Simplified

If there's anything I remember clearly in my life, it was my first experience with the molt. If there was one thing I could distinctively point out about that experience, it would be the moment I came face to face with a large hungry roc dead-set on grabbing a quick snack of anything it could get it's talons on. In that case it was a bogo deal, a baby dragon and a free zebra to go along with it. I'm sure the roc was pleased with it's options. And of course that deal was immediately sweetened with an additional unicorn to boot.

Yeah, no fun memories of that moment. Watching both Zecora and Rarity getting swept up into the air, nearly getting spirited away as Twilight tried her best to save them both. And for the longest time, all I could do was scratch an unstoppable itch before my body hardened to stone. Then there was the brief freedom of having wings, the pulsing adrenaline that I operated on, the rush of emotions I felt, the boost of confidence I had in the moment I burped fire in the roc's face. But after that when I got home, I crashed. Everything fell dull, my body grew unresponsive, and I couldn't do anything for a full day.

That's what I remember about the rocs, the fear especially, the panic, the adrenaline, the need to save my friends, and after doing just that the feeling of my body closing shop for the day. It was a lot for my younger self to push through, especially a struggle that affected me internally above all else. I blamed myself for a lot that day, even nearly getting Rarity killed. That was the thing I could never truly process...

It was almost like that one time... when I paired up with a senator, only to betray my friends.

...Never mind that, there's a roc flying overhead in the dragon lands, and I'm deeply concerned for whatever that means for me right now.

"Psst!" A whisper grabs my attention, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look around to see a red tail poking from behidn a boulder. Not before long, a familiar red dragon pokes his head out. "Spike!"

I hover over to him. "Garble, what's going on─" He quickly snatches me out the air to hide along with him.

He covers my mouth, his eyes darting in various directions. "Rocs are here, we have to get out of sight before they get tired of the appetizers and start looking for an all-you-can-eat buffet."

Just as I feared, the roc that flew past me had a lingering appetite. "Wait, don't they usually come when dragons are in the molt?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't stop them from coming after dragons like us too. Let's get a move on."

As he starts to pull me away, I stop to ask a question. "So are we just gonna ignore the fact that there might be some young dragons in trouble out there?"

"It's not for us to wonder why, it's just for us to hide or die." He says in a hurry.

As we capitalize on our fortunes, I can't help but to see another two hovering up above in the distance, seemingly to circle around one particular location on the island.

Something's not right.

Garble and I fly down to a rather spacious cave, inside appears to be much of the dragons who inhabited the area. Young dragons and elder drakes with much to show for their years barking with words of concern. The both of us are fortunate enough to gain close proximity to the two dragons that faced the growing crowd.

"Everyone, settle down!" Torch appears the least phased about the appearance about the giant predators.

"How can we settle down when there are rocs sitting on our grounds!?" One dragon questions loudly above the others.

"Whoever's molting needs to be out there fending for themselves instead of putting us all in danger!" Another jumps in.

"There's three of them out there! Who's molting that bad!?" A dragon from the back shouts.

"We can't allow for this to continue! For generations we've led the rocs away from here, now that we started being all namby-pamby about us being friends with the ponies, all we've been getting is frequent visitations and more dragons getting eaten!" This particular dragon flies up from the crowd to directly shout her words to Ember. "Your way of doing things is going to get us killed!"

I take observation of the furious crowd and mutter over to Garble. "Everyone is so hostile here."

"You would be too if your way of life is threatened on a monthly basis." Garble answers back quietly.

A scrawny male dragon jumps up to point his finger at the leading dragoness who's a good seven inches taller than him. "Clearly you're not fit to be the dragon lord! You're strong, but that's all you got from Lord Torch!"

"We want the old dragon lord back!" An elder dragon calls out from the midsection, prompting a lot of agreement from the crowd.

Garble nudges me with a smirk. "Peh, that's your queue."

"SILENCE!" As the crowd still shared some audible complaints, Ember tries to establish some reason to them. "THE ROCS WILL TAKE WHAT THEY WILL AND LEAVE OUR LANDS SOON ENOUGH! WE WILL NOT BE HARRASSED BY THEM ANY FURTHER ONCE THIS IS DONE! WE'VE DISCUSSED THIS I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES! THEY WILL CLAIM WHO THEY WILL AND LEAVE!"

"There! Are! Three of them!" The scrawny one sounds out. "They look like they're doing more than poking around for a snack!" Five rubies say he's worried about being next.

One dragon comes rushing in from the back of the cave to make an announcement. "Another two were sighted over the southern forest!"

"Great! That makes FIVE now!" It seems that the scrawniest and smallest adult dragon of the bunch also happens to be the most vocal towards Ember. "So much for 'They'll go away!' I don't recall there ever being five rocs infesting the island at once!"

"What do we do about this!?" Another cries out.

As Ember is showing more and more signs of being ignored, and also being burdened with the stress and pressure, she seeks me out and calls on me. "Spike, as much as I still think of you as a risk to the others, you're the only real resource we have to getting some reinforcement. I'm willing to grant you early leave from the island, but you need to inform the ponies of Equestria that we may need their help─"

"Ponies!? Those things snack on us like we're a cheap bag of gems and you want the soft and squishy ponies to come out and help us!?" Says the smallest and softest dragon in the whole cave right now.

This time, Garble enters the fray. "Those ponies are stronger than they lead on! We've seen them in action before! We fought alongside them!"

"That's because there were windigos circling the sky! Any colder and we would've been automatically put into hibernation until the ice thaws! We didn't have a choice then!" The small dragon voiced out boisterously.

"And we don't have a choice now!" Ember silences him with her sharpened response before looking back to me. "Spike, please... help us."

...And wouldn't you know it, it's almost as if I haven't left my post as Royal Friendship Advisor.

After four weeks of being on the island, now I'm forced to do my job on the island I've been confined to. But all at the same time, I can't really offer to help them until I reduce the number of variables that can cause something like this to happen again in the near future. The only sensible outcome I can come to is the fact that there's a lot of molting dragons.

In fact, that makes plenty of sense. All the eggs I helped Ember hatch, the absurd amount of eggs that were laid, this time of year being the dragon migration which also brings about rampant mating, that means those dragons born around this time grow up eventually, and there's more than a few, which means there's dozens out there molting right now.

Dozens upon dozens of dragons if not hundreds, molting at the same time, during the tail end of the dragon migration. It more than adds up. Those rocs see this as open season, and rightfully so. Now that narrows down the cause, let's work on a possible solution. "Can I say my peace before I agree on anything?"

"Just hurry up and get those squishy ponies already so they can snack on them instead of us!" I'm almost ready to go chuck that guy at the lot of them for bait.

I calm myself and bring my attention back to the dragon lord. "Ember, what are we doing to protect the molting dragons?"

"Nothing, that's what! Let them fend for themselves! If they make it, they can live like the rest of us! If they don't, then it wasn't meant for them to be here in the first place!" REALLY about to just leave him tied to a boulder for them to find.

I turn to the crowd on that note, calling them out for what they do. "I know that some of you at least had to have laid the eggs that they hatched out of! I know you know which ones have your features. So what about that!?"

"Does it matter?" Of fucking course he's still talking.

I had enough, I direct my attention directly to the scrawny yet vocal bastard. "I find it hard to believe that you all don't see the issue of leaving your own out there to die, much less the ones that aren't strong enough to fend for themselves. And yet you all want to be saved instead?"

"We did our part! We live because we fight every day to do that!" He argues strongly.

"I've been here for the better part of a month. Do you all really fight so little that you don't know how to fight rocs?"

"Spike, I know it sounds absurd, but he speaks with reason here." Ember surprises me, and not in a good way, by taking on his merits. "Fighting dragons over gems and stuff is one thing, but fighting rocs is different!"

"Yeah, I know! I fought one!"

Gasps sound throughout the room with the resounding exception of the scrawny dragon. "That's probably because those ponies helped you, didn't they!?"

"EXACTLY!" I shout out as he defeats one of his own arguments. "I'M HERE BECAUSE MY FRIENDS LOVED ME ENOUGH TO COME BACK FOR ME WHEN I VENTURED OUT ON MY OWN, THINKING THAT I HAD TO GO MY OWN WAY! THEY TOLD ME OTHERWISE, THAT I DIDN'T HAVE TO GO AT LIFE BY MYSELF! THEY TAUGHT ME THE VALUE OF PROTECTING THE ONES AROUND YOU!"

He makes yet another crude argument. "Well those ponies have more than enough of themselves to throw at the rocs! We dragons don't! And if we go out there acting like a bunch of ponies, there will be less of us to go around! We fought to survive up to this point!"

"WHICH IS WHY IT DOESN'T MAKE FUCKING SENSE!" I shout again as he defeats yet another one of his own arguments. "THINK ABOUT IT, YOU FOUGHT OUT OF AN EGG JUST TO BREATHE THE AIR FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU FOUGHT OTHERS WHEN COMING UP JUST SO YOU CAN LIVE, THEN YOU FOUGHT AND RAN TO AVOID THE ROCS WHEN YOU WERE COMING UP, AND THEN YOU FIGHT FOR TERRITORY TO OWN ONCE THAT'S ALL OVER! You wanna know what's really crazy, YOU FIGHT TO PUT THOSE LITTLE GUYS IN THE WORLD, IT'S LITERALLY PART OF THE MATING PROCESS! I'm pent up to hell trying to find out who I'm gonna be chasing after in a year, AND YOU ALL ARE SCARED TO EVEN FIGHT FOR THE ONES YOU BROUGHT HERE! HOW, MAKE IT MAKE SENSE TO ME!"

"Dragons are different! If they can't defend themselves, then they can't be one of us." In comes Torch with a particularly conservative viewpoint.

I point up to the hulking dragon and his daughter. "You want to continue the dragon race, right?"

Ember answers for her father, who's upset that I dared to point a claw at him. "It's my duty to make sure the dragons continue to exist. It's my obligation as dragon lord."

"Then you tell them to fight those rocs out there. You tell them to defend the ones who can't fend for themselves! That's what makes a community thrive! Send in the ones who can fight the best, so that way we can have more dragons who will grow up stronger, be wiser, kinder, and more protective of their own! Where's your sense of dragon pride!?"

Ember shows a lot of hesitation, apparently wanting to voice agreement. But with the limitless amount of faces staring back to her to validate their reason for not going in, she feels a great deal of pressure to speak for her populace. "Spike. I don't know if they'll do that."

"You're the dragon lord, remember? Whatever you command, they'll do." I remind her.

"It's too dangerous." She argues, this time a lot more firm on her position. "If we go out there and dispatch those five rocs, how many of us do you think they'll go through before they all leave us alone?"

She elects to keep her dragons out of the fight, mainly for their protection. But I seek to start a movement within some of those who quietly think like her. However, the only way I can do that is to call her out publicly and make her act on her obligations. I take a deep breath, assessing the risk that this would further damage our diplomatic relationship, and speak with an iron resolve. "You know what, you can stay here and hide with your dragons, and show your so-called compassion to these bitches, because that's exactly what they are right now."

She immediately calls me out for my insult. "Now you know that's out of line, Spike!"

"Then stop me!" I pat on my chest repeatedly.

"As dragon lord, I command you to stand down, Spike!" She announces loudly.

"As the Friendship Ambassador of Equestria, I hereby say your instruction will be duly noted, your highness. But as Spike the Dragon, I formally say kiss my scaly ass with that shit!" I fly off to the mouth of the cave, announcing myself loud enough that my voice echoes off the walls. "Now I'm going to save those kids, you can stay here and give these wimpy dragons all the pillows and blankets you can get from future trades. I'll even be sure to stitch some together personally when I get back, since all of you are so fucking soft!"

Garble quickly jumped in my way, impeding my exit for a short while. "Woah, Spike. Are you sure you wanna go out there and take on five rocs like this? Remember, you're the one who said you don't like fighting."

While he has a point about my preferences against violence, I never said that I wasn't afraid to fight. In fact, I'm encouraged by the circumstances that surrounds me. Most often times, my fight is within the dockets of democracy and politics. But I do fight when it is necessary, not when it's for self-gain. I mean it can be for my gain, but it has to be for someone else above me.

Funny... all those years ago I thought he was fighting just to get some action, put a princess or two in a mating press just so he can brag about it to his friends. It took me up till recent years for me to understand it a little more, that it wasn't just for the action. He did it outside of himself mainly, he benefitted to an extent, but he suffered far worse because of the scope of who he was trying to protect.

I'm not going to be in his position, but I am going to take example from him. "I think I told you that story already. A guy I know, he was captain of the guard some years ago, a human. Didn't know anything about the world we lived in, but he didn't shy away from the craziest things that stood in his way. He got banged up pretty bad in his fights, but he never gave up." I whisper into his ear my intent, all while glancing back at Ember from the side of my eye. "Sometimes, it takes a fool to charge in for the so-called 'wise' to see their potential. If dragons revere bravery and accomplishment as much as they do strength, they'll kick it into gear eventually."

As I'm about to dart off, Garble holds my arm and makes a quiet comment about his standing. "Spike, I know you're pretty crazy. I'd help you, but I'm still a dragon bound to code. What the dragon lord says goes, you know that."

I smirk and pat him on his shoulder. "In other words, I'll see you soon."

I penned a letter to Twilight for the first time in a month. I know she's probably worried sick about me because I haven't really gotten around to writing her. I mean my mind was on other things, and my claws were working the shaft almost every other hour. I'm sure she wouldn't want any of my letters to her to smell like sulfur, ash, and dragon cum. I don't want another situation like the dating app incident, so I played it safe. Unfortunately if there were any lingering scents, she would have to endure it for now.

Once I blew my flame to send that off, I looked off to the distance, seeing the five rocs circling in pattern above an open area of the Phoenix Forest. I mutter to myself my own thoughts. "Twilight, I hope you can get here soon."

Without me knowing, a voice pops out from beside me. "So... what are those?"

I'm startled to see a brown dragon sitting next to me, but I'm now aware of the disguise. "You're here again?"

Ocellus smiles proudly as she commends herself for her stealth. "You know I'm good for blending into a crowd. And that show you put on earlier, that was pretty convincing."

"You gotta stop popping in like that, you almost gave me a heart attack." I shake my head at her and look back to see the giant predatory birds soaring high in the distance. "I guess I can get around to answering your question now. Those are rocs, we dragons are prey to them."

"Huh..." She murmurs curiously. "Never imagined a fire-breathing entity to be lower in the food groups to a giant bird."

"Yeah, and you look like you could fit the bill." I warn her. "You need to get out of here."

"Why should I?" She shrugs.

"Beeecaaause it's dangerous?"

"Okay, and I'm not used to danger? I'm so sorry that my pony-like posterior isn't something that's capable of a bit of posturing." She replies with a bit of sarcasm.

"This is a different kind of danger here." I stress again.

"How many times have I heard that over the past number of years?" She asks as she walks past me, letting the spear of her tail tickle at my nose. I slap it down to avoid sneezing.

"I just hope Twilight got my letter." I say in a nasally voice, still holding back a sneeze.

"I'm sure she did." She said as she tickles my nose with her tail again.

I end up sneezing directly at her, sending both fire and smoke in her face. I cover my mouth in horror for a moment before I notice that she's smirking back at me, just as unaffected as a dragon would be to high temperatures. She even gives me a few flutters of the eyes before turning around. Sometimes she annoys me... and others I'm tempted to punish her for it in a very promiscuous way.

Hey now, I'm on the downturn of dragon lust, it doesn't mean I won't breed her senseless. "Let's go. You stay behind me."

"To watch your back..." She playfully swats at my tail. "Got it." She answers innocently.

I'm thinking with my dick here... But yeah, she's earned that top spot of my speed dial when I get my phone back.

Okay, now naturally in a situation with an urgency such as life or death, I'm a lot more focused on what all needs to be done. I've established myself in that aspect many times before, even when I have some inherent thoughts or maybe some sidewinders from the right side of my brain. But it's becoming more and more apparent that dragon lust enhances those distractions even in the midst of a cool-down period.

Case in point: Every time Ocellus walks in front of me.

She purposefully aligns herself in my line of sight, almost teasing me with every sway her hips make in stride. I have to tell myself it's a basic walk cycle dragons have, that I shouldn't be so distracted by something so small... well yeah by dragon standards she is a bit on the petite side in that form. But all I can think about is the moments she stayed true to her relatively thick self, planting her haunches on top of me without giving me the horny honor of plugging her shut. Why am I like this?

But she's not even trying, she's being serious about the search and rescue effort. Yeah she was toying with me earlier, but she's operating under a sober disposition while I'm still thirsting. She's checking every bush and tree, making sure we're not being followed or pursued. I stop to look for stragglers and survivors, then look up to see her bending over in the midst of her search, and my priorities are altered as instant as magic.

Though that attention span of mine is brought right back to the present as a large shadow darkens the forest for a split second before clearing back up. I see the looming feathers of a roc gliding overhead, maintaining it's position.

"I never imagined rocs to be so big up close." Ocellus comments.

Seriously, how did she not imagine that when she could see them as clear as day from a considerable distance? "That's the going rate."

She appears stumped, not really understanding what it is we're looking for besides trouble from above. "Hey, is there any way we can identify where these little ones are?"

I politely inform her. "Follow your nose and see what it tells you."

She quirks a brow before shrugging and sniffing the air. We start walking along again, hoping to hit on a trail before we're noticed. It doesn't take long before the disguised changeling gags. "It smells pretty bad in this direction."

"Then we're not too late. Let's go."

I'm right back in the mode of getting things done, distractions are a side point now. While Ocellus appeared to be hanging back because of the smell, I braved the odorous scent and tracked down the source of the pungent aroma. Before long, I was greeted with a group of young dragons of varying sizes. Each of them had red and purple stone scales all over them, some of them trying to stick around each other while holding one back from running off out of fear when the bushes rustled.

As I showed myself, they realized I wasn't a threat. The taller one approached me with a quiet plea as Ocellus finally caught up to us. "Help us, please."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" She asked the young dragon.

Before he could take a breath to speak, I plugged his mouth shut with my claws. "Don't answer." I look back to the disguised changeling and inform her cautiously. "Ocellus, the reason why I don't want them speaking is because their voice has massive volume influxes. So they either whisper like a mouse, or they roar like a lion begging to get an obituary."

One of the smaller dragons even provided some ill-timed evidence of that issue by sniffing one of their fellow molting comrades. I'm sure they meant to whisper, but... "Ugh, you stink!" ...nature had other plans. The small dragon immediately covered their snout and sniffled with remorse. "Sorry."

"That's natural." I reassure for a moment, looking over to see if Ocellus had gained anything from the experience. But I'm surprised that she's taking the rank odor in a relatively calm stride. "How are you not affected by the smell anymore?"

She smiles proudly, pulling out a small tub of jelly. "A trick one of the humans brought to my attention some years ago when dealing with unfortunate circumstances, cause element bearer, bound to see and smell some unforgettable things. Add some Vaseline beneath your nostrils, you're all set."

"Really?" I ask her, which she replies with a confirming nod. I take her up on the suggestion. "Wish you'd taught me that trick sooner." I dig a claw in and apply the jelly under my nostrils. While I still smell the odor to an extent, the overpowering mint scent overrides much of my olfactory responses. So that really strong cotton-candy, sulfur, diet sewage smell is mostly phased out. I give her a thumbs up to show my thanks and bring my attention back to the kids. "Okay, I know this is gonna sound like a lot, but try not to scratch yourself. You'll just grab more attention with the smell. The last thing you want is for the rocs above us to feel like they found themselves a scratch-and-sniff in the food catalog."

Almost on cue, there's a young dragon already going to town on themselves, reaching behind themselves and clawing away at the discolored scales on their body. The taller dragon of the group quickly calls out the main offender. "Didn't he just say not to scratch?"

*SCREEEEEEECH*

That's trouble. "Down!"

Well all drop to the ground as a pair of talons the size of trees sweep through the forest, clutching at branches and bark in the midst of it's flyby. The green canopy that once concealed us has become a break in the usually verdant path to the sky. I feel my tongue warm rapidly while I ready my fire for it's second dive.

Ocellus takes note of the predator's appearance, pointing out it's beak in particular. "Not to alarm you or anything... It's beak is really bloody."

Signs of an unfortunate victim or two. I issue command to the others as I stand up to try to intercept it's second dive. "We save who we can, no excuses."

One of the younger dragons holler in horror. "It's looking this way!"

It screeches loudly upon it's descent, but rears back it's talons as I unleash a consistent torrent of green flames upon them. The intense heat drives the wary predator away from us, if only for a moment. I call out while in a rush of adrenaline. "Yeah, you better run!"

Ocellus makes a note of what happened. "So they don't like fire, good to know."

"Normal fire, they can handle. But remember, I don't breath normal fire." I strongly advise her.

She stops for a moment and appears confused. "Okay, so is that like a magic fire that's specific to only you?"

I expound on things a little further. "Not entirely. There's normal fire that most dragons breathe on a regular basis, then there's laughing fire, fury fire, belching fire, and enchanted fire. I'm an enchanted type. Ember could work out too because she's a fury type who also has access to enchanted fire."

Ocellus grows more and more curious and cross-eyed. "So what about laughing types?"

"Every dragon has it, but they have to be laughing. This ain't something to laugh about." I briefly summarize for time.

"Belching fire then?" She asks in similar fashion.

As I am about to explain, I hear a belching sound, accompanied by a red flame incinerating a nearby tree. Both the disguised changeling and I look at the tree and the young dragon responsible for it's destruction. "Yeah, that."

"SORRY!!!" The dragon blurted out with an uncontrollable volume, gaining the attention of another roc in the area. Now there were two of them closing in on our position with murder on their mind, and a stomach to fill.

"Run!" I called out to everyone, causing them to scatter. "Stay close to the ground, you'll have a better chance of it grabbing a tree over grabbing you! And whatever you do, don't run straight if it dives at you!"

"Or what?" Ocellus inquires in a hurry.

"You wanna find out how a roc's breath smells like from the inside of it's mouth?"

"No thanks, I'll pass." No hesitation on that response, and for good reason.

I stop and wait for a moment to pretend I'm cornered against a tree, I start to feel my throat grow warmer by the second. I see the roc coming in for a swipe, which is what I'm banking on. The predator grabs a chunk of the earth, a clump of dirt, trees, and me along with it. I'm in it's captivity but only in a loose grip thanks to the dirt falling away. I'm close enough to get a clean shot of it's chest. The wind blows wildly past us as we soar through the air at a breaking speed, but the air isn't enough to quench the heat I have for this unfortunate bird. I unleashed all I held, burning feathers and flesh alike. The bird halts it's advance, just long enough for me to get a better look at it's flapping wing. I reload, take aim, and unleash a torrent of green, superheated flames to it, and with such intensity that I reduce much of the bird's feathers used for flight. The crucial blows sends the predatory beast spiraling to the ground, a trail of smoke signaling it's descent towards the earth. Upon landing, I take a large branch of the tree and drive it into the roc's chest.

The beast soon succumbs, and I look back at my handiwork. Personally, I'm pretty impressed that worked out for it being something I heard Smolder doing. It seems her strategy checks out, I'll have to thank her later.

The younger dragons are impressed by the sight of the downed bird. "You really gave it to that one!" The taller one calls out proudly.

But that accomplishment is hard to pull off for consecutive tries. It's a risk that can easily go wrong, provide that the tree isn't strong enough to hold, or that I get caught up in a bunch of boulders, or even getting the full brunt of those talons, all could lead to severe injury or worse. Can't do that every time. "That's one down..." I mutter to myself. "Only four more to go."

"Spike, look out!"

The surprising call quickly grabs my attention, but I'm not quick enough to stop the incoming roc that noticed my compromising position. I'm grabbed straight on with those grueling talons and suspended into the air. I think quickly, concentrating my fire to the claws that continued to clutch down on me. I scratch and claw with complete desperation, adding in the effort of my fire to break one of the nails that clutched me down. I weasel my way out of the creature's grasp, but it's at a painful cost. On my way out, the webbing of my right wing is slashed through, and I'm unable to fly safely. I can only glide, but uncontrollably into the branches of a waiting tree. I take a tumble through the branches and fall to the ground.

Ocellus quickly gathers to me, noticing how I'm wincing in pain and favoring the injury. "Spike, your wing!"

"It's done for now, guess I'm grounded for the remainder of my time here." I grimace through it, trying to stand in the midst of all the pain. While my wings will heal over time, it doesn't bode favorably for at least a week.

The changeling drops her dragon disguise, her horn glows in the attempt to nurse my wing to good health. "Thank Celestia I know a thing or two about unicorn magic."

"Save it for something else." I urge, but she refuses to listen.

"Spike, I don't know how to fight rocs. If you stay down, we're all done here."

I groan with some frustration, trying to think of a solution to deal with the other roc that we ran into. "Really wishing Twilight wasn't so busy where she couldn't read my letter right now."

In the distance, I could see the same roc I partially declawed swooping in for another pass. The younger dragons gather around us. They aren't as interested in the changeling standing in the midst of them, especially when we're all staring death in the face. Ocellus gets jittery as she comments on our predicament. "So, on a scale from one to dragon lust, how done are we?"

"How many eggs you want?" I chirp back.

"I take it that's not a good response."

"It's not." I groan for a moment.

Almost at that instant, a bright beam of light zips in from overhead, making it's way towards the surging beast. It makes a direct impact, quickly sending the creature to the forest floor with a sizeable hole in it's chest. Upon falling, it stakes itself upon a tree, breaking the once-cauterized wound back open. The roc struggles for a moment before falling silent.

The younger dragons are amazed at the miraculous save, but I grow confused from it's source. "That wasn't Twilight's magic."

A motherly voice sounds from the sky above. "Sorry if I'm cutting into your fun!" Without further warning, the ground shakes lightly from the impact of a white alicorn mare landing firmly on her hooves. She raises her head, looking over to where I stood injured. "Ah, well isn't this a pleasant reunion."

Years ago, I remember the moment where this same alicorn along with her younger sibling graced Twilight with a crown as well as their responsibilities to rule the land. It was only a year ago when I last saw her face, she sported a much shorter mane than what the world was used to seeing her have. She was escorted in her chariot to the royal air station, to be charted off back to the west with her towering human husband.

And just like then, her smile never seemed to fade at any moment. "Princess Celestia!? How did you get here, and why are you here?" I know she's not a princess anymore, but habits are hard to break. Calling her by title is one of those habits.

At least she's not annoyed enough to correct me for it. "Actually, I was on my way over to deliver a bit of some good tidings to a fellow retiree of power. But obviously that can wait."

In speaking of retirees... "Wait, if you're here... then where's the hubby?" Would really love to run into him again because human weapons are really powerful. Him showing up with a sniper rifle would probably be the best thing ever right now.

"Hmm?... Oh, no no! He's still back in Silver Shoals at the school." And just like that, my hopes are dashed. Obviously she's still got him in bubble wrap ever since that whole terrorist incident in Canterlot some years ago. She's overtly protective of him, but then again I understand why.

Ocellus greets the former princess with a bow. "Your highness─"

"Celestia or Cella, just call me either of those. And save the bowing for the one who wears the crown now." And there it goes, figure she would get irritated by it sometime during this venture. "Okay, so here's the status update. There are at least nine of those things around here."

"NINE!?" I shout almost to the top of my lungs.

The former ruler flicks a bit of her shortened mane as she thinks aloud. "Well to update the status update, I guess that makes it eight now."

I'm still upset that our odds are even worse right now, I argue against the princess about her assessment. "There were two in this area alone. I killed one, and you did away with that other one."

"Yes, there were ten floating around. We got two. So again, eight." She points out yet again.

I groan with despair, already thinking the worst of this situation. "How do we fight off that many?"

The former ruler gives me a cheeky smile. "I don't know, maybe I can ask a few friends about that one." She looks up to the sky, watching as a large shadow looms overhead.

To my surprise, it's lord torch hovering in with his commanding presence. Behind him are an assortment of dragons, big and small, old and young, each of them flying behind the duo that leads them. And the one who descends down first is the one who carries the scepter.

Ember immediately notes my condition. "SPIKE!"

While I'm not surprised, I like the fact that she still came forward, even if it might cause her some flak later on. "Wow, so you actually came through."

Ember politely bestows her scepter to Celestia, who holds it in her magic long enough to let the dragon lord lay into me with a loud lecture. "You actually came here! You dumbass, how are you going to run into some rocs trying to make a nest by yourself and think that you'll get out of it alive!?"

"Wait, there's a roc nest?" I ask, completely astounded.

"They're trying to establish one. The fact that you're even here only makes matters worse." Before long, she notices the lingering odor of the molt taking place. She coughs out of recoil. "And that... that's what's drawing them in. Who's molting?"

"Them over there." I point casually towards the group of young dragons.

"It's not just us." The taller dragon announces. "We're just a scouting party for gems and stuff. There's another forty of us deeper in the forest."

"AND YOU'RE ALL TOGETHER!?" Ember seemed to seethe with rage as she called out the young troupe, causing them to shiver out of fear.

"W-w-we just th-th-thought that we could beat the molt and the rocs if we stuck together, us molters. We didn't know we would draw in so many. We're sorry."

With the truth revealed, I looked to the dragoness. "Okay, now's your moment. Either leave them to suffer, or show them the compassion they deserve. Your choice."

Of course she's hesitant, but she succumbs to the pressure of having Celestia nearby. After all, she's our only life line outside of Torch. "...This smell is gonna get on my nerves."

Ocellus then jumps at the opportunity to give me the Vaseline she used. I offer her the tub, she looks back at me with bewilderment before Celestia explains the reason. "You might want some of that under your nose."

"Why?" She asks.

"Trust me, I know."

It took a while for us to get close to the gathering of molting dragon youth. We had to fight off a number of rocs to get there, and we also disrupted their nest-making process to stop them from getting established in the dragon lands. Ember won't say it out loud, but my calling her out managed to be to the benefit of the entire dragon race.

Since the younger dragons were brought up more on the ideals of how we operate in a modern Equestrian society, it made perfect sense that they would try to look out for one another. Ember didn't quite see that, I'm sure none of the dragons paid any attention to it because they don't really look after the younger generations they simply breed into existence. Even Ember's attention is more divested in keeping the eggs warm, and the whole idea was that they could fend for self once they were born. In that perspective they succeeded, but the overwhelming molt smell became something that attracted some unwanted real estate.

Again, it's something that they'll have to deal with more often in the near future. But this go around is a great way to start learning how to further unify all us dragons as a species, even when there's some minor inconveniences involved. Plus this also adds to the relatively small list of trade demands dragons now have. So that makes both pillows and Vaseline the primary imports for the dragon lands.

Huh, seems my job follows me even when I don't want it to.

After all was said and done, the younger dragons finished their molt, and were reintegrated into dragon society. The young dragons from earlier happily thanked me and Ocellus for reaching out to them when they needed help, as well as saving them from the first two rocs. Ocellus was also given a offering specially made from the dragons, just a simple quartz rod, crudely crafted, but it's the thought that counts.

While we're still in the midst of our celebration, I can't help but to notice both Celestia and Torch casually having a back-and-forth. Ember also notices it and questions her father about their acquaintanceship. "So, how do you two know each other again?"

Celestia looks towards the gargantuan dragon and chuckle with friendly glee. "Well if you want to know, it started some centuries ago. Torch visited our lovely little mountain way back when. He really caused one hell of an uproar when he managed to shut down our mining operation, not that I was complaining much about it. My nobles demanded I do something about it, and I sent my best guard to check things out. My best guard came out in bad shape, so I went in to check for myself, and there he was."

"She visited me for a while." Torch continues. "I told her that I struck a deal with that pegasus she sent in for me. All throughout the time, we were pretty frequent, at least once a month or so. But that all changed when that pegasus fellow turned up as mincemeat one of those days. So when she stopped visiting, and I got tired of finding bones and rotting corpses in my gems, I flew off."

"Well, that's comforting." Ember mutters sarcastically.

"So yeah, I heard you got a mate now, got married and all that last year. Ember kept my ear to it. How's the meatbag you got now?" Torch asks the former princess.

"Adorable, kind, sweet, a little rough around the edges but I don't love him any less for it. He could easily say the same about me."

Torch goes on to make fun of his fellow retiree. "And you snuck out the house without telling him. I take it that honeymoon part of your marriage is beyond over now."

"Hardly!" She rebuts passionately. "That man does things to me I didn't even know was a thing until he taught them to me. I have been alive for well over a thousand years you know, and I never once thought that something as simple as breathing would lead to longer-lasting orgasms."

The claws of my feet quite literally crack the ground as I tense up from the shock of her making sex into a casual conversation. Like seriously, is this the same Princess Celestia I knew from Twilight's school days? Torch laughs at my visible reaction. "HA! Look at that puny bastard. Couldn't handle a real conversation even when it lands in his lap."

Ember isn't too easy-going about the conversation either. "Dad... please, change the subject."

Torch continues on. "Ah, what it is to be young and consumed in dragon lust. The two of you are so naïve, it's rich."

Celestia chuckles as she looks at me. "Oh no, Spike! What is Twilight doing to you? Is she not giving you the time you need to yourself?"

I look away from her awkwardly. "It's... it's a long story."

"Poor thing! Have you mated yet?" Just the fact that it's her voice asking me that question has my cheeks red with embarrassment.

Torch answers the question for me. "Not even once! He's too scared to wrestle up with any female around here, much less my daughter. He doesn't even realize that fighting is pretty much foreplay!"

"DAD!" Ember shouts out of shock.

"Oh don't be ashamed, Spike. I understand if you don't want to get a little physical to start off with." She says, trying to ease my nerves. "Though if you want my personal preference, getting into a battle is like a pre-marital workout."

Nevermind, lady, nevermind!

"I don't do much in fighting these days, and I don't take much of a beating either. So the aggression's got to come from somewhere. I don't think I've even learned what it meant to overcome my own pain until my husband slapped me on my ass that one time in Ponyville. He called me 'sunbutt', like what captain of mine does that?"

MA'AM!

"At one point I was so scared of whips because of... reasons. But my husband really got me to understand trust, ensuring safety, consent, aftercare, hydration, obedience..." A most unfamiliar smile crept to her lips, one I sure haven't seen before. "...I'm a good girl, until I want to be."

...Oh my Faust. "Did that really need to be said out loud?"

Celestia turns to me, still with that lust-driven smile on her face. "Spike, I know this is going to sound awkward to you, but I think the dragons are on to something with the whole 'fighting before mating' thing. Adrenaline, blood flow, and preconditioning. Like yeah I fought some rocs, and I'm sure my husband is looking for me right now, he's the scarier of the two, and I'm not going back home until he finds me because I cut off my phone. But when he does find me, I'm getting dragged back home by my tail and my husband is going break the box springs again."

"Feeling a bit bratty, are we?" Torch asks.

She whispers under a giggle. "Whatever gets him to hit me harder." Holy hell, she's full-blown kinky.

Torch's nostrils fill with smoke as he cries out with excitement. "That's the spirit! I like this meatbag the more I hear about him!"

Ember's face reddens deeply, she covers her face from the embarrassment. "You know, I want to preface this by saying that you two are certifiably insane." I point out.

"Well we all have to be that way at some point in our life, Spike." Celestia states proudly. "Just be sure it's sooner rather than later. Don't leave any room for regrets."

"CELESTE DELANISE VALKYRIE, HERE! NOW!"

As the voice seemingly booms from all around us, I look down to see a massive shadow enclosed on her position. She giggles, tapping her hooves in glee. "Ooh, in speaking of regrets! Well Torch, this was fun and I wish I could stay, but I have a score to beat!" A shadowy tendril climbs from the massive shadow and wraps itself around her body, threatening to take her under. "Now one more tip for mating, Spike. Gently push down two to three inches above where you enter, she'll love it and squirm harder."

As soon as the tendril finishes wrapping around her, all that remained of her was some loose feathers floating in the air as she was violently taken under. The shadow disappears completely as Torch taps his chin in thought. "Huh... I never thought to do that one. Theories for later, I guess."

...So how do I go about telling Twilight her former mentor evolved into a dick demon?

Shortly after the celebrations, Ocellus took her leave back to the mainland. I also had a few dragon females trying to set an appointment with me, which Ember sternly denied. I got some much-needed rest in spite of the pain in my wing, and my other wounds on my body healed up just fine.

The next morning, I was a bit pent up and had to work off some of that stress from yesterday. I went with the usual method, took me a good lava bath, and took to the shoreline. I walked the black sands of the beach, taking in the combination of both the peaceful silence, as well as the chaotic crashes of waves landing ashore. Interestingly, the place really is beautiful if you just go from the start of the vegetation line leading out to the water. The sand is glossy, composed of larger bits of worn minerals, quartz, and obsidian. The occasional speckling of white came from the shells that drifted in from the sea.

"Spike!"

I turn to my side, seeing Ember floating towards me with a hold of all the things I came in with. She carefully places the sack down to the ground, anticipating me to grab what's mine. "Really, I'm getting booted out now?"

"Well, a promise is a promise. It's been a month." She states matter-of-factly.

"But I haven't found a mate since I've been here, at least one I wanted personally." I bring to her attention. "Doesn't that mean that I'll have to be back here in a little while?"

"No doubt about it." She warns. "You're not totally out in the clear yet. You're just mild-tempered until you find that one who'll get it out of your system. So don't be surprised if you're brought back here in your sleep."

I take that thought into consideration, and promptly shut it down. "I'm not too keen on being in the dragon lands. I mean, I am Canterlot hatched and raised you know."

"Yeah, whatever."

I look back at my injured wing and favor it for just a moment. "So... Maybe next time you'll go easy on me?"

"As if." She says with a smile. "You still gotta beat me before you get me. Those are the rules, no favoritism."

I sigh in defeat. "Well, guess I'll try elsewhere."

Her tone quickly changed to a more critical one. "And where do you think that'll be? Huh? How do you think you'll get with any dragon female around here if you can't even win one little spar with me? You'll be in for a thousand sleepless nights before you dare set me aside for some other dragon around here!"

I'm honestly flustered at her strange, threatening method of a confession. But I am even quicker to use it as ammo against her. "At least you're saying it openly."

Her eyes pop wide open before she pouts and looks elsewhere. "You know, I could still beat you up if I felt like it."

"Now you're just being violent."

"SO WHAT ABOUT IT!?" She hollers, letting her voice ring across the beach. She realizes that she lashed out at me and tries to correct herself. "Sorry. I still a little competitive."

"Dragon lust?" I ask.

"...I'm just a little better about managing it. Doesn't mean I'm perfect at it."

"We all gotta start from somewhere, I guess." I reply.

Ember picks up an obsidian stone, smoothly polished from the waves of the ocean from off the ground. "I know it's a lot now, but dragons do get better about it as they age."

"Does that mean you'll be more open to being romantic later on?" I question her, causing her to become sheepish about answering.

"I guess, I don't know."

"It seems to me your dad grew a soft spot for you over time, keeping you close, looking after you, protecting you─"

"Sheltering me. My dad was sheltering me, at least until I became the dragon lord." She looks towards me directly, her cheeks flushed as she struggles through her own thoughts. I can see her at conflict with herself before she finally speaks again. "One clutch."

"Huh?"

"One clutch." She says as she holds up one claw to match her offer. "You made me dragon lord. Hell, you were the dragon lord before me. So yeah, when you get strong enough, I'll bring up and look after one clutch we have together. That's my only offer, take it or leave it."

I grow a bit nervous... okay, really nervous because I know that's her way of saying we're having kids together. I stammer as I tell her my honest feelings on it. "Uh... I-I don't know if I'm really ready to be a f-father yet."

"Spike, we're dragons." She answers casually. "The eggs will hatch, they'll be fine when they get out. We don't have to do all of that until you absolutely want to, which even by dragon standards is really unusual." I even think of giving her an answer, but she stuffs the rock in my mouth before I can say anything. "Take a moment to think about it first, and then get stronger."

I spit the rock out of my mouth and gather my things. As I go down a checklist, I give her a final instruction before I take my leave across the sea. "You just be sure to keep those little ones safe next time. Don't want a hungry nest of rocs to get any bright ideas."

"We'll be sure to keep them in a cave deep underground where the rocs can't get to them." She confirms. "Just be sure to get some of that funky human construction equipment from Canterlot over this way so we can start digging."

Finally, some infrastructure. I'd thought they'd never ask. "That won't be a hard request to file. I'll be sure to put that on the list along with the pillows."

I take up my travel sack and head out towards the sea, waving at Ember as she starts to disappear in the distance.

Ember stops waving as the purple dragon disappears into the distance. She sighs as Garble lands beside her. "You sure you'll be fine with him going like this?"

A smirk develops on her face. "He'll be back."

"More like he'll be chasing that female from the start of next month onward." Garble comments.

Ember smirks with confidence. "Who's says he'll be chasing her?"

The red drake appeared perplexed with her confidence. "Wait, didn't you knock him out and say that he got marked?"

"And you don't think I didn't mark him over once he was out cold?"

The male dragon jumped back in shock. "Whoa, power move."

The dragoness crosses her arms as she looks to the sea. "Oh yeah. In a month, Spike will be right back here looking for me again. And I'm gonna make sure he's strong enough to be considered worthy."

Garble nods for a moment until a realization hits him. "Uh... So wait, you didn't tell him that you marked him instead?"

"Why would I do something like that? I'll let his instincts lead him back to me."

The male dragon then informs her of his unintended error. Slowly. "Because he's worried that he'll be chasing after that other dragon female you told me about."

"So, what about it?"

"I... kinda told him to make provisions to avoid that."

Ember's head slowly turns towards Garble, her claws visually sharpening as she seethes towards him. "You WHAT!?"

The Next Morning in Canterlot...

*ACHOO!!*

Agony, thy name is Spike. The back of my throat is itchy like a bitch, my nose is reddened, my eyes are forever watering as my sinuses are tickled without end, all of this caused by the pollen of the dragon sneeze flowers I specifically requested. But it took a whole day since I got back for that request to be fulfilled, since Twilight apparently didn't get the letter I sent out. The request for help also had a post-script note telling her to have some of these flowers ready by the time I arrived.

I guess Celestia intercepted the letter and showed up in her place.

*Eh... ACHOOOO!!*

Twilight is looking at me as if I'm completely out of my wits. "You know you dragons are allergic to that, right?"

"Uh-huh..." I confirm in a congested manner before sniffling up some phlegm. "Ah cahnt breev."

"Then stop sniffing the damn thing." She urges.

"Ah cahnt!"