"Ember?"
Not long after the other, weaker and pathetic aspirants to be his successor had dispersed to prepare for the definite competition that would prove who was as strong and powerful as him (he was secretly betting for that red teenage dragon who already showed signs of having his character and strength), the still-current Dragon Lord, Torch, had gone in search of his daughter after she stormed off rather literally. They would all gather again for the event when the sun reached its summit, but up to now he had found no signs of Ember. He had taken a look around the places she tended to hang around at, but when he didn't find her there, he figured she could only be back home.
Though nothing more than a big cavern compared to the ponies' castles and palaces in the ponylands, by dragon standards the Dragon Lord's cavern and home was a luxury located in the heart of the hottest volcano in the Dragon Lands. Illuminated by the lava waterfalls flowing from the boiling rocks and his hoard of gems (the largest of all dragonkind) reflecting the reddish light and giving it a warm feeling (or 'hellish', as the weaker, tiny and pathetic ponies had often said before he gobbled them up) to anyone who was brave enough to come see the Dragon Lord. Among all the red light and molten rock, Torch spotted a tiny spot of blue pacing around in a small cavern his daughter had claimed as 'her personal space area', she was muttering something about him being a 'boulder head' and 'couldn't be compared to a mule's stubbornness'. When Ember heard her father's gigantic footsteps, she turned her back on him, shifting her wings close to her body, refusing to look at him. If he had a heart beneath all of that muscle and scales, he felt a little hurt by her back turned on him just like that.
"What?" she snapped, still not looking at him, her face distorted into a deep frown. "Are you going to keep an eye on me to keep me from participating? Why don't you place a rock to block the entrance, now that we're on it?!"
"Ember, that's enough!" Torch growled 'gently' at her, which made the cavern tremble with his ridiculously loud voice. "You know very well why I can't let you compete."
Ember scoffed. "Please! Just because of the fact that I'm not as 'big and strong' as you doesn't make me worthless! "
"That trail was made to test strength and endurance! You wouldn't last five minutes without getting hurt!"
"I'm not a piece of glass!" Ember growled, turning around. "For goodness sake, I'm a dragon as much as you, or any other!" She flew up to her father's face, glaring at him. "Just because I use my brains instead of brawn doesn't make me weak! Maybe if you had tried it once, we would be better off!"
Now it was Torch's turn to get angry and he returned the glare tenfold-something that made every dragon tremble and cower in fear of his might and power- at his daughter, who didn't show any signs of fear, already accustomed to them. "Don't you talk to me like that, young lady! Don't forget I'm your father!"
"Well, then act as such! You've never been there for me!" the dragoness flew away from him. "All you do is tell me what to do, what not to do! Try to make me be like you!" When she turned to him again, red met amber in anger and resentment. "Well, I've got news for you! I'm NOT going to be a boulder head like you!"
"Bah, you're acting like a hatchling!" Torch turned away, blowing off smoke from his nostrils.
"For what? For speaking the truth?! You never believed in me!"
"I just want to protect you!"
"From WHAT?! I've never seen you worry that much about the rest of the younger dragons, and lots of them are much more smaller and weaker than me, and you still let THEM compete?!"
"It's... different."
"In what sense, dad?!"
Torch turned away once more, trying to avoid her gaze. "It. Just. Is."
Ember would have none of it, and flew towards her father's face once again. "Just tell me at once! Are you resented at me because I didn't turn out the dragon you wanted your child to be?!"
That was it.
"ENOUGH!" Torch roared, and sent Amber flying back due to the volume of his voice that made the whole place shake like an earthquake. "YOU'RE NOT PARTICIPATING, END OF DISCUSSION! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
Ember let out a very loud groan of frustration. "FINE! IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT, THAT'S FINE WITH ME! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE EITHER!" She started to fly towards the entrance of the cave.
"Where are you going?!"
"I thought you didn't want to see me!"
"I meant that you go to your cave!"
"I'm going to take a fly around?! Or what?! Are you going to send a escort after me too?! Like I haven't eluded those brutes before!" with this, she flew out, muttering.
"Ember, get back here!" Torch roared. "EMBER!"
She ignored him and left anyway. Damn it, sometimes he forgot that girl was as stubborn as him, if not more. He'd send a escort after her later to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Still, when he was all alone, his hostile expression started to soften as he glanced back at his hoard, and made his way towards it. Making sure there was no one around (including Ember, who had the tendency to sneak up and see what he was up to), he removed the gems from a particular part of the hoard aside with his thick tail aside, revealing a tiny nest made out of long-dried sticks and rocks.
The little nest where his daughter had once been an egg in incubation.
How long had it been? With all the ordering around and roaring at other dragons he tended to lose the track of time. Decades?Centuries? Maybe more? To him sometimes it still felt like yesterday, when he guarded the egg and kept it warm alongside....
Alongside...
Torch's expression lost all signs of hostility and anger, instead being replaced by... he didn't like to accept it, but replaced by melancholy. It was not that he didn't love his daughter. She was the jewel of his eye, his baby girl, his only reason to live, she meant everything for him and more. But every attempt to communicate with her, every time he tried to make her understand why he was so hard on her and why he was so protective of her always wind up in a terrible failure, and they grew more and more strained. It was not that he didn't believe in her. He knew better than anyone what she was capable of, she might not be endurable or strong, but she had something which most of dragons-him included, unfortunately-lacked: wits and intelligence.
But...
She had taken so much after her mother in the looks department... He didn't have any single picture or memento of his deceased mate left, nothing... All he had of her was their daughter, his little Ember. He wouldn't be surprised if she grew up to look identical to her, yet she had also taken many things from him, which was the reason they were always arguing constantly. He just wanted to keep his little princess safe, why couldn't she understand...?
As he carefully stroked the little nest with his gigantic claw, the memories returned...
Dragonkind celebrated that day like they had never celebrated before, the day Dragon Lord Torch and his Queen, Snowflake, announced they had been blessed with an egg (technically, Torch had yelled at his subjects 'BE HAPPY!" for them to react and cheer, much to Snowflake's annoyance). She loved her husband, but sometimes his lack of vision and way to see things drove her mad.
Now here, in dragon terms, Snowflake could be considered as the most beautiful dragoness ever seen before. Her scales were a brilliant cyan as blue as the skies above the clouds, curly phthalo blue spines running gracefully down her slender neck and body, and icy blue eyes that gave the dragoness her name. In personality terms, many would have called her undragonlike; she preferred to think things over before taking any sort of action, and she always used her brains to solve whatever problem she had instead of rushing into it like most dragons did; and yet, she was the only dragon Torch ever actually listened to. While usually standoffish and incredibly bad-tempered, with her he was tender and was always showing her how much he loved her. That, and she was practically more dominant than him at times, particularly when it came to their egg.
Of all their 500 years of marriage, they had never been able to conceive a healthy egg, until recently. It was a tiny blue egg with sky blue spots, showing that the hatchling would have its mother's color. Torch could say even he was afraid of his mate right now, she was fiercely protective of the egg. No one could get inside their cavern without permission, heck, she didn't let him approach at all, thinking he would crush the egg when he rolled over in his sleep, like he tended to do.
That night, Torch stepped into the cavern grumbling something about a stupid rumor of something happening in the northern territories of the ponylands, where some of their other brethren had settled. They had heard no word from them for months, and he had summoned them about twenty times, but no one came. He sent other dragons to fetch them, but none came back. Those northern dragons were starting to get on his nerves!
"If you're fuming again, then you can sleep on the lava tonight."
The gentle voice off his wife surprisingly quenched his ire, and he forgot everything about those northern clans. Snowflake was not as large as he was, she was the size of a normal adult dragoness, but she was not fragile in any way, as she had shown him when they first met. She was curled up around a recently-made nest of rocks and dry sticks, nuzzling against a tiny round egg on top of it.
"How can I help it? It's been twenty times that I've called the northern clans, but they have not answered my Summons! Torch sighed in frustration, carefully stepping into the cave, laying down a few good steps (in dragon standards) away from his wife. "I swear, if those lizards don't show up in three days I'll personally go and burn them into ashes!"
Snowflake rolled her eyes. "We're dragons, my dear. We're immune to fire, remember? Besides, perhaps they are having their own problems right now. They live in the ponylands, you know."
"That's not a excuse to ignore a summon from the Dragon Lord!"
Snowflake glared at her mate. "Lower your volume!" she chided him gently, before lowering her head to nuzzle at the egg. "You'll wake her up."
"Her?"
"I got the feeling she'll be a female."
"Maybe, but wouldn't it be nicer if we had a son?" Torch flinched when his wife gave him a questioning look. "I mean, you know tradition... the Dragon Lord must have at least one son for when the Gauntlet of Fire arrives..."
Snowflake rolled her eyes. "You know, you should consider lifting that tradition. A daughter would be as capable as son, don't you think?"
"Well, yeah, but..." he managed to regain his composure. "Come on, Snowy! I know I'm in charge here, but there are things that are even out of MY jurisdiction!"
The dragoness whispered to the egg. "Don't mind your daddy, sweetie. He has always been like that since we were hatchlings, but he can be sweet when he wants to."
The dragon blushed, his scales turning a deep shade of purple as steam came out of his nostrils. "Come on! Don't say that to the baby! What is he going to think of me?!"
Snowflake ignored him, wrapping her tail around the egg. "I can't wait until you hatch, my little Ember..."
"Ember?" Torch took a tentative step forward. "You named the baby without me?"
"Well, somedragon was too busy to mind such 'trivial matters', wasn't that what you said?" Snowflake growled gently, rolling her eyes at her husband. She smirked in satisfaction when Torch blushed again, this time in embarrassment.
"Oh." He tried to think of something to say. "I like it... It has a nice ring to it."
Noticing her husband was still upset about the whole ordeal with the northern clans, Snowflake momentarily stood up from her spot and walked closer to him, nuzzling against his chest. "Don't worry, everything will be alright, Torchy."
While he usually didn't tolerate any sort of nicknames being called at him, his Snowy was the only exception. He smiled at her and wrapped a wing around her. "If you say so, my love..."
Those were the good times, when he never imagined he would ever lose her...
Regaining his composure, the Dragon Lord hid the nest among the hoard's jewels once again, and started to walk out of the cave. The sun would reach its summit soon, and he had to be there to start the competition.
Not to mention he had to find his daughter before she made anything stupid.
Half an hour later...
With a mighty roar of his, the Gauntlet of Fire officially started. All the candidates, most of them young dragons who were in the teenage stage (minus the little purple shrimp who had tried to leave only to change his mind and compete after all), took off like bullets into the air and towards the Flame-cano Island. All minus the shrimp, who was pushed down the cliff and into the ocean by the red male (he was starting to like that one's attitude), but the hatchling emerged in mere seconds and yelled something at the red teenage one. He didn't really hear what he said, he had already turned around and headed back towards his 'throne', all the while looking around for a certain blue young dragoness...
"My Lord." one of his guards, a green wingless adult dragon, approached warily and gave him a bow. He turned to him with a stony expression.
"Did you find her?"
"Not yet, My Lord. We've been looking in the usual places she hangs out at, but Princess Ember is very..." he stopped in mid-sentence.
Torch narrowed his eyes. "What were you going to say?" he hissed.
The dragon grew nervous. "W-Well... I was saying she is v-very good at hiding... Y-You know, with her small s-size and..."
"SPEAK IN DRAGON!"
"We don't know where she could be!" the dragon cowered in case he was going to be thrown a rock, or smacked, or toasted.
"THEN GO AND DON'T COME BACK TILL YOU FIND HER! AND WHEN YOU DO, TELL HER SHE IS IN HOT LAVA!"
"Y-Yes, My L-Lord!" with that, the dragon ran away as fast as he could.
Torch managed to calm down as he flew all the way back to his stone throne, surrounded by the rest of the dragonkind who had decided they were too old to participate in such dangerous event (they knew him more than the younger ones did), or the ones still too young to even fly or grow their wings. Damn it, Ember was so going to hear him out this time! He was going to ground her for a year! How dare she just fly away like that without telling him where she was going?! What if she ran into one of them...? Speaking of which, he hadn't seen any of them for a while now. The last time he heard from one of his scouts, he said they had long been driven out of the ponylands and they had crossed the Great Ocean. As if. If that was the case, how come there was one living in that town in the ponylands... what was it called? Pony-something. How come one of them had come to his domains, daring to challenge his rule over the dragons? How come that same creature had dared to....
To...
The egg had started to wiggle last night. Snowflake had technically roared in delight, and shook him awake violently, almost knocking him off the hoard. He was excited about his child finally coming into the world tonight, only for one of his guards to come and ruin everything by yelling something about a member of the northern clans seeking an-
"Wait, the NORTHERN clans?!" he had yelled.
"Shh!" Snowflake shushed at him. "Torch, the baby!"
"Sorry, my dear." he whispered, before glaring at the guard. "Tell him to come back in another moment!"
"B-But My Lord, there's something... off about this dragon..."
"Off?"
"Well, for starters he's concealed in a piece of that thing ponykind call clothing, and he gives the others the creeps."
"I will not miss my child's birth for something as insignificant as that! Kick him out or something!"
Snowflake placed a talon on his shoulder, smiling. "It's okay, Torch. I'm sure the egg can wait for his daddy to return."
Although reluctant, Torch sighed in frustration and nuzzled against his wife's cheek gently. "I'll be back in a while, Snowy..." he whispered into her ear, before standing up and stomping out of the cave, cursing the northern clan for daring to send a messenger just at this precise moment. He'd crush that puny trespasser, then he'd come back to witness the birth of his child. The weird thing was the hour he had chosen to come. It was near midnight, an odd hour for a dragon to leave his den.
The northern dragon was just like the guard had said. He was waiting patiently in front of the giant rock throne, but he was unusually small for an adult dragon, if he was one. Not to mention he was concealed in a sort of clothing, he had heard the ponies called this kind of garment a cloak. How dare a dragon wear something that only the pathetic ponykind thought of using?! Torch hardened his face into a deep frown as he flew up to his throne, looking down at the messenger like he were nothing more than an insect. The rest of the dragons had gathered around to see what happened to this northern dragon who dared to show under this circumstances.
"HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOURSELF AFTER IGNORING MY CALL FOR MONTHS?!" Torch roared at the dragon, who didn't even flinch, much to his confusion. "I should squash you right here and now for such show of disrespect!" the other dragons had not yet reacted, they just stared at the stranger blankly and apprehensively. "AGREE WITH ME!" At his command, the other dragons gave roars and growls of agreement, directing them at the northern dragon.
But the stranger snickered grimly, his eye concealed in his hood.
"Torch, Torch, Torch... Still a boulder-headed as always, I see you haven't changed at all."
His voice was dark and grim, as if it were a demon who were speaking. Torch felt a shiver run down his spine, but he did not show it. The other dragons were not as secretive, and a few had stepped back in fear of this stranger. Yet, there was something about that voice...
"I'M DRAGON LORD TORCH FOR YOU, YOU INSIGNIFICANT LIZARD! YOU BETTER SHOW RESPECT IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO ACTUALLY SQUASH YOU!"
"Your empty threats scare me no longer, Torch." The dragon spat the Dragon Lord's name, making some of the other dragons gasp in horror. They saw Torch tensing up in indignation and fury. "You call yourself Dragon Lord? You're nothing but a uncultured, underdeveloped cavedragon. All your reign consists of simply going around attacking all you see, very reckless on your part. If it weren't for your short-sighted dictatorship, maybe we could have made allies with other species who share our vision. But what else can be expected of a brute?"
That was the last straw.
With a roar of fury, Torch unleashed his fire breath on the stranger, who disappeared in the blood red flames. The other dragons just stood there, watching as the flames consumed the poor soul who was reckless enough to challenge the Dragon Lord himself. With a dismissive huff, Torch spoke again. "THERE YOU HAVE IT! NODRAGON WHO DARES TO CHALLENGE MY REIGN WILL LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY! THIS INSIGNIFICANT WORM IS AN EXAMPLE TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE GUTS TO QUESTION ME!"
The rest of the dragons, though shocked by what had just transpired, nevertheless let out roars of agreement, but before they could do anything else, an evil laughter echoed around the place, coming directly from the flames.
"Fool."
Much to Torch's bewilderment, and the shock of all other dragons present, the fire turned green and purple, and the cloaked dragon emerged, his cloak gone. But he looked different than all of the other dragons ever seen in that place. For instance, his scales were black; though it was a rare color among dragons, the ones who did get that shade didn't have true black. It was usually a very dark gray or another color at its darkest. But this one's scales were a true, midnight black, with a purple underbelly, matching the wing membrane. His wings had grown larger, the largest wingspan for a dragon, which would give him advantage in flight and maneuvering. The most surprising thing was that he had hair; not spines or spikes in the shape of hair, it was actual hair, wild and uncombed, and colored purple.
But what truly sent shivers down everydragon's, even Torch's, spines, was that his eyes were glowing green, and there was a mysterious purple mist coming out of them.
Before Torch could even react, the black dragon's horns glowed green and purple and suddenly tentacles of some sort emerged from the ground and wrapped around his neck, legs and wings, he tried to resist but these things were too strong even for him. The rest of the dragons watched in shock and horror as the Dragon Lord himself, the biggest and most powerful dragon in all of Equestria was pinned down by the mysterious tentacles. Torch attempted to claw apart the damn bondages, but as he touched them he realized they were made of a sort of energy.
The black dragon laughed in amusement. "What's wrong, Torch? Can't stand up against a bit of magic?"
Magic?! Whispers and stares of awe centered around the black dragon as he used the word magic. It was something dragons didn't have, no matter how much they tried they could never harness that force. That was the only thing they actually envied of the ponies, who could harness magic as if it were the easiest thing in the world. But this dragon not only used magic, but his magic was strong enough to bring down the Dragon Lord himself?
"Magic?!" Torch repeated uncredulously. "That can't be! Dragons can't use magic!"
"That's what your little, mediocre brain thinks! I learned the nefarious force by going where no dragon has ever bothered to look." The intruder looked back at their audience. "A book."
More whispers, this time of indignation, came forth.
"Book?! That's for ponies!" one cried out.
"That's why you haven't gotten past the beastly demeanor you all have!" the black dragon snickered. "I shared this knowledge with the Northern Clan, and now we have a power beyond what you can imagine! We subdued the unicorns who have mastered this magic for centuries!" he glanced at Torch dismissively. "And we didn't need any brute force to do so. It's evident it's just the excuse of stupid dragons who cannot think of anything better."
"WHY, YOU-!" Torch tried to stand up, but his bindings pulled him tighter against the ground.
"What? It's the truth." The black dragon flew down to be eye-level with the subdued Dragon Lord, crossing his arms and smirking mockingly again. "I'm the first one who had the guts to tell you the truth. Your brute force cannot defeat my magic. In fact, considering the... differences between us, I think it's time to draw a line."
He flew back up, high enough for the others to hear him. "From this day on, me and those who embraced the gift of magic will not be down at the level of common stupid dragons anymore! From this day on, I am a Temnokt!" He snickered when some of the other dragons, angry at being insulted not once, but various times, were flying up to him to attack, but only a snap of his fingers and some more magic was enough to trap them with those dark energy chains, unbreakable by brute force. "That will be all, I'm afraid. And here I was enjoying the attention."
He glanced back at Torch once last time. His eyes had stopped glowing, but there was darkness in his eyes.
"Before I go, I left a little present for you, back at your cave." He snickered when Torch's glare turned into a look of confusion. "Congratulations on the egg, by the way."
With that, he disappeared in a burst of green fire.
As soon as he was gone, the energy chains holding down Torch and the other dragons disappeared. Torch was beyond furious, he wanted to go after that traitor and squash him like the little insect he was, but before he could even do so, suddenly a female dragon rushed towards him, looking horrified.
"Lord Torch, the eggs are gone!"
That caught his attention. "What do you mean?!"
"Some black dragons who harnessed a sort of power came into the hatchery and stole all the eggs! We couldn't stop them!"
It struck him like a bucket of cold water. "Where's Snowflake?! Is she okay?!"
The dragoneness was silent in dread.
"ANSWER ME!" He had a bad feeling.
"L-Lady Snowflake..." the dragoness was weeping by then. "She t-tried to defend her egg, b-but..."
No...!
Ignoring the cries of anguish from the other dragons who had their offspring stolen, he took off with a large flap, sending the nearest dragons flying, flying at the fastest he could towards his cave, fearing the worst for the first time in his life. They couldn't have taken the egg, could they...?! Or hurt Snowflake! They couldn't have, she was a strong dragon, she would have made them regret daring to even think about stealing her baby.
But as he came to the entrance of the cave and heard no sound coming from within it, his suspicions started to have a solid basis. "Snowflake?!" he called out, but there was no reply. As his vision adjusted to the darkness, he saw a blue figure lying on the ground, immobile...
"SNOWFLAKE!"
In a minute, Torch was next to his mate, but she didn't respond. There was blood on the floor, coming from a large, black crystal coming out of her chest. There were similar crystals similar growing on the floor and walls. Her beautiful eyes had extinguished, all life was gone from her. He didn't want to believe this. She had died at the claws of those monsters, defenseless against the magic they now wielded... And he couldn't do anything against it. In fact, magic made him look like a weakling.
The Dragon Lord let out a mighty, broken roar of grief that night which could have as well been heard in all of Equestria, then he pulled his mate's body close, his wings wrapping around her.
Then he heard it. A small squeal, tiny for his earshot, but he managed to hear it. He had forgotten about the egg. Had it hatched? He glanced at the nest, and found the shell pieces scattered in it, but the hatchling was not there. Maybe Snowflake had hidden the baby before those creatures came. Reluctantly, Torch placed Snowflake's body down and followed the squeals and whimpers of fright. They were coming from Snowflake's hoard of crystals. A small movement of blue caught his eye. He carefully reached out the little spot, gingerly taking it out of the hoard and unto the floor.
The hatchling was, like he always suspected, just like his... her mother. Blue scales, dark blue spines and orange eyes, but her tiny horn stubs already showed they would be like his. The hatchling had been frightened of his roar of grief, but rather than trying to scramble back to the hoard to hide like most hatchlings did, she instead put herself into a clumsy attack position and let out a tiny roar in an attempt to intimidate him. In a way, it amused him.
Looks like she would have his character.
He would have smiled if the circumstances were different. Despite everything, though, he was glad his daughter was safe. Carefully, he reached out a large claw to her, and she tried swiping at it, rolling unto her back in the process.
"There, there, it's okay..." he whispered as faintly as he could to avoid scaring her again. "I'm not going to hurt you, little one."
The hatchling seemingly recognized his voice, and went back on her feet, sniffing at his claw warily. He was surprised she did not fear him, rather she seemed to be curious about him. After the little one recognized the aroma of one of her progenitors, she was soon giving small purr-like sound.
Realizing Snowflake's body was still there, and the hatchling could see it at any moment and it could have any effect on her later on, Torch carefully picked his newly-hatched daughter from the tail, internally snickering when she squealed in protest, and placed her on his back. The hatchling found her father's skin very comfortable, and soon she was curling up in his back, giving a small yawn before slumbering. Torch continued to stare at his little hatchling as she slept, noticing the close resemblance she had to his beloved Snowflake...
Snowflake... His eyes were moistening up, but he tried his best not to do it. He was the Dragon Lord, he couldn't be seen weeping, and the only one who could was gone. As soon as he was certain his daughter was asleep, he went back to check on his mate's body. Her eyes were closed, but he swore her lips had curved the faintest upwards, as if she knew from wherever she was now that their little one was safe, that she would grow into a beautiful dragoness one day. He would make sure of it. He would make sure that his daughter would grow strong if he had anything to say on the matter, he would not fail Snowflake.
"Snowflake..." Torch whispered, a lone tear finally running down his cheek as he stroked his mate's cheek tenderly. "Our little Ember will make you proud. I give you my word."
Torch's claws dug into the stone of his 'throne' at the memory. That blasted creature, Temnokt as he called himself, had not only humiliated and openly challenged him (and won, to make things worse), he had stolen the next generation of hatchlings, and taken the life of his Queen. He had tried to take his little Ember too, if it weren't for Snowflake he didn't know what would have happened, he didn't want to imagine what would have been of his daughter, he never knew what those creatures had intended to do with the eggs they stole.
A great number of gasps from the crowd brought him out of his thoughts, and noticed all the dragons who hadn't participated were staring to a point beside him with looks of utter shock. He turned around and saw... Ember holding the Bloodstone Scepter?! It couldn't be..! He had told her not to...! But then how...?!
His own shock turned into anger. "Ember? You?!
There was a look of satisfaction and pride in her face. She had made it against all expectations, and she knew it. She knew she had proved him wrong. "I know you didn't think I could do it, but I did."
He wanted to be happy, deep down he was, but she had disobeyed him! AGAIN! "I expressly told you not to do it, because you're not-!"
She interrupted him. "I'm not big and strong. I know." Ember frowned. "But you know what? I won anyway. So maybe it takes more than just being big and strong to be a Dragon Lord!"
He was utterly shocked at that statement. It shouldn't be possible, and yet here she was, holding the Bloodstone Scepter in her grip, talking with all the strength and confidence of a Dragon Lord. But overall, she was talking just like her mother, saying what she would have said. And yet he also heard himself as she spoke, his own strength he passed unto her the moment he and Snowflake became one. That was when he realized it.
Ember had her mother's looks, but she had his spirit.
He gave a great laugh.
"I was wrong, Ember." he admitted proudly, for once not being angry at being proven wrong. "You might not be big, but you are strong and smart, and perhaps that counts for more than I thought. And you will make an excellent leader."
The unthinkable happened. She smiled. It had been so long since she offered him one of her beautiful smiles, another trait Snowflake gave unto her. "Thanks, dad." All around them there was silence, from the other dragons. Ember pointed the scepter at them, yelling. "Agree with him!"
Torch laughed internally at the action, especially at the other dragons' baffled expressions. They were not expecting this.
Then she laughed. "Just kidding! That's not gonna be my thing!"
This time, he did laugh outloud, before stretching out an arm. "Dragons, hear me! I present to you our new Dragon Lord, Ember!"
As the rest of the dragons cheered, genuinely this time, Torch glanced at his daughter, his chest swelled upward with pride as she awkwardly waved a hand, not used to all the attention. Snowflake would be so proud of her if she could see her now, proud that her daughter had unknowingly honored her wish that she grew into a wise dragoness who valued wit and intelligence, a unique trait among their kind. And he had been a fool not to realize it... Or perhaps he was so afraid to lose the only thing he would ever have left of... his Snowflake, that he failed to acknowledge these traits before.
Suddenly, the small red dragon from before flew by, and much to the shock of everyone (Torch himself included), he hugged the giant dragon's nose.
"Hmm?" Torch frowned. No one but his little Ember-and Snowflake, may she rest in peace-was allowed do such a thing! "What is the meaning of this?!"
"I can't tell you!" the red dragon said in embarrassment and shame before flying off dejectedly.
Torch snorted in annoyance.
What a way to ruin a sentimental moment.
