> The Dragon Lord's Guardian
>  by Little_Draco
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Past Wounds, Present Scars
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian



Prologue: Past Wounds, Present Scars







A sigh left her. “Xilaryra,” The name sent a powerful shiver to every dragon in the room, minus Blacktip and the ponies. “She has and always will be my sister. But she is also the failure of our faults for not controlling her from the start. We had no idea that she was capable of this level of power or havoc, for she had caused a great strife amongst dragons that are felt to this very day and nearly killed a few in the pursuit of power and control.”

No one said anything, the air thick with tension of the tail. Blacktip remained quiet, more so his scribbling was also lowered and slowed to hear this properly. Eliyinsa felt the comfort of her mate, the support of her friends and now the understanding of their new allies. The Princess of the Night stepped forward, offering moral support.
“I understand what that has been like, for we still feel the effects of the Nightmare Moon even a thousand years later. My kind of ponies and thestrals alike have been slowly recuperating, albeit sometimes we are reminded of our troubled pasts.”

A soft hug from her sister as a gesture, adding her own to the troubles of the past. “And while I know that it could have been prevented, it is best we try to deal with the consequences and hope for a better tomorrow.”

Eliyinsa nodded softly, though she wasn’t eased. “I appreciate the sympathy, however the consequences are much dire now that we know that dragon laid an egg and that egg… belongs to Spike. A dragon who DOES NOT deserve to have any affiliation with the one who is our son. He should not have to learn of the horrible creature his mother was nor learn that he may be affected by the past should other dragons come to learn of his birth to her.”
“As is, the story of Spike’s past will remain a mystery,” Torch affirmed with most conviction. “The pain will be too much and with recent events unfolding, we plan to keep it that way. For now, we will do our best to make it our goal to be a far better dragon than any of us.”

“And that is… to be this Dragon Guardian, that you keep mentioning?” Celestia asked. “It seems to be some grand role for you kind then I assume.”

“Oh, it's more than just a grand role, Princess Celestia,” Finally, Blacktip spoke, adding his part in the conversation and trying to lighten the mood. “A Dragon Guardian is a position of High Power. Akin to the Elders but have just the same command and respect as a Dragon Lord and the will to protect dragon kind from all sorts of threats. The role has not been filled in almost a thousand years since the need for it has been lost after you two," pointing towards the Princesses. "-had defeated the Chaos Chimera. The time before that for a Guardian needed was during the death of the Dark Queen Herself, Tiamat, which we had to hide millenniums after. The status of It symbolizes the strength of their character, the will to push forward, the might against strong enemies and the heart that can rival a volcanic eruption. The Dragon Guardian is given vast prowess, control, and other benefits that other dragons could not wield in the way we normally are.”

The prince, Shining Armor, spoke his piece now. “So, my little brother is a special dragon then?” He sounded almost excited. “Meaning he could do amazing things other dragons can’t! I knew he was special but now I feel damn proud that raised him the way we did!” A stallion-like tear left him at that, earning a playful hug from Cadence.
“Indeed Prince Shining Armor. Hence why the role of Dragon Guardian is held in such a high esteem, with stories, songs and more written about each one.”

Those here felt that Spike deserved it, for his bravery, his noble heart and the love he shared, this was vacated for him alone. Yet the main problem remained.
“So, are we expecting your sis-” A draconic growl vibrated the room, causing Celestia to pause in mid speech. “Apologies. I mean, are we expecting any kind of return from this exile or interference from them at some point?”

An annoyed sigh left Eliyinsa with a shake of her head. “Unfortunately, the exile remains in seclusion and far out of my reach. The last impression she had made was in the frozen north close to your Crystal Empire.”
Cadence had brief thoughts that flared but remained neutrally emotionless. Eliyinsa briefly picked up on it but made a note later. Continuing on, her emotions visibly flared. “No doubt she has been aided by an ally or through some means for the last century”

“Century?” Luna queried. “If she has been in exile for that long, why wasn’t Spike’s egg laid earlier?”
“Perhaps she had but kept it hidden until she could find sanctuary and heat it up to a point where it would hatch or had laid it later on. Dragon eggs need a high degree of heat for a long time to hatch and when we exiled her, we forbade her from ever being able to conceive with a male.” A disgusted frown showed on Eliyinsa’s face as she spat out the last word. “Willingly.”

The thought disgusted most around her, including the Princesses. “So… she found a male to seduce to mate with her?”
Zynthia snorted. “More like forcing them through… harsh means, most likely mental manipulation or forced perception. As part of the exile process, we forbade her so no male would look at her as a viable or worthy mate, even during our seasons. We made a crucial mistake in that when we exiled her, we were only able to bind her with one brace,” Eliyinsa was about to lift her tail to show her two rings, but failed and lowered once memory returned of her unclasping from them. A small sniff and she continued on. “She ran away before we could slip the other one. We thought it would be sufficient but it seems not.”

“Did you ever try to locate her after?” Cadence asked. Once more a thought came up that seemed worth checking on but Torch and the others shook their heads.
“When a dragon is exiled, we no longer deal with them in any way or form. Should they live or die, it's no longer our concern, even one as strong as her. A mistake we are now paying for years later.”

“Then the question remains,” Celestia stated in a serious tone. “What happens should she re-emerge? She left Spike's egg in my care, as I was not aware of who she was for twenty years, will she come back seeking it? And is she truly so powerful that it can affect us?”

Eliyinsa looked at the Solar Monarch and leaned closer to her. “Did she say anything to you inspecific when she gave you the egg?
Celestia felt her trying to peer into her mind once more, finding many things within her, earning a small grunt from her. “Please, there is no need for that, I will explain it for you.” Eliyinsa bowed her head.
“Apologies. At this point, I’m… we are desperate to know if we must protect Spike at all costs and any vital information is key to this.”
Understanding, Celestia recalled the visitation. “At first, she came out of the sky, almost like an imminent attack of sorts, but this happened long before the migration decades ago. I sent the guards to their stations and prepared for an attack but she… almost came crashing down to Canterlot  gardens.”
The elders peered in closer, with Blacktip writing furiously to capture everything he could. Continuing, Celestia frowned for a moment. “I thought that perhaps she was injured or was hurt, which was the case, but she also was… crying and scared.”

No Elder cared for the feelings of an exile, yet Eliyinsa seemed intrigued by this, almost wanting to bark in laughter at the fact that… the creature could feel emotions such as those.

“She saw me, knowing or reading into my mind, who I was and begged me to help her. To help save something precious for her.” Celestia paused and looked up to each of them, a begging of permission forming. “I know she doesn’t mean much to you, but can I still refer to her as a dragon or name?”

Each dragon gave a low toned growl but Eliyinsa nodded with permission. “If it helps keep the story going, please do so.”
Though she only said the name once, she nodded before continuing on. “Xilaryra," she called herself and showed me her egg and asked if I could take care of it for her. To raise it and to give it a good home for it. She could not because there were dragons after her at the moment. If I were to have the heart that she claims she has heard of me, that I would take her egg. I did. Then she instructed me that only high heat or powerful magic would hatch the egg, how magic may assist in raising him, she made me swear that I would never tell anyone who she was and that she dropped off the egg.” A pause as she studied each elder, trying to gauge their emotions and spoke on. “I swore… that I would take care of it, but I did ask if she would return.”
Eliyinsa was now studying the princess intently, hoping to get an answer or a need to hear something they wanted. Celestia sighed and shook her head. “She said she would not, for she explained to me that her fate was sealed and that she would lose the only heart she had in this world. Before I took it, she quickly spoke to the egg, though I couldn’t hear it, she cried as she did so and finally handed me the egg. I did ask if she had a name to give it but she said no, it was not in her control. Then she thanked me once again and took off.” Celestia pursed her lips and she gave a small look of annoyance. “I swore to her that I wouldn’t tell anyone about her arrival. But because of who she is and what she has done, I am not sure if I still feel comfortable revealing that yet.”

The Elder dragons were silent, each one carrying their own weight of emotions. None were actually content with the story but they seemed more puzzled by the information. Eliyinsa was more stoic than even Torch was, for her mind was blazing with too many emotions for herself to distinguish. Blacktip, having finished writing, broke the silence in the room.

“Judging by the two decades since her departure and the fact she believed she may not survive, it is safe to assume that she will never return to enter Spike's life or that she may have died in the decades since.”

Torch gave the scholar a look that would say otherwise. “While I highly doubt the exile will come back for the egg, I don't expect the exile to have perished. Unfortunately.”
The ponies in the room flinched at the crude and almost disturbing thought of how little they thought of an individual’s life no matter their crimes, but none said anything out loud.
Saphira then turned to Eliyinsa. “Do you fear that she is still alive and will return to cause havoc, Elder Eliyinsa?”

The black dragoness had been quiet for the last few moments and was vastly disturbed by everything. Her mental turmoil was disrupted by the calm and gentle voice of Saphira and she looked up at her with a look of worry that consumed her far more then the others. “I am not afraid that she is alive, I am afraid that she will come back and re-enter Spike’s life and ruin his. From what Celestia has said, to give up Spike’s egg to her willingly and her emotional state after, make me fear that her instincts will kick in and the fact that I might be alerting her by my scan, will have her reacting to come seeking him.”

“You know she cannot return to the Dragon Lands,” Zynthia remarked with much confirmation. “She cannot and will not step a single claw near Spike so long as he remains home.”
“And as a Dragon Guardian, do you think that will apply to him and his duties?” Eliyinsa asked, her voice showing her concern and her fears warranted. “Spike’s role will have him travel outside the lands and beyond. His attachment to Ember will not slow his progress nor will it prevent him from trying to aid other dragons or his pony family either. Because of our oath to not speak about his past, there may be a moment where he will encounter her in some form or another.”

A powerful ripple of anger and worry consumed through them all and a grip held their hearts. Three mothers worried about the pain their child would face and others could not phantom would agony would come to pass as Spike’s future as a Guardian has become more complicated. Yet it did not seem hopeless by the scholar himself.

“Then perhaps we can speed up his progress in becoming a Dragon Guardian,” Blacktip pipped in, causing every head to turn to him. He finished his writing and snapped both quill and scroll away in flames. “It is my understanding that if… Spike was to encounter the exile, he should be ready. As a Dragon Guardian, it is all up to us to prepare for confrontation of not just her but of other potential threats that will arise for him in the future. He has already proven himself with the Storm Army and while he did not attack them directly, his commitment to helping and protecting others is already vastly overshadowed by how much effort he is willing to put forward to do so. However, I must advise that we take precautionary measures to ensure his survival as well.”

Each dragon seemed apprehensive at first but slowly started to come forward on the idea, same with the ponies.
“What do you suggest then, Blacktip?” Torch asked, “Do we start training him earlier than planned?" 

The green drake nodded. “No time like the present but, we train him not just as a Dragon Guardian, but in different forms as well besides the standards of Seekers, Brawlers, Enhanced, and other forms of Dragon training that should be given to him.” His eyes turned to Eliyinsa. “Perhaps training him how to deal with mental and psychic abilities from Elder Eliyinsa,” He then turned to the ponies. “And even learn how to deal with magical aspects as well. We know that Dragons will eventually grow to be resistant to magic, but perhaps he could learn how to wield it through his own. As is, the exile explained to use excessive magic to hatch him, correct?” A slow nod from Celestia. "Then perhaps knowing to infuse your magic to Spike at a young age with magic was a given or instructed by the exile?”
Celestia paused at the thought though she tried to offer clarification. “I have my familiar ‘Philomena’, who can send scrolls because she was a fire elemental. Something my mentor, Starswirl the Bearded, had shown me when I was young.” Though a frown worked its way up. “I didn’t know if it would work on Spike or not since my encounters with dragons have been limited.” Her eyes went to Torch and Saphira. “Outside of meeting you two over the centuries, I had no way of knowing. I tested it only years later when Twilight fully became my student and was ready to deliver me her reports. Spike’s fire casting-”
“Firebreaking, Princess Celestia.” Blacktip corrected with politeness.
“-Firebreaking… would actually work until he breathed his first flames. I wasn’t even consciously aware I could apply to him.
“The imprint the exile left on you,” Eliyinsa stated confidently albeit with some minor discomfort of the preplanned notion that even she  was not aware of. “It’s in there, as is the need to treat and care for Spike as your son.” It was small, but there was something here for her to smile about. “He was and always will be your son as well, even if the imprint was implanted it helped him. Now comes the part of where the magic aspect comes into helping him on his journey.”  
Blacktip nodded at the confused looks from the ponies. “If he has been surrounded by pony magic his whole life, then it shouldn’t have come to a surprise that he has some of it embedded within him.”

“We do not know that he can fully wield pony magic,” Stated Eliyinsa.
“We do not know that he won’t be able to,” Blacktip replied back with certainty. “The sheer fact that Twilight and Celestia have enchanted him with their own magic since youth perhaps gives him an edge that he may not even know he has of its own, with or without the exile’s grace of implantation. What I am proposing is that we train him in every form, in every way he can. A Dragon Guardian is supposed to defend dragon kin from all threats whether they be magical, mystical, physical and more. He will not be able to battle the likes of gods so to speak but we can give him the means to protect those around him.”

“And you think that by all of us training him, that he would not suspect something? Or that he will be worn out?” Zynthia queried in worry for her son. "We had planned to let him rest and recover after everything he has been through. Surely we can let them rest?" That was echoed by Eliyinsa's concerns as well.
"But if it means he will push past it to accept his role, he will endure through the workout we put him through, but with less suspicion." Torch is affirmed by Spike’s morals and attitude.

Blacktip agreed. “No doubt, Spike will suspect something. His intelligence has made him superior to many dragons combined. However, stating that this is the role of a Guardian and the benefits of being more than he could ever be, will no doubt push his boundaries and have him reach new heights before his first century.” He then motioned towards the prince and princesses alike. “You have all given your love and support to him for years and because of that, he always sought to achieve more than what he knew what to do with. Now he paid it back by saving the ponies on a multitude of occasions without demanding reward.”
He then looked back to the Elders. “You four have given him a draconic family, that he didn’t know he could have that has spread his hearts amongst and more. So, while you feel that this is going to be a breaking point for him, I believe that this is just the start for him. That he will make an astonishing effort to be the best he can be without struggling. Assigning him a small role from each of us, will give him the need to always help those around him, in the name of Friendship and his heart.”

Blacktip snapped back both quill and scroll, writing objectives for each member present here. "From me, he will learn how to properly hone his Firebreaking and manipulation. Zynthia will teach him about strength and combat like she has before. Torch and Saphira may teach him about our history that can prove vital or essential that could teach him more of our kind. Eliyinsa can teach him how to protect himself from telepathic and mental attacks, as well as improving his psyche from other forms of harm." After marking that, he pointed towards the Princesses. "While I am not sure if you can teach him from afar, perhaps sending him lessons on defensive magical projections or harnessing would help."
“Perhaps we can start by sending sorcerers or scholars to provide books or lessons via train, to assist on the side or bring him new information on how to wield pony magic.” Celestia proposed, then turning to the Elders through a small pause. “As a way to start trades of goods and services between our lands and start the process of becoming good neighbors.”
All Elders looked to Eliyinsa, who created a psychic link between them to agree in both the effort to aid Spike as well as the construction of such a process. In just moments however, it was unanimous. 
“Agreed.” They echoed, created the warmest and most positive news yet.
Once done writing with everything so far, snapped both away and seemed content with what he had just established with them all. "What happens from here on out, is up to us. We can and will make sure Spike is prepared for his role and beyond."
The Elders and Princesses agreed.
"For his future," the Elders roared in agreement.
"For his life," The princesses agreed.
"And… in the name of Harmony." Blacktip added.

They all bowed their heads and the meeting was concluded.





The dragons left that night, allowing the others to remain until the morning came and the Scepter’s need to return home.

On the flight home, Eliyinsa made a loud statement to them all. “He has fully bonded to his mates now, making them connected to each other beyond normal means. The Bloodstone deems him worthy.”
This concerned them all since the defeat of the Storm King, unseen by Blacktip however. “Surely it hasn’t responded to him that quickly?”
“You were not there to witness it, Blacktip.” Torch reminded him. “The Bloodstone Scepter came to him, it pulled towards him without his touch and for now, he commands the same power as Ember.” 

A pause at the rushing winds that came before them. “Should we be concerned then?” This came from Eliyinsa.

Zynthia nodded. “If he continues the selfless crusade of protecting others instead of himself, then we need to teach him not to be, for the sake of his hoard.” 
No dragon disagreed and no one said anything else as they headed back home. A different storm was coming for him, but it would affect those around him, triggering events outside of their control. For what it was worth, Spike would have all the help he could possibly get from two worlds, but moreso, the love and support he would receive would push him to go further than he had ever gone before and his life would be a part of history.





The future remained unknown… but Harmony had its own plans.
> Trials of the Guardian
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian



Trials of the Guardian






A few months later…


He breathed in deeply, then breathed out.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Repeat in.

Repeat out.

Repeat in.

In.

Out.

Heart slowed,

Breathing tamed.

Eyes closed.

Ready…

…

…

“Again!” Spike’s eyes snapped open with a growl and with all his focused might, ignited his palms, pointed them forward in a powerful display of power as they shot forward and struck his target.
The fire was wild and uncontrolled, like a flamethrower without a focused hose spewing out. “Concentrate! Focus on centering the flames towards the center of your palms!”
His teacher called out.
He did as instructed and used his will to condense the flames from spewing out widely outward and into a small area of flames from his palm. The flames condensed fully until it looked like a welder torch used by construction crew, only this was many times hotter and distant. “Good, now carve the ore into something into a form or shape in your mind. But don’t lose focus on your flames; they are part of your mindset as you focus on that image.”

Spike did so, his heart pounding and his breathing slowly started to pace as the effort it took to do both things weighed heavy. He tried to carve something simple like a pony shape or an egg or something easier. Yet as he carved more and more, the vision he mentally projected began to blur and the ore he was using was slowly starting to carve without form, making him growl with agitation and he allowed the flames to drop. After moments, the ore was a molten mess of hot liquid without form.

He dropped to one knee panting, as the energy it took to control the flames had taken more out of him then he realized, even making him feel a cold in his body come forward.
“Good now Spike, you have done well for yourself. Progress has been made,” The cheerful form of Blacktip came from behind, giving the young drake much encouragement. His instructor and teacher, was very much a positive addition to his life within a few months of instructions.

Turning to the bigger, green dragon, Spike shook his head at the loss. “I-I couldn’t hold it for too long, Blacktip.”
The older drake crossed his arms. “No one here expects you to learn everything in one day. The sheer fact you can focus it just as fast as you did now, shows how much progress you’ve made. It took me years to focus it into a flame like that. You’ve learned and advanced it in months after you awakening. You have me beat.”

Spike felt the confidence boost from him and slowly rose back up. As he did, his two mothers were nearby and they came to see the progress. “As he said Spike, it will take time, yet we are happy that you are advancing at pace,” Elyinsa proudly stated. “It took me just as long to master my own firebreaking where I could use it for flight to increase my speed. You will no doubt surpass our time when it comes down to it.”

Half a smile formed as he sighed, feeling content but looking at them still unconvinced of his progress. He half looked at the molten ore of melted slab before looking at them all. “And if I don’t?”
“Then we have failed you,” Blacktip apologetically, as if he had the thought warranted sympathy.
“And we would be terrible teachers for it,” His mother added.
“But we will not stop trying, as long as you keep pushing forward with us.” His momma finished. “We will rise and fall with you, but so long as you put forth all your effort, we will remain by your side.”

The moral was lifted once more and having their strength in it, he felt his heart quicken, ready for more. He snorted a burst of flames and flared his wings. “Okay, I’m ready! Let’s try again!”





The giant of a tail came slamming down hard over him, but he moved faster than he has ever in his life. Palms ignited and wings open, Spike flew around the tail and quickly flew around and above. 
“Good! Your speed is improving!” His momma Zynthia barked, but just as she said that, she leaped forward and took a swipe at him, trying not to give him a moment to enjoy the compliment. 
Knowing how his mother now worked and how others would, Spike rolled out the way from his mother’s grasp, feeling the air of her claws miss him, as he took a steep dive to her face and… threw a rock at one of her eyes. Now, he wasn’t trying to hurt but, this was a much easier option for him because the idea of actually physically hurting her in any way didn’t sit well with him, no matter how much she was insistent on it.

“Aah!” She grunted, but not in pain. Again, with his lack of actual attacks, the hit was more annoying but his resolve was still the same. “Good!” She barked, but still had a good eye, which she locked onto him. With the distraction, he then threw the rest of her rocks at her, showering her with gravel. Closing her eyes, she allowed the rocks to bounce harmlessly off her. “That is a waste of your attacks son!”
When she reopened her eyes, she saw him gone. Her head immediately searched around for him but found him nowhere, only to feel a tapping by her neck. “It’s not a waste if it's a distraction.” He then gently booped her weakness on the neck like he had done so a year ago.

Zynthia snorted, pulling back and seeing her son with the biggest grin on his snout. “So, does that mean I win?”
Her head lowered and gave his hovering stance a small raised brow before relenting. “For now you won the distraction, but… you still need to learn the fight head on.”
He slumped in the air. “I-I can’t momma, you know I can’t,”
Cooing, she pressed her snout to his smaller form.
“As much as I, your family or friends love your passive non-violent approach son, I need you to understand that the world does not take heed to your pacifistic nature. While that is a great quality, you are well aware that your enemies may not share your sentiment.”
He looked up at her, seeing all the damage that covered her face, including the recent scars from when Eliyinsa lost control. That was her own mate and in that moment, forgot about it in her rage that added to her wounds.

Placing a claw on her snout, he pressed close. “But… isn’t it worth trying to reason before you attack?”
“It is,” She agreed wholeheartedly, “but if our pasts tell us anything, it is that we will encounter those that will ignore it or… take advantage of that and use that as a weakness.” She lifted her large claw and held it underneath him, where he gently landed on it. She then lowered her giant form until she was laying on all fours and rested. “The Storm Creatures attacked because they were following orders. Most of them had nothing else in their minds beyond that and that is why they did so. Yes, eventually you got through to them, but had you not had the natural armor of your body, that spear would have killed you or you may have lost a loved one.”

Spike rubbed the area of where the crack scales had once been. He had pulled the piece out and new ones had formed over time but whenever she trained him in active and defensive combat, she reminded him of that near fatal possibility. The one etched by the Bloodstone Scepter remained however. “That should be a reminder that not all of them will see eye to eye. Hence, why we train to make sure that even if you don’t wish to harm them, they may not give you the choice if the ones you love are in danger. Fight not to be the aggressor but to be the defendor. Against those who wish to harm those around you, as you will need to harm others in order to save yourselves and the ones closests to your heart."

It was somber to hear and even a bit dejected to hear, especially when you were being told that the world may not be all sunshine and rainbows, but it was a reality they lived in and one that he would have to face one day. 
While he felt slowed by the lesson, he knew it was one of many that would come as his progression to becoming a Dragon Guardian continued.

She gave him a lick over his smaller form before standing up once more and moving backwards, taking on an aggressive stance once more. “Now… again!”





“And with that came the fall of not only the Wyverns of the Eastern Fields, but also the Wyrms of the Dead Seas.”

Torch finished his history lesson. He looked down and saw that while Spike was wide eyed and even in awe at the story, rather unfortunately, his mate, daughter, and a few others who came to learn more about history, had fallen asleep. Anytime an elder spoke of the past, it was a story time shared with others wishing to hear it, so he spoke out loud to the general public. Most teens and whelps tended to come in to hear such a grand tale, which included about three dozen or so. They were just hoping to hear a new tale this time, though they stayed awake during Saphira’s segment of the stories.
Ember had fallen asleep soundly against her mother who had slumped off against the side while others who had joined, just grew bored and nodded off.
“Woah,” His voice was astounded by the stories of two species wiping each other out. “So… to this day, there are no more Wyverns or Wyrms anywhere in the world?”

While annoyed that the others had fallen asleep, including his family, Torch was happy that Spike remained active and even attended passively to the tale.

Torch ignored them all and focused on Spike. “Unfortunately, there hasn’t been sight of them for almost five centuries but I am sure that there are a few still lingering around here and that. Saphira would know, right?!” He suddenly barked out loud, waking her and Ember but leaving the rest of the captive crowd to slowly stir.
“Hmm! Oh,” She stumbled awake as well as Ember who stood attentively to her father but still mentally bored. “Sorry love, uh… yes. The defeat of Tiamat abridged and yours… what was it? The uh…”

Torch gave a soft glare at her, earning a sheepish blush with her stutter. Ember gave a grunt and walked over to her mate. Whispering low as her parents were seemingly about to bicker, she leaned close to Spike. “How did you stay awake through all that?” She asked.

Spike gave her a look of somewhat perplexed annoyance. “How can you not? That is a great story!” Ember groaned and rubbed her face but Torch heard it and barked with a ‘ha!’ towards his mate, causing her to shrink a little. 
“As I said! My stories are not boring and they are worthy of being shared by all!” The bark of his voice woke the others up and they began to try and stay awake for the Elder.
"Yeah!" Spike agreed wholeheartedly. "I mean the fact that two species almost wiped each other out due to miniscule things! It almost sounds ridiculous!"

"It was!" Torch all but agreed, though Saphira seemed skeptical but remained quiet with her mate's argument and lesson on history. "And so was their history, too! Not much is left about their cultures and their stories to remember them by. Even their most studious and intellectual members couldn’t keep their history intact. They are scattered to the winds with only whispers and scant remains of their history to be found here and there."
"Then what happened?" Spike asked, still fully invested into Torch's story. 
"Spike don't-" Ember tried to stop him but was too late.

"Oh, then came the darkest days for them but an enlightenment for us!" Torch continued with glee and high enthusiasm. Saphira stifled a groan and the few that shared her dismay, tried to stealthily sneak away. Ember held back her own groan as she listened to her father rumble about how 'dragons then earned their glory by driving those dirty vermin away!' and what not. Spike immediately lost himself in the story once more, forcing Ember to relive an likable trait of her father. But for the sake of Spike, she would have to endure. History is not the easiest but without it, those who don’t learn will be doomed to repeat it.

“-One great dragon, who was seen as the ender of their remaining kind, was named ‘Death’ himself, known as… Smaug the Desolate One!”





Spike closed his eyes and focused, trying to keep his mind clear and his thoughts pure. His mother sat across from him, also with her own eyes closed.
Both dragons had flown away to a secluded island not far from the main shore but enough distance from distraction of others. Ember hung by the edge of the island just so her mental squabble wouldn't interfere with Eliyinsa's meditation and mental projections. It was just him and her.

"Now my son," Her voice is calm, soothing and almost zen-like to him. "I want you to form an image or an idea in your mind. Whatever it is, whatever you can think of, focus on creating it." He did so, he thought about Ember, the love of his life. "Now when you think of it, only focus on it and that alone. If you are to learn about fortifying your mind, you need to create a wall. Use her as the wall to your mind and that nothing else will break through to it."

He focused on Ember, really he did. The beautiful scales, those wonderful eyes, the way his heartbeat at her presence… but he couldn't forget about Smolder. He loved her too, though she wasn't currently with them right now she was in Equestria by herself…
"Aah!" A sharp pang in his mind came to him as his mother breached through his mind.
"You lost focus again." She stated. He opened his eyes and looked up to her, yet her eyes remained closed. "Again."
He sighed and refocused on Ember again, trying not to think about anything else but her. She was his wall to his mind, his shield, his armor, his power to remain strong. Ember would protect him and he would protect her. Their love would remain strong for one another.

… 'Good my son,' His mother gently pried into his mind. 'Remain focused, but now, add others to your mind to increase your wall. Just think of others as adding to your resistance but nothing else.'

	Spike did so, this time he did include Smolder but not of her absence but as if she was right here with them. Then, he added Amy, then… he added his mothers, both of them. Then he added Celestia, then Twilight, then the others. The list went on with Torch, Saphira, his pony parents and then he added others from Equestria and…

… pain. Of not seeing them for a while and that it’s been months since he had seen any of them. Then another villain would suddenly pop up and he wasn’t there to help them. He wasn’t there to help! He wasn’t-

	His walls crumbled and the sharp pain hit his mind, causing him to cry out. "OW! Son of ah-"

Eliyinsa sighed and opened her eyes, seeing her son rub his temples as a small headache formed. She gave a quick response to Ember down the shore that he was fine, feeling part of his small blight but making no effort to come yet.
He groaned and looked up to his mother, sympathy playing across her face. At this point he expected her to say something but she didn't because she already knew what's wrong. 
Spike rubbed his head until the pain faded and just sat there. Eliyinsa remained quiet and rose up; instead of saying anything, she motioned for him to follow and he did so.

Both walked a short distance to a nearby cliff where it expanded to the endless horizon of ocean and sky. There, she laid down with only her head up. He took his cue and sat in between her front legs, choosing to say nothing. 

This was another mental exercise that she started with him. No words, no emotions, just relax and allow the world to speak to you. They sat staring at the horizon with the sun overhead and bringing its warmth to them, the sea crashing against the cliffside below and the wind singing to their ears.

They remained passive, unheeded to anything else but that. He tried to say or think of anything but he couldn't as he wasn't sure what to say. His mental lessons had just begun and out of everything else from becoming a Dragon Guardian, the mental one was the hardest.
His mind was erratic and spontaneous with thoughts. Smolder, Twilight, his friends, and family in Equestria.

It's been months since he had seen them. Twilight and the others were continuing their own lives without him. Smolder was with Twilight and stationed at the new school that Twilight had created to start teaching friendship. It was hard, but the fact that she sent letters almost every other day helped.
While he, Ember and Amy were happy for her, they did miss her a lot. And he missed seeing them too. As time went on with the lessons of the Dragon Guardian Role, he felt conflicted between wanting to learn as much as he could but also wanting to go back.

The few things that were helping was his family here. With the peace between the lands, it made it easier now to travel with the trade routes established, but that didn't mean that his friends could come and visit often. Their lives still belonged to them and his life was… busy. Same with his Hoard.
Ember over sought the trade routes and made sure dragons were treating travelers with less… aggressive behavior. She also was training in her own way as Dragon Lord to become more insightful to the woes of others. This also made the lessons from her parents more wholesome as now more than ever, she got to spend time with them both and enjoyed it.
Amy somewhat had taken a role of entertainer for the young ones that have hatched or who were less than a decade old. She was… ‘teaching’, if that was the right word to them, about being friends with other creatures like ponies, changedlings and so on. What few things she could teach them was what goods she got from the trades and books that could make it into the fire lands. They would only do so well if they were magically casted with fire resistance.

He was happy they were all contributing and helping spreading Friendship and Harmony in their own ways. Just like his friends and family would want back in Equestria. 

But then came the worry of what they could be experiencing without him, without his help and-
"You must learn to push down your worries son." His mother said calmly and collectively. "Your thoughts run amok that cause distractions and deviations from your focus."

A sigh left him. "How can I not?" He asked out loud. "I'm thinking about my friends and family in Equestria. I'm hundreds of miles away from them, never knowing that they might need me or what other villain of the week may come out and attack them."

"And there is absolutely nothing that can be done about that." The statement alone had him slump harder at the statement but, after a moment of why she said it, caused him to squeeze his eyes shut. He wanted to deny her, though it ended swiftly as she leaned down to him. "There will always be trouble for those around you that you will not be able to handle or deal with. You being there may or may not be helped but just like there are hundreds of millions of things that are causing disasters around the world in a moment's notice, you can not do anything about."
"I know," Feeling annoyed that he had to deal with this conversation many times before. "I'm supposed to focus on myself, my kin here. As is the role and designation of a Guardian."

"It's more than just that, my son. It's your lack of self-preservation and your selflessness that is holding you back."
An incredulous look covered his face as if she had said something ridiculous. "And that is a bad thing?"

She shook her head. "Your selfless nature no, but your lack of self preservation is a dangerous mindset."
He frowned and stood up to match her eye level. "I'm not afraid to die if it's to protect the ones I love!"

His mother's bright violet eyes looked deep into his own and a powerful wave of sadness mixed with guilt and pain flooded him. "Have you asked your bonded mates that?"

Spike blinked and realization struck him, almost painfully inflicting him to flinch. She continued to unleash that wave onto him. "You, Ember, Amethyst and even when Smolder returns, are all connected, share everything. Including pain. That is why the Scepter reached out to you, as you proved yourself worthy of sharing its power." A pause and then the air grew painfully and almost unnaturally still around them as she spoke these next words. "If you are to sacrifice yourself for one life, you are giving up four in the process. You will end the lives of those you love because you refuse to let go in the most dire of situations and it will cost you greatly."

The air and reality seemed to return as she hugged him, pressing her head and wrapping her arm around him. He was frozen with guilt and it showed greatly. Even as the wave slowed, she still continued, "You refuse to fight is a great blessing but it will come at a high price if you do not protect yourself or throw yourself into a fray of selfless endeavors."

A sniff left her and tears fell from her, causing him to look up at her, wondering why she was crying. Their minds merged and it spoke louder than verbal words.
'Your nightmares are growing frequently. Your mates are being affected by them and are so vivid and strong that I can sense them from home, Spike. You are in so much pain for wanting to be there for your family but this selfless attitude and fear to preserve them with your life is not showing you the true picture of what you will really lose. The visions of you being encased in stone, the failure to save your mother, and the loss of Twilight continue to plague you. You must know of this and how it‘s tearing at you!'

	'Then what am I supposed to do!?' He begged out loud in his mind to her. 

She closed her eyes. 'Let go.' A mind breaking notion, one he couldn't ever do. 'Let go and live your life with your mates. If you love them, let go of your fear for your pony family and let them live their own lives without you in it. Many things can happen and you can only do so much, but don’t make your life focused on them alone. Do so, let them grow outside of your view… before it costs you your own life and there's.'

	Visions and images of Ember, Amy and Smolder flooded his head, seeing their happy lives with him and the world. With him at the center and introducing them to everything, living it up to its fullest. However, all it would take is one moment for him to fall and they too would fall.

	Tears fell from his own eyes and he hugged his mother back tightly, trying to ignore that aspect of himself but knowing full well that if he did die, so would the ones closest to his heart. Now that they were a part of his life beyond a simple bond, he had to think of Ember’s, Amy’s, and even Smolder’s. With the continuing revelations that they were tied to him, now… and forever, he was being forced to think of himself for their sake and it hurt. 

	While he wasn't aware of it, part of her duty was to help break him down of any weaknesses that his enemies may use against him. While that seemed far fetched, it was closer to the truth that she hoped would never come to happen.

It was also why the last Dragon Guardian established that should a new one ever arise again, that they be trained to only think about themselves and their hoard. To never let them lose sight of those that share his heart on a much bigger level then those that don't.

That was how the previous Dragon Guardian lost their mate and part of their soul… 





That night, he arrived at his cave and flew to Ember and Amethyst in a grand embrace. They hugged each other tightly, comforting one another and trying not to dwell too much on how much they missed their fourth member as well as how busy their lives had gotten.

"We got a letter from her today," Ember softly stated, as she pulled away and showed them both the scroll. "She says that her new friends, including that changedling Ocellus, is the reason why she is so happy there. She is friends with a hippogriff, who is related to Queen Novo, a griffin, yak and pony. They have been together the last couple of weeks now, share classes and are forming a cheerleading squad… whatever that is, soon! They will also be getting their first week-long break soon, so she’ll be coming home."

"Awe!" Amy sniffed and rubbed her eyes of a tear showing. "Our little 'ness' is growing up and making friends!"
Spike was proud of her and just as happy. “That’s good to hear. She’ll get to come back home and tell us all about it!”

As they celebrated lightly at their horde memeber’s return, a psychic ring came to all of them.
‘Son, wonderful news! The egg is hatching!’ His mother cheerfully called out.
They all jumped into more excited cheers and Spike mentally called back. ‘Well be there soon!’
	“I’ll get my camera!” Ember proclaimed as she rushed over to her little area. In this area of the cave, she had a small crevasse shaped area where she hung her pictures and held her folder of pictures she had taken.

Her camera, given to her by Discord, hung perfectly in place near the area. Once in claw, she quickly flew back with them and they all exited the cave with excitement.

The Bloodstone Scepter remained behind with a faint, pulsing glow. It was warm, it was active and it felt the excitement of its welders.



Eliyinsa and Zynthia remained huddled around the baby blue egg with a shimmering gleam that had cracks forming all around it where it had been laying near a lava pool to be kept hot.

The sound of wings were heard and both eagerly welcomed them all in quickly. The trio of young dragons quickly flew right up in front of the mother’s and the egg.

They landed right up front, just in time to see the top half of the egg break in half and showed a tiny form within. Ember began to take a few rapid pictures of the egg while the mothers cooed in encouragement for the dragon to take their first breath.

As it did, the baby blue scales came forth and slowly the egg top fell off, as did the hatchling forward. Spike quickly stopped them from falling, catching it and cradling the young dragon.
“Careful son, they can be sensitive after their hatching.” He nodded and helped them sit back down, slowly removing the piece on top of their head and revealing a short pointed snout followed by tiny horns on top with frills on the side. The eyes were pale orange and a soft white underbelly with spines running from top to bottom of the head to tail.

The beautiful dragon took its first breath in the world and stared at the many faces that surrounded it. Its eyes staring blankly at many eyes at it.
“Aroo?” Finding its voice, making all the dragons coo in adoration. “Awwwwwww, it's so cute,” Amy stated the obvious at the little dragon.
“That she is,” Eliyinsa stated, causing the younger dragons to look up at her minus her mate.
“You know it's female?” Ember asked, almost astounded by the quick assumption. 
The elder nodded. “I did. While it takes a day or so for a parent to check the gender, it’s… a little cheat that I do when I go visit the egg sites.” She then leaned in, along with her mate and gently allowed the baby dragon to be surrounded by its mothers. Much like Spike, she was instantly filled with their scents and took it in first. Spike stood gently back and allowed them to mark her first since it was their hatchling to begin with. 

As they gently marked her, Ember pulled him back further and spoke to him. “So, you're happy you're gonna be the older brother for once?”
A small chuckle left him. “Yeah, kinda. I was just surprised they wanted to adopt so soon. I mean finding an egg first must have been difficult to do, if the parents didn’t want it or were willing to give it up.”

“Oh, Spike we asked first and foremost,” His mother stated softly, as not to disrupt the exchange and harm their daughter. “I was aware of what this egg was going to be, especially when I was scanning for any potential enhanced to be born.”
“You… can you sense others as enhanced as eggs?” Ember asked, incredulously which sounded almost unbelievable. 
“I can, though I don’t like to make it sound like it is a priority, I always sought to see if we can train any new dragon born with gifts.” She then cooed as the young finally pressed itself against its mothers, accepting them as her own. “This one will grow up to be special indeed.”
“Huh,” Spike remarked, staying close but allowing them to continue their ritual. “And… the parents were okay with you taking their eggs.”

A pause and slowly Zynthia turned to the side, but remained in contact with the hatchling. “We advised them that the egg they laid was going to be gifted with amazing abilities.” A sigh left her as they heard cooing and soft mumbles from the hatchling. “They willingly gave it up quickly to us, which I fear is our fault. They had fear of what it may intel for their future.”

Somberly and regretfully, both mothers continued to rub their snouts on her, though their hearts ached at the pain they had caused the parents. Ember was also a bit annoyed at the part of them, a small ire rising in place.
“Who were they-”
“It doesn’t matter,” Eliyinsa responded quickly but softly, as to not rile or upset the young dragon. “They still have other eggs and will happily raise them with love and care. I don’t blame them for not holding onto the egg. Perhaps it’s for the best.”

“I thought we’re trying to establish that enhancements are not evil or wrong with having gifts, mother?” He felt bad for this happening but more so, that there still remained fear for those with gifts.
“We are, my son,” Zynthia stated with ease. “But removing a history's worth of hate and fear takes time and even for creatures as long lived as us, it will take years for it to die out. Hence you and perhaps eventually… your sister and Shadescale will succeed in repealing that.”
Ember squinted at the name but remained silent. Spike crossed his arms and shook his head. “I wonder who it was that screwed it up for the rest of us to make it so?”

No response from them. Deliberately so as if purposely trying to avoid any negativity in front of the newly hatched.

Quickly shifting the subject, both mothers pulled away. “Come Spike, if you wish, you can mark her too as your sister.”
This had him forget the negative moment and slowly approach her. It was a truly exciting concept and the first time he has ever done something like this. Amy and Ember stood away, taking pictures and gushing at the cute reactions.

He got to her and sat down near her, causing her eyes to go to him and seeing his eyes. His heart melted at seeing her this close as she was the cutest baby thing he had ever seen before. He would not say that in front of Cadence and Shining Armor however. 
“Hi there,” he softly whispered to her. “Welcome to the family!” She blinked lazily at him, unsure who he was. Instincts now told her the two giant forms were her mothers, so perhaps this was someone else. He briefly looked up at them. “What do I do?”
“Reach out, gently hold her in your arms, as she breathes in your scent. She’ll think you’re her father if you rub your snout on her, so just cradle her for the moment.”

Nodding, he softly reached towards her and lifted her as he cradled her while gently grasping her tiny claw.  On contact, she looked down, and saw his bigger claws compared to her own. She grasped a single digit on instinct and clamped on it. He smiled and felt warmth at her instant attachment, giving her tiny claw a small shake and for her to try and suck on it.
“Ah, that is so freakin cutttttttte!” Amy all but wanted to scream out. Ember couldn’t agree more as she continued to film with her camera at the beautiful memories being made.
Spike smiled and felt a bit of tear fall from his eyes as he held the tiny dragon whelp in arms.
“There we go, little cutie. I’m your older brother Spike!”

Those light orange eyes looked up at his emerald ones and a connection was formed. She saw a figure that would protect her, guard her, cherish her and love her with his whole being despite not sharing blood. She was surrounded by those that would do the same, having a big family that would watch over her and her future. 

She was safe.

Reaching up with her tiny claw, she tried to touch his face but was too short. He leaned in, brushing his snout with her claw, but not her face, feeling that she accepted him as her brother. Spike didn’t know how he knew, but she did so and he felt blessed.

The night was a magical moment for them all as they welcomed new life into the family, bringing joy and further love to them all. Then came the biggest question for them all.
“Did you choose a name yet?” Ember asked.
Both mothers softly nodded. “We have a few but we will wait until tomorrow to announce it. We wish to invite the other Elders for it.”
An odd request but nonetheless, they accepted it. The trio of dragons retreated back to their own cave to sleep, bidding the mothers and their newly hatched dragon ‘good night’. Zynthia and Eliyinsa surrounded their new daughter with their bodies, allowing her to sleep on both of their claws in front of them.

The dragonling was given tiny fragmented gems to munch on that would help start her journey to becoming a dragon in the future. She happily and loudly munched on them, feeling the care she was receiving from them quickly. 

The two mothers watched proudly as their daughter ate and allowed her body to become full before she inevitably felt the exhaustion of her recent hatching hit her. She crawled in a circle for a moment, trying to find the best spot before choosing the crevice of her mothers’ two claws together to sleep on.
Content, both mothers gave each a lick on another before leaning down and giving a tiny one to their daughter. The most infectious moment, would fill the dreams of the young one with such blissful dreams that even Eliyinsa would understand them.

The night ended with a growing heart for them all and a wonderful future ahead. 


 
> The Talons on Fate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord's Guardian



The Talons on Fate



The morning after had a wonderful joy that carried most of those involved with high spirits. As each Elder came to the naming of Eliyinsa’s and Zynthia’s daughter, though none of the Elders knew really why she summoned them. 
It wasn’t until Torch, Saphira, Derain and his  second mate came in, though this time it was a female one who arrived to greet them. This one had orange scales that carried an aura of fiery shimmer that surrounded her. She was built in the same manner as Zynthia but with less scarring. Her whole body danced with light, giving the illusion of flames reflecting within her form. From her frill tips on her ears and spines on her head, to the sharp crests of her from neck to tail, she was a living form of fire. The tail tip actually looked like the small tips of flames of low embers if she ever swished it fast enough. The dragoness looked very intimidating but was actually a little sucker for young ones, much like Saphira. While she too was expecting young, she was not showing yet and still months away from laying.
“To you young ones not aware, this is my second mate of my three mates, my Successor, Tanwen.”
The dragoness, with a deep base of a voice almost like Zecora if she was a dragon, spoke with a small bow. “Young ones, Elders. Thank you for accepting me here. I am happy to be part of this mother blessing, as I too wait to become a mother.”
“And we bless you with nothing but a warm laying with a grand clutch, Tanwen.” Zynthia responded in kind.
 “I thank you,” Now the warm greetings and blessings were done, Torch began the start of the gathering.
“Now then, we are here for a new arrival to a family long in deserving. But, we do wish to know why we are all here? I am aware of the adoption but for what other blessing do you wish to receive?”
Eliyinsa reached in between her front legs and showed the beautiful baby blue form of their sleeping daughter. Gently, she grasped her in her palm and raised her up to show the rest of them.

The young hatchling slowly roused from her slumber and found herself surrounded by many new faces. She saw many eyes, many looking at her and wasn’t sure who they were. ‘Aroo?’ Her adorable voice and eyes pierced the very hearts of them all, even Torch himself.
“Awe!” Saphira almost gushed too sweetly, clutching her chest. “She is so adorable!”
“Indeed.” Torch and Derain commented in unison, both also affected by the absolutely cute dragon whelp before them. The only one that seemed to be unaffected was Tawen and…


‘Oh. Nope,’ Was the immediate after thought as she slumped against her mate in an almost Rarity like fashion as she half fainted. While she didn’t actually faint, her heart certainly was affected by the cuteness. If this affected her health later, it would no doubt be the result of this one's cuteness overload.

Spike, Amy and Ember were also still not used to the newly hatched dragon’s adoration effect she had on others, clutching their chests in fashion but remained… somewhat standing. Amy was shaking alot, while Ember grasped on Spike for support.

Once they all managed to get used to her… abilities of cuteness overload, Torch reidated what he had stated. “So… as I have asked, what blessing do you wish to receive from this adoption?”

Eliyinsa was the first to speak but kept her emotions slightly tight. “I first wish to establish that this little one was adopted because I saw that she is ‘gifted’ with abilities that will manifest later in her life.”
All the Elders seemed impassive at first, yet that did lead to the inevitable question from Derain. “And… you explained this to the sire and dam of the egg?”
“We did,” Zynthia responded solemnly, “Though we regretted as soon as we did, for they opted to give us the egg instead and chose not to raise it.” A pause and both mothers bowed their heads. “It is because of us, that we may have lost this one’s family.”

While it was difficult to say how they all really felt by these troubling circumstances, it was Saphira’s kind and wise heart that oversaw this dilemma. “I see the fear and sadness that came from speaking out loud but I also see opportunity and perhaps a better future.” The others didn’t argue but they now remained intrigued by this statement, turning to the sapphire dragoness. “You will be able to raise the young one as her ‘gifts’ manifest in a time when we are transitioning into a more accepting environment. This is something none of you have ever had before and much like Spike is still learning from a young age and is surrounded by teachers. With the young one here, she will be raised by them and grow alongside her brother to feel loved and cared for without fear of her gifts.”

“An astute observation, Elder Saphira.” Agreed the fiery Tawen. “And while I am not sure what the future holds, I can be assured you will do your best to help her in the long run.”

Both remaining Elders seemed to be silent, debating internally amongst themselves on the situation. Truthfully, they were outnumbered by their mates alone, but it helped knowing they were more optimistic and more open minded to the idea of raising a gifted or enhanced dragonling.
Torch and Dereain seemed to silently agree to themselves that it was for the best and approved this decision.  
“As it was freely given to you, we will allow you to raise the dragonling without prejudice towards your or the original parents. And like Saphira and Tawen stated, it would be best to raise her in a home with others like her.”

Having received it by not just the Elders but by their mates as well, both mothers felt relieved from it. Torch then asked, “Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”
“Yes,” Both mothers said unisonly, but both turned to Saphira. “We wish to establish the name, but we want your blessing to use it for her.”
Saphira blinked, cocking her head. “Oh, why is that, my fellow Elders?”

Hearts quickening, both mothers prepared themselves for the question with them lowering their heads in bow. “We wished to name her after your… lost sibling. To honor their name that you once told us would have been named if it had been female.”
“And… we wished to do so, hoping that you will also help raise her with just as much love and care alongside us, as a teacher as well."

The dragons present were left agape, as the idea of doing this all, was never really heard of. Yes, other dragons would raise other younglings or whelps but never do so in the name of another dragon's name. It was only an honor or a privilege to be named by a great dragon of sorts. Saphira had never really discussed much about her lost sibling, only those close to her.
The circumstances however were a blessing begging to be asked for. In the centuries since her sibling had been missing, she wished to know of their whereabouts to put her mind and perhaps the minds of sire and dam to an end. Would this be a small easement to their souls if it went to another? Only she felt like she could be the judge of that.

"Truly?" She asked, her heart beating with such excitement but happiness that had her almost in tears at the thought of being able to hear the name often.

"We do wish for her, that is this little one, to be honored with such a name as it would be a beautiful name as well," Zynthia answered honestly, 
Saphira remained quiet as she was emotional about the circumstances and the love that was filling her heart.

Spike leaned into Ember who also seemed agape with everything so far. Whispering in a low tone, he asked, "This is… big, right?"
Ember only nodded but her own heart was happy for her mother and the future with the hatchling before them all, perhaps bonding their family all the more closer to one another. Spike being her sister, would be a sister-by-mate of sorts but she could hear such a beautiful name all the time would be grand.

The sapphire dragoness leaned in with tears in her eyes as she closed in to the baby blue whelp. She looked up at the closing dragoness and saw her eyes stare into her own, feeling the presence of another calming presence approach.

With a warmth like never before seen, she closed her eyes and blessed the newly hatched dragon with her name.

"Seraphina,"





Outside of the dragon lands…




"Ah come on, drake! You said we would find some phoenix eggs out here to smash!!!" Whined a lanky dirty red dragon with short snout and elongated tail.

"Will you keep your snout shut!" Barked another dragon, a chubby light green one with yellow underbelly. "Last thing I need is for us to get caught! The new rules by Dragon Lord Ember and Guardian Spike say that we can't hunt or kill phoenix eggs! He killed the one thing we had going for fun outside of home!"

"And I still think you both are stupid for still coming out here to do it!" A turquoise dragoness with pale yellow underbelly snarked at the two males. 
"Then why did you follow us, stupid?!" 
"Because it's my job to keep my idiot brother from doing something stupid and killing or being killed, Basher! Nucks is useless without me and the last thing I need to tell my parents is how you both got yourselves killed! Amongst other things for me to come with you after." She softly kept to herself.

"Hey, I'm not a whelp Murra! I can take care of myself." The female scoffed.
"Like how you needed my help when you got your head stuck in between a boulder and a hard place!"
	"That was one time!"
"And how you sank to the bottom of a magma pool because you couldn't swim!"
"I was young!"
"That was last month!"

"Will you two shut the fu-" A sudden loud rustling caused them all to go quiet. Suddenly, the forest that they were in seemed to go steadily quiet. What once filled the air with birds, insects and other natural sounds, had the world around them go deadly silent.
"What was that?" Murra called out, loudly, is own voice not echoed by the area.
"I don't know but… why is it so quiet all of a sudden?" Nucks stood around, looking at the area.
"Both of you shut it! I hear something!" Basher hissed at them. A whooshing sound shot passed them, causing them to flinch and look around frantically at what just flew by them.

As they tried to locate the source of the sound, suddenly the forest seemed to shift and move, as if it was coming alive. Then the shifting of the greens around them happened and the trees and plants became alive!

Vines crawled out and began to reach for them. "What the baka!" Murra cried out as one vine wrapped around leg. She quickly tried to cut it off but it was thicker than her talons. The other two were quickly ensnared too, as their legs and arms were wrapped in vines.
"What's going on! Where do these things come from!?" Basher yelled as he tried to remove the vines. He immediately began to set fire to them, causing them to burn to crisps, but for others to quickly come forth.
"Let's get out of here! Burn them off!" The others did so and began to burn off their vines and leaves. Once free, they quickly took to the air and out of the forest, just as thousands of other vines and the trees themselves moved to attack. They got airborne and the three dragons made a hasty retreat back home.

They disappeared into the horizon with their tails between their legs. From the forest, two different species emerged but both staring at the vacading intruders and then at each other.

One, a deer with many orbs hanging on its antlers like many lights. This was king Styr of the deer.
Another, a large red earth pony wrapped in scale armor and holding an alloy sword of unknown origin along witha pegasus who reloaded her crossbow at the missed shot due to a vine intervention.
The pony glared at the deer and almost snarled at them. "You allowed them to escape! We could have ended them!"
"I told you that I would not aid in killing or in trapping them," The deer stated sternly to the pony.
"They are dragons! They kill, they hunt and they destroy everything!"
"They are young, brash, nothing more." The king countered.
"You defend them?!"
"I defend those young and only try to explore their surroundings. They would have never found phoenix eggs nor would they have found any other inhabitants here. Their Dragon Lord made sure to warn us of a few strays coming out of the chosen path to go causing havoc."
"You-"
"Enough! I warned you that trying to harm or kill them will not be tolerated here!"

The pony glared at the towering deer, though before he could ready his weapon, the trees shifted with other deer emerging from the forests. Vines and leaves began to slowly crawl towards him but never touch him. Other ponies that were there for the dragons also emerged by being shoved out by the forest.
"Seeing as how you draw your weapon towards me, you are not welcome here any longer! Your type of ponies have no place here in our paradise, for your temporary sanctuary has ended!"

The other ponies started to protest but the forest continued to surround them into a cluster with vines leaning out like snakes ready to strike. The wind itself seemed to be against them, angrily blowing against them, but the deer remained unaffected. The red pony in armor glared angrily towards the deer, snorting in distaste.
"You're all fools if you think that those fire breathing devils won't hunt and kill you all! They have wiped out towns and villages for less!"
The King of the Deer simply stomped his hoof hard on the ground, causing the very forest itself to steady itself, ready for the moment to attack. "Leave! Now!" That was the final warning.

For a moment, they were at a stand off and the ponies looked ready to fight. Even the unicorns and pegasi who had their armaments ready, looked ready to strike with everything they had; however, the red earth pony snorted once more before turning away and began to walk towards the dictated path out of the forest by its guardians. The other ponies followed pursuit, though a few casted weary or angry glances as the forest followed them in their retreat.

As they disappeared, one of the does approached the king. "Sire, was this wise to let them go?"
Styr watched the ponies disappear to the northern passage provided to them, the same way they had come from weeks ago. "For now, it is outside of our control what they do when they leave the forest. We do not take lives, but we cannot allow them to take them while they are here. Should they return, restrain them and imprison them."
"And the dragons?"
"They provide protection now that the Dragon Lord and Dragon Guardian are at peaceful ends with the Equestrians. As our pact with the Elders remains as well for the safety of our kin and their own."
"But… these ponies, they are not-"
"No they are not Equestrians and that is why I must speak with the Dragon Lord and Guardian. Those we set free will bring him here acting like messengers. Hopefully as soon as possible, for these ponies are seeking blood." One of his orbs glowed and his brows furrowed. "I am sad to see that harmony will not come for many of the creatures here or elsewhere. These ponies have a long history with dragons, and it will cost many lives if they seek vengeance."





Back at the Dragon Lands…

"So… let me get this straight," Ember asked, her claw under her chin as she stared at the three teenagers before her. The expression on her face was of mild annoyance but also mixed curiosity and bewilderment.
Spike and Amy were by her side too, but both were just listening intently on their outlandish, if plausible story. Though they remained skeptical, as nothing seemed to make sense.

"So you three… just so happen to end up lost in a forest east of here, where you just so happen to be looking for a new area to hide your gem hoards and then, as you just so happen to be walking through, the forest came alive and started to attack you and you three escaped with your lives? Is that right?"
The lie sounded too stupid to be true but the three hasty and almost sheepish grins she got from them, seemed to bleed the lie into a downright degrading smack to the face of stupidity by the three. 

The dragon lord blinked almost lazily, head still resting on her claw supported by her rock throne arm rest. She slowly turned to Spike, standing by her side who glanced back and shook his head almost in disbelief at the stupid lie. Amy just gave a snort and crossed her arms, even seeing this was a lie in all the wrong places.

Sighing, the Dragon Lord lazily raised the Bloodstone Scepter and pointed at them, causing all three to freeze in dread. "Tell the truth," Her command almost came out in a dull tone.
All three tried to resist but failed miserably, making them almost struggle to stand before giving in and the trio to scream, "We were searching for phoenix eggs to raid!"

What should have gotten them in so much trouble, merely had Spike and Ember to lift a single brow but Amy growling. "You idiots! We disbanded that and you still go do something we outlawed!"
While Amy… didn't actually take part in the disbanding of 'Hunting Phoenixes and their eggs,' they didn't disagree with her. Ember rubbed her temples as a migraine formed at the thought of nearly losing teenagers to their stupid boredom, but it was Spike who seemed more upset then her.

He crossed his arms and glared at them, causing them to slightly flinch and even whimper a bit. Despite two teens being bigger than himself, he still held the title and the authority that matched the Dragon Lord, so he was without question, as much of a judge as Ember was. Hence why she waved it to him. "You decide what to do with them, I gotta go make another stupid announcement to the teenagers about the rules of 'Phoenix Hunting'... again."
With that, she took off with Amy following though she smacked the males in the head with her tail over flight. Whether it was a female thing or she knew that the dragoness wasn’t fully part of this stunt, remain ambiguous.

Spike stayed glaring at the trio for moments, causing them to sink lower into themselves. He had a hundred ideas but few would actually work on a dragon since his methods were tame. Still, he had to think of something. Images and memories forming of when Garble and his gang back then tried to hurt phoenixes resurfaced. He may have gained ‘Peewee’ from that, but he didn’t like the idea of more chicks growing up without parents or parents losing their eggs.

Sighing angrily, he rubbed his snout in agitation. “Alright, I just gotta ask you this once , why? Why hunt Phoenix eggs? And answer truthfully or I’ll have you three scrubbing the muck off a bunch of sleeping elder dragons for a full straight year!”

This caused unimaginable horror on their young minds, at the thought of having to do something so… disgusting and boring and humiliating. He could tell he made the right call, as that was the only one he could think of that would make a teenager lose their minds.

“We were bored!” Yelled Basher, almost half angrily but then turned it into a whine. “There is only so much lava surfing, king of the hoard and games you can play here without it involving smashing something smaller than you!”
Nucks agreed hastily, earning a small smack from his sister but answered regardless. “Yeah and I know you outlawed it but… it seemed even more fun to do it because of that.”
Ohhh, bad choice of words. Spike stared harshly at them though he gave a questioning glance at Murra. “And you?”
She cowered but sighed angrily at her situation. “I tried to keep my idiot brother out of trouble but I got pulled along because…” Spike raised an eyebrow for the response. She swallowed and gave a glance at the males before softly replying. “-I wanted to find some… flowers.”

Now that would have sounded like a straight up lie, hadn’t it not been for the snorting, stifled laughter of the two males. Spike however believed her, as he had known that since the intervention of pony ideals and hobbies have been introduced into the lands, a few have gotten into the habit of joining or looking into their views. While most are not fully embellished into the fray of it all, it helped knowing that some were slowly enjoying it. 

He just had to figure out what flowers had to do with it though…

With a grunt, Spike steadied himself in a rigid pose and stared down at them “Seeing as you were doing this out of sheer boredom and because you thought that it was such a grand idea to do it, you’ll reap what you sow,” He saw them whimper and shake. “-Which is why you two will be helping the ponies in finishing the train station in the northern borders here!”

The two that were pointed at, the males, all but shrank almost cried out in disgust and anger at the thought but were instantly silenced with Spike’s palms lit aflame with leerful glare. “Or… you can scrub the grime off the hundreds of elders here… many who I know will appreciate it more than you can imagine.”

While the threats were tame in comparison to other ideals, he felt like since they were unsuccessful, and left alive with their tails between their legs, he could tone down the punishment.
“Now, go meet the other dragons in the northern border where the train line is being worked on. If I hear you two not arriving or deciding to skip out on labor, well I will have you having to hug every dragon here, apologizing for no reason and then take a part of your hoard.” A low growl left him while his palms held the flames, growing brighter. “AM. I. CLEAR?” His voice almost boomed around them.

Pathetically, both teen drakes hastily nodded. “Yes Guardian Spike!!”
“Good. Now head there now!” Both took off in a quick hurry though the brother looked back to his sister and wondered what her fate was. Once both were gone, Spike then looked to Murra. “And you,” Causing the dragoness to flinch. “You are going to describe why you like flowers so much and what compelled you to go seeking them with your brother.”

The dragoness looked up at him, in surprise and saw a kinder look on him, with his palm cold and the tempered face looking a bit more interested. “What?” She asked.

He gave a small cock of his head. “Tell me, what makes you interested in flowers that would have you travel to the eastern forests?”

She blinked and wondered if this was a trick question but then Spike was known well through the lands as being an honest and kind hearted drake. A testament by his punishment for his brother and idiot friend being left with a light sentence.

And so she began a small tale of seeing a book brought by ponies and the pictures she saw of pretty colors. A serenade of her amazement came as she went on and on at the pictures of beautiful colors and shapes, having never traveled out of the Dragon Lands. A small glimpse of what laid in her heart.

Spike was impressed and let her go, but warned her that if her brother or his idiot friend ever tried to do it again, to stop them or… smack them hard as a reminder. Same went with everyone else. A hasty nod left her and she was ready to leave but he stopped her. “Wait before you go Murra, I just want to ask one final thing.”
She stopped, turned to him to see confusion in his face, as if deep in thought. “When you three got lost… in the forest. You said the forest came to life and attacked you, right?” A soft, almost frightened nod left her. He frowned a little. “Did it actually attack or just scare you off?”

The dragoness paused, retracing her memory before responding. “They… that is the forest went quiet, then like something flew past up which is when the vines wrapped around us.  We struggled but when we got free by burning them, though it didn’t come after us. We left before anything else could happen.”
"And that is all?" She nodded.

That sounded way too specific and coincidental. With a faux but still manageable smile he gave her a nod. “You can leave now, Murra.”

The dragoness gave a light bow, “Thank you, Guardian Spike. I am truly humbled by your kindness.”
He smiled but nodded. “Take care Murra.”
Another nod and the dragoness turned and left leaving Spike to contemplate his information from her.He decided to meet with his mothers and ask for the council on what he felt like they should do.





“You wish to go see King Styr?” His mother Eliyinsa asked. Between him, Ember, Amy, Eliyinsa and Zynthia all circled where in between them was Seraphina, who was giggling about at the treasure she was surrounded with.
A blanket of wool made of Yak fur, a pearl rattler from Seaquestria, and a toy pony that changed its colors with changedling magic that she played with as she sucked on an emerald like pacifier. 

“Yes, and while I know that the deer did this to protect themselves, I feel like there is another reason to go.”
“And why is that, son?” Zynthia asked, her head lowered and watching her daughter enjoy being the literal center of attention.
“Because you once told me they captured you before and made you understand a lesson. I think they did the same here but rather here, these dragons were just scared off. Doesn’t that seem like something off about them?”

Both of his mothers seemed to find truth to this and concluded together with it. His mother spoke first, “You wish to ask why or do you assume there is another reason?” 
Seraphina babbled about, tossing the toy horse around and rolling around in her blanket. The effect of her innocence had ensnared everyone to her beautiful world. Spike being the closests, leaned down and tickled his new ‘sister’, causing her to squeal in delight at the assault. For a brief moment, he could think of nothing else but making her happy and keeping it so yet the situation didn’t remedy it for long.
“I think it's a gut instinct and a word of precaution.” He finished. He pulled away, allowing his sister to mellow out from her brief tickling. Spike then looked up at his mothers. “But in the worst case scenario, we just get told not to allow it to happen again.”

“Agreed,” Both of his mothers responded. Zynthia stood up to full height. “I'll join you to see if there is anything else to learn from this small conundrum.”
Amy whooped in cheer. “Aww yeah! We are going to the ‘Peaceful Gardens!’ I can’t wait to see it for the second time!”
Seraphina babbled and giggled as she saw Amy’s little dance. Eliyinsa remained behind and guarded her daughter as she bid them farewell. “Take care my love, you too, my children. Safe travels.” 
“Well return by tonight, mother.” Spike assured her.

Once out of the cave, each dragon opened their wings and with heavy flaps took to the skies, heading east to the forests.





The dragons arrived in the forest, though it was Spike who landed ahead with his mother. Turning to his hoard, he quickly reminded them, “Remember, if you hunt, quick and clean. Also, don’t be too loud. We are here for a reason.” A small pause as all eyes went to Amy. 
She snorted at being called out. “Hey, I can be quiet!”

Neither dragon accepted that but Ember rolled her eyes and led Amy away. “Go do what you need to do.” As they walked away, Amy blurted out,
“Hey! I wanted to see where you two had gone and lit up the night skies on your mating flight!”
Ember blushed as she led her away while Spike just reddened, earning a titter from his mother. “Oh, I am sure she would enjoy that story and where it took place.”

Spike sighed but ignored his momma’s teasing manner and headed forward, followed by her. As they entered the forest, there was an odd and almost tense nature around them, as if the forest was anxious. It was not an easy feeling or concept to explain but both dragons did notice how quieter it got and how even the trees refused to sway with the wind.
“You feel that, momma?” He asked the giant scarlett dragoness.
“I do, but its not… us.” As she finished that, a single shape emerged from the forest. At first it looked like fireflies moving in unison from the forest, but then the camouflage magic slowly eased off and the giant of a deer slowly emerged. Both Spike and Zynthia saw Styr and bowed their heads.
“King Styr of the Forest,” Both greeted with bowing respect.

The giant stag stopped in front of them and gave a bow in return. “Elder Zynthia. Guardian Spike. I welcome you both to our home once more.” They raised their heads. “I am glad you are here. The message was sent.”

Both dragons paused, as if wondering what message but then Spike realized his gut instinct was correct. “You purposely let the dragons go instead of capturing them?”
“I did,” He responded evenly.
“Why?”
The Stag allowed a few of the orbs on his massive tree like horns to glow briefly. “I am to first apologize if they received any harm done to them. It was not our intention.”
Spike waved it off. “No, you are fine. Nothing was hurt about them but their egos and their punishments are being handled with.”
A nod from the stag but then his features took a light grim tone. “My second apology for bringing you away from your homes but I had to warn you of a possible threat you may be encountering in your future.”

Mother and son looked at each other, unsure of what it could be before looking back at the stag. “What threat?” Zynthia asked casually.

With a heavy but stoned response, he told them. “Dragon Hunters.”
> Of Past Bloods and History
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord's Guardian



Of past bloods





A powerful chill ran down his spine, sending an uncomfortable wave dread into his heart upon hearing those words. 
His mother however, had restrained a roar that even when muffled, shook the ground beneath her. Small wisps of smog left her nostrils and her claws dug into the very earth itself. She was straining to contain her rage and her roar at the thought of creatures still alive again. She had dealt with a few a century ago but had scared them off, though these were griffins and ponies for hire, more than anything.
Spike, unaware of her past conflict with them, knew what strength she had, what power she held and what she would do if she ever saw them. He pressed himself close to his mother's leg in support, the same way Eliyinsa would do when rage is imminent between themselves. Feeling the arms of her son, managed to ease her feelings, along with her current location.

She managed to take a few deep breaths and lowered herself to the floor but her head remained up, as if vigilant. Though she briefly lowered her head as a quick bow to the King in front. "Forgive me, King Styr for my anger."

The king merely nodded in understanding. "Your anger is warranted and with reasoning. These 'Dragon Hunters' came to our forests about two weeks ago, seeking sanctuary in search of a new home."
"New home," Spike asked, still pressed against his mother in support. "Why? I mean, I get what they are but… there are areas in Equestria where they could find a home."
"Perhaps they no longer feel welcomed anywhere, Guardian Spike." Styr asked evenly. “They never seem to settle anywhere near for long.”
"What do you mean?"
"Since the joining of Equestria and its allies, the borders of many lands and creatures are no longer closed nor are they warranted. As the Princesses have allowed open trade between many species, so did the open relations with each creature. Ponies, Dragons, changedlings, yaks and many other species have joined together in Harmony. These hunters however are not as welcoming in the age of peace between your kind and the ponies, hence why they will not find sanctuary anywhere, if dragons will be found near there."

Zynthia silently stewed in anger, feeling the rage of a volcano ready to erupt but having it quelled by her son and her environment keeping her at bay. She had a reason to feel this and her justification would be confirmed by the king himself. Yet what she had assumed were just more mercenaries, was discredited as even the deer themselves were aware of how dangerous these hunters were.

Spike however was thinking more logically and more in tune with his pony side then his draconic. He knew that not everyone, especially certain groups, would not find peace right away with other species. That was a given but the sheer fact that there was a single group dedicated to hurting his own seemed so odd now. So then came the question of what to do with this information. Surely they could come to an understanding?

"Could we perhaps negotiate a peace with them?" Spike asked, surprising his mother in the process; he still held close onto her but he knew what he was asking.

Styr gave the bearest of sad smiles he had ever received, even for a stoic and mysterious species such as deers. "As much as I admire your ability to seek peace and harmony before others, young Spike, I implore you to know that they are not peaceful minded ponies. They have many generations of hatred in their blood to quell with simple words. As I stated, they have sought a land where they could live but also hunt any wandering dragons that come in their path."

"Then we should show them that we can be peaceful," Spike sternly stated. "I don't like the idea of having bad blood with ponies that will go after dragons because we had a history. I mean, how far back can they really be holding this hatred for?"

The king did not answer, for he glanced at Zynthia. Spike blinked, then slowly turned to look up at his mother. Confusion etched on to his face as he saw her face deep in thought, though she softened her gaze and looked towards her son. Her features turned sad and she leaned down towards him, enough so that she whispered, "Seraphina," then said nothing else.

It took him a moment to register what his sister had to do with anything but then, the name in of itself, not her, was the revelation. She was named after Saphira's stolen sibling, with whom her father believed it was the ponies who took the egg and killed it, having him destroy a village in the process.  

That was centuries ago…

A history and generations worth of hate passed on between pony to pony due to the actions of one and the other. These dragon hunters were the descendants of those that were attacked by Saphira's father. 

It was clear no side truly had a fault or a solid truth. Did ponies really take the egg? Did a dragon really have a strong lead to burn a village down? Who had the right for blood and who had the right to stay vengeful? Saphira seemed to have moved on, but her father, if he was still around, had too? Never came up…

Too many questions that built on top of one another and that was just history. What about tomorrow? What happens when they start to go after dragons in a town full of ponies? They would cause a strife and discord between a barely established peace that is still not even fully formed yet. 

No, he refused to let peace fall because there was a lack of attempt to try and secure it all. He snorted and crossed his arms.
"No, I think I will still try and make an argument. They need to know that what happened in the past shouldn't define what we are today. We are better now, much smarter and with leaders that can make a difference." He rubbed his mother's shoulders. "Regardless if we still hurt, we have to make it so we never have to fear one another in the future and worry for safety."

It was the one trait that both deer and dragon saw in Spike that others would not. His ability to see both sides and strive for a better outcome, not ignore it and move on. 

Unfortunately, that didn't work well for many races. The king gave a soft turn of his head to focus on Zynthia. "What do you believe then, Elder?"

Asking her almost got the immediate, "No!" from her, causing Spike to try and change her answer.
"Mother, I can try-"

"You can try and you will fail, son. I nor King Styr here do not doubt the amazing prowess you have to speak with your heart and convince others that peace can happen. We would not believe we would be in peace with ponies nor a great change in the lands that we have now because of you. And yet now we are trading goods with one another, interacting with each other in such a kind manner."

"I know that but I-" He was once again cut off by her, 

"But these ponies have centuries of hate, Spike. No history worth of hate for that, would be quelled by you trying to speak with them. They are hunters, they have no rules or etiquette of any kind when it comes down to speaking with us. You will not follow this through."

Despite knowing they have confidence in him, he knew they didn't hold belief that they would listen. If they were willing to kill teens, what's to say they would end him easily enough. He swallowed, remaining eye locked on his mother.

"I-I still have to try… for the sake of us all. Isn't that my role as a Dragon Guardian? To protect us from danger?"

He knew how to twist that well into her mind and heart but more so, it was a determined trait that she felt would lead to his downfall. 
"You… are not ready yet for that role, Spike and as much as I would love nothing more than to see your flourish and become the Guardian you were meant to be, you will not be able to face what they may do to you." She leaned down and pressed her snout over his head. "Please… please for the sake of your hoard and everyone else, let this go…"

Spike didn't push back, but rather leaned away to stare at her eyes, face still determined and conflicted with resolve for the matter.
"No, not as long as I can help it."

Waited breath and eyes locked, had stilled the world around them, determined who would submit first. Her will to protect him vs. his determination and hope to change the minds heavily weighed around them.

King Styr entered the stalemate and spoke sagelike to them. "Young Spike, if you so truly believe that you can speak to them and conceive a peace between them, then do so, but…" A dangerous glance from the mother dragon. "-Do so within the forest. They have yet to reach the forest's edge and my guides are still with them. If you approach, know that you will remain protected by the forests, so long as you reach them in time. They are twenty miles north of here and are about to breach the clearing."

Zynthia fixed the deer with a dangerous glare, but her son's quick to nod and accept that, had her flare her nostrils. "They will attack-"
"They will try," The king countered just as quickly. "But keep within the range and our kin will protect him, however just as you must give patience, so should they as well. If all you do is talk, then the forest will protect the one who remains neutral."

She hated that this was a dangerously close game that could get her son hurt or worse. Yet she couldn't stop her son's determination to prove that Harmony could prevail. He gave a bow to the King. "Thank you, King Styr. I promise that I will do my best to change their minds."

The king merely tipped his head slowly in return. "May your endeavors bear fruit and bring forth Harmony, Guardian Spike. Now, go quickly and reach them."

Spike turned to his mother. "Mother, please can you get Ember and Amy but hold them close by. Don't make them feel threatened." Without another word, Spike took flight and immediately headed north. She watched him go before looking back and the deer with ire. The king felt no fear nor regret, instead offering her more words.
"He may be the only to change centuries worth of hate and animosity for your kin. Trust… that you all have raised him to do what is best for both worlds."

She said nothing but snorted and opened her giant wings. Heavy gusts clouded the area as she took to the air and went to retrieve his hoard.





Spike continued to head north, flying as fast as he could, feeling the slight pull of his hoard back but feeling the eventual mental teather shorten. A quick glance back told him they were not far behind, no doubt being informed of the situation. Looking forward, he followed a trail that had been created by the trees until he saw a clearing opening and closing behind a large patch up head. As he neared, he saw from his height, at least four dozen ponies in close formation.

Even up here, he could see that they were all armored, carrying weapons and… even a few wearing clothing that could be seen with bones and scales.

Gulping, he steadied his nerves. 
'No turning back now,' He reminded himself. He flew a bit more forward ahead of the pack just before the clearing that would lead them to open plains for miles and miles without any shelter.

Passing overhead, he took a quick dive just shy of the forests' edge and waited there. He landed for their eventual arrival, hoping that what he could say, would say, could bring peace between them… or at least amicable terms. 

He watched as the forests shifted and moved as the group came up closer and closer, making his heart hammer with pace as they approached.

"Guardian Spike," A sudden call out from the forest. He turned to see a doe emerge from her camouflage state. "Our King has warned us of what you planned to do, but know we can only do so much if they wish to press an attack on you."

He nodded but answered confidently. "I just wish to talk, nothing more."

The doe said nothing but blended back into the forest, just as the first pony parted a tree and instantly saw him. Eyes met, Spike saw the pony in charge and the pony in charge saw him.

Spike suddenly felt a powerful wave of dread and coldness hit him like never before. It was like staring into the abyss of anger, rage, and pain rolled into one on a single pony. The very air itself around him was radiating it but his presence  was truly haunting. It was perhaps this reason that he now truly had a reason to fear this pony more than any other he has faced in his life.


This pony was tall and well built, almost like Big Mac but… without kindness raised or nurtured in. Unlike his bright red coat, the leader was a dark red with a large scar over his face. His body is hidden by decorated armor and clothing made of dragon scales and bones. His cloak was made of red scales that looked heavy, but no doubt he carried it with purpose, over his body that almost completely covered him. His hooves had bones molded into boots that almost went up to his knee joints. He had a blackened sword to his side that shined nothing like Spike had ever witnessed before. The material itself was not known to him but it looked sharp enough to possibly hurt him…
Lastly, he was not the only one decorated as such as the group that came behind him also seemed to carry their own version of sorts. Pegasi and unicorn alike with some even wearing the skulls of young dragons on their heads.

Spike shivered and it took all of his will power and might to remain grounded, even as the leader himself stared at him. He stopped in his tracks, making all those behind him to do so too. 

The leader saw it was just him, alone but was doubtful about it. He turned to his second in command, a deep violet pegasus mare wearing a cloak and had a crossbow by her side. “Stay here, it could be a trap.” He then looked back at him. “On my signal, take him out.”
The mare gave him a grunt and he moved forward. As he did, Spike audibly heard his heavy steps on the ground, the earth itself quaking at his very presence. At ten paces, he matched Spike almost on eye level, though the glare of orange eyes met the softness of emerald ones.

“Why are you here, lizard?!” He barked at him. A common slur that he had heard many times, but this one felt like it targeted his species as a whole and not him directly.
Spike swallowed and remained distant. “I-I came to talk.”
The earth pony stayed with a fixated glare on him. “There is nothing to talk about! You lizards do not talk, you are mindless monsters!”
Spike stood his ground. “Please, I just want peace between our kind, so that the hunting of dragons ceases. I know the past is filled with regrets but we should be able to move past this! We have good relations with Equestria!”
A snort left the pony. “We have no ties with that land in centuries. We care not for the politics or who the buck is in charge or what monster attacks it.” Spike blinked at hearing this. “As far as we are concerned, that whole lot could burn for all we care!”

It struck his nerve that a pony was so cold about a peaceful place. Did he even care that he was talking about his own kind?

Spike pressed on the issue. “Ho-How can you not care? Your Equestria-”
“NO! WE ARE NOT EQUESTRIANS!” He barked, almost taking a few steps forward, his tail almost cracking in the wind. He waited for a moment, but saw nothing happen. With a hiss, he stayed focused on him, “The bucking princess whorse of Equestria can impale herself on her own throne!” Spike held back in both shock and sudden rage to hear his mother soiled in name. Outside of villains, he never knew a pony could take such a name and spit it like venom. “She didn’t care about us before! She doesn’t care about us now! What would we do to her if we got close enough!” Another crack of his tail but nothing happening, further irritating him. Spike witnessed what happened behind him but focused on him. “That bucking princess is as useless as the rest of your kind! When we asked for help in retaliation, she shunned us! When we demanded help in rebuilding, she denied us! And when we vowed to do it ourselves, she exiled us! So that fascist cow with her false crown can die with the rest of your useless kind!”  

Spike was seriously wanting to hurt this stallion but that would only prove his vengeance to be justified and warrant more hatred. He tried to remain calm and gave a low warning growl. “I ask that you refrain from talking about Princess Celestia like that. She was our savior, she is our leader and she has taken care of all her ponies-”

“KEEP YOUR LIES TO YOURSELF, YOU BROKEN EGG OF WASTED SCALES!” He slammed both of his hooves hard on the ground enough to crack it as he reached behind for his large sword. The moment he pulled it, the gleamless light didn’t pass Spike’s eyes and he saw that the black of it was not just because of the material, but of the stains that were left behind from his other victims. Despite how polished and clean it looked, the blemish and the… smell of dried blood remained, as a new fear took hold when the smell hit him. The distance of ten paces now seemed like point blank as the sword tip pointed at him, making him freeze with fear. 

It was at that moment, his mother and both Ember and Amy landed right behind him, becoming instant assistance for him as they all released a roar at the one pointing his weapon at them.

The pony remained where he was, fixated on them, and showing absolutely no fear at the difference in numbers. His eyes remained forward and despite the sudden back up, the drake himself still seemed bent on trying to reason with him, even with the worst slurs and insults he just threw at him. “Look, I know our pasts can’t be helped but we are trying to create Harmony here! We have already allied with the griffins, hippogriffs, changedlings and yak! We dragons are not trying to start anything or provoke others to attack us! We have nothing to gain!
Spike was begging at this point but the three dragons that were growling at the pony were not helping his case.

The pony finally saw that he had no chance and managed to quickly look behind him.

All of his allies, all of his ponies, had been wrapped up by vines or held down by the forest, with three deer standing near the clearing. All weapons were thrown or destroyed, by the forest itself, with the pegasi grounded and the unicorns having their horns held. A growl left him as he saw his forces imprisoned and held by the deer. 

He snapped back to the dragons who had yet to attack. In fact, it seemed because his group was bound that they were not attacking, as to not provoke the deer of the forests to restrain them all as well. “Please, I beg that you let this go! We don’t want to hurt anypony here! We just want to make sure that no dragons and no ponies are killed anymore. There doesn’t have to be a war!”

The leader snarled, as he kept his blade ready to strike. “We are well past that! You stupid lizards killed my ancestors and left us to death! You are lawless monsters unbounded by anything! You go where you please, take what you like, eat, kill and more! How many more villages and families will you take and leave foals without families!? How many more will die in pursuit of your hoard or greed?!” He demanded with heavy ranchor. His breathing was heavy, his snorts strong and he began to stomp his hooves in preparation for an attack.

Zynthia all but growled as she spoke but withheld her own rage to end the pony. “I have lived for centuries pony! I have never taken an innocent life before! The actions of one dragon should not dictate the rest of my kind!” Even with what she knew and had dealt with dragon hunters before, she never killed them, even when they tried to hurt her. It actually hurt worse for them all knowing who was responsible for their existence. Both Zynthia and Ember refused to say it outloud nor portray their emotions for it.

Spitting on the ground, he stomped his hoof. “Your lies mean little to me, giant snake!” 
“Please-”
“Enough!” He yelled. “I have no more words for you! Either attack me now and end this or so help me the moment I can, I will end your lives! I will cut you down and strip your scales to the bones!”

The rage radiating off him was so poisonous that Spike felt weak with how much he conjured it, but his hoard and mother were starting to fail in their restraints to attack him. They huffed in flames, claws digging into the ground and ready to strike as well. Spike quickly recognized this was a feint to get him to attack, so the deer had no choice but to free the others to defend themselves. The drake desperately wanted to change the mind of this pony but that blood boiled with so much rage that he knew  of nothing else. 
It was hopeless and hurt him to leave it unresolved. ‘D-Did I fail?’ Was his thought, feeling like the failure to create peace was unsuccessful. 

Yet, there was almost no time to decide as the pony took a leap at him, sword in mouth and ready to strike. Time slowed as the pony’s eyes burned through rage, as he swung to strike Spike's head. 

In those fleeting seconds, Spike only saw the pure, unbridled wrath of the pony, Tartarus-bound to snuffing his life and those around him. 

But he didn’t make it halfway before vines snapped from the forest, lunging at him and holding him in the air, mid swing, leaving the pony struggling violently. His sword fell onto the floor, freeing his mouth, freeing his mouth to yell profanities and curses at him, becoming incoherent rants of rage filled bile. A vine soon wrapped around his snout to shut it down, causing muffled yelling until he settled down.

All dragons were caught off guard by this, realizing that this conflict was over for now. That nothing else could be done here unless more provocation from the dragons. The doe from earlier came forward and quickly spoke. “We are keeping them at bay but I ask in the name of the king you please leave. This has caused enough disturbances and we need to hide the forests from them soon. They will not be allowed back.”

Spike felt distraught at his failure, unable to grasp that his first attempt to negotiate peace as a Dragon Guardian, has possibly furthered the blood feud between them. He heard his mother call to him with her giant wings opening. “Spike, we are leaving… NOW!” With a growl she took wing and was up in the air in seconds. Ember and Amy looked at him, almost begging for them to leave as well. A sigh left and he nodded, making them both take to the air.

He turned back to the pony and saw that he was not just leering at him, but almost demanding that Spike die on the spot. His posture was not of defeat but rather poised and ready to strike at a moment if given the chance once more. In those eyes, what he had hoped to see was just some lost soul with redeeming qualities, was instead of a pony wanting to end everyone of his kind, standing on top of their corpses and yelling to the world of his victory over them.

He then looked at the sword that had fallen and glared at it. Approaching, he made his way to it and picked it up by its handle, looking at the weapon that had taken so many of his kind. The main blade was black, not reflecting any light upon its surface, with both sides sharpened to levels he has never seen before. The hilt, obviously made for ponies, however was still made out a different material that he hadn't seen before. It was dark gold, crafted with odd insignias on the bottom while the middle swirled with grips of pony teeth. The bottom hilt held a red gem that seemed to be dull at the moment. Once in his claws, Spike then looked up at the leader and held it out.
“This has to end peacefully… for both of our kin’s sake.” The leader said nothing, continuing to glare at him with eyes demanding he ‘Die' on the spot.

Spike looked down at the sword, placing it flat on his palms to avoid any slicing of himself and tried to ignite it but his flames were snuffed almost instantly, causing him to jerk back in response. He was baffled which earned a hard, dark muffled chuckle from the pony. He tried again to destroy with fire but witnessed the blade absorbing the flames themselves within itself and the gem at the bottom hilt glowing like his fire had been captured and stored eternally. His palms felt like an icy cold grip had inwrapped him when his flames were pulled, so much so that almost had him drop the blade.

Fear and panic gripped Spike, dreadful tales conjured in his mind as he realized how many dragons possibly have died trying to spew fire at the pony only for the sword to be blocking or absorbing the flames before reaching its target. The scent of blood suddenly became stronger and he felt like he was holding the most dangerous item meant to end dragons. A killer was in his claws and the pony who wielded laughed through the vines as he watched realization cover the drake.
The muffled response from the pony was coherent enough for him to understand it with only one word leaving him…

“MANY!”

Their armor… dragon scales and bone, worn like… trophies. From big dragons… to young whelps that were yet to be fully grown, adorned their bodies. These ponies, these… hunters had no heart for what age or size of dragon they killed. They did so because they could and would succeed if given the chance.

The reality of Death itself was close and the pony before held no regret or remorse or fear, forcing Spike to step away in retreat.

“Spike!” He looked up to see his loved ones hovering for him and before he looked back at the pony, through confusion and anger, but also… disappointment, filled over with sadness. To himself. But he turned that around quickly and knowing he could not leave this with him any longer, Spike took the sword and opened his wings. The sword felt heavier but with a small struggle, he took to the air and followed after.

The pony only watched as they took his sword, disappointed… but uncaring. 

Spike gave a final glance down to all those ponies still held by the forest and felt a wave of sickness consume him as he now realized that it was not just ponies, but families down there too. Foals were with them and also had been carrying weapons too. He squeezed his eyes shut and ignored that and pushed forward, trying to head out as quickly as possible.




The doe approached the red pony, who glared at her. She held no emotion that she could be exploited by. With a tone, she spoke to him. “You will be let go and then you will leave. Your tribe will continue to walk out and leave to never return. If you do return… you will not like your chances of survival compared to facing the dragons. Is that clear?” While the threat sounded queer coming from the deer, it held weight.

He held onto his rage but knowing that there was little he could do, he bowed his head in surrender. He would rather die then bow his head to those filthy wyrms but the deer have so far been more acclimating then others in years, hence he still held more respect for them then even ponies they have met. She nodded and slowly the vines became undone with the doe walking backwards, camouflaging once more as the trees parted to guide them the way out.

His second in command quickly came up to him. “Are you alright?” She asked in concern, pressing her frame against him, holding onto him tightly. 
He turned to his mate and nodded, pressing his head to her side in concern as well. “Are you?” He asked back, slowly reaching down to her lower frame.
She unfurled her cloak and showed her rounded belly, signs of her coming young, both of them rubbing it gently. Hoping that the unborn foal within was uninjured. “Yes, they only wrapped my legs, wings and shut me up before I could fire the shot… I couldn’t even warn you.” She gave a grunt as she felt weary from it but was mostly untouched and painless. “I had the shot.” A regret but not the first one today when it came down to a dragon’s life. She recovered herself and shifted, staring down angrily at her broken crossbow.

While he should be thankful that they didn’t harm his future foal, it didn’t help that now… they were once more exiled from a place. They needed to find a new home to live in, somewhere in secrecy and for them to rest before his foal would come.

“Come on then, we best leave now. We should make it out to the plains of comfort before Nightfall.”

A tribe of ponies walked out of the forest, four dozen at large and slowly growing each year. It was difficult to find a place to rest when the world changed around you, offering peace and prosperity but also allowing aliens and creatures of every kind into that era. Where beast and pony can live together, where Harmony and Friendship could quell the heart to a new age.


A new age they… would never be part of.





A volcano erupted at the Dragon Lands. It happened often enough that most ignored it as they saw that it was a new form of land to mess with. New lava rivers to surf on, new gems that flew out to take and the smell of rich sulfur and pyroclastic clouds to rub your scales on for that clean shine.

 	Yet another eruption happened in the Dragon Lands but this was not a volcano.

This was the former Dragon Lord, Torch erupting…


The giant of a dragon was currently on a rampage as he began to destroy a volcano. He smashed and punched his way through one of the smaller ones, but one he felt like he could do without. His roars were louder, his rage stronger and his fire brighter.

Upon hearing the news of ‘Dragon hunters’  and the near deaths of not just stupid teenagers but also Spike, he went on a rampage to tear something apart. The smarts of most dragons would tell them they should leave the giant of a dragon be. The more intellectual and passive dragons watched from afar as the Elder tore the volcano a new one.

Saphira, Eliyinsa and Zynthia watched as the dragon wreaked havoc with Amy, Spike, Ember and their new little sister watched in front of them. Seraphina giggled and clapped her claws at the destruction, delighted at seeing a display of power, unaware of the reasoning behind his anger. Zynthia would have been doing the same, had she not been more inclined to watch someone else lose their anger rather than her. A great deal of stress she personally inflicted on herself for not doing something about other hunters in the past.

Spike sighed, unable to handle how today had gone. Ember leaned on his shoulder to show her concern for him while Amy snacked on some gems as she watched the show.

They hadn’t spoken since the event and after telling them all about the Dragon Hunters to the Elders. It was enough to trigger Torch and his rampage but they still have enough details to disturb them all.

Saphira was feeling it most of all, bearing the weight of her father’s actions centuries ago and despite her heart having such rage and thoughts of vengeance on ponies, it seemed as though the past continued to return in the most enduring of ways. Her mate was reliving her of that pain and weight, as he unleashed Tartarus around him, taking those feelings she had and dealing it himself in her namesake. 

It was almost kinda romantic in a way. She was not a vengeful dragoness and she was not violent nor even easily angered. Long ago did she become known as the ‘Peaceful Elder,’ which is also why she hadn’t taken on the title for it because she didn’t wish to become burdened with such duty. It led to a life she couldn’t be a part of anymore. Her daughter becoming Lord and her son Spike, are the reason she once more took the mantle. Her only regret now was wishing she could have prevented her father from causing his issue to resurface centuries later. Her century free had her mind warped to her more pacifistic nature of today.


Blacktip, having heard the rampage from miles away, arrived shortly, saw the dragons around watching Torch rampage on their own. Undisturbed by the sight as it was not the first time witness Torch destroy a volcano, he turned to them and queried, “I… supposed there is some… undelightful news that has been brought to him to warrant such wrathful destruction on a volcano?”
No one knew how to answer him, because they were not sure how to, so it was left to Amythest to quell his curiosity. 
“So some stupid teenagers nearly got killed by dragon hunters in the forest not far from here. Spike went to confront them and try to talk to them about peace and Friendship. It didn’t work out and he nearly got attacked by them.” She paused smartly as not to mention the deers. “We kinda backed him up. Also, these dragon hunters have been around for like centuries and what not, so who knows how many they have taken us out in that time.”

Blunt, to the point and without much care, that was Amethyst Maar in a nutshell. With no baka’s given to how she put it or laminated to anyone else’s specifications. A reasonable trait that few found quirky on and enjoyed from time to time.  

Blacktip blinked, saw no objections or corrections from the others which had him even more curious. “I see.” He responded simply, though disturbed slightly at the thought of lost dragons over the centuries. Dead or missing dragons were nothing new since many sought gloriousness in some form or ventured to extreme situations that had them kill themselves or dying, but having a fair amount of them ended by hunters now plagued his mind. He then looked on as Torch went on. “I don’t suppose that we should be worried then?” Whether sarcastic or not, no one called it out.
Spike leaned his head away from Ember to look at him, showing the eyes of a defeated drake. “They were… warned off to not return or head this way. I failed to try and talk to them and now…” Another sigh. “Now we need to figure out what to do. They have weapons that can harm us and they've been doing it with ease to our kind. They are not even Equestrians or part of the system, so it's not like we could report them or have guards searching for them. Even my mother or the other princesses could help us out if we wanted to.”

Blacktip was more intrigued by said mention of weapons capable of harming them. “Any chance you know what kind of weapons they have been using? That seems more interesting than the hunters themselves.”

All dragons minus Saphira turned to him, casting him with looks of questioning his sanity or his reasoning for asking such a horrible question. This warranted him to get logical and correct their stares. “It would be best to understand how they have been hunting us successfully for the last few centuries and perhaps find a way to deal with it. In hindsight, we must know our enemy and how they do so to avoid more casualties in the future. Besides, all of us here know how difficult it is to pierce our scales with just regular swords and bows. They have to have some different methods in order to force us to bleed. I have no doubt you all know that a spear thrown by a yeti at Spike couldn’t hurt him, so it burns my mind to know what can.”

Amy answered with a mid chew of her gems. "Spike brought back a weird looking sword that kinda looks like something outta your… what did you smarty dragons call it? 'Dungeons and Ogres' game or whatnot?" 

"Ogres and Oubliettes,' Amethyst." Blacktip corrected her. He then turned to Spike. "You have a sword of theirs?" 

Spike felt dirty and disturbed by the sword but opted to ignore it in pursuit of having knowledge on how they have been hunting dragons. Perhaps even learn how to stop them once and for all without any bloodshed. Nodding, Spike stood up along with Ember to follow. “Yeah, I got it and it has a mess up feature that ‘eats’ or drains fire.” As he led Blacktip back to the cave, the others remained, only because they were not sure themselves of how Torch would react more so if they knew they had brought the weapon that ended many Dragon lives.

Saphira had leaned on Eliyinsa for support as her mate continued on, well into the evening. The black dragoness rubbed her head back in support, wings wrapped around her middle and gentle waves of mental support were given. It was the first time she felt the weight of her past come upon her and even more so, the fact her father had created these Dragon Hunters, in the first place.

How ironic fate was centuries later…





Spike went over to a hidden corner and grabbed the black blade from its hilt where he brought it over to Blacktip. The green drake instantly smelled the dried blood stained on it, causing him to lift a brow. Once he brought it to him, he lifted it up for the taller green dragon. "Try to avoid touching the blade, I think it's meant to harm us in any way. Grazing on it will possibly cut you too or poison us or something." He hadn’t tested it but he felt like something like that would be a thing.

Despite his bigger size then Spike, Blacktip carefully reached out and grabbed the blade by its hilt and studied it. His eyes scanned and scrutinized the blade in the finest of details. As he did, Spike pulled back, as if the blade itself was cursed and allowed the older drake to scrutinize it. The more he was near it, the more sick he felt.
This was the opposite for Blacktip as he twisted and turned the blade, examining every detail and every inch of it. From its pointed tip to the ashy coating, to black of its own material. The hilt weaved with golden carvings and swirls held by teeth. The gem at the bottom was the most eye-catching part, having him study it immensely. His eyes grew wider, his teeth showed and his tail twitched in excitement.
"Interesting," He muttered, causing both Ember and Spike to be disturbed by this.
"What… is so interesting about a blade that can hurt dragons, Blacktip?" Ember almost snarked angrily.

He turned to them. "Forgive my excitement on such a bleak thing, but I am more interested in what went into it, rather than what it was used for. I am astounded that nothing like this has been used or seen before. The crafting of it seemed to be more amazing then anything else I've seen in a century."

"What is it made of?" Spike asked, now a bit more curious but remained distant.
"That’s the billion bit question Spike and while I hate the idea of what it's used for, the blade itself is a combination of multiple things that are used to help… we'll fight us in fascinating ways."
He displayed it out for them, both approaching to take a closer look at it. "As far as I can tell, it's made of four different materials that help those who wield it harm us.
"First the blade itself is not metal, but rather an alloy of rare substances. I can only speculate what it is, however it is not common on the periodic table or used in daily use by ponies. As I studied at one of the universities, this is outside the  table by a margin. Artificial, unnatural, or other means remain to be seen. Second, the blade itself is coated in 'Phoenix' ashes!"

Both Ember and Spike went wide eyed hearing this. "Phoenix ashes, as in they kill phoenixes too!?" He almost wanted to roar at this but Blacktip shook his head ceasing his rage.
“No, as it's impossible to really kill those little fire birds permanently. In fact, you got a better chance of them killing you before you could even try. No, what we have here is the remains of phoenix ashes after it had been reborn. See, when a phoenix dies, it leaves ashes-”
“-so its form rises in its own ashes and is whole once more,” Spike finished almost confidently. “Yeah I know how it works, I had raised a baby chick after… well a group of dragons wanted to destroy a phoenix nest.”

The larger green drake cocked his head. “Who-
“They are already punished and we’ll leave it at that,” Ember answered hastily, though she seemed annoyed with that past subject. “Moving on,”

“Oh… of course. Well. So the blade itself, a different alloy, the coating in ashes, is the other remains of the phoenix that didn’t go back into it. There are always remains of it but they still carry some of its magic, hence the coating of most of the blade. The only disturbing part is that our blood seems to further improve the fire absorbing or resistance for it over time.”
“The hilt itself… well it's more of a conductor than anything. With nothing astonishing on it other than the intricate design on it, the hilt was made to be held and then transfer flames from the blade into this gem without the wielder touching the fires themselves, and then there is the gem…” He turned it around and showed the still glowing orb at the bottom. “This is the true treasure of this blade. Now while it seems to be an ordinary jewel, it is actually a powerful and possibly magically infused gem designed to hold a large amount of fire within it.”

Spike saw that his flames had been captured by it and it felt so weird when it happened. It was like being snuffed out by his natural fire but… like doused with icy grip on his palms. He remembered the numbing cold it left him with.

“How is that possible? Isn’t Starswirl’s theory on infinite space storage only possible with a large amount of magic holding onto it or possibly dangerous if left open?”
“That was only through holding physical matter at a molecular level as well as living organisms by squeezing their molecules on a subatomic level breaching the space in between spaces. Because physical matter tends to be bigger than the particles like you and I, it would be disastrously dangerous and impossible with a large amount of matter condensing and shifting to sort through. Another thing to consider is that matter can’t be destroyed, only changed, hence why even trying to get rid of ashes and molecules is impossible even at such miniscule levels, thereby making it dangerous if condensed so quickly. Lastly, while the need for magic would be grand, fire is an elemental, formless, massless force in the universe that can pass certain spaces or pass through an infinite number of barriers, even theorized to be able to be nanometers in size if conducted properly to-.”

“Oi!” Ember snapped at both of them, causing them to turn to her. “Enough with the smart talk or whatever you call it and get straight to it! Not all of us know what the baka you two are talking about!” She hated feeling dumb, especially being the only dragon around. At least with Amy around, she could pretend to know what they are saying and feel better.

Both males blinked at her, before looking back at each other and shrugged. “Well, regardless the gem can hold a larger amount of flames in it. How large, we would have to test it.” He then looked at a button which he believed to be a release for the flames but held off on pushing it. “This would definitely need to be scrutinized and checked on multiple levels.

“Whoa, we are not keeping this thing!” Ember barked almost angrily, wanting to rip the blade from Blacktip’s claw. “That thing has killed Wistala knows how many of our kind! We should throw it into the hottest volcano or in the middle of the ocean to make sure it can’t be used on us again!”

Spike wanted nothing more than to get rid of it, but when he looked at Blacktip, he seemed hesitant. He frowned at his teacher. “You don’t think we should get rid of it?” He half asked, still disturbed at the logical side of Blacktip.

The larger drake looked at the blade and then at them. “While I agree this thing needs to be destroyed, I have to ask you something that may or may not help us in this scenario.” He paused and set the blade to the floor and sat on his haunches. “Did this… dragon hunter, when you took his blade, did he yell or demand it back? Did others have one too?”

Spike and Ember thought about it and realized that while the other ponies didn’t seem to have a weapon as such, the deers destroying them, the leader of the group didn’t scream or yell for it. Not that he could with a vine in his mouth, but it seemed almost like an inconvenience. He shook his head, “No, well he couldn’t really do much as he was… a bit tied up. The others had… crossbows or net catchers, mostly traps. The leader held the main, big sword here.” A pause and he closed his eyes as he remembered their armor. “They also wore… our bones and scales as armor, a few did have bone swords. But… uh we destroyed most of them.” He had to go back and thank King Styr for their help in destroying those weapons.


Blacktip cocked his head, his red eyes studying him for a moment and then back down at the blade. “Then it is an assumption for now, that this may not be the only weapon he carries. Perhaps there are more weapons they carry or they know how to construct more. The crossbows and nets and such might be replaceable, but the arrow tips or bone swords will hurt us greatly. However the sword itself, for what is worth, may be replaceable. This encounter may force them to make more.”

Both Ember and Spike shivered, as a powerful chill ran down their spines and held powerful implications. The one weapon was enough to hurt a single dragon or two. Imagine if a large amount of ponies had these in their arsenal. Swords, spears, arrows and more ready to kill dragons.

What could be done if word got out that dragon hunters are killing any wandering dragons in the world? What would this peace that they have just established with Equestria and other territories do this peace they have just started? 

The past was meant to stay in the past, yet it seemed more and more continued to surface. Not just with his past but with others and since his training began, Spike was now not so sure what his true purpose or duty as a Dragon Guardian was to be if the world kept trying to push him down further and further.

The downtrodden look he saw on both younger dragons, which had him gently raise their chins up with his claws. “Hey, it is not all bleak. Know this, while they may have this advantage, we will have our own. We now have an idea of how they can harm us, but perhaps we can find a way to counter it and defend ourselves with it!”

Both dragons blinked and looked up at the green drake. “What are you saying? That we can find a way to beat them? Blacktip, we don’t want to harm them and prove that all of this was in the name of peace if they get hurt or killed.”

“No, but if we can’t beat them, we will beat their means for making weapons and perhaps even show them that we are not the dumb, violent creatures that they think we are! We will show them that we will not fall to their blades but neither will they fall in flames. Instead, let them figure out that eventually it's either Harmony or remain isolated.” He paused and leaned down to pick up the blade from the hilt. “Now, while I can’t fully diagnose it and find out how this blade was made, perhaps I know a few dragons who do and where we may be able to counter them with it.” The blade was placed over a nearby bedrock to be displayed.

Spike cast a questionable gaze at Ember then back at him. “A dragon who could figure out how to make these dragon-killing weapons?” He received an excited nod from Blacktip. “And where is that?”

With a big smile, he turned back to them and snapped with his other claw to summon a newspaper with his fire. “Perhaps you’ve heard of the town Spike, but never been. It's a little place in Fillydelphia where our kind has been living there for almost a century now successfully without many incidents.”

Leaning in towards the newspaper, showed a large black and white photo of Blacktip along with… LUNA? As well as a bunch of other dragons surrounded by buildings, the caption reading,

“Celebration in Dragon Town after the Mysterious Fires Case is solved by Princess Luna and Blacktip!”
> Of Dragons and Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord's Guardian



Of Dragons and ponies


"So… there is an entire town of dragons living with ponies that I knew of but have never really heard much about until now?" Ember asked, reading the newspaper Blacktip had conjured. The front picture of him and Princess Luna still baffled her, to a point, on how this event took place.

"Well, to be fair Dragon Lord Ember," Blacktip clarified as he and Spike dabbled in some O&O talk, surprising Spike for him to be a player too. "Dragons there and here are two different species all together, so to speak. This group has been away from the Dragon Lands for almost a century since Fillydelphia started accepting non-pony workers. It had been a working establishment of dragons applying there during the great 'Industrial and Steel Age' as labor was needed to handle 'High Heat' environments as well as have the strength to handle it. Most of the Dragons there are industrial workers but over the century, many have diverged to other pony type jobs."

"And… these dragons… why call them a different species altogether then?" she asked, studying the picture of the dragons, did seeing slight differences.

He gave her a smile that seemed to be on the teasing end. "Because for all intents and purposes, they do not listen to the call or whims of The Dragon Lord."

 “WAIT, WHAT?!” Both Spike and Ember cried out simultaneously. This earned a chuckle from the larger dragon.
“That’s what I said when I first came over as well.” He then conjured another paper, though this time an article of sorts. “From what has been documented and studied by several ponies at the University of Fillydelphia, which I attended, since these dragons left their roots a century ago, they no longer adhere to the calls of the Dragon Lord. At least, they don’t need to, for they can ignore it with ease.”
Blacktip then read from the article directly. “Quote- ‘Since the dawn of the new era in the industrial/steel age and the acceptance of outside help from other species, dragons have been regarded as the most unique but talented working force. While first apprehensive of their nature, dragons had slowly overtime become indomitable for their easy handling of fire and molten materials.
There was no need for them to wear safety material, there were no difficult tasks when it came down to handling white hot ores and they enjoyed basking in the pools of still glazing iron. It became apparent that they helped accelerate the processes of industrial work though one concern came up in the later years and that was pay. While they held no need for bits until the mid-to-late century, they were offered leftover material from their work as food or uses. This evidently over the years turned into its own money machine, as Dragons would sell this as drinks or snacks to other dragons in the area.
Once bits and the exchange of economy started to catch on, more dragons adapted to pony life and with pony life came changes to their own. For instance, they once used to listen to a Hierarchy of Dragon Lord out towards their home far south. Yet, over the century, many have forgotten or even ignored the Dragon Lord’s call… and continued on with their lives.”

He paused and waved off the rest of the article. “Basically, these dragons have ignored most of their instincts of the ‘Call’ so to speak, from Dragon Lords and opted just to live their own lives for a century. I dare say that there are at least two or three generations of dragons living there with no recollection or even aware of there being a Dragon Lord to begin with, let alone why their scales glow when needed. Perhaps the next generation will not even glow when called.”

Ember had been rendered speechless this whole time, while Spike was still impressed at both, the Dragons ignoring their instincts and living with ponies but also that Blacktip was a high level Rogue on O&O that had his Warlock beat. 
She felt more… annoyed and perhaps even upset that there are dragons who would ignore her command or that they were capable of living without the intervention of a Dragon Lord. It actually sucked!

“Cool.” Spike commented, unaware of his mate’s internal dialogue. “So we're gonna go there to find out how this sword is made then?” Spike casually brought up. “I mean, if they have Dragons and Universities, surely there are those who can help.”
“Oh, plenty Spike, but the real attraction is how long this has been going on and where they get the materials from. As stated, the Sword is made of different and unique materials of its own. The ore that was used to forge the blade, how they acquired ashes of phoenixes, the conduit for the handle and finally, finding a powerful mage or wizard to enchant a gem to hold that power. Most likely, we should start there, as the gem is also manufactured as well, since it has no state of natural matter.”

“I feel like we're delving into matters outside of comprehension and may unlock doors which should remain locked,” Spike toned in half seriously, half mirth tone. “As if fate is tempting us to trifle with unknown forces and-”

“No need to get meta on this, Spike.” Mused Blacktip, still seeing a partial mischievous glint in his green eyes. “While I have no doubt that we are treading on unknown waters, I would like for us to be more optimistic and have our resources spent on the betterment for both of our species.”
“He’s right Spike,” Ember finally spoke out, half serious as well. “With everything happening, its best if we can stay focused and make sure that we can keep the peace between us and the ponies.”
Spike gave her a half-cocked look, “You doubt it will last?”
“History and today have shown us that there will always be those ready to tear that apart.” Ember stated ominously. “If Celestia and my father kept a temporary pact to stay out of each other’s lands, then we should know that this won’t last if we continue to have a group dedicated to keeping that peace apart from both sides.”

“And while we are going to a city full of dragons, that peace was almost ruined because of a huge misunderstanding. A simple firesnail could have ruined a century’s worth of peace in a few days.” Blacktip added in, unhelpfully. “You aptitude for seeking the best is admirable but stay vigilant to those seeking and those pursuing a deviation of what we are trying to accomplish.”

Spike crossed his arms to Blacktip. “Now who is acting meta?”
Blacktip gave a fang grin in return. “So, now we need to secure a trip to Fillydelphia and meet someone there to help us. I happen to know a dragon there, so that was the first problem solved.”
“What’s the other?” Spike asked.
“You two need to be there and back within a week, so as to not cause trouble with the Bloodstone Scepter,” A flinch from Ember. Blacktip quickly backtracked. “Apologies Lord Ember, but I just wish to secure a route without any delays to prevent any unwanted incursions. Hence, we plan.”

They all thought about how they were going to get from here to Fillydelphia. Even by flight, with the need to rest and eat, it would take at least three days. That was even including the fact of time and flight without weather interference.
“We could take the train?” Spike brought up, as his recent punishment to the teenagers, reminded him of it.
Blacktip agreed, though he wilted. “I uh… am to big for the cars and I fear they would not take kind to allowing me to ride one inside or on top.”
“Maybe one of the empty railcars?” Spike offered. “They bring giant rails and other pieces here for a reason, there shouldn’t be a need to have it with anything on the return, right?”
Blacktip nodded and agreed. “That sounds reasonable.”

“Great, now that we have transportation and a dragon, now we need planning. I would need to contact my mother from Equestria to arrange an almost non-stop trip from here to Ponyville and from Ponyville to Fillydelphia.”
“Why Ponyville?” Ember asked. 
Spike gave her a knowing grin. “We are doing a quick pick-up!”





Elders and the young ones gathered along with Blacktip. While Torch initially got rid of all his pent up frustrations and what not, it only was fueled when he heard their reasoning for traveling out of the Dragon Lands once more. The sword and the hunting methods of the Dragon Hunters, were to be dissected to see how they were made and where. Seraphia kept trying to leave her mother’s palm to go play with the shiny jewel at the end of the blade.

“And… you believe this will aid us, Blacktip? By discovering the origins of this sword?” Zynthia asked, studying the sword in claws. Even with her hardened scales, she could still feel the deadly sharpness on it. Her daughter babbled to try and reach for it but was unsuccessful. 
“Not just the sword, Elder Zynthia, but their other resources. If what Spike and you have told me, this may not be their own weapon that can inflict us great harm,” The green drake then proceeded to fire directly on the blade, only for the blade to absorb his flames within itself and transfer directly to the gem where it glowed brightly with the held flames. This caught the Elders off guard, many imagining horrible scenarios of dragons failing to burn the blade wielder and succumbing to its fatal slash. “With power like that, it is imperative we must seek out its creators and the likes of it, which others may spawn from this.”

“This alliance with the ponies does not extend with them nor are they seeking aid from them.” Eliyinsa concluded. “If they chose to avoid populated areas or any cities that house other species, it is believable that where they get these weapons must be outside sources.”

“Outside?” Spike thought out loud. “You mean further beyond the lands of Equestria and Dragon Lands.”
“We are one giant continent, Spike.” Blacktip reminded him. “There are others, perhaps other ways to parts of the world that we have never seen or explored.”

“And there are some places where even we, as dragons,” Saphira added. “Refuse to go. In my century of traveling, there are lands that extend further than our reaches and perhaps that is where a part of our answers may lie in.”

“But who has been a traveler outside of the lands that no one has chartered or has been in?” Ember asked.

Spike had an idea of who, but it involved calling in another favor from his mother Celestia and possibly… pissing off his loved one. “Let me… ask Celestia about it when we get near Ponyville. I have one pony in mind but you might not like it.” Ember gave a questioning look but Spike refocused back on everyone else. “Let’s focus back on what we know. They have been around for centuries, they blame us for a past forgotten,” He was unable to meet Saphira’s saddened gaze. “They hunt without prejudice and have a knack for using our bodies… for weapons and armor. What can we do about that?”

“I’ve already increased security on the borders with our Brawlers, since they will have a harder time to be taken down,” Ember provided. “Though I doubt they will ever come this close, we should still be wary of them. The few seekers we have are patrolling past our lands but never low to the ground. And… we are trying to see if we can get a few ‘enhanced’ to join us.”

No elder said anything as the word ‘trying’ was not assuring. Torch himself had doubts that any enhanced volunteers would want to participate, even with the restrictions lowered.
A small pause before a reply from Eliyinsa. “Then we may have to keep the smaller dragons from leaving the Lands until this matter is settled. For now, go find the resources for this madness so we may end this vicious cycle of killing.”

“You make it sound that we have taken many pony lives before?” Saphira remarked softly.

“There is a reason why ponies in Equestria have books about a prince saving a princess from an evil Dragon, Elder Saphira.” Blacktip unhelpfully provided. “Even I know that we… are not all innocent in nature. But regardless of these past cycles, we must become aware of these issues. I, Spike, Ember and Amy will travel to Fillydelphia where we can meet with a dragon there who does a conductive test on material. Perhaps we can even figure out a way to prevent further killings by warning Equestria of these combinations of materials.”

“That would need to be explained to the princesses,” Eliyinsa reminded them. “While we have our problems here, we can’t always expect the Equestrians to be part of the solution or the aid we may seek.”

Spike wanted to correct his mother but remained silent, which didn’t go unnoticed by the psyche dragoness. She wished to probe but… with all the recent training they have been doing, he has become adept to her intrusions.

They continued discussing Ember’s absence as well as Spike’s missed training, but that would only be delayed by a week. All else can hold until their return. But for now, Spike had a journal to communicate the princesses with.

While the day had ended, his writing had started with letters sent to his mother, Celestia with recent events. The involvement of the ‘Dragon Hunters’ had not been lost to her over the time, as her responses were instant and without hesitance to answer.

‘-it was only forty years ago when I had last encountered them right outside of Appleloosa’s first settlement. They were more than ready to help out the ponies there from nearby dragons or even the buffalo for a price. When I received word soon after, I had come to investigate and try to negotiate a peace between them.
However… it seemed as though the ones I refused to help centuries ago had passed their hatred to their descendants and wanted nothing to do with me.’

 Spike swallowed and wrote back. ‘Centuries of hate should not have lasted this long. They have been traveling ever since and have been hunting us. Weapons and armor they carry are from those dragons they’ve hunted and killed.’

 A pause and a very slow response. ‘Tell your mothers and the others that I am truly sorry. I can only do so much for you, but I will send messages to all border guards to keep an eye out for a group of rogue ponies in armor described as such.’ Another pause. ‘What will you do now?’

 Spike quickly thought of the list and wrote with haste. ‘We need a one way ticket to Fillydelphia. Blacktip believes there is a dragon there that can help with identifying the composition of a blade the leader of the Dragon Hunters had. Its nothing like he or I have ever seen. It may come from outside of Equestrian resources, so we need location and who is helping them.’

 A different form of writing was added and judging by the familiar style he has seen many times, it was Twilight.
‘Spike it’s Twilight!! First off, good to hear from you again! Second off, any R & D project for weapons and such, has to go to Canterlot Security Division and the Military first. We would have known about it if someone in Equestria was designing weapons to hunt dragons.’

A pause at that and he looked up to where the sword that had been hiding in the corner once more. Ember and Amy were in pillows, reading up or amusing themselves until bedtime. They were peaceful and relaxed, enjoying some of the trinkets that they got from the ponies off the last train of goods. 

This brought him in thought and he then leaned back down to write. ‘Unless it was done before records and such were mandatory. Especially at a time before our peace with dragons or even other species.’

 For a few moments, he hadn’t gotten a reply, perhaps this actually bearing truth or at least… an ugly one, for them. After a few moments, he received a reply, once more from his mother’s calligraphy.
‘It pains me to say it but you may be right son. As far as I can tell, nothing as of recent has been brought up about weapons for dealing with dragons, nor anything within before the last two decades.’

This had him actually pause in turn. Two decades. Why two decades?
‘Why two decades?’ He asked.

A pause and the writing seemed to drop, almost like if the writer was struggling or was… emotional. ‘I canceled any development of them because I had gotten a dragon egg that told me… there could be peace if given the chance.’

 Spike felt a small swell of emotions surge, both happiness and sadness at the same time. The warmth that his mother given him when she took him in, despite not hatchling until years later. But the cold of knowing that his biological mother had given him up, for reasons he may never now.

Focusing on the positive, he smiled and responded back ‘Well… glad to find some positive in that, mom. But now we are still back at square one. We need information and assistance. We can try to figure out the rest once there.’

 A reply back was given. ‘You have your credentials here, Spike. It never left you when you went home and it will never disappear when you return back to us.’ A tear managed to fall in joy which transferred into the journal. ‘As you will always be my son, know I will not forget you. But with your heroism to save Canterlot, I have bumped up your clearances to Platinum, which will help your case.’

His eyes went wide upon reading that and he almost half squealed in delight, earning cast overs from the nesses. Platinum level access was literally what Shining Armor was when he was Captain of the Guard and dating Cadenza. Basically it was right below Princess Celestia, Luna, Twilight or Cadence, where he could get in anywhere with security clearance, go anywhere without questions from the guards or even most office buildings. Very few in Canterlot were known with Platinum level access, which not even Blueblood had.

‘So, if you need transportation to Filly, it can be done, but it may take a day to arrange and another day to actually have it done.’

While he could wait for those two days, he felt like time was of the essence and perhaps the sooner the better. Still, he could plan some more as he wrote back. ‘That will have to do, though I need a favor along with this one, but I am not sure if you can help with getting her back.’

‘Her?’

After their final messages were sent to coordinate everything, Spike returned to his hoard and they slept together, with their dreams of hope for a better future.





Next morning, Spike resumed his training once more, as he opted to train while he still could here. Since this was mostly a diplomatic mission, rather than something that would have him in danger, he was given more lessons on mental prowess as well as history lessons from Saphira. Though she gave him lessons in the past, she also provided some insight on how other races slowly adapted to the change of rapid pony expansion in the last few centuries.

When it comes down to it, ponies have only been able to improve and expand due to their ways of working with other species. From the donkeys, to the griffins, to the abyssinians and even dragons later on. To always be willing to allow other races a chance at ‘Friendship’ and you will find more allies at your back.
This prompted him to ask her, “How many different… uh, intelligent races did you meet in your travels?”
The sapphire dragoness mused to herself in thought, as she pondered and tried to thing of the ones he already knew off. That included changelings, abyssinians, diamond dogs, donkeys and such, but if she had to go on and add any, it would have to be a shorter list. “Ahuizotlies, centaur, gargoyles, demons, Yeti, deer…”

A pause as she said deer and turned to him. “I am aware of the deer east of here, but I am also aware of the ones that Equestria contains in its forests.”

While it surprised him to know that Saphira was aware of King Styr, he was not surprised of the ones within Equestria. “Yeah, they are very nomadic and have only come out a claw full of times. No doubt, there are those that wish to speak to them, but they keep to themselves.”

“Like most of their kin do,” She agreed before she continued on. “The sea serpents and their cousins, the Sirens-” 
 “Wait, Sirens?” Spike asked in disbelief. “Like the ones Starswirl the Bearded and the Pillars fought a thousand years ago?”

“I am not sure, Spike as I had yet to be born, but I will say that these were more… ‘pleasing’ to be around rather then the ones I am sure this ‘Starswirl’ had fought. Very beautiful voices and absolutely astounding to watch ‘perform’. They actually… and I dare admit,” A blush on her cheeks. “Almost got me raptured in their voice to mate with them, however I…managed to get away when their queen came to check on them.”

As she spoke on, Spike was greatly reminded, that Saphira was always the big hearted dragon that stood out more than any other dragon. That she had a sense of righteousness but with heart. To give those a chance, to live and to respect all manners of creatures.
It continues to blow his mind how beautiful her soul was and not once did he feel that she had a bad bone in her body.
“You have a big heart, Saphira. I’m glad to know that you gave a part of it into Ember.” The sapphire dragoness grinned and leaned down to him. 
“And I am glad to know I am not the only one any longer. Your heart is just as big and twice as powerful. There were ever be a day where I can see it grow more as you continue to keep harmony between species. That being said, its okay to have doubts and troubles in between them, so long as you remember yourselves in the moments.”

“Have you ever lost sight of that?” He asked. 
“Oh, every dragon, no matter how noble or strong their heart is, you can lose sight on it at times. It’st just a matter of remembering yourself before you lose it.” Head lifting up, she looked out towards the landscapes in thoughts about her past. “When I was younger, I fell head over tails over many drakes before Torch. Few were bad, others were just awful.” She tittered. “I remember falling briefly for this hot-headed edgy dragon named Thorn, which ended pretty quickly when I met his true self. Not long after him, I thought I was in love with an older instructor of mine name Glaedr, but he pushed me away, as he felt that it wouldn’t work well between us.”

A pause as she turned back to him. “There will be instances where we all fall Spike, as no one is infallible. The greatest of heroes and idols that we worship and look up to, have fallen and been beaten. However, there accomplishments are not because of their deeds they have achieved, but also the lessons they have learned when they have lost. Time and time again, they have hit the floor, weak or beaten. The true strength that comes from them is getting back up and continuing on.”
She pressed her head against him, a loving gesture he never rejected nor felt uncomfortable with. He had treated her like another mother and has been made part of the family expansion.

Hugging her, he sighed. “And what happens if they fall and can’t get back up?”
Her deep blue eyes of the sea looked into his own and she replied with confidence. “Then you look within yourself to find that strength. Find that purpose to rise back up once more. Fall if you must, but always strive to rise again. 
Fear can lead to courage. Failure guided to Succession.
Pain can build Strength. Darkness can show you Light.
And when you feel lose, remember your heart can open  for you to Hope and Happiness once more.”

 “Know this my son, as you traverse the lands, far and beyond, you challenges, your life will always be tested but if you heed our words, understand our lessons and keep your heart pure… we will always be by your side to help. Always… and forever.”





“Baah! Umffffttt! Gah!” Seraphina babbled and toyed in her environment, watched with joy and pride by her mothers and her brother. At their cave just the four of them, the family of four had settled between themselves as it had been quite a moment since it was just them.

The hatchling was content being surrounded by her family, a shield from her and the world as she innocently played with toys.

“So, do we know what kind of ‘gifts’ she is going to have or when they may come?” Spike quieres his mothers.

Eliyinsa bobbed her head side to side slowly as if thinking it herself. “Well, if she hasn’t shown it yet with her cuteness,” Causing them all to titter at that. “then it will be some time after that they may manifest. As for what they are, no. I cannot foretell what her ‘gifts’ maybe.”

“When did you manifest your own mother?” He asked, as he joined his sister with her toys.
“Hmm, I wish to say I started to manifest them when I was older than you are now. At first, they were migraines, voices and such, with no real way of knowing what they were. However over time, I learned and adapted to them, honing them to my benefit.” A pause, as she reflected on her past, long enough for him to take notice of pain and sadness in her eyes. Something that her mate also took notice of. “I must admit, son, that there was a small part of me that enjoyed the fact I could read a dragon, inside their mind and learn their secrets and such. Exploiting them or to control them to a light degree, had always tormented my heart even years later.”

She then turned her gaze to him, the same sad expression still present. “And while I regret what I had done, I am happy that I learned to grow limits. To have restraints and to have friends to help me stay in control.” Then she briefly smiled as she looked at their daughter. “Which is why I am glad you and her will grow in a world where teachers and friends can help those with gifts.”

“As am I my love,” Her mate added. “We will make sure that she has no fear of her gifts in life.”
“Whatever they may be,” concluded Spike. He then lifted his sister to himself, causing her to giggle and touch her brother’s face. “I just hope your ‘gifts’ don’t turn out to be like… laser eyes, or like an ability to cause others to explode… twice!”

“Oh that would be Implodia who is not far from here.”

“WAIT WHAT?!” He snapped his head hard enough to cause whiplash and for his sister to giggle at his sudden yell. But when he looked at his mothers, they were both chuckling to themselves as the joke seemed to settle in.

He gave a small grunt of brief annoyance but couldn’t help but laugh at this, as this was their first attempt at a joke it what felt like months. Their time together had always been limited to training or lessons but hardly as a family. And with the addition of Seraphina, it felt like these moments were treasures to be hoarded in mind and body.

These were beautiful moments…

“But for real? Is there a dragon that can explode?”

“She has an explosive temper, but she has no gifts for it, nor do other dragons here.” A pause. “Unless you count Hookfang down by the lava lake who has a knack for setting themselves on fire spontaneously.”

“Sounds cool, but not what I am going for.”
> Of Train Trips and Pain Quips
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


	The Dragon Lord's Guardian



	Of Train trips and pain quips


Spike had received word the early next morning that his mother approved the train ride from home to Ponyville and from there to Fillydelphia. At top speed, they would arrive at Filly by late nightfall with two stops minimum to refuel or restock. 
That left them five days max to get their information before having to head back home. Hence why he had to get an extra favor from her to pull something that he knew that may or may not come bite him in the back when the time came to bring it up to her, which is why he rather deals with it now then later and blows up in his face.
Literally.

"WHAT!?!?!" The yell that left Ember was the equivalent of Torch's low shout, which was still powerful. Spike had to cover his ears while Amy had the look of 'Oh shi-baka' when he told them who would join them.

Recovering from the yell, he managed to look back weakly and with some fear as he stared at the fuming and puffing, red faced anger of his beautiful life mate. Oh, that beautiful rosy shade made her more elegant if not the anger that radiated from her had been targeted towards him.

He gulped but tried to keep her calm, keeping his arms up to show his neutral stance. "Ember, please I know that 'she' is the last one you wish to deal with but we need her for expertise."

Angrily, she took a few steps forward to his face, causing to pull back. "AND WHAT EXPERTISE DOES SHE HAVE FOR YOU TO BE BRINGING THAT BAKA-LOVING WHORSE WITH US!?" She growled at him.

He knew that this was definitely crossing the line with what he had been witnessing. He hadn't intentionally thought of it, but he knew that they needed much help with outside sources. Hence why this would be a difficult situation to handle.

"Look, I know that you hate her, but she has been outside of Equestria according to my mother Celestia and Twilight. We need to know what we are dealing with if the Dragon Hunters have resources to kill us." Ember tried to retort but he cut her off. "-And… none of us, not even your mother who has been exploring the lands for a century, knows much about outside of Equestria, Dragon Lands and so on. We need her help for this."

Ember was still raging but she simmered down a little, as she saw that Spike was more eased about this than her. Snorting, she gave a low growl. "And she is the only one we know of that for sure?"
"Can you think of anyone else who has traveled the world?" A shake of her head. "Then we stick with her. Besides, she has reformed and has been helping with recovery after the Storm King's defeat since. She also has knowledge of what may be at play here."

Ember didn't just dislike this, she absolutely despised it. What could be worse than having your mortal enemy by your side and actually helping you in the long run?

She huffed and remained quiet, which had him sigh. "Look, whatever happened, it's in the past. I can move past it, as can many others. I won't force you into it but neither can I agree with staying angry and bitter to the point where it may affect our mission. As is, the lives of all dragons are in danger so long as these ponies continue to roam around with weapons that can kill us-"

"Alright, I get it!" She snorted. "I have to work with this stupid mare in order to keep dragons from being killed, but I won't ever consider her a friend or an ally!"

Spike shrugged in understanding. "That's fair. Now, once we get the Ponyville, we can pick up Smolder to take with us, along with some of her former yeti. That will help our journey."

That did a little to ease her anger, as seeing their fourth member back with them always made her heart easier, while the yeti confused her. Outside of them following commands, she had no real reason to hate them as much as her.

Seeing her calmer, he gently smiled and grasped her claws. "I know this is tough, but if we pull this off and end this soon, we no longer have to worry about anything."

Her orange eyes locked into his emerald ones, earning that trademark of assurances and love that he always dished out. It made it hard to stay mad at him for long. A breathy sigh left her and she nodded. "Right. But for the sake of Wistala and all above, please let nothing else get in the way of us trying to do the right thing. I don't think I can handle any more annoyances and-"

A mental interruption came from Eliyinsa, causing pause.
 'Excuse the interruption my young ones, but I must inform you that we have come to an unfavorable conclusion that you must both be protected when on your travels.' A small pause as she let that sink in before responding with a small tone. "We have asked with purpose that you take an enhancement with you to keep you safe.'
Another pause. "Who-"

'Shadescale.'

Ember threw her claws up in defeated anger.
"Of baka-ing course that comes up as well!"

Even the mental feed was affected by this, causing Eliyinsa and Spike to flinch, as Ember stomped away to go destroy something while Amy was left out of the loop.
"What happened?"

===================================================

As they all waited by the train station just as the sun breached over the horizon, the Elders waited for the train to ready up. The carts were emptied out with one being a flatbed used to carry rails, also being emptied. 
The station had come a long way from just a simple little shack to now a small area of buildings and homes being built around it. The upcoming town is looking slowly and surely like Appleloosa, but with dragons. The teens that he had punished were still working there, setting up the iron rails and using their fires to either bend them in place or melt them together. The workers seemed happy that they weren’t doing all the lifting.

As the train was reading up with only three carts and the two flatbeds, the Elders were all waiting by the station. Torch, Saphira, Eliyinsa and Zynthia all marveled by the mechanical steam beast that could pull such weight and power. Seraphina was desperately trying to go to the big shiny metal. 
“You know, when I first saw these half a century ago,” Saphira commented lightly. “They were bigger, louder and had the smell of tar and coal!” A small sigh left her. “I miss seeing those ones.”

“Yeah well the ponies figured out that bigger isn’t always better and that black looks ugly.” Spike remarked. “But I do have a few old school train sets that may be worth something to keep here.”

“How is it that they plan to get us all there by nightfall with something that small?” Amethyst asked. “That thing couldn’t possibly move that fast!”
“It's more of the fact that it can almost not stop without brakes, only for refueling which is usually at the end of the trip. If we tried to fly, we could get tired by Ponyville and have to rest, thereby cutting our days shorter. Though it helps knowing we only have Ponyville for a quick stop on the way.” Blacktip had explained. He moved over to where the flat bed was with a few straps on it, trying to see how it would work. The dragon wasn't as big or as heavy as many of the railroad gutters, but he still felt he had less mass than them. 
As the train conductors readied, Eliyinsa turned to her right and motioned forward. “Shadescale, you may join.”

Like a weird ghost, the dragoness materialized in front of them all, earning an ire glance from Ember but no one else. She bowed to them, “Elders, Dragon Lord,” She paused and eyed Spike. “Guardian Spike.”
“Hey Shadescale, it’s been awhile.” Spike responded in an almost friendly manner. 

While she had gained his favor and the Elder’s as well, she had yet to be in any good light with Ember’s. Regardless of saving him and being part of saving Equestria from the Storm King’s invasion, the Dragon Lord had no liking for her at all. 

It has yet to really become a problem for them, as she has remained distant from them except Spike, but not in any way or form of harassment. Rather, she came to him seeking advice on how to be more open about her abilities and helping them bring ‘enhanced’ dragoness’s out. 
That was actually a problem that both were having as none of them wished to expose themselves or willingly demonstrated their abilities out in the open or even just between them.

According to his mother, only a claw full were enhanced in the lands. Of those claws full, two have shown themselves but not their abilities, feeling concerned if their friends, families or others were to find out. Even with the approval of the Elders and open demonstrations by Shadescales and Spike, they remain secluded.

As of two weeks ago, only one dragoness by the name of Blitzkrieg, came to briefly demonstrate her prowess over electricity but managed to only summon an electrical current over her form but nothing else, as she fears what may transpire. She could do more…. 

Pulling up, she nodded and gave a disgruntled sigh. “Indeed it has but I am afraid that Blitzkrieg wishes to remain isolated, as she still has no sign of assurances that she can use them freely.”
Spike wilted lightly. “I… I am sorry to hear that. I thought for sure she would come out.”

Shadescale shook her head. “As I have taken to proving my abilities to those like us, it is still a slow progress.”

“Then perhaps we should try a different approach,” Eliyinsa chimed in. “Since you will be joining them, they will learn that dragons with ‘gifts’ have been aiding our own and perhaps even aiding in ‘Equestrian affairs’. It is imperative that you demonstrate this with good cause, Shadescale.”
Giving a bowing nod, she looked up at the Elder. “And so I shall.”
Spike gave her a small pat, earning a glare from Ember from behind but not much else. “So we shall.” Spike corrected. “We are doing this so we can all be fully free.”

The sound of the train horn alerted them all of the time. Spike said goodbye to his mothers, giving them all a kindle. He then gave a loving kindle and hug to his sister, who giggled and hugged him back. Ember flew up to hug her mother and father, earning some… comforting advice to her in a low tone, regarding what will transpire.

As that happened, Blacktip approached Shadescale and gave a small wave. “Hello Shadescale, I am Blacktip. I believe this is the first time we have officially met.”
The lithe dragoness looked at the larger dragon, not by much but still bigger than her. She was familiar with him but not acquainted with him, so she was not aware of his origins nor his purpose outside of being a scholar for Dragons.
"Greetings Blacktip. I am glad to finally meet you. Though I am at a disadvantage of how much I know of you outside of being the 'Architect and Scholar."
"Worry not, I am not well acquainted with the rest of our kin. I am also teaching Spike to hone his 'Firebreaking' and more. Perhaps one day you can show me your gifts too?" She was aware of his teachings, however she remained vigilant to showing off her gifts to one like him. She only nodded in response. Satisfied, the larger green drake then nodded to the train bed. "I suppose you and I may share this bed on the trip."

She looked at him, then at the bed, noting the second one behind. In truth, she could fit inside the cab of the train, yet she believed that Ember would not allow that luxury for her if it was between Spike and her.
"I am… unsure of the safety of these mechanical mobile steel boxes of death," She commented, ideally in that she was unsure of pony technology yet. 
"Oh, don't let its structure intimidate you," He said, assuredly, "As this is the safest way to travel across the lands. I assure you that this will make it easier."
"Hmm." She then walked to the empty flatbed and hopped on, while Blacktip took the empty one in the back. "Why do I feel as though this may be my first experience of motion sickness?"
"Just focus forward and let your head up, it's actually comforting to know you will not use your wings to travel!"

Once the 'goodbyes' were given, the young dragons boarded the train cart in front of the other two dragons. Upon boarding, the train gave a final whistle blow before the powerful engine in front began its parallel journey forward, heading to Equestria. From the window, Ember, Amy and Spike waved to their families one last time, the train picking up speed and heading north.

As they slowly disappeared over the horizon, the Elders prayed for them a safe journey and fruitful endeavor to end this bloodshed.

===================================

It was a pleasant experience for them, especially those within the cab. Amy and Ember have never had a luxury like this, especially with commodities like beverages, polished gems, lightly salted meat snacks and beds. 

The glow of the Scepter hummed and Ember felt its signal saying that the timer had started. Unlike before she paid much more attention to the Scepter now that it had become more responsive to her and Spike. Both of them have known that the Scepter has some sentience and with Spike's most heroic deeds, it had deemed him worthy enough to be welded as a Dragon Lord and more.
Spike pulled close and held the top of it, feeling the small pulse from within, almost like a ticking clock. He squinted and stared at the stone itself, noting that something within stirred towards him. The moment, while brief, fleeted him as he let go. It was the antithesis to the blade that had taken the lives of dragons, a means to harm.
He refocused on the nesses.
"So, when we get to Ponyville, we will pick up Smolder and a former Yeti armorer who worked with the Storm King to help create weapons for him." A pause as he picked up a bottle of soda and opened the top. "It sounds unorthodox but they were the few creatures that have weapons outside of Equestria's normal uses."
"What could they have that Equestria does not?" His mate asked, chewing on a few candies left by them.
"Well, from the few instances we have encountered, they have spears but build for their digits and 'electric staffs,' as well as their ships conducting some 'storm manipulation' outside of pegasi control. They may have been ruled by some crazy tyrant, but they had the means to start a strong and deadly war. And that is just what was given to us upfront. We will find out more from them over time as we try to collaborate with their nation."

"Which is all the more concerning that we are allies with them." Ember noted with some bite to her tone.
"No greater way to beat your enemy than to turn them into allies," Spike quoted evenly.
“To many if you ask me,”
This prompted him to get a bit crossed at her attitude. While not unusual, something was stirring and he could feel it. She's been on edge since yesterday and he felt helpless knowing that he could do little to ease her attitude when it came down to their new allies or former enemies. Despite progress over the months, his mate was not one for dwelling with it for long, as she will open up eventually. This had him turn around then look towards the back of the cart’s window. 

Upon approach, he saw that Blacktip was in front while Shadescale remained in the back. His teacher had his head up high, enjoying the pace of the locomotive without use of his wings. His eyes were open and he had a smile on his face, kinda reminding him of when Wionna got on a wagon and went full speed down a hill.
Shadescale however seemed to be death gripping the back, as the idea of traveling at high speeds, not of her own doing, seemed to disturb her.

Ember remained peeved through the ride, picked up on by Amy but Spike seemed to only focus on their task ahead. The blade was a huge mcguffin that landed in their lives to dissect, inspect and ultimately… destroy. It was their mission to find a way to neutralize this and other future weapons designed for kind's end.

The trip was filled with idle chatter and with the lands moving past with haste and speed, it felt so unreal for the dragons, minus Spike, to be on the move without actually doing much. When it came down to the commodities, the gems provided had been from his own personal stash, what remained, amongst others that were given.

He brought out a large bowl for Blacktip and Shadescale, further aggravating Ember at his generous offer. Amethyst picked up on it and when Spike stepped out to give it to them, she broke the silence.
"You know, being pissed off ain't helping," She motioned towards their mate and the others, especially Shadescale. "If her being with us is gonna keep pissing you off, you're never gonna settle down."

Ember snorted and turned to Amy. "I'm not pissed off with her, I'm annoyed that she is coming with us for no reason."
"There is a reason!" The pink dragoness countered. "She is here to protect and help us."
"We don't need protection!"
"Just because you feel that way doesn't mean we don't." A soft sigh left Amy as she approached the sapphire scaled dragoness, who refused to meet her eyes. "We nearly got our tails kicked at Canterlot. She helped Spike out and us in a time of need. She didn't have too…"
"She owed it to us!" Ember barked at her, stomping away from her. "Shadescale would only help if Spike gave her a baka loving clutch in the future!"

"Is that what this is about?" Amy asked incredulously. "That she is going to get some eggs from him?"
Ember growled lightly but not directly at Amy. She crossed her arms as she stared out the back window. "She doesn't deserve his eggs-"

"Why do you care so much about it?"
"Why don't you?" Amy was cut off before she could respond. "Don't answer that. You and I have different views."
"Yeah, and I've known you before you decided to make me a part of this hoard. I am open with whoever because it won't affect us in the long run. How many males have eggs with other females and or the other way around too?" Ember didn't respond. "My mother had a clutch with another male because my father was a selfish prick who wanted drakes only. She tossed his tail off the side of the mountain and took half his hoard when he threatened to smash any eggs that had females. Now my mom is with another male and I have sisters because of that."

Huffing, she didn't like on the rare occasions when Amethyst was right. But that was just the start of her tirade. "Also, why in the name of Wistala would it really mess with you if Spike chose to mate with one other female… one time! And then never again? I sure as baka didn't get mad when you and Smolder hit the rocks with him."

"You don't even like males!" Ember tried to counter. 
"No, I don't like males. I love Spike though!" She crossed her arms. "He is the kindest, sweetest, most lovable dragon who has ever lived in our lives, despite knowing I may never ask him to bend me over and rut me! If he were to add another 'ness' into our hoard, I wouldn't care so long as I remained with him, you and Smols." A pause then, “A least she ain’t an ugly looking dragoness like Crackle. That could have been a baka-up clutch right there.” Then a lowered mumble, “She's not bad looking either.”

Ember was losing this conversation and despite knowing full well that Amy wasn't as caring when it came down to a lot of problems, Spike's well being and heart was always at the forefront. As was her own and Smolder's. Yeah, she would never take Spike up her tail, but she has had him please her before, but beside the point. Still, her anger stemmed from the fact that Shadescale 'demanded' a clutch from him, rather than try to win over his heart. 

It was just to expand her chances of having eggs with 'gifts' and more. It had to be, as there was no other conclusion. To be part of his story, his history, legacy and so much that as long as she could spout his name from the clutch, that it would cement herself as part of his life. 

She didn't know if her heart could handle the idea of Spike's hatchlings being part of another that would not involve his heart.

At this point, Spike returned with a small smile. "Well glad to know that dragons riding trains is not going to be an issue if we start working together more.”
“What, are they going to be bigger carts or tracks?” Ember asked, briefly forgoing the anger.
“Looks like it, or maybe just an open cart.” He paused and saw that Amy looked at Ember’s adamant tone shift. It was surely something amiss, but he felt more annoyed that she remained tightened on her anger.

Still, that was just a small blip for them with time. As the next thing they knew, they were passing the green plains and small hills from the windows rapidly as the wonderful smell of the scents of Equestria came closer and closer.

By mid-afternoon, the train passed over a final hill and down to where they saw the beautiful colors of the homes that decorated the town. The Crystal Castle itself stood out amongst them all, glistening by the sun and shining like a beacon of hope. 
Hearts hammering, the trio practically bounced as the train pulled up to the station, waiting to see their final heart join them once more. The squeals of the tires on iron echoed through the town as the train came to a stop. 

Upon stopping, the doors opened for them all, first seeing the short orange form of Smolder, their final horde member. The trio instantly were tackled by her missile-like form as she greeted them with kindles and hugs, happily squeezing them tightly and saying how much she missed them. They hugged her back with the same love and adoration, sweet nothings of those words were given, as after weeks apart, they reunited.

Once their reunion was over, the conductor called out, “Train to Fillydelphia, Non-stop, leaving in 5 minutes!”
The four dragons smiled at the timing. “So, what is the trip really about? And why are we bringing Ralph here?” She pointed behind them with the bulk, massive form of the Yeti behind her. The trio dragons saw the gray fur, taller than Celestia, white maned yeti holding luggages as well as folders. He wore his armor, but while it didn’t carry the Storm King’s crescent, it now sported Twilight’s Cutie Mark and had a few color strands of violet around the belt. The mask also had a deep violet and light blue streak in the middle. According to them, the mask helped keep their face cool during warmer areas.

“Ralph?” Ember and Amy parrotted. He waved to them, managing to grunt out, “Hello.” To them all.
“Hey Ralph!” Spike greeted back, familiar with the Yeti that he had tried to help during their battle, earning a look from Amy and Ember. “Everything cool?”
The yeti, aware of the pun, gave a claw thumb up, which followed by him lifting the luggages up and bringing them in, pushing past the dragons. Before entering, he gave Spike his 'Platinum Access' card, which Spike eagerly held in claws and a 'Royal Visa' card, which had his funds in it.

Smolder smiled and looked at them. “He’s been a real big help at the school, especially to Princess Twilight and the others. We also got to learn ‘Yetinesse!’ from him and how to defend ourselves! Those luggages are mine but he brought some work with him too.”

While impressive, it still blew the minds of the others how much of an impact the school and the yeti have been. As they lingered around a bit more, they finally heard the strange laughter of another dragon and a mare approaching. 

In almost disbelief, Ember, Spike and Amethyst watched, as Garble walked up to the train station where by his side was none other than the Harlequin coated mare, Treehugger, leaning into his side. They acted like it was the most natural thing in the world to be this close to one another to the point where, both nuzzled each other.

Amy and Ember had their jaws drop to the floor in sheer shock at Garble’s actions, as it was the most unbelievable thing the red drake had ever done in his life. It was unfathomable for him to be this cute or nice to anyone outside of his sister. Spike was less shocked now but now impressed and even somewhat glad to see him like this.

Upon arriving, Garble saw three dragons staring at him with looks of shock or awe. It almost sent him reeling back, but he didn’t want to look ashamed of this, so he settled for some inevitable feedback from this.
“Yo! Garb’s family! What’s up?” The mare called out to them on approach. This had the added effect of his face turning slightly pink at his nickname from her.

Spike waved at her, the other two still in shock to answer, “Hey TreeHugger. It’s been awhile. How’s life treating you?”
“Oh you know, chillin’ an’ keeping it real!” Her response was cool and seemed to keep her spirit's going. “Garbs here telling me you are heading up north to get some sightseeing done. That's pretty far-out, drake!"
"Something along those lines," Spike responded. "Though to be honest, I just didn't expect you two to be a thing."
Garble blushed harder while Treehugger just bobbed her head without denial. Smolder smirked while Amy and Ember finally regained some sanity back to look less shocked but now confused. As in… what did this mare see in Garble?
"Are you both coming with us?"
"Nah, unfortunately. Can't make it as I got some classes here to teach with Flutters'. But y'all can vibe without me, sides I know that you need each other to keep that groove going and that Harmony flowing to get in touch with yourselves. Our hearts will merge once more when he gets back." She then leaned up and kissed his cheek, gaining more pink in color but he melted under her touch regardless.
The self-control of not losing themselves was staggering, as both Amy and Ember wanted to release from either laughter, shock or something else, but the train whistle blew one final time to indicate departure time. "Well, then I guess that's our queue to head out. You two set?"
Garble and Smolder nodded with her jumping in the train with Ember and Amy following. Spike entered, watching as Treehugger gave Garble another quick peck to the cheek, which he gave a nuzzle back in effort. Kindles didn't work on ponies so that was the next best thing.

'Holy Mother baka-ing Wistala and Draco.' Came the thoughts to the trio as they boarded along with Garble. Once the doors settled, the dragon waved to Treehugger who waved back in a chilled manner.

The train chugged along its merry way, heading to the city where they hoped that answers and hope could be given to them. 

Just like it was possible for Garble to change his attitude and personality by a pony, so could those around them. What came next was left up to Harmony and Friendship.
> City of Dragons Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord's Guardian



The City of Dragons Pt. 1



Garble sighed angrily once more and grumbled. "Will you stop staring at me like that?!" He almost half barked.
Amy and Ember had been gaping at him non-stop since the train ride continued. It seemed they were still blown away that Garble had found someone… somepony to act all sweet and cuddly with. Ever since his punishment was lifted, they were thinking that the drake would come back flying home top speed to get away from these namby pamby ponies and such.
However, after receiving word that he had opted to stay to keep an Eye out on Smolder, they left it at that.

No one would believe that it was manly because of a mare…

"Can you blame us Garble?" Spike asked, half chuckling. "I mean… you and a pony. A mare." A pause. "Not that there's anything wrong with that but still… we are just…"
"-Surprised." Ember answered with light confusion, though doubt seriously lingered over it for a long period.
Amy nodded, somewhat in recovery. "Yeah, like… what rocks is she smoking to make her see something in you?"

Garble growled which earned a titter from Smolder. "Yeah, I thought she was high too when her and my brother started hanging out more and more," She then leaned in on him. 
“What is High?” Amy asked.
“DON’T ASK!” came shouts from Garble, Smolder and Spike. Both Amy and Ember recoiled but then a smaller muffled chuckle left Smolder. “Let’s just say that while she was sane enough to start hanging out with my brother, she was going further than any of us here thought by the end.”

“Will you stop talking about my-” Garble was about to defend his love life but then, that would admit he had one.
“...Your marefriend?” Smolder asked teasingly to her brother.

Garble sinked further down into his seat in pink hues, which had the rest muse to themselves at this revelation. Spike was still impressed and only gave him a compliment. 
“You know, I am actually happy for you, Garble.” This earned a surprise look from everyone, including the red drake himself. “In the months since, you have changed for the better and I… uh, we can’t believe how much. The short time being with ponies has made you a better dragon for it and it shows. I mean, can you imagine how much better it is now for you, then it was before?”

While not wanting to dwell too much in the past, including his mistakes, the red drake could see how much his life had changed since his punishment in Ponyville had changed him.
He saw how much his life had been altered to be such a better dragon, that Smolder and others have taken notice. Outside of just being a good older brother, he helped out around Ponyville, with a bunch of things that he never thought of getting involved with. From helping recovery from the 'Invasion' to assisting those in need. Building repairs and such whenever the town was attacked, to helping Treehugger in her groups and sessions, Garble had become part of the town in its own way without realizing how much of a contribution he had really put forth during and after his punishment had ended.

He felt his sister hug him tighter, knowing that she had also seen a change in her brother, to something better. The environment of Ponyville had made a grand effort to change him and he had slowly enjoyed being part of it.

The red drake sighed and nodded, not really sure how to admit that he was right but he was. “Yeah… better.”

Spike smiled at this, feeling a small victory at this but his attention then turned to the silent member of their group, Ralph. The Yeti was content with remaining silent, though he offered some scrolls to Spike regarding their weapons.
As he pulled them open, was instantly blown away by the scale and details of them, as well as each weapon's history, purpose, damage output and so on.
"Wow, this is seriously detailed Ralph."
The yeti gave a small bob of his head.
"Did you pull this from your ship or archives or something?"
"Drew self." He responded roughly. "Memory Of Archive. Warriors of Past. Of Present."
"Woah!" Spike replied, blown away by how well the yeti had gone into this. Looking up, he smiled at the Yeti. "You are an amazing artist and script writer, you know that?"
Despite the mask, he knew that the yeti took pride in his work and dipped his head at the praise. This prompted Spike to bring up, "You wouldn't happen to be interested in playing a little tabletop game that might be lingering around Ponyville, would you?"

A gleam appeared in the tiny blue eyes of the yeti, as he reached within his own pouch and pulled out a figure and some dice. 

Spike was really happy with the yeti now.

Meanwhile with the other dragons, Amy turned to the Garble and Smolder. "Dude, this guy is like finding players all over the gods-damn area. Did you even know about this?"
Both sibling dragons shook their heads.
"Nah, that guy hung out with more Twilight and Discord than me or Garbes. Not to mention, he is quieter than Fluttershy."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Garble warned seriously. "She plays that quiet game and annoys me how she could get her animals to do so many things without making a peep." He gave a grunt as they stared at him, further aggravating him. There was a pause before he slumped and ended it with, "She… makes really good tea."

Ember was still absorbing Garble's new life but slowly switched away to looking back to Spike and Ralph, who began to speak(mostly Spike) about their games. As she was glancing towards them, the window of the back showed the bed carts where the other two dragon occupants were. Blacktip remained happy just having his head up high but Shadescale seemed to be done riding, as she spread her wings and took to the skies.

Blacktip saw her leave but made no motion nor call for her as she flew out of view of the cab. Ember squinted at this but decided to ignore her. It already bugged her that she was here to begin with, it would only further aggravate her for the remainder of the ride.

The hours that it took them to get to Fillydelphia was still fun for them. Smolder and Garble recounted their tales and adventures in the months spent in Ponyville. From Smolder's new friends to their first outings and adventures, to Garble's changes in Ponyville.

While the dragons continued their idling, it only proved to them how much time had passed between them to actually enjoy each other's company once more. It felt like it was a reunion that needed no invitation at all while also feeling so wholesome of the group in general.

They ate, they laughed and even allowed Blacktip to pop his head into the back window to play a game with Spike and Ralph. Garble managed to join the conversation with the girls, as he does have some insider knowledge on things now.

By late afternoon, as Celestia's sun turned downwards, the train conductor announced on the intercom, "We'll be arriving in Fillydelphia in five minutes."
All present were excited as they saw the giant towers of the city coming closer at haste. It seemed like a photo coming to life as the city expanded and drew them in with its architectural  design. The marvel of the city paled to bigger cities like the 'Manehattan', but it still had its own charm and life. With the approaching city, all present seemed eager, especially Blacktip who seemed to abandon any docking or waiting, and took flight overhead to arrive early.

As the train pulled up to the station, the dragons and single yeti, along with any passengers that had come with them, exited out. While seeing a group of dragons on the station was nothing new, seeing a yeti did warrant some glances.

Blacktip, landed by them, gave his own introduction to the city. "Welcome to Fillydelphia, my friends!"

All present were in awe and gobsmacked by the city itself, as Canterlot was the biggest city they have seen to date. Despite the effort that went into Canterlot, the city easily dwarfed the small city in size and sculpture, as the city was its own marvel. The towering skyscrapers, the vast articular design and the bustling of ponies had the effect that you could not achieve outside of cities like this.

With the power it left, it only grew when they saw a few dragons, up in the sky and the ground, with the citizens uncaring and unconcerned as they went along with their own business.

The more they stared, the longer it took for them to actually move from their spot. However it was disrupted by Blacktip himself. 
"Come on along then! We are wasting time my friends and while I know you wish to enjoy the magnificence of Fillydelphia, we… are 'literally' on a timer here!"

Said dragons immediately snapped out of it and repositioned themselves. Ralph came out of the cart with baggage ready in tow and stood by waiting.

"Come! The faster we get to the university, the better. Perhaps if there is time in the days you have off, you can see the city a bit more!"
With that, the dragon led them straight into the heart of the city as they still tried to see every little thing they could. As they did, Spike couldn't help but glance up and see that not too far up above, was a familiar dragon disappearing and reappearing in view, signifying they were being carefully watched from the skies.





Blacktip had guided them straight through the city, as the city bustled and moved along past them without care. Yeah, ponies stared at the Yeti with them and how big Blacktip was but it was quick glances and they brushed it aside.

It took a half an hour to reach their destination with their speed, though it seemed as they approached, Blacktip was practically skipping there. More and more, the signs of ponies started to lessen with dragons becoming more prominent. While they were not as abstract or as large as those in the lands, they still held onto their draconic routes.

Tails, wings, scales and fire, dragons moved to and fro in the city without care for the newcomers. Spike and company were truly in awe at the amount of dragons moving around, right before they entered a part of the city's main entrance.
"Here we are my friends!" Blacktip exclaimed excitedly. "Dragon Town!" He pointed to the large arch that stood by the area, proclaiming its destination. "Home to busy, hard working dragons that contribute to Equestria and pony society!"

The moment they entered the town, it truly felt like a bustling town made specifically for their kin. Streets were made larger for their sizes but also, everything was made of concrete, stone, and other non-flammable materials. The agriculture that stretched was almost endless that was made by dragon claws.
They walked past shops, markets, food stalls, businesses, and so on, each one seeming more and more something found in normal pony society but made… specifically for dragons. Stone architect carved by claw work, sculptures and designs of dragons on the streets and more importantly, the dragons themselves moving about without so much as a glance at the new arrivals.

One had a restaurant with gems embedded with meats or other foods within it advertised on the window display. The scent within, was blown out by exhaust fans had driven the newcomers almost to a stop and salivating.
Another building had a fashion shop designed for winged, non-winged, quadruped and anthro dragons in mind. Mannequins were on display for different types of dragons with clothing even made to be fireproof!

There were even smaller buildings for dragon lawyers, dentists, scale-rejuvenation clinics, doctors and more. With each pass of something dragon related but adapted by pony customs, it truly made them feel out of place but at the same time, more comfortable then just other places that had them surrounded by ponies only. 

Blacktip, having long been used to it, still found himself in awe and even giddy as he moved through the town as dragons passed them by with barely a glance. Despite who was passing them by, no dragon made any effort to look who they were or ask. This had different effects for the dragons.
Spike was happy to not get recognized or bothered by those who either worship him or fear him due to his status.
The opposite could be said about Ember however, as she felt a bit annoyed at knowing that no dragon here cared who she was, even with the Scepter strapped to her back.
Smolder and Garble were indifferent, though happy to be surrounded by dragons again. Amy seemed not to care other than the fact that dragons were just going on with their lives, but in such a pony-way, though the shops kept her almost getting left behind as she paused at each one.

Their Yeti friend however got the most of the glances but he carried on with little care, though it was noted that he was sweating underneath.

As they continued on, Spike finally managed to speak out loud, truly inspired by everything he saw with dragons roaming around in this part of the city.
"I still can't believe this exists here and has been here for a hundred years!"
"And neither can I, yet here it is!" Blacktip responded just as excitedly. "Dragons and ponies living near harmoniously together in a large environment with both contributing to their cause."

As they moved along, there was a set of bars that were right next to a steel factory or iron works, where the heavy odor of molten metal and hydrogen sulfide could be smelled.
"Bars next to a steel mill?" Spike asked.
Blacktip nodded. "Yes and believe it or not, that itself has its own history. Again, I know you are all very eager to see this for all its glory but we need to get that sword looked at."

Said mention of Sword had the Yeti himself grumble out loud. "Sword. Nasty Friend Killer!"
Hearing Ralph call them friends, had them quickly refocus back to the main mission. Spike nodded. "He's right, let's get this over with. As soon as we take care of that, we can come back and look at the city all we want." A pause then he flashed them a grin as he pulled out his 'Royal Visa' card. "Whatever we want!"
A cheer ran through all of them, even the Yeti gave a small growl of merry, before they followed the larger green drake.





For The better part of an half an hour, Blacktip guided them to the center of Dragon Town where a large complex was stationed. Though most noted that it was part of the University of Fillydelphia grounds. It actually shared part of its lot with the rest of the pony city as well, as pony and dragons went in and out of the school with ease.
“Why the actual university, Blacktip?” Spike asked as they approached the complex. Unlike most of the university or other buildings, it was built more moderately and had a deep root in its architecture based around science and engineering.

“It’s here we can have the sword scrutinized and perhaps even find its origins. Something like that should have deeper meaning and even history if it carries any.”
“It kills dragons, Blacktip.” Ember reminded him. “That’s its only history.”

He turned to her, noting her attitude and cocked his head. “What of its bearers before? What dragons can be harmed and what dragons can survive? What about its properties? It's now part of our history and what can we do to make sure it's not repeated once more."

Once more, just like in the train ride, she was left silent, further fueling her inner turmoil about being outs once more. Still, he didn't mean to make her upset, but rather teach her that even killer weapons needed to be learned about as to build defenses and contingencies for them. If they wished to prevent more casualties on either side, it was best to know where to start."
"I know you wish to get rid of it, but we still came over here with a mission. Perhaps we can even learn more about these dragon hunters."

"You know, when you guys briefly brought it up, I thought you were joking," Smolder commented lightly. "I didn't think there were actual ponies that were sane enough to hunt dragons. It kinda hurts to know they exist and how close they were."
They didn't tell her everything but they gave her the gist. A solemn nod left Spike and Blacktip. The elder drake paused before the large building's door. It was big enough for him to easily push through, with smaller doors available for other sized creatures, including ponies.

There was a security camera on top of the door and an intercom by the door. As they approached, the green drake pushed the button to call. The call was made and they waited.
"Why would you need to gain permission to go to a school?" Smolder asked curiously.
Blacktip gave a small smile. "It prevents unwanted or prying eyes from entering, possibly even disturbing any classes or experiments going on."

The ringing continued and a voice called to them. "Please state your name and purpose."
"Scholar Blacktip of Draconic History division. My entourage are envoys of the Dragons Lands, including a representative of her race, Dragon Lord Ember and Spike Sparkle, family of Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle. The party behind them is included."

A pause. Then the door unlocked. "Please enter. Follow the main hall in." The green drake nodded as he opened the doors to allow them in.

The party followed suit right after him, the Yeti relieved for a moment to feel cool fresh, artificial air on his fur. It was a long hallway, with various doors and panels subjected to each area of their own. With the passing of each one, they noticed a blend of ponies, dragons and even other species in certain classes. Changedlings, griffins and a mule or two within were glanced at.

The white walls were blended with posters and pictures of the school's history were in full display, as well as technical achievements. Many other displays of inventions, scientific breakthroughs and more were showcased here. Pictures of ponies, dragons and other creatures bringing vast new changes to the modern world.

Finally, they reached a portion of the building where the doors, larger than Blacktip himself doors, were before them. "Here is where we will get our answers and hopefully an end to our strife with these hunters."

A silent nod was given to him by all present. The doors were pushed open and a large auditorium class was shown to them. While no class was in session, there was a single individual present and it was a white scaled dragon.

Unlike Blacktip, he was on his hindlegs and a little bit shorter. He had more of an anthropomorphic stature then quadruped dragons as he was writing and reading with his front claws, much like Spike has done. He had a robe on along with… ink on his scales? Tattoos? 
"Ivory!" Blacktip excitedly called out to the dragon. The white dragon gave pause and turned to Blacktip. His gray eyes met his and then saw the others.
"Blacktip?" His voice came out almost monotone, kinda like Pinkie's sister, Maud but with emotions a bit more readable. His ridged brow lifted but then a small sign of sparkle showed in his eyes.
The green drake practically skipped to him and hugged the white dragon, blowing him kindles across his face with adoration. All who were watching were a bit thrown off by his affectionate nature towards the other male. Ivory, as the dragon was called, hugged him back but was not as overly affectionate, yet he did give a solid nuzzle back at the end and a hug.

Once done, Blacktip kept his grin as he turned to the others. "Sorry, but it has been awhile since we got together. My friends, this is Ivory, Professor of Research and Development of Science here on campus. He has been teaching the college for half a century, including yours truly! He also has several degrees in Engineering, Geology, smaller forms of Science and so on.” He then turned back to his… ‘Friend? Mate? Partner?’... and turned to introducing them.
“We have here, Guardian Spike Sparkle, adopted son of Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight and Elders Eliyinsa and Zynthia. Mate to current Dragon Lord, Ember Blaze. Those two are their hoard members Amethyst and Smolder. The male is Garble, Smolder’s brother and the Yeti is Ralph!”
Ralph gave a small wave and grunt, “Hello.” While the others greeted him as well. Amy silently grumbled about the lack of grand intro to her name.
The white dragon dipped his head. “Hello, friends. As Blacktip stated, my name is Ivory. I am glad to see new faces, including the Dragon Lord and Dragon Guardian.” He then approached in a calm manner. “Blacktip notified me ahead of time that you came here to find some very important information that may help the dragons from some… hunters, I believe.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, though I am not sure how much you already know what has been happening at the Dragon Lands.”
He shook his head, motioning towards Blacktip. “What he tells me is all I know. We have been great friends for decades now and I trust what he has said to me to be accurate of current affairs. We here in Dragon Town do not receive any news of what transpires outside of Equestrian influences.
”
“The dragon hunters,” Blacktip quickly entered the conversation. “Just appeared closer to home but they have been active for centuries now.”

The white dragon cocked his head. “And… do they have weapons that can hurt dragons?”
“A sword,” Spike responded. “One of many, possibly even more. They use our own bodies as armor and weapons, but I think they have been using the sword to cut us down and then use what remains.” It felt sickening to say it out loud and more so, he felt like detailing it was just a distaste bitter after it left his tongue.

“Truly then?” Earning a nod from most of them. “You have such a sword?” Again, his monotone mood was difficult to pick up, but his expressions did look more curious than cautious or fearful.

Ralph pulled one of the bags that held the sword and handed it over to Spike. The drake then carefully laid the long bag on the floor, its shape not too obvious. Inside, it was wrapped in cloth and blunted with thick wools on sides with the pointed tip sheathed in granite. The un-shine makes all those uneasy and even step back at the unsightly thing.  

Picking it up from its hilt, he carefully laid the flat of the blade on his palm which was outstretched. He grasped the handle and presented to Ivory.

The white dragon lifted a brow and approached, seeing the ominous blade and its deadly glory. Black with ash coatings, a unique hilt in gold with a jewel at its end, pulsing with a glow. Paw reaching out, Spike pulled back. “Careful, this can easily cut through scales like-.” Was the only warning given.
Ivory reached out, grabbed it, yet before the other dragons or Spike could actually stop him, suddenly his arm was coated with… what looked like Platinum and grasped the edged, deadly blade! Unharmed and unfazed by its nearly endless sharpness, the coated claws held the blade with ease and without injury.
Those around gaped like fishes as the drake examined the sword with his coated arm. "Interesting." As if holding a deadly blade with an arm of platinum was nothing to him.

"You're gifted?!" Spike almost cried out. The others, in a state of their own shock, were in awe to respond.
Ivory gave a soft nod, slowly wielding the weapon with his platinum coated arm while his other non-coated arm grabbed the handle safely. "Yes, I am. Though I am aware that most females are usually the ones that are enhanced, my grandsire before me is one. I have the ability to transform my entire body like this or parts of it.”

“And this is something that has come to you naturally?” Spike asked, still amazed by the circumstances.

"Amongst other things." He replied evenly, again, not seeing his abilities as something grand or fancy. His monotone left it ambiguous if he had ever truly grasped how special he was. Kinda like Maud.
Spike turned his focus from him to Blacktip who was unaffected by the drake's enhancement. "You also knew that he was 'gifted' too?"
Blacktip merely sat by Ivory, leaning close to him. "It was his secret to tell, not mine. Just like you have your own."
"What about my-" A pause as Ivory looked at him with slight intrigue. 
"Ah, you are enhanced as well then?" He asked Spike, scrutinizing him as if he were to reveal his own now.

A slow nod left Spike though he glanced back at Blacktip. The drake in turn gave a small nod. "Again, we all bare or hold our secrets, only for us to reveal them on our own." He then looked towards the sword. “While his gifts are a marvel of their own, we still have pressing matters and little time my friends. Ivory is one of the few dragons here and ponies who can help us with the sword and for now, we focus on that first.”

The white dragon then promptly placed the sword on his table before turning to the rest of them, his coated arm returning to normal. “Indeed, now… tell me again. How did you encounter these ‘Dragon Hunters’ and why is it that now, after centuries of being active, do you believe they have come to show themselves now? I have no doubt, they have been hunting us, but to be this close to your homes, says otherwise?” 

That itself was a question and an answer they did not have. Then again, they needed to find a solution and a way to deal with this. Blacktip already mentioned how dragons and pony relationships were strained by a small incident here already. What would happen when it turned into something far more… unfavorable?
> City of Dragon Pt.2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian


The City of Dragons Pt.2




It still awed the dragons, in true utter fascination and speechlessness as the white dragon named Ivory, was an enhanced male much like Spike. The rarity of a male in the Dragon Lands was one every few centuries or so. Yet one stood before them casually and without care for it.
“Are there others like us here?” Spike asked, somewhat hoping to feel some relief if Ivory and himself weren’t the only enhanced males in the world.
The white dragon’s eyes met his own. “As far as I am aware… no.” Blunt and honest, making him shrink, with his tail dropping. “It would be a bit too convenient for many males to have some sort of ‘gift’ here. The fact that you are one in your homestead and I am one here, should be far more unlikely than possible.”
This caused mass confusion amongst them. 	“What, you are saying we are a fluke or something?” He asked in a half serious tone.
“No, but the chances are astronomical, let alone something shouldn’t be by chance.”
A snort left Smolder. “I think we have hung around Discord long enough to know that there is no such thing as chances. Things happen, even if they seem impossible, for a reason.”

“Like a pair of Dragon Hunters killing our kin for some inexplicable reason without much of our insight or knowledge in a large span of time?” He responded to Smolder, causing her to pause at that and retreat.

“Hey, we are just trying to figure out what else is going on here, that is it.” Spike defended. “That sword has been killing us for centuries. While I am glad I am not the only ‘enhanced’ male here, I am still hoping we can find out where this thing came from and how we can stop more from being made. Forget what we are for the moment.”

The white scaled dragon said nothing, but he did retrieve the sword back from his desk. His arm once more turned to platinum-like as he grasped it. Studying it, he spoke. “From a simple glance, pphoenix ashes mixed with our blood, golden handle with curvature of unique design and a jewel with trapped flames, are what I can see here. The blade itself is not of any known material that I can deduce right away. It’s an unknown metal or alloy.”
“More different than your arm?” Spike queried.
“Is your arm platinum?” Ember asked almost right away, drawing away a moment from the sword. 
“No,” He responded with curt,  “though while it may look like it, my arm is also of an element unknown to the periodic table, though I plan to change that soon.” His even tone remained monotonous. He then fully coated himself in said material, transforming his body from white to an almost crystalline platinum where not even his eyes or mouth were organic anymore.
They watched in awe as he almost reflected no light from above sources, yet he still shined like if he was generating it from within. While not blinding or bright, he still had a powerful gaze to him. He moved without issues, still fluid as he would and his voice sounded almost synthetic in this form. Blacktip seemed to glow for appreciation at seeing him like this.
“I have yet to find an appropriate name for my ‘gifted’ form’s substance, despite decades of studying and using it, but I have chosen to think that it's a rarity in itself and remain… unknown. No other metals come close to its density, indestructibility and what else I can do while in this form.”
“Do you have secondary or innate abilities as well?” Spike asks, more intrigued by this, wondering if he had one as well.
“Yes, but… it would be very unprofessional or inappropriate for me to demonstrate them within the confines of the campus. For now, trust that the circumstances of our meetings still intrigue my mind as well as this weapon.” He unshifted from his form until he was fully scaled and flesh once more but kept his arm coated in his arm to keep the blade from injuring him.

His tone returned once more to its natural, monotone voice, and spoke back.“This will need to be dissected at microscopic levels, as well as checked with other periodical elements that it has close resemblance to. I highly recommend that this stay with me for at least 48 hours so that I can fully understand what I am handling. Will this be an issue?”
Spike and Ember shook their heads. “No by all means, do what you need to-”
“And after you are done, destroy it.” Ember immediately demanded, tone firm and her claws clutching into a fist. “I’d rather it not fall into the wrong claw… err wrong… hooves?” She questioned the appropriate method term, shaking her head as to ignore it. “We don’t want it to go back to its original purpose.”

Ivory gave her an understanding nod. “The blade and handle can be destroyed once I find an appropriate measure in breaking or melting point. The jewel at its bottom can be siphoned for other methods that may be beneficial if that is to your liking, Dragon Lord?”

“If it helps us rather than destroy us, I don’t care what it’s used for.” A stoic nod was given to her. 
“Very well. I am glad to be of service. For now, I ask that you find accommodations for now as the evening is fast approaching and the campus offers no guests rooms.”

“We’ll go explore the city for a bit,” Spike provided, almost excitedly. “I think it would do us some good to explore the City of Dragons.”

A nod from Ivory. “Indeed. I will contact you when I have any updates to Blacktip. For now, thank you for your friends. I hope you enjoy yourselves here.”

“Thank you for your help Ivory. We’ll see you soon.” With that said, the party turned away, except for Blacktip. The doors closed and the green drake turned back to the white one. Ivory set the blade back down onto his desk and approached the green drake.
“I am happy to see you again, Ivory. I missed you.” He pressed his head against the white dragon’s neck, who in turn hugged him back.
“As do I, though I wish this were under happier circumstances.” Brushing his claws over his face, he asked, “Though I have to ask why didn’t you allow the Dragon Lord and Guardian to know of my ‘enhancements before claw?”
“Ah, we have a ‘enhanced’ female with us, acting like a guard of sorts. She… has an affinity to Spike, later seeking some payment for eggs in their future.”
The dragon cocked his head, lifting a brow with it. “Why? Are there no other suitable males worthy for her?”

Blacktip gave a small cocked grin. “None that have ‘gifts’ like him and have saved Equestria on multiple occasions or impressed the Dragon Lands to such a high degree.”
The smallest glints of a smile formed at the edge of Ivory’s maw. “Ah, so she only seeks those with enhancements and titles.” A nod from Blacktip. “Then you didn’t wish for me to demonstrate my gifts to them?”

A sigh left the green drake as he brushed his snout against the bottom jaw of Ivory. “No, since they will now tell her of you as well.”
The smile slowly rose and he pressed his head against the green drake. “I thought… that you wanted to had a third to our little-”
“I have yet to see you in months and I wish to keep it that way for a bit more.” The archivist firmly stated, pausing as he then gave him a kindle. “Perhaps with our time here we can grow with that a bit more, but for now, let me take my friends to go explore the city. Then we may resume this conversation and the possibility of a third later.”





“So, we got about two days here or a week, depending on the situation, what can we do for fun here, Blacktip?” Spike asked his teacher as he rejoined them as they left the building.
“Oh, there is not enough time to show you everything, yet that will not stop us!” With much enthusiasm and much vigor, he led them off to the city. He became a guide to them, much like any newcomer who enters a new city and begins to show them much.


From the campus, he led them back to the downtown district they passed through first, which held the shops, the businesses and so on for dragons.
“So, when you were here last time, you saved Dragon town?” Spike asked, bringing back up the newspaper he showed them.
“Indeed I did!” The larger drake boastfully confirmed. “Though it wasn’t Dragon Town directly I was saving specifically, rather the residents of the nearby town were being set on fire and blaming the dragons. You already read the article, but for those of you who don’t know. It was Princess Luna who sought me out to help and discover the reasons for the fires. The ponies automatically blamed the dragons but she tasked me with trying to find the true culprit.”
“Which turned out to be who?” Smolder asked, somewhat bewildered that dragons would or rather wouldn’t do something like this and have them blamed.
“Oh, it was a ‘Firesnail’ that was doing all the fires,” Blacktip answered, a small amount of mirth in his voice. “Little bugger crawled out of the sewers and began to leave a trail of fire and destruction in its wake.” A pause. “Incidentally. Had to give him up to the Princess after to be studied to avoid more accidents.”

“Damn, and I thought Ponyville’s luck was bad.” Smolder commented lightly. “I mean, a ‘Bugbear’ or ‘Hydra’ wanders in, a building gets smashed!” She punched her fist into her open claw for effect. “The town is covered and rebuilt in like… what a day?” A shrug to the nonsensical explanation of the town’s almost immediate recovery. “But you get a Firesnail burning down buildings and suddenly, the fire breathers get blamed and they don't even bother to check if it's them or not. Even Ponyville’s got standards.”

“Well Fillydelphia has its own standards.” Blacktip replied offhandedly. “Its recent haphazard events with this, may have changed its views if only for the time being.”

“So what’s going to keep it from going back to… well like the ‘Firesnail’ incident?” Spike asked.
Blacktip turned to him automatically, almost pointing at him with his snout. “You Spike. You have already turned many views and minds about dragons just with your recent events. If not just for saving the Crystal Empire, or Equestria on multiple occasions, then everything else has with. You are the adopted son of Princess Celestia, brother to Princess Twilight and Prince Shining Armor and mate to the Dragon Lord. Whether you care enough for titles or not, that is up to you.”

“Then why isn’t he recognized here?” Amethyst asked, seeing many just passing a glance at them. “It’s not like there are many Dragon celebrities here like us, right?”

“Hmm, not like you but they do have their own Dragon Celebrities here just like how Equestria has its own, outside of the Princesses. For now, not much of Dragon politics of home reach here,” As he said this, a dragon who wasn’t paying attention, bumped into Ember by accident. 
“Whatcha where you going eh?!” The dragon bellowed out. 
Ember growled. “Hey! Don’t you know who I am?! I’m the Dragon-”
“Don’t care! Fuck off!” The male paused and looked at Spike. “Yo! Spike Sparkle! Nice to see you!” He waved and moved on, causing Spike to briefly smile if only to falter when Ember threatened to use the Bloodstone Scepter. 
“That might not work, as he is a younger generation and could just find it as an annoyance,” Blacktip recalled to her, interrupting her before she could use it. “He may not even listen directly to your command or ignore it with ease. And you don’t want to waste unnecessary energy on just one dragon now.”

Ember growled but sighed angrily in defeat, slinging it back on to her. Spike gave her a comfort hug. “Don’t worry, like Blacktip said, Dragon Lands ain’t got that much news, so Dragon Lords may not have an influence here.” A pause as he repeated mentally what the dragon had said. “Colorful language for a dragon though.”

“Perhaps with more involvement from Equestria and the finished railways, they may start developing telegrams or news articles for it. Give it time.” The green drake then motioned on. “Come, we can’t be distracted by something petty. Though don’t expect less than ideal words from dragons here. They are not as censored here as ponies are.”

And so, Blacktip led the group around town, causing awe and delight for them. Shops designed for dragons by dragons, occupied the town. The design is stone and steel making it a very unique set as a whole. Heat resistant glass with intricate design, showed that Dragons did have their own style outside of Pony based buildings. The air, while stained with certain and perhaps off putting scents for ponies, filled their nostrils with a sense of belonging and atmosphere for them.

Sulfur based food products mixed in with meats and gems hovered around restaurant based themes or food stands on the streets. Amethyst and Garble seemed to lick their chops at the powerful odor of food.
Dragons, both quadruped or bi-peds, walked the streets with clothing or accessories, normally seen on ponies, but designed specifically for them. Smolder herself feeling so much more confident in the fact that she could walk through the streets here with a dress or clothes on and not feel a damn bit of shame.
Ember and Spike were just as awed by all this as the other but more so at how well civilized the dragons were here. Manners, cleanliness and ideal society seemed to be so alien and yet, distinctively close to the dragons at home. The ideal shops, businesses and other situations found in pony society could be found here, but with draconic flare.

They passed a group of whelps that were playing in a semicircle of what looked like a game of hot-potato. Though the potato was a toy… grenade of sorts?
“Huh, why are they playing with a toy grenade and not a ball or something?” Spike asked Blacktip.
“Oh… it's not a toy, it's a real flashbang grenade.”
“WHAT!?” It was Smolder and Spike who exclaimed that out loud, while the others remained confused at their outburst with their Yeti friend taking a few cautionary steps back, covering his face and eyes. Blacktip just flashed them a grin and motioned for them to watch. While the others remained oblivious to what a ‘flashbang grenade’ was, Smolder and Spike were in hysterics at the game.
It was when one of the whelps, a purple and yellow one, missed the catch by centimeters and landed by their feet. A few seconds later, the grenade detonated temporarily blinding and deafening the one who dropped it, causing the others to laugh and for the whelp to laugh as well themselves at the misfortune. The young dragon shook their head, clearing their senses quickly of noise and brief flash of light. An adult dragon nearby chittered with the others at the briefly stunned youngling before pulling from their pouch another flashbang, pulling the pin and tossing it to them. One caught it on the handle, preventing the grenade from going off and began tossing it back to another, having the others doing some ‘faux’ throws or stunts to get the others to drop it. All this, in front of many eyewitnesses who gave them a glance and moved on or watched from the sides.

Seeing their dropped mouths, the older green drake turned to them, a Cheshire grin on his snout. “You do realize that we can stand the blast of a volcano, right?” Blacktip reminded them with a grin, a novice to his intelligence as well as humor. “What’s a ‘Flashbang’ compared to an active volcano? Even a whelp could survive the explosive force of an actual fragmentation grenade, providing it isn’t without intent to harm them.”

“T-They play with actual-” Smolder couldn’t even finish the sentence but Blacktip shook his head. “No, those are illegal.” A pause and he motioned for the nearby adult who watched them play. “Besides, you have to be 35 and older to purchase a grenade and even then, buying them from ‘Equestrian’ police or military is prohibited. So dragons here created their own version of an explosive grenade that adults can have their version of the game but on a more… professional aspect. Kinda like ‘Hoofball’ or ‘Buckball' but this is called ‘Live One’. They toss a grenade that is set on a ticking timer based on rules and such. Those younger, practice with flashbangs or other non-damaging or harmful versions of grenades. I can explain the rules of the game if you wish later.”
“What’s the short version?” Amy asked, now somewhat interested in the game so far.
“So, like Hoofball, you are trying to get the ball on the other side of the field through opponents and touchdown on their goal, right?” Nods were given to those who understood it. “Here it is the same thing, however the rules are played in different aspects. Dragons who have wings are allowed only one flap to catch or throw the grenade per round. The grenade itself is on a timer when not held down at the handle. Depending on the season and weather, it can be five seconds or ten, but the goal is still the same. However, the team that reaches the other side of the field, must not only get to the goal, but destroy the opposing team’s post, a wall of rock or some other barrier, completely. With ponies, they reach the goal, they get points. WIth dragons, it's a matter of damage to the wall as well as the amount of time left on clock. Most damage to the wall wins. Got it?”
While Spike and Smolder, who knew of explosive arsenal weapons, were awed by the laid back culture of were still off put by this. But seeing the whelps continue to play like nothing really happened, made them feel a bit more comfortable at the fact that despite them not being part of the Dragon Lands, they still carried their inheritance of durability.
“Come, we still have more to see then the whelps playing ‘Live One’. The rules and games can be seen in other areas or watched live. There are other areas to try.” He walked on with the others in tow, showing them more, but tame things of Dragon town.

A small walk led them back to the bar area, where the smell of sulfur and molten steel could be felt. Ralph looked uncomfortable and voiced his concerns through a labored voice. “Hot! Toxic! Bad Air!”
All the dragons paused and turned to him, with Spike quickly concerning himself with his health. “Oh shoot! Sorry Ralph, totally forgot you are literally out of your element. You want to head to a hotel or something? We might be able to get you one with air conditioning.”
The yeti bobbed his head in strenuous agreement, trying to deal with the heated and toxic environment. Blacktip quickly guided them to a hotel. “Come, they do have some here for ponies, those that do businesses or vacation around Dragon Town.”

As he guided them, Spike noticed that not once had he seen a sign of Shadescale since their departure from the University. He looked up, didn’t see her form and half wondered where she was at. While he knew she was supposed to be guarding them, he hoped she was enjoying herself at least while here in the area.

Blacktip had guided them to a hotel at the edge of dragon town, with vacancy for ponies available. A quick check in for all parties associated thanks to Spike’s card, including a room for Shadescale and Blacktip, they gave Ralph his own room with an air-conditioning unit. Spike went with the Yeti to his room, hoping to keep him safe.
“You’re going to be fine on your own, right?” Spike asked their yeti friend as he helped him guide him to his room. Poor guy was sweltering and his mask seemed to barely filter any of the heat or bad air quality out.
The door opened with a click of keys and was greeted with a simple large bed but a strong a.c unit by the window and television. Ralph walked over, turned it on full blast, letting out a strong sigh leave him as a powerful jet of cold air hit him. His fur blew and he seemed to be assured that he was going to pass out from the air outside had he remained silent any further.
“Better! Hot is not good! Air is safer here. Enjoy selves! Have fun friends!” Spike smiled and nodded. 
“Sure! I'll see if we can get you souvenirs or something.” The yeti was thankful and gave a thumbs up. Giving one in turn, Spike walked out, closing the door behind him and rejoined the others.

Once the rooms were secure for the two days, the belongings stored and set, the dragons resumed exploring the rest of the town. It was at the moment however, did a large shadow appear under them, quickly forming the shape of a dragon. Almost like living, liquid shadows, the dragoness slowly formed up by them, almost startling those not used to her.

Spike was still impressed by her ‘gifts’ of shadow conjuration, manipulation and forming. It was not just enough for her to be invisible but that aspect already made her like some super hero in a comic. 
The others were also impressed, minus Ember, at how strange but beautiful her powers were. A far from queer aspect found in other dragons, yet still alluring and downright amazing. Garble was a little more the freaked out while Smolder, having never met dragoness, was in awe and possibly a little blushful of her looks taking form. From the beautiful shades of blue of the ocean to the near transparencies of her wings. 

Once her form fully manifested, she gave a small bow. “Forgive my absence, but I had to adjust to being surrounded by tight spaces in buildings once more. Canterlot seemed more open than this but I feel that I have adapted to the environment more. Once I understood how the dragons moved about, it seemed to grow on me.”
“That’s alright, Shadescale. I can understand all this being so different.” Spike responded with assured understanding. “Though I hope you have settled yourself now?”
“I have, though I hope you have found some information on the weapon.”
“Not yet, so we have to wait until tomorrow or the day after to get some answers from our sources. That means staying here for the time being until our… uh.” A pause as Spike turned to Blacktip whom he was silently wondering if he should bring up there was another male who was also enhanced like himself. 

The green drake gave a shrug but decided to move on with the conversation. “We will get word soon, but for now let's continue to explore. There is something here for all of us, whether food, souvenirs, or something to add to your hoards.”
“Oooh! Pinwheels?!” Amethyst asked, almost taking a leap forward.
“How about food?” Garble asked, speaking for the first time since they arrived. He had been unusually silent since. “I’m starving now.”

“Food sounds wonderful!” Blacktip agreed. “The variety here is staggering!” Once more, he took lead to a part of the town where it was a block dedicated to food vendors and markets. The actual scents of various food types hit them with a powerful wave of pungent odors that varied from mild to mouth watering. Even for those who haven’t tried most foods outside of just games or gems, like Shadescale, could still feel the effects of the food varieties strike their taste buds from scent alone.

It was not just the gems that they smelled, either fried, marinated or roasting, but it was the blends of so much more that wouldn’t be found in Pony cuisines. The major big one.
Meat! Sweet, savory, tender and succulent meat! From sight alone, they saw bovine, swine, poultry, fish, insects and so many other varieties that competed with one another. Spices of all kinds heavily filled the air, cutting off any normal air in the area, tickling their noses with thousands of mixtures and signatures that dared them all to try a sample of each. 

As they walked behind Blacktip, they salivated at all the food stands and restaurants that they passed, each one making them more and more hungrier. Shadescale felt like she was overwhelmed by the scents and turned to Spike and Blacktip, as her tail swayed with ravenous hunger. “Which of these concessions may we choose? I am feeling such a craving for odd food I never knew was possible!” There was a certain agitation in her tone, but the stomach growled louder. The others seemed to agree on something with her for the first time.
“Well, whatever you want first, though note that the restaurants may take your ‘card’,” Pointing to Spike. “-More than the actual stands, so if you can we can find one that takes ‘Equestrian Credit,’ then please you may choose.”

Sensing his friends and hoard’s hunger, he quickly scanned the stands, walls, windows or other sorts of advertisements that stated they take his ‘card.’ He knew that may be difficult, as ‘Equestrian Credit’ mostly catered to Equestrians only, and the limit to them actually visiting ‘Dragon Town’ to buy cuisines seemed low, he doubled down on scouring each one. Yeah, they have gems but he wasn’t sure how the currency exchange went.
“Is there a price or set for gems, jewels and all that, Blacktip?” Spike asked his teacher.

The green drake bobbed his head side to side. “Yes but it also has to do with finiteness, purity, value and so on. Some are easy to use, others tend to be more on what they find interests in and/or whatever the market has an abundance of.” He snapped his fingers and conjured up a hefty bag that landed in his palms with a heavy set of jingles, indicating gems. “This should cover us until we can get you an ‘Equestrian bank’.”

“Should have thought of that before entering.” As the thought of only bringing a small bag's worth would have helped. He then looked up at the large bag that Blacktip had conjured. “I’m still not close to learning how to do that yet, right?”
Blacktip gave him a wink. “Patience ‘my apprentice,’ patience. Now, let's find something to fill our bellies.”

The older green drake then guided them around more, trying to see who wanted what. It was a tricky or downright difficult choice for them all, as each stand or restaurant tore them from direction to another. Was it better to eat the large steak that was being grilled over charcoal the most appetizing, or was it the deep bowl of fish stew with gems?

For them it was a war with their bellies, but they all seemed to have chosen separately from one another based on their cravings.
A stand had large bugs turned into micro-snacks on the go being deep-fried, while on the side of it had chicken burgers being made. Smolder seemed to have jumped for that with a giant chicken burger filled to the brim with toppings, sauce, gems and a side order of bugs.
Her older brother thought that giant carp soup would help him, though he quietly had them add vegetables and a heaping amount of peppers into it.
Amy and Ember seemed to agree with a large slab of pork belly intestines and snouts on kabobs with sulfur dips on the side. 
Spike and Shadescale chose a large steak, marinated in various spices that was downright mouth watering. A helping side of rubies hallowed out with ghost peppers jelly completed their order.
Lastly, Blacktip had a large charred, six foot serpent’s tail around a spear to go along with a side of sprinkles of quartz on it. 

They sat on part of a benched area, enjoying themselves as they gouged on their food. As they did, they watched more and more as the evening settled into the night, a new type of environment started. Unlike magic based or electrical ones, the street lights were lit up by dragons, though not specially assigned dragons, but just common residents.
Any dragon that passed by a lamp, would either blow directly at the lamp with flames, or those that didn’t reach, pull open a small latch from the post, flick a switch which released either fluid or gas, ignite it with a spark of their flames, and light up the area.
This was enough to spark interest for Spike to start the conversation. “Huh, so dragons just participate in lighting the street lights. There is no assigned job for a dragon or electricity?”

Blacktip took a bite of his serpent's tail, chewing for a moment before swallowing to respond. “While it is not their job or obligation, it does put the city in a better mood when dragons courteously ignite the street lights for others. The whelps or hatchlings at night to play or for the ponies who are not used to the dark.”

“That is strangely harmonious and selfless of dragons,” Ember commented lightly, albeit with slight reservations. “But with only a century, it surely couldn't have been that easy.”

“It never is with us, Lord Ember,” Blacktip sighed, as he did remember the last century of the tough uprising. “While we are not fully there yet, know that I watched huge differences rise between us from decades ago to where we are here. Between the Dragon Lands and Dragon Town, know that we can change our nature for the better.”

They ate the remainder of their meals in light chatter, with them asking questions about things here and there. Spike quickly bought more food, a fish sandwich with crispy crickets for Ralph back at the hotel.

“Now, the night life is not as glamorous as Manehattan or Las Pegasus, it does carry its own after dark.”

“You think it's safe enough for Ralph to come out then?” Smolder asked. “I mean, the Night time may help out the poor guy.”

“I would leave him for now. We do have some other non-habitable areas to explore that may now be suited for him.” No one argued so they went on. 

As they continued to explore the area, Spike pulled up to Blacktip. “Hey, can I ask you something about Dragon Town?”

Blacktip, having an understanding of what he was going to ask, responded first. “Why Dragon Town isn’t well known to most of Equestria and other dragons?” Unfazed but not denying the fact that it was such a simple but obviously complex answer, Spike nodded.
“Twilight had little to no answers about dragons and yet… here is a town dedicated to us.”

Blacktip mussed to himself, focusing on the query for a moment before responding. “Even though we are surrounded by a species we once regarded as ‘puny; or ‘weak’, we still won’t share our knowledge with them?” A small ghost of a smile formed. “At our core, we are still selfish or uncaring creatures, bent on remaining on top regardless of how society works around us or tries to control us. What anatomy we do give out, is only to keep their interests at bay, but only real Dragon doctors, biologists, and even professors are allowed to give out information on Dragon biology but to only other Dragons. Not even Celestia herself could get a hold of that information from us.” A small, cold but sad look was given to Spike. “Even if it meant to give you a chance to survive growing up.”

Spike felt annoyed and even saddened with that explanation but Blacktip then added, “When you have a whelp surviving an explosive force of a ‘grenade,’ brush off magic with ease and use pointy swords as toothpicks, what do you think goes through the mind of a pony when they feel like they cannot compete with a species this powerful?” He then bobbed his head in mental counting. “With the likes of alicorns, Discord, Tirek, demi-gods, and so on, you think they wish to know how truly weak they are on a one on one?”

A hard thought came to him, one that was recent. When he asked his mother, Celestia, about research on ‘Anti-Dragon weapons’, her funding stopped when he was born. That before him, they were looking for ways to kill or harm a dragon. Outside of tremendous force or killing them while young, it was almost impossible.
“They would do anything to gain that information to hold it over us?” He responded out loud, earning looks from the others. “We have no real weaknesses but if they ever found it, they would hold it over us like…”
“Like we would hold it over them how weak they are to us. Not every creature is infallible, as we know from the last few years of your sister and her friends stopping deities from destroying the world or causing mass hysteria. But they are not everywhere at once, hence why there is a sudden need to find ways to deal with threats on simultaneous occasions.” Blacktip finished, unapologetic. “Yet here we are, in a city surrounded by ponies, sticking to their rules, to their laws, and working almost harmoniously together.”

“Why then?” He asked. “Why live like this then? Why a secret if not, why not public? What would we gain if the whole world didn’t know that ‘Dragons’ and ‘Ponies’ can live alongside one another?”
A shrug. “Perhaps we wished to see why the world changes around the ponies and not us. The last few years have shown us that ‘ponies’ view themselves as the main characters in a world full of magic and wonder. Especially with helping save it, on multiple occasions.”
“But they are not.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. Some are the star of their own story, while others are just part of the ‘background’  yet still a part of the narrative overall. I’ve told you that before but it is true. We, the dragons here that is, chose to see how a pony's life works for whatever reason and see where it went.”
“For what purpose?” Spike asked, slowly a picture forming in his mind but not fully seeing the grand view overall.
He was given another shrug. “That I can’t answer but maybe Dragons seeing how the ponies cared, loved and cherished one another was possible or it had given us a purpose we never dreamed of. To ‘love’ thy friend, to ‘care’ for thy neighbor’ and to ‘strive’ for Harmony, may have been the catalyst for us to start working alongside them a century ago.”
 
He then stopped, forcing them all to stop as he had brought them over to a view where not only was most of Dragon Town seen, but also the city next to it.

“We may not be there yet,” He lectured on, “To fully trusting ponies yet, as we know that there are those out there, seeking ways to end us, but that should only enforce the ponies that wish for Harmony and peace to stand by us when the day comes to confront them. We have as much of a right to live and exist, alongside other creatures. Our pasts shouldn’t be defined by our future, as we have yet to be part of it. We can only move forward together and hope for a better outcome if we work to an ideal state of Harmony. Yes, there will be many hurdles and falls we will go through but this city is just the start of what a society can achieve if we strive for a better future.”

“So where do we come in to help change that for other areas?” Ember jumped in, having heard everything else. “We are still cautious with our biology, we won’t share with others, and who knows what will happen if these hunters decide how to publicly reveal how vulnerable we are.”

“That is the change happens, Ember,” Forgoing her title and treating her like another dragon. “We show the ponies here that we can be their Friends, their allies, and maybe even family. Love shouldn’t be restricted to species alone.” A small glance to Garble who dipped his head with a small blush but somewhat content no one made fun of him for it. “As for us, we start here and now by making history, not by war, but by Friendship between the species. You are the last of a generation raised by the old ways but also the first of a generation where you embrace better ones.” 

For the time, the dragons contemplated his words, absorbing what this all truly meant for them. It was a trait they admired about Blacktip, as he was the first Dragon to live between both worlds.
A dragon who lived part-at-home with his kin and grew up in a city where Dragons lived next to ponies. Spike was given these lessons from him, at the start of his training, of what it truly meant to be part of two worlds, closer to home yet distances apart. Suffice to say, he still had a lot to learn.

The interest of Blacktip and his vast intelligence hadn’t gone unnoticed, especially by a certain dragoness.
> City of Dragons Pt.3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian



A city of Dragons Pt. 3


“Oh good, this district is still going,” Blacktip confirmed as he led the group to a certain part of Dragon Town.
This was a part where some shops seemed to remain open a little later than others, which mirrored Manehattan life but smaller.

“These businesses here are smaller and less corporate based, hence the freedom of hours during the night.” He then pointed to a few well lit and even still busy shops. “Ever since I and Princess Luna helped stop the ‘Firesnail’ incident, more shops have stayed open longer as a way to show appreciation not only for the Princess of the Night, but also how we can be just as active as ponies have become to the Twilight hours.”

“Wow, and here I thought we would never try to skip on sleeping or staying up as late as possible.” Ember commented lightly, as they passed a shop for ‘Scale Wax’
“And the fact you are not a celebrity surprises me further,” Spike added, as many dragons passed them by, giving him or Blacktip a nod or a ‘What’s up!’ but nothing else. 
“I did not want to become one,” Blacktip responded adamantly. He gave a small snort. “No real benefit for my life, for it's already hectic with ‘training’ you, my other job as a Scholar, Historian, etc. I can’t even follow current ‘sports’ news or which actual ‘celebrity’ is famous now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I was one of your burdens,” Spike faux frowns towards him, though the glint in his eyes said something else.

“Not falling for it, my apprentice,'' a smooth reply from the elder drake. “Last I check, it's always the students that get under the teacher’s tail and makes their lives a pain up their-”

“Is that a music shop?” Garble suddenly interrupted, pointing at a shop indeed carrying instruments. 
“Hey, they have a dress shop!” Smolder exclaimed almost excitedly.
“Oh, even a souvenir shop!” Amethyst pointed at. 

“Perhaps we can split up and meet once we are done shopping or exploring?” Blacktip suggested to the others. 
They all agreed, with Spike eying a certain shop that looked like a ‘Comic shop’. “Sure, Let's all meet back here. I can give you some gems and you can buy whatever you want.”

Once evenly distributed, they all separated with Shadescale actually going with Blacktip. He was seeking a book store for some new literature to add. Shadescale seemed interested in knowledge herself, if for reasons of her own.

Spike, on his own, saw the sign for comics on a slab of granite over the door, aptly named, Dragon Town Comics. It was lit with a few patrons inside, giving him a small skip in his step at being able to not only enter a comic shop after a few… err, well a year and more since he bought any of the last ones of his issues, but also for doing late night shopping.

He entered through the door, instantly hit with a wave of nostalgia and nerdness overload. The shop, almost typical to ones in Canterlot or Ponyville, had posters of famous comics, best sellers or upcoming ones. The scent of glossy vinyl, the soft sounds of muttering or page flipping and the oh so delectable atmosphere of where nerds, geeks and other fantasy seeking creatures thrive in the delicate and otherworldly environments. Despite the rocky environment suited for Dragons, it still held a comfortable atmosphere that most shops that sold comics carried through and through.

Yet the thing that stood out to him the most was the various types of comics, not just pony based, that were on the shelves. In fact, if Spike didn’t know any better, they had more variety of other creatures then some of the better shops anywhere else he had been to. ‘Amazing Mule, Super Stallion, Iron Pony, and of course… Power Ponies. He understood that selections would be limited to dragons, even in a town of dragons.

“Well ‘Hello Handsome!” Causing Spike to turn and see a dragoness greet him. She was as tall as Smolder, had two short but thick horns on her head, with a pink frill that she styled almost like hair. She had light blue scales clashing her overall tan scale colors, which only added to allure with a pink shape heart at the tip of her tail. Her aquamarine eyes were half lidded as she stared into Spike’s own green ones.
Blinking and realizing she was calling for him, he gave a small wave to her. “Uh… Hello?”

Almost in a seductive like manner, she strolled her way to him, standing at chest height to him. “Haven’t seen you around these parts before, you're new in town? Name’s Mina by the way,” Giving him a wink.
Spike nodded, not completely oblivious to her attractive tone towards him but making no remarks towards them. 
“Yeah… just passing through and what not.”
“I’ll say, I know many dragons around here but you are definitely a new face,” She paused and worked up a grin. “A handsome one at that.”

He gave a sheepish grin in turn with a slight blush. “T-Thanks for that, but I am… uh with a Hoard right now-”
“Room for one more?” She immediately asked, catching him off guard.
Spike stuttered, unsure how the others would react to hearing this, but the young dragoness giggled and waved at him. “It’s alright, I know who you are and I gotta say, it’s pretty amazing having the Great and Amazing, Spike Sparkle Sol here in my shop.” She strolled closer and she put off her flirtatious attitude away… for now.
Sighing but smiling kindly, he nodded. “Yeah, I figured I’d be noticed around here, though I’m glad that it's not a huge status thing around here.”

“Shame, most love seeking that fame around here for one reason or another, but it’s your life, your choice. You either keep it how you want it and that’s Red Rubies for me.” 
“Red Rubies?” He asked, as if the thought of it made him actually look around for them.
“It’s an expression, like it means ‘Cool’ or ‘Awesome’, around these parts.”

“Huh, well that’s cool… err, ‘Red Rubies’ then?”
She tittered and nodded. “Sure, Anyways, you here to browse or you got something in mind?”
He gave a glance at her selection wall. “To be honest, it's been awhile since I’ve had a chance to update my last collection and I'm kinda hesitant to buy them,” He paused and tried to think about it really hard. Since his permanent home was now at the Dragon Lands with his Hoard, he had only been getting a few scant of his things here and there from Twilight and that included some of his comics, which due to his training, hadn’t given time to check which issues he had. 
“Why is that?” Mina asked.
Giving a hard look to the wall, with Mina by his side, he sighed. “Truth be told, The last one I bought turned out to be enchanted and sucked my friends and me into this superhero adventure where they all got captured by an evil villain.”
“Heavy stuff buddy.” She gave a wave to her wall. “Well none of them here are magical in any way and won’t suck you in, other than the stories that is, so maybe you can find something to add to your horde.” She then flicked her hair with a smile. “Something worthy of actually holding onto for later.”
“Do you have a hoard?” He asked curiously.
She pointed behind her counter where a picture of her, Princess Luna and Blacktip had taken. There was also a signed copy of comics, featuring Luna by Luna as well as some 'fan work'.
“Just my signed issues of comics, fan-fics that I have of her, though she thought my shipping with her and Sombra, was kinda odd, I still have it small compared to others." A shrug. "I'm happy with what I got."
Feeling the atmosphere became friendlier, he nodded. “Sure, what’s good? My last few have been pony based with an occasional dragon on the side character status.”
“Oh, we have plenty with them serving as protagonists, especially the biggest one to date!” She then reached up and grabbed one featuring a dragoness in front with a mask. Presenting it to him, she gleamed as she introduced him to the comic. “This here is ‘Flashfire!’ Dragon Town’s most famous ‘Dragon Hero’ ever!”

He was instantly impressed as he saw the cover, loving the details and everything with it. “Whoa.” He slowly reached out, as the comic was within his claws and saw true to word, the dragoness was a hero and not a villain or an evil side character like other comics had them. She was even on a monthly release!
“Yeah! And she was written by Scaly Sue! One of Dragon Town’s most famous artists, author and a celeb in her own right!”

“That’s… Red Rubies!” Spike’s genuine happiness made Mina’s smile grow. He began to immediately flip through the pages, seeing that she already had some years into her adventures as a heroine. “And… is she the only one right now? I would like to read other ‘Dragon based’ comics if there are others.”
She nodded, “A few, as sadly there are not that many out there, but we are hopeful others come to try and create some. It's just a downer that most ponies or other creatures won’t read comics as heroes, so they tend to get limited releases here and other parts across the country.”

Spike nodded in sympathy, understanding the nature of ponies and many, but not all, with their sided view of themselves. “I’m sure one day we’ll get there. I mean, with Equestria allowing more and more creatures into the land, who knows? We’ll get there, you’ll see.”

The glint, the smile and the warm attitude all sent the dragoness’s heart fluttering, as he was a gentle drake like she has heard and read about. Even despite his status and how big he truly is without realizing it, his heart seemed to be bigger but thinking of those like her and the common dragon. Feeling like he was the only one she could trust with this, she gave a gracious nod.
“I’ve written some fanfictions, dabbling here and there. But…I-m… I’m trying to write my own comic, though I was wondering if you could… you know, check to see if it's any good?” A blush formed on her face, not knowing if it was wise to fully trust a stranger, even if he was a well known one.

Spike blinked and quickly nodded. “Ah, sure! Why not! I do love a good new story! And if it'll help you get your comic off the ground, I am more than happy to give it a quick glance!”

Heart hammering with glee, she almost lept at him with such joy, but she restrained herself… with a lot of effort and merely bounced on her feet. “Oh thank you! I’ll…. I’ll go to them in the back!” She then took off with a speed that would make Pinkie nod in approval, especially for a dragon.

He watched her go and decided to wait, with the comic of Flashfire still in claw. He began to read it, this being a new issue and see what it was.

‘After months of fighting with Ice Dragon, getting past her to try to find her arch nemesis, ‘Black Mystic’, she was ready to confront the fiend of unimaginable proportions. A pony with stolen artifacts and powers from others ponies he had destroyed, that granted him with powers that rivaled that of an alicorn.
‘The Horn of Fallen Star, The Wings of Saber Wind, The Gauntlets of Thunder Charge and the Saddle of Iron Mountain, made him nearly unstoppable.

Yet, for her , she would fight this vile villain one last time, even if it meant at the cost of her own life. For the safety of Dragonkin and Otherkin on Draconnite!

The pages then showed the Dragoness, Flashfire, ready to confront her arch nemesis. It was a male stallion, who looked like an alicorn but with magical items that surrounded him, along with sickly green energy that reminded him awfully of Sombra, The Dark King of the Crystal Empire. A golden horn, a pair of razor metal wings, a pair of silver gauntlets, and a saddle that looked like something Big Mac would enjoy wearing.

He got so invested in the story he hadn’t realized that Mina returned with page scripts in claw. “Here we are,” Spike paused his reading, turning to the dragoness and saw at least a pamphlet with pages.
“Wow, you must have been working on these for a while, huh?”

An eager nod with a hopeful outlook came to the slightly smaller pink tan dragoness. “Yup! I’ve been trying to bring my characters to life for years now!” She pointed to drawn out or sketched characters in a few pages.
Each one was created in charcoal, but the detail was exquisite. The characters were obviously draconic in nature, a female dragoness as the main protagonist, but with a male love interest and a changeling side-kick. 
What caught his eye however, was the male love interest to the female hero, who kinda looked a little bit like him. In fact, it looked a lot like him now, but a bit more… masculine and… buff. In truth, it’s how he would imagine one he would grow into but less draconic. Square snout, macho look, the works, etc.

A small blush worked its way to him, seeing that perhaps he may have inspired her to put him in it. But then again, she had been writing this for years now, so she may have discovered another dragon that may have looked like him. 

After all, he had been in a coma for a year since and had only been in the public eye for about a couple months. Still… It was uncanny. He read the synopsis about the heroine. 

Elementra, the Dragoness! 
A normal dragoness Verdera Whitescale, who worked with ‘Search and Rescue’ efforts across the world, helping creatures of many kinds. From ponies, to griffins, to mules, and even mysterious creatures never seen before like Gargoyles, and Kirins!
	A major storm hit the northern islands and flooded half of them, she was sent on mission to help those in need. Pony, dragon and other kin alike, she did her best to rescue as many of them as possible. However a sudden flash flood caught her and her team off guard. In an attempt to save a filly from drawing, she threw her to safety just as the big wave took her down. 
	The dragoness later woke up, alive and in a  mysterious part of the jungle where it led to a lost temple. Compelled to explore, she finds herself within the tome of an ancient god, who's the natives once worshiped.

	The god awoke, used its divinity to stare into the soul and saw a beautiful and caring creature, seeking to aid those in need. Touched, the god bestowed her with vast powers over the elements, able to harness them to her will. She is empowered with the forces of nature itself, destined to protect those in need and nature itself.

	She christened the name, Elementra, and became the superheroine the world needs. Along her adventures, she falls in love with a colleague and close friend of hers, Shard Spiketail, and together they-


	It goes on in detail about how their love blossoms and such, but also the troubles of secret identities, power surges, and more. It really was a well written comic preview and he actually thinks this was worth something.

“Wow Mina, this truly can be something awesome!” His tone, genuine, intuitive and pleased, had her heart soaring and her mind reeling with joyous hope. Hearing it from a famous dragon and an idol no less, really had her happy beyond words. As he continued to study her work, he looked at her. “Why haven’t you tried to publish this before?”

A blush came to her once more and she tapped her claw tips together. “Uh, truth be told, I’m kinda nervous about publishing right now and with the whole Firesnail incident, I didn't know if it would be possible to do so.”
“Well, nothing should be holding you back Mina. You are smart, talented by the looks of it and not to mention that you do have an eye for telling a good story.”

Her baby blue eyes shimmered, as his words breached her heart and filled her heart with so much hope and admiration.

“You can honestly publish this today and be a hit tomorrow or if not, someday. Don’t give up because of minor inconveniences or life gets you down. We all have our lives to live, our legacies to leave and now is the best time to do all of that. So if you truly want to go out and make a name for yourself, do so and let no one, nothing stop you. I think you have what it takes to be the best comic book artist out there.”

He continued on, almost beyond words to her mind. It almost played like a romance novel for her in her mind, as the most handsome and amazing drake that had ever entered her life, gave her something that no one else ever had.

Hope…

And that came from someone she had just met, yet the feeling like he had always been there, made it that much more magical. It was such a powerful feeling that she hadn’t noticed how much she had been staring into his deep emerald eyes, that they seemed to be getting closer and bigger and…

“Uh Mina?” She blinked, her mind returning and refocusing as she realized that she had unintentionally leaned ever closer to him and it looked like she wanted to kiss him. He was a bit uncomfortable but also flustered by her sudden affinity that he knew all too well. “Again, while I am flattered by what you think of me, I already have three dragonesses in my life right now.”
Blushing madly and overwhelmed with embarrassment, she pulled back and rubbed her arms with tinted cheeks. “S-Sorry Spike. I-I just never had any dragon tell me such things before and it's kinda… nice to hear them, especially from a dragon as wonderful as you.” She had a knack for speaking her mind, but it was always with a positive or meaningful intent for others. It's why she felt right saying this outloud to him. 
He smiled, content with her words. “And I appreciate that you are taking them to heart, but I meant what I said. You can do this if you put your mind and heart to it. You just have to give it a shot and hope for the best.”

She nodded, still bashful but merry with everything he had said. “Thanks again Spike. And I hope you are right. I do want these out. I want to be remembered for writing a comic book and contributing to our kind's greatness.”

“And I can’t wait to read it as soon as they are published.”
Beaming, she looked back towards her shop. “Well, if they can fill my wall, then wish me the best. But besides that, are you still looking for more comics then?”

And so, the two dragons spent almost a half hour, browsing and rejogging his memory of missing issues, new issues, and new choices. With what he had ended up being well over 25 comics, from issues of Power Ponies, to new series of Flashfire, and another dragon based one called Dragonknight. This particular one was also new with just four issues coming out, but the setting was that of a dragon avenger who used high tech armor to fight crime. Each time he used the armor however, it became difficult  to remove the armor, as it became bonded to him more and more after every use.

He brought out some gems to pay, which Mina almost refused right away. “It’s alright Spike, I insist.”
“Yeah no,” He fired back, placing them on the counter right away and pushing back as he got his comics in claw. “I know you are going to be generous and all, but I still would feel bad, especially for any business to take a loss no matter how small.” He made sure there was extra. “Besides, I think I owe you for introducing me to new comics and giving me something to look forward to.”

Mina sighed with happiness, knowing that the drake truly had a huge heart, wishing that she could be part of his hoard. Maybe… maybe in some other lifetime…

	“Thanks Mina, I wish you the best with your comics. I hope your wish comes true.”

“As do I Spike,” A pause then her voice lowered. “You gonna be in town for a while?”
Spike gave a shrug. “To be honest, I am not sure but for now only here only for two days to get some… uh professional work done at the University.”

Mina seemed to nod as she glanced out the window. “That explains why Blacktip is here again. Hadn’t seen him since the ‘Firesnail incident' with Luna. But either way, before you leave town, maybe you can say goodbye or if you stay any longer, get some lunch with you, your hoard and Blacktip.”

Spike gave a smile, liking the idea. “Sure Mina, I’ll be sure to let you know. I’ll see you later then.”

As he waved ‘goodbye’ and headed out, Mina called out to him. “Oh and Spike?” He stopped at the door, turned to her and saw her give a ‘Kindle’ in the air with a wink. “I wasn’t lying about me asking the whole… ‘Room for another’ bid”

It wasn’t sultry nor sarcastic, as she did speak her mind, but the way she looked seemed that she was definitely in… if not a little more than just suggesting it to him.

He blushed and gave her a quick, “GoodBye Mina!” and walked out quickly to meet the others.

Once out, he sighed and shook his head.

“Why do I always get the odd girls out trying to hit on me?”
> The Dragon and the Yeti
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian



The Dragon and the Yeti



Spike visited a few more shops, buying other things including souvenirs and even a filter mask for ponies that he felt like Ralph would need. After, he saw that the others had also recently returned, as the twilight had long turned to night time. The city was evenly lit, the populace somewhat shrunk but still held its own crowd, and the atmosphere remained alive.

Shadescale and Blacktip returned first, with his teacher carrying a large saddle’s worth of books while Shadescale seemed content with a print or two on a small satchel. Amy came out happily with half-skipping, half-flapping out of the souvenir shop with bags full of… Wistala knew what… in them, with the bag bulging at the seams. However, the cost seemed to be worth it as he hadn’t seen her so happy in awhile.
Next came Smolder, who also seemed to be beaming as her bags were more assorted and with seemingly luxury brand names for her dresses and whatever else her little heart desired. She was wearing a navy blue vest, beanie and summer skirt while holding her bags. The beanie was between her two short horns while the vest allowed room for wings to go through and her skirt was weighted so it didn’t flap in the wind or when she flew to expose her nether region much.

Spike had to admit… she looked pretty darn cute and dare he say… far more elegant wearing clothes then without them. He did wonder what other sort of clothing she had bought that would make her… stand out.

They all met, but were missing one blue dragoness. “Where’s Ember?” He asked them all, looking around the area for his mate.

Amy shrugged. “She was with me but then one of the shops nearby caught her attention. Don’t know which one though.” They all scanned for ones that would catch her eyes and briefly sought to check each one.

However, one of the more… ‘claws on’ shops opened up with their dragoness walking out. As she did, there was a certain… atmosphere around her, a touch if you will, that seemed to follow her. She looked sluggish but also content, as if a weight had been lifted off of her. Along with that, she was blushing madly and it didn’t help that a large drake followed her out the door.

Said drake was larger than Spike, taller too, with muscles that would make both Garble and himself envious. With dark brown scales, white underbelly and large wings, the drake was intimidating, but he held a calm, collective look with an atmosphere akin to zen-like. There was a line going out the door too, with mostly female dragons in waiting, seemingly for the drake alone. A few were almost eagerly waiting at their next chance to get a go from the male.

Ember, still madly blushing, saw those she knew, stare back at her with curious or questioning eyes. Rubbing her arm, she slowly, if albeit staggered footsteps, made her way to them.

Spike, both curious and somewhat worried, approached her. “Hey, you alright?” As he came closer, she nodded but briefly looked back to the place she just came from.
“Uh… yeah… I-I just…. went-t in to check and… he uh… he offered me-e a mass… mess-age?”

Spike blinked, looked at her, then at the building with the waiting dragonesses. Judging by the subtle light odor of lavender around her, less then tense attitude and her maddening blush by the larger drake, Spike had a half suspicion that she went for a ‘physical experience’ which she was not used to.

“You got a massage?” He asked out loud, prompting everyone to really look at her with questionable curiosity. Of the group, only one of them didn’t know what a ‘massage’ was but that was outside of her knowledge of pony customs. 

Ember almost flinched, before she nodded, almost hanging her head, in what looked like defeat. He half wondered why she was so calm but also either shy or embarrassed about what she went through. Moving closer, he laid a gentle arm on her. “You alright?” Upon contact, she winced but nodded.
“Yeah uh… I-I never had a ma-massage?”
“Massage,” He lightly corrected, still listening.
A nod. “Yeah and it was… uh great?” He blinked, expecting more. Her eyes kept averting from him and she grew more red than possible. “A-A male… uh… he did- uh…” She couldn’t even say it, forcing him to briefly look up and now worry consumed him, thinking this male may have done more than she was getting for in a massage.
“Did he-”
“I have never felt that kinda pressure relief before in my life!” She practically blurted out, clamping her mouth shut, causing all those around her to look at her wide eyed or astonished. It was unlike her to reveal so much or something so personal but also, what made the situation more odd, was the fact that she actually looked… relaxed, if not just a bit overstimulated from being worked on so physically.

Spike gave a slow nod, as if starting to understand the situation more. Her wording was something to be picked on but he understood that she never knew that her body could feel that kind of relief, so the feeling was alien.

“So you feel what, good? Calm? Better?”

“Hmmm yeah,”

“Then I don’t see the problem.”

She shyly leaned in close to him to whisper. “It was another male, Spike. I have never had a male touch me other than you.”
“As long as you felt comfortable and he didn’t take advantage of you, that is fine.”
She looked up at him, looking for any doubt in his eyes. Finding none, she relaxed more, almost slumping into him, resting most of her weight on him, forcing him to keep her up. “I… I need to lie down now. I don’t think I can really walk… or fly… or stand… or anything.”

A small smile grew on him. “He really worked you hard, didn’t he?”

“You know we can hear you two right?” Amy spoke out loud. “And everything she just said sounds like she just got…” A pause as she looked at Blacktip then her environment before nodding as she remembered the word. “Like she just got ‘fucked’ hard, right? Like the male just fucked her like no tomorrow.”
Spike, Blacktip and even Smolder slapped their faces hard in disbelief at the choice words coming from Amethyst. This more or less made Ember blush all the more and wanted to use the Scepter to permanently silence their hoard member. Shadescale looked more confused than ever at what was transpiring, while Garble was the one who looked really uncomfortable between wanting to burst out laughing and holding it all in as he heard that. Smolder elbowed him to stow it but he couldn’t help himself.

“Amethyst, please, just… ugh. I can’t even begin to correct you on that wording.” Blacktip bemoaned with intense scrutiny, which had her earning a hard smack from Smolder. She visibly recoiled hard enough to stumble, that even Garble flinched from that one. Blacktip shook his head then focused on them, choosing to ignore the rest of Amethyst's whine. “Come, I believe that it's late enough for us to turn in for the night.”

Not arguing, they retreated back to the hotel with Spike helping his… overly relaxed mate back. She seemed more embarrassed than actually sore or worn, but it didn’t help with how the situation ended. Her knees shook, her body was sore but in a nice way and her wings felt heavy. Overall, it targeted a spot in her psyche she never knew of.

As they walked back, they noticed that a lot of shadows conjured the skies, as if they were being watched by some shadowy figures, seeking prey. A small squint and part of his vision enhanced by his draconic inheritance showed that it was dragons flying overhead. Not many but quite a few were casually in the skies.
“What’s with the dragons flying overhead?” Spike asked Blacktip, still making sure to focus on the road as he talked..
Looking up, he gave a small smile. “You can ‘Thank me’ and ‘Princess Luna’ for that matter. Since the ‘Firesnail Incident’, a new job known as the ‘Fire watch’ was created. These dragons take on the ‘shifts’ to monitor for any more incidents of fire. They not only check here but also for most of Fillydelphia too, plus it is a sorta of ‘fire brigade’ adjacent to the fire department. We are naturally resistant to fire, so it would make sense that Dragons are the better fire fighters. However, to avoid any more surprise ‘incidents’ again from Firesnails, the short job time is to keep an eye out in case they return.”

That did make a Tartarus amount of sense and Spike truly found himself beyond awed but happy that dragons do carry out roles that would normally be dangerous to ponies or non-flame retardant creatures.

He hoped that the future offered more opportunities for a joint community. 


As they arrived back at the hotel, the others went to their own separate rooms. Shadescale had no idea how to use the rooms, so Blacktip offered to assist her. Amy and Smolder went to their room with Ember in their arms. She was still blushing at what she went through but was finally allowing it to take hold of her.

Spike went to the room of Ralph with food and merchandise in tow. Upon reaching his door, he knocked, “Hey Ralph, it's Spike! Got you food!”

There was a shuffle for the door as the yeti made his way over. Upon opening the door, he felt a chilly draft hit him as the cold air from the A.C. seemed to have made an ultimately chilled climate within. A chill ran down his spine and he wrapped his wings around him.
“Oh mare, dude. You got this whole place colder than the Crystal Empire. This area hasn’t been kind to you?”
As he asked, he handed his Yeti friend the back of food and merchandise, which included a few comics, travel souvenirs, and the filter. 

“Bad Air out there.” He mused lightly. “Safe here, Not struggling.”
“Well, I hope this makes up for it. I even got you a filter that may help out and some food.”

The yeti was ecstatic about receiving such gifts, let alone from Spike. Their short time had formanted a quick friendship that he had never known of. Most yeti don’t do friendship with other species, let alone dragons.
Spike gave him a still warm Fish Sandwich, along with crispy crickets in the bag. “Sorry,” Spike apologized, earning a glance from the yeti. “Wasn’t sure what you would eat but I figured nothing wrong with a fish sandwich and maybe some crickets?”
His giant furred friend glowed with adoration at the choice, as he quickly opened up the bag. The strong whiff of a deep fried fish with mouth watering toppings along with fried crickets that came with seasoning, was almost too good to be true.

Excitedly, he tore through the sandwich and lifted his face mask as he practically chewed the sandwich with raw hunger. Spike was a bit thrown off briefly but smiled as the yeti ate his meal with much gusto. The crispy crickets were no match either, as he dumped the bag in his mouth. The delightful grunts that left him had Spike know that he did well with food selection.

“Glad to know that you liked what I got you Ralph,” Spike responded sincerely. While it didn’t bother him in the slightest, the fact he couldn’t really bring him out to enjoy the scenery was the only real problem. “I’m sorry you’re just stuck in here for the time being.”

The yeti, satisfied with his meal, lowered his mask down and gave him a look of indifference followed by content mirth. “You here for you.” His gruff but tame voice came through the mask. He even briefly marveled at the filter, a cylinder attachment customized for his mask, scrutinizing it for a time before setting it aside on his bed to be messed with later. “You need help with Kin. Family. Nothing stronger than Family. Then Kin Survival.”

Nodding, Spike sighed. “Yeah, I guess I am here to help my kin. The survival of one’s species or kin is the core of every species in Equestria and perhaps beyond that.” A pause then he turned curiously towards the yeti. You know, I… and perhaps most of us don’t know much about you guys. I mean, we don’t know much about the Yeti in general.”

The bobbing of the furred giant told him that was understandable. “Yeti Never leave Storm Mountains. Island is Home. Rare to leave. Rarer to come back Without Help.”
Spike blinked. “Help? You mean like… aid from allies?” 
The yeti shook his head. “Ships. Storm Ships. Travel easier. Ships carry everything. To Survive, We need Cold. Storm Ships carry All.”

That made sense, earning a nod. “Yeah, your kind aren’t really made for warmer climates. It must be literal Tartarus for you to be out here.”

A soft nod from Ralph, but he pounded his chest with a clawed fist. “Yeti Strong! Must endure! We are Warriors! To survive outside, is to survive all! Longest Warriors survive Years from home!”

“Longest warriors?” He pondered outloud. “Like living outside of home? Outside of your area?” A strong nod. “Are you one?”

Another nod. “My name is ‘Ru-lff’ in mother tongue. Language is Yetinese as called by Ponies. Language home called ‘Yuti’. Pony name ‘Ra-lph’. ‘Ru-llff’ in Yuti. It means ‘Roar Heart.’ Heart in Strong Place in Pony Language.”

“Huh,” Spike responded with delighted insight. He didn’t really know or perhaps, no one really knew what Ralph’s name meant. Then again, the Yeti haven’t been known that long since the Storm King’s defeat or the few that remained in Equestria. “So should I… or everyone to start calling you by the right name? I don’t want to be taking a part of you or your namesake for granted.”

The yeti brimmed brightly with the insightful chivalry of the drake, as he had been known throughout the many stories and tales from ponies in Ponyville. His heart was just as big and as thoughtful as he himself.

The thoughtful drake was given a negative for that. “No. You are friend. Grand friend. You treat ‘Ra-lph’ like friend when just met. Call ‘Ra-lph’ as Ralph. You care for Ralph. Much Appreciation.”
“Well sure Ralph. You are a friend. Smolder says that you have been good friends to most of Ponyville and even other creatures. I would be honored to have you as a ‘grand friend.’ Though I would like to know more about you and your culture. I’m not sure what you could tell me but maybe what you feel comfortable with.”

The yeti thought for a moment before agreeing. “Spike earned story for tonight. Tell story of ‘Yuti’.” He brought up his pad and drew small illustrations, though some he had already started or had stored in his back pad. He gave a quick drawing of a mountain with a storm hanging overhead. 
‘Many storms Ago… Time of Strive. Time of Isolation. Time before ‘No Stories’. Great White ruled over Mountains. The first Yuti, “Ab’omi-na’ble. Meaning ‘First Ice-Rock Walker.’ First Yuti.” He showed a drawing of a Yeti going from crawling to walking on two’s.
Spike tried not to smile at the fact of the name; as he realized where the name origin came from, but remained silent, allowing Ralph to continue his historic tale. 
“Ab’omi-na’ble’ or ‘Ab’o’, took first steps. Started gathering more ‘Yuti’ to stand. Lead the first tribe in mountains, then more generations followed. When first big storm hit, we created first stories and then, became Storm Creatures. Storms made us strong and mighty. We became Warriors of Storms.”
The yeti briefly paused as if wondering how much could be said. Some words translated well, others not so much as ponies still had no comprehension to a lot of words in Yuti. Yes, they had multiple languages on their own but this was more on the ears of those who ‘growl’, ‘bark’ or other harsh vocals. Perhaps he could find a day to write everything and make it legible for ‘Equestrian’. He refocused back on the story.
“Story is First of Stories. But after first ‘Yuti’ and first Tribe, Yuti ventured out of Home Mountains. Not many make back.” He then showed some older art from his pad, showing figures of Yuti leaving but never coming back. Only one. “First to come back, told us of lands beyond. Creatures of Fire, creatures of Air, Earth. Creatures of forests, underearth and water-” He paused to show some of those drawings before showing the last to clarify. Dragons, Rocs, Deer, Sea Serpents, and so on. He then showed pictures of ponies and then unicorns with magic surrounding them. “Creatures of ‘Nelle’. ‘Magic’ in Pony tongue.” Spike nodded in quick understanding. “Creatures ‘Nelle-Immora”, or ‘Magical Gods or Immortals.’ To many to ever remember but are strongest known.” He showed pictures of ancient alicorns, Cyclops, Dragons, Draconequui, and what looked like a big Ram of sorts. Though a quick note Spike kept in the back of his mind was that Celestia, or Luna were not drawn as he knew them, rather… these alicorns were shown as larger, with bigger wings, longer mane or tails. Not to mention they had armor and were more than just the two. Discord was the obvious Draconequus but… there were two of them, which he would have to ask him later. 
The dragons, while obvious, had four wings instead of two. One was even depicted with five heads; perhaps a Hydra may be mistaken for a dragon? But it also had wings?
The Ram remained an enigma to him however as he had no idea what or who that represented.

Ralph continued on with more illustrational drawings of Yuti building structures. “After many left, many returned, new metals, new ‘Nelle’ learned, Yuti learned to build. Learned to fight stronger, bigger creatures. Warriors given names for those ‘Brave’, ‘Strong,’ or ‘Fearless.’ Greatest warrior led entire tribes off home to search better fight. Better honor.” Ralph then showed him pictures of the Sun and the Moon moving overhead, indicating a passage of time. “Many suns and moons later, Yuti was given a new leader. Given new purpose, to move on, to fight wars.”
A quick drawing was scribbled down with the Yuti giving much details. “We grew stronger, we learned to find lands, to explore and expand.” He then flipped the pad over and showed Spike.
Spike felt a small chill run down his spine, which was further made worse by the freezing air in the room. In the picture, it showed the figure, easily identifiable as ‘The Storm King’, leading the Yuti off their lands in floating ships with storm clouds surrounding them.

“Strum Lun, became ‘Storm King’. Lead age of ‘Fighting’ and ‘War.’ For many moons… Yuti fought and won.” A drop in his tone, emphasizing on how bad that sounded to Spike and perhaps to anyone else who heard it. A bob of his head. “Yuti only know History of ‘War’ and ‘Conquest.”
His final drawing showed an army led by the ‘Storm King’ through various lands. Two pages, back to front, showed the lands of the felines, ‘Abyssians’, ‘Outlands’ and no doubt, a depiction of the mountain of ‘Aris’, home to the Hippogriffs. All being conquered, destroyed and overtaken. One page showed a unicorn with a broken horn joining and leading a charge. No doubt, this was Tempest Shadow. Her name was written as “Vrum Drred.”

Ralph then concluded his story. “Strum Lun’ lead of promises, of War, of conquest. We gave him ‘Storm King’ Title as first true conqueror.” A slow pause as he lowered his pad down and looked towards Spike. “Now… he's gone.”

“And with him gone?” Spike hesitated to ask him, as if to remind him that he had lost and was a stoned prisoner.

Ralph gave thought as he was in a small mental debate with himself. His beady eyes remained focused on the floor for the moment, until he slowly raised his eyes to meet Spike.

“Now he is… ‘Cado Lun.’ In Yuti, ‘Fallen King’ for now.”
There was silence for the moment, as Spike absorbed that, but his mind wouldn’t allow him to settle on just that negative end. While he couldn’t blame the Yeti for what their history was, he didn’t like what it had started out as. It was simple mindedness… no, he couldn’t even say that either as that would be too ignorant. They understood ‘nelle’ and ‘craftsmanship’ in order to leave their homes, so they were not one-sided creatures, as they were raised with little else other than ‘conquest’ and ‘war’. But outside of that, where would that leave them in an age of ‘Harmony’ and ‘Peace?’ What were soldiers and fighters without the fight?

Looking at him, he opted to break the silence for something more lighthearted and hopefully something different. “So… what would I have a name in your language or be something in your tongue?”

The yeti thought for a moment before nodding as he was reminded of his namesake in Yuti. “Spike is ‘Scrik Dragg’a-llff. You're named like Great Dragon in Stars, Draco.” Spike blinked, almost thrown off as another species knew of his ‘gods’ so to speak, acknowledging the deity or so in kind. While not odd, outside of dragons, he never heard of other species mention ‘Draco’ as a deity. Was that part of their history too? He didn’t get to ask, “You are ‘ Spike Dragon Heart’, in Yuti.” The yeti briefly tittered to himself as if saying it was a joke.
“Only name we can give. You have ‘Heart’ as big as ‘Big Dragons’. You protect your family. You protect friends. You helped and protected ‘not-friends’ then turned to friends.” The yeti nodded once more before he lightly pounded his clawed fist over where his heart was then pointed at Spike. “You are Ralph’s friend and friend amongst Yeti. Highest Praise. Highest Honor is to be ‘-llff’ with title. Few are with names of ‘Heart’, ‘Brave’, ‘Strong’ or ‘Fearless’. Outside Yuti.” He recalled it lightly.

Spike felt humbled, damned right honored to be named as such, in another culture. His actions warranted the Yeti to give him such titles and more. Not because of his achievements but mostly because of his ability to think of others before himself. His ability to see beyond the veil or the mask to find the heart of others led him to be recognized by other cultures. As it was, he just met the Yeti but he felt happy to know so much about a different culture and how they viewed him.

“Wow Ralph, I don’t know what to say.” Spike responded sincerely, somewhat bashful about it too.
The Yeti once more bobbed his head. “You are Dragon Friend, friend to ‘Ralph’, friend to ‘Yuti’.” He repeated. “Ever meet more Yuti, say- “Lu’ Mr Scrik Dragg’a-llff! Law Ru-llff.” A pause to translate. “I am Spike Dragonheart! Friend to Ralph.” 

Spike muttered those words in memory to keep it in mind, saying them outloud until he essentially burned it in his mind. Nodding, he gave a smile to the yeti. “I got it, thanks Ralph. I’m kinda glad to know you just a bit more.”
The yeti bobbed his head like wise. “Appreciate. Spike, good Friend.” Both reached up and bumped their fists, showing the first bond the two shared after their small introduction on the train.

Once greeted, Spike wished him a ‘Good Night’, returning to his room. Once the dragon left, the Yeti was giddy and immediately turned back to his pad. He began to write down the highlights as well as a small illustration of him and Spike. “First Friends with Dragon!” He wrote it down with much glee.
> Journal of the Archivist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian



Journal of the Archivist 




Blacktip had helped Shadescale settle into her room, which had her a bit claustrophobic with its smaller size. “Just remember, the door can be locked or open with claws and I’m right next door if you need me.” He gently reminded her.
It was a spacious room, definitely big enough but still, it was not her ideal of being surrounded by four walls and a ceiling.

Nodding, she gave a small bow of her head. “Thank you Archivist Blacktip. I’ll… be sure to accumulate in time.” With some hesitance leaving her but he knew that she was intelligent enough.

He nodded with a smile and left. “Good Night then,” Walking out of her room and closing the door with his tail. Sure enough, the next door over held his room and just like the rest of the hotel, this was designed for dragons his stature. Opening the door, he was greeted with a large bed, a washroom meant for his size and a desk to read or write. While technology has improved over the years, the most advanced thing in here was a radio in the corner and the lights.

He opted to quickly head over to the desk area and settled the books in his satchel to the side. While he was ecstatic to be back here, a bit of more hopefulness came as he was once more in the presence of Ivory. He had missed him very much and while it was not uncommon for dragons to be a part for long periods of time, it was time itself that made him slowly aware of how much it can pass without one knowing. Yes, a year to a dragon is but a blink of an eye, but knowing that with everything transpiring all around them and the world, much change happens without one realizing it. 
A passage of time without acknowledgement is a failure to understand the value of life and the precious moments they had, even if you were long lived.

He settled on the desk, turning on the light by it before snapping both of his claws. One his right claw, was a white feathered quill and on his left… a journal. His personal journal that was. One he had touched in awhile. At least, one that didn’t see much action.
Sighing, he opened it up and read the last entry. 



‘Year 6055 of the 2nd Draconic Era, 1st Half Moon Cycle of Spring. 
Year 1022 of Equine Era, Tuesday the 3rd.



	“Hmm, the day of the ‘Firesnail’ incident a few months ago.” He mused to himself out loud. That was his last entry. Before that, was his introduction to the Princesses of Equestria and the knowledge of ‘Spike’s past in the months before that. And then… his last entry in this journal was almost two whole years. Even then his entry before that was acknowledging the presence and powers that the ponies had to fight in with the likes of ‘Nightmare Moon’, ‘Discord’ and other villains. 

“Hmm, how time flies, even for me,” He mused. Still, it bothered him that he didn't update anything. He didn’t like leaving long gaps as it felt… unorganized and part of his mind felt uneasy.

“No time like now to start,” He set the journal on the desk. He blew a small flame at the tip, charring it a bit, before writing his date and a new entry.



‘Year 6055 of the 2nd Draconic Era, 2nd Crescent Moon Cycle of Summer. 
Year 1022 of Equine Era, Friday the 8th.

I know I am meant to update this as often but I didn’t realize how much time truly has passed between these. The other entries are short and quick. However, I feel the need to write more because… I have returned back home. At least, my home here in Dragon Town.

	Few, very few know that I am Dragon Lands native but here, I feel more at home because knowledge and intelligence is welcomed here. I feel comfortable and at peace as my mind is allowed to be heard without restraint from those native of Dragon Lands.

	Yet, my duties as the Archivist has me going back and forth, with me teaching my newest apprentice, Spike Sol Sparkle, how to Firebreak.
It took me a century to master what I know now, yet his ‘gifts’ allowed him to speed that up to months.
	It is not wise for the teacher to be envious of their student but, I can’t help that he has me beat in time. I dare say that by the end of the year he may be where I was in 50.
	Speaking of, returning home also brought me back to my… Ivory. While we are not there in terms of fully mated or what have you, our hearts are still strong for one another. Yet our responsibilities keep us from fully being committed, especially with my duty to serve the Dragon Lord’s Con- err, Dragon Lord’s Guardian. 

While I have no regrets teaching him in any way, it puts a certain pressure about us that we can’t maintain properly. Ivory has his students and has been teaching here for half a century, outliving and out teaching most of the professors here. I cannot take him away from his career and I cannot forsake mine.

Alas, my lack of comfort is minor and my love life is inconvenient, I however chose to remain with my current trajectory until my time as a teacher comes to an end. Though I pray that it is with a happier end.

He paused, thinking what else to write before continuing on. 

Spike’s… moral is neither corruptible nor in debate. He shows a heart truly worthy of being written in history, which I plan to do in my spare time. However, it still bothers me that it's because of this that there may be a day where it comes into question on whether or not he can handle what is to come. As with the recent discovery of Dragon Hunters, he wouldn’t have been slain if not for several interventions and or lucky saving graces. His origins disturbs me, but no child is their parent if raised outside of their nature.
I’d burn the day to never come to pass if he were to encounter his past. I pray to Draco and Wistala with all my heart that he never comes across it. 

Even the thought of it hurts me…

I have… developed a bond with him, such as a teacher and a student but also, as a great friend. He relies on me so much, he relies on others a lot as well, and that is what sets his character apart. A portion of my hoard would go as far as to say… he is the greatest dragon I’ve ever had the pleasure of being around. Ivory and I are something altogether but the way Spike’s heart grows, or expands towards others is unparalleled to what I have seen in my century of being alive. 
Living through that time, I have watched dragons change from bad and ugly, to good and gracious even. But I have also seen much conflict and compromise arise from them as well. Subjugation behind veils and curtains, exploitation and corruption right up into the last two decades. Our luck changed, as did the world.

Spike’s birth had an incredible change on the Princess and her views on us…

My father always thought that we were meant to be on top, meant to be the one to strive above those he deemed weak. Yet those were words I gladly rejected when they proved time and time again how wonderful and strong they are together. A group of six ponies could save the world on multiple occasions, then a dragon could save their own scaly hide.

My father was not a subject I tend to bring up for good reason, as he remains within his homeland. Me leaving is probably the greatest day for him and yet… he still tried to talk to me whenever I visited the lands.
The recent visit had me at odds with him. As of hearing what has been transpiring around there, he found himself in both a predicament and hollowed feelings towards the changes.

Dragon Lord Ember and her consort have made improvements far more than Torch, nor Successor Zynthia and her mate before. The fact that he acknowledges it but not accepts it, tells me something might change that.
Though few remain unchanged, like my cousin Sludge, who is a useless excuse of a dragon born on my father’s brother's clutch. I hate… no, hate is too strong, but I highly dislike that drake. He is everything opposite of Spike, in heart and mind. Lazy, selfless and a disaster walking…

Anyways, I am puzzled but also remaining optimistic that my father changes with the times. He really is the only one I still have a high value on. My mother left and father didn’t like the idea of his lineage being wasted. He didn’t like the idea of his son being part of pony society, but he also had some belief that me being an archivist, when I established that role to him years later, would help me find a mate.

I kept him briefly entertained that I have been to a lot of areas and that I might find more dragons elsewhere. I guess that worked well for him. He always knew I was too smart to be an average dragon(far better then my cousin he would admit) but he also would hate for me to be anything less like a servant or a worker for a pony.

Even now, I still smile at the thought of him losing his mind just thinking about me working alongside them instead. But back to my immediate and current predicament…

Dragon hunters, powerful weapons and the changing of not just the Dragon Lands but Equestria as a whole. We are working together, we are allies, we are trade partners, we are friends and dare I say… we may even have some love grown within.

Knowing this, I have no quarrel with who loves whom, just as long as it blossoms into something wonderful.

Keep getting off topic here, but alas, I shouldn’t write too long but short of it. I want us to deal with these Hunters if our two races are to work Harmoniously together and keep that for years to come. I fear that this may either spark into something far worse then what had started out as.

For a century, we worked alongside them to help them build this city and more. It took time, pain, blood, hate and more to come together to accomplish something and I would be damned if I just stood by and watched something as amazing as this fall back to a dark age.

For I, Blacktip the Activist, will swear my undying oath to make sure we can sustain a unison between our kin. And… to make sure that Spike is the greatest of us all, to be the holder of both worlds with all the knowledge and grace we can offer him. My will, my word, my power and my flame will be offered to him.

I know he has the heart capable of pulling it off. 

… I just hope his heart remains strong enough to see it through. For his sake. For our sake.

End Entry.


> History of Iron, Scales and Hooves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dragon Lord’s Guardian



History of Scales, Iron and Hooves



Spike woke up with a start, as his reality shifted back hard. What should have been a nightmare, turned into an odd dream. He felt the light brushes of his mother’s mental blockage from his bad dreams but with the added benevolent benefits of forgetting them towards the end.
In truth, he had to be ‘dreamless’ in order to sleep if nothing else worked. A result of his own heart and desires to protect those around him plaguing him. The others, fortunately, no longer partake in his shared experiences if he went dreamless.

However, something felt off about this night’s dreaming. It almost felt like something was breaching out, a sort of echo trying to reach him. The gentle melody that his mothers’ would sing to him in his coma, slowly drawing out. A perpetual choir that seemed to ring his ears but leave him in a calming void. 

So… why was last night so different? The enigma left him more annoyed than tired but he felt content with this compared to the other nights he had when his mates suffered alongside him. They had slowed since his training with his mother almost concluded, though now that perhaps he gets a better insight of what is happening in Ponyville thanks to Smolder, his heart could be more at ease. Perhaps it was something that he could bring up later when he returned home… For now, a new day arose and so did discovery!


“I trust you all had a ‘Good night' sleep?” Blacktip asked first thing in the morning as they vacated their rooms. Celestia’s sun had breached over the horizon, but had yet cleared the city’s buildings to the east.  Still, the city was lit, the day starting and the dragons ready to begin a day anew.
Blacktip saw that the younger dragons had seemed to have a good night, though it could be because of their reunion. Possibly more…
Shadescale looked indifferent, as if this was just a minor inconvenience though she seemed almost happy to be outside of the room. Garble looked more at ease with his situation.

“Yeah, we are good,” Spike answered, being the voice of positive reason for them. His voice chipper and ever the reason to see more of the city, Blacktip nodded with the same positivity. 
“Wonderful! Now, how about we go for breakfast first?” A nod from everyone except Shadescale who looked confused. 
“What requires us to ‘Break-fast’ something?” She inquired as she stretched her wings and ligaments.

“Ah, sorry Shadescale,” Blacktip apologized, before anyone could comment or correct her. “I forget you are unfamiliar with the ways of ponies and dragons here. Simply put, ‘Breakfast’ is the time of day in the early morning when after you wake and have a meal.”
“A meal in the morning is called ‘Breakfast’?” Receiving a nod from not just Blacktip, but the others as well. 
“Indeed, though I fear that since most dragons sleep in later times, that you miss the early morning rituals most species have. Come, we will enjoy delicacies just like yesterday.”

As they walked away from the hotel, Smolder looked behind them and saw them missing one ‘yeti’ friend. “Hey, no Ralph?”
Spike shook his head. “Nah, poor guy can only tolerate this area for so long. He’ll have to stay there for the time being, but I gave him some comics to read. I’ll stop by and bring him Breakfast too.”

Smolder seemed content with that with her focus turning to her brother, who had been surprisingly quiet this whole time. She hung back a bit, pulling his wing lightly with him. A pause at his sister’s pull and looked down at her.
“Hey, you okay? You’ve been awfully quiet since we got here.”

He waited until they were out of ear shot from the others and spoke softly as they walked behind. “I’m still… I’m still not sure what I’m doing here, Smols. I mean, I came with you just because I didn’t want you to go anywhere dangerous but…” He motioned with his snout to their hoard, Shadescale and Blacktip. “-I don’t think you need any protection. Plus… I feel like I don’t belong with them.”
Smolder knew her brother to be well and protective, but at the same time, she understood his reservations as well. It was not too long ago that he and Spike had quarrels along with Ember. Though Spike is quick to forgive him, she noted that her brother was absent out of their minds due to his lack of connection. It made sense that he was still cautious and perhaps a little hesitant to re-engage with him.

With her around, she’ll try to change that. Pulling close, she brushed against her older brother. “Hey, you’ve made progress since you were forced to stay in Ponyville. Spike saw that you have changed for the better and so have I. While the others don’t know that you have changed, I do.” She gave him a reassuring smile that eased his mind a lot. “Trust me, you can hang around Spike, just don’t bring up the past and try not to do any more dumb things and you’ll be fine.”

He gave a small nod. “Yeah, alright.” Seeming optimistic, both quickly caught up to the group just as Blacktip had reintroduced them into the section they were in yesterday. However, the vendors now had breakfast going, which was a new concept for a certain dragoness, as she witnessed eggs, potatoes, and… flatbread? Along with it, came some odd aroma of blended beans, what looked like squeezed orange fruits, and an overwhelming amount of sweets being sent to their nostrils.
“What is it that makes breakfast so special for the occasion to wake up so early?” Shadescale half pondered out loud, though she was not one to ignore a free meal.
“Ah, that is the magic of Breakfast, Shadescale!” Blacktip answered easily and with enthusiastic insight. “For almost centuries, those who've had to rise early for work, needed some nutrition to start the day and you can not really work hard or fast if your belly is without food. Since most dragons and ponies start work early, meals were either prepped the nights before or made around before dusk, meals could be sold in a hurry to fill those hungry bellies. As dragons, we normally would wake up late then eat,  but now as working dragons, we wake up early and need meals just to start the day.”
Spike nodded as they paused in front of a restaurant that would take his card. In front of the door, it stated it took ‘Equestrian currency,’ as well ‘gems’. However the building looked older with modern decor, which made more sense when the restaurant sign said it was established almost a century ago. “But unlike other foods, certain foods were only made during the mornings like eggs, pancakes, bacon, cereal, and so on. Also came the drinks only served for breakfast like coffee, orange juice and so on.”
The doors, big enough for all of them, opened and while it wasn’t packed, the dragons could see that there was a large bustle in the back of the kitchen as dragons rushed back and forth.
There were a few patrons already eating, so it didn’t seem too busy for them. A section was made for regular dragons in the main entrance while a larger section was made for dragons the size of Blacktip or larger in the back. It had an open backside for their size of dragons available. 
A young dragoness, about Spike’s height, with a golden hairlock made by her head spines, two small horns and light blue over turquoise belly came to them wearing a waitress outfit. Smiling, she greeted them.
“Good Morning! Welcome to ‘Dragon Sliders!’ Hello Blacktip! Nice to see you again! Table for six?”
The green drake nodded, smiling towards the waiter. “Yes, thank you Yllia´x. The patio if possible.”
“No problem. Please follow me!” She then turned and guided them to the back of the restaurant with them all in tow while pulling menus off a shelf. Walking through, Spike noticed that the restaurant, while not larger than a standard one in like say Manehattan, it still had a generous amount of space within. The kitchen, which had a numerous amount of dragon's cooking, also had an elevator for a dragon to use.
“What’s with the elevator?” Spike asked out loud.
The dragoness waiter gave a glance, then understanding who she was seeing for the first time, answered a friendly response. “Oh, that is for customers who order ahead of time and need a quick pick up. We have a ‘flyby’ up on the roof for those who quickly swoop in to grab their food.” Upon reaching the back, the door opened to the otherside where it was a sort of clean back alley and had chairs of all sizes or mats spread for larger dragons. The patio was open but did show a lot of decorative stone designs where a wall of wire and stone created the barrier between the restaurant and the rest of the alley.
Only two large dragons, bigger than Blacktip, were currently out here. Overhead, there were a set of large  signs, that they somehow missed, that stated, ‘Flyby Orders’ and designated posts to wait for the pickup. The idea was mind blowing and Spike half wondered why the pegasi haven’t adopted this method yet for restaurants or other food deliveries?

Yllia´x showed them an empty table with cushions for the larger dragons while the younger group all grabbed a chair. The waitress then handed them each out menu and brought out a writing pad with a charcoal pen.
“While you look into that, what can I get started with?”
“I’ll have a coffee, Yllia´x,” Blacktip answered almost immediately. 
“Black?” She asked even though the answer was always the same.
“As the pits of Tartarus,” He chuckled, which she echoed then looked at the others.
“What is… ‘Coffee?” Shadescale asked him, while the others ordered their drinks.
“Ah, it’s a blend of certain types of beans that when roasted tastes extremely bitter but wakes you up with the amount of caffeine embedded in it. It helps start the day.”  He then turned to the waitress. “Make that two, so she can try but if not, just please bring sugar and cream.”
A cheerful nod as she wrote down the others drinks. “No problem! I’ll fetch the drinks and you can all have the moment to see what you want.” With that she turned away and headed back in.

“What exactly makes this establishment special?” Shadescale queried. 
“They were one of the first ones to be open for dragons and one of the first to really embrace some Equestrian style of restaurant keep. While other restaurants copied what they did, they have remained faithfully dragon exclusive with their own creation of the ‘Fly-tru’ system on top.”

He then showed her the variety of foods that were delicious and wonderful to try. As this happened, Ember who had been quietly paying attention, watched from her prephial at how Shadescale became somewhat infatuated with Blacktip. She noted how she leaned in, hung onto his every word and perhaps even admired the drake. A small idea formed in her mind to hopefully push her more towards him then Spike. An idea that she hoped she could execute without much trouble.

When the waitress came back with their drinks, a large tray holding juices of variety for the younger dragons. Another dragon wheeled in on a wheel tray stand two giant bowls of hot coffee, with a full case of sugar and cream. One all that settled, she asked if they all had chosen what they wanted. Everyone did so while Blacktip ordered for himself and Shadescale, which the dragoness felt thankful for. Once she wrote everything down, she left giving an estimated time for their food to arrive.
“So Blacktip,” Ember began, trying to steer more of the attention back to him. “What exactly have you done here for almost a century? I mean, I know you are the Archivist, Historian and Record Keeper for dragons, but what about here? What did you do here specifically?” She really tried to shove him in the spotlight as much as possible.

“Oh, well there was plenty I have done here but mostly, I studied what I could with the University here. While I was under the tutelage of Ivory, I tried to study as much history as possible before claw. I didn’t know much growing up in the Dragonlands, but the few that did have scrolls or were available to read were limited.” 
“So you sought out more knowledge?” Spike asked, taking a sip of his drink.
“Oh, more than that, I sought out who was the archivist before me! Not many of you know who it was but the Archivist role had been vacant for almost half a millennium. No other dragon didn’t care much about the role or bothered to write more. Outside of your mother, Ember, no other dragons were contributing towards our history or knowledge.”
“My mother?” She was briefly baffled but quickly understood what he meant.
“Those scrolls that you have, were gifted to you by your mother, no?”
A nod left her, reminding her of the ones that she had and the ones that Spike read. “Yes, though I never found out why she wrote them and not somedragon else. She didn’t write them all, right?”
“She may have contributed some, as I’ve read the ones she wrote during her century’s travel outside of the Dragonlands. But most of the older ones were written by the Archivist before me. After spending a good half century trying to gather everything, learning from everything here in Fillydelphia and getting several degrees, I sought Lord Torch and the Elders to ask if I can fill the vacant role of Archivist as well as Historian and Record Keeper.” He then seemed to fully beam in his role. “That was given to me and me alone. As I told them about the city here with dragons and ponies working together, I was cemented into keeping tabs both here and the DragonLands for development between us as a Record Keeper/Archivist. So far, I dare say, it's been the most exciting last few years since I started my role. Traveling back and forth between here and the Dragonlands has given me such insight and growth, I feel blessed everyday to know I have this job!” Shadescale seemed to take a far more notice into his role, especially as she kept her eating to a novice. Ember grinned internally.
“So who was the Archivist before you?” Spike asked through bites of his food.
“Oh, most of you don't know him, perhaps even heard of the name but it was ‘Falkor the lucky.”
Receiving blank stares even from Shadescale, he chuckled and nodded. “As I said, not many have even heard of the name or remember.”

At the moment, the food had arrived and the dragons briefly forgot the conversation, as the smell hit first before their actual appetites. The younger dragons got a variety of plates their sizes with them having a traditional breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.
Blacktip and Shadescale were given a giant bowl of scrambled eggs, an extra large plate of giant pancakes and two half body lengths of roasted pork sausage.
“What eggs do these originate from? I didn’t think about what preferences they provided?” Shadescale asked him, looking at the scrambled bowl before her. She hadn’t even touched her coffee, noting the strong aroma that hovered by it. 
“Hmm, depends on your liking.” Blacktip replied. “I chose chicken since they are cheap, plentiful and easy to cook. However they carry ‘serpents’, ‘ostrids’, ‘turkey’, and even ‘cockatrice’ eggs.”
“Wait, aren’t those dangerous to eat?” Smolder paused mid bite on her eggs as she asked that. 
Shaking his head, Blacktip clarified. “Not when they are eggs. At that stage, they are harmless, though they are very spicy.” Smolder blinked then looked down at her own eggs and shrugged before continuing to eat.
“Huh, I wonder what else they do here that also seems different.” Spike wondered out loud as he began to eat his food.
“Oh my young apprentice, we have only scratched the surface.” Blacktip responded with great withheld enthusiasm and a glint in his eyes.

The chat turned to idle, as they mostly tried to enjoy their food. Scadescale ate slower than the others, tasting things here and there before fully consuming it. Blacktip encouraged her to try adding ketchup to her eggs or salt. The coffee, while bitter, seemed to suit her taste, though when he offered sugar, she seemed to pause.
“How sweet must it be to be enjoyable?”
“Oh, our limits with this are greatly unlimited. Sugar, however, is an addictive drug that can be difficult to be parted from, especially if done to certain foods. More so, it can trigger a dire need for the substance far more than any gem, jewel or even ‘hoarding’ can’t compete with. It also stimulates us into some various mood swings, if not moderated correctly.” He then poured a considerable amount to it that would be sweet but not too sweet as to not indulge that part of her anatomy.
“Well… that explains my donut addiction,” Spike commented with suppressed annoyance. “I swear, I could finish a box of them in under two minutes. Though I also flipped out spontaneously afterwards when I was done.”
“Same here though for me it’s Pinkie Pie’s cookies,” Smolder agreed as she casually spilled half a bottle's worth of maple syrup onto her pancakes. Garble stared at his sister as if insanity was about to partake her body.

“Oh, that is an addiction,” Blacktip remarked with some mirth, noting both of their indulgences. “But, it's thankfully not as unhealthy to us as it is to ponies. It’s just very difficult to come off it.”
“Like Berry Punch and alcohol,” Smolder remarked off-clawed through half-chewed pancakes.

Somewhere in Ponyville, said Mare raised a mug to toast up to Discord who remarked her name was briefly mentioned as an uncredited cameo mention…

“Oh, we have that too but our version is far more… lethal to ponies.” Blacktip remarked off-clawed by the statement.
“Say what?” Spike paused mid-bite.
“Later, for now, let’s finish before we continue our explorations here.”

Breakfast was finished half an hour later as the dragons indulged in the meal. When it came down to the pay, Spike handed out the card, which almost had the waitress almost bouncing. Apparently, having this kind of card added to any restaurant's status, would boost its popularity, even in Dragon Town. He also got another bit of a breakfast plate to go for Ralph.
Once he left a generous tip, the dragons all vacated the restaurant with Blacktip leading the way. 
He actually became a tour guide to some of the parts of town that they didn’t get to see or explore yesterday. While they took a brief pause to allow Spike a quick drop off towards Ralph, he returned eager for the tour and guided them through the industry area of town.

“So, if you want to get technical,” Blacktip began for his little tour, “Dragon Town’ didn’t actually get its name until much later on. For the first two and a half decades, it was just known as ‘Dragon Area’, ‘Dragon Range’ and ‘Dragon’s Lair,'' Un-promptly, they passed by a shop of sorts, with the same name. In fact, a few more shops passed by with that name but for different types of businesses or establishments.

“Then after the Industrial Age really kicked off, things improved more rapidly and favorably.” Blacktip guided them to the industrial area where they passed through yesterday, seeing all the factories, mills and more through the area. Once more, the smell of sulfur, molten steel and other heavier elements being cured or turned could be scented.

“So, most of the jobs here are dragons then?” Quired Ember, suddenly peeked with interest at the prospect of dragons working in such areas.
“Most, but ponies still run parts of the show. Come, while we can’t visit all of them, the few we can visit are more tourist based and even museum-like.”

They headed to a smaller mill, one that was made essentially for tourists(Dragons-only) and open. ‘Iron Scale Works’, was the name of the company on a large sign right outside of the mill, along with a dragon claw and a pony hoof holding hammers. 
The building, while smaller than the others, still had a grand stature in showing the architect of almost a century’s of work. From the main entrance, it was a large open area and signs were posted to ‘Tourists’ on the entrance while ‘Workers’ went to the back.

“While it didn’t seem like anything would work,” Blacktip continued as he guided through the mill, “-we found something as a common ground for us both. We provided the heat, the muscle, the ‘invulnerability’ to resist heat, to work with the metals and they would allow us to live amongst them with no prejudice and with added benefits.”

They entered through another set of doors, where other dragons were touring through, which led to a walkway and a view of the factory. The walkway was surrounded by bars and glass to keep it safe for tourists. Odd that it was just casually open to the public but no one really paid any real mind to it.
From this height, the group saw ponies and dragons working together in the mill that was working with some ore. Ponies dressed in safety equipment while the dragons had none, other than metallic helmets.

In an odd fascination, a river of liquid hot molten steel was poured from a cauldron down into a mold in a show of demonstration. Ponies in safety suits watched from a distance as it poured slowly while nearby dragons stood by and used their wings to shield any splashes from their co-workers. As the molten steel fell into molds, a single dragon guided the caldron, unimpaired or flinching at its heat while another began to scoop the rest of the steel into the molds. Effortlessly, the dragon seemed to enjoy himself as he also helped shape the molten steel properly into every crevice of the mold, even using his own flames to keep it from cooling rapidly.

The party were in awe and somewhat excitedly pleased to see this type of workmanship between creatures.
All this while not far from them, another dragon stood in a molten steel pool, dead center and was using their tail to stir the cooking liquid to mix in other elements being added to the pool. Two ponies from a walkway not too far up added the mixtures via tube. 

Lastly, they saw on the same floor, another dragon lifted what looked like a few tons worth of still white hot iron rods that just came from a furnace. The dragon, bigger than Blacktip, then with small effort began to bend the rods to his will into shapes into curls or hooks that seemed to fit into a certain criteria for the work.

Blacktip then guided them further into another part of the factory where the walkway showed even more effort on the dragon’s end. 

“And that was just a small part on our end, with the last few decades improving not just in quality but in quantity. We helped mold and shape most of the modern design in buildings, though we followed the instructions on the ponies, it wouldn’t have not been without our aid.”

“Then why isn’t Equestria talking about it or bringing it up?” Smolder asked, somewhat miffed at how dragons are not even mentioned in most of the textbooks in school. “I’ve just read a bunch of history and most of it doesn’t even mention us! That we are even here helping ponies out for the last almost a hundred years yet we can’t get a fucking reference or even a chapter?!”
While a grunt left Ember and Spike about Smolder’s choice of language, Blacktip agreed without delay. “Yet, within the last decade, that has slowly changed, far more better than we could have anticipated.”
“Huh?” Left the mouths of all present. Blacktip bobbed his head towards the rest of the mill. This side however showed heavy machinery doing most of the dangerous work but controlled by ponies behind the machines or magic wielders.
“You see, this bred some light animosity at first between species at first, as no pony wanted to credit the dragons for creating some of the ‘Buildings’ or ‘machinery’ we have today. Ponies, for a long while have been notoriously racist and bigots to other non-equine creatures. But because of a great change, we are witnessing the birth of a better era.”
“Why?” Spike asked, miffed himself at the 
“A somewhat healthy competition between industries and businesses was forged. There were those that wanted to prove that ponies could be as good, if not better then dragons when it came down to ‘iron works’. Then there were others who believed that only dragons were strong enough to handle it. And then we have this.” 
He led them into another part of the factory where the iron, having already cooled and ready to be further molded, was in a cooler room where it was shared with not just ponies and dragons, but zebras, griffins, minotaurs and other species. “An industry where all sorts of creatures can work in unison and prove that Harmony can happen between anycreature willing to seek it. The pages of history have yet to be written but, trust me my friends, dragons won’t be the only creatures that will make it into history. For now, we can enjoy the small victories here and there.”

“So when do we add our own story to history?” Spike asked, staring at the amazing scene of all these creatures working together.

“When the world and its audiences deem us worthy of being written.” As he said this, there was a great flare of emotion that surged between the dragons, as they witnessed all the creatures work in unison, almost harmoniously so, with equine interacting with dragons, with griffin, and so on. While it was a grand sight to behold, it did beg the question of how much of a better future this would create for Equestria and the world.

“Now my friends, onto the next part of the tour where they sell the next best thing from the factory!”
Leading them to another part of the area, it came to a great shock to most of them, that while it was still connected to the factory, this area led to a smaller refinery and… brewery?

“This is where dragons had the grand idea of not only working with metals to build, but to turn it into the finest drinks for dragonkind! This is where we Dragons have invented… ‘Alcohol for Dragons!”
> Intermission: Lightning's War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Intermission



Lighting’s War



A volcano usually never woke her up, nor did its rumble, for often then not, it actually helped her fall asleep. Whether because she knew that she was a dragon and had immunity or the fact that they are so common and active, that it would be a born custom to get used to them. But that is not what woke her, as the boom that quaked, was different.
Opening her violet eyes, Eliyinsa heard the unmistakable sound of thunder, which had followed after the flash of lightning.
“Monsoon season already,” Her mate asked as she too rose up from her slumber, seemingly the first to have awakened.
Eliyinsa tried to recall the season and sure enough, the tides had changed. There were only a few rare times a year when it would storm around the DragonLands, but this one seemed different. The timing was off by a few weeks.

Something felt different but nothing too alarming. Choosing to take the time to enjoy it while it lasted, both mothers rose up, followed by their sleeping daughter. Eliyinsa licked her daughter awake, receiving a yawning ‘Aroo?’ from her.
“It’s time to rise, my sweet Seraphina. We have something wonderful to show you.”
Still groggy and unable to fully get up on her own, the hatchling yawned widely but made no real motion to rise, remains curled and trying to remain asleep Tittering, her mother gently grasped her with claws and walked out of their cave, which got a mewling cry of annoyance to leave the hatchling.

Sure enough, the sun was not present but morning had arrived and with it, storming clouds had arrived over the lands. Hot and humid rain followed as heavy droplets fell from the skies. They remained inside watching it happen, though Eliyinsa gently placed her daughter near the exit to enjoy the delights of murky water and thundering lights across the sky.

If there was any hope and the volcanic activity was strong enough, they may even get the greatest of gifts that come from the volcanic eruptions mixed with the rain!

The droplets fell near the Saphira colored hatchling, causing her eyes to sparkle in fascination. Tiny claws reached out, trying to catch each droplet that seemed to fall from the heavens above. She cooed as the warm water harmlessly bounced off her scales and made the feeling alien, unlike lava which was hot and thick. The water was thin in comparison, but also slick, as it slid easily off her scales. She continued to try and catch the droplets, though she slightly grumbled as they began to bounce off her face and eyes.
“Arrrawr!” Seraphina whined as the water continued to fall faster and strike her. While this happened, Eliyinsa noticed that while lightning was indeed striking in the sky, it was near towards the ocean, more specifically over one of the isles.
Her mind briefly surged as she scanned the area with her mind and saw that while dragons were remaining in their caves, only one was actively out and about. The rain never bothered dragons as it was used as an excuse to remain within their dwellings.

The one dragon who liked to remain active and drink in the storm’s presence was currently out and about. She turned to her mate. “I’ll return.”
Zynthia said nothing, merely nodding as she understood her mate’s wordless mission. She pulled a protective paw over their daughter, as Eliyinsa opened her wings and took flight south.

She flew low to the ground, to avoid any strikes from the lightning. A strike from a lightning bolt wouldn’t kill a dragon but it would stun them enough to cease all motor controls, hence if you were flying in higher altitudes, the drops would definitely kill. Sticking low was a safer option, though she had always wondered what that feeling may be like.

Not wanting today to be the chance, she made her way towards the south of the lands, near the edge where the ocean met high rocks and cliffs. From here, she saw that while the lightning strikes were happening, they hit at a certain spot on a spotted island. Nothing else on that rock… except a single, lone dragon. One who was taking in the lighting strikes without falter or damage. In silent awe, Eliyinsa watched as the dragon seemed to enjoy the powerful strikes, each one causing them to move in a sort of trance like dance, from fours to twos, wings spread and tail lashing. The golden yellow body scales that covered them head to tail, the way electricity made the body glow and vibrant. Jagged horns on top of their head continuously arched electricity between one another, while the wings spread out and generated/absorbed the lightning around them.

The closing of her approach, seemed to amplify the flashing, the booms and the electrical disturbances in the air. If she had fur or hair of any kind, they would be static and send chills up her spine. If she were a mewling little creature, she would be hiding and cowering as the powerful strikes ruptured around her. If she were anything less than a dragon, she would not be flying closer towards her target. Yet, she held no fear, for she was a mighty dragon!

And then, a terrible silence around her, as it all ceased.

She paused mid-flight, thinking that perhaps, she had been struck but was not aware of it. Remaining in a hover near the small island, she saw that the lightning storm had seemingly had silenced itself, the storm overhead but not near her, remaining above high in the clouds. A cover, a top of itself in perpetual motion in stabled altitude but seemingly quieter with distant rumbles.

Her violet eyes grew wide as she realized that it was the dragon’s doing and she was now looking at her. 

Her… the dragoness, the Storm Maker, was Blitzkrieg. A gifted dragon.

	Unaverred, the dragoness called her out. “You may approach me, Elder Eliyinsa.” Despite her powerful dominion over a very fabric of nature itself, her voice was calm and easily tamed, like a storm far off in the distance waiting for its approach. Her status was just that of another dragon compared to the Elder after all and she held no power against her.

Eliyinsa seemed to consider reading her mind but rested on pure communication, rather than invasion of privacy. She approached the dragoness on her peak, taking in the calm look, albeit seemingly lowering her head as if shame took place. Or perhaps that was her bowing to her presence. She lands on the open space of the small island, folded wings and witnessing the dragoness fully turn to her.
“Elder Eliyinsa.” She lowered her head further as she approached.
Said Elder gave a small nod in turn.
“Blitzkrieg.” She acknowledged evenly without a tone of indifference, spite, malice or any other negative emotion.

The yellow dragoness rose her head and looked at the even heighted elder. “Am I in trouble?” Was her first question, rather than an obvious, ‘What brings you here, Elder?’ In truth, all that are gifted or enhanced that warrant a visit from an elder always ask these questions first. 

Today, the question was unnecessary. 

“No, Blitzkrieg. I am actually here because… I wished to fully see your ‘abilities’ at work. While I have observed them from a distance, I have never seen them so…”
“Wild?” Blitzkrieg provided.
“Powerful.” Eliyinsa answered truthfully. Even now, the air still danced with electricity, high above where the storm perpetually moved over them. Not silent but not blaring either.
The dragoness gave a brief flash of a smile before looking up. “When the ‘monsoon’ season approaches, it is the only time where I feel pperfect. Where I do not have to hide or shy my powers. I can let loose all the electrical prowess I have stored in the year or absorb what I need to go on.”
Eliyinsa once more considered checking to see her mind, yet…
“Your mind is fuzzy, distorted,” Blitzkrieg suddenly pondered, before her piercing eyes locked onto her own. “Just like my own to you.”
Baffled but not far off the mark, the elder queried, “How did you know?” 
A small glint of a smile worked its way on the yellow dragoness. “I-I cannot read your mind but your intentions are based on the natural ‘electrical field’ all living organisms have. Other dragons, other creatures, living, have some sort of ‘electricity’ running through them and I… I can feel it.” She paused and looked past her to the dragons and beyond the lands. “Millions of lives, an entire ecosystem of the world, and the world itself. Generating some form of an ‘electrical output’ that most cannot comprehend. Yet I know that my mind is scattering and wild, perhaps why neither of us can fully read each other.”
Eliyinsa, in the height of her form, unbounded and unchained, could comprehend a fraction of this, as the minds of those around her could be read. Perhaps if she were amplified in any way, she could see beyond that. 
Remaining stoic upon the grandeur of the idea, she refocused on Blitzkrieg, refocusing on the topic. “I know that you have spoken with my son and Shadescale,” A brief electrical disturbance of annoyance and perhaps light malice was picked up by the electric dragoness, “-about how you were the only that may have considered being more open with your abilities.” The emotions changed to curious and more inline with Spike’s and Shadescale’s queries of herself. “Is this perhaps one of the reasons you fear revealing them?” Her movements calmer, her body surging with little energy of physical action but her mind firing billions of neurons with ease at how to view or take in all this.

For a moment, Blitzkrieg felt like she could release her true power in front of the Elder, but she chose to settle that until she could trust her.
“Do you trust… that other dragons would accept others like us yet?” She asked Eliyinsa, curiously neutral. “That Spike and Shadescale can bring out the best of us?”

Eliyinsa gave her a look that a mother would give about any of their young, “I trust… in my son. I trust that he is the best of what is hopefully a brighter future for not just those like us,” Emphasizing on her also being ‘gifted’, “But for dragons in general. You have seen the change he has brought us, yes?” A nod from Blitzkrieg. “Then you know that I trust in his judgment and that he will make it so that you and I can freely roam without fear or ridicule.”
There was a surge of hope in her voice, something that she wished to partake in. But doubt and some fear lingered in the back corner of her mind. Blitzkrieg was  still afraid. She turned away from the Elder.
“The hope you have for him is not what holds me down, Elder.” The black dragoness blinked hearing her voice dip, her emotions lowering. A small spark of electricity surged between her horns. “I am afraid of losing control. I am afraid of becoming… like the exile who made us go into hiding.”

The silence between was ever tempered by the still lingering storm above, with calm winds and distant rumbles above. Lightning and flashes could still be seen but muffled through the calm, dampening clouds above… or perhaps it was under the command of Blitzkrieg herself. A tempered tempest always brewing and ready to strike but fearful of inaction or negative access to what could be unleashed.

It was hard to tell where anger and understanding stood, as few would dare bring up the past revolving around that exile, and the damage she had caused. For almost a century now, those with ‘gifts’ were told to remain in hiding, to shy or withhold their powers, as any surges could cause another wave of fear and panic to rise from another power hungry dragon. It was something that shook the dragons to their core and would have been forever a brand to be ashamed of being ‘enhanced’ if not for her son.
If not for the drake with perhaps the biggest ‘gift’ of all, his heart. His devotion to finding the best in those around him. Those born of evil or raised by it, could be redeemed and transformed into something better. No dragon born with powers or gifts were naturally evil, they were just nurtured into something that could be potentially evil. Perhaps it was that which really held most of them back.

But it shouldn’t and now in a time when dragons welcomed peace and ponies, they should no longer fear the past or themselves.
Lightning’s War internal, Blitzkrieg, shouldn’t have to fear this. None of them do.

Taking in the moment, Eliyinsa turned to a more, reassuring and more empathic nature. “After we exiled her,” She began, looking up at the storm above and making Blitzkrieg turn to her. “I too, was afraid. I was… terrified that I would be like her. That I would become like her and lose control, which is why I allowed my bracers,” She lifted her tail up to show them for emphasis. “-to be placed on me. I felt my powers dampen, my mood lower and my life changed for… what I thought was better circumstances.”

Blitzkrieg felt the emotions that radiated off her, never to experience this side of an elder, let alone a dragon as powerful as her. This was disturbingly new and an odd insight of what she went through, perhaps worse then the others.

“I hid, I stayed silent and I knew that I was always monitored. Torch, Dereain, and Zynthia, they held me accountable in some way for the ‘exile’s behavior’ and although the actions were all of her own, I still dealt with the aftermath. All the mind's I had to assure I was not like her, all the lives she destroyed that I had to recreate and all the pain I have had to endure to allow those affected to be able to sleep.” A terrible sigh left her. “And I did it because I felt responsible. I felt… that in order for us to live, we must be held accountable for our actions.”
She frowned then finally looked down and to the other dragoness. “But that shouldn’t have meant that those with powers would do the same as her. That dragons like you, with such amazing gifts, should be held prisoner because of what the exile did. I allowed that and my anger to punish those who didn’t deserve it, by making all of us be ashamed or hide their abilities. Now… Now I feel as though that after a century, we should be allowed to be free. To assure the others that we ‘gifted’ are not to be feared.”

She then turned her head back to her home. “I have a mate who understands what I went through, but she chose to love me for me and see past what the exile had done and not what I hadn’t done, which was to cause harm. I was spared of her hate and given love instead. The others followed suit but I regret not trying to reach out to the others like us and give them a chance to show what we could offer.” A smile graced her maw as she thought of those in her heart. “The family I have created now, is more of a blessing than I dared hope I deserved. Every Time I feel like the past is coming up to haunt me, they are there to assure me that I am beyond that part of my life now, that I am stronger, smarter and hold no fault for it. My wonderful son who brought a new sense of joy in my life, a beautiful role as a mother and now a mission to change the Dragon Lands, has me hoping that we can create a better future for us.”

Blitzkrieg never found herself bombarded with such emotions, both from another dragon and herself, as everything that had been fired at her was as strong as any lighting strike. The Elder before her strongly believes Spike would do best for them all, not just regular dragons but all dragons and other species as well. What high hopes were there for Eliyinsa being the one to convince her of the change, were dashed and stolen by the son who she loves unconditionally and trusts with her very life. To bring forth a better age of enlightenment and peace between the dragons, was undisturbed and unquestionable.

Perhaps his role as a Dragon Guardian was irrefutable. 
For the first time since she arrived, a genuine smile worked its way to the lightning dragoness. Feeling the change, she did however have to bring up one important question that has pondered many dragons here.
“Is-Is Spike… ‘gifted’ as well?” She asked the mother in question.
A small nod, her smile unwavering and ever proud. “In more than one way, but yes. Though, I am sure it is his heart that is the most gifted thing about him.”

The titter that left her was involuntary but most welcomed as she felt her whole body relax. “Then… perhaps on his return, I will take him up on that offer. If he can change the minds of the Elders and other dragons, perhaps he can truly change us all for the better.”
“I am glad that he helped you,” She then looked up once more. “So, will you allow the weather to continue, now that you are free to control it?”

Blitzkrieg looked up at the swirling cloud above at the muffled storm. “I… I have never been able to fully control it, just use it when it's available. I cannot summon a storm… At least I don’t think so. But when it comes here, I feel like it's within my power to do… whatever I wish with it.”
Eliyinsa heard the glowing embers or rather, the large spark of hope rise within her. “Then do so. Do with it, as you wish, but know this,” Her turned slightly serious in tone, causing a great pause in the lightning dragoness. “Know. Your. Limits. Understanding what you can and can’t control takes time and measurement on how far your power extends. A power such as yours or mine, must take into account that you can hurt others if you are not careful. Practice, be safe and most of all, Be Responsible. As all great power should come.”

A nod of understanding left the lighting dragoness, taking great heed in those words. A message to all with such ‘gifts’.

“Then… by your leave?” She asked, wondering if she was well and truly free to explore her powers.
A nod was given in turn. “Yes. Be free from fear, Blitzkrieg.”

Lightning once more resumed, the storm brewed overhead and the world seemed to have resumed its natural course, as the dragoness once more looked up to the skies and opened her wings. Electricity surged up and down her body, invoking a wonderful glow of power and show. As she began to rise, her wings not flapping, her body creating a powerful electrical field around, suddenly…

A bolt of lightning struck her and she was zapped by it. Eliyinsa shut her eyes as it happened in front of her, the sound and sight briefly dampening her senses. The next moment, she opened her eyes and saw that Blitzkrieg was no longer with her. Blinking her eyes, she looked around her, then looked up to see that the storm once more hovered above before a single lightning bolt flew across the sights at high speeds and disappeared with the storm.

The storm then continued but far more tame, with lighting flashing overhead and the booms echoing after. Understanding that perhaps she had discovered a new form of her ability, she gave a brief scan of her environment to show that, indeed she had not perished but had just adjusted to something natural to herself.

‘Let’s see what you are capable of, Blitzkrieg.’
Content, she opened her wings and flew back home, hoping that the dragoness would find something wonderful with her abilities. To move across the skies with ease and at the speed of lightning, would make her the fastest creature alive!

Imagine that!

With the smile graced on her maw, she approached back to her cave just in time to see it began to rain. However, something else stirred in the air and it was… toxic. Which was great!
Landing just at the cave, she witnesses her daughter and mate happily enjoying themselves as the clouds mixed with the hazardous sulfuric smoke and ash in the air, blending a tonic of harsh chemicals. While dragons stayed in for the rain, they resurfaced for what came hopefully after. She joined them in their festivals as it began to pour nature’s greatest and perhaps harshest disaster, a joyful rare occasion for the dragons as they all opened their mouths to enjoy its toxic waters.