Hellfire was not a dragon whom people disappointed. One look at his visage of pitch-black scales and gold chest plates was enough to get most dragons to at least cower, and those who served him knew better than to only cower.
At this moment, however, he was staring down at a pathetic pile of pink and white scales knelt before his throne. Hellfire had been disappointed for the first time in a very very long while.

“Let me get this straight. Not only did you lose the Gauntlet of Fire, but you also did so by making yourself, and by extension, me, look like a complete and utter buffoon in front of THE ENTIRETY OF THE DRAGONLANDS!?”

The whelp bowed even lower, almost attempting to press themselves into the dirt in order to grovel sufficiently. “P-please sir, it’s not my fault! t-there was a s-sudden eruption! H-how could I have known that a stone was flying towards my-”

“SILENCE!”

The wretch somehow managed to flatten itself even further. Almost becoming a rug sitting before the throne. Hellfire smirked at the imagery. The idiot before him seemed to interpret that as a sign of mercy.

Hellfire was not feeling merciful.

“Any other dragon wouldn’t have been standing around looking like a fool. You asked for a chance to prove yourself to me. I decided to give you one, and what did you do with it?”

The wretch, realizing their mistake, began to quake with fear.

The smirk became a cruel grin as Hellfire stood from the throne and stepped towards the failure at his feet, warmth rising through his belly.

The failure at least had the sense to grovel further, kissing Hellfire’s talons in an attempt to beg for mercy it wasn’t worthy of.

“P-please sir. I’ll do better next time. I swear!”

The warmth rising through Hellfire’s chest lept out of the corners of his maw as striking bursts of flame. Hellfire chuckled at the pathetic scene before him. The dragons who had been watching on the edges of the room began to pull away. They knew exactly what was about to happen.

The wretch foolishly looked towards the ones abandoning him to his fate and missed Hellfire rearing back his foot. He quickly realized that his focus should have been elsewhere as talons slammed into his body, sending him flying across the room to crash into the far wall.

“Second chances are for those who have earned them.” The pathetic worm struggled to their knees and coughed up blood. “Not pathetic whelps like you.”

The whelp took a shuddering breath. Their ribs were broken. They looked towards their master and very quickly realized that this was the least of their worries. It tried to scramble to its feet as Hellfire took in a deep breath, stoking the glowing fire raging beneath his chest plates.

It tried to run.

It was barely able to take a single step before a blast of white-hot flame shot from Hellfire’s maw and enveloped it. Everything in the path of the blast was consumed, even the whelp's final screams of agony were cut short by the flames, leaving nothing but scorched stone. Not even ash was left.

Nobody dared speak or even make a noise as Hellfire stalked back to his throne. He dropped into it with a heavy grunt, then glared at his sycophants scattered around the edges of the room.

“Well? What are you all standing around for? We’ve got work to do!”

The assembled dragons shuffled their feet and looked at one another, hoping that someone would know what their lord was thinking and would give them direction without having to risk his ire.

Nobody spoke up.

“Do I have to spell out everything to you morons?! If that ridiculous gauntlet was our only option for getting me on the throne I would have sent someone guaranteed to win it! Not that moronic excuse for a pile of ash!”

The dragons collectively nodded, then hurried out of the room. They still weren’t sure what they were supposed to be doing, but it was better to find out later than to risk being the next one scorched into oblivion.

One dragon, with dark crimson scales and wearing a hooded robe, remained. He walked forward silently, then knelt at the foot of the throne.

Hellfire nodded towards his second in command. “Make sure they get their orders quickly. This is going to be a long and arduous process and I don’t want a single second of my time wasted by those morons sitting around.”

The figure rose, still bowing.

“As much as I would love to serve your interests, my lord, none of us have been made aware of the plans you have made in secret.”

Hellfire rolled his eyes. “I thought there was a reason I made you my right hand. Figure it out.”

His right hand rose fully and met Hellfire’s eyes.

“Well, my lord, I would expect that you sent that whelp to the Gauntlet because you didn’t necessarily want to rely on a system of succession that does not ensure the people’s loyalty.”

Hellfire smiled and gestured for him to continue.

“I would suspect that in your wisdom, you’ve decided for a subtler approach. One that will ensure not only that you take the throne, but that the people are loyal to you before you do.”

Hellfire nodded. “I’m sure you don’t need me to explain how to perform a coup.”

His right hand bowed, then exited the room.

Everything had gone exactly as planned. Now that the new queen undoubtedly thought him to be a fool, he could operate right under her nose without even a hint of suspicion. It would take time to sway all of dragonkind to his cause, but he was sure it wouldn’t take nearly as long as he suggested. They were a proud and noble people, and Queen Ember had been seen with those moronic ponies on more than one occasion.

He would gladly take advantage of that weakness. All he’d have to do is nudge the right people and spread a few rumors. The throne would be his in only a matter of months.

Hellfire stood, then sent out a call for one of his concubines.

Everything was going according to plan. He might as well celebrate it with his favorite pleasure.

Author's Note

Here we go, my first MLP fanfiction.

This is going to be a story which doesn't feature many main characters from the show in any major capacity. they'll still pop up here and there, but only as minor roles.

updates are probably going to be somewhat sporadic as writing is hard and brain is dumb.

Let me know what you think though! this story idea has been bouncing around my head for quite some time now and I'm so happy that I've finally got something I feel like sharing.