Chapter 16
Talon’s chest burned as she flew, which was expected. Acid had to be used to add to a rank scar, otherwise scales would just grow over it. She spared a glance at the two quarter circles on each side of the large ‘X’ that made up the center of her scar. It was the scar of a senior wing.
Most wyverns took years to go from junior wing, to wing, to senior wing, but Talon wasn’t dumb enough to think it was because she was some sort of prodigy.
She touched down on one the many crystalline streets that lined the Crystal Empire.
Tornado landed beside her in his thinking form.
“Hello, squad leader,” Wandering Sky said, bowing slightly. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
That right there was the real reason for her promotion. Squad Five of the Thirty-sixth Cluster had needed a leader after Thunderfang’s death, and a wyvern needed to be familiar with the squad and be at least a senior wing to fill that role. None of the available wyverns had met that criteria, and so the Hurricanes had just promoted her and called it a day.
“Where’s Heart?” Talon asked. “I asked her to be in charge of evacuation duty.”
“She was called back to the Ice Spire Cave for some sort of emergency with Gemstone,” the wind wyvern replied.
“Has he been injured?” Tornado asked quickly, which was enough to draw Talon’s attention. He had been quiet and withdrawn ever since the battle.
Sky spread his wings and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I’m sure Gem’s fine,” Talon said, patting Tornado’s shoulder before shifting her attention to Sky. “So anyway, what’s the problem? I was talking with Crystal about some new strategies for the venom team.” She had been letting Crystal cry on her shoulder about Thunderfang’s death.
“A couple of thunders are arguing with a stubborn local.” Sky nodded toward a house behind him. Shouting could be heard from inside. “I ordered them to ignore that pony for now, but they won’t listen to me because I'm not their team leader.”
Talon sighed. “Of course.” Only two of Squad Five’s thunder wyverns had survived the battle, requiring them to pull in new ones from a different squad that been disbanded after getting almost completely wiped out. The newcomers had been causing problems ever since. “Tornado, stay here.”
She walked up to the indicated house, ducking down just a bit to fit through the front door, and found two thunder wyverns, Lightning Flash and Storm Front, yelling at an elderly gray pony with white hair, who was sitting in a chair with its hooves crossed over its chest.
“I don’t think you understand,” Lightning shouted. “You’ve been conquered. You have to leave!”
The pony shook its head. “I’ve lived here for fifty years. I’m not moving!”
Talon took a deep breath. “Lightning, Storm!”
The two thunder wyverns stopped and turned to face her.
“What do you two think you’re doing here?” she demanded.
“Sir, this pony refuses to leave,” Storm Front said.
Talon had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. “I noticed.”
Lightning Flash glared at her. “We could have finished this block already if you hadn’t ordered us not to harm anyone.”
Talon glared right back. “Is it your job to question orders or to obey them?”
“Obey,” he said grudgingly.
“Then get out and let me deal with this.” Talon motioned toward the doorway. “And just so you know, those orders came from Silver Tail himself.” She waited until the two had gone before turning her attention to the pony, who was watching her silently. “I’m sorry about that …”
“Inkwell,” it answered her unspoken question.
“Inkwell,” Talon repeated. “I know this is kind of a strange concept, but we’re trying to be polite conquerors. No civilian deaths, and you all get supplies and an escort back to your capital city. Isn’t that better than the usual looting, killing, and slavery that you’d get out of an invading army?”
“I built this house with my own hooves,” Inkwell said. “I raised my children here. My dear Zirca died in the bedroom upstairs. I’ve been through crystal drake attacks, King Sombra’s rule, getting shot forward in time a thousand years, and losing the Crystal Heart twice, all in this house.” The pony looked deep into Talon’s eyes. “I’m not leaving. If you have to kill me, then just kill me.”
“I’ve had enough killing to last a lifetime,” Talon said. Capturing the Crystal Empire had been almost bloodless from her point of view, but that more recent battle … five dragons that she had known for years, dead. “I also know what it’s like to leave the only home you’ve ever known.” She knelt next to the old pony and put a wing on its shoulder. “No one should have to go through that, but think about your friends and children. They’ll need you now more than ever, so no, I won’t kill you, but I don’t have the authority to let you stay here either.”
“Dragons like crystals, don’t they?”
The question caught Talon off guard. “Huh?”
Inkwell leaned over to the bowl at the base of its chair and picked up one of the orange fruits in it. Starting where the fruit touched the pony’s hoof, it began to change, shifting and taking on a more angular look. It even became partially see-through. Inkwell held it out to Talon. “Let me know how that tastes.”
She took the crystalline fruit tentatively, cupping it in the membrane between the second and third digit on her wing. “How did you do that?”
Inkwell smiled sadly. “All crystal ponies can crystallize things. It’s the reason dragons have been attacking the Empire since it was founded. How do you think I built this house?” It gestured at the structure around them. “I wouldn’t recommend eating it, though. I mostly used dirt and old chunks of wood.”
Talon studied the solid blue walls. They certainly didn’t look like dirt or wood. “Didn’t that take you a long time?”
“About a week,” Inkwell replied. “Whether it’s to build our new dictator a giant palace or give dragons all the food they can eat, our crystallization magic makes us the ideal slaves.” The pony sighed. “The Crystal Peasant will free us this time too.”
“I don’t know who that is, but only rogue drakes keep slaves.” Talon looked at the crystallized fruit more closely. “If crystal ponies are willing to help produce food, though, Heart might be able to talk the Hurricanes into letting you stay as citizens.”
“Really?” Hope lit up the old pony’s face.
“No promises, but I’ll talk to her.” Talon brought the fruit closer and sniffed it. The aroma was mouth watering, like a combination of topaz and citrus. Venom wyverns were also immune to poisons, in case Inkwell was trying anything. “First let’s see how edible this thing is.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
“How did it go?” Tornado asked a few minutes later when Talon stepped back outside.
Talon looked sheepishly down at the basket of crystallized fruit she was carrying. “I, uh, decided to keep Inkwell around as a personal consultant.”
“We can learn something of value from that pony?” Tornado asked.
“Sort of.” Talon cleared her throat. “Equestria might be less willing to attack us we accept ponies as equal citizens.”
Tornado nodded. “A good clan lord should always think of the welfare of his followers.”
Storm leaned over to Lightning and whispered something that probably wasn’t flattering.
Talon ignored those two. “Anyway, Wandering Sky, you’re the leader of the wind team for this squad. I don’t care if they’re winds or not. You outrank these two, and if either of them tries to ignore your orders from now on, you have my permission to hurt them until they change their mind.”
Sky grinned. “Yes, sir.”
Both Storm and Lightning looked more than a bit nervous, and with good reason. Sky wasn’t known for holding back when it came to punishments.
Talon placed the basket on the ground and gripped it with one foot. “Come on, Tornado.” She spread her wings and pushed off with her other leg.
Tornado pulled up alongside her. “How can you trust dishonorable allies such as those two? It would not surprise me if they enjoyed the bloodshed of battle.”
“Some wyverns do,” Talon said softly. “It’s probably the only way they can survive decade after decade of war.” She shivered at the thought that one day she might be counted among those wyverns. “I’m surprised that you’re fine with letting that pony stay.”
“It is the duty of the strong to help the weak, and the duty of the weak to follow the strong.” From the way Tornado said it, Talon got the feeling that it was a common phrase.
They passed over the last of the pony houses and into a large ring of flat ground that separated the rest of the Empire from the Crystal Palace and its surrounding neighborhoods. The drakes had been crushing pony houses to create it, which gave them crystals to take back to the Ice Spire Caves as well as a defensive break in the houses so that groups of ponies couldn’t sneak up on them.
“So because she, or he …” Talon realized that she had never asked Inkwell what its gender was, and she wasn’t familiar enough with ponies to be able to tell. “Anyway, because she,” it was as good a guess as any, “accepted our leadership, she deserves our help?”
Tornado nodded.
“Well, let’s hope the Hurricanes let her stay, otherwise I’m going to look very bad.” Talon and Tornado passed through a large anti-magic bubble, making them both fall for a second before their flight magic reasserted itself.
They landed on one of the houses near the Crystal Palace, and Talon’s eyes drifted to the statue at the Palace’s base. Oddly, it was of a baby wyrm holding out the Crystal Heart, as though offering it to somedragon. Talon could only guess that this was a tribute to the wyrm that Celestia adopted.
“Everfree Village proves that dragons and ponies can live together in peace when the ponies are in charge,” Talon said. “If they can accept having dragons in charge for a change, then maybe there won’t be any need to keep fighting.”
Tornado followed her gaze. “Let us hope so. The warriors from Everfree Village would make far better allies than foes.”
Talon silently transferred the basket of oranges to her mouth. Because of Everfree, Thunderfang was dead, as were all but two of the thunder team, and Heart, Tornado, and herself had barely escaped with their lives. To cap it off, Everfree had vanished along with the rest of the reserve army, presumably joining up with the Crystal Garrison so that they could plan a counterattack.
Talon and Tornado jumped off the house, flapping a little to soften their landing, and then made their way to the front door.
Inside, most everything was the same as when the old residents had been driven out. Cloud Breaker was reading a pony book on a couch in the front room. He bowed respectfully from his seat when they walked in.
Talon nodded back as she put the basket of crystallized oranges down. “Hey, Cloud. Where’s Crystal?”
He gestured upstairs.
“Thanks.” Talon took a deep breath. If Crystal was still upstairs, then she hadn’t stopped crying. “Tornado, could you wait here until we come back?”
“Of course.”
Climbing the stairs, Talon came to the pony equivalent of a nest chamber. At least, that’s what it had been before they improved it. All the furniture in here had been tossed out and replaced with a large ring of blankets and pillows. Just because they were living in a pony city didn’t mean that the Squad couldn’t sleep like civilized creatures.
Crystal herself was curled up in the far corner, with her wings covering her face like she was asleep.
Talon wasn’t fooled. “Crystal,” she whispered, stepping toward her oldest friend. “It’s okay, you know you can cry as much as you want to with me.”
The other dragoness slowly folded her wings back to reveal a tear-streaked face.
Talon didn’t have to say anything. They both knew that Crystal had had a crush on Thunderfang. Instead, Talon reached under the blanket and pulled out her flight pack. She undid the clasp and lifted out a plush thunder wyvern with her thumb. “Remember the night before the left the Aerie, when you flew by my old house to get Refy for me?”
Crystal smiled faintly and nodded.
“I think he’s the only reason I’ve been able to handle the massive ball of crazy that used to be our lives. Whenever things start getting to the point that I can’t handle them anymore, I just hug him for a few minutes, and everything seems a little better.” She held out the plush form to her friend. “Here. Maybe it will help you too.”
Crystal accepted Refy, and slowly sat up so that she could press him to her chest.
Talon wrapped her much larger wings around her friend’s shoulders, shielding both her and Refy from the outside world.
If she was being completely honest with herself, Talon had had a slight crush on Thunderfang as well, or maybe she just respected his position. It was hard to tell at this point, not that it really mattered. Either way, something had made her call out when he was killed by that one armored wyrm with the energy blades.
She shuddered slightly thinking back to that battle. Equestria claimed to be an empire founded on the principles of love and friendship, but Silver Tail had given them every possible reason to leave in peace, and they had chosen war regardless. Talon had no doubt that they would slaughter every dragon in the Alliance if they got the chance. The trick, then, was to make sure they never got that chance.
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Great chapter 16. This is a time for healing for side of the war. Keep it up.
I'm glad that the crystal ponies try ro reason with the dragons. But the now you can't just ask the pony to their home with a fight.
I am sorry but this is complete BS. You perform a sneak attack on city with no declaration of war. Murder a few thousand ponies protecting their homes. But, then find the ponies to be hypocrites for not adhering to love an peace by refusing to roll over to unreasonable and aggressive demands. I am sorry but everyone has a right to defend their homes and take back what is stolen from them. I swear the dragons sure act as though they are morally superior when it was they who did not even once try to ask for help or trade through proper channels. Might does not make right.
Also, I am starting to feel like the ponies are too weak for them to even be able to win. It just seems that the scale is heavily tilted in the dragons favor. Celestia seems weaker than she should be but even worse. Where is the strategist(Celestia) and the tactician(Luna) with thousands of years of experience in warfare with numerous opponents? She is being outplayed by the dragons at nearly every turn.
Finally, is the crystal heart still intact? If so can it be saved?
7662325 True, which is a relief.
7662856 The dragons are aggressive, but most of them aren't entirely unreasonable. Likewise, the crystal ponies are stubborn, but they're willing to negotiate if it means they don't have to leave their homes.
7663046
7663129 Remember, Talon's point of view is going to be jaded. By wyvern standards, this is the nicest and most polite war imaginable. They also didn't know that diplomacy was even an option until it was too late.
Celestia and Luna are both very experienced and powerful, but the average age of a Hurricane is 500 years, meaning their council of 5 Hurricanes has about 2,500 years of experience in near-constant warfare. Celestia and Luna are about 1,100 years old in this story, and Luna spent 1,000 of that sealed in the moon, meaning they have 1,200 years of experience in ruling, and the majority of that was peaceful. Likewise, Silver Tail and Yol Toor are about 900 years old each, and they've spent almost all of that time fighting in 1-on-1 duels, so they're naturally going to have an advantage in duels against Celestia and Luna, who are more experienced in group fights. The scales would balance out quickly if they ever got into a 2-on-2 fight.
The ponies have a huge numerical advantage, but ponies are a peaceful race, for the most part. Meanwhile, all three types of dragons have combat in some form as a big part of their culture. They're getting lots of experience lately, though, which means they'll do better in future battles.
Also, yes, the Crystal Heart is still intact.
Talking, also Talon. Honey yall be the one who attack and they be the defenders. If anything your side caused their own deaths due to being gun-ho. They knew how many you have to fight and strange armor, plus A DRAGON AND PONY ARE MARRIED. Right there you could have just stopped fought champion to champion and this will be much less bloodshed.
Good chapter overall, options to solve this war with less blood.
By the way when does this take place, also did you write the whole story already or something
Okay, the way they treat Lightning and Storm is seriously wrong.
They're ordered to clear out the ponies without violence. One pony refuses.
What are they supposed to do now? Shouting gets them scolded. They can't use force. They can't stop with their task since they got their orders. Then their leader comes and decides this pony gets to stay. Okay, problem solved—but that wasn't a decision the two could've made. And afterwards, they're called dishonourable and threatened punishment and what have you, all because they were put into a situation they literally couldn't win.
The officers in both armies need to get their prejudices checked, honestly.
Skewed point of view leads to erroneous assumptions. She is a fool.
7663327
Okay, no. Polite war or no, it is a war, and the wyverns are supposed to have experience with those. You kill the ponies and take their stuff, you don't expect them to just roll over and let you get away with it. What happens the next time you want their stuff? Of course they're going to expect you to do the same thing all over again. Of course they're going to fight back. That's the way these things work, and I can't buy that kind of naivety from the most warlike race in the whole setting.
"Hey, so, we just killed a bunch of you and took your city, but if you all go away, we promise we'll leave the rest of you alone. Honest!"
At least it's not Poland.