Kobolds From Space 2: Kobold of Shadows

It turned out Equestria also had its own dragon allies, and three of them flew in a few days later under their own power – a brother/sister pair named Smolder and Garble, and the dragon lord Ember herself holding a red staff.

“Here I am at your beck and call,” Ember said sarcastically . “Why are you camping out on one of my islands?”

“It’s infested with diamond dogs,” Tempest said.

“There’s a pack that lives here, yeah. They never made any trouble for us,” Ember said.

“Well, now a bunch of them are infested with the Pony of Shadows, or what’s left of it,” Starlight explained. “Our little prisoner here says dragonfire is the best way to fight it.”

“The Shadow is really afraid of it,” I said. “Normal fire hurts it but dragonfire was like ‘emergency get away’. Unfortunately they’re very good at getting out of way thanks to Speed of Darkness.”

“Speed of what?” Starlight asked.

“Darkness,” I explained. “It’s slightly faster than light, which means you have to anticipate what they’re going to do once they stop moving because you won’t be able to follow their movements well.”

“So it’s like teleporting,” Ember said. “I hate it when ponies teleport.”

“It’s not quite as good as actual teleportation,” I said, “but they can do it over and over and over because it’s not very tiring either.”

“According to the former commander, it’s one of the reasons we were driven out of the tunnels,” Tempest said. “The other being that our weapons had no effect.”

“Can you change the enchantment to make them fiery?” I asked.

Tempest shook her head “Not here. We’ll manage though.”

“I’ll summon any dragons on the island for reinforcements,” Ember said, raising her staff. “Dragons, attend me!” The staff glowed red and flashed, but nothing happened immediately.

“No!” I said. “Why did you do that?!”

“Because we need more dragons?” Ember asked. “There’s probably no one else here anyway.”

“Cinder! Pancakes!” I said, waving my arms. “The other baby dragons!”

“Eh?”

“Cinder and Wave laid a litter of dragon eggs! How are the baby dragons going to react when they’re summoned into a swarm of ponies?”

“Oh,” Ember said. “Oops.” The depth of her concern was everything I expected from a dragon.

We were walking with the dragon lord through the center of town when it happened. The earth burst open, and a wave of Shadow Dogs lunged at Ember, trying to claw at her and take her scepter – but she was stronger than their tentacles, and her scales were impervious to their claws and fangs, and Smolder and Garble bathed her in dragonfire, sending three of the Shadow Dogs up in flames like torches. Ember cast about her with her own fire, but the Shadow Dogs zipped away and went for easier targets.

There were a lot of easier targets around. Screams erupted from all around as ponies were torn to pieces or worse, wrapped up in tentacles and ordered to submit to Shadow infection.

Once the Shadow Dogs had all surfaced, Cinder emerged with her gaggle of babies. “As ordered, we attend you – Ember? You’re the dragon lord?”

“It should have been me,” Garble mumbled.

“Your attention apparently involves an assassination attempt?” Ember said.

“I thought it would be Torch. Nothing could take down him.”

“He retired,” Ember said. “Nice hatchlings, if a little funny looking.” Comparing them side by side, Pancakes and the others were a bit bottom heavy compared to the other dragons – shaped a little bit like kobolds, although they were still scaly at least.

“Alright, enough of this,” Starlight Glimmer said, her horn shining with three layers of overglow. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to hold it, so make the most of it.”

There was a blinding flash, and everyone with Shadow powers – including me, and half a dozen ponies who’d submitted – were lifted up in the air and paralyzed.

Mostly paralyzed. They still moved a little as they tried to escape with Speed of Darkness, but it was only about as fast as a slow walk.

Ember raised her scepter, and it flashed red again. “Destroy the Shadow Dogs!”

“Stop doing that!” Cinder screamed, holding her head. Her kids had no resistance, and spread out to start flaming the mostly-paralyzed Shadows. They got most of them before Starlight collapsed, worn out from her spell – the few stragglers who’d gone too far for the dragons to reach fled back into the darkness, closing the hole behind them.

Pancakes tapped me on the faceplate as I collapsed back to the ground. “Are you a shadow dog?”

“No, we got all the shadow out of me,” I told him. “It’s good to see you! How do you feel about defecting to the pony side?”

“The ponies are stupid,” he said. “But I’ll stay and protect you if you need it.”

“I’d love that!” I said, giving him my sweetest smile, well-trained by the social engineering module. “I’ve missed you so much.”

He looked suspicious at that – I hadn’t come to visit him very often even when I was back home and it was easy. “I’ll stay to keep an eye on you then.”

“No you will not,” Cinder said, grabbing him and dragging him back to the other hatchlings. “It’s bad enough that Ember drafted you for her little war, you’re not staying out here where all the ponies can see you.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” asked Tempest, showing up late with a dozen armored ponies with spears. “These may not be good against the shadow dogs, but they’re enchanted to deal with dragons.”

“Are you threatening my children?” Cinder asked.

“Because of you, dozens of ponies are dead,” Tempest said. “You need to answer for that.”

“Eh, it was kind of my fault,” Ember said. “Don’t threaten the kids.”

“What should we do with them, then?” Tempest asked. “We can’t send them back to the enemy – they showed how dangerous they are, even the babies.”

“You can stop blustering at each other and have an actual negotiation,” I suggested. “What do you think the chances are that Cinder willingly sends her babies up to fight? If Ember summons them they have to come but they’ll be on your side because of her horrific mind-control stick.”

“Horrific?” Ember asked. “This is the bloodstone scepter. It’s the only way to keep dragons under control.”

“I was pretty horrified when you had the babies start killing people, yes ,” I said. “Cinder also isn’t a combatant. None of her duties involve fighting, she’s not on any security teams, and the extent of her use of violence is protecting kobolds going from point A to point B while the Shadow Dogs and sympathizers are still a threat.”

“So what are you suggesting?” Tempest asked.

I took a deep breath. “They’re all civilians. Send them home. Or open a line of communication and negotiate for their release with someone with authority if that’s important to you.”

“Or we could convince them to join us with a spectacular magic show,” Trixie suggested. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has been waiting for an opportunity to show off her talents!”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say no to a magic show while we wait for you to make a decision,” I said. “But if you want to talk to the Alpha, just find someone who can wear my rig and take the restraining clip Starlight put on it off. He’ll probably contact you right away hoping that it’s me.”

Soufflé tugged on Cinder’s tail. “Can we see a magic show dragon mom?”

“If it’ll get them to stop pointing those spears at you, then I guess. Diamond Dog magic is pretty boring; I’ve heard ponies have some real talent for it. ”