The Time

"Like, that's so awesome." chuckled Tree Hugger, who lounged around on Fluttershy's couch after hearing the new that her friend was going to be married. "I am like, so jealous, we should celebrate like old times Shy." she offered.

Fluttershy was busy feeding the animals. "Tree, you know I can't anymore, you know how much hates it when I do that stuff." she explained. "Especially after you gave him your 'special' brownies."

"Oh right, that's a wild a crazy night." the green mare with dreadlocks just chuckled at that night three months ago.

Adam suddenly barged into the house. "Fluttershy! We need to talk!" he urged as he ran into the living room.

"What's wrong?" asked a concerned pegasus, who looked at the human to see worry on his face. "You okay?"

The human was about to speak, but then saw Tree Hugger on the couch. "Do you mind? I need to talk with Shy alone right now." he never did like that mare, especially after the brownie incident.

"Whatever dude." she shrugged as she left and did as told.

Adam turned to Fluttershy with a serious look on his face. The pegasus knows that something is wrong, but is afraid to know what it is.

Starlight Glimmer nonchalantly entered Twilight's room. She looked around to see Twilight on her bed as she cried and screamed into her pillow. Starlight rolled her eyes, as she made her way up to the crying mare. "You thought that was going to turn out any better?" Starlight began.

"Just leave me alone, I'm in no mood." said Twilight, muffled by the fact she had her face buried into her pillow. "Go and do whatever you do on your free time, friendship classes are dismissed for the rest of the day."

The pink mare just shrugged. "Fine by me, might as well go out and see what this dinky little town has to offer." she began to trot away without a care.

"Wait..." began Twilight who reached out to Starlight. The other mare stopped in her tracks and turned around. "...have you ever been in love?" she asked.

"Once, but that was a long time ago." Starlight answered. "Besides, I gave up on love a long time ago once I found out that you don't need love to get a stallion whenever you want." she explained. "Have you?" she began. Twilight opened her mouth to answer but was swiftly silenced by a hoof in her mouth "No wait, don't answer that, it's only been Adam, and he was your first and only time so far, am I right?" Twilight just nodded in agreement. "And are you desperate to be with him again?" she asked again. Twilight once again nodded. "Then I'll make a deal with you." Starlight offered. "You teach me about friendship, and I'll teach you how to win him back." she let her hoof go so Twilight can speak.

"How can I know you'll hold up your end of the bargain?" Twilight asked suspiciously.

"Trust me, by the end of the month, you'll be so amazing with the opposite sex, that Adam will be jealous and come crawling back to you, guaranteed." she assured.

The unicorn was still unsure, she had trouble trusting the formal criminal, but she was at least willing to hear her out, anything to finally have the human in her embrace where he belongs as destiny foretold. Rage began to build inside her, those words that Adam told her a year ago wanting to remain only friends after an amazing night with him echoed in his mind, words that drove her mad. What does Fluttershy have that she doesn't have? She should be the one with Adam, not her! Twilight turned and glared at Starlight, she finally knew what she had to do. "Guaranteed?" she said.

Starlight just gave her a confident smirk. "Guaranteed."

That word pleased Twilight greatly, finally, somepony that told her what she wanted to hear. Destiny brought her to the human, and she is sure as Tartarus not going to make destiny a liar. She lived and died countless times with him in alternate realities, she is perfectly entitled to him in this one. "What's the first step then?"

Starlight happily analyzed Twilight's features. They were what in her opinion, not good, the mane and tail was too angled, too organized, obvious sign of an egghead, her body was scrawny and showed a severe lack of athletic ability, something that's common among bookworms and unicorns who rely too much on magic to do this for them, face utterly devoid of make-up, in fact, it looked like make-up was never applied at all, and her fur did not look smooth and shiny, this was going to be much work. "Obviously, a major make-over, that 'plain Jane' thing you're sporting will not turns any stallion's heads that for sure." she critiqued.

The unicorn tried her best not to take offense to what she was being told. "Anything else?"

"Yes, dumb yourself down, because most stallions are actually threatened by a mare smarter than them." she pointed out, Starlight was actually enjoying this.

"Anything else?" said a deadpan Twilight, now just getting annoyed.

"Yeah," Starlight pointed out. "gain some weight, no stallion likes a scrawny little mare like you, especially when they lack the all too important 'bounce' in the rump." she smirked.

"Dooley noted." she responded in a deadpan manner.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Fluttershy, trying to absorb the news that Starlight has returned for rehabilitation. Adam paced the living room unsure.

"Just go along with it and keep a close eye on her." Adam sighed with defeat. "Wait and see how this whole rehabilitation thing works out for her." he explained.

The pegasus floated over to Adam and wrapped her forelegs around the human from behind to comfort him. "I can still remember what she made you do." she confessed. "And sometimes I wish I can take my revenge on her, but that is not the way."

"Vengeance will do nothing." Adam muttered to himself. He gently got Fluttershy to break her embrace. "I'll be going home, need some time alone to process this." he told the floating pegasus, eye level with him. "I love you Shy." he said before kissing her.

"I love you too." she responded after the kiss.

Adam made his way out of the cottage as the mare looked on with worry. She truly hoped he will be okay.

Adam arrived at his home, still in shock from the earlier news. He closed the front door behind him and walked in to the living room only to see an unexpected sight; Ember the dragon lounging on the couch reading one of the coffee table books. The human was stunned, not only from the surprise visitation, but from the visitor herself. His eyes automatically scanned every inch of the dragon's body, her alluring curves captivating him, the most feminine figure he has seen in years.

The dragon looked up at the human and placed the book away. She stood up and walked up to him. "I guess you know why I am here." she began with seriousness.

"The scepter is in the coat closet, let me get it." he walked over to the entrance way and opened the closet near the door. Ember followed him there. "Do you know how it managed to get here?" he opened the door and showed the Dragon Lord the scepter that was leaned up against the wall.

"Well, I guess it just wanted to play hide-or-seek." she said in a snarky tone, she would rather not let Adam know the truth, it will be too much for the human to handle.

Adam chuckled a little in response as he reached over and picked the scepter up. As soon as he touched it, a strange force coursed through his body, his eyes turned red. Whatever this force was, made Adam feel stronger and more in control. It felt good. He turned over to the dragon and began to run his eyes all over her, she was perfect in every way. He smirked and hungrily licked his lips.

Ember saw that and looked at the human suspiciously. "Adam?" the human only began to walk over to her, scepter in hand. The dragon stepped back in response until she was up against a wall. Adam suddenly placed a hand on her chest, Ember tried to push away by wildly flapping her wings, but found herself trapped, a firm weight pushing against her. She did not remember the human being this strong before. "Adam? What are you doing?" she asked with panic in her voice.

The human placed his face close to hers, making her stare into his now red eyes. "Isn't this how all your fantasies start?" Adam hissed. "I know you Ember, I know all your strengths, weaknesses, dreams and fantasies." he smirked evilly.

The dragon quickly realized that the scepter is feeding everything it knew about herself to Adam as he spoke. She flapped her wings to get free, but to no avail. "Oh really?" she bluffed, hiding her intimidation with bluster. "Then tell me, what is my biggest fantasy." she said with defiance.

"Why don't we find out together." said Adam before swiftly headbutting her.

Ember suddenly found herself in a desolate desert in the middle of the night, the only thing lighting the area was burning bushes. In the middle of the loose ring of burning shrubs, was herself, face down on the sand, her body on its side, arms locked behind her back, moaning loudly. "Oh Lord, show me why I'm your favorite in the hoard" she moaned loudly. Ember looked further down at herself to see a nude Adam himself, pounding into her opening like an animal. A smile of utter satisfaction showed in his face.

"You know how to please your Dragon Lord my dear Ember, so blessed to have you as my favorite mate." he responded with a smirk.

Ember suddenly found herself back in reality, back in the human's house, staring face-to-face to him with a blush of embarrassment. Adam just chuckled. "Let me guess, that was your fantasy for the last year?"

She looked away in humiliation, her secret fantasy now known to the one she was always attracted to. "Yes, I admit it, something about you just makes me go wild, I don't know why, but I didn't care, I wanted you damn it!" she admitted. "But not like this." she said with worry. "Not when you're under the scepters spell."

Adam just stepped back, letting the dragon go. He then dropped the scepter to the floor, and stood before her, his turned back to its normal brown. He then gently placed a finger under her chin. "You know, I always did regretted turning you down." he admitted with embarrassment. He then dove in and kissed her deeply. The dragon was at first stunned, but quickly and happily went along with it. He pushed her against the wall, as she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms on his shoulder, the happily made out.

Ember moaned as the human ran his hands down her sides, and then suddenly gasped when he suddenly nibbled her neck. "Oh, Adam..." she moaned. She held him tight, savoring every moment, but she yearned for more, but as if he read her mind, the human carried her over to the living room couch, hands firmly on her butt. She hissed eagerly. The human gently sat her down on the couch and was about to join her when she stopped him. "Let me do the work." she winked as she made him stand before her, she then expertly unbuckled his pants and pulled them down and long with his underwear to reveal his already stiff erection. She licked her lips, although it was only one instead of the two she's used to seeing, it still looked amazing. She was about to dive her mouth on it to savor it when she was suddenly and quickly pulled into a choke hold by the human.

Adam held her tightly, slowly putting the dragon into an unexpected sleep. "You think I was going to offer myself that easily? You know the rules Lord." he hissed into her ear. "You have to earn the right to suck the Dragon Lord's cock in battle first, and not before." he chuckled. "But I'm sure you'll do well in the mating tournament." Ember tried to struggle free but grew increasingly weaker until her vision faded away to black and her body finally went limp. The human gently lay her on the couch and pulled up his pants. "Hopefully she wins." he said to himself as he straightened himself up and walked over to the scepter. He swiftly broke the gemstone off of its handle with his new found strength and placed it in his hands. "Now to gather all available and eligible females for the tournament." the stone began to glow brightly in his hands. He looked over and saw Ember's tail glow brightly, showing him that the signal has been sent.

With another smirk, the human walked outside and with one big leap, flew into the sky a breakneck speed. The stone giving him the ability to do so.

At Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac walked out of the barn with his trusty plow, ready to work the fields for the harvest in a few months. He proudly surveyed the so far empty field, this was where the next generation of apple trees will be planted, he could just picture it now in his mind. "Eeyup." he said, satisfied from the sight before him.

As he looked around his surroundings, he saw a familiar face walk up to him, carrying a baby in her saddle bag, a face he has not seen often in a while now; Rainbow Dash. "Hey Mac." she began, slightly nervous.

"Howdy there Dash." the stallion greeted politely. "What brings ya out here on this here fine mornin'?" he asked. He looked over at the young infant colt, who giggled and smiled at him, his wings wrapped tightly with rope, for what he assumed was too keep him from flying away from Dash. "Your younglin' is lookin' mighty strong an' healthy, ah'm sure he'll be trippin' all over the mares all over his hooves." he joked.

Dash could not help but to chuckled a little, Mac may be the quiet type, but he can display a sharp wit when the situation calls. But she quickly focused herself on the task at hand. "Well, I just came here to see how you are doing is all, been a while and all." she said. They have not really talked much since she broke Mac the news that she was pregnant months ago, yet he still has no idea about the truth.

"Well, ah'm doin' fine, kind of stopped my philandering ways since ah found a new special somepony to call my own." he explained as he began to strap himself in to the plow.

"Yeah, I heard you're dating the local baker now." Dash said sheepishly, more like, saw rather than heard.

"Don't get me wrong Dash, bein' with ya was amazing, but there comes a time in a stallion's life where they need somethin' more than just a quick roll in the hay, or in our case, multiple rolls in the hay." he chuckled to himself at durable Dash was. He then looked over at the foal, who looked blissfully unaware of their conversation, instead distracted by a butterfly that floated by them. "Figured out who his father is yet?" he asked.

The cyan mare really wanted to confess to the stallion the truth, that he was the father of the foal, but after what Mac told her, she did not have the heart to do so. Dash, despite her brash and confident exterior, is inwardly a coward with low self-esteem issues. She gave a loud sigh of sadness. "Like I said before, all I remember was meeting him at a bar, everything else is just a blur." she lied. Instead of telling him the truth, Dash just told him that she met some guy at a bar and had a drunken one-night stand.

"Well, if ya ever needed help babysittin', ah'd be more than willin' to help, shucks, ah remember when ah had to raise baby Apple Bloom myself, and she was kind of a hooffull at times." he chuckled from the memories of helping raise his youngest sister.

"I'll keep that mind." nodded Dash, at least somewhat grateful that he was willing to help her out when asked. "By the way, where's Applejack?" she asked him. Dash has not really spoken to Applejack as often as before, mostly out of shame for lying about her son's parentage, and jealously for catching the eye of a stallion that she always had a crush on; Soarin.

Applejack lightly and randomly strummed on her guitar, leaned up against an apple tree. On the nearby picnic blanket, Soarin laid back to look at the clouds. They both enjoyed the simple quietness and tranquility together, a much needed break from their busy lives. She looked over to the Wonderbolt, she still had doubts about why a famous pegasus like him would ever love a simple plain old country mare like her, add on the fact that they could barely see each other often because of their occupations, made her feel even more at ease. "Why me?" she asked to herself, she saw the stallion's ears perk up, she unintentionally said that out loud.

"What are you talking about Applejack?" asked Soarin with a look of concern.

The mare knew it was time to come clean about her thoughts, she put down her guitar and trotted over to the picnic basket, she sat down next to the lounging pegasus stallion. "When we met back during the family reunion last year, what did ya see in me that made ya want to pick me as yer special somepony?" she asked with concern.

"Why do you ask?" was all the stallion responded with.

"Soarin, look at me," she began. "there's plenty of much more beautiful and richer mares out there, but yet ya pick this here plain country mare whose family barely makes ends meet." she ranted. "Ya could've been datin' this runway model or a celebrity, but yet ya settled for me." she explained with worry. "Why?"

"Applejack, I did not settle for you." he began, looking up into her green eyes. "I CHOSE you, because you are the most genuine, honest, kind and friendly mare I have ever met." he explained. "You were one of the first in a long time to actually treat me as a regular pony and not as a Wonderbolt, and I loved that." he said. "Now stop beating yourself so much about it and enjoy the fact that you are lucky to have me."

The mare tried her best to relax. "Sorry, ah just can't help it sometimes, when ah look at those other mares, ah feel...inadequate is all."

"I think you are fine just the way you are." Soarin smiled assuredly.

Little did both knew, but Rainbow Dash spied on the couple from an overhead cloud. Dash just sighed with shame from feeling entitled to have him and disregarding her friend's feelings. She looked over to her son next to her, sculpting some of the cloud. "I hope you don't grow up to be an egotistical jerk like me son, I would rather have you grow up acting like your father." she warned the baby, although it did not appear like he understood.

At the Dragon Lands, all young and single female dragons began to notice their tails glow. Everyone knew what it means, but where confused as to way since it should be male dragons that get summoned for the mating tournament, since the Dragon Lord is female. But they all went along with it since it was considered sacrilege to ignore a summons of the Dragon Lord.

About 68 of them gathered around inside an extinct caldera, the site of many intra-dragon battles over the years. They all began to size each other up, because they know only one will win the battle before them.

As soon as they gathered, a figure landed on the ledge overlooking the caldera. All the dragons looked up to see an unexpected sight; a non-dragon. They all murmured in confusion amongst each other. "Silence!" the human boomed down to the dragon below him. "You will bow down to your new Dragon Lord!" he announced as he removed the Bloodstone out of his pocket. All the dragons below quickly did as told upon seeing it.

He then jumped down below in a single leap. All of the creatures just got up and looked on in stunned silence as he walked among them. Adam smirked at the sight of all these female dragons, all ranging from between half his height to twice his height, and all of them with varying degrees of human-like curves. But he knew it wasn't up to him to choose, but the females to do so themselves. "As you may already know..." began Adam as he made his way through the group. "...all of you will be fighting each other until only one is left standing, if you leave the caldera, you lose, if you bleed, you lose, if you fall unconscious, you lose, if you surrender, you lose." he then turned to all of them. "Any questions?"

"No Lord!" all sixty-eight of them said in unison. With a smirk, he leaped back up on the ledge in a single bound, the stone giving him new found strength and abilities. He sat down on the ledge. "You may all begin when ready." he announced.

It was not long before the female dragons below began their massive fight and chaos erupted down below.

Over at a tavern in Ponyville, Starlight just quietly drank her mug. "Starlight?" said a voice. Annoyed, the mare turned to the source of the voice only to see a former follower; Sugar Belle, the former town baker.

"Look, if you came here to exact vengeance on me, go ahead and get it over with, there's nothing you can do." was all the mare said to her former follower.

"Actually, I'm just surprised that you got released." Sugar Belle said as she took a seat next to her. "Weren't you put away for fraud, magic abuse, rape and murder?"

"I was," the unicorn answered before chugging down the rest of her drink. ",until the murder charge was expunged because the mare I killed came back to life."

"You owe me almost a year of my life you know?" Sugar Belle reminded her. "A year I will never get back."

"Look, what do you want from me?!" Starlight snarled impatiently, "An apology? If so, I suggest you take a number and wait your turn."

"I don't want your apology, apologies won't bring back the time I wasted believing in your manure." she stated with venom in her voice. "I just came here to tell you that you ruined my life and that I am now doing better than ever before." she explained. "So, good luck being at the bottom, it's going to be a long climb up." she warned before she got up and left.

Starlight just sighed. "Another mug please, and salt the rim this time!" she ordered the bar keeper.

"Ember? You okay?" asked a concerned and familiar voice. The dragon slowly opened her eyes to see a yellow Pegasus staring down at her, Ember remembered the Pegasus, they met a few times when Adam mediated a new dragon-pony treaty, from what she could remember, that Pegasus was Adam's marefriend. Everything suddenly turned awkward for the dragon as shame hit her hard.

"How long was I out?" she asked as she slowly got up.

"I don't know, I just found you like this." explained Fluttershy. "What happened and where's Adam?" she asked with concern.

"Well..." began Ember, who wisely decided to not give her the full details, least cause damage to a relationship. "...your human friend Adam is now under the control of the Bloodstone, and from what I can see, he left to do something..." she tried to remember, but had trouble trying to do so.

"Could it have something to do with the fact that your tail is blinking?" Fluttershy pointed at the dragon's tail to see that it did blinked as described.

"Oh no..." Ember said upon seeing that, normally such a thing would be a good thing because it meant that you were compatible with the Dragon Lord, but in this case, it defiantly was not. "No way." in a panic, she quickly ran out of the house.

"What's going on?" asked the mare who sprinted after the dragon.

"Your Bloodstone possessed lover has just called for a mating tournament, and I have until he mates to stop him!" she explained.

"What happens if you can't?"

"Then he'll be Dragon Lord for the rest of his life..." Ember said ominously. "...got to go." she was about to lift off but Fluttershy floated before her.

"I'm coming with you!" she said with determination. "I can't stand back while my lover is in trouble!"

"You're not the only one missy..." Ember said in her mind. She knew there was no way the mare would change her mind, she would do the same thing if she were in her place. "Fine, but stay close to me, we ponies and dragons may be in peace now, but it is still a dangerous place for you ponies." she warned.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement and they two of them took off into the sky at high speed.

Adam calmly and quietly observed the fight below him, sizing up every single dragon still standing. About half the field were already out of contention, as the fight grew increasingly intense. They were wrestling, punching, hitting, biting and kicking each other mercilessly, and for what? The status of being the Dragon Lord's mate, since it was considered such a rare and prestigious honor, and add to the fact that not doing so would mean turning one's back on thousands of years of dragon tradition and bring great dishonor and shame to anyone who refused the call.

One dragon in particular had another in a choke hold. "We...promised...sis..." the dragon gasped to breathe as she desperately tried to escape the tight hold that her sister gave her.

"Like I would ever share with my baby sis." she stated. "Besides, he demands only the best, the most experienced and the strongest."

"But you're older than me...by two minutes..." she gasped before unconsciousness finally got hold of her, her body now limp.

"Sorry Ruby, but it's every dragon for herself." she whispered before gently putting her younger sister on the group. She then ran off to find someone else to battle.

As Adam watched, he noticed that his surroundings became slightly darker. He looked around only to realize that something was blocking the sun. He looked behind him at where the sun should be, only to be met by the sight of the massive size of the former Dragon Lord Torch. The human smirked and got up, his eyes glowed red at the sight. "Can I help you?" began Adam.

"I demand that you stop this now human!" he ordered in a booming voice. "That gem rightfully belongs to us, I refuse to watch my kind be under the control of an outsider!" he continued. "Now give it back."

"I believe that's where we differ in our opinions my former lord." began Adam, letting the blood stone do the talking for him. "You see, I was forged and created for one purpose and one purpose only, to tame and submit your kind for the benefit of the human race." he explained. He took out the stone from his pocket. "I'll show you..." he held the stone high over his head. "...SIT!" he yelled at Torch.

Almost immediately, Torch fell to the ground hard, shaking and cracking the ground behind him. "What the...?" began a dazed dragon.

"You see Torch," the human began as he walked up to the fallen dragon. "I know you too well, you used to be my wielder after all, and well, you're just too easy to manipulate." he explained with a smirk. "Your daughter on the other hand..." he began. Torch just growled in anger upon hearing him mention her name. "...she's very...intriguing." he explained. "Although to be honest, I am kind of saddened that she's missing out in the tournament, I could've manipulated things in her favor to let her win in my opinion."

"You keep her out of this!" he spat with disgust.

"I'm sorry, but I can't, she's the only one that can take the stone back." the human stated. "Only the previous owner of the stone can take it back, and that happens to be your extremely alluring daughter." he chuckled. "Now be a good boy and stay here, I have a tournament to oversee." he ordered to the angry dragon, who wanted to crush the insolent human in his paws, but his body refused to cooperate. Adam just walked back to his spot overlooking the fight down below.

Down below, there was only eight female dragons left, each of them eyeing each other and panting from exhaustion in a stand off. In Adam's honest opinion, seeing that it is these eight left standing disappointed him, since they were not as interesting as...

Before he could finish that thought, a blue streak landed on the ground in the middle of the eight finalists, Ember. She got up and sized the other dragons up, she was not impressed. The others, sensing a challenge all mentally agreed to go after the former Dragon Lord before going after each other, and so they all ganged up on her and charged.

Ember made quick on all eight of them, knocking them all out in quick succession, until there was only one other dragon left. "Iris..." she nodded at a purple colored dragon, they were former childhood friends.

"Ember..." responded Iris, slightly intimidated. "...you're late..."

"Let me guess, you betrayed your sister Ruby to get this far didn't you?" Ember asked in a deadpan manner as she slowly approached her.

"Well, better me than her, I feel like I am more worthy than her to mate with the Dragon Lord." she explained, as she slowly began to back away.

"I don't think a Dragon Lord would want to mate with a disingenuous coward like you Iris." she continued, she then cracked her knuckles and neck as she got closer. "You're the only dragon I know that has ever defeated me...and that was because you cheated..." she corned Iris up against a wall.

"Oh come on, that was so many years ago...besides, he wasn't interested in you anyways and-" she was suddenly grabbed by the neck and lifted off the ground.

"I believe you owe me a mate." Ember said, glaring at her. "It's only fair."

Iris nervously nodded. "Yes...go ahead...we're even..." she choked. "...have him."

"Good, we're even." Ember smirked before throwing her clear across to the other side of the caldera. She looked up to a very impressed Adam watching her from above. "I win." was all she said.

To be continued...