Let's head back a couple of centuries in the past to see what happened the first time Dracans and Dragons arrived in Equestria, to see how the war that followed happened, what was lost because of it, and WHO was lost because of it
Many generations ago, Greed reached the shores of Equestria... Insatiable, Devastating, Willing to plunder everything... But it didn't come from within the heart of a man. It came from beyond the seas, Riding the waves and winds with behemoths of iron and scales... It was made of men and beasts, swords and claws. The Dracans pillagers had come to ravage the prosper land of Equestria... But, Equestria fought back!
[Humanized] Extra character tags: Snow Drop and OCs
They had come with the latest tide. Their ships with metallic hulls had pierced the waves in silence unusual for such gargantuan vessels, yet they had touched the shores soft like a feather falling on a pillow. The gates forming the bow of the ships opened with low shrieks that were covered by the sounds of the nearby sea.
From within those vessels, emerged massive groups of muscular soldiers wearing plates of armor placed randomly above their thick leather tunics. Some were riding massive drakes the size of a work horse, while most of the others were on foot. Under the cover of the night, those pirates marched in direction of a small settlement a few hundreds of meters away from the sea.
When the sentinels spotted the Dracans through the dark night, their forces were already too close to the walls. The leading rider blew a long, deep note of his horn before his troops throw themselves towards the Equestrian settlement.
Their attack took the small garrison of the local guard by surprise. The drake-riders made their mounts climb over the fifteen foot tall wooden walls that circled the village with their sharp claws.
One jumped down to the gate, facing two Eponian militia-men that pointed their spears at the scaly beast. The Dracan simply smirked and gave small tap on the neck of drake before jumping out of saddle.
The dark green lizard lunged forward with a loud, terrifying, feral roar, ignoring the spears’ ends that simply flattened at the contact of its natural scale armor. Before the two Equestrian could even react to the breaking of their weapons, the drake crushed one under its massive forepaw and mauled the other’s with its large jaws.
Its rider chuckled gloomily at the baneful doom of the two spearmen before being interrupted when a bolt of blue energy threw his beastial partner against a nearby boulder in a loud bang. He snapped his head toward where the bolt had come from, his gaze falling on an armored man holding a sword in his right hand while his left was glowing in the blue hue as the magical missile from a few seconds earlier.
The Dracan drew his own, black iron blade out of its sheath and advanced toward his opponent. The pillager’s reptilian irises focusing their gaze on the light azure gem embedded in the center of the Titanian’s breastplate.
The man from Draconia stroke first, his iron sword clashing against the Equestrian steel with so much strength the Titanian almost let go of his weapon. The pair duelled with great fervor for a few, exchanging thrusts and parries every seconds until the Titanian managed to strike at the Dracan’s neck, only to see his sword bounce back against a set of bright red scales that replaced the tanned skin of the pillager in the blink of an eye.
"Det var sjovt, men legetiden er forbi!" [It was good, but playtime’s over!]
The Dracan let out in his mother tongue before his now scaly and clawed hand ripped the jewel off the breastplate of his opponent, then he pushed the Titanian away from him. The Equestrian stumbled backwards for a few steps before he focused his magic into a large blue ball.
"Angrib!" [Attack!] The Dracan called casually when his opponent was about throw his magic sphere at him, his eyes focused on the blue gem between his fingers that were returning to their human form.
A sharp hiss came from the right of the Guard. He tried to look at what it was, but he was engulfed in a torrent of flame coming from the drake who had recovered from, and hadn’t appreciated being thrown away. The plunderer put the gem away while his former adversary’s screams of pain died down in the flames of his mount, then headed for the gates to cut the beam that kept them closed.
"Tag hvad i vil! Brænd det hele ned til grunden! Lad intet være tilbage!" [Take what you want! Burn everything to the ground! Leave nothing behind!] He shouted loudly as the heavy gates were busted open by his comrades on foot.
Once the gates open, the Dracans did what they did best, what they were meant to do, what they were born to do. The undying feeling of greed that tainted their souls was what drove them forward. That was the curse that came along with Zirnitra’s blessing.
The strength given to push Discord away was what transformed the once proud and peaceful kingdom into a nation full of plunderers and pirates. The Dracans' lust for treasures was as great, if not greater, than the one of the oldest dragons whose hoards were said to be the size of a small mountain and yet were still considered too little by the fire-breathing behemoths.
The richesses of Equestria already attracted the Great Dragon Migration. It was only a matter of time before their 'children' would follow suit. They had raided the shores of Equestria for some time now, always heading further to the North of the continent, in search of the richest province, the only ''Kingdom'' left within the Equestrian territories, Platinum’s jewel, the Crystal Empire.
In their quest for the mythical city with walls made of the purest gemstones, if rumors were to be true, Dracans kept raiding Equestria, hoping to get informations on the location of such a realm of treasures. Though the loots they got during their plunders, even without reaching for the Empire, were quite sufficient to satisfy their greed, if only for a bit.
The Dracans had pushed back the militia and the remaining citizens to the village square. Women and children were holding each other in fear behind the relative safety offered by the circle of guards around them.
Chuckling darkly, the drake-riders rounded around the survivors, their mounts hissing or snapping their jaws at them, while the Dracan infantry pressed forward. The commander of the expedition, the one that had allowed the opening of the gates, snapped his fingers to order his troops to finish the job.
It was then that a loud, rumble came from above, startling everyone in the village of Vanhoover. Everyone looked up to see massive, black stormclouds covering the sky who had been relatively clear until now. With a long murmur from the wind, the clouds started to twirl to one point in the sky. Just above the group of Equestrian survivors.
Every gasped in shocked when the swirling clouds suddenly extended toward the villagers. The dark steam touched the ground along with a powerful clap of thunder that made every drake and Dracan take a few steps back.
The descended clouds quickly dissipated themselves to show that in front of the beat up and exhausted militias stood a few rows of soldiers in night blue armors, all with wings spread open on their back, their faces hidden by the scary masks they wore along with their helmets.
Equestria’s Lunar Guard had arrived, and every Dracan around couldn’t stop themselves from gulping nervously at their arrival. It wasn’t much that they feared Equestrian soldiers, no matter how skilled or famous they were, though the Lunar Guard had one rule that was known of all and that made them dangerous on a whole different level:
The Lunar Guard was never deployed without its mistress.
“Good evening, sirs,” a woman called from behind the invaders’ ranks.
All Dracan heads turned to look at where the voice came from, seeing a pale woman in a black and blue armor, holding her helmet casually in her left hand while her right was resting on the pommel of a sword whose hilt had symbols showing the lunar phases engraved in it. Her narrow, feline, teal irises swept sternly over the suddenly uneasy plunderers while her wavy deep purple hair flowed beautifully at the small breeze.
A few feet at behind the armored woman’s right, stood a small, younger-looking woman, barely out of her adolescent years, with a thick brown cloak covering all her body. The hood of her cloak was off, letting her fluffy, azul streaked and white hair visible along with her snow white skin. Her eyes were fogged by a white hue, revealing the woman’s blindness. She was also carrying a long staff akin to a shepherd’s crook.
“The High Princess Luna Selenia Faustborn of Equestria has arrived,” the young woman announced solemnly, while Luna drew her pure, silvery white blade out of its sheath. “Lay down your weapons before her or…”
The leader of the Dracans growled at the offense that the Princess didn’t even bother to speak to them before he hit the side of his mount. The drake leapt above his master’s troops to land between them and the two women of Equestria, then he let out a powerful stream of fire at the pair.
A second later, the fiery inferno suddenly stopped as ice spikes started to take the place of flames before the frozen fire shattered into a mist of tiny snowflakes, revealing the blind woman extending her crook forward with light-made greyish wings spread on her back.
“I think that covers the part of your attempt at a pacific solution, my dear Snowdrop?” The Night Princess asked casually to her herald.
“I suppose it does, your Highness,” Snowdrop admitted with a sigh. “Feel free to use your method.” she added before stepping aside.
Luna nodded eagerly before her right hand was surrounded by a white fog and she swept her sword at the rider that had just attacked them. The silvery blade suddenly extended forward to ensnare both the drake and the Dracan riding it.
“SOLDIERS, DESTROY OUR ENEMIES!” Luna’s order in her Royal Canterlot Voice shook the ground around her as she pulled her sword strongly, dicing her targets in pieces.
All the troops wearing the blue armor of Luna’s personal guards spread their wings and used them to charge at the Dracans, some with their weapons raised, others with their fists surrounded by Jupitarian shapes.
The confrontation between the Lunar Guards, supported by now exalted militiamen, and the Dracan Raiders was extremely violent. Clashes of steel against scale, of lightning against fire, or of sword against shield resonated through the village square.
Luna couldn’t prevent her grin as she beheaded a drake that was about to breath fire at her with her extensible sword. Since she had been trained by Hurricane, eons ago, Luna’s interest in the art of war had only grown. For centuries she practiced many forms of fighting styles, even founded many different swordsmanship schools over the generations.
There was an odd, but amazing feeling in her whenever she was fighting; a sense of freedom like no other when she passed her opponent’s defense; a skip of heart akin to meeting your one true love whenever she gave a lethal blow; a profound sense of accomplishment whenever she saw her enemy fall dead on the ground.
The Dracans tried to outflank her while the head and body of the defeated drake fell on the ground before her. One went to plunge his sharp, dragon claws in her right side, where the armor was weaker, while the other brought his axe to her neck.
Amateurs! Luna thought in a condescending tone.
Her eyes shone in pure white light for a brief moment. Her deep blue wings appeared on her back, and when they spread wide open, a strong gush of wind bursted from between the princess and her attackers, catapulting the two of them before they could hit her.
With a powerful stomp on the ground and a strong flap of her wings, Luna took off, cutting through the two Dracans she had sent flying a few seconds ago on her way up.
From the sky, she managed to get an overview of the battlefield: The Dracans were fighting her guards with a ferocity worthy of their guardian beasts, but they weren’t fighting for the village’s valuables anymore. They had pushed back the Dracans past the gates.
Many raiders broke the fight and simply ran back to their ships, on which the crew members were already getting ready for the casting off.
From the ground, Snowdrop heard the rumbling of the thunderclouds growing slightly deeper and more intense. Many wouldn’t have noticed it, but the blind woman’s ears were a lot more sensitive due to her conditions. She raised her hand for the Lunar guards to stop going after the retreating enemies, which they did almost immediately.
Luna watched them leave with a disgusted frown before putting her sword back in its sheath, her eyes brightly glowing white and her wings spread widely on her back. The thunderclouds growled loudly as many electric sparks coursed through them while the three ships had left the rivage already since the fleeing raiders had finished embarking.
“Cowards!” Luna shouted at the fleeing fleet, her magically amplified voice trembling in anger. “You dare attack our people and think you can simply sail away?! UNACCEPTABLE!”
Luna’s anger tore the skies apart as a gigantic thunderbolt parted from the clouds just above her. The lightning reached for the top of the middle ship’s mainmast. Then, It separated into many electric arcs that rained down the three ships and their passengers, lighting the former ablaze and frying the latter along with their scaly mounts.
The stormclouds above Vanhoover dissipated themselves, letting the light of the Moon shine on a now quiet, but still wrecked village. As the burning ships were slowly sinking into the depths of the sea, Luna flew down to her guards, her hair changing from its purple hue to its usual starry blue while her irises abandoned their narrow, feline form to a more wide and circular shape.
“Take care of our wounded,” the Princess ordered, her gaze wandering over the many hurt soldiers and the many more dead bodies of Vanhoover’s inhabitants and militiamen. “As well as our dead,” she added in a deep, genuine sadness.
Soon after, most soldiers of the Lunar Guard scattered across the village-turned-battlefield along with the princess, searching through the debris for fortunate survivors, though that was hardly the case. The remaining troops took off to conjure a small patch of rainclouds to extinguish the dozen of burning buildings.
During her search, Luna walked in the smoking ruins of a stable, finding nothing but cindered horses and the half burned body of a boy. The boy had all his right side burned to a crisp, showing clearly that the stable lad had experienced the destructive power of dragon fire before the beast left him there to die along with the horses he was trying to save. Or maybe he was hiding there, hoping that no one would find him in the stable. Luna would never know.
Many would have covered their nose from the smell of the carbonized, human flesh, but Luna didn’t. She wanted to engrave that smell in her mind, so that she would always remember how failure would smell like. So that she’d always remember that she and her sister could never be allowed to back down in face of the draconic invaders.
“Sleep well, child,” Luna whispered caringly as she brought her forefinger to close the remaining eye of the boy. “You’re at peace now…”
“Highness!” one of her sergeants called as he stormed inside the stable ruins.
“What is it?” Luna replied apathetically, while taking her own cloak to cover the young victim of the attack.
“We’ve just received an urgent message from the coastal surveillance,” he explained rapidly. “Another, much bigger Dracan fleet has been spotted heading a few hundreds miles North from here.”
“So, this attack was just a diversion for a much larger scale one?” Luna asked sourly, before the sergeant answered that he supposed so. “Just how many are they on that wretched island of theirs?”
“According to the report we receive, they’re also accompanied by a large group of wyrmlings lead by an adult dragon rider,” The sergeant added slowly. “Do you want me to get the men ready for departure?”
“Yes, do th….” Luna suddenly blinked and snapped her head in direction of the North.
“Your Highness?” he called with caution.
“Hummm,” Luna let out with a pensive frown. “Actually, let’s finish our task here,” she ordered calmly. “Then, we’ll head back to Canterlot when the regular Guard arrives to secure the area.”
“But,.. but, what about that enemy fleet?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Luna assured with a shake of her head. “It’ll never reach our shores!”
“...Huh… How do you know that, Majesty?”
“I know,” Luna replied matter-of-factly before glancing back at the North. It seems like Celestia finally decided to move her large behind …
~~~~~~~~~~
"Hvad var det?" [What was that?]
"Til at starte med var der en kvinde med vinger der råbte noget til kommandøren og derefter..." [There was that winged woman shouting something to the commander then......]
"Urgh, mine øjne er helt sløret..." [Urgh, my eyes are all blurry…]
"... var et lystglimt..." [...was a flash…]
"...Et stort hvidt lysglimt..." [..Big white flash of light....]
All the Dracans sailors mumblings and complains were abruptly interrupted by a loud crash on the main deck. The entire crew looked at the point of impact, seeing with dread the lifeless body of the commander of their fleet.
"KOMMANDØR?!" [COMMANDER?!] Many shouted with dread while the captain of the ship kneeled at his side to examine him.
The scales around his neck were deployed, but the mark of a hand dug deeply into them, proof of the amazingly powerful grip that had choked him to death. Dozens of scared roared hisses came from the sky, made them all turn their eyes away from their fallen leader. Immediately after, they all wished they hadn’t looked up.
In the air, a tall woman stood proudly, large wings of pure white slowly flapping in rhythm to maintain her altitude. Her skin was evenly tanned, something that contrasted deeply with her white outfit.
She wasn’t wearing any armor; her only clothing was a light summer dress with thin, shoulder straps that kept a voluminous cleavage from showing too much; her dress was slit on both side, so that the outer sides of her legs were visible because of the high altitude winds.
Other than her light dress, the woman bore no accessories other than a simple golden band with a purple diamond embedded in it and a similar tiara that adorned her mystically waving pink hair. Had they seen her in other circumstances, many Dracans would have bowed before her: treating her with the same grace and regality that seemed to simply come out of her.
They probably would have done so, if not for the red dragon ten times her size with the head impaled on the blade of the golden glaive the woman was holding with her right arm, as if the massive body weighted the same as a small patch of hay on top of a pitchfork.
The regal woman waved her weapon and her kill a few times for all the Dracan raiders to see as the airborne wyrmlings simply flew away at the sight of their killed, older kin before she gave a sharp blow with it. A blow that made the deceased, scaly monster slid off her weapon.
The red dragon touched the waters with a loud splash and big waves that rocked the nearby boats strongly. The wyrm was kept afloat for a short time before the abysses claimed it as their own.
“PREPARE YOURSELF, CHILDREN OF ZIRNITRA,” Celestia called in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “FOR I, CELESTIA CORONA FAUSTBORN OF EQUESTRIA, HAVE COME…
Celestia skillfully span her weapon between her fingers, then grabbed its shaft with both hands and took a spearmen stance, her blade pointing at the closest ship, on which she had thrown their defiant commander earlier.
Her flowing, pink hair stood up right, its color changing to a blazing mix of orange, red and yellow, making it look like a brilliant flame, while her eyes shone in a blinding, golden hue.
“...TO ANNIHILATE YOU!” she concluded before flying downwards at the speed of a fiery meteor.
Luna was soaring through the sky at a speed that would have made any member of her Lunar Guard, or Shadowbolts as she liked to call them, envious. The few people that had seen her following the coastline, probably only saw a blur piercing the night sky for a few seconds before disappearing into the horizon.
It had been nearly an hour since she had told her guards to go back to Canterlot while she was heading North. Heading toward the columns of smoke and steam that came from the sea before the Horseshoe Bay. A few minutes later, Luna could see how the battle had gone. It was like she had first thought it was going to be. In one word, it was messy.
Dozens of shipwrecks were floating around the strait of the bay along with hundreds of cindered corpse. All the wooden parts of the ships were still consumed by flames of pure white that the sea couldn’t extinguish. The same could be said about the Dracan corpses moved around by the current.
Luna couldn’t help herself to sigh when she noticed the ravage done by her sister’s fire to the environment. The Solar Fire that was busy cleaning the traces of the confrontation had already taken its toll and it wasn’t satisfied enough.
Closer to the burning wrecks and cadavers, the waters were boiling so hot that dead fish started to float on the surface, literally cooked alive. The cinders were polluting the sea so much that it had turned black. The seaweed had lost its green color in favor of a dark brown, like they had dried in the sun despite the water surrounding them.
That was the reason why Celestia rarely went to battle. Unlike Luna who stroke with precision and swiftness like an eagle hunting a rabbit, her big sister would always let her emotions get the best of her in combat and fought like a raging mother bear whose cubs had been threatened.
Among all this destruction, Luna spotted her sister. Celestia was standing on top of a reef at the Northern side of the strait. Her glaive planted not three feet from her. Her once pristine dress dirtied by an insane numbers of blood spots while she showed no signs of being wounded anywhere. She delicately landed beside her as the Sun Princess was staring at the aftermath of her own battle.
“Your dress is a mess, Sister,” Luna commented casually, glancing at the many tears on Celestia’s clothing.
“I know,” Celestia replied without much of a look at her sister.
“I told you that armor is at least more durable than a dress,” Luna reminded softly. “If not for the blood, you would look like you’re coming out of a night with sailors that had just returned from six months at sea.”
"It's not a far stretch from what actually happened, Little Sister," Celestia replied in a monotone, cold whisper.
“Are you well?” Luna asked with worry. Usually Celestia would have chuckled a bit at that innuendo.
“.....I’m tired, Luna,” Celestia answered with a long sigh.
“With the havoc you caused, it’s only natural to feel the need to re….”
“Not that,” Celestia interrupted softly. “I’m tired of this!” She pointed at the almost consumed half of a Dracan ship.
“What do you mean?”
“They first came in contact with our lands more than three years ago,” Celestia explained angrily. “Since then, they’ve been coming here! Raiding! Plundering! Stealing! Destroying! Killing! Sometimes even raping!” She angrily stomped her foot in fury, cracking the reef she was standing on. “For too long, they’ve kept coming at us, always targeting more important communities, always more numerous… Always with more of their greedy, totemic beasts!” Celestia growled, her eyes glowing gold and her hair turning into fire.
“Sister!” Luna said urgently as the earth started to shake in resonance to Celestia’s anger. “Calm down!” she added sternly before squeezing her sister’s hand in reassurance.
Celestia took deep breaths as Luna was holding her hand with a strength that would have crushed a rock. It took her a few seconds, but she managed to calm down, and when she did, her hair and eyes returned to their normal shape and form while the earthquake slowly came to an end.
“....I’m tired, Luna,” Celestia whispered. “Tired of being on the receiving end of those brutes’ assaults.”
“I understand, Sister,” Luna agreed slowly. “But what do you suggest we do?”
“To take the fight to them!” Celestia answered sternly, her cerise eyes glancing toward the ocean. “To teach them to never come near our shores again!”
“How do you want to do that?” Luna asked softly. “Our armada is not large enough for a full scale invasion and Draconia lies half a world away… We would never manage to deploy an army across the ocean.”
“That’s the point.” Celestia retorted softly before grabbing the staff of her weapon and pulling it out of the ground.
“I don’t follow,” Luna tilted her head in confusion.
“Remember what Hindel told us.” Celestia advised in a matter-of-fact tone. “Their first ships followed the Dragon Migration to Equestria.”
“So?”
“Even creatures with an endurance as fantastic as a dragon can’t cross the ocean in one go.” The Sun Princess stated. “The Dracan fleets must have made a few stops along the way to stop somewhere to re-supply… And considering the increasing number of attacks, and how better equipped they are at each new attack...”
“You think they have a forward operating port close our lands?” Luna asked with wide eyes.
Celestia simply nodded in response. She glanced at horizon with a pensive frown. If such Dracan outpost existed, it needed to be found at all costs. Celestia supposed that such outpost would be well guarded, and as much as she knew that her sister and herself were forces to reckoned with, she also knew that they couldn’t achieve that without the support and help of their people.
“Let’s convoke the Assembly,” Celestia suggested softly. “And rally the Council… They’ve been waiting to do something for a while now,” she added with a small grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few hours later, deep under the Macintosh hills!
“..... Why?... WHY does it keep happening to me?” A tanned, woman with black hair with grey streaks in it growled in frustration as she was hanging from the ceiling, a thick, creeper-made rope tying her up tightly.
“Silence, Horse-woman!” The massive bipedal Rottweiler ordered before poking her side with his primitive mace. “That’s what you get for trying to steal the Bitch Queen’s Jewel!”
The woman couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small chuckle at the title of the Diamond Dogs female leaders. No matter how many times she heard it, she would always laugh a little.
“Do not mock our Queen, Horse-Woman!” another anthropomorphic dog, a Bulldog this time, shouted in anger.
“Hehehehe, sorry!” The woman tried to calmed down while laughing tears were coming out of her magenta eyes. “Sorry! I’ll stohahahhaahahahah!”
“Silence!” the Rottweiler growled, punching the hanging woman, sending her in a pendular movement.
The tied-up explorer winced at the impact and stopped laughing as her breath was taken away. During her swaying around, she spotted a smaller Diamond Dog sniffing through what had been confiscated from her by her barking capturers.
“HEY! Careful with the helmet!” She shouted, startling the dog that was about to chew on her cream colored pith helmet with curiosity.
“ENOUGH!” A deeper bark came from the entrance of cave.
The captive glanced back at where the voice came from, seeing a Diamond Dog around twice the size of the Rottweiler, who was at least twice as big as the woman, entered along with a female Diamond Dog wearing a large, amethyst as a pendant around her neck.
“What do you know,” the woman let out in a fake, impressed tone. “The Alpha and the Bitch Queen coming for a visit… hehehe… I would have bowed, but I’m incapacitated at the moment, you understand?”
“Quiet your tongue, She-Equestrian!” The Alpha growled angrily. “Before I cut it out to give it to my pups!”
“That’s nice,” she commented sarcastically.
“Now answer my question,” The Alpha continued without considering her comment. “Why did you come here to take my Queen’s gem?” he asked pointing at his mate’s necklace.
“Well, if you must know, I’m not really after your Bitch Queen’s necklace,” she explained matter-of-factly. “I was asked to find a large gemstone with certain characteristics…. Which happens to be the same as your Queen’s amethyst… And… well, that’s all I can really say,” she admitted slowly. “I didn’t really listen to all the specificities!”
The black Wolf-Diamond Dog visibly wasn’t satisfied by her answer, if his cocked eyebrow was of any indication. He was about to open his mouth again when a high-pitched yelp came from the other side from the cave.
“Alpha! Look!” the small Diamond Dog from before called before bringing something to his leader.
“Hey, I told you to not touch my helmet!” The tanned woman growled at the sight of the light brown bipedal dog with her pith helmet on his head. “If there are fleas on it, I’m shoving your head in your own dejections to teach you some manners like we do to misbehaving puppies!”
“Barbarians!” The Bitch Queen let out, appalled by such treatment on young ones.
“What is this?” the Alpha asked, taking the golden medallion with a shining, blue, crystal Alicorn embedded in it from his followers. “Why does it shine like that?”
“Oh,” the captive let out, her eyes focused on the medallion. “Convoked already? Something big must have happened…” she muttered for herself.
“What are you saying, Horse-woman?!” the Alpha asked threateningly.
“Yeah, sorry, but I don’t have time to waste here anymore,” she retorted as her ties came loose all of the sudden.
Before the dogs could react, a pair of sand-colored wings spread on her back to keep her in the air. The explorer spun on herself before delivering a strong kick on the Rottweiler under jaw, sending him flying across the cave. The Diamond Dog crashed loudly into the wall, knocked unconscious by a small rock that unhooked itself from it and landed straight on his head.
The smaller Dog tried to get away before the woman landed with both her feet on his shoulders, crushing him on the ground while extending her hand to pick her pith helmet up. She immediately put it on, sighing in relief as the familiar weight on her skull was finally back.
“Get her!” the Alpha ordered in a loud bark before the Queen and the Bulldog lunged forward, their maws ready to take a bite of the tanned woman.
In reaction, the explorer jumped backwards, using her wings to perform a perfect back flip while her hand went to her right pocket. She pulled out of it a silver whistle with ancient runes engraved on it and brought it to her lips. She blew it strongly, causing a sharp, nearly mute note that nonetheless caused the dogs to cover their ears with a wince.
“What was…” The Alpha whispered before noticing a small, ghostly, fluffy white cat standing in front of him.
“Meow?” the small, ethereal pet let out softly.
“Sorry, boys,” the woman said with a smirk. “But I’m more of a cat-person!”
The tiny cat shrieked loudly before a quartet of much bigger felines appeared next to it: a massive tiger, a lithe cheetah, an elegant panther and a ferocious lynx.
The ethereal tiger roared and lunged at the Alpha, crushing him under his heavy paws which were bigger than his canine head. The cheetah and the lynx bit the limbs of the Bulldog and pinned him down the ground while the panther and the persian cat attacked the Bitch Queen, the former lunging on her chest while the latter was scratching her face with intensity.
“Well, if you don’t mind,” the woman said, while picking up her whip and khaki jacket from the floor. “I’ll help myself out.” She walked past the struggling dogs before stopping near the Bitch Queen. “I’ll also take that.”
While the female dog was struggling against the ghostly felines, the woman extended her hand to pull the pink jewel off the necklace. Then she proceeded to pick up her medallion that had fallen on the ground when the Alpha had been lunged by her ethereal tiger.
“It’s been a pleasure. I’d talk about your hospitality to my acquaintances.” She stated with a chuckle before dropping her prize in her pith helmet and putting it back on her head. “The world’s greatest Treasure Hunter, Daring Do, wishes you a good day!”
Daring then tapped her Alicorn-shaped gemstone four times: once on each wing, once on the horn and once on the chest before she was teleported away in a bright blue flash, leaving the Diamonds Dogs on the ground to lick their wounds as her spectral pack of cats disappeared with her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Around the same time, in the City in the sky recently renamed Cloudsdale.
The storm-cloud-powered furnace of the forge was going at full capacity, making the temperature unbearable to withstand without having sudden feelings of faintness. Though, the blacksmith didn’t seem to mind at all.
The tall and burly blonde was wearing a thick, leather apron and a black mask to protect her body and face from the sparks of her craft along with a pair of matching gloves. On top of the furnace lied a tank containing a large and bubbling quantity of molten iron while the blacksmith grabbed a small patch of a metallic storm cloud with her hand and brought it to the anvil.
The black metallic cloud took the shape of a thick, rectangular rod under the Jupitarian magic of the smith with the blonde, braided ponytail. Then, she took a large hammer and started to beat the storm cloud bar with it.
At each impact, electric sparks coursed out of the rod and illuminated forge briefly. The constant beating and magical shaping of rod was taxing for the blacksmith but she didn’t stop at any time, nor did she show any signs of fatigue.
When she was satisfied of the sword-shape she had given to the shining storm cloud, she let go of her hammer and conjured a raincloud with her now free hand. A cold shower descended upon the fiery blade which was turned by the blacksmith to make sure she was evenly cooled down.
“Hmmmm.” she let out as she inspected the blade from up close after taking her mask off. “Three pounds of iron mixed with one gallon of thundercloud seems to give a stable result,” she commented softly, before taking off her glove to test the grip in hand.
As she touched the handle with her bare skin, she felt a strong spark of lightning coursing through her arm. Apparently unfazed by this, she smiled softly.
“Perfect! Now with the other hand…” She switched hand and once again felt her arm being electrocuted. “Great! Now only those with a natural resistance to lightning can hold you,” she whispered to the blade in a nearly amourous tone. “The perfect Jupitarian blade.”
She gave her sword a spin, inadvertently causing a lightning bolt to surge from it and destroy the stool near the anvil. The blonde smith blinked in surprise at the remains of her piece of furniture.
“Yeah, perfection still needs a few adjustments so it seems,” she commented with a small sigh mixed with a chuckle.
With one snap of her fingers, the furnace started to slowly cool down as the cloud powering it turned whiter and quieter. Then she put the sword in an empty spot on the weapon rack and took off her smithing attire.
After that the blacksmith stretched her back, satisfactorily hearing her spine joints pop, as she left her workshop to her quarters. She was about to head for her bathroom when a shining, purple light came from a golden amulet with an Alicorn-shaped violet gemstone embedded lying on top of the nightstand at the right of her queen size bed.
“Huh,” she let out apathetically as she examined the amulet before giving her cloud-blanket a small tap. “Sorry, but you gotta go!”
A displeased grunt came from beneath the cover and was quickly followed by some sour muttering. The blonde blacksmith rolled her eyes playfully and pulled the blanket away, letting a quartet of snuggling, naked women, all with the same incredibly long, platinum blonde hair and pearl white skin come into view.
“Sorry girls, but you’ll have to cancel your plans of sleeping in here,” The blacksmith said as the quadruplets in her bed were stirring and moaning as they slowly woke up.
“Awww, why?” the one that lied the closest to the darker blonde asked with disappointment.
“Royal business, sweetie,” she replied casually, pointing at the amulet she had just picked up. “I’m summoned in Canterlot, so I must ask you to leave my humble abode.”
“Awwwwwww!” The four blondes let out with sad pouts on their nearly identical faces.
“Yeah, I know,” the blacksmith commented as she made way for her bathroom. “Oh, would you mind warning Senator-Chairman Dash that his order would probably be delayed by my journey to Canterlot?”
“Sure!” the quadruplet to the right assured with a nod.
“Don’t worry about it, Shadow!” the middle right one added with small smile.
“We’ll tell Father the Princesses requested your presence,” The middle left one explained softly.
“He’ll understand,” the one to the far left side supposed.
“Since he’s already convinced that you four have spent the last three days at the Skytalon Estate, telling him the truth should be a piece of cake for you lot!” Shadow commented with a chuckle. “On that note, I’m going to leave you to your own machinations, my Ladies.” she bowed lightly at the four blondes of the Dash Household.
“You’re not going to leave right now...You’re not presentable…You’re dirty… sweaty…And…. smelly,” the quadruplets blurted out simultaneously, their cheeks rosing as they sniffed the air close to Shadow.
“Well, I was going to clean myself a bit,” Shadow retorted with a knowing grin, noticing the sparks in the blondes’ eyes. “You’re welcome to come help me with that if you want,” she whispered, though her voice was still clearly heard, before stepping outside her quarters.
And to think that Chairman Dash still doesn’t understand why he always gets such good deals for the services of Equestria’s greatest blacksmith, Shadow Kicker. The blacksmith commented in her thoughts as she heard the quadruplets argued among themselves to be the first one out of the bed in order to go after her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few moments earlier, in the Great City of Manehatten,
In the biggest tavern of the port, the crowd of sailors and dockworkers were chanting while clapping their hands at the show offered before them. At the center of largest room of the building, before the full hastily made bleachers positioned in an arc, stood a cage ring.
Inside the cage, a dark skinned woman was standing in right corner, her red and green irises focused on the mug the waitress had just brought her. She was wearing a deep purple ensemble with yellow streaks around the collar, biceps and thighs, along with high-knee black, leather boots and a pair of matching gloves.
But it wasn’t her peculiar choice of clothing that had made all the crowd look at her funny when she had volunteered to fight in the cage. It was her hair. It went down her back to even beyond then her feet, looking like a cascade of creepers from the Southern jungles due to its tones of dark and lighter green. It was as voluminous as a Manticore’s mane, and had the woman not wrapped it in a upward, messy ponytail, it would have brushed the floor behind her at every steps.
“Alright, my good sirs,” the bartender/ringleader called for the silence with a wave of his hand. “Our dear guest has been earning more than five hundred of YOUR bits so far, and she claimed that she was willing to give all of her winnings to the one who will beat her!” he explained loudly, earning more cheers from the crowd. “Are you going to let her take your honestly gained bits? Who’ll be the one to beat the green-haired lion of a woman in the cage?” He asked, pointing at the woman in question who was chugging down her mug of rum.
There was a second or two of intense whispers among the crowd before a giant sailor stood up proudly and claimed that he was willing to try. It was under a thunder of applause that he walked into the cage and got ready next to the bartender.
“Okay, whenever you’re ready,” the ringleader shouted for the two fighters before turning to the sailor who was showing off his muscles. “Don’t pull her hair,” he advised in a whisper.
“Every blow is allowed in a cage fight, right?” the burly man asked with a frown.
“I know, she just gets really nasty when someone pulls her hair,” the bartender explained matter-of-factly before stepping out of the cage. “BEGIN!”
Much to anyone’s surprise, the woman in the cage didn’t acknowledge her opponent and was busy chatting with the waitress that had brought her another mug of rum in the mean time. The sailor looked at the bartender in confusion while he simply shrugged and waved him to continue.
“...No, really! You don’t need some sort of two bits magical potion to make your hair longer,” The green-haired woman assured the waitress with a warm smile. “It’s a burden along with a blessing, and believe me, I know what I’m talking about.
“Are you sure?” the waitress asked with incertitude. “I mean my fiancé thinks I would look prettier with long hair...”
“Nah! Just wet your hair one night and shake your head a few times before showing yourself to him.” The woman in the cage grinned slyly. “He’ll be all over you in a matter of a seconds! Men adore a woman with wet hair!”
The waitress looked away, blushing in embarrassment, before her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the sailor charging her interlocutor in the back. She was about to warn her, but the fighter simply winked, then grabbed the cage bars and leaned her feet on them.
As the man was only two feet from her, she jumped off the bars backflipping her above him. Mid jump, she grabbed both the man’s large shoulders before stomp-jump on his upper back, making him end his course against the bars in a loud clang.
The brown-haired giant shook his head a couple of times before growling in anger while turning around to face the agile woman. His angry frown quickly changed to a gaping face as he saw a human ball rolling toward his face. The woman’s knee stroke him strongly of the forehead before she bounced off of him and landed in a splits.
His right hand pressed against his forehead, the sailor glanced in the green-haired woman through hazed eyes. She stood up and looked in her opponent’s direction with a small grin that turned slightly sour as she felt something heating up her chest.
“Ow! Ow!” she whispered in a pained voice as her she plunged her hand into her collar.
She pulled a chained golden medallion with a sapphire Alicorn embedded in its center, causing a shocked silence of every patron in the tavern. The gemstone and the medallion were as big as a fist, which made everyone wonder how exactly they hadn’t spotted it under the skintight purple attire.
“I really need to talk to Daring about this,” she muttered to herself, oblivious to the wanting stares she was attracting. “I’m sure hers never got too hot...” She gave her opponent a quick glance and unhooked the bit-bag off her belt. “I forfait, here you go!” she added softly before throwing the bag at him before making way for the cage’s door.
“Humm?” she blinked in confusion when four men were blocking the cage’s door before her.
“Keep the bits, woman!” her former opponent growled from behind her. “I’d rather have your shiny necklace,” he added with a feral grin.
“.....hahahaha! Funny joke!” The woman laughed loudly in response, but stopped when no one joined her laughter. “....Wait, you’re serious?”
“That gem at your neck is worth more than those five hundred bits,” one of the sailors that were blocking her exit commented sharply.
“Well, that’s kinda true, but I doubt you’d want the responsibilities that come with it,” she retorted. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I’d like to le….”
She was interrupted by the brunette grabbing a fistfull of her hair and gave it a strong pull.
“You’re not going any….” He started before some of the woman’s hair snaked around his arm, his torso and mouth.
Instantly after, he was being lifted by the moving, green hair while everyone gasped in shock. He started to let out muffled shouts as the pressure on his chest and arm became too intense for him. It was like he was being choked by one of the big snakes of the Everfree Forest.
“No one pulls the hair of Manuella Lion Mane, Bozo!” Manuella reminded sternly. “The barkeep warned you about it.”
Her hair brought her attacker close to stare straight in his eyes. Suddenly, a cutlass came in her field of vision. Apparently, the sailor’s friends had decided to try to save him from a rather certain and oddly hairy doom. The dirty blade cut down her lock of hair that kept her target in the air, only to bounce back on it with a sharp clinging sound.
Manuella tilted her head with a deadpan expression at the three shocked sailors. They all blinked before trying to cut her hair again, only to obtain the same result as before with a dent on the blade in addition. The three gulped in fear before they noticed Manuella pointing at their right.
When their gazes followed her finger, they saw that a few locks of her hair had wrapped themselves around two of the cage bars. All the crowd in attendance shrieked loudly when the bars bent inwards under the pressure of the Manuella’s hair until they broke.
“Still wanna take my necklace?” The hair-bender asked with a smirk which became wider when they all shook their heads swiftly. “That’s better,” she added, dropping her target without ceremony on the ground and facing the tavern-owner. “Sorry to have disturbed your mane entertainment...Hehehehe.”
Her words were met by the most religious silence Manuella has ever heard. Even the criquets didn’t make a single sound.
“......... That joke never gets a laugh!” she muttered sourly before her necklace teleported her in a light blue flash accompanied by a small pop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simultaneously, in the Palace of the Crystal Empire,
The Crystal Empire was an oddity in the lands of Equestria. Not only was it called an Empire when it was more a City-state than anything else, but its rulers weren’t called Emperors and Empresses. Ever since she created the Crystal Palace and the foundation of the city around it, Platinum was given the honorific title of Queen by Celestia and Luna. A title she passed down to her descendants after baptizing the city: The Crystal Empire, because it had a nice ring to it, if the Alicorn Princesses stories are to be believed.
Queen Gleaming Topaz of the Crystal Empire walked through the shining halls of her palace with a regality befitting the only queen in Equestria. Her simple, purple dress fluttered lightly as she walked, and the blue cloak worn on top dragging across the ground as she walked. She knew the palace well and stopped not to admire the works of art that were lined along the walls, be it paintings or sculptures. That is not to say that she disregarded them, however. No, she appreciated every single one of them and made sure that each piece was well tended to: constantly kept clean and undamaged.
She was heading to a room situated in the opposite wing of her quarters’, a golden medallion with a crimson Alicorn-shaped jewel embedded in it. The gemstone was pulsing in a fast paced rhythm, illuminating the usually turquoise walls by a dark red light every two seconds.
The guards stationed at each side of the door she was headed to quickly stood to attention before their queen. She smiled softly and told them to be at ease before asking if she could come in. Often, the person inside the room gave instructions to not be bothered under any circumstances.
When both guards explained that they hadn’t been told anything about not allowing the queen inside the room, Gleaming reached for the door handle and open it. After she closed her door behind her, the queen assisted to a rather unusual sight.
In the center of a large work room with a six foot tall soldier’s statue made from a light blue crystal. The statue imitated superbly the traditional armor of the Crystal Guard. The craft was so well executed that Gleaming thought that someone had actually put an actual armor on the statue when she first saw it. Though that wasn’t what was an unusual sight at all. After all, finding sculptures in a sculptor's workshop wasn’t really a surprise.
What took her by surprise was the five sets of glowing, red runes floating around the statue in question. The magical inscriptions grew longer until they were long enough to form five runic circles. When she was used to it, she turned her gaze on the only other person inside the room.
The dark skinned man was sitting cross-legged a few feet before the statue, his shoulder-long, jet black hair waving to an unexisting breeze. His eyes were shining in the same red light as the runes and his hands, which were doing complex movements while the runes started to spin around the statue faster than before.
The enchanter continued his work without the queen interrupting him before he slammed his hands together. At that sudden gesture, the flying writings came in contact with the crystalline statue, engraving itself all over the smooth, blue surface.
Soon after, the statue’s head looked up while it slowly and purposefully stood to attention in front of the enchanter. The wizard in question admired his work with a small, satisfied smile, while levitating a roll of parchment and an inked quill to scribble a few notes on his experiment.
“Quite impressive!” Gleaming commented with pride, startling the raven-haired man who made his quill scratch through the parchment.
“...Could you please stop yourself from surprising me when I’m writing something?” he asked with a roll of his ruby red eyes before facing the queen who was giggling softly because of his startle. “It’s hard to read notes on a ripped parchment.” he added, pointing at the long tear on the roll.
“I’m sorry to disturb your progress, my dear,” Gleaming replied in a genuine apologetic tone. “I should have known better. How is it going so far?”
“The first tries are pretty good,” the enchanter explained. “But its still too slow… I wonder how the Windigos were moving their ice golems,” he muttered to himself. “Anyway, what brings her Highness in my humble workshop?” he asked with a pleasant smile.
“Royal business,” Gleaming stated simply, showing the pulsing Alicorn medallion. “The Princesses requires your presence. Looks like you’re going to have to stop working on your possibly greatest creation for today. Sorry.”
“My possibly greatest creation?” he asked back with a cocked eyebrow and a derisive snort.
The Queen cocked her own eyebrow in response, silently asking for clarification and why he seemed to be mocking her. The dark skinned man walked to his queen’s side slowly.
“I already did my greatest creation,” he whispered in a soft, caring whisper, delicately resting his right hand on the swelling belly of his four-month-pregnant wife. “...and I certainly didn’t do it alone,” he added with a chuckle before nuzzling Gleaming’s cheek with affection.
“Hmmmmmn,” Gleaming moaned as the nuzzles turned into a flurry of small pecks that trailed down her neck. “Dear,... The Council of Harmony requires his leader’s attention,” she reminded with difficulty.
“And I think that the Queen of the Crystal Empire requires her King’s affection more,” he murmured softly before Gleaming push him away from her, with an obvious reluctance.
“You mean that King Sombra is actually ready to take care of his pregnant, mood-swinging, pickles-dipped-in-berry-jam-eating wife instead of answering his Aunts and Duty call?” Gleaming asked with small grin. “Thus breaking his oath of loyalty to Canterlot?”
“Without a single second of hesitation!” Sombra assured with a strong nod of his head.
Gleaming’s smile widened in affection before giving her king a gentle, chaste kiss on the lips, a kiss that he promptly returned.
“You have exactly five minutes before I’m forcing you to go,” she whispered into his lips before she passed her arms around his neck.
“Probably five perfect minutes in my life,” Sombra supposed, his hands pulling delicately his queen closer.
The four Council members were in a small circular room in which half a dozen chairs were placed around a small table with biscuits, a teapot and a few cups. Shadow still had yet to arrive. Since she lived in the Castle, Snowdrop had been there to welcome each of her fellow Council members. Even in her blindness, the white-haired Jupitarian couldn’t help to notice that only Sombra was presentable among her friends.
While she couldn’t see it to be sure, Snowdrop was convinced that Daring’s attire wasn’t in good condition. The treasure hunter had a faint odor of dirt, dust and a fairly distinct doggy smell, oddly enough. When she arrived, a few seconds after Sombra popped into the room, she tossed him something, claiming that he owed her big time.
Manuella, or Mane as they all called her, reeked of alcohol and sweat, and if the sounds of her hair waving and touching everything around with excitement were of any indications, Snowdrop could deduce it was a mess. Though, Mane’s hair was always some sort of a mess. As soon as she spotted the explorer, the green-haired happily shouted Daring's name, then tackled and embraced in a bear hug.
At the table, next to Snowdrop, King Sombra was busy munching on a sugary treat in a childlike manner while observing the gemstone Daring had brought back with her. Nothing really fitting of a king, but since his wife wasn’t there to reminding him of proper etiquette, he didn’t have to care. At least not too much, as he knew that the girls of the Council would rat him out to Gleaming Topaz if it was needed.
On its other side of the table, Mane was hugging and nuzzling Daring deeply, much to the explorer’s annoyance as she was busy scolding the long-haired woman for going out drinking and fighting in the dock’s taverns during her absence. Though, the scolding lasted only for a few seconds before Daring sighed in defeat and took a brush out of her backpack and started to use it on the Eponian’s hair hoping to tame that tangled mess of green.
The group remained mostly silent while waiting for the last Council member. No other sounds than Snowdrop’s occasional giggling responses to Mane’s whimpers of pain whenever Daring brushed her hair a little too hard was heard until the characteristic woosh sound of teleportation.
Shadow Kicker greeted her friends with a big smile as she walked out of the pale, purple light of the spell that had brought her here. Soon after, Snowdrop grabbed her walking shepherd crook and walked out of the room, waving her friends to go after her.
“So,” Sombra let out as he walked up to Snowdrop while the three other women were following behind. “Do you have any clue as to what’s going on?”
“There was another Dracan incursion two nights ago,” the blind herald explained softly. “Come to think, it was more of two incursions…” she added with a defeated sigh.
“Damn!” Daring muttered sourly. “Where did they strike this time?”
“A small fleet attacked the new town of Vanhoover as a diversion for a much larger one that was sailing to Horseshoe Bay,” Snowdrop replied matter-of-factly. “The Lunar Guard was deployed before they could deal too much long term damage in Vanhoover.” She let out a pained sigh. “Many civilian lives were lost though…”
“...What about Horseshoe Bay?” Daring asked slowly while the three others voiced/growled their hatred of the Dracan Kingdom.
“I don’t know actually,” Snowdrop answered softly, much to everyone’s surprise. “Princess Luna asked us to head back to Canterlot before heading over there on her own. I haven’t talked to her since then.”
“So you don’t know why we were called?” Shadow asked casually as the blind woman was leading them to the large conference room in the castle’s East tower.
“Hum-hum.” Snowdrop shook her head in response while her staff touched the large mahogany door. “All I know is that we won’t only meet the Princesses… and it might get a bit louder than what we’re used to.” she added before reaching for the handle with a bit of difficulty.
When she finally opened the door, the Council’s ears were assaulted by the din of dozens of conversations happening at the same time. As they walked in the room, they noticed that the Princesses had also called the most famous figures of the Royal Guard along with a few high rank Nobles.
Celestia and Luna were both sitting on their thrones, respectively golden and silvery, letting everyone discuss between them as they were waiting for the Council to arrive. From each side of the two thrones, three comfortable and regal chairs stood. The three at Luna’s left side were empty while the closest to Celestia’s right side was occupied by an old man with a greying beard and matching long hair, wearing a long, red robe. He seemed to only receive dark stares from the rare people in attendance that were glancing in his direction.
The Council members recovered from entering into the loud room and made way for their spots. Snowdrop, Sombra and Shadow sat at Luna’s left, the blind woman right next to monarch, while Daring and Mane headed for the seats at Celestia’s right side. When he saw the two women approach, the old man stood up to leave the chairs closest to the Sun Princess for them.
“Thanks, Hindel,” Mane said in a smiling nod of her head as she sat between him and Daring.
“You’re welcome, Lady Manuella,” Hindel replied politely with his very guttural accent, slightly bowing at her.
His behavior only earned him sneers and angry comments from the closest nobles while Celestia was calling for silence. One was whispered loud enough for him and the two Councilwomen to hear.
“… Two wild beasts going along is not that surprising!” A young prince commented, glaring at Mane and Hindel.
The old man blinked in shock and surprise when he saw the eyes of the green haired lady before him turning from a casual, cheerful glint to a deep sadness and hurt. Hindel knew he was nothing but a guest in the Castle, but he would not tolerate such conduct despite the Princesses strongly advising him to keep a low profile. While he turned around to tell the minor prince off, he saw that someone had already beaten him to it.
On the desk of the Baltimare’s Prince, a large, ghostly white tiger had rested his forepaws and was roaring threateningly at him, causing the noble to shriek loudly before falling on the ground.
“DARING!” Celestia snapped to the woman at her right.
“....Sorry,” the explorer muttered sourly as her feral familiar vanished into thin air, not looking sorry at all.
“...Well, now that we have your full attention,” Luna commented casually, noticing that the feline’s roar had at least brought the silence in the assistance. “Let’s focus on the purpose of this Assembly.” The Baltimare’s prince was about to open his mouth. “Your wounded pride can and will wait, Prince Manfred,” she added sternly, earning a smirk from the explorer who was rubbing Mane’s back soothingly.
“As you all know,” Celestia began after the prince sat back with a frown. “The number of Dracan incursions has been increasing over the last three years.” She paused when all the assembly’s eyes gave dark stares in Hindel’s direction, she licked her lips in frustration. “..... I have discussed the matter with my sister and OUR Dracan ally, Hindel!” she added strongly, her voice much more colder than what they were used to. “And we’ve reached the conclusion that Hindel’s former kingdom must have an advanced harbor from where they launch their attacks close to our shores.”
The supposition was met by a brouhaha of shocked gasps and angry growls, and a few dark stares aimed at the Princesses’ Dracan advisor.
“How come he hasn’t mentioned it before?” A tall man with black hair and a strong Manehattenite accent asked in a neutral tone.
“Well,” Luna started with a sigh before Hindel could finish his standing up motion. “Since he’s hasn’t been in contact with the Kingdom of Draconia for nearly a decade, he’s hardly aware of their plans.”
“That’s what he says,” another noble commented slowly.
“And that’s what we’re telling you once again, Baronet Sparkle,” Celestia replied coldly. “We’re not here to convince you of Hindel’s truthfulness. His actions against his former Kingdom are more than enough to prove his loyalty to us!”
“Loyalty from the one who betrayed his country,” Sparkle muttered in his beard, though not low enough for Luna to not hear it.
"Whatever reasons Hindel had for leaving Draconia, are only for him to know, Baronet," the Night Princess retorted. "And may I remind you that as a honorific council member, disrespecting him is the same as disrespecting us!"
The noble’s defiant expression quickly faltered at those words, and he promptly looked at his feet in shame. The Moon Princess stared at the whole audience, silently asking them if they had anything to add on the matter. When no one voiced any concern they might have, Celestia cleared her throat.
“Now, two things matter. The most important one is to find and destroy that harbor. Without it, the Dracan fleets would have no more starting point for their attacks on our shores, and we would gain a good surveillance port to ensure our nation’s safety,” Celestia explained in a martial tone. “To make a long story short, we’re bringing the war to the Dracans instead of them bringing it to us!”
“We’re asking you to gather all the soldiers available!” Luna added before the nobles and officers started to whisper among themselves about.
“Highness, if I may interject!” Admiral Philharmonica called loud enough to be heard through the conversations. “We do not have the resources to assemble a fleet large enough for what you’re asking.”
“The admiral is right,” Hindel admitted slowly, causing all gazes to turn in his direction. “From what I witnessed, you don’t have enough adequate ships to go through the usual defenses that are standard in Dracans harbors, at least from what I remember.” Celestia cocked an inquiring eyebrow at the old Dracan. “What I mean is that they have dragons among their defenses: water dragons that waits at the bottom of the sea to sink any approaching, enemy ships; dragonlings that would burn down every ship not bearing the scent of their masters…”
“Couldn’t we just reinforce our ships with metal?” Daring asked softly. “Most of the Dracan vessels are made of metal right?” She turned to Hindel who nodded in response. “We could just do that.”
“That would take months, no years for your kind to build an armada of vessels sturdy enough to resist a water dragon’s bite or dragonfire in general.” Hindel commented with a shake of his head, surprisingly earning approving nods from the assembly. “And all that without losing too much maneuverability and speed.”
Many in attendance agreed with the Dracan’s claim, Luna even bit her lip nervously. The only two that didn’t seem to be fazed by this situation were Princess Celestia who kept a calm expression and Shadow Kicker who had leaned back on her chair with her eyes closed, like during all the official meetings that didn’t concern her line of work directly. She didn’t like to argue about matters she knew nothing of.
“Shadow?” Celestia called the blacksmith with a small grin. “What do you think of that idea?”
“Using our traditional craft, it’s impossible to realize, Princess,” Shadow replied matter-of-factly, looking like she was about to take a nap right during the Assembly.
Celestia simply glanced at the laid-back blonde for a few seconds. “And how long would it take you to have a prototype ready by your own craft?”
Shadow slowly open her right eye to glance at the two thrones’ direction. “.... Would you accept my proposition on the changes of wedding laws?”
Celestia’s grin slowly turned into a knowing smirk as the whole crowd of Nobles and Hindel blinked in confusion at Shadow’s question. Luna and the Council, on the other hand, knew what the blacksmith was referring to, and had turned their shocked, gaping faces to the Sun Princess.
“No! But, we might make an exception for you… As a war reward of some sort,” Celestia replied slowly.
“........ Give me the control of all Cloudsdale’s Cloud-shapers and access to Manehatten’s blast furnaces, and you’ll have your armada built and ready for departure by the end of Winter,” Shadow stated calmly, her blue eye slowly closing itself while a very happy smile made its way on her face.
“...... WHAT?!” All the attendance but Celestia asked in a shocked shout.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soon after the end of Winter, in Manehatten’s industrial harbor…
“.... I can’t believe she actually did it,” Daring whispered in awe.
“Me neither,” Sombra commented in shock, his foot tapping the dark grey surface he was standing on.
“I don’t know why you two are so surprised,” Snowdrop remarked. “You know that Shadow can do a lot with the proper motivation… And I must say that Celestia authorizing her wedding with Senator Dash’s four daughters was probably the strongest incentive she ever had.”
“I wish I could have seen the face of Dash when his daughters told him,” Mane let out with a chuckle from the mast she was hanging from.
“Equestrians are weird,” Hindel commented casually, his eyes fixed on Shadow saying goodbye to her four, recently wedded, blonde wives. “Amazingly talented and all, but weird!” he added and no one thought of telling him otherwise.
Ever since the Assembly a few months ago, Shadow had rarely been seen out of the industrial furnaces along with more than four hundreds Cloud-shapers and blacksmiths alike. What exactly she had been doing, none of the Council members had a clue, for only Hindel had been admitted inside to test the resilience of what she was smithing inside.
The only time they saw her was when they attended her wedding ceremony. The Council, Hindel, Luna and Celestia had been the only guests on Shadow's side while the quadruplet wives' guests were barely more numerous as only a few of their close friends who already knew of their relationship with the renowned blacksmith. They could have asked about Shadow's project on that occasion, but it wasn't really the place, nor the time to do so.
Thus, many were surprised when the Princesses ordered the mobilization of the troops to Manehatten harbors. Many more thought that Shadow didn’t succeed and that it would result in embarrassing the Princesses. The result was quite an embarrassment alright, though only for Shadow’s critics.
When the commanders of Equestria’s Navy, including the Fleet Admiral Philharmonica, saw the hundred of galleons with hulls made of Shadow’s latest creation, the Pecunimbus : an alloy obtained by the combination of rainclouds, molten silver and iron, resulting in a metal light as a feather but tough as the strongest armor. A cloud dense enough that Eponians and Titanians could stand on it without the need of cloud-walking spells or amulets.
Now, hours after Shadow’s first demonstration, which consisted in throwing Sombra and Mane on the closest ship with a strong gush of wind, Equestria’s army was embarking on the cloud-made ships, ready to explore the seas in search of the Dracan outpost. Much to everyone’s surprise, the Council of Harmony decided to put out to sea as well.
Nothing would turn Daring off a chance to explore outside of Equestria’s territory, not even the dangerous circumstances of this journey, and Mane would be bald before she let the closest person she had for a sister go in a war zone without her. Snowdrop’s position as Herald of the Night Princess made it mandatory for her to go wherever Luna, who was leading the fleet with her sister, went. Sombra had to go to maintain the magical links between the mirrors Celestia had ordered him to create for communication purposes. Shadow, for her part, wanted to see her babies in action.
“We’ll miss you, Love,” One of Dash’s daughters whispered as she nuzzled her and her sisters’ wife with affection.
“Stay out of trouble, Darling,” another added in a small cry before she landed a peck on her blacksmith’s forehead.
“Return home soon, Honey,” the third demanded in a pleading voice, tears rolling down her cheeks.
The fourth simply pulled Shadow into a tight hug, burying her nose in her lover’s neck. Shadow passed her arm around before signaling her sisters to join them. As the four platinum blonde heads leaned against the blacksmith’s sturdy torso, Shadow laid an affectionate kiss on each of their foreheads and hugged them with strength.
“I will return, my beauties. I swear that I will return to you all!” Shadow assured softly.
The five women remained like that for a few minutes, ignoring the more than jealous stares various soldiers giving to Shadow, until a foghorn rang a deep note through the harbor. The Jupitarian craftswoman stepped back from her wives, holding their hands between her own before taking off to land on the rear deck of the admiral ship.
“Sombra….” Shadow called softly as the boat glided away from the ground.
“Yes?” The Crystal King took his eyes away from his Queen that was waving in his direction.
“Are you feeling like me right now?” the blacksmith asked, her thumb touching the silver band with the four yellow gemstones embedded on it that adorned her ring finger.
“Like a part of your heart is being torn away?” Sombra asked with a sad, knowing expression.
“.....Yeah,” Shadow replied with a sigh as her lovers were becoming small dots in the horizon.
“Shadow, my dear,” Celestia said gently as she walked to the Council member’s side. “If you want to stay, no one would hold it against you. You’ve done more than enough already.”
“I heard you the first time you said so, Highness,” Shadow replied in a low tone. “I’d rather be here to be certain that all the ships are well and that no random Cloud-shaper messes with my Shapes,” she explained softly. “Besides, I have a few tricks to show to the Dracan fleet.”
“I think we all have, Shadow,” Snowdrop said with a small grin before she heard the other Council members and Hindel nod in agreement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One week or two later, in the middle of the ocean,
"Tågen er ligeså tyk som ærtesuppe..." [This fog is as thick as a pea soup....]
"Helt enig!" [Totally agree!]
The Dracan sailors were discussing about the thick fog that surrounded their fleet, only letting them see the other ships because of the lanterns they kept attached to the stern. It wasn’t unusual for them to sail across a patch of fog, and since they were still far from land, the wouldn’t need to worry too much. They kept heading forward until they heard a loud but deep boom coming from the skies.
"Torden? Men der var ingen skyer i himlen bare for få minutter siden!" [Thunder? But there weren't any clouds in the sky just minutes ago!] the first mate called in confusion.
"Se! Lyset på kommandørens skib falder længere ned mod vandet... Kommandørens skib er ved at synke!" [Look! The light on the Commander's ship is falling closer to the water... The commander's ship is sinking!] Another mate pointed at the lantern of the closest vessel before it vanished under the water.
“Meow?!”
All the crew on the deck snapped their head in direction of where the sound came from, finding a fluffy white cat sitting casually on the ship’s rail.
"Er det... en kat?" [Is that… a cat?] The boat’s captain let out in a dumbfounded expression.
The fluffy feline strouted along the rail, all eyes focused on him before they saw the cat nuzzled a booted leg. They all looked up and saw a tanned woman wearing khaki shorts and shirt and a cream pith helmet above her black and grey locks.
“Gentlemen,” Daring called with smirk. “Prepare to be boarded!” she said before flaring her sandy wings wide open.
The wind summoned by the explorer scattered the fog around the Dracan vessel, giving its crew a clear view of what was happening. On top of the mast of their sinking commander ship, stood another Jupitarian woman, dark grey wings casually open on her back and a huge warhammer, whose head coursed with electricity, resting on her shoulder.
On the port side of their former leading boat, they saw a huge iceberg forming itself instantly before it ripped a frigate’s hull open on nearly all its length while someone with snow white wings was flying nearby along with many deep blue armored soldiers.
Another of their frigates was on the receiving end of a dark, silvery ship’s ramming. The unknown vessel’s had a gigantic, red, crystal shard on its bow that shone brightly when it crash against the Dracan hull, setting it ablaze almost instantly.
“You really should look this way!” Mane called the Dracans with a mad giggle as she landed next to Daring, her hair whipping the air around with excitement.
They looked at the green-haired woman’s direction, seeing that a huge, silver-made vessel, at least twice the size of their own, had emerged from the dissipating fog, its flag bearing the blue and white alicorns flying in circle symbol, the symbol of Equestria’s royalty.
All the Dracans shivered in fear when they saw Princess Luna, clad in her midnight blue armor, her teal eyes narrowed like those of a feline, appeared at the Equestrian ship’s rail quickly followed by many lighter armored sailors, all with their cutlasses, spears, bows and crossbows out.
At one command of their Princess, the Equestrian roared before they jumped aboard the Dracan frigate and at the same time, Daring’s ghostly predators appeared from her whistle and lunged forward along with Mane whose expression was even more feral than that of the ethereal tiger.
The last things the ship’s captain saw before his throat was ripped off by the ghost panther were the huge armada of silvery vessels that came out of the fog after the one that was boarding his ship. Equestria had come to make war, and it was a lot more prepared for it than what the Dracans had planned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere,
A man suddenly snapped his head in direction of his window. He narrowed his deep purple, reptilian irises at the sea that lie open before his castle windows. Humming casually in a deep voice, he stood up from his luxurious chair and walked closer to the glass separating him from the outside.
"Min herre, er alt som det skal være?" [My lord, is everything alright?] His butler and personal advisor asked in confusion.
His master had suddenly stopped paying attention to the report he was giving him not a few seconds ago. It was a fairly unusual for him to do so, as his master was keen on knowing whatever happened in the lands he was in charge of.
The butler glanced above his master’s muscular shoulder, seeing the white-haired, still young face of the one he had sworn to serve many years ago. His master snorted before facing the, at least in appearance, older man in the room.
"Sammel Jarlerne!” [Gather the Thanes!] Thane Lord of Draconia, Arrogon the Destroyer ordered in a stern, yet calm voice. "Vi får gæster." [We’re going to have guests!] he added with a small grin full of malice before the butler bowed and exited the room.
It had been weeks since Equestria’s Silver Fleet, as it had been nicknamed by many of the men on the cruise, had set sails in the search for the Dracan harbor. The hundred and one vessels composing the Equestrian armada had spread its force into five fleets of twenty ships to look for their objective and to defend their shores from the Draconian plundering squadrons.
The greatest advantage that allowed Equestria to turn the tide of the naval war was their Pecunimbus-made vessels. Shadow’s newly invented alloy could resist dragon fire and the projectiles thrown at it by the enemy’s ballistas and catapults more efficiently than Dracan’s vessels of wood and iron.
Another great strength for the Equestrian fleet was that the ships could be repaired in a proverbial blink of an eye and without having to return to a port due the many Cloud-shapers present on every vessel of the armada.
The same couldn’t be said about the soldiers on the ships in question. While it had won all its encounters against the Dracan pirates, Equestria’s fleet still suffered casualties and about out one tenth of the armada had to leave the high seas to bring the wounded and dead back home. Still, their determination didn’t tarish one bit.
After weeks of tracking, they had spotted the island on which the Dracan port was located. It had been hard as the enemy had managed to drive the Equestrian naval force off track more than once. Credits were due where credits were due, the Dracans had done a good job on keeping the location of their base hidden by making believe they were coming from other directions, only to lead the Equestrian armada to nothing but islands too small to accommodate a military harbor.
Yet, they had found it. A hilly island around twenty miles wide, covered mostly by a thick forest that probably served as a lumber reserve for the Dracans. The port occupied the center of the island’s largest bay, hundreds of torches signaling the presence of docked vessels and buildings alike through the deep, blue night. The Dracan patrols and their totemic beasts were standing guard, the human eyes focused on the seas while the dragons’ nostrils flared to pick up any unusual scent that might approach their camp, all unaware of the blackened vessels of Equestria observing them from afar.
“I don’t like this!” Mane let out angrily as she paced in circles on the rear deck of admiral ship while Celestia, Luna and Hindel were observing the island with their telescopes, or reptilian eyes in the latter’s case. “It’s been too long already!”
“Patience, Little cub,” Luna whispered the nickname she had given the Eponian many years ago. “Daring only left half an hour ago,” she added, not looking away from the island.
“Little cub?” Hindel asked Snowdrop who was standing next to him, observing the faraway shores in her own fashion.
“It’s a long story,” the blind woman replied casually.
“I counted more than sixty winged dragons nesting around the bay,” Celestia summed up as she rested her telescope on the rail. “Most of them in their adolescent phase from what you taught us, Hindel.”
“They are the most troublesome at that age,” the Dracan replied with a sigh. “Old enough to be independent, but still too inexperienced to know when to retreat. They’ll defend the harbor to the death!”
“And that’s just the dragons you can see,” Snowdrop commented slowly. “We’ve encountered many water dragons during this campaign. Surely their nest must be somewhere around here.”
“Quite probably,” Celestia agreed before turning right to see Luna holding back Mane from jumping over the rail with a strong grip on the massive, waving green hair.
“Luna, let me go!” Mane pleaded with a growl, trying to push forward. “I’ve got to go help Daring!”
“If you’d behave like a grown-up lioness maybe,” Luna stated apathetically, strongly pulling the Eponian back on deck. “Now, do like little cubs do and wait for your mother lioness to come back to the den!”
“Daring’s not a lioness!” Mane let out angrily at the night Princess. “She’s not a wild animal! Take that back this instant!”
“Or what? You’re gonna wave your cute little paws at me, Lion cub?” Luna asked with amusement.
“Enough with the cub jokes!” Mane shouted angrily. “I’m an adult woman, and....” she trailed off as a small, yellowish dot of light passed before her eyes.
Instinctually, Mane let out a very feline, whimper and jumped with her two hands on the light point, only for it to continue its course across the deck. Oblivious to the shocked stare of Hindel, the green-haired Eponian tried to catch the light with a childish fervor and low, happy purrs.
“Sister, that’s not very nice,” Luna reminded Celestia, whose forefinger was shining in the same light as the coursing dot.
After hearing that comment and a small giggle from the Sun Princess, Mane realized what she was doing and started to blush massively before her long hair wrapped itself around her to form a green cocoon in which she decided to hide possibly forever.
“Isn’t Daring only ten years older than Manuella?” Hindel asked the other Council members who were all holding back their laughter as Celestia walked to the bundle of hair to apologize for the prank. “How can she be her mother?”
“Daring’s more of a surrogate mother,” Shadow explained softly once her giggles were calm. “Mane spent the first years of her life in the Everfree forest with a pack of Leones Minores.”
“It was more by luck than anything that Daring found her…” Sombra explained with a hint of sadness. “Rumors about a green-haired Leo had attracted many curious zoologists in that area…. as well as a lot of poachers.”
“When Daring stumbled on the rumored green beast, all she found was a twelve year old girl with out of the norm, long hair, nuzzling and whimpering at the dead bodies of a Leo mother and its cubs...” Snowdrop explained grimly. “The hunters responsible tried to attack Daring when they saw her…” she let out a dark, unhappy chuckle. “Poor fools never stood a chance against Daring’s Guardian,” she added with a smirk.
“Served them right,” Sombra approved with a nod before continuing the tale. “After that, Daring decided to take the girl with her. She taught her to speak, to read, to get dressed.”
“The last one took a lot of time to be learned!” Shadow commented more pleasantly.
Memories of the flustered and shocked expression of the royals after seeing the naked girl running like Discord was after her around the castle with Daring chasing her with a towel in hand filled the Council members’ heads. The most memorable one was certainly the first time it had happened : when Mane had fled to the throne room to climb on top of Celestia’s golden chair, while the court was being held.
“I find that hard to believe…” Hindel let out slowly, his gaze focused on the mass of hair that Celestia was patting soothingly. “That would explain why Daring is always looking out for her so vigorously though, and why she’s worried about Daring spying in the harbor.” He glanced back at the harbor. “You think she’s gonna be okay on her own?”
“Daring’s never on her own,” Luna whispered as she leaned on the rail. “He’s always with her.”
“Huh?” Hindel let out in confusion. “Who are you talking about?”
“.... A relic from a time before Celestia and I,” Luna explained with a knowing smirk.
Hindel was about to inquire further when a loud explosion rang from the bay. All ship commanders and sailors turned their gazes to the bay, seeing a column of fire coming out of a large warehouse in the center of the port. All the resting dragons had took flight after the sudden noises while their sea cousins emerged their heads from the depths of the water to hiss at the disturbances.
“You know, for someone who’s prized for her stealth, Daring’s signals aren’t really that discrete,” Shadow commented as she picked her large warhammer that was resting against the rear mast.
“At least, they are clear, Shadow,” Celestia chuckled lightly before taking a stern expression and facing the fleet admiral and the Crystal King. ”Admiral Philharmonica, Sombra, now’s the time!”
The admiral saluted before barking his orders to his crew while Sombra started the communication enchantment he had cast on gemstones scattered amongst the fleet to relay the message to every other ship. In the following minutes, the fleet had hoisted the sails and was gliding towards the port in which all eyes were focused on the fire. To be certain to keep the element of surprise, Luna conjured a thick fog before the leading ships.
They had barely passed the strait when a thunderous roar rang through the entire bay. A strong gush of wind stopped the ships right in their tracks as the fog covering them was lifted in an instant. All the sailors lost their footing because of the sudden stop while the dragons that were observing the fire flew or dived away with terrified shrieks.
“It… It can’t be…” Hindel whispered in a frightened whisper, a tone that he had never used before. “What is he doing here?!” he asked, shouting loudly.
“Hindel! What was that?” Snowdrop asked the Dracan in a spooked tone.
The sounds of huge stomps made them all move their head upwards. From the top of the mountain above the port, stood the monstrosity responsible for the roar.
The massive metallic and glowing purple dragon growled loudly and took off with a strong flap of its large wings. It flew a few times in circle above the harbor, a much calmer roar calling back all the dragonlings that had taken off because of its initial roar. Leathery wings and diamond hard scales filled the sky before the beast and its followers flew down the port. While the younger dragons landed on the not burning building and various docked ships around, the metallic one flew down the most forward pontoon.
Hindel’s eyes followed the behemoth as it suddenly started to shine a deep purple light, its body shrinking as he came closer to the wooden construction. All the Equestrians were doing like him, witnessing the deep amethyst-colored glaze reaching the human size and landing between five other people that were standing proudly at the end of the pontoon, their faces high and their eyes focused on the Equestrian fleet.
[Damn!] Hindel cursed slowly as he recognized the half-dozen people on the pontoon, the dragon having taken the form of a tall muscular man with white hair.
All of those six Dracans, one woman and five men, were all wearing the most well kept suits of armor Equestrians had seen since the start of the raids years ago. All around them, the Dracans and dragons gathered, like butterflies around a flame, before they faced the seas and the stopped ships at the entrance of the strait.
“Hindel, who are they?” Luna asked tensely, her teal, usually gentle, eyes narrowed sternly at the half dozen of important-looking opponents as her dark blue armor appeared over her clothes.
Hindel licked his lips slowly before speaking. “The Thanes,” he replied in a whisper. “The fathers and mothers of my kind… Six of the twelve that battled and threw Discord off of Draconia’s lands!”
All the Equestrians around him tensed at the mention of the lord of Chaos that had ravaged their country long ago before looking in the Thanes’ general direction. In the harbor, the Dracans were getting ready to embark on their ships to battle the Equestrian’s.
“I guess we’ll do without the element of surprise,” Celestia commented with a frown. “ALL CREWS READY FOR BATTLE!” she ordered in her magically, amplified voice before facing her sister. “Give us some wind, Luna,” she added as the men and women around her got out of their stuns.
Luna nodded and drew her silver, white blade out of its sheath. Immediately after, the winds whistled strongly above the temporarily halted armada. She then slowly thrusted her blade forward, causing the winds to fly straight in the sails, strongly lunging the lead ships towards the shores.
As the Equestrians were sailing at top speed to them, the first Dracan ships had managed to leave the port to meet them halfway. One of the Thanes, the tallest and sturdiest man of the group, leaned on his legs before making a leap that brought him on the bow of the most forward ship, a few dozen meters away from the pontoon.
He was quickly imitated by four of the other Thanes, that all took off with the help of differently colored draconic wings that had appeared on their back. They were joined in the air by all the dragonlings of the harbor and as well by Princess Luna, Snowdrop and the entire Jupitarian corps of the Armada.
Celestia observed the man who had taken the form of a monstrous dragon earlier, the one she presumed was Arrogon the Destroyer, the strongest Dracan alive according to Hindel. His glowing, purple eyes were focused on the cerise ones of the Sun Princess despite the great distance separating them.
The two leaders stared at each other for a few seconds before a second explosion rang from beyond the docks. All gazes briefly turned back to the port, in which a third column of fire was emerging from another structure in a loud bang, quickly followed by a fourth, then a fifth.
Good job, Daring! Celestia praised mentally as she spotted the until now impassible face of the Thane Lord tsked in annoyance, whispering something in his native tongue.
The Dracan leader had anticipated an infiltration of his harbor, but he had hoped that the saboteur would be caught before he could signal the Equestrian fleet to attack. That didn’t happen, and on top of that, his men still hadn’t caught the culprit.
He was about to move to catch the intruder himself, since his soldiers couldn’t be trusted for it. Though, that was before a feminine hand landed on his large shoulder, and surprisingly held him back.
Arrogon turned around to face the female Thane that was holding him back, since he knew that only one of the three women amongst them could have such delicate hands and enough strength in their grip to do so. One can imagine his surprise when he saw the tall and tanned body of Princess Celestia restricted in a white and golden dress behind him.
"Hvad med at lege lidt med mig, lille ven?" [How about playing with me, little boy?] Celestia asked in a rather well pronounced Dracan tongue that Hindel had taught her.
Arrogon blinked in surprise at the Princess speaking his language before he smirked after glancing above her shoulder. Celestia was puzzled by his gesture, oblivious to the smoke gathering behind her. Harald, the seventh Thane to have made his appearance on the island, readied his poisoned daggers as his body slowly and silently left his smoke aspect. He plunged both blades towards Celestia’s upper back.
“Hum... Fool!” a deep, masculine voice roared from between Celestia and Harald while a black, sharp crystal shard emerged from the Princess’ shadow.
The Assassin Thane dodged by arching his body backwards, causing the black crystal to pass just where his face was a few seconds ago. As he took a few steps back, he saw a dark skinned man, clad in a dark grey and red armor, emerging from within Celestia’s shadow.
“Very chivalrous action on your part, Sombra,” Celestia commented with a small smirk as the Crystal King stood behind her. “Though not needed, I’m afraid.”
“It’s not because they can’t harm you that those brutes can feel free of attempting anything they want,” Sombra replied, chuckling darkly as his ruler merely shook her head with a smile.
Arrogon pulled his arm away from the Princess’ grip and took a few steps back as the nearby Dracans surrounded and pointed their weapons at the pair of Equestrians. Though, that was before a flash of green passed before them in the blink of an eye.
All the attackers gasped in shock to see their spears and halberds’ staves broken and their blades bent as if they had slammed them on a rock while a woman with wild green hair, wearing a purple, black and yellow ensemble landed on all fours before Celestia.
“No one points a weapon at Princess Celestia, Punks!” Mane roared as she took the same stance of a lion ready to leap at his prey. “Or else, they’ll have to deal with me!” she added in a low growl that wouldn’t have been out of place in one of Daring’s familiars’ throat.
“You really think you’re in position to threaten us, Wild Beast Manuella Lion’s Mane?” Arrogon asked a heavily accented Equestrian speech.
“You speak our tongue. How odd,” Celestia commented slowly as Mane snarled in his direction. “Anyway, I think the same could be asked about you… The bay is completely blocked by our fleet and we have more ships than ....”
Harald and Arrogon simply let out a joined short, openly mocking chuckle at Celestia’s words. Mane and Sombra both frowned at the Thanes before the white-haired one took back his seriousness and looked back at the Sun Princess with a knowing smirk.
“Just so you know… I wasn’t looking at Harald’s misplaced attempt at assassination on your person,” Arrogon explained in a deep, triumphing tone that made Celestia uneasy. “I was looking at something behind your ships,” he added, pointing his finger at something beyond their vessels.
Immediately, Sombra, Mane and Celestia turned around and saw nothing but the sea they had come from before a huge wall of green fire spread along the horizon. The massive, unnatural flames brought anyone in the bay’s attention. All Equestrian eyes widened in shock as a fleet of vessels thrice the size of their own appeared along with a massive green dragoness when the flames of green magic died down.
“That traitor Hindel surely taught you a lot of the powers of Dragonfire which he learned from me,” Arrogon whispered slowly as that green Thane that transported the fleet here roared strongly as an order to charge. “Luckily, I didn’t teach him all there was to know on the matter.”
Celestia tightened her fists angrily as she realized that she and Luna had led their people into a trap. She glanced upwards to see the Lunar Guard battling ferociously against the dragons while its Mistress was fighting the four airborne Thanes. She also looked back at her ship, just in time to see it being boarded by the Dracan vessel with the Thane that hadn’t taken flight earlier.
“Discord was no match for us Thanes and the Armada of Draconia,” Arrogon stated with a smirk as Harald’s smoke re-appeared around his body as his eyes took a more reptilian aspect. “You and your little horse-men won’t be enough as well…”
Arrogon’s sentence was interrupted by his and Harald’s transformation into their draconic forms. The sturdy pontoon started to crack under the weights of the two transforming Thanes while all their soldiers quickly moved aside from their masters.
“Sombra…” Celestia whispered coldly, unfazed by the transformation occurring not six feet from her. “Would you be kind enough to take Manuella away from here and find out where Daring is?”
“Yes your Highness!” Sombra replied with urgency as he grabbed Mane’s shoulder before they vanished away in a red flash.
Celestia merely closed her eyes as her magic sensed through all the newly arrived fleet.
That’s one.. two… three Thanes more…She thought as she felt the strong auras of the latest three leaders of the Dracans. Ten of them are here so it seems…No time to wonder where the other two are though.
Arrogon’s dragon head lunged towards Celestia at top speed, his maw wide open, ready to crush the Princess between his long, sharp teeth. From the corner of her eye, Luna spotted her sister. She was about to break her fight with the flying Thanes to come to her rescue when Celestia’s voice spoke in her thoughts.
Take care of the dragons and join me as soon as possible, Lulu!
Immediately after that telepathic order, Celestia and all the Thanes, even the three in their complete dragon form and the four that were fighting against Luna, popped out of existence in bright, yellow flashes. With her opponents gone, Luna let out a low growl of frustration, her hand rubbing her eyes which had been dazzled by her sister’s teleportation spell.
I hate it when she does that! Luna thought angrily, seemingly oblivious to the young dragon moving in her direction.
The red beast flew straight for her, his mouth wide open while small sparks of fire came out of its throat. He was about to breath fire at Luna from point blank, and no one from her guard could prevent it from doing so, nor could they stop other dragons to mimick the first one.
A small, yet still bigger than two work-horse, green dragon had its face barely an inch before the Princess’ when she pulled her hand away from her eyes. The dragon roared at her for a second, then his defiant roar died down in front of Luna’s stern eyes.
Lightning tore the skies at the commanding voice of the Moon Princess as a wave of darkness filled the sky for a brief instant. When they emerged back from the darkness, all the dragons in the air had a submissive stance and were slowly flying backwards from the Night princess, while their aquatic kins started to lower themselves closer to the surface.
Luna tightened her grip on her sword and the dragonlings and sea wyrms all flew or dived away from her. Hindel had taught her that adolescent dragons tended to be more daring than their adult and younger versions, the latter ones being too fragile and easily scared and the former ones experienced enough to realize when it was useless to fight.
At that precise moment, many dragons grew into their adult phase thanks to Luna, and they would probably never approach any place where they’d pick the scent of the Night Princess, for it would always be associated to the indescriptible terror they felt during their brief time in the darkness.
“Snowdrop,” Luna called casually to the blind woman who had flew up to her after her shout, as if nothing had happened. “I’m about to join my sister. Admiral Philharmonica is now in command of the fleet. Their air support now taken care of, and with their leaders away, it should be easy for our ships to win this battle,” she explained as the Lunar guards were cheering her for taking care of the enemy’s flying force.
“All right, Highness!” Snowdrop nodded slowly.
“I’m counting on you to lead the Lunar Guard according to the Admiral’s orders,” Luna added sternly.
“I’ll not disappoint you, Princess!” Snowdrop assured with determination as she heard many vessels of the Silver fleet turn around to face the threat outside of the bay. “Would that be all of it?”
“One last thing,” Luna said in a much softer tone before Snowdrop felt a hand softly stroking her cheek. “Stay safe my child,” she whispered in a warm, worried tone that reminded Snowdrop of her late mother. “For I’m still waiting for that perfect snowflake of yours,” Luna added in a more jovial tone.
“I’ll be careful Luna… I promise!” Snowdrop whispered with a soft smile, her hand reaching for Luna’s face and happily noticing that the Princess was smiling too.
“Good luck.” Snowdrop heard before the feeling on her palm and cheek went away with a small pop.
“What’s the plan of attack, Herald?” one of the closest Jupitarians asked a few seconds after Luna teleported away.
“You’ll see in a few moments.” Snowdrop extended her shepherd staff forward, conjuring a small twirl of frost and wind inside the crook of her weapon.
~~~~~~~~
Arrogon’s butler had ordered his men to barricade his master’s mansion after the latter went out to fight for the safety of the Draconian forward harbor. His master kept many crucial pieces information in his office, information that the Equestrians couldn’t be allowed to find. When he had seen their back-up fleet from the window of the second floor, he had first thought that things were getting along.
But then he witnessed his master and the other Thanes being teleported away in golden, yellow flashes of light. Immediately after, a wave of darkness made all their dragons swim and fly away with their tails between their legs. He gasped in shock a few minutes after when the entire bay and a part of the ocean started to freeze, trapping and crushing the Dracan ships while Equestrian Silver fleet seemed to simply glide on it like it would on water.
It was obvious now that the Dracans were going to lose without the Thanes’ presence and the butler grew more anxious as the fights in the harbor came closer to the mansion every minute. He bit his lower lip nervously as he pondered on what to do while walking in circles in front of his subordinates.
“Da-dara-da! Da-da-ra!”A woman’s voice softly hummed from within Arrogon’s private study, instantly pulling the worried butler out of his thoughts.
The old Dracan blinked in confusion as the soldiers at his command drew their weapons out and slowly walked to the study’s door. The chief of his escort glanced at the butler to silently ask permission to enter their lord’s office, which he gave with a brief nod as the humming continued.
Suddenly, the office door was slammed open from within as a short tanned woman with black and dark grey hair, walked out of the office, her cerise eyes focused on the documents she was holding. She was wearing the same suit of armor as the Dracans in the room, who were shocked to see her come out like she owned the place, humming softly the tune they had been hearing so far.
One of the six soldiers in the room recovered from the shock faster than the others and went to strike the intruder with his double-bladed axe. The Dracan blade hadn’t gone half of the way to the woman’s neck when she swiftly grabbed the handle of the whip at her belt to crack it at his face.
The small, sharp hooked blade at the end of Daring’s whip slashed the Dracan in the face, which made him let go of his axe that carried its momentum high above the Jupitarian’s head. Still humming her tune, Daring waved her whip a few times, cracking at the other Dracans’ faces or throats before they could even react.
With one final wave of her wrist, her whip made its way around the butler’s neck before he could escape. Daring gave a strong pull that made him fall on the ground when he tried to run away. Quickly after, she positioned herself above the butler’s body, turning the document in her hand to make it readable for her prisoners.
“From what I found in your master’s office, I know you can understand me, but I’ll still make it simple,” Daring stated slowly. “Hindel taught me the basics of your language, but I’m not sure of what’s written on that.” She pointed at the document she had in her hand. “It appeared in a sparkly, green fire that came through the chimney…”
She saw the butler’s eyes widening after briefly reading her letter, and it was more than enough for Daring at the moment.
“I have suspicions about what your Master’s business it’s about… Care to confirm it?”
"Min herres arbejde kommer ikke dig ved, kvinde! Jeg siger intet!" [My master's business is none of your concern, woman! I won’t talk!] the butler spat ferociously.
The pressure in the room suddenly felt heavier as Daring tightened the grip of her whip on the older man. The air around the explorer grow thicker, heavier and darker as she brought her face closer to her captive.
"Tro mig...” [Trust me] Daring slowly said, her voice sounding deeper and sombrer at every word. ”... du VIL snakke!" [...you WILL talk!]
At the end of her sentence, a large, furry blue hand suddenly appeared from thin air and punched the ground next to the butler’s face, cracking the stone floor as easily as it was dry wood.
~~~~~~~~
The day was most certainly theirs for now. With their leaders and dragons gone, and their ships blocked in Snowdrop’s ice, the Dracans were an easy target for Equestria’s Silver Fleet and the Jupitarian Corps lead by the Lunar Guard.
While the largest portion of the Pecunimbus-made armada, with their hulls re-shaped by Shadow’s Cloudshapers to still sail on the ice, was bombarding the Dracans reinforcement, a dozen ships, lead by Hindel and the Council Members made it to the coast.
Their troops had disembarked in order and were fighting their way through the harbor, eliminating the last poaches of resistance they encountered. The Dracans’ morale was at its lowest and many of them chose to surrender in favor of fighting to the death for what seemed like a lost cause now.
On the conquered pontoon, Hindel was watching over the four Council members he had fought with for a few weeks now as they were slowly catching their breath. Wherever the fight was the hardest, the four had been there to inspire their soldiers to victory, like true leaders used to be in the Draconia of old.
As soon as she got her breath back, and saw that no one could threaten them, Shadow let her two-handed war hammer touch the ground and caught Snowdrop and Mane in a double bearhug. She effortlessly lifted her two petite friends and spun them around a little bit.
“We did it! We won!” Shadow cheered as Snowdrop and Mane giggled softly before she let them touch the floor again.
“Shadow, we’re still out in the open. You shouldn’t be that celebrative.” Sombra reminded, but he was smiling softly. “We’ll have to wait for the Princesses to return to officially say that we won.”
“But we still unofficially won?” Snowdrop asked with a tiny grin.
“I suppose that yes, we did,” Sombra agreed with a small chuckle. “Unofficially!”
“So we can start to celebrate in an unofficial way?” Hindel asked, stroking his beard softly, earning a few chuckles from his comrades.
“Sadly, we can’t!” a woman’s voice called from the airs.
Mane’s smile grew instantly wider at the sound of the voice she could recognize amongst a thousand. All but Snowdrop looked up just in time to see Daring land heavily in the center of her group of friends. Immediately after the explorer stood straight up, Mane rushed to hug with strength, instinctually wrapping her hair around her to make sure she couldn’t move anything beside her arms.
“I was so worried,” Mane let out softly when Daring opened her mouth to complain while the green-haired woman nuzzled her chest deeply.
“........haaaaa!” Daring sighed softly instead of saying her complaint and simply caressed the younger girl with a small smile. “How many times did I tell you to not worry about me, Sweetie?”
“As many times as you did things on your own,” Mane replied matter-of-factly, not interrupting her nuzzles. “And I’ll keep doing it, no matter what you say!”
Daring snorted a brief chuckle before softly kissing Mane on the forehead. “You’ll always remain a worried little kitty, won’t you, Lil’ Cub?”
“What were you about to say, Daring?” Sombra asked as Mane hissed in a cat-like fashion at the petname.
Daring’s soft smile vanished in favor of a displeased frown. She pushed Mane aside a bit and walked to the Crystal King, licking her lips nervously.
“You remember what Hindel told us about Draconia’s Thanes?” The explorer asked slowly, her eyes glancing in their Dracan ally for a bit. “That they were the twelves fathers and mothers of their entire race…”
“And?”
“When Celestia teleported them away earlier…. There were only ten flashes of light other than Celestia’s…” Daring replied slowly. “Which means that two of them aren’t here!”
“...They could be in Draconia for all we know,” Shadow suggested uneasily. “.. Right?”
“That’s what I first thought before I checked Arrogon’s office earlier,” Daring explained.
“What did you find in it?” Sombra asked impatiently.
“Recent reports on the missing two’s location,” the explorer replied angrily. “The Dracans use some sort of teleportation fire to communicate between them apparently…. A new one appeared while I was searching through the office...”
“I never heard of such fire before,” Hindel let out in shock.
“What did the report say, Daring?” Mane asked in a small whisper.
“Are they waiting with another fleet nearby?” Snowdrop leaned forward urgently.
“Another fleet, yes. But they’re not near this island at all!” Daring said with a defeated sigh before staring straight into Sombra’s eyes.
“Then where…”
“The message said they had just finished travelling through the Sapphire Pass!” Daring stated apathetically.
Everyone froze at her statement, all eyes wide from stupor.
“B...But the pass is barely a few miles away from…” Mane started in whimpering tone.
“...The Crystal Empire…” Sombra let himself fall on his knee at the mention of his homeland. “...How?”
“They must have known we were coming here,” Shadow remarked. “Our fleet was spread wide, but let’s face it, it couldn’t cover the whole ocean. They must have avoided us somehow.”
“Who signed the report, Daring?” Hindel asked sternly.
“The signature said Tvillingerne,” the explorer answered.
“The Twins!” Hindel growled deeply in frustration. “Water Dragon Frey and Magic Eating Freia! The best fleet commanders of Draconia.”
“Magic eating?” Shadow let out with a cocked eyebrow.
Sombra simply stood up and walked back to their ship in silence before anyone could comment on the blacksmith’s remark.
“Sombra, what are you doing?” Snowdrop called as she heard the Council Leader walk on the gangway while the others saw him.
“I’m going to defend my kingdom!” Sombra replied strongly as he reached the main deck to head for the stern cabin.
“How?” Daring asked as she landed next to him. “It tooks us weeks to get here!” she added when he pushed the door of the cabin open with a strong kick.
“I’ll use just this!” Sombra said as he quickly grabbed the Alicorn Necklace they used to be summoned in Canterlot on his nightstand.
“Those can only bring us back to Canterlot, Sombra!” Shadow reminded.
“I can easily rewrite the enchantment to take me back to the Crystal Palace instead,” he grunted as the gem on the necklace glowed in a red hue as he did what he told he could do.
“And how would you power the gemstone for such a long distance?!” Daring snatched the necklace off his hand. “You told us that those gems can barely withstand a teleportation from the farest corner of our Continent to Canterlot!”
“I’ll just power the gem with my own magic then!” Sombra snapped angrily.
“And arrive in the Crystal Empire dead because of you’d have over-exhausted your magic?” Snowdrop snapped back at the angry man. “What would that accomplish?”
“My country is in danger, along with my wife and my unborn-child!!!!” Sombra roared furiously.
“Sombra, I understand what you’re feeling,” Shadow said in a comforting tone. “Had I been in your place, I’d….”
“You’d only move on to your other three whores after the death of the first, that’s all!” Sombra snorted dismissively.
“What the fuck did you just say?!” Shadow shouted, looking beyond furious as she took a threatening step towards the Crystal King.
“ENOUGH!!” Mane roared strongly before her hair whipped Sombra and Shadow’s heads so strongly that they each took a few steps back with whimpers of pain.
All eyes focused briefly on the green-haired girl who was shaking in anger. Daring was about to rush at her side to calm her down when she saw Mane take a deep breath, her hand on her chest, then breathing out with her hand waving away from her chest. Slowly, Mane walked to Snowdrop and gently took Sombra’s necklace from her hands.
After that, she went in front of Sombra and delicately put it back in the Enchanter's hand. Mane slowly raised her hand to wipe the start of tears that threatened to come out of Sombra’s eyes.
“I know you’re scared, Sombra,” Mane said softly. “Scared of losing those dear to you. I know because I’m constantly scared of that myself,” she confessed softly and Daring clenched her fist at that, knowing she was likely the source of Mane’s fear. “It’s only natural to do so… And, like you, I always want to rush to wherever Daring is to make sure nothing happens to her… But you and the others have always been there to stop me from giving into my fear… And Daring always came back, right?”
“I...It’s not the same, Mane,” Sombra argued softly. “Topaz’s not a dare-devil loaded with relics of ancient times… Nor is she a prodigy that tamed Winter... nor a bulky blacksmith with attitude that reeks talent and strength… Neither had she survived in the Everfree...”
“I’m not saying that she is those things,” Mane argued back softly. “But she’s not helpless either. She married you after all. Topaz’s got to have some backbone to put up with a crazy enchanter obsessed with sculptures and crystals like you, right?”
Sombra chuckled softly as tears reappeared in his eyes. “I suppose that she has…. But I still can’t let her go through a Dracan attack on her own!”
“I know!” Mane assured in whisper. “And we won’t let that happen!” she added strongly before taking off her own Alicorn necklace and give it to Sombra.
“W..what?”
“One gem isn’t enough for that distance. How about one more?” Mane asked with a soft smile.
“Let’s say two more!” Daring rested her hand on Mane’s shoulder and gave her own necklace to the Crystal King.
“Three!” Snowdrop assured while taking hers off her neck.
“... Would it be enough with a fourth?” Shadow asked, tossing her own to Sombra with a hint of a sour note in her voice. “You better have a much bigger wedding gift than what you had previously planned though!” she added with a smirk when the King opened his mouth to apologize.
“Alright. Thank you.” Sombra looked at the five enchanted stones in his grasp. “Though I might need more magic than to reach the Crystal Palace…”
“Then, take some of ours!” Mane advised, putting her hand forward.
Immediately after, the other Council members extended their hands in the King’s direction, before being joined by Hindel’s.
“I might not be an Equestrian, but I carry magic of my own,” Hindel commented slowly when Sombra glanced in his direction with surprise. “Use it as you like!”
Sombra simply nodded and levitated the five amulets in circle between him and his friends. All the necklaces were banded together by strings of red magic as magical inscriptions appeared in the air. Then he opened his left hand and invited the others to rest their own on top of it.
When Mane’s hand touched Sombra’s glowing red one, a stream of green light came out of it and went to her necklace and banded to the others like the red stream. Snowdrop’s hand joined Mane’s and a pure white light joined the other two. Daring and Shadow’s magic, respectively light brown and grey joined the mix before Hindel rested his hand on top of the Equestrian’s.
As a burnished golden light completed the spell, Sombra rested his right hand on top of his friends and focused his mind on the Crystal Empire and his queen. The bands of lights linking the necklaces together spun around each other while the whole ship resonated to the massive energy that came from within the cabin.
In a bright multicolored flash, the Council of Harmony and Hindel’s surroundings changed around them before the necklaces shattered due to the overload of power channelled into them. The dark, silver walls of the cabins had been replaced by gleaming, azure, crystally walls and the many statues and bookcases that filled Sombra’s workshop.
Said owner of the workshop stumbled backwards, a hand raised to his forehead while he groaned. Shadow and Mane quickly held him on his feet when the door was opened by a pair of guards who froze when they saw their king and the Council of Harmony.
“Highness?” one of the guards asked in a shocked voice after a short silence. “What..What are you doing here?”
“No time to explain,” Sombra said firmly, despite still feeling the aftermath of the teleportation spell. “Go tell Captain Sentry to gather all the men available and ring the alarm bells. The Empire is about to be attacked!”
“Right about now, apparently,” Snowdrop whispered as she recognized the sound of a Dracan battle horn.
“Go! I have something to do here and I’ll meet the Queen in the throne room!” Sombra ordered firmly.
The two guards saluted before leaving the room as ordered, followed by Hindel Snowdrop, Mane and Shadow. Daring simply faced the Crystal King.
“What are you planning to do here?”
“Shadow wasn’t the only one who got very productive before we set sails, Daring!” Sombra explained as he poured his red magic into a large amethyst embedded on top of a pedestal in one corner of the room. “Though, I guess I could thank you for that!”
Daring was about to ask what she should be thanked for when she recognized the gem on the pedestal. It was the amethyst she had taken from the Bitch Queen deep under Macintosh Hills a few months ago.
After a few seconds, the amethyst reacted by glowing brightly in a red light that turned purple like itself. Runic inscriptions made of the same purple light appeared on every statues in the workshop. Daring gasped when all the massive crystal-made soldiers stood straight up and started to form ranks in front of Sombra in perfect coordination.
All the statues were carrying weapons similar to the ones used by the Royal Guard, only twice or thrice their standard sizes, and also the fact they were made of crystal, just like the ones bearing them.
“The Crystal Empire is in danger! Protect its citizens and destroy its enemies!” Sombra ordered to his sixty crystal golems in a commanding tone. “Do your duty to Platinum’s Heritage! MARCH!”
Faster than Daring would have thought possible for them, the large golems turned around in perfect synchronization and heavily walked out of the room. As she stared at them with her mouth agape, Sombra walked up to her.
“And, that’s the least of the Empire’s defenses.” Sombra commented with a grin. “The Dracans are going to regret coming here!”
A massive, wingless dragon roared fiercely as his clawed paw, which was large enough to crush a small house underneath it, came down with strength at his target. In a flash of white, his prey escaped his attempt, but the dragon whipped his spiked-mace-like tail to eviscerate and hammer the woman he wanted dead.
With a dismissive flick of her right fist, Princess Celestia repelled the giant tail with as much ease as she would flick a sheet of paper. As the tail was recoiling from her, the Sun Princess grabbed one of its spines in her left hand, and flipped above her shoulder, sending the castle-size behemoth flying against the right flank of the valley in which she had teleported herself with the Thanes.
The Terrestrial Thane, Arnbjorn’s dragon form let out a relatively low growl of pain as a few boulders fell from the mountain on top of him. Celestia simply humphed in a disappointed fashion as the Dracan shook his head to recover from the blow. She was about to say something when she was engulfed in a torrent of emerald green flames.
The one-horned, green Dragoness maintained her fiery breath for a good ten seconds. Though, her reptilian eyes widened as white flames appeared within hers. White flames that started to burn her own fire and that coursed along the stream to its source: her mouth. She stopped breathing fire instantly and took off at a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a creature her size. She witnessed the white fire vanish after consuming her green one with a glint of horror in her eyes.
“I told you that fire wouldn’t work on me, Astri,” Celestia reminded with a frown, from just above Astri’s green, scaly head.
Astri’s eyes barely managed to register Princess Celestia flying down to her level, her fists joined together above her head before the Equestrian Monarch bashed them both on top of the dragoness’ skull, cracking more than a few scales in the process. The strength of the impact was strong enough to cause the fall of the female Thane towards the ground. She bounced back on it a few times, with pained, draconian shrieks and ended her course in the sea at the end of the valley.
Celestia glanced at the fallen dragoness for a few seconds before she backhanded the patch of dark smoke that flew behind her without turning her head. Her fist hit the smoke in a loud clash and a gracile, young looking man with black leather wings was catapulted out of it, his daggers barely kept in his grip due to the strength of the impact.
At the last second, Harald backflipped mid air to land on his feet. He snarled angrily as he wiped the blood that was rolling out of his torn lip. A few feet behind him, Arrogon’s dragon form was roaring in defiance at the Sun Princess, then he started to shrink back to his human size and shape. Or so Celestia first thought, but in the end the latter wasn’t really well executed.
Arrogon had shrunk to his human size and allure, but his features kept a very draconic aspect. His limbs were sturdier than before, metallic scales coursed by purple energy having taken the place of his skin. Where his hands were supposed to be, there were large, clawed paws that looked like they could cut through the strongest armor. His face somehow managed to vaguely keep its human form, though his draconic features were clearly recognisable, and his white hair had been replaced by a numerous set of metallic spines.
“Oooooh,” Celestia let out in an impressed tone as she witnessed the changes in the Thanes’ appearances.
Arnbjorn had recovered from his clash against the mountain, and had leaped over the Princess to join his comrades. Much like Arrogon, he had taken a half-human/half dragon appearance, his spiked scales replacing the armor he was wearing before he first transformed while his strong, but very human like claws tightened their grip on the his large battle axe he picked up next to his Commander.
With a heavy shriek, Hring left his dragon form to his regular human one. The mountain of a man puffed strongly, causing hot steams to pour out of his mouth and nostrils at each breath, his bare, chiseled chest moving up and down to his rhythm as he spun two axes with swift movements of his wrists.
From the corner of her eyes, Celestia could see Astri take her young maid appearance back while rubbing her skull with a pained frown. The Dracan woman glared at Celestia for a few seconds before she blew a small blaze of green fire before herself. When the fire died down, a pair of shiny, silvery swords had popped into existence where it had burned. She grabbed the swords’ hilts and immediately took her stance, her right blade extended toward Celestia while she was holding the other in a reversed grip.
“Ha, a more traditional fight?” Celestia asked as casually as possible. “It’s been a while for me, but I suppose I can make it work!”
With one flick of her finger, her long, golden glaive appeared in her right hand. She rested the end of the shaft on her back while the edge of the blade was facing the five Thanes against her. Celestia’s eyes started to shine brightly as her hair became like a flame and the ground around her started to shake. Vines made of golden light started to crawl on her skin, following her veins, while she lifted her left hand to her opponents. She waved her fingers in her direction, inviting the Dracans to come at her.
Arrogon accepted the invitation immediately. Using his wings, he dashed toward the princess before he clawed in her direction. Celestia moved her palm to rest against the Thane’s wrist and with a soft wave like movement, she redirected his hit far from her. She was about slash him with her glaive when she spotted three axe’ blades coming down on her.
With a yellow flash, Celestia’s glaive, held in her right hand intercepted Arnbjorn and Hring’s axes a feet before they could touch the princess. Celestia flared her wings open and she raised her body a bit above the ground, lifting the three blocked Thanes along with her, one by his wrists, the others by the weapons they were still holding firmly, just before a set of twin blades cut the air where her belly had been a few seconds prior.
With a devious smirk, Celestia wrapped her leg around Astri’s neck while the Dracan’s face disappeared slightly under the Sun Princess’ dress. As a tanned and toned leg was crushing her throat, Astri let out a choked call.
“N...NOW!”
Celestia looked up and saw the fifth Thane’s daggers coming down her face with their owner falling from a patch of smoke. From the corner of her eye, she also saw Arnbjorn closing one of his spiked and scaly fists before slamming it to her cheek, while Arrogon plunged his other claw in her side and Hring freed one of his axes to slash her other side. They all hit their marks with loud clashing, metallic noises.
“....You’re gonna have to hit stronger than that,” Celestia commented softly as the blades, spikes and claws seemed to struggle to penetrate her skin.
Only Arnbjorn had managed to make her cheek bleed a little as one of his spikes had poked a tiny hole in it. A beam of golden light came out of her left finger and hit Arrogon in the face, sending him away in a loud groan. In the mean time, Arnbjorn and Hring freed their weapons from Celestia’s weapon before the latter transformed his head into a smaller version of his dragon one.
The small beak-like maw came down on Celestia’s strangling leg and bit as hard as possible. Celestia loudly hissed in pain and was about to slam her blade on Hring’s neck, but Harald’s smoke held her arm back up before Arnbjorn’s axe came up to her chin.
The impact with the Dracan steel had been so intense that Celestia’s head snapped back up and she was catapulted a dozen meters away from the group. Astri brought one of her hands to her throat as the Princess landed disgracefully in a loud thud, while Harald touched the ground and helped her up.
Arrogon flew back to his comrades, the scales on his forehead cracked and smoking due to the heat of Celestia’s magic, his light-filled eyes focused on the Princess who was now standing up.
"Hold fokus, den kvinde er stadig ikke nede," [Remain focused, that woman is still not down,] he whispered to his brothers and sister in arms who glanced in Celestia’s direction.
Their eyes widened briefly at what they were witnessing. The large chunk of flesh that Hring had ripped off her upper-calf was rapidly regenerating itself as the magic vines on her skin briefly converged to it. Celestia chewed on something during the short time as the deep cut that was separating her chin and face vanished into oblivion before she spat a big patch of blood along with a tooth.
“... Much better...,” Celestia commented softly while her incisor grew back nearly instantly.
Before they could blink, Celestia was standing before the five Thanes and thrusted her glaive forward. The tip of the flame-like blade touched the space between the scales of Hring’s chest too quickly for him or his comrades to even realize, its edge facing upwards. The glaive came up, and along with it Hring’s scales came off.
The red and brown Thane bellowed in pain, his hands trying to prevent the blood from pouring out of his wound while he fell on his knees. As he was facing down, Hring felt a small hand delicately touching the back of his massive, half-draconic head.
“...But, fighting proud warriors instead of hungry beasts suits me better!” Celestia whispered in a cold tone right before she pushed Hring’s head down.
The ground that was already shaking slightly in resonance to Celestia’s power quaked violently after she had slammed the Thane’s head into it, causing a small crater to appear just a few centimeters before Hring’s kneeled body. Celestia’s blade shone brightly before she spun it a bit and buried it deep into the beheaded back. The other Thanes gasped in shock as Hring’s body started to be consumed by intense flames of pure white that came out of the blade.
“.... Shall we continue, then?” Celestia asked as she pulled out her fiery weapon out of the burning, headless corpse.
Before the Thanes replied, a loud series of thunderclaps rang through the skies, causing Celestia to look up for a second. The sky above her and the four living Thanes was covered by massive storm clouds that hid the light of the setting sun and everything above them. Yet Celestia could see flashes of lightning coursing through them as well as a torrent of multicolored flames that revealed briefly shadowy figures of five Dragons chasing or being chased by a small patch of deeper darkness.
Looks like Luna is having fun… Celestia thought before she lunged toward her own opponents her glaive high above her head before she slammed it down, only for Arrogon to grab the shaft before the incendiary blade touched him, matching her own strength.
Then again… So am I! She added mentally with a small smirk before pushing a little harder as Arnbjorn also took the staff in his hands to prevent her from cutting down Arrogon, making the two Dracans slide backwards because of her push.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“...Sombra?” Gleaming Topaz let out in a mix of shock and surprise when she saw her husband entering the throne room, clad in dirty armor and a scepter with a glowing amethyst embedded on top secured in his hand. “What are y… How?...... I… I must be seeing things...” she added in a whisper, rubbing her eyes with one hand.
“I assure you that you’re not seeing an illusion, my Queen,” Sombra said softly, using his free hand to caress Topaz’s cheek when he had walked up to her.
The crystal Queen felt the warmth from Sombra’s hand and knew he was telling the truth. She immediately brought him in a tight hug that was probably breaking all protocolary codes of Royalty, but no one deemed it worthy to mention it at all. As she nuzzled her husband, her sensitive, pregnant woman’s flair took his smell. Sombra was reeking of sweat, sea, ash, and at last blood, and the latter was most likely not his own.
But she didn’t question it, as it didn’t matter. All that mattered now for her was that her king was back after weeks of battle across the ocean, and the need she had to press her lips against his. A need she fell victim to faster than she would have thought she would, and that her raging hormones quickly changed into another one, more reprehensible in the throne room.
“Before you try to bake another bun in a full oven, you should come see this, Sombra!” Daring calmly called as the rulers of the Crystal Empire’s tongues were dueling for each other’s dominance before she pulled a simple, brazen monocle from her pocket.
And, with that the moment was lost. While most of the Crystal guards around decided to spare their blushing queen by looking away, Sombra grumbled a few threats to the Explorer in his beard before he joined Daring on the balcony of the throne room while the two guards he had sent to ring the warning bells had finally reached them.
He glanced at the city before him, noticing almost instantly Shadow, Hindel and Mane exiting the castle with his unit of golems. His eyes searched for Snowdrop, and they found her already landing on the Western gate of the city, seemingly giving orders to the troops on the city walls. Then he looked up to the high hills West of the town, seeing why Daring had called him: a cloud of dust and smoke rising from behind it.
“Look at the top of the hill,” Daring said as she extended her monocle to Sombra. “Just look!” she added with a roll of her eyes when Sombra cocked an eyebrow at the artifact, forcing it in his hand.
While Queen Gleaming Topaz joined the pair on the balcony along with the Crystal Guard’s captain, Sombra brought the monocle to his right eye and aimed his gaze at the top of the hills. Through Daring’s artifact, he could a see a young-looking woman in a finely-smithed Dracan armor as clearly and closely as if she was standing a few feet before him.
Next to the Dracan woman, a furled banner was planted. Sombra saw the woman picking it up and bringing her fingers to her mouth to possibly whistle at somebody. Or something, as a massive wingless dragon slowly made its advance from beyond the hill top.
The beast was around the same height as the city walls, and it was sturdy enough to have been used as a battering ram against said walls. If it wasn’t for the three ballistas strapped on its back, it would probably be its use.
“Sweet Faust,” Topaz let out in shock as Sombra could see the woman jumping on the beast’s back and loading the front siege engine with the banner.
He barely had the time to see her aiming in their direction.
“Topaz, get inside!” Sombra ordered as the Dracan projectile flew straight to the Castle tower they were in, while he focused his red magic.
As a crimson shield appeared to protect the balcony, the banner planted itself with strength in the wall right above it. Sombra maintained the shield up just in case as the banner unfurled itself thanks to the wind, revealing the flag of the Crystal Empire, with a red Dragon Claw painted on above the snowflake in the center of the fabric.
“Tsss, arrogant much?” Daring commented in a sour tone.
“Do you think she’s waiting for a response?” Sombra asked, seeing the Dracan woman hopping down the engine carrying beast.
“Probably not….” Daring commented as the enemy leader observed the few citizens who had houses outside walls running to the gates. “...What is she doing?”
Sombra focused his friend’s monocle on the Dracan leader, seeing her drawing a whip from her belt and cracking it near the dragon’s head. The behemoth shook its head in annoyance, earning another crack of the whip in response. The beast took a deep breath and roared loudly.
The roar of an adult dragon is something quite powerful and terrifying. Even when it was nothing but legends and old fairy tales for the Equestrians, a dragon’s roar was always said to be the call of destruction, and that’s not counting the tales of Elder dragons capable of ripping one’s skin and muscles off his bones with their roars alone. A dragon’s roar had always brought a strong feeling of terror and helplessness into the hearts of most men and women who heard it.
Yet it wasn’t the worst. The worst was something even rarer than an Elder’s bellowing fury, and was by far a more dreadful omen. The worst was when a Dragon’s roar was answered. And such was the case in the hills before the Crystal City.
From beyond the hills, hundreds of draconics shrieks replied in concert to the adult dragon before the ones responsible came in sight of the Crystal Empire’s inhabitants. A horde of drakes that Sombra had seen used as cavalry mounts filled the horizon along with a dozen much larger specimens, also carrying various war engines on their backs.
With the help of the monocle, Sombra could see that only the larger beasts were with a crew of riders that seemed to prepare the catapults, ballistas and other machines alike strapped on their back. All the drakes were without a rider. He witnessed all of them taking leant down postures, much like dogs preparing themselves to fight, all with their maws slightly open, savoring the blood and flesh to come.
The Dracan leader’s whip came up in a swift, flawless move of her wrist.
“.......Faust… help us,” Topaz whispered in terror as all the smaller dragons on top of the hills started their descent after the whip came down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“ALL MEN ON THE WALL! HURRY!” Captain Sentry called loudly as he and the Jupitarian part of the Crystal Guard flew towards the wall.
The last citizens had passed the gates just before those were closed and locked with the aid of the Circle of Enchanters of the city. Sombra’s apprentices had been summoned to reinforce every defense of the Empire. All eighty-eight of them had answered the call by teleporting to the Western Gate in the minutes that followed the awakening of their master’s golems.
After securing the gate, the Circle scattered through the length of the wall. They were soon joined by the Eponian lancers and archers of the Crystal Guard, while the Jupitarian corp took position above them with their battle-shapes or their bows ready.
“Hold fast, Soldiers!” Snowdrop shouted in her best commanding tone as the lancers stood at attention while the archers behind readied their weapons above their shoulders. “Wait for my command!”
Captain Sentry was about to voice a protest at the blind woman taking charge of his troops when his King teleported right next to Snowdrop, soon joined by Hindel and the other Council Members.
“And, what is your command, Herald?” Sombra asked with a trusty smile.
“Sombra, you join forces with your apprentices.” Snowdrop stated in a voice that left no place for discussion. “As soon as I give the order, give them a taste of Platinum’s children’s magic!”
“Aye!” Sombra nodded sharply before focusing his crimson magic and facing the approaching pack of beasts with determination.
“Hindel, you and Manuella will stand back to strike at whatever seems to overcome the lancers!” Snowdrop continued to her Dracan and Eponian friends who voiced their agreement with a loud “Yes, Ma’am!”. “Daring, you go support the Jupitarian corps! Shadow, you will stay with me to defend the gates!”
“All righty, Snow-girl!” Shadow approved and rested her warhammer on her shoulder while Daring flew up to Sentry’s level.
“...You’re letting a blind girl take command?” Sentry asked Daring with a shocked expression. “Are you serious?” he added when Daring cocked an eyebrow at him in response.
“How long have you been in the Guard, Captain?” Daring asked as she pulled two golden, palm-sized rings from one of her pockets.
“Seven years!”
“And during those seven years, how many dragons or Dracans did you face in battle?”
“....None,” he admitted slowly.
“Hum-hum…Well, you see! This blind girl has been trained by Princess Luna to be her herald for the past ten years, and has defeated nearly a thousand dragons and Dracans alike, be it in face-to-face combat or as a troop commander.” Daring explained matter-of-factly, pointing at Snowdrop. “Do I really need to answer your questions now that you know that?”
“....No,” Sentry sighed in defeat before conjuring a ball of lightning in his hands.
In the meantime, while all troops around her were getting ready, Snowdrop placed her hand on the edge of the city wall. She could feel the soft trembling of the approaching horde while hearing their shrieks and roars as clearly as they were just in front of her. She raised her staff as the first drakes set their paws off the hill and were coursing the plains to the wall.
Immediately after, a strong and rather cold gust of wind seemed to blow from behind the wall while occasional snowflakes were taken by it.
“Aim for the closest ones!” Snowdrop shouted as the archers hooked their arrows on their bow.
While the archers were taking their aims, Sombra and his apprentices focused their magic into different runic circles before them. The Jupitarian corps shaped their own magic into various projectiles, or reinforced their arrows with lightning or a twirl of wind around the tip.
“.....FIRE AT WILL!”
Snowdrop waved her staff forward, causing a wave of frost to fly straight in the drakes’ direction along with a rain of arrows and thunderbolts. The runic circles glowed brightly before releasing their magic, causing streams of light, fire, lightning or water of every color to flow out of them.
The first line of drakes was pretty much annihilated by the beams of Titanian magic that started to sweep among them, taking a huge toll on the beasts massive numbers before they died down. Those hit by Snowdrop’s frost were frozen instantly, only to be smashed to pieces by the ones following them, while others had their faces transformed into porcupines by arrows, be it Jupitarian’s enhanced ones or the ones in resonance with their Eponian owners.
The heavy barrage of magic, projectiles and lightning didn’t stop the drakes at all though. They ignored their losses and simply jumped over their fallen kin, or even stepped on them like it was nothing, roaring fiercely.
An enchanter was re-conjuring his arcanic circle with fast moves of his glowing green hands, when he heard a sharp whistle coming closer. He barely had the time to look up when a ballista bolt pierced his chest and tossed him off the wall.
The lancer that stood close by blinked before he saw another sharp bolt destroying a Jupitarian’s left wing, making him fall in spiral outside the wall in a loud crash. The lancer was about to call a Titanian to levitate his comrade back behind the wall, but was interrupted by a huge boulder that crushed him and the four soldiers at his side.
From the top of the hill, the crewmen on the twelve larger dragons’ back started a barrage of their own with their siege engines, hitting their marks at every shot thanks to the keen sight they had been blessed with since their kind’s creation.
“Snow, they’re bombarding us!” Shadow stated as she thrusted a lightning bolt at the horde of approaching drakes.
“Sombra, can you and your enchanters cast a shield to protect us?” Snowdrop asked in a shout, not interrupting her conjuring of freezing gust of wind for a second.
“It would take too long to conjure, and we wouldn’t be able to stop their charge with a shield on… They would simply have to keep pushing until it would break!” Sombra replied as he sent a dozen red, crystalline spears forward.
“Damn it!” Snowdrop muttered angrily. “Captain Sentry! You and your men must interc…”
Her order was interrupted as a large chunk of blue crystal flew just above her head with a sharp whistle before it crashed against a Dracan boulder, turning them both into dust. She, Sombra and Shadow blinked in shock as other chunks of crystals and rocks were sent right on most of the Dracan projectiles, intercepting them fifteen yards before the city walls and then turned around.
“DON’T GET YOUR HAIR IN TWIST, SNOW!” Mane shouted with a big toothy smile as her wild hair was catapulting chunks that it ripped off the nearby houses and road. “MINE GOT THIS!”
With their own artillery in place, the Crystal Empire’s defenders cheered before maintaining their barrages at the enemy herd of wild beasts. Though, as intense as their defensive fire was, it couldn’t stop the seemingly never ending horde.
They had managed to get a few feet close to the wall before they all lunged on it and used their claws to climb on top of it in less than a few seconds. The first draconic head to have peeked above the edge of the wall was welcome by three thrusted spears. While the weapons barely managed to penetrate the scales of the beast, the strength of the thrusts was enough to toss it off the wall, taking half a dozen of other drakes with it.
With great discipline, the lancers pushed the beast off the walls with minimal effort, all things considered, for a few moments, giving the possibility to the archers behind them to continue shooting. But that ended when one drake breathed a torrent of flames at the defenders before the spears touched it.
Taking advantage of the hole in the defensive lines, the drakes set their claws on the walls and started to attack the defenders right and left while some of them jumped down it to the interior of the city, only to face Sombra’s golems who promptly crushed their skulls when they came in range of attack.
Hindel had immediately ran to where the drakes managed to pass the wall, beheading two beasts with one strong swing of his sword. Then, he singlehandedly drove them off the wall, displaying his strength and swordplay. Each time his blade came down, a drake’s head or limb was sent flying away of its original body.
In the mean time, the drakes were trying to break the Western Gate which was holding up due to the enchantments on it, but judging by the cracks that started to appear on the thick, wooden surface, it wouldn’t last for too long.
Without second thoughts, the Herald of the Lunar guard jumped over the edge of the wall’s gate, her shepherd crook spinning in her hand before she slammed it on the ground before the gate, unleashing a wave of frost that trapped the drakes attacking the door in a thick layer of ice, restricting all their movements.
While her weapon laid on the ground, a small dragon growled at her and lunged in her direction, his throat filling itself with a growing fire. He was about to breath its flame at the blind woman when two golden rings carried by the wind itself slammed the right side of his face with great strength, diverting his aim and thus causing his breath to burn everything in front of Snowdrop who hadn’t moved from her landing spot.
While its flames were attacking its brethren, the drake didn’t get the time to turn its head to where the rings had come from, as a thunder-surrounded warhammer head crushed it into the dust. At the impact with the ground, the hammer liberated a large quantity of electricity that struck all the frozen drakes at the door, frying them dead nearly instantly.
The beasts formed a circle around the three winged women before the city gate, while they stood proudly back to back, forming a circle of white, dark blue and dark yellow feathers with their wings. Shadow rested her hammer on her right shoulder casually while Daring pulled out of her khaki jacket’s pockets a dozen golden rings that she spread in her hand as if she was playing cards.
Growling furiously, the drakes attacked the three Council members in unison. Snowdrop hit the throat of the one targeting her with the crook of her staff in which she had focused a very low temperature wind. The frost recovered the scales of its neck then its head before the Herald of the Lunar Guard continued her motion, severing the frozen part off the main body.
Daring conjured the winds that threw her golden rings at the beasts in front of her. The twelve artifacts hit as many draconic faces, scratching their muzzles deeply, before they bounced between their targets, each impact giving them another deep wound, stopping their charge short.
Behind the Explorer and the Herald, Shadow proved that her claim that she could bend anything with her faithful hammer and a bit of lightning was a far cry from being wrong. Apparently, dragon scales and skulls fit into the equation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the top of the hills, next to her adult dragons and their crewmen operating the engine on their back, Magic-Eater Freia frowned at the progress of her herd of drakes. She hadn’t thought that breaking the door and passing the wall would be easy, but the five Council Members and the Traitor’s presence was certainly something she hadn’t expected.
As her eyes focused on Hindel who punched a drake off the wall, Freia growled in anger. She snapped her whip at the head of her biggest dragon. The beast roared in defiance before taking a deep breath and blew a massive fireball out of its maw, only to be imitated by its eleven brethren.
As the dozen balls of fiery plasma were flying toward the city, Freia’s hand reached for a small, silver horn at her belt and brought it to her lips. When her fire barrage was approximatively halfway to the wall, she took a deep breath and blew strongly in it.
Tiden er inde, Broder! [The time has come, Brother!] Freia thought as her horn rang through plains before her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of the Dracan horn resonated strongly in Snowdrop’s ears, briefly disturbing her in middle of the fight, which would have been fatal if the drakes had kept their assaults. But strangely, they stepped back, much to Snowdrop, Daring and Shadow’s confusion. The latter two glanced at each side of the gate, seeing that the drakes kept assaulting the city wall. Only those close to the gate itself were keeping their distance.
“Holy shit!” Shadow let out when she saw the fireballs breathed by the bigger dragons, which had also started their descent of the hill. “Snowdrop, their dragons are coming!”
“....Yeah, I can hear them coming,” Snowdrop softly whispered, hearing clearly the heavy steps of the behemoths under the claims of battles and the flying inferno coming at the wall. “SOMBRA, TAKE CARE OF THOSE FIREBALLS!”
“ON IT!” Sombra replied from the top of the gate before he conjured twelves shards of red crystals before him.
As she heard her friend’s magic growing while he was preparing his spell, Snowdrop felt the ground shaking a little. At first she had thought it was the dragons coming closer, but that small shake was constant, unlike the ones caused by the stomps of the scaly beasts. And its source wasn’t before her at all.
“.......Great Jupiter!” she let out in a shocked gasp when she realized it came from beneath her.
The pebbles next to her started to move in reaction to the quake, making Daring and Shadow, as well as all the defenders on the wall realize its existence. Snowdrop ordered her friends to take off, and with one flap of their wings, all three of them were well above the gate.
Behind the wall, Mane felt the quake of the earth with unease, momentarily forgetting to throw debris at the horde of dragons outside. She immediately turned around as her nose caught a strong smell getting more intense as the quake gained in strength. It smelled like the sea and sort of like a fish, but not entirely. She had smelled something like that before she knew it.
Mane sniffed strongly before the smell pointed toward a well a few feet behind her. The quakes were much more violent, and she had to lean on her fours to not lose her balance. As she heard the water from the well bubbling loudly, Mane came a little closer to it.
Then she blinked in shock when she recognized the smell. It reeked of sea dragon. The well, and a good portion of the ground around it broke in a huge explosion of fuming water that catapulted Mane into a nearby house.
“MANUELLA!” Daring shrieked, completely losing her calm for the first time in years when she saw chunks of stones falling on top of her adoptive daughter.
She immediately flew toward the exploded well to rescue Mane from under the stones and crystals, when a huge, blue, serpentine beast came out of it. The snake-like dragon looked long enough to reach for the top of the Crystal Palace if it would extend itself toward the skies.
Water-Dragon Frey, Freia’s twin brother, lowered his draconic head gracefully, while his eyes were focused on the enchanted gates of the city, ignoring the shocked defenders that had noticed him and that seemed to ignore the dozen fireballs coming in their direction. Something the drakes had noticed and had withdrawn from the wall.
Luckily for the defenders, Sombra cast his red crystals at the balls of plasma before they reached the wall. The enchanted shards instantly absorbed the fire when they touched it. Their king had just saved the wall, but he could have done nothing to stop the Water-Dragon.
Out of Frey’s mouth came out a large and powerful jet of steaming water. Snowdrop tried to conjure a wall of ice to block the jet, but her shape melted in contact of the apparently boiling water in less than ten seconds. The attack of Frey reached the gates that held against the pressure before he opened his maw wider, making the jet larger and stronger than before.
In a loud fracas, the gates were shattered to pieces by the stream of water. Frey roared triumphantly as the drakes were charging through the now clear gateway.
“RETREAT! RETREAT BACK TO THE PALACE!” Snowdrop ordered loudly. “BACK TO THE PALACE!”
Muttering a curse, Sombra cast a teleportation circle around the guards close to him, quickly imitated by his apprentices after he mentally gave the order to his golems to return to the palace at once. In a series of flashes, most of the guards were transported to the center of the city, right in front of the Palace’s four entrances.
Sadly, not every enchanter managed the spell quickly enough to avoid a drake’s attack, condemning many Eponians on the wall to suffer the same fate as them, for there was no hope in trying outrun a hungry drake on foot. Those who weren’t teleported to the keep, avenged their fallen enchanter before forming a last stand, ready to take as many dragon lives with them, giving a bit more time for their comrades to prepare their defenses.
In the meantime, the dragons had reached the plains at the bottom of the hill. Freia stretched her back as numerous Dracan raiders massed themselves behind her. She smiled sardonically before nodding at her closest lieutenant and started to walk down the hills without any care for the world, with her soldiers marching behind her.
Now that the gate was open, and with her brother rampaging through the city along her pet drakes, Freia was certain that the Crystal Empire would fall.
Gleaming Topaz was at the window of her throne room, her eyes focused on the once glorious city that was the Crystal Empire. Despite the crimson magical shield that surrounded the azure keep, she could clearly see the flames breathed out of the dozen massive wingless dragons consuming the crystalline buildings, cleaning them of their inhabitants and furniture while the smaller drakes were chasing the citizens that didn’t make it to the palace before the shield was up.
She knew that her King had waited as long as possible to have his apprentices conjure the shield to allow the population of his realm to take refuge here. But only a third of their citizens had made it there before Water-Dragon Frey stopped crushing the walls with his serpentine body, thus creating more gates for his sister’s soldiers, and tried to charge the Crystal Palace.
If Hindel’s own dragon fire hadn’t managed to hit Frey in the eye, slowing the Thane in his advance, his thick, deep blue skull would have slammed against one of the four pillars that maintained the keep up instead of the red diamond-shaped dome that had appeared in the mean time.
There was nothing that could have been done differently since the Dracan horns were heard from afar, yet Topaz couldn’t help but to feel not enough was done. As she didn’t find any answers, the queen started to cry a bit before turning her gaze away from the window.
Now, waves coursed along the shield’s surface much alike the one of a pond disturbed by a heavy rain. Waves that were accompanied with low impact noises. Impacts provoked by Dracans and their pets trying to break the shield down. Each blow caused a wince of pain from the twenty enchanters that kept the shield up, but they were holding up.
Those enchanters, along with their rulers and Sombra’s other apprentices were the only ones in the throne room. For the shield to be cast, it had to be conjured from runic circle in the throne room which is said to have been drawn by Clover the Clever after the construction of the palace.
“Stand still, my lady!” One of Sombra’s apprentices whispered firmly to Mane as Hindel and Shadow were holding her and her hair down.
Topaz looked in their direction, hurting at the sight of Eponian’s bloodied right leg. The explosion of the well by Frey had caused her to be crushed under debris and among her fall, three shards of crystal had pierced throughout her leg. Topaz would probably remember forever how livid Daring was when she managed to bring Mane through the balcony, just a few seconds before the shield was up.
Extracting the shards had been quite a trial for the healers, due to Mane’s hollers of pain and her hair frantically whipping anyone that touched them. Even Daring who was hugging her and whispering soothing songs that always appeased her in the past couldn’t keep her from freaking out.
“It’s almost done, cub,” Daring whispered in a shaky, teary voice, holding Mane’s hand in her right while the left was holding a strap of leather in her mouth. “Just a little more….”
The cyan light coming from the enchanter that had ordered Mane to stand still had already healed the great deal of the wound by accelerating that regeneration of the muscular tissues. Though the process was putting a lot of stress on Mane’s leg: she had the feeling that countless of burning needles were poking her flesh repeatedly.
Topaz’s attention was turned away from Mane’s choked screams when she felt a small tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see her handmaiden, Radiant Shimmer, looking at her with concern and fear in her eyes.
“Your Grace, I have opened the passage to the old mines as you ordered me to,” Radiant said with a short bow. “A unit of guards is evacuating the citizens as we speak.”
“That’s good, Radiant,” Topaz answered matter-of-factly before focusing back on the healing of Mane’s leg. “You should go now, dear.”
“Highness, I must ask you to evacuate the palace with the refugees,” Radiant stated calmly. “Would you please follow me?”
“If the ship sinks, I’d sink with it,” Topaz replied with pride. “Just like my husband would, should it come to that,” she added, glancing at Sombra who maintaining the shield up with his apprentices for a brief moment.
“Highness….”
“I have made my decision, Radiant, and I’d like you to respect it,” Topaz interrupted her handmaiden with strength.
“In other circumstances, I would,” Radiant admitted softly. “Though, on this day, I ask you to reconsider your decision.” When she saw Topaz frowning at her, she decided to say something more. “May I remind her Highness who she’s expecting soon?”
The frown on Topaz’s face vanished instantly before she followed her handmaiden’s sight down the large bump of her dress. The attack had come so suddenly that it made her forget about her unborn child. She rested her palm on top of her belly for a few moments.
“Now, will you come with me, your Grace?”
“.....Y-yes,” Topaz replied softly, earning a short nod from Radiant.
The Queen followed her handmaiden toward the exit of the room, passing in front of now healed Mane who had stopped struggling against her two friends and the three healers that had relayed each other. Daring was still holding the green-haired woman’s hand in her own while her other was gently caressing the wounded’s forehead to move her hair out of her face.
Shadow and Hindel stopped trying to hold Mane on the floor, while the concerned party was panting heavily, slowly but surely catching her breath back. The blacksmith took notice of the Queen heading toward the exit after she almost called for Sombra to let him know she was leaving. But, as her King was completely focused on maintaining the shield with his apprentice, Topaz had opted for not disturbing his concentration. Too many lives depended on it.
“I’ll let him know you’ve evacuated, your Grace,” Snowdrop told Topaz as she walked past her by the threshold. “It’s what he would have wanted you to do,” she added when Topaz didn’t reply.
“I know, but…..” She took a deep breath and turned toward Snowdrop. “It doesn’t make it less difficult…”
“Stay safe, Queen Topaz,” Snowdrop whispered as the queen continued her pace.
Topaz barely had taken two steps out of the room when a loud cracking noise came from the outside of the palace. It was immediately followed by the sudden, pained shouts of the enchanters keeping the shield up; Sombra’s being the loudest of them all.
Topaz spun around, ignoring the large crack on the crimson, magic surface that slowly repaired itself and focused her gaze on her husband’s pained form. He was grunting and cursing, one hand on his temple while his apprentices were holding theirs with both hands.
“What the hell is going on?!” Shadow shouted in a voice laced with fear and confusion.
The glow of the runes on the ground started to change color. From deep crimson, it was passing to the darkest shade of purple, just like the shield who had troubles to keep its shape. Tendrils of a violet and green, bubbly magic emerged from the runes and wrapped themselves to all the Titanians in the circle.
Everyone was frozen in shock as the tendrils all joined themselves around Sombra, tying him up tightly and leaving only his face and the amethyst scepter that controlled the golems that were now guarding the doors of the Castle. Tendrils snaked around the gemstone, as Sombra moved his head to face his friends and his queen.
“......R-run!”
The tentacles of magic retracted towards Sombra, pulling glowing balls of light out of the nineteen apprentices in the runic circle before they all fell lifelessly on the ground. The dark magic stormed around the Crystal King, masking him from everyone’s sight as Topaz yelled his name before Radiant pulled her away from the room on Snowdrop’s order.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were four doors to enter the Crystal Palace, and they were all heavily guarded by the remains of the Crystal Guard and the forty-eight last golems Sombra had created. Until now, it had been a mere precaution as the magical shield was up and running, and they would evacuate the place as soon as all citizens had left the citadel.
But, when they heard a loud crack coming from the outside, Captain Sentry immediately peaked through one of the few arrow loops of the building. He blinked in shock as he saw an armored Dracan woman standing just in front of a small hole in the shield.
The woman had ripped off a fistful of the magic dome with her bare hand and was studying the magic trapped inside it with great attention. As the wall started to regenerate itself, The woman brought its magic to her mouth and drank it like it was fresh water.
“What in the world…” Sentry let out in total confusion as the woman seemed to savour it like the sweetest wine there was, her head thrown back with her eyes closed and an expression of pure bliss on her face.
He gulped uneasily as he managed to hear her moans through the rest of her men trying to ram the shield down and through the huge serpentine dragon who had his head lowered next to her. Sentry saw that a small trail of red magic was rolling out the corner of her mouth before the claw of her armored gauntlet pushed it back where she licked the metallic surface clean almost sensually, making him even more uncomfortable than before. Much like her closest soldiers who were all looking elsewhere with a growing blush while the Water-Dragon seemingly rolled his eyes at her.
As she smacked her lips together for a few seconds, she straightened her head to face the keep. Sentry frowned at the black smoky shadow that was coming out of her closed eyelids. His frown deepened as they opened slowly, only to be replaced by surprise and terror when he saw brilliant green eyeballs and deep red irises looking in his direction with a feral and deep hunger glowing in them.
The shield that started to vanish into thin air as the upper floors of the castle shook strongly. Sentry gasped when he saw the Dracans cheering loudly and waiting for the shield to be completely gone to charge against the caste doors.
“The shield is gone!” one of his men shouted in panic from another arrow-loop.
“What are we going to do?!”
“That Snake-Dragon is going to flatten the palace to the ground!!”
“Easy, men,” Sentry called, turning away from the thin window. “The Palace was built by Platinum and Clover’s magic! It will stand, as we will all do when they will try to pass those gates!” He pointed at the thick doors behind him with a dozen of Golems facing it in silence. “We are the guards of the Crystal Empire, Equestria’s Gem! Our resolve is as strong as diamonds!”
“Yeah!”
“We will stand our ground against every foe that comes marching our way!”
“YEAH!”
“We will fight for our peo…”
He was suddenly interrupted by a the sharp end of a huge, turquoise blade pierced the left side of his stomach. The soldiers gasped in shock as the blade lifted their Captain a few feet off the ground. Sentry turned his head to see a nine foot tall swordsman made of a blue crystal impaling him. While coughing blood, he noticed that runes on the golems were shining in a mix of deep purple, green and black glazes instead of a light amethyst one.
The offending golem tossed the Guard’s captain against the wall with great strength before marching slowly towards the shocked defenders, quickly imitated by ten others. As they were attacking the closest Equestrians, the twelfth golem lifted his sword high and then cut the beam keeping the door closed in two, in one heavy swing.
While the guards struggled to push back the rebelled golems that were methodically taking a huge tolls on their forces, the doors were slammed open by a small group of drakes that rushed forward, aiding the crystal giants in their fight against the defenders. Behind the beasts, columns of Dracan raiders stormed in, chanting numerous, victorious war cries.
The human invaders’ progression inside the western pillar was stopped by a chain of thunder and lightning that coursed through them, burning them to cinders in passing. Sentry, the one responsible, stood up with a series of low grunts, his electrified hand cauterizing his wound after shocking the Dracans. Conjuring his wings to help him stand in the corridor, he drew his twin maces off his belt and gave them a little spin of the wrist.
Despite breathing heavily due to his wound, the Captain of the Guard parried the first spear that came at him with a strike from the left and immediately counter attacked with his right weapon right to his opponent’s face. Dodging an axe that almost hit his head, Sentry replied with a strike right in the crotch, hearing his opponent whimper like a dog before he silenced him for good with his other mace.
The Dracans kept pushing forward against the sole fighter to no avail, realizing that it wasn’t for nothing that Valiant Sentry was Captain of the Crystal Guard. Whenever one of his weapons stroke, it would hit its mark. Wherever it stroke, it would crack armor and shatter bones. One of his strikes nearly beheaded a Dracan soldier, after the latter had managed to scratch his arm with the blade of his spear.
Noticing that the soldiers weren’t following their advance, one of the drakes ran back to the combat sounds it had heard behind it. Hissing loudly, it lunged on the Jupitarian’s back and bit the base of his right wing, while its claws were trying to peel him from his back armor. Valiant bellowed in furor and pain, causing lightning bolts to storm out of his entire body, frying the beast on his back and the nearby raiders to death.
As the dead beast fell off his back, three Dracan spearmen plunged their weapons deep into his stomach and chest. His eyes bulged at the impact, and his knees started to give up on him while his wings fell heavily toward the ground. Valiant could feel his throat burning as he tried in vain to catch his breath with one of his lungs perforated.
Puffing slowly and heavily, his right mace flew toward the right spearman’s face, ending its course in a sickening crack before his left one did as the right one. The last remaining Dracan impaling the Captain was about to pull his weapon out when the captain’s light orange wings wrapped themselves around his body, blocking his escape completely. Valiant blinked a couple of times as his sight became blurrier at every passing second, before he slammed both his weapons against the poor Dracan’s face.
As his now dead opponent fell on the ground, Valiant’s knees finally reached the ground, only remaining sort of straight thanks to the three spears in his body that were preventing him to fall forward. He let go of his weapons without even realizing it, as his tired eyes glanced around him.
The dozens of dead bodies, most of them being those of his adversaries, around him starting to be nothing but a mix of colors and odors without any sort of distinctions possible. Before him Valiant saw a indistinct shadow coming closer to him. The shadow was holding a thick stick with two hands high above itself. As the blurry weapon came down to his head, Valiant closed his eyes peacefully and his world became black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“SOMBRA, STOP THIS!” Daring shouted, dodging a deep black shard of crystal hurled at her by her friend.
After those black tendrils of magic had killed the shield casters, they somehow had merged with Sombra. The king had stepped out of the twirl of dark magic with his eyes glowing in sick hues of green and red, and started to attack his friends, apprentices or subjects still in the room. Any attempt to reason with him was met by a magically amplified roar and a burst of dark magic.
Snowdrop tried to restrict him in a ice coffin, only for him to morph into a shadow and reappear in her own, nearly impaling her on a black crystal-made spear. Hindel parried his second blow by grabbing it in his scaly, dark crimson fist before the cursed shard touched Snowdrop’s shoulder.
The Dracan lifted the weapon and its bearer and cast them both away with strength. Sombra growled as he crashed against the wall right next to the balcony of the throne room. As he pulled himself up in a low, threatening groan, the Council of Harmony saw Frey’s dragon head delicately landing on the balcony in question before his sister hopped down on it.
"Længe tid siden, eks-kommandør Hindel!" [Long time no see, ex-Commander Hindel.] Freia called for the bearded man as she stepped in along with her brother, who more slided in while reducing his size to fit entrance.
“... That woman,” Mane let out, her nose sniffing the air, while Hindel growled in response. “She reeks just like Sombra… She’s the cause of all this!” She growled like a lion as her hair suspended her in the air to not put too much stress on her leg.
“... And here I thought you were the dumbest of this whole Council thingy,” Freia remarked in a perfectly accented Equestrian after blinking in surprise. “You’re right. Your friend’s under my control. He shouldn’t have been casting the shield… Though, I’d not have tasted his succulent magic if he hadn’t,” She added while caressing Sombra’s cheek with a tenderness that made Mane want to puke. “Easily the tastiest I ever had!” She cooed softly.
“Tsss, the magic-eating shit was actually literal,” Shadow commented with a frown.
As her friends started to argue with Freia while Frey was growling at them furiously, Snowdrop had remained silent. She kept facing the female Thane, feeling sick just by glancing in her direction. If she could consume their magic and had managed to possess Sombra that easily, Freia couldn’t possibly be beaten. At least not by her.
“Daring,” Snowdrop called softly, causing all gazes to fall on her. “Hindel and I are going to take care of Fish-dragon over there, while Shadow and Mane will try to restrict Sombra.”
Her instructions brought a great confusion to the three dracans in the room.
“You, on the other hand, will have to take care of that nauseating woman,” Snowdrop continued softly, pointing in Freia’s general direction.
“...Excuse me?!” Freia asked in a growing anger.
Daring blinked in surprise at the instructions before she smirked knowingly. She opened her shirt a little, allowing everyone to see the strange tattoos on her upper chest that formed a the outline of an animal. She gave it a tap on the head of the tattoo that started to glaze for a few seconds.
The air around Daring turned heavier before a massive, dark blue arm appeared above her. The newly appeared limb slammed its fist against the ground before the rest of its body surged from the empty space above Daring. Towering the Explorer with at least four feet, the apparition shouted in anger as all the Dracans took a fearful step away from it.
They had come to fear anything related to the Lord of Chaos that ravaged their lands years ago, and that creature stank of Chaos magic. Its tail-hand banged against the floor as his forearms bent down to bring his long, predatory head to Daring’s level.
“I told you to never summon me, Daring Do!” the beast growled in a deep, baritone voice. “DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU?!”
“Save it, Ahuizotl! You’re not fooling anyone!” Daring chortled softly before she scratched the chin of the Demon like she would to a good dog.
“Wh...What is that thing?!” Hindel asked in the same time as Freia while Frey hissed threateningly at Ahuizotl.
“Daring’s Guardian,” Shadow replied as she readied her weapon.
“More of a parasite than a Guardian!” Mane frowned as she glanced at Ahuizotl.
“Silence, kitten!” The Demon snarled at the green-haired Eponian.
“Now, you two behave!” Daring ordered as Mane’s hair was encircling Ahuizotl’s third hand, both trying to crush each other's extra limb.
“A little something Daring found during her travels,” Snowdrop specified slowly as she readied her crook, facing toward the Water-Dragon. “A relic from a tribe that worshipped Discord in the past. Not that it matters right now, right?”
Freia answered by conjuring more of her dark magic in her fists, causing the demon to bring his attention on her, letting go of Mane’s wild hair. Ahuizotl bared his teeth in a low, menacing hiss while taking a ready-to-pounce stance as Daring pulled out her golden rings from her pockets.
“That’s what I thought…” Snowdrop smirked before she and Frey lunged at each other, chanting the name of the Moon Princess and roaring fiercely, respectively.
They were soon imitated by the Council members and the two other Dracans. And so began the strongest clash of power to have ever occurred in the Crystal Empire entire history.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Above a small island in the middle of the ocean,
The original plan of the ten Thanes was to divide their two opponents so that they couldn’t be much of a threat together. In the past, the Twelve had discovered that a group of powerful beings working together could pose much more of a threat than one individual immensely stronger than each of the former case. It was how they had driven Discord away from their shores, decades ago.
Now that herself, her brothers and sister had tested the Alicorn Princesses’ power first-hand, Vigdis the Raven couldn’t help but to think that it wasn’t their power, or their fighting prowesses and strategy that had chased the Avatar of Chaos far from the lands. The Draconequus mustn’t have even taken them seriously when they showed up against him, freshly transformed from mere humans to Dracans, and had left of his own accord.
Their battle against Discord had lasted for a full month, without any break of any kind, and on this day the two Equestrian Princesses had already claimed many of her brothers’ lives in less than two hours.
Hring had been the first one to fall, his hybrid-form head ripped off his body by Celestia’s casual shove: It had looked like she was slamming a chest of clothes shut. Even from the air, Vigdis had felt the island quake at the impact caused by the monstrous, fire-haired woman before she cindered his headless body.
The first bloodshed of one of her fellow Thanes had marked the start of the end for them, Vigdis had sensed it. It had brought back a notion they had all started to forget after battling Discord: fighting for their survival, and not for their own personal gains. Also, they had all since long realized why this fight was different than the one with the Avatar of Chaos: Discord had come for his own amusement to Draconia; Celestia and Luna had come to avenge their people.
What they realized too was that their barely a century long existence, for the oldest of them, couldn’t even begin to be compared to the nearly four thousand years of life and fighting experience of the two Alicorn Princesses, even more so when those two were dead-set on killing them.
While Celestia fought on the ground, the five other Thanes, including Vigdis, thought they could take care of Luna in the sky. They had been so wrong about that. At first, they had to use their nose to spot her through the thick clouds she had conjured to obscure the setting sun, leaving them in the nearly complete dark. Then the sky started to fight along with her, as thunderbolts surged from every cloud to try to zap the transformed Dracans.
Hali’s blue draconic form had been Luna’s first target after he tried to burn her with his long and powerful fiery breaths. The Moon Princess turned out to be too fast and too agile for him to aim properly in full dragon size, but he never got the chance to change back to his human size. When the thunder started to growl, a dozen lightning bolts landed exactly on the base of his wings, instantly cutting them off.
His sharp hurting shrieks only came to a stop when he crashed head first into the ground below. He had shaken it clear before he tried stand up on his four, trying to ignore the huge pain on his back as his wings fell at his sides.
A loud boom rang through the air before a ring made of the colors of a rainbow chased briefly the clouds away. Hali’s dragon head met the ground with a surprised, instinctive yelp as Luna landed on top of it while her momentum allowed her blade to penetrate the dragon’s skull as if it was warm butter. Hali roared in reflex as sparks of electricity came from Luna’s hand, followed the blade and fried his brain from within until his body stopped twitching all together.
Ragnarr had been the third Thane to fall under the Princesses’ blows on that day. After a long game of chase, his draconic form breathed a strong bolt of blue lightning right in Luna’s right wing, causing her force her landing on a nearby hill with a wince. Invigored by seeing the Night Princess put a knee on the ground, he brought his massive body toward her, ready to crush her under his weight.
He let out a low chuckle, which sounded like a very deep growl in his dragon form, when he saw Luna duck on the ground, as if that was going to save her. He only saw the burning white flare coming his way when it was too late. The pure white fireball flew just above Luna and exploded right between his chuckling jaws.
The solar fire consumed his tongue and teeth in a matter of seconds before it started to attack the rest of his mouth. Had his vocal cords been spared by fire, Ragnarr would have bellowed in pain before his body crashed on the ground, spreading the raging inferno around him as his facial scales turned to dust. Luna angrily glared in her sister’s direction before flying back up to her three other opponents, as Celestia focused back on her armed duel with Arrogon, Arnbjorn, Astri and Harald.
The assassin’s blades cut the monarch’s skin many times during their fight, yet the poison he had applied to them didn’t seem to have the smallest effect on her, just like the wounds he had inflicted which were healed instantly by the golden vines on her skin. Same could be told of Arnbjorn’s axe and Astri’s sword, her other one had been shattered by a punch from the Sun Princess. Despite not giving her any sustainable harm, the latter had decided she had enough of those.
With one swift blow of her glaive, Celestia cut Arrogon’s right claw off when he tried to attack her face. Then she shoved the other end of her weapon into Astri’s stomach when the Lord Thane stepped back, holding his burning stump with a wince. The Dracan woman was sent against the nearby rocks while Celestia grabbed Arnbjorn’s axe before he could swing it down on her. He barely had the time to blink before she headbutted him away, her forehead sturdy enough to break the spines on his half-man/half-dragon form’s head.
Harald hesitated in attacking the Princess while she was looking at Arnbjorn falling backwards, both his hands up his forehead, but the assassin didn’t get enough time to make a decision: Celestia made it for him by plunging the blade of Arnbjorn’s axe deep in his hip.
In the sky, Luna, infuriated by her sister stealing her kill earlier flew straight at the hybrid forms of Hrothgar Islandburner and Folkmar the Red. They had both changed to a much smaller size in hope to gain in mobility to dodge Luna’s attacks and in speed to match her own. The white Dracan conjured an fire chain from his mouth while his red counterpart drew his short sword out of its sheath as a raging fire started behind his half-closed jaws.
Luna closed her eyes as she came closer to them, her hands glowing in a deep blue aura. Hrothgar threw the fire chain at her and Folkmar breathed a torrent of brightly red flames in her direction, while Vigdis, who had chosen to take her full human form with the exception of her black leather wings that kept her in the air, flew a bit in retreat compared to them, hooking an arrow to her bow string.
The archer Thane was taking her aim and had almost pulled the string completely when Luna opened her eyes. A wave of darkness emerged from the Princess’ now black eyeballs, a wave that surrounded the sky, capturing the three flying Thanes in it. Even with her eyes that could see through the night, Vigdis only saw the pitch black before her.
Despite their intensity, she couldn’t see the light of her comrade’s fires. Despite holding it in her hand right in front of her, she couldn’t see the outline of her bow. She couldn’t hear the tension of the string, nor the wind that blew through skies. Vigdis didn’t even hear the beating of her own heart for a moment.
She saw a spark of white appearing before her for just a second, then another spark, red this time, appeared a few seconds after. Vigdis gulped before she flew toward where the sparks had appeared, slowly and cautiously. Her bow was still ready to shoot even if she couldn’t see anything to aim at in the pitch black. She felt a brief and small shock above the grip of her weapon and was about to release her arrow when the darkness vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Vigdis blinked in shock as she saw Luna’s silvery sword was a millimeter away from her throat and that the upper part of her bow was missing, as Luna had cut through it during the dark moment. All the sounds came back to her as she heard two thuds coming from down below. The Thane dared to look down, only to see the bodies of Hrothgar and Folkmar both with their throats open on the ground. She glanced back at Luna who wasn’t looking at her at all.
The Moon Princess’ gaze was focused on the horizon to the East, her lips slightly parted from one another in a small gesture of puzzlement and shock. Not far from there, Celestia was in the same position: She was standing above Arrogon, her glaive ready to cut him down, but she had stopped herself to glance with a surprised expression towards the East.
Towards Equestria.
In two chromatics explosions that sent the Thanes in their close vicinity flying away, Luna and Celestia soared through the sky at their maximum speed away from the island, leaving the four Thane survivors to take care of their dead.
“Did you feel it too, Sister?” Luna asked urgently as she flew closer to Celestia. “It felt like…”
“Just like Aunt Platinum and Uncle Clover’s magic, I know!” Celestia snapped, clearly distraught. “But…. something was different… We have to go back to Equestria at once.”
“I’ll go tell Admiral Philharmonica to have the fleet sail home while you’d teleport there!” Luna suggested with vigor.
“No, you go there, I had something planned for the Dracan Harbor…. I’ll join you as soon as I’m done!”
After Luna nodded, the two sisters popped out of existence above the ocean in a respectively golden and midnight blue flash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna appeared out of breath in front of the Eastern wall of the Crystal Empire city-state. Travelling an ocean in a single teleportation had taken its toll on her, and teleporting so far in North from Canterlot immediately after was clearly a bad idea. As she took her breath back, Luna focused her attention on the city before her.
“... Sweet Faust…” Luna let out in complete shock.
Instead of their usual pale red color, the outer walls of the city were black as the night. The crystal wasn’t shiny anymore, it was dull and lifeless. Luna took her envol, and noticed that all the buildings had also turned black instead of the multitude of colors that adorned the city. Then she saw the Western side of the Empire, and brought her hand to her mouth.
The entire district was in ruins, from the outer walls to the buildings next to the Crystal palace. The streets were full of bodies, many wearing the clothes or armors of the Empire, while others were bearing the armors of Draconia. There were also the cadavers of hundreds horse-sized drakes in front of the devastated outer wall. Yet all the dead weren’t shocking her the most.
What troubled her the most were the dozen of terrestrial dragons frozen under a thick layer of a black crystal that stood in the middle of the Western district, and the hundreds of soldier’ statues, made of the same dark crystal as every building around, massed at the keep’s entrances.
With a few strong flaps of her wings, Luna made it to the balcony of the throne room. As soon as she set a foot on the once turquoise floor, Luna felt sick. She felt her very own magic being forcedly pulled out of her body. As her hair stopped waving mystically and fell down her face, Luna was scared. For the first time in eons, she was scared.
She felt wrinkles digging her usually smooth and eternally young visage; she saw her hair grow thin and turn white; she felt her strong muscles stiffen and dry out, making her own armor too heavy for her; she witnessed her eyes getting foggier at every second that passed; she saw that her magnificent royal blue wings had turned in a dull grey and that they were losing their feathers; her breathing became heavy and hoarse, as if her lungs had dried out under a blazing sun.
“LUNA!!!”
That terrorized shriek was the last sound she heard before she lost consciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later,
“You are absolutely certain it’s what you want to do, Sister?” Luna asked softly in a high-pitched voice, glancing at Celestia with a great sense of unease.
“Luna, taking one step in that castle almost killed you! Had I arrived a second later, it would have been the case!” Celestia argued strongly, looking down at her little sister.
The accident in the Crystal palace had done great damage to Luna’s inner magic, and her body was still recovering from it despite the week she had spent in her bed in Canterlot. Instead of the beautiful, grown woman that had the same figure as Celestia, Luna’s body had changed back to the one of her childhood, thousands of years ago. Her hair was much shorter and of a pale blue hue, and she was barely taller than a twelve year old at the moment.
“I..I know, but Snowdrop and the others were supposed to be there….” Luna argued back, more softly than Celestia had. “... We have to find out what happened! We have to find them!”
“.....It’s too risky, Luna,” Celestia stated with a compassionate, and deeply sad voice. “As for them, if they were in the Empire before whatever it was happened, they...they are most likely….”
“... Don’t say it, Tia,” Luna pleaded in a whisper, letting her head drop forward with sadness. “I’d rather not think about that.”
“It pains me to do so, Lulu,” Celestia admitted as she kneeled to Luna’s eye level. “But we have to do it.”
“...I understand,” Luna responded in a defeated sigh.
Nodding grimly, Celestia stood back up and took a few steps forward. As she did so, her hair turned into flames and the earth resonated to her power by shaking softly. Celestia focused her shining eyes on the black keep and ruins that used to be the Crystal Empire: Platinum and Equestria’s Jewel.
Golden vines appeared on the skin of her right arm as it was lifted high above her head. The magic vines were so bright and so tightly wrapped around her fist that it formed a glove made of pure, yellow light.
Celestia’s closed and glowing hand slammed against the ground in a loud bang.
The strength of the Sun Princess’ fist caused the biggest earthquake that northern regions had ever witnessed before. Deep below the surface, all the ancient caves and mines that coursed through the whole country, collapsed on themselves.
As the earthquake opened a large rift into which the remains of the Crystal Empire fell in a symphony of crystal shattering and cracking loudly, Luna spread her arms and the sky filled itself with huge rainclouds that emptied themselves above the rift. The tropical rains combined to the earthquake caused many mudslides that facilitated the burying of the once richest city of all Equestria, much to Luna and Celestia’s chagrin.
In the months that followed, the Princesses remarked that there hadn’t been any news of a Dracan incursion since their fleet had sacked the port and half of the Thanes eliminated, presumably two third from they had heard from Admiral Philharmonica, recently ennobled by Luna for his great leadership during the campaign, about what had drove the Council of Harmony to teleport back to Crystal Empire when he finally returned with the Silver fleet.
They had clearly came out victorious, but it hadn’t been without many sacrifices. Luna and Celestia knew from their long life experiences that a victory never came without its price. On that day, Luna and Celestia couldn’t find in their hearts that the victory was worth the price Equestria had paid. It probably never would, but Celestia hoped that what she had done would prevent the situation from ever repeating itself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A raging inferno of white flames was burning the tip of every single building in the ruins of the Dracan forward harbor. The fires were so intense that they merged a bit above the scenery, forming one huge column of fire that would burn endlessly and so brightly that would become one of the greatest naval landmarks in the world; a natural beacon that the ships could use to find a coast to dock to. A dried out, lifeless coast covered in soot and ashes, but a coast nevertheless.
Any sailor that risked navigate into the strait of the now called Sunfire Bay, a message could be read on a giant, polished rock on the starboard side of the strait. The inscription had been carved into the rock by something that had been hot enough to melt the stone. The carved letters had been then filled with the same flames as the one consuming the ruins of the harbors, so that it’s message could be seen clearly even at night.
Here stood once those who made Equestria their enemy.
