26- Argonauts
“Is there a particular reason why the invasion must happen so soon?” I asked Chrysalis.
We had just wrapped up today’s work. Our lessons now consisted of magic spells and theory and nothing else. She really wanted me to have a veritable arsenal of spells ready when the invasion came.
She looked up briefly from the paper on her desk which had her rapt attention.
“Constraints require the invasion to occur soon. Now be off you, we both have work that must be done.”
“What constraints?” I pushed.
“The ones I have placed on you. You are dismissed, Prince Phasma.”
She looked back down at her paper, ending any chance of further discussion.
‘I’ll keep asking until you give me something. There’s got to be a good reason why you’ve chosen such an early date, I don’t believe you would risk your one chance at victory just to have it sooner.’
I huffed and walked out, shutting the door behind me.
I yawned after leaving Chrysalis’s study. The magic training which had been going on for two weeks at this point was leaving me feeling drained every night and not much better the next morning. I made my way into the throne room, the Praetorians saluting as I walked past them.
Thorax was waiting there, kited with his Praetorian armor. He was looking down at his peytral, the simplistic lines had caught his attention while waiting for me.
“Praetorian Thorax, we’ve a busy day ahead of us.”
He looked up at his name, “Ah, Prince Phasma. Busy for you, or busy for us?”
“Us,” I replied as I started walking out of the throne room and into the main hallway outside.
“Whereto first?”
“The Second Legion.”
“The infiltrators? What do we have to do there?”
“As it just so happens, I received word that the latest recruits are in…”
“The expedition!”
“So we’re going to see if any of the First Fang are there. If not, we’ll go check their usual spots. Do you know what Tarsus was before and during infiltrator class?”
“He instructed nymphs on basic spells. That’s where he met Lacewing, in fact.”
‘With his cheery disposition, I can imagine him having fun teaching nymphs.’
“That’s… I can see him enjoying that job. Why did he go into the infiltrator line?”
“Tarsus didn’t have a choice.”
“Oh.”
We were silent on the way over to the Legion’s offices. Unlike most Legions, the Second had a decent amount of rooms dedicated to their work. In addition to a hooffull of offices, they had storage rooms, meeting rooms, training rooms, and so on. All material and recovered information goes here first, before being sorted and placed into warehouse rooms further down the hive.
Stopping at a large door at the end of the hall dedicated to specifically offices, the one guard at the side saluted me when I came near. I opened the door without knocking.
The changeling at the desk looked up from the report they were writing.
“W- oh. My Prince, I didn’t expect to see you,” Intelligencer Ocelli said with a short bow, placing their quill down.
“Good evening Intelligencer. Has the Second’s restructuring gone well?”
“Yes My Prince. There was little to change, other than some titles and names. Losing a few of my best agents to train the other Legions is quite the setback, but one I can handle, My Prince.”
I nodded, “Good.”
“Though I do hope, if I may be so bold Your Highness, that I will be getting those infiltrators back.”
“They will be back in the Second before the invasion, in time for you to brief them and give them their objectives.”
“Thank you, My Prince.”
“I did not come here just to see if all is well. I heard that the newest recruits had finished their training?”
“Yes, My Prince. Their expedition arrived two days ago.”
“How many will be recruited from the pool?”
“Of the three classes, only thirty two, My Prince.”
“Thirty two out of… Seventy five?”
“That’s right, My Prince. We have nothing but the highest standards, the infiltrator role risks not just the infiltrator’s life but the hive’s existence.”
'I know for a fact that that's no longer true.'
“I would like to see a list of these recruits.”
Ocelli blinked at my strange request, but levitated over a paper with no comment. Reading it through, I saw only Tarsus’s name on the list.
‘No more teaching for him, then. Hope he likes his new role.’
I hoofed it back, or rather I levitated it back, as most of these exchanges of items usually goes.
“That will be all, Intelligencer.”
“Of course, My Prince. Might I inquire as to when the first drafting of the invasion plans will begin?”
“Soon,” was all I replied as I left.
Thorax, having held his tongue throughout the meeting, followed me out. Once we left, however, he broke his silence.
“Who’s on it?”
“Just Tarsus. Lacewing and Coxa must not have made it.”
“Lacewing won’t be happy about that.”
“And we won’t be able to talk to Tarsus anytime soon. I bet he’s not even here in the hive at the moment.”
“So, which are we seeing first?”
“Coxa. The storage section is on the way to the Greencave.”
“Fifth times the charm,” I said, pushing open a side door leading to the room in front of us.
With the workers constantly moving items around, or taking items from the storage rooms in the Infiltrator section using direct access corridors, it was hard to pinpoint a specific changeling working in them.
Coxa’s foreling would not know where he is, so we had to find him ourselves. Four times so far we entered a room, filled with different things from metal to clothing for disguises. Each room had a few changelings constantly buzzing around between rows of shelves. Each time the workers bowed when they noticed my presence.
The fifth warehouse was half filled with chitin, bone, and other organic materials harvested from creatures slain. It was a chilled room, to better preserve its contents.
“Worker Coxa?” I called out.
“Gimme a moment!” Came the reply, several rows down from the door.
I strained to see if I could pick out the changeling, but even with my taller height the shelves were at least two hooves taller than me.
“Some bastards went and threw an entire haul in here. Lazy ‘pillars, no respect for organization!”
A loud thunk echoed in the spacious room as Coxa presumably threw something heavy on the hive-gel shelf.
“Now, what can I do for ya?” He asked, stepping out from the aisle. When he saw me, his eyes widened and jaw dropped.
‘Coxa doesn’t look like a nymph anymore, he’s a full drone now.’
“Phasma? Ya look like shit!”
I rolled my eyes, “Thanks Coxa. You look utterly unremarkable.”
“Better than looking like shit. Lace ‘n I molted during the expedition. What happened to you? Did you start drinking that stuff that pools down at the entrance to the Underhive?”
“Hi Coxa!”
“Oh, hey Thorax. And why’re you wearing guard armor?”
“To answer your first question, I molted for the first time three weeks ago.”
“And I’m a Praetorian!”
Coxa tilted his head.
“You? A Royal Guard?”
“Praetorian,” I corrected. “I had an open position, and he had a shitty job.”
“Phas says I don’t have to fight, just look pretty.”
‘So he DOES call me Phas!’
Coxa leaned against the shelf next to him and pressed a foreleg to the top of his head.
“Oh, Prince Phasma, have you come to whisk me away too? Here to sweep me off my hooves and take me away to a far off tower?”
“Yes, actually. I need a Steward, my paperwork seems to reproduce every time I leave my office. You’re it until you're dead or I find someone better.”
Coxa dropped his foreleg.
“Dead? The hell kinda paperwork do you got?”
“The kind you drown in. Queen Chrysalis has apparently stepped up the infiltrator’s game when it comes to nabbing resources for the hive, paper especially.
“Ooooh. That explains the shelves of the shit we got up in A4. Why didn’t we start taking more sooner?”
I shrugged, “Chrysalis has been rapidly expanding the infiltrators since a bit before I was hatched. The more drones we have out in the field means we can steal more stuff.”
“Aaaand why have we only expanded the infiltrators recently?”
I threw my hooves in the air. “I dunno! Chrysalis has been dodging the question. Best I can figure is that more infiltrators means a bigger risk of being exposed. Also, we did lower our standards a bit, despite what Intelligencer Ocelli wants us to believe. We used to recruit directly from the Royal Guard, but now we’ve expanded to the whole hive.”
“Is that why we had combat lessons before infiltrator class?”
“You all had combat lessons? And never spoke a word of it?”
Thorax leaned over, “Most changelings do. It’s just that those of us in the class had more. Nothing new, and pretty boring stuff.”
“Why did no one tell me during class?”
“Why bother?” Coxa asked. “It’s really standard stuff. You can’t exactly hold a conversation talking about how you casted a stun spell twenty times today. Or ten in nymphs’ cases.”
“I… suppose so. And we did always have better topics to cover.”
“Like the Swarm. The whole expedition heard you’re reforming the Swarm, how’s that going?”
“Where do you think the paperwork is coming from?”
He looked surprised. “Wait, you want me to help you reform the entire Swarm?”
“Just the paperwork. I’ve done all the groundwork for the reforms. You’ve got an analytical mind, and two extra hooves. So I’m dumping at least half of this on you.”
Coxa looked around the cold warehouse.
“My talents are wasted here…”
I leaned towards Thorax and faux whispered behind a raised hoof, “Should I tell him he doesn’t have a choice in this promotion?”
Thorax smiled, “Phas, you wouldn’t do that to one of us.”
“Alright,” Coxa said.
“Alright?”
“Alright.”
“Alright!”
“You two are horrible,” Thorax moaned.
“Thank you,” we both echoed.
“Back to more important topics,” Coxa interrupted Thorax’s whinging, “Molting doesn’t really explain why you look so… drone-y.”
“I think Mother Dearest was doing things she wasn’t supposed to when I was an egg. That would explain the Nurse's reaction when she claimed ignorance. Dunno, I’ll find out… soon.”
“You got a plan for that?”
“I do.” I quickly casted a glance at Thorax and saw him staring at me, mouth shut. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Sure you will. We need to tell my boss that I’m quitting, though.”
“Already handled,” I said while turning towards the door. Thorax followed me by my side, with Coxa bringing up the rear.
When we went down instead of up in the vertical shafts meant for flying, Coxa spoke up.
“Hey, uh, My Prince? Isn’t the… whatever-room-you-work-in up at the top?”
“Yes. Lacewing is down below, though.”
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10575005
Yes, it sure was. Not much happening, but sometimes a chapter is boring.
hell? Why not Tartarus, so like all races swear
shit, very often mentioned by both, bad parenting from the Prince?
as the strongly to looks cling, he same not as monster looks, one leg more the other, of course must be part of from drone Phasma after all the same race modicum and Royal. And how would the other changelings know who he was supposed to look like other than Chrysalis, the normal Prince.
10575005
you sure? looks like a collection of words arranged in paragraphs to me
Alright? Alright. Alright? ALRIGHT!
Setup is important! And mind you, we've been getting spoilt, with chapters pushed out at this rate.
chrysalis knows far more than what she's leading on which is obvious, however the main question is there traitor(s) among them.
Ok, so Phasma will get his can-be-girlfriend and get to work with planning with his council
Why is Chrysalis so set on pushing the date of the invasion forward? My guess: Right now they're on rations to sustain the hive, but my guess is that it's more dire than she lets on. If they don't do something soon, it'll be full blown starvation, with no way to remedy the situation in time to save the hive otherwise. Akin to a drought where water must be rationed until the well runs dry, and then you're S-O-L/dead
10575127
i.pinimg.com/736x/2f/c6/b6/2fc6b629326d79866673f1b3ff3e8e0a.jpg
No trolls allowed in my comments.
10575162
I personally consider Alondro to be amusing and ultimately harmless, but it's your comment section.
Looks like Phasma is channeling our beloved Lt. Rasczak
lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/9yYYjSrd3yKGey-_H2JsBFcrRpJD67wz3lySlQ0jjvz3h5HljqMGkSmBWLTUvXUe12ua49L_BY3am4VC8e8z66CUFX4X5_wmL-tqYUGk1TgmJD9zsXAEaTpSTVezDpSTzU-z9fT9UHMtsVPN-UygmI9g9hgJesuc234
Kinda wonder if Phasma's personal guard will be nicknamed the 'Roughnecks'?
10575026
Yes, nothing much happened. But it's still a good chapter. There was plenty of intriguing dialogue and banter. Every chapter can't be action-packed, sometimes you just need to have the characters walk around and talk to each other so the audience can get a better understanding of their social dynamic. So as far as I'm concerned the chapter was a fun read!
Are other hives gonna make an appearance or is Chrysalis hive the only one in this story?
10575567
The only changelings there are live under Chrysalis's rule.
Heads up cast's past tense spelling is cast.
Wow! An update on my birthday, thanks a lot!
"Argonauts"
The Argonauts, a group of heros in Greek mythology. The Argonauts were a group of heroic men (and one woman) brought together by a man named Jason to go on a quest to find the legendary Golden Fleece at the edge of the known world.
-------
It's amazing what one remembers from an old movie and Percy Jackson books.
I suppose Prince Phasma can be Jason, and the First Fang are his Argonauts.
10577197
A rather auspicious title to throw around seeing as how it slots in so nicely with this story. Makes me wonder if that Golden Fleece would be the fabled Crystal Heart? A source of near-limitless sustenance for emotivores-- assuming they can keep the crystal ponies happy enough after this apparent invasion.
That Crystal Heart was never an end-all solution seeing as how it's the only thing keeping the city from being entombed in ice. This prevents you from stealing it (or setting up your anti-magic throne, Chryssy) and it's powered by the collective emotions of the population so you can't just pod everypony and hope it still works. That said, in some stories, changelings find it all too easy to insert themselves into the Empire's society; feeding off the love that saturates the air like the warmth keeping eternal Winter at bay, while helping the crystal ponies thrive in a symbiotic relationship. And who can forget the Princess of Food that lives there now too?
There crew is almost together
Hip hip horaaay for 'The first fang'
A big step for Phasmas war against the paperwork
But...
A huge hit for the logistic order.
I ones worked in logistic and 1 skilled worker can change a good running complex into a mess that bearly works... Bless paperwork when you need to luck chronologic orders of inventory up
keep it up.
10575750
Sounds logical to me. . .
Changeling kinda are fucked... Phasmodias better expand into colonies later on. Eatch race one hive
Chrysalis be like "I see what you're doing... Don't think I don't!"
Sounds like everyday conversation with my mom
A4. I get it.
Spoken truly like someone who works inventory.
is there a reason why all the chapters are presumably named after a god
I got that reference.
... I got that one too.
10801062
The second one isn't a reference to anything
Coxa is now my favorite ling!
10801071
I didn't get the first reference, but the second one (intentional or not) was a fun coincidence. A4 being where they keep the paper lol (A4 is a standard size of paper that's pretty common)
Edit: oh right first comment of this story! Hello! Enjoying it a lot so far!
Desire to know more intensifies
Gettin' the gang all together
I would like some clarifications. I am very early in the story so no spoiler. but what are phasma's friends gender. One chapter its a she the other a he and their names doesn't give a clue. So what gender is Lacewing, Coxa, Tarsus and Ostridae.
10978223
Lacewing is a girl, and everyone else is a guy.
Assemble the team, we have a race to save ♡
10978272
Ah yes, the dream team. The leader, the comedic relief, the voice of reasoning, and the woman.
Wait, Equestria uses a4 standardized paper??
Phasma: "The kind that gives Cthulhu heart attacks.
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Coxa: "
Phasma: "As in plural heart attacks.
Coxa: "
Phasma: "And you don't have a choice about accepting.
Coxa: "
Thorax: "Well....that broke him.
Phasma: "Too far, huh?
Creatures*?
Maybe the in filtration training ruined his personality?
11593903
That how I imagen the job looks like controlling YouTube or Facebook content that needs deleting