Secrets in Equestria

The further Ember and Spike got from the dragon lands, the cooler the air became. For Spike, it was normal but Ember struggled a bit. Her body wasn’t used to the cold air outside the Dragon Lands. “How are you not getting cold?” Ember started to shiver while Spike wasn’t.

“I’m used to it, remember I grew up outside the Dragon lands. Nighttime is worse anyway, just be glad you aren’t in the snow right now.” If Spike had been looking at Ember, he would have seen her head cock.

“What’s snow?” Ember asked having never left the dragon lands.

“Let’s say it’s much colder than this. Now I have a few questions for you? You understand the dragon rules enough to make sense of them. I don’t understand any of it. Who came up with these rules?”

“I have no idea, they have been around longer than my fathers granddragons. Honestly, I do understand them but I don’t really understand them. I know the rules but they make no sense.” Ember stopped and hovered followed by Spike. “It’s like I know a lot but nothing all at the same time. I want away from that life. If I know anything at all, it’s that I have no freedom to be me or choose my own way.” Ember stopped and went wide eyed. “What did you do to me? I’m sharing my feelings and I don’t like it.”

Spike chuckled and smiled. “Do you, do you really dislike it?” Ember opened her mouth to respond but only let out a sigh. “It is unusual for you to be able to share your thoughts isn’t it?” Ember nodded. “It’s scary for you.” Ember nodded again. “Relish in it Ember, let your feelings fly and forget the past for just a night at least.”

Ember bit her lip and then wrapped her arms around Spike and squeezed him tight. “Thank you Spike.”

“No pro…ow!” Spike reached down and pulled a dart out of his exposed area. “How diiid a daaart get th-through myyy scaaales.” Spike closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

“Spike!” Ember yelled grabbing onto Spike to keep him from falling. Ember turned around and saw Garble. “You!” Ember yelled as a dart hit the spot where she was missing a scale. “You little sooon ooof aaaaa” Ember’s eyes closed and fell with Spike still in her arms.

When Spike woke up, Ember was across from him blurry. He tried to stand but found he couldn’t move. He looked down with hazy eyes, everything was out of focus. He shook his head but the haze wouldn’t leave. He continued to try and stand but to no avail. In the distance he could see a blurry light. “Where am I?”

“Sparkle Warkle.”

“Garble!” Spike jerked trying to escape but it was still useless. “Where am I, where is Ember?”

“She is fine and from the looks of it, she is just waking up. Now she’ll get to see what kind of freak you’ll really be when I’m done with you. Let’s let everything come into focus first.” Garble whistled and some other dragons began dragging Ember away. Her shadow appeared on the wall and disappeared shortly after she did. Garble then grabbed Spike and pulled him away and outside the cave. “Ember, babe, can you see clearly?”

“Don’t you call her that Garble.” Garble scratched Spike across the face. A long mark that would most certainly be a scar adorned his face across his eye.

“Do you really think you can just come in and take my mate away from me?”

Ember may not have been able to see clearly but she could hear. “I’m not your mate, screw you Garble. When my father hears about what you did, he’ll.” Ember stopped when she felt Garble over her and saw his blurry frame. Her breathing became stagnant and her heart raced.

“That’s what I thought my dear. Once I’m done with Spike, you will be mine.” Garble turned back to Spike.

“You know that’s not how it works. I’m his life mate and beating him won’t prove anything. You can’t have me now!” Ember tried to free herself but couldn’t. “Dragon proof chains, how did you get those?”

“The council has my back.” Garble grabbed onto Spikes hand. “Do you see this Ember?”

Ember hesitated. “N-no.” Ember said hoping Garble wouldn’t do anything as long as he believed she couldn’t see.

“Ok then, how about this?” Garble said and headbutt Spike. Ember immediately screamed. “That’s what I thought. Make sure she watches this boys.” Garble grabbed onto Spikes ring claw, bit down and ripped off his claw. Ember screamed for Garble to stop but he wasn’t listening. Spike howled in pain and threw his head forward and headbutt Garble. Garble grabbed Spike and threw him to the ground. “It’s going to be fun killing you slowly.” Garble walked over to Spike and picked him up. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

“Perhaps but you do know the strength of dragon proof chains right?”

“Of course I do you fool. A dragon can’t break through them or burn through them.”

“That’s all I really needed to know.” Spike wiggled his hand with the missing claw and freed it thanks to the blood making the chains slippery. “You are incredibly stupid.” Spike grabbed onto Garbles neck. Garble laughed at Spikes weak grip.

“What do you think you can do with one hand?” Garble laughed with his buddies laughing with him.

“Nothing, it just makes kicking you easier.” Spike lifted his still chained up legs and placed his feet on Garbles chest. A moment later and Garble was laying ten feet away from Spike. Spike then undid the chains and smiled. A dart flew in his direction but Spike dodged it. “You see Garble, all I needed to know was what the chains did. Once I knew that, I knew what they couldn’t do. Also, thanks to you biting off my claw, I was able to slip out of the chains without an issue. It’s sad when the only thing keeping me from escaping was my claw. I just couldn’t quite get my palm out from the chains seeing how my arms were chained up too. Thanks to you I was able to get my hand free and everything else fell into place.”

“Get him!” Garble stood and ran toward Spike who ran off away from Garble and his goons.

Once Spike was far enough away from Ember, he turned and flew right past Garble as fast as he could. He reached Ember and picked her up. It was difficult to hold Ember with the loss of blood in his one arm. “Get ready to fly Ember.” She gave Spike a hard nod as Spike worked on freeing Ember as he flew. Freeing Ember also proved somewhat difficult, however it didn’t take long before Ember was free. Spike looked behind him and saw Garble on his tail. Spike smiled, turned, and threw Ember as hard as he could toward Garble.

Garble was caught by surprise and failed to block Embers attack. Ember grabbed onto Garble and threw him straight toward the ground. Garbles buddies stopped the pursuit and went to help Garble who was once again, unconscious thanks to the few darts left on the ground that he landed on. The two dragons picked up Garble and flew away.

Spike and Ember landed and relaxed. “Spike, I’ll take care of your claw.” Ember said seeing the blood still dripping from his hand. Spike shook his head and blew fire on his bleeding claw. “Spike, I could have done that, we’re mates, it’s my job to take care of your wounds.” Ember wasn’t sure if she should be angry, confused, or happy and Spike noticed from her tone of voice.

Spike finished cauterizing his severed claw and smiled. “Ember, if I were like the other dragons, I would agree but I’m not. You are not my slave and I won’t allow you to treat yourself as one. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against you helping me but I also don’t want you to stay in the habit of serving males just because you think you’re supposed to. We’re mates because you wanted freedom. The only thing I ask of you is to come back with me away from the Dragon lands and then after that, leave. I want you to go and explore the world and do things you want to do. No service to any dragon or creature. I became your mate to free you. Once you do what you want to do, I want to hear everything. I want to see how much you grow from the freedom you deserve to have. We may not love each other but I do care about you. Can you do that for me?”

Ember didn’t bother to hide her emotions, she let the tears flow. “Thank you Spike, but I really don’t know what’s wrong with me. I keep revealing my feelings to you.”

“I bet you do that, because you know you can.” The two hugged tightly. Once they separated, Spike looked around and found his severed claw. He picked it up, pulled off the ring and slipped it onto his other ring claw. “Twilight’s going to kill me for this.” Spike and Ember shared a laugh and then took off toward Canterlot for the second time.