26-The Dragon Crown
Chapter 26
The circle that opened the floodgates of Tartarus sat untested. Demons poured from the hole in time and space, eager to feel real air against their skin and the taste of mortal flesh on their tongues.
Lately, though, as the war dragged on, fewer and fewer demons came through. Certainly, this was not due to a lack of devils that lived in the lower planes, so there had to be some other reason for it.
Unfortunately, that reason would make itself apparent very, very soon.
The tower shuddered as something began to make its way through.
Stones began to rock loose, and the walls began to bulge.
A red, dragon head burst from the tower, followed by another four, each of a different color. The tower shattered and fell, destroying the circle and floor beneath her.
The dragon’s roar echoed across creation, and every draconic ear that heard it shook at the sound.
Tiamat the Queen of Dragonkind looked out over the world.
So this was hatred’s plan? This was his grand design?
Her eyes looked over the world.
“My, my…” she said to herself. She smiled.
“Mine…”
<<<|Ω|>>>
Spike ran down the hallways of the castle, searching the rooms for any sign of the sword.
His claws were digging into the carpet as his body coiled and sprung as he ran on all fours, wings pinned against his back for extra speed.
The roar echoed through the castle, shaking him to the bone as the he heard the call.
He rounded another corner, skidding as he turned.
A shadow was following him.
“Spica,” he heard the voice of Gaafnirlass, the father of dragons, echo in his head, “have you not heard her?”
“How could I not hear her?” Spike asked, digging a deep gouge through the carpet as he launched himself forward.
“You must stop her, Spica,” Gaafnirlass said, his shadow running along the floor behind the drake.
“I need to find the sword,” Spike answered.
“Find the sword, and doom the world,” the elder dragon said. “Spica, you must stop Tiamat, and you must do so now.”
“Our choices currently are doom the world by demons, or doom it by dragons. At the least we can take dragons.”
“All of them? All at once?”
Spike’s gait slowed to a walk.
“If Tiamat goes unchallenged, then she will bring every dragon here, and they will answer, and they will obey. If Tiamat is not challenged, then Equestria will burn in dragonfire.”
Spike stopped, and the shadow moved ahead of him, staring up at him from the floor with it’s burning red eyes. “And you, the Last of the True Dragons, are the only one who has the right to challenge her.”
Spike stared down at the eyes that floated on the floor. The eyes of the closest thing he had to a father. The firm, yet, pleading eyes of the Umbral dragon.
Spike sighed. “I just hope that I don’t condemn the world by trying to save it.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
The dragons heard the call.
All around the world, dragons, wyverns, drakes, linnorms, jabberwocks, pseudodragons, dracolisks, dragon turtles, and tatzlwyrms poked their heads out of their lairs.
The Mother of all dragonkind had called them.
There was no questioning her call.
And so dragons around the world were roused, emerging from the dark places of the world, and spreading their massive wings.
There was no denying her call.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Big Mac and Morning Dew, the latter still sobbing with joy as Mac carried him, made their way forward, trying to find the others.
As Mac came to a plaza, however, he was surprised to see Shining tying up another pony.
“Shining,” the farmpony called.
He turned. “Hey, Mac. Just finishing up here.”
“What happened?”
Shining finished the knot before shrugging. “I dunno. He just gave up all of a sudden.”
Mr. Domino simply sat there, tears in his eyes.
“Same here,” Mac said, nodding to the pony on his back. “Boy lost all the fight in him.”
A roar echoed across the city, and both ponies looked up to see the five headed dragon that now rested in the tower.
“Oh, that’s not good…” Shining said.
“Nope…”
“We need to go,” the captain said.
“Eeyup,” Mac said as he dropped Morning down next to Mr. Domino. “Stay here, boy, we’ll be back for ya.”
Morning shook his head, and smiled. “I’m not going anywhere…” he said.
“Come on, let’s go,” Shining said, before the two stallions ran towards the castle.
Morning Dew smiled, before turning to Mr. Domino. “So,” he said with a laugh, “did She talk to you too?”
Domino looked up at him, and gave a small smile. “Yeah, yeah She did…”
Morning smiled. “We really screwed up, huh?”
“Yeah...yeah…”
Morning sighed. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, don’t we?”
A weak smiled danced on Domino’s lips. “Yeah…”
<<<|Ω|>>>
Shining and Big Mac both broke into the courtyard at a dead run, and were quickly met with the sight of a dozen or so Mare Do Wells fighting a single pegasus who danced between them like a madpony.
Mac’s head swung sideways, as though being called, and he called out. “Shining, is that it?”
Shining looked over to where the farmpony was pointing, and blinked at the sight of the naked blade of Judgement, which stood point first in the ground.
He blinked. “How did…?” He shook his head. “That’s it! Let’s get it up to Alan!”
The stallions ran, Shining scooping up the blade as they made their way towards the castle.
Meanwhile a single, reptilian figure stood on the roof of one towers, staring down the massive dragon.
Today, there would be war.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Celestia and Nightmare Moon slammed into the ground, tearing a deep gouge into the earth. The lunar glaive followed close behind, lunging for the solar sister’s throat before a blast of dark magic shot forward into sky, slamming past Nightmare Moon’s face and the glaive, sending the latter spinning into the air.
A powerful kick dislodged the darker mare, freeing Celestia, who stood with her eyes smoking.
“Leave me be!” Celestia growled.
“You will be alone when you’re dead!” Nightmare Moon yelled before leaping back on her, her glaive coming up to pierce her.
Celestia flew sideways, moving at incredible speeds as black magic flooded her veins. Dodging the strike, Celestia brought her hooves around, slamming them into Nightmare Moon’s face.
The glaive came in, slashing at Celestia, who barely got away with only a light cut across the belly.
“Is this what it took, Celestia? Is this what it took to get your attention? And now that I have it, this is how you treat me?”
“Be silent!” Celestia roared. “Get out of my way!”
“I will not let you ignore me again!”
Nightmare Moon shot forward, slamming into the elder, glaive first.
With a sidestep, Celestia brought her horn down along the shaft of the glaive, parrying the polearm to the side as the sisters met in full force.
Slamming into each other, the two alicorns went tumbling, down to the ground as they fought for some kind of advantage.
Rolling in the grass and dirt, they bucked, kicked and bit at each other, trying to win their fight.
And then the strangest sound, a cross between a buzz and a screech, echoed across the clearing.
Both alicorns blinked, and looked to side, where a tall blue box suddenly...well it didn’t appear, it just sort of existed there all of a sudden.
That’s when the door opened, and a pale purple mare with a blonde mane golden eyes stepped through, armed with a long, cylindrical tube of some sort.
“Good evening, Nightmare Loon,” the unicorn said, “You owe me some third grade Nightmare Night candy.”
The alicorns blinked, and looked at each other, before Nightmare Moon opened her mouth. “Do I know yo—”
Wham!
The last words of whatever she was going to say was completely cut off as a large, warm, and surprisingly hard muffin slammed into her face at almost supersonic speeds.
Nightmare Moon went flying, sailing through the air while Celestia sat up, completely confused, the purple smoke in her eyes dying.
She looked back to the box, and saw a wall-eyed grey pegasus smile behind the muffin-firing mare. “Alright! That’s it! Now come on, we’ve have three more critical points to visit tonight.”
“Wait...that was it?” the unicorn asked as she turned toward the door. “Geez, Mom! You make it sound like we have to go through a three day battle for the sake of all Equestria, and then we get here, and it takes one single muffin to do the job!”
“Don’t worry about Luna, Princess,” Derpy said as she hung out the door. “She’ll be just fine when she wakes up from her nap.”
“I mean, seriously! You kept telling me, ‘Oh this is super important, Dinky, there’s no way we can’t—’”
Her rant was cut short by the slamming door, and that sound erupted from the box once more, until the box was simply gone.
Celestia sat and blinked, her eyes having cleared as she looked between the spot where the box had just been, and where he sister now lay.
There was silence for a while.
“What, by Mother’s Sweet Glory, just happened?” she asked herself.
An earth-shattering roar echoed around her, and Celestia looked up at her castle.
“Oh Sweet Mother…” she muttered, as the view of Tiamat emerging from her tower met her eyes.
Her eyes narrowed. “Discord can wait,” she thought to herself. “I need to deal with this.”
She paused a moment to look down at the sight of Nightmare Moon, sprawled out across the grass.
“Be okay, sister. I can’t lose you again…” she said.
And then her wings snapped up, and she was off.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Tiamat laughed.
Oh, this pathetic world.
It would bow so easily.
There would be no stopping her.
Nothing could.
There was no demon, no god, no mortal and no creature that could dare challenge her.
Hatred would give into her, and his lapdog would follow soon after.
This world would be her new horde, and nothing would halt her long claws from taking it.
“Tiamat! Spawn of Evil!” A voice said, speaking in the tongue of ancient dragons. “I challenge you for the Right to Rule!”
Tiamat looked down the length of her five noses at the whelp that challenged her.
He was a pathetic thing. A tiny hatchling of a dragon. A tiny, purple, meaningless worm.
And yet she feared him.
“Who are you, to challenge me?” she asked, her voice steady.
“I am Spica Draconis!” Spike yelled. “Named the Last of the True Dragon’s by Gaafnirlass, Master of Shadows! I am the keeper of the Emerald Flame, born of Magic and Fire, and I will lay you low!”
She knew who he was. In thirteen thousand years, there had not been a drake that resisted her charms like this one. Never had a wyrm thrown away the glint of gold, and not once had a mere dragon thrown her to the side such as this one.
She knew...and if it were not for her demonic scales that could not be pierced by any mortal attack, then she would have recoiled in fear.
As it was, she snorted, sending puffs of acid, smoke, frost, and electricity into the air. “I will humor you, enemy mine. And I will eat your scales and swallow your bones.”
“I will make my boasts when I stand over your corpse,” Spike said as he spread his wings, and took to the sky. “And when you have been laid low, I will see your remains scattered.”
Tiamat snorted again. Unimpressed.
Then she struck, like a viper made of lightning, biting down on the place where Spike had been but a second ago.
Spike, in turn, unleashed a gout of of emerald fire, that engulfed the black head that struck at him.
Tiamat roared in pain.
The emerald flame, it seemed, was not just a mere relic that allowed paper to teleport between two points.
It was also a demon killer.
Tiamat howled, and green flame flew past her scales and cooked her flesh, and brought her heads back in rage.
“You will pay for your insolence!” the white head of the dragon roared, before the four uninjured heads drew back, and unleashed their furious breaths.
Fire, lightning, clouds of acid and frost shot forward and engulfed the form of Spike. A bright column of energy that burned against the sky.
And then, a shadow, large and draconic in shape, reared back, and like a massive head, bit down on the energy that flew towards the small drake.
The breath split, and Tiamat let the attack die in shock.
This...this wasn’t possible. This shouldn’t be possible.
And yet, even as the fire and electricity died around him, she knew somehow, it had come to pass.
Spike’s eyes glowed red and the skin in his wings seemed to trail a shadow.
Somehow, he had become Gaafnirlass.
And this scared her more than anything before.
<<<|Ω|>>>
The dragons that had been approaching stopped.
Tiamat had just roared in pain, and the ancient challenge floated to them on the wind.
This was...unprecedented.
No dragon that had ever challenged Tiamat had caused her pain before…
The dragons looked at each other, searching for some kind of cue as to what to do.
Yet no one moved.
They simply hovered there, looking at each other.
They knew not what to do.
Another cry from their draconic mother rent the air.
Perhaps it would be best to wait for this one…
<<<|Ω|>>>
Spike crawled along the neck of Tiamat’s red head, the others trying desperately to bite him off without hurting her own neck.
But the purple speck on the long, red neck was fast, dodging out of the way of the massive teeth and snapping jaws of the four other dragons.
He leapt, latching onto one of the curved horns of the beast and swinging sideways onto the red’s face.
He stared straight into the yellow orb of the fire breathing head, and drew one of the pistols at his side. “This is for all the suffering you’ve put us through,” he said before firing a ball straight into her eye.
The scream that echoed from Tiamat’s throat was heard across the world.
“Spike? Spike!” A voice called, and the dragon looked up to see Celestia flying slightly to the side.
“Attend to your ponies, Princess. This is dragon business,” He said, before leaping to the next head, which desperately tried to shake him off as the red head writhed in pain.
Celestia looked down at the dragon, the creature she raised like a son for years was about to make a claim for draconic royalty.
She looked down, where there ponies she loved were being swarmed by demons, and mentally cursed. “Stay safe, Spike.”
“I will be safe, Princess. Just leave this one to me!”
Celestia nodded, and dropped to join in the fray.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Scootaloo swung around the ship, holding onto the rope for dear life as she kicked an imp off the deck of the Victory.
A silver spoon, thrown by the pony of the same name, dug into the chest of another, sending him head over heels over the rail.
Pip stood at the helm, standing tall and proud as he piloted the airship beneath him. “Get off my ship!” he yelled, before making a hard starboard. “Well...Uncle Alan’s ship…” he muttered the last bit.
Scootaloo swung again, coming around before landing next to Rumble. They stood, back to back, throwing Karate strikes at the incoming demons.
“Never thought I’d be using the lesson you got me so soon,” the purple-haired pegasus said.
“Never thought I’d be using half of these moves!” Rumble said, sending a kick into an imp’s head.
“Think we’ll make it out of here?” she asked.
“So long as nothing bigger than these guys comes at us,” Rumble answered.
Just as the words left his mouth. A demon, three times taller than they could hope to be, landed on the deck.
The foals gulped.
“You-you had to say it, didn’t you?” Scootaloo said with a nervous laugh.
The demon hulked over them, growling as saliva dripped from his long fangs.
It raised it’s claws.
And was suddenly bodyslammed by a pegasus, off the deck.
The demon went flying off and over the edge, and the pegasus, followed by a squad of more, landed on the deck. “Sir!” one of them said. “We’re here to re...infor...ce...you.”
Pipsqueak nodded. “Good! I need two of you on the envelope, and at least two down here. The rest of you can head to whatever needs the help.”
The pegasus guard blinked as he stared at the foal ordering him.
Pip blinked, and then smiled. “Please?”
The guard sighed. “Taking orders from a foal,” he muttered, before turning to the other pegasi. “You heard the colt! Get up there!”
Pip smiled, and pulled the ship back, heading out of the cloud. They had more important things to do.
To be fair, so did the cloud.
<<<|Ω|>>>
The mares and stallions met back in the foyer after the allotted time, worry growing on their features as they found that no one had returned with the sword.
So far, Alan, Twilight, and Spike had not returned, not to mention Shining and Big Mac, who were probably still fighting the monsters outside.
“Oh...where are they?” Rarity asked, fidgeting.
Soarin shrugged, starting to crash from his high.
Two ponies burst into the room, and both chitin-armored unicorns ran in. “Alright! Form up!” Twilight yelled. “Did anyone find the sword?”
Applejack bit her lip. “Ah ain’t seen—”
The door behind them opened, and Shining and Big Mac came galloping in.
“We’re not late are we?” he asked, holding Judgement up.
“Right on time,” Alan said with a smile as a magick hand grasped the familiar hilt of his blade. “Oh, and Shining?”
“Yeah?”
“Next time we leave Orion in your charge, keep him in your charge!”
Shining winced, before speaking up. “Where is he now?”
“Cadence has him,” Twilight answered. “Now come on, we’ve got to stop Chaos!” she said as they began to lead the way, up and out.
“Wait,” Pinkie said, following along, “I forgot, who’s Chaos?”
“Discord!” Twilight answered back. “But without any of the fun-loving!”
Pinkie gasped. “That’s horrible!”
As Twilight began to fill in the others on what was going on, Alan looked down at his blade.
The word “Justice” faced him.
Alan smirked. “Yes, my old, old friend. The time for Justice has come.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
Chaos landed in the garden, and looked around the small clearing where his master had called.
There was no sign of them.
No sign of any of them!
No soldier!
No wife!
No son!
They were gone.
All gone.
“Curses…” he muttered as he searched the clearing. “Curses, curses, curses! Damnation to all these cursed ponies!”
A crash sounded, and Chaos looked back, and growled as he saw twelve ponies walk into clearing, led by Alan.
“It’s time to face Justice, Chaos.”
Chaos growled.
“You,” he seethed. “You...you have no idea what you’ve done, do you!?”
Alan braced himself as the elements began to spread out, surrounding him.
“You’ve ruined centuries of planning! You’ve ruined all of it! All of it! Die!” he roared, as he leapt into the air. “Die! Die! Die!”
--------------------------------
Alright, guys. Man, this is writing fast…
“How fast is it writing?”
Pinkie, I appreciate the setup, but I have no idea how to make that a joke.
“Aw…”
Yes, so anyway, Tiamat has closed the portal behind her, and Spike is making his bid for the throne. Nightmare Moon took a muffin to the face (baked with love, of course) and the pure oddity of the situation may have just beat the evil (or literally the hell) out of her. While Celestia is about to unleash her sunshine clean up (lemony fresh) on the demons. And then finally, Alan’s about to go for the final showdown with Chaos. Sound about right?
“Eeyup!”
Awesome. And while that’s a sad excuse for a parody catch up—
“I knew you’d make it a joke somehow!”
—it’s what I’ve got. So! Next time!
“The battle of the millenia!”
Chaos vs. Pendragon!
“Eeeeeeeeeeepic Sword Battles of Historyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
Alright, alright...enough of that.
“We’ll see you next time guys!”
Bye!
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You just love cliffhangers don't you?
Can't wait till the next chapter!
Oh hey, a sentence without an ending.
5956758
Whoops!
You saw nothing...
Alright guys, let's get ready to read the next chapter in this wonderful tale!
Okay, I'm just gonna ignore that one and continue on like I didn't see it.
5957856
Unmolested: not pestered or molested; left in peace.
There's nothing wrong with that sentence.
Nice chapter, but there's some things you may want to edit.
That should be "tying".
That should be "mares".
That should either end with a period or there should be a comma after "forgot". Also, I wish you mentioned the stratadons when listing all the different kinds of dragons that heard Tiamat's call.
5957895 The implications of it being used as it is are just... disconcerting. While your use is correct, the social context of the word lends a different feeling to the sentence than you were probably looking for.
I would suggest using "The circle that opened the floodgates of Tartarus sat untested." It would give it an air of something great and foreboding, untouchable (actually, 'untouched' would make for a good alternative as well), versus making the Gates of Tartarus sound like a young child at a catholic school.
You get points for disassociation, but it alters the tone too much.
But, hey, it's your story, write it how you like. Lords knows I don't give my pre-readers much mind at all.
5958364
To be fair, I was looking for a work like that, I just wasn't coming up with anything other than unmolested.
Tested does have the tone I was going for, so I'll go ahead and try that.
5958456
I read an absurd amount of fiction. Your word choice to me is extremely common. However, in this context, it doesn't quite fit. The area has been touched, tampered with, explored, etc... It hasn't been effected by any of that though. (Unless I'm mixing this up with a different equally well written fic that had something similar happen for slightly different reasons.... Seriously. Anybody who likes this needs to read Stories in Stone. The battles are just as big and just as nailbiting The OC cast is just as well written, maybe even better in a few cases...)
I digress. Assuming I'm not mixing stories, the word choice is acceptable, but not fitting. I've found that, that term specifically, works better when given qualifiers. Ex: It remained unmolested by the battles that raged around it. Obviously not a stunning example, but sunlight, touchscreen keyboards and generalized wordiness do not mix well. Lol I seriously can't even tag the other guy that started this....
Truthfully, in my read through, I failed to notice the odd word. With as much as I read/tabletop game, it's a pretty common expression. I'm guessing it's just out of the norm for a few folks who only see it in the media.
5958364 That other comment I posted was for you too, but my phone is reticent to allow me to tag multiple people when making a comment. ..
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
5958660
5958456
It's possible that because my family has recently death with, um... things involving molestation (that I'm not going to go in to), seeing the word 'unmolested' used in that way may have been more jarring for me than it should have. Although I do have to say I've never actually seen that word used in such a way before, and I spend most of my time reading fan fiction––not that I think you're lying! No, I believe you 100%, I just think there are a dozen better words to use before going with 'unmolested'; especially when describing a gate to Hell.
Anyway, enough of this! Chapter was as good as I expected and I'm looking forward to the next one!
Tiamat has shown up? That's not good. At least she took out the hell portal on her way in, silver linings and all.
Huh. That feels a little out of nowhere, am I just misremembering the setup for that earlier in the story?
There we go, Spike, go kick some ass.
Random theory that's been kicking around in my mind, given the "Repentant draconequus" story title that still hasn't really come to pass, I suspect Justice won't actually kill Chaos, it'll split his two personalities off into two separate bodies that can be handled appropriately. After all, it would be nice if Luna actually did get her love back, and it'd be nicely balanced for both Princesses to get their stallions once all the dust settles.
5958456 I think it actually reads more strangely now with untested, unmolested at least feels like the proper word for what is being described. Untested feels like a fortress or something like that is being described, not a portal. Unchallenged, maybe?
5962577
No, unchallenged really doesn't sound right. It's not offering any sort of taunt to challenge.
As for the muffin thing: A Novice Swordsman in the Canterlot Court: Chapter 1
5963374 It kind of is, the taunt of being open and all those demons pouring out, it's just begging for the right set of heroes to swing by and seal it. Well, it was until Tiamat took care of the problem.
That was a long time ago, I had forgotten that the Doctor was even a character in these stories. I probably just read too many stories, lots of stuff blends together after enough time.
Dammit, I forgot about that cloud. Faust is the true chessmaster here.