“You have got to be kidding me.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Lullamoon, but that is the current situation.”
“But Princess, why would your sister, Mr. Cole, and the Sergeant just leave us?”
“Now, you and I both know that is not the case. Actually, they went to Mr. Cole’s world, in order to pick up another one of Mr. Cole’s machines, and supplies to help retrieve Miss Earth Mover.”
Here the unicorn in question sat back on her haunches, and folded her forelegs, looking off to one side huffily. “I wanted to go too…” she said quietly. “I don’t have many friends, and now one is kidnapped, two are doing ‘research’, and the rest have gone on a trip without me!”
Here the Princess of the day stopped and thought for a moment. It had taken Trixie several hours to obtain even this brief audience, and there had to be some practical thing she could do that would not only take her mind off the situation, but would also be a help to the others when they returned…
Personally, Princess Celestia held out hope that the situation could be resolved without the intervention of the human, or her sister’s more “vigorous” ideas of diplomacy. But, she hadn’t ruled for over a millennium solely on her good looks, and winning personality, although the latter had definitely helped resolve tensions in some past circumstances. Sadly, this was shaping up to be one of those situations that would need to be resolved in a more direct manner, if the latest unproductive attempt to reach some form of dialog with the hive in question was any indication…
“I am hoping we can bring about a diplomatic solution to this, before things become volatile,” the Princess continued. “But, should things not turn out that way, we will need a viable plan to retrieve both Miss Earth Mover, and the Ark of Queens. Miss Lullamoon, can you think of any measures you can contribute, if the situation deteriorates to that point? I’m sure with your talent for the stage, you can contribute to their mission.”
“You know, you’re right… Thanks your Highness!”
With an abruptness that showed her rekindled determination, Trixie left the throne room at a gallop, nearly colliding with the door as she exited. The princess’ secretary, Raven, came up and offered comment.
“Was it wise to set her on such a path, your Majesty?”
“I’m confident Trixie will bring something to the group. She always has a unique perspective on things that may inspire innovation in the others.”
“Speaking of which, your sister, Mr. Cole, and Sergeant Stormcloud have just returned.”
“This is welcome news. Tell me, what of the scouting unit we sent to the site of the original incident?”
“They have reported detecting changeling activity in a nearby cave complex, within one of the mesas. It seems that the hive offering shelter to Chrysalis’ remnants, and holding both Earth Mover and the Ark, is located there. The complex appears to be semi-permanent, with both temporary, or rarely used areas, and more permanent deeper structures, which, of course, or scouting party was unable to confirm, but they have been able to take scans of the surface of the complex.”
“I see. Please keep me informed of any developments, and as soon as you are able, bring my sister, and Mr. Cole up to date as well.”
“Understood, your highness.”
After returning from Earth, Cole wanted nothing more than to either start planning in earnest, or just sleep for several hours. His last nap hadn’t been a restful one, and the next part of the plan was beginning to rear its ugly head: Site Planning. With nothing to go on thus far, it was going to be a tough job getting teams in place to figure out how the place Earth Mover had been taken to was laid out, where any weak points might be, and any concentrations of soldier to be avoided were. The human was still trying to work out whether or not the whole op should go in quietly, or simply kick the front door in, when a voice broke into his musings.
“Mr. Cole!” Trixie’s voice cut through his dark musings like a knife. “There you are, I have some things we can use.”
Cole looked up to see the blue unicorn in question trotting towards him. As they were out by the classrooms, Cole was unsurprised to see several scrolls floating along behind her in her magical grip.
“What do you have, Miss Lullamoon?”
“Well, you need a layout of the hive where she’s being held, right? I get layouts for the stages I perform on, so in that respect, the two are fairly similar… Anyways, the Princess was kind enough to share these with us.”
Here, Trixie unfurled one of the scrolls, revealing it to be a charcoal drawing of a mesa. As Cole looked closer, however, he could see that the drawing was actually a cutaway view, with several locations marked out in the ponies’ flowing script.
“This is… Exactly what we need. Thank you, Miss Lullamoon, this is the missing piece.”
“So, here’s the plan – as it stands right now.” Cole began. After going over the diagrams – which he now knew were from a Royal Force Reconnaissance team - the human, the unicorn, and Sergeant Stormcloud, had broken down all the elements of a basic assault and asset recovery mission. Balance Wheel and Ditzy Doo had returned from studying the Elantra’s engine, and also provided input. The plan would be broken down into four stages.
First, Cole, Stormcloud, and Trixie would approach in the Optima towards the eastern face of the mesa that housed the hive holding Earth Mover and the Ark. On Stormcloud’s signal, Trixie would then begin to charge up several “magic missile” spells, designed to penetrate the wall of the hive, and then pulverize it. Once the spells were ready to fire, Cole would then accelerate at full throttle towards the wall. The timing was crucial – too early, and the vehicle would collide with the mesa, too late, and enough changeling guards would be able to respond that the next two steps of the plan would be over before they even began.
The next step would be a resonance spell. Over the next night, Princess Luna would contact Earth Mover in the dream realm, and tach her a specific “pulse” type of spell, as a locator for Trixie, who would begin to send out the counterspell as soon as the wall came apart. Earth Mover would be responsible for breaking herself out if she could, and if not, the team could easily locate her.
The following step would be the most difficult: Finding the Ark of Queens. In theory, Earth mover, being a changeling proto-queen, could find it herself, especially since she had actually laid hooves on it. Here the plan had two options: Either the team would fight their way to Earth Mover, break her out, and then fight to the Ark, and escape with both, or break in, and head straight for the Ark, assuming Earth Mover could find it, and communicate that info to Trixie. While one team went for the Ark, Earth Mover would break out, and cause as much chaos on the opposite side of the hive as she could, before meeting up with the team after they had secured the Ark, at which point they would all escape together.
The final step, Escape, seemed fairly straightforward, but there were several points where the whole thing could go belly-up fast. The first issue was infiltrators. If any part of the plan were discovered, it would be a big issue if a changeling managed to make it back to the Optima, and gained access to it while everyone was away from the vehicle. Cole had solved this one initially by demonstrating that he could lock the vehicle’s doors remotely, and engage several anti-intrusion measures. By that same token, there was no guarantee that an enemy guard couldn’t simply destroy one of the vehicle’s tires, rendering it immovable. Here Balance Wheel supplied a solution: he could apply reinforcement spells to the exposed parts of the wheels and undercarriage, protecting them from damage.
Even assuming the team was able to execute all stages of the plan successfully, escape would still involve running away from the hive at very high speed, while likely being chased by hundreds of angry changelings. Once they made the rail line at Dodge Junction, it would be a straight shot back to Canterlot, but the intervening desert would provide several potential ambush points along the way. Hopefully, Earth Mover could provide enough of a distraction for their escape to be relatively chaos-free…
The changeling in questions was currently sitting atop a basic stool she had constructed from a combination of both resin and rocky debris from her cell. Sitting was an odd experience, particularly in the bipedal form she had assumed. But, it was better than constantly standing or pacing, and it put her “jailer” at ease, even though both of them knew the term was more of a formality at this point.
The proto-queen who had been assigned to her had finally given her name: “Gossamer”, although she didn’t particular care for it, instead preferring to just be called “Goss”. Currently, Goss was trying to imitate Earth Mover’s form, and to Tartarus with energy expenditure.
“Don’t take this as a sign I’m going to just let you escape or anything, she huffed, trying to balance of her rear hooves. “I’m just figuring out why you seem so eager to change into something so different, and why it might be useful.”
“I told you before, it can be useful in all kinds of situations. But you probably shouldn’t try to copy my current form exactly, I’m more muscular than you, and your midsection is more slender than mine.”
“Look, I know that… How exactly Did you end up so strong anyways? We don’t exactly build muscle the way the ponies do, after all.”
“Well, I was an archaeologist. A real one, not just playing a role. And that involves a level of activity that will leave even earth ponies exhausted after a long day, so I had to adapt. Eating solid food will do that as well. With the right spells, we can process it into extra muscle, and stronger bones.”
“Are you sure about that? There was never a spell for that in the hive’s archives.”
“Maybe not your hive, but we’ve had physical enhancement training as far back as I can remember at home.”
”I guess that makes a sort of sense… Your hive members were expected to live out long stretches in pony society, right?”
“And in mostly academic, or infrastructure positions, yes. Places where unusual magic would definitely be noticed, so if you had to lift something heavy, it was better to be able to really lift it, versus cheating with a covert spell or two.”
“Ok, how’s this?” Goss asked, abruptly curtailing their conversation. The proto-queen had managed to get the proportions for her body shape correct, and was now standing easily in a form that closely resembled Earth Mover’s. Except she was almost a hoof taller, and slender across her limbs and torso, where Earth Mover had a more solid appearance, while her wings stood up behind her shoulders, due to their smaller size.
Standing, Earth Mover approached the cell’s bars, and looked over Goss’ form critically. “Well, you’ve gotten it right, as far as I can tell. Although, you went with three fingers, instead of two…”
“Well, I thought it would make for better dexterity, even if it’s a little harder to control them.”
“You’re right, it does. I was initially thinking of just using this form to escape, but you’re thinking about using it for other applications, right?”
“Well… Maybe.”
“Like what?” Earth mover asked, as her own hands glowed, transforming to give her three fingers and a thumb as well.
“Well… I’m not sure, exactly.”
“Are you sure you want to leave on your own?”
“Look, let’s just say I’m using it to keep you from easily escaping for now, OK?”
“Ok, no need to get upset,” Earth Mover said, raising her hands to forestall further argument.
Here Goss sighed, and looked at the floor. “Look, I’m still not sure how I feel about this, OK? I’m not happy here, I know that much. But if I leave, can I even make it out? And if I help you escape when/if your friends come for you, Can I make it on my own, or should I try to find a place in a pony city? I still have… well, not friends, but fellow ‘lings I don’t dislike here, so can I help them leave as well? Should I even try?”
“Sounds like you have a lot to think about.”