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.