Spike meets his Lord

“Ah~ This is so good,” a young orange dragoness sighed as she lounged on a large, flat rock in the sun. Lava baths were usually a dragon’s bread and butter for relaxing, but there was still something so relaxing about just laying in the sun on a hot rock. Her mom had gone off to look for something special for her brother’s hatchday, her brother was hanging with his friends, and her father was finally starting to relax about letting her be on her own. Life was sweet.

‘I can’t believe that I’m actually doing this,’ Spike thought from the dragoness’s back. His apprehension only grew as they approached the Dragon Lands. Caldera had been kind to him when they first met, so maybe things really would work out here.

‘It honestly couldn’t be any worse than caring for that brat for Twilight.’

Spike couldn’t help but agree with Clarity.

But still he had reservations. His only encounters with his kind before Caldera had been rather negative. They had either tried to eat him or bullied him for not living up to their standards.

“I can’t think like that, I’ve got to have faith this will work out. I’ll find someplace to belong here!”

Caldera couldn’t hear a word from Spike. His placement on her back and the wind in her ears ensured he could scream at the top of his lungs and not be heard. That being said, she was also lost in her thoughts.

‘Who is going to adopt this little guy? He has no family or friends. Usually, the dragon lord would have a say in it, but usually the child is just a hatchling.’

Spotting a particularly large blue dragon in an armored chest piece, Caldera headed towards the throne like mountain he sat upon. She would have an answer soon enough.

Torch chewed noisily as he tore through his catch of the day. One of the large eels that sprayed water at any dragon unfortunate enough to fly over them. It took a lot to satisfy a dragon his size, but these things would fill a hole.

“Hello! Lord Torch, forgive me interrupting your meal, but I have an urgent matter concerning the wellbeing of a whelp,” Torch looked upwards to see a yellow dragoness, Caldera Ironscale if he recalled correctly, descending to the ground. As she landed she reached to her back and pulled out a small object.

Looking closely, Torch realized that it was a whelp. Small, purple with green spines, and staring at him with awe and terror.

“I don’t know anydragon with his colors. Where did you find him?”

Caldera didn’t answer, instead she held the whelp closer to him. “Go on Spike, can you tell him what you told me?”

The young whelp, Spike, gulped nervously as he regarded Torch.

“H-hello. My name is Spike. I was hatched in Equestria, among the ponies, but I finally ran away from my owner. Ms. Ironscale said she could help me find a new place to live if I came here with her. She told me that you’re the ‘Dragon Lord’? That you lead all dragons?”

Torch ignored the question, the first part having caught his attention. “Owner? What do you mean owner?”

Spike looked down, a sad look on his face as he sat down in Caldera’s palm. Sighing, he began to tell his tale to the leader of his kin.

“THEY DID WHAT?!”

The ground shook, lava flows jumped and splashed, many sleeping dragons were roused from their naps by the outraged roar that echoed through the air.

Smolder squealed as she fell off her rock, her heart hammering in her chest. In the distance, other dragons raised their heads in alarm. Dragon Lord Torch was angry.

Dragon Lord Torch was angry.

Oh no.

Smolder fought back tears of fear as she got back to her feet. She needed to find her brother and father. They would know what to do. Panting as she began running, she really wished she had her wings.

Torch gaped red faced at the story he had just been told. Smoke and flame leaked from his mouth as he panted in rage. He stared incredulously at the crying whelp in Caldera’s hand. He couldn’t believe what he had been told. He didn’t want to believe it. But the look on the whelp’s face. The look in his eyes. It had to be.

“This… this will not stand.” Torch said, a tone of finality in his voice.

He looked down at the whelp, cowering in Caldera’s palm now.

“Where are they? Take me to them.”

“Lord Torch! What’s wrong? Caldera?! What are you doing here already?” Torch turned his head. Landing near his throne were a small gathering of adult dragons. The largest of them, Maximus, was the one who spoke. He had a rare look of fear on his face, as though he were afraid that Torch would tear him apart.

He was right to worry.

“Drakes and dragonesses, we all take the safety of the young ones very seriously, don’t we?”

His question drew confused looks from the gathered dragons. More of whom were now approaching Torch’s throne to investigate what earned his ire.

“Of course we do. I have two whelps and I would kill anyone who hurt them.”

Torch nodded, his expression staying frosty. “Good, good, we’re on the same page. Maximus, your wife brought something pretty surprising to me. A little whelp with no place to call his own.” Torch gestured towards Caldera’s hand. Spike shivered as he saw all eyes shoot towards him. “He told me a very intersesting story of where he came from and why he’s with your wife. It’s a long one though, so I’ll get to the point.”

Torch rose to his full height and lifted the Bloodstone scepter, the symbol of his power.

“Every able-bodied dragon is going to come with me on a very important raid.”

All around him the eyes of dragons widened as their lord declared their target.

“WE WILL BURN THE PONY CAPITOL OF ‘CANTEROLT’ TO THE GROUND!”

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long.

Caldera and Maximus are creations of QueenCold
used with their permission.