Rotted Spike

“The intelligence you gave us was almost correct, but was within your estimate.” Epee said looking at me.

A table in front of us showed the miles of the dragon breeding lands, the Dragon King’s castle was in the middle of all of the breeding grounds in the most heavily used breeding crater, surrounded by lava pits and rough mountains. It was extremely easy to defend, and had never been attacked by an army before this point.

“Good, and the castle?”

“The castle is the same, but it would seem there are plenty more normal dragons than dragon kin protecting the castle and outlaying lands.”

“That’s fine, the path we were going to take is still clear, we just will have to stop here, and go by hoof.” I pointed at the edge of the lava pits. “It will take us an hour if we’re careful, so getting to the castle won’t be a problem.”

“Are you sure we can’t just go in and start just killing them?” An earth pony asked and we all looked at him. I had two unicorn and two pegasus, I would only need one earth pony as a scout, magic or flying would get noticed instantly.

“Sorry sir, he’s new.”

“To answer your question, no, we can’t just attack full out. He controls the volcano under the breeding lands, that’s why he is able to control the dragons. It would be a fatal blow to the dragons, I’m hoping to gain their assistance when we battle the lich, so just killing them would do nothing for us. So we can’t just let him do it, plus it would wipe us out.”

“What?”

“How new is he?” I asked looking at Epee.

“He’s the fastest scout we have, but he’s still new, he’ll get the job done.” I sighed and looked at him.

“If a volcano that size goes off it’ll wipe out everything within at least a hundred miles of it, that means all the way to Dodge City would be lava pits, but that wouldn’t be the problem, the problem would be the ash cloud that engulfs the planet in days. Everything would freeze after a while of being covered in yards of ash. Nothing not even Celestia could survive a winter like that and clearing the sky would be impossible. Just too heavy.”

“That’s really bad then.”

“The dragons normally manage it so it’ll never explode, but since he got a hold of it, just the press of a button will set it off. I need to kill him in his sleep, and anti-magic stops me from just teleporting in, now while normally going alone would be best, this is not the case. The five of you are basically scouts and distractions when I need them, while.”

“We know,” another soldier said. “The price of our lives to save the planet is well worth the bill, we understood that when we accepted the mission.”

“You’re lives are not replaceable, do not forget that, I know this might be a suicide mission for us, but we are not expendable, never forget that fact.” He nodded. “Now then, any other questions?”

“Dragon kin?” The earth pony asked and I sighed.

“They are dolls made by dragon breath, brute creatures which are controlled by the king, they are easily killed, but when he sleeps, command falls to others of his ranks. So getting seen by a single one is deadly, don’t chance it.”

“I’m good.”

“Great, let’s move out.” We all went out a door to a truck. I got into the back with the four pony and Epee got into the driver’s seat. I stood up grabbing a sheet and pouring magic into it and making the truck invisible. I opened the door between the bed of the truck and the driver’s cab.

“Commander.”

“Take it slow, not too fast, don’t want to kick up dust.” He nodded and started driving, I sat down in the back being able to see through the cloth rather easily. I relaxed looking at the ground.

Dragon lands were full of gems, which made using any teleportation magic other than seals impossible to do, and end up in the right place would be a crap and shoot if I did manage to teleport. I had choose it as my home because it was almost too easy to defend. Had I not been able to sneak into his ranks in my world, my world would’ve ended.

“Commander.” I looked at the earth pony.

“Yeah?”

“We’re almost there.” I looked around, we had entered dragon lands nicely, but the closer we got to the castle, the less likely my invisible cape would hide us. “I just thought you should know, sorry for waking you.”

“He wasn’t asleep.” A unicorn said.

“Oh, sorry.”

“You’re young aren’t cha?” One of the pegasus asked.

“Yeah, turned eighteen two months ago, first time in the field during a battle, but I’m fast and I’ve done recon long before that.”

“Just be careful around the commander,” the other Pegasus said. “He’s not someone you want to piss off, he’s done this before, you don’t need to tell him what to do.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said and they looked at me. “Would have probably stared at the ground the entire time. Unlike for you pony time goes by too fast for me, what might seem a three hours ride might be three seconds to me.” The truck stopped under a large rock giving us cover as we got out. Epee came into the back.

“Commander.” Epee said.

“Stay invisible as much as possible, but always assume that they can see you, do not let them even notice you.” They all nodded and we all turned invisible and the earth pony ran ahead of us as we got out. “Keep radio quiet, dragons have good ears.”

We all started jogging and stopped at the edge of the crater. I frowned at a near million dragon kin patrolling and over ten thousand dragons. This crater was the main breeding ground of all of the dragon lands.

“Sir the path is clear.” The earth pony said being way ahead of us.

“Move it.” I whispered and we started to move. “You four get into your position, he might be smart and suspect us, and I don’t want surprises.” They all nodded running off. I got to the earth pony which was at a lava mote around the castle.

“Sorry, but I can’t get over.” I grabbed him and jumped over landing. He ran ahead of me again going extremely fast. I followed him as he guided me past guards and dragons. He was remarkably good at sneaking around. “Stop.” I stopped.

“What?”

“Two dragon kin are around that corner and your invisibility isn’t on.” I looked down as it flickered.

“Epee distraction one, make it big.”

“Yes sir.” A huge explosion made the ground shake and the dragon kin flew out of windows. I started to run and we got to the dragon king’s throne room hiding behind the doorway to the throne room so they couldn’t see us. He knew magic so he was in my same form as me, but was black scaled.

“Sire there seems to have been a pressure explosion, not an attack.” A miniaturized dragon guard said. All his dragon guards were miniaturized.

“Good, then recall the troops, I don’t want them sneaking in tonight.” The dragon nodded leaving the room. “Now then have the bombs been moved into place?”

“Yes sire.” Another dragon guard said.

“Good, come morning blow them.”

“Commander what do we do?” I looked at the earth pony as the dragon king started to talk to his other guards.

“We kill him, and his ranks will fall apart.” That was about all I could say actually, he didn’t have bombs in my world, this was new, and new was bad. “We just have to wait till he sleeps to kill him, he has the trigger on him.” We looked at a handheld magic trigger device on his side. We hid as he looked toward us.

“Right well move the ships into place,” the Dragon King said and I paused. “Just make sure they aren’t noticed by the patrol, we’re no match against them in open combat, we’ll have to sneak the lava bombs into place.” I gritted my teeth as a chill went down my spine.

“What’s a lava bomb?”

“Turns everything within a mile of it into lava, it uses a dragon heart to fuel it and explode the power it contains. It’s extremely destructive, but he only had one in my world. More than one is worse than bad, and if they are on ships, a single one could wipe out the entire navy from the blast radius alone. If that went into any city docks, it would be over for that entire city in a single second, there would be no survivors.”

“What do we do?”

“Epee.”

“Yes?”

“Epee send two back to Applejack, tell her there is a possible navy fleet with a type one lava bomb, there may be more than one of them, be ready to sink those ships at the cost of the entire navy, we cannot afford them to get anywhere near a city. Have both the west and east navy at the ready.”

“Yes commander.” The dragon king sat down and we all waited.

“Sire, the spy has reported that the navy has started to move, they sunk three of the fifteen lava bomb fleets.”

“WHAT!” He shouted standing up slamming his fist.

“The fleets never had a chance and the six dragons that were swimming with the three fleets were shot down easily and killed.”

“How did they know?!” He growled looking around.

“The spy said that they received intel from a high ranking soldier a few hours ago, and they mobilized the naval forces on general Applejack’s orders. They are out in force like we’ve ever seen before. The spy said the entire navy is searching for all fleets, we can’t get within range to even blow up the bombs.”

“Well then have the dragons hook the bombs onto their backs and try to fly them into the cities.”

“Sire they would be shot down before they even got close.” He slammed his table.

“Then what do you suggest?! We fly all the dragons straight into Equestria and just burn everything?”

“Sire, we would be slaughtered, their anti-air weapons are, a single shot can rip through our best armor. The only reason we’re still standing is because of that switch, without it we would have been wiped out.”

“I suppose that would be wise to use if we have nothing else, before they can kill me in my sleep.” Everyone in the room became uneasy as he pulled it off his belt. The earth pony moved forward and I grabbed him covering his mouth.

“Don’t move.” I growled lightly.

“Maybe if we break the fleets up.” I said projecting my voice from one of his guards positions. They looked at the guard and he looked around.

“That could work,” the dragon king said looking around. “Send word, break up every fleet and have them move toward the cities, they won’t be able to counter the thousands of ships in time.”

“Yes sire.” A guard ran out of the room and I relaxed as the dragon king put the switch back onto his belt. Not even I could survive a blast like that, it simply wasn’t possible, nothing would survive it, at least not without being encased in stone. I let the earth pony go.

“Shouldn’t we tell command?”

“Not this time, they will be able to halt the attack for enough to allow us to kill the dragon king. That’s all that’s important.” Applejack would easily move once she realizes what was happening.

“Right.”

“Also never move without my order, is that clear?” He nodded. Hours went by and a guard ran into the room.

“Report!” The dragon king shouted standing up.

“The Equestria fleets have no idea, we were able to get five of them passed their naval forces. They are well on their way, it’ll take another six hours.”

“I do believe that’s comforting, I’m going to go to sleep, I’m tired of waiting, tell me if there’s any improvement.” He got up, the earth pony and me hid as he came through our doorway. We followed him for a while being able to stay cloaked.

“Who’s there?!” He shouted turning around and making us stop. He looked around scanning the hallway, I poured more magic into our armor and he didn’t see us. He kept walking and stopped before entering his bedchamber. He looked around and then wrote a seal onto the door in his blood. It disappeared.

The dragon king was skilled in seal magic, he couldn’t do normal pony magic like I could, and that made it simple to kill him. He walked inside slamming his door rather hard as he went into his bedchamber.

“Go to Epee and leave with him to tell Applejack. I'll be able to handle him.” He nodded leaving and I watched him leave. I smiled merging through the wall without a sound walking into his bedchamber. He sighed throwing his helmet on to the ground.

He sat down and looked at the trigger. He was thinking about pressing it just because, not because he was cornered. I had hated the dragon king for many things, and now, I only thought him an idiot. He could have done more, he was a waste, at least he built my castle for me, save me a little bit of trouble.

“No, not yet.” He mumbled as he set it on the bedside table and I smiled as he lay down. I walked over to the trigger and chuckled appearing. He looked at me shocked as I picked up the trigger. He tried to pull with his magic, but it didn’t work.

“Please, as if simple seals could take something from me.” I back handed him sending him into the wall. Once he was dead I would be the only one that could use it, strong seals stopped anything else from using it. Though while he was alive he could still trigger it, so simply stealing it wasn’t enough.

“Who are you?” He asked getting up and I tapped my chest making my armor disappear, he was no longer a threat without the trigger, now he was trash. Even my weakest dragon guard in my world could kill him.

“Who am I?” I chuckled. “For an enemy king you sure are ill informed.”

“Seffron, but how?”

“You’re magic is sad, I walked in right behind you, this was the only thing I needed, now I have an end game if all else fails.” I chuckled. “The Darkness won’t take this planet, not if I can help it.”

“What?” I held out my hand and he was sucked to it, I grabbed his neck choking him and laughing as he struggled. “Stop.” He choked out.

“I’m going to take over the world, and you need to die.” Tears went down his face. “Of course you did give me a wonderful weapon, and a castle to call home once I take over completely, beautiful isn’t it?” I snapped his neck and his arms fell to his side making me chuckled throwing his corpse to the side.

“What?” I turned to the earth pony.

“Ah crap.” He started to run making me cut his radio. I put away the trigger, running after him, but dragon kin got in the way quickly slowing me down for only a second as I cut through them like they were made of air.

Alarms went off as I got outside and the earth pony looked at me on the edge of the lava mote. I sighed and he looked around panicked.

“Get away from me!”

“It’s not what you think.” I tried to use magic and looked down making him look down as well. We were on a large gem! It would absorb all magic I cast, no matter how powerful the spell was.

“Did you just try to cast magic on me?!”

“What’s happen?!” Epee shouted over the radio. I grunted a little, if he got to Epee and they managed to teleport this would turn messy before the lich, and I couldn’t afford that, not even a little.

“Soldier, you need to calm down and come to me right now.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere near you, you have the trigger and not only that are planning on taking over the world! I’ve looked at reports it all make sense, you have everything under your control, even Celestia is blind to you. I’ve been looking in on this for a while, I just didn’t realize the last piece, you’re evil.” I eyed him, he was probably really good if I hadn’t noticed.

“Really, sounds like you’ve gone nuts, we need to get out of here before the army converges on us.” He looked around at the army of dragon kin.

“But the dragon king is dead.” I frowned, the word had already spread by the time we got outside, the army was no longer against us. “I don’t need to do anything.”

“Please come here soldier.” I couldn’t to kill him, and without my magic he was fast enough to escape me, I couldn’t even change size to grab him. “That’s an order! Come here right now!”

“No, I’m waiting for Lieutenant Epee!”

“And tell him what? I’m the commander, who’s word do you think they will believe?”

“I.”

“If you don’t follow my order I swear I'll kill you and then send your corpse to your family. I’m high enough rank that I can kill soldiers that are deserting battle. Now you will come to me right now.” He swallowed.

“I’m on my way.” Epee said.

“Stay away!” I shouted into the radio cutting it again.

“Yes sir.” I relaxed a little and he looked around, he wouldn’t be able to jump, and if he left the gem I would have him.

“See, you have nothing left, if you don’t come to me, I'll kill you. I don’t want to because Applejack’s record will be over.” Not like it would matter now. “Now do not make me do this, I don’t want or need to kill you.”

“You’ll just erase my memory won’t you?”

“Yep.” He sighed looking around.

“I’d rather die, at least my death will send warning.” Cheers and roars of happiness filled the air making us look around.

“THE DRAGON KING IS DEAD! WE ARE FREE!” A dragon shouted overhead and soon that message filled the sky. I started to laugh and he looked at me nervously.

“Screw it all.” I picked up a rock and he readied himself. I threw it so fast he didn’t have time to move as it hit his knee cap shattering it. He yelled in pain and I grinned walking over to him throwing his helmet into the lava, then held his snout closed.

“Epee, I have the scout with me, he was hurt, it’ll take me a little to heal him. So we’ll catch up shortly.”

“Yes commander.” I picked up the earth pony and flew into the air going away from the dragon’s nest. I landed on a beach and set him down and he looked around panicking. I now was in complete control.

“What are you going to do to me?” I licked my lips and he shivered.

“Going to let you watch the sun rise.” Tears went down his face. “I’m not going to kill you or wipe your memories.” He looked at me. “Oh what I’m going to do is so much worse, and it’ll take you months, by then it won’t matter. Your words will be meaningless.” I chuckled and he started to breathe fast.

“Master.” One of my doll soldiers said walking over to us as the sun rose from above the sea.

“Break his legs and then put them in casts, make sure he doesn’t heal till after the Lich comes.”

“Yes master.”

“No, no, no, no!” He screamed as my doll snapped his legs one after another, then knocked him out.

“Epee.”

“Yes commander?”

“I’ve sent the scout on a special mission for when the lich comes, he’ll be gone for months, I can’t tell you where he’ll be, but he’ll come back hopefully with good information that everyone will be interested in.”

“I understand, I'll make sure to send in the paperwork.”

“I might leave for a while, don’t expect me to come back today, I'll teleport home around, say three.”

“Yes commander.” I watched the sun rise and I fell back falling asleep happy for once. I had missed the feeling of torture, I didn’t get that much anymore. I slept through the day and into the next till it was time for me to go back, and a seal formed in the sand under me, I then teleported.