Author's Note

For the two people reading this yeah I know almost 5-6 days for an 1000 word chapter yes I know I'd be upset too but too be honest I had gone through an mental debate at whether to give both my stories to someone else better so they could make Ot enjoyable for you guys but someone told me to just take my time writing so yeah thats what I'm going to do and Its probably going to be a bunch of 1000s for a while until I get that 'writers spirt' again so yeah sorry. Though like always If you somehow enjoyed this leave a comment about what you liked and If you absolutely despised this them tell me what you hated In the comments, see ya next time.

Figuring Things Out

I think It's been a couple of minutes since we've left Volcanic Caves though we hadn't done much except sit In almost complete darkness and silence as we just listened to the constant wind hitting Torches hand.

A couple of minutes later I could hear the wind start to die down as we were being lowered.

We were still stuck In almost pitch-black darkness until Torch suddenly removed his top hand treating us to the sudden glare of light hitting our eyes essentially blinding us.

"Hurry up now I don't have all day,"Torch said as he angled his hand slightly downwards causing us to try and adjust faster before making our way off his hand onto the ground.

"Now, this Isn't the spot I had planned to put you th-ree at but the Molting Effect Is getting stronger, and I'd rather you make It there on your own rather than drop you from the air, so this will have to do," Torch struggled to say before slowly bringing a hand up to his head as he slightly cradling It.

"Now, listen, very close as I won't be repeating It a second time, at the other side of this forest Is an area that I had made some adjustments to so that way you three would be able to deal with your moltings relatively safe," Torch said spreading his wings out.

"Go-od luck," He struggled to say as he began to flap his wings and leave us behind as we all watched his figure slowly disappear In the distance.

We all stood there for a good while as we all took a couple of minutes to prepare ourselves for being truly alone for the first time In our lives.

"Well, we should probably start heading to that place he was talking about," I said beginning to turn around.

"Yeah let's, my arms are getting tired," Garble said readjusting his arms again to retain his grip on the egg again as we began to walk towards the forest until we noticed that we were missing someone.

We both turned around as we saw Ember still looking off into the distance seemingly not having moved an inch.

"Ember?" I call out as we begin moving closer to her.

"Ember I don't know what you're doing but can you hurry It up please my arms are killing me," Garble said visibly annoyed.

She still hadn't responded back yet as she continued to stare off into the distance as we started to make our way in front of her.

"Ember! What are yo-"

As we made our way In front of her Garble started to raise his voice to grab her attention but he immediately stopped as we both saw her with tears running down her eyes as she continued staring off Into the distance seemingly not noticing us.

"Ember, are, are you ok?" I asked cautiously as she slowly turns her head towards me he nods her head before starting to walk off towards the forest and Garble turns to each other with worried expressions before catching up to her.

"Hold up Ember," I said getting in front of her, "Are you sure you're ok?" I asked again still worried.

"Ye-," She pauses as she clears her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine now." She said

"Are you sure? What about what happened with you earlier?" I questioned

"It's nothing serious to worry about, now come on we need to start moving," She said trying to move around as I move with her visibly annoying her.

"Well I think that It was pretty serious and that we should talk about what happened-"

"There's nothing to talk about," She said cutting me off as she walks by me into the forest shoving my shoulder In the process.

"Wow, and I thought I was bad at talking about stuff," Garble said as he readjusted his group of eggs before also walking off Into the forest.

I sigh to myself as I begin to catch up with them, "I can already tell that this Is going to be a long one," I said as I finally enter the forest with them.

A couple of minutes had passed from what had happened earlier as we continued to walk down the path, not speaking much to each other In the process.

Not wanting to focus in the silence I decided to try and pass the time by looking around at our surroundings as I noticed how spacious the space was between the trees even though their bushes up top seemed to make up the entire roof-like cover above us.

And the trees seemed to be growing at a healthy rate with no signs of any leaves falling off. It might have been late spring or early summer, though I'm not an expert and In this world, I'm not going to even try.

Looking around filled me with a sense of peacefulness that caused me to slightly relax from the awkward silence that had filled the air around us.

I continued to slightly appreciate my surroundings until I started to notice Garble stop as he turned around and walked towards me causing me to stop as well.

"Wha-"

"My arms hurt so It's your turn now," He said cutting me off before suddenly shoving the egg In my arms I panic to grab hold of It as try to readjust my grip.

"Ohhhhhh Yeah, Finally, Geez, that thing was killing my arms," He said as he begins to stretch his arms out before walking off looking rejuvenated.

"Ughh, you know a warning would have been great next time," I said as I start to slowly catch up now with added weight added to my arms.

"Oh yeah, my bad, my arms were just getting tired and I just wanted someone else to hold It for a while," He said getting closer to me.

"Also I don't know about you but I think that princess might still be In the mood," He whispers slightly loud.

"I can hear you know," Ember said now stopped and fully turned around as she makes her way towards us.

"Though you're technically not wrong about that," She said looking slightly upset.

"I know that I'm probably acting 'like a little princess' as you put It but-"

"Stop," Garble said interrupting her.

"I was only making a joke, one that you shouldn't take too seriously." He said

"I wasn't taking It seriously," She said In response.

"I'm just saying, besides I know that whatever that was earlier Is probably something you don't want to talk about right now right?" He questioned

"Well, yeah I mean-"

"Alright, then that's that, you don't want to talk about It, then we won't ok?" He said cutting her off.

Ember stares at him for a couple of seconds before she takes a deep breath and exhales looking slightly relieved at what he said.

"OK, thanks Garble." She said

"Don't mention It." Garble said before turning back towards me grinning at him causing him to look confused.

"What?" He asked

"Nothing I'm just surprised at how you acted towards her, you know, like nice," I said smiling at him.

He looks away, seemingly embarrassed at being called out. "W-well yeah so what, didn't you say that dragons could also be nice?" He questioned

"Well yeah, It's just really nice to see you nice to somedrake other than me," I explained to him.

"Yeah well whatever, don't think this Is going to be a common thing alright, I was only nice because we're companions," He said before walking away from me.

I chuckle to myself as I watch him leave and head In front of me again I whisper to myself. "Whatever lets you sleep at night Garble, whatever lets you sleep at night."

A good, I think, ten minutes had passed since Garble offered Ember a compromise
(one that I was still proud of him for coming up with) that thankfully made the air seem less tense than It was earlier, not fully gone but enough to not have to worry about It.

Currently, Ember and Garble were having a conversation while I held the egg causing me to take another look at our surroundings.

'If I remember correctly this Is where Garble and his lackeys told Spike to smash that one Phoenix egg until Twilight and the others helped him, what did Spike call them again? Petey? No, that's not right,' I think trying to remember the name.

I continued to try and remember the name of Spike's pet Phoenix until I spotted it out of the corner of my eye.

A nest, seemingly empty from the looks of It, with the usual random twigs and other stuff that birds gathered to make up their nest.

Now, If my brain Isn't gone then, this was the nest that belonged to those two phoenixs though at the same time that was wishful thinking at most.

"Hey Falkor, what are you doing?" Garble asked

That caused me to get out of my thoughts as I turned to him. "Nothing just, looking around," I said walking towards them.

"Oh, ok, well me and Ember were talking about who would win In a fight If It came down to It," Garble told me with a small grin on his face.

"And who were you guys talking about?" I asked curious

"You and Garble," Ember answered.

"What? Why us two?" I asked confused.

She shrugged her shoulders, "We don't have any other drake to think of, and no, Viserion doesn't count since you already beat him," She explained.

"Well ok I guess, so who do you think would win between us?" I asked curiously

"You,"
"You," They answered without any hesitation.

I was somewhat hoping and expecting for Ember to think I would win, though, I'm not sure why exactly.

Either way, I was glad she thought I would win, what I wasn't expecting Garble to easily admit me being able to beat him.

"Wait a minute, I kinda expected you to vote for me," I said facing her.

"Thanks for that by the way, but Garble, you think I could beat you?" I asked

"Of course you could, I'm a big enough of a drake to admit It, after our fight with Viserion and his little drake friend, I know now that I'm not always going to be the strongest." He said before getting closer.

"Don't you worry though, because I'm going to make that true by getting stronger too, strong just like you and maybe even stronger," He said with a big grin on his face.

After declaring that I looked him straight In the eyes to witness what I could only describe as a blaze being fed more fuel to burn brighter, and I physically shivered while witnessing the change happening within his eyes.

Though I didn't shiver out of fear, no, weirdly I shivered out of anticipation, like some instinct deep inside me was excited for the day where I could see Garble at his fullest potential, and that made me slowly but surely made me excited as well.

"Don't think your the only one who's going to get stronger." Ember said

Garble's eyes widened In surprise for a second before grinning at Ember. "Yeah, guess we can't forget you either Ember," He said giving her a genuine smile.

Ember was shocked for a second before her face morphed Into a sincere smile, "Thanks." She said

"Eh, thank me when you can put up a fight against me." He said grinning

Ember's eyes narrowed while still retaining her smile, "Oh don't worry I won't go down easy just because you're a drake." She said

Garble chuckled before walking past her, "I hope so, Princess, otherwise the only one who I'll be able to count on In a fight Is Falkor." He said

She groaned In response to Garble back calling her princess again but still smiled afterward as she walked ahead of me.

'I'm glad that they're getting along well with each other, much more favorable than the canon relationship anyways.' I think to myself chuckling as I readjust my grip of the egg and walk off to join the others.

A couple of hours passed as we continued down the path of the surprisingly calm forest with not much else happening except the once-in-a-while conversation while also switching who would be In charge of egg holding for a while until they got tired.

Though I'm pretty sure there were times Garble would fake being tired, but Ember and I didn't call him out for It as It wasn't anything monumental.

"We should stop here for today," I said lightly putting the egg down.

"What, why?" Garble asked visibly confused

I point upwards to the soon-to-be-dark sky which Garble looks even more confused at, "And? We can still see clearly at night, plus we're dragons and I doubt that theirs anything In this forest that can take us down." Garble said confidently

"Yeah you're probably right, but unless you forgot we've been walking for a good while now and I don't know about you but I feel kinda tired, doesn't help that we've been carrying them also," I said pointing towards the egg.

"Oh, right, forgot about them," Garble admitted

"How could you forget about an egg!?" Ember asked Incredulously

"I don't know I forgot!" Garble said with his hands up Infront of him trying to act as a barricade between him and Ember.

Ember sighs as she turns away from Garble, "Sometimes I worry about what's inside of that head of yours," She said while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt but It would be nice If we could get a fire going before we head to sleep," I said

They both had the decency to look embarrassed until Garble got back to his usual self pretty fast.

"Don't worry about It, I got this," He said as he proceeds to walk to one of the nearby trees he starts to breathe which causes my eyes to widen In alarm.

"WAIT!" I shout while running towards him In panic.

He wheezes out some smoke Instead of fire thankfully before looking at me In mild annoyance and confusion.

"What Is It?" He asked

"You can't just set fire to the tree dummy." I said

"Well, why not?" He asked still confused.

"Cause If you do It'll set the entire forest on fire which will cause any of the creatures living In them to come flooding out In panic," I explained to him as I see his eyes narrow In focus before opening up as he looks back at the tree before backing up.

"Ohhhh, well I guess It's a good thing you were able to stop me then," He said rubbing the back of his neck In embarrassment.

"Yeah, thankfully," I said calming down.

"Then how are we going to get a fire going If we can't risk It burning the forest?" Ember suddenly asked as she walked up to join us.

I looked around hoping to find something small to light on fire but big enough to provide a nice flame but unfortunately was only able to find twigs and pebbles.

'Better than nothing,' I think as I turn back towards them. "I have an idea but It's probably going to be annoying," I said praying and hoping this didn't take too long.

It took about a good hour to go out to find enough twigs and pebbles to be able to build a somewhat safe fire to burn while also switching In and out of roles of who would stay to watch the egg while the other two would go out and scavenge for stuff to burn.

By the time we were done, the sky was just starting to fully turn dark as I finished making and lighting the makeshift campfire using my dragon fire.

'Thankfully me and Garble had a good amount of time to practice with It,' I think to myself as I go up to the flame to feel the heat.

'Good enough,' I think to myself as I pick the egg up and place It as close as I thought It could be next to It.

I look over only to find Ember staring into the fire I look over to Garble only to find him sleeping and curled Into himself.

I walk over to Ember sitting next to her as we both watch the fire burn In silence with only noises being made the crackling of the fire and the surprisingly light snoring coming from Garble.

"Hey."

"...hey"

"Doing better?"

"Yeah..doing better."
.
.
.
"Thanks by the way."

"For what?"

"For you know, trying to help me when we first got here, even If I didn't want to hear it."

"....Well, all that matters now Is that you're doing better now," I said looking towards her. "So don't worry about It," I said with a smile.

She looks my way as her face slowly adorns one of the most sincere smiles I've seen from her.

"Thanks," She said before we both turn back to stare at the fire one more.

We stayed like that for I don't know how long until I felt something touch my shoulder causing me to slightly jump In surprise as I looked over only to find Ember asleep as I watch her breathe In and out with a peaceful look on her face as she slept.

I simply smiled as I turned back to stare Into the unending flame that would only last for tonight and tonight only.