The Way To A Dragon's Heart

Chapters

The Truth Will Set You Free
A Close Friend
The Dawn Of A New Era

The Truth Will Set You Free

Author's Note

Once again, another anthro waifu story has finally been made and I have my trusty friend NineTailBeastBall to thank for this, so everyone, thank you for your patience and support and remember to stay tuned for more chapters to come and remember to brony on

The Truth Will Set You Free

The Way To A Dragon’s Heart

Written by Israel Yabuki

Edited and co-written by NineTailBeastBall

Danger is always lurking behind every corner. Anyone could be a target and not even know about it. But if you’re highly trained in different forms of martial arts and developed a highly trained instinct, then danger is nothing but another measly challenge to you.

As a child you’ve had a habit of getting into fights. You’ve managed to take down kids even twice your size. Your dad took the liberty of signing you up for a few classes in different martial arts. In his own spare time, he even taught you how to box. Your dad was a professional boxer with a steady winning record.

He tries his best to look after you ever since your mom passed away when she had given birth to you. Your dad told you she was like a guardian angel who brought so much happiness and joy into the hearts of her friends and family. Even though she was gone, you still believed she was right here with you.

You’ve had trouble controlling your temper, especially when it came to your mother. If a kid so much as mentioned her, especially if they were insulting her, you would beat them to a bloody pulp. This went on for a long time until you somehow managed to graduate from high school. Afterwards, by the time your father retired from boxing, he got you a job at his coach’s local boxing gym.

Your father still went there to train, but that was about it. He soon got a job working at a local meat factory, shipping tons of packaged meat off to the supermarkets. The tough part was coming home, smelling like used gym socks and frozen farm animals.

Both of you couldn’t live on your own, so you had to stay in one house. The rent was decent and the pay was just enough to last you until the end of each month. Every day when you and your dad came home from work, the first thing you both do is wash off the stink. You had two bathrooms, so there was no fighting over who should go first.

Neither of you had the experience to cook up an 5 star dinner, so you just bought a few frozen foods that could easily be heated up in the microwave, the oven, or even the stove. It was tough for you and your dad, but at least you were trying.

Today, you were at the boxing gym, holding the sandbag while your father punched it with his right jabs and left straights. Your dad was left-handed so he fought in a southpaw style. Lately, you’ve become quite arrogant and refused to take any more lessons or advice from your father. Everything you’ve learned in combat was now like your bread and butter, even the advanced training you got was 2nd nature to you.

Your father noticed how much you were pushing yourself today as you punched the sandbag. “You really should take a break son,” he advised.

“I’m not taking orders from you!” you snarled, keeping your eyes on the bag. As you deliver another heavy blow, the sandbag actually collapsed. “Ugh, great. Just great. Now I gotta put this thing back on the hook,” you sighed in annoyance. You took off your boxing gloves and grabbed the sandbag in both arms and lifted it up with all your might.

Your father took off his gloves and help put the bag up on the hook. After putting it back up, you felt a little exhausted.

“I think you’ve done enough training for one day. Let’s leave it be and head home. I don’t want you to strain yourself. Trust me, there are cases when even boxers lose from overworking themselves, son,” your dad said.

Rolling your eyes, you put the sandbag away and made your way over to the bench where your gym bag was. Your dad followed you and grabbed his gym bag as well. He was getting really concerned with how you’ve been behaving around him lately. He even started second guessing about his actions as a parent. He loves you very much, but somewhere, deep down, he might have been too hard with you.

If he was hard on you, he wanted to know why you didn’t say anything in the first place. He only wanted to train you to protect yourself, but perhaps, somehow, all that training might have clouded any thoughts you had on living the happy life like some other kids.

Like it or not, he wanted to try to help cool you down. “Hey, listen son. Why don’t I take you to someplace out to eat? It’s very important to fill up an empty stomach after a long day at the gym.

You didn’t answer causing your father to frown. It was at this point that he started to get annoyed. “Why do you act like this?”

“Save me the lecture. Why are you such a coach 24/7?” you asked.

“Hey! It’s called being a father!” he growled.

“Trust me, you’re better at being a coach,” you retorted. Your relationship with your father has never been the best one. During your early training years, he’d constantly shout at you to try harder with whatever martial arts you were practicing. His methods of motivating you involved slaps to your abdomen with a stick. There’s no physical scars, but it was a pain to live with the red bruises. Nowadays, they didn’t even hurt you anymore and you’d constantly keep a stone face.

Before your father could say anything, you caught the smell of something burning. You ran out of the gym and scanned the streets, trying to track down the smell of smoke. Your dad ran after up to you and grabbed your shoulder.

“Son, I know what you’re thinking, but whatever you do, don’t pursue it, let the firefighters do their job!” he said. You ignored him and sprinted up north, soon finding smoke flowing up into the air. You turned to the right and ran up to where you saw a burning apartment complex. The firefighters were all working hard to put out the fires.

But what catches your eye was one of the firefighters restraining a man who was trying to get in the burning building.

“Let me through, you don’t understand!” he shouted, trying to push through.

“Sir, stay back, it’s too dangerous!” said the firefighter.

“No, you don’t understand, my wife and daughter are trapped inside!”

Your eyes widened at the mention of his wife and daughter. If there’s anything you hated more than bullies, it’s a man living the rest of his life without his wife and child. You reached into your bag and pulled out your last water bottle, drank half of it, and poured the rest of it all over you.

“Son, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!” your father yelled out, running towards you.

“You’re either with me or against me! Either way, I’m not gonna stand around and watch an innocent family burn in that hellfire!” you replied, before sprinting past the firefighters and into the building.

“NOO!!!” your dad yelled. You searched the building for any signs of a woman and child. You soon began to cough as the smoke entered into your lungs. Your dad soon grabbed your shoulder and turned you to face him. He was wearing a piece of cloth over his mouth to prevent the smoke from rapidly seeping into his lungs. He gives you a spare piece of cloth, too. “You’ll need this if you’re going any further.”

You didn’t say anything, you just snatched the cloth and wrapped it around your mouth. Just then, screams rang from the upper floor. That was all it took to get you moving again. Running up the stairs, you bit into the cloth as the flames burned against your legs. The pain was almost unbearable, but you sucked it up and kept pressing on.

“Help! Someone please help us!” The screams grew louder as you advance up the stairs, you knew you were getting close. At the top of the 2nd floor, the screams were heard very clear from the 2nd room on your left.

You sprinted ahead and grabbed the doorknob, which was scorching hot from the heat of the flames. ‘No pain no gain!’ you thought grabbing the doorknob again and turned it. You pulled the door open and ran inside, finding a woman and a little girl, who was unconscious from breathing in so much smoke.

“Dad! Get the woman, I’ll grab the little girl!” you yelled, running to grab the kid. You picked up the little girl, took off your cloth and wrapped it around her mouth. Her eyes open up and lock onto you with fear. “Don’t speak, we’re getting you outta here.” you tell her before covering your mouth with you hand, coughing a bit. Your dad grabbed the woman and carried her bridal style.

“Come on, this building could give out at any second!” your dad shouted. Almost immediately after he said that, a piece of the ceiling collapsed, almost hitting the girl. You blocked it with your upper back, taking a nasty hit and grunted painfully. “Quick, run ahead of me!” he said.

You went ahead and ran out of the room, coughing violently, ignoring, what felt like blood, running down your back. Because of all the smoke you were breathing in, you could feel yourself getting dizzy as you descend down the stairs. Your body was practically covered in horrible burns and a bleeding back.

The exit of the building was in plain sight, and with all your strength, you sprinted out of the building, where the man reached out to you, or more specifically, his unconscious daughter. You handed her over to the father who was crying tears of joy.

“D-Daddy...” the girl said, weakly as she began coughing due to the smoke that was still in her lungs.

“Shh, it’s okay, honey. You’re safe now.” he said, hugging his little girl, gently. He looks at you with a thankful smile. “Thank you for saving my little girl’s life.”

“I’m…” you were cut off with a violent cough. “...not done yet. You looked back at the burning building and saw your father moving rather slowly. Just when he reached the front door, he ended up collapsing. You panicked. “DAD!!!” Without even thinking, you sprinted back inside and tried to pick him up, but he was way too heavy. “Dad, get up! Come on! The exit is just a few feet away, you can’t quit now!” you ranted.

“Take… the woman… hurry!” he said, weakly. You looked at the woman and picked her up with what little strength you had left. “I’m coming back for you, dad.” The smoke kept seeping into your lungs the heavier your breathing got. Your vision was getting fuzzy, but you barely made it out and returned the woman to her husband. You looked back at your dad. He was trying to lift himself up off the ground, but his body was too weak from inhaling the smoke.

“DAD, NOOOO!!!!!” You shouted, running back into the building. Unfortunately, the exit was then blocked off by the fallen debris. The ceiling above you collapsed all around you. You made it back to your dad, picking him up only slightly.

“It’s too late, son. We’re trapped.” he struggled to say, coughing violently.

“That’s it? We’re dead?” you asked. Your legs felt wobbly and started to give out. “At least… we both went out with a bang.” you smirked

Your dad chuckled and wrapped his arm around your neck. “That’s my boy.”

With no other way out, you and your dad laid there on the burning floor and soon, the ceiling above you collapsed on top of you two, knocking you both out. You could already imagine it: Father and Son Die In A Fire From After A Daring Rescue.

Darkness surrounded you and your dad. The void was completely dark and had no light.

“Dad, tell me something.” you said, calmly.

“What is it, kiddo?” he asked.

“Are we going to heaven or hell?” you asked.

“I’m not so sure. We’ve both done some pretty rotten things in our lives. I was always too harsh with you and pushed you over the edge and you took that frustration out on those bullies who picked on you or other people. All I wanted was for you to succeed and not the world get you down, but the truth is, I was afraid. I didn’t want to lose you like I lost your mother.”

“So, in other words, you have no idea on where we’re going.” you said, slightly annoyed.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not our decision on where we can or can’t go. The best we can do is hope for the best and expect the worst.”

After explaining, a light suddenly shined down on the two of you from above. You got curious and floated towards it with your dad close behind you. The light got brighter and brighter until it blinded you.

Moments later, the light faded and your vision became more clearer. The area around you was a rocky terrain with a few erupting volcanoes.

“Dad, we’ve reached our final destination: Hell.” you said, smirking.

“Ah well, I guess we both deserve it since we were so rotten to others.” your dad replied.

“Hey!” shouted a deep male voice. You and your dad jumped and pressed your backs against each other. “What do you think you’re doing here?!” shouted the male voice again.

You rub your eye since your vision was still blurry. You thought you were going nuts, because what you see next leaves you curious. A giant winged beast lands in front of you, but you couldn’t tell what it was. “You… you must be the… the king of this… land,” you finish before taking a good look at your surroundings.

You began to sweat as it was quite hot around here.

“You’re only half right. I was once the ruler of the Dragon Lands.” he said.

“The… Dragon Lands? You sure you don’t mean Hell? Because place is freaking hot.”

“What’s Hell?” a new voice asked and you turned to meet the source. Your vision got more clearer and looked to see another dragon, but it, or she, was a little shorter than you. She was quite beautiful dressed in solid gold armor and had light blue scales that shined in the light. Her eyes were a sparkling amber color. She also held a strange scepter with a bright red jewel on the top.

“Who are you?” you asked with a hint of disrespect in your tone, causing her to glare. She grabs the collar of your black tank top and holds you up in the air with only one claw. Despite her size, she was pretty strong.

“How about you show me some respect, then I’ll tell you who I am. Got it?” she growled.

You weren’t that intimidated, but you nodded.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse my son. He’s been acting rather edgy lately. If you don’t mind me asking, would you be kind enough to tell me your names?” your dad asked, being as polite as he could.

“You shall address me as Torch!” the giant dragon bellowed. You and your dad covered your ears from his loud tone. You looked up at him with a sharp glare.

“And I’m his daughter, and ruler of the Dragon Lands: I am Dragon Lord Ember,” she replied, letting go of your shirt. You fell to your knees. “So this disrespectful little brat is your son?”

“Funny you say that since I’m taller than you are,” you scowled. Ember gives you a hard punch in the solar plexus. “Nnngh!!! Damn you--” you said, falling down, gripping your gut.

“Son, you need to show more respect. She is the ruler of the, umm… what was it again, the Dragon Lands?” your dad asked.

“Bingo. At least you’re father here knows respect,” Ember said as she looked down at you.

“Well excuuuse me, princess!” you retorted, still scowling. This time, she kicks you upwards on the chin and knocks you backwards. She was probably tougher than steel, because that last shot hurt you like hell.

“That’s enough daughter!” Torch shouted. “These two are unaccustomed to the ways of the Dragon Lands.”

“Excuse me, if I may,” your dad said.

“What is it?” Torch asked.

“I don’t mean to cause any trouble, but you would kindly show us around? I’m pretty sure we’re not going back home anytime soon.”

You picked yourself up wiping your forehead due to the heat. “Yeah and some damn shelter with air conditioning.”

Ember scratched her chin before an idea popped into her head. That confident smirk on her face suddenly got to you. You always thought you weren’t afraid of anything, but when Ember smirked like that, something made you tremble.

She gripped her scepter and it started to glow. She aims her scepter directly at you. You thought Ember was gonna kill you, but how? However, your instincts were wrong, as her scepter glowed brightly, you began to glow in the same color. It felt so strange, you didn’t know what she was doing to you.

Your body stopped glowing after a few seconds. Ember pointed her scepter away from you. What happened next you couldn’t explain. One minute, you were drenched in sweat from the intense heat, but now the heat wasn’t bothering you at all.

“What the hell, what’d you do to my body?” you asked, patting your body, checking if anything was missing. Your skin looked bumpier and you realized you now had scales. Suddenly your back began to itch and you didn’t know why. You then felt something sharp poking out from behind you, like a spike. But not just one spike, there were probably 4 or 5.

“Congratulations, you are now a half-dragon. But don’t expect to grow wings anytime soon. You still got a long way to go before you reach a mature enough stage to get those.”

“Huh half-dragon...” Your eyes shot wide open as you processed what she just said. “Wait, WHAT?!”

Your father also got a little worried about you. “Miss, why exactly did you change my son into a half-dragon?” your dad asked, putting his hands on your shoulders.

“Relax, it won’t kill him. It’ll help keep him from burning alive in the dragon kingdom. We’re always surrounded by volcanoes, so it’s necessary to give him a little makeover to protect him from the heat.” With that her scepter began glowing again and you watched as your father underwent the same changes. Unlike you however, he had wings. They looked wide enough to spread out 7 feet wide.

“Ugh, whatever, I prefer to keep low to the ground anyway,” you sassed, as you began walking away.

“Where are you going?” Your dad asked.

“Out to get some exercise. Just because it’s a new world doesn’t mean I should let my body get slow! Why don’t you find somewhere to get some rest?” you scowled.

Torch was starting to get annoyed with you, but preferred to converse with your father about it. “What’s with that boy of yours? He’s acting just like the other dragons! Explain!” Torch demanded.

“I would gladly explain it, but first…” your dad paused, gripping his gut just as it began to rumble. “Do you have anything to eat? We haven’t eaten anything ever since we finished our training back home before we arrived here.”

You looked at the surroundings for a decent place to have a good workout. So many dragons looked at you as if you were some kind of freak, but you couldn’t care less. Unlike the mythical dragons you read about when you were a kid, these dragons looked anthropomorphic and were all completely clothed.

If anything, you thought they were freaky-looking. If any of them attempted to start any trouble, you could always beat ‘em hands down, especially since you had hard scales now.

You weren’t sure where to find a good spot to train, so you just jogged around wherever you felt like it. More and more dragons kept dissing you for your weird looks just as you dissed them for wearing clothes like they’re pretending to be humans.

Moments later, one dragon confronted you. He had crimson red scales with orange spikes and wore a black short-sleeved shirt and blue jean shorts. “Hey, just who do you think you are, strolling around our territory? If this is some kind of joke to make fun of us, then get this through your thick skull, I’m not LAUGHING!!!” he shouted, grabbing you by the shoulder.

“Get your claws off of me...” you said in a low and deadly tone.

“Or else what?” he asked, getting up in your face with an annoying smirk.

You lost it. Grabbing him by the throat, you lift him up and slammed him hard against the ground.

“Let that be a warning the next time to decide to tick me off, jackass!” you shouted. Although, when you shouted “jackass,” a small stream of fire shot out of your mouth. No doubt this was one of the side effects to being half-dragon.

“I’ll... get you for that!” the dragon grunted.

“Don’t push your luck,” you retorted. You kicked some dust into his face before getting back to your jogging.

‘After I complete 20 laps, I’ll do 100 push-ups!’ you thought, determined to keep pushing your limits. It’s always been like this, even as a child. One accomplishment was never enough for you; you always worked as hard as you could. While jogging, you could feel your stomach and hear it growling like crazy. You easily forgot that you hadn’t eaten anything at all since you arrived here.

‘She didn’t even bother to mention what they eat around here when she made me like this!’ Your teeth have been morphed to resemble fangs when you transformed, so obviously the dragons are carnivorous.

“You there! Come with me!” shouted a deep male voice. You knew who it was, it was the giant dragon, Torch. You looked up at the sky and watched him land in front of you. You rolled your eyes as you followed him back to this huge castle in the center of the Dragon Lands.

“I’m surprised you made even the door so big,” you said looking at the front gate. “So this is where you and your daughter live?” you asked.

“Yes, now shut up and keep moving. We’ve already prepared a feast for you and your father.”

“Oh so you act like a coach too!” you snapped.

“You do realize I can squash you with my pinky claw if I wanted to, so watch what you say, boy. Also, you need to show respect to your elders! Your father gave me the gist of your recent arrogance,” he retorted at first, but then explained calmly.

“If you’re that strong, then what’s stopping you from crushing me right now?” you sassed him, hoping he’ll take the bait.

“Because, like I said, your father gave me the gist of it. He said it had something to do with your jealousy of others having the one thing you never had in your life: a mother,” he replied.

Your expression softened but you didn’t say anything else. Reaching the dining hall you saw your father and Ember sitting down. The spread looked pretty good. There were different varieties of meat and the bowl of jewels in the center, all stacked up neatly.

“Jewels, this had better be some kind of joke,” you scowl.

“Oh quit your whining and sit down so you can eat,” Torch said in annoyance, shoving you with his large tail.

You let out a growl similar to an animal. “Hey! Don’t push me, I can move on my own,” you snapped again, rubbing your back. You walked to one of the seats and at first, were about to sit next to Ember, only to get growled at by Torch.

“Ugh, classic case of ODI,” you said, facepalming yourself.

“What’s ODI?” Ember asked, very sure she wouldn’t like the answer.

“Overprotective Daddy Issues,” you answered bluntly. “It’s annoying to have to deal with that sort of thing all the time when you’re kicking other people’s asses.”

“No combat talk at the table, son. Now listen, I love you more than anything, but I’m asking you to please stop back-talking others.”

Rolling your eyes, you looked at Ember and noticed how she began to eat what appeared to be an emerald with ease. “Do all dragons eat gems?” you asked out of curiosity.

“That’s right, they’re delicious. Try one for yourself, your dad’s already taken a liking to it.” Ember replied. She slides over a bowl of gems towards you. For some reason, just looking at them makes your mouth water and yet, you weren’t sure if it was possible for you to eat gems.

“Well, I hope it tastes good.” you said, grabbing a ruby. You put it to your mouth and slowly took a bite out of the gem. To your surprise, the gem broke very easily due to your fangs. What’s more is like Ember said, it tasted delicious. “Hmm, I might actually enjoy these.”

“I told you so,” Ember replied with a confident smirk. “By the way, there’s something I need to talk to about in my chambers after dinner. Can I trust you to keep that smart-ass mouth of yours under control?”

“And what exactly is it that you want to talk to me about?” you asked.

“Just answer my question: Are you going to keep that smart-ass mouth of yours under control?”

You scoffed at her “Fine, but only this once.” After that, you grabbed a handful of gems and shoved them into your mouth, chomping them up into tiny little shards before gulping them down.

“Son, manners!” your dad snapped.

“Was I talking to you?” you said sharply

Just then, Torch slams his claw on the table. “Show some respect to your elders, boy!” he yells at you.

“Relax, dad,” Ember said. “After I’m done talking with him in my room, you won’t have to deal with his disrespectful attitude all that much.”

‘Someone’s confident’ you thought to yourself, grabbing a drumstick and biting into it. It was strange, you were acting much more aggressive than usual. Was this another effect of being a half-dragon?

Once dinner was done, Ember instructed you to follow her to her room. As you walked down the hall, you hoped the conversation would end quickly so you could get back to training.

You soon came to a flight of stairs at the end of the hall. Ember climbs up the stairs while you kept following her. Both of you reached the 2nd floor and headed for the door on the other side of the hall. Once there, Ember opens it and walks inside. You follow her and look around, getting a good look at what her room looks like.

“Sit down,” she ordered.

Normally, you’d sass her, but you kept your mouth shut like you promised and sat down on her queen-sized bed. “Alright, I’m all ears.” you said.

“Your father told me about that rescue and how you saved this woman and her daughter, but didn’t make it out safely.” Ember explained. “That was pretty bold of you to do something like that, but tell me, why do you act like an asshole around other people just because you never experienced having a mother?”

Your began to clench your fists at the mention of your mother. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

“You’re not gonna get any better if you keep that up. How do you think she’d feel if she saw you acting the way you are now?”

“You’re pushing it,” you warned.

“Please, you don’t scare me. Plus, I kicked your ass once before, I can do it again, now shut up and listen.”

That statement wasn’t completely accurate as you’ve become quite stronger upon your transformation. If Ember fought you as you are now, she’d be in for a surprise. Nonetheless, you just glare at her as she continued.

“Nothing’s going to change if you keep snapping at others like the way you are now. I’m only going to say this once, and this is coming straight from the heart: You’re an asshole and a coward who needs closure.”

You saw an open window and were tempted to jump out knowing your scales would absorb the impact but Ember kept a grip on your arm. “Don’t even think about it.” she said. “You might be a half-dragon, but were on the 2nd floor, which I should remind you, is a little higher than most building where you used to live.”

“You think I’m just gonna sit here while you lecture and insult me? Get to the point already or I’m gone!” you stated with a growl.

“Fine, but I warn you, this’ll really piss you off: I don’t have a mother either.” she said in your ear. “I lost her at a very young age, too, but do you see me complaining about it? No! I accepted that she was gone and moved on like a real dragoness. You, on the other hand, can’t accept the fact that you lost someone you never knew and always take your anger out on other people if even step out of line by just a little bit!”

To Ember’s surprise, you didn’t get angry this time. “Why did you have to say that?” you asked in a deep, calm tone, looking down at the floor. “We’re practically the same.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I know my mother’s gone, but I found it within my heart to keep moving forward, not for her sake, but for my sake. It took a lot for my father to help me get back on my feet, but it was well worth it for him to try to make me feel better. He did so much for me, just like how your father does so much for you and you treat him like shit! All I’m saying is that you need to move on. This is what she would want for you. She might be gone, but you know your mother still loves you and watches over you.”

You stood up having heard enough of her lecture. “I’m going out,” you said walking away. Ember just watched with a smirk knowing she was getting through to you.

As you walked down the hall and towards the stairs, you couldn’t get what Ember told you out of your head. Her words were sharp and cut you deeply, sharper than any knife or sword. Once you reached the first floor, your father walks in your direction and notices your facial expression.

He runs over to you and grabs you by the shoulder. “Are you okay, son?”

You didn’t respond to him, you just dropped to your hands and knees, slamming your fist on the floor, causing it to crack. “DAMN!!! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!!!” you shouted punching the floor with each word.

Your father kneels down and lifts your face up and notices the one thing he’s never seen in all his years as a father: tears of sadness. Your father didn’t say a word and just hugged you, showing you how much he loves you and to show you that you’re not alone. You sobbed into his shoulder while he patted you on the back. In return to your father’s hug, you hugged him back.

“Just let it all out, kiddo. I’m here for you,” he said to you.

A Close Friend

You and your father learned the hard way that it would be impossible to return to your own world, so these last few months, you began to adapt to your life in the Dragon Lands. Even after your conversation with Ember, you still kept your taste for fighting, which was no issue since dragons enjoy battle. Most dragons steer clear of you, however those who harassed you were easily defeated in a fight.

Having been transformed by Ember has affected your personality, so you’ve began thinking of yourself less of a human and more like a dragon. You preferred to go around barefoot due to the tough scales on your feet and often went out on hunts for animals like manticores and cockatrice.

Right now you were in the middle of a training session doing push-ups on your fingers.

“887... 888... 889...” you counted. All the while, some teenage dragons were looking at you impressed. You’ve done all these push-ups without hardly taking a break.

“Damn, that runt makes it look easy,” one of them said out of a combination of jealousy and admiration.

“Pah, that’s nothing, I could probably do that in my sleep!” another dragon bragged. You recognized it as Garble’s voice. Of course he was trying to act cool since you beat him down when you met him.

“Then why haven’t you done it yet, Garble? Or are just all bark and no bite?” you taunted. You made sure not to lose count as you insulted him.

You’ve just reached 900 push-ups. ‘I’m not that tired, I can still do a hundred more!’ you said to yourself as you continued counting.

You didn’t know it, but Dragon Lord Ember was watching you from her castle alongside your father. “He’s a stubborn one, you know that?” Ember told your father, making him chuckle.

“Of course, but perhaps it’s my fault that I made him this way. Before all this happened, I wasn’t exactly the best father in the world. I felt more like a coach than anything else. Every day since his early childhood, I took him out for runs and signed him up for all sorts of martial arts. I never stopped to realize that he was only a child. Perhaps I should have allowed him to experience what fun was like,” he explains.

Hearing this peaked Ember’s interest. While she had overpowered you before, that was before you were transformed by the Bloodstone Scepter. ‘Should I ask for a rematch?’ she thought to herself while she watched you continue your training.

“Dragon Lord Ember, don’t take my son lightly. At the rate he’s training, he’ll even surpass you when you least expect it.”

“Is that so?” Ember asked, smirking and stroking her chin. “Hmm, then I guess I’ll just have to find out for myself. Besides, you forget that I’m pretty strong, too.”

“Alright, but be careful out there,” he said as Ember unfolded her wings. Taking off into the air, the blue dragoness soared down and landed right beside you.

“978... 979... 980... 981...” you grunted, determined to finish your last set of push-ups. All the while, Ember taps her foot impatiently waiting for you to finish. “997... 998... 999... 1000!” Now that you were finished, you sat on your knees, stretching your arms out. You then see Ember looking at you impatiently.

“What’d you need?” you ask.

“I can’t help notice you’re always pushing yourself to your limits like that. If you’re able to do 1000 push-ups like that, I’d like to see how well you can handle yourself against me,” Ember said, smirking.

You smiled and held your fist up proudly. “You’re on, but don’t be surprised when I win!” you warned.

The dragons around you were really getting interested since you’ve accepted their leader’s challenge. “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” they chanted.

With that, you and Ember backed away from each other slowly to begin to fight. Rushing towards each other, you exchanged hard punches and kicks at remarkable speed.

“I won’t lose to you again!” you shouted before delivering a hard kick which Ember blocked. She began sliding slightly to the slide as she tried to absorb the impact.

‘It’s heavy!’ she thought, impressed by how much you’ve improved. You dart your eyes to the side where Ember was and went for an uppercut, but she was quick enough dodge by bending her upper body backwards.

You’ve seen this happen to this other guy you sparred with back in your hometown. You knew how to get past that kind of defense. You quickly got down and kicked in a horizontal motion, sweeping Ember off her feet and sending her falling to the ground. She quickly pushes against the ground with her claws, springing back up to her feet.

She jumps over your head and performs a spin kick, which you blocked by using your left arm as a shield and your right arm to hold it in place. Ember backflips and lands a shot to your face with her tail.

You quickly recovered getting excited as you continued to exchange blows with the dragoness. Of all the opponents you’ve ever fought, Ember has proven to be the most toughest. You felt a whole new respect for the Dragon Lord.

As you both stopped for a moment panting in exhaustion, you actually began chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” Ember asked, smirking confidentiality.

“I’m just pleased, that’s all. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been this excited. I guess in addition to those pretty looks of yours, you’re the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced. I like that!” you said with an excited smile.

“Same thing to you! Out of all the dragons here, you’re the toughest one I’ve ever fought ever since I became the Dragon Lord.”

With that you and Ember rushed towards each other, colliding your arms against each other. This was going to be a long match.

It was sundown and you and Ember were still going at it. Both of you were covered in bruises and sweat from the long fight.

‘I’m running out of options. I’ve got to finish her now!’ you thought to yourself as you looked down at your fist. ‘It all comes down to my last punch!’

‘He’s good. I don’t think I can pull of anything fancy. But I’m not going to let him win! Not by a long shot! I’ll take him down... with one last punch!’ Ember thought, clenching her fist.

The two of you stared each other down, panting in exhaustion, raising your fists up. In a flash of blinding speed, you and Ember ran towards each other, shouting with sheer determination. The gap between you two got smaller and smaller until both of you were close enough to throw your last punches at each other.

Both of you hit each other on the left cheek. With nothing left in your systems, you and Ember collapsed to the ground. Lying down next to each other, it wasn’t long before you both lost consciousness.

Torch and your father have been observing the fight from above. Torch was just as impressed as your father was.

“That’s some kid you’ve got there,” he said, with his arms crossed. ”No one has ever managed to hold their own against my daughter.”

“I could say the same thing. No one’s ever been able to keep up with my son up until now. Your daughter is very strong.” your father said.

“I see a good rival for Ember. What do you think the future between those two will look like?” Torch asked letting out a puff of smoke from his nostrils.

Your father stroked his chin as he gave some thought into his answer. “To be honest, I can see them becoming real close to each other, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen anytime soon. If given the right amount of time, they might actually grow fond of each other.”

Torch snorted for as a father he couldn’t help being overprotective of his daughter. “I will not allow my daughter to go steady with such a troublesome boy!”

Your father just shrugged. “He might not be so troublesome in the future. If they do end up getting together, I’d most likely welcome Ember into the family.”

Down below, you stirred yourself awake and noticed Ember laying beside you. You chuckled as you were still pretty sore so it was quite hard to move.

Soon, Ember began to wake up as well and let out a yawn. “You’re sore too, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah. Looks like it’s a draw,” you stated before forcing yourself to sit up. Ember did the same, but then she almost falls forward. You catch her by the shoulder and sit her up.

“Clumsy much?” you asked with a smirk, making her blush with annoyance. You chuckled at her adorable expression. “You should see your face right now.”

“J-Jerk...” she muttered before looking around to see if anyone was watching. To her relief, all the dragons that have been watching them have left. Her blushing face grew more red, growing more embarrassed and annoyed. “Are you going to keep holding me like that or are you gonna let go of me already?!” she snapped.

“Alright, alright, jeez. No need to get your scales in a twist.” you retorted, letting go of her.

“You’re lucky I’m spent, otherwise I’d kick your ass right here, right now!” she growled.

You just chuckled. “I’ll take you on anytime, any day,” you said before feeling a strange itching sensation on your back. You reached behind you to scratch your back when you felt that something big was beginning to form on your back. You grunt in pain as it began to push out whatever it was that was trying to exit out of you.

With one, thunderous roar, you pushed and felt the pain in your back slip away. You end up falling to your hands and knees, panting more exhausted than before.

“I guess it had to happen at some point,” Ember says, casually.

“What the hell just happened?” you asked.

“Look over your shoulders, they’re in plain sight,” Ember replied pointing at your back.

You quirked an eyebrow, looking over each shoulder, letting out a gasp. Over both of your shoulders, you finally earned your dragons wings. You open and fold them impressed at how you could move them so easily. What was also impressive was the wingspan. They had to be at least 7 to 9 feet wide.

“Holy shit! This is too cool!” you exclaimed.

Ember giggled at your excitement. “I presume you want to give them a try?” she asked while flexing her own wings.

“Not a bad idea. I was thinking of going out for a nighttime hunt anyway since that sparring left me hungry,” you said. The thought of eating delicious manticore made you lick your lips. As much as you’ve come to enjoy the taste of gems, you like the taste of meat even better.

Ember raised an eyebrow at your excitement. “You know, you’re starting to act like a dragon,” she stated.

“Maybe so, but what’s so bad about that? I’m starting to like dragons and I like being one, too, even if I’m only half-dragon.”

With that you and Ember took off into the air. Fortunately, the forest where you go to hunt isn’t too far from the volcanoes. You were so focused on wanting to eat, you didn’t notice Ember looking over at you with her cheeks slightly flushed and a smile on her face.

Before her feelings could take over, Ember shook her head. ‘What am I thinking? Do I actually like this guy?’

Preoccupied on your destination, you took no notice of Ember’s behavior as you looked down. As the forest come into view, you took a dive with Ember following you close behind.

Upon landing, your eyes scanned the forest to see if there were any creatures nearby. Suddenly, you catch the sound of rustling and you turned to see a full grown manticore growling and preparing to pounce. Holding your ground, you waited until the beast jumped forward before unfolding your wings and flying above it. With a quick dive, you landed onto the manticore, digging your claws into its sides before biting its neck.

It let out a roar of pain and squirmed a few times before you sunk your fangs deeper into its throat. As you did so, the beast fell over lifeless. You stood over the manticore licking the blood off your lips.

‘Show off,’ Ember thought, having watched the entire thing. “Hey, if you’re done gloating over there, I’d like to get home and get that thing into the kitchen, already!” she called out.

“Why wait? We can cook it right now,” you suggested, as you never had any trouble eating your kills in the forest.

“Uh, hello? We’re not the only ones with the stomachs, you know. Our fathers are probably hungry, too, so hurry up and grab your dinner so we can get back to the castle,” Ember persisted.

“Alright, alright. Jeez, you’re no fun when it comes to food,” you retorted.

“Oh shut up!” Ember growled as you lift the lifeless manticore over your shoulder. After making sure the corpse was secure, you and Ember unfolded your wings and took to the skies again, heading back into the direction of the dragon kingdom.

Once again as she watched you flapping in the light of the moon, Ember began to blush.

Torch tapped his foot, impatiently waiting for his daughter to come back. “I’m going to be furious if that son of yours is doing something he shouldn’t be with my daughter,” he snarled.

“Now now, Torch, let’s not make false accusations. Besides, my son’s not the type to play with a girl’s heart,” your father assured. At that moment, the doors to the dining room opened and you and Ember came in with the dead manticore still on your shoulders.

“Who’s hungry?” you asked, presenting the manticore up with both arms like you’re some kind of champion.

“Very good, son. It looks delicious,” your father said. Unlike you, your father wasn’t much of a hunter.

Ember rolled her eyes “Puh-lease, that little feline could barely pass as a snack for my dad.” she sassed, looking away with a smirk.

“It wouldn’t be a snack if he weren’t so-” before you could finish your sentence, your father flew towards you and covered your mouth.

“Son, don’t you remember the last time you called him by that word?! He nearly killed you!” your father warned you. You knew very well what he was talking about. Back then, a week after you had adjusted to your new life in the Dragon Lands, you made the biggest mistake of calling Torch “fat.”

The result of that was a massive thrashing from the giant former Dragon Lord. It’s true that you were strong, but Torch was way stronger than you’ll ever be.

You all sat down and began digging into the meal. All the while, you noticed how Torch was looking at you and Ember with great suspicion.

“Pops, why is he looking at me like that?” you whispered.

Torch gave your father a look, signaling him to keep his mouth shut. “I’ll explain later, right now just try to ignore it and eat your food.” your father said, before sinking his fangs into the meat.

You sighed and took more bites out of your meal. ‘Yeah right, easier said than done. How am I supposed to enjoy my meal when I have “Jumbo” here staring me down like that?’ you asked yourself in your thoughts.

As you kept eating, Ember would sneak a peek at you for only a second before looking back at her own food and taking bites out of it. Torch can see that his own daughter is starting to grow attached to you, but you have yet to notice. Regardless, he wasn’t convinced and thought you were pretending to not be interested.

Finally he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “What’s going on between you two?” he asked dangerously.

You ended up dropping your meat back on the plate and looked straight into the giant dragon’s infuriated gaze. “What the hell is that suppose to mean?” you asked, not sure why he’s acting this way.

“Don’t play dumb with me boy, what’s going on between you and Ember?!”

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” you assured before going back to your meal.

Torch was taken aback of how you could act so calm. He was about to yell again when Ember spoke up. “Dad, leave him alone! There’s nothing going on between us, so just drop whatever it is you’re thinking and let’s just keep eating.”

Torch squinted his eyes before finally backing off. The rest of the time went by without anyone making another sound. Once you were full, you got up from your chair and stretched your arms and wings out.

“Okay, I think I’m gonna call it a night,” you said before going to the top floor, where Torch gave you one of the spare guest rooms.

While laying on your bed you thought about what Torch said about you and Ember being together. The thought of dating someone else never crossed your mind before. You were always so caught up in your training and pigging out that you didn’t have time to hang out with someone who’s the opposite gender, or much less, date.

As far as dating goes, you had no clue on how that works at all. On top of that, you started to think about what it’d be like to have Ember, not as just a friend, but someone to love and cherish, but you shook your head that last thought.

“Great, now my mind’s going soft. What’s worse, Torch isn’t going to like what I’m thinking.”

After a few minutes of thinking about it, you lost the ability to care what Torch would do. Despite her proud and slightly conceited personality, Ember has proven to be a great leader who cares about her fellow dragons. You weren’t sure if you have feelings for the dragoness or not, but did she have feelings for you?

You were about to shut your eyes when you heard a knock at the door. “You still awake?” No doubt that was Ember’s voice.

“Yeah, come on in,” you answered and the Dragon Lord did just that.

“What did you need?” you asked as Ember sat down on the edge of the bed.

Ember let out a sigh before she spoke. “Sorry about my dad snapping at you. It’s always the same with every other male out there whom he thinks is “hitting it off” with me.” she said.

You just chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. To be honest, it’s only natural for a father to get protective of their daughter.”

“That’s no excuse for him to antagonize you like that. I mean, yeah, you’re a bit of a jerk, but you still try your hardest to be good.”

“Tell me, all the other dragons here seem to be so aggressive and conceited. Where’d you learn about friendship?” you asked

“Well, during the last tournament for the position of Dragon Lord, I met a dragon who taught me about friendship a few years ago, but he doesn’t live here in the Dragon Lands. His name’s Spike. He still comes over to visit. Lately, he’s told me that he’s found someone to love. Believe it or not, she’s a human, too. He says her name’s Emily,” Ember explained.

“Wait, there are more humans?!” you exclaimed.

Ember nodded and blushed in embarrassment, since she forgot to tell you. “That’s right. Most of them are in Ponyville. There’s a few in Canterlot who are married to the princesses and actually gained immortality after... “bonding” with each other.”

You noticed how the blush on Ember’s cheeks deepened upon saying “bonding.” Knowing what she was implying, you felt your own cheeks began to heat up.

“Anyway, I don’t have anything to do tomorrow... shall I take you to see the other humans?” she asked facing away from you.

As your face began to cool off, you nodded. With that, Ember got off the bed and was about to leave when you stopped her.

“Tell me something Ember, what am I to you?” you asked.

Ember didn’t turn to face you, as her face turned a darker shade of red right after asking her that, but she answered you by saying, “Right now... you’re like a close friend to me.” With that, she closed the door, leaving you alone again.

‘A friend,’ you thought as you laid your head back onto the pillow. ‘I never thought I’d have any friends at all. I guess my luck’s finally turning out for the better.’

The Dawn Of A New Era

As as she said she would, the next morning Ember, took you to see the other humans in a town called Ponyville. Not long after arriving, you learned that most of the other humans were men, with the exception of one named Emily. In meeting her, you also met her boyfriend, Spike, a purple and green dragon who turned out to be much kinder and generous than any of the other dragons you’ve met. Clearly, this is one of the reasons Emily fell in love with him.

You also got to meet these anthropomorphic ponies who were known as Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Starlight Glimmer. Not only were they all married to humans, but they also had children.

While talking to Starlight, she had mentioned having a friend named Trixie, who works as a show pony. She too has a human lover who she calls Mystic, unfortunately, they couldn’t be here. Apparently, Mystic has powerful psychic abilities and he and Trixie are currently performing on a year long tour around Equestria.

After the introductions came to an end, Twilight who you learned is the princess of friendship invited you for a meal back at her castle. Right now, everyone was looking at you and Ember awkwardly as rather than eat the food on the table, you were munching into the castle crystals. Since you have the behavior and appetite of a dragon, this was the first time they’ve ever seen a man enjoying gems.

“I honestly didn’t realize how hungry I was,” you admitted before you took another bite out of the wall, admiring the taste. For some reason, the crystals here are much better than the ones back in the Dragon Lands.

“Hey Ember, have you ever tried these before?” you asked.

“I actually did,” she answered with her mouth full. “When Spike invited me to Ponyville for the first time, he presented what he called a “Friendship Welcome Banquet.”

A blush appeared on Spike’s cheeks, as he remembered how he tried to keep Ember and the changeling king, Thorax from seeing one another. They both gave him quite a good scolding for his ignorance.

“Mmm, sounds tasty. I wish I was there to witness it,” you said tearing another piece of the wall off.

After a few more seconds of awkward silence, Twilight finally decided to speak up. “So... how did you end up in Equestria?” she asked.

You let out a deep sigh at the question. “I’ll never forget the shock I felt when I woke up in the Dragon Lands with my father. Back home, we risked our lives saving a woman and her daughter from a burning apartment building. They’re safe now, but my dad and I unfortunately didn’t make it.”

You took another bite of the crystals before continuing your story. “After arriving, I quickly discovered it would be almost almost impossible to live in the Dragon Lands’ hot environment. Luckily, Ember used the Bloodstone Scepter to make me a dragon hybrid, allowing me to put up with the heat. Since then, I’ve decided to start living as a dragon instead of a human.”

“But you are a human,” Starlight said.

“No, like I said earlier, I’m only half human now. Frankly, despite their aggressiveness, I’ve become fond of the dragons and I consider it my place to be amongst them,” you said firmly.

“Is that why you’re so close to Ember?” Twilight asked.

You nodded. “We had a rivalry at first, but these last few months Ember and I have become really good friends. She’s a tough fighter and a dedicated leader, not to mention incredibly beautiful to look at,” you said, making the blue dragoness blush.

“H-Hey, shut up! D-Don’t go s-saying that to others in front of me!” she scowled, making you smile.

“Does Torch know?” Spike asked.

“If you mean he knows that we’re close friends, then yes, he does. But let me tell you, he’s got a serious case of Overprotective Daddy Issues when it comes to Ember. Just last night, that jumbo giant snapped at me, thinking I was dating his daughter. The dude needs to take a chill pill, I don’t rush these things,” you replied.

Spike chuckled, “That’s Torch for ya, always trying to protect his daughter,” he said.

“By the way, what you said about saving a woman and her daughter from a burning building, it was pretty brave of you to do that. It must have been rough bearing the heat,” Twilight commended.

You take a look out the nearby window and let out a sigh. “It was like catching a glimpse of hell, but it was worth every ounce of my life to get them out of there. In fact, I’d say it was worth leaving that hellhole, what with all the bullies and thugs swarming around,” you said.

“I see. Well, I hope the Dragon Lands are a little better than what you went through back home. And if you and Ember ever want to visit us, you’re welcome anytime,” Twilight said.

What happened next actually surprised you. Twilight’s daughter named Moonlight Sparkle ran up and hugged you.

Your eyes widened in surprise. “Umm...” you said, unsure why she was doing this.

Ember giggled as she knows how you feel. This reminded her so much of how Spike hugged her after giving her the scepter. “Feels weird, doesn’t it?” she asked playfully.

Twilight giggled at her daughter’s affection for you. “That’s just Moonlight’s way of saying “Hello.” She can be a real sweetheart,” she said.

“It’s nice to meet you, mister,” Moonlight said, looking at you with her big, adorable eyes.

You chuckled nervously. “N-Nice to meet you too, kiddo,” you said patting her on the head.

“Mommy, if he comes back, can my friends meet him, please?” Moonlight asked.

“We’ll see, Moonlight. We’ll see,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Alright, I think we’d best get back to the Dragon Lands or father’s going to have one of his hissy fits if we’re gone too long,” Ember said.

You nodded in agreement as finished the last piece of wall crystal you were eating. “Yeah, the last thing we need is him blowing up on me,” you chuckled.

You and Ember then said your goodbyes to Twilight and her friends before flying out of the castle to make your way back to the Dragon Lands. While still in the air, Ember decided to start a conversation.

“D-Did you mean what you said when you called me... beautiful?” she asked blushing deeply.

You nodded with a smile. “Without a doubt. In fact, you’re much prettier than the other dragons. And like I also said, you’re a great leader as well,” you commended.

Ember didn’t know what to say, since you were openly complimenting her beauty without any hint of embarrassment.

“A-Any particular reason why you’re complimenting me so much today?” she asked averting her eyes, much to your amusement. It was no secret that the Dragon Lord has a crush on you.

“Because, after our last fight, I’ve developed a whole new respect for you. Call me crazy, but I think I have a soft spot for strong dragonesses like yourself,” you replied.

Ember, as usual, averts her eyes away from you with a noticeable blush still on her face. Dragons being proud creatures, don’t often compliment one another, so this was something still fairly new to her.

Ember began to fly a little closer to you and you raise an eyebrow wondering what she was doing. Your eyes widened when she ends up giving you a kiss on the cheek. Remarkably, she managed to keep her lips on you while flapping at the same time. This time it was your turn to blush.

“W-What was that for?” you asked as she pulled away smiling.

“Why not? You made me blush, this is payback,” she said, smirking confidently before moving away from you. The two of you didn’t say anything else for the remainder of your flight.

4 months have passed since your first visit to Ponyville. Once every month, you and Ember would pay a visit to Ponyville and had the opportunity to meet the rulers of Equestria, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and their husbands, Platinum and Nebula respectively. You’ve become fond of Equestria royalty.

In those 4 months, you and Ember sparred more intensely, which mostly ended up with her pinning you down and pecking you on the cheek. She’s come to like the idea of embarrassing you like that.

Sometimes, whenever you pinned her down, you would just flick her on the nose. As a result, Ember would blush 3 shades of crimson, much to your liking. Torch didn’t like whenever that happened, and it’s become a real challenge for your dad to hold him back.

Also, in those last 4 months, Ember came up with a nickname for you that even you thought sounded pretty cool: Imperium, a Latin word that meant “Power.”

Right now, you were in the forest picking up something to eat before your training for the day. On your shoulders you carried two cockatrice, one for you and one for the dragoness you’ve become so fond of. This time Ember has actually accepted your invitation to eat in the forest.

After roasting it with your fiery breath, you bit into your cockatrice relishing how good it tasted. “You know, it’s quite a challenge catching these things without looking them in the eye,” you stated before taking another bite.

Ember leaned on your shoulder as she began to dig into the bird snake hybrid. She kept wondering when the right time to confess would be. She and you both knew Torch wouldn’t be all too pleased to hear that his “little girl” is falling in love. Especially if she’s in love with you.

Ember never told you, but she was overjoyed when you told Twilight and the others that you consider it your place to live with her and the other dragons.

Then, one question popped up in your mind that left you curious. “Hey, how old is your dad exactly, I’m not all that familiar with how dragons age in this world.”

“Let’s just say he’s a little over 1,000 years old.” Ember says. You choked on a piece of the cockatrice and beat your chest.

“You’re kidding me, right? Dragons can actually live that long?” you asked.

“Yeah, maybe even longer. There’s even a legend about the very first Dragon Lord living up to a million years. However most dragons nowadays live until they’re 5,000 or 10,000 years old. As for me, I’m actually still 21.”

You were quite fascinated by this information. “Impressive. Although, I’m not sure if I’ll live that long, despite being half-dragon.”

“I did some research and there is only one way for you to gain the lifespan of a dragon, but... I’d like to save that for later when we get back home...” she said quietly.

“Umm, okay then?” you said, completely clueless on what she has in mind. You returned your attention to finishing your cockatrice and Ember did the same. You let out a huge burp and beat your chest. “Ooh, that hit the spot.”

Ember giggled before noticing that you had some meat on the side of your lip. Feeling mischievous, she leaned up with half lidded eyes and licked it off. You reacted too late when you stepped to the side, looking at her with your cheeks flushed. She never licked you before.

“W-What the?!” you stuttered.

Ember giggled again at your confusion, embarrassing you was just so much fun. “Oh quit your whining, tough guy, you had some leftover meat stuck to your lips. Now come on, we gotta get back,” she said, unfolding her wings.

Shaking off the embarrassment, you unfold your own wings before taking off into the sky along with Ember. You already know she’s got a crush on you, but the one thing you’re not sure about is what she had in mind about obtaining the lifespan of a dragon.

Ember was going to wait to confess her feelings, but something inside her was preventing her from waiting anymore. “I-I have to say something...” she said quietly. You already know what she was gonna say but you let her continue. “You promise not to laugh at me when I tell you this?”

“Yeah, I promise. Go ahead and spill it,” you said.

Ember let out a sigh “Imperium, I’ve kinda developed a crush on you. It’s been going on for these last couple of months. I can’t help but admire how dedicated and hardworking you are. I-I didn’t say anything up until now because... I was worried you didn’t feel the same way.”

You just looked at her and smiled. As promised, you didn’t laugh. “I was wondering when you’d finally spill the beans. The truth is I’ve come to have feelings for you too Ember. As I said back during our first visit to Ponyville, you’re strong, beautiful to look at and you’re a great leader. You’re the ideal dragoness I would spend my entire life with.”

You flew next to her and took Ember’s hands in your own. “Now that I’m certain that the feeling is mutual, I’m not worried about what anyone else will think about our future together,” Ember said, smiling at you.

Just then, another thought hit you. “Except we’re going to have to break the news to your father about us being a couple. And we both know, he’s not going to be happy about this,” you said, facepalming yourself.

Ember rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you hear me, no one’s opinion will be able to change my mind,” she assured.

Immediately after returning to the Dragon Lands, you and Ember went to find Torch and tell him about the news. Hearing this, the giant dragon as you expected, was anything but pleased.

“This is an outrage! I refuse to have my daughter fall in love with such a lowlife half-human! HAVE YOU NO SHAME EMBER?!!” he roared, but his daughter didn’t flinch.

“Dad I don’t care what you say about Imperium, I love him and plus, you have to stop treating me like I’m still a hatchling! If I was old enough to compete in the Gauntlet of Fire years ago, I’m old enough to fall in love! If you can’t accept my decision, so be it. We’ve already decided not to swayed by what others might think.”

You held Ember’s hand gently as you too weren’t about to back off. “Sir, you have my word I’ll take care of Ember as best I can. She means a lot to me and if that’s not enough to get through to you, then maybe you’ll reconsider when I tell you this: I would gladly give my life for Ember.” you said, confidently.

Torch widened his eyes in surprise when you told him the lengths you would go to protect his daughter. It was at this point that your father decided to speak up.

“This honestly doesn’t surprise me son. I remember telling Torch here if you and Ember ended up together, I would be ready to welcome her into the family. So, let me be the first to say this: Ember, welcome to the family.” your father said. Ember ran up to your father and gave him a hug. He hugged her back, tearing up a bit as he did so.

Torch let out a sigh realizing his mistake. “You know, kid, perhaps I was wrong about you. You remind me so much of myself when I was your age, back when I first fell in love with this one dragoness whom I vowed to protect with my life. Just promise me that you’ll take good care of my daughter. She means everything to me, just like my beloved wife.”

“You have my word, Torch.” you said, beating your fist over your heart gently. “Ember will be in good hands.”

Torch sighed and smiled down at you, “Then welcome to the family... Imperium.”

You laid in your bed thinking of all that has happened today. Torch made sure to hold a good banquet after accepting you as his daughter’s mate. However you still wondered what it was one had to do to get a dragon’s lifespan. Ember said she would tell you after you got back but she still hasn’t said anything.

You were about to close your eyes when you heard a knock at the door. You knew all too well who was there.

“Come on in, it’s unlocked,” you said, looking up at the ceiling. You kept your eyes on the ceiling as you heard the scaly footsteps of your lover approaching the bed. You didn’t need to give Ember an invitation to lie down on your muscular chest.

Ember looked into your eyes as you finally looked away from the ceiling and smiled.

“About what I said about acquiring the lifespan of a dragon...” she says.

“Yeah, what is it?” you asked.

“I have to let you know that there’s another effect to having such a long lifespan. You see, in order to obtain it, we’re going to have to...” Ember stopped, almost too embarrassed to tell you.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“We’re going to have to mate and doing so would immediately result in us becoming husband and wife. It’s a custom that’s been going on between dragons for thousands of years,” she explained.

Your eyes widened and your face blushed intensely. “So, let me get this straight. I can only gain the lifespan of a dragon if I mate with you, and if I do, that automatically means we’re married to each other?” you asked.

“Afraid so. If this is what you want, I’d be more than happy to give myself to you. If not, then I understand, we can always wait until you’re rea-”

You cut her off by pulling her into a kiss. It caught Ember by surprise but she quickly melted into the kiss. It was obvious what your answer was.

“Does this marriage include me getting a ring, or is that not part of the customs?” you asked.

Ember giggled, “Oh, don’t worry about that, you just pray that I don’t get too rough with you once we get it on. Dragons tend to leave marks when they mate. But first, do you think you can help me get this armor off, please?” she asked in an unusually sweet tone.

You nodded as you stared at the beautiful golden armor glowing in the light of the moon. After telling Ember to turn around, you gently undo the straps, making sure not to scratch the precious metal with your claws. Her armor comes off with ease, exposing more of her bright blue scales. Underneath that golden armor, Ember had a well-toned, curvy figure with a hint of muscle showing off in all the right places.

You reach up and began to massage her neck and shoulders, making her moan. You traced your hands down and began to rub the base of her wings, causing Ember to shudder violently as you did so.

“What’s the matter, are your wings sensitive?” you asked out of genuine concern.

“J-Just a little, but I like it. Please continue Imperium...” she whispered. You granted your mate’s wish and resumed rubbing her wings. Ember decided to extend them so you could massage in between as well.

After about five minutes of giving her wings attention, your focus was drawn to her chest. Reaching around you placed one of your hands on her supple D-cup breast, admiring the softness.

Ember moaned softly as you began to knead both of her breasts and managed to form a teasing smirk as she turned to you. “Come on, don’t leave me hanging, let me see what you’re packing down there.”

With that, Ember pushed you roughly onto your back and looked at the bulge forming in your pants. As if her life depended on it, she yanked your pants off, somehow managing to avoid ripping them with her claws. Not taking her eyes off of the tent in your boxers, Ember licks her lips, as she was quite impressed by the size.

She yanks off your boxers, but only leaves a few holes in it. She gasped when she saw the shape of your shaft. She’s never seen a human’s shaft before. Yet, despite its shape, the size was enough to make her feel aroused. As she rubbed it a few times, she also moved herself to where her nether regions were facing directly at you.

Ember shook her rear side to side to tease you “Well, get to licking, Imperium. I can’t be doing all the work.”

Staring at her slit for a few seconds, you rolled your eyes at how she continued to boss you around before giving her a long lick. Her inside juices tasted like a delicious combination of rubies and sapphires, making you crave more. You gave into your dragon instincts and plunged your tongue deeper inside her inner walls, slurping up her love juices.

Ember shuddered in bliss as she felt your long tongue twirl inside of her, but realized she wasn’t pleasuring you back. With that, she leans down and sucks on your shaft before bobbing her head up and down. By this point, you were both moaning at each other’s skill, trying hard not to give in so soon.

You dug your claws deeper into Ember’s rear as you began to pick up the pace. You even gave her plump, scaly rear a good smack or two. Taking that as a challenge, Ember began to squeeze your groin. You’ve had many competitions with your lover; this time it’s become a battle to see who can make who cum first.

‘As much as I love her, I’m not going to let her win!’ you thought to yourself. Determined to make her climax, you up the ante and start slurping and licking her juices even faster than before.

‘This time he’s the one going down!’ Ember thought as she also increased her speed.

The two of you kept at it, pleasuring each other and holding back your release for several minutes. Neither one of you was planning on being the first to give in.

Though your willpower was incredible, you were reaching your limit and Ember could feel her climax approaching as well. Both of you brought out the big guns with you flicking your tongue on her clit while Ember massaged your balls.

Both of you couldn’t take it anymore and felt your climaxes hit hard. Ember’s love nectar sprayed deep inside your mouth while your hot seed filled Ember’s own mouth.

You drank as much of each other’s juices as you could and the rest spilled onto the sheets. After about a minute, the climax came to an end, but the two of you were far from done.

Ember sat back up and turned around, licking her lips in a sultry manner as she faced you. Before you could respond, she mashed her lips against yours in another kiss. You could taste some of your seed in her mouth but you didn’t care.

Pulling away a blush spread on Ember’s cheeks as she looked away with nervousness. You placed your hand on her cheek and gently forced her to look back at you.

“Hey, you alright, Ember?” you asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine... it’s just... well, this is my first time.”

You nodded and began to rub her cheek to comfort her. “I’ve heard that the first time always is painful. Rest assured, I’ll keep control of myself unlike some dragons so we both feel pleasure,” you assured.

Ember had happy tears fill her eyes as she leaned down and began to slowly lick your face out of affection. You managed to hold back your laughs as her tongue tickled the sides of your face. If this was going to make her feel secure, you would gladly let her continue.

After licking your face and neck for the next few minutes, Ember got off the bed and bent down so that her chest was on the floor. You slowly got off the bed and onto your knees, preparing to mate with the love of your life.

You lean down so your face was level with Ember’s and the two of you shared a quick kiss. “Do it Imperium, I’m ready...” she whispered.

With that, you slowly insert your member into Ember’s tight slit. You ease into her ever so cautiously and stopped as you came to her hymen. The dragoness gave you a nod and you pushed past the barrier, claiming her virginity.

“Looks like we’re officially husband and wife, babe...” you whispered.

Ember’s mouth was wide open as the pain still had yet to dissipate, but she nodded. You felt her walls close around you, but you resisted moving until Ember gave you the word. Waiting for a little longer, she looked at you with a smile, letting you know you could continue.

You pulled your hips back before quickly pushing forward again. Being a virgin yourself, you’ve never felt anything like this before until now. You had the urge to bite onto your lover, but you restrained yourself. Instead, you gave her neck gentle nibbles and licks as you thrust into her.

“B-Bite me a little harder...” she stuttered. Ember was enjoying your thrusting so much that she could hardly speak. Luckily, you heard her clearly and gave her a slightly stronger bite than the one before.

While thrusting inside your new wife, you reached underneath her and held her claw in one hand and used the other to cup one of her breasts. Having no hands on the floor, you had to put most of your weight onto Ember and that caused you to fall on top of her. Ember let out a giggle as you managed to keep thrusting despite the sudden fall.

“G-Go f-f-faster... h-h-harder!” she moaned and you quickly obeyed. Her legs shot up in the air as you thrusted into her while still laying on top of her.

To make things more interesting, you leaned up, pulling Ember along with you before turning her around. Grabbing her by the hips, you lift her off the ground before putting your shaft back inside her. Making sure your lover was secure, you resume pounded her with more speed and ferocity.

As you stood with Ember in your arms, the sound of your scales hitting each other echoed the bedroom as you increase the rhythm. She held onto your shoulders, and you felt her claws dig into you. At this point, Ember was moaning so loud, her dad might actually hear her. However, that possibility was of no concern to either of you.

Placing Ember back onto the bed, you took her lips in a fierce kiss as you hammered her pussy. Ember locked her legs around your waist, causing her toe claws to leave some scratches as her feet moved from your movement.

Still occupying your lips, Ember took the liberty to wrap her wings around your body like a blanket. Several minutes you stayed in this position, kissing passionately while your waists met.

Soon you could feel the walls of Ember’s pussy begin to tighten, you knew she was getting close. Finally pulling away from her lips, you savored the sight of her beautiful face as you could feel a familiar pressure in your groin.

“Y-You getting c-close...?” you asked, panting.

“Y-Yes! H-Hurry and f-finish up... inside me!” she screamed, wrapping her arms around you. As exhausted as you were, you pushed yourself to increase the speed of your thrusts as you felt your climax approaching.

“E-Ember...! I-I’m getting close...!” you stuttered, still going as fast as you could. In no time at all, you felt your climax hit you harder than before, filling your wife to the brim with your hot, sticky seed, breeding her intensely. Ember moaned as loud as she could, holding you tight in her arms and never letting you go.

Keeping your member inside her for a few more seconds, you sighed as you finally pulled out, causing more of your seed to stain the sheets.

You looked at each other and saw how you both were decorated with claw and bite marks. Fortunately, none of the wounds were serious. Due to your dragon instincts, you leaned down and began licking the bite marks on Ember’s neck, making her smirk.

“Even after that ferocious mating you gave me, you’re still a softie...” she teased.

“Hey, I can’t help it if I love you that much... hun,” you teased back before you went back to licking her.

“That’s okay though... because you’re my softie. But tomorrow, you’ll have to be up bright and early for what I’m about to tell the other dragons. I’d tell you now, but that would spoil the surprise,” she said mischievously.

“Hmm, I don’t know what you’ve got planned for tomorrow, but you can be sure that I’m not going to miss it.” you replied, rubbing her cheek.

“Good to hear. By the way, do you mind if I sleep with you?”

You chuckled at such a silly question so rather than answer you laid beside her and pulled her against you. “I’d be insulted if you didn’t. Just remember, you don’t have to ask me, we are married after all.”

Ember chuckle and snuggled up closer to you. “Spike was the one who taught me about friendship, but you taught me about romance. I love you Imperium,” she said softly.

“I love you too, Ember,” you replied in the same tone. The fatigue quickly took over both of you and finally drifted off into dreamland.

The next day arrived and right now, you and Ember had finally woken up from your nice, long rest so you could get yourselves ready for today. You gave Ember her golden armor while you put your clothes on. Ember takes you by the hand and guides you to the very top of the castle and down at the end of the hall. Ahead of you was a balcony that had a perfect view of the entire Dragon Lands.

“Ember, what’s all this about?” you asked.

Ember chuckled, “You’ll find out soon enough,” she replied. She holds her scepter up, making it glow brightly. Next thing you know, your scales began to glow, but you didn’t know why. Pretty soon, all the other dragons gathered around outside the castle, looking up at you and Ember.

“Listen up, everyone! I have a special announcement to make! As of today, I am no longer ruling the Dragon Lands on my own! As of last night, I have now officially given myself to my new husband and emperor of the Dragon Lands: Imperium! Together, we shall both rule over the Dragon Lands now and FOREVER!!!” she roared.

The dragons down below all roared and shot out streams of fire. You, on the other hand, were left speechless. You snapped out of it before shooting your own stream of fire into the sky.

“You mean to tell me that we’re not only married to each other, but now we’re ruling the Dragon Lands as empress and emperor?” you asked.

“Yes Imperium, that would be accurate,” Ember answers before kissing your cheek.

In response to this amazing news, you smirked and let out a loud roar, blasting out fire from your mouth in celebration of becoming the new ruler, alongside your wife. She joined in your little celebration, but only for a short amount of time before she dropped to her knees, trying to catch her breath.

You stopped what you were doing and kneeled down. “Ember, you okay?” you asked, worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just can’t overwork myself since my eggs are being fertilized,” she says rubbing her belly.

“Eggs? Are you saying-?” you asked, surprised.

“Yup, I’m pregnant. Congratulations... daddy.”

She offered you to hold the scepter along with her, but first you gave her a warm hug, feeling proud that one day, you were going to have kids of your own. Ember hugs you back, feeling happy herself. Afterwards, you helped her up onto her feet. You and Ember held the scepter up into the sky. The Bloodstone Scepter glows brightly and a powerful stream of fire shot up into the sky

Today was the most amazing day in your life. Once you were just a stubborn, aggressive guy who wallowed in misery, but now, you were a married man to the most beautiful dragoness in the entire world and had a kingdom to rule alongside with her. Not to mention the offsprings you would soon care for in later times. Your life had never felt so perfect and you wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.