The Drake Six

by JNKing

Episode Fifteen: The Dragon Kingdom Arc - Part 1

Author's Note:

Well, this is my first attempt at a crossover with a fellow artist.

The OC Astral and the denizens of the Dragon Kingdom belong to AstralFlare42.

It was fun working with Astral, and I hope you enjoy the story we came up with. 👍

Shiva was waiting for the group as they returned to Diamondback’s cave.

“Alpha Diamondback,” Shiva said, happily handing over a scroll. “I believe we found it.”

As Diamondback unfurled the scroll with a grin, Spike glanced at the others, who shared looks of confusion. “Found what?”

Diamondback grinned at them. “You know how we discovered the Crystal Heart?”

“Technically, the ponies discovered the Crystal Heart,” Phoenix noted.

“Agree to disagree,” Diamondback refuted before turning away. “The point is, why should we stop there? There’s plenty of other mythological places that we could find.”

“Like what?” Spike asked, Twilight’s curiosity bleeding off into him.

Diamondback showed the scroll, depicting some sort of kingdom. “The original Dragon Kingdom, of course,” she declared.

Spike took the scroll with an awed look, while the others gathered around.

“You mean to tell me you guys had a whole kingdom beforehand?” Night asked in glee.

“But of course,” Diamondback replied. “I told you that before dragons became greedy hoarders, they were once the Guardians of the World.” She tapped the scroll. “According to ancient legends, the Dragon Kingdom is still around. However, after far too many of their subjects lost themselves to the Greed, they sealed themselves away and hid themselves to ensure that no one could corrupt the rest of them.”

“How’d they avoid corruption?” Phoenix asked.

“I imagine with discipline and martial arts,” Night noted with a grin. “Dragon Monks…” she giggled. “Oh, I’m with DB now, we definitely have to find these guys.”

“But how?” Swift asked. “You heard the legend, the Kingdom was sealed. It doesn’t sound anything like the Crystal Empire, which literally came back after it’s curse wore off.”

“But the Dragon Kingdom isn’t held by a single curse,” Diamondback replied. “It’s sealed. And if there’s one thing my dear diamond dog Celine has taught me, it’s that even the most disciplined of factions can have their eager and adventurous youths. Speaking of which…” she turned to Shiva. “You said you found it.”

“At least a way to it,” Shiva replied, leading them over to a group of dogs stationed around a reflecting pool.

But Spike noticed something interesting about the pool; instead of depicting the dogs’ reflections, it instead depicted a familiar sight.

“Is that… the Ever-Free Forest?” he asked.

The others didn’t reply; their attention was on a draconic figure wandering the wilderness. Strange dark crystal shards jutted from his green-scaled back, barely covered with damaged armor that seemed to be made of a dark metal. His spines, which were a gradient from red to orange and flickered like fire, only reached down to the base of his neck. Several scars adorned his body - while not as many as Phoenix, there were still more than enough to show he had seen battle. He also limped as he walked on all fours, but his icy blue eyes shown with determination as he marched onward to his destination.

Diamondback’s grin widened. “Ladies and gentle-dragons,” she declared. “I believe we have our ticket into the Dragon Kingdom.”

However, at that moment, the reflection altered. Green eyes glared out of the darkness at the dragon. As he formed a combat stance, drawing dual swords made of a combination of red metal and steel, timber wolves came out, jaws drooling in anticipation.

Spike stiffened. “Timber wolves,” he whispered. He turned to the exit. “We gotta get to him first.”

“Celine’s the one giving us this info,” Luke noted. “She might be able to help.”

“She’s my daughter,” Shiva refuted. “I’d rather know she has the extra security.” She nodded at Spike. “Please. Make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”

Spike nodded.

“Don’t worry,” Jackknife replied. “We’re on it.”

Together, the six ran back out of the cave, ready to help this resident of the lost Dragon Kingdom.

##

They found the dragon right as he had forced the timber wolves to enter their next form.

Drawing together into a monstrous beast of rock and wood, the Alpha Timber wolf roared in challenge to the dragon.

Celine had stayed back, watching in awe before Jackknife rushed in.

“Jack, wait…” Celine tried to say.

But Jackknife had never been the most cautious of the bunch, and smashed the timber wolf on the head.

The green drake cast a slight glare at Jackknife. “Hey! I had it under control!”

At first, Jackknife ignored him, wrenching up the timber wolf’s head, and allowing the green drake to to stab it in the heart at the same time as Night. Together, the two wrenched the timber wolf apart, the other dragons stomping and scattering the bark so that it couldn’t reform.

However, as the timber wolves retreated back into the forest, the newcomer’s reaction was…

Less than pleased.

He sat down and crossed his arms before glaring at the group. Though his voice was calm, it was also cold. “I had that thing under control. Why did you think that you could barge into my fight? I don’t even know who you are.”

Night started to reply, but Jackknife beat her to it.

“We’re the guys who just saved your tail, Scars. Act tough all you want, but we saw how close you were to becoming that wolf’s…”

The smaller dragon narrowed his eyes. “Oh, that’s it, Seaweed Brain!” He jumped Jackknife, and the two began to brawl.

“Whoa-whoa, guys, hey!” Night yelled, trying to push the two back as they began throwing fists and swears that caused Phoenix and Spike to cover Swift’s ears as he tried to cover Spike’s.

Diamondback quickly put a stop to it by stomping in with her bigger dragon form.

“GENTLE-DRAGONS!” she boomed. “GENTLE-DRAGONS!” She plucked both dragons up and held them apart from each other. “Enough of this!”

“Hey, he threw the first punch!” Jackknife protested.

Diamondback groaned and set the green dragon down. “Night, kindly tend to him while I have a ‘talk’ with our friend?”

Diamondback stomped away with Jackknife in tow, while Night rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Sorry about that,” she said, before sighing. “Look, you don’t know us. I get that. So… let’s introduce ourselves.” She indicated herself. “I’m called Night Fire. Our punch-happy friend was Jackknife, and the diamond-fanatic is Diamondback.” She indicated the others. “The scarred one over there is Phoenix.”

“Hey,” Phoenix noted with a nod.

“The purple and green one’s Spike…”

“Hi,” Spike said with a wave.

“And the one with the feathers is Swift.”

“Please don’t beat me up,” Swift asked. “I-I didn’t interfere in the fight.”

Night Fire turned hopefully to the dragon. “What about you? What’s your name?”

The green dragon took a deep breath to calm himself down. “My name is Astral Flare. I’m sorry I lost my temper, I’ve just had a long day.” He coughed into his hand, only to find blood on his palm. “Well, that’s not good.” He nearly fell face-first into the ground.

Night Fire caught him. “Oh, crap…” she muttered, “Diamondback!”

Celine ran over. “Don’t worry, I saw the whole thing, hang on…”

##

When Astral awoke, he found several diamond dog doctors working on him.

“Before you say anything,” Diamondback noted. “I want you to know that they aren’t like some of the other dogs you’ve probably seen. They’re all clean, disinfected and have been highly trained in being able to tend to dragons.”

“We were meant to help dragons in any way,” Celine admitted. “You know how some kobolds serve dragons? Essentially consider us kinda like kobolds, but fuzzier.”

Indeed, he found that most of his wounds had been taken care of, and he was feeling much better.

“Thanks for the help,” he said. “And again, sorry about earlier. Is there any way I could help you out with anything?” He tried to get out of the bed, but Celine quickly blocked his way.

“Hey, easy,” she said. “You still need a lot of rest before you’re ready to go out adventuring again.”

“You don’t understand,” he insisted. “If I don’t get back, there’s going to be trouble back home.”

“Well…” Spike offered. “Where is home? Maybe we can help you get back.”

“At the very least,” Celine admitted. “Having them with you would make us feel a bit better about letting you go early.”

“Well, part of the problem is that there’s a rule about only dragons allowed,” Astral explained. “Plus, it’s currently floating above the western part of that forest.” Astral paused, covering his mouth. “Oh my Bahamut, I was not supposed to say that. I need to warn the King about this!”

“Take it easy,” Spike assured him. “Everyone here is either a dragon, or helps dragons.”

Swift shuffled his feet slightly, glancing self consciously at his feathers. “Um… by ‘only dragons allowed’... y-you don’t suppose hybrids fall on the uninvited list?”

“Oh, come on, Swift, that’s stupid,” Jackknife insisted.

“You’re just saying that cuz you’re a sea serpent,” Night noted. “So you’re definitely off the list.”

“Oh yeah, well…” Jackknife paused, grimacing in frustration before declaring, “BABBA BOOEY!”

Night stared at him. “What?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t want to not have the last word!” he declared, turning away with a pout.

Diamondback and the others stared at him for a moment, before Diamondback sighed. “Look, Astral dear, I know we got off to a rough start, but you can trust me when I say that the Dragon Kingdom is in no danger of harm from us.”

“That’s not why it’s in danger,” Astral replied. “I can’t explain now, but I can tell you on the way.”

Swift blinked. “Y-You mean… all of us can come?”

Astral shrugged. “I mean, I was just told that it was dragons only, so I believe that hybrids are allowed.”

“Well, no better way to test it than by trying it,” Night noted. “Let’s go, team!”

##

Astral led the group to an archway that was standing by itself. It was made of a sand colored stone with the edges lined with a glowing green crystal. To the right of the opening was a circle made of red metal.

Diamondback hummed, tracing the metal with her talon. “This doesn’t quite match up with what I read about the dragon kingdom.”

“I know that this is weird,” Astral admitted. “But it is literally the only way into the kingdom without taking down the seal.”

Night joined Diamondback, gazing up at the portal. “So… have you had any visitors then? Anyone who discovered this thing and tried to use it?”

“No,” Astral answered. “It’s actually useless unless you are from the Dragon Kingdom. It works by allowing those from the Kingdom to be able to get around.” He walked up to the metal plate. “I’ll be able to get you to the entrance platform on the outside ring. Trust me when I say…” he grinned. “It’s an incredible view.” He placed one of his hands on the metal plate. “Let us be off.”

His horns glowed an icy blue, and the light traveled down his arms and connected to the metal plat. The glow spread across the stone, forming ancient runes that produced a strange liquid that filled the space, forming a portal.

Jackknife rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Oh, wow, so it produces liquid. I can do that too, buddy boy.”

The others ignored him, Phoenix gazing up with intrigue, while Wing, Swift and Spike had their jaws on the floor. Diamondback, however, was beaming more than the diamonds that adorned her body.

“It’s… beautiful…” she whispered.

“So,” Astral said with a smirk at their expressions. “Who wants to go first? It’ll turn off after I go through.”

Diamondback immediately stepped forward. “Allow me, darlings,” she declared, smiling like the happiest child alive as she approached the portal. “A lifetime of researching and learning… and finally… I get to see where we began.” She almost began sobbing in excitement as she stepped through the portal.

Spike quickly jogged after her, reaching out to pull her back just in case.

Night and Swift exchanged glances, before Swift hugged Night. Smiling, Night picked Swift up and stepped after the two.

Phoenix and Jackknife stepped up as well, though Jack gave the portal an ominous look.

“What’s the matter?” Phoenix asked with a grin. “Scared?”

Jackknife scoffed. “You wish,” he growled, before he jumped through.

Phoenix glanced at Astral. “Level with me,” she said. “What are we getting into?”

He shrugged. “Well, for me, it’s just heading back home. But it’s going to be an adventure for you and your friends.”

Phoenix hummed, before offering her hand to him. “Together,” she partially asked and partially requested.

He took her hand, and together, they walked through, reaching the Dragon Kingdom.

Comments

[Comickook]

A wonderful start on the Drake Six's latest adventure. REALLY liked the work going into the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up. REALLY liked the details of the recall and legends of the Dragon Kingdom before the Drake Six went to help out your self-insert against the Timber Wolves and found out a bit more. And, yeah, that "hybrids" deal WAS a good additional detail considering Night Fire is half-alicorn and Jackknife is a sea serpent. LOVED the reactions to the opening to the Dragon Kingdom. Obviously, Astral will be providing greater details of the situation in the next chapter, which I'll really be looking forward to.

[AstralFlare42]

11576442
Thanks. Me and JNKing worked on this all week or so.

[JNKing]

11576442
11576495

Thanks. Me and JNKing worked on this all week or so.

That we did. Really happy that our work turned out okay.

[AstralFlare42]

Here's a full picture of Astral in case you were wondering.

[JNKing]

11578752
Thanks. 👍

[AstralFlare42]

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You're welcome.