Hoofterlands Ch.6

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts

"...Well I mean, I could tell you it works. Magic is still Magic, it all has the same base state and properties, just the output and transformation of it differs. Dragons infuse it internally, Ponies expel it externally." Khaem said, no longer making a face. "Of course I will assume my input does not have any value, since you all are still very distrustful of me."

The dragoness' eyes were focused on Nightengale's when she had said 'you', as well as emphasized the word despite it broadly meaning everyone. She continued. "But I dare say, for a set of prodigal, intelligent magicians, you all don't think too far out of the magic box. Here..."

Swiftly, Khaem reached into her bag and took her notebook out again, and did some scribbling. With a swift rip, she took out a crude drawing of two squares, one with dots encircling one of them, and another with arrows coming from it. The square encircled was labled 'Occupied town'. "From how your magic sounds like, any form of magic within the suppressed area cannot be manifested. So within and near the town, there's a null zone of magic, so we can assume no form of efficient, quick ignition to work here unless your camp currently has a mechanical firebomb independent of magic."

She then pointed at the other square. "Then, you could simply start the ignition here, and send it over. When a fire's been lit, if it's not being conjured, it should still be able to burn on its own without needing magical assistance. Although you will not be instantly incinerating anyone, this method should be sufficient enough to set some of the buildings alight, and drive out the occupants in the null-zone."

"You can then send in soldiers afterwards to go and occupy the camp, as well as address any stragglers and survivors." Khaem concluded, holding out the crude drawing for someone to take. She thought for a bit, before adding. "This might actually be the kindest method. By burning those buildings down, and suppressing magic, unless you have some sort of quick access to water in this arid region, the occupants would have no choice but to leave. And it'd certainly give them time to run, since although fire may spread quickly, dragons are sturdy enough to handle escaping decrepit burning buildings, even without fire immunity."

"So, to wrap up, by doing this, we are able to minimize your side's injuries, as well as minimizing damage to the Alliance. At most, the heaviest damage will probably be done to the property. So for Elegant, the loss of life is minimized for everybody, for the doctor, less injuries to take care of, for Beaker the town that you all are so keen on capturing, and for my dear dark damsel, some more time practicing her threats because they certainly lack any form of subtlety. The best part of this plan is that even if the null-zone does not work, it could still drive out the occupants. After all, when everything is charred, what value does it have anymore?" The researcher stated, her patience starting to wear thin after her explanation. "So may we hurry this up? You're all so squeamish on such an easy decision, it reminds me of being back in the hatcheries."

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa

With a splurt of blood the stallion twists his halberd free of the dragons neck scanning over the battlefield his magic still illuminating the area surrounding him and the fallen adult. Small fires raged here and there in the wreckage of the Alliance camp, but their forces were retreating in the noon day son. Trying not to lay eyes on the singed patch of hide on his side Breaker finally lets his anti arcane field drop. “Well Khaem, you were right, apparently magic can cease your kinds breath and remove some of their vulnerabilities.”

The predawn raid had done it's job, even with the grumbling of refusing to firebomb the entire army. They'd given the Equestrian main forces the critical time to rush the Alliance lines before posts could react. Still he wasn't looking forward to the toll it had taken to his forces. Hoof to hoof combat with teens, or even hatchlings could be a problem, but throw in zebra alchemy, or buffalo's and the fight could shift quickly. Thankfully it looked like the Alliance had decided to hold what few griffon's remained with them back away from the front.

Shouldering his polearm, the stallion winces as he walks towards where he'd seen Flame and the others last. Without a backward glance he calls out to his sister in-law, the blood stained pegasus standing atop the downed dragon. He could hear the sound of blood staining the ground when she flicks the enchanted blade at the ground. “You alright Angel?”

---

Angelblade
Hoofterlands – Appleloosa

Hearing the army leader call to her the mare pushes back part of her blood soaked mane to clear it from her eyes. Breathing heavily she gives her wings a shake to sending droplets raining to the corpse beneath her hooves. “Yes sir, are you sure you should be walking? I can easily fetch a medic.” Seeing Breaker merely shake his head the mare hops into the air letting her momentum take her on a gliding path over the fallen beast. Silently she was glad Flame hadn't been around to see her hoofwork, cleaving one wing off she'd kept the dragon grounded before taking an entire arm with another blow. Likely Breaker would want to speak to her about ignoring orders, especially given the then untested ability to cancel a dragons fire. Least now they knew, for sure.

Landing at a trot the mare sheath's the enchanted blade fatigue starting to set in from the blades enchantments. Striding past the teen dragon Breaker swore he'd adopted the mare keeps her voice level. “Any thing to add about that fight niece?”

[Lucy Took]

"No need to fetch a medic, I'm right here" Renew said, trotting up to the two, flicking carcases into the middle of the pile with her magic as she went. She hadn't been very involved with the fight herself, she'd stayed by her tent with her equipment and held her own there against any stragglers that wandered by. The doctor took one look at Breaker before pulling a spray bottle and dousing him with the mist of antiseptic spray. "And you do need medical help. Sure you might not be bleeding out but that burn would have been infected if you didn't have it taken care of and I am not dealing with a captain who's delirious with fever nor am I telling Melody she needs to come here to feed your sorry little flank soup and make sure you take your medicines." she started the process of taking off his burned layers of skin and patching in new ones from a combination of other areas and microscopic swatches of skin from a dead zebra a few feet away melded with his own. "Of course it would have been adorable, but no one has time to deal with that now, I'll have other soldiers to attend to, some of which probably will get infections before I can get to them, and you'll have to deal with what our next move is. Are we expecting a counter attack?"

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts

Taking a large, exaggerated bow, Khaem had a smirk on her face. "And you all doubted me. Disappointing that my advice was not taken, but at least the town was taken back."

It was obvious that the researcher was going to use this to lord over them for a while, but her bubble burst when the pegasus she didn't recognize called her 'niece'. She gave, who she could now guess was Biker's sister, an unamused gaze. But rather than coming with a retort, she decided to instead wipe a claw over her mane, and stick it in her mouth to sample the blood.

"...Hmph, healthy." She said, looking over to where the mare had come from. "Female? Recently laid eggs...? Hmmm..."

The teen mumbled something about 'further examination required', before taking out a cleaver, and waltzing in the supposed direction of the corpse.

[MagusZeal]

Balthier Breaker
Hoofterlands – Appleoosa

Sucking air through his teeth the stallion tries not to move even as Renew does her rather painful work. Looking to Angel he motions his head towards Khaem, getting a snort from the mare before she takes to the air. “From what I'm seeing no I don't think they'll be able to mount a counter anytime soon. I think between Flame and Nightingale they managed to take down most of their command structure. How bad was it elsewhere?”

---

Angelblade
Hoofterlands – Appleloosa

Taking to the air with a snort the mare scans the clouds over the shattered town before landing on a rickety balcony from what was the saloon watching the teen moving towards the corpse. “Hoping to gain some more knowledge on your kind or prove something niece?”

[Knight Tyrfang]

Khaem
Hoofterlands - Appleoosa Outskirts

The teen dragon ignored the mare's comment before reaching the corpse. However, much to her disappointment, the recently deceased appeared to be male, with scale rot.

Sighing, she put her unused cleaver back into her coat. "A bit of the latter I suppose, there's not much I can learn from my race currently. I was hoping to identify a body with just its blood, which is apparent I was unable to. Grandfather was developing some technology able to do so last I was checking, but I was wondering if taste-buds are sensitive enough to do it through non-mechanical ways. It would save the need to take a trophy from a hunt, certainly.

"Regardless, why do you and Blinker find it so amusing to pretend I'm related to you?" Khaem asked, crossing her arms, displeased. "Is he sterile, and desperate for a child? Because if it's to irritate me, you've certainly succeeded and I don't see what either of you have to gain from it."