a question like that before, and it makes me happy that you of all people are the first to ask it.”

‘Oooooh, this romance is getting hotter with every word, ain’t it?’

‘I said, SHUT THE BUCK UP, YOU SKANK!!!’

“My name is Coalheart. I was named such because my parent’s believed that I couldn’t love. They said that my heart was made of coal and that I would never feel love.” he said, his smile changing to a sad little chuckle.

I just smiled back, feeling as if I had finally found the father that I had been searching for. Maybe me being sent here wasn’t a curse after all. Perhaps this was actually a blessing in disguise.

‘Oh god, this is so soppy I could just puke.’

‘You’re never going to shut up, are you Gemina?’

‘Just realized that? You’re slow on the uptake aren’t you Ember?’

‘Maybe so, but I can still pray can’t I?’

‘No, you can’t.’

‘I was afraid of that.’

Shout-out to Wayward Writer, hope your fanfic On Black Wings I Rise, On Black Wings I Fall goes well.
Second Shoutout to Fordregha, may your fanficThrough Feline Eyes go perfect.

Chapter Five, Are Any Dogs Clean?

Chapter 5
Are Any Dogs Clean?

My head was throbbing as I woke up. Something about sitting stiffly for over three hours, it gives your back tons of horrible knots. I relished the fact that I could just lay there, my brain in a numb blur. I stretched like a cat, my back making an arch over the cave floor. Ah, popping my joints was a habit I detested, but sometimes it's nice to go ahead and splurge. I need to wake up, but it felt so nice to just lay here. That's when I felt something touch me. Something warm. Something furry. Something alive. I sat up straight, my eyes flying open, and immediately smacking my head into something hard. I could feel the strain on my tear-ducts again. Why did evolution rob dragons of the ability to cry? Sounded really stupid to me.

'Wait, right, something was touching me, but what was it?' I uncrossed my eyes and looked at the intruder. It was right on top of me, towering over my prone form. Was it a dog? Looked like it. Long shaggy hair, black as night. Eyes of red. Wait, it may look like it but dog's aren't bipedal and definitely don't have huge mucking swords strapped to their waists. Wait, how did I know it was a him?

“THE BUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU MUTT!” I screeched, my voice breaking in shock and disgust. I had fallen asleep and a dog tried to get a home run, well ain't life just grand? He looked surprised that I had woken up, but otherwise seemed perfectly content and decided that now was the perfect time for that last little mad dash to the plate. I panicked, and my hand flailed out. I forgot about my recent acquisition of claws and, I am sorry for all males in existence, but I proceeded to do what would be best described as a banana split.

The diamond dog looked at me, then looked down. It looked as if it had just been caught in the headlights. Was he suffering from shock. I was just about to reach out and try to comfort him when he raised his muzzle up and howled, tears streaming down his face. At this point I reassessed my priorities and started backing away like crazy. I know that I may have hard scales, but that diamond dog was taller than me and one hell of a lot thick...sturdier too. If I could avoid a fight, then all the better for me.

He obviously didn't think that though. After his howl, he glared at me in anger and misery. He was struggling to stand, his left hand cupped around his loss and his right grabbing his sword. He charged, or at least he would have had he not suddenly become bow legged. His sword sliced through the air, traveling straight towards my head. 'Thank god for those kick-boxing classes!' I was only just able to move out of the way, his movements striking me as both odd and erratic, more than likely due to the pain he was suffering. He wasn't disciplined, but he had potential.

We started to dance a waltz of blows, his role the lead for his mad lunging and me acting in turn, dodging his blows. Our dance coursed through the cave, but I was loathe to stop it, for I was having a hard time avoiding him striking me, and a counter attack would likely end with both of us dead or wounded. But our dance wasn't going to get us anywhere, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

'Gemina, please let me move properly. I can barely dodge his attacks, and if I attack one of us is going to either get hurt or die, so please Gemina, just let me move!' I pleaded. I also thought, 'And if we die how will we avenge dad?'

'What's in it for me?'

I sighed. Gemina could be so fickle. I could practically hear her smirking at me. Why did she need to ask for payment when I had already given her such a huge amount of already. 'Fine, I'll give you a hour of freedom.'

'OK then. And you promise to actually give me the time?'

'Yes I promise.'

'Then I'm just gonna sit back and watch then.'

'Fine, just let me move already!'

'Okey-dokey skipper.'

I suddenly felt lighter, as if weights had been ripped off of my body. My arms felt almost buoyant upon the air and my legs seemed like they had recently been thick oak and had suddenly turned into light, springy yew. Oh how good it felt to be unshackled again, to be free. My confidence had suddenly just skyrocketed, and I felt as if the poor mutt should be given a chance to avoid yet more pain.

“I'm sorry, but unless you wish to lose a few ribs stop attacking me.”

“Dragon lady took it away. Took my honour. Dragon lady is going to pay for wronging me.” the dog literally barked at me, still moving in a bandy-legged fashion. His voice was a low growl, rumbling out from his throat, obviously filled with pure unadulterated fury, but filled with even more pain and misery. I almost felt sorry, almost. But......

'To hell with that!' He didn't just say that I wronged him, did he? I, wronged him? He was going to be puking up a lung if he keeps thinking that. Nobody treats me like dirt and then insults me without getting a sound walloping.

I don't know why, but I just stopped moving, instinct, pure instinct, telling me to let him hit me. He capitalized upon it instantly. as his sword swung down, his mouth broke into a wide grin, his revenge assured. That smug look changed quickly when his sword hit my scales and literally bounced off, my scales none the worse for wear. As he gazed at his sword in sudden anger and disbelief, I jumped, spinning my foot into his face. It was actually rather comical. My foot connected with his jaw and it pushed him off his feet, sending him spinning into the cave wall.

*Thud, BOOM, whimper*

'Okay, he's out for the count.' No dog I knew of could hit a wall at forty MPH and walk away unscathed. I felt sorry for the dog. He had no clue about what was going on until I had beaten him to a pulp. I wished I could make him feel some relief, somehow remove the pain. I walked over to him, and started muttering, “why did you even try to do that, are you crazy? I'm not even your race and yet you decide to Album Ventus.” My hands flew to my mouth. Latin, again, and really, why the hell did I say white wind? But my hands just flopped to my side as I saw an amazing sight.

Black light, almost like dark purple flames, had wrapped around both his crotch and his snout, and had removed the blood on him. Wait, they had even fixed all the dogs wounds. My jaw was wide in amazement. I had said Latin last time as well. Did this mean...but no, I needed to keep my promise, not stand around gawking at perverted dogs. I took a deep breath and braced myself.

'You get one hour Gemina, then we need to be back here.'

'Fine by me, just let me take over.'

I lost control of my limbs and before I knew what was happening, I had leaped out of the cave yet again.

********************Two Hours Later********************

The dog was just coming too, clutching his head and whining. He looked groggy, and completely confused as to where he was. His gaze was searching through the cave, seeking out some kind of detail that would remind him of why he was here. His eyes squinted into the shadows that I was sitting in, and his eyes dilated in fear. He immediately looked down.

“You may as well forget it, it's lost. The shaft was ripped right off, but otherwise its been patched up. No blood, no wound, just a missing part. Maybe you shouldn't surprise people next time.” I said, my voice cold. “And why were you even going there anyway? Are dragon girls considered exotic or something?”

He was slowly looking up at me, but his look was completely unexpected. It wasn't rage or even fear, but it looked betrayed. “You were asking for it, and then I'm the one who is evil? And why would I want to be with a girl, I don't really like them.”

“How the buck did I ask for it!?” I spluttered. I was expecting him to say one hell of a lot of things, but this had not been one of them.

“I had come into the cave to hunt for gems, but you looked hurt so I was going to wake you up. When I got close however, you arched your back and rubbed yourself against me. I thought you were asking me. You weren't, were you.” he asked, his ears falling flat against his head, almost as if he had been reprimanded.

I was blushing so badly that my face had become a bright shade of violet. 'Oh dear lord no!'

'I told you. I told you. Your pink!'

'This isn't the time Gemina!'

I pulled myself back to reality, and saw the dog sitting on the ground, looking at me as if I had just scolded him. He really did seem like a giant dog. No matter what he thought, he was going to be paying me back for wasting my time.

“You really need to check to see if someone means what you think they do, especially if they are asleep. So, I feel like taking another limb would make us even.” I said, crossing my arms. His eyes became a bit more diluted, but not much changed. I was starting to get pissed off at this dog. I had just wasted over two hours with this dog, hours that I could have spent looking for that griffin.

He looked at me for a second or two and then said, “You really are a girl? Really?”

I had been resisting the urge to kill this dog for over an hour, and now I was starting to regret it. I didn't have time for this. I needed to find those griffins, and this dog was just baggage. Wait, baggage. Maybe I could use him to carry my gear in return for his life. But still.

'Why do I find all the crazies? I could have just found a diamond dog that wanted to make me a slave but no, I have to find the stupid one that wastes my time.'

'Better than having a diamond dog that is stronger than you.'

'True, but it still doesn't help much.'

'Best I got, take it or leave it.' I sighed, shaking my head. Why had it dissolved into this?

“Okay then, I'm going to offer you a deal, and choose wisely. Either you help me find a griffin and rip it's head off, or else I rip yours off and use it as bait for said griffin. I doubt you want the latter, but it is your choice.” I said, removing my ha...claw from my face. I was praying he would answer quickly, and for once fate was kind.

“I'll help scary dragon lady.” he replied almost before I finished speaking. He was looking at the points of my fingers, each one capable of gutting a pig.

'Guess I look intimidating to most people. Well then, that griffin is going to be treated to all the horrors of Tartarus before I finally let him die.'

Chapter Six, I Guess Dog's are a Person's best friend

Chapter 6
I Guess Dog's are a Person's best friend

It had been three days since the incident occurred, and things had moved along much more smoothly than I had planned. The dog, who called himself Grim, was quite happy to work, even with a certain….part of him missing. He would wake up early in the morning and only go to sleep after I told him he could. He didn’t even act angry or resentful, but always smiled and said, to my ever growing chagrin, “As you wish.”

Once the tumult had died down, I studied the Grim more closely. He was tall, almost as tall as me, and he was thick set, with muscles that seemed to bulge out from under his fur. He had yellow eyes, making me think of the legendary dog he was named after (or maybe the reverse?). His hair, black as a crow flying in a moonless night, covered his body from head to toe and it felt as soft and fine as silk. He even had armor, but had set it aside when he was going to………Anyways, he had a giant metallic breastplate that encased his chest, and even a barbut around his head. He was geared for war, and when I asked him why, he would just look at me, quite and still as stone.

I decided that it would be best if we used his talents to supply us with food, having him dig us up a huge amount of gems. I was surprised to find out that our cave in which me and dad lived in, even fasted within, had such a huge amount of gems that were literally right under our feet. Go figure.

One time when I had gotten him to dig up some gems, I decided to ask him why he was so calm about losing his member. As I was talking he stopped digging, cocking one of his ears in my direction. By the time I finished, he was laughing. “I’m nineteen, and I haven’t had a use for it since my fifteenth birthday, the first and last time it ever happened. Diamond dogs are practically never gay.”

“What, really? Huh, is that why you’re on your own?” I queried, completely at odds that I had met a gay diamond dog against all, well, odds. By now he was grasping his sides, literally laughing himself hoarse at the expression on my face, but after my new little nugget of accidental comedy he keeled over, falling right into the pit he had been digging.

After he had finally calmed down enough to talk, he sat up and wheezed, “Let’s put it this way. Worst morning you had was with me standing over you, my worst was waking up with over fifteen boys over me, and they were holding daggers. I decided that it might be safer for me to just leave after that.”

After that we left the topic alone. Our food stores were rapidly growing, and it seemed as if we could set out within another few days. I planned on searching all the caves that surrounded the forest. Gilda had been burned, and I knew that it would take them up to a week before they could move her.

But everything went to pot when Grim and I went to gather water from the pond. By that point I had stopped threatening to kill Grim if he had to do a job. Instead I had learned that I would just ask him and he would usually stop whatever he was doing.

We were in a shady section of the forest when Grim asked me a rather unique question. “Why were you living alone?”

Up until then I had been lost in thought, having a silent argument with Gemina about how to track the griffin but as he said that my attention immediately shifted to him. “Would you prefer to be charred or diced?” I asked innocently, ripping a chunk out of a passing tree.

“Why would I be either?” he replied, staring at me intently, as if he was appraising me.

“Because, if I remember right, your fur and flesh is rather easy for me to rip to shreds.” I said, my voice now starting to shift into an angry growl.

It didn't seem to phase him in the slightest, but rather to sadden him, for his ears had suddenly drooped down, flat upon his skull. “Are you sure that your fine? You've been acting depressed ever since I met you. I may not have made the wisest of choices, but I'm not an idiot.”

I stopped walking, rage kindling within the pit of my stomach, my eyes shut tight. Why wouldn't he just leave me alone? He was making me want to hurt him, to make him pay! I turned around, flames leaping in my now open eyes, my right hand rolled into a tight fist, and proceeded to be bull rushed by a five foot eight diamond dog.

I flew through the air, slamming into a tree.

'Dear lord that hurt!'

'Wow, I actually thought he was trustworthy. Who knew.'

And that was when I heard the sound of claws meeting flesh. I looked down at my body quickly, wondering where he cut me, until I remembered that I had scales now. So if I hadn't been cut, then who?

“Gaaaaaaaaahhh”

Grim was the one cut? But why? I looked at the source of his voice and saw him lying right were I had been standing. My jaw dropped open in shock. Grim was lying on the ground, paws clutching at his side, his face a picture of agony. But the suprising thing was the manticore that stood next to him. A real, live, six foot long manticore. Had I been it's target? But if so then why did he save me?

'Now's not the time to be aking questions!' Gemina shouted.

“Run, just run!” Grim shouted at me. His voice earned him a bite from the manticore, right into the fresh wound. He screamed again, and bile poured onto the ground in front of him.

“NO” I shrieked. My body proceeded to move without me even thinking about it, and before I could come up with any coherent plan, I found myself running towards the manticore as fast as I could. The beast turned at the sound of my voice and bellowed a challenge. Ignoring the scream, I thrust my right fist into it's jaw, cleaving its mouth in two, and a sickening *CRACK* that resounded throughout the trees told me that I had also broken a bone or two. The face, now slack, was being consumed by flames.

'Why are there flames?'

'Look down genius.'

I looked down at my arm and noticed that said limb had fire licking the scales upon it. The flames licked upon my skin, but the sensation was akin to a hot breeze blowing across my arm. Was I burning, I thought that I was immune?

'Still, BOOYAH, SHINRYUKEN'

“Gemina, stuff it.”

'Wait, I can do better. Winner, Sion Barzhad'

“Gemina, I said, SHUT IT!”

'Shouldn't you be paying more attention to the diamond dog over there than lil-ol'-me?'

“Grim!” I whispered, remembering why I had even fought the beast in the first place. I wheeled about and dashed over to the downed dog. He was looking up at me weakly, obviously bewildered. “Are you coherent? If yes say one.”

“One.” he muttered, his brow creasing in concentration.

“Okay then, now move your paws away from the wound. No, not yet!” I yelped as his hands loosened their grip prematurely. “Let me roll you onto your side first.”

After I rolled him onto his side so that his guts wouldn't fall out of the wound, I got a good look at the injury, and the sight made me sick. I didn't like what I saw. Not only was the wound large, but it was also deep.

'Do you have any clue how we could cure this Gemina?'

'It worked once, why don't you try it again?'

'What worked?'

'How did you cure him when you literally ripped his manhood off?'

“I DIDN'T MEAN TO!” I screamed, suddenly hyperventilating.

'I know you didn't, but what did you do?'

I forced myself to calm down, to remember what had happened.'Spoke Latin?' I thought tentatively.

'Yep.'

'So you want me to try that again?'

'We can't fix this wound otherwise, we're not surgeons. It's this or nothing.'

“Fine, I'll try it.” I sighed, recalling what I had said before. Hesitantly, I whispered, “Album Ventus.”

The effect was instantaneous. The wound was suddenly covered by a thin layer of skin that was growing thicker with every passing second, and in less than a quarter minute the wound was completely patched up, a layer of fur covering the wound. I tentatively ran my hand over the new fur. Soft and silky, with not even a drop of blood upon it.

He groaned and looked over at me, his face no longer screwed up in pain or determination, but rather a sad little smile adorned his face, his eyes full of empathy.

“Why did you push me out of the way? I've been nothing but a monster to you.” I asked, my voice cracking, the words catching in my throat as they came out.

He put his paw at the side of my head, like a mother would, and whispered, “Because you were in pain.”

I broke down, hugging him around the waist, shoving my face into his shoulder. He returned the hug, wrapping his large arms around my body and whispering to me. I can't remember what he said, except for his last question.

“Ember, please tell me, who is Gemina?”

I pushed away from him, staring, my jaw dropping in fear and shock. “How do you know that name?”

He smiled rather sheepishly and said, quietly, “You were screaming at her to shut up after you beat the manticore.”

By now I was taking large calming breaths as I tried to collect my thoughts and bring my emotions under control. I turned away from him, praying for some kind of distraction. As per usual, a distraction arose within seconds of me asking for it.

'You on your period hun?'

'Gemina, now isn't the time. Are we going to tell him?'

'Of course. He trusted us, so we should trust him.'

'Are you sure?'

'Positive.'

'You always were trusting.'

'You mean am?'

'That too.' I sighed, pressing my hands against my temples.

“Okay then, I'll tell you Grim, but you might want to get comfy, it's not a short story.”

Chapter Seven, Who Ever Said I Was Alone?

Chapter 7,
Who Ever Said I Was Alone?

(This chapter is going to get confusing rather fast, so please work with me here. First off, words being spoken in real time will show up as red for Ember and grey for Grim. For settings I’ll write it in plain black, and for speech in the past I’ll write it as per the norm. Also, the black parts in the end of the story are actaully Ember narrating. I know it’s confusing, but please bear with me.)

So, Grim, do you have any clue how babies are made?

Yes, a boy and a girl get together a…

No, I didn’t mean that. I meant do you know how they are actually formed inside the womb?

Ummmm…Ember, what’s a womb?

And that right there just answered my question. The answer is that babies are…well… actually made from eggs.

Like yours will be?

Ummmmmm……I guess so.

Well, call me stupid, but aren’t they made inside their mothers bellies?

Well, yes, your right, they do grow inside their mothers stomach. But here’s the rub, they are actually eggs that grow inside of the body rather than grow outside. But even though they’re grown inside the womb, many things can happen in there. You know what, let me just tell you everything, rather than wax poetic about teratology.

********************************************************************************

The room was dark and cluttered, piles of medical equipment piled on every surface. Sitting in the two lone chairs were a young woman and an older man. The woman was tall and slim, her hair black as coal, her face round and cherubic. She was garbed in a dress of black silk, her face in tears. The older man sitting across the table from her was short and stocky, a beer belly hidden behind a lab coat. His head was shaven and slick with sweat, his voice a harsh rasp.

“I…I…I’m sorry ma’m, but….one of them…..well…is gone.” the man said, stuttering throughout, determinedly keeping his eyes pointed towards the ground . “O…one is still there…but….w-well….I’m sorry…”

“What do you mean gone?” the woman asked, her face remaining stony despite the tears that continued to stream down her cheeks.

“Well….it…..umm…disappeared?” the man pleaded, his response almost a question in nature.

“Di-disappeared!” she said, and as she spoke her composure completely shattered, her hand clutching her heart, her eyes widening in terror. “But how?!”

“I d-don’t k-know ma’m, it just is.”

The woman’s face hardened as she stared at the man, her eyes now alight with anger. “You, don’t, know?”

“I’m sorry Ms. Kazumi, but that’s the truth.” the man spluttered, finally looking her in the eye. “But the baby is gone.”

Kazumi stood up from the chair and looked at the man. “But is one of them still safe?”

The doctor looked up at the woman who now towered over her. “Yes. Are you sure you still want it?” he asked, his voice low and secretive, as if he was afraid of being overheard.

Kazumi held her belly in her hands. “It's mine and I wouldn’t give her up for anything.”

********************************************************************************

So, as you see, my mom was expecting twin children, but, seeing as I’m a single child, it evidently didn’t work out.

So she actually wanted a child so young? Why not wait till she was older?

Well, she was actually forced into a marriage and her husband decided not to wait.

Really, why not?

Because my birth father is the most cruel, sadistic, self-centered person I’ve ever met, and trust me, I’ve met quite a few.

That makes two of us then.

Touché

********************************************************************************

It was nighttime, and a full moon shone in the window of the tetralogy ward. Kazumi was laying down on her back, her dress pulled up to her breasts, and her belly was covered in a jelly. A different doctor, this one much more weedy looking, was sitting at a video screen, his brow furrowed in concentration. Silence reigned within the ward.

After minutes of contemplation the doctor spun his chair around to look at Kazumi, his brow still furrowed. He sighed as he rubbed his temple.

“We have good news and bad news ma’m.”

Kazumi looked at him in irritation, then yawned widely. “I’m too tired for guessing games John, could you just get to the point?”

John stopped rubbing his temples and smiled. “Sure, why not. You seem to have a perfectly healthy girl in there. Their happens to be a small problem. I’m finding one girl, but two heart beats. Do you have any clue as to why that would be?”

Kazumi gasped in surprise, the irritation vanishing from her face in an instant. “Two heartbeats? Truly?”

“Yes.” John said, scooping a folder from a low table. “I read about how you were supposed to have twins, but one of them died. Am I right or are these files phony.” he asked innocently, a large smile plastered across his face.

Kazumi glared at him, but when her only response was one of wide eyed innocence she laughed. “Okay, fine, I did have those files re-written.”

“Thought so.” John chuckled, spinning back to the screen. “You’re at seven and a half months, but our biggest problem is this second beating. I would just say that you should prepare for twins anyways.”

Kazumi looked at John, her face a picture of pure joy. “You mean that there may still be two?”

“May be nothing, I say it’s probable. Don’t hold me to it in court, but my opinion is that there should be two there.”

********************************************************************************

Wait, I thought that you were the only child?

No, I said that one of the two embry

What in the name of Sirius is an embeo?

An embryo is, simply put, a baby in the mother’s womb.

And a womb is?

*sigh* It’s the mother’s belly, or the inside.

So there were two hearts and one kid? How is that possible?

Why don’t you let me finish my story?

Okay then, continue on.

********************************************************************************

Kazumi was lying down on the same cot as two months ago. Two doctors surrounded her, one of them being John. It had been over nineteen hours since Kasumi had entered labor and after delivering Kazumi to the hospital her husband vanished.

“She’s almost out Kazumi, just push a little harder.” John said calmly. “We can see her shoulders coming out now. Once we get past those we’re home clear.”

Kazumi didn’t reply with anything other than an agonized scream, her voice hoarse from pain. Her legs clenched for a quick second, and the child between her legs finally cleared her shoulders. John slowly wrapped his arms around the upper half of the child that had made it out, and within three minutes the child had been deposited into his arms. He slowly stood up and handed the child to Kasumi.

“She’s finally here, your little girl.” he said morously.

Kazumi gasped again, struggling for air. As she looked at the little baby in her arms, she smiled. “I can’t believe it. But,” she said, turning to look at John, “What about the second baby?”

He looked down, tears slowly falling from his eyes. “I was wrong……..there isn’t a second.”

His words seemed to chill the room and even the second doctor, who had not ever met Kasumi nor knew the reason behind both of the others sudden despair, felt the inexplicable cold that descended upon them.

“But…but….you…said….there…..were….t-two….beats……..” Kazumi sobbed, tears falling from her eyes. “You….p-promised.”

John shook his head slowly. “I did say there were two beats. Look down at your hands and you’ll see where they are.”

Kazumi looked at the baby in her hands, and slowly laid her hands on the baby’s chest and felt an irregular pace. *thump thump thump thump…thump thump thump thump…thump thump thump thump* the tiny heart went, beating in two places, one in the left side of her chest, one in the right side. As she continued to look at her newborn daughter, the baby opened its eyes a crack, and looked Kazumi in the eye. In a flash Kazumi could see two different creatures look back at her, as if she was looking at two people at once.

“Now I know why there are two heart beats. She’s has chimerism.” John said sadly.

Kazumi hiccupped. “What is chimerism?”

John sighed. “It’s a medical condition that occurs when you someone has two types of D.N.A. in their bodies. It can also happen when two twins are literally fused together. In this case it seems that she has two hearts, though one seems stunted. She’s unique, a human who is unlike any other. But her sister died a while ago.”

To everyone's complete and utter surprise Kazumi laughed, her voice full of joy rather than sorrow. “No, she’s not dead. I’m holding them both right now. My daughter lives on inside of her.”

“What are you going to call her then?” John asked, tears still streaming down his face.

“Ember, for she’s carrying the last spark of my other daughter within her.” Kazumi said softly, gently stroking her daughters head.

********************************************************************************

You mean you have two hearts? How?

Were you listening to me at all?

No, I mean wouldn’t you produce so much blood you’d die?

Not necessarily. True, I do make more blood than most, but I don’t have two full size hearts, but rather a full sized one and a small one.

But who’s Gemina?

Just about done. I’m going to tell you about when we first met. I had been playing with my mother, still only about two. My mom had been talking with me while I drew in my favorite book, but then my dad came.

********************************************************************************

Me and mom were sitting in a bleak white room, it’s only features a small table and two chairs, and we chatting about a dragon I was drawing with a chubby crayon. We were both having good time, and I remember one of my favorite tunes playing in the background, but then the door opened with a bang. My dad, a tall man, pale as a vampire, strode into the room, and he looked like he was about to explode with rage. He barreled through the room towards mom, and when he reached her he pulled back his hand and gave her an almighty slap. The sound reverberated throughout the room, but was instantly suffocated under the sound of his shouting at mom. Mom just stood there talking to him, her voice soft and pleading, but he continued to shout at the top of his lungs. After about a minute of his storming he slapped her again, so hard she crumpled to the floor.

When he slapped her I felt something within me shift, and I could suddenly feel myself being pulled back into my mind. It’s hard to describe, but the simplest way to explain would be to say I saw a world of pure black, with a girl standing in it who looked exactly like me, but instead of my midnight blue eyes she had ones of deepest purple. She stared at me, but it didn’t feel like she was being mean, more like she was happy she could finally talk to me and see me.

”Why you crying?

”Because my mom is being hurt again.

”Do you want to protect her?”

”Y-yes, but h-how?”

”Easy, let me out.”

”What do you mean?”

”Look around me.”

When I looked around her I then noticed a giant cube of a cage that surrounded the girl, and immediately walked to the door.

”How do I open it?”

She just looked at me as if I was stupid then. ”Just try.”

Next thing I knew I was wrestling her back into the cage and shut the door again. I don’t know exactly what happened while I was out, but I do know that I had somehow knocked my father out in a set of four attacks, something that should’ve been impossible to do at my age, but out he was when I came to. He immediately wanted to try me out for any athletic clubs possible, and signed me up for kickboxing around the age of four. I guess he wanted a champion.

********************************************************************************

When my mom asked me later about what that had been I answered as close as I could, that I had met someone inside my head. It wasn’t until a few years later, after I had turned seven, that she actually explained who and what I had met, but she always knew that I had met my sister, and when I was ten she told us what our real name was. Not mine, nor Gemina’s.

But why lock her up?

Maybe later, but you’ve learned enough about me, how about you?

"You’ve got your secrets, and I’ve got mine." he said, helping me to my feet. We shared a quick smile, and started down the path to home.

Chapter Eight, Yay, Even more Drama!

Chapter 8
Yay, Even More Drama

Both Grim and I were sitting in the cave, making small chat between us when we heard a chorus of shrieks. Grim’s neck snapped to the side, his ears upright, his nose sniffing the air. He started to slowly pad forwards on all fours, his nose still upright.

’Think he’s smelled something?’

’No, he just started to go all Scooby-doo on us for no reason.’

’Gemi….’

Grim suddenly starts to growl and barks, a deep, booming sound that made me want to run in fear. He bounded out of the cave, scooping his gear from the entrance of the cave, his stance suddenly bipedal. As he ran out the cave I could hear him bark again, this time saying, “Ember, DON’T FOLLOW!”

’So….we gonna follow him?’ Gemina asked quizzically

I mentally face-clawed. ’You know what; I’m going to leave the sarcasm all to you.’

’Why thank you.’

I dashed out of the cave after grim, running as hard as I could, but even with my new body he continued to gain distance. I screamed out to him, but he didn’t stop or even slow down, making me doubt that he had even heard me.

‘Damn it, this isn’t working.’

‘You know it can, and you know how.’

’How, by letting you free again?’ I thought sarcastically.

As soon as I finished that thought my vision suddenly blacked out. For a few horrifying seconds I struggled, my eyes sweeping the darkness before me until I realized that I was looking at a giant void, bare of anything else besides me. Even as I registered this I heard an all too familiar voice emanate from all around me.

’Ember, SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! What I said fourteen years ago is still true, JUST FUCKING TRY IT ALREADY!’

My mind went blank at this statement. Gemina was giving me advice, not a sarcastic remark, not a rude comment, but advice. It was something I had been waiting years for, and when she finally gave it to me I had turned into such a snarky asshole that I didn’t even realize it.

’I….I….I’m sorry Gemina.’ I muttered, my voice barely a whisper.

’Did I ask for an apology? No. Just MOVE IT!’ her voice thundered, and the void around me shattered, the real world once again visible. I stumbled at this sudden return to reality, but, somehow, I turned into a ball and quickly rolled from the fall back to a running position.

’How did I do that?

’You tried. NOW GO!’

After that berating from Gemina I decided to heed her words and started to sprint after Grim. For some reason my body felt lighter than air, my pace starting to rapidly gain speed, trees now flitting past me. I was going so fast that I didn’t notice a tree in front of me until I had literally tucked my head in and charged straight through it.

’What is this?’ I thought, my voice sounding hysteric even in my own head. ’I just destroyed a tree as if it wasn’t there! What’s happening!’

’You know how humans usually use 20% of their strength at all times?’

’Yes.’ I thought as I sped past another couple of trees, running well over thirty mph.

’You’ve only ever used ten percent. You’re now using all twenty.’

’So I’ve been holding myself back, why?’

’Me.’

She said it so bluntly that I nearly stopped, remembering just in time that to do so would cause myself to literally bash my face in. ‘Why?’

I could literally hear a snort in my head, almost as if Gemina was trying not to laugh.

’Because you were so afraid of the power we had when we first actually went all out that you subconsciously weakened yourself in order to prevent yourself from harming people.

I gulped, remembering the devastation I had wreaked upon those poor kids. Swings ripped from their chains, wooden boards splintered, everything in ruins. I was so sure dad would hate me for that, but he just looked at me with greed in his eyes.

’No time to chat now, listen!’

I strained my ears (do I even have any?) to hear what Gemina was talking about and the sound of sword fighting reached my ears. “GRIM!” I shouted, dashing towards the commotion.

As I reached the source of the commotion I saw Grim standing in the middle of a circle of Diamond Dogs. His blade and armor was covered in a thick layer of blood, the corpses of over four Diamond Dogs, all of them smaller and scrawnier than him, lay at his paws, but over two times that amount had formed a circle around him. Everyone was covered in cuts, and while the attackers had red blood pouring out of their wounds, Grim had blood the color of black ichor oozing out of his wounds.

“Grim…what..what happened?” I ask, my eyes looking at the devastation before me. At the sound of my voice all of the D-dogs surrounding Grim turned to look at me, evidently startled at my presence. Grim took advantage of their surprise to slay two of them in as many strokes and rolling out of the circle. I finally got a good look at him, and I could see his eyes had changed to orbs of pure black.

’What’s wrong with him?’

’I…I….have no clue.’ she said, her tone full of fear.

My face paled. If Gemina was afraid of this then it was beyond monstrous. It had already slain six D-dogs, and the others were heavily wounded, yet it didn’t seem like he meant me any harm. I don’t know how I knew, but it seemed to me as if he was in pain.

Grim slowly leveled his blade at the other six D-dogs and said, his voice deep and demonic. “Leave or die.”

The D-dogs, and I’ll never understand exactly why, charged Grim, and I, once again for some insane reason I'll never get, stood in front of him. My voice turned into a shout as I screamed to the heavens.

“Ignire, incendere, VASTITAS!” I shouted, and from my hands came an inferno, swallowing all of the D-dogs up inside the flames. I could see them burning in front of me, and then, just as quickly, turning to ashes as the flames literally cremated their body. The flames then stopped springing forth from my hands and vanished into thin air. I slowly raised my hands to eye level, searching for some sort of hole in my hand.

’Ember, try that cure on Grim.’

’Wait, that’s it!’

I spun on the spot to look at Grim and quickly chanted a few words. “Serena, curabat.”

’What’s it?’

’Latin is magic. Don’t ask me how, but I’ve spoken Latin around five times since we got here and each time something amazing has happened.’

As I talked to Gemina I could see the color of Grim’s eyes revert back to normal and his wounds starting to slowly close. He shook his head vigorously and then looked at me.

“Are you, okay?” he asked, his voice soft.

In response I grab him and pull him into a hug. “Were you trying to protect me again?” I whispered, my voice also soft.

“Yes.” he said, his tone sorrowful. “I didn’t want you to see that, you don't even care anymore.”

I pushed him away and slapped him. My face was a picture of pure rage. “I’ve known you for three days, you’ve saved me from a Manticore and D-dogs, and you expect me to think that I don’t care anymore?! Are you INSANE!” I shouted, my voice causing birds to fly from the trees. “I think that you need to explain what that was all about rather than feel sad.”

Grim sighed and pulled his barbut off, stuck his sword into the ground, and sat down. He heaved an almighty sigh and said, “When I started sniffing around back at our cave, it was because I recognized a smell, specifically the smell of inferiors. I decided to find out why they were here on my own because I’m an Alpha, or somewhere along those lines. I thought they would listen, and that you might harm my influence.”

I stared at Grim, my mouth hanging open and swinging on its hinge. After about ten seconds of me gaping at him I shut my jaw and slapped his face, this time leaving a hand shaped mark of flattened fur on his face and knocking him down onto his back.

“WHA..WHO..BU…HUH!?” he spluttered at me, looking up from the ground.

“Learn to lie better, mutt.” I said, fire now dancing in my eyes. “Your story is riddled with holes, about four of them actually. One, you waited for quite a while in order to give yourself time to think, and that immediately raised my suspicions. Second, you’ve always said you’re a D-dog, not an alpha (and for Frond’s name what the hell is an Alpha?). Third, you had no time to negotiate with them before I got here, so you fought them from the get go. And Fourth, you just talked as if you were going to intimidate them, and a walking talking dragon is intimidating in my opinion. So, either get your story straight, or prepare to lose all trust I’ve given you up till now.”

’Nicely done Ember, about as good as I would have done.’

’Why thank you Gemina, that’s exactly what I was going for.’]

Grim sat there for a few more seconds, his face now the same as his namesake. Finally, he sat up and muttered, “Sorry…”

“I don’t want apologies, you worthless mongrel, but the truth.” I responded, my voice so harsh it would make devils cry.

“Fine, guess it’s my turn for story time. When I got here I saw a griffin standing over a dragon’s body and fighting a pack of five dogs. There were another dozen or so standing in a clearing nearby, and I could immediately see that those dogs would overwhelm him the second that they charged. He got the surprise on his pack of dogs, but without that I doubt he would have survived the experience. So I decided to fight the dogs in order to save his life.”

Once again my jaw was swinging, even lower than before. “You nearly died for a griffin that I told you we’re hunting? Why the hell would you do that!”

“…………………..Because they came here to kill me.” He whispered.

“…Come again?”

He looked straight up at me and shouted, his voice thundering around the clearing, “Because they were chasing me down in order to rip me to pieces and he was going to be killed for no other reason than that!”

Griffin looked up from the cave to look outside. Thunder had just rumbled through the forest even though there were no clouds in the sky.

‘What the buck is going on here? Maybe we should head out tomorrow instead of waiting.’
For the third time this night my mouth was swinging, but this time Pinkie would have been proud of me, so low was my jaw. It took me more than a minute to sort through the jumble of thoughts I had crowding in my head.

’Really, he says he’s hunted and you start thinking of police dogs? You really need to watch a few more movies.’

And that was all it took to galvanize me into conscious thought once again. As I snapped my jaw shut I shook my head a few times experimentally.

“Something wrong Ember?” Grim asked, worry etched all over his face.

“No…..yes…….what did you mean by they were following you?” I asked, my head starting to throb in pain. “All this drama is giving me a migraine.”

“Well, by their following me I meant they’re following me. But, to answer your real question, they were coming to drag me back to a city called Masonry and rip me to pieces, my body turning into a macabre experiment.”

“Shouldn’t they use some dogs from closer to home?” I asked, suddenly getting a picture of a Grim torn limb from limb.

“No, because I wasn’t exiled because I’m gay, but rather what you saw earlier.”

I stared at him blankly. “You mean those eyes? What was it?”

He stood up and turned away from me. “……..Death.”

I stood there for a moment, processing the drama of what he just said, then started to laugh loudly, literally doubling over in hilarity. He spun around and looked me in the face, his own deadly serious. After a few moments I started to get air again and I stopped laughing, but my face still held a smile.

“Death, really?” I said, chuckling.

He growled at me, forcing the words out through his teeth, “I was blamed for any death that happed when I crossed someone’s path, and it did seem that it was true. Whenever I looked at someone with those eyes they would die within two days. Everyone believed that I was killing them somehow, and I decided that I would leave once I heard rumors of me being turned into a weapon. It seems that some of the stronger people wanted to make copies of my eyes and use them as weapons.” After finishing his monologue, he turned away again, giant tears rolling down his face.

I stood there for a second, then slowly walked to Grim and hugged him, my arms wrapping around his fuzzy torso. “We both know the pain of people discriminating against us, even trying to make us paragons of war. My dad wanted a super daughter who could fight so well that I would make elite squads weep in envy, and you’re wanted to become an ultimate weapon. But, if everyone else is going to fight us, then why don’t we at least stick together.”

He looked at me; his eyes wide in surprise, then turned around and hugged me back. “Together?” he asked, his voice shaking.

“Forever.” I said, smling.

Chapter Nine, On The Road at Last!

Chapter 9,
On The Road at Last!

A chink of sunlight shone through the cave, right on my eyes. I tried to swat away the horrid light, but it seemed that it was vehement that I needed to wake up. Yielding to the inevitable, I yawned and stretched my limbs, my body sore from all the events that transpired yesterday. As I started to slowly rise to my feet I heard a gruff voice from behind me.

“Hey there sleepyhead, you feeling better?”

I spun around, my fists raised, when I noticed that Grim was kneeling next to our supplies, all of which were securely packed inside a tarp. He was currently trying to strap said tarp across his back, using some rope he had brought in order to turn the whole thing into a makeshift backpack.

’He just packed all of our supplies? Did he get any sleep?’

’Awwwwww, you got yourself a little Peeta, Katniss.’

I scowled for a second, then walked over to Grim and started to tie the ropes around his chest. After a few minutes of work the ropes are pretty secure. He flopped down onto all fours, carrying the tarp as if he were a horse.

“Okay, I’m ready to go when you are Em.”

’Em? EM?’

’Called it.’

I grimaced as Gemina proceeded to gloat. “Ummmm, could you not call me that Grim?” I asked.

“Okay, you prefer just Ember then?”

I closed my eyes and face-clawed, feeling like I was the only one in this room who wasn’t trying to either be stupid or play annoying mind games. “Yes, I would.” I muttered, forcing myself not to think anything that Gemina could then use against me.

’What did I do to deserve this?’ Never mind that, I failed, which was evident the second I heard a chuckle echoing in my head.

’You don’t want to ask that, do you.’

It sounded like a question but I knew better. It was a statement, plain and simple, but I was saved by Grim laughing. It was a deep rumbling chuckle that I swear shook the floor beneath my feet. “Just Ember is fine by me. Oh, I almost forgot, did you eat anything last night?”

I sighed and shook my head, secretly glad that I could end my conversation with Gemina. “No, I was too tired to think about food.” As I opened my eyes I noticed a gem shoved right in front of my face, a fuzzy paw holding onto it.

Grim smiled at me, his canines (did I really say that?) visible through that huge grin he had plastered onto his face. “Then have this. I left it out just in case.” he said.

I slowly reached out and grabbed the gem. It was clear, one of my favorites. “You made sure to keep this out for me?” I asked, unsure whether to be puzzled or touched.

“’Course I did, why wouldn’t I? I knew you didn’t eat yesterday, and I was packing things up ages before you woke up. If I had gotten hungry by now then you surely had.” he said with a shrug.

“Are you insinuating that I’m fat.” I asked, flaring up at once.

’He doesn’t need to insinuate anything.’

‘Thanks a lot Gemina!’

He shook his head again, once again chuckling. “No, but your still growing, I mean, really, you’re still a growing dragon.”

“Are you always this perceptive?” I asked, astounded that a D-dog was making so many connections unaided.

“Usually. People say that I notice things like this way too often, yet I never seem to know tact. Rather ironic when you consider it comes from my kind. Most of them now so little tact that I’m amazed they know the word exists.”

I just laughed. This simple act made me feel like I had suddenly shrugged a huge weight from my shoulders. I gave the gem in my hand a nibble and had the familiar taste of Asian pears roll over my tongue. I savored the meal, eating each bite slowly. It was our last breakfast before we set out after that Griffin, and I wanted to memorize each detail of our home before I left.

After a couple minutes I had finished my meal. Grim looked at me and smiled. “So then, how are we going to follow them then?” he asked innocently. Good grief, he was acting like a naughty schoolchild for crying out loud.

In response I raised my right hand and pointed my index finger towards the sun. “Interioris oculi, rubeum chorda fati.” I chanted. A small red light sprouts from my finger and shoots into the distance, leaving a trail in its wake. Grim stared at my finger, then at the light in the distance.

“Is that connected to the griffin to? Won’t he see it?” he asked.

“No he won’t. He might feel a sense of dread when we draw near, but nothing more than that. “ I said, a grim smile on my lips. “It’s a line that I used to show the red string of fate. While I know that the string is not used in quite this way, it will work for the present.”

“When did you practice that spell?” Grim asked, staring at me, his head cocked to the side comically. Wait, could anything be comical in this world?

’Possibly it does, probably doesn’t. I just want a safe to fall on your head.’

I rolled my eyes at Gemina’s newest remark and started down the side of the hill, Grim plodding along behind me, his question going unanswered. It was time to find that griffin. It was time for an adventure.

*************************************************************************************************

We had been following the path for a whole day when we saw a vast expanse of beach laid out before us. It seems that the griffin had started to hug the coast for some reason.

’Maybe he’s a seagull?’

’Okay, that hurts. You do know that I’m FORCED to hear those pathetic attempts at a joke, right?’

I chuckled somewhat guiltily before responding, ‘Sorry, I forgot’

I could hear a sharp intake of breath and a huff. After a moment Gemina sobbed, ’You forgot me!’

’Mind cutting the melodrama?’

’Fine, fine, whatever you say boss lady.’

I looked at Grim and noticed the way his tongue was lolling out of his mouth. He looked exhausted, his ears drooped and his tail hanging limply behind him. I guess that carrying all the supplies had worn this puppy out in the end.

’I said stop Ember’

’Fine, I get the hint.’

’Obviously not if you keep doing it.’

I rolled my eyes and scratched Grim behind his ears. He seemed to like it as his tail started to softly wag behind him. “Ready to call it a day Grim?” I asked, giving him a cheeky grin.

Grim huffed at me “Do you have to try and torment me so?” and proceeded to flop to the ground in evident relief. “You know full well that I’m exhausted.”

I smiled down at the poor puppy ’Stop it Ember.’………and laughed. “I still haven’t completely forgiven you for when we first met, so yes, I do have to torment you so.”

He popped open an eye and gave me a deadly glare from the ground. If he had been a pony I would have sworn he used the stare. After a few seconds of the glare he sighed and closed his eyes again, saying, “And I haven’t completely forgiven you for castrating me within two minutes of our acquaintance.”

That hurt. It was a low blow and I bet he knew that perfectly well, but he did have a point. After only a minute or so of knowing him I had tried to ripped his manhood off and succeeded. I literally did a banana split I guess.

’SHUT UP EMBER!’

‘Shut up yourself Gemina, you aren’t any better.’

To my complete surprise she did just that. The silence seemed ringing after squabbling for so long. I guess my statement really stumped her. Guess she couldn’t stand the pot calling the kettle black.

“Ummmmm….Grim, want to set up camp now?” I asked hesitantly. My only answer was an irritated huff. Rolling my eyes yet again I grabbed the tarp and walked a fair distance away into a small patch of trees.

“Really, why is everyone here so touchy?” I asked. My only answer was a snort of derision.

*************************************************************************************************

It was evening now and we had set up camp, which in truth was actually rather easy. All we had to do was hang our food up in midair by stringing it along a line that ran between two trees, and start a campfire. The second one was a little hard, but after a few tries I got enough of a fire going for a modicum of light.

Grim was laying on his back, a small knife in his right hand and a piece of wood in his left. He was slowly working away at it, carving the block of wood down into what looked like an ornate club. But it didn’t seem like the piece of wood was meant to be a club, anyways Grim already has a sword, why would he need a club? So intent was he upon his work that he didn’t even notice me walking over to him until I was standing right over him.

“What are you making?” I asked him, pointing at the lump of wood.

He looked at me for half a second and then returned his attention to his project ”…………………a violin.” he said softly.

I stared at him for a second before saying, “You’re making a…..violin?”

“Yep.” he said.

“Why don’t you buy one?” I asked. ’Are violins super expensive here?’

’Maybe, who knows, you don’t.’

Grim looked at me again, smiling sadly. “Ever try to buy a piece of art from a pack of barbaric Dogs?” he asked. When I shook my head no he continued, “Well it’s like trying to get milk from a dead cow, it’s just not going to happen. So, yeah, I’m trying to make one rather than use the one I have.”

“Wait, one you have?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He laughed at me, and reached into the tarp, pulling out a very crude violin, the strings showing signs of being well used. Even the strings were mismatched, as if the maker couldn’t be bothered to get more than one copy of string. The poor instrument was pitiful, and I could see why Grim was so vehement in his want for a new one.

“So, can you play any songs?” I asked, but my only response was him pulling out the bow, putting it to the violin, and starting to play with one of the largest smiles I’ve ever seen on his face. After the song had ended I just sat there, staring at him. The violin no longer looked pitiful, but rather beautiful for the way that it could still play even while it looked like crap.

Grim put the violin back in the tarp and laid his head down on the ground, closing his eyes. “Goodnight Ember.” he said to me.

“Goodnight Grim.” I replied, allowing myself a small smile alone.

Chapter Ten, Why Are Dogs So Physical?

You want the full gory details? Look at my GrimDark version I wrote. Did this to keep it a teen story. Hope you guys like it.

Chapter 10,
Why Are Dogs So Physical?

It was the middle of the night and I was laying on my back staring at the stars, unable to fall asleep. The stars shone above me and Grim while the waves washed upon the shore just a hundred meters away, and the sound of the wind blowing through our shelter made me feel as if I was camping on the beach back on Earth. Even Grim’s snoring didn’t ruin the peaceful feeling I had.

’Gemina, you still there?’

’Where else would I be?’

I rolled my eyes again. Guess it’s getting to be a bad habit of mine. ‘You know what I meant.’

’Well…yes……I did.’ she muttered.

’Well then, do you think we’re ever going to get home? I mean, it’s one of the few things we have left. Going home and each-other that is.’

’You forgot one very important thing.’

’What?’

’Grim.’

I sat up straight faster than a bullet out of a gun, my eyes instantly locking onto the dog in front of me. I still wasn’t sure about what I thought of him. On one hand he seems as innocent as a little kitten, on the other he seems older and wiser than some kind of sage. Was he a good person for helping me, almost completely willingly, or was he a bad person for nearly raping me. I didn’t know anymore and all the wondering was driving me up a wall.

’Are you sure that he’s all that important?’ I asked Gemina, half of me already praying she didn’t answer.

It took a while until she answered me, and even then it was only one word. ’Yes.’

Guess I should’ve guessed her answer. I mean, he was helpful, but it seems that Gemina is the one who’s been paying him the most attention.

’Actually you pay more attention to him then I do. I just am true to myself, unlike you.’

’Wait...What! I’m true to myself, completely true!’

I didn’t get any answer from Gemina as she decided that now was the time to fall silent. I growled in frustration. She would always choose the moment when I wanted to talk to shut her mouth, yet drone on and on when I wanted some peace and quiet.

I looked at Grim again and smiled softly. He had been a great friend in the short time that I had known him, and he was in the same boat as well. I’m pretty sure he knew more about me than he let on, but I had decided to let him keep it to himself after saving my ass twice in a row.

As I sat alone, thinking about the last few days I heard a scuffling emanating from some of the trees. I made to stand, but a furry paw grabbed me from behind. I opened my jaw to scream and a second paw wrapped itself around my mouth. I turned my eyes to look behind me and saw Grim standing behind me, still naked.

‘Awwww, not again!’

‘What the hell is going on?’

Grim takes his paw away from my waist and gives me the shush sign. I slowly nod and he removes his second paw, leaving me free from his grasp. Grim looks at me and points towards the trees, then mimics a dog paddle with his paws.

‘Ummmmmmm……wha?’

‘Search me, I know as much as you do.’

Grim rolled his eyes and pointed at the tree, once again doing his weird little doggy paddle. It looked a little bit like….

‘I think he’s saying climb the tree.’

‘Insert snarky reply here.’

‘Could you at least try to be civil Gemina?’

‘No.’

I shook my head in frustration, then sprinted towards the tree, springing from the ground to the trunk. As I collided with the tree I shoved my claws into the bark, and to my satisfaction they sank deep into the wood, creating the perfect handholds. I looked back at Grim and flicked my eyes upwards, asking silently if I should climb to the top. After a few seconds he realized what I was saying and nodded vigorously.

‘He really does seem like an oversized puppy, doesn’t he?’

‘You know what, I guess you’re right.’

I smiled at Gemina’s reply, savoring the fact that she had answered in a kind tone for once, then started to climb the tree, using my claws to literally rip my own handholds. I winced at how much noise I was making, but, luckily, it sounded so akin to the regular night noises that it should be masked to any passing ears.

‘Dear god that sounded awful, and I was thinking it for crying out loud!’

‘True, you did start to ramble there, but your probably right.’

‘Are you okay Gemina? You’ve agreed twice with me within about two minutes.’

‘Go die in a hole you reptilian bastard.’

I nearly laughed at her reply. If I weren’t climbing a tree on a stealth mission I probably would have, but her reply was so….well……Gemina that it was humorous. But the talk did redirect my mind from climbing consciously, and I had somehow climbed to the top while we bickered. The view was stunning, the whole ocean spreading out to my right, a sparse patch of trees to my left. I could also identify who had made the rustling noise in the forest. It was a huge squad of D-dogs, fifteen at the least.

Most of them were perfectly fine, naked except for spears and crudely made blades, but four of them had bandoliers around their chests, and three of the generic soldiers were horribly wounded, one of them literally missing a limb. They were chatting to one another in low voices, obviously hoping to stay unnoticed by whatever had given them such a licking.

‘Think we can hear them from up here?’ I asked Gemina.

‘Don’t look at me, I was asleep during Latin class, remember?’

I did, all too well. It’s rather weird to hear someone snoring in your head while sitting in class wide awake, and Gemina seemed to find perverse pleasure in falling asleep only when my teacher started to lecture us or when we had a test.

‘Okay, so I’m alone in the Latin department, but do you think we could risk speaking?’

‘No clue, give it your best shot.’ Gemina responded, sounding so aloof I could practically see her shrugging in the back of my head. Why did I have to get stuck with the snarky sister?

‘Because I’m the comedic relief in your life Keiko.’

‘I asked you to stop calling me by that pet name Gemina.’

‘Ooooops, sorry!’ she said in a perfect copy of the bobo brothers. Dear god she knows that annoys me.

I looked back down at the pack of dogs and whispered as quietly as possible, “Amplificatur sensum.”

I can immediately tell it worked as the world suddenly goes Matrix on me. I can literally see the world around me slow down, and their conversation is now not only possible to hear, it’s ridiculously easy to overhear. Score one for me.
The wounded pack leader (at least I guess it is by the special chemicals) was speaking to the others in a low voice, almost a rasp, “……ffin, boy, attacked us. We tried to grab ponies, but it killed us. He strong fighter, be good in caves.”

The other diamond dog, his pelt a dark grey, looked at him in disgust. “You couldn’t kill a single griffin? You’re pathetic. My group will give you no help, mutt.” He then turned away and dropped to all fours. “MOVE OUT!” he shouted to his pack, and four others turned around and barreled away, quickly disappearing into the forest.
As soon as the pack had left earshot another group of dogs emerged from the trees I was clinging on to. There were two dogs holding onto another one, dressed in metal armor. While the two dogs looked ordinary the one they held was easy to recognize as…..

‘GRIM!’

‘Yep. Anyone else feel like this is from some kinda bad video game?’

‘What are you talking about? We’ve got to save him!’

‘Cool your jets hotshot, just wait a bit first, okay, he might have a plan you know.’

I wanted to swear, to curse, to shout my head off, but I could already tell that Gemina was right. I needed to trust Grim, pray that he knew what he was getting into. So I guess that it was time to just believe he had a plan, and sit here like a coward.

‘You listened to me for once. Now it’s my turn to ask, are you okay?’

‘Is payback always such a bitch?’

‘You have no idea.’

I sat there in the tree and fumed, waiting for everyone below to go nuts at his return, but instead I was treated to a booming chorus of laughter. It seemed that everyone below had suddenly gone mad, literally doubled over in laughter. Grim just looked at them with cool indifference, looking at them all in what looked like contempt.

‘The hell they laughing for?’

‘I haven’t the foggiest.’

After laughing themselves horse one of the ones garbed in a bandolier walks up to Grim and smiles wildly. “So we caught the Grim reaper at last.” he laughs, but everyone else (including us) groans at the horrid pun. “Shut it mutts!” he bellowed, making all the other dogs cower in fear (except the others with bandoliers, so I guess they really are pack leaders.) before turning back to Grim. “You’re lucky to still live, surprised you are actually. Where’s the other packs we sent after you?” he asked.

Grim looked him in the face and then returned the wild grin with an even larger smile, so wide it looked painful. “Why don’t you ask them, hmmmmm? I’d just need to kill you if that’s all-right.” he chortled, then started to laugh manically, causing all of the dogs to take a few steps back from him, their faces full of unadulterated fear. After a moment or two the dog talking to Grim shook himself and then sliced Grim’s face with his claws, blood now pouring from his face.

“YOU GODDAMN BITCH!” he bellowed, his face no longer full of fear but rather rage. “YOU KILLED THEM ALL! YOU TRULY ARE A BEAST!” He then grabbed Grim’s sword from one of the dogs holding his arms and pointed it at his neck. “YOU CAN JOIN THEM YOURSELF. DIE!” and he pulled his blade back and started to swing at Grim’s neck.

‘GRIM NOOOOOO!’

I could dimly hear myself whispering something in Latin, then I literally grabbed the tree top and flipped over the top, put my feet on the branch, and used it as a springboard to reach Grim before the blade could sink into his flesh.

I sped through the air towards the ground, landing right in front of Grim, my back facing the sword. I could feel the blade hit my scales, then snap like a twig. I slowly turned around to face the dog and I could see the fear in his eyes, the fear in all of their eyes. I hated that look, that picture of terror that had been on those kids faces, and now they were staring at me with the same eyes, so utterly fixated at my strength.

‘Why do they fear us so much Gemina.’

‘They fear what we are, what we can be.’

*********************************************************************************

I stand there for a few seconds, the last dog now lying at my feet, and then I start to heave. Huge racking retches emanate from my mouth and I hark up yet another quart of red bile and blood. I start to sob, my body now shaking slightly, before I literally scream to the heavens. I grab my head in my hands and squat down, rocking back and forth.

I mutter quietly, “What have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What Have I Done? What Have I Done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?”

‘Ember, chill!’

‘I JUST KILLED THEM ALL!! I EVEN ATE ONE OF THEIR FACES!!! WHY THE HELL WOULD I CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW!! WHAT THE HELL HAVE I JUST DONE!!!’

‘You were just trying to save Grim, that’s it.’

‘NO, IT WAS JUST LIKE WITH THOSE KIDS, WHY THE HELL DID I DO TH…….’ I think before something inside my mind snaps, and I black out.

Chapter Eleven, Trapped Inside My Mind

Chapter 11,
Trapped Inside My Mind

I could feel nothing at all, almost as if I had left my body. I felt as if I was underwater and nothing was moving around me for miles. There wasn’t light, there wasn’t darkness. Only a void, impenetrable, irascible, and unbelievable. I just lay, if you could call it that, there in the void, and it seemed as if time no longer held meaning. After what seemed like a second, but was more likely an eternity, I could hear a voice faintly, its words broken and meaningless.

“……er…em....mbe…….emb…...mber……embe……” it said, the words slowly becoming more sensible. The voice sounded familiar, high and pure, the intonation sweet and clear. Where had I heard that before? Surely I could remember that, couldn’t I?

“……lo……t……me……ber….” it said. It sounded as if it was asking me to do something, but I couldn’t seem to summon the strength needed to respond. I felt so tired………why? Did I do something terribly difficult? Did I pick up something heavy? Did dad and I argue again? Why did we always fight anyways?

“EMBER!” shouted the voice, suddenly strong. I startled and the void around me seemed to shatter, my body falling down through the non-existence. It was like falling down, yet at the same time it wasn’t. A voice seemed to echo all around me as I fell, it’s voice low and rumbling, almost like someone I knew………CoalHeart?

“Yo…..ne…..you……..ifu…….o…..use.” I could hear it say. Even with its speech being mostly unintelligible, it still brought shivers down my spine. It didn’t seem evil, yet I could feel the power it held just through those few syllables.
I finally slammed into something hard; a few of my plates cracked upon impact and I could hear what sounded like the shards skittering across the ground. I tried to look at myself, but I still couldn’t see. If I was still disembodied, then how did I feel this pain? All I know is that there was warmth that was spreading from where the plates cracked. Blood……..always blood……….

“Ember.” said the melodious voice, no longer broken or intermittent, but strong and clear. I tried to look at the person, but my eyes, traitorous as ever, continued to fail me. I did, however, feel something traveling along my neck and cheeks, slowly touching my eyelids. How could I feel this if I still didn’t have a body?

As if it could read my mind, the voice whispered one word to me and then the feeling on my eyes disappeared. What did it mean? Should I trust it? Was there any point in not doing so? And most of all, what the fuck was going on?
I calmed myself with a quick rhyme my mother taught me, corny as anything yet still worth remembering.

The wounds from events
seems painful today,
but come the morrow
the pain fades away.

‘Thank you, mom.’ I think, and then I follow the voices instructions. At first nothing happens, but little by little I can slowly open my eyes. At least, I believe I am doing so, but with only pure black around me it’s hard to tell. The voice spoke yet again, this time seemingly from behind me, and I tried to slowly turn my head. As my neck spun around a surprising picture came into view. It looked like me, but instead of scales black as night they were instead a deep purple, almost a plum in color. She (or was it I?......No, no, definitely she) sat inside an old Victorian reading chair, her legs crossed and her face smiling.

“Told you so.” she said, her smile growing smug as she stared at what I must assume is my body. “Or rather I just reminded you, whichever way you take it, you still owe me.” She stood up and extended a clawed hand to me, seemingly offering to help me stand up.

It seemed to take, but I slowly stood to my feet, pushing on the arm as if it was a crutch. Actually, I guess it is, nevermind. I looked at the girl standing in front of me and slowly rasped out, “Gemina……is that…..you?”

She laughed so hard I’m surprised she didn’t send me flying. The merry sound bounced around the room for what seemed like forever, causing my ears to send thousands of messages to my brain, none pretty. A couple of seconds later she collected herself, and said to me, still giggling. “What do you think dimwit?”

That cinched it, only Gemina would say something like that while surrounded by a void. As I slowly turned, looking around, trying to find a chink in the darkness, she kept talking. “I didn’t expect you to take that long. What happened? You get lost in your own mind or something?”

I continued to study our surroundings while I answered, my voice slowly losing its new raspy quality. “Maybe. I don’t know. I met two voices in there, yours, and what sounded like CoalHeart's.”

I could tell a deadpan line was coming on, and, not one to disappoint, Gemina said coolly, “Hearing voices in your head is one of the first signs of madness.”

“So what does that make you?” I shot back, indulging myself in a small smile.

“It makes me exactly what I sad, mad; but at least I’m not a floating pair of fangs, broken scales, and blood.” she said in a monotone.

Now it makes sense. I had no body to begin with, but my mind had strict concepts of reality. I hit a floor, and in my mind hitting a floor=injuries, so I broke some scales. I know that to rip open my skin makes blood come, so I bled. I even smiled, and since I know my fangs show while I smile, I have a floating smile. If what I think influences how look, then I guess I can make create my body with my mind.

I turn around and look at Gemina, drinking in every detail of her appearance, noticing every crevice of our body, every curve or quirk, and then close my eyes. It takes a few minutes, but when I open my eyes again and look down I can see what looks like a replica of Gemina, only my scales are a deep crimson; the color of blood. As I looked at the color sudden images started filling my mind, rushing in at an unnatural speed. I staggered and clutched at my head, Gemina just looking at me with pity in her eyes.

“Did we…….did I do that?” I ask quietly, my voice almost inaudible. *Plip**Plip**Plip* go my teardrops as they land on the floor, the saltwater running down my face. I just stand there, crying, praying that her answer will be something other than what I expect. I do not get my wish.

“…………………………..yes.” she replies, staring at me. My head slowly falls down, my eyes unable to meet hers. I know she’s telling the truth. She would joke about many things, but this was too far, even for her. I know that now, it happened before. I remember all those kids hurt, my knuckles and feet covered in their blood, me licking my hands as if they were covered in the sweetest of honeys. I had promised myself that I would never commit such an atrocity again. How could I have let myself do this yet again?

Gemina slowly walked towards me and, once she reached me, gave me a hug, whispering into my ear. “It’s okay Ember. It’s okay.”

I collapse. I’ve done and felt so much since I came here. I fall into Gemina’s arms and start to cry in earnest, my cheeks now slick with my tears. My father dead, dishonored by a Griffin. Me castrating Grim, the massacre, killing. Killing. No matter how bad things had gotten back home I had never thought of that, even when I had fallen into one of my rages. Even when things had reached their worst, I was still In control, still able to tell myself when to back off. I hadn’t here. Oh god, what have I done?

Gemina kept stroking the back of my head, softly speaking words of hope and love. “It’s okay Keiko, it’s not the end. We did something bad, but it’s not like the world has ended. Just let it out.”

After I finished crying, which had admittedly taken over half an hour, I looked at her, wiping away the rest of my tears. I hug her again and say, quietly, “Thanks big sis.”

She laughs at me. “Hey, what else would I be for?"

I grimaced and pushed away from her, standing on my own once again. Facing the fact that I had committed such atrocities hurt, but I had finally reached the point where we could talk about it rather than have to deal with me denying what happened. “Why did we do this…….they didn’t deserve it……..”

Gemina sighs herself as she rubbed the back of her head, looking like the spitting image of Axel after he’s been caught lying. Shifting her weight from foot to foot she responds, “No they didn’t. They did deserve to be beaten, but death was a little too far, and what we did was absolutely way too fucking far.”

I half laugh half sob out my next words. “I killed one of them with a French kiss……”

Gemina chuckled, smiling slightly. “Guess you did. I did always say that you’d be giving a dog your first kiss.” Gemina said, leaning over, her face inches from my own.

“Shut up, you know you didn’t mean that kind of dog.”

She leaned back and shrugged, her face breaking into a sly smile. “Just because it’s not the version I meant doesn’t mean that I’m wrong now does it?”

“I suppose not…………….” I say, my voice slowly trailing away to nothing. ‘But why are we even talking about this? Shouldn’t we be talking about what just happened.’

“I can already tell what you want to say.” Gemina sighs, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at me. My eyes shoot up and lock onto hers. ‘Wha…bu..hu…ho….how!?’ I splutter internally. My face must be comical because Gemina’s literally groaning at me.

“Okay, now you’re just being stupid. I mean really, how do I know? Is it that difficult to just answer it yourself?” she groans, pulling a claw out and face-clawing. “Just think back to the last sixteen years and you’ll remember exactly how.

I sat there for a few seconds and then started spinning on the spot looking around me. ‘Hello there everyone.’ I thought, and suddenly a horde of mouths appeared in the void, all of them speaking, “Hello there everyone.” in time with my thoughts.

I swallowed the knot quickly forming inside my throat and turned to Gemina. “Is this…..my……”

“Mind? Yep, it is.” Gemina said, looking at the mouths that still adorned the void. “Been here for a while this time around. As you called it many times before, this is the ‘dreamscape’.”

“Dream….scape?”

“Hey, don’t ask me, you’re the one who named this thing.”

“Is it always this……dark?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“Excluding the millions of mouths that is?”

“Oh yeah.” I mutter, and, picturing the mouths slowly closing into black slits, the many orifices closed and vanished from sight.

“That’s better, and nah, it’s just this time around. Well, it was also this dark about ten years ago, but that’s another story.” Gemina responded. “Can you guess why it’s so dark?”

“I……I…….think………I don’t know.” I said, stuttering.

“Okay, one hint, it was also this dark when you fought the kids.”

“Does…….it signify…….defeat?” I queried.

“You’re partially right about that. This actually signifies you believing that you can no longer fight back the darkness in your heart. Last few times I’ve come the darkness has only filled a small part of this area.”

“So I’ve given up hope?”

“No, you’ve stopped believing.”

My head cocked sideways, my mouth slightly ajar. “How is that any different?”

Gemina started stroking her chin and looked towards the (sky?). After a minute of pondering, she responded, “Well, it’s like this. Hope is irrational, usually going against all sense. Believing is a conscious choice. Therefore, you’ve decided to stop believing you can fight, but you still hope that you can. Got it memorized?" Gemina said, tapping her head with her right index finger. After staring at me for a few seconds she exclaimed, "What?”

My head jerked upright, my mouth snapping shut. I had zoned out for a second, my brain refusing to believe that Gemina could actually come up with something so philosophical.

“Ember, stop thinking or learn to not be such a blabbermouth please.” Gemina deadpanned.

‘Right, right, she can hear m…’

“Still can Keiko.”

‘Shut it for a second will you!’

“And now you’re screaming at me with your mind. Are you sure you’re not insane?”

‘You’re insufferable.’

“You’re just jealous.”

‘Of what?’

“Of everything.” Gemina said, doing a little pirouette.

‘I swear, if you’re going on about that whole idea that if you were the one with the body you’d have had bigger boobs than me, I’m going to smack you.’

“Oooooooo, kinky!” Gemina said, bending over, her claws furled in fists at her hips, wiggling her bum provocatively.

‘GEMINA!’

“Feeling better now?” Gemina said, her face already broken into a smile yet again.

‘Bwah?’

Gemina started to burst out laughing, her claws clutching her sides. I just looked at her, my face still a picture of puzzlement, and Gemina lost it. She fell down and started to roll on the ground, tears streaming down her face.

“What’s so funny!” I shouted, finally finding my voice again.

“Dear lord…….you’re…….so easy….to……….mess with!” she gasped.

“What?”

She finally seemed to be giggled out, as she flopped out, her body spread eagled on the ground. “Are you feeling better.” she said, her voice raspy.

“How?”

“Are you less pained now?” she asked.

“How am I pained?” I said. I had started to feel absolutely confused by her queries a while ago. Did she only talk in riddles when I had a question for her?

Gemina rolled her eyes and looked straight at me. “Fine then, cut to the chase, are you feeling better about killing the dogs?”

I shuddered, the room suddenly feeling cold. “No………but that’s going to be the answer even in a couple of years. I have to get over it, even if I don’t like it.”

Suddenly the void shifted, the place now being filled with stars. Each one glowed crimson, making it look like I was surrounded by millions of floating blood droplets. My feet suddenly had no purchase on what had been the floor, but I wasn’t falling, rather, I was floating. Gemina did a flip, her body going through what had been the floor seconds before, slowly revolving upright.

“You’re believing again?” she asked, what would have been her right eyebrow raised slightly.

“Yes. I know I have no good reason to do so, but I do.” I said, conviction running through every syllable I said.

“Then it’s time to wake up.” Gemina said. As she spoke my vision quickly faded to black, the world around me sinking into waves of darkness yet again.

Chapter Twelve, Am I The Only One Scared by This? Okay then….

Chapter 12,
Am I The Only One Scared by This? Okay then….

*thump**thump**thump*thump*

‘Wha………what’s that?’

My eyes fluttered open, light assaulting my vision. It hurt like hell, but I forced my eyes to stay open, my pupils slowly contracting in order to filter the brightness. After half a minute elapsed my vision had settled enough for me to try and source the rapid thumps. As I sat up and looked around, the source became evident, mainly due to a howl of pain, both from me and from a big black ball of fur over by a tree. Looking down at my lap I saw a coconut, split cleanly in two.

‘How do coconuts grow somewhere that isn’t tropical, heck, how do palm trees spring into existence?’

‘Same way that walking talking lizards live practically anywhere, dogs can speak, and how the rule of ninja hordes can apply to real life.’

‘Rule of nin……you know what, forget it.’

‘What was that again?’

I sighed and stood up, letting the two halves of the coconut roll off my lap and fall to the ground, the sand beneath them turning damp. As I walked over to Grim, I said, “Why the fruit, didn’t think you could eat it?

Grim whipped around and looked me straight in the eyes before dropping into a defensive stance, his blade held out in front of him. “Are you still psychotic or not?” he growled, slowly scooting his back away from the tree, evidently opening up a path for retreat.

I froze. Grim, the person who could forgive me for castrating him, was afraid of me, was even willing to pull a sword on me. Have I really become that despicable?

'Somewhat, yeah.'

Swallowing the knot that was forming in my throat I whispered to him, “I’m better.” I don’t understand how or why, but his expression cleared instantly, his blade already sheathed. He was acting as if nothing had happened last night, as if I was perfectly normal.

‘He’s killed how many of them? Guess you are normal by his standards, which, admittedly, must be pretty low.’

Grim looked at me, a grim smile on his face. “That was the monster you said your dad wanted to harness, is it not?”

My jaw dropped open, the hinges squeaking loudly, causing him to laugh. “Course I knew what that was. You said it would scare me, and I’ll admit that it did so, but I can’t condemn you just because you killed something, especially slavers who condemn even more to their deaths than you did.”

My brain clicked into overtime, the gears in my mind catching fire due to their speed. It seemed so much to take in after only a few seconds. Then I remembered something that was so simple yet held such a mysterious origin. I grabbed my jaw and snapped it back into place with a loud crack that caused Grim to wince before asking, “Why were you gathering coconuts?”

“Look behind you.” Was his simple answer, and as I turned around, I noticed a small pile of about twelve or so coconut halves.

*Loading*

*Click*

“Where you using them on me?” I asked, instantly wishing I had phrased it differently.

“BWAHAHA……..n-no, not….not like that….” Grim chortled, a wide grin now spread across his face. “After the fight you fell unconscious, so I used coconuts liquid to dampen one of our cloths, then I put it on your head so you’d cool down. I’ve heard that sweet smells help people who are sick, so the coconuts seemed like a better answer than the seawater. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to take multiple trips of over a hundred meters within a short amount of time without leaving you open to whatever Tartarus decided to throw your way.”

I looked at the pile of coconuts, then at the tree. “How did you get them down? You’re too heavy to climb the tree, so you had to do something to knock them down.”

Grim raised his paws for me to inspect. Taking both of the paws in my clawed hands, I inspected his knuckles. It quickly became apparent that his left paw was bleeding, his black fur slick with the blood. Giving a quick guess off of what he looked like, I’d say he had been bleeding for the last hour or so. “Just how long was I out?” I asked him.

“Ummmm……..since it should be about nine or ten now I’d say that you’ve been out for……let’s see……..eleven hours?” he said, raising his left paw to his mouth and lapping the blood off of his fur.

I snatched his paw out of his mouth and muttered, “Serena, curabat.” and his face immediately turned into a goofy smile, the cuts and rips in his paw quickly closing and the blood simply evaporating, making a slightly red haze over us.

His smile grew even wider as the haze slowly dissipated. “Blood fog, huh?”

“Why yes, there was a blood fog, so sue me.” I muttered darkly, turning back to our supplies, only to notice that, yet again, Grim had already packed everything up into a tight pack that was ready for travel. “And let me guess, you saved breakfast for both of us, it’s going to be a clear gem, and we’re going to go after I’ve cast my spell.”

Grim kept on smiling like a lunatic, his tail wagging madly, before hiccupping, “Ye*hic*p!”

‘Wow Keiko, you even have Katniss down to a T. How do you feel about becoming a horribly rude girl who acts like she owns the place?’

‘Like I want to bash both our brains out just so I no longer have to listen to you being an insufferable jerk.’

‘Awwwww, you know I love flattery.’

‘Sweet mother of God, you sound like the Joker!’

‘Okay Ninja Girl, I’ll be Hinjoker then.’

‘I never should’ve introduced you to web comics.’

‘You may be right about that. Don’t really know, don’t really care.’

I sighed yet again, then asked the other question that was troubling me. "Where'd you get the second sword? It looks...better."

He looked down at his blade, something close to that of an Scottish Claymore. "I took it from one of the pack leaders. It was a good blade that would have gone to waste."

I nodded in recognition of his answer, then raised my right claw, the index finger pointing straight towards the sun, chanting. “Interioris oculi, rubeum chorda fati.” After the chant, the red string from yesterday shot out of my finger and into the distance.

Grim looked at the thread, following its trail along the sandy shore of the beach. He walked over to our gear, slapped it onto his back, assumed a quadrapedal stance, then looked at me. “Ready to go?” he said, his crazy grin dying down just a speck.

“Breakfast?”

“Tried your pockets?” he said, raising a brow.

‘What pockets?’ I reached down to my side, acting as if I was pulling something out of a pocket. Lo and behold, a clear gem appeared in my hand. It looked exactly like the one I had eaten the day before, and was big enough that I had a hard time fitting the entirety of it in my hand.

‘That was very dirty, and…..ummm……….Hammer space I guess?’

‘I’m gonna pretend you never said that.’

‘So you don’t have to listen to my bad jokes but I have to listen to yours? Hypocrite.’

‘I learned from the very best, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Why thank you.’

‘Your welcome.’

I turned to Grim who had a turquoise gem in his mouth, crunching down on it with his powerful jaws, turning the once proud gem into nothing more than a fine dust. “Ready to head out?” I asked him, nibbling on my own gem.

“Ready.” he said, his brows lowering until his smile looked like a predatory grin. “Race ya!” he shouted, then started bounding away, me right on his heels.

*************************************************************************************************

We had been running less than an hour before saw a group of ponies, all of them evidently the worse for wear. They looked disheveled, discolored, and, above all, afraid. I whispered to Grim, asking quietly, “Should we avoid them or not?”

“Better to try and talk to them rather than anything else. They’ll probably see us soon anyways, what with the light and there being no cover nearby.”

“Got it, let’s go then.” I stepped my pace up, changing my speed from a good jog to an full on charge. I counted slowly, ‘One….Two…Three…Four!’ before jumping into the air, propelling myself into the air, soarin’ ‘EMBER!’ right over the ponies heads, shifting into a rolling dive as I hit the ground. After rolling onto my butt, I cocked my head back and looked at the ponies, now identifiable.

There were two ponies of each gender, all of them earth ponies. They all reeked of alcohol, and the two girls seemed like they were still somewhat tipsy, the dark pink one actually falling flat on her rump when I looked at them. I may not be the best at reading someone’s stance, but I knew that they were all petrified in fear. In an attempt to break the ice I said, “Hello there, what’s up?”

I don’t know what I expected, but for three of them to jump on me, holding me down, one mare on each leg, and one of the stallions holding my arms, was not it. The last pony, the bulkiest of them all, was standing right over my head, shouting at me, “YOU’LL NEVER SELL US INTO SLAVERY!” before trying to punch me in the face. Bad move. His hoof, which actually was a pretty decent swing, smashed into my face, but I felt practically nothing. The stallion on the other hand, he was hoping up and down, screaming in agony. Go scales as hard as steel!

‘It’s like wearing our own private set of mythril. OMG, we’re Elijah Woods, only, you know, less stupid faces.’

‘Not now Gemina, trying to decide how to deal with the ponies, heckle me later, okay?’

‘I’ll hold you to that.’

“Mind letting me up?” I asked quizzically to the three ponies trying to hold me down. Their glares was answer enough, so I just used the stallions weight on my arms to backflip from the ground, yanking my legs from the mares grasp, before settling onto the stallions back, literally riding him. “By the way, what are all of your names?”

The stallion under me started to buck, his eyes now giant orbs of white with two pinpricks of black inside of them. He looked close to fainting and his breath was ragged. I guess having a six foot tall overgrown lizard perched on your back can do that to someone. The mares on the other hand looked at me questioningly, obviously wondering why I was riding the pony under me rather than killing him or just knocking him senseless.

The dark pink pony trotted forward, looking me in the face, before going down onto two hooves, her front bowing in front of me. “P-p-p-p-p-please, d-d-d-don’t k-kill us.” she whimpered.

“Why would I do that?” I asked, looking at them all. They all froze in shock at my response, even the one underneath me.

The other mare, an aquamarine one with a mane of white (I know someone who looks like her, who was she again?) spoke next, saying, “Well, we were almost caught yesterday.”

“By what?” I asked, raising my (once again, do I even have that part?) eyebrow.

“THAT!” screamed the stallion behind me, his coat close to that of midnight black. “SLAVER DOG!”

“Slaver d…..oh no, he’s not a slaver, he’s my traveling partner.” I said, seeing that Grim had finally plodded up to us.

“Wait, wha? There were like four or five dogs yesterday, they tried to capture us!” shouted the pony under me. “Those mad griffins killed them though. Said they killed them all.”

Grim and I looked at one another, staring into each other’s eyes before bursting out laughing. “HAHAHAHAHA, YOU’RE…YOU’RE JOKING RIGHT!?” I laughed, literally laughing myself off of the pony’s back.

“No we’re not, they killed them all, then tricked us into believing that we had slept with……..ooooops….” said the pink mare, the other mare slapping her hoof over the pink one’s others mouth.

Our elation at that statement just grew, causing all of the ponies to blush scarlet at our jubilation. “I’m….I’m sorry….” I wheeze after a moment, “But I killed over three times that amount yesterday. But what you said would explain the reason they were talking about griffins.” As I said that my face fell noticeably, no longer jovial but rather somber. Thinking about killing hordes of people can do that to someone.

The ponies stared at me, their gaze filled with a mixture of fear, wonder, and, is it even possible, gratitude? “So you saved us?” the pink mare said.

“I guess so, though it was unintentional.” I responded, standing straight, the giggles out of my system now. “It was more of a ‘Dogs try to kill friend we kill them’ situation.”

“Even so,” said the midnight black pony, “We owe you. We were traveling to Manehatten soon, but I guess we can go right now. We could get you something as a token of thanks then.”

I looked to Grim, whose only response was a non-committal shrug. “Okay then, but we’re going to take it at a decent pace, are you going to keep up?” I asked, both me and Grim walking along the line, now obviously setting a course to Manehatten.

“Sure thing/Yep/Yessire/You got it!” They responded, trotting along after us.

Chapter Thirteen, Enter Shop, Make Rock.

Chapter 13,
Enter Shop, Make Rock.

Manehattan. Of course, there had to be a version of Manhattan here. I mean, Ponyville seemed to be a revision of Smallville, so here we are, the big apple of this world, arriving right at nightfall.

‘Anyone else feel like we stepped out of a badly made Batman episode?’

‘Will you shut up?’

‘You said I could heckle you later if I shut up then, so no.’

‘Fine, you win.’

We had all stopped what seemed like the entrance, the clustered city sprawling out before us. The four ponies, Aquanaut ‘If she helps small animals I’m going to destroy something.’, Rose blossom, Nightwing ‘Not sexy enough, and definitely makes me feel like we’re stepping out of a Batman episode.’, and Derek ‘Only one with a sensible name.’ had all warmed up to us over the ten hour trek it took to reach Manehattan.

“So where are we going?” Knightwing asked me and Grim.

“Well, we’re searching for a griffin, so I’d say asking the police station would be the most useful task.” I said. ‘Besides, the red string only shows us where he’s been, I’d need to retrace his steps exactly or else I’d lose my sense of direction pretty quickly. Directions to where he’s going would be quite useful.’

Rose Blossom spoke up then, trotting over to me. “Aquanaut and me could show you where the police station is.”

I looked at the both of them, my eyebrows raised. “Why would two mares who haven’t served time know exactly where the main police station is in a city like this? Anything you haven’t told us?”

Rose Blossom started to rub her two forehooves together, her cheeks turning a deep scarlet. “Ummmmmm……we both dated some of the police stallions who worked there.”

Aquanaut piped up, “They’re so handsome, yet most of the time they just go to waste, so we just nabbed them. Quick, easy, and absolutely magnificent.” As she spoke her vision seemed to slip out of focus, her tongue actually lolling out of her mouth. I looked behind me and saw Grim’s ears had shot straight up and his tail was wagging like mad, his face looking just as stupid as Aquanaut’s.

“Why don’t you take Grim to the station, I’ll catch you later.” I said, smiling at Grim’s suddenly elated smile. “Wait, now that I think of it, where should we meet up?”

“We’ll meet up at the ‘Hard Rock Café’. Rose and Aqua know where it is, so it should be a simple thing for us to meet up, and besides, it’s a token landmark.” Derek said, nonchalantly examining his right forelock for sand or dirt.
I laughed at his feigned aloofness. “Sure, why not, then I get supper as a token of thanks.” As I said that they all paled. “Buy all of you some supper, not eat you.” I muttered, to which they all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wait, what? You guys have money?” Nightwing asked, his brows still up.

Grim held out a paw, a diamond about the size of my palm held within. “We thought we could use these as our currency.”

The four ponies eyes popped, their jaws hitting the floor. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” Rose shrieked, her eyes comically turning into miniature diamonds themselves. “HOW MANY OF THESE THINGS DO YOU HAVE!?”

“Umm…I’d say somewhere around twelve gems of that size, fifteen of a half palm size, and about thirty assorted other gems, mostly emeralds and sapphires.” I said, ticking off the numbers on my claws. Counting on my claws actually got a lot trickier recently, what with losing an entire finger and all.

Derek looked at the gem in Grim’s paw, then at me. “Any chance we could get a small one of those instead?” he asked, his tone suddenly much more polite than before.

“Yes, but lose the accent or you’re never getting it.” I grumbled. “So a gem dealer would be a good place to go? Guess we may as well head out then. We’ll meet up at the café in two hours?” I asked, to a general consensus of yes. “Okay then, let’s go.”

‘Autobots, roll out!’

‘I’ll give you that one.’

‘Did I ever ask you to?’

‘You have a point there.’

**************************************************

Nightwing, Derek, and I walked through the town, but I could feel the atmosphere that surrounded me, the stares from everypony that walked past me. Hell, one of the ponies that only saw me once I had come up close literally shrieked and fell into a cart of cabbages next to him, earning him a severe berating from the old grandpa pony next to him. “My cabbages!”

“Is everyone like this?” I asked Derek, who just nodded his head in conformation. “What, do I have some food stuck in my teeth?”

“It’s your teeth that are the problem.” Nightwing replied, trotting up from behind me so that we walked side by side. “I’m guessing the only reason nobody’s done anything rash is because we’re walking with you.”

‘Oooooooooohhh, the ponies are little racists, awesome!’

‘Is life just one big joke to you?’

‘I’ll get back to you in a bit, I just need to finish playing LIFE, I’ve still got to get to college.’

‘A joke it is.’

‘Damn right it is!’

I sighed in resignation before following up Nightwing’s comment with a query, “Do you guys hold special influence or anything?”

Derek laughed. “Like hell he does. Look at his Cutiemark, what does it look like?”

I stared at his Cutiemark, a group of three cups with a pearl laying in the middle of them. “It looks like guess the cup?”

Derek smiled, “Close, but no cigar. His special talent is closest to charlatanism, but hey, he’s actually quite honest once you get to know him, you just have to understand what he’s really saying once he flips into greasy mode.”

Now that I think of it, Derek’s Cutiemark was rather strange in and of itself. It was a guitar, but there were no strings attached to it. What on earth could that mean?

‘No clue, wanna ask him?’

‘No, that’s a rather personal question in my opinion.’

We turned another corner and I saw exactly what I was hoping for, a significant curve in the string, leading into the shop and then curving diagonally upwards into the sky. The shop that the string led into was a gem shop ‘Convenient much?’ that looked slick. Sleazy slick. It seemed that the griffins, unable to eat gems, traded the precious minerals they looted from the dead dogs in order to get supplies and food. But to reach this point after so long, one of them must’ve had the knowledge of how to survive off the land. Maybe they ate the coconuts? Maybe one of them knew how to catch clams or mollusks?

We walked into the shop, the timetable outside saying we had about thirty minutes left to shop before it closed for the night. As we entered a pony, dressed in the upper half of a suit, rushed up to meet us, his (French?) accent thick and oily. “Mademoiselle, how may Pierre he……” he said before he saw me, his voice stuttering to a halt. He gazed at me with unadulterated fear. “Ma……..Ma……..how may I help you.”

‘Racist and false, how quaint.’

‘For once I believe that you’re exactly right.’

‘Still don’t care about that.’

I looked at him, then at the red string that lead into a backroom, “Mind taking us to the same room that the two griffins went to. I want to trade gems, just like them.” His face turned from his original oily black to a creamy white.

“How….how…..how do….. how do you know?” he said, his accent completely gone, instead a common place city accent replacing his now evidently fake French accent.

‘Wow, less than a minute and the accent disappears.’

“Is that really of concern to you?” Nightwing asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I thought that you were a merchant, not an Inquisitor. May we please sell you some gems? If not, just say so. We’ll just find another gem dealer, but, as your prices were so beautiful, we thought that you would be the best dealer there is.” Nightwing said, slowly turning away from the Pierre.

“No, NO!” Pierre called, obviously frantic. “I mean……right zis vay mademoiselle.” He stuttered, pointing a hoof towards the door.

‘Wow, who’s that desperate to make a sale with such a bad accent?’

‘Him obviously, but you’re right, the accent is annoying’

“Unless you lose the accent, you’re going to get nothing and we’ll find somebody else.” Nightwing said, throwing me a quick glance, obviously noticing my growing annoyance. “Otherwise, lead on.”

Pierre stumbled slightly before moving to the backroom and opening the door. “After y..you….” he stuttered, the three of us entering the room.

Nightwing immediately took control. “Excuse me ma’am, but what gems would you like to sell?”

I tapped my chin, “How about two palm sized diamonds, a set of five emeralds, and a shard of obsidian?”

Pierre’s eyes popped. “If…if you don’t mind…I’d….I’d uh…..buy them for four thousand bits?” he said, smiling widely, a gleam in his eyes.

Nightwing slowly turned to him, looking at him as if he were a disgusting bug. “Four thousand? FOUR THOUSAND! Buck no, they’re being sold for eight thousand or else we’re leaving.”

Pierre tugged at his collar ‘How do they do that with no fingers? HOW!?’, before muttering, “I could give you seven thousand…….”

“Eight thousand.” Nightwing said nonchalantly.

“Please sir!” Pierre gasped, his head now covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Fine then, you can get them for seven thousand five hundred. We’re walking unless you say yes.”

Pierre shifted from hoof to hoof, obviously nervous. “Give me a seco…..”

“No.” Nightwing interrupted, “It’s now or never. You’ve got seven seconds to choose.”

“What, wait!” Pierre cried, obviously torn between the call of such riches and the loss of so many bits.

“Seven, six, five…” Nightwing said, inspecting his hoof.

“Please!”

“Three…”

“What happened to four!?”

“I lost count. Awe well, can’t get blood from a gutless turnip.” Nightwing said, turning to the door, “Come on, we’re leaving.”

“You can’t go to any other shop right now, they’re all closed!” Pierre cried, pointing his hoof triumphantly at Nightwing.

Nightwing looked over his shoulder, his eyes flashing dangerously. “Watch me.” He then turned to us and trotted past, calling over his shoulder, “Come on.”

As we exited the building I looked down at the black stallion, my eyebrows raised. “Wasn’t that a tad bit rash? Where else are we going to go now?”

Nightwing, aside from raising a hoof to my lips, ignored me, counting down under his breath, “Three, two…..”

“WAIT PLEASE!” a voice called from the shop behind us. “I’LL PAY THE BITS! PLEASE COME BACK!”

Nightwing sniggered, “Works every time.”

**************************************************

It was unbelievable, over seven and a half grand (is it still called that?) in just a span of twenty minutes. I had asked Pierre if he had any clue where the griffins would head next, but, just like I thought, he had no clue.

‘Oily businessmen usually aren’t known for having spines.’

‘And asshole sisters aren’t usually listened to.’

‘Why do you think I ignore you usually?’

‘Touché.’

After the stop at Pierres gem shop we decided to roam the town for a bit until it was time to meet up. Derek and Nightwing seemed to know the town quite well, but neither seemed to have a place they wanted to head to. I mean, who knows a town but doesn’t have a favorite place to hang out?

“Derek, Nightwing?” I said tentatively, “Would you mind heading to a music store?”

The two stallions looked at one another, then at me, then at each other again, this time with raised eyebrows. “Why do you want to go there?” Derek asked, his face breaking into a wide grin.

“Because I wanted to buy Grim a violin…” I said, my scales turning a light purple.

“So you’re a couple?” Nightwing said, raising a eyebrow.

“Hell no!” I shouted to the heavens, “He doesn’t even like girls!”

Nightwing nodded, smiling. “Thought so. He’s hardcore gay, right?”

My face flushed as I remembered our first meeting. “Yea.”

‘Awwww, is the Katniss sad that her Peeta is gay?’

‘Gemina, if you had a body by now you’d have been mauled to death.’

‘Disagreed, I’d be sitting on your head, pinning you all Kakashi style. Am I right or am I right Keiko?’

‘Don’t….kill……self……injury……tempting!’ I thought, even the voice in my head sounding strangled in pure rage.

‘Hi there black mage, choking on your rage still?’

I felt a hoof on my arm. As I quickly came to my senses I realized I had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, my hands held up in the ‘DA FU?’ position.

“Annnyways, the closest shop is about a block away. We could go there, look around, and even be back within about an hour which coincidentally is exactly how much time we have left before our meeting time.” Derek said, looking at a shops clock. “So what you say, stay or go?”

“Sure, lead the way.” I said, my arms dropping by my side. I plodded after Derek, Nightwing trotting alongside, Gemina arguing with me all the way.

**************************************************

The shop that Derek had mentioned seemed to be a catch twenty two music store, with all sorts of instruments placed neatly in their stands. One even held an ocarina. The way Derek was walking through the store though, it was definitely more of an ‘I know this place better than I know you.’ Stance.

“Derek, do you live here?” I asked him as we walked through the shop.

“Nope, but it was where I got my Cutiemark. You see, while I love instruments, I’m just no good at them. I still loved them though, so I took a part time job here when I was younger. Was my first job ever, and I instantly got the gist of how to organize the instruments, how to clean them. After my first week of working there I arrived to work and everyone was surprised I had a mark on my plot. Now then, what do you……Ember?” Derek said, slipping out of his monologue.

I was walking towards a silver flute. It was built in the same shape as the ones back home. Dear lord, it had been so long since I had played one of those. Did I still have the talent?

‘I won’t begrudge you your moment this time.’ Gemina whispered, receding from my conscious. I didn’t pay much attention to that, too focused on the flute in front of me. I slowly reached out a claw and picked up the flute, placing my fingers on the keys. Cocking my arms into the upright position I raised the flute to my lips, blowing a soft, low F. It resounded throughout the shop, causing the room to be filled with a low reverberation.

‘Do I still remember how to play that song? I might as well try.’

I began to blow, a soft sweet melody playing from the instrument, a harp played somewhere from behind me. I kept breathing, the wind skirting over the mouthpiece, my fingers moving at a restrained pace. The music was around me, within me……was me. I gave in, feeling myself slip into the music. More instruments joined my song, a small choir of instruments, playing in harmony, the tune softly calling of home, of the dreams we had, of the love we shared………Thank you so much Mark……..

Once the song finished I lowered the flute and turned back to Derek and Nightwing, only to see they were no longer alone. Rather, a whole crowd of ponies had filed into the shop, old and young, scruffy and refined, all sorts. Derek slowly clopped forward.

“How?”

“Years of practice.” I said, blushing. “It was quite hard to le….”

“I meant how did you make a one person orchestra?” he asked, small tears in his eyes. “It was beautiful.”

I looked around, noticing that many instruments were surrounded by an odd glow, crimson in color.

‘Was that from me?’

‘Either way, it was magnificent.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Seems like you may actually be growing up.’

I looked at the gaggle of ponies surrounding me. This was gonna be weird. I coughed and looked around. “Who own the shop?”

“We do!” came a pair of voices from the middle of the crowd, and two ponies, one male, the other female, both with light tan coats, pushed their way through the crowd. “Whatcha need?”

“I was wondering if I could buy a violin. I know I like the flute, but I wasn’t here to get one.” I said, sighing as I placed the instrument down, my longing for the instrument evident.

“Aw shucks, keep it, we’ve got other instruments we could sell.” said the male. “Looks like Derek finally met someone who knew how to play an instrument anyway.”

The mare nodded. “Besides, you’ve more than paid for it with that little performance, just look!” I followed her sweeping hoof, noticing that a huge amount of ponies had started to look at the instruments that surrounded them. “You’ve brought in more than our usual rush, so take it, it’s on the house.”

I gasped, then swept them both up in a hug. While at first they struggled, once they realized my intentions were non-lethal they went limp. As I let them go, the mare breathing a sigh of relief, wiping a sheen of sweat off her forehead with her hoof. “I’m still going to pay for something. I wanted to see if you had any violins?”

The stallion smiled cheekily at me, “Sure thing, just over here.” I looked to Derek, but he just waved me on, telling me to get on with it. Grinning, I walked over with the duo, starting to browse their selection.

**************************************************

“Hey, over here!” Rose called out, waving at us from the middle of the line. Everyone was standing around Grim, but seemed to realize that he was *snort* harmless. We walked over to them, and the line seemed to draw back from us. After they realized we were with the ponies however, they breathed out, obviously relieved.

Derek looked at me and gave me a smile and wink. “So then, you guys leaving right now?”

I glanced at Grim, who nodded in agreement. “Yes, I believe it’s time for us to leave. I know that it isn’t the best way to leave each other’s company, but here.” I say, putting a diamond into Derek’s hoof along with a hundred bits. “Buy dinner and have a good time tonight. Thanks for helping us.”

Aquanaut grinned at me, then gave me a hug. “Don’t you dare forget about us, okay?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I said, hugging her back. As we let go Nightwing and Derek thumped Grim on the back and Rose kissed both of us. “Goodbye.” I called, turning away.

“See ya/Hasta luego/Au revoir/Bye.” They responded, waving at us.

As we started out of the city I started talking to Grim, a smile plastered over both of our faces. “So then, guess you had fun going and seeing the hot police ponies, am I right?”

“Pretty much.”

“So then would you like to do it again?”

“Definitely.”

“Well, since I had a good time and you had a good time I’d call it a night well…..”

“EMBER!”

I spun around to see a sight that chilled my blood. Grim’s hind paw was clutched by another one, the later protruding from the ground. His eyes met mine for a second, then gone.

Chapter Fourteen, Crosscountry, Literally.

Chapter 14,
Cross Country.

I stared at the place Grim had been standing just seconds before, now just a giant hole. His body had been pulled under the ground, almost as if the stone had been crafted out of water.

‘Heh, just like Kakashi.’

'Gemina, NOT NOW!'

I gazed down the hole, scanning the murky depths below. After a moment of being unable to see what was inside, I decided to find out myself. With a quick jump I landed in the pit on all fours. It was then that I realized that the inside the pit was pitch black. It took me a second, but my eyes somehow filtered through the darkness, causing everything to appear as if it were daylight. As I stood up and rushed forward a pair of Diamond dogs pushed themselves out of the earth and body checked me, crushing my frame in-between their massive forms.

"Either get off of me or die." I growled at the two giant dogs, to which they just laughed, squishing me tighter. Their response, while unfortunate, was expected, and with a short snarl of, Die.” my claws cleaved the two mutts beside me. They died before they hit the floor, each one missing their heads.

‘Let’s go.’

‘Right.’

I looked forward, and realized that the two dogs hadn’t just attacked me, but had collapsed the tunnel behind their mates, rendering the path untraversable. Roaring in rage, I spun around and we dashed up to the entrance again. As we reached the hole I jumped forward, and then grabbed the wall, using my legs to push myself up and over the edge of the pit and back out into the moonlight. I studied the ground for a moment, but there was no sign of where they went.

‘Gemina, how do we find him!’

‘I don't k....’ but I had already worked it out, and, raising my finger, I shouted “Interioris oculi, rubeum chorda fati!" The previous red string snapped, the whole line vanishing in a puff. A second later another string of red light shot from my finger, this time heading straight through the city.

I looked at Manehattan's streets, remembering how crowded they had been. If I tried to charge through I would be impeded by all the civilians, but I couldn't fly over the town either, not with the wings on my back being clipped.

'You know, your scales would hide you well against the night sky.'

'I don't have time for riddles Gemina, so speak clearly!'

'Use the roofs.'

'Wait, like a free runner?'

'Caught on yet?'

I didn't know whether I wanted to kiss her or smack her, and with my inability to do either, I decided that actions would have to suffice. My legs sprang into action, charging at the nearest building, twelve feet in height. As I neared the building my legs bent, then sprang open, propelling me into the air, my feet clearing over four feet of air.

'Nice one!'

My claws grabbed the edge of the roof which was, thankfully, flat. As my feet hit the wall I once again crouched, then pushed off of the wall with all my might, my claws clutching the wall with an iron grip, causing me to literally do a front flip over the wall onto the roof. Letting go of the roof, I flicked my tail back over the edge of the roof, using it to allow my upper half to once again realign my body upwards. I then dashed across the roof, springing from it to the other building, easily twenty feet tall. Using that as a springboard, I jumped from off of its wall into the other building next to it.

'Seventeen feet up in the air in only fifteen seconds, must be a record.'

I didn't hesitate as I landed, instead rushing forward, the air around me whipping by. I was doing what I was great at, cross country. It was time to go over a town, and the thread was my lifeline. It took me a good twenty minutes, but at a fast paced run I made it over the roofs without much trouble. As I reached the other side of the town I leaped off of the roof, waiting until the last second before shouting, "AER DEFLEXIO!" causing a huge pillow of air to flip me from a starfish position back onto my feet.

'Ready?'

'Go!'

I had taken only five steps before I noticed a giant field with littered with pits, just like the one Grim had been dragged into. 'What is...?' but then it hit me.

My brain left me, receding into the murky depths of my psyche. I knew what was going on, what was going to happen. It had happened before, hadn't it? It was the one episode I actually remembered, the one where the mains six had to fight against a pack of diamond dogs. They had played whack-a-mole with them. The dogs weren't even fighting me anymore, they were playing with me, stalling for time. But I couldn't waste time, I could.........n't.........fig........t..............

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to focus, to resist, but what was I resisting again?..........What was it?..........remember........Grim.........couldn't..........lose...........

My eyelids shot open, but I couldn't see. I tried to touch my eyes, but instead flames danced in my sockets, their warmth heating my entire face. I could still sense everything around me, but I no longer saw them. I no longer needed to.

"JOVIS TEMPESTAS FULGURIENS!" I shrieked to the heavens, bringing my right fist to the ground, shoving it into the hard earth. The ground around me froze, the grass becoming tiny, frosty blades, the holes suddenly sprouting giant spiked pillars of ice, all of them splattered with blood. The ice had either frozen them solid so fast they couldn't make a noise, or else the pillars had fulfilled their purpose, crushing the mutts before they could utter a single gasp.

A deep voice echoed through my skull, it's tone pleased. 'Good........tential......aft......ll...'

'Em.....o!' cried another voice in my head, this one sounding panicked.

'Kill..........all.' the deep voice continued, now chuckling. '..hey....serve....t'

'N.....n't...d....it'

'You.....serve......tifactio.....'

I couldn't feel my body anymore. Instead it felt as if my conscious was floating freely throughout space. '............What's going on?.........Am I dead?..............If so.......is what I've done................all I ever could?..............but.......if so.............why?......................'

The two other voices in my head spoke together, their voices melding, only one word distinguishable.
'It's......ha........wil......e......consi..............ur.......tiny.....wyrm..............'
'......n't......at....w.....sho......o....t's....no..r.....des.......is.......................'

'destiny?.......................what is destiny?.............................What's mine?.................'

'....mb..r...'

'....Gemina?....'

'EMBER!'

My eyelids shot open as Gemina shouted at me, my right arm shooting up to feel them, but this time my eyes were in their rightful place.

*Clang*

I blinked once, twice, and then looked at my arm. Across it lay a sword, crudely made and pathetic when compared to my scales, but that wasn't what surprised me. There was a dog, probably the last, holding onto its hilt, his eyes wild and his breathing ragged. I stared at him. I could feel pure loathing churning in my gut. He was why Grim was just kidnapped. He deserved whatever I pain I inflicted upon him.

'Kill........'

'Ember..'

I ground my fangs in frustration, my right claw slowly raising into the sky. I could see the dogs pupils dilate in terror, his very breath stopping in fear.

'Murder..'

'Don't.....'

My claw started to shake, my rage keeping me from holding it still. The dogs eyes met my own, silently begging, no, praying for mercy.

'Fin....'

'Ple....'

My left claw sliced through the air, straight towards the dog.

*SNAP*

"Go.....tell them to stop following us..." I muttered, turning away from the dog, my claw releasing the broken halves of his sword. I could feel his eyes boring into me for a moment, then the pressure vanished as the sound of digging started. I didn't wait any longer. Instead, I looked down at the red string attached to my finger, then followed its path with my eyes.

'I'm sorry for that little delay Gemina. Ready?'

'You're going to go even if I said no, but yeah, I am.'

I crouched slightly, then sprang forward, running after the trail of string. 'I swear, on the blood of my father, that they will not take you Grim. I swear.'

***********************************************************************************

I had been running for a couple of hours by now, the moon under the horizon, and I was reaching the end of my rope. I still had the strength to keep running, but it had been a long day, the hunt had lasted forever, and I had already cast spells stronger than anything ever before

'Ember, I can't help you anymore, you're shutting me out.'

'That's because I know the second I let you help control the body, you'll force me to stop.'

'Stop making me be the logical one Ember! You've run yourself ragged, you need to stop!'

'I've run for this long before.'

'But at a run? Stop Ember...............please......'

I had started panting over an hour ago, and my tongue was as dry as a desert breeze, my limbs heavy as lead. I'd done these races before, and knew it was only going to get worse. Gemina was right, I probably should just stop..................

'NO, I WON'T LOSE ANOTHER FRIEND BECAUSE I REFUSE TO ACT!'

I broke into a sprint. The air, previously just a gentle breeze, now smashed into me, causing some of my scales to literally crack under the pressure of the wind around me.

'Stop Ember! EMBER!'

It took less than a minute of running before a town suddenly loomed on the horizon, and it was only another minute until I had rocketed into it.

It was Ponyville.

Grim's line had been drug halfway through it.

Buck.

"GRIM!" I bellowed, my voice shaking the very ground, the stones beneath my feet starting to shatter under every step I took.

Lights flicked on throughout the town, the windows turning into small beacon, the sound of shouts and panicked screams filling the night.

'Ember, we can't stay here, we've got to leave!'

'No, I'm not leaving Grim!'

'Dear lord, you're going to have to deal with a town of angry ponies in a second, so just listen and LEAVE!'

I kept running, a plan on how to keep the ponies from swarming out of their homes yet still save Grim from the dogs formed in my mind. All I needed was a high point, and a spell prepared. I started to chant, my voice hoarse from being so parched. "Aer et aqua..."

'Ember, don't cast, get out of there!'

I decided to ignore her as I saw exactly what I needed, Twilight's tree house. "....facti nebula...."

'Ember, NO!'

I jumped off of the ground onto a nearby houses wall, using it as a springboard to jump onto twilight's house. I started to pounce from branch to branch, using all four of my limbs to grab onto the oversized tree limbs, my tail to keep me steady. Within seconds I had reached the top of her house, easily fifty feet tall. As I prepared to leap off of the tree Gemina shouted at me. "...illis somnum brevem..."

'EMBER, STOP!'

I disregarded her order and sprang from the tree, finishing my chant with a shout, "NEBULA HYPNOTICA!"

The whole town was suddenly blanketed in a thick fog, the lights in the town smothered in seconds, the sounds of the ponies scream shifting to the sound of snores. Doors shut of their own accord throughout the town. Equines were lifted into their beds, their minds suddenly wiped of the events of the last few minutes.

'See Gemina, I kn' Was all I said before I puked, my stomach caving in, my back arcing upwards as if someone had crushed it with a mallet. My body slowly arced, then pointed my face up to the heavens, my head down to the stone below.

'G......na....'

As my body started to fall I looked up at the stars above me, the tiny, sparkling diamonds almost gone in the coming day. Where they to be my last sight?

'Night.'

'EMBEEEEEEEEERRRRRR!'

*Thump*

Shoutout to Nathan Traveler and his interview story for the chess pieces, "Puppy Love's Chess Game". Here's Ember's Interview, but I must say spoiler alert. No specifics mentioned, but a lot of overview.

Chapter Fifteen, Buck Me Once, Shame On You, Buck Me Twice, Shame On Me.

Chapter 15,
Buck Me Once, Shame On You. Buck Me Twice, Shame On Me.

A bucket of water splashed into my face, soaking me completely. My eyes cracked open, then bulged as some of the water trickled into my mouth, slipping down the wrong path towards my lungs. Rolling off of my side, I put my hands against the ground and pushed up, lifting my chest shakily off of the ground. I retched once, twice, then puked, my stomach heaving, its contents pouring out of my mouth all over the ground, the liquid painting the ground a noxious green, flecks of red throughout. Light was shining onto the stones beneath me, so at least four to six hours had passed since I fell.

The sound of hooves clopping against the ground resounded in the air, my hearing to bucked up to focus on its origin. “What the hay was that for!?” someone said, speaking in a southern accent.
‘Wait, WHAT?! We actually woke up? How the hell? We fell from over fourty feet up! Oh yeah, almost forgot, nice job waking up and immediately being sick over a random creature.’

I tried to stand, but my body was betraying me, my limbs working about as effectively as if they had been crafted from gelatin, all of them feeling rather stiff for some reason. I tried to raise my head, but pain shot through my neck as if someone had shoved a needle into it, causing me to whimper slightly. Conceding defeat, I instead settled rasping out, “Who….are…you…” to the stranger.

“Could ask ya that myself.” she….yes….definitely she….replied. “Ya’ll a relative of Spike’s? Got a clue why all these darn ponies are sleeping off the day? I swear, it’s like a ghost town here.”

I recognized her voice, but couldn’t quite place it, like a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time, the answer niggled at the back of my head, buzzing around just out of reach. One thing I could register was what she just said.

‘Sleeping ponies?’

I could hear Gemina whistling softly in my head. ‘So now we know why you fell unconscious, you cast a spell so strong it knocked out a town worth of ponies for easily over four hours. For once I’m actually surprised at how strong you are.’

‘I don’t know how I did it though, but thanks anyways. Now here’s the big question, why isn’t she asleep?’

‘No bloody clue, wanna ask her?’

‘Not particularly my first question, but at some point.’

‘Okay then, so what are we going to tell her?’

‘So should I tell the truth or make up a lie?’ I queried.

‘Truth in this case. You’re shot, and if it decides lying is the bad alternative, then we’re bucked.’

After a second of panting and gasping for air, I croaked out, “I think….it was …..me.”

I immediately felt the sensation of two metallic horseshoes smashing into my skull, sending me tumbling away, rolling right into Twilights tree-brary, my body landing in the comical position of legs and tail over my head, my torso lying on the ground. I couldn’t see crap as vision had suddenly gone on the fritz, but before it could begin to settle out I felt a hoof crush the side of my face into the ground, and swirling mass of orange covered my vision.

“Who in tarnation are you?” the voice said, menace dripping from every syllable. “Answer me now.”

“Ember.” I wheezed. “Who in…Fronds name….are you?”

“Are you here to cause trouble?”

“No…who are you?..” I groaned, the hoof still slowly increasing its pressure upon my cranium.

“What did you do to all of these ponies?”

‘You deaf girl? We’ve asked who you are way one too many times!’

“I think…put them to…sleep….who are you?”

The voice ignored me, pressing my head into the ground harder. “Why did you put them to sleep?” she growled.

‘One word needed pony, answer it damnit!’

“To stop one of my friends….from being kidnapped by…..Diamond Dogs…and who...the buck…are you!” I growled back, gnashing my teeth in fury.

The pressure on my skull disappeared, and I heard the sound of hooves trotting on stone, the mass of orange leaving my field of vision. “How does a dragon get caught by those idiots?” she asked me quizzically.

“He wasn’t a dragon,” I muttered, my breath returning to me as I rolled onto all fours, “and you still haven’t mentioned who you are yet.”

“Name of a Applejack, and how do I know you’re telling the truth?” said the voice.

Everything suddenly clicked into place. Why someone was still awake when everyone else had fallen asleep, why she had been able to buck me with so much strength, the orange fur in my face. I struggled to my feet, ignoring the pain that pricked at me from all over, and looked forward at the pony.

Applejack was standing in a me sized crater, a small puddle of bile and blood pooling in the bottom of it. Her expression clearly depicted mistrust and fear, but she seemed to at least be listening to me right now.

I coughed slightly, then wheezed out, “I…can’t prove…much…”

Her eyes narrowed, looking into mine with a stare that could burn metal, and I knew I was being tested, forced to either meet her stare or look away. After a second she stopped squinting at me and shook her head. “Can’t sense a ounce of ya that’s trying ta fool me, but how the buck does sumpin like that happen?”

“Let me explain.”

My head started whipping around, Applejack just freezing stiff as a pole. I knew that voice…..

Grim came out from behind one of the buildings in a steady walk, his forepaws holding onto the scruff of two dogs, both of whom had no armor or weapons and bloody crowns. As he came toward us the dogs made soft thumping noises, their hindpaws smacking into every cobblestone. Applejack had slowly turned around to look at Grim, and at the sight of the two bloodied mutts in his paws, she started to back slowly towards the tree, her eyes tracking his every movement.

I looked at the two of them, Applejack with her nose flaring, Grim with his predatory stance, and sighed in resignation. “Would both of you mind just stopping now, I’d rather not start a fight in the middle of Ponyville. Please could we just agree to not fight?”

“Why should I resist beating the pony that hurt a friend?” Grim growled, his voice dripping with rage.

“Why shouldn’t I buck some danged fool who knocked all my friends out?” Applejack shot back with equal venom.

“Why don’t all fight each other when only one of us knows everybody’s stories.” I whispered sarcastically. “Cause isn’t that the best idea ever!?”

‘They do both raise a good point you know…’

‘Not helping.’

‘Not trying to Keiko.’

Grim looked at me with disgust. “You’re in a right state! How did you let a pony do that to you!”

‘……..say what?’

‘Didn’t we just have a case of nausea and pain from our landing?’I thought, looking down at my body. ‘Dear lord…….’

My body had been destroyed, my right shoulder looking as if I had caved it in, half of the scales hopelessly shattered. Blood still oozed out of the wound, slowly trickling down my arm, dripping from my index claw to the ground below. I had sustained more than just a mangled shoulder though, my legs had gaps where scales had been ripped out and my tail had a giant gash in the middle.

‘We’ve taken harder hits than that before, how did we get hurt so badly when our body is practically armored?’

‘I…..it........our magic must have run out….’

‘What?’

‘Just a hypothesis, but I’m guessing that our body is so strong due to magic. It would make sense why I was so tired on the run last night. I had run that far before, and was once forced to do it in worse conditions, but if my body’s directly connected to magic, then that puts me under a whole new set of constraints.’

“What the buck you accusing me of? She was this beat up when I found her.” Applejack shouted, her front hooves pawing at the ground.

“Likely story.” growled Grim, dropping the dogs, his hand reaching for his sword.

“Wait.” I shouted wildly, quickly stepping between them. “Stop this!”

“Ember, get out of the way.” Grim growled at me.

“No.” I responded, turning and glaring at him eye to eye. “Why are you so set on hurting her?”

“She hurt you first!”

“I’m fine!”

“She might do it again!”

“She’s. A. Pony. What are you so afraid of?” I growled. I lifted my right claw, expecting for Grim to do the generic cliché of pushing me out of the way to kill her so I readied for the impact, but it never came. Grim instead removed his paw from his sword hilt and looked me in the eye, his voice speaking in a clear, even tone.

“Ember, I haven’t had a true friend in years. I don’t care if I get hurt, I’m used to it, but you shouldn’t be wounded, not like this.”

My guard dropped, my claw falling to my side, my stance broken to bits. I had expected anger or rage, not this. He didn’t even seem servile, but rather like a sad little boy, sorry for his friend getting into an accident. Gripping his shoulder with my right claw, I pulled him into a one armed hug.

“I know that, but we’re together in this, right?”

His face had been a picture of shock, but he slowly returned the hug, his big paws surrounding me. “Forever.”

“So are we all cool now?” came a southern accent from behind me. Turning around, I saw Applejack was looking at us impatiently. “I still have jobs to do, and this isn’t exactly where I need to be right now.”

I gave a quick grin, detangling myself from Grim. “I know that, but I need to tell you a few things. First off, all the ponies will wake up soon, not sure exactly when, but soon. Second, take care of Applebloom, you’re doing a good job with her, don’t screw it up.”

“How do yo…”

“I just do, okay? It’s not the weirdest thing you’ve had to experience today, so take it at face value please.”

“Fine then, though I don’t like it, I’ll cope with someone who’s being truthful.” She pouted, bringing a small smile to my face.

‘Thank you honesty.’

‘Never expected to hear you say that.’

‘Hey, just because I’m sarcastic doesn’t mean I don’t value honesty!..oops…’

‘……..No comment…’

“Thank you. Finally, memoria submersion.” I muttered, my right index claw touching her forehead.

Applejack eyes rolled forward as she whispered softly, “Oh buck.” Then fell backwards, her eyelids closing. Grim walked towards her slightly, then poked her forehead. Her head rolled on the ground, her tongue lolling out.

“Did you kill her?” he whispered.

Grunting in pain, I slowly shook my head as I walked back to him. “No,” I responded, throwing my right claw over his shoulder again, “just changed the memories. She won’t remember us when she wakes up, but we won’t have more than a half hour at most.”

Grim raised his eyebrow at my arm, then looked at my pale face. “Need help?”

I groaned exasperatedly, and he just broke into a grin. “I can take you and the dogs out in one go, but you might need to rush a bit if we want to put enough ground between us and this town.”

My eyelids half closed as I settled my weight upon his shoulder, letting him support me. After getting comfy, I muttered tiredly, “I’ll manage.”

As we walked out of the town, I looked over my shoulder once. I had just visited the one place I knew from the show, and had left it as a disaster zone. Three areas, three disasters. Strike three, I’m out.

Chapter Fifteen, Dead Dogs Tell No Tales.

Chapter 16,
Dead Dogs Tell No Tales.

We had walked for forty minutes, just reaching the top of a hill, when Grim stopped, releasing his hold on the dog’s scruff, their heads falling into the dirt, face up. I was still using him as a crutch, but he gently moved himself out of my grasp and gently lowered me to the ground, leaving me in an upright sitting position. “How painful is it?”

“Not too terrible.” I replied, stretching out my good arm, my bad one laying limply on the ground. “Only real problem is the pain. It isn’t mind consuming, but it still stings like hell.”

He turned away from me as he set his bottom down on a stump, before raising his eyes to mine, his back slouching forward and his hands clasping together. When he next opened his mouth, his voice raised the question I had been expecting all morning.

“How did you know her.”

‘Gemina, I know you know what I’m thinking, but I still want your opinion. Truth or consequences, do you think we should we lie or not?’

‘I’d say don’t lie, but I must agree, you’re right, last time we told the truth all we got was pain. We hurt Applejack for crying out loud! So I guess we’re agreeing to be quiet.’

“I know her from a few months back. I met her, in a manner of speaking, but I didn’t talk to her or alert her to my presence. So I do know her, but I’m not going to say how. Bigger question is, how do you know that she was familiar to me?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

Grim smiled grimly ‘SHUT THE BUCK UP EMBER!’ and chuckled in response to my query. “How do I know?” he half asked half answered. “I know that you wouldn’t intercede between me and someone who hurt you without a hell of a incentive, and so far the only thing that seems to register deeply with you is friends and family. So I guess I could tell she was familiar because I know you.”

‘Dear lord, he’s a Peeta clone! Kill it, kill it with fire!

‘Gemina, could you please shut up for once in your life?’

‘Do I have a body that is capable of running and jumping and singing and anything else I put my mind to?’

‘No, but how does….’

‘And there’s your answer.’

I groaned, my limbs flopping down to my side. “Am I really that easy to read?”

“No, like I said, I just happen to know you.” Grim smiled ‘I SWEAR TO GOD EMBER IF YOU THINK THAT AGAIN I WILL BUCKING RAPE YOUR MIND!’…………grimly ‘GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!’.

As we continued to lay there I stole a quick look at the two Diamond Dogs, their faces slack, blood pooling under their eyes. I gulped, then brought my eyes back to Grim and asked, my voice soft and low, “Did….did you do that?”

He looked down at the dogs himself, sighing as he slowly shook his head. “I fell asleep before them, but it seemed like they had unconsciously dug still further, and they both had giant stones below their eyes. They aren’t dead, I can still feel a pulse in both of them, but their brains are gone, possibly forever.”

My vision once again stole downwards, this time studying the dogs eyes. They both had neat little puncture marks, right below their eyes perfect for a……………….

‘Labotomy?’

‘I was trying to think of something other than that, thank you.’

‘How do you think it happened?’

‘I have no real clue, how should I? I wasn’t even there, remember?’

‘So why don’t you ask the person who just happened to be there then?’

‘Fair point…..’

“Grim, do you happen to have any clue as to why they are like this then?” I asked inquisitively.

“Not really.” he responded, shrugging his shoulders. “When I woke up the blood hadn’t started to ooze out, they just seemed horribly loopy and rather happy. Whatever happened to them, they don’t seem to realize. In fact, I’d say they’re happy about it. Hey, Ember, are you all right?”

‘Hey, Ember, cool it!’

‘What?’

‘Cool it, don’t you realize how fast you’re breathing? Why are you acting like you’re drowning or something?’

I raised my good hand to my mouth, only to feel a sudden rush of air hit my hand, going so fast that I couldn’t separate each breath from one another. I was hyperventilating, but why?

“Are you okay Ember? Ember?” Grim said, moving over to me and grabbing my good shoulder in a paw, his tone quiet and deadly serious.

‘Ember, why are you acting so freaked out?’

‘I……it’s…..I’m probably why they were lobatomized.’

‘…………..say wha?’

‘Think about it……….lobotomy usually just puts a person into a dreamstate, and if the essence of sleeping is dreaming, then I did put them to sleep, but permenantly.’

‘Isn’t that a bit far fetched? I mean, didn’t your spell actually put people to sleep?’

‘Just think for a second, do either of us actually have any clue about how magic works here?’

‘Of course we do…..’ Gemina said in my head, uncertainty underlying every syllable.

‘Really?’

‘Yeah……’

‘Reeeeeaaalll…..’

‘Okay FINE, WE HAVE NO BUCKING CLUE WHAT THE HELL WE’RE DOING! HAPPY!’

As I was about to respond to her outburst I felt Grim wrap his arms around me, tenderly laying my head on his shoulder. “What’s wrong Ember?” he asked, his voice low and soft, and I shattered. My one good claw reached out and looped around his neck, and I buried my face into his fur, dry sobs wracking my body.

‘Why must I exist in such a cruel world?

Why?

Chapter Sixteen, Cue the Palette Tow....Nevermind

Chapter 16
Cue the Pallet Tow....Nevermind

After our incident outside of Ponyville, it took us another two long, arduous days before we finally reached Staliongrad. The, for lack of a better word, island seemed conspicuously quiet, with barely anybody standing in the tollbooth queue.

“Any idea what’s going on Ember?” Grim muttered under his breath as we walked towards the town. My only response was to shake my head slightly. My wounds had yet to heal properly, and, while they were looking better, I still had a lot of muscle showing, and the blood had yet to properly stop flowing from my wound. I was willing to bet that the only reason I hadn’t yet died of blood loss was my now draconic nature, but I was still weak, and I doubted I could even handle a pony foal in this state.

Grim continued to walk forward, and, once we reached the actual tollbooth, a grey mare with dead eyes looked at him, then spoke in a gravely tone. “That’ll be twenty bits.”

‘……..I think they’re trying to rip us off………..’

Grim gave a sidelong glance at me, one of his eyebrows raised, but I merely nodded again, my breath still catching. He counted out the appropriate amount of money and handed it over to the teller, who nodded once and muttered, “You’re clear.”

‘Of course they’re ripping us off.’ I thought, my head throbbing. ‘That’s what a tollbooth is for. I know that it isn’t the best idea out there, but I don’t want to cause any commotion right now.’

‘Spoilsport!’

The inside of the town was even more foreboding than the outside of it. Nobody seemed to be walking around, or, more correctly, nobody who didn’t have a reason was walking around. Instead, guards were roaming around everywhere; each of them dressed in either plated metal armor or else was dressed in hardened leather armor. I could see them standing on rooftops, walking along the roads, and even flying through the air. Here and there a stray merchant or civilian would walk by, but they invariably went inside a shop or began to speed up, rushing for the cover of the indoors to hide them from the guards glares. I don’t know what got them all into such a state of paranoia, but it didn’t seem like there was going to be any way around the guards.

‘Well, you do know that you could just kill them all? Or hell, if you don’t want to kill them, then just knock them senseless.’

As Gemina said these words I looked over at my wrecked shoulder, getting another look at the blood soaked and well diced muscles, the cracked scales, the shedding skin, and the crimson drops still trickling down my arm, painting my black scales crimson.

‘How the hell do you expect me to fight them like this?’ I snapped back. ‘Besides, we aren’t trying to kill them, we’re trying to find a doctor or someone who could help me. That and supplies.’

‘Geez, why don’t you go ahead and ruin every chance for fun we have, it’s not like I care at all.’ Gemina moaned, giving me the distinct feeling that she had just rolled her eyes. ‘You aren’t any fun you know. Oh, except when you grabbed that dog, held him still and gave him a nice. Tender. Ki*GLRK!*’

I growled slightly as I concentrated on mentally chocking my sister for a bit before letting the mental grip slacken, causing her to gasp and splutter inside my mind, rasping out a quick, ‘Well fuck you too.’ before diving back into the recesses of my mind.

“Grim, should we skirt the town? If you don't think we should walk by the guards....” I croaked, looking up at him. He looked down at me, then at my crushed arm, hanging limply next to my side before shaking his head, his face grim. “I need a doctor that bad?” I asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. His only response was to start marching forward, almost carrying me towards the town, his face set in an expression befitting his name.

As we neared the town I could feel the attention of the nearest guards shift to us, their eyes now following us as if we were storming into the town with raised blades and flaming torches. But, thankfully, nobody decided to stop us.
‘I hope you realize that karma is now going to have someone stop you in your tracks.’
‘If it does so, then karma is a bitch. I just saved Grim, didn’t do anything other than cause a small crater to form in the ground, and worked myself to the bone to do just that, so no, I don’t think karma will’ which, of course, was the exact moment that a Pegasus barreled out of the sky and slammed into Grim, knocking him back a few steps, his hands no longer holding me up, which then forced me to drop to my knees to stay upright, my good arm propping myself up from the ground. ‘Okay, it’s a definite, karma’s a bitch.’

‘Told you so.’ Gemina said, chuckling.

The Pegasus charged at Grim and slammed his head into Grim’s gut. Grim gagged but kept standing, raising his fist to punch the Pegasus in return, only for two Earth pony guards to suddenly leap onto Grim’s back, slamming their hooves into his head repeatedly, their hooves smashing into him like a set of anvils. After the first five or so hits the sounds began to sound slightly muffled, accompanied by what could only be described as a squelching sound.

“Grim!” I choked, slowly standing up on my feet. “Don’t…..hurt him…..” I growled, only for the Pegasus to give me a withering sneer and cuff me upside the head, sending me tumbling back into the ground. As I raised my head again, I realized that blood was starting to coat my right eye, and the only reason I hadn’t yet lost sight was due to some sort of second lens that protected it. As the blood poured out from my head I could feel my consciousness ebb away and hear Gemina chuckling in my ear.

“No……………..” I croaked, my body shaking with the effort to keep myself up as the sound of….squelches…..continued coming from behind me. As my brain once again began to sink into the darkness of my consciousness, I heard a shout from behind me.

“Lieutenant SilverWing, what the bloody hell are you doing?” a female voice shouted out, followed immediately by a pounding sound, followed by yelp. Luckily, it didn’t sound Canine, but rather it seemed to be equine.

‘Did someone send in the cavalry?’

Forcing myself to return to consciousness and stave off another bout of the Gemina, I slowly rolled onto my back, unable to summon the strength to do anything more. What I saw was so outlandish that I couldn’t even believe it. Standing before the Pegasus who had just assaulted Grim and I was Fluttershy dressed up in a suit of plate armour, her wings poking out of some holes in the armour. Her face scrunched up in anger, and her left hoof coated in a thin coating of blood, obviously from the bloody lip and nose that the Pegasus before her was now sporting.
Grim was still standing, though it was just barely. I could see that the fur on his face was matted with blood, and the two Earth ponies that had been on his back until a moment ago were now rolling on the ground, cupping their faces with their own hooves, yowling like a pair of whipped dogs.

‘………………and that is probably a euphemism that I should never use again……………’

‘Actually, you should have never used it to begin with, that is the worst thing you could ever say now that Grim is a friend. Are you trying to be crass?’

‘………………..you do realize just how ironic that line was, right?’ I asked, our little spat actually helping me to remain in control of my own mind.

‘Of course I do, why else would I say it?’ Gemina replied, a tone of confusion in her voice.

‘…………touché……..’

Fluttershy growled again at Silverwing before walking over to me, a hoof extended out to my claw. “Do you need help standing?” she asked, though from her sceptical tone it was obvious that she wasn’t really asking, she was just trying to preserve a shred of my dignity as a dragon.

“……yeah……” I gasped, trying, and failing, to take her hoof in my claw, instead flopping back down onto the ground, my body suddenly wracked by jolts of agony, the wound in my shoulder suddenly pouring blood from it once again. The edges of my vision began to slowly fade as I looked at her, slowly drawing further and further in.

Fluttershy looked at my shoulder, then at the ponies behind her, all of which had yet to draw any weapons, then at Grim, her eyes blazing. “What’s she doing in this condition, and why did you come here?” Her voice seemed to be coming from a distance, echoing around in my head.

“Wait, it’s a SHE!” the three guards all cried out, their voices also seemingly from a distance.

‘Once again, the lack of mammaries leaves all mammals stumped. I chuckled wryly.

‘Damn asshole racists.’

Grim, still barely remaining on his feet, began to walk over to me, gasping out, “She used too much magic. It trashed her body. We came for a doctor for her, though I think we need one for me as well now.”

Fluttershy looked at me, and, as she did so, my vision finally went black. She began to mutter, “Then a doctor you’ll get. Just wait a bit dear, we’ll fix you rig…..” and my consciousness left me, my mind once again falling into oblivion.

Chapter One, Never Let a Psycho Buy You a Meal

Chapter One
Never Let a Psycho Buy You a Meal

Stealing Black wings idea of mental writing, hope you don’t mind.

“Wait, you'd send me to Equestria?” I asked, my eyebrows disappearing into my hairline in shock. “But how would you get me there in the first place.”

I was sitting at a table in my favorite coffe shop, an older woman sitting across from me. She had midnight blue hair and a huge scar spanning across her face, but had so far actually been rather interesting and nice.

“Do you really want me to explain? Explaining the secrets of the universe are horribly complicated.” the woman responded, a false pout on her lips. “It’ll go over your head, and what’s the point of that? Always thought that confusing explanations were worthless. Anyways, what do you want to be?” she said excitedly, her face a bamboozling amalgaration of anticipation and feigned sadness.

“Okay, I'll conceed that I’m not exactly good at quantum physics. But what would I be? Rhetorically? Well, I would want to be fast, but strong enough to defend myself.” I stated, my voice somewhat strained as I contemplated the ridiculous expression on her face. “But I’m not even sure what exists in Equestria, I’m not that huge a fan, I've only seen the episodes once, and I've never seen any of the fandom.” My eyes drifted off into the distance, staring blindly at the dark clouds outside, which were pouring rain down upon the street outside.

“Yes, I could see that, it's actually rather obvious, but life doesn’t always come at us straight and easy. Unfortunately for you, life decided to throw you a curveball today. I pray that I'll see you later.” She replied, nonchalantly sipping at a cup of tea, a saucer held in her hand.

‘Wait, where did that cup come from? And why did she just say bye to me? Why/how is life throwing me a curveball? And why am I FALLING STRAIGHT THROUGH THE SOLID BUCKING GROUND!?!’

My brain processed all of that in about 0.89 seconds, but it still was too late for me to escape the black void that had suddenly appeared below me, swallowing me whole.

****************************************************************************************************

Wait, wait, wait, I should start at the beginning, shouldn’t I? Sorry about that.

My name is Ember. I’m fifteen years old. I have midnight blue hair, bordering on black, and a fair amount of muscles. I do kickboxing, have a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do, and have learned enough judo to throw someone up to my weight without straining myself. I can bench press one hundred pounds on my better days, have straight A’s (only due to my dad breathing down my neck), speak a bit of six languages (A.K.A. can talk to someone over basic concepts), can dissect a pig in less than a minute (Dear god that was messy), have a thorough understanding of animal physiology (biology being a favorite class), and I’m also the star of the track team (not as good as one would think).

I’m also a girl.

Now, going to Equestria wasn’t my dream, it was more like a passing thought, born from a quick stab of loneliness. You see, even though I was so good at practically everything, I still had a gargantuan amount of problems and worries.

My dad, or maybe slave driver would describe him better, was a perfectionist who hated to see his daughter be second best at anything. He would wake me up at five, I would go to bed at nine, and I got less than one hour for some me time. And the last time I got a B in school… well, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

But he wasn’t the end of my problems, oh no. After having to deal with father, I also had to deal with a bunch of puffed up spoiled brats, the popular kids. They never were rough mind you, just liked to ridicule me enough to hurt my ego. Even though I reported it, the teachers never caught them at it, so I learned to just suck it up.

Today had been no different. Wake up, go to the gym, kick a punching bag so many times that the chain broke (suprised my foot didn't), head home, shower, get dressed for school in my dark gray uniform (skirt, tights, shirt, tie, and vest), go to school, get bullied, go to lunch, get bullied, finish school, head to café to eat and do homework, run into a psycho lady who asked me if I want to go to Equestria………

Okay, scratch that last one; that is anything but normal.

But hey, she offered to buy the food, and who was I to argue against a free meal with my pocket money being so low, so I sat down with her, we ordered our meals, and talked a bit about MLP. I wasn’t big enough of a fan to be a pega-sister, but I had watched all the episodes (once mind you), so I had a okay to decent amount of knowledge about MLP. She, on the other hand, was a bona-fide pony guru. She even stated, in what seemed to be a loving tone, that she made MLP, but when I asked what section she worked in, she merely snorted (sounded almost like a whinny) and said, “What section, that’s like asking what part of the world faces the moon, or even the sun.” and refused to answer any other queries I asked.

All-in-all it was a delightful conversation, but as I decided to leave, she asked me again that mind boggling question of whether I wanted to go to Equestria or not. We exchanged the comments above, and poof, I was gone. Yay, I get a free trip and don’t even have time to pack the essentials, what next?

Shout out to Black Wing, Thanks a ton
To Rust, may you ever prosper.

Chapter Four, Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Feathers May Just Kill Me.

Chapter 4
Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Feathers May Just Kill Me.

It had been a week since me and dad had met. The clothes and bag that I had brought from Earth had been placed to the side of our cave, only kept as a memento of me appearing. Since then I had learned enough to make most bronies water at the mouth. Most of it was rather basic actually. There was the layout of the world of course, but other than that it was just a matter of relearning the nationality order, but this time it was divided by races. First off was (Squeal!) biology class!

Dragons had canines, canines, and, surprise, more canines! Despite that, we could also eat fruits and vegetables, but that was only for taste, our bodies didn’t absorb the nutrients. Instead, gems were a dragons main source of vitamins, protein, minerals, and everything else! Meat would also suffice, but it was far less nutritious, tasty, or, get this, filling! One gem was more filling than a whole antelope, who knew?

Dragons also had a series of defenses, including our razor sharp claws, diamond hard scales, our dagger like teeth, and even our breath. Most dragons breathed fire, but there have been stories of dragons who were capable of breathing the very elements, including ice and even lightning. We were cunning, wise, and could live for up to ten millennia, but, unlike the alicorns, we are mortal.

There was also a hierarchy of dragons. Each of the seven main dragons had a color and a behavior that tied to it, and if you were any other color than the "Seven Lords" you were considered to be insignificant. It took dad over an hour to explain, but in the end I made a chart that gave the same amount of information in a fraction of the time. I listed it from strongest to weakest, and even included their main behavior problem.

Black dragon-Gluttonous assholes.
Red dragon -Wrathful monsters.
Purple dragons-Proud to the point of overbearing.
Blue dragons-Slothful powerhouses.
Pink dragons-Simply put, were the skanks of the dragon race.
Yellow dragons-Greedy cowards.
Green dragons-Envious weaklings.

‘Is it just me, or do all the dragons seem to be based off of the seven sins?’

‘It’s not just you Gemina.’

‘Guess you should have been pink then Ember.’

‘Ha ha, very funny Gemina.’

Other than that, there was the study of species. There were four main races, the Ponies in Equestria, the Griffins in the Griffin Dominion, the Dragons in the Badlands, and the Diamond dogs in Gem Fido. They were the most intelligent of the races, capable of making civilizations.

Dad, who was at least millennia old, had seen the rise of the griffin race under the guidance of Nightmare Moon, and their horrible fall from glory over nine centuries ago. Since then they had been unable to recover properly, and it seemed that there would never be another golden age of the griffins.

Second, the diamond dogs were quite possibly the most brilliant sculptors of Terra Firma since the world had been created. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t truly realize the extent of their intelligence back when they had all been powerful, and evolution had robbed most of their might from them.

Third were the ponies. They lived in peace, their ruler protecting them from the worst of the world. They worked together and made themselves a utopia, the gem of the world’s crown, but most of their race was horribly ignorant of the world around them.

Last were the dragons, the founder race. They had been existed since the beginning of time, but had, like the diamond dogs, reduced in strength and grandeur by squandering their gifts upon a grand illusion of avarice. Nowadays, most dragons were glad to have a full hoard.

Other races existed, including the Cat-folk, Zebra, Changelings, and Minotaurs. These races could also create their own civilizations, but had yet to carve into the mainland in order to do so.

‘And then there’s you, the first bucked up dragon since lizards learned to walk.’

‘I told you to shut up Gemina! Do you ever listen?’

‘Huh, what was that?’

*sigh* ‘Never mind.’

Our cave overlooked a forest, lush and green in the spring air, which was surrounded by a huge circle of mountains. The forest had a multitude of fruit, but had no animals that we could catch, meaning that we had found very little to eat over the last week, only about one meal per day. Both of us had pits in our stomachs, but we had to stave off hunger somehow, and water became our answer.

I also had gotten a good look at myself in a forest lake. I was taller than when I had been on Earth, at least six feet. I was built a lot like a human, my body being slim and even well muscled, with a figure that most supermodels would die for. However, I was missing something. I had no, for lack of better words, breasts. It didn't bother me too much, for no lizard actually has external mammaries like a human female.

Other than that I had black scales covering my limbs, torso, and tail, making an almost chitinous exoskeleton, harder than any armor I had seen on Earth. My face, however, had gray scales covering it, making my whole face the color of ash. My hands had lost a finger, specifically the pinkie, but that hadn’t hindered me at all so far. I could still pick up objects, and the scales on me had literally blunted any thorn that I touched.

But those suprises paled in comparison with the last. I had been introduced to a multitude of draconic ideas and even their culture, but I learned about their rituals by PARTAKING IN ONE!

My father came to me two days ago, right after we had our meal, and instead of taking a nap while I practiced trying to breathe fire (I still couldn’t get it to happen constantly. The best way I can think of describing the process of breathing flames it is like trying to vomit, but having fire come out instead of bile.) like he usually did, he instead asked if I would walk with him.

“Sure dad.” I answered, my voice calm, all the while my mind was abuzz with questions, from wondering if he was going to kill me to whether or not he was actually a king in hiding. ‘Either way I’ll find out soon.’ I thought, and followed him from the cave down into the forest.

He led me to the pond, and there he sat down in the surrounding grass. “Bathe yourself.” He said, his deep voice strict and commanding. I gulped and proceeded to do just that, scrubbing myself with my scaly hands, scooping up the water in order to wash away the dirt that had collected on my scales. After I was sparkling in the sunlight, he said only one word in the same harsh tone. “Come.”

‘Ooooh, someone’s in trouble!’

‘Gemina, shut up right now or I swear to god, you will never have another peaceful moment again.’

‘Okey-dokey skipper.’

I swam back to the shore, and walked straight towards dad. His face was exceptionally grim as he looked at me, now standing patiently a few steps away from his feet. After our eyes had connected, his eyes suddenly changed. They looked at me no longer in sadness or love, but in hunger and rage. My eyes immediately shut, breaking contact with those horrible, pitiless pits of hatred. I longed to shrink away from him, to flee from the monster that stood before me, but my feet were rooted to the ground in fear. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, I was no longer Ember, just a worm, a tiny worm that was wriggling right in front of a monstrous bird. I was alone, all alone, with a monster ready to pounce.

‘Buck up Ember, he’s your father!’

I started, where had that voice come from? Wait, that voice was in my head. Could it be, no, that’s impossible. But maybe, just maybe…

‘Gemina, is that you?’

‘Who else? Now just deal with it.’

‘I can’t, he looks too scary, he’s gone insane!’

‘It doesn’t matter if he looks angry, hungry, or downright murderous, he’s our dad!’

‘But he’s going to eat us; he’s going to kill us!’

‘No, he’s not. Just look at him... please Ember.’

My eyes snapped open, their gaze already staring straight at the glare from the monster. I may have my doubts, but I had never been heard Gemina plea before, and if I refused to listen now, how could I ever expect to hear her ask again? I was full of courage now, for I wasn’t alone. Since when have I ever been alone, whether I wanted to be or not? Gemina was with me now, and she always will be. Buck the monster in front of me, that’s my dad, and even if I have to beat him to a pulp, I’m going to get my dad back.

But the glare disappeared. The angry expression had vanished, replaced by pride. The monster that had stood before me was gone, my father in its place. I started to walk towards him, but he shook his head and spoke to me, his voice no longer harsh, but rather filled to the brim with love.

“Each dragon has a moment in their lives when they feel their lives drawing to a close. I have felt the wind change this last week. It hungers for my spirit, my soul. I will not let my soul pass away however, and I have chosen my successor. You have proven to me that you are worthy of this honor, and I am prouder than I had ever thought possible.” he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. “Ember, please come closer.”

I stepped towards him tentatively, and he lowered his head to mine. A single tear fell from his eye, but it was a tear of blood, a deep, shining crimson. Without thinking about it, without even realizing what I was doing, I licked it from his cheek, my tongue cleaning his face. After I had swallowed, I could feel power coursing through me; almost like, well, magic.

“My power is now your power, for you are now me. May you live long past my end.” He said, smiling down at me. “Now, my daughter, it is time to go home.”

I walked behind him, stunned beyond belief. I had just received the highest honor possible, and yet all I felt was sadness. My father said he would die soon, and all he could think about was helping me.

“Thank you dad.” I whispered, ‘and you too Gemina.’

I didn’t hear a voice respond to what I had said, but I suddenly felt a happiness that resounded deep within me. Gemina may not have spoken, but I had never felt closer to her before.

**************************************************************

Today I had woken up from my sleep in cold sweat, my nightmare still fresh in my memory. I looked to the spot of the cave where my father slept, ready to wake him up and start the day, but I was alone in the cave. ‘Did he leave me?’ I thought my mind a maelstrom of panic and fear.

‘Think sanely. If he’s gone, what should I do?’

‘Hmmm, difficult, I’d say you should go find him.’

I chuckled wryly. Ever since that ritual, I had felt invigorated, could breath fire (but it was still only the size of a lighter), and Gemina had actually cut back from pure sarcasm to being helpfully sarcastic. Even though she did try to annoy me whenever she could, she now actually gave me ideas rather than just trying to infuriate me.

But, sarcastic or not, it was sound advice, so I drew myself up and ran to the entrance. As I neared the opening however, I heard a mighty roar and a shriek of "SHIT! Gilda, we're leaving, NOW!" It sounded masculine. Finally reaching the mouth of the cave, I looked outside and saw my dad flying over a mile away, two small shapes flapping away from him as fast as they could.

I jumped off the mountain, skidding down to the forest. I was trying to reach dad. Whether I was going to stop him or help him, I didn’t yet know. After I had reached the trees, I leaped upon the canopy, jumping from branch to branch, striving to move faster than the wind, but I was to slow and they were to far away, I would never catch them. What had he found? Was it a threat? Was it food? Or did he just snap?

A new voice broke through the bellows of my dad. "Damn it, it's going to catch us. Into the clouds!" the voice yelled. It sounded familiar. Wait, was it Gilda? All the shapes were rising up, striving to reach the vast ocean of clouds. The two small ones were griffins. It was Gilda!

“Dad, STOP!” I screamed, still leaping towards them. I was never going to reach them.

‘What do I do? What do I do?’

‘Let me take over, that’s what.’

I heard the voice, but the words were still resounding inside my skull. Let Gemina take over? I had never said yes to that idea, but was there a choice?

‘Fine, just get us to dad!’ I thought, my voice sounding panicked even inside my own head.

‘Okay then, just sit back and enjoy the show.’ Her voice squealed gleefully.

I suddenly lost control of my limbs, but instead of falling flat on my face, I tumbled to the ground, my arms suddenly becoming a second set of legs. I could feel pressure building inside my stomach, pounding against my ribs, screaming to be let free. I was saying words that I recognized, but made no sense in my predicament.

“Mico, cursu, tenetur. Corpus, fugere velocius quam semper. Ventus!”

‘Why am I speaking Latin?’ but the next second answered my question for me. I had suddenly started moving twice as fast. I was moving so quickly that I would have given NASCAR a run for its money. Trees zipped past me; bushes were thrown into the air in my wake, for who can stand near that which has become speed incarnate?

Suddenly the pond loomed right in front of me. I tried with all my effort to stop, but my limbs didn’t respond. Gemina had full control, and I could do nothing but watch. Right as we neared the edge however, I sprang from the ground, leaping all the way from the lush grass to above the treetops. I could see my dad swooping down; about to swallow Gilda, who was laying upon the ground, when the second griffin flew right into his mouth, saying two simple words, “Watch me.”

“NOOOOOO!” I screamed in time with Gilda as dads mouth swung shut.

I froze, poised upon the tip of one of the huge trees, my face frozen in shock. My dad had just killed a griffin, a race of intelligence, and had not shown any remorse.

‘How could you, I thought you were good.’

But dad wasn’t right. Something seemed to be caught in his throat. He was screaming in agony, his face a picture of pure terror. What had happened to him? Why was he coughing up blood? He breathed deeply, and his eyes dilated in fear. He thrashed upon the ground, his body crushing trees for yards around him. He then literally retched up a lung. The organ lay right in front of him as he suddenly went still.

His neck was still moving though, but not in the usual slow rise and fall, but rather as if a giant hairball was being coughed out of it.

‘Or maybe a Griffin ball?’ said a sad voice in the back of my head.

‘Gemina, why?’

‘He said it himself, everyone has their time. He just was surprised by who got to fulfill the prophecy.’

The griffin was pushing himself out of dad’s mouth, his fur and feathers coated in blood. He turned and looked at the body expectantly, but after determining that nothing was going to happen, he pounced upon dads head and shouted for all the world to hear.

"WRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He then leaped off the dragon onto the ground, his face beaming in pure joy. He moseyed on over to Gilda, his swagger apparent even from this distance. When he spoke to her he sounded completely unfazed, as if he did this all the time.

"What's the matter? Never seen someone kill a dragon?" he asked.

"You magnificent, stupid, beautiful, DUMBASS!" she cried, her sentence a amalgaration of swears and compliments. But she didn’t stop at just screaming at him, oh no. "I thought you were dead! What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I guess when I saw you get hurt, I just went a little crazy." the boy griffin responded casually, licking the blood off himself. ‘My father’s blood’ I thought.

"Why does dragon blood taste like lemon juice?" he asked to thin air. Was he completely mental? Scratch that, he had just flew into my fathers mouth in order to kill him, he was beyond mental, but evidently he wasn’t heartless as he asked kindly, "Can you move?"

"Yeah, I think I c... gaaaah!" Gilda responded, trying to put weight on her burnt back limbs, and falling back into a crouch.

"No, you can't. Let me help you."

"I SAID I'M FINE!" She yelled.

"Well, I suppose I can just leave you here then." he said, shrugging.

"Okay, fine. But you never EVER tell anyone about this."

And with that they flew off without a look back. I crawled to the corpse of my father, my whole body shaking in silent sobs. Once I reached the body I stroked his head. I had never before mourned about dragon’s inability to cry.

“Dad, are you there.” I whispered, praying that he would respond, but no answer came.

“Dad, this isn’t funny. Come on, get up.” I cried.

“Dad, WAKE UP!” I shrieked, my voice breaking at the last words. But he didn’t move, he didn’t answer, he didn’t look. He was frozen, his face a picture of agony. I pulled his head onto my lap, sobbing over his face.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I bellowed to the heavens, and in my rage and pain, I finally breathed fire. It wasn’t a small flame; it wasn’t even as small as a flamethrowers blast. No, the flames that erupted from my mouth reached the clouds above me, burning a hole inside of them, through them. After the gout of fire was gone, rain fell, masking the sounds of my continued sobs.

************************Back in Griffin’s cave************************

Griffin had laid Gilda unto the rocks, using straw to make a cushion for her burned limbs. As he turned to the entrance, he saw a flame geyser erupt from the forest, the fire disappearing into the clouds. He stared for a few seconds and then returned to his newest job, getting aloe for Gilda’s burn.

********************In Embers Cave********************

Ember stared into the fire that she had built. It had been many hours since dad had died, and ever since returning to the cave she hadn’t moved a inch.

‘You have to move Ember, you need to prepare.’

‘Shut it Gemina.’

‘No. Dad wanted you to travel, to find out about the world right? That’s why he taught you all about the world?’

‘Maybe, maybe not. I’m alone now, so who cares.’

‘I do, and he did to.’

‘Fine, maybe I will travel the world, but I have a more important quest now. I’m going to kill that griffin.’

Chapter Seventeen, Silver Gilded Treatment

Chapter 17,
Silver Gilded Treatment

“…………..awake yet?”

My head was spinning, a dull throb pounding throughout it all. I couldn’t remember anything except for entering into Stalliongrad. From my sense of touch I could tell that I was in a bed, something fuzzy wrapped around me. By smell, I could hear the sound of……singing and of something sizzling, somebody cooking meat? And I also found an all too familiar odor in the air, one of copper, iron, and meat, raw and cooked.

My eyes flew open as I recognized the scent of blood, only to see a giant wall of black fur right in front of my face. Half-asleep, my good arm immediately raised itself high and then shot towards his back, trying to either maim the wall or to use brute force to push it away.

‘GEMINA, STOP!’

My arm shuddered to a halt, and I could feel Gemina stirring feebly in the back of my psyche, mumbling something about ‘furries and ‘Musta been a good night.’

‘Gemina, you were about to commit accidental manslaughter.’ I muttered, anger swelling up in my chest. ‘Or did you mean to brutally stab Grim?’

Gemina immediately snapped to attention, her senses suddenly wide awake and piggybacking on my sight to see what had just happened. Sighing, I pushed myself slightly up on the bed, only to feel something heavy and furry fall off of me. Wait………

‘…….I guess it really was a good night.’ Gemina remarked dryly as we looked down at our bedmate. Grim was lying on the bed, stark naked, and was drooling onto a pillow we had been sharing not a minute before. His arm had been wrapped around me, and he was wearing a slight smile.

My face began to flush, my brain kicking into overdrive to cope with the sight before me, or, more accurately, playing out every possible scenario of how I got like this. ‘I…what? How did we get here? Why am I in bed with him? Did we do it? If we did then how, he’s neutered!’ It was so improbable, so unbelievable, that it suddenly became just a tiny bit possible.

‘Okay, first off, if you’re that worried, then check, it isn’t that hard. Second, if you are afraid he could actually do anything with your body, he’d be limited to his fingers. Trust me, I know, I watched enough dirty videos and pictures on your computer while you were asleep.’

‘So that’s why I was so tired at school on my test days! You dirty little vixen!’

‘Oh dear, it’s true, I truly am so bad. But if you must know, you shouldn’t get so mad!’ Gemina said, laughing loudly and obnoxiously like that annoying Tarutaru.

‘……As long as you promise to stop acting like her, I won’t proceed to throttle you.’ I muttered, my anger fading in an instant.

‘So then, what do we do about fuzzy McHugging you?’

I blushed scarlet yet again ‘How the hell do you do that with black scales?’ and squeaked as I remembered about Grim, pushing him in the chest hard. His body offered no resistance and rolled right off the mattress, landing on the ground with a loud *thump*

“Well, seems that everyone is awake now.” Came a voice from the other side of me. I span around, growling, my good arm up, my body already poised to spring when I recognized her. In a flash I suddenly remembered about how the guard had suddenly attacked us, and how she had stopped them and saved us from being killed.

“Well, can’t say that I’m surprised that dragons are hardy, but to recover that wound in two days is rather amazing.” Fluttershy commented, but her voice didn’t seem right. It was deeper by far, and held an almost melodious tune to it, and, above all, it seemed mature, something I hadn’t really found in a world filled with children cartoons.

“I’m not a dragon.” I mumbled as she continued to look at me, her face falling into a frown. “I’m actually a dragoness.”

She looked at me for a second, then nodded. “Makes sense, you don’t have mammaries like us, do you? I remember seeing a lizard once and seeing if they looked like us at all, but they looked completely different, they didn’t even have hands for crying out loud.”

My ears suddenly shot up………okay, they would’ve suddenly shot up, if I still had any, but she suddenly caught me off guard with that comment. ‘Hands? How does she know about hands? Only humans have those, even Diamond Dogs have paws instead of palms.’

‘I agree with you on the sentiment of being confused, but, truly, why do you keep asking me questions that other people can answer so much more succinctly. I mean, really, do I know about everything that happens in the world?’

‘That’s….actually a good point. Also, since when did you know a word like succinctly? Isn’t that word too complicated for you?’

‘I’m playful, not stupid. I know a lot of complicated things, but I don’t really feel like always proving that, it gets boring quickly.’

‘………………………………………..’

‘Nice to know I can shut you up in more ways than just embarrassing you.’ Gemina commented dryly.

Fluttershy turned away from me and Grim, and I got to inspect her more closely as she trotted back into the kitchen. She looked a bit different than what I expected from the show. Her hair was a deeper shade of pink than the light bubblegum she was drawn with, and her canary coat was also a bit darker, instead becoming a light blond. Her Cutiemar………..

‘Wow, we were way off, weren’t we?’

‘………………………………………..’

‘Gemina two, Ember zero.’

Her Cutiemark showed me just how wrong I was. She wasn’t Fluttershy, not by a longshot, and the symbol on her flank wasn't even similar enough to her three butterflies to be called a far cry. In fact, it wasn’t even in the same dimension as Fluttershy’s Cutiemark.

The Cutiemark I saw was that of an old Victorian pocket watch, nicely gilded around the edges with silver and all sorts of Tudor ornamentation, including red and white roses. The screen of the pocket watch was broken, cracks crisscrossing over the glass pane. The second hand of the watch wasn’t a normal arrow, but rather a small sword, the pommel of the hilt connected to the middle of the clock’s face.

It was at that point that Grim sat up, yawning widely and stretching, his body shaking with the exertion. He shook his head a few times before looking down at me, his face first showing concern, then breaking into a huge smile. “Ember, you’re okay!” he shouted, hugging me so fiercely that if felt as if my lungs were being crushed.

‘As I said, Fuzzy McHugging you.’

“Yes, yes I am, now please let me go!” I squeaked out, my voice muffling in his hair.

“Oh, sorry.” Grim mumbled, letting go of me. “Didn’t mean to hug you so hard.”

“That’s okay…” I croaked from the ground, having slid off of the bed after he relinquished his stranglehold on me. My hand flopped towards the door the Pegasus had just walked through. “Hey, Grim, do you know who she is?”

“Oh, well, not really.” He shrugged. “I’ve just been helping her out with work around the house over the last few days while you slept. She’s…”

“LAST FEW DAYS!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, my eyes shooting wide open, quickly scrabbling to my feet.

“Ember, Calm down!” Grim sighed, stressing the last two words. “She’s been patching both of us up since the incident with the guard, you really need to relax.”

‘Okay, this may be weird, but for once I actually agree with the idea of no fighting.’

‘Who the hell are you and what have you done to Gemina?’

‘I’m your big sister and I decided that my little sisters health is more important than a few minutes of amusing chaos.’

‘………………………………………..’

‘Gemina three, Ember zero’

“Fine.” I growled, walking back over to the bed and sitting down on the edge. “But answer me this, why did she take care of our injuries?”

“Actually, I didn’t.”

I whirled around to see the mare walking back into the room, balancing a tray with a teapot and cups on her back. She was chuckling slightly, shaking her head. “Then who did take care of the injuries?” I asked.

“He did.” She replied as a familiar face entered the room. It was the guard who had attacked us, his head drooping down towards the ground, his face hidden from view. He wasn’t wearing armor this time around, and I was about to capitalize on that fact.

I lunged across the room, bringing my left claw swinging down towards his neck, only to feel a tug at my neck drag me back to the bed. A fuzzy grey paw.

“Grim, let me go!”

Grim shook his head, pinning my arms to my side. “No, he’s also been helping us out.”

“He’s why you’re hurt in the first place!”

“And he had a good reason to attack us, or at least a legitimate reason.”

“Then give me the reason. Quickly, so I can get back to beating him even faster.”

It was at this point that SilverWing walked up to me and put a hoof on my mouth. “Look, I know that no love is lost between us, but could you at least stop fighting against your friend for long enough to listen?”

I froze with fury. This goddamn Pegasus had hurt Grim, then put his hoof on my mouth, and he expected me to listen? But……I can’t deny that his words held a good deal of sense in them.

Swallowing my pride, I slowly nodded my head at the Pegasus, stopping my frenzied struggle against Grim. As I nodded he took the hoof off of my mouth, freezing a moment before dropping it to the floor. “So, you’ll listen now?”

“Yes.” I growled. “But I doubt that I’ll like it.”

“How about a griffin coming through Stalliongrad ‘Dear lord that sounds like a male enhancement drug.’ ‘Oh shut up.’ just a bit ago, attempting to steal food and other supplies? The griffin was arrested by one of my officers, who has since been fired from the force, because he was carrying around a sword made of a black dragon scale.”

“HE WAS CARRYING A WHAT!”

‘Oh buck, Ember’s actually getting angry?’

“A black dragon scale sword.” He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“HE DESECRATED MY FATHER FOR A SWORD! I’M GOING TO KILL THE BASTARD!” I shouted, once again attempting to wrench myself free from Grim.

‘EMBER, CALM THE BUCK DOWN!’

‘NO, I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! HE MURDERED OUR FATHER! HE DESECRATED HIS REMAINS! WHY THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN!’

‘REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE FIVE? DO YOU WANT THAT TO HAPPEN NOW?’

I felt my blood turn cold. Five years ago……………….

‘Am I…truly getting that angry?’ I whispered to Gemina, the words barely audible.

‘Yes…you are…’ she whispered back, wrapping her arms around me. I could feel myself begin to break, but Gemina murmured into my ear, ‘It’s okay. Don’t cry now, everything is still fine. I know it’s hard, but keep pressing forward, that’s all you can do.’

“Well, he went to the forest last, so I guess that’s where he is. Or, more correctly, he died.”

I glared at Silverwing, then sighed. “Fine…lead me to the woods, I’m going to follow him.”

“Are you suicidal?” he gasped, backing up from me in alarm. “The forest is filled with all kinds of wild beasts!”

“Then I’ll beat them all down.” I growled, walking away from Grim, my arms slipping out of his loose grip. “I don’t care anymore. He’s a murderer, a thief, a desecrater of bodies, and an abomination to the face of this world. I don’t care anymore, I will find him, and I will kill him.”

“Why would you throw your life away like that?”

“Answer me this, why did you help me and Grim?”

Silverwing looked taken aback at my question, but coughed and said, “Well, because I felt guilty for what I had done.”

“Then you now know why I’m chasing him.” I muttered. “And thank you both for helping me.”

Grim stood up, walking to my side. “Is there room for another person to join in?” He asked, a small smile playing across his lips.

“Grim…you’d…you’d actually go with me?”

“Of course. Remember, together forever?” he joked, rubbing my head with his paw.

I stood there for a moment before spinning around and hugging him, my head buried into his fur yet again. “Thank you………thank you so much……” I whispered.

“So, interspecies relationship, eh?” Silverwing muttered, looking from me to Grim. “Can’t say that I object so much that I’m confused.”

“I. It. Didn’t. We. Aren’t!” I spluttered, pushing myself away from Grim, A blush creeping onto my face.

“I was just joking.” he laughed. “But I’d be careful if I were you. There’s a lot of people that might not realize you aren’t related like that.”

‘Now he’s my kind of guy. Shame he isn’t a dragon.’

‘Shut up you.’

‘Ahh, red certainly suits you, underlines your volatile personality.’

‘What red?’

‘Red, who said red? Also, Gemina four, Ember zero.’

*******************************************************************************************************************

“So here we are.” Silverwing muttered, waving a hoof at the enourmous forest before him. “There’s the forest he flew off to. You sure you’re going?”

“Yes, I am.” I said, fire dancing in my eyes and a grim smile on playing across my lips.

“Ember?”

“Yes?” I said, turning around to Ritz.

She shuffled for a second before walking over to me. “Take this, I want you to have it. I used to use it all the time, but, well, it’s been harder to use it ever since I got here, so I think it would work better for someone who has hands then who doesn’t have them.” She mumbled, unhooking the blade from her side and proffering the hilt to me.

I reached out and grasped the handle, slowly pulling the blade from it’s sheath. It was a rapier, finely crafted and well-polished. The pommel seemed to be crafted of pure steel, the handle made of smoothly carved oak, wrapped in fine leather. The guard was a basket hilt, while, with little ornamentation, had hardly a nick on the metal. I gave the blade a quick swipe and quickly learned out how great the weapon truly was.

The blade had been obviously been the work of a master craftsman, with an edge invisible to the eye and the tip ending in a needle thin point. It was hard to the touch, yet it still bent with the swipe. I pressed the tip against the ground, and the tip began to sink into the ground, but when I pulled it out and pressed the side of the tip against the ground it bent, bending enough to keep the sword strong, yet prevent the metal from snapping.

“You’ll probably want this as well.” Ritz said, handing me the scabbard, attached diagonally to the belt by a leather blade sheath. Looking at it, the scabbard was just as beautiful as the blade, the body crafted out of hard metal with a black leather cover. All along the leather were pink vines, twirling around and around the scabbards body. Finally, at the tip and base of the scabbard the leather was topped with beautifully carved bronze rims.

“Oh, almost forgot, a token of apology from me personally.” Silverwing said, facehooving as he quickly dug into his interdimensional pony pockets, pulling out a pouch which he handed to me. “Around three hundred bits in there.” He said, smiling. “Use it well.”

I looked from Silverwing to Ritz, then finally back at Grim. “I……thank you all so much……” I mumbled, gulping down a lump that came to my throat.

“Don’t mention it.” Ritz said, a broad smile playing across her face.

“All I ask for is for you to give that Griffin what’s coming to him.” Silverwing chuckled.

Grim strode forward, roaring out, “ONWARD TO VICTORY!” And, with those words, we entered the woods, quickly vanishing into the underbrush.

Chapter Eighteen, I'm sorry.

I truly wish to apologize for not updating this story as much as I should, and for letting it die. I stopped writing over a year ago and I'm sorry to everyone who kept asking me to keep publishing, to keep the story going. By the time this stopped updating I had been growing tired not of the story, but of the world I was in. I had done so much to Ember that had never been planned, forced so many things upon her that I wanted to restart, but I didn't know how. I finally do, and I want to tell everyone that the story isn't dead, merely moved. For everyone who wants to see the journey continue, I've written a new one. I know that it is selfish of me, but I want to try again and do better this time. I hope everyone can understand and, once again, I'm sorry for everyone who's followed me through thick and thin.

The new story can be found at this link: The Fire and Embers