“How sure are you of this place?” Sunset asked as she looked down at the craggy ground beneath. With the engines off, we could hear the crashing of waves in the distance.
“As far as I can tell,” I agreed with a small frown, “Or rather, about a kilometer that direction and thirty meters beneath the ground, “Didn’t want to alarm them unnecessarily by hovering an airship above their hidden underground base. Such things make ‘lings nervous.”
Of course, if they don’t cooperate, that’s where the gunboat diplomacy really comes into play.
“Might be for the best,” Twilight agreed and walked over to the ramp, “We’ll fly down and approach on hoof. We don’t want to scare them.”
“This will be tricky enough without that,” I agreed, “Ready Skitter?”
Skitter nodded, “Ready, sir.”
“Let’s go then.”
With that, we took to the skies and then glided down towards the stony surface and landed among the lichen.
The air smelled of saltwater and somewhat rotten seaweed.
“This is so strange,” I commented, “This is not a good changeling environment.”
“Too wet,” Skitter agreed and looked around, her wings buzzing softly.
Twilight looked thoughtful, “Changelings like dryer climates?”
Skitter nodded, “Especially not saltwater,” she said and then shook water from a puddle off her hoof before starting to walk in the direction of the hive, taking the lead.
I fell in behind her, keeping an eye out for hidden changelings. I might not be able to detect them from too far away, but if I spotted one, it would be a nice warning for a possible ambush.
“How are you feeling?” Twilight asked quietly as she walked next to me.
I shook my head, “I’m fine, Sparks. I have been hurt before, compared to when I almost blew up my horn, this is just some scratches.”
Twilight frowned slightly, “Page…”
I smiled at her, “Really, Sparks. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine, I promise.”
She shifted her wings, her right ear flicking once as she looking at me before she nodded and glanced around, “Any sign of the Hive?”
“Not yet,” Skitter said before she stopped walking, “But they know we’re here. We should wait here.”
We walked up next to her and then we waited.
And waited.
The sun slowly moved across the sky. It had been hours and I had sat down on the lichen covered stone to wait. Skitter was standing where she had been. Twilight was laying on a flat stone close to where I was sitting.
“Are we sure they know we’re here?” She asked finally.
“They’re here,” I said, poking a stone with my hoof, “Four of them, three drones and a queen. They’d been watching us for the last hour or so.”
Green fire flashed upwards, revealing four changelings a dozen meters in front of us, three drones and a queen. They had crawled into place in the form of crabs, but that had done very little to hide them from me once they got into range.
The queen looked younger than Chrysalis, younger than Pincer even. It’s tricky to tell with changelings, but that was my impression anyway, her pink back scale was shiny and her mane shorter than either of the other queens. She looked a bit… worn though. I could see white remnants in her leg holes. Salt? Same on the drones.
“So you really had seen us, pony,” she said, taking a stop forward before looking at Skitter, “Give me a reason why we shouldn’t deal with you as we should by tradition?”
Skitter buzzed her wings and then stepped forward, “Queen, I am Princess Skitter, I bring word from Queen Chrysalis of Ca-”
“I have no interest in the words of that weak failure,” the pink queen said, interrupting Skitter with a sweep of her hoof, “You are all pathetic, bowing to the food.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
That got her attention, “What is so funny, pony?”
“You are,” I said with a grin, “Seriously. The Canterlot Hive is by far the largest and most successful Changeling hive in existence. Plenty of food, a lot of changelings that aren’t starving. Doesn’t sound like failure to me. Queen Chrysalis is a genius.”
“I am Queen Ambrosia and I will not allow you to corrupt my Hive, pony!” she exclaimed and stomped her hoof, “I have heard of you, Prince of Lies! I know what you have done! You corrupted Chrysalis! You murdered Pincer! Breaker of Hives!”
Standing up, I gave her a bow, “All we ask is that you hear Princess Skitters message. That done, we will all leave here.”
Ambrosia buzzed her wings, baring her fangs at us before she visibly forced herself under control before she nodded, “Very well.”
Skitter took half a step forward, “Queen Chrysalis would like you to consider breaking secrecy and moving openly among the food species. Working openly has shown a marked increase in love harvests among the food. Especially when it allows us to harvest easily from the Kzzrt. It also gives us protection against other dangers from the Alicorns and ponies without risking the constant danger of discovery and extermination from alerted food. Moving openly has earned us safety, free range happy and loving food that assists in protecting the Hive.”
“Is that why you brought them?” Ambrosia asked her with a hiss.
“I brought them to get you to listen,” Skitter said seriously, “To show you what that protection can give. Two Alicorns stand beside me. What do you have next to you?”
Ambrosias drones looked between themselves and then up at their queen. Ambrosia made a buzzing sound and spat something in ancient changeling at Skitter.
I know those words! Well, some of them. None translated to Equish very well which was good because none of them were very polite.
Ambrosia buzzed again, stomping one hoof, “You have given your Queen's message, Princess. Take your masters and leave us.”
Skitter buzzed her wings, looking annoyed before she walked over to Ambrosia, telling her something quietly in ancient changeling, too quiet for us to hear.
Ambrozia hissed at her, wings rising in answer and buzzing louder before she answered in the same language. Loud enough to hear, but too quickly for me to really follow, I could only catch a couple of words.
You. food. dronefucker.
Skitter looked frustrated but she backed away before turning and walking back towards us. She stopped and looked at us, “We’re done, sir,” she said quietly, “We’re not getting any further.”
“Understandable,” I said and got up, “Can’t expect other Queens to be as intelligent as you or your mother.”
Ambrosia made another angry buzzing sound.
I bowed at her, wings spreading, “With your permission, we’ll take our leave, Queen Ambrosia. Please, have a nice day.”
That went better than expected.
its amazing ponies really do vastly over estimate page, she is making page sound like he is an unstoppable force of nature
and i love that title 'prince of lies' i mean its not wrong what are stories if not lies meant to entertain. same with dreams and illusions being lies of reality
Nice
It's hard to made society break thousands years old rules and traditions, much more to discard them. At last Ambrosia listened.
Remember, that Chrysalis was forced on tip of sword into agreeing to pact.
Also, news somehow spread well between changelings hived, I wonder, how?
Edit: Also, Page, insulting person, which you want to sway, isn't particulary effective diplomacy strategy.
I suppose that could have gone worse
Great chapter! Hell if they want to stay in dire food situation than that there decision ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm betting that a part of Ambrosia's hive will splinter and leave with Skitter and Page.
No way are ALL of them dumb enough to throw such an offer into the wind.
11007875
that's really all they could hope for, for her to listen
Princess Skitter: Tell me...is it just youthful inexperience or do you truly enjoy having all your drones be your personal salt shakers? You must be desperate if the food your hive collects is THAT tasteless...
Queen Ambrosia: ...
Well, so far it hasn't devolved into usual Page Disasters..... so any second now, the other Horse Shoe is gonna drop.
11007906
or maby they have a reason to stay where they are. it is easy to assume them not wanting to leave is just what it seems but with the ammount of ruins and lost artifacts in the world they inhabit it wouldnt be out of the question that they could be in possession of an old structure or artufact that is immobile and they dont want to give up or tell other about
Ah, well.
Huh, no fires to put out
Wait so at this point it's "join or be killed"?
Oh, do I have to remind you that "intelligent" Chrysalis invaded Canterlot, no?
Ambrosia is intelligent here unlike Chrysalis.She didn't attack them
If Ambrosia hive will join they will have less autonomy than Chrysalis Hive.
Better be free than be someone pet
11007922
More like 'don't fight us or else'.
11007916
If they join they will also have less say in the matter
They probably will be treated as a lesser hive
Better be free than be someone pet
It will happen to every hive unless a big as or bigger than Chrysalis hive will join to balance things out
good food, a place to live, enough cuddles to last a lifetime
VS
Saltwater den, starvation, and griffins thinking you'd make good eating
Yes, clearly the lings that changed as their name implies they should be able to are the failures
I figure that this is indeed about as well as things could be expected to get on first meeting. IIRC, it’s already been stated that hives don’t really work well together because they view each other as rivals, and bringing a potentially armed airship right to one’s doorstep when the latter probably felt reasonably certain that no pony or griffin even knew where they lived sends an opening signal in its own right that could easily be misinterpreted in all sorts of ways. That Ambrosia was smart enough to not immediately engage in trading more than insults may actually speak for her as first impressions go.
Given some time to properly weigh her options once she can be sure that the intruders have in fact left (and any spies she may have in place can inform her that they don’t seem to be gathering an army to come back right away, either) and so doesn’t feel as immediately threatened, she may yet come around, however grudgingly. I get the impression that for all her bluster her hive isn’t really doing as well as it could.
No "He is a former predator" card play?
That could've gone better. But it also could've been worse.
“I present a gift.”
“Gift? What gift?”
“These two Alicorns.”
“What did she say?”
“They have been producing food like rabbits and will serve you well.”
Skitter should have known that it is not easy to break from tradition that has been working for their species for a very long time. It was because of Page that Chrysalis's hive has become what it is as well as what happened to the Jungle Hive. Page has kept his word to Chrysalis, even if this Queen doesn't want to listen or hear their words.
That implies that they have made a Hive here either out of necessity or they might have evolved to be able to better survive in the environment
The necessity theory is looking more and more likely
Seems like Page got a bit of a reputation
I would say that could have gone worse, but that might be famous last words. I don't think Ambrosia will be dumb enough to attack them right now unless she has something up her non-existent sleeve, but we might see Chrysalis making a move to take over by force now...
11007916
Very good point, it's not like there's massive population pressure forcing them to hide here (presumably, this isn't exactly the Herzlands of the EaW world), so presumably they have some reason to live in an uncomfortable place like this.
Grammar jackboots:
Either you've put the speech marks in the wrong place and the second part is meant to be narration, or they'd should be they've.
Ambrosia's drones
Me think that not the end of this....
11007873
To be fair, he consistently walks in with everything seemingly stacked against him and walks out in victory. The two actions Ambrosia cared about weren't even luck so much as the gall to attempt it ,
11007985
they are very unwilling to ally with the hive that has broken their taboo of showing themselfs so if they did have something it could either be from the chaglings past or an artifact or tool that they are prepping to use to help themselfs
Page might become non Canterlot Lings equivalent to Nightmaremoon if the rumors are to be belived...
A worth mate indeed...
11008070
Or alternatively it might be something more down to earth. The site might be somehow culturally or religiously significant to them, for example.
11007873
11008040
Prince of lies?......
OH NO
It was Loki all along!
64.media.tumblr.com/969d7b7263b373ff97fc4853b3acb6c6/tumblr_p3wyg8bKuC1x4tm5ko3_500.gifv
But for real though, he was named this enough times that It would be cool if Page would start to own the title and wear Loki's helmet XD
i.pinimg.com/originals/aa/92/8d/aa928d876e00466ecb491b1d2b63409d.jpg
orig06.deviantart.net/24c1/f/2015/151/4/0/lokimoon_by_nookin-d8vi8pb.png
11007913
Okay, laughing in the train like a madman isn't something people take a liking to. Especially if you try to explain why and they don't get the joke.
11008133
Later non-evil incarnations even brand themselves as God(dess) of Stories (because fem-Loki is turbocanon).
i can see a smack down coming and Queen Ambrosia is going to be the smacked object.
some people just think they are full of there selves till it is smacked out of them.
11007872
right do you really think that Queen Ambrosia is just going to let them walk away??
i have a mirror to sell you that opens to a hole new world.
11007906
a good idea but Skitter and Page would not allow it. the remaining Hive would be to week and die off , that is not the over all goal.
Salt on the hooves? That means they go into the water.
There might be a seapony colony nearby that they are feeding off.
Also it's kind of ironic that they call ponies "food". I mean, batponies are omnivores and can technically eat changelings too :p
11008140
Can't say I didn't expect this outcome, but I had hoped they would have joined them. I guess it will just have to be a patient game. There's no way Queen Ambrosia willingly chose a place that would be difficult to live in.
Perhaps the saltwater has dulled her taste, but surely she must have been able to taste the amount of love Page was offering. If she doesn't, her drones certainly did. To reject such an offer out of spite rather than the survival of the hive..
If she can't taste the love, perhaps she'll taste the betrayal of her children.
DOOM is coming... eventually. The DOOM is running a bit late
Surprised the good queen didn't call Skitter a "ponyfucker" instead.
11008393
ponies are food. if she called a princess that, it'd be hive warfare. With, or without pony assistance, Chrysalis would curb stomp their pathetically situated and undernourished hive.
The Canterlot hive is under the city, the sea side hive would have to fight a numerous well armed opponent before they could go after their aggressor, if they called her that. While, the Canterlot hive knows where the sea side hive is, are numerically superior, are well fed, would be well armed, likely have reinforcements (both from ponies and probably griffons), and don't have to go through a heavily hitting meat shield first.
This little runt queen, can't afford to insult the brood of another queen, that thoroughly. The only real reasons Skitter has to suck it up, was for cultural ones. Differences in station, etc. She's her mothers subordinate, not a peer. The prince of one country can't tell the king of another to suck it. Politics and shit.
Buzz's back with malicious intent
11007873
A lie is a falsehood presented as a truth. It's not a lie if, explicitly and by design, everyone knows it's not true. You can't be "deceived" by The Little Engine That Could.
I'm betting that its the griffons that conduct second contact with the hive. Like anti-pony griffs showing up and offering love/status in exchange assistance with a coup.
"For the hive my life!" 1 Seem's to be a common thread. I can see the drones of the sea hive either killing the Queen2 or leaving the hive as her decisions are not for the good of the hive.
1 (The substitute demon)
2 ( Who is this Lord Tirek you speak of?)