I apologise for the minor delay, plenty of writing time was had, but little posting time.

I'm pleased that people have liked the songs I suggested, I wasn't expecting such a response with that. The song Cynder hums last chapter will be referenced later. I wrote the early part of this chapter listening to "Love is easy" by McFly on repeat no fewer then nine times. It's corny I'll admit, but it's nice music and it was helpful. Worth a listen!

Story now:

Two dragons lay side by side in bed, but they weren't Spyro and Cynder.

"You didn't sleep with him!"

"But did I do anything else wrong?"

"You didn't sleep with him!"

"Oh get over it! I didn't sleep with him!"

"Okay then. In all seriousness telling him that he looked like Malefor right before the date ended was another small screw-up."

"Did you even listen? I didn't tell him that! I've only told you, now you tell me: Did I do anything wrong?"

"You didn't mate with him!"

"I'm not coming to you for this sort of thing ever again."

"Aww… Cynder…"

"You are so immature." Cynder told Imperia.

"I am."

"You are."

There was a brief pause.

"…You did'n-"

"Shut up! There's always tonight!" Cynder yelled, and then she blushed. Imperia grinned at her with delight.

"That's my girl."

"I hate you."

"Not yet you don't." Imperia laughed.

"This conversation is over." Cynder decided. She rose from the bed and Imperia uncurled her tail from where she had been holding the smaller dragoness during the night. Cynder arched her back and stretched out her body and wings with a lazy sigh. There was no rush for her, dawn had only just broken and she was content. She had slept later then she usually did, Cynder liked watching the sunrise, but not this time.

"I was thinking we'd go to the canteen for breakfast. If we go within the hour it'll be nice and quiet, we may even meet up with Spyro. He usually eats early." Imperia told Cynder, the older dragon hadn't bothered to get up yet.

"Let's go then." Cynder said straight away. Imperia rolled over and tucked her head under her wing.

"Ten more minutes."

"I'll leave without you."

"So?" Imperia asked.

Cynder smiled, she knew how to motivate the silvery dragon.

"You'd miss me saying good morning to Spyro."

Imperia leapt out of bed immediately.

"Not for the world."

Sadly the canteen was empty; there was no Spyro or anyone else. Imperia organised breakfast and the two dragonesses talked as they ate. Cynder allowed Imperia to interrogate her further, the dragoness could probably have written a respectable book about Cynder's date. Thinking about that reminded Cynder of something.

"Spyro and I were stalked down the street." She said.

"Ooh, drama! Who, when, why, where?" Imperia responded playfully.

"I think you could tell me." Cynder said. Imperia flicked her wings and tapped her claws thoughtfully.

"Perhaps a certain overly possessive fire dragoness?" She enquired.

"Something inexplicable happened while she was following us." Cynder paused, hoping for a reaction.

"I'm waiting for an explanation." Imperia smiled.

"What a coincidence. I'm waiting for a confession."

"Oh, I like that!" Imperia said approvingly. "I admit… I may have ah… encouraged… one of my students to annoy his cousin last night."

Cynder nodded in satisfaction, she had thought so.

Cynder habitually used the wind to sense movement in her surroundings at all times, Imperia had taught her how to use the skill and Cynder had honed the power into a sixth sense through constant use. She sensed a dragon shaped form enter the room and felt it immediately make for the two dragonesses in their corner.

Imperia's eyes flickered towards the door and her eternal smile grew, if that was even possible. Cynder resisted the urge to look around. She was kept in suspense for almost a second, and then a gentle wing touched her tail and stroked up her back to her shoulder. Cynder looked around and received a kiss of greeting.

The kiss was small and simple, but it gave Cynder butterflies anyway, she decided she liked this new type of greeting very much.

"Good morning Cynder." Spyro said. His wing was tucked over her and he rested his head and paw on her shoulder. It wasn't quite enough for Cynder's tastes, so she stepped closer and gently pressed her body against Spyro's, wrapping her tail around him. This put the two dragons in quite an intimate position, particularly considering where Spyro had rested his paw and head. Spyro accepted the sensual contact with pure affection and Cynder proudly allowed her new boyfriend to sit with her. Imperia practically radiated her approval.

Cynder could feel his powerful steady heartbeat in her hip and waist; she couldn't help but keep track of it, counting in her head. She felt like purring.

"So you're officially dating now?" Imperia asked.

The two dragons didn't even need to glance at each other.

"Yes." They said at exactly the same time. Imperia almost glowed in delight.

The three dragons spent a moment in comfortable silence.

"Thanks for helping us out on our date, by the way." Spyro said with a smile.

"Not you too, Cynder just finished pulling a confession out of me." Imperia sighed.

Cynder hummed in pride and rubbed her shoulder against Spyro's chest.

"You're welcome, anyway." Imperia grumbled.

"This is going to be a good day, I think." Cynder smiled.

She was right, but she was also wrong.

The first problem was Cynder's enrolment in the dragon academy, not that this was enough to spoil her mood. According to Imperia Cynder could risk getting arrested if she didn't go, so she had to at least show up. Spyro promised to join the class after he had eaten his breakfast, which made Cynder happy. Spyro wasn't technically in the class, despite being in their age group. He explained that he had graduated with mastery in all four of his elements almost a year ago, with what Cynder considered charming modesty, but what could also possibly be called embarrassment.

Imperia and Cynder left together, Imperia had something to attend to apparently, but before she left she had a quiet conversation with Cynder.

"This dark Spyro moment thing you mentioned. It's when he puts his paws together and tilts his head. It's like a cloud passes over the sun and he falls into shadow. Is that what you're talking about?"

"Yes. Have you seen it too?"

"A few times."

"What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure, but I am sure that Spyro would never hurt you. If he's looking like The Dark Master then that would be a bad sign, you'll need to keep an eye on him for me."

"Spyro's a hero."

"I agree."

Cynder said goodbye to Imperia and shook the conversation out of her head. She decided to deal with it later, as she was feeling irrationally happy and wanted to keep that feeling for as long as she could. She was dating Spyro! Finally!

Cynder was rather late after finding out that her class had been moved to the Colosseum on the other side of the city. But this couldn't stop Cynder's cheerful mood. She took her time flying down from the Dragon temple on the hill to the lower section of Warfang where the Colosseum was located.

Cynder loved flying, she loved the feeling of the air rushing around her, her powerful magic could control the wind and bend it to her will, the wind was her friend. She loved being able to circle and look around from high above the world. The sun warmed her black scales as she flew. Flying made Cynder feel in control, up here she could dance and spin, rise and fall, shout and laugh and nobody could ever stop her from doing what she wanted to do. Cynder folded her wings and dropped out of the sky, even in freefall with her winds tightly tucked Cynder still felt free and safe.

The street outside the Colosseum was crowded with dragons, moles and even a few cheetahs and wolves. Cynder's sharp eyes picked the perfect landing spot and she spread her wings to land gently in the crowd. Her arrival caused a small stir in the crowd; some hurried on their way or stopped to look at the infamous black dragon. Cynder ignored them and wandered into the Colosseum.

The first dragon Cynder saw as she strode through the Colosseum doors was, of course, Ember. That was annoying and it put a few cracks into Cynder's good mood. Cynder faltered for a moment. There were nine dragons in the class, including the teacher who was an older ice dragon. Two vaguely familiar girls flanked Ember, a wispy slender earth dragon and a graceful spiked ice dragon, Cynder didn't recall their names, but she was fairly confident that they hated her.

Two fire dragons who looked like polar opposites were also nearby, one was a smallish dragon of crimson, Cynder recalled his name was Flame; she had liked his moxie, and had liked that he nether judged her or annoyed her. The other was a formidable looking dragon whose colour was close to orange, he was taller than the teacher, definitely the largest dragon in the class. His name escaped her, but she seemed to remember him being a complete and total jerk. A lightning dragon with a long ridge of spine scales rounded out that group, it looked like he had a sail on his back, Cynder remembered him being withdrawn and easily annoyed. A wave from the back of the class drew Cynder's attention to the final two dragons in the arena.

Seizo had waved, the earth dragon had pulled a book out of a simple cloak he wore and had waved it at her. He flipped it open, switched lenses on his glasses, and started reading as Cynder walked over. The last dragoness in the class was a petite creature of dark green; she had horns, claws and wings of jet black as well as a complicated smoky pattern of the same colour on her green scales. The dragoness gave Cynder a shy smile.

"Hi." Cynder said, returning the smile. The green dragon went to speak, but seemed unable to make words, she gave Seizo a nudge. The earth dragon put away his book and introduced the girls, in a roundabout way of course.

"Cynder, I sort of figured you'd have to come here for a while, I doubt you'll be here long though. Welcome to the tenth and final year of the dragon academy, the class of the ice dragon Master Reon: esteemed winner of the Most Boring Professor in Dragon History Award. If there's ever been a dragon more boring than he is… well, we wouldn't know about them, because we've all slept through every history class Reon has ever given."

The green dragoness nudged Seizo again to get him back on topic.

"You may recall our meeting last night, I gave a few neat one liners if I recall correctly. I mentioned my girlfriend to Spyro and this is her. Her name is Miasma, and she's a poison and shadow dragon, the only one to ever grace Warfang, and the only one anyone has ever heard of actually. Besides you of course."

The dragoness nodded shyly to Cynder.

"She's only like this around new people; she'll become chatty enough if you give her a few hours." Seizo assured Cynder, Miasma gave him an offended nudge.

"Do you know a young dragoness called Nadder?" Cynder asked her. Miasma looked at her with surprise.

"Myria, she makes everyone call her Nadder but her name is Myria. She's my little sister."

"She mentioned having a sister." Cynder said. "I never thought I'd meet a poison dragon my age, and I definitely never thought I'd meet a poison and shadow dragon. We should talk sometime." Cynder said with a kind smile. Miasma looked at Seizo.

"She'd love to." Seizo said. "She just doesn't want to seem too keen."

"Is that really what you mean?" Cynder asked. Miasma shrugged and nodded.

"Close enough." She murmured.

Cynder was almost enjoying herself, Master Reon was explaining how a dragon challenge worked, teaching the class about the rules for the challenger and the challenged dragon. It wasn't hugely interesting, but the conversation that she and Seizo, and to a small degree Miasma, were having made up for it.

Then Ember came over and joined them.

"So how was your date? Did Spyro conquer the terror of the skies?"

Cynder didn't dignify that with a response, it wasn't worth it. Ember believed that Cynder was a shape shifting, treacherous, psychotic monster with a purple dragon fetish, and arguing wouldn't change her mind any time soon.

"It can't have gone that well, or Spyro would have escorted his little girlfriend to her class." Ember added.

"He's fashionably late." Cynder said.

"He fashionably ditched you I think." Ember replied. "Just like he should have."

"He's just over there actually." Seizo added his input to the conversation.

Only Spyro, Cynder thought, would walk into class with such perfect timing.

Cynder felt happier immediately and as Spyro saw her and went straight towards her the feeling grew stronger. In front of everyone in the class Spyro touched tails with her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Ember looked like she'd been hit in the face with a brick.

Cynder tried not to look too satisfied, the pink dragoness seemed about to cry. Spyro, being Spyro, decided he had to find some way to diffuse the situation. The purple dragon drew breath to speak, inwardly he knew that it would only make everything worse, but he had to try. Fortunately for all involved Spyro didn't get the chance to reason with Ember, Master Reon had noticed the new arrival and came over to find out what was going on.

"Master Spyro, this is quite irregular. Why are you here?" The ice dragon said.

"I'm not a master." Spyro said with surprise. "I'm temporarily re-joining the class under the authority of Volteer." He added politely. Reon frowned.

"You don't need to be here, Spyro. You've completed your education." He said. Spyro nodded.

"I know, I wanted to be here."

"Very well then." Reon threw a glance at Cynder as he spoke.

By the time the ice dragon had gone Ember had retreated back to her group of friends, but she was staring at Cynder with renewed hostility.

Reon continued talking.

"Any dragon can be formally challenged, and it is customary for the dragon who issues the challenge to decide what, if anything, is to be decided by the outcome of the match. But let's not forget that the dragon that is challenged has rights too. A dragon can name a champion; decide on a challenge location and choose the time and rules. The defendant defines the challenge, the weapons and any restrictions. Both sides are given the chance to argue the terms of the challenge, if they feel it is unreasonable, but to do so is considered dishonourable and has been for the past two centuries. Before then debates before challenges could last for weeks, but now it's usually a three step process-"

"Master Reon?" A dragon interrupted.

"Yes, Ember?" Reon said with annoyance.

"Can any dragon be challenged?"

"I did just say that, did I not?"

"And the stakes for victory and defeat for the challenge are decided by the challenger?"

"Yes, which is why th-"

"Then I challenge Cynder!"

"This isn't right! Ember what are you doing?" Spyro shouted. "It's not fair."

Three dragons had challenged Cynder.

Ember was crying and she looked like she was on the edge of some sort of mental breakdown. Her friend the earth dragoness had immediately challenged Cynder as well; she was looking at the black dragoness with fury. The ice dragoness had done the same with an air of disdain, she seemed almost detached from the argument.

Spyro had leapt in front of Cynder protectively and immediately tried to make them reconsider, but there was no stopping the three dragons.

"For Spyro." Ember sobbed. "If I win, you leave him alone!"

"Please don't do this, Ember." Cynder said. "It won't help any of us."

"You don't deserve him!" The earth dragoness shouted. "Spyro's too good for you!"

"And you three are going to stop me? He's a hero and he's mine!"

"I just challenged you to see if you could keep him." The ice dragoness said. "If you can't, then maybe you don't deserve him after all."

"I won't be fought over!" Spyro roared, the force of his outburst scaring all the girls into silence. "Ember, what are you trying to prove? Why are you doing this?"

"It will prove that I love you!" Ember cried.

Spyro softened his expression, but there was still anger in his eyes.

"I don't love you back Ember. I'm sorry I have to say it like this, but it's the truth. No matter what deal you and Cynder make, and no matter who wins if you two fight, in the end it's my choice and I've chosen Cynder. You can't change that."

Ember held back tears and stood tall.

"I won't ever give you up Spyro." She swore.

Spyro turned back to Cynder, recognising that he wasn't going to be able to reason with the others.

"Just refuse the challenge; it's within your rights. There will be no dishonour."

"You know I can't do that Spyro, it's just not in my nature. I'm too proud and we both know it."

"Please refuse." Spyro whispered.

Cynder hesitated for a long moment, or perhaps she hesitated for a moment too long, because as she opened her mouth to back down from the challenge she heard the earth dragoness call her a cruel name. It was unfortunate that using her wind magic gave Cynder such good hearing.

Being called the Terror of the Skies, Cynder didn't mind. It had been true once, until she had lost her power. It had hurt her when it was being used to mock her weakness, but in the years since then Cynder had grown stronger, and as she had grown and trained herself to regain her former strength she had found being called the Terror of the Skies was no longer hurtful, it was simply a mark of her power.

She'd been called The Dark Master's puppet, sometimes the word puppet was replaced with much less flattering terms, but Cynder couldn't care less about those names either.

There was just one name that Cynder couldn't ignore, the name that had chased Cynder from Warfang. It crept inside her head and clawed at her mind, it was cruel, it was unforgettable and it might, might, once have been true. Cynder couldn't be sure, and the uncertainty made it all just that much worse.

The name Cynder had been called was "the Egg Eater"

"I accept the challenge. I accept all three, and I'll fight all three of you at once." Cynder said coldly. Then she continued in a scathing voice. "In fact, I don't think that the three of you are enough."

"What are you doing?" Spyro hissed at her.

"The earth dragon, what's she called?"

"Flora."

"She called me by that name." Cynder said, Spyro knew the name that she had been called, and she knew he hated it as much as she did. "I can't let that go." She said, and she knew that Spyro understood her.

Cynder raised her voice to address the other dragons. "Is there anyone else who has a problem with me?"

"Nero?" Flora said, looking at the electric dragon.

The electric dragon considered the situation.

"Perfect, one dragon from each of the four guardian elements, this might even be a challenge." Cynder said.

The electric dragon looked at her with irritation and stepped forward to join her opponents. The bigger fire dragon came forwards as well, Cynder didn't mind in the slightest.

"You're outnumbered five to one. If you won't refuse the challenge then at least let me fight with you." Spyro whispered to Cynder.

"I've faced worse odds then this. I'll be okay Spyro." Cynder promised.

"I don't like this. Ember isn't our enemy."

"I know, I'll try not to hurt them." She said, Spyro sighed.

"Good luck, Cynder. I believe in you." Spyro said, and he kissed her.

Cynder kissed Spyro in return for what felt like not nearly long enough, and then he flew to the stands while she turned back to the others.

"No magic, no lethal techniques, full contact and no time limit. Those are the rules, oh and defeat is by knockout only, there is no surrender. Spyro will mediate the match."

The others nodded.

Five dragons against one, impossible odds surely, even for a dragon like Spyro. Without the use of their elemental abilities Spyro and Cynder were perfectly ordinary dragons, and one dragon wouldn't stand a chance against five.

"One moment!" Seizo ran forwards and hissed information to Cynder.

"The big guy is Feyer, he's a threat, mind your distance because he'll charge at you. Ice dragon is the second most dangerous, her defence is excellent. They've both beaten me at times. The others only practice full contact once each week, they aren't used to violence. Ember could cheat, be careful of her. Nero and Flora shouldn't pose a problem if you're careful. Good luck and forgive me if I don't kiss you."

"I've got it, thanks." Cynder replied.

"Are you done yet?" The fire dragon asked impatiently. Cynder looked around the arena, it was plain, covered with sand, and there was plenty of room. The dragons who weren't in the challenge vacated the ground and Spyro took position by the hourglass.

She felt no fear, being outnumbered didn't concern her. It wasn't five against one; it was five common dragons against one Cynder. Cynder was not an ordinary dragon, she'd been fighting all her life and her battle skills were razor sharp, forged in blood, steel and death. A wolf in sheep's clothing thinks nothing of killing five sheep.

Cynder couldn't conceive of losing, she was fighting for revenge, but more than this she was fighting for Spyro.

"The next time I say "Start" the fight begins." Cynder said.

As ever thanks for reading. I can hardly believe that people are really reading the same story as the one I'm posting. I'd love to be able to look over your shoulder and see you reading this, but that would be creepy. Forget I said anything, and don't look behind you, it certainly wasn't me back there.

"A perfect reader will show both intelligence and faith."

A perfect reader also reviews!

-4Dragons