The Storm Dragon

by ShowShine

A Baby

Author's Note:

This chapter contains burning to death

Storm King placed the purple egg on a long dining table, grinning to himself. He rubbed his hands together, giggling evilly to himself.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you need a dragon egg for?” Tempest asked. Storm King looked at her and showed her a deep blue jewel that was glowing in the dark room. It was jagged and small enough to fit between Storm Kings fingers.

“This crystal will give the dragon unimaginable powers and unbelievable strength.” Storm King explained. Tempest tilted her head in confusion.

“If it can give you that many powers, why don’t you use it on yourself?” Tempest asked.

“This crystal only works on dragons and loses it’s effects after three days before the user is killed. With this dragon, I can take over Equestria just before it dies.” Storm King stated. Tempest nodded her head in understanding. Storm King held the jewel close to the egg and it started to glow. The egg started to shake and crack. The egg started to slowly chip apart. Tempest stared in awe as the egg broke down to reveal a tiny purple dragon with green scales. He had large green eyes and looked at Storm King before letting out a laugh. He was adorable. Storm King stared at the hatchling in confusion.

“You’re supposed to be a big scary beast! Why aren’t you a big scary beast?!” Storm King shouted, picking up a book. He flipped through the pages, looking for anything on the crystal. The cover of the book read ‘Fairytales for foals.’ At the very bottom of the cover it said ‘None of these fairytales are real.’

“Boss that book isn’t real.” Grubber stated. Storm King put the book down to glared at him.

“What do you mean this book isn’t real?” Storm King said between gritted teeth. Grubber pointed to the baby blue cover.

“It’s says it’s not real right at the bottom. The gem you’re holding is a glowing sapphire. You wasted your time on a children’s book!” Grubber said, starting to laugh. Storm King stomped his hoof on the tiled floor, making it crack. He got inches from Grubbers face, there noses pressing together.

“I can kill you right now.” Storm King said in a threatening tone. Grubbers eyes widened and he took a few steps back.

“I mean, everyone makes mistakes, you’ll get it next time.” Grubber said with a fake laugh. Storm King looked at the baby dragon who was now sucking on his tail. He had no clue on what was going on.

“Tempest, dispose of the dragon.” Storm King said, turning away from the hatchling. Tempest eyes widened. She had done some terrible things before but she had never abandoned a baby. She looked back at the hatchling. He was staring back at her with his large innocent eyes.

“No.” Tempest said bluntly. She should’ve thought of a better way to say that. Grubber looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Storm King turned around with a deadly look on his face.

“What did you say?” He asked, taking a step towards Tempest. Her mind raced, thinking of an excuse to use.

“I’ll raise him!” Tempest shouted. That was one of the worst suggested she had come up with. Storm King cocked his eyebrow.

“And why would you do that?” Storm King asked. Tempest’s eyes darted around, thinking of what to say.

“Dragons are very powerful and deadly. If I raise him, he can be very helpful. As soon as he can walk, I’ll teach him how to fight.” Tempest stated. Storm King put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment.

“Fine, but if either of you interfere with my work, I’ll kill you both.” Storm King said coldly before leaving the dining room. Once they couldn’t hear his hooves hitting the tiled floor anymore, Grubber started to speak.

“Are you really going to raise that thing?” Grubber asked. Tempest looked at Grubber with a worrisome face.

“I already gave him my word for it so now I have to.” Tempest stated, turning back to the dragon. She walked over and slowly reached her hoof out to it, making sure he wouldn’t attack. The dragon stretched out his tiny arms and grabbed onto Tempest’s hoof with his tiny chubby hands. He looked at her and gave her a big smile. Her heart jumped and she quickly scooped up the child.

“Never mind, I’d die for him.” Tempest said, cradling him in her arms. Grubber gave her a look of surprise.

“I’ve never seen you this affectionate before.” He commented. Tempest shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know why but I feel like I should protect him.” Tempest stated. She looked at the dragon hatchling who was already falling asleep, despite only being hatched less than ten minutes ago.

“He needs a name.” Tempest said. She and Grubber thought for a moment.

“How about Spike. He has Spikes on his head.” Grubber suggested. It sounded like a terrible name but Tempest couldn’t think of anything better.

“That’s a perfect name.” Tempest stated. She let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. It was past ten and she had to wake up early the next morning. Tempest placed Spike on her back.

“Goodnight Grubber, I’m going to bed.” Tempest said as she walked out of the dining room. She walked down the hallway, looking at Storm Kings large minions. They were large and furry. Tempest liked to call them ‘Storm Creatures.’ They never spoke and only grunted. Whenever Tempest tried to speak to them, they’d only grunt and groan. Grubber said it was best not to question them.

Tempest entered her very tiny room. She had a twin bed in the corner with a thin black blanket on it. She had a small dresser with armor and black clothing. Tempest placed Spike on her bed and reached under it to pulled out a small wooden basket filled with fruit. She had stored some fruit for herself for late night snacks. She opened an empty drawer in her dresser and poured the fruit inside. She opened another drawer and pulled out a fluffy blue blanket. She placed it in the basket, making it like a little bed.

“This is your bed now.” Tempest stated. She pulled out a piece of cloth and put it on Spike as if it were a diaper. Once she was finished, she picked him up and placed him in the basket. He nuzzled into the soft blanket and closed his eyes. Tempest smiled and laid down in her bed. She quickly drifted off into a dreamless to sleep.

---

Tempest kicked a training dummy with her rear leg, knocking it across the room. She slid under another dummy and kicked it into the air. She pulled an Obsidian Orb from one of the holsters in the front of her armor and kicked it at the dummy. As soon as the orb made contact, the dummy turned into stone. She stood up and wiped the sweat from her brow, panting heavily.

“That was even better than yesterday.” Grubber stated. He sat against the wall of the room with Spike laying on his lap. He was sucking on a pacifier that Storm King had stolen from a child. He stole a lot of things from babies so they had everything they needed for Spike. Tempest smiled.

“Thanks, I’ve been trying really hard.” Tempest said. A siren went off and red lights illuminated the room, making them look up.

“Boss must’ve found a new town to take over.” Grubber commented. Grubber took Spike off of his lap and stood up. Tempest put a baby carrier across her side and took Spike from Grubber, placing him in it.

Both of them walked out of the room and down the hallway, which was pretty much empty. The Storm Creatures must have already gone to the throne room to receive instructions. Grubber and Tempest entered the throne room to see The Storm Creatures lined up, facing the throne. There were two empty spaces where Grubber and Tempest could easily get into.

“We are approaching a large town called Panthera. It’s the capital of Abyssinia. When Panthera is in my grasp, I can easily conquer Abyssinia. Guards, I want you to round up all of the citizens. Put them in shackles and cages. Grubber, I want you to announce me as there new leader. Tempest, find there leader and turn them to stone.” Storm King commanded. Everyone left the line, getting ready to attack. Tempest put Obsidian Orbs and Phoenix ashes in the front of her armor. Grubber pulled out a large black megaphone with the Storm Kings logo on it.

“Do you think it’s safe to fight with a baby?” Grubber asked, gesturing to Spike. Tempest looked down to see that he had fallen asleep.

“I didn’t even think of that.” She commented. She looked around and picked up one of her helmets and one of her knee pads. It was the smallest one there since she was the youngest member there. She took the sleeping baby out of his carrier and lifted up his arms. She put the knee pad across his chest, which covered most of his body. She placed the helmet on his head. Grubber snickered.

“He looks ridiculous.” He commented. Tempest shrugged her shoulders and placed Spike back in his carrier.

“This is all I have for now.” Tempest explained. She looked out of the window of the airship to see that they were about to land. There were a bunch of cats, standing on there hind legs. Some of them were wearing clothes and some weren’t. They were all looking at the sudden storm clouds that were rolling in. The airship landed on the ground with a boom. The door opened and Grubber walked outside, holding the megaphone tightly.

“Cats of Panthera, we come on the behalf of the fearsome, powerful, Storm King!.” Grubber shouted. Cats murmured to each other in fear. Storm King walked out of the airship, holding a plastic staff that looked real. He had an evil smirk on his face.

“You are all under new management. It’s best that you just do as I say and don’t ask questions.” Storm King stated. A fluffy white cat wearing a tuxedo top, a top hat, and a red tie.

“As the Mayor of this town, I command you to leave before you get taken by the authorities!” The cat shouted, stomping his paw forward. Storm King chuckled to himself.

“If you want to do it the hard way then I won’t play nice.” Storm King said with a snap of his fingers. The Storm Creatures hopped out of the airship, holding chains and whips. Cats let out screams and ran away to hide. A few cats whipped out there claws to fight. They were the first to get captured.

“Get the mayor. Make him burn.” Storm King commanded. Tempest nodded her head and hopped off of the airship. She landed on her hooves and chased after the mayor. He ran on all fours, looking back behind him frantically. The mayor was heading straight towards a blocked alleyway. Perfect. The mayor looked in horror as he realized that he had ran into a dead end. He turned around to run back, but saw that he was cornered by Tempest.

“I’m going to make this quick for you.” Tempest stated as she pulled out the phoenix ashes. The mayor looked in horror as he tried to climb up the wall. Phoenix powder was highly flammable and could kill someone in an instant. She opened the small bottle and poured a bit on the ground, making a circle to surround the mayor.

“P-please I’ll do anything. Don’t kill me!” The mayor begged, now on his knees. Tempest stared at him with a blank expression. If this were a few months earlier, she would’ve have broken down and cried. She had seen and caused plenty of deaths before. It was numbing to see them beg now.

Before she could say anything else, Spike let out a sneeze. A large flame shot out of his mouth and caught onto the phoenix ashes. The circle burst into green flames and the mayor let out a blood curdling scream. The flames washed over him. In the matter of seconds, the mayor was no more. He was only a pile of burnt fur and ashes. Tempest looked at Spike who stared at the remaining in awe.

“You’re a lot more dangerous than I thought.”

Comments

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on this latest chapter. Yeah. I LOVED the Storm King's reaction to the fact he was basing one of his plans on a fairy tale (and for once in this series, the fairy tale turned out to NOT be real) and how protective Tempest got of Spike. I admit I felt bad for the Mayor of that town when Tempest and Spike killed him, but it IS great set-up for later on.

Anyway, wonderful job on the exchanges, characterizations, (dark) humor and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I'll very certainly be looking forward to more, but will also respect that real world matters need to come first and inspiration can be unpredictable.

[Draconicus the Reaper]

Awesome chapter
Baby Spike sounds so adorable💚