//------------------------------// // Dawn of a New War // Story: Blood Thicker Than Venom // by theOwtcast //------------------------------// The next morning, I woke up better rested than at any point during the course of this mission and with an unusual sense of relief. I took it to be the result of Thorax’s successful recovery and continuation of his journey to wherever he intended to go. Ever since I’d found him getting beaten up and pulled that crazy stunt to get him out of it, I’d been looking over my shoulder, expecting any of my teammates to notice any tiny discrepancy in my story, any little detail I’d neglected to explain that could come back to bite me if put in the right context; I’d kept my eyes open for any wild animals acting uncharacteristically, creatures that could be disguised changelings under orders to supervise me without my knowledge and report any strange behavior to Chrysalis. But now the danger had passed: Thorax had healed and left to look for whatever he wanted to find, I’d destroyed evidence of him ever having been here, and Chrysalis hadn’t sent anyling to capture me for aiding a traitor! She still could, though, and I intended to keep up my habit of wandering at night a little longer for the sake of appearances, then maybe abandon it gradually. Why stick to it when its only purpose had been to monitor Thorax’s cave throughout the winter? If he had any sense in him, he wouldn’t have lingered here; he would have anticipated the possibility that someone might have found out about him and gone away immediately! He was beyond my reach now - he would have had to be! And with nothing remaining to tie him to this place, I could deny any knowledge of his previous whereabouts all I wanted and no one would be able to prove anything! And I wouldn’t even have to lie about his current whereabouts; I genuinely had no idea where he might have gone to! But there was a downside to it, and not a small one: though it was true that I wouldn’t be able to betray his current location, I could do nothing to keep others from finding it out on their own! Though keeping him hidden had been strenuous, at least I’d known where he was at any given moment, and by extension, where he wasn’t at any given moment, and I could easily keep track of the half-dozen hunters who would have had an opportunity to find him and act accordingly if they got too close for comfort; now he was going into the territory where any group of hunters could find him, and I wouldn’t be able to save him from the consequences, simply because I would be too far away! And that wasn’t even counting the danger of ponies and wild animals! But he would know that too. He had been on one mission to Equestria, after all, therefore he was somewhat familiar with the territory and culture, which would help his disguise, and he could probably come up with one that wouldn’t stand out. So despite some residual concerns, I believed Thorax might stand a chance against the hunters, and as a result, I was in a good mood. But it wasn’t meant to last. It was still morning when the communicator array lit up with Chrysalis’ face. Had something happened? In all the time we’d spent here, she’d never been the one to initiate a communicator link except that one time when she’d wanted to hear about the alleged ursa attack, and I’d expected her to do so! What was going on? Not what I thought it might be, I hoped! “Your Highness!” I approached the communicator. “Is there a problem?” “I’m cancelling your mission, recalling most of your teams, and sending the rest of you on another one,” she got to the point. “But we haven’t found Thorax yet! Or did I miss the memo?” “You didn’t miss anything! In fact, I’m starting to believe he really is dead like you’ve been guessing! Why else would your teams have failed to find him by now? They are all good soldiers; a target as weak and incompetent as Thorax wouldn’t have stood a chance against them!” I nodded, but inwardly, I found it strange that she would believe me all of a sudden when just days ago she’d insisted that we find him, without a hint of doubting he was still around somewhere. Something didn’t add up, but demanding explanations from her usually ended in all kinds of ways except getting the explanation, and I figured that insisting on one now wouldn’t do me any good, so instead of forcing the matter, I decided to play along. Maybe I could find out more later! “So what is this new mission?” “I want you to capture and replace the leaders of Equestria and their closest associates,” she said with an excited grin and a bloodthirsty glint in her eyes. “All of them?” “There are only a dozen that matter. You’ve handled far worse in your time!” Ambitious, I had to admit. Replacing twelve ponies was no big deal in and of itself - changelings were doing that every day, after all - but the leaders were bound to be well protected, especially after that fiasco in Canterlot! How would we even get close to them? And if we succeeded, could we really fool their guards and aides and other subordinates in their direct service into thinking we were the real thing? No doubt they would have ways to verify the leaders’ identities, such as clearance codes, passwords, magic spells… For all we knew, they could have developed a morning routine of gathering together in a room every morning and lathering themselves in that changeling revealer ointment we’d discovered a few months ago in front of a legion of guards to demonstrate they were really who they claimed to be! Replacing Cadance the first time had been easy, I knew that despite not having been there myself when Chrysalis had trapped her, but the ponies had to have learned their lesson since! I shared my concerns with Chrysalis. “You think I haven’t thought of that?” she shot back. “Why else do you think I’ve been missing half your reports lately? I had to hear what the infiltrators learned about the security measures! And you’ll love this: they’re practically nonexistent! We attacked their capital city, we keep abducting their populace for food, and they aren’t even trying to make it any harder for us! All they do is catch the sporadic drones whose disguises fail at the wrong time!” “But that doesn’t make any sense! They’re not even trying to devise ways to keep us out of their land?” “Lucky for us, they don’t seem to realize how big their problem really is, or they would have done something about it by now.” “Okay, we’re replacing the leaders. That would be Celestia and Luna in Canterlot, then Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville, and I’m guessing her five henchmares too, or six if we’re counting the dragon?” “We are.” “And Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire, I take it?” “Yes.” I counted them in my head. “But that’s eleven! Who’s the twelfth?” She smirked. “Cadance is expecting a foal. It’s due any day now, and though I don’t especially care for the little brat, I expect he or she will have gotten to know the happy parents pretty well by the time you’re ready to replace them, and foals tend to have an uncanny ability of figuring out something’s wrong even if they can’t put their hoof on it or tell you about it! Plus, with each parent having a horn, it’s pretty much a given that the foal will have one too, and you’ve heard of the weird stuff baby unicorns can sometimes do with magic.” “If the foal blasts the so-called parents, it could collapse their disguise, among other things,” I caught on. “Exactly. I’ve seen a few otherwise flawlessly-planned infiltrations fail over the centuries because of that little oversight.” “So the foal has to go for the sake of our cover, and we have to put in a fake one so the ponies don’t notice anything.” I pondered this. “So we’ll need twelve changelings to impersonate the ponies and the dragon, and preferably some more as a support team standing by to help out if necessary. What should we do with the ponies?” “A few extra drones will go in with you and carry them to the hive. I should have done that with Cadance the first time! If I had, Twilight wouldn’t have found her so easily, and we would have won the invasion! This time I’m not taking any chances!” “Are you taking the role of one of the ponies? Celestia maybe?” “No, I’m staying in the hive this time and coordinating the rest of you. I’ll leave the masquerading to the drones!” “Do I get to pick the drones I want for this?” “You’re not commanding this mission, you fool! I am! You’re just preparing to impersonate a pony and making sure the rest of you follow my orders!” “Forgive me, Your Highness! I got carried away!” “I can see that!” “Can I at least know who the team members are?” “I’ve selected them from your hunter teams and am about to inform them about the change of assignments. You’ll brief them about the details and assign roles; I’ve got more important things to do than repeat that to each of them. You are to rendezvous with them in Ponehenge and take them to your camp where you’ll practice your roles until you’re ready. Psycho will keep you up to speed with the current events that you’ll be expected to know once you start impersonating the leaders. The support teams will arrive later, so for now, expect just the nine impostors.” “My entire team is included in the mission, then?” “Yes. Carapace’s team is being recalled to the hive, but they’ll leave their gear and any caught prey for you to make use of.” “Why not keep them on the mission since they’re here already?” “Because I have other plans for them!” I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. Did it have something to do with the so-called ursa attack? Was she suspecting they might know something they hadn’t shared and was planning to question them personally within the safety and privacy of the hive? Had Vermin woken up and told a story different from my own, a story that didn’t sound like a dream? Or was Chrysalis’ decision completely innocent in regards to my worries, unrelated to my antics from a few months ago? If only I could find out without risking to reveal myself! At least Thorax would have an easier time going through Equestria now that the hunter teams were to return to the hive. “Just one more thing in case it isn’t obvious,” she said in the end. “Yes?” “Even though we’ve agreed that Thorax must be dead by now, there’s no proof of it, so don’t think I’m letting the matter go! If he does turn up alive at any point, you’re still expected to drag him here for his punishment!” Well, so much for that.