Chapter 2
Cliff Runner’s internal clock told him that it was time to wake up. Groaning softly, he mustered the energy to open one eye. About half of his field of vision was filled with his wife’s pink mane. Above that, he saw the stone walls of their bedroom. Well, technically it wasn’t a bedroom. There was no bed, for starters. It was a chamber for intimacy, but Fluttershy preferred the smaller nest in here over the family-size one downstairs. Pony items adorned the part of the room he could see, including a bookcase, several framed pictures from their wedding day, and a clock. His eyes were drawn to that last item; they still had a few minutes before they had to get up.
With a contented sigh, he let his eye close and nuzzled more deeply into Fluttershy’s mane, pressing his chest up against her back. It was amazing how good it felt to hold her like this! It wasn’t just that she was soft and warm and wonderful, or her hooves gripping his arms across her chest, or even her long tail, splashed across his legs like a silky—and mildly tangled—blanket. Rather, it was knowing that he was holding his wife; the pegasus pony who had literally abandoned the life she had always known and traveled across half of a continent just to be with him. Cliff knew he didn’t deserve her, and he didn’t care.
That wasn’t to say that married life was perfect. They had disagreements and misunderstanding like any other couple. One of their larger fights had, oddly enough, been about whether or not Cliff should brush his teeth.
He hadn’t seen the point, given that his teeth were harder than diamonds and his fire breath could destroy any bacteria, and so he had stubbornly refused, right up until Fluttershy finally admitted that she just didn’t like the taste of smoke when she kissed him. He used mouthwash these days, but nearly two years later, Cliff still felt embarrassed that he had let such a small request turn into such a big disagreement.
As he reflected, Cliff idly ran his claws across the wedding pendant Fluttershy always wore. Even though he couldn’t see it from where he was, Cliff could feel the outline of the star-shaped emerald that was the pendant’s only embellishment. Moving down from there, he stroked the soft fur of his wife’s chest, provoking a soft giggle from her.
“Good morning, Cliff.”
“Good morning, beautiful.” He had never thought of himself as the kind of dragon to use pet names, but Fluttershy's self esteem had never been very good. Calling her things like ‘beautiful,’ or ‘cutie,’ or ‘love’ was his little way of reminding her that she meant the world to him. “Did I wake you?”
She shook her head and snuggled back against him. “It’s just nice to be together like this.”
Cliff pulled back just long enough to yawn before planting a kiss at the base of her ear and then another at the connecting point of her jaw and neck. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Fluttershy sighed contentedly. “I wish mornings could last longer.”
“Me too.” He checked the clock again. Only two minutes until they had to get up and go to their daily training.
She rolled over and nuzzled her cheek against his. With nothing else that really needed saying, the two were content to simply hold each other for a while.
It was Fluttershy that broke the silence. “Would you mind braiding my mane before we go?”
“Sure.” His wife enjoyed keeping her mane long, and she really did look good that way, but it was also a serious liability during morning training. Cliff reluctantly got up, as did Fluttershy. He gathered her pink mane in his claws and got to work. “How do you think today’s practice battle will go?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed, “but Dash and the others are counting on me, so I’ll do my best.” Fluttershy’s Stare was one of the few abilities that could incapacitate a fully berserk dragon, and so it was just to be expected that she would be a part of Everfree Village’s anti-berserker flight team. “What do you think you’ll do for training?”
Cliff finished the braid and wrapped a piece of green ribbon around it to hold it in place. “Probably a sparring match against somedragon, then Twilight wants my help testing a new magic battery.”
“Oh my.” Fluttershy turned back to face him. “Do you think she fixed it this time?”
“I can only hope so.” Cliff tried not to shudder. “At the very least, she promised that it won’t knock me out again.”
She planted a kiss on the tip of his muzzle. “Please be careful anyway.”
“I’ll do my best.” He pulled her into another kiss, this time on the lips, before getting up with a sigh. “Well, let’s get going.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
Most of Everfree Village was already up by the time Cliff and Fluttershy stepped outside. Ponies and dragons of all colors walked between the stone houses of the Village, all headed toward the training grounds. A number of residents were coming from the restored Castle of the Two Sisters, which served as equal parts apartment complex and town hall.
Cliff yawned, which turned into a shiver partway through. Winter was still a few months out, but the days were definitely getting colder. Hopefully things would warm up once the sun rose.
Most of the dragons were breathing small puffs of fire on themselves and their friends in an attempt to keep warm. It was an example that Cliff was happy to follow, including a gentle stream of emerald flames for his wife.
As soon as they touched her, the enchantment built into her wedding necklace kicked in, granting her the same kind of heat immunity that all wyrms enjoyed. Every other pony in the Village was required to wear an amulet with the same enchantment. Living with dragons kind of made it a necessity.
Fluttershy sighed appreciatively as the fire washed over her, even though, as a pegasus, she was more resistant to the cold than a dragon. “Thank you, that feels nice.”
Cliff was about to reply when a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane landed in front of them with a grin. “Heya, Flutters, ready to kick some berserker flank?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath before nodding. “Good morning, Rainbow Dash, and I hope so, at least.”
“Great, because Twilight says they’re going to bump all three of them up to rank three, so you might have to help the others out with theirs until I finish with mine.”
Cliff could only shake his head, somewhere between amused and amazed at how freely they talked about taking on berserkers by themselves.
Every pony had natural magic that depended on their type. Unicorns could generate spells, earth ponies were supernaturally strong and durable, and pegasi could fly and manipulate the weather. In addition, some ponies were gifted with special powers, unique to themselves. Fluttershy was among them. She could channel her emotions and determination into a special Stare, effectively letting her control the actions and feelings of others. It made for a frighteningly effective stunning technique.
Rainbow Dash had a special power as well, but it was arguably just a natural side-effect of her insanely strong pegasus magic, which allowed her to reach speeds of mach ten and release devastating shock-waves. The really scary part was that she could go even faster, up to mach twenty, but releasing all that energy damaged her wings so badly that she required extensive healing afterwards.
“What about the other eight pegasi?” Cliff asked.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Fluttershy Stares one, and they distract the other until I finish with mine. They’re getting better, but none of them have any special powers, and there’s only so much a normal pegasus can do against a hundred-foot-long berserker.” She turned away and gestured with her wing. “C’mon, Flutters, I want to get started right away. Scoots asked me to come by the lab as soon as we’re finished, and it sounded important.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” She leaned over and gave Cliff a kiss. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”
He returned her kiss and planted another on her forehead. “I’ll see you then. Good luck.” After his wife and friend flew away, Cliff traveled the last block to the training grounds at a leisurely stroll.
Training was meant to keep everyone sharp so that they could handle themselves in case somedragon went berserk nearby, but Cliff was already an above-average fighter. There was no need for him to rush.
One of the many snack tables between the grounds and the village proper provided a cinnamon roll to tide him over until breakfast. The roll was delicious, as usual. He made a mental note to compliment AJ and Pinkie on their hard work later.
As he ate, Cliff looked across the massive field that was their training ground. It was almost as large as the rest of the village, with nearly a hundred rings set up for sparring. The white lines that marked their borders stood out clearly from the packed dirt that made up the walkways between them. Some rings were already active, generating a prismatic shield to make sure that the duels taking place inside didn’t affect any bystanders. Villagers wandered between the rings, either observing matches or looking for a partner to spar with.
Many villagers called out greetings as Cliff passed, which he returned. In spite of never being very social, he knew the names of nearly every wyrm in Everfree, having guided most of them here alongside his, at the time, fiance. He wasn’t as good with the names of the ponies, even though all of them knew who he was. That kind of thing tended to happen when you were married to a national heroine.
It was interesting to note how diverse the crowd was. Then again, Everfree Village was one of the few communities on the planet where wyrms and ponies lived together in peace. ‘Interesting’ described pretty much everything here. In the two and a half years that Cliff had called Everfree his home, he had sparred against unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, crystal ponies, bat ponies—he hadn’t even known that bat ponies existed until a family of them moved in—griffons, an alicorn, a zebra, a couple of deer, and even a traveling minotaur.
They all presented unique challenges in a duel, but today, Cliff found himself in the mood to fight another wyrm. Most ponies still had trouble getting used to the idea of beating their friends and family senseless each morning.
They were weird like that.
A figure with purple scales and red spikes caught his eye. He made his way through the crowd to her. She was about the same height and build as Cliff, though her rounded muzzle and the way her head spikes fell down around her face, almost like a pony mane, made it obvious that she was female.
“Morning, Mom.” They hugged briefly. “Did Grandma finally give you a break from teaching the newcomers?” After laying an egg last month, she had been forced to take a break from morning duels.
Scenic Trail groaned, rolling her hazel eyes. “Yes, thank the Stars! Half of them are still apologizing every time they hit their opponent.” She brushed a longer spike behind her right ear frill. “It took me forever to convince Mom that I didn’t suddenly become an invalid just because I have another hatchling on the way.”
“Care for a match then?” Cliff grinned, partly because he found the whole situation amusing and partially because it made him a little giddy to think that he would have another sibling in a few months. “I promise not to go easy on you.”
At the field’s edges, three huge shapes began to form, woven together from glowing lines. Sixteen of the village’s most powerful spell-casters, including most of Cliff’s family, had to work together to create and control those puppets, and the amount of magic they required made using them in an actual fight impractical, but it was a good way to simulate combat against real berserkers.
Trail turned for a moment to look at them. “And there goes your father, off to another concussion.” She chuckled and turned back to Cliff. “A match sounds wonderful. Would you mind if we do a submission match? I haven’t had a good fight in over a month.”
Cliff nodded. “A submission match sounds good to me.” Most villagers preferred point matches, where the combatants got one point for each attack that landed a solid hit. The first to five points won. Submission matches, on the other claw, had one simple rule: fight until someone either gives up or passes out.
They quickly found an unoccupied training ring. Both wyrms stepped inside and ran their claws over an enchanted plate in the center. The shield came up in response, making everything outside shimmer and warp oddly.
Once they had each cast their defensive spells, Cliff picked up a rock and tossed it into the air. It hit the ground, and both wyrms shot forward.
Ethereal blue claws formed around Cliff’s normal ones, extending out to nearly a foot in length. Trail responded with a barrier of fire around her hands and forearms.
Cliff’s claws sank into his mother’s barrier, but it held long enough for Trail to knock his arms to either side and crash into her son with a sudden burst of momentum. Her headbutt knocked him backward onto the ground.
As soon as they hit, Cliff cast four spells simultaneously, absorbing and amplifying his mother’s momentum before reversing its direction and shooting it back at her.
The force of the blast knocked her at least ten feet into the air, but not before two spells of her own hit Cliff. The first was called Disruption, a thin beam of green light that could destroy almost anything, magical or physical. Luckily, it only affected a small area. The scales and defensive magic across a two-inch-wide section of Cliff’s chest were destroyed, just in time for her second spell to hit. Lightning was fairly self explanatory, and there was no magic left at the point of impact to defend against it.
Every muscle in Cliff’s body was wracked with uncontrollable spasms long enough for Trail to reverse her momentum and come crashing back down.
Scale Armor, one of the most useful defensive spells, absorbed or deflected most of the force, but still, having an adult wyrm stomp on his chest from ten feet up wasn’t going to make it onto Cliff’s list of favorite experiences anytime soon.
He threw out a shield to knock her off of him, and a burst of momentum sent Cliff skidding away. He flipped onto his feet halfway across the training ring, going invisible and projecting an illusion of himself. The illusion darted left, while Cliff went right.
Scenic Trail fell for it, crashing into, and through, the illusion of her son. Meanwhile, he extended his invisibility field to include a rock and transferred enough momentum into it that it broke the sound barrier as it shot out of his hand.
His mother took the blow to the back of her shoulder, knocking her flat as the rock exploded from the impact. The crackle of the sonic boom resounded across the training ring and would have rendered them both deaf if not for a spell designed specifically to prevent that.
Cliff surged the Dirt Cloud spell, throwing up a cloud of dust around Trail as his invisibility faded and he moved in for a followup attack. What he wasn’t expecting to find, however, was an empty patch of dirt. Apparently Trail had gone invisible as well.
Guided by his instincts, Cliff whirled around. The blue light returned to his claws just in time to block his mother’s own ethereal claws. Flame armor also adorned her arms and chest, giving her a distinct advantage in their brief flurry of blows. By the time Cliff escaped her reach, he was bleeding from numerous gashes across his chest and arms.
She pursued him, pushing her advantage.
The fact of the matter was that Cliff’s top running speed was much higher than his mother’s. However, their reaction times were nearly identical, and in an enclosed area like the training rings, that meant he couldn’t just run halfway to Canterlot to lose her. Still, high speed combat was his specialty. He activated Precognition, an extremely draining spell which allowed him to see what his opponent was going to do a few seconds in advance. The toll on his willpower weakened his other enhancement spells, but the results were more than worth it.
He carefully dodged his mother’s slashing claws long enough to shift the light from his claws down to cover the rest of his hands. It was a lot easier to defend himself that way.
Next Cliff deflected her attacks and placed his clawtips on each of her forearms. More kinetic energy shot into each of them, blasting his mother’s arms to the side. Before she could recover, he jammed his palms into her shoulders and transferred in two much more powerful bursts of momentum.
Scenic Trail was knocked all the way across the ring, hitting the containment field with a thud. From the grimace on her face, at least one shoulder had been dislocated.
Another burst of momentum launched Cliff after her, just in time to connect with a bar-shaped shield that appeared at the same level as his stomach. He dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.
In the heat of battle, it was easy to miss the faint sense of pressure when another wyrm was casting something, and Precognition was absolutely no help in that regard. It only predicted physical movements.
Telekinesis yanked Cliff forward, and another combined Disruption-Lightning attack hit him, in the shoulder this time, locking his muscles before he could counterattack.
One of Trail’s arms hung uselessly at her side, but the other shot up to meet him. A tendril of fire detached itself from her forearm and wrapped around Cliff’s head, covering his eyes completely before becoming solid and impossible to see through.
An explosion went off at the side of his head, followed by another to the underside of his jaw and a burst of lightning to his chest.
Cliff was sure his vision would have been swimming if he'd been able to see anything. He dropped Precognition and surged his defensive spells instead. A fair amount of his willpower was consumed keeping him safe from the magical onslaught, but it gave him the moment he needed to rip that circle of fire off of his head. A surprising number of scales went with it. Cliff didn’t have time to wince though, because he knew his mother would already be casting something to let her maintain the advantage.
He shot up, barely missing another tendril of fire as it reached for him, and ‘landed’ upside down on the containment field that covered the top of the ring. Cliff ran along the ceiling, down the wall, and crashed into his mother’s back, knocking them both to the ground. He put her in a headlock and began to squeeze.
Trail cried out in pain as her injured shoulder was jostled. She barely managed to get more fire between Cliff’s arm and her neck. It hardened into a protective barrier at the same time that she twisted her head up and spat a small cloud of pinkish gas into her son’s face.
As soon as it hit, Cliff felt his muscles start to relax and his mind start to wander. Fighting didn’t seem so important anymore. In fact, taking a nap sounded pretty good.
Cliff fought against the unnatural lethargy that was starting to wash through him, but Trail easily pushed him to the side and got up.
It took a few seconds to neutralize whatever poison his mother had created, and by then she had already created a war hammer from interlocking shields. She hefted it in her good hand and swung right for Cliff’s stomach.
A shield of his own surrounded the young dragon just before it hit. There was a sound like thunder, and Cliff’s shield nearly buckled. He would have covered his ears if the situation had allowed for it. Stars above, that thing has to be a sonic weapon of some kind!
Scenic Trail pulled back for another swing and walls of flame began to form around Cliff, caging him in.
Dropping the shield seemed like an extremely bad idea. Luckily, Ghost Claws could pass through any shield, including his own. Cliff surged enough willpower into his hands that the ethereal light around each claw extended to nearly six feet. One hand slashed at his mother’s wrist, making her drop the hammer. The other hit her legs hard enough to knock her flat.
Cliff immediately pressed his claws against the back of her neck, pinning her down. He paused for a moment to catch his breath. “I win round one?”
The dragoness was breathing heavily, but she managed to chuckle. “I’d say that’s a definite yes.” She pushed his claws aside and rolled over. “Just let me heal, and we can go for another round.” The palm of her hand started to glow as she ran it over her injuries.
“Sounds good.” Cliff dropped his spells, wincing slightly as the adrenaline started to wear off and his wounds became very determined to make their presence known. Healing magic poured into Cliff’s right palm, making it glow softly. Under that light, his wounds knit themselves together and his scales regrew almost instantly.
Wiping some blood off his scales, Cliff looked to where Fluttershy and the others were training. The many shields between them obscured most details, but one of the fake berserkers was holding perfectly still, which probably meant that his wife was using the Stare on it. Large flashes of rainbow-patterned light told him that another was on the receiving end of a Sonic Rainboom attack. Cliff had to smile. Fluttershy told him that she had once been a complete doormat, and yet, there she was, holding off a foe that would have been a difficult match for himself and his mother combined. He couldn’t help but feel proud of her for how much she had grown. “We probably have time for one more round before Twilight will be free. She wanted my help with something before breakfast.”
“Alright.” Trail grunted a bit as her dislocated shoulder popped back into place. “If we only have one more match, let’s make it a good one.” She shook her arm experimentally as she rose to her feet.
Cliff finished healing the gashes across his chest and arms. “I couldn’t agree more.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
Crystal Sky’s breathing came in ragged gasps, and her eyes stared dully ahead. Her wing beats were becoming slightly uneven, a sure sign that exhaustion was settling in.
Talon flew closer to her. She took a deep breath and called weakly, “Crystal, give me your pack. You need to take a break.”
The sound snapped Crystal out of her trance-like state. “Sorry … what?”
“Give me your pack,” Talon repeated. “I … I can handle it for a while.” The young wyvern couldn’t remember how long it had been since they left the Aerie. Days and nights of flight with short breaks and never enough food had all blended together. That didn’t matter, though. Her friend needed her.
Crystal shook her head. “Can’t let you … do that.”
“Talon!” Thunderfang backed up enough to position himself just above the other two. “Get back in formation and let Crystal carry her own rations.”
“I’m just trying to help my battle partner.” She glared up at him. “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do, Squad Leader?”
The thunder wyvern sighed and moved down to her other side. “Look,” he whispered just loud enough to be heard, “I get it. You’re trying to be strong for everydragon, but we both know that you aren’t a good distance flier. You won’t be doing any of us a favor if you collapse from exhaustion.”
“I’ll be fine, Thunderfang,” she whispered back. “Crystal’s our weakest flier. She needs to rest.”
“I agree. Sky!” he called to one of the wind wyverns leading their group. “Crystal needs a break. Think you can take her pack for a while?”
Wandering Sky nodded and maneuvered to just above Crystal. He reached down with his talons and lifted the pack from around the base of her neck before raising it up and ducking his own head under the strap that connected the two halves of her flight pack. It slid down next to his own as he returned to the front of their formation.
“Stop trying to turn yourself into a martyr, Talon,” Thunderfang said as he rejoined the formation as well. “Hold strong, Crystal. I think we’re almost there … finally.”
Talon Wind fell back into formation too, feeling more than a little silly. “I’m not trying to be a martyr,” she muttered under her breath. Still, she had to admit that he had been right about having Sky help. Wind wyverns had unmatched endurance in flight thanks to their ability to manipulate air currents. I should have thought of that.
Minutes passed, and the call went out for everydragon to descend. They were just passing a mountain range, and the valley on the other side was coming into view. Sparse patches of greenery were mixed with areas of dirt and rock, with pools of lava scattered randomly throughout. What really caught Talon’s attention, though, were the hills of gemstones that covered entire parts of the valley floor.
Her mouth watered just looking at those delicious gems. How was it fair that these creatures had so much food? The wyverns had been on the brink of starvation for years.
She managed to tear her eyes away from the piles of food and focused on the dragons that surrounded them. Their mysterious new allies were huge!
At six feet tall and twelve feet long, Talon was a little bigger than average for a wyvern. These new dragons, drakes, if she remembered correctly, were nearly ten times her size, and there were thousands of them. Many were asleep, while others gathered in small clusters or wandered around the rock-filled valley. Some were even bathing in pools of molten lava.
Talon shuddered. It’s true then, drakes really are immune to heat, just like fire wyverns. Being a venom wyvern herself, the only immunity she had was against toxins. A few seconds in that lava would have turned her into a collection of charred bones.
Looking more closely, Talon was able to make out other differences. Drakes seemed to be quadrupeds, for starters, and had a crest of spikes starting at the top of the head and running all the way down to the end of the tail, where she noticed an arrow-shaped bone, rather than the poisonous barb that all wyverns shared. Color was another shock. Wyvern coloration was almost entirely based on a wyvern’s type, but drake scales and spikes seemed to come in every color and shade imaginable. As they drew near, more and more of the giants turned to face the descending wyverns.
Talon swallowed the nervous weight in her throat and landed in formation with the others, stumbling slightly as she did so. Her aching wings fell to her sides, brushing against the ground.
Crystal didn’t land so much as crash.
Talon quickly knelt beside her. “Are you alright?”
She nodded weakly. “Just … let me rest.”
“You’ve earned it.” Talon took a deep breath and looked around. There were a little more than six thousand exhausted wyverns, the last of her race. Beyond them, hundreds of the strange giants watched in silence. As much as Talon hated to admit it, these drakes were probably capable of wiping them all out if they wanted to.
She really hoped that they didn’t want to.
A white drake with silver spikes broke away from the crowd and moved forward, stopping right in front of the wyverns. After looking them over, he closed his eyes and, of all things, shrank. Talon didn’t even know what to think of it. In a single moment, he went from a colossal beast to standing a little shorter than a normal wyvern. “I am Silver Tail, leader of the Ice Spire Clan,” he announced in a deep voice. “I need to talk with your leaders.”
Five wyverns came forward, their ranking scars so large and intricate that there was almost more scarring than regular scales on their chests. One of them, an ice wyvern named Aurora, said, “We are the Council of Hurricanes.”
Silver Tail did something between a bow and a nod. “If you’re here, then you must have decided to accept my offer.”
Aurora regarded him coolly. “Only if you will promise to care for our civilians until the war has concluded.”
“I said I would,” Silver Tail said. “A drake never goes back on his word. We couldn’t even if we wanted to. However, if it’ll calm you all down,” he spread his wings and lowered his head, “I, Silver Tail, swear upon the honor of the Ice Spire Clan that I will care for each wyvern, whether they are able to fight or not, as though they were members of my own brood, and if we succeed, one third of the reclaimed lands will be given to wyverns with a treaty of peace, so that you can rebuild your race.” He drew himself back up. “Are you happy now?”
The other Hurricanes all looked at Aurora, nodding slightly.
She nodded back, and the five of them knelt and bowed their heads. Aurora spoke, “As the leaders of our race, we accept your terms, and swear that we will fight beside you until the stolen land, known as the Crystal Empire, is returned to your rightful control.”
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It's okay to talk, you know. I don't bite.
Took ya long enough www.fimfiction.com
7632363 Agreed. About 48 hours to approve.
7632385 Good stuff, hopefully.
Great start loving the story keep it up.
random info about dragon culture and customs sounds good
Something about the way he worded that makes me feel very uneasy. It occurs to me, if drakes are supposedly so honorable then why to Wyrms not get along with them. Something tells me the Drakes are full of it.
Also, this is the first time I've seen your cover art. All I can say is... wow.
Personally, I think your fight scenes are too technical. It makes them boring to me. There's no real passion, sudden blows, instant strikes, sense of disorientation, it feels more like I'm reading a play-by-play of a D&D match than watching a battle play out in my head. But that's all my opinion.