Chapter 22
Talon was having trouble sleeping. Again. Lightning Flash and Storm Front had told the whole Squad that she lost an argument with that crystal pony, Inkwell. Most of the Squad had scoffed at the idea, but there had been some suspicious looks as well. Talon glanced at the sleeping forms of Lightning and Storm. They obviously didn’t think she was fit to be a squad leader.
They weren’t exactly wrong. Unlike higher ups, squad leaders were expected to know everything there was to know about their underlings. The new wyverns were far more experienced than Talon, but they were newcomers to the Squad, which was the only reason that one of them wasn’t leading it.
That would change in another month or two, and Talon would be demoted to venom leader. It was probably what was best for the Squad as a whole, but Lightning and Storm didn’t have to be so happy about it.
Talon glanced around the room. Nineteen other wyverns, two wyrms, because Heart was still off dealing with whatever had come up in the Ice Spire Caves, and two drakes, all fast asleep in a pile. Apparently she was the only one still up. No wonder Thunderfang was always so grumpy, she thought. She hadn’t slept well since she was promoted.
After a few moments of staring at the room, Talon reached for her flight pack and gently pulled out Refy. She held the plush wyvern against her chest, letting the tension slowly bleed out of her as she watched the moonlit sky.
A flicker of light at the base of the Crystal Palace caught her attention. She looked more closely and noticed shapes outlined by the moon’s silvery light.
Talon felt her suspicions rise. The shapes were wrong for any dragon that she knew of, and a faint blue light seemed to be coming from one of their … horns? Light of the same color surrounded an object that she couldn’t make out.
Talon stood up. Those were ponies, she was certain of it. Somehow, they had just appeared inside the most heavily defended part of the dragon camp, in spite of all the anti-magic circles that were supposed to keep them out. “Wake up, everydragon!”
Some kind of faint yellow light appeared in the sky above the palace.
Rune Field sat up next to Talon and rubbed her eyes. “What’s the big deal?” she asked groggily.
“Something is happening,” Talon replied. “There are ponies at the base of the palace, see?”
Rune squinted. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
The streets outside began to glow a vibrant shade of blue.
Hadn’t the streets glowed before when they activated the Crystal- Talon’s breath caught. That thing they were carrying, could it be the Crystal Heart? No, it should be safely locked up at the Ice Spire Caves.
The glow was getting brighter.
Maybe the Equestrians made a new one somehow. “I need every enhancement spell you can cast on me,” Talon ordered, “and quickly.”
Rune had seen the glowing street as well by then. She nodded and began to cast.
“Everydragon, get outside!” Talon jumped through the window, closing her eyes against the broken glass, and started beating her wings furiously as she flew toward the castle. She didn’t even know what she would do once she got there, but she had to stop whatever was happening.
Halfway to the palace, the light around the ponies exploded outwards into a wall of blue energy, moving far too quickly for Talon to have any hope of dodging.
The last thing she remembered was being hurled aside like a fleck of dust.
-_-_-_-_-_-
A wave of blue energy passed through Spirit and the entire Everfree Platoon, giving them all the same crystalline appearance as crystal ponies. Spirit couldn’t help but hold up his armor-covered hand to inspect it before looking down at the rest of his now translucent body. The formerly dull metal now sparkled and shined, even in the dim illumination of the caves.
“That’s the signal,” Fire Claws yelled. She pulled the switch that opened the secret passage into the palace library. “Let’s move, everyone!” She ran through first, followed by her husband and the rest of the Platoon.
Spirit stood at the very back of the narrow tunnel, and he couldn’t help but worry about his friends and family. There probably wouldn’t be any members of the Dragon Alliance still around after the Crystal Heart activated, but underestimating them had already cost several thousand lives.
Autumn rubbed against Spirit’s side while sending him feelings of reassurance. The sound of her armor against his wasn’t exactly calming, but Spirit appreciated the gesture anyway.
“The library is clear,” Fire Claws reported seconds later, calming a number of Spirit’s worries.
“Amethyst isn’t seeing anydragon other than us on the lower floors,” Scenic Trail added. “I think we’re in the clear.”
“Glad to hear it, Mom,” Spirit sent back. “Tell her to keep her eyes open anyway, just in case.” He and Autumn hurried after the rest of the Platoon, emerging into the Crystal Palace’s library. Amazingly, the room looked completely normal. Well, except for all the Platoon members in combat armor.
Autumn looked around. “Someone stay here to guard the entrance. The rest of you, start searching the upper floors, but stick together and be careful! If a member of the Alliance is still here, then they’re either smart, powerful, or lucky enough to withstand a blast from the Crystal Heart.” “We should check in with Celestia.”
Spirit nodded and sent back agreement. “Mom, have Amethyst check the stairs to the courtyard with her x-ray vision spell.”
“Already done,” Scenic Trail sent. “It’s clear.”
Spirit and Autumn hurried down the nearest stairwell and into the open courtyard beneath the palace.
All four alicorn princesses were wearing full armor and standing around the Crystal Heart, which was spinning in place on its pedestal once more. Shining Armor was there as well, standing beside his wife. Everypony was sporting the crystalline look. Even their armor had changed to look more like something crystal ponies would wear.
Spirit and Autumn approached them carefully. Living with Twilight had taught them both to appreciate just how much destruction an alicorn could cause by accident.
Twilight grinned when she saw them. As the shortest of the alicorns, and the only one wearing Everfree Armor—Spirit still preferred ‘the Armor of Unfairness’—she was easy to pick out. “Spirit, I’m so glad you’re safe!”
“Same to you, Sis,” Spirit said, quickly walking over to her. “Everfree is still checking the palace, but I’d be surprised if we find anything. How’s the rest of the city?”
She gestured toward the south, where several balls of light were floating in the air. “Trixie just signaled that everything is okay with the crystal ponies, and that they’re coming to the palace. No one else has checked in yet.”
“Were there any difficulties in activating the Heart?” Autumn asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No, it worked fine. A wyvern did see us and was flying toward the palace, but the shield activated before it could get too close.”
All around the edges of the Empire, blue lights began shooting into the air, signaling that the dragons opposite the shield were alive but not trying to counterattack.
Shining let out a long breath. He was wearing his guard armor, but it did nothing to hide the relieved look on his face. “Good, we’re in no position to respond to a full attack from those aura drakes.”
Luna nodded. “More time to establish our position can only be a good thing.” Her own armor was gold with silver highlights and covered in intricate runes. Designed with speed and maneuverability in mind, it left her upper legs and wings exposed, but at least her vital organs would be safe, and thick metal boots gave her a convenient weapon against dragons. A crescent moon symbol stood out on her chest, with another around the base of her horn, and two more positioned just above her cutie mark on either side of her hips. Much like the moon itself, the armor seemed to glow softly in the darkness.
Autumn nodded gravely and stared over Twilight’s shoulder at the Crystal Heart. Through the link, Spirit felt a mixture of relief and frustration. “It’s almost a shame that the Heart rarely kills anything. This war would have been over twice by now if it did.”
Twilight looked a little shocked that Autumn would say such a thing, but she didn’t argue.
“It did kill some of them,” Cadance said, drawing the group’s attention to her. She had relatively little experience in combat magic, which was reflected by the fact that her armor was just standard crystal guard armor with a modified helmet for her horn. At least the silvery breastplate, helmet, and boots were better than nothing. “The Crystal Heart responds to the emotions of the crystal ponies.” She clenched her eyes shut. “Most of them just want to be free, but some were so angry and so hurt that they wanted the Dragon Alliance destroyed.”
Spirit shivered a little as he looked around at the Empire. Signal lights were popping up more and more as teams investigated their surroundings and found everything to be clear. “How long till we start building those defenses around the Heart?”
“We will begin in a moment,” Celestia said, stepping forward. The Solar Alicorn’s armor was minimal, to put it generously. She had a set of metal boots, a chestplate, wing guards, and a crown. It would almost have been possible to mistake it for her usual regalia if the whole thing weren’t reddish-gold. Of course, armor was kind of pointless when you could transform into a being of living plasma at will. Anything that could hurt her when she was like that wouldn’t be affected by a few plates of metal. “I believe it is time to show these dragons what happens when they harm my subjects.” Her eyes flashed pure white as she took to the air.
“I would suggest covering your ears,” Luna said as she flew after her.
Spirit didn’t have to be told twice.
The two alicorns rose high into the air, until they were almost touching the upper edge of the shield.
“Members of the Dragon Alliance,” Celestia shouted in a voice so loud that it rumbled in Spirit’s chest like thunder, “I give you one last opportunity to chose peace.” As she spoke, the sun rose into the sky, casting the land in painfully bright light. “Silver Tail, come forward now so that we can discuss this like civilized creatures.”
Somehow things got even brighter, and Spirit noticed the temperature rising. Most of the guards around him were sweating.
“But if you reject this offer,” Celestia continued, “understand that your deaths will be upon your own heads!”
A ball of blue energy shot from the borders of the Empire toward the alicorn sisters. Shining Armor managed to generate a shield before it struck, but the force of the explosion still knocked Spirit flat onto his stomach. Blinding light obscured everything outside of the shield for a moment, and when it cleared, Spirit gasped.
The flattened ground around the Crystal Palace was gone, like someone had scooped all of it up, leaving a deep trench in its place. At least the civilian houses on both sides of that area were still intact, but Spirit doubted that it was just some happy coincidence. In every direction, the destruction stopped just short of the civilian houses. That kind of precision had to be on purpose.
Silver Tail’s voice filled the area, seeming to come from everywhere at once. “Five hundred and fifty-four murders.” His voice shook with barely contained rage. “They never had a chance to defend themselves. You think I would speak to you about peace now, seconds after this atrocity?”
Another ball of energy shot into the sky outside of the Empire, creating an explosion large enough to level nearly half the Crystal Empire.
“Be grateful that we aren’t like you. We don’t kill foes in their sleep. We don’t kill foes without warning them and giving them a chance to surrender. But we will return. We will challenge you to battle once more. Then, we will lay waste to your armies until you beg us for peace. This I promise you as Dragon Lord of the Ice Spire Clan!”
Spirit swallowed and looked up at Celestia and Luna, still hovering in place over the Crystal Palace.
“So be it,” Luna roared.
Snow began to melt in a circle around the Empire, which suddenly expanded until the entire countryside was brown, snowless, and soaking wet.
The sun set as quickly as it had risen, and the moon returned to its position in the sky.
Spirit’s ears were ringing, and he shivered as the temperature dropped back to normal for a winter night in the Empire. The change was probably even more extreme on the outside, where the Empire’s magic didn’t keep everything warm.
Celestia and Luna came back down, panting heavily.
“That was a rather exhausting display, Sister,” Luna breathed. “Did we really have to thaw the entire northern half of the continent?”
“Maybe we did go a bit overboard,” Celestia wiped a bit of sweat off her forehead, “but I doubt the Alliance will be able to rally their troops tonight with all of them cold and wet like that.” She shook her head sadly. “I know it was foolish to hope for peace now, after two battles, but I wish they had at least considered our offer.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Twilight asked. “I can’t imagine how much magic you both just used.”
“We can rest once the Crystal Heart is secure,” Luna replied. She took a deep breath. “In the meantime, I would dearly appreciate a cup of coffee.”
Shining pointed to one of the guards. “See if there’s any left in the palace kitchens.”
“I’ll get started on those defensive enchantments,” Twilight said as the guard left.
Spirit, meanwhile, turned to Celestia. “Remind me to invite you two to our next Winter Wrap-up in Everfree.”
Celestia smiled. “What do you think that spell was intended for in the first place?”
-_-_-_-_-_-
“… You think he gave it to the ponies?” a vaguely familiar voice asked.
“Either him or that chimera thing that showed up to save him,” Heart Echo replied from nearby.
Talon groaned softly and opened her eyes. It was a bit dark, and she was lying on her stomach in a stone nest somewhere, but that was all she could figure out from her limited view. She felt something pressed against her chest and shifted a little so that she could get a look at it.
Refy? She stared at the plush wyvern in confusion. How did he get here?
“Oh, she’s awake.” Heart climbed over the side of the nest. Orange light radiated from her scales for some reason, but she smiled gently. “Hey there, Talon. How are you feeling?”
Talon let go of Refy and tried to push herself up but faltered when her vision blurred.
Heart ducked under the wyvern’s wing to support her.
Smiling gratefully, Talon said, “I’m a little weak.”
“That’s no surprise. Head injuries and healing magic are both pretty draining.”
Head injuries. Wonderful. Talon blinked away the last few spots in her vision. “What happened to you?”
“Something in our food supply.” Heart’s glow shifted to red. “Don’t worry about it. Lots of other dragons have it worse.”
The good news just kept coming. “Crystal?”
“Can’t stop breathing poisonous gas. She’s fine, but we had to isolate her.”
Talon’s headache flared for a moment. “What happened at the Empire?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Heart asked. “We’ll start there.”
Talon looked around. Tornado was curled around the stone nest in his battle form, which was against regulations. Being in that form used up an unbelievable amount of calories, and they had to conserve food, especially if something was wrong with some of their supplies.
Beyond Tornado’s sleeping form, Talon saw that they were in the Ice Spire Cave, and it looked like the entire Alliance was with them. Not a good sign. As worrisome as that was, however, most of her attention was held by the group of dragons looking at her expectantly.
All five Hurricanes, Yol Toor, his twin daughters, and Silver Tail were sitting just beyond the edge of the nest. The light from a lava pit behind them cast all of their scales in shades of orange and red, which only made some strange things stand out all the more. Silver Tail had buck teeth for some reason, and his eyes seemed to be looking in two different directions. Meanwhile, Yol Toor had both his paws clamped around his muzzle. It looked like he was struggling to hold his own mouth shut. The Hurricanes looked normal, at least, except that Aurora’s eyes were shut, even though she seemed to be listening like everydragon else.
It occurred to Talon that, oddities aside, the leaders of the Alliance had just seen her sleeping with her childhood toy. “I …” Talon looked away from the assembled dragons before she could choke. Ancestors, kill me now. “I saw a group of ponies under the palace. They were carrying something that looked a lot like the Crystal Heart. I told my squad to get outside, in case something happened, and was flying toward the palace to … I don’t know, stop them, when they activated that Crystal Heart thing.” She shook her head. “I'm sorry, that’s all I can remember.”
Silver Tail sighed and shrugged. “You’re forgiven. I’m not sure why you think you need it, though. I was asleep right up until they blasted us out of the Empire.”
“This is more evidence that Gemstone Aura betrayed us,” Heart said angrily as the red light around her flared.
He what? Talon knew that the quirky rune master had some misgivings about this war, but she hadn’t expected him to leave them, especially with how loyal Rune and Genesis were.
Heart sighed and turned to Talon. “He was behaving suspiciously. When I confronted him about it, he risked his life to escape, rather than accepting imprisonment. Wyrms don’t act that way unless somedragon is depending on them. Less than a day later, Equestria used ‘something a lot like the Crystal Heart’ to blast you all out of the Empire.” She adjusted her grip around Talon’s shoulder and wing. “The evidence against him just keeps growing.”
Yol Toor let go of his muzzle. “The Crystal Heart itself remains in our possession, but he may have found a way to replicate it and then taught that to Equestria. I always sensed some kind of ulterior loyalty within him, but I never expected it to be to Equestria. Perhaps it wasn’t to Equestria at all, though. He could have simply been abducted by them and-” He clamped his mouth shut again.
“We can’t hold the Empire if Equestria can make Crystal Hearts at will,” Aurora said, still with her eye shut. The elderly ice wyvern ‘looked’ up at the roof of the cave, her expression unreadable. “Giving Equestria time to regroup is less than optimal, but flying headlong into a situation we don’t fully understand is even worse.” She brought her head back down. “We will hold off on attempting to reclaim the Crystal Empire until we have more information on this new Crystal Heart. The supplies we’ve gathered will last for nearly a year if we ration them. Time will let us devise a new strategy. Torch,” she turned to an empty spot on the cave floor, “you said you recognized the creature that aided Gemstone Aura?”
Talon looked more closely and saw a miniaturized version of Torch sitting on the floor. He nodded gravely. “The Rocky Shore Clan has legends of a creature called a draconequus.” Oddly, his voice was as deep and strong as ever. “I never saw it until today, but it’s supposed to be nearly unstoppable. Only the Bloodstone Scepter can protect us from it.”
“It did retreat when you invoked the Scepter’s power,” Aurora said. “For now, we will act as though the Bloodstone Scepter is the only thing keeping us safe. Our spies should look for information about that creature as well.” Aurora lowered her gaze to the other dragons. “Until we are ready to act once more, we should assume that anything Gemstone knew about us has been shared with Equestria.”
“I’ll warn our spies to be careful,” Heart said. The light around her shifted to green. “Equestria will probably want to get rid of them as soon as possible.”
“We should look for strategies to kill Celestia and Luna too,” Silver Tail said. “We shouldn’t underestimate foes that melted the Frozen North just to prove a point.”
As they discussed other problems and strategies, Talon struggled to pay attention. Her head felt both light and heavy at the same time, and she found herself leaning more and more against Heart.
The wyrm dragoness must have noticed, because at the next lull in the conversation, she said, “Let’s take this somewhere else. I think we’ve kept Talon awake long enough already.”
“No, it’s okay,” Talon said, fighting down a yawn. “You don’t have to move.”
Heart rolled her eyes. “You and Tornado both need your rest.”
“Tornado?” She looked at the sleeping drake again. “Is he okay?”
“He got a rather bad concussion from diving to catch you,” one of Yol Toor’s daughters said. They both had white scales, gray horns, and golden eyes, but Talon was moderately confident that this one was Dun Brii, Tornado’s ancestor.
“It was kind of awesome to watch, though,” the other said. Qo Peyt, if Talon remembered correctly.
The rest of the group turned to stare at her.
“What? I got woken up by a giant shield smashing me through a bunch of houses, and the first thing I see is a drake diving toward a wyvern with one paw stretched out to grab her and the other holding a stuffed toy that he knows she cares about, while calling her name at the top of his lungs.” She sighed wistfully. “If I was nine hundred years younger and single, I would have swooned right there.”
Talon didn’t share the sentiment. In fact, she was seriously considering finding a hole to crawl into and die. Sleeping with a toy, like a hatchling, and getting to play the damsel in distress, both in front of my leaders. Seriously, Ancestors, can this get any worse?
“You don’t have to look so embarrassed,” Silver Tail said to her. “Tornado’s a nice drake, and nodragon here is going to judge you if you two have been sharing some,” he winked, “private training sessions.”
The sound of a wing slapping onto a forehead echoed throughout the cave.
“You know, Talon,” Heart said, “you really should avoid more head trauma until you’ve gotten over your concussion.”
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wow, I guess they are just boned then. Only with the death of the the leadership will things change.
7676017 For a drake, a sneak attack against an unsuspecting foe is the lowest and most cowardly thing imaginable. The wyrms and wyverns just see it as smart, but the drakes account for 2/3rds of the Alliance's fighting power, so their opinion is going to hold a lot of sway.
Ok great chapter22.
_Take back the Crystal Empire mission complete !!!
_But come on!! The Dragon alliance in take the peace treat because this war pointless. The dragon alliance are at disadvantage now the four princess are together, and Cliff now almost all there move.
_I hope that the Dragon alliance really talk to each other about the peace treaty.
That twice princess celestia want peace.
_Highlights Celestia and luna there voice are mighty
7676017
Cosmic flash
I think from the beginning that most of the Dragon leader have something personal against Celestia.
7676054
About that. You did characterise the drakes as intensely bound by their own sense of honour, which does go againt sneak attacks, for example.
So, why is it sport among the younger drakes to smash defenceless phoenix eggs?
I had my suspicions the dragons would be repelled the same way the changelings were in the Canterlot invasion. Though I'm curious about how the barrier killed some of them while the rest just got flung back. Did the barrier zap specific dragons that had antagonized the crystal ponies to the point of wanting those dragons gone.
Also, it's fun to know that even in dire times, the dragons can still joke around though I think it could be just what they need to cope with the situation.
7676121 they be a$$holes
Silver let your god damn pride go, there is a sayain that would like to tell you to get over it and face them in a duel over this mindless bloodshed.
Robot: So we need to get into the Sentai mechs just to watch this battle
Me: yep *pulls out the cell phone from PR:Mystic force* okay we are going dragon just to be here watching this go down.
Robot,Wolf-dragons: Right
And we turn into the dragon.
7676054 So like I said they are officially boned unless the leadership suddenly changes. If they are unwilling to negotiate what choice do the ponies have.
7676113 The dragons are definitely at a disadvantage here, but remember that Silver Tail did just see a number of his friends and descendants get killed in that sneak attack. He wouldn't have been in the mood to talk regardless of what Celestia had to say.
7676121 Because Garble is a sadistic idiot. He probably didn't view the eggs as living creatures so much as a trophy to prove that he'd 'defeated' the phoenix parents. He doesn't really want the egg though, just the sense of victory, so he'd smash the egg and move on.
7676335 Very clever, you figured it out. The Crystal Heart reflects the feelings and desires of the crystal ponies, so some dragons were hit harder or softer because of the positive or negative feelings that ponies had towards them. Talon's only alive, for example, because Inkwell, the pony she offered to let stay, thought well of her.
That being said, some dragons died just from bad luck, such as having the Crystal Heart through them away at such an angle that it broke their neck.
7676388
7676416 It was more anger than pride that made Silver Tail turn down their offer. Several of his friends and descendants had just been killed in the most dishonorable way imaginable to a drake. He wasn't in the mood to listen to anything that Celestia or Luna had to say, even though it would've been a lot better for everyone if he had taken them up on their offer to talk.
7676634 Yeah, pretty much.
7676388
7676986
I can see that, yes. However, he also seems to have sway over many of his peers. He always had some drakes hang onto his words at any moment other than during the Gauntlet.
Is he, like, very charismatic for a drake? Or do they admire his strength so much? He was the second dragon to arrive at the cavern where the sceptre was, after all, and made it through some of the obstacles where Ember and Spike worked together all by himself. Or is it both?
7677007 now was it the betray of cliff/gem, the crystal heart being "recreated" and ejecting those not welcome to the crystal empire, or the fact the DA lost a battle that they could have just not have done and had a duel ending the war at once instead of more blood shed against a platoon of iron men and women. Because I see at least one way to have stopped this all.
HAVE A BUCKING DUEL AND LET IT BE!
this is a war needing of this,
can't find any of the horror moments from the show but this might work
7677162 we are far past that cannon and are now in to fannon so Vedues has free reign on it
7677007
Didn't Yol and his daughters "sneak" into the empire to steal the chrystal heart? Plus the DA killed ponys in their sleep too when they attacked the Sky base. But that was a normal battle between equal oponents ... one just can breath fire, has an armoured skin and is a few times bigger than a normal pony and the other was a softfurred pegasi that has to wear metalplates as armour. Yes that is totally a faire fight. Evil little honorless ponys! Them and those alicorns that move the sun and the moon. Who will do that if the DA ever gets to kill Celestia and Luna?
7676980
Yeah that is true, but he and the other dragon attack celestia first nearly killing her, she still offers the dragon alliance peace. This is pride talk and not common sense, the dragon alliance need to talk with each other about peace with the pony.
I'm sure Celestia would have mentioned that the deaths of the 552 or however many it was, were not intentional, but the Dragons would not have listened at that point. I believe the time has come to call down a meteor strike from the sky and take out the Alliance base. It is now the only way to end thr struggle. Luna, if you would please?