3. The Overlord of All Dragons
Solrathicharnon fluttered his wings a few times in an almost pegasus-like gesture before he tucked them against his body. His teeth were clenched tight, but licks of flame would make their way out from between them on occasion. His tongue also flicked from his mouth, tasting the air.
“Yes…the Elements,” he hissed. “I can taste you; you taste of sweat and fear. It has been some time since I feasted upon pony…maybe it’s time to change that.” He spread his wings wide and started forward.
“W-w-wait!” Cheerilee called out, backing away as Raindrops took to the air, but didn’t leave her side in spite of that – she was probably planning on grabbing Cheerilee and making for the forest. “Wait! Aren’t you curious why – ”
“No,” the eldest dragon interrupted, breathing fire. Raindrops didn’t miss a beat, grabbing Cheerilee about the barrel and lifting off. Raindrops wasn’t a fast flier, but she was strong enough that Cheerilee didn’t slow her down too much. She also knew that it would be hopeless to try and make for the jungle, and so instead dragged Cheerilee to the stream and pushed herself and Cheerilee down beneath the water.
The water around them quickly rose in temperature – it wasn’t very cool to begin with, and within just a few moments it rapidly rose to nearly unbearable levels as the two ponies kept their eyes focused upwards on the flames that raced by overhead. They hadn’t had much of a chance to take breaths, either, and Raindrops could already feel burning in her lungs, Cheerilee not looking much better.
The fact that the water of the stream was flowing, though, kept it from getting hot enough to start boiling them, and after a few moments the fire dissipated overhead. The two ponies dove from the water quickly and started running for the jungle, hoping that if Solrathicharnon breathed fire at them again, their soaking coats would provide at least a little protection. The eldest dragon didn’t let them get far, though, leaping easily and landing between them and their perceived safety, laughing as he did, wings spread wide and low to the ground to forestall any attempts at running around him. “Stupid mortals,” he hissed.
Cheerilee looked to Raindrops. “I have an idea,” she whispered.
“Good! Ideas are good!” Raindrops exclaimed as Solrathicharnon started forward again, and the two turned and ran.
“Not this one!” Cheerilee said, reaching up to her neck and undoing the clasp that held the Element of Laughter in place. She took it off and threw it away, across the blasted basalt surface of the lava pool’s ‘beach.’ It came to a stop in the rough middle, in plain sight.
Raindrops froze up in her run, eyes wide at what Cheerilee had done even as the school teacher veered off, running away from the Element of Laughter. “That’s a terrible idea!” Raindrops exclaimed, turning around to look at Solrathicharnon…and finding him having stopped. He had started after the Element of Laughter, it seemed, but then seemed to realize the ruse. Cheerilee had stopped her own gallop, staying in place and trying to keep her panting to a minimum. The school teacher glanced to Raindrops and jabbed at her neck, indicating Raindrops’ own.
Ohhhh this is a bad idea, Raindrops decided as she undid the clasp for the Element of Honesty and let it fall to the ground beneath her, before taking off into the sky – it was a terrible, awful idea, but on the other hoof it was also the one most likely to keep her alive.
Solrathicharnon hissed at the sound of the necklace hitting the ground, head whipping around, but though the crests of his ears were splayed wide he didn’t follow Raindrop’s ascent – his hearing was good, but not that good. His head whipped around a few times at perceived sounds, nostrils flaring as he tried to catch their scent, but he was unable to zero in on either Cheerilee or Raindrops, or indeed any other target.
The dragon’s visage twisted into one of pure anger, and he roared, exhaling flames across the beach and into the sky. Raindrops glided away from one gout of flame, while Cheerilee had used the opportunity of Solrathicharnon’s own roaring to dash away from where she was standing, back to the water. When his tantrum was over, Raindrops set herself gliding – she didn’t dare beat her wings – down towards the Element of Laughter, which she was closer to. It had landed somewhat near to the forest, maybe she could reach it and run away with it…
Of course, that was when the second dragon showed up. Just as Raindrops set down next to the Element of Laughter as lightly as possible, a silver-and-white dragon came stomping out of the forest – Raindrops had been so focused on Solrathicharnon that she hadn’t seen this one approaching. It was big, maybe seventy feet from snout to tail, and something about its build suggested that it was female.
It also was not blind, Raindrops noted, as the dragon’s eyes were locked on Raindrops as the pegasus put her hoof on the Element of Laughter and debated her increasingly grim options.
“You there,” the dragon said, stopping. Her voice was, indeed, somewhat more feminine than most that Raindrops had heard. “Pony. That is yours?”
Solrathicharnon had spun around at the other dragon’s speech, dropping onto all fours and hissing. “I know that voice,” he growled. “Claxokarthelornarux…so, you’re still alive.”
The silver dragon’s ear-crests flared at Solrathicharnon’s words, but she otherwise didn’t react, instead leaning down to look Rarindrops in the eye – giving Raindrops a clear look at a rather large series of fresh-looking wounds across the dragon’s snout, no longer bleeding but scabbing over. The pegasus noticed other wounds across the dragon’s body as well, though none quite as impressive. Raindrops quickly picked up the Element of Laughter, putting it around her neck – it was the easiest way to carry it. “Uh…um…” she thought desperately.
“It’s a simple question, pony,” Claxokarthelornarux said. “Is that yours?”
Raindrops glanced around, looking for Cheerilee. The school teacher was still standing in the river, and nodding profusely. “Y-yes,” Raindrops answered, trying not to imagine how the silver dragon could swallow her whole – could swallow her entire family whole. Not that she would have to, not with teeth that size…
Claxokarthelornarux snorted, and a small lick of blue flame flickered from her nostrils – only a few inches, not coming close to Raindrops. The action still sent Raindrops scooting back several feet, however. The dragon, meanwhile, drew back, looking disappointed as her wings flapped in annoyance. “Damn,” she said. “Oh well. A whelp is entitled to small hoard, I suppose…”
At those words Cheerilee dashed out from the river and quickly ran over to the Element of Honesty. Solrathicharnon reacted to the noise, head turning and growling, but Cheerilee reached the Element and held it up over her hoof. “A-and this is mine!” she called out. “Th-this is my hoard! Me and Raindrops might exchange our hoards later, maybe, but right now this is definitely mine!”
Claxokarthelornarux did something Raindrops didn’t expect at Cheerilee’s antics – she chuckled, and not unpleasantly, and there was even something of a smile on her face. “Well, you certainly act like whelps. I suppose the Overlord’s command makes sense, then.”
Solrathicharnon growled low, stomping up to Claxokarthelornarux and exhaling a gout of flame at the other dragon. “What command?” he demanded. “By what right does this supposed Overlord make any commands? He has challenged and defeated the mewling hatchlings that live in the Forge. But he has not fought those of us who earn our hoards!” He growled again, rearing up to his full height and spreading his wings wide, towering over the silver dragon. “He has not fought me.”
Claxokarthelornarux glanced to Solrathicharnon as though just noticing him. As she did, Raindrops noticed other dragons gathering around, each in a riot of colors. Some came from within the jungle, others landed from the dragons that were soaring about in the skies overhead. Most were around the size Hesjingrasvim had been – fifty feet or so. There were some that were smaller, and one or two bigger, though not exceeded Claxokarthelornarux, nor even came close to Solrathicharnon.
“Oh,” the silver dragon said. “You came. I wasn’t certain you would.”
“Wasn’t certain you’d be allowed,” another dragon, this one brown and gray, added. “Solrath.”
The elder red dragon bristled at the sound, tail lashing out in the direction of the dragon that had spoken, a mere thirty-footer. The smaller dragon wasn’t fast enough at dodging and fell away with a roar of pain. Before Solrathicharnon could turn his great bulk around to face the dragon directly, however, it had retreated back into the other dragons that had gathered around. Raindrops was able to follow the brown dragon easily, but Solrathicharnon wasn’t.
The elder red dragon at first looked like he might have wanted to charge into the gaggle of dragons nearby and start ripping and tearing until he found the right one, but paused after a moment and spun his head around at all the nearby dragons. “I am Solrathicharnon-Charir-Uskirlymzolthurkear! I am the eldest dragon! I will not be mocked by whelps!”
Claxokarthelornarux leaned back down to Raindrops. “It’s an impressive name,” she informed the pony. “Glare of the Sun, The Red, Eternal Foe of Moon and Night, roughly, in your tongue.”
“Oh,” Raindrops said after a few moments, wings spread wide. She was looking for escape routes – but, of course, there were none, because even a small dragon was kind of large and tended to take up a lot of space. “Wh…what’s your name mean?”
“Invader of the Silver Valley,” Claxokarthelornarux said, smiling and tail flicking, seeming to take the small talk in stride – which was more than Raindrops could say she was doing. “An involved story behind that one, we perhaps don’t have time.”
“Okay.” Raindrops was also a little curious as to why all the dragons were speaking Equestrian, but decided that that was a mystery that could wait for an answer.
Claxokarthelornarux leaned away from Raindrops again, looking to Solrathicharnon. “The Overlord,” she said, one claw coming up to itch at the healing wound on her snout, “has defeated those of us who live here, Solrathicharnon-Charir-Uskirlymzolthurkear. Or did you think I did this to myself?”
Solrathicharnon turned to face the silver dragon, blind eyes narrow. Claxokarthelornarux grinned, though there was no humor in it this time. “Ah, yes. Of course. Well, I have picked up an impressive collection of scars over the past few days. The Overlord defeated me, and all others here who challenged him. We here in the Forge recognize him as the mightiest of all dragons. You will have your chance to challenge him soon, if you want. Until then,” the silver dragon leaned in close to Solrathicharnon, her smile dropping and snorting a line of blue fire into the other dragon’s face. “Obey him.”
The red dragon didn’t seem to even notice the fire breathed in his face, let alone react to it. He barred his fangs. “Why should I?”
“Because he is the Overlord!” another dragon answered for Claxokarthelornarux. “And – ”
The silver dragon’s head turned, locking eyes with the smaller one who had spoken, the same brown-and-gray one that had taunted Solrathicharnon. He closed his mouth at the glare, but apparently that wasn’t quite enough as Claxokarthelornarux leaped straight at the dragon less than half her size, colliding with him and forcing him to the ground, the other dragons backing away. Once on top of him, Claxokarthelornarux’s maw closed around the base of the smaller dragon’s neck. He roared in fear, wings beating instinctively even as he lay his neck and face right down on the ground beneath him.
Claxokarthelornarux squeezed her jaw slightly, and the dragon roared in pain, but after a few moments the silver dragon withdrew. She remained sitting atop the brown one, pinning him down, but looked once more to Solrathicharnon. “As I was saying,” she said, as though there wasn’t a terrified dragon pinned beaneath her, “Obey the Overlord, because until you defeat him, he is the Overlord. You’ll have your chance to end his reign, but not yet, Solrathicharnon-Saurivthurgix.”
The elder red dragon recoiled at the new appended name, wings flaring, ear crests spread wide. Raindrops got the sense that whatever Claxokarthelornarux had said, it was immensely insulting.
“Saurivthurgix,” another dragon said.
“Saurivthurgix,” said a third, grinning and snorting fire at Solrathicharnon, then moving away before the elder red could lash at her with claw, tail, or wing. He had turned to do such, but couldn’t pinpoint the taunting dragon, not being blind as he was.
“Do not call me that!” Solrathicharnon roared, spinning around and breathing fire at all the dragons. Raindrops ducked low to avoid the flames, but to her surprise one of Claxorkarthelornarux’s wings came down and blocked the incoming conflagration. The thin membrane of the dragon’s wing glowed white, but wasn’t charred or harmed at all. At length, Solrathicharnon ran out of breath, and he turned back to roughly the direction of the silver dragon, hissing. “Do not call me that.”
“Why not?” Claxorkarthelornarux asked, leaning forward and breathing a small puff of flame at Solrathicharnon’s neck. That, the elder dragon reacted to, lashing out with a claw, but the silver dragon had already withdrawn, settling back down atop the brown dragon she had pinned and injured. “You’ve earned it.”
Raindrops didn’t see Solrathicharnon’s reaction; her eyes were focused on the smaller dragon beneath Claxokarthelornarux. He was wounded from where the larger dragon had bitten him, with bright red, steaming hot blood oozing out from beneath the scales at the base of his neck. There wasn’t a lot of blood – well, there was, but he was thirty feet long, so it amounted to no more than a scratch – but for just a few moments, Raindrops had started to think that Claxokarthelornarux had perhaps been a ‘good’ dragon, whatever that was supposed to mean. Her attacking another dragon for interrupting her, however, and injuring him to assert her dominance, had instantly dashed that thought.
A low growl from the red dragon nearby finally drew Raindrops’ attention. Solrathicharnon had closed his eyes and tucked his wings against his body, though he kept his head held high. “Very well,” he grunted, apparently accepting whatever the dragons had taken to calling him. He looked down at the two ponies. “I gather that the ponies are to be treated as whelps?”
“Yes. Meaning that unless they have stolen anything from you…”
“They have not.” Solrathicharnon turned, snorting and walking away on all four legs. “I will wait for the Overlord, then, and put an end to this farce. And then I will come for you, Claxokarthelornarux.”
The other dragons parted for him, giving him a wide berth even as they kept cruel grins on their faces. Raindrops, meanwhile, looked around for Cheerilee, and saw her approaching carefully, keeping well away from the elder red – slipping between several smaller dragons as she did, who paid her little heed. After a moment, the small gathering began breaking up, some taking to the sky, others wandering into the jungle, and more than few making their way over to the lava pool and immersing themselves.
Claxokarthelornarux, herself, got off of the smaller dragon, who backed away on all fours, belly, neck, and head all low to the ground as the silver dragon watched him go. After a few moments, Claxokarthelornarux looked away, and the brown one took that as his cue to turn away and run into the lava pool, diving out of sight.
The silver dragon looked back to the two small ponies, watching in interest as the two swapped their Elements back to their respective owners. “Uh…” Raindrops said. “Th…thanks for the save, um…Clax…Claxo…” Raindrops closed her eyes, concentrating hard on the name she’d heard. “Claxogartelornux? Did I get that right? Please tell me I got that right…”
The silver dragon chuckled. “You are like whelps,” she observed, glancing between the two ponies a moment, obviously bemused. “Clax-o-kar-thel-orn-arux. But if you can’t say it right, don’t say it at all. Just a piece of advice.”
There was motion from behind them, and the dragon and two ponies turned to look, and saw a green-and-purple dragon flying from the steam that surrounded the central lava pool, having come from the obsidian tower that sat in the pool’s center – Hesjingrasvim. He approached low over the lava, landing well clear of Claxokarthelornarux and keeping his head bowed as he approached, not looking directly at the larger silver dragon but keeping her in his peripheral. She observed him directly for a few moments, before snorting slightly, turning around and walking back towards the jungle, though not before looking back to the ponies. “Oh, and saurivthurgix means ‘eye-crippled.’ Solrathicharnon-Saurivthurgix. Solrathicharnon the Blind.”
With that, the silver dragon wandered back into the jungle, probably to return to her hoard – and it probably spoke volumes about how strong she personally was, and how feared by other dragons, that she felt safe leaving her hoard unattended for even a few moments in order to visit ponies and taunt another dragon. Hesjingrasvim watched her go carefully, not rising up to a more comfortable position until she was well away and rubbing his neck with one hand as he did.
“What did I miss?” he asked, looking around the basalt beach. He spotted Solrathicharnon quickly. “Why are we now trying to tick off the Eldest? I don’t want to tick off the Eldest…but I don’t want to tick off Claxokarthelornarux, either…”
“…I’m guessing that calling him ‘the Blind’ is insulting,” Cheerilee said.
Hesjingrasvim glanced down to Cheerilee. “Well it certainly doesn’t carry the same weight as the Red, Eternal Foe of Moon and Night,” he answered. He sighed. “Anyway. Every dragon in the continent is here now, so the Overlord will be revealing himself to them in a few minutes. He’ll take any challengers. Once they’re all down, everyone will know that he really is the Overlord of All Dragons. Unless some dragon kills him.”
Cheerilee looked around at all the dragons still in the air, or landed on the caldera’s edge. The ones within the caldera lived here, she gathered – probably some kind of status symbol, I can keep my hoard safe with so many other dragons around – while the ones in the air or on the edge were just visiting. There were thousands of dragons…but then something Hesjingrasvim said tickled her brain.
“Wait, this is every dragon?” she asked. “In the whole continent?”
Hesjingrasvim nodded. “Mostly. There is maybe a few hundred more that were asleep and didn’t hear the Call a few days ago. They’re going to be in for a surprise when they wake up!” He chuckled to himself, though stopped after a moment. “Unless someone kills the Overlord,” he appended.
Cheerilee looked over the dragons. She couldn’t count them all, of course, but she could make some guesses. “There doesn’t look like there’s even…say, seven thousand dragons here,” she said. “But you eat rocks and gemstones…it’s not like food’s an issue. And I’m guessing you don’t just kill each other willy-nilly…you have no natural predators…wait, whelps. Where are all the whelps? Back in their parents’ lairs still?”
Hesjingrasvim sputtered a moment. “No!” he exclaimed in shock. “Little salamanders would steal everything in sight! No. Whelps grow up here,” he swept a claw at the basalt beach, the jungle, the lava pool. “Within the Dragon’s Forge. Why do you think we call it a ‘forge’? They roam and they learn, from any dragon here who’ll teach them. And they try to gather hoards for themselves, enough to start their first growth spurt. The ones who succeed leave the Forge.”
Cheerilee and Raindrops looked around. They didn’t see any whelps now, but they knew they were there, moving through the paths that had been hacked and burned in the jungle between the open fields where the larger dragons lay with their hoards. There must have been more within the jungle itself, but…
“How many whelps are there?” Cheerilee asked. In Equestria, foals made up about a third of the total population. But the jungle didn’t look like it was teeming with nearly that many whelps.
Hesjingrasvim shrugged. “Who cares?”
“Who cares?” Raindrops demanded. Hesjingrasvim seemed surprised at her angry outburst, though also bemused even as she spread her wings wide. “They’re your kids, aren’t they? Your family?”
Hesjingrasvim smiled. “Dragons have a word for family, khadat. It’s nearly the same as our word for competition – khatat.” He jerked a thumb at Solrathicharnon. “Some dragons stick with their families, form a flight, think it makes them strong. But look what having a family did to him.” He grunted. “Nevermind that even if attacking Equestria had worked out, they probably would have turned on each other, fought or killed each other over their plunder.”
Any further commentary was cut off by movement that Cheerilee and Raindrops caught out of the corner of their eye. Turning to look, they saw a dragon emerging from one of the apertures in the obsidian spire, crawling up along its side. Even a few hundred feet away as they were, the two ponies could tell the dragon was large – larger than Claxokarthelornarux, even, maybe even nearly as big as Solrathicharnon. It had a hide that was jet black, with only a slightly paler gray underbelly and tint to its wing’s membranes, and the most malevolently red eyes that the ponies had ever seen.
More, despite its size, something about the dragon looked young and vital – at least as compared to Solrathicharnon. Its movements were easier, more fluid, as it climbed to the very tip of the spire and spread its wings wide, before roaring and exhaling a long gout of fire into the air that was somehow as black as the dragon’s scales.
“This is about to get loud,” Hesjingrasvim warned the ponies, before tilting his head back and roaring himself, shooting purple into the air as he did. The ponies covered their ears, but it didn’t help much, not once other dragons within the Forge began taking up the call, roaring and adding their own fire to the mix. The fire was a different color for each of them, but the roars all sounded identical to the ponies.
The dragons at the edge of the caldera took up the call next, then the ones in the air. The sound of thousands of dragons all calling out at once was almost too much for the ponies, who covered their ears as best they could and huddled close together, desperately fighting off the urge to run and hide. It wouldn’t much have mattered – the dragons in the air began to land by the dozens, on the basalt beach, within the jungle, even within the lava pool if there was no room on solid ground. The earth beneath the two ponies shook with the impact of so many creatures, each of which weighed dozens of tons, and Cheerilee and Raindrops scrambled closer to Hesjingrasvim to avoid being accidentally crushed. The sky overhead, now clear of dragons, quickly became filled with multi-hued fire in every color imaginable, seeming to almost form a dome in the sky and looking, to Raindrops and Cheerilee anyway, like some kind of angry, fiery counterpart to the Elements of Harmony when they were used.
At great length, the roaring ceased, and the fire in the air dissipated seconds later, no longer fed by the dragons below. Every eye in the Forge was turned to the black dragon that sat atop the obsidian tower, who looked out at all of them. This, then, Cheerilee reasoned, was the Overlord of All Dragons – not quite as big as Solrathicharnon, but younger, and fitter, and not blind. He certainly looked the part.
At length – long enough for Cheerilee and Raindrops’ ears to stop ringing quite so much – the dragon spread his arms and wings wide.
“I am Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs-Vutha!” he exclaimed – once again in Equestrian, which seemed odd to the two ponies. For that matter, the two gathered that it was odd to many of the dragons around as well. Both noticed the reactions of many of the dragons to the words, slight recoils and looks of surprise. The black dragon, though, didn’t seem to care. “I herald the Overlord!”
“Herald?” Cheerilee whispered. “He’s not the Overlord?”
Hesjingrasvim heard her, and leaned down. “No. But I understand the surprise. To be honest I think every dragon in the Forge always expected Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs-Vutha to try for it someday, but he never did for whatever reason. But no.” He withdrew, and grimaced. “The actual Overlord is…” he seemed unsure, for the first time since the ponies had met him. “He is the Overlord,” the dragon decided.
The black dragon had resumed speaking, preventing the green one from elaborating. “The Overlord came here weeks ago,” he said. “He came with his hoard. He saw the Elders here. He challenged us one by one. Irthosaussirsol. Charirkepesktalach. Claxokarthelornarux. Eventually he challenged me! Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs-Vutha! And I was defeated!”
The dragons in the Forge roared at that, though not for long and not quite as loud as before.
“The Call was sent out,” the black dragon continued. “This is your chance. The Overlord has battled us one by one. He is weak from his battles! Fell him now – or submit to his will forever!”
The dragons roared again at that, somewhat louder. “Who is he?” One dragon demanded.
“Who claims the title of Overlord?” another called.
“Who could be strong enough to defeat me?” One dragon, this one yellow, demanded, rising into the air, beginning to circle over the crowd, since dragons were too massive to hover in place for long – especially dragons of her size, nearly as great as Claxokarthelornarux. “Othlaraekgixustrat?”
“Irthosmiirikedar?” Another called, also rising into the air, blue and copper in coloration.
“Versveshkepeskuskisk?” Demanded a gray dragon.
“Solrathicharnon-Charir-Uskirlymzolthurkear?” A very familiar voice cried, shooting into the sky highest of all.
“Saurivthurgix,” some dragon’s voice shouted at him. Solrathicharnon exhaled flames in the direction of the voice, but must have missed, as the call of ‘Solrathihcarnon-Saurivthurgix’ went up from amongst the rest of the dragons. The elder red dragon visibly fumed, looking ready to dive down amongst the younger dragons and just start slashing and striking without regard for whoever he hit.
The black dragon, Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs – the ponies presumed that ‘Vutha’ was more of a title than a name, though dragons barely distinguished between the two – roared, drawing the red’s attention and shutting up the rest. “You will each have your chance,” he called. “Maybe you will even be in good enough condition afterwards to become Overlord yourself.” He seemed to place special emphasis on that last bit, eyeing Solrathicharnon – highlighting his blindness, most likely. The insult didn’t seem to escape Solrathicharnon, but he didn’t fly any closer, instead continuing to circle the obsidian spire with the other three challengers.
Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs spread his wings wide. “But first, the Overlord must reveal himself. Behold your master!”
There was a few moments of quiet, the two ponies holding their breath just as much as any of the dragons. What kind of dragon could possibly claim to be Overlord? How big would it be? How powerful? To leave scars on Claxokarthelornarux, to force even Sjachthurkearverthichaoposs to submit to his will? To think that he was strong enough to take on even Solrathicharnon? To…
The Overlord appeared, standing at the edge of one of the apertures that lead into the obsidian spire. He was purple, mostly, save for a green set of blunted spines on his back, green ear crests, and a pale beige underbelly, with some kind of gray and red necklace around his neck.
He was maybe two feet tall.
And he was decidedly familiar.
“Spike?” Raindrops and Cheerilee said in unison.
The Overlord of All Dragons probably didn’t hear the two of them, but he did wave at all the collected dragons in general, a large grin on his face. “Hi!”
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I mean... this scene had to come here. Like... the whole chapter was building up to how huge and powerful all the dragons are, and we knew the overlord was Spike from the synopsis, and unless Spike got the mother of all greed growths he was going to be small Spike...
But I'm still giggling like a madman at it. Just... the whole chapter's building up to it. That's great.
Oh, boy. I expect a pony with a South Asian accent to come along and yell "WHAT A TWIST!!!"
This idea is still bloody legendary and the build up makes it all so worth it for Spike. For this I love you RDD
I can't wait to see what happens next! 
No seriously this is one of the greatest things ever
I can see Solrathicharnon's reaction in the next chapter:
Solrathicharnon: **laughs** You're joking, you're joking! I can't believe my ears! You're joking, you have to be! This is the best laugh I've had in years.
...Well maybe he wouldn't say that, but it would probably be somewhere along those lines and I do so love the songs from Oogie's Revenge.
5977151 Your clip is broken... let me fix it.
I take the Elder Dragons don't have exactly an high opinion of Solrath Solrath. Is it because he is blind, or because his obsession with revenge?
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Why not both? They hate him for being weak physically (blind) and weak emotionally (prone to being manipulated by revenge).
Haha, knew it was coming but it was still pretty funny at the end.
I recognized that you used D&D Draconic names.
2 feet tall?
Super Spike ?
HULK Spike?
Spike the Speedo?
Just Spike
Black necklace?
Does he have the Alicorn Amulet?
Are we going to see evil Spike?
Even thought I knew it was coming ... it was still great. All Hail Overlord Spike!
This is gonna get good. *Grabs some popcorn, waits for the next chapter*
Right. Spike. But... how?
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7 syllables, not bad, and that's one hell of a tongue twister name.
And yet you were, let's see, that's a grand total of 13 syllables, full of himself, ain't he?
SPIKE did that?
Sounds like it.
Oh, well, that's, a bit, harsh.
i see.
If only you knew.
11 syllables, impressive.
This made me giggle a lot.
See now I really want Spike to lay the smack down on Solrathihcarnon-Saurivthurgix
He should start adding a few extra bits to his name Spike-maekrix-vivex-charir?
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Maybe it's not the Alicorn Amulet, maybe it's something new and even more powerful. Supposedly the longer the Alicorn Amulet is worn the more corrupted the wearer becomes. And as far as I can see Spike is fine after wearing it how long. Also the Alicorn Amulet is grey and red.
I am personally hoping for something new and not from the show. Something stronger than the Rainbow of Darkness. Something that will power up Spike's natural ability's. Something that will give Spike the ability to actively perform magic like a unicorn. Something that Solrathicharnon will feel he has to steal and attempt to use it with said Rainbow of Darkness to kill Corona.
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Wait, the Amulet is gray and red?
*checks*
Oops, I was remembering it as black and red. Yeah, it's actually the alicorn amulet. Sorry if that's a disappointment.
The Dragons speak Equestrian because SPIKE DOESN'T SPEAK DRACONIC! Brilliant!
5977237 Considering Solrath can SEE magic, I think he's the only one who wouldn't be having this reaciton. To him Spike is probably a super bright tiny pinprick of power!
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No not really, No!
I thought it might be the alicorn amulet but I had to hope for something more anyway, just my nature.
I still hope it allows Spike some form of spell casting. I always felt Spike should have his own form of magic, other then fire breath.
And whatever the outcome of this story I hope Spike comes out on top.
As weird as it seems, I kind of feel sorry for Solrath right now. First he gets publicly mocked by his... ex? Then all those young whipper-snappers laugh at his blindness. I am totally imagining Solrath as the draconic equivalent of Clint Eastwood in the Grand Torino, trying to chase young drakes off his lawn.
The ending of this chapter was just a totally awesome moment that made me giggle like a loon. Very well done sir! Considering that you're using D&D dragon names, I'm almost waiting to see cameos from the likes of...
Beryllinthranox
Gellidus
Khellendros
Onysablet
and Malystryx
One thing of note, the text-to-speech app I use hasn't been choking at all on the dragon names, so good choices on them. That's pretty much my go-to judgement on whether a fictional name goes too far, if my phone can't pronounce it then I bet most people can't either.
Ooooooo, so Spike has the Alicorn Amulet? That's probably not a good thing, but story-wise it's an excellent explanation for what he's accomplished.
Heh, the dragons are so concerned with size and physical power that they probably never even considered the possibility that some kid with a magic rock could legally make himself Overlord. Bet that loophole in the law gets ammended out of existennce as soon as they get rid of Spike. Probably not before a few dumb whelps get killed trying to imitate him, though.
I do enjoy the way you write dragons. Just the right levels of arrogance plus utterly different life priorities than the ponies. I'll admit I wasn't sure if we were going to be dealing with normal sized Spike or some kind of artificially enlarged and grown up Spike. Interesting that the Alicorn Amulet seems to work for a non-equine, and I'm curious to see just how the artifact empowers the little guy to basically overpower various dragons that are nearly two hundred times his size. More importantly; what might he want with Cheerilee and Raindrops? Maybe he's just looking for a way out of this mess he's found himself in? Could be he's ended up in this whole Overlord position purely by accident and he's hoping the two Element Bearers can get him out? Well, I'll look forward to finding out just what's going on.
Ah, Maneverse dragon 'culture'. How I loathe thee and Dragon Quest AND Secret of my Excess.
Anyway, I love that reveal. Even knowing it was coming didn't take away from how funny it is. :D
I love your take on dragkn culture but how the hell did a two foot Dragon defeat a whole flight?