Dr. Insight looked up from her desk with a kindly smile. She was an older unicorn with a chocolate coat and a creamy white mane that complimented the gentle timbre of her voice “Ah, Fluttershy, so good to see you again.” She gestured to a couch. “Would you like to take a seat, or do you feel like standing again today?”
Fluttershy had always liked this office. Unlike most buildings in Everfree, the inner walls were made of wood, enchanted so it couldn’t catch fire. Pictures of landscapes dotted the walls, except for right behind the Psychiatrist’s desk, which held a license, her degrees, and several pictures of her family. The desk itself was small and unimposing, with only a few stacks of paper, a notebook, and a tiny artificial waterfall, which filled the room with the sound of running water. Aside from the couch in front of Fluttershy and the desk to her left, there were also two chairs and a small table against the wall to her right.
She stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. “I’ll stand, uh, if you don’t mind, that is.”
“Not at all. It’s perfectly,” Dr. Insight winked, “under-stand-able.” She chuckled and adjusted her glasses. “Oh, Dr. Stable is going to have my license if he finds out I’m still telling jokes like that.”
Fluttershy smiled timidly. “I don’t mind.” She moved deeper into the office and stood in the open space in front of Dr. Insight’s desk.
“Well that’s what matters.” Dr. Insight heaved herself up and walked to one of the chairs opposite her. “There’s plenty to talk about, but I suppose the first and most important question is, would you like a cookie?” She lifted a plate of them off the table and held it out to Fluttershy with both forehooves. “Baked fresh this morning.”
“Oh, uh, thank you,” Fluttershy said meekly, picking out a white chocolate and macaroon one from the pile. She took a bite. As always, Dr. Insight’s treats were delicious.
Dr. Insight returned the plate to the table and lifted her notebook off the desk with her magic. Her magical aura was the same light green color as her eyes. “How is your nausea? I’d hate to make you sick.”
“It’s okay.” Fluttershy wiped a few crumbs away from her mouth self consciously. “It hurts more in the evening lately, around dinnertime.” She took another bite of the cookie, although more carefully than her first one.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Dr. Insight scribbled a quick note in her book. “How are your other symptoms?”
Fluttershy swallowed the last of the cookie and pretended to be interested in something on the doctor’s desk. “They’re okay,” she whispered.
Dr. Insight remained silent, but Fluttershy heard her put the notebook down. She didn’t have to look to know that the older unicorn was leaning forward slightly with a look of patient expectation. It was the same look she got every time Fluttershy tried to dodge a question.
The yellow mare bowed her head. “I still have the nightmares,” she whispered. “Blood. Dragon hatchlings demanding to know why I killed their parents. Sometimes Cliff is in them.” She remembered claws sinking into her flesh and a pair of remorseless eyes that both did and didn’t belong to her husband. A shudder passed through her as she wrapped both wings around herself. “Last night, he … killed me.”
“You aren’t a bad pony, or even a bad wife, for having these dreams, Fluttershy.”
“Yes I am.” She clenched her eyes shut, refusing to let more tears fall. Her tears always inconvenienced others.
“No you aren’t,” Dr. Insight said, her voice firm. “Princess Luna has published several books on the subject of dreams, and every single one of them says that sometimes dreams are just dreams, random combinations of thoughts and worries with no real bearing on the pony experiencing them.”
She got out of her chair and lifted Fluttershy’s head so that they could look each other in the eyes. “Flashbacks and recurring nightmares are common after a traumatic experience. Cliff was there during the battle, so it’s to be expected that he would show up in your dreams as well.”
Fluttershy nodded silently. She had heard that nearly every session for the past six weeks, but it still didn’t help.
Dr. Insight smiled sadly and whispered, “It’s okay. Knowing something and believing it are two very different things.” She returned to her seat and held out the plate of cookies again. “How’s Discord? You said he visits you sometimes.”
“I think he’s back to full strength.” Fluttershy frowned and took another cookie. “But he keeps asking if Cliff has told me something yet.”
“Told you what?” Dr. Insight set the plate back down.
“I don’t know,” Fluttershy said. “He won’t tell me.”
“Do you think it’s one of his pranks?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “If Cliff is hiding something, it must be for a reason. He’ll tell me when he thinks the time is right.”
“That’s very nice of you.”
“Rarity says that trust is the most important part of a relationship,” Fluttershy said. “Mother doesn’t agree with her, though. She says that respect and honesty matter most.”
“Oh dear.” Dr. Insight picked up one of the cookies and took a bite. “Are those two fighting again?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, Mother calmed down as soon as she read your note about exposure therapy. She even started asking Whisper to come over more often.”
“That’s good to hear.” Dr. Insight smiled. “Whisper is such a sweet young dragoness.”
“She is.” A weak smile made its way onto Fluttershy’s face.
“Maybe Rarity and Silver Lining can put their disagreements behind them.”
Fluttershy’s smile faded. “I’m not sure. Mother thinks Rarity is coddling me, and Rarity thinks Mother is being too harsh with me, but they both say they’re only doing what’s best for me.”
Dr. Insight hummed thoughtfully. “It might help if I explained to them that they’re both right, in their own way.”
“They are?” Fluttershy asked.
Dr. Insight nodded. “Trauma and anxiety are as real and as painful as a broken leg. It simply isn’t possible to carry on like nothing is wrong. Rarity is helping you while you recover, and I can’t thank her enough for that. However, physical therapy is also an important part of recovering from any major injury, and that means pushing yourself and the affected area so that it can be as strong as it used to be. Everything your mother does, from having you do household chores again to taking you on daily walks, is meant to push you in the same way, so that you can be as strong as you used to be.” She smiled. “They’re both just doing what they think is best, and both methods are important to your recovery, but I’ll talk to them after I get off work. There’s no need for them to fight when they both have the same goal.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Please, and thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now then, how are your animal friends?”
Fluttershy was happy to answer that question and spent quite a few minutes talking about Angel and her other critter friends. The ones that weren’t already hibernating came to see her whenever they could, and they always had stories to tell about the other denizens of the forest.
It wasn’t until near the end of their session that Dr. Insight brought up a difficult subject once more, “Do you have any plans for Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
“… Yes.” Fluttershy lowered her head. “We’re going to spend the night at Sweet Apple Acres. Daddy will even be flying in from Cloudsdale.”
“What’s wrong, dear?” The elderly unicorn set her notebook aside. “That sounds like it will be nice.”
“Well,” Fluttershy moved her hoof in small circles on the floor, “there are a few things.”
Dr. Insight silently gestured for her to continue.
“Big Mac,” Fluttershy said after a moment. “He won’t be there, because he took over for me in the Everfree Platoon.”
“Do any of the Apple family members blame you for his decision?”
Fluttershy had to stop and think about it. “No.”
Dr. Insight smiled affectionately. “Fluttershy, you’re surrounded by loving friends and family members that just want to help. They don’t want you to feel guilty for their support any more than you would want them to feel guilty if your positions were reversed.”
In spite of herself, Fluttershy felt a little better. “I guess that’s true.”
“As always, I’m here to help.” Dr. Insight picked up her notebook once more. “The holidays are a stressful time for us all. Maybe I can help with some of your other worries too. Only if you don’t mind talking about them, of course.”
A sigh escaped Fluttershy’s lips. “Well, there is one thing. I only have a few days left, and I still can’t think of anything to get Cliff.”
“Has he mentioned anything in his letters?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “He asked what I would like, but he hasn’t mentioned anything about himself.”
“I’m sure he would love anything you get him.”
“I know,” she admitted, “but this is the first Hearth’s Warming Eve that we haven’t been able to spend together, and I want to give him something special.” Fluttershy walked to the doctor’s desk and stared at the miniature waterfall there. It made her kind of thirsty to look at the running water. “Even though wyrms don’t normally celebrate our holidays, he always gave me a very thoughtful gift.”
“Even before you got married?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “It was during those months that we were traveling from coven to coven, asking for wyrms to move to Everfree. He had all of my friends write letters, telling me how much they missed me and loved being my friends. Pinkie and Applejack even sent us a nice dinner, and we spent the whole day relaxing and reading a book together.”
“Perhaps that’s your answer,” Dr. Insight said. “The most meaningful gifts are rarely about the gift itself. Rather, it’s the thought that goes into them.”
“That’s true …” But what could she do to show Cliff that she was thinking about him? Fluttershy already wrote him a letter every day. She glanced at the door. Maybe Rarity would have an idea … Her eyes widened. “Oh, I think I know what I can do.”
“Wonderful. Unfortunately, our time is up, but I can’t wait to hear what he thought at our session next week.” Dr. Insight groaned a little as she stood up. “Goodness, I’m not as young as I used to be.” Using her magic, she lifted the remaining cookies into a brown paper bag and passed it to Fluttershy with a wink. “For the Crusaders.”
Fluttershy gripped the bag with her wing. “Thank you, I’m sure they’ll love them.”
“It’s my pleasure,” the elderly unicorn hugged her. “Giving them a little treat is the least I can do to thank them for their help in your recovery. Speaking of which, your homework is the same as always; spend an hour outside of your house or your cottage each day. I assume your mother will see to it that you do that.”
Fluttershy nodded. Maybe they could go walking through Whitetail Woods this time instead of Everfree Village or Ponyville. “Thank you for everything, Dr. Insight.”
“I’m glad I can help.” The brown unicorn sank into the seat behind her desk once more and brushed some of her mane back into place with a hoof. “Do you feel up to telling Golden Song that he can come in next? If not, I can just have my secretary do it.”
“I-” Fluttershy swallowed, “yes, I can tell him.”
Dr. Insight smiled proudly. “You really are getting much better, dear. Happy Hearth’s Warming, and I’ll see you next Monday.”
“Happy Hearth’s Warming,” Fluttershy replied, blushing a little at the doctor’s words.
The lobby was mostly deserted when Fluttershy stepped out into it. Rarity was focused on the portable enchanting table she had brought with her, which sat in the chair next to her own. Fluttershy thought she recognized the components for a new magic battery on it.
Angel sat on the table’s other side, frowning angrily. When he saw Fluttershy, though, his expression lifted and he ran into her forehooves, squeaking his concern.
Fluttershy hugged him. “It went well. Thank you for worrying about me, Angel.”
The rabbit shrugged and communicated through a series of gestures and squeaks that he was just looking out for her, unlike a certain purple-haired fake that had spent most of the last hour trying to cram him into a stupid frilly outfit. He glared at Rarity.
Now that she was looking more closely, Fluttershy noticed a rabbit-size blue-and-white tuxedo on the seat next to her unicorn friend. “I’m sure she was just trying to be nice. Rarity puts a lot of effort into her clothes.”
Angel frowned and made a few suggestions about better ways she could be spending her time.
Fluttershy blushed and whispered, “Angel, it isn’t her fault that she hasn’t found a special somepony yet.” She glanced up at Rarity, who was still completely focused on her work. From there, her gaze wandered to the other patient in the lobby.
Golden Song was a light blue wyrm with black spikes. Fluttershy often wondered why he needed Dr. Insight’s help. He always looked so relaxed. Today he was sitting with his arms up and the back of his neck supported by his interwoven claws. The wyrm’s eyes were closed, and he was humming a tune that Fluttershy didn’t recognize.
Fluttershy transferred Angel to her back and approached him. Even more than a month since her return, being this close to an adult wyrm still made her shiver. She had killed dozens of dragons. What right did she have to speak to them after that? Fluttershy forced down her nagging thoughts and pressed forward. “Uh, excuse me, Golden Song, Dr. Insight says you can go in now.”
His eyes opened. They were the same color as ripe wheat, and crinkled slightly in a cheerful smile. “Oh, thank you, Lady Fluttershy.” He got up slowly and walked to Dr. Insight’s office.
Watching him go, Fluttershy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. A tiny smile of her own crossed Fluttershy’s lips as she realized that she had actually done it. She had spoken to a dragon other than Whisper! She went over to Rarity next.
Rarity jumped a little when the other mare touched her shoulder. “Oh, Fluttershy, how was your session?” She lifted the enchanting table into the air with her magic and stood up.
“It was nice.” Fluttershy led them both to the door and out into the streets of Everfree Village. It must have snowed while they were inside, because a thin layer of white powder crunched beneath their hooves as they walked. Luckily for Fluttershy, the street was also nearly deserted. A wyrm or two was one thing, but she didn’t think she could handle a whole street full of them just yet. “I think I finally know what to get Cliff for Hearth’s Warming.”
“That’s wonderful to hear, darling,” Rarity said. “What did you have in mind, and is there anything I can do to assist you with it?”
“I might need you to help a little.” Fluttershy’s wings twitched nervously. “Only if you don’t mind, of course. I want to knit a blanket for him, but Hearth’s Warming Eve is just two days away and I’m not sure if I can finish it that quickly on my own.”
Rarity smiled and rubbed against her friend’s side. “I would love to help you, Fluttershy. It will also be nice to see you knitting again after so long.”
So long? Fluttershy thought back and realized that she couldn’t remember the last time she had knitted anything—before the war started, maybe. It had never occurred to her to knit anything since coming back home, but now that she was thinking about it, Fluttershy realized that she had missed knitting a lot. “I guess it has been a while.”
“Far too long,” Rarity agreed. “It’s always a shame to see talent such as yours going to waste, especially when you enjoy it so.”
Angel squeaked his agreement from his spot on Fluttershy’s back.
“I’m sure Cliff wants you to be happy as well,” Rarity continued, “even if he can’t be here to see it.”
Fluttershy remained silent as she thought about her friend’s words. It almost seemed wrong to be happy when Cliff, Rainbow Dash, and Big Mac were stuck in the Crystal Empire, constantly on the lookout against the Dragon Alliance. Then again, she also knew that none of them would want her to be miserable. Fluttershy stared up at the gray sky. Maybe she needed to try harder to be happy, and knitting something did sound like it would be fun.
By the time they got home, Fluttershy was surprised at how excited she felt. It had been a long time since she felt the satisfaction that came from making something with her own hooves and wings.
A motif afghan would be perfect, Fluttershy mused as she collected supplies from the spare nest chamber upstairs. They were fairly simple to make and easy for groups to work together on. She gathered several skeins of dark green yarn for the main color and went back downstairs.
Getting it completely done by Hearth’s Warming would be hard, but a part of Fluttershy was actually looking forward to the challenge.
-_-_-_-_-_-
Hundreds of miles to the north, Heart Echo, Talon, Crystal, and Tornado sat in a nest in the home cave of the Ice Spire Clan, methodically working their way through a large stack of metal sheets that sat in the middle of their little circle.
Talon’s frown grew a little more with each spy report that described ponies as generally peaceful and loving. It made her wonder how things might have gone differently between the Alliance and Equestria.
She picked up a new sheet of metal. “Another report on this holiday the ponies are about to celebrate.” Talon skimmed down it a bit and groaned. “And they included the complete script for the Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant again.”
“I think it’s a nice idea for a holiday,” Crystal said.
“I’ll definitely take it over dealing with the Hurricanes,” Heart said. “Every day, I have to talk the Council out of another plan to kill every pony in the Crystal Empire.”
“Yol Toor would never agree to kill civilians,” Tornado said firmly.
“He promised to obey the Council,” Heart said. “He won’t have a choice if the Hurricanes ever get a majority vote for one of their genocidal plans, and Equestria would never forgive us either, which is bad, because the Hurricanes already have five of eleven votes in the Council, and my vote only counts as a tiebreaker.” She sighed. “No wonder the wyverns were constantly at war with those five in charge.”
“Don’t talk bad about the Hurricanes,” Talon whispered quickly, looking around to make sure nodragon had heard them. “Do you have any idea what they do to disobedient underlings?”
“I would never let them harm any of you,” Tornado said.
“You wouldn’t have a choice in the matter,” Talon said, “but thanks for the thought.”
“I’m not one of their underlings anyway,” Heart said. “So I’m allowed to say whatever I want.” She picked up another spy report and started reading through it.
Talon went back to her own report. Apparently the spy in Manehattan had stumbled across some kind of creature that looked like a pony but wasn’t. They had nearly come to blows before realizing that neither of them was an ally of Equestria. Now the spy wanted to know how to respond when they met up again. Talon put that into the pile of reports that would require the Council’s attention.
“Let me know if anydragon finds the report from Everfree Village,” Heart said. “Maybe this is the week that Gemstone finally reveals himself.” Her claws clenched into fists, like they always did when she mentioned Gem.
Crystal smiled sympathetically and put a wing over the smaller dragoness. “There’s no need to be so hard on yourself. Gem fooled us all.”
Heart gripped her friend’s wing for a moment before setting aside the report she had been reading. “I shouldn’t have let him work on the Crystal Heart. It must have brought all his pony sympathies boiling to the surface, and all signs indicate that he taught Equestria how to make a new Crystal Heart. Without that, Equestria probably would’ve surrendered soon and no more dragons or ponies would have to die.” She threw the spy report into the pile of read ones, making it clatter noisily against the other metal sheets. “So yeah, I think there’s at least a little need to be hard on myself.”
“I have the Everfree Village report,” Tornado said, motioning with one paw at the bound stack of sheets lying in front of him. “There is no mention so far of a new wyrm in the Village, though it claims that the Equestrian army was hiding in a series of caves and tunnels that connects the Crystal Mountains to the Empire itself.”
Talon looked up and met Crystal and Heart’s eyes. “We’ve considered that possibility,” she said, turning to face Tornado, “but is the spy sure, or is it just a guess?”
Tornado read some more of the report. “He, or she, claims to have overheard four separate ponies discussing the matter in private. One of them was Princess Twilight, and the other three were all members of the Everfree Platoon.”
“Alright,” Talon said, “but do they know where the tunnel entrance is?”
Tornado shook his head. “It says that the entrance is somewhere in the mountains to the west of the Empire, but they do not know the precise location and warn that it has likely been protected by any number of enchantments. There is a similar warning about the entrance to the Crystal Empire, wherever that may be.”
Talon looked around the cave. Two swarms of six hundred dragons each were off scouting around the Crystal Empire, and another swarm was digging for gems, but everydragon else was sitting around waiting for something to happen. “If nothing else, we should have a few squads look around for the entrance. It’s not like they have anything else to do.”
“There is some information about the creature that aided Gemstone.” Tornado frowned as he continued to read. “I do not believe this is correct, though.”
“What does it say?” Heart asked.
“The report claims that the draconequus is named Discord and that it retrieved the Crystal Heart with the help of a wyrm named Cliff Runner.” He looked up at Heart. “That was the name of your cousin, correct?”
“Yeah, but Cliff didn’t help the draconequus, Gemstone did.” Heart frowned. “And we still have the Crystal Heart.”
“Maybe he replaced it,” Talon said. “Gem did pretty much all of the research on the Crystal Heart. Would Rune and the others even know if he swapped it out?”
Heart shook her head. “I have no idea.”
A surprisingly large grin split Tornado’s muzzle. “I just realized, Rune and Genesis both said that Gem was affected by some kind of chaos spirit just before his arrival at their coven. The draconequus is a chaos spirit, and now we know that it is an ally of Equestria. It may have planted Gemstone as a spy against his will. Meaning that he never truly betrayed us.”
“That …” Talon paused and thought about it. Of course Tornado would jump on any chance to vindicate Gemstone; he’d been doing that since the betrayal. Was his theory possible, though? “Gem showed up out of nowhere at Mystic Forest not long before the Alliance formed and randomly traveled to Moss Hills one day, the closest wyrm coven to the Great Tournament. It’s possible that he was controlled, but the draconequus would have needed to know that the Alliance was forming before the wyverns even arrived at the Great Tournament.”
“Before the first wyvern scouts even ran into the drakes,” Heart said, a look of concentration on her face. “But it might be possible that the draconequus, Discord, wanted to use Gemstone for something else, like getting the Bloodstone Scepter.”
“Then Gem is innocent?” Tornado asked hopefully.
“Probably not,” Heart said apologetically. “I know you want to trust your allies, but Gemstone’s unusual emotions made me pay extra attention to him the whole time I knew him. In nearly two months, I never caught a hint of anything that would indicate mind control. Right from the beginning, his emotions were more consistent with somedragon planning a betrayal. It’s more likely that he was an ally of Discord all along, maybe from Everfree Village.”
“Like your cousin in disguise,” Talon said. “The report did say that he helped Discord.”
“Cliff couldn’t have been Gemstone,” Heart said. “I talked to Cliff the night before our second battle, and Gemstone was working in the lab with Yol Toor and Clodhopper that whole night.”
“Is it possible that he replaced Gem on that last day?” Crystal asked.
“Maybe?” Heart cupped her chin in one hand. “I never read Gem’s emotions because of that anti-magic ring, but his body language was exactly the same as normal. Cliff would have to be an insanely good impersonator to imitate Gemstone so well.”
“Which wouldn’t have been necessary if Gem really was on Equestria’s side all along,” Talon said.
Heart nodded.
“So there are holes in every theory.” Talon massaged her right temple with one wing. “This would be a lot easier if we could just find Gem and get the truth out of him directly. If he really is a friend to the ponies, maybe he could even talk to them for us; negotiate a ceasefire until Silver Tail calms down enough to talk peace”
“That’s why all our spies are looking for him,” Heart said. “He can’t hide from them forever.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
“Gem?” a voice asked.
Cliff turned around. “Yes?”
Sitting against the wall of the barracks, two other wyrms in the Everfree Platoon looked back at him in confusion. One of them had paused in the act of offering a small ruby to the other.
“Oh, I …” Cliff shook his head. “Never mind.” He turned around and kept looking for his team. They didn’t seem to be inside of Everfree’s barracks, which was basically one giant nest for the hundred and twenty of them to share.
Stepping back outside, Cliff paused to look around. The sides of Silver Tail’s Trench, as it had been named, rose before him on either side, a constant reminder of the drake lord’s power. Yet the trench itself was filled with row upon row of barracks, circling all the way around the Crystal Palace. It was as if the soldiers of Equestria were telling the Alliance that they weren’t afraid, they would protect the Crystal Heart no matter what.
Cliff looked away from the Palace. There was a training yard nearby, bordering the edge of the trench, but it was taken up by a platoon of earth ponies training with a type of giant bow called a scorpio.
Maybe they’re in the mess hall. Options for entertainment were pretty limited around here. Buying souvenirs got old after the first week, and there wasn’t much else to do other than train, eat, and sleep.
On the way, he ducked down the gap between two barracks to avoid a group of crystal ponies singing ‘Deck the Halls with Pies and Cupcakes.’ As Gemstone, he had avoided crowds to minimize the risk of discovery. Cliff didn’t know why he was still doing it now, or why he kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to see an angry drake bearing down on him.
He reached the mess hall and slipped inside. The rest of his team wasn’t with all the other warriors, thank the Stars. He actually found them in the spare kitchen, away from the hustle and bustle of the cooking staff.
Blueblood was sitting at a counter, writing out a list of presents that he wanted for Hearth’s Warming. His armor now sported numerous embellishments to make it less ‘common.’ For starters, it was encrusted with hundreds of small gems and painted to look like a tuxedo. A plume of golden hair had also been added to the helmet, and for some reason, he had gotten his helmet enchanted to make his mane blow around dramatically for a few seconds every time he took it off.
Next to him, Fire Eyes and Rainbow were having a contest to see who could maintain a stream of fire the longest. Eyes was looking a bit blue in the face. Rainbow might have been turning blue as well. It was hard to tell with her fur color.
Eyes’ armor was the same as the day she had first gotten it, but Dash had painted hers light blue. She said it was to help her blend in against the sky, though Cliff had his suspicions. It was the exact same shade of blue that the Wonderbolts used for their flight suits. At least she had skipped the yellow underbelly.
On the far side of the counter, Big Mac had a green apron on over his armor and was calmly pulling a sheet of apple fritters out of the oven. Like the rest of them, he had taken his helmet off. It was sitting on the ground next to a barrel of Sweet Apple Acres cider, a gift from Applejack.
Cliff had often wondered what it would be like to really get to know the large earth stallion, and honestly, he was still kind of wondering. Big Mac showed up to all of their team practices without complaint, went along with it whenever someone wanted to spar, helped out wherever he could, and kept a completely neutral expression the entire time. Cliff only ever saw him smile when he was reading or writing letters to his family back at Sweet Apple Acres. He rarely spoke unless spoken to, and even then his answers were usually one word long. Like Fire Eyes, he hadn’t personalized his armor at all.
Cliff glanced at the metal covering his upper arm, where his suit’s only embellishment had been added; a pink butterfly, one on each shoulder. He cleared his throat. “Hey, everyone.”
Eyes and Rainbow stopped their contest. Big Mac and Blueblood both looked up, but then they went back to what they were doing before.
“Hey, Cliff,” Rainbow said between gasps of air. “Wh-where you been all day?”
“I was working on something in the lab.” Cliff took a seat on Rainbow’s right, opposite Fire Eyes and Blueblood, and undid the clasp on his helmet.
“Again?” Rainbow facehoofed. “When did you turn into such an egghead?”
“When Discord turned me into a rune master.”
“I still don’t see why he bothered,” Eyes said. “You were only impersonating that other dragon for what, five minutes?”
Actually, that other dragon never existed, and I was pretending to be him for four months, but no one here needs to know that. “He was just being cautious.” Cliff set his helmet on the floor and reached into the dimensional pocket at his hip to pull out a sapphire. “Plus it let me build this.” He placed the blue gem on the counter in front of Rainbow. “Now I just need an aura drake to test it on.”
Fire Eyes reached over and picked the gem up. “Hopefully they’ll attack soon. All this waiting around is driving me insane.” She held it up to the light. “Anyway, how does this thing work?”
“Just charge it with magic then chuck it at someone you don’t like.” Cliff stretched his arms above his head and yawned. “It explodes on impact, negating magic in the area that isn’t yours and hopefully draining the target to unconsciousness.”
“Nice.” Eyes glanced at Blueblood, a mischievous smile on her face.
“Don’t even think about it.” Cliff grabbed the sapphire out of her claws. “It took me nearly an hour to enchant this, and the rest of us would get caught in the blast as well.”
“Party pooper,” Rainbow said. “It would be totally worth it.”
“Nope,” Big Mac chimed in. The earth stallion set a plate with an apple fritter in front of each of them. Three cups of cider quickly followed.
“Woo, thanks, Mac!” Rainbow dove into her fritter with gusto, crunching happily and only pausing to lick bits of glaze off her cheeks and gulp down cider. “Apple family food is the best!”
Big Mac smiled indulgently. “Eeyup.”
“You do make great food.” Fire Eyes bit into her own snack with more restraint, but her grin made it obvious that she was enjoying it every bit as much as Rainbow.
Nodding, Big Mac walked over to Blueblood. “Fritter?” he asked, gesturing at the sheet of them behind him.
Blueblood looked up and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You expect me to eat carnival food? Eugh, I would never debase myself so.” He went back to his list.
Big Mac just shrugged and made a plate for himself.
“And don’t even offer me any of that swill you call cider,” Blueblood added.
Rainbow choked on her fritter. “What did he just say?!” She grabbed the sapphire from Cliff's hands.
Cliff had just enough time to duck.
-_-_-_-_-_-
When Spirit heard the term ‘war room,’ he thought of steel walls, loads of scientific instruments, a gigantic map covering one wall, and dozens of workers running around to maintain everything.
Then again, if he imagined a war room designed by Cadance, the Princess of Love, his mind would cook up something pretty much identical to what he was seeing. Despite the sharp crystalline aesthetic of the palace, cheerful murals covered most of the walls, with potted flowers near the double doors leading in, and classical violin music coming from the gramophone in the corner. A large map did cover most of the table where they were all seated, but the tea and snack cakes in front of everyone ruined any chance the map had of seeming official or threatening. There weren’t even normal chairs. Instead, a number of deep-red love seats surrounded the table. If the Alliance had seen this room during their brief occupation of the Crystal Empire, they had probably passed it off as the Royal Gossiping Room or something.
Cadance and Shining Armor shared a love seat, even though their expressions were serious as they listened to Scenic Trail and Sky Painter, Spirit’s draconic parents, give their report.
Spirit sat with Autumn on the royal couple’s left. They were both studying papers in front of them, but as usual, their tails were intertwined.
Opposite them, Princess Luna and Heroic Destiny were sharing a love seat and doing their best not to look self conscious about being the only two in the room that were single.
An explosion in the distance made the entire room pause.
“Huh,” Sky Painter said after a moment, “I guess someone is having fun with their training today.”
Scenic Trail shrugged. “It’s probably just Rainbow Dash.”
“It sounded like it came from the kitchens,” Spirit said. He got up and looked out the window behind him. The Everfree Platoon had a kitchen all to itself, which was sporting a rather large hole in one of its walls. He squinted and was just able to make out the telltale sparkle of Prince Blueblood’s armor among the wreckage. “Ah, Blueblood must have pissed someone off again.”
“I can’t believe that he hasn’t learned to keep his comments to himself by now,” Autumn said. “In any case, I can help repair the damage after we finish here.”
Scenic Trail nodded. “Well as I was saying, our scouts have noticed increased activity among the Alliance forces lately. They might be getting ready for another attack.”
Luna nodded gravely. “I will increase guard forces on the wall. If they do not attack, nothing will have been lost.”
“At least we’ve been able to pick off a few of their scouting parties,” Sky Painter said. “Ambushing smaller groups has netted over fifty kills since the Empire was reclaimed.”
“Excellent work,” Autumn said, “but please be careful out there.”
“We will,” Scenic Trail promised.
Spirit looked away. All his life he had been taught that killing was wrong, and now his friends and family were getting congratulated for it.
“Actually,” Scenic Trail continued, “we were hoping to train some more troops for these kinds of hit-and-run skirmishes. Pegasi are faster than both wyverns and drakes in a straight flight, so they’d be ideal.”
“Do we really want to go down this road?” Spirit asked. “Look, I get it, the Alliance has sworn revenge on us, but it feels like all we’re doing with these ambushes is provoking them.”
“We’re chipping away at their numbers,” Autumn said, “and taking no losses of our own. This is exactly the kind of road we want to be going down.”
“She’s right, Spirit,” Shining said. “As horrible as it sounds, if a decision is dishonorable, unfeeling, or even cruel, but it will let more of our soldiers see their families again, then we owe it to them to not hesitate.”
“I agree,” Luna said. “I am authorizing your request, Scenic Trail and Sky Painter, though membership in ambush and assassination squadrons will be strictly voluntary. All must understand exactly what is being asked of them and can leave at any time.”
Spirit didn’t say anything. He could handle Heroic talking about something as horrible as mass murder. Luna was a bit of a shock, but he could deal with it. Even his draconic parents were understandable. Wyrms were as charitable as could be most of the time, but they really had no concept of the term ‘fighting dirty.’ Autumn and Shining Armor, though, they shared the same values as him, or at least he thought they did, and here they were arguing in favor of more killing. Spirit looked out the window and wondered what this war was turning them all into.