There was no reason to be nervous, Talon reminded herself. The plan would give them as quick and bloodless a victory as possible. Besides, the sun wasn’t even up yet. Most ponies would probably still be in bed. Squad Five was even positioned so that they could avoid most of the action, sitting in the mountains to the northeast of the Crystal Empire. The main army in the west would be drawing most of the Empire’s attention, freeing up four of the lighter, faster clusters hidden around the Empire to rush the palace and capture whatever pony was in charge of this place.
One cluster would be more than enough to deal with any hostile ponies on the way to the palace. Maybe. She hoped.
Heart stood at the top of a small ridge nearby, calmly watching the Empire. That wyrm was the only dragon in Squad Five that wasn’t pacing or fidgeting nervously. Not even the layers of snow beneath her feet or the freezing air seemed to bug her.
“This feels wrong,” Tornado said, puffing out bits of smoke. “Combat should be a chance for both warriors to test their strength, techniques, and determination, and grow as a result. It should never include an attack before your opponent is ready, and it should certainly never endanger bystanders.”
Through their link, Heart sent Talon a quick message in emotion-speech. Talon didn’t get the exact wording, but the general idea was that Tornado was trying to hide his own fears.
Talon sent back her thanks for the translation and turned her attention to Tornado. “Silver Tail is doing his best to keep things honorable.” Even if it meant giving up some of the element of surprise. “The rest of us probably,” hopefully, “won’t even see any fighting, so there’s no chance that any civilians will get hurt.”
That calmed Tornado down a little.
“Speaking of Silver Tail,” Heart said, “he’s almost in position.”
Talon peeked over the ridge and saw that Heart was right. The main force of the army, more than five thousand dragons in all, had reached the western edge of the Empire. She could even hear bits of the drake lord’s announcement of war, amplified as his voice was by drake wind magic so that most of the Empire could hear it.
“Cluster Thirty-six,” Twister roared, “form up and move out!”
Talon took to the air, flapping quickly until she was at an easy altitude to maintain. “Venom team, on me!”
Down below, Tornado had already switched to his battle form, and Heart was just getting into position on his back. Genesis and Rune were a little slower getting on Ember, prompting the blue dragoness to grab them both and put them into position herself. The thunder and wind teams were forming up already, their runes looking like glowing spiderwebs in the early morning light.
The formation rushed forward less than a minute later, led by their highest-ranking squadrons. Of course that put Squad Five at the back, an arguably good position. They wouldn’t have to break through any enemy lines, but they’d also be the first to know if Equestria tried any flanking maneuvers.
It only took another minute or so to reach the fields around the Crystal Empire, then the first houses. Soon they were nearly at the palace. And yet there was still no resistance from the ponies. None of Equestria’s fabled armies rose to meet them. No walls of arrows or rays of unicorn magic appeared. The few ponies that Talon could see on the streets all seemed to be running for cover, and the streets themselves had lit up like some kind of warning signal. Maybe they actually had caught the Empire completely unprepared.
Then a warning shout came from the front of the formation, followed by dozens more.
Talon looked up just in time to see a wall of blue energy flying at them, throwing dragons out of the way like flecks of dirt as it went. “Look ou-”
She didn’t even know how to describe what happened next. Dragons are out to get me! Are the foals safe? Not again, please not again! I have to get away!
Talon could tell that she was being hurled backwards, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. As long as those monsters left the Crystal Empire alone, nothing else mattered.
Instincts took over, flaring out her wings and maneuvering frills and letting her glide for a few seconds before crashing stomach first into the hard snow.
The impact knocked the wind out of Talon, but it also shook her out of whatever trance she had been in. Gasping for breath, she rolled over. Blinding blue light filled her vision. That wall—no, that dome—covered the entire Crystal Empire, and she was lying no more than fifty feet from it.
“Crystal?” Talon croaked, looking around. “Tornado? Anydragon?” Dark shapes dotted the snow around her, but none of them seemed to be moving.
“Over here,” Heart said weakly.
Talon looked behind her and saw Tornado and Heart illuminated by the Empire’s shield. Tornado was struggling to his paws, with Heart still clinging to his back.
She heard a cough. “Squad Five,” Thunderfang said, “report in.”
Talon quickly located the rest of the venom team. They were all safe, including Crystal, thank the Ancestors. Before she could pass the word along to Thunderfang, however, there was a flash of golden light that filled her vision completely, and Talon found herself falling to the snow once more. At least this time it was only a couple of feet.
“Is everydragon okay?” Talon froze. The rest of the Squad was there, but they weren’t in the same place anymore. The mountains were wrong, and way too many dragons were pulling themselves off the frozen ground. Only the Empire’s shield remained, but it was a lot farther away than it had been a moment ago.
More flashes of golden light filled the area, and new dragons appeared in the middle of each one.
“What’s going on?” Crystal asked nervously.
“I don’t know.” Talon shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold.
“Now then,” a booming voice said in a tone of barely contained rage, “who would like to explain to me why you tried to attack the Crystal Empire?” A fiery silhouette appeared on the other side of the Empire’s shield. It matched the description of a pony, except that it was at least as tall as a wyvern, with a spear-like horn and two massive wings flared out at its sides.
A horn and wings? Talon’s legs almost gave out. This was it. This avatar of death in front of her was Celestia, as though the sheer power radiating off of her wasn’t proof enough. The air itself seemed to hum with magic, and it had suddenly become far too hot to be comfortable. Light surrounded the figure’s horn, and something impossible happened; the sun rose into the middle of the sky!
“Answer my question.” The voice was more quiet this time but so much more sharp, like having a claw pressed against your throat. Celestia stepped forward, passing through the shield like it wasn’t even there.
Four beams of energy collided with Celestia, each more than twice her size. Talon was blown backwards by the shock-wave, rolling uncontrollably across the snow and ice.
“Retreat!” a different voice shouted, and this one was definitely draconic. “We will hold her off!”
More explosions shook the area as Talon slid to a halt. She scrambled to her feet, searching desperately for the rest of the Squad. Blurs of light and the screech of wind and thunder filled the area next to the shield, nearly blinding and deafening Talon with their intensity.
Heart’s emotions reached out to Talon through their link. “Retreat, everydragon retreat!”
Another blast nearly knocked Talon off her feet. She grit her teeth and took off, flying away from the battle as quickly as she could. Obeying orders was the right thing to do. She had to believe that.
Suddenly everything went silent. No more explosions rocked the area.
Talon hesitated just long enough to look behind her. Celestia has disappeared, but the Empire’s shield was still as brilliant as ever. Dragons were scattered everywhere—alive or dead, it was impossible to tell—although at least a dozen drakes were glowing with auras of power. Among them, she recognized Silver Tail and Yol Toor. Yol Toor’s aura was an ever-shifting pattern of reds and blues, like Tornado had told her. Silver Tail’s was more of a sky blue, about the same color as his eyes.
“Get back to the cave,” Silver Tail said. His voice seemed to echo from everywhere at once. “Something tells me we don’t want to be here when Celestia comes back with her sister.”
A weight settled on Talon’s chest as the last few seconds caught up with her. Celestia could move the sun! Were the other legends about her true as well? Was Luna that powerful too? How could the Alliance possibly stand up to a creature with so much power, let alone two of them? Her breath caught in her throat as Talon reflected on the biggest question of all: had the Alliance just condemned itself to death?
-_-_-_-_-_-
Celestia reappeared next to the Crystal Heart, gasping for breath as blood poured down her legs, covering the ground beneath her. She had been such a fool to drop her guard! Her angry goddess act usually left power-hungry upstarts fleeing in terror, but not these dragons. They had to be fighting for something they believed in.
Shouts of fear and concern reached Celestia’s ears as civilians and crystal guards alike rushed to her side. Even Cadance and Shining Armor were there, both looking terrified.
“I am,” Celestia struggled to focus, “I am fine.” She pulled in more of the sun’s power, but she could barely bend it to her will. The sudden and intense magical assault had wrought untold damage to her body’s magic field.
“Celestia!” Cadance somehow reached her through the crowd. “Hold on! Twilight taught me some healing magic.”
Welcome relief flowed into Celestia moments later, but the Crystal Empire was still in danger. Dragons this powerful might be able to break through the Crystal Heart’s shield, given enough time. Celestia forced her mouth to work. There was something she had to say before she could let herself pass out. Only one other pony could protect the Empire if those dragons pressed their attack. “Call L-Luna.” Then she let the darkness take her.