“So...hot....” Lunar Lotus trudged through the sand beside me. I simply rolled my eyes at her.
‘You should have thought of that before you said you needed more exciting adventures.’ My gaze roamed over the desert around us. ‘Here is your adventure. Now quit complaining. The hive should be just over this hill.’
“Uhg fine.” Lotus matched my pace up the steep sand dune. “Who would even live out here? Probably not a fruit tree for miles.” She muttered. Once more I rolled my eyes.
‘Remind me not to take you on anymore adventures.’ I chuckled as she indignantly glared at me.
“The next adventure probably won’t be in a desert!” Fuming, she crossed over the hill ahead of me. “Besides, shouldn’t we have found them....by....now....” Her voice trailed off. I smirked as I walked up over the hill. I thought having knowledge of the show and fan fictions would prepare me for what a hive looked like. I was wrong.
Three huge black spires peirced the heavens, arranged in a triangle. Dark clouds circled the towers and struck them with lightning randomly. They where connected by three bridges about half way up, with a large room suspended from the bridges. The room was shaped like a large upside down teardrop. The towers looked like the chitin covering the changelings themselves, shiny and dark colored. As we approached the towers a large swarm of changelings surrounded us.
“What is your purpose here!?” One yelled at us as it landed.
‘I am Night Wing, Captain of the Lunar Guard! I have come to speak with Queen Lytra.’ My gaze didn’t falter at the large swarm around me. Lotus looked a little nervous but she hid it well. Not that it mattered with emotion eating bug ponies around us, but it’s the thought that counts.
“You must submit to a magic scan first.” The changeling narrowed his eyes at us. “If not, turn and leave now.”
‘Scan away.’ We stood still as he lit his horn with a snort. A thin line of purple passed over me and Lotus before he looked up with surprise.
“My apologies, you are free to enter. We have had to start scanning any who wish to enter due to...” He stopped himself with a nervous look. “It’s not my place to say. Please, follow me to the throne room.” He took off quickly, heading for the large room under the bridges, with Lotus and I following closely. We passed hordes of changelings on the way up. There had to be millions, and that was only what we saw on the way up.
As we passed between the spires a tingling sensation passed over us. I look to the changeling we were following with a questioning look. “That sensation you just felt was a large scale scanning field, among a few other things. I honestly don’t know everything the spires can do, only the Queen does.” I flinched as lightning struck a spire. Well, she has the awesome evil lair design done perfectly. “It helps us keep out intruders, but it isn’t as powerful as a more focused scan like what I did to you two.”
“Nerd!” A changeling yelled out as it flew by. Our changeling Just grumbled with a small green blush.
“Just go in there. The Queen is already aware of your presence.” The drone pointed at a large opening in the side of the hanging throne room.
‘Thank you.’ We passed through the entrance into the dark interior. There were no guards visible, just a large black throne at the end of the narrow room we had entered. On the throne sat Lytra, lazily gazing at us as we approached.
“So! You have finally decided to visit Night.” Lytra smirked as she looked around. “What do you think of my home?”
‘As lovely as your home is, I’m not here for pleasure. Strictly business.’ I glared at her. ‘More specifically, the business of Midnight’s death.’ Lytra stopped smirking at that, and a sad expression took its place.
“Yes, I had heard about that. How is Luna handling it?”
‘Not well. But I’m hear to talk about what you had to do with it. Or, more specifically, what you didn’t have to do with it.’ My glare increased.
“What are you talking about?” Lytra was glaring now.
‘Your job was to keep an eye out for things like this. To use your changelings to keep an eye on things out of the public!’ Lotus shuffled her feet nervously as Lytra and I glared at eachother. ‘And yet, somehow, the assassination plans of a single earth pony managed to succeed.’ Lytra said nothing. Then she stopped glaring and collapsed on her seat.
“Yes. As much as I hate to admit it, you are correct. Things are not well here. In fact they are very bad. I had to withdraw most of my spies. I thought I could deal with our problems here and get them back without you noticing.” She sighed loudly. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry for that, but my hive comes first.” She tilted her head for a moment and stared into empty air. Then she focused back on me.
‘So you left us. Without warning or anything. Even a letter would have been nice! Maybe a :Hey! I’m abandoning you!’ The air grew cold around me. ‘But instead you ju-‘ Lytra held up a hoof to stop me. ‘Excuse me? Did you just hu-‘
“Be silent!” Lytra tilted her head and once again stared at the air. Then she snapped back to me. “You may continue.” I saw a hint of nervousness in her gaze before it disappeared and was replaced by an icy calm.
‘What...Why do you keep stopping like that?’
“My children were telling me about something on the border. It’s nothing important.” Lytra motioned for me to continue. “Please, continue.” I just stared at her with incredulity.
‘What was so important that you had to remove your spies?’ I sighed. ‘That’s what I want to know. I want to know you had a good reason.’ Suddenly an explosion rocked the castle. Lytra just sat there calmly.
“That would be the reason.” We looked outside the entrance to see a large purple shield flare to life as an explosion spread out over it. Then a small canister flew right past my head and imbedded itself into the head of Lytra’s throne. “A rival hive has declared war against us.” She states calmly as purple magic pulled the canister from her throne. Lytra broke the chitin like container in half with a pulse of magic, pulling out a small piece of paper. She glanced at it before floating it over to me. All it said was ‘One Day.’
“One day until what?” Lotus questioned.
“Until the Queen of the rival hive arrives. Once she is here the battle with begin in earnest. No more hiding, or bombardments like the one you just witnessed.” Lytra stood from her throne and walked to the entrance of the throne room. “You were lucky to have me so near to your kingdom Night. Most queens are like me, preferring to keep our food alive and healthy. We get a constant supply of food when we don’t raze kingdoms and murder ponies.” Her eyes locked onto mine. “Some queens however...” another explosion lit up the shield. “The rival queen is powerful. Much more than I. This castle has been handed down from Queen to Queen over thousands and thousands of years. I don’t know the full power of it’s weapons as I have never had to use them. And yet, I fear that even with our castles defenses we will lose.”
Lytra walked back to sit on her throne. ‘We could help you. Simply ask and I can get guards here in one day.’ I offered.
“Ha! You do not comprehend what I speak of dear Night. This Queen is feared by many hives. She has millions of soldiers under her command. And those are only the ones specifically trained in combat. Her name will not carry much weight for you, but it is feared among the Hives. Chrysalis, destroyer of hives, approaches.” Yet again, an explosion rocked the castle. I flinched at both the explosion and the name.
‘And there is nothing we can do to help?’ I approached her throne. ‘You know I will do my best to defend your people. You may have made a mistake but I will still help you.’
“There is nothing for me to do but wait. Wait and hope we win. Your pony guards will do nothing but incur her wrath upon you as well.” She paused for a second. “Although....”
‘What is it Lytra?’
“Perhaps...you can assist me with something. It will be risky though.” She looked me in the eye.
‘A little risk never hurt anyone.’ I blinked. ‘Well, not anyone immortal like myself anyways.’ Lytra smirked at that.
“Don’t get over confident Night. Perhaps you can stay here during the siege. In case things don’t go well, I would like a little assurance for a few things.” She frowned. “It would be appreciated if you did.”
‘Of course Lytra.’ I turned to Lotus. ‘Lotus, tell Celestia and Luna I am going to stay here with Lytra for a day or so. Don’t tell them why, I have a feeling Lytra doesn’t want them knowing.’ Lytra nodded her thanks to me. Lotus saluted to me and flew out of the room.
“Couldn’t you have opened a portal for her?” Lytra asked.
‘I was going to. She didn’t wait long enough.’ A smile worked its way onto my face. ‘Now, what do you need me to do?’