65: Now I can't be sure of anything. (Hv)
Now I can't be sure of anything, (black is white and cold is heat).
Chapter published 6th December 2013
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Deep within the labyrinthine corridors of Canterlot Castle, two alicorn princesses moved with purpose.
Upon the back of the younger alicorn, tucked between her slightly raised jet-black wings, slept a small foal. The alicorn was most careful to keep her movements smooth and controlled as she walked, lest she wake her sleeping passenger. It had taken a number of hours, and an even larger number of rejected resting places, before the foal had finally drifted off to sleep, fitful and disturbed though it was.
“How is she?” the older of the two alicorns asked as she held the door to the castle’s next wing open so they could both pass through.
“Upset. Very upset.” Princess Luna answered curtly, “She is concerned for her parents, and quite rightly so. Part of me is with her now, but I find that even with my presence I cannot soothe her fears. She dreams of monsters and of darkness, so great that even her ‘Auntie Woona’ cannot protect her from them. I... I... ”
It was not often that the princess of the night was at a loss for words.
Using her magic to quietly close the door behind them, Princess Celestia spread one pure-white wing wide, laying it gently over her sister’s back, wrapping both her sibling and the small child that she carried in her embrace.
“She will be alright. As long as she knows that you are with her she will be alright.“ Taking back the wing, she beckoned her sister to join her as they continued to walk. “Lady Dash will return with her herdmates soon enough, of this I am sure.”
“I pray you are right, my sister,” the princess of the night sighed as she followed in her sibling’s hoofsteps. “I have been informed that Lady Heartstring’s parents are unavailable at present so I instead sent a pair of guards to rouse Lady Sparkle’s sire from his slumber. I am told that he and Twilight Velvet will be here shortly to tend to young Sweet Spirit’s physical form. When they arrive I will join you back in the war room. Then we can-”
“It is an observatory,” Princess Celestia interjected, “not a war room. Those words belong in days long past. We are not at war and I will not accept anypony, not even you, declaring otherwise.”
“Not at war?” Luna retorted incredulously, catching her own rising tone and reining it in before it disturbed her slumbering ward. “These... creatures have attacked our subjects, they dared lay hoof on five of the most important individuals in this nation today, individuals you and I are sworn to protect, and you say we are not at war?”
“Yes, I do.” Coming to a stop, Celestia turned to face her headstrong sibling. “Lady Rarity already awaits us in the royal observatory and the three remaining element bearers will arrive shortly. Once they join us I will have the elements themselves brought up from the vaults. Then, and only then, will we plan our next move.”
“Our next move?” Luna hissed, “I can tell you what our ‘next move’ should be here and now. We must do what must be done, and we must do it quickly before our chance is lost.”
“No.” Celestia replied sternly. “I know what you would have us do and I will let you know right now that I will not allow it. I will not wipe them out, and there is nothing you can say to make me change my mind.”
“They are abominations,” Luna protested, bringing her muzzle right up into her sister’s personal space, a task so much easier now than in years past when she had still been so much shorter. “They should never have been created, they were not part of Her plans.”
“Abominations you say?” Celestia again extended a single wing, but this time she used it to draw the younger alicorn’s attention to the slumbering foal on her back rather than to cover them both as she had before. “Should this innocent child also be stricken from our planet? Should her father be banished from this plane? I think not.”
Luna’s gaze moved back and forth between the child’s sleeping face and that of her sister’s, so full of determination and resolve. It held an expression that the lunar princess had not seen since before her banishment, an expression that told her that the alicorn of the day could not be swayed in her opinion, and that there could well be a fight between siblings coming if the younger sister did not back down.
“Mother did what she could until she felt it was time to release control of of the reins.” Celestia’s features softened as she brushed a wingtip against her troubled sibling’s cheek. “Once she had let go it was up to others to bring to the world what they will. We are only here to help - to help and to guide, to protect and to serve. We are not gods, my sister, no matter what some mortals may think. We are guides, nothing more, and we would do well to keep that in mind.”
*********************
Many many miles away, deep within the depths of Queen Auriela’s hive, two changeling guards had no idea what was about to hit them... literally.
As the pair stood at attention outside of a large doorway, they almost missed the pair of shimmering, blurry shapes coming at them down the hall. The shimmering shapes however, certainly didn’t miss their targets. With a pair of matching ‘thumps’, short wooden clubs met chitin covered skulls with more than enough force to knock the two guards instantly unconscious.
As the guards slumped towards the floor, both were caught midway by the shimmering, and vaguely pony-like, shapes which lowered silently them the rest of the way to the ground.
With a gentle ‘buzz’ of a dispelling enchant, the right hoof shape faded back into view, revealing a grinning Dodge Charger.
“Boink!” she cried, or would have had she not had to whisper lest she defeat the point of a stealthy attack, “Oh, look at that. That’s beautiful stuff.”
To the side of her came another soft ‘buzz, followed by the form of Blue Fire also fading back into view.
“Girl, we are like a force a’nature,” the taller scout proclaimed (quietly) as she planted a soft kiss on one of her weapons, “these ‘Sandmare’ enchants work like a charm.”
“Yeah, yeah,” came their captain’s voice as the mare herself appeared from the the gloom further down the tunnel. “Quit lookin’ so smug and start dragging these guards out of sight. We need to keep moving.”
After slipping their weapons into pairs of holsters hanging from each of their belts, the two scouts grabbed the two unconscious forms with their wings before hauling them through the archway into whatever room or cavern or whatever they hay it was that the duo of unfortunate changelings had been guarding.
After a few seconds, Blue Fire’s head poked back out of the room, followed by a forehoof which was desperately trying to get Rainbow’s attention.
“Ma'am,“ she said, “I really think you should come have a look at this.”
“Not our objective, Fire,“ Rainbow insisted, ”we just needed this pair of clowns out of the picture so we could get past them and onto point B. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Understood, ma’am,” Fire acknowledged, “but they’re first changelings we’ve come across and they were guarding something, I think we should at least take a look, ma’am.”
“Kid’s got a point, ma’am...” Snake added. Rainbow could easily hear the sarcasm in the older mare’s voice - she seemed incapable of using a rank or title these days without it. “All the action this place’s obviously seen since you got out and this room’s still important enough to warrant two guards.”
Flicking her eyes from Scoot, who had taken up position just ahead of them up the corridor and Brick, who was now covering their rear, Rainbow took both their comments under consideration.
“Okay. Fire, you got three minutes,” she stated, “Scoot, guard the door; I want to know if there’s so much as a squeak from out here.”
As the younger mare took up position by the entrance, the rest of the team made their way into the cavern, where the first thing they were hit by was a sudden and dramatic rise in air temperature.
“Girl, it’s hot’n here,” Dodge whistled as she poked at one of the walls, the slick mucus-like gunk lining the stone underneath softer and less hardened with time than any they’d seen so far. As she pulled back a forehoof to smell the goo that had collected on her hoof-tip, a large piece of loose slime fell from the ceiling and coated her nose with a loud, wet ‘slap’.
“Errghh, yuck, get it off’a me,” the small pegasus cried, desperately shaking her head, spraying the unwanted gunk across both the nearby wall and her fellow scout.
“Yeah, but at least it’s a dry heat.” Blue Fire laughed, wiping her face on her sleeve.
“Will you two knock it off!” Snake hissed as she walked past them and on towards the centre of the large cavern.
“But why is it so hot?” Blue Fire wondered out loud, “If this was an insect den I’d suspect this might be a... oooh.”
As they made it to the middle of the huge chamber the pegasus’ words trailed away as her eyes took in pod after pod - each one looking not unlike a large slime-covered egg - lining the walls all around them. While a few scattered around the room were lit from within by sickly orange glow, most of them appeared to be dead, several having detached from the wall entirely and fallen to the ground.
Attempting to peer through the semi-transparent skin of one of the still glowing pods, Dodge couldn’t make out details of what might lie within. Lifting a forehoof, she wiped at the pod surface and, though it made hardly any difference, she could just about make out what lay inside.
“Boss, look,” she called softly to the captain, who joined her at her side, both mares using the pale light from within the pod to check out its contents.
“It’s a tiny changeling, not much bigger than a ten year old foal,“ Rainbow stated, “we must be in the egg chamber or nursery or something.”
Glancing around the room, Rainbow made a quick mental tally; of the nearly one hundred eggs that she could see, only a dozen or so gave off any glow or other signs of life.
“I think you should see this,” Snake called out from by the downed egg that she and Brick were standing around.
As the captain came closer, she could see what her kitbashers had been inspecting. As the pod had hit the floor it had burst open, its contents spilled out onto the rocky ground. Laying at their hooves was a small, half formed drone. If it had still been alive when its pod had detached from the wall, or the fall hadn’t killed it, it obviously wouldn't have survived for long out of its pod anyway.
Reaching out with a forehoof, Snake pushed her hoof-tip into the slime surrounding the deceased drone. As she pulled it away again, a small amount of the goo came with it, creating a string of mucus that dribbled from her hoof and hung in the air.
“It’s still congealing,” the pale green pegasus said as she brought the gunk covered forehoof up to her good eye, “this must have happened recently.”
By now Fire and Dodge had joined them, the taller scout looking over her team-mates’ shoulders while the shorter one peered between their bodies.
“By Luna...” Dodge muttered.
“...just what’s going on around here?” Fire finished for her.
“They’re dying,” came a deep gravely voice from off to the side.
Turning towards their team-mate, the four mares waited to see if the sole stallion continue. He might not have been one for big speeches, but when he decided to speak then by Celestia you listened. As they watched he reached forward with a forehoof and used his considerable strength to pull a large piece of flexible shell loose from the fallen pod.
“I know bodies... I know healthy bodies... it’s my special talent. Whatever these are, well, they may not be ponies but I know healthy wherever I see it and these...”
He gently placed the piece of pod skin over the fallen drone, covering most of its body from view.
“... these are not healthy at all.”
Stepping back, Rainbow turned and started towards the door.
“Come on,” she said, “we’ve still got a job to do. Jail’s this way.”
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“BUCK!” Rainbow shouted, kicking a horn wrap across the room and into one of the many vacant cells. Scattered across the floor were the restraints that had just a few hours ago held her own wings tight against her sides, the coils of rope that had previously bound her hooves and suspended her from the ceiling laying with them.
Nowhere within the makeshift cellblock was any sign of her herdmates though, as the room looked to be in much worse shape than the last time she had been here, she was in two minds as to whether this was a good sign or not.
“Ma’am, I’ve found blood over here,” Fire called from by one of the cell doors, “it’s red, so it’s not changeling, and I’m sure this is a hand print. Were these here when you left?”
Rainbow moved to where Blue Fire, goggles on forehead, was standing by the opening to the largest cell in the room, the only one they hadn’t forced the door off of during their escape. Behind its bars she could see a foul looking old mattress on the floor and what looked like an upturned fruitbowl, what was left of its contents smeared into the cave floor.
In the next cell, the cell that her stallion had previously been held in, the body of the guard that Lero had... subdued had been dragged away, a trail of green leading out of the cell and towards the door.
Rainbow was glad it was gone, she didn’t want to have to look at it again, to be reminded of what her stallion had had to do to it so they could break free - the memory of the whole thing would probably haunt her for the rest of her life as it was.
As Fire motioned to her discovery, a small patch on the floor at the base of the cell’s bars, Rainbow could see a definite bloody hand print next to it, as well as another on one of the actual bars.
“If human blood dries at the same rate as ours then this is only a few hours old,” the blue-maned scout stated, dabbing at the dark red mess with a hoof-tip.
“Sis,” Scoot called from the other side of the room,“there’s hoofprints here. I think they’re Lyra’s!”
Moving to her sister’s side, Rainbow put her own hoof up next to one of the bloody hoofprints on the stone floor.
“Yeah,” she said, “that’s Lyra’s, I’d know those big ol’ hoofprints anywhere. Me and Twi have almost the same sized hooves but Lyra’s are much bigger. Plus, look here, that looks like that big-ass scar she’s got on her rear left frog from when she was a teenager.”
“She’s limping,” Scoot moved her own forehoof to where the hoofprints moved through the trail of green goo from where the guard’s body had been removed.
“Yeah, looks like she is.” Rainbow agreed as she studied the myriad of scuffs, smears and markings scattered across the floor, “Seems she and Lero made it back here under their own power. From the state of that cell I’d say Twi was here when they arrived. Can’t say when the dead guard was removed but I’d bet at least two ponies and two changelings were in here after that.”
“There’s ah couple’a human shoe prints in th’ goo over here.” Dodge added from where she was standing by the door, the two kitbashers behind her guarding the entrance, “th’ wider bit’s closer to th’ door so that means he’s goin’ out rather than comin’ in, right?”
As the captain opened her mouth to respond, a tingling at her neck told her that Spitfire was calling her. Putting a forehoof to her collar she triggered a response.
“Bronco Team, this is Apple Team,” Spitfire’s voice echoed in her head, “Point A’s deserted. Repeat, point A’s deserted. What’s your status?”
“Apple Team, this is Bronco Team,“ Rainbow replied. “Point B is a bust. Repeat, point B is a bust.”
“Damn. Point A is dead as they come, as is everywhere else we’ve been so far. Looks like somepony shook this place up pretty bad before we got here.”
“Agreed, so far we’ve only had to deal with a hoof-full of guards, nowhere near what we were expecting.”
“We’re seeing lots of scorch marks from minor offensive magic on the walls, and a whole bucket-load of scuffing from brute force fighting, but oddly no bodies,” Spitfire responded. “Plenty of this green goo all over the place though so it looks like some pony bagged at least some of your bad guys.”
“Yeah, we’re seeing the same, looks like they’re dragging away their fallen whenever they find them.” RD sighed, trying hard not to think about how many mysterious patches of green they’d come across on their way in here. “I say we all head to the middle of the hive, see if they’ve holed up in the most defensible chamber. According to Princess Luna’s intel that’d be the throne room.”
“Acknowledged. I’ll contact you again when we find the right door to go knocking on.”
”Just don’t start popping the party favours without me; I got a few things to say to whoever’s in charge around here.” Rainbow cast an eye around the jail with its busted cell-doors and trashed furniture, “For a start, their room service stinks.”
“I hear you. Apple Team out.”
“Bronco Team out.” Rainbow replied before letting her hoof drop away from her collar and turning to her teammates.
“Okay ladies,” she said, “time to saddle up. Looks like we’re taking our complaints straight to the management.”
*************************
As they rounded a corner, the scouts of Bronco Team found themselves at the entrance to a large chamber, one with a huge domed roof and a number of weakly glowing orbs dotted around its edges.
Casting their eyes around the room they could see that the centre of room was open, no furniture or fittings to be seen. In the very centre of the cavern was what appeared to be a huge stone carving of what may, once upon a time, have been some kind of large, winged, four-legged creature - but what kind was anypony’s guess. Spaced around the statue in concentric circles was a large number of mounds, each covered with some kind of cloth or tarpaulin.
As the scouts moved around the room, the rest of the team followed them in, checking shadows and crevices all around the edges of the room for any unwanted surprises, thankfully finding none. Once they were satisfied the room was secure, Brick and Scoot returned to the entrance and took up guard positions.
“Okay,“ Rainbow said as she pulled a magically-created copy of a hoof-drawn map (she hadn’t wanted to ask why the hoof-writing seemed so shaky) from the front of her uniform, “the next chamber after this one should be directly above the throne room.”
Behind her, Snake had lifted one of the sheets to reveal what was underneath.
“Well,” the green mare stated matter-of-factly, “this answers the question of where they’ve been draggin’ the bodies off to.”
Throwing back the cover from the next mound in the circle she revealed yet another final resting place.
“There must be dozens in here,” she added, “looks like your monk... husband’s been a busy boy.”
Rainbow was about to take issue with Snake’s choice of words when Blue Fire motioned to her from one of the mounds laid out from closer to the statue. As the captain joined her, the scout lifted the cover she was holding higher into the air so Rainbow could better see what was underneath it.
“Unless these guys decompose reeeeally quickly,” the scout noted, “this drone’s been dead for weeks, months even. Looks like they’ve been laying their dead to rest in here for quite a while now.”
“Uggh, creepy, who’d want to keep their stiffs around?” came from Snake as she dropped the corner of the blanket she was holding. “Least it doesn’t smell as bad as it cou- hey, check this out, this bug’s using a My Tiny Gecko bedsheet. I had one of these when I was a kid”
Insensitivity aside, the mare was right. Each of the bodies was covered with either a bed sheet or an ancient rug or a ratty old wall hanging, no two sporting the same death shroud. It was as if they’d each been covered over with whatever items could be stolen or scrounged from pony society over the years, each blanket or sheet becoming more threadbare the further from the statue they were located, and therefore presumably more freshly laid out.
While the three of them had been checking over their somewhat morbid discovery, Dodge had been using her goggle’s various settings to investigate some markings on the cavern’s walls that haad caught her eye.
“Guys,” she called softly, “come an’ have ah look at this.”
As the three other mares joined her, she pulled her goggles up onto her forehead, motioning for the others to do the same, and tapped a forehoof against a crystal fastened onto the front of her uniform. Instantly the crystal gave off a brilliant beam of focused white light.
“It’s hard ta see with th’ glow from these orbs but th’ crystal should make it easier. Look here,“ the petite pegasus swung the crystal’s beam to a point on the wall well above her head, “there’s murals all over these walls, Ah think it’s some kind’a record of this hive’s history.”
“Good to see that all that time with the smart-ass here’s been rubbing off on you then,” Snake interjected whilst motioning towards Blue Fire.
“Shut it, Snake,” Rainbow ordered before flicking her own torch into life, the two beams of white now overpowering the sickly yellow glow from the room’s orbs. “Go on, Dodge, what you got so far?”
“Well if we look at this main picture here,” Dodge continued, ignoring the team’s resident pain-in-the-ass, “these three large ponies, see th’ horns an’ wings? Ah think these are th’ three great alicorns.”
“Three alicorns?” Snake asked, ignoring the glares from both Rainbow and Blue Fire.
“Yeah, it’s ah old earth pony belief.” Dodge moved her torch over the image, illuminating first a pink alicorn, then a white alicorn, and finally a dark blue alicorn. “My ma’s brother an’ his herd still believe in it. They reckon that there was ah third alicorn sister who was even older than Princess Celestia, an’ that she was th’ first alicorn, created by th’ creator herself in her own image. This would’a been way back when ponies were still mindless beasts, eating grass straight from th’ ground an’ living free out on th’ great plains wit’ th’ horses.”
“So these two alicorns behind the white alicorn, they’re Princess Celestia and Princess Luna then?” Blue Fire asked. “Their manes and their bodies are pink and blue rather than the white and black of today, but they do match up with how they’re portrayed in the old story books. Look, there’s a sun behind the pink one and a crescent moon behind the blue one, so I’d say that’s definitely them.”
Illuminating her own crystal, Blue Fire played it over the picture, stopping at the image of the third alicorn.
“So this other alicorn here, the white one with the red and orange mane, who’s this?” Rainbow asked, even though she already had a vague idea of the answer. Too many drunken nights with Luna had given her a deeper knowledge of Ancient Equestrian History than a lot of history majors who had paid good bits for theirs. “There’s a oak tree behind her, maybe it’s her cutie mark?”
“That’s Terra.” Dodge supplied.
“Who now?” Snake asked.
“Her name, it’s Terra, the alicorn of th’ earth.” Dodge replied tersely. “Some earth ponies say that th’ creator made th’ three alicorns to serve as her companions, that it can be pretty lonely when none of th’ ponies around ya can even talk yet. Others say that it was part of th’ creator plans ta help ponies evolve, that she wanted us ta have alicorn role models t’ look up ta. Some even say that th’ creator herself looks like ah bone white alicorn with a mane an’ tail made’a roarin’ flames, while others say she’s somethin’ else entirely, somethin’ crazy like ah twistin’ pillar’a fire or ah tall red-maned biped like Master Lero.”
Moving sideways, Dodge shuffled along the wall to the next picture, the other three mares following along behind her. Playing her light across this new image, Dodge revealed again the three alicorns. but this time the blue and pink one had their backs to the white one who in turn had her wings spread wide as they lifted her into the sky.
“The story goes,” Dodge continued, “that Terra an’ her sisters had ah fallin’ out. No pony knows fer sure why she left them but all th’ stories say she then spent decades, maybe centuries even, travelin’ th’ globe, checkin’ out all th’ emergin’ civilisations, never settlin’ anywhere fer too long. While the legends say that Celestia was originally ah unicorn an’ Luna was ah pegasus, they also say that Terra was originally ah earth pony an’ that after she’d left she spent most’a her time with any earth pony tribes that would welcome her. An’ believe me, there were ah lot’a tribes that were more than happy t’ see her. You should see how many ah our oldest legends have her in there somewhere.”
“Our legends?” Snake interjected. “Whad’ya mean ‘our’? You're a pegasus ain’t ya?”
Fixing the larger mare with a death glare, the petite pegasus looked plainly pissed off.
“My parents’a earth ponies,” she growled, “my brother an’ sisters’a earth ponies, my whole darn family’s earth ponies. As far as Ah’m concerned Ah’m ah earth pony. Ah just happen to have wings, that’s all.”
Before the situation could deteriorate any further, Blue Fire put herself between the two. Her partner always hated it when anypony brought up that little quirk of genetics (and any possible playing outside of the herd on her mother’s part) that had birthed a pegasus to what was otherwise a purely earth pony family.
“Anyway,’ she added quickly, “so what happened to Terra?”
“Well,” Dodge continued, still glaring daggers at Snake who took this as a good time to go see if Brick fancied trading positions, “she jus’ kept on wanderin’, always disappearin’ int’a th’ crowds an’ blending int’a th’ herds. Many ah th’ early earth pony stories tell ah her appearin’ out’a nowhere ta help ponies in need before fadin’ back int’a th’ crowd like she was never there.”
“What, as in vanishing?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah, at times. Other tales tell ah random ponies who’d suddenly turn int’a her, save somepony’s flank, an’ then either run away or jus’ disappear. Then, when that pony was found again later on they’d have no knowledge ah what had happened. Plus witnesses’d put them elsewhere, like it had been some other pony disguised as them the whole time.”
“So,” Blue Fire pondered, “she was like an early changeling?”
“Yeah, I guess. Here, look at these next pictures.”
As they moved further along the wall each of the subsequent pictures that they found had Terra surrounded by smaller copies of herself. With each image the number of copies would increase though they also become darker in colour until they were all almost black.
By the time they reached the last image there were twelve almost entirely black ponies, each with a vibrantly coloured mane and tail, no two with exactly the same colour. Each of the ponies also had both horns and wings which would have given the appearance of a dozen small alicorns if it had not been for the fact that the horns were curved and twisted, and the wings looked more like insect wings than the feathered wings of an alicorn. Of Terra herself there was no sign.
Reaching up, Blue Fire tapped a hoof against one of painted ponies that smiled back at her from the wall.
“So these are the first changelings then?” she said, as much as a statement as it was a question.
“So, do these changelings think that they all... spawned? ...evolved maybe? ...from this third alicorn?” Rainbow asked, pondering the implications. What if... what if these changelings, these so called ‘mindless drones’ that she’d been so intent on smearing across the walls during her escape, what if they were not that different from her? ...or her herdsisters? ...or Sweetie?
“Well, true or not.” Blue Fire motioned to the statue in the centre of the room, which with what they’d just seen, could now be made out to be an extremely ancient and time-worn representation of the alicorn of the earth, “they certainly seem to think so.”
**************
Removing her forehoof from her collar, Rainbow let her connection to Commander Spitfire die away. This was finally it, crunch time. No turning back now... not that there’d ever been any chance of that, not since these bucking bugs had jumped them back on that train to Canterlot not even a full day before. She had to keep telling herself that, however this whole situation ended up, it was the changelings that had started it, though by Celestia she was going to end it.
Turning her attention back to the mission at hoof, she peered over Blue Fire’s shoulder, taking in some of the fuzzy images being displayed on the tiny screen in front of them. As the blue-maned scout fiddled with a series of tiny dials and switches, the coloured blobs and flashing triangles on the scanning device’s screen were occasional accompanied by a soft ‘ping’ or a series of rapid clicks.
“Got anything?” the captain asked.
“I think...” Fire said, nodding towards where Dodge sat a few body-lengths away at the controls of an identical machine, “that we’ve figured out where in the throne room your herd currently are. I’m also picking up a lot of changelings right below us, and I think-” flicking a switch made one of the larger blobs change colour, “that we’ve picked out which one’s the Queen. She keeps moving around like a dog in heat though which isn’t making this any easier.”
“Well if it was easy, kiddo,“ Rainbow clapped a forehoof on Fire’s shoulder, “they wouldn’t be paying us those big bags of bits.”
Twisting her head to look her boss squarely in the eye, “they’re not,” Fire deadpanned.
“Ha, then you need a better agent, kid.” With a quick ruffle of Fire’s mane, Rainbow was away.
In the middle of the room, Scootaloo was putting the finishes touches to her part of of their plan. What could, in other circumstances, have been mistaken for cupcake sized balls of cookie dough had been squashed into the chamber floor marking out a large circle on the rock surface. A length of thin cord ran between each ‘dough ball’ before terminating in a small flat box roughly the size of a thick slice of toast.
“How’s it going with the home improvement plans?” Rainbow asked, watching with interest as her protege squashed the last piece of ‘dough’ into place.
Pushing her goggles up onto her forehead, Scoot used a forehoof to pinch at her brow in an action that always reminded Rainbow of her stallion.
“Well now we know where Lero, Lyra and Twilight are I’m feeling a whole lot better about this.” Scoot rubbed at the back of her head with a forehoof, an old filly-hood habit that resurfaced whenever she was particularly nervous or worried. “I’m just praying they don’t move about though - if I’m gunna be dropping a house on anyone I’m hoping it’ll just be the Wicked Witch of the West down there.”
Rainbow smiled. Even now this old human story was one of Scoot’s favourites and whenever the herd was back in Ponyville she’d always take the time to stop by and read yet another chapter to her ever adoring niece.
Throwing an arm around the youngster, Rainbow pulled her close.
“You’ll do great kid.” she said with confidence. “And then we’re just gunna get in there, grab the family, and then click our heels right out the door before they even know what’s hit them.”
Scoot leaned into the hug. After all, nopony was ever too old for hugs.
“No place like home, right, sis?”
“You got that right kid - there’s no place like home.” After tousling her friend’s mane, Rainbow let her go again. “And we’ll all be back there soon enough.”
*******************
“Okay, scouts, front and centre.”
In front of their captain, Blue Fire and Dodge Charger formed up as a pair, Dodge’s wings clenching and unclenching around her pair of short clubs while Fire let her wingtips rest on the handles of her own weapons where they poked out of their holsters.
“So, the throne room’s directly below us,” Rainbow stated, making sure to look each of her scouts in the eye one after the other, checking for any last minute nerves and finding none. “You both know the game plan?”
“Oh yeah; Scoot blows’a hole in th’ floor, then me an’ Blue here get in there faster’n bats out’a Tartarus-” Dodge began.
“-and if we find anypony that isn’t either unicorn, pegasus or human then we put them down faster than the Sandmare and her bag full of sand. Then, if they look like they’re even thinking about getting back up-” Fire added
“-we make sure they stay down.” Dodge finished for them both.
“Good girls.” Reaching out, Rainbow pulled both of her scouts into a close hug. “Keep it tight in there though - the rest of us’ll be right behind you. Just make sure you watch out for each other, alright? This isn’t some pie-flinging scrap, this is the real deal.”
As the pair were released, the both gave their captain a crisp salute.
“Okay then,” Rainbow turned to Scootaloo and asked, “you about ready, Scoots?”
Scoot held up what looked not unlike a short carrot, a soft green light flashing from where the leaves would have been growing. Somepony, it seemed, had a strange sense of humour.
“Just give the word, sis,” the orange pegasus grinned back.
“Make me proud, kid.” Finally the captain turned her attention to the last two members of their team, “Brick, Snake... You both done stashing that gear yet?”
“Just gotta kick this invisibility enchant into shape and set the timer on the disintegrator just in case and-” with a swift kick, a crunch and a soft melody of beeps from the pair of bags jammed into a crevice by her hooves, which then both flickered and faded out of view, Snake was done. “-yeah, we’re ready to go.”
Rainbow watched the green pegasus as she then set about fastening a pair of sturdy shoes to the soles of her hooves. In the last few minutes the usually sullen mare had changed in her demeanor quite dramatically, looking more and more like a school-filly who’d just been given a huge bag of bits and let loose in Bon Bon’s Bon-Bons with every passing second.
“Okay you two, you go in right after the scouts, look for the heavy hitters. I want to see hooves meeting faces, you got me? Get those brass horseshoes on, we’re done with being stealthy.”
Both kitbashers nodded their acknowledgment - Brick somewhat stoically while Snake looked more like her head was about to drop off. She, on the whole, was waaay too happy about the idea of crackin’ some skulls.
“Right then, ladies. Scoot, on my say-so, you're on.”
Reaching up to her throat, Rainbow touched a forehoof against her collar, sending a signal to Commander Spitfire’s matching scratch crystal.
“Apple Team, this is Bronco Team, are we a go?”
As her team gathered around her, several of them sharing what might be their last embrace, Rainbow occasionally nodded her head in response to a conversation only she and Spitfire could hear.
“Acknowledged. Tell your demo-mare to tie into Scoot’s signal.”
Scoot held out her detonator’s ‘wand’ and, after a tense few seconds, the light on its top changed from green to blue and then back to green.
“Apple team, we have captured your signal. Repeat, we have captured your signal. I hope you’re all dressed to impress over there ‘cos this party’s about to go off with a bang. We’ll meet you at the punch bowl, last one there buys the drinks. Bronco Team out.”
After waiting for Alpha Team’s acknowledgement, Rainbow lifted her hoof from her neck and pulled her goggles back down over her eyes.
“Okay then. Scoot, it’s over to you.” After giving her explosives technician the nod, Rainbow backed away to a safe....ish distance. “Let’s see if our ‘great and powerful’ pyrotechnics expert’s fancy little toys are really worth all the bits we’ve been throwing at her.”
“Okay, team, sing it with me; Three... Two... One...” Scoot grinned wildly as hoof met detonator, “Let’s Rock!”
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Whoever the Changelings were or may have been, the choices they made and the paths that theirs leader took have led them to this point of disaster. Sometimes, bitterly, there is no good outcome, just the least bad. You have to save who you can and stop the disaster from becoming all-embracing.
"What I did, I did without choice... In the name of sanity and peace."
You really do lay these world building foundations with gold.
Dear Princess Celestia, we miiight have just squished your niece. Sorry about that.
I knew this was going to be a cliffhanger. Frankly I don't care where the changelings cme from. They went too far with this one, I almost agree with Luna, except that ponies causing genecide would be horrible.
Damn you Cliffhanger! Awesome buildup as well as building up the backstory!
Boom baby!
I really want to know just when this turned from a simple rescue mission into a kill-em-all! type of mission. Great example of hypocrisy with the no place like home bit, breaking into and blowing up their home with the goal of doing as much harm as possible. Really who are the real monsters here? Kidnapping vs Genocide? You decide.
Now watch this be down voted into oblivion for taking the side of the changelings and implying that the ponies are more in the wrong.
3587283
I find myself agreeing. In fact, this little arc of the series seems very wrong to me with the last couple snippets. It feels very strange with the Rambo ponies, rather than a situation where they stumble around without too much grimdark and killing.
Personally, I'd rewrite these. Either more of a realistic hide and seek type of horror (because let's face it, of the featured herd, only Lyra's a soldier, and they are outnumbered on the enemy's territory), or a redemption fic, where they see the situation and sit down and talk it over. It seems like it would suit the Xenophilia theme more faithfully.
3587283 Well, both side did cruel things to each other, (one side more than the other) so I would say both sides are monsters.
Rainbow Dash wants to Safe her Herd
The Changeling Queen wants to safe her Hive.
Both with good intentions, but they both do it the wrong way...
3587283 It does seem like this is headed for tragedy no matter which side wins, but there are also a few signs that maybe Friendship will still triumph in the end. The Wonderbolts are noticing clues that the Changelings aren't just monsters. So I'm still cautiously optimistic that they'll figure some sort of non-horrific resolution out.
3587283
I think you are overreacting a bit. The fact that they only knocked out the guards in the beginning is pretty solid evidence that kill em all is not the goal. I will admit that that all the Aliens movie references make things look darker, but I do not think it will go that route.
Dash being Dash, I have no problem with her response to an attack on her family being "I will DESTROY you." Sure, the actual execution of that plan might be more 'knock you out,' but I doubt she'd be making the safety of her foes a primary consideration (even with Xenophilia Dash, who, recall, had enough innate aggression, even before meeting Lero, that she gave up tournaments because she severely injured an opponent, and that was in a controlled situation).
3587692
Dropping a stone ceiling on someone is supposed to be non-lethal? Their plan is to literally drop the ceiling on what they think is the queen and to injure anyone who responds to that major threat by beating them badly enough so they cannot get back up. Not to mention all of the dead or dying changelings they have already seen. Looks like they are well on their way to their goal.
Edit: This was accidentally posted in the next chapter.
3588144
Nowhere does it say they are specifically aiming for the changelings with the rubble from the hole they plan to blow in the ceiling. The ‘Sandmare’ enchants, mentioned to be on their weapons, implies a desire to take out any opposition using nonlethal methods. Actual killing of changelings may not be off the table, but only if the changelings force them to do so.
Lets not forget here that the changelings, despite the problems they have going on here, are still the bad guys. They decided that kidnapping, violence and the threat of violence was a acceptable way of dealing with things instead of maybe just asking for help. They could of kept the whole kidnapping thing as a plan B, in case asking for help didn't work.
3588287
Scootaloo does say that she hopes they (Twi, Lero, Lyra) don't move around because if she is dropping a house on someone she'd prefer it to be the Wicked Witch of the West.
Two of the party were also complaining about how the Queen keeps moving around which makes their job harder. I believe that this means they are specifically aiming the debris at her or are planning to outright attack her. Nopony has any qualms about dropping the ceiling on as many opponents as possible. They dropped their enchanted weapons and put on brass horseshoes. They are done with stealth; it's time for action.
I'm not saying the changelings are the good guys. I'm saying that the ponies are the bad guys as well. If the changelings are fighting it is because they are fighting back because their home is being invaded. The changelings are the ones going out if their way not to kill anyone, not the ponies. In fact, every fatality so far has been courtesy of Lero, Rainbow, Lyra, and possibly Twilight. Please tell me who the changelings have killed?
3588287
How could they even ask for help considering the majority of the ponies hate changelings and would probably be glad that they are dying? Ponies have a herd mentality and their previous bad experience with changelings would make it almost impossible for any changelings to even make it to the princesses to ask for help. The guard would have probably struck them down where they stood if they discovered they were a changeling.
3588287
Sorry for the triple post but I have to address one more hypocrisy. You ask why the changelings just didn't ask for help and just resorted to violence? I ask you why didn't Rainbow ask Celestia for help to talk with or negotiate with the Queen instead of gathering up a strike force that is resorting to violence and the threat of violence?
Both parties are in the wrong. There are no good guys here.
3588390
I did kinda forget about the Wicked Witch of the West part, so you have a point there. You are also correct that the changelings have not actually killed anyone. As for the brass horseshoes, they may have the same enchantment on them as the other weapons, but it is not all that important.
3588413
I agree that it is a distinct possibility that they would not get help. Sending a letter to Twilight in a attempt to negotiate for some kind of meeting at a neutral location would probably been the best bet. If negotiations fail then go with the kidnapping thing.
3588441
Although not explicitly stated, Dash having permission to go seems to be implied.
As it is, this entire chapter seems to be set up to push everything into a morally grey area, where no side is 100% right or wrong. If our discussion is anything to go by, this chapter accomplished this goal quite well.
3587283
Ok, so, I think you're reading a bit too much into what's being said, and your unfamiliarity with certain tropes are causing you to misread certain people's intentions.
First, no one mentioned Genocide except Luna- and Celestia pretty conclusively shut that one down, refusing to even considering the notion that they were even at war with the changeling- the only objective here is rescue, not annihilation.
That said, it's fairly obvious that the rescue team is being modeled after SWAT/SEAL hostage rescue teams- and as such, get the attendant tropes. Generally speaking, they're not out to kill the hostage-takers, however, their safety and survival are not priorities- if a dead hostage taker means a living hostage or team member, that hostage-taker is dead. and it's fairly obvious they're taking non-lethal measures wherever reasonable- using stealth and disabling attacks whenever they can.
The problem is, the hostages are not in an easily accessible, or pre-planned rescue location- they're in a room filled with potential hostiles that have shown no previous willingness to negotiate- included an incredibly dangerous Changeling Queen- a being powerful enough to strike down Alicorns if they have enough love energy backing them.
So what they're doing is a breach- blowing open unexpected entrance into a room, creating both surprise and a distraction- and yes, potential casualties- remember, their survival is not a priority, even if their deaths are not a goal- enabling the much smaller force to circumnavigate defenses and overwhelm their far superior enemy, in the hopes of being able to extract the hostages with minimal injury to the team or hostages.
As for Scootaloo's comment, as far as I can tell, she was just joking/commenting on how it'd be handy if the breach took out the most dangerous being in the room- which isn't something unreasonable to wish right before you're about to fight.
Should be:
As long as she knows that you are with her, she will be alright
I'll admit, I sorta groaned when you went a little heavy handed with the war themed hat simulator references.
and I like that game a lot.
Okay chapter, interested in conclusion and exploration of implications.
3595493
Well, keep in mind that allot of this is based on descriptions Lero made of earth tech- that might include fictional technology and concepts.
Demoloo, I like this.
It's hot because the egg chamber is located under the primary heat exchangers of a fusion powered atmospheric processor.
Please, pretty please, don´t say that this is one of that neer-to-be-finished amazing stories !!!!
Dem subtle references...
3588390 3588441
That is such a load of manure. The changelings brought this violence into their house by VIOLENTLY taking the herd captive on their train ride home. The changelings are COMPLETELY in the wrong and the ponies are COMPLETELY justified in responding this way.
Because Celestia is wrong and Luna is right, one polity kidnapping another's citizens - especially state actors - is an act of war. (I acknowledge that Luna wanting to commit genocide would be a war crime.) Rainbow Dash is a commissioned officer in the Equestrian Armed Forces and would know all of this. So she followed protocol and went to her superior officer (Luna is the head of the Shadowbolts) informed her of what transpired, Luna then took this intel and authorized an operation. All of which is PERFECTLY understandable.
I know that these comments are six years old by this point, but please tell me you are no longer this naive.