Fanfic / A Growing Fire In My Heart

A Growing Fire In My Heart is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction written by Rated-R-PonyStar.

Beginning from when Spike and Ember first met and became friends, their friendship slowly grows stronger the more they learn from each other. As their friendship slowly grows into something more passionate, Ember struggles with her burning feelings for Spike and how to handle them. Things end up becoming even more difficult when Spike ends up getting caught up in Ember's politics as Dragon Lord, and she must ensure his safety. The story was completed on July 10th 2019.

A sequel titled A Burning Flame In My Soul was released on March 20, 2022. Twenty years since Spike and Ember got together as a couple, Spike decides to finally propose to Ember. However, the two of them and their friends find themselves traveling to unknown lands in the west to stop Tyranus Redskull from obtaining the legendary blade of the first Dragon Emperor and using it to overthrow Ember.

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This series provides examples of:

A Growing Fire In My Heart

• 0% Approval Rating: Dragon Lord Obera is remembered as the worst Dragon Lord in history, with the mere mention of her name still causing young dragons to shiver with fear.
• Abdicate the Throne: Downplayed, but in the final chapter of the story Twilight temporarily steps down from her title as Princess due to Spike being exiled, refusing to be the Princess of Friendship without all of her friends by her side. Though she plans to take it back once Spike's exile is over, she implies she plans to start the School of Friendship in the meantime.
• Absurd Phobia: All the dragons in the barracks in Chapter 14, despite dragons being huge fire-breathing monsters and many being depicted as a Proud Warrior Race Guy, are shown to be absolutely terrified of mice. When they spot a changeling disguised as a pony sized mouse, they all scream like little girls and run around the room, trying to stay away from it with only a few trying to kill it. Then when they lose track of it they all try Playing Possum until they are sure it is gone.
• Accidental Truth: When trying to steal one of the keys to the dungeon, Garble tells one of the guards, Vandrix, that another guard named Ortho is gay and likes him. He hopes to start a fight between the two as a distraction, only for it to turn out this is true and Vandrix returns his feelings, much to Garble's shock and disturbance.
• Adaptational Badass: Spike grows his wings much sooner here than he does in canon. Later, he has a rage potion forced on him and undergoes a transformation into a giant dragon. Even after the effects are reversed with a cure, he has still experienced a massive age up, now being in young adulthood.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Ember starts out a lot nicer here than in canon. Originally, she was a bit abrasive and Innocently Insensitive at times to both ponies and, as she later discovered, her own subjects. Here, she takes to learning friendship much quicker, especially with Spike. She also enjoys hugs right from the start here, instead of being uncomfortable with them at first.
• Admiring the Abomination: Downplayed example, crossed with Distracted by the Sexy. Ember can't help but find Spike's gigantic rampaging form both intimidating and a bit handsome. She briefly wonders if this is close to what Spike will look like in a few hundred years as he grows up naturally, but quickly pushes those thoughts aside, focusing on saving Spike first.
• Alas, Poor Villain: As horrible as Chrysalis was, it is a bit hard not to feel bad when she sees her own dead headless body after Luna kills her, and she is Dragged Off to Hell by The Grim Reaper, with her begging for mercy.
• All Women Are Lustful: When Ember sees that Spike, her crush, has been magically aged up into young adulthood, she thinks that if it were mating season she would give into her temptation and tackle him into the bed and have her way with him, not caring if all of Canterlot was watching them.
• Arranged Marriage: Blitz's parents have had an arranged life mate for him ever since he was sixteen. He has never even met her yet, but claims he will when he turns two hundred. Though it is unknown if this is still the case after Aquafire confessed her feelings for him.
• Badass Boast: Ember delivers one to one of her traitorous guards, after he declares his hatred for her and wish for her death. She responds by slamming him to the ground and standing on his face.
  Ember: YOU DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! I AM YOUR DRAGON LORD! I AM THE FIRE REBORN! MY WORD IS LAW AND I AM ABOVE YOU, INSECT! I WAS CHOSEN BY THE TRADITIONS OF OUR PEOPLE TO LEAD US AND YOU WILL OBEY OR YOU WILL BE CRUSHED LIKE THE BUG THAT YOU ARE!
• Big Bad: Lord Redskull acts as the main antagonist of the story.
• The Big Damn Kiss: After an entire story of Ship Tease and struggling feelings between the two of them, Ember and Spike share their first official kiss together in the final chapter. Though it starts out as just a Test Kiss between the two, with Ember wanting to know if it feels right, she quickly embraces the moment as the most important in her life, even more intoxicating than holding the Scepter, and it confirms to her that she is in love with Spike.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Ember and her friends Aquafire and Blitz are invited to Ponyville to celebrate Spike's birthday. Despite a few rough spots, everyone has fun and Spike especially loves Ember's gift to him. Unfortunately, the good times soon come to an end when a dragon messenger interrupts the party to inform Ember that her father has died in his sleep.
• Bittersweet Ending: The insurrection against Ember has been stopped, Chrysalis is dead, and Spike and Ember have become an Official Couple. However, Spike has been exiled for his rage-induced rampage, Twilight has stepped down from her title as Princess during that time, and Tyranus has received a posthumous message from his father, Brutanus, to avenge him one day.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Lord Redskull and Chrysalis pull a classic example in Chapter 15. When Ember, Twilight, and the entire rescue team is captured after falling into a trap, the two of them explain their plan to their victims, saying they plan to unleash Spike on Equestria after forcing a potion of madness and greed on him, turning him into a mindless beast that will ruin relations between ponies and dragons. Then instead of killing their prisoners while they are at their mercy, they leave them to die in their Death Trap, slowly drained of life from the crystal made from Chrysalis' old throne, modified by Chrysalis herself. This allows Grable to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to destroy the crystal and free everyone else.
• Book Ends: There are a few between Spike and Ember in the beginning and ending of the story.
  • Their friendship started when Spike saved Ember's life by saving her from drowning. At the end of the story, they become an Official Couple after Ember helps save Spike's life from the effects of the rage potion that was forced on him.
  • In the first chapter, shortly after starting their friendship, Ember impulsively kisses Spike on the cheek. In the last chapter, Ember asks Spike to kiss her so she can see if it feels right, and knows for sure after it that she loves him, resulting in the two becoming a couple.
• Bring It: Princess Celestia gives a simple but scary "Who's next?" to Lord Redskull's followers after she murders Lord Redskull himself in front of them.
• Cast from Lifespan: In times of war, one of the potions dragons used was a growth potion to help young dragons age up quicker, but at the cost of shortening their lifespan. Spike is given a rage potion that ages him into a massive dragon, and although he is given a cure for it he does not revert to his original age, instead skipping several years in his lifespan and aging into young adulthood.
• Chick Magnet: This is how Spike is described after he gets his adult body, with it being said that in a few years every dragoness would be jumping on him.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Ember shows this attitude towards Spike. She gets very jealous when she sees how close and friendly he is with Rarity, and in the final chapter after Spike is aged into adulthood it is said that every dragoness would be jumping on him in a few years... and Ember would be tossing them all into a lake for it.
• Dead Man Writing: The final scene of the story is a letter written by Brutanus to his son Tyranus, stating that by the time Tyranus reads it chances are Brutanus will be dead.
• Death by Adaptation: Several characters who never died in canon bite it in this story, including Torch, Garble, and Chrysalis.
• Discovering Your Own Dead Body: In the climax, when Chrysalis attempts to flee from Celestia as she slaughters Lord Redskull and his followers, she suddenly feels something painful hit her neck, only for it to quickly go away and leave her feeling cold. She turns around and sees her own headless body and decapitated head, with Luna standing not far away cleaning her blade, having beheaded Chrysalis from behind as she fled. Just as Chrysalis fully processes this, she is Dragged Off to Hell by a cloaked Grim Reaper figure.
• Does This Make Me Look Fat?: When Thorax transforms into Ember, she takes a look and asks if her butt is really that big.
• Dragged Off to Hell: This is the final fate of Chrysalis. After she is swiftly killed by Luna, her ghost is quickly visited by a black cloaked figure, implied to be the Grim Reaper. It grabs her by the throat and slowly pulls her into its cloak, where she visions of darkness, flames, and cruel laughter.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Ember attempts to do this with some punch when she gets jealous seeing Spike with Rarity. Though the punch isn't spiked with any alcohol, to her disappointment.
• Easily Condemned: Spike, despite being friends with almost everyone in Ponyville, and known as Twilight's faithful assistant, is sentenced to exile after he goes on a rampage in Ponyville, even though it wasn't his fault due to being brainwashed.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Though he is willing to form an alliance with her, Lord Redskull is momentarily disgusted when Chrysalis tells him she plans to return to her Hive and retake her throne by force if necessary, killing anyone who resists her, even if that means the entire hive itself and finding another way to take revenge on Equestria.
• The Exile: After going on a rampage through Ponyville, even though it wasn't his fault, most of the nobles of Canterlot and citizens of Ponyville decide that Spike must go into temporary exile for a few years. Ember agrees to let him stay with her in the Dragon Lands during that time.
• Faking the Dead: Part of the plan to save Spike from the Redskulls includes faking Ember's death. They plan to announce Ember has died from bad health and have Thorax transform into Ember and cast a spell on himself to appear dead.
• Fighting Your Friend: Ember and Twilight are forced to fight a rage-fueled rampaging Spike when trying to subdue him and give him the cure.
• First Kiss: Spike and Ember share their first kiss together at the end of the story, after Ember asks Spike to kiss her so she can see if it feels right. This leads to the two of them becoming a couple.
• Force Feeding: Lord Redskull forces Spike to drink a potion that acts as a combination of rage and growth potions, causing Spike to age rapidly and be driven to destroy everything around him.
• Gasshole: Ember shows she can unleash a massive belch that causes the cavern she and Spike are in to shake. She claims it is a habit she picked up from being raised by her dad.
• The Ghost:
  • Garble's cousin, Tyranus, is referred to a few times throughout the story, but never physically appears.
  • Twilight mentions that Rarity is interested in a stallion who moved in from Las Pegasus, but this stallion never makes a physical appearance, nor is his name mentioned.
• Good Is Not Soft:
  • Ember shows this when dealing with traitors. After discovering that two of her guards betrayed her, and kidnapped Spike to deliver him to the Redskulls, Ember orders them both to be executed, with their heads put on pikes. When Twilight asks if ordering their deaths was necessary, Ember simply asks her to respect her decisions, even if she doesn't agree with them.
  • Once Celestia and Luna get involved after the attack on Ponyville, they make quick work of two out of three of the current problems in brutal and graphic ways. This includes Celestia murdering Lord Redskull with three spears straight through his chest, leaving visible holes, before turning her attention to his followers, and Luna cutting off Chrysalis's head as Chrysalis tries to run away from the battle, and orders her guards to dispose of the body by dumping it in a ditch or river somewhere.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Ember gets jealous when she sees Spike with Rarity, going to drown her sorrows in some punch.
• Growing Wings: Spike writes to Ember in chapter 2, revealing he has finally grown his wings, much sooner than in canon. The exact process isn't explained, but Spike claims it was kinda painful and took all night. According to Ember, growing wings is a sign of growing up, with him being even younger than she was when she got her wings.
• Halfway Plot Switch: The beginning of the story focuses on Ember and her trying to deal with slowly developing feelings for Spike. About halfway through the story though, things take a turn after her father is killed and Ember tries to deal with politics of being Dragon Lord, only for Spike to be kidnapped to get to her, and she becomes determined to save him with help from his friends.
• Heroic Bastard: Smolder, Garble's little sister, was accidentally formed from an affair Lord Redskull had with another dragon, despite having a life mate. Smolder abandons her father's family name after his treachery is made public, especially after learning of her half-brother Garble's death, and she is one of the few members of her clan to be spared by Ember.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Garble sacrifices himself to destroy the magic crystal slowly draining him, Ember, and their group of their life energy.
• Hypocrite: Lord Redskull is one of the most stubborn traditionalists and hates Ember for all the changes she has been making to dragon-kind. But, despite his traditional ways, it is revealed that he cheated on his life mate with another dragon, which gave birth to Smolder.
• I Have No Son!: Garble's father, Lord Redskull, always preferred his cousin Tyranus over him, and has often ignored and criticized Garble for his failures and shortcomings, but tolerated him because he was still blood. But he effectively disowned Garble when he discovered he betrayed him and sided with Ember, and left him for dead with the rest of the rescue team.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Torch loved Ember's mom very much, with her being the only dragon he would ever consider making his life mate. He could have ordered her to stay with him with authority as Dragon Lord to become his life mate, but he couldn't take away her dream of exploring the world, learning about it, and having adventure in her life.
• I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!: Ember growls at a punch pony to give her another cup, after she points out the sixteen cups Ember has already drank.
• If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: When Twilight is explaining the plan to save Spike to everyone includes faking Ember's death, Blitz asks Ember if she is dead then if he can have her Ruby Fire collection.
• Ironic Last Words: As Chrysalis makes her escape, she silently boasts to herself how at least Twilight is dead, and nopony will ever know she was involved with Lord Redskull, unaware how Twilight and her rescue team survived her Death Trap and revealed her involvement to everyone. Her last thoughts to herself as she makes her escape is "I always survive!" right before she gets her head cut off by Luna without even realizing it.
• Jaw Drop: Ember gets one, and a Twitchy Eye, when she sees that Spike has been rapidly aged up by the cure for the rage potion, and has become a lot more attractive.
• Jousting Lance: Ember commissions Blitz's family to create an obsidian lance as a gift for Spike's birthday, remembering how much he likes the weapon and how knights use them. Sure enough, when Spike receives it he absolutely loves it.
• Last Disrespects: Garble uses this as a cover story. When one of the Redskull guards asks why he isn't at Ember's (fake) funeral, Garble says he never wanted to attend anyway because of how much he hated Ember, and says if he did go he would probably just fart in her face as a final insult to her. Though this is partly just 'acting', it is also Garble getting to enjoy insulting Ember knowing she is within earshot and knowing she can't do anything about it.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Ember says this after her group hears the guards Vandrix and Orthro confess their feelings and their ensuring moans of pleasure from behind the door. Everyone else immediately agrees.
• Like Father, Like Son: Or "Daughter" in this case. While Ember and Spike are relaxing together, Ember lets out a gigantic belch that makes the cave rumble. When Spike looks impressed, Ember claims it is one of the habits she got from being raised by her dad. Though later when Torch tells Ember about her Missing Mom, he admits she is much more like her than she is like him.
• Magic Staff: The Bloodstone Scepter doubles as one, as well as being a Staff of Authority. With it, the Dragon Lord can force their will on other dragons, making them obey their commands and forcing them to tell the truth when questioned on something. There are a few flaws to it though, like dragons have to be in its presence to be controlled by it, and it won't work at all if a dragon is too consumed with rage, such as from a potion, for their mind to be affected by it.
• May–December Romance: This is one of the reasons Ember doesn't want to acknowledge that she has romantic feelings for Spike. She is 103 years old, and he is still less than 20 years old, which is still considered being a "baby dragon". Though her friends suggest she and Spike simply get engaged until he is older, Ember doesn't want to put Spike through that either. This worry is effectively eliminated when Spike undergoes a massive increase in age at the end of the story, now only being 5 years younger than Ember.
• Mindlink Mates: In dragon culture, the bonding ritual used when two dragons become life mates links their souls. They can feel what their mate feels, and in some cases if the bond is strong enough they can hear what the other thinks. This is also why dragon culture follows Together in Death, because when one life mate dies the bond shatters and to the surviving mate it feels like they also slowly begin to die without it. It is seen as a mercy to die a painless death and join their loved one than to live without them while feeling half dead already.
• Missing Mom: Ember never knew her mom, since she was just a mate for Torch for mating season. She never thought much of her mom, but after realizing Spike never knew either of his biological parents, and that Twilight was the closest thing he had to family, she asks her dad to tell her what her mom was like.
• Motivational Kiss: Blitz gives Aquafire a quick kiss on the cheek and wishes her good luck before she goes with Derpy to Zecora's, to get a cure for Spike.
• My God, What Have I Done?: This is Spike's reaction to his potion fueled rampage. When he finally recognizes Ember after she yells at him to stop during his rampage, he looks at her in pure horror at what he almost did, and later apologizes to her for almost killing her.
• The Needs of the Many: Ember learned from her training with her dad that in the event of a Hostage Situation, it was better to have the hostage sacrificed for the greater good of the dragon race, since you had to put hundreds of thousands over one important figure. This is subverted though when the hostage in question is her crush Spike, with her saying she would sacrifice the whole world to save him.
• No Name Given: Torch tells Ember a bit about her Missing Mom, but he never mentions her name to her. Or atleast not on-screen.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In a way, Redskull's plan to ruin the relationship between dragons and ponies by giving Spike a rage potion to age him up and send him on a rampage in Ponyville actually ended up benefiting Ember in the end. After the plan was stopped, Spike was cured of the potion's effects, but instead of reverting to his normal age, he was aged up to being just 5 years younger than Ember. This eliminated Ember's worries of starting a relationship with Spike due to their huge difference in age, and allowed her to acknowledge her feelings for him.
• No-Sell: A few instances occur where the Bloodstone Scepter's power to control other dragons doesn't work.
  • When Ember confronts Lord Redskull in his clan's dungeon, the scepter doesn't work on him because it's powers were being canceled by a crystal made from the remains of Chrysalis' old throne.
  • The scepter doesn't work on a rampaging Spike since his mind was so too consumed by rage from a potion to be affected by it.
• Noodle Incident: After stopping Spike's rampage and getting laid up in bed, Ember thought to herself the only other time her head hurt so bad was when Blitz somehow got a hold of Minotaur Ale.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: The backup Twilight gets to help them save Spike includes friends that Spike himself has helped in the past and immediately agreed to help when they learned Spike was in danger. The Crystal Ponies honor him as their hero and savior and see it as an honor to assist him, and King Thorax calls him his best friend and the reason he learned to use love to free his people.
• Oblivious to Love: Blitz is completely ignorant to the fact that his friend Aquafire is in love with him, even when she keeps dropping several hints. Finally subverted when she confesses her feelings to him when they are slowly dying in a Death Trap together, which turns out to be a Not-So-Final Confession.
• Off with His Head!:
  • Ember orders two of her guards who betrayed her by kidnapping Spike and delivering him to the Redskulls to be executed, with their heads placed on pikes and their bodies left to rot.
  • This is the fate of Chrysalis in the climax. When she tried to run away while Celestia was slaughtering Lord Redskull and his dragons, she was beheaded by Luna from behind, only realizing this after the fact when she suddenly feels cold and turns around to see her own dead headless body and decapitated head.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: Ember remembers a story she was told, how when she was just a hatchling she got very sick and almost died. As her father ordered every potion and healer to help her, even ordering help from outside their borders if necessary, he stayed by her side, and prayed for her recovery. Ember never remembered him praying once her entire life, so this showed her just how much her father cared for her and was willing to go to for her.
• Rescue Romance: Played with when Spike and Ember first become friends. Spike saved Ember from drowning, and it is implied Ember had her crush on Spike as early as the start of their friendship when she suddenly kisses him on the cheek while saying goodbye to him. Played straight at the end of the story when Ember helps save Spike's life by curing him of the effects of the potion forced on him, and the whole thing makes her realize she wants to be more than just friends with him. When he asks her what he can do to thank her, she asks him to kiss her on the lips, which leads to them becoming an Official Couple.
• Saying Too Much: After a rampaging dragon attacks Ponyville, Blitz accidentally reveals that it was actually Spike in front of the scared citizens when asking how they were going to stop him.
• Sequel Hook: Spike, after being aged up into adulthood, is temporarily exiled for the rampage he went on, with Twilight stepping down from her position as Princess until his exile is over, and he and Ember become an Official Couple after sharing their First Kiss and Ember realizes she loves him. But, the final scene shows a letter from Brutanus, Redskull's brother, instructing his son Tyranus to escape and gather an army against Ember someday.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: After Garble refers to Spike as "Ember's drakefriend", Ember shouts "He's not my drakfriend!" while blushing.
• Ship Sinking: The Spike and Rarity ship is utterly sunk here. If the blatant Ship Tease between Spike and Ember wasn't enough already, Twilight eventually comments that Rarity has only seen Spike as a little brother to her and nothing more. Plus she is already interested in a stallion that moved in from Las Pegasus.
• Ship Tease:
  • The story is filled with moments between Spike and Ember. Ember particularly comes to cherish Spike greatly and become protective of him, and slowly realizes she has fallen in love with him. At the end of the story, the two share their First Kiss at Ember's request, and become an Official Couple.
  • Ember's friends Blitz and Aquafire also have a few moments. Aquafire is in love with Blitz, but won't speak up about it other than dropping a few subtle hints because he is already engaged to another dragoness by his parents. After she finally confesses her feelings to him though, he seems to return them, kissing her on the cheek at one point while wishing her good luck.
• Single Tear:
  • Ember sheds a single tear after remaining stoic and emotionless when Spike silently comforts her at her father's funeral.
  • Spike sheds a single tear himself when he apologizes to Ember for almost killing her during his potion-fueled rampage, and everything she went through to save him.
• Suddenly Shouting: In the climax of Chapter 19 Ember goes from weakly begging the drugged Spike to stop as he slowly closes in on her for the kill, to shouting at him that if he kills her she'll kick his butt as a ghost. This seems to get through to Spike and recognize her, stopping him long enough for the cure to take effect on him.
• Test Kiss: Done in the last chapter when Ember asks Spike to kiss her on the lips, because she needs to know if it feels right. Spike complies, and Ember can tell from it that she does in fact love Spike. The two then agree to become a couple.
• Together in Death: Dragon marriage invokes this between life mates. When dragons swear to be life mates, they are never parted even by death. When one spouse dies, the surviving one eats a special rock called a Stibnite, getting to live their life for one more week before dying a painless death.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Twilight goes into a detailed explanation of the plan to save Spike in Chapter 12, with them faking Ember's death to make her enemies let their guard down and leave the Redskull clan unattended so they can sneak in and rescue Spike. It seems to be going well for the next few chapters, until it falls apart in Chapter 15, when the entire group is captured, and it is revealed that Chrysalis, who has joined forces with Lord Redskull, killed Silverback and replaced him at some point to spy on Ember's inner circle for Lord Redskull and thus knew all about their rescue attempt from the start.
• Villain Teamup: Chapter 15 reveals that Lord Redskull had secretly allied himself with Chrysalis to destroy their mutual enemies.
• Villains Want Mercy: After Chrysalis is killed and is being Dragged Off to Hell by The Grim Reaper, she cries and pleads for mercy. She begs for a second chance at life, promising to be a good changeling, make peace with the ponies, and never hurt anyone again. It all goes ignored as she is swallowed whole by the reaper's cloak.
• Wings Do Nothing: When Spike is transformed into a giant rampaging dragon via a rage potion, his wings do not grow past their original size like the rest of his body. This makes them completely useless for flying.

A Burning Flame In My Soul

• Affection-Hating Kid: Smolder plays with this. Her exact age is unknown, or what it is by dragon standards, but she makes it clear she isn't a big fan of romance. She isn't a big fan of witnessing Spike and Ember's romance and flirting, especially when she accidentally walked in on one of their intimate moments once, and she says when her friends all got married (with the exception of Ocellus), they all became Sickeningly Sweethearts. Though she is happy for all of them, she finds the idea of love to be "weird" herself and thinks it looks stupid. Though Ember thinks she just needs to find the right person to be her lover, like she did herself with Spike.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Rainbow Dash gave one to Applejack when Discord tricked her into thinking Applejack was dying, when really she just had a sprained ankle.
• Asshole Victim: Dawn Winds is murdered by two hired murderers and robbed of her payment. To anyone else this would be a terrible tragedy, but Dawn Winds was quickly establish as a horrible and selfish pony that blames others for her own actions, including leaving her squad behind to die to save herself and anyone she hurts doing her crimes.
• Attending Your Own Funeral: Gallus and his squad of guards were abandoned by their cowardly leader when they were attacked by a colony of tatzlwurms, who then lied and said they all died in battle. Two weeks later, Gallus and every other guard reached Canterlot and ended up crashing Gallus's own funeral just as the ceremony was ending.
• Batman Gambit: Discord gets Rainbow Dash and Applejack together with one. When Applejack sprains her ankle working on the farm and needs to spend a week in bed, Discord sends a letter to Rainbow telling her that Applejack is "mortally injured" and she should tell her how she really feels before it is too late. Rainbow falls for it and flies faster than ever to the farm, bursting into Applejack's room and confesses her love to her among other crying and babbling, only calming down when Applejack assures her she isn't dying, but returns her feelings regardless.
• Battle Couple: Spike and Ember are now one, as they demonstrate when they work together to kill a Shadow Hound in Chapter 8 and briefly fight back-to-back in the following chapter against more.
• Big Bad: Tyranus Redskull is the main antagonist, seeking to overthrow Ember as Dragon Lord to avenge his dead family and rule over dragon-kind as their emperor.
• Break Up Demand: Queen Novo forbade Silverstream from dating Gallus after she announced they were together, to the shock of everyone else, ordering her to break up with him and stating that due to being part of the royal family she needed to marry into a proper bloodline of high esteem. This lead to Silverstream renouncing her position as a member of the Royal Family to prove her love to Gallus.
• Cassandra Truth: When Rowan Forestheart finally arrives in Canterlot, he tells three guards why he needs to speak to Twilight or her fellow rulers, explaining who he is, what happened to him, and what Tyranus Redskull is planning. The three don't believe him, thinking he is either sleep-deprived or crazy. Luckily, Princess Flurry Heart is willing to hear him out when he mentions who his master was.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: In Smolder's Drill Sergeant Nasty rant to the Scale Guards, she tells them that it is their duty to protect Dragon Lord Ember, and if Ember dies because of their mistakes, Smolder will personally sign their execution warrant before carrying out the deed herself and then pissing on their grave as a final insult.
• Deadly Dodging: While Ember is fighting the dragon assassins, she hears one preparing a crossbow behind her and ducks at the last minute to dodge it. The assassin she was fighting isn't able to dodge though and gets struck in the neck.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • In an example prior to the story, Princess Amore suffered this. In My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic, she was specifically said to still be alive despite being petrified and shattered, and Sombra himself noted that she could be put back together and restored, to the point that the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc ended with Sombra and Radiant Hope leaving to do just that. Here, Sombra is specifically said to have killed her.
  • Again from an example prior to the story, Radiant Hope suffered this also. In her original appearance in the comics, she made it to Celestia and Luna unharmed and then survived until the present day by living in the Umbrums' realm, and as said above, left with Sombra at the end of Siege of the Crystal Empire. Here, she was mortally wounded by Sombra, and died shortly after telling Celestia and Luna about his takeover of the Crystal Empire.
  • Yet again from an example prior to the story, the Umbrums. In the comics, they stayed in their realm, and while they briefly managed to get out, they were trapped again at the end. Here, Sombra used the Crystal Heart to absorb them all into himself and become much more powerful.
• Destructo-Nookie: Spike recalls how when his and Ember's relationship first became sexual, they ended up breaking their bed the first time they slept together and had to replace it.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Smolder is believed to be the last remaining member of Clan Redskull, despite her having disowned the name following the death of her half-brother Garble. However, the readers know that Tyranus is still alive though and considers himself the true last of Clan Redskull.
  • Both Spike and Ember plan on proposing to each other, both for getting married and becoming life mates, with neither being aware of the other's plan.
  • When discussing the Behemoths invading at the worst possible time, Spike wonder if Tyranus had a hand in it, with Smolder and Ember both disagreeing due o thinking not even Tyranus would stoop that low. Readers know from the previous chapter that he is indeed involved, but very reluctantly.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Smolder is shown to be one while training the Scale Guards. Rainbow Dash even says she could give Spitfire a run for her money.
• Exact Words: Tyranus gives his word by his gods to Chantler that if he tells Tyranus what he has discovered then he will set him and his apprentice free. After he is told everything he needs about where and when he can find blade of the First Dragon Emperor, Imperiax, instead of releasing them he performs a Neck Snap on Chantler, saying he promised to "set them free" and so they will be "set free to the afterlife". However, Chantler's apprentice avoids this fate by managing to escape.
• Faking the Dead: Seven years ago, Clan Deathskull helped Tyranus fake his death to keep Ember from realizing he was alive, allowing him to continue his plans for revenge.
• Forged by the Gods: Imperiax is said to be a weapon so powerful that it was made by the gods themselves, being even more powerful than the Elements of Harmony.
• Godzilla Threshold: Once his plans are exposed, Tyranus needs to rely on his backup plan to give his army more time to prepare for the journey. But it is so desperate that it disgusts and ashames even him, knowing he will betray every dragon in the Dragon Lands with it. Only his lover Dájǐ-Lǐ is aware of it, knowing if his followers ever knew of it he would be ruined. It involves helping the Behemoths and their Overlord get past The Wall.
• Hero of Another Story: Discord is absent due to dealing with "weird dimensional stuff happening he needed to check out". No other information is given other than everyone shivering over whatever happened "last time".
• Honorary Uncle: Sandbar and Spike are both this to Gallus and Silverstream's son Garrus and are respectively his first and second godfathers. Spike is referred to as Garrus's favorite "dragon uncle" ever since he first babysat him when he was five years old and always wants to be with him whenever Spike visits.
• Immune to Fire: This is zig-zagged by dragons. Despite popular beliefs , dragons are not automatically immune to fire and can be hurt by it if it is intense enough. They must undergo training to harden their scales to protect themselves from different levels of fire. Ember underwent such training and is able to withstand three assassins assaulting her with fire, as if they were simply tickles. When she counters with her own fire breath, all three of them are set ablaze and scream in pain as their scales are burned black.
• Interspecies Romance: Several of the official couples are between members of different species.
  • Sandbar and Yona (a pony and yak)
  • Gallus and Silverstream (a griffon and hippogriff)
  • Downplayed with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, since even though they are both ponies they are a Earth Pony and Pegasus respectively.
  • Discord and Fluttershy (a draconequus and pegasus)
  • Applebloom and Terramar (a pony and a hippogriff)
  • King Thorax and Queen Skystar (a Changeling and a hippogriff) are revealed to be dating.
• Killed Offscreen: Celestia and Luna have died at some point during the time-skip. It is believed they simply died in their sleep, but Twilight suspects something else may have happened to them.
• Klingon Promotion: A non-lethal version is done with the ruler of the hippogriffs. The ruler can be challenegd for the right to the throne through three traditional contests: swimming, flying, and combat. Whoever wins two out of three is declared ruler. When Princess Skystar became enraged by her mother's treatment of Silverstream because of her relationship with Gallus, she challenged her for the throne and ultimately defeated her in swimming and combat, becoming the new Queen.
• Last of His Kind: Ignoring Smolder, who was a Heroic Bastard born from an affair and already rejected the family name of her father, Tyranus is the last living member of Clan Redskull, thus motivating him to avenge his family.
• Like Father, Unlike Son:
  • Garrus, the son of Gallus and Silverstream, is very different from both of his parents. While Silverstream is constantly happy and excited about almost everything and Gallus, despite being quiet at times, knows how to have fun and party, Garrus prefers reading, writing, and singing over roughhousing and is so quiet and shy he could be mistaken for Fluttershy's child.
  • Erebus, the son of Sombra and one of his concubines, is another example, at least as far as his father is concerned. Sombra was a tyrannical conqueror who took over the Crystal Empire, was ready to go for Equestria next, and even killed the only friend he ever had. Erebus is a kind-hearted pony, a loyal guard of the Crystal Empire, and a genuine friend-later-turned-suitor to Flurry Heart.
• Loophole Abuse: Silverstream renounced her position as a member of the Royal Family as proof of her love to Gallus, and then Queen Novo permanently stripped her of her noble rank so that no future royal could ever restore it. Despite this however, once Skystar replaces her mother as Queen, although she's unable to make Silverstream royalty again she still allows her cousin to be part of the family, and declares that any children she has would be recognized as royals themselves.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Pinkie Pie and her husband Cheese Sandwich have seven kids, and have two more on the way.
• Never My Fault: Dawn Winds, the former Solar Squad Leader, believes the whole world is against her and that she either did nothing wrong to deserve it or is just doing what is necessary because of it to survive. When she abandoned her entire squad of rookies, including Gallus, to die to an ambush of tatzlwurms, and lies to cover for herself, she blames Gallus and the others for showing up alive later and "ruining everything" for her. When the consequences of her lie catch up to her and she is stripped of her rank, kicked out of the guard, sentenced to 10 years in jail, and loses all her friends and family, she believes she did nothing to deserve any of it because she just didn't want to die.
• Noodle Incident: Several are mentioned that took place during the twenty year Time Skip.
  • Spike recalls how last year during the anniversary of the Alliance of Harmony, one of Pinkie's kids, Button Pie, managed to get a hold of Pinkie's party cannon and used it to cover a lot of party participants in brownie batter.
  • Smolder says how she had to babysit Snadbar and Yona's kids for them once, and nearly shipped them off to Saddle Arabia.
  • When the Mane 6 and Spike are meeting together, Fluttershy tells a story of how Angel Jr trapped his babysitter in a closet for six hours.
  • Everyone shivers when they mention the last time "weird dimensional stuff" happened, and agree some things are just better left not being remembered.
• Off with His Head!: Tyranus does this to the leader of Clan Fortuna after his foolish plan to assassinate Ember and the other leaders of the Alliance fails, thus exposing him and his plans to Ember before they are ready to begin their journey to retrieve Imperiax.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Two years after Gallus became a guard, he was part of a large team sent to investigate why convoys were disappearing near the southern borders, and were attacked by tatzlwurms and left for dead by their cowardly squad leader. She reported that she was the Sole Survivor of the attack, only for Gallus and the other guards to all show up during Gallus's funeral ceremony alive.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Dawn Winds gives some dragons some secret intel on how to infiltrate the castle that she knows due to being a former guard, to help them with their plan to assassinate Ember while hoping they kill Gallus too. After she takes her payment for her services and leaves though, shortly afterwards she is mugged and murdered by two other ponies, who reveal that they were hired by the same dragons to kill her and steal her payment for themselves.
• Polyamory:
  • Blitz is revealed to be dating both Aquafire and his fiancé from his Arranged Marriage. It turns out polygamy is not illegal in the Dragon Lands, but very rare since all parties must agree to it.
  • Thorax mentions he has a husband, and is later discovered that he is dating Queen Skystar as well.
• Shout-Out: The ending of Chapter 12 is one to the opening scene of Mulan. Before he is killed, the dragon Scaleburn manages to light the signal as the Behemoths scale The Wall, warning the world of their invasion, and the Overlord simply remarking "Perfect". Similarly, the following chapter has the Overlord spare two dragons to deliver a message, only to kill one of them as they retreat since he only needs one messenger.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Erebus was hated and feared by nearly everyone in the Crystal Empire due to him being the son of Sombra and feared he would become just like his father. A mob formed demanding Erebus' death, killing his mother for trying to protect him, and would have killed Erebus too if Flurry Heart hadn't broken through the crowd and teleported them both to safety.
• Smooch of Victory: Inverted; Spike and Ember are first seen sparing together with crystal swords, with Ember eventually winning and pinning Spike down. As she holds her sword down on him, she asks if he has any Last Requests, with him jokingly asking if he can get a kiss. Ember obliges, putting her sword away before she and Spike begin making out.
• Spit Take: Twilight spits out her tea in shock when Ember tells her she wants to ask Spike to marry her.
• Team Member in the Adaptation: In canon, Sombra turned down officially joining the Villain Team-Up to go at the heroes alone. Here, he ends up taking Chrysalis' spot on the Terrible Trio due to her having died long before the events of Season 9.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: After Dawn Winds was disgraced and kicked out of the Royal Guards, she took up several unpleasant and illegal jobs to get by, not caring how horrible it got or who she hurt or killed in the process since she was already seen as Beyond Redemption to everyone else.
  Dawn Wings was scum in the eyes of society, so why fight back against that?
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Skystar challenged her mother Queen Novo for the right to the throne during the Time Skip through the tradition of three contests: swimming, flying, and combat, and ultimately won.
• Time Skip: Twenty years have passed since the ending of the first story.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • During the twenty year time-skip, Spike has received training from Ember to learn how to fight like a dragon warrior, learning how to fight with his claws, teeth, fire, and tail, as well as swords, lances, spears, axes, and other weapons. His new skills allow him to defeat several of the Royal Guards, though he can still be defeated by an opponent with more skill and experience like Shining Armor and Ember.
  • After Smolder graduated from Twilight's Friendship Academy she joined Ember's Scale Guard and eventually became its new captain by defeating the previous one in hand-to-hand combat.
• Neck Snap: Chantler Leafseeker is killed by Tyranus snapping his neck.
• Unholy Matrimony: Tyranus and his lover Dájǐ-Lǐ. While Tyranus seeks to avenge his dead father and uncle and overthrow Ember, Dájǐ-Lǐ seeks revenge on her family for as of yet unknown reasons, wanting her father and sister to bow to her before she kills them. The two of them are openly affectionate with each other and Tyranus promises her she will rule beside him as his queen.
• Unseen No More: Tyranus was The Ghost in the previous story, being mentioned several times but never making an appearance on-screen. He finally makes an appearance in the first chapter of this story, and serves as the new Big Bad.
• We Used to Be Friends: Everyone has dropped Novo as a friend, including her own family, due to how she tried to force Silverstream to break up with Gallus and when she refused resulted in Novo permanently stripping her of her noble rank. Shining Armor even outright refers to her as an "utter bitch".
• Would Hurt a Child: The Crystal Ponies tried to lynch Erebus for being the son of King Sombra, before Flurry Heart managed to save him by teleporting them both away.
• Wronski Feint: Ember does this against some Shadow Hounds flying after her. She flies as fast as she can towards Twilight's personal tower with no stops as she is pursued, and suddenly uses her agility to change her momentum upwards and flew right next to the tower's concrete wall. Most of the Shadow Hounds are unable to do the same and smashed into the tower, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
• You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: Tyranus kidnaps Chantler and his apprentice, forcing Chantler to research and decode information written in Imperial Draconian, under threat of both their lives. Once Chantler tells him what he needs to know though, he is immediately killed, and his apprentice is ordered to be killed immediately afterwards since they don't need him as a bargaining chip anymore, only to be told he has already escaped.

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