Author's Note

Haurach-Fate

DAY 76 ,76, DAY 76: another short chapter though too be honest unless I feel like It needs to be long i might stick to short chapters since I feel like It's much easier for me to do without worrying about getting to a 3000 mark every time, so yeah sorry.

Though like anyways If you somehow enjoyed this trash heap then leave a comment saying what you enjoyed though If you absolutely despised It then also comment so I can know what and what not to Improve every comment either helps or makes my days writing worth It, see ya.

Ps:there is a (not mlp)show reference this chapter sooo I wonder If anyone will be able to figure It out.

Progression

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*poke*
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*poke* *poke*

"Mmhlevemealon"

Slightly frowning I unconsciously use my tail to try and bat away whatever was poking me which took a few unsuccessful tries before It stopped causing me to slightly smile as I went back to sleep.
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.*pokepokepokepokepoke-*

"Mmmmgh," Now slightly annoyed I slowly open my eyes still half asleep I start to look around only to stop as I see Garble looking slightly worried.

"Mmharble? What's wrong?" I asked as I begin to stretch trying to make myself wake up.

"Well I don't think anythings wrong really but, I was just a bit worried since Ember hasn't woken up yet." He explained

"She's probably exhausted and just needs more rest," I said In response.

"Well yeah, I thought that too, but then I looked at her face and some of her scales were red." He told me

My eyes widen a bit as I turn to face him. "Wait really?" I asked

He nods In response as he walks around her and motions to me to come over as I get up now fully awake and start to walk around her to get a good look.

"See?" Garble questioned as we both look at her face revealing a bunch of redscale-like marks around her whole face, some of which are going down the bridge and on top of her snout.

"Well, one thing for sure she's not going to like this," I said

'If I remember correctly, once Spike was at this stage didn't this also cause his scales to start itching uncontrollably? Yeesh, she's not going to like this,' I conclude to myself.

My eyes widen before I mentally begin to sigh to myself, 'Neither are we considering we haven't even begun to show signs of our molts beginning yet.' I recall to myself

I slightly shiver to myself thinking about when Garble and I have to start dealing with this.

'Though I don't know whether to be thankful It hasn't started yet or to dread It until It arrives,' I think to myself.

"Maybe we just don't tell her?" Garble asked

I shake my head. "You know she's going to notice one way or another and besides, I don't think Its going to matter whether or not we tell her." I told him

He looks at me visibly confused, "What makes you say that?" He asked

I don't answer as I instead begin to crouch near her as I begin to shake her awake. "Time to get up Ember, It's morning time," I said continuing to shake her.

Though It seems like she continues to remain asleep causing me to sigh. 'Well looks like she won't be waking up anytime soon, but maybe... eh why the hell not worst case scenario I look stupid though I can deal with that,' I think to myself.

"C'mon Ember you need to wake up now," I said as I begin to slightly shake her.

"Ember."

I begin to shake her slightly harder.

"Ember wake up."

I begin to shake her harder now.

"Wake up."

I shake her even harder now as Garble looks on slightly worried but more confused at what I'm doing.

"Ember."

I notice her face start to shift as I continue with my idea.

"Ember, Ember Wake Up!" I said starting to increase my voice as I begin to violently(but only slightly) shake her causing her body to roll back and forth.

"Ember!"

"Whhah?' I lightly hear from her as her eyes begin to slowly open

"EMBER WAKE UP!"

Both her eyes shoot open as she starts flailing on the floor."WHA-IM UP, I'm Up!"
She said as she begins to calm down and catch her breath

"Haurach above Falkor did you have to yell like that?" Ember asked slightly glaring at me

"Sorry, I tried to shake you awake but you wouldn't wake up so I just decided to try something else," I explained to her

"Which was to yell directly at me while also shaking back and forth like a gem between two greed-affected drakes?" She questioned

"Yep."

She sighs In response. "Well whatever, I guess If I wasn't waking up then you didn't have much of a choice," She said as she begins to lightly stretch.

While she begins to do her stretches I go over to the fire as I start to stomp out the remaining remnants of the slightly charred twigs.

'Probably didn't need to do anything but you know what they say, better safe than sorry.' I think to myself as I turn back to the others finding Ember finishing her stretches and Garble just beginning to lift the egg again.

"Alright, you two good?" I asked out loud to which they respond by nodding at me.

"Alright, then let's get a move on," I said as I turn back towards the dirt-like path as I begin to walk off with them following.

"What. Is. With. My. Face. Today?" Ember said as she continues to scratch her face causing little scale-like flakes to fall around her.

"Oh right," I said facepalming In annoyance at myself. "We had meant to tell youuOHSHIT!" I yell out as I dive avoiding the heavily dark pink-colored flame that is heading towards me as I land slightly hard on the dirt floor.

"Falkor, are you ok?" Garble asked as he gently sets down the egg before rushing over to me.

I hold up my palm causing him to stop his advances towards me as I give him a slightly shaky smile, "Don't worry Garble I'm fine just, got startled Is all," I said as reassuringly as I could.

He sighs slightly looking relieved before glaring towards Ember. "So what exactly was that all about huh?" He asked slightly upset

"It's not my fault, I didn't have any control over my flame right there!" She explained slightly glaring back at him.

"You didn't have any trouble any other tim-AH!" He exclaims as I flick him between the eyes

"Oww, what was that for?" He said as he rubs at where I poked him.

"Of course she doesn't have control of her flame Garble It's probably a part of her molting, Mom told us to expect stuff to be weird and going out of control during our molting and If that's the case?" I asked as I see his face scrunched up whenever he tries to concentrate.

His eyes widen for a second before looking away embarrassed. "Then something weird or out of control must have happened to Ember then," He said as he turned back towards Ember.

"My bad for blaming you Ember, I just wasn't expecting to hear Falkor panic all of a sudden so I got de-"

"Defensive, yeah I know," She said cutting him off before chuckling, "I swear when It comes to Falkor you act like a drakina who just laid an egg,"She tells him as Garble's face somehow gets more red as he tries to sputter out a response.

"Wha-no I don't I'm nothing like a drakina," He said crossing his arms.

"Yeah you do," Ember said grinning.

"You kinda do Garble," I said agreeing with Ember.

He then looks over at me with the most betrayed expression on his face as he looks at me, "Not you too Falk," He said In disbelief.

I ruffle the top of Garble's fin In response as he pouts. "Aww don't worry Garble, I appreciate you looking out for me like that." I said sincerely

"Exactly! That's all I'm doing, looking out for Falkor so that way no creature gets the better of him," He said trying to convince us of his reasoning.

It doesn't work.

"Anyways, now that that's cleared up Ember, are you okay?" I asked

"Yeah, I'm doing fine for now just wasn't expecting my fire to come out mid-talking." She said

"Well as long as you're doing ok then that's fine by me, though we should probably stand side by side of each other just so we don't accidentally get hit by that flame of yours." I suggested

"Yeah probably for the best." She said agreeing

I turn back to see Garble walking towards us with egg In hands as I go up to him. "Hey Garble If you want I can carry the egg for a while," I said extending my arms out for him.

Though surprisingly he denies my offer as he proceeds to walk past me. "Naw It's ok I'll carry It so you can take a break for now, you can take It later," He said as he joins Ember's side as they begin walking off.

I stand there stunned for a second before smiling to myself and joining them as we walk off once again down this path toward this promised land.

'Heh heh, promise land, heh.'

"Hey, guys?" Garble asked

Ember and I stop as we turn to face Garble, "Yeah?" Ember asked

"Well It's just, I've been wondering about something that's kinda been on my mind for a while." Garble said

"What Is It?" I asked

"Well, Dragon Lord Torch gave Ember this egg to test her 'potential' as Dragon Lord or something right?" He asked raising the egg a bit.

I slightly turn to Ember as she raises her arms while shaking her head also confused.

"Yeah I, think so, why?" I asked

He looked down at the egg quizzically. "Well, when the egg hatches and then we go through our molts, then, what happens to the hatchling inside afterward?" He asked

"What exactly do you mean Garble?" Ember asked

"Well, Dragon Lord Torch said that no dragon wouldn't claim the egg as their right? So what will happen to the hatchling after It hatches?" He asked

I opened my mouth to respond only to slowly close It as I couldn't come up with a response to answer him with.

"I, don't know." I said hesitantly

I see his eyes harden as he clutches the egg tighter upon hearing my answer. "Oh," He said before turning to Ember. "Do you know what happens to hatchlings without parents Ember?" Garble asked

"Why would I know that?" Ember questioned

"Well, I just thought that being the Dragon Lord's Daughter and all, maybe he told you stuff about eggs?" Garble asked slightly embarrassed.

Ember rolls her eyes as she walks off causing us to turn towards each other and shrug before joining her as we continue making our way down the path.

"Well, do you know or not?" Garble asked

"I think so?" Ember said hesitantly

"What do you mean you think so?" Garble asked a bit annoyed.

"What I mean Is I think I do but I'm not sure If what I remember Is exactly what he said," Ember explained

"Well, I think I can speak for Garble when I say that anything you can remember will still help, even If some of It might be incorrect," I said reassuring her as Garble nods his head showing that he agrees with what I said.

"OK, well If I remember correctly then, I think I remember during one of our 'lessons' to get me prepared for when I'm Dragon Lord, I think he was telling me about eggs In one of them," Ember said

"So, what did he say?" Garble asked

"Well If I'm not stupid then I think I remember him saying something about claiming eggs?" Ember said looking unsure.

"Claim?"
"Claim?" We both asked confused

"Yeah, Oh that's right! I remember now. He said that when an egg's parents are either missing or dead then another family has the permission to claim It as their own." Ember explained

"Uhh Yeah, we know that already, he told us before dropping us off over here, I'm talking more about If the egg isn't claimed." Garble said

Ember paused as she adopted a thoughtful look on her face, "I think he said that If the egg wasn't claimed by anyone then It would still be available until It hatched, and then when It did, well, he would place It somewhere warm enough for It to hatch, but not near the others," Ember explained

"Others, you mean other eggs?" I asked confused

Ember nods, "Yeah, Dad told me that there's an area where eggs are placed that has lava flowing underneath them to speed up how fast the hatchlings come out of their eggs." She explained

"So what are we supposed to do when the egg hatches, leave It to fend on Its own?" Garble asked a bit upset.

"You know for someone who was just complaining about taking care of the egg a few days ago you seem pretty attached to It," I pointed out slightly surprised.

"Yeah well, what If I am, something wrong with that?" Garble asked harshly causing us to stop completely shocked at his sudden shift of tone.

"What? No of course not I was just surprised that you started caring about the egg since It seemed like you were annoyed about It before we got dropped off here," I said trying to placate him.

Thankfully, It seems to somewhat work as I see him start to calm down, "Oh, well my bad then, and no I wasn't annoyed at the egg Itself that would be stupid, what I was annoyed at Is that no other dragon was able to take the time out of their life to care for one single egg," He explained getting himself slightly worked up.

"So yeah I do care about the egg now because It looks like to me that no other dragon will," He said before looking towards me slightly embarrassed.

"Besides like you said, a real dragon uses their strength to protect the ones who can't protect themselves." He finished

He then looks back at the egg, "So I want to use my strength to protect this egg and eventually this hatchling, and even If It sounds stupid to yo-"

"Woah, hold on now, I never said that, I'm proud of you Garble," I said reassuringly as I cut him off before he could.

"R-really?" He asked hesitantly

"Yes really, the fact that you care so much about an egg that Isn't even related to you makes me very proud of you." I said

"Thanks, Falkor, though I'm not doing this to look for your respect or approval, though It doesn't hurt when you do give It." He says slightly embarrassed, "But like I said I truly want to protect this egg and eventually hatchling," He said looking at me.

"Well, I hope you don't think your going to take care of the egg by yourself right?" Ember asked walking up to us.

"Well I mean no not really," Garble said

"Good, because that would have been stupid If you did," Ember said sarcastically causing Garble to roll his eyes.

"What she means to say Is, you don't have to do this by yourself since we'll be there to help." I said

He slowly looks between the both of us before a smile starts to slowly spread across his face, "Thanks for wanting to help me guys, really." He said sincerely

"Of course, I mean I wasn't going to let my brother do something on his own If I couldn't help It." I said smiling

"Yeah and besides when the egg does hatches It'll be funny watching you run around all over the place for It." Ember said playfully

"Now as much as I love talking about stuff can we please move on now, something tells me that we're finally getting close," Ember said before beginning to walk off.

Me and Garble look towards one another as we shake our heads before walking off to join Ember.

"It's been fifty-five days since we've embarked on this journey, supplies are low and allies lower, I'm not sure I'll be able to survive on my own for lon-"

"Falkor what are you doing?" Ember asked as Garble and her looked at me like I was weird

"Uhh, nothing," I said

Ember rolled her eyes as she turned back around once again resuming our walk down the path until a few minutes later we came across a crossroad.

What was interesting was that this one had three paths to choose from instead of your average two with one of the paths looking like It was rushed was heading more deep Into a forest past the other two paths.

"Well I mean, It seems pretty obvious to me which one to go down." I said

"Really which one?' Ember asked

"The one that looks messy," I responded back with.

"Are you sure? I mean wouldn't make sense to go down the paths that look normal?" She asked

"Well I mean yeah but your Dad says that he made some adjustments to whatever area he made It to, so If that's the case then I feel like the one path that doesn't look right Is probably his way of showing us where to go," I explained

"Huh, well I guess so," She said before we begin to walk down the messy path Into the forest.

"All I'm going to say Is If something happens I'm blaming you." She said

"Fair enough I guess," I said back as we continued down the path lasting a good maybe 5 minutes due to how deep the path went into the forest.

And then we started coming across vines, they weren't that much of a nuisance until we came across a bunch of them that seemed to block the path spanning from one side to the other.

"OK, now what do we do?" I asked out loud

'Can't really burn It and obviously we can't go around It so I don't really kn-'

My thought process gets interrupted as I feel the egg get shoved into me causing me to slightly panic at the force before I get a good hold of the egg I finally look up towards Garble to see him slashing at the vines causing them to drop one by one until there aren't anymore In our way revealing our destination.

"Finally! We made It." Garble said before turning to Ember with a slightly worried look on his face. "We did make It right?" He asked

"Y-yeah I think so," Ember responded back causing Garble to sigh In relief.

"Good, cause I don't want to walk anymore for a good while, so let's go," He said as he takes the egg from my hand before walking off towards what looks like where we'll be staying for a while.

"Well, shall we?" I said

Ember looks towards me amused before also walking off to which I quickly walk to catch up.

'Finally made It, too bad that was just the easy part,' I think to myself before I shrug.

'Eh It's just molting, and besides we made It so It can't be that hard to deal with now.' I think to myself
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'Please don't let It be too hard to deal with.' I think to myself