//------------------------------// // Chapter 11. Ice-Ice-Baby // Story: The Elder Dragons of Equestria // by FanboyGamer3E //------------------------------// "This is total bull-crap." I said to Twilight as I watched the horizon pass by. "I mean we get back from that hellscape of a Rotten Vale, and just when I finish washing the stink off we get sent off to the crystal empire." "Oh come on Nergi, it's not that bad." Twilight said. "I mean why are you even complaining about going somewhere you've never even been to." "It's cold there, I hate the cold." "How do you know it's cold?" "You said it was in the north right. And seeing as how we're not in a jungle or desert, north usually means we're getting closer to whatever passes for the arctic circle in this world. And since that place is commonly the coldest place on any planet, its a fair assessment to say that the closer we get to there the colder the general atmosphere is going to be. I mean It's basic logic." "Okay smarty-scales, you make a fair point. But, counterpoint, the actual city of the crystal empire is just as warm as Ponyville thanks to the magic of the crystal heart." "So it's basically and Arctic oasis, only instead of being produced by underground magma it's kept habitable by the 'magical warmth of lo-o-ove.'" I made sure to put extra sarcastic emphasis in the world love. "That's a fair assessment, yes. Anyway why so sassy all of a sudden?" "Like I said I hate the cold. I mean can you blame me I'm a reptile, I'm cold blooded, and unlike any of the other dragons here I don't have the benefit of having fire breath, fur, or anything else to keep me from getting a metaphorical and or literal icicle up my ass, so forgive me if I'm just the tiniest bit unsociable." "Alright well, try not to be this way when we get to the crystal palace, I'd rather not have tension's flare up." "Because of the Changelings?" "Yeah, I mean I know that the crystal ponies weren't there for the changeling invasion of Canterlot, but they're still majorly behind the times in terms of-" She took a moment before continuing, "Racial acceptance." "Really." Finally, I was learning something new about the world. "I would think that a society that revolves around friendship would be more open-minded to the concept of different races." "Yeah I mean, Ponies have always valued friendship and cooperation, and now-a-days we're willing to give anypony the benefit of the doubt, but it wasn't always like that. You see the main reason ponies were so suspicious in those days was because they each had a single herd mentality, and that the world was only big enough for one specific herd since before Equestria was founded we all had to live in the mountains, and it was hard enough to grow food there without some other tribe taking up the land that could be used for yours. Even after Equestria was settled it was hard to shake off that mentality, Earth ponies were suspicious of Unicorns, who were suspicious of Pegasi, who were suspicious of Earth Ponies, and it eventually lead to single race cities like Canterlot and Cloudsdale being built, and we wouldn't even talk to other races like the Changeling, Minotaurs, Griffons. We really only started breaking past our barriers when the Royal Sisters rose to power. That's probably why the other ponies where so accepting of the different monsters from your world." "I guess that makes sense." I said before standing up. "I'm gonna take a little walk around the car, stretch my legs a bit." "Alright, just make sure to sit down before the train stops, or else you'll be knocked to the floor." "Yeah, yeah, I got it. You don't need to keep reminding me, it only happened that one time at Starlight's village." I got up from my seat and walked out to the isle and down towards the Cabin which held my teammates, the first car I passed was the one that held the four other Elder Dragons of my team. The next one held, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, FlutterShy, and Dio who took up a whole seat on his own. After that there was the cabin with Ana, Rarity, AppleJack and Spike, and finally the cabin that held Jagger and a team of four Jagras which he had brought along, as well as the Kulu-yaku and Tzitzi-yaku who had been named Flash and Yolk-beak. I knocked on the door and stepped inside saying, "Hey, you guys having a good ride?" "Oh, yeah, just peachy." Flash said Sarcastically. "Why are we even riding this thing? I'm sure that we could get to this 'Crystal Kingdom' place just by going there on foot. "I mean, we could. But I would prefer not to get frostbite and lose all of my toes on the way there. Not to mention we'll get there in an hour or two, opposed to a day in a half." "Still though, I don't see why we all need to go there. I mean, shouldn't at least one of us stayed back at the base to keep it safe, we are supposed to be guards after all." "True, but we're still to small a force. Better to have all of us go somewhere instead of either having too few of us on the mission or too few of us guarding the base. When we get to have around 20 members, we'll start dividing up our forces. Till then, we go wherever Twilight and the others need us to go." "Yeah, yeah, we get it you take your job very seriously." Jagger said in a bored tone. "Will there be any food when we get to this place?" "And will there be Eggs?" Yolk-beak added. "Yes, and Yes, so just be patient." As I step out of the cabin, I think of how things have changed. Not just in terms of my personal life, but also in the main timeline of the MLP series. Not only have a couple things changed in the timeline, like where Sombra and Chrysalis have reappeared before the Grogar storyline, but now I've found out that there have been monsters from the Monster Hunter Universe appearing in this world for nearly half a century. It seems like the more time I spend in this world, the more changes I discover along the ways. I initially came to this world with a good understanding of the timeline, and that's allowed me to stay ahead of any plot points that could prove to be troublesome, but now with so many deviations taking place I'm starting to wonder what other changes might happen. I know for sure that there won't be that second changeling invasion happening, so Starlight won't be getting that bit of character development. But come to think of it, what if Starlight isn't reformed at all, what if Cozy Glow and Grogar don't appear in the story, and what's going to happen with Tirek and Sombra now that they're off in God-Knows-Where doing their own thing. And that's not even considering how other monsters running around might influence the timeline, I already know that Fatalis is somewhere out there since they gave Starlight the staff that removed me from my body, what else are they doing out there? All these questions plague my mind as I walk back to mine and Twilight's cabin, and as I take my seat I start to think of what to do about these potential changes, giving myself a headache as I do so. "You okay?" Twilight asked. "Hm, oh yeah. I'm just thinking about what other kinds of Monsters are out there, and what kind of trouble they might cause. I mean, Leo and Leona nearly burned down Ponyville, Dio, Kirin and I got mind controlled by a pony who was given a Staff from Fatalis, who we having even seen yet, and then there's the whole thing with the Rotten Vale." I let out a sigh and say. "I'm just worried that something might happen that I'm not prepared for, and a lot of people might get hurt because I wasn't ready." Twilight got up from her seat and draped a wing around me saying. "It's alright, I get it. You're a leader, and that comes with a lot of responsibility. When I first became a princess, I wasn't sure what to do either. But, then I figured out that all I had to do was exactly what I was doing already, solving problems as they came and doing my best while relying on my friends to help me out. So trust me, whatever comes our way, we'll be ready." I was still concerned but smiled and nodded in agreement. Twilight was right, even if the timeline did change I could adapt and face the challenges ahead along with my teammates. After all, this the world of My Little Pony, just about every problem can be solved with friendship here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Minutes Later, 3rd Person POV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the train pulled into the station the various monsters rush to get out of the cold and into the warmth of the city, where Shining Armor and Chrysalis are waiting for them. Twilight runs up to her brother and gives him a hug saying, "It's great to see you again Shining." She looks to Chrysalis and makes herself more proper before saying. "Chrysalis." "Princess." After a few awkward seconds Twilight turns back to her brother and asks. "Sooo, where's Cadence?" "She couldn't come, she had a little bit of morning sickness and said that me and Chrysalis could meet you here by ourselves, she said it would be good if me and her worked together." "Morning sickness?" She said in slight confusion until the gears click in her head and she lets out a little gasp, before letting out a long high-pitched, "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." "AH GODDAMNIT MY EARS." Nergi shouted gripping is head while the rest of the team were writhing on the ground gripping their own skulls. "Sweet boiling hell Twilight, you trying to break glass with those pipes." "Right, sorry, I'm just so excited. I'm going to be an Aunt." She then let out another gasp and turned towards her brother. "And you, you're going to be a daddy, I'm so happy for you." "I'm happy too, and proud. Which is why I want to keep my family safe." "Which leads us to why we called you and these Dragons here." Chrysalis added. "There have been sightings of monsters in the frozen wasteland outside the city limits, as well as in the subterranean catacombs underneath the city." "Any distinguishing features?" Nergi asked. "Well, there's actually a couple of them." Shining began. "One of the Dragons out in the tundra has the same body type as Kushala, and it seems to have similar powers. Another is a kind of flying dragon which also has the same kind of abilities." "As for the catacombs, only one kind of beast has been seen coming in and out of the tunnels." Chrysalis said. "Although none of my changelings or the crystal ponies have gotten a clear look at it, it seems to have quite a fair amount of speed." "Alright then, I have a fair idea about how we should pair up to deal with these guys." Nergi said. "Kushala, Leo, Leona, and a couple of the elements bearers can go out to deal with the monsters out in the tundra. Meanwhile Kirin, Flash, The Jag Pack, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Chrysalis can go down and deal with this mystery monster. As for Me, Ana, and Dio we'll guard Cadence to keep her company." "Wait, you're not going to help out?" Twilight asked. "I already said I hate the cold, I'm not gonna go fight monsters with ice powers out in a frozen wasteland." "Same." Ana said. "Yeah I'm a desert wyvern, we don't really do well in the cold." Dio added. "Alright you could still go underground with us." Twilight noted. "Yeah that's not a good idea either. We don't know how strong the monster down there is, and if we need to transform the three of us could cause the tunnel to collapse, from either my strength or the sheer size from these two. Besides, isn't it in your best interest to keep your strongest fighters behind to guard someone who needs the most protection." "He does have a point." Shining Armor said. "Alright you three, Cadence is in your hands. As for the rest of you, the latest sightings for the two ice monsters put then north west of the city. Best of luck to all of you." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crystal Empire Outskirts ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the group strode through the snow, they began to talk amongst themselves. "Hey Kushala, got any Idea of what we're going up against?" Rainbow asked. "About as much as you. All we know is that one of them has a similar body and power set as me, and even though the does narrow it down, it's not my much. Wind Manipulation is a pretty basic ability for Elder Dragons, the only reason my kind is known for it is because we have the greatest proficiency with it, even these two are able to use it to spread around their explosive dust." He said motioning to Leo and Leona. "Yeah, making tornados and moving clouds is pretty simple for Pegasi too." "That may be, but true mastery of the power is rare in Elder Dragons. Which narrows down our options to a couple of different types. That said, a number of them are pretty powerful, so we might be going up against either Altreon who is the only type of Elder Dragon that can control all elements, or one of the three types of Fatalis, who you already know about." "Yeesh, any chance it's not one of those two?" "Well it could be a different type of Elder Dragon. But like I said Elder Dragons with wind mastery are rare and the only one who's confirmed to be here is Fatalis." "Fine, then what about that Flying Dragon?" "Well "Flying Dragon" doesn't really give us much to go on since Twilight's brother didn't really give us much to go on, I mean we don't even know if its an actual Flying Wyvern, or a Bird wyvern that can fly. That said I have narrowed it down to a couple. There's the Chramine, Barioth, Gigginox, basically any one of their subspecies'. "And how dangerous are those?" "Well I our world, they're pretty easy to fight. But in yours, well." "What?" "Well, the creatures from our world which are the most similar to you ponies are the Kelbi, and those monsters can literally rip kelbi apart like they're wet paper, or simply swallow them alive, or possibly both." "Well then, good thing we've got you guys here." As the wind and snow picked up, a strange song began to echo across the frozen tundra. "Looks like they're here. Stay close to me." As the wind grew in intensity a pair of talons slashed at Kushala's back. The Steel Dragon fired a blast of wind to where he thought the monster was, but only served to disrupt the air current. He fired three more shots into the blizzard to no avail, Leo and Leona both erupted fire breath into the sky and were blasted with a focused current of icy wind which froze their manes in place and formed ice crystals across their bodies. "Damn. We're not getting anywhere like this." Leona said "Right, I think it's time we use that." Leo said. "Kushala, cover the ponies with your wings." "Wait what are you-?" "JUST DO IT." Kushala quickly lowered his body to the ground and pulled the mares to his body along with a good amount of powdery snow. The pair of Leonine dragons leaped away from each other before taking flight and beginning to release orange and blue glowing dust. As if anticipating what the pair were attempting to do, the body of an Elder Dragon slammed into Leo from the left side, knocking him to the ground, while another figure attempted to slash at Leona's back but was battered away by her tail. As Leo took flight again, the dragon tried to knock him to the ground again, but was blasted by a gout of explosive dust by its target. As the pair released their dust the begin to approach each other, and began to circle their partner, starting in a simple spiral motion, then in a three dimensional dance not unlike that of birds of prey. As their dance increased in speed their bodies began to glow with the dust they released, and as their glow grew to be as bright as the sun, the dust ignited, creating a massive explosion of heat and fire as they shouted in unison. "Harmonic Supernova" As the heat and flames died down Kushala raised his head to see what had happened and saw Leona pinning down a wyvern with Dark Blue and tan patterns across its body, while Leo was trying to stay on top of an Elder Dragon with steel gray scales and shards of ice across its body. "Kushala, Come help me with this, and watch out for the tail, this thing just tried to stab me with it." "Do what you will with me you brute, but release my Legiana." The dragon snapped. "Shouldn't you be concerned about your own safety?" Kushala asked. "I am the reason the Legiana was brought to this world, she was lured here by my song and separated from her flock. I've been helping her to survive since we landed in this icy land. She doesn't deserve to die simply because you wish to destroy us." "Would you calm down." Leo said. "No-one's gonna kill you or her, we're just gonna take you somewhere to speak with our boss. They'll be the one's to decide if we kill you or not." "And If I refuse to comply?" "Then I'll simply have my beloved crush that Wyvern's spine beneath her paws." "That's not your call to make Leo." Kushala said. "And why not. Far as I can tell we've got the majority in this decision. It's two to one." "Make that two to six." Rainbow said. "And I say we wait for Twilight and Nergi to get back." "Listen little one, you may be good diplomats with all your "Friendship" and "Harmony." But in our world it's the strong who make the rules, the strong who enforce them, And the weak who either obey the strong or get crushed under foot." "But you're forgetting Leo, this isn't our world it's theirs. Nergigante understands that well enough, so unless you want a problem with him, you'd better not have a problem with us." Leo let out a deep growl, but Kushala stood steadfast. Seeing his attempt to intimidate the steel dragon failed, he relented. "Fine, we'll do this your way. But next time, if things go bad because your empathy, don't expect me to help clean up your mess." He released the dragon from his claws and turn back the way they came, motioning Leona to follow him. The Dragon got to her feet and began tending to the Legiana. "Sorry about him, you know how fire breathers can be." Kushala said, "What's your name." "I am Velkanna, thank you for reasoning with the Teostra, Kushala Daora." "Just call me Kushala." "Hm." Velkanna fell silent for a moment before speaking up again. "You mentioned that your leader was a Nergigante, but how can that be? Nergigante are known for Devouring Elder Dragons such as us." "It is a curious thing isn't it. Even though he has all the strength and power as those of his breed, he is surprisingly tranquil. He does not smell of blood, nor does he exude the same aura of bloodlust. Put simply, he is a being who has over come his own nature." "Just like the humans?" "Yes, he claims he was raised by them, but I find that hard to believe. Some of the other feel that way about him as well, but none of us are willing to confront him about it for... Obvious reasons. But I can assure you that he is a trustworthy leader." "We shall see."