//------------------------------// // Chapter 58; Rapid pace // Story: The War of 1002 // by Fireheart 1945 //------------------------------// Allied units kept a careful watch on the skies as they marched north. Silver Shield was relieved that the enemy hadn't managed to snag the Princess. He was also relieved that she had left the day before; at least Equestria wouldn't have one of its leaders in danger. The enemy hadn't made another appearance since the initial incident two days ago. The allied army wasn't going to be caught by surprise again. Pegasi patrolled the sky, and observers on the ground kept scanning the horizon for any potential threats. Scouts of both species kept up a careful watch for any foe who might make a ground attack. The Badlands wouldn't have been where he would have wanted to fight some of the penultimate battles of the war, but terrain and the position of the enemy dictated the necessity. It was hot out, though not quite as hot as the desert. Little scorpions and serpents crawled and slithered around, making for a rather precarious march. He had been surprised and shocked to find out that Changelings often ate such creatures when nothing else was available to eat. He knew he wouldn't have wanted to touch them even if he had been desperate. Fortunately, the army still had food, so he wouldn't have to worry about that for a while. He stopped briefly to take a drink of water before continuing. There wasn't much water out here, and the few animals that could bear to live in the Badlands congregated near the oases. The allied army was somewhere around 29,400 strong. That was a lot of mouths to feed. Luckily, the addition of the Changeling hives to the army had relieved the supply lines somewhat. He didn't know the numbers the enemy could bring to battle. He hoped the allies would outnumber them when it came time to do the actual fighting. He wondered how things were back home. He would have preferred to be back in the castle, protecting the Princesses there. No newspapers had reached the army, and probably wouldn't for sometime to come. The news would probably have to wait until the fighting up here was wrapped up, if it could be. The end of the war here was in sight. One way or another, the upcoming battle would decide the future of the west. ------------------------------------------------------- Borealis began to set up a barricade as the sun began to sink toward the horizon. It wasn't all that difficult; all it took was a mixture of dirt, slime, saliva, and rock to make a solid structure. Ponies might not have found the process to be a clean one, but that was something Changelings usually put in second or third place to efficiency and effectiveness, if not fourth, fifth, or somewhere even farther down the line. And the cannon the barricade was built to protect would have a lot more cover than it would have otherwise, that was certain. A buzzing of wings caught his attention. He looked up to see a friendly detail - of other Changelings, obviously, as pegasi wings made flapping noises, as opposed to an outright buzz - carrying a large tub of water. "Water's here," one of the newcomers said. "Good," he replied. Then he took a closer look at one of those who had been carrying the tub. "What happened to Antenna?," he asked, having seen a large bite mark on the subject's torso. "Snake tired to eat him. Luckily he had us. That snake won't bother us anymore. Won't bother anyone else, in fact." "Did you bring it here with you? Might have been able to make a good meal out of it." "Sorry. We had our hooves full with carrying the water from the oasis to our camp." "Well, that's a waste. Still, at least he's still here." "Sure am, boss," Antenna answered. "Stupid snake wouldn't have caught me so easy if I wasn't so busy." He didn't add anymore, but dipped his muzzle into the tub and starting drinking. "Leave some for the rest of us," Borealis ordered. "We need to make this last for more than just us." "Sorry," Antenna paused. "I'm thirsty," he added needlessly. "Obviously. Just remember that we are, too." In the end, more than twenty Changelings ended up drinking from the tub, which left hardly any left over by the time they were done. Borealis and everyone else had gotten their fair share of water. Presently, he heard more wings buzzing in the distance. "Oh good, more foragers are coming back," Antenna said, stretching. "Odd, I didn't think there were any squads assigned to that detail that were to be out this late," Borealis thought out loud. "Maybe they're just late returning?" "Maybe." He listened a bit harder. "Blast me if it isn't coming from the north," he added, looking in that direction. There was something coming from there... "The enemy!" came a shout from an alert pegasus. Borealis didn't let his fear take hold. "Into the skies, all of you!" he shouted at the group who had been drinking. "Stop them before they destroy anything!" He hastened to obey himself. He took to the air quickly. "Form up in delta formation," he ordered. "We'll intercept the enemy! Follow me!" Borealis took the leading position in the triangular formation and streaked toward the enemy, his unit behind him. Around the camp, as he glanced down briefly, similar actions were unfolding. Pegasi were taking off, with or without weapons in their hooves, as were Changelings. Other ponies and Changelings took up defensive positions, awaiting the coming attack. Anti-air artillery crews readied their pieces, keeping a careful eye on the approaching foes. Might be best if I do the same. He refocused on the enemy, who were a lot closer now. Some were already charging their horns. Borealis knew that his group was outnumbered - there were well over a hundred of the enemy in the sky, and less than thirty with him. But the mere knowledge that his Queen was in danger kept him going, and no doubt helped to steady his hivemates. Both sides began shooting at one another. The battle was on. ------------------------------------------------------------ Meta watched as friendly forces began ascending to fight the enemy. She felt a pang of fear, but stifled it. "Well, Meta? What does the situation look like?" She turned around to see her Queen. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I can't tell from here just how many of them there are. Probably hundreds, if I had to say." "I doubt this is a serious effort to halt us," Metamorphosis said, thinking out loud. "They're probably trying to slow us down by doing however much damage they can to our supplies and our striking power. That means that the supply dump in back of the camp will be the target, along with any cannons they can destroy." "They might be looking for you, Your Majesty," Meta reminded her. "You should hide before they get a chance to see you." "Yes, I suppose that would be prudent," the Queen answered, as though that had hardly occurred to her. "Send someone to Camilla's tent to warn her to do the same." "I will." Meta paused. "Good thing your tents look just like everyone else's." "Indeed. And no doubt its good that its made of Kraccckk, otherwise it would burst into flame upon being hit." Meta nodded. "By your leave," she said, and waited until she got a confirming nod before leaving. By now, the soldiers who had been dispatched to intercept the enemy had made contact. The enemy had left a force to deal with the interceptors - around half their force, which was bigger than Meta had thought it had been. The rest... the rest were swooping down on the camp, firing jets of green energy in every direction. She ran toward a member of her own hive, who was standing around, unsure of what to do. "Get a message to Queen Camilla," she ordered. "Tell her to keep herself hidden." "I will." The other Changeling didn't waste any time; he ran off to do as he was told. Anti-air guns began to fire. Their roars and the dull thuds of the exploding shells was encouraging. However, she realized, they wouldn't be able to tell members of one Changeling hive apart from another this time; no one was wearing arm or headbands. She hoped they wouldn't kill friendly troops by mistake. She also realized that they were only firing sporadically, here and there, perhaps to prevent the massacre she feared. One of the enemy came, swooping down and firing at pony tents and their occupants. She took aim quickly and fired a bolt of her own. Hers wasn't the only one in the air, though, so she wasn't sure that hers was the one that killed him. Down he went, though, wings ablaze, body perforated with rifle rounds. Fires began to blaze up every so often as flammable materials were hit and started burning. Smoke rose, further obscuring the view of the sky. Meta began to wonder how much damage the enemy would do before the fighting was over. ---------------------------------------------------- Silver Lining had taken to the skies quickly. He hadn't thought to bring a spear with him, but he had thought to bring his rifle. That wasn't the best idea, as the recoil every time he fired at the enemy was enough to knock him head over hooves backward. He settled for clubbing an enemy that got too close. That was easier than shooting, he found. "Take this, ya blighters!" He whacked another enemy Changeling in the face with the butt of his rifle. "Taste death, mongrel!" came a hostile yell from a second one, who tried to tackle him. He didn't quite manage to turn around fast enough, and he and his foe fell, both of them punching and kicking each other with their hooves, the rifle dropped and forgotten. Silver managed to disengage before they hit the ground, letting his enemy strike the ground before hitting him as hard as he could in the back of the head. The Changeling tried to get up again, so he kicked the enemy warrior as well. A shot rang out. There was a loud twack! as a bullet struck the enemy warrior. The Changeling hissed once, then slumped to the ground, mortally wounded. Silver nodded to the soldier who had shot the enemy and flew back into the sky to do battle again. It took a moment to get back up to an optimal height. It was plenty of time to see more fights like the one he had been in. He suddenly realized that, unless an Changeling was attacking a pony, or unless it was wearing the made-up armor that the allied Changelings had taken to wearing, he found it hard to tell who was friend and who was foe. Even the ponies who were in the air might be enemies in disguise. He also saw enough to realize that the armor, while practical and valuable on the ground, wasn't much help in the air. A friendly Changeling attempted to dogfight one of the enemy. However, he was weighed down by the armor he wore, light as it was. The opposing Changeling had no such limitations. He managed to get on the tail of the armored one and blazed repeatedly at him. The armor did protect the armored Changeling, but not enough; after being hit numerous times, he was struck in a vulnerable spot and fell, screaming all the way. Silver cursed. That was a friend, no matter how much he resembled the enemy, out of the fight, probably for good. He realized he had forgotten to take a weapon with him. In hindsight, that was an obviously bad oversight. He swore again. His hooves would have to do. ------------------------------------------------- James fired again at an incoming enemy; it fell, lifeless, to the ground. That was another one down. This is insane. They can't possibly destroy our army with these numbers. What could they hope to do, considering how many of them are down already? He knew the answer; this was a delaying tactic, a raid designed to slow down the army and reduce its effectiveness. It was highly unlikely that any of the enemy would make it back alive. He realized as soon as he thought it that it might not have been in Chrysalis' mind for the attackers to come back; they would likely fight to the last one still alive. He smelled smoke and turned around. His tent had been hit, and was now ablaze. He gave a shout of dismay; while his bag hadn't been inside, everything else, including his maps, hammock, and desk were there, and would burn to a crisp. A jet of green light struck the ground near his foot, causing a small explosion. He whipped around and shot at the enemy Changeling he suspected had shot at him. His first shot missed, the second didn't. "Blast it," he growled. He knew his duty - to help his troops. But he wished he didn't have to let his equipment burn. With a very heavy sigh, he turned away from the burning tent and took aim. The doctrine that he and the other commanders - namely Shining and the Queens - had come up with in the case of this sort of attack was that any Changeling shooting toward the ground was to be considered an enemy. The army had been briefed on this doctrine, which limited what friendly Changelings could do, but also kept the chances of friendly fire in the case of an aerial attack lower than they could be. And the enemy attack was already running out of steam. The majority - not the vast majority, unfortunately - were down. They had managed to burn down a large number of tents and had damaged some of the artillery, but with the entire army now rallying, the element of surprise was long gone, and the badly outnumbered survivors were struggling to hold their ground. He knelt and aimed once more, at a persistent drone who had circled him twice. "You're coming with us, monkey!" it shouted. "Nope, not happening." He shot at it. He missed twice, but the third shot hit home. "And I'm not a monkey." The enemy drone fell to the ground in front of him. He pointed his pistol at its head. "Surrender!" The drone hissed, outraged that he had even made the suggestion, and began charging its horn to shoot him. Even as he lined up the shot, he marveled that the Changeling was aiming at his leg, not at his chest or head. The enemy really wanted to take him alive, even if the orders to do so were unrealistic. Before he got a chance to fire, though, the enemy warrior groaned and collapsed. All around, the enemy were being overwhelmed. Within minutes, the entire attack force was wiped out. James turned back toward his tent. All the cloth had been burned away, and now his desk - just about everything flammable, actually - was on fire. Good thing I hadn't brought my bag up; I'd hate to have lost my books. Even so, the loss was bad enough; this ability to direct the campaign had been hindered. And, looking around, he saw that a large number of other tents had been hit and were on fire. That meant that a lot of ponies would be without shelter. He cursed fiercely in French, German, and Spanish. He sighed. Now he'd have to see what else the enemy had managed to do. He hoped it wasn't any worse than it already was. ----------------------------------------------------- Shining groaned when he heard the reports of the damage done during the raid. The entire enemy force, estimated at four hundred strong, had been destroyed. The allied forces had suffered less than half that repelling them. The main problem wasn't the casualties inflicted, though even one would have been bad enough, but the damaged done during the raid. More than half the army had lost their tents, and a number of cannons had taken damage and would need to be repaired or replaced. Even worse, a fifth of the food and ammunition the army relied on had been lost. All in all it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't good. The enemy had succeeded in hurting the army, that much was true. However, he reasoned, they hadn't managed to inflict such damage to keep it from moving. The Changeling camp had suffered little, a result of their dwellings being flameproof, and the Queens hadn't been hurt. There was enough artillery left to do the job it was supposed to do, and there was still enough food to last a week before it would require replenishing. He looked up as the flap to his tent - one of those that hadn't been destroyed by fire - opened and James walked in. "How bad a shape are we in?" the human asked without preamble. "Not the best, but we can still keep going. We have to; if anything, this attack puts the pressure on us to move. The only other option is to retreat, and we haven't suffered the losses to really excuse such a maneuver." "I thought so to. But what are we going to do about the loss of tents and equipment?" "We'll have to do without the tents, unless we can get more cloth to make more, and the chances of that are..." Shining spread his forehooves in opposite directions. "Not great. Yeah, I figured that out." James grimaced. "Either going to have to share space, or some of us are going to have to lay outside in the heat of the day and cold of the night. Not that Luna or any other pony is responsible for that, but still..." Shining shrugged. "Nothing for it." "Nothing?" came a new voice. Both of them turned to see Queen Metamorphosis stick her head inside. "Sorry about eavesdropping, but I heard about the tent problem and I may have a solution." "Which is...?" Shining prompted. "My subjects could build habitats for your soldiers to live in. The dwellings might not have a lot of space, but they're better than nothing whatsoever." "Well, that's that problem solved," the white unicorn murmured. "Thanks," he added. "Don't mention it." "I'm going to ask some of our engineers to try to recycle damaged and destroyed artillery pieces," James stated. "Some of the guns have melted barrels, but the carriages and wheels are intact. In others, the carriage is burned away, but the cannon itself is still able to fire." "Good idea. It will minimize our losses. Only thing we can't really solve is the food issue." "I'd offer to help there as well," the Queen said, "but emotional energy can't be consumed by ponies." 'How do you know that?" The Queen made a face. "Because one tried a few days ago, and he vomited everything in his stomach after only a few seconds." "Oh." James scratched his chin. "No vegetation to eat out here, or at close as makes no difference. No where near enough to feed an entire army, that's for certain. Pushing forward is the only option. Unless you think it would be wiser to withdraw, Your Highness?" "No. We came here to fight, not run home crying from our first major action with the enemy." "Our course is set, then. We're committed." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Another day of hard marching wasn't Bright Star's idea of fun. However, the officers and army commanders had urged a longer and faster march than usual in response to the enemy attack, and it was nearly sundown by the time the allied forces stopped for the night. The first thing he did was drink everything in his canteen. The second was to go and refill it. When he got back to his squad, he saw a number of Changelings digging up the dirt around the position. "What's going on here?" he asked - nigh demanded, actually. "Calm down," Firebolt insisted, walking over to him. "Our captain said they'd be fixing each of us a place to sleep for tonight." "Why would they need to... oh," he stopped, remembering the raid the day before. "Why didn't anypony tell us before now?" "Do you think the higher ups tell us everything? They're here, and they're doing... something." Something just about summed it up. The Changelings buzzed and hissed to one another in their strange language as they gathered the dirt together and began mixing it with slime, ground-up rock, and... was that spit? "Ugh," Bright grunted quietly in disgust. The mix might have had unsavory ingredients, but it quickly produced results. Within an hour, the twenty or so Changelings had built four small structures. They weren't roomy, but Bright could see that a pony would have enough space to sleep and keep a few items. "Thanks," he murmured. "You are most welcome," the nearest Changeling - a male - replied. "Now if you don't mind, we have a lot more work to do." Bright watched them work a little longer, then remembered how tired he was; a full day's march made him more exhausted than he had expected it would. He went into the little shelter the Changelings had just finished. It was cool inside, but once he had spread out a blanket and a pillow on the ground it was warm enough. He left his rifle standing by the doorway, with the ammunition next to it, and wrapped himself up to sleep. ---------------------------------------------------------- James scratched at the dirt with a stick, trying to create a detailed map. "Okay, so we're here," he said, pointing with the stick to a trio of triangles representing the camp. "Now, we have to get here" - pointing to a circle with spikes coming out of it, representing Chrysalis' hive - before they" - pointing to a group of stick figures representing the force Chrysalis controlled - "manage to come home." He tapped the stick on the palm of his left hand as he turned to Metamorphosis. "Have our scouts had any luck finding the enemy Queen?" "We have," Metamorphosis answered gravely. "Out of twenty scouts I sent, two returned... one of whom will have to have his leg amputated. The rest... They got them all." "So they're coming?" "They are, as fast as they can go without wearing themselves out. Even Changelings can take only so much, and even Chrysalis realizes that if all her drones drop dead from exhaustion, she'll have no army at all. But she's coming fast, to make up for lost time." "What about the five hundred or so you left to keep them distracted?" James asked, turning to Shining. "First reports got here today. They found the entire enemy camp abandoned four days ago. The enemy must have had misgivings even before they detected us outright, because they departed before that quick raid by that enemy squad a couple days ago, the one that nearly got the Princess." "Tha's bad. They'll be a comin'," Camilla observed. "How far are they now from the hive, and from our army?" James asked. "They've most likely moved since the scouts detected them." Metamorphosis held a hoof to her chin. "Probably thirty miles from us, and a bit more from the hive. If we move fast tomorrow, we can cut them off, but only if we move fast. Even then, I can't say for certain just where the secret entrances to their hive are located, so they might be able to circumvent our effort to separate them from their home." "I can have our entire pegasi contingent fly to intercept them," Shining offered. "A good idea," the Queen said. "I can have a large number of my subjects fly with them to help. They should easily outnumber Chrysalis' direct command. After that, our ground forces should be able to move in and surround her army and hive. With your technology and our numbers, killing to capturing Chrysalis shouldn't be too hard." "That's if things go according to plan," James broke in. "We should also have a Plan B, in case Plan A doesn't work." "Right. In that case, we can surround their hive and blockade it. Their only choice will be to starve or come out and fight." "What about their secret entrances? They could make life difficult for us, and smuggle food and energy into the hive." "That will make things harder," the Queen agreed. "Our best idea to breach their defenses would be to dig our way inside, from multiple directions preferably. We can also search for the other entrances to their hive and either use them ourselves or block them off so they can't be used." "Assuming we can find them..." "Yes, assuming." "One way or the other, we have to win," Shining insisted. "We can't let the war out here drag on any longer." "My biggest concern," Metamorphosis said, "would be if the hives under their control came with relief armies." "What about the chance of revolt within those armies?" "Well, yes, that would still exist, but you can't really fathom the grip Chrysalis has. Not all Queens are as fiery as me and Camilla. Some might feel that nothing could weaken Chrysalis' hold over them; I have no idea how many of them might feel that way, considering that we were kept separate from one another for well over seven years. Revolt might not come so easily for them." "Can't their people rise up without them?" Shining asked. "Oh, that's right, you weren't with us in the beginning," Metamorphosis said, surprised. "Changeling drones cannot take any action that their Queen forbids or does not approve of, so that would be impossible." "Oh." "We can take 'em," Camilla insisted. "But at what cost?" her fellow Queen demanded. "I want something of my hive to be left after the war, Camilla. And we'd all too likely be outnumbered. Even if we did win, the result would be the fatal weaken of our species; any two-bit despot with anything resembling an army would be able to take control of us. Most of them wouldn't want that any more than we would, or do." "Have ta do somethin'." "And we will. Just not fight every other Changeling hive in existence." "...Fine." "Our army will have to accomplish its objectives quickly," James observed. "Our supplies aren't what they used to be. Either more will have to come in, or our food is going to run out." "I think we can drop all subterfuge," Shining said. "We can't exactly play the secret game any more when it's not a secret, can we?" "No. If Celestia can get her airships, we might get our supplies after all." "Yeah. She wasn't happy about it. She told me before she left that she was going to get them, one way or the other. But they'd still take some time to get here. They wouldn't be able to help us quickly enough to affect the campaign much." "Och, gettin' a headache here," Camilla said, rubbing her forehead. "Can' we just smash Chrissie's army flat, and then worry bou' all them details? Maybe her daughter'll listen once 'er mum's dead." "That's assuming she even has an heir," Metamorphosis replied. "She never let on, and she was always careful to keep that kind of information from getting into our hooves. if she doesn't have one, her hive will descend into chaos. We can't even predict what would happen. Most likely, they would destroy themselves in the anarchy. They might launch a full out attack on our army and die fighting. We can't know." "Has that ever happened to a Changeling hive before, where the reigning monarch died and left no one to take their place?" "No, which is why its such a nightmare to even think out. At least, no such incident has happened the memory of any Changeling hive and survived as solid history. There are stories and legends, though, of hives that lost their Queen and the heir; shortly afterwards, they went extinct. The tales differ in the exact details, but they all end the same way." "Well, might not want to let that happen," James replied, with considerable understatement. "Indeed." Metamorphosis relaxed somewhat. "We have the ability to win this fight. We'll find a way, once things become clearer. ---------------------------------------------------- James scanned the horizon for hostiles. It was just after sunrise. The pegasi and the Changelings who were assigned to halt Chrysalis' army had taken off just minutes ago, and he could still see them as they flew to the northwest. As the day went on, the army continued on its path northward. The pace was much quicker than normal; They were going with Metamorphosis' suggestion to move as fast as possible. He walked - no, jogged - as far as he could, but eventually the pace tired out his legs and he had trouble keeping up. He solved the problem by hitching a ride on an artillery limber for a while. The ponies pulling it didn't complain, so he figured he didn't add too much to the weight load. He got off after twenty minutes or so and went jogging again. He began to work out a pattern; he jogged for a while, after which he'd get another ride on a limber or wagon. Every time he sat down, he checked his revolver to make sure it was in working condition. It was, but the dust and sand could impair the operation of firearms, so he kept checking. Every so often, he'd find a few grains of dust in the barrel, after which he would scrub it until it was clear of the obstruction. By noon, James suspected that hey had covered somewhere near half the distance to their target. The army was getting tired as well as hungry, so he and Shining Armor ordered a halt. Over the course of the meal, Bright pointing northward. "What's that?" "I don't know," James admitted. "I've been wondering that myself. Unfortunately, my binoculars got melted when my tent burned down, so I can't use them." "Here, I still have a spyglass," Sliver Lining said, giving him a small telescope." "My thanks." James put the spyglass to his right eye, closed his left, and trained it on the object up north. "Hmm, that's strange," he murmured. "What is it?" Shield asked. "It appears to be a tower. A very short one, more like a lookout post than anything else. I'd almost say..." "Why wouldn't it be?" "Because all the Changeling hives we've come upon have been entirely underground so far." James gave the telescope back to Silver. "It wouldn't make sense for them to build anything above ground, given how much they love secrecy" "Maybe Chrysalis had it built out of arrogance," Bright suggested. "Maybe, but if you're an arrogant despot, why stop at a single short tower? Why not build an entire fortress?" "I can offer some explanation." James turned to see a Changeling - female, by its voice - standing next to him. "They probably did set up over-ground defenses. That tower would probably be either a command post of a lookout for their hive." "And what about the whole secrecy thing?" "Chrysalis probably did get arrogant, as you said. She's certainly tried to keep us down. In any case, she probably believed that she could afford to give up secrecy somewhat, in order to protect herself better, whether from you or us if we happened to revolt I can't say." "I see." "Of course, it could be recent. Changelings can build extremely quickly when we need to." "I've noticed. Thanks, uh..." "I can understand if you don't recognize me. I'm Meta." "Oh yes. I remember. You were with us while we were planning the first rebellion." "I was. And I'm here now to fight Chrysalis." James nodded. "Good. Another fight ahead, then." "Probably not a big one. they've be heavily outnumbered. They'll be trying to slow us down." "Can't have that. We'll have to get rid of it somehow." ---------------------------------------------------------- Later that afternoon, James stood by a battery of artillery. By now, he'd been able to borrow a proper pair of binoculars and could get a much better look at the enemy position, a little less than two miles away. It wasn't anything all that complex. It was a serious of elevated trenches reinforced by black material. The tower stood in the middle; it clearly wasn't finished, so he assumed the position was very, very recent indeed. In the trenches were hundreds of hostile Changelings, who kept their eyes on his army. "They seem to think they can halt us," he muttered. "Our job is to show them they can't." "Why not just go around?" Shining asked. "Because that would take time. because the enemy could emerge from there to slip a knife in our ribs if we ignore them. Because the fewer soldiers the enemy have to fight with, the better for us." "I don't think they really designate anypony as a soldier. These were probably laborers and architects until just days ago. Maybe just hours." "...I really wish you hadn't reminded me of that. I'd prefer not to massacre every last member of their hive to beat them." Shining shivered. "I still don't like them, but even I don't want that." "Yes. The question is, how to go about it?" "Only thing we can do is capture Chrysalis," Metamorphosis said. "Of course, if she orders them to fight, even at the cost of her life, they'll do it anyway." "So its unavoidable, is that what you're telling me?" "No. I'm just saying that it'll be a difficult job." "Can a Changeling Queen be made to give up power and give it over to another?" Metamorphosis thought about that for a moment. "Yes, I'm sure it can be done. Old Queens, dying and on their deathbeds, have been known to give their power over to their successors. I can't give you the details, but it can be done." "My original source was that Changeling Queens had to fight their predecessors to obtain the throne." "Well, they can; it's probably how Chrysalis came to power herself. More progressive hives prefer to solve things peaceably if possible." "In any case, we still have to smash that position," James said, lowering the binoculars. "Artillery, fire!" The guns began to fire. Artillery shells slammed into the enemy position and exploded. Cannonballs tore into the tower, ripping it apart. Here and there, bodies flew into the air. "Troops, advance!" Shining shouted. The allied army began moving forward, covered by the artillery. Friendly Changelings took flight to harass the enemy with fire from the air as ponies formed their ranks and marched ahead. The ground forces began to spread out as they approached the enemy's firing range. By now, the tower had toppled, with only a stump still standing, and the forward positions had been perforated by cannon fire. Even so, the survivors among the enemy fired at the attackers. Some Equestrians and Changelings stopped to fire as comrades moved forward. The enemy's defense wasn't made any easier by the flyers, who fired hundreds of bolts, sometimes very accurately, at the defenders, who had an agonizing decision to make; either take some of their force and shoot back at the flyers and reduce their outgoing fire against the ground attack, or concentrate on the ground and get cut down from the air. It wouldn't have mattered much either way. The attackers came in overwhelming numbers, with artillery and air support. Any rational commander would have withdrawn before the fighting had even started. Chrysalis' subjects didn't even try. They fought until almost all were killed. The only prisoners were those who were found unconscious and those who were disconnected from the hive mind and could think more clearly than their comrades. It was all over in less than thirty minutes. James went up to inspect the enemy position once the fighting was over. The allies had suffered about two hundred casualties; almost a thousand of the enemy had perished in a futile defense. Their little fortress was nothing but ruin now. "Come on, back into column," he called. "Have to keep moving. Quickly, now!" It was another fifteen minutes before the allied forces were able to reform and continue their advance. The enemy had bought somewhat less than an hour's worth of time by their labor and loss. But if something had gone wrong with the intercepting force, that might be enough. ------------------------------------------------------------- Metamorphosis felt a pang of anxiety. It wasn't overwhelming or anything like that, but it was still there. So far, no word had come from the detachment they'd sent. It was already late afternoon, and the sun was already sinking over the horizon. She looked northward. The enemy hive was close. She could practically sense it. "Do you recognize anything?" James asked her. "Hold on." She scanned the area around her. "Yes, there's a big rock over there that I remember seeing whenever I had to come here every now and again. I could probably lead you to the main entrance from here, if there wasn't a bloodthirsty army protecting it." "Why did you?" "Why did I what?" "Why did they make you come here?" "Basically to really remind me and the other Queens that we were under Chrysalis' control. On my first visit, I'd hoped that, even though we'd suffered through a brutal occupation, that I could make things easier for my subject. I... was wrong. Before I could speak she ranted at all of us - she'd 'invited' the other Queens as well - and started demanding all the more sacrifice from our hives. When I finally spoke up and requested that she let up on the harshness with which her drones treated us, she silenced me in mid-sentence and had me beaten in front of everyone. Not so bad that any of my bones were broken, but enough so that the other Queens got the idea that she was the boss and we weren't to complain. Then, when she had dismissed the other Queens, she told me directly that we could expect no better than we were already getting and that I was never to ask anything like that again - from her or her subjects. Of course, that was an order I disobeyed numerous times, though never again was I foolish enough to do so in front of her." James was silent for a minute. "We have to win," the Queen went on. "No matter what it takes. So that no Changeling hive ever has to bow down to another again... or to anyone else." "Yeah, I agree. My great-something forebears didn't stand for tyranny either. We were fortunate enough to win that fight." Then, in a much quieter tone, he added, "I hope I'm fortunate enough to win this one." There was a sudden buzzing of wings and exclamations in the Changeling language, though the Queen was too far away to hear what was being said properly. "What's that all about?" she asked one of her subjects who approached her. The other Changeling bowed deeply before replying. "My Lady, we have held the enemy five miles southeast of your position. He have cut Chrysalis off from her hive!" That took a moment to sink in. James recovered first; "We did it." "Yeah, I guess we did." Metamorphosis shook her head. "I thought we could, but now that its actually happened..." "We're a big step closer to ending the war," James finished for her. "Tomorrow.... Tomorrow, this could all be over for good." The Queen wasn't the most optimistic person; that would have been nearly impossible, given the dictatorship that she'd had to live under until just recently. But hope began to swell within her. "Yes. Yes, it could very well be."