//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A New Dragon in the Crystal Empire // by Vedues //------------------------------// By all rights, Spirit Shield reflected, controlling a berserker puppet should have been awesome. The process was simple enough: link with Twilight, let her build the internal structure while he coated it in illusions so that it would look real, and then finalize everything, leaving the two of them floating in the chest cavity. Twilight used her magic to maintain it, while he wired up a simple nervous system, taking the place of its brain. Awareness of his own body faded, and suddenly, he was the fifty-foot tall, hundred-foot long, incredibly powerful embodiment of destruction! Ego trip? I’ll take two! One Stare and a couple of Sonic Rainbooms later, not so much. “Okay, everypony,” Spirit Shield called, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears, “that concludes our anti-berserker training session for today. They need this ring for team matches, so let’s all pick up our teeth and clear the field. Enjoy the rest of the hour, and we’ll see you tomorrow!” He followed his own advice and got out of the way before sitting down and holding his head. “Ugh.” “I’m afraid I must agree, Spikey,” a voice to his side commented. “Hey, Rarity,” Spirit said without bothering to look up. He would have known that voice anywhere. Besides, only one friend still called him ‘Spike,’ ‘Spikey,’ or any variation thereof. It had been nearly three years since he earned his true name, after all. “Your berserker got roughed up pretty badly too, huh?” Rarity’s level of fine control with magic was unbelievable, surpassing even Twilight’s. Getting her help with creating the berserker puppets had very much been a ‘Well, duh,’ matter. What they hadn’t expected was that she would turn out to be so good at piloting them too. “I think I made a fairly good showing of myself,” even with his eyes closed, Spirit could tell that she was adjusting her frazzled mane, “but I must admit that Rainbow Dash has gotten much better lately.” “Oh my, are you two okay?” a quiet voice asked. “Yeah, Fluttershy, we’re fine.” Spirit poured some healing magic into his head, clearing the buzzing from his ears and getting rid of a spectacular headache that had been forming. He opened his eyes to see his brother’s wife standing in front of him, her face scrunched up in concern. “Those Sonic Rainbooms just left us a bit rattled. It’s no big deal.” “Are you sure?” Fluttershy pressed. “I can use a Revitalizing Stare on you, if you’d like.” Rarity adjusted her mane some more and straightened her fire immunity pendant. Unlike most residents of Everfree Village, she had quite a few of them—the better to match her numerous outfits. Today’s was gold with a circle of tiny diamonds around the edge. “If you wouldn’t mind, Fluttershy, that would be most appreciated.” Spirit nodded his agreement. “Okay.” Fluttershy took a deep breath then opened her eyes wide. The teal orbs seemed to pull Spirit in for a moment, commanding away his fatigue and worries, and filling him with a sense of peaceful enthusiasm. Yeah, the Stare was pretty awesome … when it wasn’t being used to paralyze him with an overdose of fear. Rarity let out a sigh of relief as the effects washed over her as well. “Thank you very much, dear. What will you be doing for the rest of the hour?” “Fire Claws wants me to practice holding the Stare for longer, but I don’t need to be here to do that, so I was going to walk to the cottage and surprise Angel with an early breakfast.” She smiled sweetly. “He always likes it when I do that.” “If you don’t mind, I believe I’ll accompany you.” Rarity brushed herself off and stood. “My own training is simply to levitate a dozen small weights, and I see no reason why a short walk can’t be added to that. I need to pick something up in Ponyville in any case.” “Have fun, you two.” Spirit rose as well. “Twilight wants my help with the final test of our new magic batteries.” He looked around but couldn’t find his sister anywhere. “Huh, she must be setting up at the lab already. Anyway, I’ll see you later.” He left the two mares and made his way to the castle. Twilight being Twilight, one of the first things she had insisted on adding to Everfree Village was a giant lab where anything and everything could be built, tested, or studied. An old ballroom had been donated to the cause. Then expanded upon. Several times. Spirit squeezed into the lab, past the automatic apple-to-orange converter that blocked the door from opening all the way, and walked past a bunch of shelves full of machines, enchanted items, chalkboards full of equations, and other things that he didn’t even have words to describe, before coming to the mostly open center of the lab. The walls in this area were all covered in chalkboards that could be opened up into storage containers. The rest of the room was filled with dozens of workstations, ranging in size and complexity from a simple desk to an enormous metal cubicle that could have comfortably held a berserker. That last one extended up right through the second-story ceiling. Spirit tried not to think about the fourth and fifth floors that they had been forced to add just so that thing could fit. At least they had been able to convert those floors into additional workrooms. Enchanted items were the Village’s main export, and they had been running out of room to build them all. Spirit found Twilight, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Written Whisper waiting for him. Next to them stood Autumn Gem, the crystal pony mare he had been dating for the last three years, they had all gathered around one of the medium workstations. He approached Autumn first, planting a kiss on her lips. “Hello, sexy.” “You’re certainly amorous this morning,” Autumn said, while her coat reflected that she was very much okay with that. It hadn’t been easy learning to read a crystal pony’s emotions through the changes in her coat, but hey, it had been three years. “Is Cliff going to be here soon?” Scootaloo asked, her wings fluttering nervously. “Don’t worry.” Apple Bloom patted her friend on the shoulder. “I’m sure everythin’ will go fine this time.” “Me too,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “I bet you’ll be flying around in just another few minutes.” “Shh!” The orange pegasus covered her friend’s mouth. “You’ll jinx it!” Whisper gently gave them both a hug. Her dark green scales clashed a bit with Scootaloo’s orange coat, but Spirit had to smile at the four of them. It was adorable how the Crusaders were still so close. Scootaloo relaxed a little at the contact. “Thanks, Whisper.” “N-no problem,” she replied before going back to preparing her notes. The years had added to the young wyrm’s confidence, but her stuttering had sadly remained, especially when she was feeling nervous. “Let’s just worry about doing this test correctly for now,” Twilight suggested. “You did help design the magic batteries, and even if it doesn’t work today, this could still be a major breakthrough in the study of natural magic fields. The four of you could go down in history because of your work on this.” Scootaloo blushed a little. “I didn’t do that much, Twilight. Sweetie and Whisper helped you develop the magic purifier and filtration systems. Apple Bloom and I just helped design the casing to hold it all.” “That’s still a very important part,” Twilight assured her. Further conversation was cut short by the arrival of Cliff and Rainbow Dash. “Sorry we’re late,” Dash called. “This slowpoke was taking forever to finish his match.” Cliff shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry, Mom was using a lot of illusions.” The Crusaders greeted the older wyrm with their usual hug/tackle. It was a good thing that Cliff was so obviously devoted to Fluttershy, otherwise the sight of him getting mobbed by four almost-adult girls would have raised a few eyebrows. Well, among the ponies at least. Wyrms tended to be very physical with how they showed affection. Laughing softly, Cliff gathered the four of them into a big hug. “What are you all doing here? Not that I’m complaining about seeing you before class, but I thought this was just going to be another test of the battery’s intake enchantments.” Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo as soon as she could and pulled the younger pegasus into an affectionate noogie. “And no one has told me why I’m here at all, Squirt.” “Well,” Scootaloo looked down, and her wings fluttered nervously, “if the battery can take a charge from all of you without any problems, Twilight’s gonna let me give it a field test.” “The Crusaders have put a lot of work into this.” Twilight stepped forward, levitating the finished prototype behind her. It looked like a metallic half cylinder with the flat side indented slightly so it could be strapped to the foreleg more comfortably. Two buttons adorned the rounded outer side, and a small window revealed the dark interior of the device. “They wanted you two to share this moment with them.” “You were always encouragin’ us when things were tough,” Apple Bloom explained to Cliff. “And you never let me settle for anything other than my best,” Scootaloo told Rainbow. Rainbow beamed. “That’s what big sisters are for.” Cliff just smiled and gave the rest of the Crusaders a hug before turning to Twilight. “Okay, let’s get started.” Twilight passed him the battery. “Press the red button, like with our earlier models.” Cliff held the device to his forearm and followed her instructions. The machine began to hum slightly, and a faint green light, the same color as his eyes, became visible through the window. “Well, it isn’t draining me nearly as much. About what it would take to maintain a basic defense spell.” Scootaloo sighed in relief. “That’s good. I still feel bad about knocking you out last time.” “Okay, that should be enough,” Twilight said. “We only need a few seconds for each test subject.” Nodding, Cliff pressed the red button again to deactivate it. The light from the window shifted from green to white as the magic was purified. He passed it to Twilight. Twilight, Sweetie, Apple Bloom, Rainbow, and Autumn each took turns letting the battery drain them for a few seconds, changing the light purple, light green, orange, red, and blue respectively before it reverted back to white. “Six different subjects,” Whisper recorded with a grin, her earlier nerves forgotten, “each able to charge the device successfully, with no apparent complications between different magic signatures. The purifier seems to be working.” Scootaloo took the battery next, strapping it into place on her foreleg. “Now for the real test.” “Be careful,” Cliff warned. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ve locked it on the lowest setting, so there’s no chance of the battery getting overwhelmed.” “I think he’s more worried about you, Scoots,” Spirit said. The young pegasus had an abnormally weak natural magic field, which is why she could never manage to fly properly. The battery would, theoretically, augment her magic field up to about normal pegasus levels. Unfortunately, they had yet to develop a way of measuring the magic channels in her wings to see if she could even handle that much. Twilight nodded. “That’s the other reason it’s on the lowest setting. We’ll want to test her upper limits later, but for today, we just want to see if her body will accept the infusion of purified magic and incorporate it into her natural field.” “Right.” Scootaloo took a deep breath and pushed the green button. Her eyes widened, and Spirit could have sworn the colors of her mane, tail, and coat deepened just slightly. The wings on her back started twitching, and a faint grimace overtook her previous look of surprise. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked quickly. “We can stop if you need to.” “N-no, I’m fine. My wings just feel strange. It isn’t burning, exactly, more like the feeling you get when you try to stretch a sore muscle.” Twilight carefully scanned the young pegasus. “The battery is working, and it looks like your body is taking in the extra magic, just like when we tested it with stored samples of your own energy. That sensation must be your body trying to adapt to having so much more magic than it’s used to.” “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Scootaloo closed her eyes. “It’s starting to feel better. Can I try to fly with it now?” The alicorn thought about it for a moment. “Yes, but only a hover, like we practiced. There isn’t a lot of magic in that battery, and I don’t want to risk you running out mid-flight.” An uncharacteristically timid smile lit up Scootaloo’s face. “Okay. Thanks, Twilight.” She extended her wings and gave them a hearty flap, rocketing herself into the ceiling nearly twenty feet above. Rainbow shot into the air and caught her before she could fall more than a few feet, much to everyone’s relief. Scootaloo rubbed her head and smiled sheepishly up at her honorary sister. “Thanks. I guess that means my body is using the extra magic.” “You can say that again, Squirt,” Rainbow agreed. “Need me to heal your head?” Cliff asked from his spot on the ground. “It looked like you hit it pretty hard there.” “Nah, I’ll be fine.” Scootaloo started flapping her wings more softly, taking on most of her own weight as she did so. “You can let me go now. I want to try and float back down on my own.” “I’ll catch her if she falls,” Twilight promised. Rainbow nodded. “Alright. Keep flapping your wings, but don’t channel too much magic into them.” Scootaloo nodded that she understood, and Rainbow released her. The young pegasus floated very slowly back toward the floor. She almost touched it before stopping, holding her position for a moment, and then rising back toward Rainbow. “I’m doing it,” she laughed. “I’m actually flying!” “You’re awesome, Scootaloo,” Sweetie shouted. “Congratulations.” Whisper smiled broadly. “Yeah, now git down here so we can give ya a hug!” Apple Bloom commanded. “No way,” Dash said, grabbing the younger pegasus and giving her a fierce squeeze. “She’s my little sister, so I get the first congratulations hug.” Scootaloo obviously didn’t mind and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow. After a moment, the pair landed, and everyone clustered around the orange pegasus in a group hug. Twilight joined in too, as did Autumn. Eh, what the hay. Spirit added himself to the pile. “I can’t believe it. I flew all on my own!” Scootaloo looked down at the magic battery on her foreleg. “Well, sort of.” She grinned. “Ah, who cares? It’s still awesome!” “You’re the awesome one, Scoots,” Dash said, holding her adopted sister tightly. “And I couldn’t be more proud of you.” The others all echoed their agreement. -_-_-_-_-_- The path through the Everfree Forest to Ponyville was wide and well maintained, as could only be expected. At least a hundred ponies traveled it daily. It was also protected by a series of unicorn, wyrm, and even zebra enchantments, designed to ward off anything that might want to harm anyone. Fluttershy really appreciated the safety of the path, especially after running into some of the forest’s scarier inhabitants. In spite of its dangers, the Everfree Forest was beautiful. Everything was lush and vibrant here. Even the animals teemed with energy, scampering about their lives with more satisfaction than most ponies ever found. Many of the squirrels and birds called out greetings to the yellow pegasus when they saw her. Fluttershy wished she could look at them directly, they were always so adorable, but she was still practicing the Stare, and she didn’t want to risk hitting anyone with it. She switched to the Love Stare, just to be safe, and waved whenever she heard a critter calling out to her. I really am a lucky pony to have made so many friends. Rarity walked beside her. “I must say, I never imagined that you, of all ponies, would willingly face a berserker every morning, let alone three of them.” With her telekinesis, she idly spun a bunch of foot-long iron cylinders, in a figure-eight pattern over her head. “It is surprising,” Fluttershy agreed, “but Rainbow Dash really wanted my help.” “Did Rainbow pressure you into this? I could have a talk with her, if you’d like.” “Oh no,” Fluttershy shook her head, “she just asked me. I’m the one that agreed. After all, my Stare can really help dragons that have gone berserk, and it would be wrong of me if I didn’t learn how to use it.” She also felt just a teensy bit proud of herself for overcoming her fear of berserkers, but she didn’t want to brag. “You’re beginning to sound like a wyrm, my dear.” Even though Fluttershy couldn’t see it, she could hear the smile in her friend’s voice. “What’s that thing they’re always saying, ‘Ability equals responsibility’?” “Well, I am married to Cliff, and he’s a wyrm, so … I guess it’s normal that I sound kind of like one?” Fluttershy beamed at the compliment anyway. The forest came to a sudden halt, leaving them in the fields outside of Ponyville. Fluttershy took a moment to enjoy the warmth of the sun on her back and the feel of the wind in her mane. Three of her bird friends were flying lazily over the green grass. They chirped when they saw her and flew over to land on her head, whistling a greeting as they came. She smiled. “Good morning to you too. Rarity and I were just headed to the cottage to serve breakfast. Would you like to come with us?” They all chirped their agreement. “Actually,” Rarity said, “I think I’ll run to my shop quickly and pick up that package before I join you at the cottage. I hope you don’t mind.” “Oh no, of course not.” Fluttershy gave the white unicorn a hug. “I’ll see you there.” In truth, she was actually a little relieved that she wouldn’t have to go with her friend into town. She didn’t want to be mean, but ever since Cliff and the other wyrms were forced to leave Ponyville, she always felt a little uncomfortable walking its streets. Fluttershy knew it was wrong of her to blame all of Ponyville for the actions of a few mean ponies, but she couldn’t help it. Still maintaining her Stare, the yellow pegasus started down the familiar path to her old home. The cottage came into view. Not much had changed over the years, except for the sign over the door that read, ‘Angel’s Animal Emporium.’ Fluttershy walked up to the door and knocked before opening it. “Angel, I’m here.” Angel wandered out from behind the counter inside, yawning loudly. His fur was terribly matted in places, and his ears didn’t have their normal perkiness. “Good morning, Angel.” She scooped him into a hug, making the birds on her head quickly readjust. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?” He squeaked out that she hadn’t, but he was surprised to see her so early. “Oh, training ended early so I thought I’d come by and make breakfast for you all.” Angel disentangled himself and hopped down, gesturing for her to follow him into the house. It wasn’t on Everfree’s land, but the cottage was the official pet shop and veterinary office for the village. Twilight had offered to teleport it into Everfree proper, but most of the critters that lived here were a little frightened by the wild forest. Besides, leaving it midway between Everfree and Ponyville made it easier for residents of both towns to come here for pets. Following Angel inside, Fluttershy noticed that several bits had been left on the counter. “Do we have a new patient, Angel, or did someone get adopted?” Luckily it turned out to be the latter. Angel explained through a series of gestures and squeaks that an earth pony had come by last night and asked Misses Owl to be her new pet. Fluttershy grinned for her friend. Misses Owl had been hoping to get adopted for quite a while now. Aside from the front counter and cash register, things looked about the same as before she moved out. A couch and a few chairs still sat around the front room, next to the bookshelf, and dozens of small critter houses either hung from the ceiling or were built into the walls. The birds that had come with her flew to the kitchen, singing happily. Fluttershy stepped over a family of mice and walked into the kitchen as well. Everyone still needed to be fed. Rarity arrived just as she finished filling all of the bowls in the house and making Angel a nice salad, because he’d really wanted one. “Fluttershy,” Rarity called, “are you in here?” “Yes, I’m up here,” she replied, coming down the stairs. Her old bedroom had been converted into more animal homes, and there had been plenty of bowls that needed filling. Fluttershy placed an empty box of food in the trash before joining her friend at the door. “Should we start on our way back?” “Yes, I imagine Cliff would be terribly disappointed if you were late for breakfast,” Rarity said with a smile, eyes darting to the small brown package on her back. The tone of her voice made Fluttershy stare at her friend in confusion. That proved to be a mistake as the Love Stare made Rarity start giggling like a schoolfilly. The weights hovering over her head even formed into the dotted outline of a large heart. Fluttershy looked away immediately. “Oh, I’m sorry, Rarity!” “That’s,” she giggled, shaking slightly, “quite all right, dear.” She backed out of the doorway, still fighting down a love-struck smirk. Fluttershy followed but was extra careful to keep her eyes on the ground. By the time they entered the Everfree Forest once more, Rarity seemed to have regained control of herself. “I have been meaning to ask for some time now, but how are things with Cliff? It has been more than two years, after all. You two barely qualify as newlyweds anymore, and they say that this is when stallions often start to neglect their mares.” “No, he’s always very thoughtful,” Fluttershy assured her. “That’s wonderful to hear.” Rarity hummed thoughtfully. “I know you two were considering adoption, seeing as how you can’t have children of your own.” She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Have you given any more thought to that?” Fluttershy’s head sank. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but it felt like she was failing Cliff somehow, not being able to give him the children that they both wanted so badly. Even Twilight hadn’t been able to help them yet. Transforming Cliff into a stallion or Fluttershy into a dragoness for the afternoon was easy enough for the alicorn, but the pony version of that spell had absolutely no impact on the target’s DNA, so getting pregnant still wasn’t possible. There was a wyrm transformation spell too, but it was permanent, and neither Fluttershy nor Cliff wanted the other to give up their species. Fluttershy sighed. “Yes, we’ve talked about adoption. A lot, actually.” “Do you think you will?” “Yes, probably soon.” Her mood lifted a bit as she imagined holding a young child in her arms, whether dragon or pony, it didn’t matter. “We both think we’re almost ready.” Rarity rubbed against her side as they continued down the forest path. “I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful mother for some fortunate child.” Fluttershy hugged her back with one wing. “I really hope so.” She looked up wistfully. Many branches passed overhead, but she could still see the clear blue sky above. “Before we get back to the Village, I should give you this.” Rarity gestured to the package and levitated it over to her. “I’m sure you’ll put them to good use, especially with you coming into heat soon.” She smiled suggestively. Fluttershy blushed and looked inside. Just as she had suspected, it was a ten-pack of strawberry-flavored edible underwear. “I must say, you certainly go through a lot of those. That’s your second package this week.” Rarity’s face became unusually serious as she leaned closer. “You do know it’s okay to tell him no sometimes, right?” Fluttershy looked at the ground, turning bright red. “Oh, he doesn’t normally ask. He just takes one whenever he’s in the mood.” She realized a second too late exactly how that would sound. Rarity’s jaw dropped. “Oh my Celestia!” Her training weights clattered to the ground as she pulled her friend into a tight hug. “I had no idea that Cliff was such a brute! You must leave him immediately! We’ll talk to Twilight. I’m sure she can-” “Oh no, that isn’t what I meant!” Fluttershy insisted. “You just told me that he was forcing himself on you, dear!” Rarity pulled her closer. “No matter what anypony tells you, a wife should never be a mere tool to fulfill her husband’s-” “He doesn’t force himself on me! I’m always the one that has to ask him for sex!” Fluttershy’s pupils shrank. Oh dear! I can’t believe I said that! “I- you- he- what?” Rarity sputtered. Fluttershy felt like she must be more red than yellow. Luckily they were still hugging, so Rarity couldn’t see it. She forced down her embarrassment and explained, “Cliff hates feeling like he’s pressuring me into anything, so he always lets me decide when we’re going to be … intimate.” “B-but didn’t you say that whenever he’s in the mood …” the white unicorn trailed off uncertainly. “He likes the taste of the edible clothes, and eats them whenever he’s in the mood for a snack.” Fluttershy pulled back enough to look her friend in the eye. “Cliff has never forced me to do anything that I didn’t want. Actually, I sometimes wish that he would speak up when he wants to be with me, um, that way, so that I don’t feel like I’m the only one that …” Rarity wasn’t listening. She was, however, bright red with a grin so large that only Pinkie Pie could ever hope to match it. It took Fluttershy a moment to realize that one, the Love Stare was still active, and two, in her embarrassment, she had turned it up to maximum power. She released her friend, who collapsed backwards onto the dirt path. “Oh, I wish I had a stallion that would tell me things like that too.” Rarity giggled. “I would love to be loved! It must be so wonderful!” Fluttershy slowly registered that she had just overloaded her friend with so much love that she would probably propose to the first stallion she saw. The yellow mare sighed, facehoofed, and prepared a Fear Stare to get Rarity back to normal. Apparently it was going to be one of those days.