C&C chapter 32 draft complete - teaser below · 4:09pm Feb 6th, 2023
It’s with prereaders and currently weighing in at almost exactly 10k words—and that’s only after I decided to remove the trailing 4500 words to save for the next chapter. Yeah, it was getting too big too quickly, but at least writing the chapter following won’t take as long.
As for what to expect, as this is the first chapter of a new story arc, it’s mostly going to be transition and setup. Which is not to say there won’t be some action, even a little of the adult kind. Battles in the first couple chapters of the new arc will be more of wits than of blades, and with the Changelings around... well, given their proclivities and at-times involuntary influences on others, you can expect some stuff to happen.
I wasn’t originally planning for there to be any adult action in this chapter, but a little snuck in towards the end, maybe because my testosterone pellets are kicking in hard now and I’m finally getting over my cold. If nothing else, consider it an opportunity to learn a little about the lovebugs as well. Needless to say, they don’t really understand or respect boundaries to start.
Will what’s there in terms of adult action be enough to require a separate chapter for non-clop readers? I’d honestly rather not since that’s a pain and the section is small, but we’ll see what prereaders say. In the meantime, have a brief teaser.
“I am truly sorry for the loss of your comrade, Corporal,” Queen Lepidoptes said. “Sorrier still that we were unable to save him, or all the griffons and civilians that fell here.”
“it’s all right, ma’am. We don’t blame you for any of this. It’s not the first time we’ve been hung out to dry by higher command, believe me.” A moment of bitterness entered his voice.
Though Gilda didn’t fully understand the euphemism, she found herself nodding in agreement. Whatever ire she might have had at Queen Lepidoptes for withholding help, she reserved it for Tribune Cipio, who she expected to see shortly. There was, after all, no point in being angry at the Queen or the Changelings she ruled—they had reported the location of her force to the Tribune upon arrival at Lake Languid, asking that they be evacuated immediately, after all.
By rights, their request should have been heeded promptly, and her force plucked out of harm’s way within half an hour. By rights, the Ravens led by Senior Scimitar Miles Fortuna should have been but the vanguard of the escort force, one that included the air carriages needed to whisk the humans to the safety of Aricia’s walls.
But Tribune Cipio had instead dangled them in front of the Cloven like raw meat before a ravenous pack of Timberwolves, seeking to spend their strength on her human-filled force. It was an incredibly reckless and quite possibly disastrous decision at best in her mind, and the fact that it had ultimately worked didn’t allay her anger at him risking the all-important Marines—and worse, her mate and his friends—at all. “If I may ask, Your Highness, with the loss of your hive, where will your drones be staying?” She finally tuned back into the conversation in time to hear Giraldi ask the question.
Though Lepidoptes was giving her an odd look, she replied. “We have already been granted a section of the Auxiliary Guard Base and a series of structures to house ourselves in. A hive it is not, but we will start tunneling into the ground soon enough. We have permission to do so from the Tribune. Though the details of just how we will be integrated into the Kingdom’s military efforts remain to be worked out, I will be dispatching my military heads to meet with him shortly. Hopefully an accommodation can be reached.”
“Your heads? Then you will not meet with him yourself?” Fortrakt asked, still staring up at her in something approaching awe.
She shook her head. “Not unless he sees fit to come to me, and he feels that to be unwise given it would put two high-value commanders in the same place. Not an unreasonable precaution, given that many high-ranked civilian and military targets were assassinated by corrupted griffons when the Cloven initially attacked. And I cannot come to him since, as much as possible, I cannot leave this ship,” the Queen said, closing her eyes.
“Why not?” Fortrakt asked earnestly.
She favored him with a smile. “Because, my young and virile friend… In the deepest and most protected bays of this vessel are the eggs of our next generation, which we were forced to move quickly from our hive’s nursery when the chance we would lose our home became very real. As my greatest responsibility as Queen is to protect and nurture them, I must stay here to guard them, and not enter combat myself unless absolutely necessary. Be assured that the Tribune is aware of this as well.”
Though she might have taken more notice over the Queen calling Fortrakt ‘virile’ and teased him over it later, Gilda felt her anger surge again at the mention of Cipio. Her feathers ruffled as she gave a low trill, earning worried looks from Fortrakt and Giraldi followed by a concerned glance from the Queen.
“Gilda…?” Fortrakt called out to her as they neared the airship anchorage where what appeared to be a small honor guard had already assembled. “Are you okay?”
“No,” she said simply, deciding then that she was going to have to vent her anger at Cipio sooner rather than later. And that she would have to do so regardless of how tired she felt or how badly she wanted to crawl under a blanket with Marco, close her eyes and try to sleep away the horrors of the past day in his embrace.
“Then what’s—?”
“What’s wrong is that Tribune Cipio had no business risking us like that. I don’t care that there was a sound strategy behind it. I don’t even care that it worked. The humans were not expendable, whether Marine or civilian. And with due respect to the skill of your soldiers, Queen Lepidoptes, there were no guarantees that it would succeed or the humans wouldn’t be taken along with their weapons and ability to wield them. It was reckless and wrong, so by the Ancestors themselves, I will be letting him know it...”
The confrontation is coming in the chapter following this one but you’ll see the setup for it here. Projected release date at this point is Thursday or Friday night, after all prereads are in and I’ve had a chance to give it multiple editing passes. I keep thinking of additional detail to add, so there’s probably going to be at least 11k words in it when all is said and done.
And after that... Midnight Rising awaits. But I’ll post a separate blog about that later.
Most delightful chapters announcements and quite the hype to see Gilda get answers. Who died and who survived?
Cipio sure screwed up with the humans.
He really better has way more to show than the results of the battle and one dead overlord, otherwise i don't see the humans going offensive.
So... Was the mind destroying crystal countered by anti magic gems?
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The answers will trickle in over time.
As far as Gilda’s concerned, he did. But will Cipio himself see it that way...?
Well, in fairness, those results also include an annihilated Cloven army and leveled factory, which is no little thing at this point given they desperately needed some breathing room. Time to recover from their initial shock and solidify their defenses/start shifting troops to meet the threat. You can bet Cipio himself will be making these points as well.
Mind destroying crystal?
Oh, you mean the gems the Ravens have implanted in their heads to destroy them. Though I know the answer, you’ll have to wait for it since they’ve had no chance to investigate it yet. Let’s just say for now that the Cloven found a way around them that didn’t involve deactivating them. 
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Need to read more
Maybe give us at least one more detail about what Luna,, Twilight, Cadance, Celestia and Derpy Hooves think about the situation.
Is Derpy gathering a 'grand army of the
republicMuffins' to counter the great evil that has the intend to eradicate all Muffins and British breakfasts and Brunches?Is Doctor WHOoves on the case? Great defender of the British Butter & Muffin Brunch?
Has Fluttershys pet Bunny Angel gathered his familie to for the great Carrot heist of Golden Harvests private carrot stash?
Are the CMC thinking about dating Spike?
How are we to survive without the answers to the answers to at least all of this questions?!
P.s. Thorax brother could have fun helping fighting and maybe score himself a Bugwaifu Queen saving the day and getting that
juicy piece of chitinBugwaifu?