//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: A New Dragon in the Crystal Empire // by Vedues //------------------------------// The newly built Information Headquarters, or IHQ, wasn’t nearly as large or as fancy looking as its importance would have suggested. It was just a small cavern with four rough stone desks against one wall. They had probably been shaped by dragon fire just a few days ago. Opposite the desks, four chairs had been positioned in front of a stone shelf. Four wyrms were sitting in those chairs, carefully watching stone rods, about the size of a wyrm’s largest claw, set in front of them. Only one of the rods was active at the moment, flashing through a series of colors and patterns. The silvery wyrm in front of it wrote out the translated message on one of the many blank sheets of metal that they had for that purpose. “What do you think?” Heart asked. Talon looked around, noting Crystal’s awed expression and Tornado’s bored one. “I’m glad you’ve got it up and running, but we shouldn’t really be here. You’re the only one that’s high ranking enough to read any of the reports that come in.” “Actually, the Hurricanes said I could pick anydragon I wanted as my assistants.” Heart patted her on the shoulder. “So I chose you three.” Talon’s jaw dropped. “There must have been somedragon more qualified.” Heart shook her head. “Two wyverns, a drake, and a wyrm. That gives us three distinct cultural perspectives on everything we come across.” A smile split her muzzle. “Besides, no dragon type has any experience with spying, so we’d be making it up as we went no matter who I chose.” “She does have a point,” Tornado said. Talon gave him a short glare. Battle partners were supposed to back each other up even if one of them was wrong. “Okay,” she said, turning back to Heart, “what are we supposed to be looking for in these reports?” “Ideally, a reason why Celestia hasn’t shown up and killed us all.” Heart sighed. “Look, we all felt her power, and we all saw her teleport. There shouldn’t be anything stopping her and Luna from warping in and doing whatever they want, at least not until Gem and the others finish that anti-magic ring around the cave.” As always, Talon glanced up at the mention of Celestia, half expecting the vengeful goddess to appear and smite her. “How long until the ring is finished anyway?” Behind Heart, that wyrm translator with the silver scales stood up and approached them. “Sometime today.” Heart frowned. “The IHQ would have been finished a few days ago if we hadn’t needed to build the receiver outside of the ring and then a transfer relay to get everything in here.” “Excuse me,” the wyrm said, holding out two sheets of metal to Heart. “I think you need to read these.” “Thanks.” Heart took the message and looked at it. “Well, Equestria’s officially at war with us. What else is new?” She passed the first sheet back to the other wyrm. “The motion to prevent it failed by a landslide.” “Actually,” the translator wyrm said, “you were supposed to read the other message first.” “I can’t see why it matters.” Heart looked at the other sheet of metal. Her brow furrowed almost immediately. “What?” She looked up at Talon and the others. “This one is from a pony news article. It says that Celestia has an adopted son named Spirit Shield, and that he’s a wyrm.” “Huh?” Talon moved so that she could read over Heart’s shoulder. “I thought ponies and wyrms didn’t get along.” “They don’t, or they didn’t.” Heart scanned the report some more. Talon noticed that most of it seemed to be the news article, but there were breaks every now and then for the spy’s notes. “It says that he was raised by an alicorn named Twilight until being found by-” The sheet of metal fell from Heart’s claws, clattering against the stone floor. “No.” Heart stepped backwards, colliding with Talon. “No, that has to be wrong.” “Heart?” Talon wrapped her wings around the smaller dragoness. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, you can tell us.” Heart shook her head. “Cliff Runner.” Crystal picked up the sheet with one wing. “It says that Prince Spirit was found by his dragon brother, Cliff Runner, and the two of them and Twilight Sparkle eventually founded a town called Everfree Village where wyrms and ponies live together in harmony.” Talon turned to the dragoness in her wings. “Who’s Cliff Runner?” Heart took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He’s my cousin.” Another deep breath. “We used to play together as hatchlings.” Talon paused, as did Crystal and Tornado. Heart’s cousin is an Equestrian prince? That doesn’t make any sense. The legends about Celestia all said that she’s merciless to dragons. “… So maybe Celestia brainwashed them both,” Talon said. “More subjects for her to control.” “I don’t know, maybe?” Heart shook her head. “Everfree would be an ironic name if they are all being controlled.” She shook her head. “Anyway, we need to get a spy to that place as soon as possible.” “Agreed.” Talon turned back to Crystal. “What else does it say?” “Oh, right.” Crystal cleared her throat. “ ‘Our beloved Princess Celestia and her adopted son, Prince Spirit, spoke at a peace rally yesterday, protesting Princess Luna’s decision to declare war on the mysterious army of dragons that so badly injured Princess Celestia last Saturday.’ ” “Peace rally?” Talon repeated. “Why would she object to war? I thought ponies were all about conquering other races.” “For that matter,” Heart said, “are you saying we actually hurt her back at the Empire?” Crystal skimmed a bit. “I think so. It says that she was in the hospital recovering until just recently, and she urged the citizens of Canterlot to vote against the war at the polls today …” “… Which obviously didn’t happen,” Talon finished. Crystal nodded and looked back at the message. “Celestia said, ‘I sensed desperation and camaraderie among these dragons. They attacked the Crystal Empire because they felt that they had no choice, and their leaders attacked me because they believed that I was a danger to their friends and family. I beg you all, please do not add one misguided act of aggression to another.’ ” Crystal looked up guiltily. “What if she actually means that?” Talon’s mind began to race. The same enemy that they had tried to kill was fighting to convince the rest of her nation to not retaliate. Yet another thing that didn’t make sense. There were reasons that Celestia could be doing all this and still be evil, Talon was sure.… She just couldn’t think of any. “Let’s pretend that Celestia is actually being sincere. Can’t she just order the other ponies not to fight us?” Crystal looked back at the sheet of metal. “The spy says that neither Celestia nor Luna can override the orders of the other without a two-thirds majority vote. The ponies are so angry about what happened to Celestia that they’re expected to overwhelmingly side with Luna and demand a war.” “And it looks like that’s exactly what happened,” Talon said. “If any creature attacked Yol Toor,” Tornado said slowly, “I think that the northern clans would never rest until that creature was exterminated.” “Not helpful.” Talon flicked her wings nervously, trying to wrap her mind around everything. “Okay, so … worse-case scenario, we have a lying goddess that’s about to round up a giant army and attack us. Best-case scenario … we …” She hung her head. “Other worst-case scenario, that goddess is honest, but her vengeful sister is about to round up a giant army and attack us.” “Neither option is very appealing,” Tornado said. Talon rolled her eyes. “Now there’s an understatement.” -_-_-_-_-_- It was said that you can always remember where you were when you first heard about a major disaster. Maybe it was true; Cliff didn’t think he’d ever forget the moment when they received that letter from Cadance and Shining Armor. Fluttershy and Pinkie had put so much effort into his birthday party too, even if it was just a small gathering of friends and family. All of his favorite foods had been there: green-bean casserole, breakfast cereal, sausage pizza, and brownies and crystallized fruits for desert. He would also never know how Pinkie found a record that contained both classical piano and modern rock music. Rarity’s face had been hilarious when she saw the intentionally mismatched decorations. Then Spirit burped up that letter. “Thank you all for coming,” Luna said, pulling Cliff’s attention back to the present. “We can begin now.” They were in a small meeting room in Canterlot Castle. It wasn’t nearly as grand as many other ones in the palace, but it was clearly designed to be functional. A wooden table dominated the center of the room, where they were all sitting, with a large map of Equestria on the wall behind the table’s head. A few portraits of military ponies dotted the walls, but that was the limit of the room’s decoration. Celestia and Luna sat at the head of the table, of course, in twin seats that must have been built specially for them. Cadance and Shining Armor sat to Celestia’s right, then a middle-aged white pegasus mare with a blue mane named Heroic Destiny. Apparently she led the Equestrian Army the same way that Shining Armor led the Royal Guard. She also made Cliff wonder if leaders in the two organizations were chosen for their name and their coloration. Next to Heroic sat Cliff’s grandmother, Fire Claws. She was officially here to show Everfree’s support for Equestria, not that representatives from Everfree would be hard to find in this room. Claws’ husband, Burning Torch, sat at her side. Then came Cliff, then Fluttershy. Opposite them were the other Element Bearers, most of whom lived in Everfree, then Spirit and Autumn, also from Everfree, and finally Twilight near the head of the table, next to Luna. “To begin,” Luna said, “there is more to the dragon threat than we have released to the public.” Celestia let out a sigh. “I would not refer to them as the dragon threat; they are simply dragons in need of our help. However, Luna is correct. The group of dragons that I saw at the Crystal Empire consisted of more than just drakes. There were several wyrms and many dragons of a subspecies that I did not recognize.” Cliff was too stunned to respond, but nearly everyone else in the room began talking at once. “Quiet!” Luna paused as everyone fell silent. “Thank you. We will answer as many questions as we can, but only after we have discussed what we know so far.” She looked around, probably to make sure that no one would interrupt again. “I declared war as soon as I saw what happened to Celestia. It was an act of blind anger, I admit. However, once Equestria voiced its support for my decision, Celestia and I became obligated to obey the will of our ponies and seek the destruction of this group, which calls itself the Dragon Alliance. To that end, I began studying the dreams of their leaders and discovered many things that made me regret my rashness.” Celestia levitated a packet to each of them. “This is everything that Luna has been able to learn about wyverns and the Dragon Alliance so far. It is also everything that we are likely to learn. They will be completing a protective enchantment around their cave within the next few hours, which will block Luna’s dreamwalking ability as well as other forms of magic.” “Unfortunately true,” Luna said. “You should all read those packets on your own. For now, allow me to summarize.” She rose from her seat and walked to the map on the wall behind her. “The Dragon Alliance is made up of just over six thousand warrior dragons, with at least three thousand more that intend to support the others off of the battlefield. For any other race, this would constitute a modest threat, but it is the single largest gathering of dragons in our recorded history and merits our full attention and resources.” Luna turned and pointed to an area on the map that was west of the Crystal Empire. “The core of the Dragon Alliance is two clans of drakes from the Frozen North. It seems that the land where the Crystal Empire now stands was once a mine where they gathered most of the crystals that they use to feed themselves.” Cliff could see where this was going. Rockheads that they were, one of the drakes probably attacked the Crystal Empire to challenge its leader to a duel. The ponies sent out an army to deal with it, and the drake flew off, roaring something about honor and vengeance. Strange that he hadn’t read about that in the papers. In any case, now the drake was back with a mob of other dragons to conquer the Empire, because it couldn’t do something intelligent like just ask for a slice of land to keep mining for food. The crystal ponies would have no reason to say no. They could literally make crystals out of anything. Only one thing still confused Cliff. Why under the Stars were wyrms involved in all this? Luna continued her explanation, following Cliff’s guess about ninety percent of the time. The would-be drake champion had attacked over four years ago, back when Cliff still thought that ponies were pure evil. That explained why he hadn’t seen it in the newspaper. The involvement of wyrms was still a question, however, as was pretty much everything about the new race, wyverns. “The wyvern race comes from a land far to the southeast,” Luna continued, as if reading Cliff’s mind. Maybe she was. Cliff was never quite sure when it came to the Immortal Sisters. “Their homeland is beyond the edge of any known map. They were driven from it by an empire of war-like felines and decided to ally themselves with the drakes in return for new territory that they can settle.” Okay, so desperation and stumbling across the wrong friends. Cliff nodded to himself. It probably wouldn’t be too hard to convince these wyverns that they’d picked the wrong side, and Equestria had plenty of unsettled land that they could use. Luna shook her head. “I have never encountered a race quite like these wyverns. They have been at war for thousands of years, so long that most of them cannot even imagine a life without battle. They also possess an extremely strong bond between their fellows, similar to ponies, and an almost unquestioned loyalty to their leaders, who are determined to aid the drakes in capturing the Crystal Empire. To them, the drakes are long-lost friends. I do not believe we could possibly convince the wyverns to give up their alliance with the drakes.” So much for that plan, and now Cliff was doubly suspicious that Luna was reading his mind. He focused on wyrm involvement in this Dragon Alliance, just to see what would happen. “We should be careful,” Luna continued. “Wyverns have the ability to manipulate the weather, like pegasi. It seems to be significantly weaker than pegasus abilities, but also far more precise and capable of affecting a larger area.” Maybe she wasn’t reading his mind after all. “Equestria has ended most wars by simply wearing down our opponents with powerful storms,” Celestia said. “That same strategy may or may not work against the wyverns. We will need to develop several backup plans, just in case.” Luna nodded. “Wyrms are the least common dragon type in the Alliance, and seem to have joined so that they could aid the wyvern race. However, they have gained some level of acceptance among the drakes as well. Some of them may side with Equestria if they learn about Everfree Village, but I believe the majority will stay loyal to the Alliance.” “Why didn’t you release all of this earlier?” Twilight asked, earning a small glare from Luna. “Right, let you explain first. Sorry.” Celestia sighed. “I’m sure I do not need to remind you all of Equestria’s opinion of the Dragon Alliance right now. I frightened the Alliance into attacking me, but by the time that was known, the public’s mind was already made up. Much of the hatred and anger that our ponies feel will begin spilling over onto Everfree Village once it is known that there are wyrms among the dragons of the Alliance. Everfree’s loyalty will certainly be called into question.” “So Everfree declares that we’ll help in this war,” Fire Claws said. “Then you reveal that there are wyrms in the Dragon Alliance, and we shrug and say that it doesn’t matter; we’re sticking with Equestria.” Luna looked like she was about to glare again, but she sighed instead. “Exactly. Your loyalty will be reinforced both before and after it is called into question.” She looked around the room. “I suppose the rest of you may ask your own questions now.” “What’s the overall plan?” Spirit asked quickly. “I mean, are we actually thinking of going to war with these dragons?” “Not in the least.” Luna smiled mischievously. “We are required to pursue this war, but Celestia and I will be able to halt the war effort if the Dragon Alliance will consent to terms of peace. My dreamwalking has also revealed a number of interesting facts. The Dragon Alliance has sent a number of spies throughout Equestria to gather information about our armies and our culture. They are also largely terrified of Celestia and myself. With this in mind, I will stay in the Crystal Empire, to ward off future attacks, and continue to play the part of the warmonger, gathering an army to fortify the Crystal Empire in case the Dragon Alliance does try anything.” “And I will play the part of the peacekeeper,” Celestia said, “fighting to convince everypony that this was just a mistake. The Dragon Alliance can read several statements in the newspaper about how I would gladly discuss everything with them rather than resort to violence. Once the Empire has been reinforced, I will offer the Alliance a chance to negotiate peace. Wyrms dislike needless killing,” she nodded at Spirit, “and drakes view larger battles as dishonorable. I see no argument coming from either group. Wyverns will be the most difficult, but I have to believe that they will accept peace once they see that their target is unassailable.” “And if they don’t?” Spirit asked. “Then I will challenge a champion of their choice to a duel,” Celestia said firmly. “The drakes would never be able to refuse an honorable duel.” “I should still like to be the one to do that,” Luna muttered. “A warmonger would rather crush the enemy with numbers,” Celestia said. “The dragons would suspect treachery.” Spirit cleared his throat. “Uh, are you sure you could win? It’s been over a century since you were in a real battle.” “Your confidence in me is touching,” Celestia said with a hint of a smile, “but Luna and I have been sparring for the last three years to improve our wyrm magic, and it will take at least a month before a suitably large army can be raised. That should give me plenty of time to make sure that I’m ready.” “Why should you have to handle everything yourself?” Rainbow asked. “Can’t we just hit the dragons with our Rainbow Death Blast thing and force them to get along with us?” Twilight shook her head. “It’s called the Rainbow Harmony Blast, and that power is meant to purify corruption and evil. It won’t take away the free will of normal creatures that are doing what they think is right.” Rainbow scratched at the back of her neck with one hoof. “Okay, well, maybe ask Discord to help?” “Actually,” Fluttershy said, “Discord told me once that chaos is really just change. When things die,” she swallowed, “they stop changing. That’s why he never kills anyone and why he avoids direct conflicts. If a real battle started, the loss of all that chaos would hurt him terribly.” Rainbow deflated a little. “Isn’t there some way that we can help?” Celestia’s smile grew warmer, if slightly sad. “I appreciate your concern, truly, but my mind is made up. I worry about you as well, and this is the plan that will keep you all the safest.” “Everfree will support you however we can.” Fire Claws said. “We’ll provide a company of fighters to help with the scare tactics.” “A company?” Spirit asked incredulously. “That’s two hundred warriors, more than a third of our population.” “One platoon of fifty should be enough,” Celestia said. Burning Torch tapped his temple thoughtfully for a moment. “Perhaps a compromise would be best, one hundred warriors. It sounds significantly larger than fifty, large enough to make our loyalty clear.” “Fine.” Fire Claws rolled her eyes. “One hundred, but we’re going to train them like they’ll be going into real combat.” “Sign me up,” Rainbow said. “Already planning on it,” Fire Claws said with a faint smile. “I’ll go too,” Twilight said. “Maybe for the show of force itself,” Claws said thoughtfully. “You’re our best enchanter, Twi. You’ll do more good making new suits of armor than training on the practice field.” Twilight paused then nodded. “I understand.” Cliff looked away from the others. He would have volunteered as well, but he had made a promise to Fluttershy a long time ago that he would stick by her side, no matter what. “I volunteer too,” Fluttershy said, drawing gasps of shock from pretty much everyone else in the room. Cliff was one of the few that remained silent, too stunned to speak. “Quiet!” Fire Claws snapped, silencing the uproar. She turned to Fluttershy. “What prompted this?” Fluttershy blushed and looked away. “My Stare can help keep everyone safe.” “No offense, Flutters,” Spirit said, “but you’re too nice to be anywhere near anything that might conceivably turn into a battlefield.” Cliff finally shook off his stupor. “Spirit’s right. The two of us should stay in Everfree and find other ways to help.” “I want to help Rainbow Dash, if I can,” Fluttershy said softly. “That’s what we’ve been training for all this time, isn’t it? And,” she turned to Cliff and offered a weak smile, “you want to be there to help too, don’t you?” “Cliff,” Fire Claws said gently, “if it’s just to hold off drakes for a few seconds while everyone gets away, Fluttershy really is the most qualified member of Everfree.” Cliff looked at the others in the room and then back at Fluttershy. Half of his mind was screaming at him to support her, no matter what, and the other half was screaming just as loudly that he couldn’t risk putting Fluttershy in that kind of danger. “Can we talk about it later?” It was the wrong thing to say. Fluttershy flinched a little from his words, her eyes telling him that she had really fought to work up the courage to volunteer, and now he wasn’t supporting her. How could he, though? Sure, the danger was minimal, she’d be with Celestia and Luna, after all, and helping her friends meant everything to her, and it was a huge step for her to face her fears like this, and … Yeah, he’d screwed up. Cliff pulled her into a hug and met his grandmother’s eyes. Fire Claws nodded to his unasked question. She would keep Fluttershy safe to the best of her ability. “Okay,” Cliff said. “I volunteer as well.” “I think now would be a good time to break for lunch.” Celestia stood up. “We will reconvene after dinner to discuss the finer points of our plan. Before then, each of you should read through those packets.” “Alright, fine, just one last question.” Spirit looked to Shining Armor and Cadance. “Are we sure that the Crystal Heart can hold out if the Dragon Alliance attacks early? We can’t afford another incident like Flurry Heart’s crystaling.” Shining Armor chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry, Spirit. We’ve been pouring enchantments into the Crystal Heart ever since then. Celestia and Luna can’t damage it even with their combined power.” “It is true,” Celestia said. Luna just grumbled something under her breath. Heroic saluted Celestia and Luna. “With your permission, I’ll leave the rest of you to catch up while I get started on this reading.” “Of course.” Luna gestured toward the door. Heroic saluted again and left, pushing past an obviously upset white unicorn as he came inside. Cliff had to force down a groan. It was his least-favorite member of the royal family. “Did you hear the news, Aunty?” Prince Blueblood asked, stopping right in front of Celestia. “The motion to prevent war has failed. What are we going to do?” He frowned at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering within hoof’s reach. “Excuse me, you are in my royal space. Kindly back away.” Rainbow arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, no.” She flew a few inches closer. Celestia sighed. “Yes, I was aware that the motion failed. By Luna’s order, we will begin mustering an army immediately.” The prince gulped, and scooted away from Rainbow Dash just slightly. “Now, Aunty, surely this problem isn’t so big that it would require the reserve forces?” Celestia looked down at him, her expression firm. “Every member of the Royal Army will be required to join this conflict, reserve or not.” Cliff wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the white stallion paled. “B-but, Aunty, I’m one of the reserve troops!” “Which you volunteered for,” Spirit pointed out. “It was a tax write-off,” Blueblood said, as though that would somehow free him from all responsibility. He turned back to Celestia. “You know I’m not fit to be a soldier. I-I’d just get in the way.” “Blueblood,” Celestia said, “you are the second most talented unicorn in Equestria when it comes to shielding magic. I would ask you to aid us even if you were not a member of the military.” “Very well then,” Blueblood pointed a hoof at Twilight, “I’m moving to Everfree. I already have citizenship there.” The entire group, except for Celestia, glared at Spirit. He was the committee member in charge of granting citizenship. Spirit backed away from them, throwing up his hands in self defense. “Hey, he donated five million bits last year, and those additions to Twilight’s lab weren’t cheap. Making him an honorary citizen seemed like a small price to pay in return.” Celestia massaged her forehead with one hoof. “Regardless, Everfree will be very much involved in this war as well.” “They what?” Prince Blueblood gasped. “But- they- they’re just a tiny village! What could they do?” “We’ll take him,” Fire Claws said, cutting off a string of angry retorts from Rainbow. “With your permission of course, Celestia.” The white alicorn thought about it for a moment before nodding. “What are you talking about?” Blueblood demanded. Fire Claws crossed her arms. “The paperwork you signed to become a citizen of Everfree Village included an oath to obey the laws and orders of Everfree’s ruling committee. I happen to be the committee member in charge of security and military, and I am ordering you to be in Everfree Village by tonight. Training begins tomorrow morning.” She leaned toward him, her expression hardening. “If you don’t show up, I’ll come get you myself.” Blueblood took a step back and his horn began to glow. Whatever he was trying to cast was halted immediately when Fire Claws grabbed his horn and cast Anti-magic. The light around them both seemed to dim under the spell’s effect. “Oh, and if you try something stupid like that again,” she clenched her hand hard enough that he gasped in pain, “I will break off your horn and feed it to you. Do I make myself clear?” Blueblood nodded frantically, eyes wide in terror. “Yes, p-please don’t hurt me!” “I’ll hurt you less if you cooperate.” She released the white stallion, who ran screaming from the room. Cliff wasn’t above laughing at the display. Twilight didn’t share his amusement. If anything, she looked a little sick. “Um, Claws, you wouldn’t actually force him to eat his own horn, would you?” The dragoness shrugged. “I just want him to take me seriously. He’s going to have an important position, and I can’t risk him screwing up.” “You have something in mind for him?” Celestia asked. Fire Claws nodded. “He’ll be on a team with Cliff and Fluttershy.” Cliff could only facepalm.