//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 // Story: A New Dragon in the Crystal Empire // by Vedues //------------------------------// On the morning of their departure, Cliff woke up in the wyvern camp with the other members of their squadron. Heart had asked him to teach Tornado, one of the drakes in their squad, how to use the Stillness. They had spent most of the night practicing. Tornado was still asleep, with Talon and Crystal resting against him like some kind of scaly pillow. Heart was in the middle of the tangle as well, but her eyes were open. “Good morning, Gem,” she whispered. “Good morning,” Cliff replied. “Need help getting out of there?” Heart shook her head and extracted herself from the other three dragons. She wasn’t even especially gentle about it, but none of her companions so much as stirred. “Drakes and wyverns are heavy sleepers, or maybe it’s just those three.” She stretched both arms over her head and let out a yawn. “You ready to head out?” “Yeah.” Cliff looked around. Everything had already been packed the night before, so there wasn’t much left to do until the other wyrms arrived. “It’s a strange sight, isn’t it?” Heart’s gaze went to the three sleeping dragons. “Our ancient enemy sharing a nest with our new allies.” She shook her head, smiling gently. “This is probably the first time in history that all three dragon races have come together.” Cliff looked at the three as well, trying to decide how he felt about them. Talon and Crystal weren't bad individuals, but their absolute obedience to the Hurricanes was kind of infuriating. They might not understand the reasoning behind orders or even disagree with the orders completely, but they'd still obey without hesitation. Nearly every wyvern was the same. His eyes were drawn to a rare exception, Thunderfang. The leader of their squadron was the only one who openly disagreed with orders from his superiors. He might even be willing to try diplomacy to resolve this conflict. And Cliff's past self would kill him in a little over a month. With a sigh, Cliff turned and walked away to get himself breakfast. The wyrms arrived a few minutes later, and the Alliance started forming up to leave. Apparently dimensional pockets were unheard of. Instead, most of their supplies had been crammed into huge bags of animal hide that the drakes would carry across their backs. Not everydragon would be leaving, of course. The youngest drakes and wyverns would be staying here, along with a few hundred other drakes that either couldn’t or wouldn’t join in the war effort. Cliff was glad of it. He didn’t want to risk civilians getting caught up in a battle. Eventually, it was time to leave. Cliff climbed onto Tornado’s head, poured some minor enhancement spells into the drake to help counteract the weight of the jewels he was carrying, and then sat back to do a lot of nothing. Tornado wasn’t smart enough to practice the Stillness while he was berserk—the drakes called it being in his battle form—Heart was riding on Silver Tail’s back during the flight north, so they could discuss strategies, and Genesis and the others from Mystic Forest were with the other drake in their squadron, Ember. Cliff vaguely recognized her as the drake that had/would nearly kill Fire Eyes before Rainbow Dash saved her. He still wasn’t sure if he should think of events like that as part of his past or future. They were kind of both. Unfortunately, the Alliance’s flight north wouldn’t take them anywhere near the Redstone Coven, where Cliff grew up. It would have been nice to see everydragon, but then again, Cliff had no idea how he would explain his appearance or his membership in the Alliance, or convince everydragon not to warn Equestria about what was about to happen. On second thought, maybe it was for the best that they wouldn’t be going near Redstone. With nothing to do, Cliff spent most of the first day idly skimming through the information Discord had injected into his mind. It didn’t work like normal memories. Instead, data just seemed to pop into his head whenever he needed it. The strange part about it … well, one of the strange parts, was that he didn’t know what all was in that mental library. Skimming through it was mostly a matter of letting his mind wander to various subjects and seeing if it triggered anything. Flight … hmm, an enchantment to increase airflow caused by movement. Potentially useful for pegasi troops. Maybe a way to reduce the weight of their armor … rats, nothing there. A more efficient astral charger? They could provide power indefinitely, but the actual output they generated was rather small. Nothing on that either. Cliff stared up at the sky for a while, trying different subjects and having varying degrees of luck. Eventually, he realized that he needed to use the restroom, and immediately clenched his eyes shut as the intimate workings of a waste disposal enchantment made itself known to him. “Lovely.” He stuck out his tongue in disgust. Discord really deserved a punch for adding images to that one. At least they would be landing for lunch soon. He could take care of things then. -_-_-_-_-_- The third and final day of their journey was the only noteworthy one. Talon dropped in to talk with him about something or other. Cliff wasn’t sure what she was hoping to accomplish, but it did give him the chance to explain that he wouldn’t be joining everydragon on the battlefield. Training with them all had given him a good feel for wyvern tactics, but he would never be able to face Fluttershy again if he fought with the Alliance to kill ponies. -_-_-_-_-_- Cliff had held true to his word and refused to join the others on the battlefield the next morning, but he did follow them enough to see everything happen from a nearby mountaintop. They spent more than an hour maneuvering everydragon into position in the pre-dawn light and then attacked as the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. Maybe Cliff was just a jerk, but he took a certain amount of sadistic enjoyment out of watching the Crystal Heart’s shield knock all six thousand warriors of the Dragon Alliance back beyond the Empire’s borders. “Morning, Cliff. Want some popcorn?” Cliff jumped in surprise. “Discord!” “The one and only.” He grinned and held out a bucket of extra-buttery popcorn. A picnic blanket had appeared over the snow beneath them at some point. “Now take a handful and sit down. Celestia will be here in a moment.” It was strange, after nearly three months of mental communication, Cliff had almost forgotten that Discord was a twelve foot tall, god-like avatar of chaos. He had just been someone to talk to. The one individual that Cliff could be completely honest with. Perhaps against his better judgment, Cliff took a seat and accepted the offered popcorn. It tasted like bacon. “It looks like we’re entering the home stretch, aren’t we?” Discord nodded. “Four weeks and two days until the Empire falls, and then another five days until we’re free to grab the Heart and run.” He glanced sideways at Cliff. “Do you feel bad about your upcoming betrayal?” The young dragon didn’t respond. “Remember Fluttershy,” Discord said gently. “We’re doing this for her.” Celestia made her grand appearance soon after, teleporting the smaller groups over to the main army and then using the Royal Canterlot Voice to further intimidate them. The tactic backfired moments later, when the Alliance hit her with everything it had. Both Cliff and Discord winced as more than a dozen rays of Void Fire blasted her back through the Crystal Empire’s shield. “Discord,” Cliff said quietly, “is there any way that you could end this war? Like, turn everydragon in the Alliance into frogs or something until they agree to peace with Equestria?” “No can do, Cliffy boy.” Discord pointed at the retreating dragon army. “See that oversize bag of wind in the metal armor?” Cliff followed the draconequus’s paw to one of the drake leaders. “What about him?” “That’s Dragon Lord Torch, leader of the Rocky Shore Clan, and he has a rather unpleasant little gizmo called the Bloodstone Scepter.” Discord shuddered, causing both his horns to fall off. “It lets him control any dragon unless they belong to a different clan.” Realization hit Cliff. “And you’re part dragon.” Discord nodded. “You’re protected as part of the Everfree Coven, but I’m a chaos spirit. Chaotic meaning not part of any structure. The scepter would always see me as a valid target.” The solution seemed fairly obvious to Cliff. “Okay, so we steal it along with the Crystal Heart.” “Wouldn’t work.” Discord grabbed one of his discarded horns and used it to spear a piece of popcorn. “The scepter can only be taken from him when he gives it to his successor, and drake law says that leaders can’t step down during a time of conflict, so that won’t be until this war is over.” “Dirt clods.” Cliff grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed some of it in his mouth. “You aren’t losing much.” Discord shrugged. “It would only take one dragon killing itself to weaken my powers long enough for the others to blast me to pieces.” Cliff paused in the middle of eating another bit of popcorn. “You can die?” “I never said that, but I wouldn’t be in any condition to do much of anything for a century or two.” Discord glanced toward the Empire. “It looks like they’re starting to head back this way. Keep in touch, Cliff.” Then he disappeared, leaving the young wyrm sitting on a blanket with a bucket of bacon-flavored popcorn. -_-_-_-_-_- Four weeks was a very long time. Excruciatingly long, in fact. No matter how busy Cliff kept himself drawing anti-magic runes, working in the rune lab, or studying wyvern tactics, he was still entirely too aware of each passing minute until he could see Fluttershy again. The only way he found any peace was writing notes in a journal of sorts. They’ve sent out wyrms to spy on Equestria. I didn’t get where they’re being sent, though, or even how many there are. The Hurricanes don’t like to share details. Three weeks and five days until the Crystal Empire falls. … Wyrms of the Spider Marsh coven pour all of their spells and willpower into a single warrior, making a champion powerful enough to take on higher ranked berserkers solo. Two weeks and six days until I get my claws on the Crystal Heart. I hope. … More skilled venom wyverns can generate clouds in the middle of battle, letting them hide from and surprise opponents. Two more weeks. … Crystal and Talon talked to me about how much they miss their home in the Aerie today. I hope they survive this war. One week and three days. … Tornado finally mastered the Stillness. It actually helps him a lot with his battle form, even if it did take him nearly a month to get it down. He seemed thrilled and kept thanking me for teaching him. I wonder what he’ll think when I betray him. Just five more days. … The Equestrian reserve army starting marching today, according to Heart Echo. The Alliance can’t afford to wait any longer. Three days. The next morning, Silver Tail announced to everydragon that they would be attacking the Crystal Empire in two days. Cliff didn’t hear the details of the plan, not that he needed to. He already knew that it would work. “Are you okay, Gem?” Genesis asked. It was late, and they were putting up some new runes in a small chamber at the back of the cave. It was meant to be a secure lab for their most important projects, and if Discord was right, this is where the Crystal Heart would be stored soon. “You’ve been looking really down lately.” “I’ll be fine,” Cliff said automatically. “I’m just … I’m just thinking about all the soldiers that are going to die in this stupid war.” Genesis looked at him sympathetically. “You lost somedragon in a war, didn’t you?” “Sort of,” Cliff replied. He finished drawing the anti-magic rune and moved on to the next one. A ring of them would create a hollow sphere of influence, affecting everything that passed through it without harming creatures or objects on the inside. Cliff was building the very security system that would require him to travel back in time in the first place. The irony wasn’t lost on him. At least working on the defensive runes for the Alliance meant he knew how to get around them, should the need ever arise. “It’s complicated.” “Do you want to talk about it, or her?” Genesis asked. “It is a girl that you’re thinking about, right?” “Yeah,” Cliff whispered, “my wife. She was caught in a battle, and things kind of … happened.” “I lost my wife too,” Genesis said quietly. “It isn’t the sort of thing you get over, is it?” Cliff paused and looked up from his work. “I’m so sorry, Genesis.” “Thanks.” The other wyrm stared intently at the rune in front of him, though he had given up any attempt to work on it. “You said that you only ‘sort of’ lost her, so there’s still some hope, right?” Cliff nodded. “Even a little hope is a lot better than none.” Genesis smiled faintly. “I’m sure you’ll get her back, one day.” “Yeah,” Cliff said without emotion. He knew what his friend was thinking. It wasn’t uncommon for wyrms to go berserk in battle. Sometimes they even did it on purpose if their allies were in trouble and they thought it would help. If the resulting berserker survived, it usually found a place to hole up and go into hibernation. All the other wyrms could usually do was keep an eye on it and pray that he or she returned to normal in time. Cliff’s situation wasn’t nearly that desperate. Fluttershy was hurt and upset, but she was still Fluttershy. He would be seeing her again in another week, if all went according to plan. Genesis was going through something far worse, and Cliff couldn’t believe that he was so focused on himself that he never noticed. “Do you want to talk about it?” Genesis shook his head. “Not really. I prefer to think about the good times we had together, not, you know, how it ended. I hope you don’t mind.” Cliff thought about it. “I understand. How did you two meet? If you don’t mind telling me, of course.” “I’d love to.” Genesis laughed softly. “It’s actually pretty funny. I was at a gathering one year, and Clodhopper dared me to join a dueling tournament. Little did I know that Rain, my wife, got dared to do the same thing by her brother. So there we were, both totally sure that we were going to get the crap kicked out of us by some expert warrior, not knowing that my grand strategy was to draw runes at my opponent, and hers was to make the air around me really dry so I’d cough a lot …” -_-_-_-_-_- Cliff didn’t go out to watch the Alliance capture the Crystal Empire. He didn’t think he could have done so without getting involved, possibly getting himself killed, and making all of this pointless. Instead, he paced the length of the cave and waited. Then he waited some more. He wasn’t the only one in the cave. Nearly two hundred other non-combatants were there as well. Most were drakes, members of the Ice Spire Clan, but there were some juvenile wyverns and wyrm medics as well. Eventually Cliff stopped to look over some notes with Clodhopper. The brown wyrm had actually never been part of a combat team. Instead, he was helping with healing, runes, and weapon development. Anti-magic runes were, more accurately, siphons that pulled in nearby magic and dissipated it harmlessly. Clodhopper was helping Rune Field develop a staff that would apply the siphon effect to distant creatures but then store the siphoned energy, which could be released as a blast of energy, much like a unicorn energy ray. Cliff had been secretly interfering with this line of research for a while now, and he took the opportunity to add a few subtle flaws to the design. Then it was back to waiting. After several eternities, Yol Toor arrived with a small team of allies and the Crystal Heart. “The Crystal Empire is under our control,” he announced. The cheers were thunderous. After waiting for it to calm down, he said, “Gemstone Aura, Clodhopper, please come forward. Your expertise is needed.” Cliff was a little surprised that Yol Toor even knew his name, but walked up to him anyway. “Yes, how can we help?” Yol Toor shrank down to his thinking form and held out the Crystal Heart. “The clan lords, the Hurricanes, and Heart Echo all agree that destroying this object will effectively end the war. However, it appears to be indestructible. Perhaps with your aid, we can unravel the enchantments on it so that the crystal itself can be broken.” Cliff could feel the blood draining from his face. “You want to destroy it? The Heart means everything to the ponies of the Empire!” Yol Toor nodded solemnly. “It is not something I revel in, but as long as the Crystal Heart exists, there is always the chance that it will be retrieved, dragging this war out far longer than necessary, and killing more warriors on both sides of the conflict.” “We’ll do what we can,” Clodhopper said uncertainly, taking the Heart. “That secure lab at the back of the cave should keep it safe, right, Gem?” Cliff had a strange epiphany as he stood there, looking at the two of them. He was exactly the same as Yol Toor. Not in terms of power or importance, of course, but in motivation. If there was some crushing blow he could deliver to the Alliance that would end this war immediately, he would do it without hesitation. Looking up at Yol Toor, the most powerful drake alive and one of the biggest advocates for unity among the dragon races, Cliff realized what might be such a blow. “Uh, yes, Clodhopper, that lab should be perfect. Yol Toor, if you don’t mind, studying your aura might help in finding a way to suppress the Heart’s enchantments long enough to destroy it. If you could come by the lab sometime, I’m sure it would help.” “Of course.” Yol Toor nodded. “I must return to the Empire and help enforce order, but I will attempt to return tomorrow, if that is acceptable.” Cliff allowed some of his excitement to show. The others would expect him to be excited over being given such an important task, and he had come way too far to let his disguise slip now. “That should be fine. It will give us time to set everything up.”