To rekindle the flame

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Chapter 1 Chapter one

Ember walked down the dark hallway alone. Two months had passed since the call of the previous Dragon Lord, two months since she had risen to the position herself. Thinking back on the event, she still couldn't wrap her head around it. To think that Spike, that tiny purple dragon, had so readily handed over the power of the Bloodstone Scepter to someone he'd only just met; she couldn't understand it. He could have kept it and become the Dragon Lord... but instead he just gave it up.

To further complicate things, he had also extended a claw of friendship, something that dragons didn’t generally do. Friendship was just something that didn't work with dragons; at least, it hadn’t for a very long time. Ember had thought about it ever since she had obtained the scepter, and each time she had looked back, she had found it nearly impossible to think of a time in which a Dragon Lord had been friends with ponies. Yet here she was once again, thinking these same thoughts two months later, and still not a single Dragon Lord came forward in her mind.

Frustrated, She decided to do something desperate, something that she'd never done before. She decided that she needed to do some research and spend some time in the Royal Archives. Surely, there must have been at least one Dragon Lord that brokered some kind of peace or some kind of friendship with the ponies. After all, the dragons weren't at war with the ponies. Now all she had to do was find the Dragon Lord that was responsible for the peace that existed between their two species.

Weeks passed, and still she had come up with nothing. In desperation, she reached out the one dragon she could count on as a friend, Spike, hoping that he might know of the dragon that brokered the peace, or at least what the dragon's name was. If he did not know, perhaps his friend Twilight Sparkle might. She has seemed genuinely interested in dragons and she imagined that she would relish the chance to research the dragon that had brought the original peace between the ponies of Equestria and the Dragon Lands. After three days of waiting, a reply finally arrived.

Dear Ember,

I'm glad to hear that you are doing well. I myself didn’t know the answer to your question, so I asked Twilight about it. It turns out that she was able to find the name of the dragon that brokered the peace between dragons and ponies. According to Twilight, the dragon's name was ‘Obsidian the Black’. The peace treaties had apparently been signed over a thousand years ago, and according to Twilight, Obsidian had been a good friend with the princesses of Equestria. From what we were able to dig up, it appears that he fell into reclusion after the banishment of Luna. I hope that this helps, although I'm not sure why you wanted to know. Just remember, if you need any help or if you ever just need to talk, Twilight and I are both here.

Your friend,

Spike

Ember sighed, having reread the letter for the third time. “Well, at least I know what his name was... I guess that's some place to start.” Steeling her conviction, she dove back into her research. At least now she had a name to go with. “All I need to do now is figure out if any dragon knows who he is, or possibly even where he is.”Ember knew that this was a long shot; after all, nodragon had heard of or even seen Obsidian for the last thousand years, but Ember was stubborn. She knew that if she spent enough time and devoted enough of her energy towards finding him, eventually she would either find him or at least find something he had left behind. Should she succeed, she would be able to utilize her knowledge to try to broker a new era of peace. Perhaps something longer lasting, or at least more stable, than what Obsidian had left behind.

She threw herself into her new obsession. She wanted to know who this Dragon was, know what he thought, and most of all, figure out how he dealt with having friends. She continued to exchange letters with Spike and Twilight, and that certainly helped, but even then, she still felt as though she was missing some key components to what it truly meant to have friends.

Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months. Before she knew it, an entire year had passed, and after a year's worth of research, she was no closer to finding out where Obsidian was or even if he'd left any kind of writings or works behind. Currently, all she knew was that he had been the Dragon Lord over a thousand years ago. During her exhaustive research she had spent a mountain of gems trying to find any information about him, all to no avail.

Late one night after another day of fruitless research, Ember threw herself into her bed, a recent gift from her friend, Twilight. She mused to herself, “Even if there’s been nothing else useful to dragons created by ponykind, at the very least they invented the feather mattress.”

She snuggled into the soft confines of her bed. Truly, this was heaven. After years of sleeping on rocks—and occasionally a pile of gems—the softness of this bed was something that she couldn't compare to anything else. As she lay there, staring at the ceiling, all of the lights in her room suddenly winked out for all of half of of a second. Startled by the sudden darkness in her room, she looked over to her bedside table and noticed something that had not been there only moments before.

A black scroll tube that appeared to be made of obsidian laid there. Her heart rate increased as she reached out to grasp the black tube, although upon wrapping her claws around it, she almost dropped it.

“This is really warm...” she said to herself, “almost as if it's been sitting in the sun for a few hours.” After the initial shock, she grasped the tube and removed the lid. Inside was a piece of the finest parchment she had ever held, and on said parchment was a letter that she had not expected to receive:

Greetings, Dragon Lord Ember, first of her name,

It has come to my attention that over this last year you've spent a great majority of your time searching for the writings or whereabouts of Dragon Lord ‘Obsidian the Black’. I must express my curiosity as to why you would even bother looking into some dragon so long forgotten. I must admit that you have piqued my curiosity, and as such I would like to meet you, to truly gauge whether or not I should divulge certain information that I hold as to the whereabouts of Obsidian. I requested this meeting so that I may be able to determine whether or not you are worthy to meet Obsidian; after all, he did make quite a few enemies during his rule. As I'm sure you can imagine, not all dragons were too terribly keen on the idea of being at peace with ponies. As far as the meeting goes, if you would be so kind, please meet me where you laid claim to the Bloodstone Scepter, at midnight one week from today's date.

Best regards,

Phoenix.

Ember could hardly contain herself. After a year of time spent looking, she was only a week away from possibly finding out the answers to some if not all of her questions. Not only that, but possibly even where he was and the chance to speak to him directly.

While she was busy musing her thoughts and a few questions to ask, she missed a tiny flash of something blue on the lid of the scroll cap, the tell-tale sign of a spell designed to spy on someone.

“Well I guess I'd better get some sleep. I need to get a lot of things taken care of before I go to this meeting next week.” Feeling better than she had in over a year's time, Ember lay down on her bed and uttered a final thought. “Maybe I can finally figure what kind of dragon he was, and maybe even figure out how having friends works...” Sleep overtook the young Dragon Lord. The land of dreams awaited her, and after a year of waiting, she was finally able to get a full night's rest.

Chapter 2

Deep underground a massive black dragon looked away from his scrying disk. It had been many years since somedragon, or even somepony, had spent time looking for him. He didn’t really know what was going to happen at the meeting, but knowing that somedragon still cared enough to search him out left him hopeful. It had been nearly one thousand years since his last trip out of his home.

Looking around his cave and gazing upon his hoard, he smiled to himself. While most dragons collected precious stones and metals--and to be honest he had his fair share of wealth--his most prized possession was his collection of rare magical tomes. He kept over a millennium's worth of magical knowledge. Tomes that had been written by Starswirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, and Sombra, to name a few. He knew the contents of each by heart. To say that he was an archmage-level caster was to be humble. Nowhere on the planet had there been such a collection of tomes.

As Obsidian turned his head and gazed upon his collection, his eyes fell upon the tomes and letters that he held up as being his most valued treasures. They were simple things. They did not even contain the highest level of magic. They did not contain any kind of magic at all, at least not the contemporary kind. No, the books and letters were from and about one mare. The one true friend that Obsidian had felt ever truly cared about him. The one mare that had wanted what was best for him. She had not wanted anything from him other than companionship; she had been his dearest friend. But that had been a thousand years ago. She was lost to him, banished to a place that he could never follow.

Alone in his thoughts, he began to have a strange feeling deep within his breast. Something that he had not felt in a very long time: Hope. Hope that somedragon or somepony would be able to pull him out of his thousand-year funk. He wanted to feel like he had all those years ago. The joy of friendship, just something to distract him from his stupor.

Obsidian turned back to his scrying disk and noticed that the current Dragon Lord was waking from her slumber. “I guess I lost track of time again,” he rumbled to himself in his deep bass voice. As he stretched his neck out, the sound of cracking echoed around the cave, like a rock slide tumbling down a mountain. “Well, if I go to sleep now, I should have time for a nap before I have to leave to meet her.”

He stretched his back, and the rock slide continued. After looping around and curling up with his tail (a wyrmling habit of his), Obsidian lay his head down, casually casting an alarm spell that would wake him the day before the meeting giving him enough time to fly to the meeting place. Murmuring to himself before sleep took him “Perhaps I will meet a kindred spirit willing to explore friendship in a way that will allow me to experience its wonders once again.

***

Ember could hardly contain herself. The meeting was only a few hours away. She had already arrived to the meeting place early in hopes that she would get a glimpse of her informant before he arrived.

“I must say, it is quite unusual of a Dragon Lord to be so nervous about a simple meeting,” said a deep bass voice, followed by a good-natured chuckle.

Ember whirled around to face the source of the voice “I’m not nervous, I just want to be punctual for my meeting,” she blurted out at the sudden appearance of the voice. What she saw unnerved her: before her stood a pony. More importantly, the pony that stood before her stood a head taller than her and had leathery bat wings and a long horn protruding from his forehead. As she got a better look, she noticed that his eyes were slitted like her own, and he had fangs in his mouth. “A-and who are you, anyway?”

The pitch-black pony smiled and replied, “Phoenix.”

Ember stood dumbfounded and stared back. Putting her hands on hips while drumming her claws, she retorted, “So you expect me to believe that some pony knows where an exxDragon Lord is when no other dragon that I have spoken to in the last year, as well as a princess of Equestria, was able to tell me. I find that hard to believe.”

The black stallion looked back at her and smirked. “Then tell me, Dragon Lord Ember: why did you come to meet me, then? If you thought that I didn’t have the information, why fly out here all alone to meet some stranger that you have never met before? The only connection that you have to me is that I sent you a scroll that said that I know where he is. You seem to be very trusting for one in such a position as yourself.”

Ember looked at the strange black stallion, and her jaw dropped as she realized the terrible situation that she had let herself get drawn into. Her guard went up, and she took a defensive stance. “Alright, buster, don’t think I am going to go quietly. I may not be as strong as my father the Dragon Lord before me, but I know my way around a fight.”

The black stallion chuckled to himself. He recognized her stance as the martial fighting stance studied in Griffonholm. “I don’t mean you any harm. I was simply making an observation. Although you would be wise to screen your guests in the future. Remember, you will have to endure being the target of aggression for the next 250 years.” He smiled and corrected himself. “Pardon me, 249 years. In any event, all I wish to do this night is talk and perhaps gaze at the moon. Now please, join me.” He walked across the room toward two outcroppings of crystal. He lit his horn and proceeded to transmute the crystal growths into the shape of two chairs complete with pillows.

Taking a seat, Phoenix gestured with a wave of his hand to the other chair that faced him and offered “Please sit. I imagine that you must have a number of questions, and I would like to be comfortable as I answer them.” His genuine smile as he said so helped Ember relax her stance as she approached to take the offered chair.

“Thank you.” She still felt the chills that had traveled down her spine when she had seen him light his horn… although she wasn’t sure if she could call it lighting his horn. It almost appeared as though his horn took an even darker shade as the light in the room dimmed to almost complete darkness. “Who are you, Really? I know that there are currently five alicorns known to exist, and every one of them is a mare.”

Phoenix jerked his head back in surprise. “Well I guess we have more to discuss than I had originally thought. Last I knew, there were only two alicorns, and one of them had been banished to the moon. But we are getting off track. Don’t worry, I will touch on your question in a bit. But for now, I believe that you have some questions about the ex- Dragon Lord ‘Obsidian the Black’. Is that not true?”

Ember nodded and spoke again. “Just who was this ‘Obsidian the Black,’ and why is it so hard to find out anything about him? I meen he brokered the peace between the dragons and the ponies of Equestria. You would think that somedragon that important would have at least a little recorded about him. I mean, seriously, how can no one have heard of him, or even have some book that records something that he had done? I had to go to Princess Twilight Sparkle to find anything about him, and all she could find was his name. How does somedragon so important just disappear?”

Phoenix sighed and looked at her with sad eyes. “To give you a proper answer, we will have to start at the beginning.

Long ago, before your grandfather’s grandfather was born, the dragon lands were ruled over by a royal house--a single family of dragons that ruled over all others. After millennia of ruling, the last Queen of the Dragons made an announcement: ‘My rule will be the last as Queen of the Dragons. After a great deal of thought that has spanned over a century, I have decided that all dragons should have an opportunity to rule themselves. My family has sat upon the throne to long without challenge. This coming summer, we will hold a contest to see whom among you has what it takes to be the new ruler of the Dragon Lands: the Dragon Lord.”

Phoenix looked at Ember to see if she was paying attention. Hher eyes glittered with interest, and she nodded as to urge him to continue. “As you know, this was the beginning of the Dragon Lords. Dragon Lords would hold dominion for two hundred and fifty years at a time, and once you had claimed the position of Dragon Lord, you are not able to claim it a second time. We now fast forward four hundred and fifty years later, when Obsidian was hatched to the the current Dragon Lord, much as you were hatched to your father before you. However, his hatching was a bit strange. Up until this point, only females had been hatched into his family. For whatever reason, the dragonesses of this family would only hatch more dragonesses; in over a millennium of time, not a single male dragon had been hatched.

Obsidian was the first. The matriarch of the family tried to tell his mother that he should be destroyed. Surely his gender and his black scales were proof that this hatchling was going to be the end of their way of life. But instead she ignored her elder’s pleas and kept the hatchling.

In time, Obsidian grew. Contrary to the nature of most black dragons, Obsidian took no interest in the dark arts. He did not spend his time learning the black magics that seemed to draw others of his coloring. He instead devoted his life to proving himself worthy of his mother’s clan. He strove to be all that was expected of a dragon of his birth. Giving little time to anything other than learning. During his youth, Obsidian came across the writings of Starswirl the Bearded. In his writings, he spoke at great length of the magic of friendship and all that it could (albeit theoretically) accomplish.

He grew obsessed with learning about this branch of magic. However, most dragons were opposed to the concept. They thought that only weaklings ever made friends. The years passed, and finally his mother’s rule came to an end. Obsidian was a driven individual and decided to compete in the gauntlet to claim the Blood Stone Scepter.

As you know, he was successful in his goal. One of the first things that he did was to contact the royalty of Equestria in order to broker peace and friendship between the two nations. For five years, he worked to bring about his plan. And in time he was successful.

But I feel this discussion has reached its conclusion for the evening, and I grow tired. It has been a long time since I have spent this long conversing with another being. I would, however, like to continue to speak to you. As I said, I would like to take a measure of you to determine if you are worthy to stand before Obsidian.

Ember looked at the stallion and blinked, enraptured by what she had been told. “Wait that’s it? You just cut your story off right at the best part! I want to know what happened.”

Phoenix chuckled and replied, “I realize that; now I have your attention, and I know that you will want to hear more.” Smiling, he lit his horn again and, with a small gesture with his hand, summoned another scroll tube into his hand. “I would like to continue conversing with you. Any time that you wish to talk, simply write me a letter and place it in one of the two scroll tubes that I have provided. I give you a second one just in case you need to contact me, and I have yet to reply to your first letter.”

Ember looked back at him and groused, “I thought that getting a measure of me was why you called this first meeting to start with.”

“You are correct, but you could hardly expect me to gain a full measure of your character with only one meeting. Obsidian made a lot of enemies in his life, and I mean to protect him. But look at it this way. If I were not pleased with what I have seen so far, I would never have extended the scroll tube to you. I have much that I want to ask about you, but I do not have time to spend speaking to you face to face. Nor do you.”

Ember looked back at the stallion and realized he was right. “Fine, but you had better be quick about getting back to me. Princess Twilight Sparkle normally doesn’t keep me waiting for a replay for more than three days.”

Phoenix replied with his normal smile. “Of course, Your Majesty,” he replied with just a hint of sarcasm. “Now I am afraid that I must be off. We shall continue this discussion at a later time. Good evening, Dragon Lord Ember.” With that, the stallion winked out of existence, almost as if he had been swallowed by the void of darkness.

Ember shook her head to try to make sense of all she had learned. She could hardly believe that the conversation had even occurred. The only proof that the stallion had even been there were the chairs of crystal and the black scroll tubes. She resolved that she would send him a letter first thing in the morning. Ember took off and returned home. Lying her head down in her bed, her final thoughts of the night were puzzlement about who the stallion was and why a pony of all beings in the world seemed to know where Obsidian was. In time, she would know; all she had to do was be patient.

Chapter 3

True to her word, Ember wrote a letter to Phoenix the following day, and continued to do so on an almost daily basis for a year. Consumed with curiosity over Obsidian, Ember forgot to ask about the existence of the male alicorn. She continued to ask questions, and in return Phoenix gave answers, while also continuing to question her about her daily life as well as her attitudes towards the thought of friendship.

Ember’s first letters contained the most basic of questions that you would expect to be asked.

“How did you get the other Dragons to agree to the peace treaty between Equestria and the Dragon lands? How did you first come into contact with the Royal pony sisters?” but in time she began to delve into more personal topics.

“Dear Phoenix,

It has now been one month since our first meeting and I feel that I have asked a good number of questions in regards to the policies that Obsidian put into place. But at this point I find myself curious as to who he is as a Dragon. Not as an ex-Dragon Lord but, as just a normal dragon. So I wonder, what are some of the things that he likes to do? I feel like I know quite a bit about who he is as a ruler, but not who is he as a dragon. I know that I am repeating myself, and I hope that this isn’t too forward of me to ask.

Your Friend

Ember”

Obsidian looked a the letter and smiled. “Well it took her a month before she got up the gumption to ask about me on a personal level. I guess it’s time to start writing about personal stuff”

“Dear Ember,

To answer your last question first. No I don’t think it is too forward to ask about Obsidian on the personal level. In fact he was glad that you decide to finally delve into that topic. Policy and procedure can be a bit dry, and besides you can learn quite a bit more about someone by learning what they like and don’t like to do. So as far as what Obsidian likes to do in his free time. Well he enjoys reading. Having a vast collection of books to read he has spent the better part of the last century learning all he can about magic as well as just enjoying stories that have been written. Although to be completely honest he has a great need to update his collection. The newest story that he owns was printed well over 500 years ago. Did you have any specific topics that you would like to know about in regards to his collection? Perhaps genres? Fiction, non-fiction, action adventure, magic studies? He has a vast collection (if a bit outdated). If you would like I would imagine that he would be willing to lend you some reading material, Although I imagine that he may have to translate it into a more modern style of speech. Dragons and Ponies had a very different way of speaking that long ago. If you are interested please let me know. It shouldn’t take all that long to translate the books into a more manageable format for you.

Your friend

Phoenix.”

Sealing the Scroll tube Obsidian pressed the onyx gem in the lid and is vanished away. Within a few minutes time the tube blinked back into existence. “Well then, that was fast.” he chuckled to himself

“Dear Phenix,

I would love to read anything that he would be willing to share. If possible would he be able to start with magic. I know that Dragons have magic but up to this point I haven’t been able to find anydragon that would be willing to teach me. And now that I am the Dragon lord I feel like asking would sound more like a command than a request. I know that I could make them teach me, but it would be nice to have a willing teacher rather than a captive one.

Your friend

Ember”

With this one exchange the sharing of knowledge began. On a monthly basis Obsidian would translate one of his magic books and bring it to Ember under the guise of Phoenix. Twice a month they would meet to have lessons in person. During their lessons in magic he tossed in as many nuggets of wisdom as he could. Ember grew considerably in this time as a dragon, as a ruler, and she also began to show a bit of a gift for magic. During this time however one topic had been forgotten. The one topic that should have held a vast amount of importance for the teacher. The topic of Luna’s return.

Over time time Ember and Phoenix grew to become good friends. Ember was finally able to really relax and let her guard down, in a metaphorical sense. However in a physical sense she was never able to let her guard down. As she learned after her second meeting with Phoenix, He was a terrible prankster, after arriving home without noticing that he had changed her wings bright pink. The constant pranking helped her however. She began to become acutely aware of her surroundings and made sure that she kept her physical guard up when she was outside of her home. Finally after a year of time the one letter that she had been hoping for ever since she had met Phoenix arrived.

Dear Ember,

Over the last year, I have come to know you and would like to state that we are friends, or at the very least I would hope that you would think of me as a friend. I feel that after this last year I have finally been able to gain a real measure of your character and have decided that it is now time for you to finally receive the reward that you have craved. I asked that you meet me at the location that we first met in one week's time. At that point in time, you shall finally be able to meet Obsidian the Black. I request only one thing from you as you meet him: please keep an open mind.

Your friend,

Phoenix

Reading the letter a third and fourth time, Ember could hardly believe her eyes. After a year of waiting, she was finally going to be able to meet him. The great and ancient dragon Obsidian. Over the last year, she had learned quite a bit about Obsidian--asked as many questions as she possibly could and received many answers--to the point she thought she almost knew exactly who he was, why he did the things he did and for the reasons he did them.

The week before the meeting was one of the longest weeks she’d ever endured. She imagined that this must be what Spike felt like when he was waiting for Hearth’s Warming Eve, at least if you were to believe what Spike wrote in his letters.

The night had finally come; it was the long-awaited meeting. Obsidian looked around his cave and smiled. All of his home had been packed. He finally felt that it was time to move on. This cave hidden beneath the Castle of the Two Sisters had served it’s purpose. It had been his home for the last thousand years or so, and now it was time to move on and find a new home. He had found a new friend, and now he was going to reveal himself to her. A truly momentous occasion; he only hoped that he would not scare her too much.

His eyes fell upon the last thing in his cave. A small backpack that had been carefully enchanted to hold what he considered to be one the the most powerful dimensional expansion charms in the world. All that he owned was now carefully packed into this one bag.

“Well, I guess that it is time to get going.” Grabbing his pack, Obsidian walked out of his cave for the last time. “It’s time to see what life has to offer again.”

Ember was once again waiting in the crystal cavern sitting on her normal chair, waiting. She quickly jumped out of her chair and turned around when she heard the smallest of sounds. Behind her stood Phoenix, wearing his normal rakish smile.

“Very good Ember, you heard me coming and acted accordingly. You have taken my lessons on self-preservation to heart. Good.”

Ember blushed with a sense of pride. “Thought you could sneak up on me. Yeah, right. So where do I meet him? Do we have to go far?”

Phoenix smiled and replied, “Not far at all. If you would follow me to the entrance you shall be able to meet him in just a few seconds.”

Ember had to contain her internal squee. “What does he look like, I mean does he have any other distinguishing features, scars or something that he doesn’t like anydragon to look at? Just so I know what to expect.”

“Oh, I think you will know him when you see him, and no. He doesn’t have any kind of a deformation that would cause embarrassment .”

They continued to walk to the entrance. Once there, however, Phoenix dropped his bag on the floor and continued to walk out of the cave and a bit further away. Ember looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, right up to the point that she noticed that Phoenix’s shape had begun to distort and grow. Within the span of a few seconds, an enormous shape came into existence. She could hardly believe her eyes: the dragon that now looked down at her dwarfed her father in comparison. It was as if a living mountain was looking down at her.

Teeth the size of lesser dragons, scales darker than night, and his eyes contained a luminescence that was hard to describe.

After looking up at the massive dragon for just over a minute, the only thing that she was able to say was, “You jerk. You were Obsidian the entire time!?”

A booming laugh escaped the massive dragon as his form once again shifted down to his smaller Avatar. “Is that all you have to say? The friend and teacher that you have spent the last year writing to and meeting with turns out to be the dragon that you have been searching two years for and all you can say is, ‘You jerk?’ Hahaha!”

Ember looked at the now-black stallion and blushed. “How is it even possible for you to change form like that?”

“Magic, of course. Although to be honest, there are very few of our kind that still practices the art of gaining an Avatar form. More often than not, dragons that reach the size where an Avatar becomes useful will normally isolate themselves and live off the devotion of sycophants that worship them, rather than go through the pain of learning how to change their form for convenience. A major failing, if you ask me.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense. And now that answers the question about how there is a male alicorn, I guess.”

Obsidian laughed again, realising that over the past year the one topic that had never been broached between the two he decided it was time to bring it back up. “Oh yes, I guess I forgot to bring that up again. You had mentioned in our first meeting about the other alicorns in the world. I was under the impression that only one alicorn was in existence: Celestia.”

Ember smirked, happy that she now knew something that the massive jerk didn’t. “Well, yeah, Sun Butt is still around. Then there is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, and Cadence, the Empress of the Crystal Empire. Flurry Heart is Cadence’s daughter, and of course, Princess Luna has returned to continue her rule as the Princess of the Night.” Turning her head to look back at Obsidian, she was stunned that he had fallen to his knees and felt a deep sense of concern when she saw a drop hit the ground that betrayed the fact the he was crying.

“Hey, are you ok? Why are you crying?”

Obsidian tried to compose himself and looked back at her. “Please tell me that you jest not. Has Luna truly returned to our world? Please do not toy with me.”

Ember could hardly believe what she was seeing: the great Dragon Lord, Obsidian the Black, a member of the highest echelon of what dragons were capable of, now was kneeling before her weeping at the mere mention of somepony’s name. “Um...Yes, she came back a couple of years ago. Twilight and her friends saved her from the Darkness that had corrupted her and warped her into Nightmare Moon. Why?”

Obsidian let a strangled laugh escape his lips. “I am sorry, Ember, but I must be going. There is somepony that I made a promise to a long time ago that has been alone for far too long.”

Saying little else, Obsidian burst into the sky and shifted back to his massive form and shot through the air toward Equestria. Ember stood there in shock and could hardly believe what had just happened. Going by what she had just told him, she could only think of one being that he was off to see. “How could he not know that she had returned?”

Thousands of miles away, several hours later, Luna was sitting in her throne room sifting through the dreams of her citizens and trying to make sense of the recurring pattern that she had found. A massive black dragon, the size of which must have been a mental exaggeration on the part of her citizens, kept appearing in the dreams of her little ponies.

As she continued to sift through dreams, she could feel a tingle as something moving very fast was approaching her home and her little ponies here in Canterlot. She could feel the level of magic, and it began to scare her. And what unnerved her the most was that this immense magical signature almost seemed familiar.

Luna jumped as the door to the Night Court slammed open, and Celestia burst into the room. “Luna, don your armor. We need to leave now. I am sure that you feel what is coming. I will be joining you. If we hurry, we can intercept it before it makes it to the city.”

They both looked in the same direction when they felt the massive levels of magic stop about a mile outside of the city. They both released a pent-up breath and summoned their armor around themselves. Luna looked to her sister and commented, “Is is just me, or does that magic seem almost familiar?”

Celestia looked at her smaller sister and nodded. “It does, but I can’t place where I have felt it before. However, I can’t imagine that we have ever felt this much before.”

Having donned their respective armors, the two sisters shot out of the throne room and went straight to the source of the magic.

Obsidian had shifted back to his Avatar and now sat beside a campfire. What surrounded him were things that Luna had once given him. A brass telescope, a star map, and a few odds and ends. What sat next to him was the chair that Luna always had claimed whenever the two of them had sat together to gaze up at Luna’s wonderful sky.

His eyes scanned the horizon; he was partially shocked when he felt not one but two alicorns headed his way. “I guess it would be too much to hope for that I would get to be alone with her.”

He had just finished summoning the third chair when he felt the ground rumble as the two sisters landed. Standing with his back to the sisters, he quietly said, “Welcome to my camp. I had only expected one of you, however you are both welcome.” He turned around slowly, his eyes brimming with tears. “I am so sorry that I failed you, Luna. I let you fall into the darkness.”

The sisters stood there in shock as they looked at the stallion that neither of them had seen before, but who at the same time reminded them of someone they both once knew.

Luna spoke first. “You speak with such familiarity to us. How bold, I do not bel…” Her eyes looked around and took in what surrounded them, the Telescope, the star maps, the chairs and the tent. Rage began to fill her. “Vile monster. Where did you steal these things from?”

The venom in her voice could have caused a hydra to loosen its bowels.

Obsidian looked at her and laughed quietly “Why, my dear friend, you wound me. I would have hoped that you would be able to remember who you gave this all to. Has it really been so long that you forgotten me?” An edge of hurt crept it’s way into his voice. “Must I show you my full form before you will be able to remember who I am.” Tears began to fill his eyes just before he launched himself into the air. Neither sister was ready for what they saw-- the behemoth blocked the view of the sky with his size. “Now you see why I modeled the form you saw the way that I did; after all, it is much more comfortable to be that size.” Landing; he shifted back to his smaller form and motioned to the other two chairs as he asked, “Would you like to take a seat? If I remember right, you both enjoy Earl Grey. Cream and sugar for Celestia, and honey and lemon for Luna, right?”

The two looked at each other and nodded. Taking their respective seats, Luna sat in her old chair apprehensively and looked back at the black stallion as he prepared their tea. Gazing at him she took this opportunity to look into his eyes and and the spark of realization hit her like a brick wall. “...S..S..Sid?”

Obsidian stopped moving and took a short breath. He hadn't heard that name in over a thousand years. His shoulders shook as he began to weep. “I am sssso sssorry. I failed you. I let you slip into darkness, I fell asleep and when I awoke and found that you had been banished I hid myself away from the world. I didn’t care anymore. I abandoned the dragon lands and hid. I was such a coward.” Falling to his knees, the tea forgotten, he wrapped his arms around his chest and tried to calm his breathing.

Suddenly two familiar arms wrapped around him from behind and held him, whispering into his ear. “I can’t believe that you are still alive. Please don’t mar this occasion with your tears. Instead let us revel in joy.” Luna held the stallion that had once been her truest friend. Celestia held her hand over her mouth as she realized who this black stallion was.

“Where have you been? It has been more than a thousand years, relations with the dragons had been deteriorating, and you have just been. Hiding away?, doing nothing! You were one of our greatest allies! Where were you?” Celestia began to tear up as she walked forward to join the hug. “How could you do that to us. We needed you more than ever; besides you weren’t the only one that failed Luna. You were her friend, but I am her sister, and I just stood by and let her fall prey to the Darkness.” Celestia held the stallion and her sister together as they shared in their combined pain at the time wasted, as well as their relief at being reunited.

Standing up after getting over the initial shock of seeing one another again. Luna looked at Obsidian and finally made the connection that her sister had mentioned not moments ago. “Sid...Is what my sister said true? I know that you had gone into hibernation before my... Banishment. But after you had awakened to find me gone. Did you really turn your back on everything and disappear?”

Obsidian flinched at Luna’s words and nodded his head. “I am ashamed to admit it but, yes it is true. I couldn’t find it in my heart to continue on when you were gone.” Turning to Celestia “I know that you needed me but I was angry. I went into hibernation with the expectation that everything would be back to normal when I awoke. Instead I found an Equestria that was falling apart at the seams, You were alone and Luna had been banished to the Moon. To be honest I was furious at you for banishing Luna and most of all for not finding me and waking me up to try to help.” Turning back to Luna “But most of all I was disgusted with myself for not being there when you needed me. I was supposed to be your friend and I” His spiral into self pity was cut short with a curt slap across his face

“How could you! Even with me gone Celestia could have used your help. She was left alone without anypony in the world to help her, and what did you do? Sulk in a cave. What happened to the Champion of the Dragon lands. The fearless protector. The Greatest friend to Equestria. You hid away and pouted. She had to hold everything together for a thousand years!” Punctuating her final thought with another slap, Luna turned on her heals and flew back into the direction of Canterlot.

“Well, That could have gone better” Obsidian said to himself more than anyone else. Turning his head to look at Celestia he added “I guess you want to get your slaps in as well.”

Looking at the dejected stallion Celestia felt her heart begin to break “I am not going to hurt you any more that you have already hurt yourself. Luna is in a rather...fragile place right now. She finds herself in a time that she never had an opportunity to ease into. It was thrust upon her and now she is being forced to adapt. Look at things from her perspective. You are one of if not the only friend that she has from the old world other than myself, and shortly after finding one another again she discovers that you effectively told us to deal with it by ourselves because you were angry. Now do not take this the wrong way. I know that you are beating yourself up about this and I am still a bit mad at you for disappearing, but I also know that you care about her still. And from the looks of it you still care about Equestria as well. But to put it in laypony’s terms ‘you dun goofed up’.”

Obsidian looked at the White mare and sighed “I guess you are right. Gah! How could I have been so stupid.” Looking at her with pleading eyes “Please tell me is there any way that I could fix this? Anything that I could do?”

Celestia’s looked back at her old friend and replied “I do believe that there may be a way of fixing this. However It is not going to be easy.”

“Please tell me. I will do anything to be her friend again. I want to be able to spend time with both of you again. Please.”

“Alright but you are going to have to work for it” Celestia replied

“I am ready and willing, I want this more than anything”

Meanwhile back in her cave a very confused Ember was putting the finishing touches on the letter she planned to send to Obsidian asking where in the world that he had disappeared to.

Chapter 4