Sometime later I start to come to as my eyes are barely able to flicker open as the first thing I notice Is how light my body feels, almost like I'm In space.

However when I finally manage to fully open my eyes all I can see Is pitch black In front of me, seemingly having no end.

"Wha-"

"Well, isn't this lucky?" A female voice said startling me as I turned around coming face to face with what looked to be an adult dark purple drakina with two sharp-looking horns coming from her forehead while having black spikes run down her tail having a dark tip at the end of It.

"The creature I managed to call out to was a fellow dragon," She said looking me over, "And from the looks of It a young drake at that," She said finishing her examination.

"Where am I?" I asked still slightly startled

"Wel-"

"Oh God I'm dead aren't I!?" I said accidentally cutting her off as I start to panic.

"Wha-"

"Nononono, I-I-I-I I can't be dead, not, not again, I-I-I didn't even get to live my life ful-"

Suddenly I'm cut off as I feel my shoulders being grabbed as I start to violently get shaken back and forth.

"LISTEN TO ME, YOU. ARE. NOT. DEAD!" She yelled at me

We stand there for a few seconds looking at each other not blinking as I process what she said, "I'm not?" I asked hopefully as she sighed before letting me go and taking a few steps back.

"No, as far I know you are perfectly alive," She said muttering something under her breath that I didn't catch.

"Oh ok, thank g-the Maker," I said calming down as I look her over again, "So since I'm not dead who uh exactly are you?" I asked curious

"Well If It isn't obvious yet, I, am what you just put on your finger," She says lifting her hand as she wiggled her fingers for a second.

"Wait a minute that was you? You're a dragon?" I say confused

"Yep, you can imagine my surprise when I found out you were also one." She said

"Wait If you knew that I put the ring on my finger then how did you not know what I was?" I asked

She holds her chin before closing her eyes as she thinks, "Hmm, not sure how to explain that one I just sort of, felt something nearby as I always had yet every time I called out nocreature seemed to be able to hear me," She said before looking back at me.

"Until you, of course, thanks again for helping so far." She said earnestly

"Uhh, no problem," I said before I focus on our surroundings again.

"Do you have an idea of where we are?" I asked not really expecting an answer.

"No clue, I'd say the ring but It feels more freeing here, not as binding I guess you could say," She said as she begins looking around for the first time.

'What Is a dragon-'
What Is a dragon-

We both pause as we start to hear an echo of my voice begin to play around us before It cuts itself off.

"D-Did you hear that?" I asked startled

"Of course, I heard It what kinda creature wouldn't? What I wanna know Is why It sounded somewhat like you?" She questioned while also seeming slightly startled.

"I'm not sure I'm as confused as you are." I said truthfully

'Okay, Okay, cal-'
Okay, Okay, cal-

"There It Is again," She said as she tried to look around for the source of It before giving up and looking back at me.

She then marched over to me before she grabbed me by the back of my neck and she lifted me to her face, "Whatever is happening It's happening because of you so what are you doing!?" She questioned as she narrowed her eyes.

"I swear I'm not doing anything! Also, put me down!" I said trying to break free before she let me go as I hit some sort of solid surface.

"Well whether or not you think you're not doing something, something Is happening because you are so at least try and think about what you might be doing." She said

"Ok, OK, just give me a minute," I said as I try to collect my thoughts.

'Ok so appa-'
Ok so appa-

I stop as we suddenly hear my voice again before It cuts itself off again, "There It Is again." She said

"Wait a minute," I say before closing my eyes again.

'You're a bit-'
Your a bit-

"It happened again." She said

"Well isn't that something," I said standing up.

"What, did you figure out what you were doing?" She asked

"Yeah um, I think we're In my mind," I said somewhat awkwardly.

"In your mind?" She says looking around again.

"Why Is It so empty?" She asked sounding genuinely confused.

"My mind Is not empty," I said a bit offended.

She looks around for a few seconds before looking back at me, "Well If you're right about this being your mind then unless you have the rest of It hidden somewhere I'm not seeing anything that would prove me wrong," She said raising a brow In challenge of my claim.

"Yeah well just give me a minute," I said before closing my eyes again as I try to imagine somewhere nice replacing the pitch-black darkness around us.

"Well, I'll be damned," I hear her say before I open my eyes as the first thing I notice Is that the darkness Is now completely replaced as all I see now Is the beach stretching from left to right as I hear the ocean crashing onto the edge of the beach every so often.

"Well, this Is ten times better than what I've had to deal with," She said before turning back to me.

"Now that we've gotten that confusion out of the way, who might you be?" She asked

"Well I mean technically I asked you first." I said

She narrowed her eyes at me for a couple of seconds causing me to involuntary sweat In the tense silence before she shrugs.

"Fair enough," She said before walking up to me as she lifted her tail to me.

"Aesthyr, best draconic armorer In all of the Dragon Lands." She said

"Uhhh?" I said a bit confused at the action.

"What? Never shook tails before?" She asked

"No," I responded back.

"Oh, well first time for everything," She said brushing off my comment.

"Ok Uh, Falkor, young drake who has a brother and Is friends with the Dragon Lord's Daughter," I said lifting mine as well as we proceeded to shake tails.

"The Dragon Lords Daughter? You know you don't have to lie to impress me right," Aesthyr said raising an eyebrow at me.

"What? I'm not lying." I said confused

"Yeah, and I'm the mate of Dragon Lord Darss," Aesthyr says sarcastically

"Wait, Dragon Lord Darss? Don't you mean Dragon Lord Torch?" I ask confused

"Torch? The hatchling? HAH! As If someone as small as him could be a Dragon Lord," Aesthyr said causing me to be even more confused.

"What are you talking about?" Torch Is one of the biggest dragons In the Dragon Lands." I said

"Look hatchling I'm telling you that's impossible because last I saw Torch he was barely able to reach the height of my waist." Aesthyr said

"Wait, when was the last time you saw Torch?" I asked cautiously already seeing where this was going.

Aesthyr grabbed the bottom of her chin as she seemed to think about It, "Well I guess the last time I 'saw' him was when I was working on a weapon for a pony to use I know surprising but I'll get to that later." Aesthyr said

"Anyways like I said I was building a weapon for a pony and he came In to tell me that said pony was nearby and wanted to talk to me, small hatchling too." Aesthyr said
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"That's It?" I questioned

"Of course that's It, never said we knew each other just that I saw him one time and one time only." Aesthyr said

"Well, that 'small hatchling' Is now the Dragon Lord." I said

"No he's not, even If he wanted to be he's still too tiny to even be qualified as one." Aesthyr said

"Besides none of that Is important right now, what I'm confused about Is why you found me instead of Luna." Aesthyr said looking perplexed

"Luna?" I said confused

"Yes, Luna, you know pony? Alicorn? 2nd Princess of Equestria?" Aesthyr questioned

I knew who she was talking about but If I was going to convince her to believe me I needed to act like I had no clue what she was talking about so I shook my head back and forth causing Aesthyr's eyes to widen In alarm.

"Falkor tell me who Is the Princess of Equestria?" Aesthyr asked now looking worried.

"Well, It's Celestia," I responded back

"Celestia." She said In disbelief, "You're joking right?" Aesthyr questioned almost desperately.

"No I'm not, Celestia Is the only Princess of Equestria," I said
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"Huh, well then I guess we failed," Aesthyr finally said after the tense silence as she faced the ocean and sat down In silence.

"Aesthyr?" I said hesitantly
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Silence.

"I'm just going to sit next to you ok?" I asked
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Nothing.

"Ok," I said as I slowly made my way over to her and sat a bit away from her to give her some room as we both watched the waves In silence.
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"It was supposed to help her," Aesthyr said after a couple of minutes In silence startling me for a second.

"Help her? Who, Luna?" I asked

"Yeah, did you know when we first met we tried to kill each other?" Aesthyr asked

"Wait what!?" Why?" I asked shocked

"It was a test of sorts, I only let creatures I trust use anything I make and she had come looking for weapons and armor for her and her sister to fight some pony I think called Some bra- I don't know It was over some 700 years ago, though I guess It must have been even longer than that now." Aesthyr said

"Anyways she had heard of me, don't know how but she did and had wanted me to make them for her and her sister like I said." She said

"Wait I'm confused, why were you making weapons even though dragons don't use any?" I asked confused

"Just because dragons don't use any doesn't mean I'm not. Dragons may think that weapons are for 'weak creatures' but even I know how strong you can be with the right weapon." She explained

"Besides, I always make sure my weapons hurt," Aesthyr said grinning as she showed off her sharp teeth.

"OK, I guess but still, why almost kill each other?" I asked as Aesthyr proceeded to look at me like I was dumb.

"What?" I asked confused

"You sure you a dragon? Cause I don't know about you there's nothing we dragons like more than a good fight against someone who can take what you hit them with," Aesthyr said grinning.

"Come on, you mean to tell me that there wasn't at least one time when a fight got your blood pumping and then If you won you felt like you had just become the Dragon Lord yourself?" Aesthyr questioned as I recalled that feeling that Viserion told me about when I won my fight against him.

"I mean I guess that It felt good In the end." I admitted

"Exactly! And let me tell ya, that fight against Luna was one of the best I ever had I knew as soon we were done she could come back anytime If she needed anything from me." Aesthyr said

"Just like that?" I questioned

"Just like that and yeah I know, even I couldn't believe It for a while but she earned my respect after that fight," She said wistfully recounting her experience It seemed.

"Even after the fight my respect for Luna grew as she was probably one of the only Ponies I respected enough to call a companion or what did she call It? Right a fr-iend I think." Aesthyr said

"Also helped that she was as If not more ferocious than a dragon when she went all out." Aesthyr said

"Now THAT pony knew how to get things done when they needed to. Apparently when she had come to the Dragon Lands to look for me guess what Solar Cheeks was doing." Aesthyr said

"What?" I asked

"Umm I don't know I forgot," Aesthyr admitted

"Really?" I said with a deadpan look

"Eh, whatever not important," She said looking at the waves.

"What Is important to me is how much we grew closer to each other, so much so that I was honestly starting to get weirded out by how much we just kinda related with each other." She admitted.

"I guess It helped that we were kinda similar In a way," Aesthyr said catching my attention.

"What was similar between you two?" I asked

"Well, I guess we were both considered outcasts from our species." She said.

"I was labeled as Thricusk for making and using weapons because nodrake could see the use of them and she was treated like Aithyas because of who she was," Aesthyr explained

"And I guess that was good enough for us to be close together." Aesthyr said fondly

"So If the ring was supposed to help her, then why are you here alone?" I asked

"I don't know, all I remember Is she came to me one night saying how she was going to take the throne from her sister and needed my help." Aesthyr said

"So I agreed and even offered her something that was forbidden." Aesthyr said

"What was It?" I asked

"Soul magic." She said.

"Very dangerous and you can even be killed just for using It, but If what she was saying was true then I knew that against Celestia we would have to use desperate measures." She explained

"I'm not going to lie It was very risky and I was a bit afraid, but after she was supposed to win she was going to do the ritual to put my soul back In my body, and besides, we trusted each other, I trusted her." Aesthyr said

"But I guess seeing where you are now It didn't quite work out that way." I said

"No It didn't, I guess she lost In the end but I don't know what happened or where I was because I couldn't sense anything happening around me. All I could see, feel, hear, smell, and taste was nothing but darkness," She explained looking at nothing In particular.

"Eventually I was able to sense when creatures got close enough to me letting me know I wasn't In the castle anymore but other than that I knew nothing." She said

"So I tried calling out but It's like they couldn't hear me no matter how long and how loud I screamed." Aesthyr explained

"I'm not going to lie to you I was pretty close to calling It quits but you managed to hear me somehow and for that, I just want to say thanks, again." Aesthyr said sincerely

"You're welcome, again," I said back with a smile.

"Though you're not going to try and make me get revenge on Celestia right?" I asked cautiously as she chuckled In response

"Why would I? The only reason I did what I did was to help Luna out, but If she's gone then I don't see the point." She said

"Besides, even If I was Tartarus bent on getting revenge, If an Alicorn as strong as Luna couldn't win against Celestia what gives me any chance." She said

"So no, I'm not going to try and have you get revenge on her, I'm just happy to be able to at least talk to somecreature, even If It Is a young drake," She said when all of a sudden It felt like the world around me started to shake startling both of us.

"What's happening!?" Aesthyr asked startled

"I think that maybe I'm starting to wake up." I suggested

"Maker above do you always wake up this violent?" She questioned

"What? No of co-" was the last thing I was able to get out before darkness filled the area around us.

"Ugh," I groan out as I start to slowly open my eyes and get used to my surroundings again.

"Aesthyr?" I called out

"I'm still here," She says as I take a minute to try and reorient myself as I look around noticing It to be much darker than It was before.

'Wait a minute,' I quickly run out of the ritual area and through the trees as I make my way back to the path I was on earlier as I look up towards the sky only to see the moon out.

"Oh shit, they're gonna kick my ass for coming back late," I said as I begin to sprint down the path.

"Who are you talking about?" Aesthyr asked

"My brother Garble and the Dragon Lord's Daughter Ember," I respond back

"Huh guess you weren't lying then," She says as I try to rush back to our hideout hoping that they at least wouldn't be too mad for me coming back at night.
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Let's be honest they probably most definitely will.

Author's Note

Oooooh new frien- i mean 'companion.' As they would say. Hopefully. Maybe. Possibly. You get the idea

Hope you guys liked this chapter as I tried to do my best like I always do but I know that this is probably my worst one yet so I do need people to tell me what I did wrong like always and I am also sorry If It isn't that long and that I took a while to upload this but I think 4-5 days actually work pretty well for me.

But like always If you somehow manged to enjoy this then comment what you liked about It and If you absolutely despised this chapter let me know what I did wrong and why I don't belong on this site.

See you guys later!