Vaul's Anvil. To most of the world, it was only known as the highest and most volcano on the face of Equus. Some said that this was where all of creation had started. In the forges and fires of a god.

Only a select few knew the truth of the Anvil, and as Dragon Lord Torch touched down on the ledge leading into the heart of the volcano, his simmering annoyance boiled over as he shouted into the interior. "Keicjannicarayas! Get your scaly rear out here! The Dragon Lord demands entrance!"

Nothing responded for several moments. Finally, though, another dragon emerged from the gloom, an unimpressed look on her face. Her copper scales stood out next to the ruby red from further in, only accentuating her curves and well-rounded breasts.

Shimmer, as she preferred to be called, smiled sweetly as she bowed her head. "Lord Torch. To what do I owe this unexpected visit? You never come out here. And must you use that name? Use my title. You have no power here."

Torch, to the shock of any and all who knew him, bowed his head sheepishly. "My apologies, oh Master of the Forge."

Shimmer nodded. "That's better." She smirked. "Now get up you big lummox. I still have enough respect for your title to hate seeing you like this. And again, what brings you to Vaul's Anvil?"

Torch grinned as he looked up. Only two dragons had any right to talk to him like this. Any other would be trounced around a bit, or worse. But both girls had earned his respect many times over. "I need a set of armor."

Shimmer's brows rose. "You have come all of the way out here for that? You do not need any. You haven't since before the last Gauntlet of Fire." Her brows rose in surprise. "Unless..."

Torch nodded proudly. "I have taken a mate. She just laid her first clutch."

Shimmer nodded, part of her surprised any dragoness could put up with the Dragon Lord and his attitude for any length of time. "Congratulations. Though I'm not sure who could put up with you for long," she chuckled, earning a glare from Torch. Shimmer's eyes gleamed a moment, and her smile softened. "You think one of your young will be the next Dragon Lord?"

Torch hid his unease well. He always hated how the Master of the Forge always seemed to know what others were thinking. It unnerved him to no end. "They'll earn it just every other welp out there. I won't give it to any of them."

Simmer smiled as she closed her eyes, letting her powers as Mistress of the First Flame extend outwards before opening her eyes. "I will do it. I need to stretch my claws. And it will be a good test for Bluutsvilvarrt."

Torch's brows rose in shock and surprise. "You've taken an apprentice?"

Shimmer nodded proudly. "Yes." She smirked at Torch's look. "Oh, don't give me that look you old wyrm. I have many more centuries left in me before I go to Dragon Eyrie. She might not even be the one I pass all of this to. But I felt something in her when she came to me. I could not pass it up."

Torch frowned, feeling there was more to it than that. But the process of choosing the next Master of the Forge and Mistress of the First Flame (whether the dragon was female or not) was far beyond anything he had ever been able to understand. "Then I thank you. If it is anything like I know you can make, they will be proud of it. Or I'll make them be if I have to."

Shimmer rolled her eyes. Before she could say more, however, a massive explosion ripped through the tunnel, and an angry cloud of ash erupted from the cone. Shimmer shook her head in exasperation. "I am sorry, Lord Torch. But I must be going before my apprentice brings the entire mountain down on top of us!"

Before Torch could offer a reply, Keicjannicarayas flew off back down the tunnel, an annoyed look on her face. One that made Torch grin. There was the drake he had once loved. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she was when she was mad. It almost made him wish things had been different between them as he turned to go.

Almost.

"That hatchling!" Shimmer fumed as she flew back down the tunnel to the core of the volcano. "How many times do I have to tell her? She is not ready for some of this. A century in, and she already thinks she can handle it all."

Despite her annoyance, Shimmer was proud of the progress her apprentice was making. Onyx still had far to go. But she was well on her way to becoming the next Mistress of the First Flame.

If she didn't blow them both up before then of course. By the six heads of the Empress Dragon, the youngling was too impatient. Too sure of herself. It would get her into trouble one of these days, Shimmer snorted as she came to the Forge itself. The Anvil overlooked a seething sea of lava far below. To the sides, twin streams of lava flowed continually into the lake below. But it was what she did not see that set Shimmer off.

"Bluutsvilvarrt! Get your scaley rear end over here NOW!" She roared, using her full power as Master of the Forge to make it into a command that no dragon could ignore, no matter how much they may have wanted to. A moment later, another dragoness came slinking out of the smoke, a sheepish look on her face as she bowed her head in submission.

If not for her pitch-black scales and green eyes, she might have been taken for Shimmer herself. Her body was almost identical in shape, only her youth preventing her from having as stately a body as her mistress.

Shimmer fought down the thoughts that came to her at that moment, seeing such a young and shapely body, as she pressed a claw to Onyx's throat and leaned in close. "What have I said about being left alone?"

For her part, Onyx glared straight back but was careful not to move her throat too much as she did. "Not to touch anything, I know. But I will never be your successor at this rate. You can't hold me back forever."

Shimmer's glare melted slightly. "A century does not mean you are ready, Onyx. It took me many centuries to be ready, and a part of me feels that I was still not ready even then." She smiled as she retracted her claw, before pulling Onyx close. "I can't lose you. You know how I feel about you."

Onyx only melted into her embrace. A part of her was still shocked that the two of them felt this way about the other. Same-sex couples among dragons were not unheard of but were rare nonetheless. But a growing part of her didn't care as she sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry. But I will never learn anything at this rate. How am I supposed to be the next Mistress of the First Flame if you hold me back?"

Shimmer kissed the top of her head. "Because you are not ready. It took me several centuries before my master let me do anything." She pulled Onyx close until their breasts were touching. "Do not think any less of yourself because of that. Perhaps it is time I show you some of what I know."

Onyx looked excited at the prospect. "Who was here earlier? I heard shouting from someone."

Shimmer rolled her eyes as they parted. "Lord Torch himself. He wants a suit of armor for his daughter. I was able to get a picture of who she will be. Fortunately, we won't have to work completely from scratch."

Onyx looked over at the six-headed dragon that loomed over them both. The Sight. A power granted by the Empress Dragon herself, or so it was said. The power to see into the future of a specific individual dragon, or even groups if the bearer pored more of their power into it. A power she still had yet to discover.

Why the statue's head seemed to have pony heads on the foreheads of the dragons was beyond her. Unless the stories were true. An ancient prophecy, foretelling the rise of the Seven who would unite ponies and dragons. An avatar of the Mother of All Life herself. If the rumors were true, one had already arisen.

Not that Onyx herself ever believed such nonsense. No dragon would ever bond themselves to a pony like that. Not that she had anything against the small creatures. But it seemed too much of a joke for one of them, let alone eight, would do so with a dragon.

Shimmer had heard the same stories, but had never paid them much mind, and now was no different as she saw where Onyx's eyes went. "Perhaps it is time I began to teach you more of what I know." She stretched before heading off to a little-used side area. "A bath first though. Care to join me?" She looked back, winking, before running her tail along Onyx's snout, earning a roaring blush from the dragoness.

Onyx didn't need to be told twice and rushed after her mistress.

"This always helps me relax," Shimmer sighed, sinking deeper into the lava bath. "Especially after dealing with Torch. I came out here for a reason, and it was not just for Vaul's Anvil."

Onyx sighed as she cuddled closer to the elder dragon. She was still new enough to this that she still remembered what it was like to live under Dragon Lord Torch. A part of her wasn't sure she would ever get used to the idea that, if things progressed as she hoped they would, she would never answer to him again. Not even for the Gauntlet of Fire. "Was he always like this?"

Shimmer shook her head as she put an arm around her companion. "No. He was much nicer actually growing up. For a muscle-bound dolt anyway. I nearly beat him in the last Gauntlet of Fire."

Onyx found that hard to believe, no matter who Shimmer was. No one could beat Lord Torch when he set his mind to it. Several dragons had found that out the hard way, as she settled her head on Shimmer's shoulder. "I somehow doubt that."

Shimmer chuckled. "Oh, I know a thing or two that will knock him down a notch. Being Master of the Forge puts me above the influence of the Bloodstone Scepter and what it gives him. I can only hope his mate has something to keep him in line."

The two chuckled before falling silent for a time. It was rare that they had any quiet time. Either Shimmer was busy away at the Forge and Anvil, or Onyx was off on some errand on the other side of the volcano. They missed these times.

Sometimes, Shimmer wondered what her life might have been like had Onyx not come into it. Perhaps their relationship hadn't started right off the bat, but she couldn't imagine anything different between the two of them. The same could be said for Onyx, as the two drifted off to sleep.

Unnoticed, their bodies began to grow closer and closer together, merging together into something new. Soon where once there had been two separate dragons, now there was something new.

"Was this supposed to happen?" Onyx asked, looking down at her new body, rather enjoying the feeling of being merged with the one she loved, and how their figure had filled out even more. Using the arm and leg in her colors came rather easily.

Shimmer shook her head, unfolding her wing. At least she had some control over this. "I do not know. I've never heard of anything like this." She smirked. "But I am not complaining. It seems like you will inherit all of this, Bluutsvilvarrt. What that means now, I don't know."

Onyx bowed her head. Very few ever used her full. Few had the right in her eyes. "Then I thank you, Mistress Keicjannicarayas." She smirked as well. "And who cares what others think of this?" She squeezed Shimmer's breast. "All that matters is what we think."

Shimmer nodded, kissing her new body companion's snout.

Two thousand miles away, two more were about to begin a journey of their own.

Author's Note

To clear things up. This chapter is set centuries before Season 1. Let alone Ember becoming Dragon Lord. Or even being born. Hell. Ponyville doesn't even exist yet. Right now? Amber is the only Dragon Knight in existence.