68: Do you see what we've done? (Hv)
Do you see what we've done?
Chapter published 19 May 2014
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It was over.
They had lost.
She had planned, she had schemed, she had made her move.
She had failed.
Seated as she was, alone but for her guard of a duo of wingtip happy pegasi, Queen Aurelia surveyed the consequences of her actions.
On her left hoof side, the remaining few of her guard still standing were being held, corralled like the griffins held their cattle. She knew that they had fought well- they had made her proud, each and every one of them. She had known that every single guard, every last drone would have fought until they were unable to go on, that they would have spilt their last drop of blood, breathed their last breath for her. And looking around the room, at the immobile forms strew around floor, the twisted limbs, the torn gossamer wings, the green stains splashed around the room, staining the intruder’s uniforms. She knew that this was what she had wrought. All this, it was on her head.
Turning to her right, she watched her former prisoners. They swarmed around the purple one, the one with the rainbow mane talking to her, not seeming to need to stop for breath. The biped cradled the pregnant one’s head, held it in his... lap? He was rocking back and forth, as she had once seen a small, scared pony child do, so many years ago when she had found it lost in the forest. The pregnant one writhed, turning this way and that as pain coursed through her body.
The one with the orange wings and the purple mane, she seemed to be in charge, but even the queen could see that she was in over her head. Even without opening herself to their emotions she could feel the rising panic radiating from the young pony’s form.
The green unicorn - what was her name? It all seemed so clear to her not so long ago. Now it was as if the last few days? weeks even? They were drowned in a haze, like a fog was rolling over her memories - the unicorn, she was talking to the orange pegasus. She was angry, this was clear, but it was an anger born of fear, not of malice. She was scared.
“Do something!” the green one shouted.
“I’m trying!” the orange one replied, “I trained as a medic, not a midwife. Our training’s more for combat injuries than... this. They expected us to be patching up holes, not pulling babies out of them.”
As the purple one squirmed and cried out in pain, the orange one had to duck to avoid a hind hoof to the face. Chaos begat more chaos as more voices joined the fray.
“Crap, she’s red-bagging, we need to get it out right now.”
“What?”
“The embryo sack, it’s red... see. The child’s gunna suffocate if we don’t get her out of there.”
“Oh shit!”
“Ok, I got her, I’m gunna give her a pull”
“Twi! Stay with me... stay with me honey.”
“She’s not coming hooves first... horseapples, the cord’s tangled, it’s choking her.”
“Strangulation, choking’s internal.”
“Whatever, shut up and help me out here.”
“TWILIGHT! No, no, come on, stay with me!”
Queen Aurelia turned her head away, back to her own children. Most of them, the ones still conscious at least, were huddled together, taking comfort in each other’s closeness. The closest to her lifted its head, catching the queen’s eye. Glowing yellow eyes stared back at her, not letting her gaze go. There was no recrimination there, no blame. She had taken them down this route, and they had followed her, for better or worse. That was the way it was, the way it should be, and they wouldn't have had it any other way..
“By the allmother,“ Aurelia whispered, too quietly for her two pegasi guards to hear, “what have we become?”
Turning her head once more, she moved her gaze back towards the throne, and the desperate family gathered at its base, a family fighting for their foal’s survival. A battle that they were losing.
“I tried to run from death, to turn it into a fighting chance to live,” she muttered, “but all I found was more death.”
The child was going to die, of this the queen was sure. Opening up her senses she could feel the emotions of the group wash over her almost instantly, buffeting at her mind much as the human’s had just minutes before.
Desperation was the main emotion that crashed upon her shores, desperation and fear... But there, though it was fading fast, was a tiny dot of hope. Closing her eyes so that she could concentrate, forcing her emotional senses down onto a single entity, she focused on the tiny foal. She could feel life there, but it was ebbing away, like the tiniest of candles that was burning itself out, the flame of life flickering its last before it had even had a chance to roar.
As the foal faded, past the point where even her finely tuned senses could pick it out of the background emotions, the human glowed so brightly in her mind’s eye. The emotions coming from this strange creature are so clean and clear that it was almost untrue. As his desperation and anger had earlier overpowered her, instilling her with crippling waves of fear - fear she found she couldn’t overcome even with her mental shields raised - but now his love and concern ran through her veins, bringing back to life an emotion she thought already dead... hope.
“This is all my fault,“ Queen Aurelia opened her eyes, “so it’s up to me to make it right.”
*********************
”There’s got to be more we can do!” Rainbow cried, “Think, Scoot, what else did they teach you?”
“Look, I’m about fresh out’a ideas here.” Scootaloo’s eyes searched the cavern, as if there was even the slightest chance that a fully trained medical team had teleported in while she'd been otherwise engaged. “This is totally out of my league. Brick, Rocket, you guys got any ideas?”
Next to Lyra, the large stallion shook his head sadly. Up by Twilight’s head, the Apple team medic looked up from her own patient only long enough to do the same.“
“Crap.” Scoot pulled at her mane, smearing hoof-cleanser through hair already well drenched with amniotic fluid. “We’ve been giving birth naturally for thousands of years. It’s supposed to be easy; a bit of grunting, a big splat and, hey presto, a baby. It’s not supposed to go wrong.”
Cradling the still form of a newborn baby in her forehooves, all gooey and hairless, Lyra held the child closer to her chest. Such skinny long legs and a short little muzzle, with totally naked, hairless skin and soft little hooves split in two at the front. She was such a gangly thing... even less like a ‘normal’ foal than her own daughter had been at birth.
But it didn’t matter, she was still such an adorable little thing.
So small.
So beautiful.
So devoid of life.
“She never had a chance.” Lyra cried, tears streaming down her cheeks, dripping one after the other onto the newborn’s immobile form.“That’s all she needs, she just needs a chance.”
Craning her neck as best she could, the unicorn began to lick at the child’s pale lilac skin.
****************
“You, the taller one. I should like to speak to the biped... the human. Take me to him.”
Eyeing the queen, wishing that they could just knock her out and get it over with, Blue Fire pulled herself to her full height.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea right now, Queeny.”
Pulling herself up to her own full height - which was almost as tall as a full grown alicorn - Queen Aurelia used the sheer magnificence of her full, regal stature to look down at the blue maned pegasus.
“I can help his child,” she stated imperiously.
Despite her imposing presence, the queen did not receive the response she was looking for, In fact, she received no response at all. Unless the ‘pffft’ from the smaller, bright orange guard could be considered a response.
Considering her options, Aurelia relaxed, bringing her head down to her blue-maned guard’s level.
“Please?” she asked.
Considering the options, Blue Fire glanced from the Queen, over to the human and his herd, and back again. Whatever the queen had planned, she doubted it could make the situation over there any worse. And if there was even the slightest chance that the changeling was telling the truth...
“I’ll ask him,” Fire grunted, “I’m not promising anything though. He says ‘no’ then it’s a ‘no’, capital ‘N’.”
Motioning to one of the two members of Apple team who were patrolling above, Fire waved her black maned colleague down to the ground, waiting to be relieved before she turned and walked away.
As her freshly appointed replacement guard pulled a lollipop from one of her belt pouches and popped it into her mouth, the queen watched the blue-maned one as she got the human’s attention, the purple one’s head propped on his knees, his hand stroking at her mane even as he talked. Turning to the guard who had remained by her side, she asked quietly.
“This human, is he a good... man?”
The short guard snorted, as if the answer was as plain as day.
“Yeah, one ah th’ best. Helped my idiot brother outt’a some bother years ago. Didn’t have ta, would’a been in his best interests not ta. Did it anyway.”
At this news, the queen’s head drooped, her eyes to the floor.
”What have I done?” she asked.
Turning so she could cast a critical eye over the queen, Dodge decided to go for brutal honesty. It had anyways served her well in the past. Sometimes. Well, not that often really. Buck it.
“Somethin’ downright stupid Ah reckon.”
“Yes,” the queen slowly shook her head, “I’m afraid you may be right.”
A pair of black clad hooves moved into her field of vision as Blue Fire returned.
“He’ll see you,” the pegasus stated, her tone revealing that she was as surprised about this as any other pony, before adding “but you only get a few seconds. And you try anything funny, I’ll put you down in a heartbeat. You understand?”
After nodding silently, the queen rose to her feet and made her way over to the center of the room. Fire and Dodge were all over her flank like an inappropriate cutie mark the entire way there.
As the queen came abreast of her ruined throne, she watched as the human leaned forward, kissed the purple unicorn on the forehead before passing her over to the rainbow maned one. Rising to his feet, he walked the short way over to the queen.
“What is your name, human?” the queen asked.
“I, what, er,” the human wiped at his face with what was left of his sleeve, all it did was move the dirt around. “Lero, Lero Michaelides. Bellerophon Michaelides if you like... and I’m a bit busy right now. What do you want?”
“Well, Bellerophon Michaelides, you have won, and I have lost. To the victor go the spoils. This hive is yours, and everything in it as well.”
“Yeah, great.” Lero started to turn away, to head back to his family.
“You should have this,” reaching out with a forehoof, the queen snagged a pair of protuberances on her throne with a pair of matching holes on her leg, “it can help you.”
Twisting her forehoof and then pulling at the side of the throne, the queen caused a panel to fall away, revealing that the rear of the throne was hollow. Inside were several shelves, all empty save for one.
On that single shelf was a shallow box, about the size of a large baking tray, lined with red velvet and divided into twelve compartments.
Nestled on the tray were twelve glass jars, each about the size of a honey jar, each sealed with a golden lid.
Eleven were empty, relieved completely of their contents many moons before. Just one still held anything inside, and even that only held the tiniest amount, barely the depth of a human fingertip.
But for what small amount it help, it glowed and shone like a roaring flame, illuminating the entire compartment, its amber glow bathing those who looked upon it with a radiance that took their breath away.
Reaching in, Auriela carefully lifted out the jar before offering it ever-so-carefully to the human.
“This should help your young one, if it is not too late. Take it, please. It is all I have to give.”
“What is it?” Lero asked as he took the jar, feeling a gentle, though consistent, warmth seeping through the glass and into his fingers.
“It is love. Pure, filtered, untainted love,” the queen replied, “the very last of our treasure. With it, your child may live to see another day.”
“It’ll save her?”
“Maybe,” the queen reached out with her forehooves to push the human away, towards his herd, “it is love... pure and untarnished. It is said that love, and time, heals all wounds. It cannot raise the dead, but it can help the living, so use it quickly.”
“I... errr... thank you.”
With this, Lero turned and hurried back to his wives, cradling his precious cargo against his chest lest it slip and fall. As she watched him scurry away, the queen closed her eyes, feeling the new, ever stronger waves of hope emanate from his form.
“Please, forgive me.”
**************
Spinning the lid from the jar, Lero stuck his fingers inside, coating just the tips in what feelt just like warm olive oil. As it seeped into his skin he could feel the warmth spreading, followed by a tingling sensation. Lifting his hand in front of his face he could watch the tips of his fingers glowing brightly.
“Lyra,” crouching down beside his wife, he showed her his fingertips, let the waves of light wash over her, “here, let me try something.”
Lyra pulled the child closer to her chest, suspicious eyes taking in the jar in her husband’s hands, the changeling queen still standing over by the throne behind him.
“Can we trust her?” she hissed.
“Right now, can it hurt to try?”
Still eyeing the queen, Lyra held out the child, the amber glow from the human’s fingers reflected by the child’s still damp skin as they moved closer. A single drop fell from his finger and onto the lifeless foal’s face.
*************
Just on the very edge of a ponies range of hearing, an almost imperceptible buzz came from the darkness at the edge of the room. To the Shadowbolts present it was virtually indistinguishable from background noise.
Seated by her now empty throne, the queen listened to the buzzing for a few seconds before responding in kind.
Yes, Flitter. I know that was the last of our supply. But we are done, this hive’s time is at an end... I was just too... I was... It matters not now. We have been vanquished, this child needs it more than us.
More buzzing, the queen listened for a few more second before she cut them off with her reply.
No, Suncloak, our fate is sealed, our passing inevitable. Hers is not. I could not save my children, but perhaps I can save this one, the last child that this hive will see born within its depths. And with my final act as queen, I have chosen my successor... should she survive.
More buzzing, and once again the queen listened. But she was not the only one. By her side, Blue Fire rotated her ears to better pick up on a sound that had been putting her teeth on edge for last few minutes.
Really? Then there is still hope for us yet. You did well my children. Now, you are both released from your bonds. You must flee, leave this hive far behind and join them. I will remain here. I made my choices freely, it’s time I took responsibility for them.
“Hey, Queeny, don’t think you're off the hook just yet.” Blue Fire barked, her wingtips moving towards the clubs at her belt, “I don’t know what you’re saying but I know you're saying something. Keep it Equestrian or keep quiet.”
“Very well,” the queen responded in her usual raspy tones, meeting the pony’s gaze before turning her attention elsewhere.
As Fire watched the queen for any more movement, she felt a hoof nudge her in the back. Turning she found Dodge facing off against a changeling guard that had in no way been standing there a second ago.
Wingtips curling around the handle of their clubs, both pegasi expected a sudden attack... an attack that never came. Instead, a second guard stepped out of a shadow less than a body length from its fellow. a shadow that had not existed more than a heartbeat before.
Playing a waiting game, the two Shadowbolts watched the two guards carefully, waiting to see if they would make one last attempt to free their captive queen.
The two changeling guards watched the two ponies in return, their glowing, unblinking eyes waiting to see if the two black clad pegasi would attack them first in a pre-emptive strike.
When it became evident that neither side was to make the first move, the two guards did something that neither pegasus had been expecting... they surrendered.
Sitting themselves down on the rock floor, chitin covered backs ramrod straight and heads held high, they both chittered away in unison.
“If that is your final decision then I have no choice but to accept it,“ the queen replied proudly. “Very well then, whatever happens next I will... appreciate having you both by my side. For what is a queen, even a defeated one, without her most loyal subjects.”
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I'm guessing their next kid will have changeling powers because of Aurelia and if she doesn't I'm glad she tried to redeem herself in the end. But if she does have changeling powers and she struggles with them in order to use them for good. Then I'm going to keep hearing this theme whenever she uses her powers to help someone out. :)
Bitchin', if I must say.
I can't read the name 'Aurelia' anymore without envisioning a flaming angel in armour with a death glare that could melt stone.
Loved it even if the actual birth happened all but off screen made it a bit difficult. This way readers have to piece together what happened from dialogue and observations made by Aurelia. I'm not sure of this is a better than a blatant description of the birth scene or not. Now all we are missing is an aftermath and possible epilogue to this story arc wrapping it up nicely.
More typos.
Flitter, Suncloak, nice references.
4414024 Aye, I got a little smile out of that myself.
This arc has been pretty damn good.
Ah, perspective. It often comes far too late... but "too late" is relative. You always have a choice. You just don't always have a good choice. And Auriela hasn't had a good choice in a long, long time. But now she's made one, both in the sense of choosing it and in forcing it into existence, that it may be chosen. I look forward to seeing the consequences.
4414024
I'm afraid I didn't catch that one. A bit more information, please?
4414353 Flitter is a somewhat commonly used changeling name, but I'm guessing it was a nod to this story. Suncloak on the other hand pretty much has to be a reference to the Thrown Abroad series.