Chapter 5
“I don’t think your leaders like me,” Tornado Wings said. He had to shout a little to be heard over the wind generated by their flight.
It had been a few days since the drake joined their squad, and he was still under direct orders from Talon to remain in his thinking form unless there was a need to switch. Yes, he burned fewer calories in his thinking form and thus had to eat less, but Talon had her own reasons for giving the order: put bluntly, Tornado was less of an idiot this way.
“Which leaders don’t like you?” Talon asked, shifting her flight pack to a more comfortable position. “The Storms, the Tornadoes, or the Hurricanes?”
“Any of them. They haven’t offered to teach me, or even spoken to me at all other than to introduce me to Thunderfang.”
“Military leaders don’t like anydragon,” Talon said. “They can’t afford to get too close to any of their underlings, otherwise it might cloud their judgment when they’re sending us into battle.” There was a reason why Talon rarely saw her parents since she completed basic training. Both of them were among the leaders for her swarm.
“They aren’t so bad,” Crystal Sky said on the drake’s other side.
Her new battle partner, Cloud Breaker, flew nearby. Talon had to remind herself not to look at the jagged scar across his throat from where he had slipped on a spear years earlier. There was a reason he rarely spoke.
“Being responsible for us all is just a heavy burden,” Crystal continued. “Even Thunderfang gets worn out by his duties sometimes.”
“Either that, or he’s depressed because he doesn’t have more underlings to yell at.” Talon laughed.
Crystal frowned. “You know he cares more than he lets on.”
“You’re just defending him because you think he has a nice tail.”
The other wyvern looked away. “No I’m not … and you think he does too.”
Talon rolled her eyes and glanced to her right. Thunderfang was flying at the center of their formation. Yes, he had a nice tail, and his face wasn’t bad either, but his personality just ruined it.
Thunderfang’s new partner, an unusually small blue drake named Ember, flew beside him with nine wounded drakes strapped to her back—in their thinking forms, of course. Talon hadn’t spent much time with the other drake, but she seemed really sensitive of the fact that her battle form was so much smaller than average. At least she was experienced enough with it that she didn’t become quite as rocks-for-brains stupid as Tornado when she transformed. There was a reason why he wasn’t carrying the wounded.
“Anyway,” Talon said, “teaching you is our responsibility, Tornado, and I’d say we’re doing a good job so far. You’ll be ready for the battlefield in another week.”
Crystal nodded. “You have been progressing very quickly.”
Tornado grinned at the compliments. “Well, I have been tutored by Yol Toor, and some of his wind techniques are similar to yours.”
“Who?” Talon and Crystal asked in unison.
“My twelfth generation ancestor, the leader of my clan, and the most powerful drake alive,” he said with just a hint of smug pride.
Talon was about to call him out for boasting, but then she realized that he might be telling the truth. “So, he won the tournament last time?”
“And every other time for the last eight hundred years.”
Her jaw dropped open a little. “Wait, is he that gray-blue one that’s twice as large as a normal drake in his battle form?”
Tornado shook his head. “That is Torch, lord of the Rocky Shore Clan that controls this land.”
No wonder this territory is so big, Talon reflected. Drakes had no skill at all for farming, and so they needed massive amounts of land to be able to hunt and gather all the food they needed. She didn’t want to imagine how much a drake like Torch would be able to eat in a day. “What about that guy that looks like he’s wearing a skeleton over his scales?” I don’t think I’ve seen him lose a match yet.
To her surprise, Tornado laughed. “That is Diamond Hide, and she might take offense at you mixing up her gender.”
Even Crystal chuckled softly.
“In my defense,” Talon said with as much dignity as she could muster, “I’ve never seen her up close in her thinking form, and it’s tough to make out features under that exoskeleton thing she generates.”
“Which one is Yol Toor?” Crystal asked.
“I do not think he has been in many matches recently, but he is the gray drake with brown horns and no head spikes. You’ll know it’s him if he is surrounded by an aura of flickering blues and reds, much like a fire.”
“I think I’ve seen something like that,” Talon mused, recalling the dragoness she had seen fighting Silver Tail.
“Probably one of his other descendants,” Tornado said. “Aura control is one of the most difficult transformation to manage. If Yol Toor had not taught the rest of us, I don’t believe anydragon other than him would have figured out how to do it.”
“So you can do it too?” Crystal asked.
“No.” Tornado lowered his head just a little. “I understand the theory, but it can take centuries to actually transform with it successfully.”
Since he was obviously a bit ashamed of that, Talon decided to change the subject. “Why is his name so different? It doesn’t sound anything like the other drake names I’ve heard.”
Tornado shrugged. “It is from the Old Language. Nodragon uses that anymore.” He looked at the ground and his expression hardened. “In any case, we have nearly arrived. We should keep our eyes out for trouble.”
Talon reluctantly nodded and began to study the ground beneath them. Aside from large amounts of scrub brush, the terrain looked the same here as anywhere else in the area.
“What are wyrms like?” Crystal asked nervously.
“Dishonorable,” Tornado replied. “Brutal. Utterly baffling. They shun any challenge to a duel except among their own kind, and those matches are frighteningly vicious. Drakes fight to subdue their opponent. These wyrms …” He shook like he was trying to flick away something gross. “Everything about the match I watched screamed of a desire to kill. Limbs were broken or dislocated, near mortal wounds were inflicted, and yet, when it was finished, both warriors healed themselves and walked away, laughing like old friends.” He shook his head once more.
“Why bother trading with them?” Talon noticed that they were starting to angle down for a landing. “We’re low on supplies as it is.”
Tornado shrugged again. “They have things we need. The glowing stones that light our caves all have to be made by wyrms, and their magic can heal our wounded.”
The squadron landed in a small depression just to the side of a moderately large hill. From the air it had looked like just another patch of dirt, but now that they were on the ground, Talon saw a cave mouth in the hillside.
Silence descended on the assembled dragons as the soft thumps of their landing faded. Talon wasn’t entirely sure why nodragon moved or spoke. The quiet itself seemed to forbid it.
Strangely tense seconds passed before a single figure appeared from the darkness of the cave. As it stepped into the light, Talon got her first look at a wyrm. This one was female, the slenderness of her muzzle made that obvious. She looked like a short, extremely lithe drake with no wings. She was walking on her back legs, even though her arms and legs seemed to be about equally long, but the calmness of her expression and the wisdom sparkling in her eyes indicated that she was no juvenile. Purple scales covered her body, and she had dark red spikes coming off the top of her head. Her head spikes fell to one side, almost like hair, reaching just past the level of her pink eyes.
“I don’t know what lies these drakes have been telling you,” her voice was surprisingly soft, even though her tone was sharp, “but you can relax. We aren’t going to hurt you.” From the cave behind her, five more wyrms emerged. Much like drakes, there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind their coloration.
No words were spoken, but the five newcomers nodded and approached Ember, where the rest of Squad Five was busy unloading the wounded drakes. Meanwhile, the first wyrm approached Talon, Crystal, and Tornado, her expression quizzical.
Talon stood a head taller than this newcomer, but she couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by her. “Uh, hello?”
“Hello.” The wyrm bowed slightly. “My name is Heart Echo, daughter of Radiant Light.”
Talon exchanged a glance with Crystal and Tornado. “Talon Wind, Junior Wing.” She returned the bow.
Crystal did as well. “Crystal Sky, Junior Wing.”
For a moment, it looked like Tornado would remain silent, but then he grudgingly said, “Tornado Wings, of the Shattered Mountain Clan.”
Heart Echo gave the drake a disdainful look before turning back to Talon. “Let me be blunt. I’ve been reading all of your emotions since you landed. You don’t have to keep hiding how unsure and frightened you all feel, and you certainly don’t have to ally yourselves with drakes, even if you have befriended this one.” She gestured at Tornado. “Whatever happened to you all, we can help.”
“What?” Talon asked. There were at least four things the wyrm had said that didn’t make any sense.
“We are helping them,” Tornado growled. “Our leaders have sworn to it, not that you would know anything about honor, wyrm.”
“Yeah, sure.” Heart Echo crossed her arms over her chest. “Just because we fight as a team, we must be dishonorable. Let me guess, your ‘help’ is using them as pony fodder during this insane war you all keep talking about.”
Talon looked past both of them to Thunderfang. The squad leader was looking partially annoyed but mostly confused about what the wyrms’ apparent leader was doing. Just behind him, the other wyrms were running their claws, which were glowing for some reason, over the wounded drakes.
“Okay, Tornado, knock it off,” Talon cut through the drake’s rant about honor and vengeance. She turned to Heart Echo. “I appreciate the offer, and you’re right, we are helping the drakes in this war, but the terms of our alliance are actually very generous. We …” She bit down a sigh. “We’re refugees, our entire species. The drakes are going to give us a third of the land our combined forces manage to retake and a permanent alliance, so they’ll come to our defense if we ever need them. They’re even taking care of our noncombatants until this is all over.”
To everydragon’s surprise, Heart Echo stepped forward and wrapped one arm around Talon and the other around Crystal, pulling them both into a strong embrace. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Whatever drove you from your homeland must have been terrible.” The wyrm released them and stepped back, leaving two thoroughly confused wyverns in her wake. “How many of you are there?”
“Around six thousand,” Talon said automatically. “Thirty-six hundred warriors and twenty-five hundred civilians.”
Heart’s expression fell. “I’m sorry, but that won’t be enough. Larger Equestrian cities are defended by between ten and twelve thousand guards. Let me send out messengers to the nearby covens instead. We don’t control much land, but at least we’ll find room to keep all of your kind safe.”
“Huh?” Talon could barely believe what she was hearing. “We just met two minutes ago. Why are you offering to take in six thousand of us?”
“I told you they are baffling,” Tornado muttered. He turned to Heart Echo. “Wyverns are an honorable race. They do not need your pity.”
“So you’re called wyverns,” she said. “I can’t say I expected a drake to understand, but when a wyrm sees somedragon in need, and the last of their species at that, our first instinct isn’t to throw them in front of an army of murderous ponies led by two goddesses.” Her expression became serious. “Talon, Crystal, talk to the rest of your kind. Don’t let the wyverns go extinct because you agreed to follow a bunch of drakes, who know nothing of teamwork or coordination, into a war.”
“How dishonorable are you?” Tornado demanded. “Our leaders and theirs have already sworn an oath.”
“There’s nothing dishonorable about changing your mind once new information comes to light,” Heart Echo shot back.
Talon finally snapped. “Tornado, shut up! We aren’t going to back out of the alliance, but she obviously knows more about the ponies than any of us, and it might be a good idea to let her talk!”
Both other dragons froze, and for a moment, Talon worried that she had offended them, but then Tornado bowed slightly and stepped away from Heart Echo. “I apologize for repeatedly interrupting your conversation. I will tell you the truth of any lies this wyrm speaks after we have returned to the others.”
Heart Echo sighed. “I’m sorry too. I just can’t believe that these drakes would force you to fight against our most dangerous enemies when they should just give you the land you need.”
“They took us in and helped us when even the elephants wouldn’t,” Talon said. “Asking that we help them in return isn’t at all unreasonable. More importantly, could you tell us how you learned so much about ponies? The information you have could be invaluable.”
Crystal nodded. “Yes, please? You mentioned something about two goddesses, and up to twelve thousand soldiers?”
Heart Echo looked from one wyvern to the other before turning to Tornado. “Alright, drake, they both believe that you aren’t taking advantage of them, so I’ll believe it as well, for now.” She returned her gaze to Talon. “I’m originally from the northern covens, next to the borders of Equestria, their nation. Anyway, my aunt and her husband spent years studying and exploring pony communities, looking for an egg they stole from her. My parents lived in a different coven than them, but whenever we went to visit, they’d tell us all about what they’d learned.
“Among other things, they discovered that larger cities have about twelve thousand guards assigned to protect them from internal or external threats. As for the goddesses, they’re called Celestia and Luna, and they’re supposed to be so powerful that they can move the sun and the moon in the sky.”
Talon’s knees suddenly felt a little weak. “But that’s just a rumor,” she swallowed, “right?”
Heart Echo’s eyes were sympathetic, but her tone was firm. “Maybe. If nothing else, they’re both immortal and extremely powerful. Celestia, the older of the two sisters, could probably hold over a hundred drakes in her magic without even feeling the strain.”
“Tornado,” Talon said, “did you know that we’d be going up against something like that?”
The drake nodded. “I’m sure your leaders have been told as well.”
“Now do you see why I’m worried?” Heart Echo asked. “Equestria has you outmatched in both numbers and raw power. This isn’t the sort of gamble you should make with the future of your race on the line.”
“We’ll come up with something,” Talon said, not quite believing her own words. “We can’t back out of the alliance now, after the drakes have been true to their word.”
Heart Echo sat down and groaned, pressing the palm of one hand to her face. Behind her, the other wyrms all paused what they were doing and looked at her intently.
“Uh, did we do something to offend you?” Talon asked, taking a step back nervously.
The wyrm let out a long sigh and shook her head. “Will your leaders at least consider negotiating an alliance with us? We could work out some kind of arrangement where you don’t actually join the drakes on the battlefield.”
“You can talk to them,” Talon said, “but I know they won’t let our allies fight alone when we could be helping them.”
Nodding weakly, Heart Echo stood back up and met Talon’s eyes. “Then we don’t really have a choice. Give us a week. We’ll send out runners to the other covens nearby, maybe call an emergency gathering or something. Gemstone is still visiting. Maybe he could convince the rest of the Mystic Forest Coven to lend us a claw.”
“Wait, what?” Talon asked.
Heart Echo didn’t seem to hear her. “There are eleven covens in the area,” she muttered. “We should be able to get a hundred or so volunteers.” She paused, and turned to nod at another wyrm. “Sweet Song tells me that the far eastern covens are having a gathering right now. If we send out a runner today, we might be able to get there before it’s over.” She turned back to Talon and the others. “If we’re lucky, we could see as many as a thousand from that alone.”
“You’re offering to join us?” Crystal asked.
Talon shook her head. “Just a minute ago, you seemed convinced that fighting the ponies would be suicide.”
Heart Echo took a deep breath and then nodded. “Yes, we are, and it probably still is.”
“Baffling,” Tornado repeated.
For once, Talon agreed with him completely. “Why would you offer to die alongside a group of dragons you only just met?”
“Because you need our help and it’s the right thing to do,” the wyrm said without any hesitation. “Besides, all of us would spend the rest of our lives regretting it if we let the third dragon tribe go extinct when our help might have saved them.”
Behind her, the other wyrms were all looking at them and nodding.
-_-_-_-_-_-
Twister, the leader of the Thirty-sixth Cluster, looked at Talon and Thunderfang from the other side of the flat stone that had been propped up to serve as a table. “Can they be trusted?”
Sitting around him, four other wyverns looked at Talon expectantly.
She fidgeted a little under their combined stares. Silently, Talon cursed Thunderfang for making her deliver the report. “I believe so, sir.”
Thunderfang stepped up beside her. “From what the drakes tell me, wyrms are vicious combatants, but outside of a fight they’ll do almost anything to help a dragon in need. Combined with their healing abilities, they could make for valuable allies.”
Twister nodded thoughtfully and turned to the fire wyvern sitting on his left. “Your thoughts, sir? Should we investigate?”
The older wyvern studied the papers laid out in front of him. “I believe so,” he said at last. “Twister, you have the most experience with new recruits. Go evaluate them, and tell us if you think they’re worth pushing our plans back for a few weeks.”
“Yes, sir.” Twister pushed himself up using a combination of his wings and legs before walking around the table to Talon and Thunderfang. “Lead the way.”
Both younger wyverns nodded and jumped into the air, flapping quickly to gain altitude.
They had only reached the edge of camp when Twister called for their attention. “We have followers.”
Talon looked back and groaned. They were far enough away that the dark green shape could have been any venom wyvern, but there was no mistaking the golden form beside her. “Crystal and Tornado.”
“I ordered those two to finish packing the glowstones we traded for,” Thunderfang muttered before turning to Twister. “I’m sorry, sir. That drake is suspicious of wyrms. He likely believes that we need his protection or something.”
“Crystal is probably trying to talk him out of it,” Talon said. “I’m sure she isn’t trying to go against orders, sir”
“Let him come,” Twister said, slowing to a hover. “We could use the extra set of wings if the wyrms decide to attack us.”
Talon had mixed feelings about that. Sure, Tornado would be useful in a fight, but he was also fairly likely to start one. Not that her opinion really mattered. It wasn’t her place to question the decisions of a superior officer.
“We finished putting everything away!” Crystal shouted as soon as she was close enough to be heard. “We aren’t going against orders. Tornado was just worried!”
Tornado nodded, slightly out of breath from his rush to catch them. “Wyrms are not bound by truth like drakes. They sometimes go back on their word, and they have been known to attack without warning.”
“You’re just lucky that Twister doesn’t object to having you accompany us,” Thunderfang said. “Crystal, you can return to camp if you want. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to come too. With Talon, Tornado, and myself, we would be able to use basic gas tactics, should the need arise.”
Thunderfang looked at Twister, who nodded. “Very well,” the thunder wyvern said. “Both of you, stay close, and don’t even think of starting a fight unless one of them attacks first.”
-_-_-_-_-_-
Flying into the afternoon sun sounded nice on paper, but it didn’t work so well in practice. Between the glare in their eyes and the lengthening shadows, Thunderfang nearly brought the group down for a landing twice before realizing that it was the wrong hillside. Eventually he muttered something about delegation and ordered Tornado to lead them the rest of the way.
As the dragons finally reached their destination, Talon and Crystal both let out sighs of relief. The trip took nearly forty minutes without breaks, and they had already taken it three times that day.
Thankfully, no oppressive silence fell on them this time. Instead, a bright orange wyrm walked out of the cave and waved them over. “Heart said you’d be back. She’s inside, eating dinner.” She paused, as though listening to something. “Most of you are hungry. You’re welcome to eat with us, of course.”
All five of them exchanged confused glances.
“You may as well accept,” the wyrm said. “We can sense that you want to.” She motioned for them to follow and walked back into the cave.
“Just … be respectful,” Twister ordered. “We can’t risk offending them.”
They followed the wyrm down a winding tunnel for a few moments until it opened up into a surprisingly large cavern. Glowing stones were scattered randomly across the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling, revealing well over a hundred wyrms relaxing and talking in small groups as they ate off of ceramic plates of some kind. At least a dozen stone nests lined the sides of the cavern, most of them occupied by more wyrms.
Once they got closer, Talon saw that their food was an assortment of meats and vegetables that she didn’t recognize, along with some gemstones, probably the same ones they had traded to the coven earlier.
Most of the other wyrms were openly staring as they walked past, which did very little for Talon’s nerves. She reluctantly added, ‘Previously unknown subspecies of dragons’ to the list of things that made her uncomfortable, right next to, ‘My superiors,’ and ‘Anything that wants to kill me.’
It turned out that wyrms ate their meals buffet-style, much like how wyverns ran things in the barracks. After Twister and Thunderfang had served themselves, Talon took a plate of her own and held it with the thumb of one wing as she loaded it up with the other.
The orange wyrm waited for them all to serve themselves and then started leading them through the crowd again.
Talon noticed a couple of bubbles floating in place among the groups of wyrms. Whatever they were, they made her feel strange. Excitement shot through her as she passed the first one, even though she wasn’t excited about anything. Next came love, once again without a source or a target. By the time they passed the third, which inspired joy, Talon just wanted to get away from the mysterious bubbles and the curious stares of the wyrms that had conjured them.
Fortunately, Heart Echo’s group was sitting in one of the stone nests that lined the cavern walls. Talon was grateful to have at least a little privacy, even though she felt a pang of homesickness as she climbed into the nest. It seemed like an entire lifetime had passed since that last night in the Aerie.
“Welcome back,” Heart Echo said around a mouthful of food.
The other wyrms around her all offered their own greetings.
“It looks like you have some questions for me. Take a seat. We may as well eat while we talk.”
Unlike a wyvern nest, this one was filled with an assortment of pillows and blankets, which made it hard for Talon to find a level spot for her plate. After spilling some of her vegetables, she just gave up and held the plate with one wing while manipulating her fork with the other.
Next to her, Tornado, who had taken two plates but only filled one for some reason, put the empty plate on top of the full one and took a bite out of it like some kind of bizarre sandwich. Based on his grimace, ceramic plates weren’t a very good substitute for bread.
Obviously fighting down a chuckle, Heart Echo turned to the ice wyvern. “I take it you’re the leader they needed to go talk with?”
He nodded. “I am Twister, Storm-rank warrior, and leader of the Thirty-sixth Cluster.”
“Heart Echo, daughter of Radiant Light. If we’re going to be allies though, you can just call me Heart.”
Twister swallowed a small bite of meat. “I would be honored, and if you wouldn’t mind, I was hoping to see a demonstration of your combat magic. We will need to know what to expect if we want to incorporate wyrms into our battlefield strategies.”
“And to see if we’d be worthwhile as allies, of course.” Heart said without any hint of annoyance. “You’re being very diplomatic about it, but that is the real reason you’re here, isn’t it?”
“… Yes, you are correct.” Twister paused and studied his plate for a moment. “We have thirty-six clusters of one hundred wyverns at our disposal, and just over fifteen hundred drakes. If what you said about pony military strength is true, we will be facing an army more than double our size, that has the advantage of defense, and could likely call for reinforcements. We are in no position to refuse help, but we are even less able to afford rogue elements that could endanger the rest of our warriors. Integrating the drakes has already put a large strain on our squadrons’ ability to coordinate effectively. If we are going to increase that strain even more, especially given the state of things between drakes and your own kind, we need to know that you will be worth it.”
A chorus of chuckles met his statement.
“Sorry,” Heart said after a moment, “it’s just that this is the last coven that you would ever need to worry about when it comes to teamwork or coordination. You see, each coven has something it focuses on studying. Take Gemstone Aura.” She nodded toward a green wyrm with yellow head spikes, who was looking very uncomfortable about being the center of attention. He also wore a brown canvas bag on each hip for some reason. “He’s visiting from the Mystic Forest Coven, where they work with runes and enchantments. This coven, Moss Hills, specializes in magic that reads, reflects, or manipulates emotions.”
“So you really are reading our emotions with magic then,” Twister said.
Heart nodded and gestured to the other wyrms. “All of our emotions are linked as well. With proper training, it-”
“-means we can communicate-” another wyrm cut in without missing a beat.
“-instantly, and across large-” yet a third said.
“-distances without having to speak,” Heart finished, smirking at their stunned expressions. “Non-wyrms can be added to the link as well. I’m sure you can see the advantages of an army that responds instantly to its leader’s orders.”
Talon’s mind was buzzing with possibilities. Even the most well-trained army took a few minutes to relay and respond to commands. Cutting that down would give them an unbelievable advantage.
On her right, Crystal was smiling. No doubt she had come to the same realization.
On her left, Tornado just looked confused. Of course.
Twister was the one that needed to be convinced, however, and based on his expression, he still had reservations. “And what of the drakes? If your magic could make them more friendly toward you, they already would be.”
“You’re right,” Heart conceded. “The emotional changes are temporary, and nodragon appreciates it when they realize that they’re being manipulated. What we had in mind was using our linking magic to make sure that none of our fellow wyrms lose their tempers. If need be, we could even use it to incapacitate anydragon that tries to pick a fight.”
“Tornado, would the other drakes cause problems with a group of wyrms in the camp?” Twister asked.
The golden drake finished his plate sandwich, grimacing as he swallowed the last of it. “Doubtful, if we have a temporary alliance with them. It would be dishonorable.”
“Alright,” Twister turned back to the wyrms, “what can we expect from wyrms on the battlefield?”
“That would largely depend on the wyrm and the coven,” Heart replied.
“Then what could we expect out of Moss Hills and the Mystic Forest?” He nodded toward the green wyrm, Gemstone Aura. “Assuming your coven wishes to join the Dragon Alliance, of course.”
Gemstone fidgeted and looked down for a long moment before responding, “I … uh, I’ll have to ask them, but if they do join, they have anti-magic runes and defensive wards that are highly effective at preventing intruders from getting into secure locations.”
“Useful,” Twister said, though his tone indicated that he wasn’t terribly impressed.
“More than you realize,” Heart said. “Some ponies can teleport from one location to the other instantly. Without those runes, there would be no way of preventing them from appearing in our camp each night and killing a few hundred of us off before disappearing.”
“Extremely useful,” Twister amended, “and what of the Moss Hills Coven?”
“Most of the warriors here specialize in weakening opponents through emotion control.” She paused and looked at their confused expressions before elaborating, “We read a foe’s heart and find an emotional weakness to exploit. It could be shooting a bunch of fear into them, so they quit and run away, or anger, to make them attack their allies, or despair or guilt, so they just give up, or any one of a dozen other things.”
“No true warrior would be affected by something like that,” Tornado growled.
Heart raised an eyebrow. “Want me to demonstrate on you, drake? I’d be happy to prove you wrong.”
Twister spoke up before they could start arguing, “Can you affect multiple foes at once?”
She nodded. “Anything within thirty feet of the blast radius, which can be about a quarter of a mile away from me.”
“Then hit all five of us with it.” Twister gestured to himself and the others.
Crystal shrank down a little at his words, and Talon put a wing around her friend protectively, but they both knew better than to object.
Thunderfang looked wary but curious.
Tornado actually grinned. Talon suspected it was because he wanted to test himself against the spell.
Heart shook her head. “That isn’t a good idea, Twister. The drake would be fine, but the four of you are all coping with a major loss right now. My spell might push you over the edge and drive you berserk.”
“Wyverns do not have battle forms,” Tornado said. “Determination cannot make them transform.”
“It’s called greed,” Heart spat out the word like it was a curse.
Talon looked from one to the other in confusion.
“Whatever you two are talking about,” Twister said, “wyverns have no ability to transform.”
That made Heart and the other wyrms stop. Their expressions were a mix of sadness, regret, and relief. “You don’t know how lucky you are,” Heart said in a bare whisper.
Twister’s eyes quickly skimmed over the group. “Would your berserk form cause problems for the Alliance?”
“No,” Heart promised, “but if you do see a wyrm transform, get away from there and let the rest of us handle it.”
“Weak willed hatchlings,” Tornado whispered.
Talon slapped him with the flat of her tail blade then quickly glanced around. Luckily, nodragon else seemed to have heard him.
“Very well,” Twister said. “now then, I believe that you were going to demonstrate your emotion control spell on us.”
“It won’t be pleasant for any of you,” Heart warned.
“I need to know what to expect out of your magic,” Twister said. “We can’t rely on an asset that is unproven.”
The wyrm sighed. “I’m going to attack with a combination of fear, despair, and insecurity. Just knowing that I’m affecting you will help counteract my influence somewhat, but you should focus on determination and hope. It will help.”
The wyverns all nodded and braced themselves.
Heart Echo extended her arm, and one of those strange bubbles appeared over her palm. The bubble shot forward, nearly hitting Twister’s snout before it popped.
There was no explosion, or any other effect that Talon could see. It just … popped.
She felt her hopes sinking. The spell hadn’t worked. If she had had a future in the military, it was all over now. Twister was only here because of her. She had wasted the time of a superior officer. Not that it really mattered. Her older brother and sister had both been so much more capable than she was, and they had died in the war. By comparison, her own death was inevitable.
Sinking down, Talon closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to see the disappointed stares that she knew must be surrounding her.
She was a failure.
Crystal was sobbing quietly at her side.
Talon wanted to apologize, to somehow make up for the shattered trust her friend had had in her.
There was nothing she could say that would change the truth. The wyvern race was doomed to extinction, outcast from their ancient home, and fated to be slaughtered at the hooves of two goddesses.
Heart Echo’s voice reached the distraught wyvern, “In another ten seconds, I’m going to kill any of you that aren’t standing up.” Her tone was ice cold and full of grim conviction.
Maybe that would be for the best, Talon thought. At least I could die before I disappoint somedragon else.
Something nudged her side.
“Talon,” Crystal whispered through her gentle sobs. “They, they need you.”
“You deserve to live,” Talon whispered back, shaking her head with what limited strength she could muster. “I’m just a failure.”
“Five seconds,” Heart said.
“I’d just get in the way.” Crystal broke down completely.
“Four.”
Something inside of Talon snapped at the sound of her friend crying. She grit her teeth and pushed herself up a little.
“Three.”
Talon was already pressed up against Crystal, which made things easier. She wrapped one wing around the smaller wyvern and pushed her head under Crystal’s chest.
“Two.”
Her legs didn’t want to respond, but Talon forced them to. Even though everything inside her was shouting that Crystal would just be killed in the war anyway, she ignored it. All that mattered was that she wasn’t going to die today. Talon wouldn’t let that happen.
“One.”
With a shout of defiance, Talon pushed herself upright, dragging Crystal up as well.
“And that’s enough of that.”
All the pain and despair suddenly vanished. Talon would have collapsed from relief if standing hadn’t suddenly become so easy. She realized that Crystal, Twister, and herself were the only ones standing. Thunderfang was curled into a ball, and Tornado was covering his face with both paws.
Heart cautiously approached the group and wrapped Talon and Crystal in a hug. “I’m so sorry about having to do that. Wyrms train their whole lives to control their emotions, and Spirit Lightning is still an effective weapon against us. It was just cruel to use it on the five of you.”
Twister, who was fighting down tears, shook his head. “Don’t apologize.” His voice was a little strained, but it was still as sharp and commanding as ever. “If you still wish to join the Alliance, I will speak with my superiors on your behalf.”
Heart let go and turned to him. “And we will be honored to fight beside you. Just make sure that I get paired with those three.” She pointed at Talon, Crystal, and Tornado.
Twister wiped his cheeks with one wing and cleared his throat. “With all due respect, Squadron Five of the Thirty-sixth Cluster is the least experienced squad in the entire Alliance. You deserve to be in one of the elite squadrons.”
Talon looked away from Heart, suddenly feeling very small.
Heart quickly turned back around and pulled both Talon and Crystal into another hug. “There’s something you should know about that,” she said to Twister. “I don’t care.”
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I have a feeling this will have a peaceful resolution, hopefully
Seems like word of Everfree village did not reach all the covens.
7637714
No, I would imagine not. If I remember correctly from the previous story, the covens only have local gatherings to exchange goods and information every five years, and larger gatherings happen even more infrequently. If this story is taking place only a couple of years or so after the end of the last story, there's no way the information has traveled much past the handful of covens Fluttershy and Cliff Runner recruited from for the Everfree Village. It sounded like Heart Echo is Cliff and Spirit/Spike's first cousin. If -she- doesn't know about the wyrm/pony alliance, darned few wyrms have yet.
7637787 Precisely.
7637787
7637836
Man this will be quit the shock when Cliff, Spirit and friends show up. I will look forward to any upcoming chapters.
7637879 The next chapter goes up tomorrow, so at least you won't have to wait too long. Although I won't make any promises about what exactly happens in it.
7638883
As we say in Germany: "Gut Ding will Weile haben."(Good thing take time.) You upload the new chapters when you think it is time. In the meantime I can read the other chapters or go back to the first story.
And then she, Luna, Twilight, Shining Armor, Cadance, and all of Twilight's friend somehow all got captured by regular Changeling drones, all at the same time.
The season finale was reeeeally stretching it. And I'm not even in the camp of people who think Celestia is invincible.
7638998 Agreed. You'll get a display of their power later.
7639013 I know, right? I get that the show staff are in a tricky position. Celestia and Luna are supposed to be like Superman in levels of power and experience, but the main characters are significantly weaker (theoretically), and so it's hard to come up with a dangerous situation that the mane 6 can solve that Celestia and Luna couldn't fix a lot more easily. So they keep coming up with excuses to shove the more powerful characters out of the way, and frankly, they're getting kind of lazy about it. Just once, I want to see the super powerful characters (Celestia, Luna, and Discord) be as amazing as they're supposed to be.
7639692
Here's the thing: I don't even believe Celestia and Luna are so ungodly powerful to begin with. Strong, yes, but the Physical God thing is mostly fandom. It's not really supported much in the show. However, the gist of what you said still applies. They should be stronger than some random Changelings. Heck, Shining Armor is supposed to be the most powerful barrier mage in Equestria (better than Twilight, and since it was his shield and not the princesses, probably better than them) and yet, they still all get abducted like helpless idiots so Starlight can look good.
Ah well, no sense in dwelling on this. Me, I would love to see Cadance and Shining finally have a day to shine, since apparently the wedding was a fluke.
Good chapter
7647620
I'm ashamed to say that I literally just spent 130 hours getting all of the achievements in Skyrim special edition on the logic of "I have all of the achievements in the original so if I don't get them all in the special edition then what am I even doing".
So yeah that was the first thing I noticed
(and I might have been humming that damned dragonborn song in my head while reading...I'm ashamed of myself)