Battle of the Kings

by TyrannosaurusVenom

The Dragon Lord: Smaug

As the dinosaurs followed the dragons to their domain, questions were going through their minds. What did the dragon Lord have in store for them? Why was he so interested in them after only hearing how they had defeated Black Death? But one question nagged at them all more than anything. What was this dragon king like, and was he more powerful than Black Death?

Their thoughts were put on hold when the terrain changed from grassy fields to rocky terrain, outcrops in the distance, and dragons brawling everywhere. The girls all had wide eyes at the sight before them.

"Uh Twilight, this is far more extreme than I remember," Rainbow Dash whispered.

"I've noticed, we'd better make ourselves invisible." Twilight cast an invisibility spell on herself and the girls as the dragons came swooping in at the sight of the dinosaurs.

All of them tried to get in close to get a good look at the Guardians, but the three dragons shoved them all aside.

"Back off!" The greed dragon bellowed at the crowd in anger. "They're not here for your amusement, our king requested an audience with them."

Upon hearing this, a bunch of hushed whispers and conversations were started amongst the dragons.

"Our lord wants to see them?"

"This is gonna be good. Our king doesn't have an audience with just anyone."

The trio led the dinosaurs across their land until they came to a massive lake that seemed to stretch for miles. In the distance, the dinosaurs and ponies could make out a giant shape of land that had an enormous black shape resting on it.

"What you all are seeing out there, that is our king."

"He'll look a great deal bigger when he touches down," the dark blue dragon said. He and the white dragon gave out bellowing roars to the black shape on the horizon.

Everypony watched with shocked looks on their faces as the shape began to rise and then took off on two giant wings. The echoes from each flap could be heard by every dragon in the area. They all scattered as the wing beats drew closer, the dinosaurs slowly backed up themselves as the massive dragon came closer. The white dragon hid the ponies in his wing as the wing beats stopped and the king glided towards the land. When he touched down, the dinosaurs and ponies couldn't believe how different the king was from his subjects.

Whereas most dragons stood upright, the dragon lord stood on all fours in an animal-like posture. His scales were a dark shade of red, and bore countless scars all over his body from many hard fought battles. It appeared that his front arms and wings were merged into one, for the dinosaurs noticed the leathery membranes that folded alongside him. His neck was long and twisted like a serpent's, and his head had spikes that flexed with his movements instead of horns. To top it off, his eyes burned with a golden yellow as he eyed the dinosaurs.

"Sire, we brought them here as you requested."

"Excellent, well done soldier," the amount of bass coming from the dragon lord's voice rattled the ponies and terrified them. The king raised his head so he could look down upon the dinosaurs that had been brought before him.

"So, these are the creatures that challenged Black Death and destroyed him?"

"That is correct." Tyrannosaurus's sudden response shocked all the dragons. None of them ever spoke to their king unless he said so.

The dragon lord lowered his head and looked T-Rex in the eyes.

"So, you all can talk too? Splendid, then we can get the introductions out of the way before I tell all of you why I summoned you here." The trio of dragons stood behind the dinosaurs as their king spoke. "I am Dragon Lord Smaug, I have ruled over these lands for many years and kept all the dragons in line. I never faced any rogues until Black Death came along. I was able to banish him from these lands after defeating him in battle."

The dinosaurs and ponies were hanging onto every word Smaug said.

"A few months ago, I find out from these survivors that he had been killed by a group of creatures that had overpowered and destroyed him. I want all of you to give me your names and what kind of animals you are, so I can get a good idea of how Black Death got killed."

Smaug moved his head towards Blue and her girls. The other raptors seemed intimidated by his massive size, but Blue stood her ground.

"We'll start with you little ones, what do you call yourselves?" Blue stepped forward and spoke to Smaug.

"We are called Velociraptors. Our name means pack hunters, I'm Blue and these are my sisters Delta, Echo and Charlie. We are all dinosaurs." Smaug took a minute to take in the info he had received.

"Hmm, hunting in numbers to take on bigger enemies, I like it. Judging by the weapons you all have, especially those claws on your feet, I can see how Black Death would have trouble with you."

"We gave him plenty of trouble alright," Echo said. "Sliced up his body and gave him a world of hurt." Smaug turned to eye the young raptor.

"Your determination speaks for itself, my dears. Very nice, now onto the next warrior."

The raptors joined the dragons as Smaug focused his attention on Tyrannosaurus Rex. He seemed rather impressed with T-Rex's stature and the golden glow from his eyes.

"Now you are a soul that could take any challenge and fears nothing."

"That is true Smaug, I have the power and prowess to take on any challenge." Smaug mover his neck so that he could look over Tyrannosaurus's body.

"Your body bares the many scars of battle, just like mine. What do you call yourself, powerful one?" T-Rex stood to his full height and looked Smaug right in the eye.

"I am called Tyrannosaurus Rex! My name means tyrant lizard, in my world I was the king of all other dinosaurs." T-Rex gave a proud roar to declare himself. The roar pleased Smaug immensely, and he appeared satisfied.

"What a grand name, and with all the strength you possess Tyrannosaurus, you are definitely worthy of that name. I can imagine that Black Death had to struggle against you quite a lot."

"I rammed him into mountains, crushed his bones, and tore off his arms half a dozen times." Hearing this caused Smaug's eyes to glow brightly.

"Truly superb, you and I will get along just fine Tyrannosaurus." Smaug was ready to address Indominus, but the moment his eyes fell upon the hybrid, the dragon's mood changed. "Well, this is quite a peculiar sight. I've never seen such a unique creature before."

Smaug's mouth curled into a strange smile as he made his way towards Indominus and began to circle his body. Indominus didn't know what to make of this and noticed that Smaug hadn't questioned him yet. The dragon lord was still eyeing him, like he was expecting something from the hybrid. Indominus took a guess and decided to mimic Smaug's walk and eyeing him too. The golden fire from Smaug's eyes glaring against the powerful crimson gaze from Indominus. All the other dragons were perplexed, they had never seen their king act this way before.

"What's going on? Why is he just staring at Indominus," Twilight asked from inside the white dragon's wing.

"We're not sure, we've never seen Smaug act this way around any dragon before. If I had to guess, I'd say that Indominus might've peeked his interest."

After what felt like an eternity, they finally heard Smaug speak.

"You seem so similar to the raptors and Tyrannosaurus, but yet, you are so much different. Your body is on a whole different level than theirs. Also, I'm picking up multiple scents on you, not just one solid scent. I can tell that a powerful fire lurks behind those slit eyes of yours. You are the first creature that has ever managed to arouse my curiosity with your uniqueness. Who are you, and what do you call yourself, strange one?"

Indominus tried to go for as deep a tone as he could, and spoke to Smaug very calmly.

"I am what some have come to define as, a hybrid."

"Hybrid!?" The word took Smaug by surprise, he had never encountered a hybrid in his life. He stopped circling Indominus and got to eye-level with him. "So just how many creatures were you born from?"

"I was born from at least ten different animals." Smaug's eyes shrunk after he heard what Indominus had said.

"You can't be serious, something like that isn't possible."

"If only I was pulling your leg."

"Well, that explains why you have so many scents on you, and so many odd features. What else do you claim to be?"

"My name is Indominus Rex."

"Indominus. Mmmm, I love the way that name rolls off my tongue. It's unique and befitting for you at the same time. Continue."

Indominus could see that he was getting Smaug's attention and continued.

"I've found that my name has two meanings. The first one is "the king with no master," but the second one is my preferred meaning. It's called the "untamable king.""

"Untamable?" Smaug said in delight once the word had escaped Indominus's jaws. "Now that is the most fascinating term I've ever heard. You are a rare creature indeed Indominus, but I have to ask you one thing. Where are your pony friends hiding?"

Inside Indominus, his heart stopped with a jolt. There was no way that Smaug could've known that the Mane SIx had tagged along.

"P-Ponies? There are no ponies in these lands, you've got that all wrong."

"Oh I don't think so, Untamable King. You have spent a great deal of time around them, and if I'm not mistaken, one of them appears to be your mate. You've spent so much time around this particular pony that her scent is practically engraved on you."

The hybrid felt his heart pounding wildly, this dragon knew that Rainbow Dash and her friends were nearby, and it scared him to think what might happen. But he couldn't show his fear in front of Smaug, so Indominus swallowed his fear and stood his ground.

"So what if I have a pony as a mate? What does it matter to you anyway? But I warn you Smaug, I don't tolerate any creature that hurts my girl, and I certainly will not let you hurt them."

Smaug barely flinched at Indominus's words, he just got right in the hybrid's face.

"I don't tolerate any creature that wanders into my kingdom Indominus, especially meddlesome ponies. However, given that one of them is your mate, if they are here it means that they wanted to see what I have in store for all of you. I won't hurt this particular group if they happen to show themselves, so you don't have to be so tense. I may be a dragon, but I'm not unreasonable."

Indominus relaxed his aggressive posture and Smaug gathered the dinosaurs in front of him. It was time to reveal the real reason why he had requested them to come to his kingdom.

"Now that introductions are over, time for me to explain myself. The reason I summoned all of you here is because I want to see you dinosaurs fight and show me the power that killed Black Death. After I heard about his death, I had to see if the rumors were true for myself. So I figured the best way for all of you to showcase your power to me is with a gauntlet."

"Gauntlet?" The dinosaurs all said in unison.

"That's right, a gauntlet. Each of you will fight against the best dragons in this land and prove to me that you truly live up to the rumor of slaughtering Black Death. If I like what I see, I may give a rare reward to you dinosaurs."

The dinosaurs could care less about what the reward was, but the promise of getting to fight again fueled their inner flames. However, there was just one question left that Delta chose to bring up.

"Where are you planning on having this gauntlet?"

"I'm glad you asked Delta, there is a special arena in this land that is perfect for a gauntlet like this."

Smaug took one of his long arms and pointed towards a large volcano in the distance. The sky around the volcano was always bright red, and the dinosaurs watched a huge geyser of lava erupt from within. Seeing that he had gotten their curiosity aroused, Smaug continued.

"That volcano holds a battle arena within its very crater. It's where every dragon in the land gathers to watch the boldest and most powerful dragons contest their skills and strengths in the heart of the volcano. That will be where the gauntlet shall be held."

Every dragon in the area roared in applause, they had witnessed battles held in that volcano before. Now it would be the center stage for the dinosaurs to showcase their prowess. Smaug led the way as he guided the carnivores towards the battle arena. The Mane Six were all nervous now, they weren't sure if the dinosaurs were going to come out of this battle with their scales intact. Out of all of them, Rainbow Dash was the most worried along with Scootaloo. They would have to watch their loved ones and guardians fight in the heart of a dangerous and volatile volcano.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What's a midquel?

[TyrannosaurusVenom]

7506608 A midquel is a sort of side story that takes place within another story. Think of Lion King 1 1/2, Fox and the Hound 2, Bambi 2. Those are all examples of midquels.

[Grey Goat Gal]

Well, let's see how this goes!

[TyrannosaurusVenom]

7506979 Glad to see that you're reading my latest story. I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as you liked Family of a Lifetime.

[Seriff Pilcrow]

Why is Smaug the Dragon Lord and not Torch or Ember?