• Published 13th Dec 2011
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The Ambassador's Son - Midnightshadow



A colt loses his family, Celestia deems his best hope lies not with ponies, but a dragon.

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Fury of the Storm

The ══════════
Ambassador's
══════════ Son

Chapter Eighteen
Fury of the Storm
An MLP:FiM Fanfiction by Midnight Shadow


"I don't understand," Silver Chalice said as he followed Chip into the colt's battered room, stepping through the rubble that had previously been a wall, "what is all this? What happened?"

"I told you. My... uncle," Chip spat the words out, "has murdered my parents. He murdered my aunt, and he tried to murder me. Celestia herself took me to safety; she left me with Sharptooth, a dragon. Rather than just keep me safe though, he adopted me. I didn't understand what it meant, when he did. I do now."

"And what does it mean?" Silver Chalice asked, head lifting from where he was lipping at the strange, shiny metallic pieces of armor strewn across the shagpile carpet.

"It means," Chip answered, as he stomped into the hoof-guards and tightened their straps with his muzzle, "I am a dragon. His attempt at poison was of nothing but a bad habit for a dragon."

"You said that," Silver Chalice scowled, his annoyance at being in the dark overriding the burning miasma that surrounded the young apparently-not-a-pony in front of him, "I don't understand."

"Haunch plate." Chip ordered sternly, and watched as Silver Chalice lifted the correct piece after a couple of wrong tries. Chip chatted, off-hoofedly as he was being dressed, "Deep inside, you are a unicorn. You are something that I could never be. I have no horn. I have no wings and I have no claws either, but with dragons..." Chip laughed, shaking his head and mane out, "with dragons, it doesn't matter. Ripper ring."

"Ripper..?"

"That one." Chip pointed, "To the middle of my tail and fasten it. Then the bolas, then the withers and chest-piece, head-piece and neck-piece." Chip pointed with a hoof to each one, presenting himself as needed such that Silver Chalice and his daughter could dress him as required.

"So you're a dragon." Silver Chalice didn't sound convinced.

Chip hoofed about in the carpet looking for something. Finding the black velvet square, he placed it reverently back into the box. Pulling out his saddle bags, he shrugged into them and tightened them around his chest. Into them went the large pepper-ruby, the diamond and the sapphire. He lifted the emerald in his muzzle, catching it in the light of the lanterns. Then, deliberately, he bit, and chewed.

The colour drained out of Silver Chalice's muzzle as the distressingly loud sounds of Chip's snacking filled the room. This was no mean feat for the black unicorn.

"I am a dragon," snarled Chip, green fire playing around his lips, "and I am angry."

Silver Chalice gulped, "Now what?"

"Get the staff to safety, get whatever valuables you deem necessary, and leave. I will face Pyrite alone. I do not trust my uncle to try anything else other than to try again to kill me, and then you. He will be in one of two places; his study, or down wherever that tunnel leads in the basement."

"And what are you going to do when you find him?"

Chip's words were level, and frighteningly calm. "I'm going to kill him."

♦♦♦

Pyrite stood at his desk, nervously, with a magnifying glass monocle on one eye as he struggled to put quill to parchment. Taking stock of the signature on the last of Chip's letters to that dirty great lizard called Sharptooth, Pyrite made a few practiced sweeps on a clean sheet of parchment to get the feel of it all. Repeating that several times over, he nodded to himself. Forging a colt's signature was foal's play, their writing skills were underdeveloped and easy to mimic. He didn't have much time, but then he didn't need much time.

Pyrite took the legal letter and smoothed out the creases. His lawyers had drafted it, and had given their expert opinion to the original team of lawyers for the Irontail estate. It was all perfectly legal, all perfectly above board. It was improper for a non-pony to interfere in Her Highness' Realm, and with the young colt in a legal grey area, it was only fitting to demand that a more suitable replacement guardian be found. The dunderheads just demanded a blasted signature for it to be fully binding.

No problem, Pyrite thought to himself with a sneer on his muzzle, it's signed. He finished the manipulations of the quill with a flourish as he signed his own name below that of his nephew's as the new legal guardian of said Chiphoof Irontail.

"And now, the Irontail estate will belong to me."

A sudden gust of wind blew the papers across the table, and Pyrite found himself buffeted by the blast.

"How dare you..." came a voice, it was snarling and angry, seemingly from right in front of him.

Pyrite squealed, bucking in fright at what appeared to be an empty room. He looked around, wild-eyed. "What? Who's there?" Pyrite searched the study but found it empty. His heart was fluttering, his nostrils flared, but he was alone. He laughed, tears streaming down his muzzle. A stupid foal, he was being. There was nopony there, it was his imagination. He had time, he still had time. That... that insolent whelp was probably upstairs, doddering about. How that foal could still be standing, Pyrite couldn't understand. But it was no matter, if poison didn't work fast enough, his insurance policy would.

"You... you dare! The Irontail estate doesn't belong to you!" came the angry voice again. It was deep and bellowing, it shook his very bones.

"It does!" snapped Pyrite, whipping his head about, trying to find who or what was speaking to him, "What are you? Where are you? Agents of that thrice-damned dragon? Hirelings of those stinking diamond dog mongrels? Show yourself! Magic will not save you, not from me!"

Pyrite's top lip curled in a sneer, he didn't know what he was dealing with, but he knew an in when he had one, "Those fool diamond dogs, weak for pretty baubles... but they won't get what they seek. It shall be mine, once I take care of that forsaken little colt like I took care of his parents, like I took care of his aunt! I should be Baron Irontail, not some snivelling little colt, not some bitchy little mare who was only good for a title and certainly not some useless firebreathing beast!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Pyrite's world turned upside down as, out of seemingly nowhere, a monster descended upon him. For a brief moment, the world spoke of nothing but fire, teeth and claws. The creature roared, a deep, earth-shattering, window-rattling scream that turned his bones to water. As adrenalin flooded his body, bringing the world into crystal clarity, the full horror of his situation was revealed. It was as if a blind had been removed from his eyes, to reveal the true, stark horror of his situation.

The helpless foal he'd taken in, the colt he'd tried to poison - twice. The last living relative that stood between him and inheriting the Irontail Estate, bedecked in fearsome-looking, metallic spiked armor, phantom green flames flickering around his muzzle which was now inches from his own.

The maddened foal stank of fire and brimstone, his presence filled the room and his bellow stripped Pyrite of the last of his sanity.

Pyrite was discovering that sometimes, Chip happens.

♦♦♦

The thump was heard throughout the small building. Calligraphy Quill looked up from her desk where she was marking papers as the foals chattered nervously. "Calm down, children, calm down." She got up, gulping. Her ears twitched and her tail swished, some sixth sense was telling her bad news was coming. She'd heard rumblings, she'd been informed that there might be... trouble. Her worst fears were about to come to life.

The door opened and a large draconic head snaked in, shoulders blocked by architecture. "Madame Quill," the dragon known as Sharptooth began, rumbling voice sending chills down the spine of the light green earth pony, "you are to keep the young ones in the school, where they should be safe. Whisp Spark is setting up the thaumic shields and Southern Storm is preparing offensive weather patterns. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes, sir." Calligraphy replied, trembling slightly. The dragon nodded once, and withdrew. The door slammed shut and the pony turned back to her class as she heard chairs and tables scraping. "Children? What are you doing?"

Carmine clicked her beak, looking around. Penny, Bella and Beth had all stood up at the same time. "I'm sorry, Miss, we've got to do this."

"No! You stop right where you are!"

The four ignored her, and marched towards the door. As they passed the diamond dogs' tables, Butch stood up and put a paw out to stop them.

"Sup Butch," Carmine said, facing the door, staring at it and not at the dog-troll.

"We're coming with you. This is our town too, C."

Carmine looked up, her feathers fluffing out, "Get to Beryl's, she'll fill you in. Thorn's Alpha for this, okay?"

"Children! You can't just..."

"Miss, we gotta," Penny said, placatingly, before she bolted.

"Sorry Miss." Dozer added, as the diamond dog pups also left.

Calligraphy chewed her tongue thoughtfully, fuming. By all rights she should run after them, but... she had the rest of her class to look after. She snorted and turned back to the expectant class. "Okay, children, change of lesson plans. Today we're going to do woodwork. Grab some hammers, nails, and planks of wood. We're boarding up the windows and doors."

♦♦♦

Chip slammed both hooves down on Pyrite's barrel of a chest, bending his head down to bite and yank a piece out of his uncle.

Pyrite squealed and rolled. He was bigger and more massive than his nephew, but his nephew was currently somewhat upset. That, and the spiked armor, was proving hard to deal with. He wheezed as he staggered to his hooves. His swaying saved him from further terrible injury as he fell on his rump and the enraged armored colt slammed through his filing cabinets and the wall behind, obliterating both.

Pyrite laughed, painfully, spitting blood. He staggered to his desk and ripped the bottom drawer out with his teeth. Within lay a small flask that glowed yellow, as if within it were a bottled inferno. Pyrite took it in his teeth and threw it at the floor, where it exploded, setting fire to the rug.

Chip slammed through the door, without opening it, sending splinters flying. "What's so funny?"

Pyrite collapsed to the floor, wheezing but still laughing. "You. You think you have me. All this is... is a temper tantrum," Pyrite spat blood again, shards of his teeth coming with it, "if you wanted me dead I'd be as stone cold gone as your misbegotten parents. You don't have it in you, Chip me lad. You're soft."

Chip growled, Pyrite ignored him.

"And because you're soft, I'm going to win. You think I wouldn't have an insurance policy? Against anything? Even... even with whatever the buck you are?"

"I'm a dragon, unc." Chip, breathing heavily, suddenly didn't feel so sure of himself. The eggshell had cleared his head, still sent fire shooting through his veins, gave him certainty of purpose... but what, ultimately, did that mean? He looked down at the blooded form before him, trying weakly to chuckle, and realized it was true. He wasn't a cold-blooded killer.

"You're pathetic." Pyrite said, his breathing heavily and rattling, "Dressing up like that? You think you scare me? Your... practiced roar, and your shouting and hollering?"

"Get out." Chip said coldly.

"What?"

"You heard me." Chip leaned closer, "Everything you had is now mine, in return for your life."

Pyrite closed his eyes, and then began to laugh. It ended in a painful hacking coughing as he spat up blood. "You think you can order me around? You think slapping me about will make me give up and go away? I don't think so. I have friends, Chip my boy."

There was a loud, echoing roar from outside that shook the cracked pains of glass in the window. Chip lifted his head and looked into the night. Two dark shapes, lit occasionally by orange streaks of light, were growing larger in the darkening skies.

"Meet my insurance policy." Pyrite tried to stand, and failed, but he kept on laughing. "You think mere poison was the only trick I had up my mane?"

"What have you done?" Chip asked in a near whisper, backing up, tail end retreating through the blasted walls.

"Insurance. Meet my minions."

"They're dragons, Pyrite."

"And they work for me."

"Oh Pyrite... run. Run now. Please!"

"I don't think you understand," Pyrite finally struggled to his hooves as two loud and devastating crashes were heard from an adjacent room. Twin sets of claws ripped another wall down to reveal two smallish yellow dragons, emerald eyes gleaming in the lamplight that now shone in through the gaping hole that used to be the East wall. "These dragons... work for me."

Chip shook his head, sadly, and turned to the dragons, "I am Chiphoof Irontail Leatherback of the Diamond Expanse Dragon Clan. I have earned my armor, I do not think you want to try to take it from me, and I think my clan would be even less amused if they found out you had."

The two dragons looked at Chip, and then at each other, before looking back to Pyrite.

"What? You believe that? What are you waiting for? Waste the brat!"

One of them hissed, "No deal, pony."

"I paid you!" shouted Pyrite, "I paid you to protect me, and that means killing the foal!"

"You did not pay us enough to kill a dragon lord's whelp, pony." They both turned to leave.

"Wait! What do you mean you won't... he's no... then have a new deal!" Pyrite was desperate.

"Pyrite no!" Chip shouted, taking a step forwards.

"Shut up!" Pyrite leaped towards the dragons, "I will pay you ten times what I paid you..."

"Still not enough." The dragons did, however, turn.

"Ten times!" Pyrite felt he had them now, "I order you! Kill the dragon's other son, then, or at least everyone who he has had contact with. If you won't kill a dragon, then start with the ambassador's son's friends - everyone who sheltered him, everyone who helped him, raze their villages, destroy their homes, burn their property, erase them from existence. And then you can start on everyone else who lives here."

"Oh, Pyrite." Chip shook his head, eyes wide, "You foal. Take it back! Tell them you take it back."

The dragons looked at each other, a pleased expression on their snouts, "Paper. Sign."

"Anything!" Pyrite scribbled down something, and stamped his hoof in a spilled puddle of ink before applying it to the paper as a signature.

"Chip?" came a new voice.

Chip turned to look down the corridor, and his heart sank further, "Sunshine? I thought I told you two... get out! Leave now!"

"We came to help!" the little unicorn answered sternly.

"We!?"

Silver Chalice trotted into view, Chip's box held in his magic and several other things floating behind him. "We couldn't just leave you."

"You can and you should. Get out now!"

"The staff are safe, not that I can trust any of them any more."

"Horsefeathers. Stay there then!" Chip turned back to his uncle, who had retreated to a corner of the room as far from Chip as possible.

A manic grin was plastered on his muzzle. "It's too late, now. You've bankrupted me, Chip my lad, but it doesn't matter. I've ruined your life. They're going to hound everyone who ever thought to help you; that Sharptooth, and that Sharptooth's son. He has a map, you know. That's all I wanted. If you'd just given me that map..."

Chip's blood ran cold, "Sharptooth has only one son. Me. I keep telling you, you stupid foal, I'm the ambassador's son."

"What? But..."

The dragons turned to Pyrite, muzzles falling open as their long tongues flicked out, as if tasting the air.

"And you've just asked them to kill anypony who sheltered me. And they're going to get paid for it, and I can tell you... they're going to enjoy it."

"But... wait... no..."

Chip turned, closing his eyes, as his uncle started to scream. He turned to Silver Chalice and Sunshine Filigree, fixing them with a glare that spoke volumes about what was happening a few short feet from their mercifully sheltered position. "You need to run, now!"

Pyrite scrabbled as he tried to move further into the corner of the room, away from the two hulking shapes that had suddenly turned on him, "Wait, that's not what I... what I meant."

"We have... contract." One smiled.

"You pays us, we... deal with little problem." Other smiled, wider.

"Please... no..."

The incoherent screaming echoed down the corridors of the house, filling Chip's ears with macabre visions. His hearing, sharp and alert from the adrenalin, picked up all the little details. The snapping of bones, the rending of flesh, the wet, meaty sound of limbs being removed and then, finally, the long gurgling death-rattle as the dragons, somewhat less than mercifully, finally ended his uncle's life, once he ceased to fully amuse them.

Chip shook himself, mentally. Whatever he was, he wasn't like that. He was a dragon, not a monster. He didn't keep 'lesser' creatures as playthings, he had friends, companions... he had family, of a sort.

"Family..." Chip brought himself up short, before shouting, "Silver, Sunshine, wait, stop! You have to follow me. I can't let you... I can't let you run. They'll find you, and they'll kill you. I know dragons."

"Then let's all leave out the front door?"

Chip shook his head, "I can't just leave, I have to find out what Pyrite was doing down in that basement, and you have to come with me. You know he had that... secret passage or whatever. Have you ever been down there?"

Silver Chalice shook his head, "No, I never have. It's... it wasn't my place. I've... I've served here ever since I was discharged from the royal guard. That passageway has always been there, but... it's just not done."

"I've been down there," piped up Sunshine, "it's dark, and it goes on for ages and ages."

"You are not making my daughter lead you down an underground passageway!" Silver Chalice stomped a hoof, angrily.

Chip laughed, but headed for the basement, "Not alone. You are, however, coming with me."

"You think I'm going to just do what you say?"

"Yes."

"Well I won't." Silver Chalice glared.

"Silver, I'm a dragon. I can protect you... if you'll let me, but you still need to come with me until I can be sure they've got the message. You... you're going to have to agree to something. I don't know if it will work, or how to do it, that's why you have to stick with me."

"So to keep us safe, you're making us go down a dark, underground passageway that leads Luna-knows-where."

"Rather than staying up here with two bloodthirsty dragons more than willing to rip you limb from limb, yes."

Silver swished his tail for a second. "Point taken."

Two snarls from behind them made the black unicorn whinny in fear and start moving forwards again.

"You first." Chip said, nodding at the stairs down into the basement. Flares of bright orange and yellow, and the smell of smoke, told the three that the dragons were enjoying themselves and seemed in no hurry. That didn't mean the three were safe, or that the dragons would stop.

They trotted as a group down the stairs and were halfway across the basement when the door exploded, thanks to swift application of scaly draconic tail.

"Nothing personal," One said as he shouldered masonry aside, "contract."

"Silver, Sunshine, listen to me..." Chip turned, placing himself between the dragons and his friends, "I'm going to ask you to do something for me, and... it's a lot."

"What? You've already made it clear we can't run."

"I'm... I don't know the words!" Chip despaired, wailing, "There's probably a spell or something!"

"For Celestia's sake, Chip, spit it out!"

"I want to make you my slaves!"

♦♦♦