XXX - War
“What do you mean I gotta have a guard!?” Kii whined, pointing at the Bloodsteel guard standing post at the door. “They don't need them!” She pointed at our siblings.
We were at breakfast the morning of the Fundraiser. I had just broken the news to Kii that she needed a guard to go with her wherever she goes.
“They are all fully grown," I explained patiently. "Also, Nandak hardly leaves Klo’s side, and Alezah is dating one of the Embassy’s guards.”
“I actually agree with him on this one. After the Changeling attack on Canterlot, my confidence in the Equestrians being able to protect us has faltered,” Alezah agreed.
“With the war back home, who knows how far these rebels will be going to achieve victory. They might try to use you to get to Krein,” Nandak pointed out.
Kii wasn't happy about it and crossed her arms. “This isn't fair.”
“I know, Kii but this is how things are gonna be for a while,” I said, putting a claw on Kii's shoulder.
Niirah entered the dining area. “Morning everyone.”
Alezah grinned. “What are you smiling about?” I asked her.
“Called it,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Hush you!” I tried.
“What did she call?” Niirah asked.
“Back when you first got here, Alezah was quietly suggesting that Krein pursue you as a partner. Naturally, he was opposed to the idea at the time,” Nikta explained.
“Oh really?” Niirah looked at me with a brow raised.
“Yeah, but as it turned out, I didn't have to do anything!” Alezah smiled.
“You are gonna use that against me later aren’t you?” I asked quietly. Niirah just grinned and nodded. I refocused on today’s agenda. “Anyway, I need some help getting this place ready for the fundraiser today. I also need everyone here to represent.”
“Will do.” Nikta nodded.
Everyone nodded in agreement except Niirah. “I have some things to do in the market but I'll be here to play for the Fundraiser.”
I nodded. “Very well. The rest of us best get cracking.”
The courtyard of the house was decorated with all manner of flower assortments done by Nikta. A food table presided close to the kitchen, set up by Alezah. Niirah’s harp was strategically placed in the corner where she would be best seen and heard. Kii’s magic had been particularly helpful in setting up the decorations.
Dwiin had stationed his guards inside the hallways rather than the roof to prevent ponies from wandering and to guide them to the restrooms; personally, I thought that putting them on the ground rather than the roof would be a bit more comfortable. I don’t know about ponies, but I didn’t really care for the idea of having somepony watching me from above all the time. Niirah had yet to return, but other than that we were ready to host some very high profile ponies.
I turned to Dwiin who was my guard for the night. “Do you know if the youngling and his mother arrived yet?”
“I sent an Embassy guard to show them the way here,” Dwiin replied.
I nodded. “Good. Then all we are missing is Niirah.”
“Would you like me to send a guard to find her?”
I gave him a panicked look. “Are you nuts? No, she’d be so angry with me it’d be kicked out of the room; plus, somehow she’d get Algae mad at you, and you know it.”
Dwiin’s eyes widened. “Yeah. Not worth the risk. We never spoke of this.”
“Right,” I agreed. I glanced at a clock on the wall. “The first guests should be arriving soon. We best wait at the door.”
Dwiin and I went and stood by the door to wait for guests. Sure enough, the youngling Pike and his mother arrived. Pike and his mother were both Stone Dragons. Pike himself was rather jagged-scaled; he’d blend into a cliffside with ease. His eyes were brown, and he was large for how young he was, easily reaching the height of my knee. I welcomed them both and Pike quickly wandered off towards the buffet.
Niirah arrived not long after and stood with me for the first few guests before going to idly playing her harp. Fancy Pants came with Fleur, punctual as always; they were followed by Jet Set with his wife, then Swan Song, and many others whose names I hadn’t remembered. Soon enough we had about thirty guests wandering and mingling. I was about to head in to start talking with them all when a familiar light brown unicorn with a dark brown mane trotted up. She wore a grey hat that had a note tucked into the fabric that read “Press” on it.
“Quick Scoop, right?” I asked.
“Surprised you remember me, Ambassador,” she smiled, already pulling out a notebook and pen.
“Only reporter I know.”
“Oh, cool. Anyway, I heard you were holding this fundraiser. I was wondering if I could come in and mingle. I'm working on a piece.” Her eyes kept going from me to the crowd, probably already thinking of whom to interview.
“Only if you can help me get the word out about donating for this fund,” I said.
“Not a problem!” Quick Step chirped, looking excited.
“Then come on in,” I said stepping aside. She hurried inside and started taking notes.
I headed up to Pike and his mother, who was hanging back to the side, away from the crowd. “You still comfortable with this Pike?” I asked.
“You said I'd be helping other dragons like me learn. I wanna help,” he chirped.
“It all he's talked about since you came to us a few days ago,” his mom laughed lightly.
“I'll bet. Now Pike, when I call you up I'm gonna ask you about a few school-related questions, and I want you to answer them honestly. Okay?”
“Yup!” he said happily. His mother just nodded.
I nodded. “Okay,” I moved over to my sister who was serving vegetarian food at a table she had set up. “How are things over here?” I asked.
“So great!” Alezah said, looking beside herself with joy. “Some of them have inquired about me catering to some of their events in the future. I keep having to tell them I'll think about it.”
“That's great. But do we have enough food for the whole event?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah of course. It's not like these Canterlot ponies eat a whole lot,” Alezah shrugged. “Probably worried about getting fat.”
“Keep it up, sister, and you might want to write down some of the information of the ponies offering you work,” I suggested.
She gasped. “Why didn't I think of that!” She hurried off to grab a pen and paper.
Next, I went to find Fancy Pants and Fleur. To my somewhat genuine surprise, they were talking to Niirah while she was preparing for another song. Fleur looked particularly excited to be speaking to Niirah.
“Enjoying the entertainment?” I asked with a smile.
“Very much so, monsieur,” Fleur said, shining with happiness.
“Indeed. My dear, you have quite the talent.” Fancy complimented, and if I knew him he’d try and give her an opportunity. “I’ve simply never seen a harp played in that way. If you wouldn’t mind if I could pass along your name to a friend of mine who works for a record company, I’m sure he would love to give you a shot.”
Niirah’s face lit up with a kind of excitement that I have only ever seen once before. “That’d be great!” She suddenly paused and looked at me, her face uncertain. “But we only just found each other if I start with a record company it might pull us apart.”
I let out a low chuckle. “Niirah, have you seen how stubborn I can be?” She nodded. “Good, now, have you noticed how stubborn YOU can be?” She blushed and grinned. “I think we’ll be fine.”
“If you are done embarrassing me in front of our friends, you have a fundraiser to get moving.” She placed a kiss on my cheek before I had a chance to leave.
“Trying to get rid of me?” I asked as I started towards the podium.
“A little, now go use that gift for speech the Spirits gave you,” Niirah called.
I rolled my eyes and headed over to the podium. I picked up a glass of champagne, and tapped my claw against it, making it chime.
“Can I have everyone’s attention please?” I waited for the chatter to die down and for everyone to turn towards me before continuing. “I want to thank you all for coming to this afternoon fundraiser. I’m sure the offer of free food was at least worth the trip.” The were some murmurs of laughter at my comment. “But now I ask for a favor of all of you, not as the Speaker of the Dragonlands, but as a dragon who grew up without an education. I want to speak about the education of the next generation of dragons. We have one here with us today. Pike of the Stone clan. Pike, could you come here with me?”
With a gentle push from his mother, Pike started his walk up towards me, confidently at first, but he quickly fell shy under the gazes of all the other guests. By the time he got up to me, he looked frightened.
“Pike, you’ve been in Equestria with your mother for six months, yes?” I said, bending down so that I was at his eye level. He nodded. I could hear the shutters of a camera and the scratching of a pen coming from Quick Scoop’s direction.
“What have you learned in that time? Any books you like? Or subjects?” I asked, trying to get him to say something.
He actually relaxed a little. “Oh! Math! I like math.”
“Math, eh? Hmm... can’t say I’m a fan of math.” More chuckling. “What is it about math that you like so much?”
“Well at first I didn’t understand it, but then my teacher showed me how it could be applied to how we stone dragons build stuff. It makes the building so much easier, fewer mistakes,” Pike explained.
“That sounds excellent. And if you could teach this to other stone dragons, you think they’d be better at building?”
He gave me a confused look. “I’m not that good at math.” This time, every guest laughed. Good.
“I figured that. I meant, would you suggest that stone dragons would be better off if they knew math?”
“Yup!” he chirped.
“Okay, thank you, Pike, you did great.” I let him run back to his mother as the attendees applauded politely. “Now, I don’t expect you to start pulling out your bit bags right this moment,” I continued my speech. “The funds we are raising will be going toward building a school in the vacant block of Fillydelphia for all the fresh young dragon minds that will be arriving there soon.”
I took a breath. “I wish for ponies and dragons to work together to better this world. But the dragons have to catch up first, and you can help us do just that.” I let that sink in a moment. “Thank you. Enjoy the free drinks and the buffet; my sister Alezah worked very hard on it.”
As soon as I was finished, the crowd applauded again, and several ponies started firing questions at me so fast I couldn’t keep up. So I focused on a voice, Quick Scoop’s “Ambassador Krein! What other plans do you have for the vacant block of Fillydelphia? Will you assist the local guard with security?”
I took a deep breath. This is gonna be a long afternoon.
A few days after the fundraiser we received three reasonably large anonymous donations, other than my own. Which meant we had enough to build three classrooms, a cafeteria, an office with a nurse’s station, and a playground to start off with. I had sent the corresponding letters to the appropriate contractors, with the necessary requests for the structure’s specifications. Fireproof, thermal lined, sound absorbing walls, and acid neutralizers for the viper dragons. Just to cover the basics. I’m willing to bet that schools for ponies are much simpler to build. And probably less expensive.
Niirah, Dwiin and I were all in the Embassy. We decided to eat lunch together today so we wouldn't have to worry about a Guard hovering over our shoulders.
“Olakaan is working on further developing the communicative capabilities of those communication stones.” I started.
“Really? How so?” Dwiin asked.
“He says that he thinks he can ‘program’ them, whatever that means, and effectively make a device where we punch in a specific code for a friend or family member and it will contact the friend near instantaneously and allow instant communication worldwide.” A ludicrous idea really but useful if he can pull it off. Then again he has managed interdimensional travel. I don’t care what he says, I know what I saw.
Niirah tapped the table in thought. “That sounds nice actually. I know I’d like to talk to some of my sisters sooner rather than wait for a written reply,”
“Useful in coordinating security with other security teams,” Dwiin nodded. “Or checking with Algae if she needs anything before heading home.”
“Or getting in contact with someone in case of emergencies,” Niirah added.
“That I agree with,” Dwiin sighed. “So much better than hiring a runner to inform you that someone is in labor.”
“Another false alarm?” I asked.
“I know we still have a long way off until the eggs actually hatch but I’m so over the suspense. I have to treat every false alarm like the real thing. How will I even know if it’s the real thing anyway?” Dwiin slouched.
“I never told you that?” I asked. I thought I had.
He gave me an irritated look when he realized that I’d withheld something. “No,” he growled.
“Oh, that is just like pony pregnancies as far as I know: her water will break.” I drank from my water bottle.
“I don’t have to worry about bringing her to the hospital or anything, right?” Dwiin asked.
“No, in fact, that is a horrible idea. The more private, the better.” Niirah said as I nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, her adrenaline levels will already be high, you don’t want her to be uncomfortable at the same time,” I added.
“That is a very good point,” Dwiin nodded.
A knock at the door disrupted the conversation. One of the guards from downstairs poked his head in. “Sir, a pegasus pony here to see you, says that ‘It’s time’.”
“Ask her if Algae’s water has broken,” Dwiin said without moving, though I could see the panic in his eyes.
The guard ducked back out of the room. Whispers could be heard outside, and then the guard returned. “She said ‘Yes it has.’”
Almost before the sentence was fully out of his mouth, Dwiin shot out of his seat and was out the door before one of us could say calm down.
“Maybe we should visit them later,” Niirah suggested. “We could get her a gift.”
I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll do that once we finish our food.”
“Dwiin didn't get to,” Niirah pointed out, nodding at his plate.
“Maybe we’ll get him a takeout bag as a gift,” I joked.
Nirrah laughed. “That’d be funny.”
I’m actually glad we followed because it turned out that the roars from Algae passing melon sized eggs had drawn the attention of the City Guard. I was able to explain what was going on fast enough to keep them from storming the apartment, preventing what would have been an awkward situation for all involved parties. Niirah and I waited outside the apartment building, listening to Algae alternately roaring in pain and yelling at Dwiin and trying to calm down any frightened ponies who passed by.
Soon enough night fell and the roars stopped. We made our way up to their apartment and knocked lightly.
“Come in!” we heard Algae call.
We entered and saw that all of their furniture was pushed off to the side. Algae lay in a shallow makeshift pool in the middle of their apartment, looking exhausted; Dwiin was sitting next to her, holding her claw. Looking to the side, I saw three colorful sea and fire dragon eggs in their own shallow tub of warm water.
“With all that noise I thought there would have been more,” I said absentmindedly. Niirah slapped my shoulder with a wing. “What?”
“I was that loud?” Algae asked, blushing.
“He had to talk the city guard out of coming in here and finding out what was going on,” Niirah explained.
Algae’s face went red. “That is beyond embarrassing.”
“At least you got that over with now. You know, bright side,” I tried.
Niirah brought Algae over her gift. “I figured since for the next thirty-two months you can drink to your heart’s content until you have to stop,” Niirah revealed a bottle of Algae’s favorite wine.
“You know what’s up.” Algae tried to grab at it greedily, but Niirah held it out of reach.
“Let me get some wine glasses and we can all have some.” Niirah went to get glasses.
I turned to Dwiin. “I know they aren’t your eggs. But you will be the closest thing to a father they’ll have. Here.” I gave him a box of cigars. I heard that was a thing ponies did, I also heard it was extremely cliche, but I don’t think he knew that.
“What are these?” he asked. I also forgot he had never seen cigars before.
“Cigars. You smoke ‘em.”
“They aren’t made of that weed I keep reading about in the paper are they?” Dwiin looked at me with suspicion.
“No, just trust me okay? Come on, let’s go to your balcony.”
The balcony was small but it was just big enough to fit the two of us. I showed him how to light the cigars and how to smoke them, just like how Fancy Pants had taught me.
“What do you think?” I asked as Dwiin slowly blew out a cloud of smoke.
“I like the flavor. I don’t see myself doing this often, but I like it well enough.”
“Good,” I nodded.
“Listen, Krein. I wanted to thank you again for being there while I helped Algae through this.”
“It’s no problem, I just want you to return the favor when it comes to my turn for younglings.”
“Are you and Niirah-”
“No!” I shouted, a bit too loudly. I cleared my throat. “No, she has made it quite clear we are not ready for that at this point in our relationship. But I do believe that she would be open to the possibility at a later time.”
“Spirits you talk like a politician,” Dwiin said, rolling his eyes.
“I am a politician!” I laughed. “And it’s not like I’m trying to. You talk like one of those old soldiers that have been fighting for far too long sometimes.”
“I’m not old,” Dwiin frowned at me.
“That is what you took from my comment?”
Dwiin opened his mouth to continue bickering, but we were suddenly interrupted. The Bloodsteel Guard, who was supposed to be guarding the door to the apartment flew up to the balcony. “Sir, we’ve lost contact with the Embassy!”
“What do you mean?” Dwiin asked.
“We heard an explosion, and the shattering of glass before the com-crystals went dead,” he elaborated. My blood ran cold in fear of the worst. Dwiin rushed inside to get his armor back on.
This was so much worse than what I imagined. Everydragon who had been in the Embassy was either killed by the explosion or being rushed to the nearest hospital. I was standing with what remained of my Bloodsteel Guard. Ponies had gathered at the perimeter the firefighters and the city guard had set up. The fire was nearly out now, but a number of bodies still needed to be recovered and the smell of smoke and burnt flesh still hung in the late afternoon air.
I smelt the air. I recognized a scent other than burning flesh. “Do you smell that?” I asked Dwiin.
Dwiin sniffed the air and frowned. “The smell of sulfur? Maybe even the kind of sulfur we would find in the sulfur fields in the east Dragonlands?”
“The same.” I needed to call Viing. “Let’s get moving to the Castle, I need to speak with the Princesses.”
As we walked, I touched my brand and whispered, “Viing.” The brand burned to life and I heard Viing’s voice in my ear. “Speaker, I was just about to call you.”
“I have bad news Viing. The Dragon Embassy was just bombed, the majority of the Embassy guard and the Bloodsteel guard are dead. I’m going to see the Princesses now.”
“My news is no better,” Viing replied darkly. Dwiin and I exchanged glances. “The airship that was carrying Ash to the Dragonlands. It never made it. The sea dragons found it last night at the bottom of the ocean, crew dead, Ash missing. He hasn't come to the Dragonlands or we would have spotted him by now. He must have gone back to you.”
I cut the communication. “Ash must have been freed by the resistance and helped coordinate this attack. Other than the Embassy there are only four things Ash would go after Algae, you, me, and maybe the princess's head of security.”
“I can take a guard back to the apartment and make sure the girls are okay,” Dwiin said, signaling a guard to follow him.
“I will go to the Princesses and fill them in on what has happened.” We nodded in agreement that this was the best plan.
I took flight wanting to get to the castle faster. I flew hard and fast, enough that some of my guards were having issues keeping up. As we approached the castle I saw flickers of light on the front lawn.
Then I saw the dragons. Dragons wearing Resistance colors, trying to burn their way into the castle. The Royal Guard was barely holding them off: I watched one of the guards become engulfed in flames and fall, screaming in agony.
The sight of the enemy dragons made my blood boil. They killed our people. They had to pay. I dove headlong into the fight and giving my guards no choice but to do the same, all of us giving a great roar. Our jets of flame-roasted their bodies before they had a chance to react; with their armor protecting them, the Bloodsteel Guards charged into the fray, easily defeating any Rebel foolish enough to get close. Rallied by our arrival, the Royal Guards began a counterattack, firing magic spells and crossbow bolts at the Rebels.
I picked a rebel dragon that looked like their leader and went for the wings. I landed on his back and used every claw and talon I had to rip apart his wings and render them utterly useless. He threw me aside and howled in pain, then charged.
I recognized this dragon; I had fought him before, a long time ago. “Garble,” I think his name was.
I countered his attack and pinned him down to the ground, my claws digging into his neck and drawing blood. “Why are you doing this? Why did you kill our kind?!” I roared.
“You are not our kind!” he growled. I was vaguely aware that my guards, with the assistance of the Royal Guards, had either chased off, subdued or killed the other rebel dragons.
“We are true Dragons! Pure!” Garble continued to rant. I could almost see the crazy coming off of him in waves. “We are not tainted by breeding with the lesser species! Our world will no longer play host to weaker things! All will burn in the Refiner’s Fire! All will fall at the claw of Pyre!”
I had enough of his nonsense. I curled my claw into a fist and knocked him out with a blow to the head.
“Speaker! What is the meaning of this?” Celestia called as she descended from the steps of the castle followed by Luna.
I stood up slowly, panting. “I’m afraid my efforts to keep Equestria out of the dragon war just became in vain. This ‘Refiner’s Fire’ and ‘Pyre’ or whatever this dragon calls himself, has just declared war on everycreature who believes differently than him.”
“Obviously he has followers,” Luna observed, casting her gaze over the captured and dead Rebel dragons. “What is the Dragon Lord’s response?”
I didn’t want to speak for Lord Torch, but I had a feeling I knew what the answer would be.
War.
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Nooo a cliff hanger- always at the best spot!
Really though, damn, a war against blind power craving dragons. Me thinks it's time Krein gets his stone's power under control and begins crushing the rebellion
Huh, they just pissed off both the biggest Dragon and possibly the best-connected dragon at the same time as pissing off Sol Invictus. This "Pyre" is either really smart or really, really dumb.
Keep up the good work, author!
WAR
O boy the next story ark is going to be so good.
i will be watching vary close for the new story.
must have more. pls sir may I have some more.
Looking forward to the next installment.
9072690
Spike was raised by Twilight: giving her (exceptionally powerful for a unicorn) ample time to study the effects of magic on dragons and make a spell or two that affect dragons in different ways. Spells not necessarily available to all unicorns due to the lack of dragons in Equestria (at the time).
More... I need more
make a sequel already!
So when is it coming out i need more !!
more please
I can haz more?
This story is vastly underated
9433170
Oh, I knew about it. Just making some comparisons between show canon and this alternate universe.
9435343
You do know that Monsanto is a scapegoat, right?
9435721
It was a thing I remember maybe 12% of from a lesson in school. Other than the name, and the basic rundown of what was happening, I don't remember anything from that lesson.
9437205
Simply put, Monsanto is owned by a larger corporation, and is actually just a name that's used to deflect criticism away from themselves. If everyone is focussed on blaming "big bad Monsanto", then it means that focus is away from the larger corporation as a whole. The problem with this is that because Monsanto is associated with the farming industry, many farmers end up taking the blame, and in many cases they take the fall, too.
All in all, a good story. There were a few spots where the grammar and spelling could use some work, but otherwise I liked it.
Bad
I really wish we had a few more chapters of this just to expand on relationship building