Light blue colored aura gripped the big floppy hat she wore and tilted it back so Rarity could look over her dark sunglasses at the tropical resort that awaited her with metaphorically open hooves. Just as the colorful brochure promised, there was indeed a marvelous view of blue sky, white beaches, and turquoise waters awaiting her. The unicorn in the Haywaiian shirt and lapel name tag waving at her from the end of the dock even looked a little like the model used in the brochure photos.
“Welcome!” The stallion bowed his head, tossing out his artfully ‘un-combed’ mane. “Now that you’re here on the Isle of Coral Corral, howzabout we get you all signed in, put a drink in your hooves and let the sea breeze put a smile on your face?”
Rarity let her hat fall back into place, switching her grip to the rolling luggage next to her. The sea breeze rustled the light transparent wrap hanging off her flank while dozens of other ponies drifted away from her down from the ship’s gangplank toward the waiting greeter and other Coral Corral resort staff. She smiled, her mouth already watering at the thought of that drink.
One cold—intensely alcoholic—fruit drink and almost an hour of ‘check-in’ later, Rarity’s smile was well and truly dead. She was still surrounded by a throng of other ponies, following yet another staff member, this time a peppy mare, as they were shown to their bungalows. Every since walking up the dock not a one of the resort staff had stopped prattling on and on about the amenities they offered. Volleyball courts, nature ziplines, and pools were all good and well, but she’d already read the marketing brochure on the long cruise from the Equestrian mainland. Right now she just wanted silence.
The group stopped again at the next branch of the little concrete path they were following and the guide finally closed her mouth long enough to check a small clipboard. “Miss Belle? This is Bungalow C1, the single you requested!” Rarity pulled herself away from the crowd, her smile bright and in place once more.
“Do you need one of our useful event schedules? We have hooficures with our trained spa ponies at—”
“No thank you, darling!” Rarity pulled out the dogeared trifold that had been her sole companion for weeks now. “I have one already! Please, get these...er...the rest of your guests to their own lovely bungalows. I have it in hoof from here, I assure you.”
Rarity turned quickly without looking back, her luggage rolling along behind her like a faithful pet as she trotted the short distance to the little building that was set back a little into the ever present tropical flora. The tour group continued on without her, barely skipping a beat, the guide’s chipper tone muffled by the ferns and palms. Once she was inside, Rarity slammed the door closed, turned the latch lock and wedged her suitcase against it for extra privacy.
Now that she was finally out from under the prying eyes of the resort staff, her true vacation could begin.
Twenty minutes later found the mare lifting one last hanging palm leaf out of her face to gaze out over a perfectly empty beach of white sand and azure waters. Rarity took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the sea and the sounds of the surf. This was what she’d really come halfway around the world for. For a beach all to herself. Silence away from other ponies. A little bit of peace from the machine of pony society. Now all she needed was a place to lounge.
Rarity eyed the palm leaf still in her aura, a smile playing across her lips.
“Where did she go?”
“She’s around here somewhere! I’m going to find her first and the rest of you can go home!”
“Not if I find her first, you sorry excuse for a lizard!”
“Take that back! I’m a dragon, not a lizard. I don’t do the tongue thing!”
“Maybe if you did, Ember wouldn’t have run off in the first place.”
“Ew...dude. Too far.”
Inside the cloudbank she was hiding in, Dragon Lord Ember rolled her eyes, clamping her claws around her maw to keep from revealing herself with a groan. Idiots. It’d take more than tongue tricks to claim this tail. She settled for huffing steam out her nostrils. I hate mating season.
“She’s got to be hiding! Let’s burn the clouds away, we’ll find her if there’s no cover.”
Ember gagged. A wave of fire from any one of the idiots chasing her would evaporate the entire cloudbank. Then she’d have to fly for it again. Or break her promise to herself and use the rod to command them to leave her alone. Ember grit her teeth, squeezing the rod of her command in one claw. She had little time and none of her options seemed like a good choice. Either she’d be eventually run down and forced to contribute to the draconic genepool. Or she’d have to use the rod’s power to break a cultural tradition just because it inconvenienced her. Like her father would have.
“Grrr...I am not my father.” Ember whispered to herself. Her eye went wide a second later when she heard several dragons around her take deep breathes. She had nowhere left to hide. Going higher wouldn’t help, any clouds that didn’t get hit with fire would be too thin to conceal her. The voices of the other dragons were all around her and would see her the moment the clouds vanished. That left her with only one way to go if she wanted to stay a step ahead of her pursuers.
Ember kicked hard against the cloud, pointing her snout straight down. White mist broke open, revealing the blue sea below, the cloud going up in a dragon-crafted inferno just as her tail slipped free. She spared the sky a single glance, smirking when she saw the other dragons looking up and into the fire than down at the water. If she was lucky, she could get some distance and her natural coloration would mask against the oceanic backdrop.
I’m still going to need to hide. I came out over the sea to escape chase, but I’ve clearly underestimated these morons. Ember held the rod close to her body and beat her wings to aid gravity in her descent. I’m no aquatic dragon, so hiding underwater is out of the question. Gonna need some place to wait until they move away.
The ocean reached out in every direction, just as big as the sky above. Ember cast a another furtive glance around as the water loomed closer. Just on the edge of her vision, she caught a hint of something dark and tinged green. With a determined grin, she flared her wings, pulling up just short of the white-top waves and rocketed off towards the island.
Rarity sighed contently, rolling onto her side to peek up over her sunglasses at the breathtaking sight of calm blue ocean waters lapping at the pristine white sand. It was the exact image that lept to her mind whenever she thought of beach and here she was, finally enjoying like it should be enjoyed. Celestia’s sun beat down, but the breeze coming off the sea and the shade from the basic lean-to she’d crafted out a few sticks of bamboo and palm fronds keep her cool. After the little shelter was completed, Rarity had snuck back to her “private” bungalow and stole back through the tropical jungle with a hoofful creature comforts.
The fluffy towel under her feel marvelous against her flank and shoulder, doing more to work out the stress than any massage the ponies of Coral Corral could muster. What she needed, more than anything the resort offered—except for the buffet—was what this beach gave her: sun, surf, salt and silen—
“Heads up!”
Rarity gasped, rolling narrowly out of the path of a blue-colored blur that swooped into her little slice of paradise and crashed into the sand behind her like a bomb. “Rainbow Daaaaassh...wait, how did you find me all the way out here? Twilight assured me she would handle any friendship issues that arose while I was on vacati…”
Rarity faded out when the interruption poked its scaly head out of the small crater next to her bottle of lotion and cooler of drinks. “You’re not Rainbow Dash. Wait…Princess Ember?”
“It’s ‘Dragon Lord’ Ember now, thank you very much.” Ember snapped her jaws for emphasis, but her eyes widened a moment later when she recognized the pony in front of her. “Oh...it’s you. Um...uh...I want to say, Seaweed Face? You were at the Gauntlet run with Spike and the pony princess, Twilight. Right?”
Rarity frowned, recalling the moment when Ember had discovered her and Twilight watching over Spike. “My name is Rarity, not ‘Seaweed Face.’ Glad to see I left such an impression on you.”
“Sorry, it was a busy day and a lot was going on.” Ember leaned out from under the lean-to carefully, her eyes on the sky as she spoke. “I almost died a few time, so you’ll have to forgive me if I missed a few minor details.”
Rarity rolled her eyes and stood up to brush sand out of her coat. “I will have to try a recall that you are not like Spikey Wikey at all and have no practice at basic levels of courtesy. I, however, know proper etiquette and when in the presence of royalty, the entirely too generous Rarity is always gracious.”
She bowed a moment later, turning to look upward into the sky. “What are you looking for?”
“There are a half dozen dragons chasing me.”
“Oh well, that’s...what? Why ever are they chasing you?” Rarity gasped again, her voice going whisper quiet. “It’s not a coup attempt is it? Are you seeking asylum?”
Ember ducked back under the cover of the lean-to’s fronds, hunkering down into the indention her landing created. “Asylum, yes. Coup, no. Look, I just need to stay out of sight. If they don’t find me, they’ll move on and I can get back to my life.”
“Well...it still sounds serious.” Rarity stood there, waiting for Ember to expand on what was causing the distress. When it became clear that no such explanation was forthcoming, Rarity trotted back over to the lean-to, her horn lighting up to push sand back into the hole and smooth her beach towel back out.
“H-hey! What are you doing?” Ember danced from foot to foot to keep the sand from covering her up to the knees. “I thought you said you were gracious to royalty?”
“To those that show that royal nature in their own grace and intellect, yes.” Rarity sniffed haughtily, her magic bulldozing more sand back into place despite the dragon taking up some of that space. “To ruffins that merely wear the title and expect others to bow to their whims, no. I was here first. I built this shelter and I would much like my quiet afternoon back, thank you very much. If you need some place to hide, I’m sure there must be a suitable cave somewhere nearby.”
“I can’t hide in a cave!” Ember clenched her claws, dragging her feet out of the sand Rarity was covering them with. “It’ll be the first place they’ll look! I’m sorry, okay? This isn’t what I wanted either, but I’d rather not have to give myself up to these guys to be hauled back to the kingdom in time for…” She clamped her muzzle shut, biting back her admission. “I just need a place to lay low. I’ll curl up in the back, you can even throw a towel over me until I’m sure the other dragons have moved on.”
“How can you be sure they won’t just ransack the lean-to or come back here later?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, magically shoving the last of the beach back into shape.
Ember shrugged. “You were there for that whole thing with my dad and the rod of control.” She gestured at the gem-topped scepter gripped loosely in her tail. “Most dragons aren’t that quick on the pick up. If they don’t see me, they’ll move on and leave you alone so that they can check elsewhere. They’re on a time limit here, so harassing or questioning a pony wouldn’t really win them anything.”
Rarity lifted her other eyebrow, staring at Ember for a moment in silence. After a moment, her expression softened a little. “Alright, but I expect some sort of an explanation, Your Majesty.”
“Fine.” Ember growled the word out and pulled herself as far back into the small shelter as she could, sitting on the rod and curling her wings and tail around her legs.
Once the Dragon Lord was settled, Rarity re-spread her beach towel out on the sand and took a seat on it. While the lean-to wasn’t large by any means, they managed to share the shade it provided without quite touching. Barely. Rarity relaxed again, letting herself unwind and grabbing the book she’d brought but hadn’t read a word of so far. She opened it to a random page near the middle, pretending to read while she again waited for Ember to fill her in on what was going on.
A minute later, she flipped the page. Then again a minute after that. Rarity turned the page once more, fighting the frustration away from her face when she turned and looked at Ember. The small dragon sat there much the same as Opalescence used to do around Carousel Boutique in her svelter days, and just as talkative. Rarity rolled her eyes tiredly. “Well?”
“‘Well’, what?”
“You know what I mean.” Rarity sighed, hoofing herself in the face. “What is all the fuss for?”
Ember frowned, her shoulders falling into a sulky hunch. “Dragon stuff. You ponies wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh don’t try that with me, Your Majesty!” Rarity fumed, slamming her book closed. “I can understand quite well. I am an educated mare and more than a little savvy with how the world works outside Equestria’s borders. I keep the regular company of princesses and alicorns, and dragons!”
Ember’s lip curled into a snarl as she eyed this pony up and down. “I don’t really feel like telling a non-dragon this...but you are sort of helping me out. So I guess it would be the friendly thing to do.”
“Of course it is.”
“Sorry! Friendship is still kind of a new topic with us! Most of the other dragons I’ve tried to explain it to have just laughed in my face. I barely understand it myself.” Ember sighed, hugging her wings tighter around her frame. “I’ll tell you, but no one else can know, got that? Especially not Spike!”
Rarity leaned back, surprise washing away her frustration with the young Dragon Lord. She could hear embarrassment clearly in Ember’s tone and she wondered if she hadn’t overstepped some boundary by demanding answers. She’d assumed the concern to be with the rod in Ember’s possession, that this was some sort of draconic power struggle or internal politics sort of thing. The way Ember spoke now and the color flooding those blue scales told her otherwise. Before she could renege on her demand, however, Ember seemed to find some courage within herself and continued.
“I’m an adult now, and that means I have to participate in our breeding traditions. I don’t want to, and there is a loophole that allows me to avoid it, but it means I have to remain hidden from all the male dragons until time runs out or if I pick a mate myself.” Ember hung her head tiredly. “I came out over the middle of the ocean hoping to stay away while the other adults...did...that. But thanks to last time this happened there was a bunch of new hatchlings that are now the same age as me and there was a disproportionate amount of male dragons in that clutch! Which means there are enough of them to come all the way out here to chase me!”
“Oh...well...my stars…” Rarity swallowed and then cleared her throat. “A half...dozen...you said?”
“Yes!”
Rarity nodded, her eyes turning up to watch the skies for movement that wasn’t a passing gull. “That sounds...er, forgive me, Princess Ember, but that sounds simply barbaric. I wasn’t aware that dragons experienced an...is ‘estrus’ the correct term?”
Ember recoiled, shock plain on her face. “What? No! Dragons might be more brawn than brains most of the time, but we aren’t that primitive! We come together once every twenty years to breed by edict of the Dragon Lord, not some some of heat instinct.” She stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Believe me, if I didn’t have to do it, I wouldn’t bother. But it’s a tradition my father started, so it’s not like I can just tell them to stop because I don’t like it.”
Rarity nodded absently, processing what Ember had just said. She looked up again for a moment and then back at the rod that stuck out from under the current Dragon Lord. From what she had seen in the Dragon Lands, it had the power to force all dragons to obey the commands of whoever wielded it. Ember followed her gaze, frowning. Rarity whispered quietly. “But you could...couldn’t you?”
Ember bobbed her head slowly. “I’m not my dad, though. I made a promise to myself and to Spike that I’d be a better Dragon Lord than Torch. Which means I can’t just force everyone to do what I want whenever I want. No matter how tempting that might be.”
“I think that makes you a better leader by itself.” Rarity puffed out her cheeks, breathing out through her muzzle. “Such power would test me...I don’t know if I could resist that for very long without help.”
Ember chuckled, a smile growing on her lips. “There are days…” She shook her head, sighing. “I’m not going to break the tradition. It’s good for my people. There are more dragons now than ever before because my dad told everyone they had to stop being antisocial and go out and find a mate. He was at least smart enough to make it once every twenty years so it didn’t hit the population too hard. If he hadn’t started it, there’s a good chance I never would have been hatched myself...so there’s that baggage. And since his exact words were ‘every adult male has to find a female, but females already with a mate are off limits,’ then if I can avoid being found for the next week, I’m off the hook for breeding.”
“You said you didn’t want to participate? But you are an adult now...so?” Rarity’s eyebrow shot back up. “I really shouldn’t pry, but my curiosity is well and truly piqued now.”
Ember curled herself into a tighter ball, the color in her cheeks turning a darker shade of purple while she stared at her toes gripping the sand. “It’s...it’s not that I don’t have an interest in that...stuff at all. I just don’t have an interest in—!” Ember let out a muffled squawk when Rarity’s large tail suddenly came around and pushed her flat against the beach and leaving her face-to-cutie-mark with the pony.
Before she could even open her mouth to say anything, she heard the snapping noise of several pairs of leathery wings followed by the resounding thuds of large bodies hitting the ground. She raised her head slightly to peek out through the curly strands of tail hair while Rarity reclined backward to block more of her from view. Just outside the small lean-to, all six of her pursuers were squinting at them in the sunlight coming off the white sands.
“Hey, pony! Have you seen a small blue dragon around here? Wait...you! I know this pony!”
Rarity sighed tiredly above her and waved a hoof dismissively. “Hello, Garble. Still out to bully those smaller than yourself, I see.”
“I’m not bullying Dragon Lord Ember!” Garbel stomped closer, kicking up sand as he came. “I just...er...need to talk to her ‘bout something.” He smiled proudly, flashing those ridiculously oversized teeth of his. Ember shuddered at the sight. The idiot really thinks Rarity will believe that?
“Oh? Is that all?” Rarity clapped her hooves together, a bright smile on her face.
Crap! She fell for it? Ember gapped. Garbel’s carnivore grin grew wider.
“Why, in that case, I have seen a blue dragon that looked a great deal like Princess Ember!”
Crap, crap, crap! I’m going to get caught here and have to do...that...with Garbel of all dragons? Ember grit her teeth. She’d been stupid to trust the pony. To try and be friendly with Rarity. She’d been weak and now she was going to pay for it. Rarity is going to pay for it once I can fly straight again!
“Where is she?” Garbel leaned down close to Rarity, the smoky breath from his nostrils strong enough to flutter her mane. “I need to...er...talk to her right now. Tell me!”
Rarity’s smile faltered a bit and she put her hoof over her nose and mouth before she spoke again. “Oh she flew past here a little while ago.” She pointed off toward the horizon with her other hoof. “She was going that way. I believe she said something about finding an island where she could be alone? Does that help?”
Ember gapped again, her eyebrows lifting in surprise. Garbel turned and looked the way Rarity was pointing, spreading his wings and taking off without another word. The other dragons whooped and followed suit, launching themselves into the air with a blast of wingbeats.
They were little more than specks in the distance a moment later when Rarity murmured out the corner of her mouth. “I see what you meant about slow on the pick up. I can understand why you don’t want to participate in this tradition if that’s the caliber of mate choices you have.”
Rarity waited for a minute more and then shifted to let Ember sit back up. She flashed an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that! I noticed them out of the corner of my eye and I just improv'ed the rest. I do hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable under my tail?”
“No. It was...it was okay.” Ember swallowed, scratching the back of her neck with a claw. “For a moment there I thought...uh...I mean...thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Come now, do you think I’d just turn you over to the hands of those brutes?” Rarity smiled again and put her hoof gently on Ember’s slim shoulder. “That wouldn’t have been the friendly thing to do.”
“They’ll be back, eventually.”
“I have a private bungalow at the resort here on the island. You can hide there. I know what our dear Garbel thinks of pony things. He won’t even think to look there.”
“But I’ll have to stay hidden for a few days until the time period runs out.” Ember dropped her eyes. They were starting to sting.
“Then it is a good thing my vacation lasts throughout the week.” Rarity giggled. “I wasn’t planning on having a roommate though, so there is only one bed. I hope that won’t be a problem.”
“You’ve already sat on me once, I doubt laying on me is going to be much different.” Ember smirked, blinking away unshed tears and giggling quietly. “Looks like being friends paid off for me again, huh?”
“That’s how it goes in my experience.” Rarity sighed and lit her horn, opening her small cooler and drawing out a cold bottle. “But my temporary hide-away is your temporary hide-away. We can drink and eat and complain about ponies and dragons that annoy us. I can’t think of a more friendly thing to do in this situation. Can you?”
Ember shook her head, her own smile growing. “No, but then again, you’re the more experienced friend than me.”
“It just takes practice.” Rarity popped the top off her drink and tipped the bottle back to take a long sip.
Ember nodded, fidgeting in place, her eyes bouncing back and forth from Rarity and the beach. Something told her, if she was ever going to get better at dealing with ponies, it would be a good thing to learn from a master how to properly friend. While she was still new to the whole concept though, she felt that she owed Rarity a bit more for her continued aid than the interrupted explanation she’d offered.
“Uh...so...where I left off earlier…”
“You don’t have to go into further detail. I told you that I understood your reticence with mates that guy to choose from.”
“That’s not the whole of it.” Ember sighed, trying to relax in the tight confines of the lean-to. “I mean, yeah, I don’t like Garbel all that much, but he’s not the reason I don’t want to be a part of it. Well, he’s part of the reason...but it’s more that I don’t like...males.”
Rarity sipped from her bottle again, absorbing what Ember was telling her in quiet contemplation. She licked her lips when she set it aside, letting the burn in her throat die down before speaking. “Just dragon males...or males in general? I’m not judging or anything like that. It’s fairly common among ponies after all.”
“In general.” Ember sighed tiredly. “Of course no dragons believe me when I tell them, so I still get chased by the guys. I’ll get to look forward to this again in another twenty years too.”
“You mentioned that females with mates already are off the hook, so to speak? Why not find a girlfriend in that time?” Rarity shrugged, scootching over a bit to give Ember space to stretch out.
“I’ve looked!” Ember threw her claws up. “I thought maybe Ballista, but now I don’t know…”
“Who’s that?”
“She was at the gauntlet run.” Ember moved her claws around, pantomiming as she spoke. “Pink scales, long tail, really curvy horns?”
“Oh.” Rarity blinked. “She sounds cute.”
“She is, but I can never tell how she feels about me.”
Rarity patted Ember on the shoulder. “Just ask her next time you get the chance. Who knows, maybe she’s just embarrassed to talk to the powerful Dragon Lord. Take it from somepony that has been the target of many a ponies and a dragon’s crushes, just opening up to that pony...er...dragon...can be incredibly difficult.”
“You think so?” Ember uncoiled her tail from around her legs and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. “Wait...a dragon’s crush? You mean Spike?”
Rarity nodded again, taking another sip of her drink.
“Whoa...so does that mean you like dragons...in that way?”
Rarity fixed Ember with a stare and picked up her sunglasses from where they’d fallen when the princess had first arrived. “I certainly could. Though not the boys.”
Color flooded Ember’s cheeks and she looked away from Rarity’s stare. “Uh...yeah. So...um...I don’t know if I’ll be able to find a mate before the next time. I’ve never even kissed another dragon.”
“What about kissing something other than a dragon?”
“Not that either.”
“Want to try it?”
Ember snapped her head up and looked at Rarity. The pony smiled at her, eyes hidden behind dark shades, and tossed her long mane to the side. “A-are you joking?”
“Mostly.” Rarity took a quick swig of her beer and set it aside before stretching out on her towel. “Since we’re going to be spending time together this week, consider the offer open. But fair warning, Princess, I bite.”
Ember swallowed again. Hard. She could feel her cheeks burning as hot os the sand did between her toes. This was certainly going to be an interesting week in the tropics.
