The Dragon Lord's Guardian

by Little_Draco

A Toast to Future's Unknown

Dragon Lord’s Guardian

A Toast to Future Unknown

Spike and crew have had their times when things truly blew their minds. In the short time since he had re-awakened months ago, so much has changed and so much has been learned. A lifetime of knowledge and experiences all began when they were this young, surpassing those who have had centuries of living.

Yet this really took the ‘What-the-Fuck’ meter to a new heights, which were the mighty words of ‘Amythyst’. Meanwhile, Blacktip had a shit-eating grin that made him look a little bit… manic. For a moment, he made Discord look like his counterpart with that ‘comical-grin’ of his.

What had them really off the charts was the fact that this bar that they had walked into, if one were to call it that, was serving an odd drink to their ‘draconic’ paterons akin to alcohol to ponies.

Right next to a steel mill no less.

“Welcome friends to the first bar ever established in Dragon Town. The first ever… to serve dragon’s version of alcohol to us.”

A dragon, working behind the counter, gave one of his patreon dragons a glass. In said glass held a strong green liquid that contained a bubbling foaming of…

“Is… is that Acid?” Spike all but whispered.

The stench was strong, the odor pungent and the atmosphere rich in its sulphuric and the joy reminded them of a bar on a weekend night at ‘Berry’s Punch Bar.’

“It is.” Blacktip answered with much mirth as he walked them through. “But just like there are various types of ‘alcohol’ for ponies, there are different types of ‘acid’ for us.”

While it was well known amongst dragons that acid had no ill effect on dragons, Spike had an inkling of an idea to it. As he was still relatively new to “dragons” and everything related without the lifetime experiences, him being comatose and raised by ponies, he was blown away by it.

The others looked confused or somewhat perplexed at the idea, but then those born native to the Dragon Lands and to its ‘acidic weather,’ grew astounded at the idea of getting ‘acid’ readily.

“Wait, so it's like actual acid, acid?” Smolder asked almost excitedly. “Like pure-”

“That is what the sign says, Smolder.” Blacktip pointed to the bar’s logo and the underline of it which read, ‘Pure and Bubbly Acid! Straight from the source!”

Spike remained confused and somewhat hesitant to it, but even Shadescale seemed to enjoy the idea of consuming it. “Is it truly that easy to create for them here? Why, when it rains acidic rain at home, it is such a delight!” Her merit was agreed on by the others.

“Wait, it rains ‘acid rain’ at home?” Spike threw them a look. All heads turned to him, which got different reactions. Ember placed a claw on him.

“Well yeah, during the monsoon season start, Spike I mean you were there-” A pause as he lifted a brow and realization dawned over her before pity and sadness covered her face.

“Oh… sorry Spike. You ‘slept through’ the last monsoon season.” The others also sent him their sympathetic apologies. Giving them a nonchalant shrug, he refocused back to the bar setting and not trying to dampen the mood.

“So… Acid?”

“Hmmm,” Blacktip confirmed. “As I already explained, this is our version of ‘alcohol’. But it is far more ‘deadlier’ and… with its own variety. You have natural acid, as we’ve come to know from ‘Acidic rain’ which is caused by the sulfuric blend of volcanic ash, mixed and reacted with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to become sulfuric and nitric acid respectively, causing it to rain over the lands.”

“Here it is produced through a mixture of chemicals that factories and other working plants use. Whatever is left, recycled, or whatever is no longer in use, we dragons drink it. But an actual factory is needed to create the chemical process” Blacktip led them all to the bar counter, where a dragon had been cleaning either glass mugs, steel mugs, or mugs made out of crystalline rocks.

The brownish and yellow dragon, a large, somewhat chunky looking dragon wearing an apron that read, ‘A-CI-Dilic Bartenders do it right!’
They looked up from his cups and saw Blacktip, almost brightening up, “Well hello there Blacktip! It’s been a hot minute before seeing you around here!” The accent was clearly female.

“Vishal! Yes it’s been awhile.”

The dragoness nodded her head to the guests. “Friends of yours?”

A nod given, he proceeded to introduce them. “Yes, these are my friends. We have Spike Sparkle Sol, Ember Blaze, Amethyst, Smolder, Garble and Shadescale!”

Each dragon gave a small wave or nod, though the bartender pointed towards Smolder. “You know she is too young to be here, right?” This caused said dragoness to blink and looked towards Blacktip, who nodded.

“They are natives from the Dragon Lands, so acidic rain is customary over there, but she will only be doing a sample taste. Nothing below 1 Ph.”

Giving her another glance, the bartender agreed and waved them to her bar. “Take a seat then.”

Each dragon approached the stool of the bars with only Blacktip and Shadescale sitting on the floor. Vishal reached under the counter and brought out some glass coasters and menus. Though she gave Smolder a smaller menu which held only five drinks available on the list.

Once done, the Dragoness Bartender gave a small smile. “So, the Dragon Lands, ehh? Haven’t been there personally but I heard that the ‘monsoon’ season is a killer of a time for ‘Acid Rain.”

Ember, being the one mostly excited one, answered that almost with some degree of pride. “It is. If we get lucky, the rain would go on for almost the whole week and we could drink whatever landed in pools or rocks that caught it.”

Vishal gave a cock of her head, noticing the Scepter strapped to her back. “Then, if you don’t mind me asking, is that the… ‘real deal,’ Bloodstone Scepter? I thought it was some novelty my folks used to brag about.”

“It’s definitely real,” Blacktip admitted, as he motioned towards it. “But a demonstration can be made later or when you come and visit. We don’t wish to expand our energy.”

“Huh, and your current Dragon Lord, then?” The bartender asked Ember, who nodded. “Sounds like a hard job then, having to deal with complaints or idiots, kinda like a bartender.”

Ember scoffed with a small grin. “You have no idea.”

“Well then, it is an honor to have the Big DL here herself, so the first round is free.”

Spike looked over the menu and was still a little bit mind-blown by the fact that acid was the ‘draconic alcohol’ here. Not just that, but his understanding of said chemical compound was limited, as it wasn’t really taught outside of Twilight’s science classes. What little information he got was from his comics and it simply stated, ‘Chemical acid could eat through just about anything, including living creatures with ease.’ Metal, rock, and flesh would dissolve away to nothing, yet… dragons treated it like a beverage?

“So… what is exactly acid to us, Blacktip?” Spike had to really ask again. “I mean, I get it's Our version of ‘alcohol’ but… I’m still not understanding it.”

Blacktip gave a small bob of his head at his apprentice’s ever curious understanding of his own biology. While the secrets of acid on dragons were known through most of the town and the ponies in charge, many thought that acid would have some effect on dragons just like it did with anything else. But, many were greatly mis-lead with that information purposely to dismay those from using it in the first place.

“Well, like you said, it’s Our version of it. Just like how if you throw ‘alcohol’ at a pony, nothing will happen. You let them drink it, the effects will cause them to be inebriated. Acid is the same for us, as it reacts with our body’s chemical composition to ‘intoxicate’ us, in almost the same effect as ponies with their own ‘poisons’. The difference being, that unlike them, acid isn’t a poison, but it can still be dangerous if consumed too much or not moderated. The term, ‘Getting Wasted’ or ‘drunk’ comes around often enough when one has too much acid to drink.”

“My mom got ‘wasted’ after finding an entire pool of that stuff near home a while back,” Amethyst unabashedly entered the conversation with a look of indifference as she told her tale, with just about every eye turning to her. “Drank the whole thing down to the floor and she was so ‘fucking’ out of it, she ended up with some random drake, let him mount her and next season later, bam! Six sisters in the cave! She didn’t even know who he was until four weeks later! That stuff was strong but hey, at least I got a better father for me and my sisters.”

Blacktip hid his mouth to hide his muffled laughter with his wings, while Spike and the others looked a bit dismayed or more disturbed at how casually Amy just spoke ill casual of her mother’s drunken behavior. But then the bartender seemed not to be disturbed in the least on hearing this.

“Sounds like a typical evening here,” Vishal commented lightly, unaware how ridiculous it sounded to the others, but nothing new to her. She had a slight chuckle to her voice. “The amount of times that has happened, has led me to believe that the ‘booming’ increase of Dragon Town is because of drinking. But hearing this happening in the ‘Homelands’, is pretty fucking funny! Especially since it was ‘natural’ acid and not the ‘artificial’ stuff we got here!”

Trying to steer away from Amy’s disturbing family life, Spike did bring up a solid question. “Is there a difference between natural acid and the ones here?”

“Besides the fact one is natural and the other is artificial?” Vishal asked, somewhat sarcastically. While it was stating the obvious, she was dealing with ‘native’ dragons here, so she held back some of her usual snark and entertained them. As she began, Vishal grabbed thick glass mugs and poured them all their first drink, which no one knew of what it actually contained, except Blacktip. A large canister behind her, where she turned the valve and poured the acid into the mugs.

“The quality produced here is a mixture of chemicals normally used to treat, burn, cure, mix, or acidize whatever they are working with in the factories. Some mixtures with certain rocks, metals, other chemicals or even water, produce different reactions, different composition and in cases here,” She brought over five mugs of bubbly acid to them. “Different flavors. It took decades but eventually, we got some of the best drinks created from here.” A small glass mug, about a quarter of the size was filled briefly to the bottom and handed over to Smolder.

“What you have there is over two decades worth of trial and error, literally burning through everything and anything to get the perfect composition between flavor and bubbly goodness! From those two decades, we build factories specifically with acid in mind for both 'industrial' and 'consumable' purposes." The acid in their mugs bubbled hotly as the aroma of sulfur filled their nostrils with its powerful scent. While it would be downright toxic and deadly to ponies or other non draconic beings to be anywhere near it, the effects were vastly different to dragons.

Spike’s nostrils flared with slight intensity, as the volatile and rich bubbly, sulfuric aroma filled his lungs with something… vaguely familiar. The greenish liquid seemed to almost call for him, with slight interest. Blacktip raised his mug to the others.

“A toast, my friends. For we have come a long way from where we have started and we still have a journey to go, but one where we hope to strengthen our bonds with other races into a more Harmonious future.”

All present raised their drinks in toast, before they all took a drink. Spike paused, watching the others eagerly drink it down, even Smolder, seeing nothing but satisfying content of bliss on their faces, he took a large swig of his own.

The explosion of bubbly flavor struck his tongue, at first a strong pungent sour taste, like a green apple or sour gummy, but then it morphed into a sorta lemony flavor at the back, just as the suds popped and tickled his mouth.

“So…?” The bartender asked, waiting for his response. The others also waited for his response, at his first taste. Spike had yet to come down from his blissed filled state as he managed to find the words. As the taste registered faster than what he actually just drank, a smile managed to work on his muzzle as he raised his mug, “ANOTHER!”

For the next hour, Spike and company drank, minus the young member as she only drank only soda and water(bitterly but still happy with them), as they tried different flavors, different versions of the concoction.
The flavors varied, the experiences new and the laughter that echoed was truly magical. They laughed, they roared, involving other patrons and they made memories. Yes, the effects were akin to ‘alcohol’ but without the harshness that came down that they were going to regret it.

The tastes varied between chemical mixtures along with being served with various types of mugs that helped add to the flavor such as stone, glass, metal, iron or diamond coated mugs.

Finally after trying various ones, did Blacktip ask Vishal for the House Special! The dragoness nodded with a grin and went to retrieve it. Blacktip then conjured up a large bag of gems, and placed it on the counter. Spike blinked and pulled out his card, to which Blacktip gave a small nod. “You got the bill for the tab but this one requires its own payment. Besides, this is my gift for you, since you deserve to try the best, Spike.”

And so, Vishal came back with a bottle and the others looked visibly awed and intrigued by this.

The strongest flavor, which was legally allowed to be sold, was acid from a ‘Hybrid Magical/Electric Battery’ used for generators. Apparently, it came in its special type of glass bottle and the price alone would make anyone with a decent income flinch. Just the shot alone would set you back.

“Alright, you are about to try the ‘Electric Burn!’ and oh ‘Tala’ does this one pack a kick!” She pulled the cork, causing an immediate strong aroma of sulfur, ammonia, a magical aura and oddly enough, the scent of copper filled the area. This was only meant for one dragon and that was Spike, as those around him felt like he deserved it the most.

She grinned at the drake, who looked a little weary. “Now, because of how strong this one really is, you will have to drink it almost immediately. No hesitation as it will dissolve through the cup almost immediately. The bottle itself holding it was treated ‘magically’ and ‘scientifically’, hence part of the price tag. Also, you might either feel the kick right away or it might be delayed for about a few seconds.” Blacktip pulled out diamonds and a ‘platinum’ chunk, to which made the bartender look at it in question but he made a snort.

“What, you do realize where I came from, right?” Nodding but taking the payment, the Bartender took it to the side before bringing a large bottle that looked heavy, thick and with a label with no name other than a dragon’s skull on it.

That wasn’t the scary part, it was the fact that it could dissolve through anything that had him somewhat scared as he never really knew what his body could and couldn’t handle. Right now, he felt tipsy at best but this might over do it.

His eyes looked towards the bartender who had the bottle ready to pour. The others looked somewhat both excited and cautious at what he was about to partake in.

Vishal then gave a challenging grin. “The longest has been about five seconds.” Well that didn’t sound ominous at all. What did she mean ‘five seconds?’ Five seconds for what?

“Ready?” Eyes going wide, Spike watched as she poured in a heavy thick liquid into the mug, where already the bubbling acid began to immediately break down its container. Blacktip, unseen by Spike, quickly stood behind him but remained cautious with a small smile. Spike still hesitated, looking at the drink and at Vishal who had a look that said, ‘Drink it or pay for the damage done to my bar!’

Spike quickly grabbed the mug, took a massive chug and drank the contents immediately. He tried not to choke on the strong taste or how quickly it went down his throat. The glass held on long enough for him to get the last gulp before placing the sizzling mug down and looked wide eyed as he realized he just drank something extremely ‘acidic’ and possibly a ‘little’ dangerous to his health.

He stared at Vishal who held a grin and was counting with her claw tips.

1…

2…

3…

4…

“Why are you count-” He didn’t realize he had blacked out and fell backwards. Luckily, Blacktip had caught him and Vishal exclaiming before all went away, “Oh, five seconds!”

Then the moment after that Spike woke up and found himself in their hotel room once more, with light chatter between everyone, including Ralph. Blinking, his head felt light and his body seemed overly stimulated but also relaxed. While he felt fine, he still knew that perhaps he overdid it with his drinking.

Smolder glanced at him and she perked up, “Hey, glad to have you back in the sober!” She half joked. The others turned to him and seemed pretty happy that he was up, though Ember quickly came over to check on him, a slightly worried look over her.

“How are you feeling Spike?” She checked him over and stared into his emerald eyes. “You took that all in pretty quickly.”

Blinking, he felt fine though his body looked pretty well relaxed. “Feeling… mellow?” Unsure himself, he looked around and wondered if this was the effects of ‘acid’ to his body, a close assumption to what the effects of what ‘alcohol’ did to a pony.

Ember looked unconvinced however as she stared into his eyes. “Are you sure? You don’t seem to have a ‘hangover’ or the ‘vomit flares’ after drinking that much ‘acid.”

“Vomit Flares?” Spike asked.

Blacktip approached. “Yes, though ‘vomit-flares’ are akin to a pony ‘retching’ from an overabundance of alcohol, but we spew out bursts of hot flames that turn anything we ate into liquid hot messes. They tend to remain burning or hot for a long time, kind of like magma.”

Spike felt ill thinking that and he felt like he might ‘vomit-flare’ if he continued to think more on it. The feeling however faded quickly and he seemed stumped.

“Huh, I’m honestly good right now.”

“Don’t jinx yourself,” Blacktip warned. “You may feel fine but any sudden movements or symptoms may arise if you work too fast.”

Opting to hear his teacher’s advice, Spike remained bedridden for the time, as the others continued their idle chatter with Ember sitting by his side. “So, what happened after I passed out?”

She gave a small, worried but passable smile towards him. “Well, Blacktip knew this might happen hence he was right behind you. Though I am a little peeved, he didn't warn you about it.” Sighing, she dropped her small anger and laid close to him. “After I stopped getting mad at him for allowing you to drink something so strong, Vishal just laughed and told us that with how young and strong you physically are, you would just pass out and wake up in an hour or two with some discomfort, headaches and such. Do you have any?”

Shaking his head, the drake brought her close. “No, I feel light, almost relaxed but no headaches or nausea.”

“Lucky,” Blacktip remarked off-claw. “What you drank up, could have knocked me and Shadescale off our tails combined and we would have been moaning in pain or retching.”

Spike blinked. “That strong?”

“Which is why I’m annoyed that you offered it up in the first place!” Ember’s nostrils flared with a small amount of smog.

Grinning, Blacktip responded unintimidated, “And now we know a little bit more about Spike’s ability to handle acid. You’ve only been knocked out for about an hour, while those like me have been knocked out for longer. Perhaps your ‘gift’ helped you with that.” As soon as he said this, Shadescale, who had been in the room with them, seemed to have once more, Spike’s abilities have made him stand out. Tail sways, eyes lowered and a more attentive focus grew on him, much to Ember’s silent ire.

Ignoring her stare, Spike sighed and pondered, “What is my gift exactly? I mean, is there a name for it exactly?”

Blacktip was about to answer but he paused open mouth before he suddenly lifted his right claw, snapped and a paper manifested in claw.

“One moment, this is from Ivory.” Everyone suddenly became more focused on the news, outside of Shadescale.

“He has found something?” Spike responded, almost standing up on the bed.

Blacktip unfurled the paper and began to silently read to himself before nodding. “He has, though it is best that we head over now. I think he needs us there.”

---

The group along with Shadescale and even Ralph, entered the Campus building once more. Shadescale and Ralph were impressed by the interior and the size, more so the yeti as he felt the cool air of the powerful a.c units blowing within.

They approached the doors and entered, with Ivory waiting patiently with them. His silver eyes saw them all enter, including the newcomer Shadescale herself.

“I thank you all for coming on such quick notice,” His voice, ever monotone, did show some emotion as he brought up the sword. He gripped it from the hilt, yet he paused as his eyes briefly went to Shadescale, then to Blacktip, with a slight raised brow. Receiving the silent query, Blacktip just gave a shrug and walked to his side.

“Up to you but time is of the essence, it matters not now.”

With a nod, the white scaled dragon engulfed his arm in his metallic form, once more creating such a sheen. The reaction was still a wonder for them all, but it was Shadescale who seemed to instantly go rigid and took in a sharp inhale, as she witnessed another ‘gifted’ male before her.

She was too in awe to make any sort of comment, which is where Ivory laid the blade itself onto his coated arm. Ember noticed right away and grinned, hoping that this would be enough to keep her target off of Spike’s.

“I have found the element compound to the material of the sword. However, I must point out that his portion of the blade is but a small fraction, a piece of something else. Something not found in Equestria.”

Blinking Spike stared at the sword as if he was staring now at something foreign. “What do you mean? Outside of Equestria’s borders?”

“And outside of our comprehension of its properties. At least in this ‘age’, to be more specific.” He then used his coated arm to first carve a deep groove onto the flat of the blade, pulling back the ashes and blood coating on it. The residue showed that there were layers on it, revealing something underneath. “The blade itself is relatively ‘new’ in its creation, but the actual material it’s made from, I estimated to be at least 1200 years.”

Those before him had their mouths dropped, even Shadescale herself forgot his gift for the moment and focused on the deadly weapon before them.

“This makes it not only ‘Pre-Equestria’, or even ‘Earlier Innovations’ by two centuries the earliest. It is perhaps as old as the ‘Royal Sisters’ themselves.” His eyes then focused on Spike’s. “There are very, very few civilizations that are old enough to have this kind of ‘resources’, let alone one that hasn’t been seen in a millennium.” He then fully turned his body into a fully metallic form. “Except one.”

With little effort, he snapped off the tip of the blade and pointed towards them, unthreatening but rather demonstration. The others witness something peculiar about the blade’s interior structure, with Spike’s eyes going wide as he took in the sight before him.

“As you can see,” Ivory explained stoically but with some ominous tone seeping through, “That part of the reason we do not have this blade in our element charts is because the origin of its material comes from a land that has only recently… ‘resurfaced.”

Within the center of the blade, really the blade itself without its outer coatings and layer, was a shining crystal that shimmered without light and without a source of power, other than perhaps the handle’s gem itself. The gleam, the radiance and the familiarity to Spike made it all to clear where this blade’s origin came from.

“The Crystal Empire.”

Author's Note:

Originally, the Bar seen was going to last longer, even giving more insight to it, however I was being impatient on getting to the McGuffin and the main story itself. It is a great sideline to the story, a sort of this can happen with dragons, this is their THING... so to speak. I wanted to dive more into it but I got a bit impatient and cut out a portion more. It wouldn't have added much to the story and it was just going to go on about how acid's history and such.
It can be tackled later when we come back to Dragon Town(Yes to return to Dragon Town is a must along with Mina and more explorations) but I needed to get to the story quickly as this portion is going to heavily lead to the 1st half of this story. We are literally a few chapters away from the stories main arch, hitting right in the middle!
I thank all of you who keep reading my stories and hope you stick around for more amazing stories!
Also will start giving pictures or ideas of how certain dragons may look like, either A.I generated or from other artists with source. Here is VIshals inspired design!

Comments

[Grailm]

I like a good bar scene. Really adds to the world and is nice to see everyone relax together and let their guard down.

Give it up Ember, you wont deter Shadescale,

[Little_Draco]

11908239
Glad you did! I wished for it to be longer but I will tackle drinking an easy chapters like this again.

Ember won't give up, she won't give in...