The War Machine
Chapter 23: Meeting With a Changeling Queen Part 3
During the night, I've recharged my core and Luna has made two-thousand, four-hundred and six 7.62mm rounds for my death machine minigun before she raised the moon and taught Eve for a while longer before retiring till midday.
Once charged, I step out of my station and exit the workshop. I notice a few of the thestrals still patrolling the area in the early morning sunrise while the others get some rest. One of them flies down to me and salutes.
"Good morning, sir," she greets me. She's a couple inches shorter than her Captain, Night Hawk.
"Good morning. Please inform your Captain that I will begin their training later today as I have prior arrangements to keep. We shall begin once I've returned," I tell her and she nodded.
"Yes, sir," she replies and flies off to the camp.
'Father, shall I inform mother of your departure should she awaken before your return?' Eve asks me through the comms.
'You may,' I reply before activating my jet skates and head out to the diamond dog den.
The trip doesn't take long and I arrive at the large open iron gates of the den, the antenna for their radio's to work inside is still up and functional. The two guard dogs at the gate perk up at the sight of me and I note their tails are wagging.
"Alpha! Is honour seeing you again!" the left guard says to me with a bow.
"I've just come to see how your progress is coming along," I reply and they let me pass. I see a few other races wandering in and out of the den with materials and other items; for trading, most likely.
After passing the lively market area which looks very well maintained, I enter the main cavern and find it's been improved remarkably with a pool of sparkling water, a crystal floating overhead to provide light to all, sitting in the middle of the room to act as a gathering place. I figure the crystal was very likely sold to the Den from a unicorn at some point.
"Alpha! Welcome back," Spot walks over from the town hall they've built and greets me looking much better since I last saw him. He's wearing a small suit with a couple of gems sticking out of the chest pocket.
"Thank you, how are you and the others fairing?" I ask him. I can tell by just looking around that they're faring well, better clothes, tools, homes, and they all look much happier.
"We are good! Ponies and minotaurs very friendly now, they trade cloth and food for metal and gem. I dare say we do better than Alpha-King himself!" he replies with a smile.
"That is good to hear. I'll be needing gold and gems later to pay Luna's guards, will you be able to mine and gather some?" I congratulate him before getting down to my reason for being here.
"Of course! You help us be better, we help you however you need!" he replies happily and whistles loudly. Two guards walk over and bow to Spot. "Gather two carts of gold and gems! Alpha requires them," he tells them and they run off to get what they were told to.
"Thank you, Spot. If you require anything else, let me know," I tell him and he nods.
"Thank you, Alpha! I shall keep our home well and happy while you away," he says and bows.
"Have the carts delivered to my workshop later today, I'll also have some more tools made for you to take back," I inform him before turning around and head back to the entrance where many non-dogs stare or move out of my way.
Once outside, I use my jet skates to return to the workshop.
I've returned before Luna has awakened and began making plans on my Trailer's computer for a magic powered rifle. After witnessing Twilight's rifle and all the information I've read and processed on magic, I'm certain I can create a powerful long ranged sniper rifle utilising magic. Whether or not it'll be a beam or projectile type will remain to be seen.
It's close to midday and I've designed the body of the rifle after the anti-tank GX-20 sniper rifle. It's two metres long and has a scope that can zoom up to twenty times more than a human eye can see. I plan to make a large battery magazine that would be estimated to hold ten rounds before needing to reload or recharge.
I'm temporarily broken out of my thought processes when Luna yawns while leaving her room.
"Good afternoon, mother," Eve greets her.
Luna yawns again and walks over to the far corner where her food is kept in cupboards. "Good afternoon, Eve," she replies and retrieves an apple. "I take it the diamond dogs are doing well?" she asks me as she walks over.
"Very. They're prospering and trade with the other races is going well for them. Their quality of life has improved and the den is looking more and more like a town than the hole it used to be," I reply and step out of my Trailer.
"What were you doing?" she asks me and tries to look inside at the computer.
"I was designing a magic based sniper rifle; right now I have the frame planned out, but I just need to work on how it'll function next," I reply.
"What's a sniper rifle?" Luna asks me confused.
"It's a long barrelled rifle that is extremely accurate and can hit targets over a mile away, depending on weather, ammunition calibre, and the shooter's aim," I reply.
She goes wide eyed and stares at me. "Could we use that to take out Jackaal from outside Gryphonstone?" she asks me with wide eyes.
"Possibly, but I'll need a clear line of sight and I don't know if magic will even make an effective projectile for a weapon like this. If it doesn't, then I can always try to make it into a railgun using magic to increase the projectile's speed and accuracy," I explain to her and head over to the second Titan Tank still showing some damage from our attack on the gryphon outpost.
"I see, magic does dissipate the longer it's not supplied with more magic... the projectile would most likely fade away before reaching the distance you want," she tells me.
"Hmm, very well, a railgun it will have to be," I reply and head back into the trailer to begin work on altering the magazine to use .50 calibre rounds and make the barrel accelerate the bullet out of the weapon without generating recoil. I'm sure I can handle any additional recoil it may produce, but should I allow Luna to use it, I don't want it flying out of her grip.
"And what is this railgun?" she then asks me looking over my shoulder at the design on screen.
"A railgun is an electromagnetic projectile launcher, that foregoes explosive or propellant like gunpowder to launch the projectile down the barrel at over three kilometres a second," I explain and finish changing the design.
"Three kilometres a second!?" she exclaims shocked.
"Correct, this will make an effective anti-vehicle weapon and sniper rifle," I say and head out of the Trailer. "Now if you'll excuse me a moment, I should begin the thestrals training," I tell her and head for the door.
She follows me outside where I see ten of the thestrals up and about. I walk over to them and they look up towards me.
"Get your soldiers together, Captain Night Hawk," I tell the thestral Captain.
"Sir? We're guards, not soldiers," he replies, confused.
"After I'm through with you, you'll be soldiers and greater than the Royal Guards are, I can promise you that. You'll also have access to better armour, weapons, equipment and medical," I explain to him making them all mumble to each other.
"If it will help protect, Princ... Lady Luna, we will do it," he says confidently.
"Very well. Firstly I want you to run fifty laps around the workshop, then I want you to rest for ten minutes before doing fifty more laps flying. I'll work on building an obstacle course for you over the next couple of days," I tell them and they all salute before running off gathering the others and then proceed to run their laps.
"So what kind of course will this be?" Luna asks me.
"A standard one humans use, just altered to accommodate pony physiology," I reply and head inside to retrieve the materials I'll need for the course.
Two Days Later
The obstacle course is up and the thestrals are beginning their first attempts at it. Most are having trouble climbing the rope nets, but they excel at leaping over and ducking under the log hurdles, as well as the barbed wire course. Right now I'm just looking at their current physical condition, which at the moment is good.
I've continued with my railgun design with Luna's help during the integration of the magical coils it'll need around the barrel to pull the projectile through the barrel. We'll need a lot of the runes Twilight used for her rifle along the coils all chained together feeding the others to make them stronger.
Twilight came by and said she'll be staying in Ponyville for a week as her brother is visiting for a while. Trixie is spending time with her coltfriend and might not return until after her foal is born.
The diamond dogs arrived with two carts of gold and gems that I’ll be using to pay the thestrals with as promised, they also took back more tools for mining and digging.
I've left Captain Night Hawk to watch over his thestrals while we wait for Celestia and Chrysalis to show up. It doesn't take long and Celestia arrives via flying chariot.
"Hello, Adam. Hello, Luna. I take it Chrysalis has yet to arrive?" she asks us and I shake my head.
"Not yet," I reply and continue watching the thestrals.
"What's all this?" Celestia asks confused while watching the thestrals train.
"The night guards wanted to serve Luna still, so I offered them payment, equipment, and training for their services," I reply.
"Training? The night guards were already trained," she tells me with a frown.
"No offence to you, Celestia, but your guards’ training and tactics are outdated and put your troops at risk; the death count you suffered during our assault showed that. I'm going to be teaching these thestrals human tactics and strategies," I reply. A thestral then yelps as she trips on the wire grid trying to hop through them quickly.
Luna winces as the mare's chin slams into the ground. A couple of other thestrals come over and help her up and lead her away to get checked out.
Celestia glares at me for my honest opinion on her guards. "I myself designed the guard’s training program four-hundred years ago," she tells me in a stern tone.
I turn to look at her and if I had eyebrows I would be raising one right now. "That would explain a few things, you haven't tried to improve or add to it? The humans who built me always strive to better themselves, they push beyond their limits. It's one of the reasons I exist: without them expanding their limits, I wouldn't be alive," I reply turning my attention back to the training thestrals.
Celestia was about to retort, but a buzzing sound I recognise as changeling wings comes from the Everfree Forest getting my focus. "They're here," I announce, distracting Celestia from whatever she was going to say.
I detect three changelings coming our way and see Chrysalis with two drones following her.
"She's looking better than the last time I saw her," the white alicorn comments.
The thestrals stop their training and keep an eye on the newcomers. Chrysalis eyes the Apache on the workshop's roof before landing a few metres away from us.
"Welcome, Queen Chrysalis," I greet her and she nodded to me.
"Thank you, Adam. I must say I'm surprised that all these ponies are here, are you raising an army of your own?" she chuckles at me with a grin.
I chuckle in return and shake my head. "No, they're here to protect Luna," I reply.
"I see..." she says and turns to Celestia. "Hello, Celestia..." she greets the alicorn with a neutral tone.
"Hello, Chrysalis... how are you?" Celestia asks timidly.
"Oh you know, starving slowly after you rejected to help us all those centuries ago," the changeling Queen replies sarcastically.
Celestia's ears go flat against her head with a regretful expression on her face. "I... I was fearful for my ponies. I thought you would end up draining all the love out of them making them hateful and cruel... I, I let my paranoia get the better of me. Only now that we’ve learnt more about your people do I regret my actions," she says sadly, head hanging low in regret.
"And because of that paranoia, my changelings have suffered for centuries! Did you know the only time I've had a decent meal since then was from Adam when he came to us?" Chrysalis tells Celestia with a frown.
Celestia winces and closes her eyes. "I know saying sorry won't be enough... but I wish to make amends," she says to the Queen.
Said Queen snorts and looks away. "Then you can start by getting those crystals you promised working," Chrysalis replies still with her frown.
"Of course," Celestia says and looks up at her. "We've almost got them working right, it shouldn't be more than a week or two now... but until then, would some of my magic be enough?" she offers the Queen who looks shocked.
"Sister? You would give some of your magic?" Luna asks surprised.
Celestia smiles sadly and nodded. "It was my fault that they're in this state in the first place. I have to make it right," she replies and walks over to Chrysalis.
The Queen backs up a step with a stunned expression. "Y-You would allow me to feed off you?" she asks slowly.
"A little, I still need to raise and lower the sun," the white mare replies and taps her horn to the Queen's.
Chrysalis gasps as magic flows into her horn making her legs shake, the holes in her body all close and her ribs are no longer showing. The Queen's legs give out and she collapses to the ground panting before a loud belch escapes her.
Luna giggles at the disoriented changeling and smiles.
"I'm afraid that is all I can give," Celestia says sadly.
From the expression on the Queen's face, I'd say it was more than she was expecting.
"We're afraid our Queen is unable to continue, do you have a place for her to rest and process the lov... magic she was given?" one of her guards asks, surprised his Queen is smiling contently.
"She can use my bed for now," Luna offers and levitates the twitching Queen whose eyes are glowing bright green.
The two changeling guards follow her into the workshop where she and Eve will both keep an eye on them.
"That turned out well," I comment to Celestia who looks upset still.
"I didn't know I put them through such hardships... just because of rumours and fear," she replies and sighs. "Please inform me when she awakens, I would like to continue our... discussions," she asks me.
I nodded in reply. "Very well, Celestia."
She smiles slightly and then takes off back to Canterlot on her chariot.
I then turn to the shocked-looking thestrals. "Get back to training!" I order them and they snap out of it before running the course again.
I head inside and to the back where Luna's room is to find Chrysalis on Luna's bed babbling to herself with a smile.
Luna turns to look at me and giggles. "She'll be fine, she's just overfed and... I guess high on the magic in her system right now," she tells me while the two changelings look nervously at me.
"I see, I take it you'll be looking after her while she's out?" I ask her.
"Yes, these two will inform me if anything changes," she replies gesturing to the Queen's two guards.
"Alright, I'll be in my Trailer working on my design then," I tell her getting an affirmative.
I then head back to my computer and continue work on the magic railgun design.