Ember (dragon)

Dragon Lord Ember is the current Dragon Lord and daughter of Torch. She is great friends with and King Thorax and on good terms with,  and Starlight Glimmer. She represented dragons at the Friendship School along with Smolder.

Early life
Not much of Ember's early life is known. She appears to be the only child of Torch, given no mentioned relatives, and the status of her mother is unknown. Growing up, her rebellious attitude seemed to cause strain between her and her more rigid dad. Her father had little faith in Ember's actual abilities, and belittled her during the Gauntlet of Fire, further indicating a strained relationship.

Becoming Dragon Lord
When dragon law demanded that her father retire, Ember was among the dragons assembled by his summons to select a new Dragon Lord. After the Gauntlet of Fire was set and Spike attempted to leave, Ember came to his defense, pointing out to Torch that he was a small dragon. However, when Ember herself went to prepare for the Gauntlet, Torch refused to allow her to participate, noting that she wasn't much larger than Spike herself. Frustrated, Ember flew off, but used some kind of dye to change her scale coloration and donned armor to conceal her features so that she could participate in the Gauntlet anyway. However, as she was flying towards the Flamecano, a geyser of water knocked her out of the air and she landed in the sea.

Knocked unconscious, Ember might have drowned had Spike, who had decided to take part in the Gauntlet after all and been forced to swim due to his lack of wings, not managed to rescue her. The seawater washed off her disguising dye, and Spike discovered her identity when he removed her helmet. Recovering quickly, she was caught off guard to discover that Spike was accompanied by Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, and objected to the idea of dragons having friends. Determined to win the Gauntlet and prove herself, she nonetheless came to Spike's defense when Garble nearly discovered Twilight and Rarity, and was surprised when Spike didn't reveal the truth about her to the other dragon. As such, when Spike proposed that they work together to get past the island's slingtails, Ember agreed, and carried Spike on her back while he warned her of incoming boulders.

Seeing that their cooperative strategy had helped them both, and seeing that the Gauntlet's obstacles weren't getting any less dangerous, Ember asked Spike if he'd like to continue working together. This allowed the pair to get through a tunnel full of moving stalactites and stalagmites that stymied many of the other dragons. Twilight and Rarity managed to get to the other end as well, and Ember was stunned when he saw Spike save Rarity from a lava flow. When Spike explained it as the sort of thing a friend would do, Ember fell back on her upbringing and parted ways with the smaller dragon and his pony friends, noting that only one dragon could win the Gauntlet. However, when Garble cornered Spike in the cave where the Bloodstone Scepter had landed, Ember came to his rescue, knocking Garble away and then saving Spike from a fall.

After apologizing for her earlier departure and acknowledging Spike as her friend, Ember faced off with Garble while Spike ran for the scepter. Garble briefly gained the upper hand, but became annoyed when Spike came back to help Ember, which gave her the opportunity to surprise him and throw him across the room. Before Garble could attack again, Spike retrieve the scepter, and Ember acknowledged him as the new Dragon Lord. However, after ordering Garble to leave, Spike pressed the scepter into Ember's hands, feeling that she would be a benevolent Dragon Lord and that he could return to Equestria with his friends. Ember accepted, replying that he would have her as a friends among the dragons; she was then somewhat unnerved when he gave her a friendly hug.

Ember then returned to her father with the scepter, much to his annoyance. However, when she pointed out that she had won the Gauntlet despite his doubts, Torch acknowledged that her lack of size did not equal a lack of strength. The two enjoyed a moment as the new dragon lord addressed her subjects, jokingly imitating her father's own habits of shouting at them. Ember was further amused when Garble, subject to Spike's one decree as Dragon Lord, flew up to Torch's face and hugged it, while not being able to inform him why he had done so. Spike and the ponies, meanwhile, were pleased to have a new friend-and in Twilight's case, informative pen pal-in their new ally Ember.

Later, while attempting to determine where she should send her student Starlight Glimmer, Twilight considered sending her to the Dragon Lands. She created a magical simulation to examine what might happen, but it was influenced by her own perceptions. The simulated Ember and Starlight thus behaved rather uncharacteristically, engaging in fairly bizarre interactions.

Second Dragon-Yak war
After learning that the yak Prince Rutherford had made Pinkie Pie an honorary yak in breach of an ancient agreement between Dragon Lord Scintilla and Prince Ulysses, a furious Ember led her people in an attack on Yakyakistan. Spike and a number of ponies, who had been visiting Yakyakistan at the time, were shocked by this act of aggression, particularly when they discovered that Ember had ordered it. Ember, for her part, merely accused the yaks of violating their "sacred bond" and refused to expound upon the subject. Spike took it upon himself to find out the truth and made his way to the dragon camp. There, Ember explained that she had become infuriated by ponies stereotyping dragons, and went on to explain the significance of the honorary yak title to the dragons.

Spike's attempts to defend the yaks went unheeded, and Ember and her forces marched to confront the yaks and ponies the following morning. However, Spike, who had marched with them, came between the two forces, and amused Ember by taking the ponies to task for their opinions about dragons as a whole. She was less amused when he turned things around and accosted her for reinforcing the very negative pony view about dragons she disliked through her actions. Ember was then embarrassed to learn that the yak records had been unclear about Scintilla's identity, and they had thus been unaware of their connection to the dragons. Rutherford and Pinkie apologized, and offered to rescind Pinkie's title, but Ember decided it was better for them all to move forward, and led the dragons in helping to repair the damage they had caused.

Visiting Ponyville
Some time later, Spike invited Ember to visit Ponyville, but inadvertently invited Thorax, leader of the Changelings, for a visit on the same day. Fearing that the two leaders would dislike each other and spark a Changeling-Dragon war, Spike became determined to keep the pair apart and unaware of each other's presence. His constant back-and-forth between the two perturbed Ember, who was already somewhat uncomfortable and awkward due to lack of familiarity with pony customs. Her attempts to ingratiate herself with the ponies proved heavy-handed and unsuccessful, and she was further puzzled by an inability to tell the difference between Twilight and Starlight. Finding Spike, Ember became angry with him for what she saw as him avoiding her after inviting her to visit him, inadvertently angering a similarly neglected Thorax.

The two almost came to blows, just as Spike had feared, but Spike was able to halt them; however, anger and confusion quickly turned to upset when the pair learned why Spike had been keeping them from meeting. The pair each flew away, only to end up at the same lake, where they began talking about their problems. Ember, after learning that Thorax was struggling with defiance from some of his people, counseled him to take charge. For his part, Thorax was able to help Ember see that her tactics of humiliating other dragons in physical contests weren't helping their self-esteem. He helped her to understand that she needed to try and understand the feelings of other dragons, as well as her own, though a fiery sneeze made Ember think she might be "allergic to feelings".

Thorax assured Ember that she could share how she felt without it being "sappy or touchy-feely", and she proposed that they start by going back to see Spike. With some encouragement from Thorax, Ember was able-though with obvious difficulty-to reasonably express her feelings to Spike. Thorax was similarly able to come out and voice his own displeasure with Spike due to Ember's coaching, and the two friends were then able to forgive Spike. Happy that his friends had become friends, Spike invited them both to a ceremony at which he had intended to present a gift to Ember, giving it to both of them instead. Some confetti caused Ember to sneeze, and she reiterated an earlier observation that the ponies should have more rocks as precautions against fire breath.

International-and internal-issues
Ember and Thorax began exchanging letters, with her continuing to give him advice on being a more assertive ruler. Ember was also among the leaders who attended the Convocation of the Creatures, a gathering of representatives from various species across the world. She was quite uncomfortable with the situation, due to dragons lacking practice in diplomacy, but was encouraged by Twilight. Blacktip, a dragon serving as archivist, was later somewhat put off to learn that Twilight was friends with Ember, as he had attempted to pass himself off as her best resource for dragon culture facts. According to one account, she later visited the Crystal Empire to discuss a trade agreement with and.

When Twilight Sparkle opened the School of Friendship in Ponyville, helped her reach out to various species to invite members of them to enroll. Ember accepted the invitation and brought the young dragon Smolder to join, though the younger female was less than enthusiastic. After ordering her to remain, and introducing her to Spike, Ember later attended Friends and Family Day with Thorax, Grampa Gruff, Prince Rutherford, and General Seaspray. Unfortunately, their rambunctious students caused a scene that aggravated the anti-pony sentiments of Chancellor Neighsay, who offended Ember and her peers. All five thus withdrew their students from the school, which Neighsay closed in his capacity as head of the EEA.

When Twilight became determined to reopen the school, Rarity was sent to the Dragon Lands to persuade Ember to led Smolder reenroll, only for Ember to inform her that Smolder had disappeared. She and the other leaders gathered at Canterlot Castle, where Ember seemed to suspect her fellow leaders of hiding the students and was suspected in turn by most of them. Even Thorax was not above her suspicions, and flaring tempers threatened the advent of an interspecies war. Fortunately, Twilight and her friends found the missing students, who convinced the leaders to let them return to the school. Chancellor Neighsay nearly sparked a conflict with more of his anti-pony rhetoric, but Celestia and Twilight were able to prevent things from getting violent and the leaders left in peace.

Some time later, Smolder earned Ember's approval to return to Ponyville early by beating Charcoal in an arm-wrestling match. Later, Ember-as part of her Dragon Lord duties-was watching over the latest generation of dragon eggs when Smolder, Spike, and arrived for a visit. Fluttershy and Spike helped Ember care for the eggs, which weren't hatching, and discovered that Garble's gang had been unwittingly draining the lava intended to keep them warm. Ember thus ordered the dragons to heat the eggs with their fire breath, but it was only when Garble's beatnik poetry caused the dragons to laugh that the fire became hot enough to hatch the eggs. Ember promptly decreed that the dragons would no longer belittle each other for their differences or hobbies, and even asked Garble to teach her how to perform similar poetry.

Ember was among the creatures who appeared during Celestia and Luna's song "Lotta Little Things." Later, she was present when Smolder appealed to the dragons to go to the aid of Equestria against the Legion of Doom. She then joined in with the numerous creatures who took part in the Final Battle for Equestria, before attending Twilight's coronation as Queen of Equestria.

Personality
Ember is a proud, somewhat belligerent and violently loyal dragon who, despite learning the ways of friendship, still retains a rough and tough exterior. Though she is truly loving and kind, her ways of going about such compassion are still reflective of classic dragon ways. As the Dragon Lord, she is very protective over Equestria and will do anything to defend her pony companions from harm. Though initially this seemed to be just out of respect for Spike, she seems to truly care and value Equestria for what it is and has deep respect for its rulers. Ember is brave, headstrong but also brash and aggressive, in a caring way, nearly walking into a war to protect Smolder from danger. Though she has a good-heart, she has trouble making friends, especially with ponies, saying that she thinks they all look the same.

Relationships
Ember is very protective over Equestria and its citizens. Honoring a promise she made towards Spike, she does everything in her power to protect the nation from harm, but she herself has occasionally been aggressive towards its citizens. Ember cares a lot for Spike and shows her more amiable and caring side when interacting with him. She's on largely good terms with Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, but gets the two mixed up given their similar appearances. Ember is also good friends with Thorax, though she isn't afraid to show him her rougher side.

Attire
Ember wore a suit of armor during the Gauntlet of Fire, and later again during the second Dragon-Yak war. Ember's armor is among the more intricate dragon armors, possibly in part due to the fact that it was originally intended to disguise Ember as well as provide her protection. During the gauntlet, the armor included a gold helmet resembling a dragon head, which fully enclosed Ember's own head. This included an extended muzzle with two white fangs jutting down on either side. Short horns of the same color extended from the top of the head, sitting between two dark gold fins resembling ear frills. A red jewel dominated the center of the forehead, with two brown prongs sticking up from it.

The rest of the armor consists of boots that had golden toe sections and brown leather ankles, with golden wing designs extending up from them. Golden plates cover the knees and are strapped around the back of the legs, while a leather sleeve fitted with several gold spikes fits over the end of the tail. Brown leather encloses the torso and arms, with several gold spikes running up the base of the spine and holes in the back to allow Ember's wings to emerge. On the front she wears a gold breastplate and shoulder armor, with matching spiked bracers on either forearm.

Abilities
Despite being smaller than most dragons of a (presumably) similar age, Ember is possessed of great physical strength and flying ability. Though apparently not as strong as Garble, she is a skilled fighter. Her fire breath is fuschia in color.

Appearances

 * "Gauntlet of Fire"
 * "Celestial Advice"
 * "School Daze"
 * "Uprooted"
 * "Sweet and Smoky"
 * "Between Dark and Dawn"
 * "The Ending of the End"