//------------------------------// // Regrouping // Story: Blood Thicker Than Venom // by theOwtcast //------------------------------// I relayed the news to Grim and Brutus. “Mission over? Just like that, huh?” Grim mused. “Yeah right,” snorted Brutus. “She probably found a drone who can actually get the job done!” “Then why not tell us that?” “How do you know she hasn’t? I wasn’t anywhere near the communicator while they talked! For all we know, Pharynx is just trying to save face!” “I can hail Chrysalis back if you don’t believe me,” I interjected. “In fact, I think I will! Come here, Brutus, let’s see how she likes explaining it to you!” He rolled his eyes and left, grumbling something about having to sharpen the spears. “Why don’t you ever punish him for acting like that, Sir?” “Honestly? I’ve been asking myself the same thing.” Probably because I’d been too busy worrying about Thorax to invent ways to punish Brutus that would be creative enough to maintain my reputation of a ruthless commander no one in their right mind would want to mess with. Come to think of it, had my failure to discipline my subordinates clued them in that something was off? Maybe the creativity of disciplinary measures wouldn’t have been as necessary an element as I’d thought! “What are our orders for today?” she asked after a moment. Before I could say anything, Carapace, Wasp, and Jackal came in, hauling their battle gear, communicator, and other supplies, including two lamps and a cocooned griffon. “Chrysalis says we’re leaving,” Carapace said, dropping the bag of supplies on the ground. “You might need these.” “Any word on where she’s sending you next?” “No, she says we’ll find out once we’re back in the hive.” Wasp dropped the griffon. “This one’s pretty drained, not that there was much love in him to begin with, but I guess he can last another day or two, depending on how hungry you are.” “Do you know why you’re staying and we aren’t?” Jackal asked Grim as Carapace and I were attaching the griffon’s cocoon to the ceiling. “It’s classified,” I told him. “Not even the other drones involved know anything yet!” He nodded. “Understood.” “You should go now.” It was a command, not a suggestion, and they took the hint. They fired up their transformation magic, and a moment later, three crows got out of the camp and flew into the sky. I watched them go. Once they were out of my sight, I returned into the camp and feasted on the griffon they’d brought, then turned to Grim, who was waiting patiently for her turn at breakfast. “You wanted your orders a few minutes ago. Here they are: you guard the camp, and Brutus is to go catch a pony for us to feed on next. That last unicorn we caught isn’t in much better shape than this griffon, and there’ll be twelve of us here pretty soon. If Brutus can catch more than one pony, even better!” I turned to leave. “How long will you be gone, Sir?” Grim halted me. “How should I know? She didn’t say where the others are travelling from! If it’s somewhere close like Canterlot or Ponyville, I’ll probably be back by evening; if it’s Klugetown or Zebrica or some such faraway place, I could end up waiting for them for over a week! You hold the fort till I get back!” “At least take the extra communicator in case of emergencies!” “Your emergencies or mine?” “Either or both. We don’t know what could happen!” As much as I didn’t want to appear insecure or incapable of handling dangerous situations, I couldn’t deny that having a way to contact other changelings was a wise precaution. I grabbed the communicator and left. I found Ponehenge easily enough, even though I’d never been there and only knew its approximate location. Such a peculiar formation of rocks was impossible to miss, especially since it was surrounded by miles upon miles of nothing but trees, and despite having been almost reclaimed by the vegetation! What had its purpose been, again? Something about protecting Equestria? Yes, it used to be the headquarters of the team of protectors of Equestria in its first days of existence as a country of the united pony tribes! I’d read about it in some obscure scroll I’d stumbled upon at some point near the beginning of my duty as First Commander! It was obvious why Chrysalis had selected this place in particular as the rendezvous point for our reassembled teams. On the practical side, it was a unique landmark, much less likely to be mistaken for something else like any random cave or derelict cottage was; the drones would have to be both blind and crazy to fail to recognize it or to mistake something else for it! But the selection also showed the Queen’s sense of irony and poetic justice: this site, once the focal point of the magic that had kept Equestria safe, was about to become the starting point of the operation that would bring about its undoing. But first I had to secure the area. The place may have been forgotten by the pony world to the best of our knowledge, abandoned and unused for centuries, but that didn’t mean some residual safeguard spells or traps couldn’t still be active despite the derelict and overgrown state of the area, just waiting for intruders such as myself to crawl in recklessly and be crushed, disintegrated, sliced up into pieces, or whichever other fate the ponies of that era had fancied for their enemies! And even without such security measures, some ill-tempered wild animal might have decided this would be a nice home! I spent the rest of that day and most of the next one poking around, clearing out the vines and brambles, keeping an eye out for any signs of traps, but all I found were some snakes and puckwudgies that I duly catapulted out of the way, unfazed by their respective hissing and thorn-launching. I tried to detect any protective spells, but none stood out from the background noise leftover from the magic that had once been wielded here. It was unbelievable: no traps, no protective spells, nothing! Had they all been triggered already when nopony was around to reset them anymore? Or had they never even existed? I wouldn’t have been in the least surprised by the latter, especially after what Chrysalis had told me about the current pathetic security measures around the most important ponies alive today! How had these imbecile creatures survived for so long if they were too trusting for their own good? Satisfied that my teams could land safely, I disguised myself as a bramble-covered rock while waiting for them to arrive. The first team arrived around sundown. They looked around as if confused, asked one another if this really was the right place, to which their leader replied that it must be because this was the only rock formation of the right size they could find in the entire forest. They’d anticipated an overgrown rock formation, I realized. Had my efforts to keep us safe made it harder or even impossible for the other teams to find us? The second and third team arrived close to dawn, minutes apart. By then, the members of the first team had all taken turns guarding the area while the other two slept. Even I had dozed off a few times! The newcomers took notice of one another and of the team already here, who had all woken up by now, but they all kept to themselves, some guarding their gear, some pacing around, some just sitting in place and looking at the surroundings. I waited a little longer to see if any of them would say anything eventually, but they didn’t, and anyway I was getting tired of waiting. So were they, by the looks of it. I revealed myself to them. “Identify yourselves!” I commanded as if I knew whom to expect rather than tried to find out who they were. “Sub-commander Morpheus, East Neighagaran Plateau team,” one of the last evening’s arrivals spoke out, then pointed to the other two from his team. “My teammates Poison and Buzz.” “Sub-commander Raptor, Seaddle team,” said one of the new arrivals. “These are Acid and Trickster.” “Sub-commander Fang, Griffonstone team,” the remaining leader introduced himself. “Banshee, Leech.” “Clearance codes?” As if I knew them! But better to keep appearances; they didn’t have to know that I was as much in the dark about my new team as they were! One by one, each drone recited their own clearance code. “Were any of you followed here?” “No, Sir!” they said in unison. “Good. Now that you’re all here, we should get moving! The mission isn’t going to complete itself!” I grabbed my communicator from under the central rock where I’d stashed it soon upon arrival, then took to the air. “Aren’t we supposed to wait for one more team?” Morpheus asked. “The fourth team is my own! I’m taking you to them!” “Why didn’t they come here?” “Because the mission requires preparation and we can’t do that here. This was merely a rendezvous point that you were going to find more easily than our actual camp!” Seemingly satisfied with my explanation, they picked up their gear and prepared to follow me. I led them into the forest, beneath the foliage, where we were less likely to get noticed by any pegasi, airships, or other airborne enemies that may be in the area. Not that I expected there were any in such a secluded part of the world, but one could never be too careful! Soon after we left Ponehenge, Raptor approached me with a questioning look. “Sir, if I may ask, what is this new mission?” “I’ll brief you all once we’re at the camp,” I retorted. None of them said a word for the rest of the trip.