//------------------------------//
// Chapter 25: Pawn, Rook, Bishop, Knight 
// Story: Penned IN 
// by Qwix 
//------------------------------//

	"This is just absolutely dandy, isn't it?" asked Rarity. "Hardly an ideal place to hide while Chrysalis starts her campaign on Equestria."
"There's nothing we can really do about it at the moment..." answered Twilight. "We can't go back to Ponyville, at least for the time being. It would be too obvious a target for Chrysalis to find us."
"Still, you couldn't teleport there and back really quick to at least grab some blankets?" said Dash. "Sleeping on rocks isn't exactly comfy."

Pennaprose was pacing. After they had escaped Canterlot, they managed to climb the mountain at the edge of Ponyville, the very same one that he first met Gosthette. Luna, Shining Armor, Aloysius, and Lyra were off in the dragon's chamber, while the rest of them waited in the old treasure room.
"And what about her plan? What are we going to do about Chrysalis' plan?" asked Applejack. "That Aloysius fella was pretty clear about what's gonna happen if we don't up and put a stop to it soon."
Twilight closed her eyes. "She'll use Equestria as a base from which to infiltrate the neighboring nations of Prance, Saddle Arabia, and Mexicolt. Then, from the shadows, she'll drive those nations into warring with one another. As they weaken, she'll have Celestia, controlled by her, to drive a peace summit," she repeated to herself, concentrating. "When the world leaders have gathered there, she intends to have a bomb implanted in Celestia's necklace, intending to take them all out in one fell swoop."
"Then, " added Pinkie Pie. "She'll have her commanders pose as the new leaders of the nations. Rinse and repeat until..."
"World domination. She set her sights much higher this time..." said Fluttershy.
"And she's being much smarter about it this time," said Twilight. "I can't see a place right now where she could fail if left alone. We have to put a stop to her before she can get it going."
He stopped pacing, agitated beyond belief. Aloysius' promise rang in his ears last night. I vill proceed immediately-ness on Lyra's reversion. It is a mixture of fell sorcery and medicine; do not be interrupting while I work, pleases.
That was when they arrived last night. He had cobbled a semblance of sleep in the meantime, and the pinpoint skylight hole that gave this room a minimal amount of light indicated that it had already become noon the day after they escaped already.
"Penni... Calm down, we can't do anything else at the moment," asked Twilight. "I know you're worried, but–"
"Why can't we do anything right now, Twilight?" he retaliated bitterly. "Just why?"
Twilight frowned. "Well... we can't face Chrysalis without a plan. She's too powerful on her own right now, but we'll also need to deal with her commanders as well. Ponyville is crawling with changelings in disguise, so we can't go back there without being spotted... and besides, I don't want to involve bystanders in the coming battle."
He snorted. "That's not all of what I meant. Why is it that Lyra had to take the brunt of this? Why is it that someone as vile as Chrysalis even exists in Equestria? Just why..."
"Rest easy, you two. The next step will commence now."
The voice came from the direction of the dragon's chamber. It was Luna, followed by Shining Armor. "Chrysalis is indeed correct about the changeling's history, there is no denying it..." she began. "I may have not been there for the event itself, but the tales were still taught from mouth-to-ear when Celestia and I were still under the tutelage of Star Swirl the Bearded."
Twilight's eyes lit up. "Star Swirl, really? You are so telling me all about it later."
Luna giggled, a far more refined sound than Pennaprose was expecting. "Hm, well... for a happier time, perhaps when this is all over. But the matter at hoof: how should we go about bringing Chrysalis down? A thorny question... but not one I haven't considered. Shining Armor and I were up part of the night comparing notes with Miss Gosthette about the state of Canterlot and her hive structure to determine how to approach this..."
She fizzled a few sparks of magic form her horn, letting them draw trails across an expanse of stone in front of her. They formed a curious hologram that consisted of a cluster of light balls.

"Her hive is structured as follows," she began. 

"There are five commanders total under her command normally, who command ten different 'Apparati'. An Apparatus is an equivalent position of assistant manager; they each head a Vaktion, which consists of it's members alone. They each serve a different purpose for the hive," she began. 
Lines extended from the center ball, connecting like a web to 5 other balls of light. "Gosthette had led the TROPICAL commander position, responsible for Apparati I, II, and IV, the ones responsible for scouting and intel; jailing and torture; as well as assassination and stealth missions. Tropical is an acronym, which stands of Tracking Operations, Intel, Confinement, and Logistics. The other commanders have a similar title.
"Aloysius 'Pane' Amberaim was responsible for Apparatus IX, known colloquially as the CURE Vaktion; Core Utopian Remedies. It was the hive's science and medicine division. He was responsible for developing new technologies for the betterment of the hive... but now that he's no longer working for them, the division may be in chaos...
"The remaining three commanders, according to Gosthette, are all formidable in their own right. I think you've already met one... her name is Quitangu. She's in charge of Apparatus X, known as the EXCEED Vaktion, shortened to X-CED; her realms of expertise include war tactics, beast taming, as well as weapon and armorsmithing. It stands for Cross-Combat Exercise Divisor, apparently. Gosthette informs me that the twin blades she brought back from the encounter, Djiingoh and Changeré, are her own, personal work. They are indeed masterpieces; no member of the royal forge was ever that skilled...
"Second on the list is a changeling by the name of Sadhiki. Apparently, he was gunning for becoming the TROPICAL Commander, before Gosthette came in and took it. He currently holds the title of WARM Commander; Welfare and Resource Mining, which was in charge of mining, storing, and growing resources from the earth to support the changeling race; Apparatti III, V, and VI. They are as restricted by the need for food as ponies are; they can't survive purely on consuming love. We may be able to exploit that fact...
"The last one is the one I'm most worried about. His name is Krayka, and he leads Apparati VII and VIII. Ironically, his title is PONY commander, which stands for Power Net Yield. His main tasks are overseeing the vast infantry of VIII as well as monitoring the power grid of their establishment, but it's the stories of him Aloysius and Gosthette were telling me that have me worried..."
She paused, letting trickles of magic form an immense spider web branching from a single point, a ball of light near the bottom of the hologram, but also one that was much larger then the center one. "Among the changeling race, he is regarded as a war hero. Changelings have often clashed with other nations at Equestria's borders, but tales of a war near Prance reminded me of something I heard in an intelligence report near its end. Though Prance had repelled the invasion, a single changeling stood defiantly against nearly 48,000 armed and trained militia, unarmed and unarmored except for a single flail."
She grimaced. "The changelings disappeared from public sight after that, but they sustained not a single casualty after that. I was told that that single changeling fought and won against every single opponent until Prance decided to wisely choose to end the pursuit. That was 10 years ago... and the stories from the changeling perspective match up. Krayka must have been that very changeling; if he's at the helm of the entire infantry, then his defeat would signal a wave of despair among his troops... but also be in insurmountable obstacle task in and of itself..."
The hologram fizzled, replaced by an image of a plateau riddled with holes. "Miss Gosthette revealed the hive location; it is located in a plateau somewhere in the same desert that Appleloosa resides in. Apparently, Chrysalis's presence in Canterlot's cave system was due to it being connected underground to it. ...Actually, according to her, there is an entire network of tunnels spanning all of Equestria and parts of Prance, Mexicolt, and Saddle Arabia. They frequently use it to travel unhindered by ponies at all times of day."
Shining Armor coughed. "Not only that," he added. "But we think it can work both ways. We estimate that Chrysalis has begun spreading her main forces out onto the ground above, leaving the tunnels relatively unoccupied. We believe we can infiltrate the hive this way."
The hologram disappeared completely. "It's not going to be easy..." said Luna. "But we need to establish what our targets are first..."
She gestured to Twilight. "Considering we have only a limited amount of force at our disposal, how do you propose we go about fighting the hive?"
Twilight closed her eyes in concentration. "...I'm not sure... We can't afford to spread out; they would overpower us too quickly. If Chrysalis caught even one of us alone, we would be unable to face her in combat at all. Even together we would be heavily pressed to defend ourselves... so a frontal assault is out of the question... We are together this time, however... so I recommend that me, the girls, and Pennaprose stick together. The Elements should be enough to defend against one, maybe two commanders at the same time if it should come to that... plus Gosthette can handle herself in a fight against any number of base troops, I think..."
Twilight fell silent, pacing back and forth. Pennaprose felt the familiar sting of uselessness, but shoved it aside as a noise from the other side of the chamber distracted them. It was Aloysius, emerging from the dragon's chamber and muttering to himself.
He looked up, mechanical eye whirring at top speeds. "...Am I interrupting somethings? Hehm?"
Luna turned slightly. "No, nothing at all, Aloysius. How did the operation go?"
He fixed his gaze at Pennaprose. "...I'll let zat be surprisingness to most of you all. But... ah... Pennaprose, you come. You don't seem to be doing anything... yet." He chuckled to himself; apparently, his eye wasn't the only thing that was mechanical. He rushed over to him anyway.
"Gazzetta would be liking to having a few words with you. Let me know what you are deciding before you come back to war council, boy."
He gave him a wide berth as he slipped by him; he could have sworn that his fake eye was fixed on him even though he hadn't turned to watch him go.

Inside the chamber yawned the massive window to the outside, daylight flooding the chamber more than the war room. Gosthette was sitting in its wake, gazing to the outside wistfully. But in the center was a makeshift cot, upon it...
He galloped at top speed, heart racing. There his hopes lie; Lyra, without a trace of having been a changeling and fast asleep. Her face was peaceful in her slumber as she rolled over. He let out a sigh of relief in silence, hoping not to wake her.
Beside the cot was an odd green sphere. He stared at it, mesmerized by the way to light inside it seemed to be made of liquid...
"Until you're sure of yourself, I'd advise not touching that thing."
Gosthette turned around, staring. She seemed tired. "At least the operation was a complete success. She'll be fine... Are you glad?"
"Yeah... ...yeah... Hah... I feel out of breath..." he said, sitting down.
She wandered over. "There was no complications. That little ball of light contains the magic that Aloysius extracted from her body. Messing with it could let it infect you... if that is your desire."
He slumped over, sitting besides the cot. He put of hoof to his head, suddenly tired. "How'd you sleep last night? Not that well, I'd imagine..." Gosthette asked.
"I don't know why you'd care," retaliated Pennaprose. "All I am too you is a ticket home."
She sighed, then sat down besides him. "At first, at least..." she said. "This whole charade has taught me some things. ...Most of it from you."
He glanced over. He was startled to see that there was tears on her face. "...You were the lucky one, Pennaprose. I landed in the desert near the hive; conscious, unable to fend for myself... but Chrysalis found me there. Like Twilight and the others found you... my only tether to this world."
"Do you want me to feel sorry for you? I appreciate the help in getting away from that wench, but how do I really know that you want to help us? And not just me?"
She wiped her tears, face hardening. "...As loathe as I am to admit it... I might have to face the reality that I have missed our... my window of opportunity to return. You've grown beyond just being a manifestation of my lost morality, Pennaprose..."
"Have you ever stopped to consider?" asked Pennaprose. "That it might be the other way around? That you are merely a manifestation of my lost memories? What makes you so sure you are, and I am not?"
Her gaze unfocused on the floor, her jaw dropped. "...I... I..." she stammered.
He grimaced. "...Sorry."
"...No, you're right," she sighed, face etched with weariness. "The darkness is never favored, in the end..." she said. "You'll continue proving that, I hope...?"
He gazed at her scrutinizingly. "...Yes. I will. But as I am now... I simply don't have the raw power to face that darkness in battle... Only you do, to be frank."
She smiled. "As I had asked earlier..." she said, gesturing to the green orb between them, "Are you sure of yourself?"
He stared at it, thoughts revving back into gear with his lost energy. An idea began to bloom in his head...
"I don't need to be able to read your thoughts to tell that you're having the same idea Aloysius and I had. ...So, will you? The effects can be reversed after all this is over. Even he said it shouldn't be in place long enough for it to take root too far... as is my case..."
He hesitated, remembering how Lyra was back in the caves. "Don't worry about that little detail," said Gosthette. "Pane already has a batch of dilutive whipped up. I took some already, so she won't be able to control me, but my power is weaker than before. It would be the same case for you."
"If THAT'S the case..." he said. "Then yes. I promised that the next time I would speak to Lyra, I would be strong enough to return her feelings... to protect her from the darkness she had lived in for so long."
He got up, brushing Lyra's mane out of her face. She smiled in her sleep. "What better way to do that... then to embrace the darkness that had truly gripped her in her darkest hour, all in the name to save us all...?"
Gosthette got up as well. "...Then stay here. I'll go and help direct the council in place of Pane. He'll do the implant, but you'll be out for a few hours... When you wake up, you'll be training with me. You'll be wielding one of Quitangu's blades like a pro before sunset."
She walked off, back towards the war council. Before she did, however, she turned and flashed a warm smile, something so startlingly contrat that he could have sworn she had transformed to do it. "Even I am beginning to feel like my own being now... Pembrooke."
She walked outside without another word.

Pembrooke...?