//------------------------------// // On the Move // Story: Blood Thicker Than Venom // by theOwtcast //------------------------------// “Sir, how much longer are we going to keep doing this?” “Every successful mission requires patience, Locust, and I’ve told you that a thousand times already!” “But patience makes sense only when trying to crack a pattern in the enemies’ ever-changing defense strategies, and these ponies haven’t changed or modified a single one of them ever since we arrived! Not a one! Even the duty shift rosters are awfully predictable!” “Yes, I know their security could use plenty of improvement - not that I’m complaining about an easy job - but how do you know that they don’t simply have longer intervals between switching to a new security protocol? You’ve only been there a few months!” “Because Menace swears than Canterlot security is exactly the same now as it was on the day when he first arrived here! And I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but he was here long before Cadance’s wedding, and getting launched out by that blast along with the invading troops didn’t stop him from going back and continuing his mission as if nothing had happened!” “I know what he did! What’s your point?” “My point is, if Menace swears that the Royal Guard hasn’t changed their tactics in years, not even after our invasion, what are the chances they’ll randomly decide to do it now?” “Menace hasn’t been able to keep as close an eye on them as our team! How would he know the details?” “He’s picked up a good deal nevertheless, and his long-term observations match the trend of what we’ve found during these few months, and the last time I checked, not even you could think of anything that we might have missed the first thousand times!” “So, your expert opinion would be that we’re ready to move in? Is that what you’re saying?” “Yes, Sir, I’m saying that we could have replaced the ponies ages ago.” I rubbed my temple, pondering his words. His skills had admittedly gotten marginally better during the time he spent investigating Canterlot security, which gave a bit of sense to his claims, but unfortunately, his ego had grown exponentially along with his skills and was now bigger than an overgrown ursa major, not that it had ever been as humble as it should have been for someling of his rank. Normally, I wouldn’t have tolerated the way he talked to me as the result of that ego - as if he’d absorbed the entire wisdom of the world - but he was too far away to take a beating and I was too busy with other things to go looking for him… and it might as well have been a good thing, because if I had gotten to him, he would have needed fifty healing cocoons instead of the ten I’d promised him when he’d arrived! Not that I would have shed a tear over his predicament, but we were on a mission, and the mission came first; I could always rip his throat out later! Ego and attitude aside, I had to admit that there was some sense in what he’d been telling me lately. I’d known since before that ponies were mostly useless at keeping enemies at bay, so it had hardly come as a surprise that our targets would be pretty easy to deal with even without knowing the particulars of the few defensive measures they had, but I had to be sure. I would have felt better about it had the investigation been done by someling more trustworthy, admittedly, but this was going to have to do. “Noted,” I told him. “I’ll take it into consideration, but ultimately it’ll depend on whether or not the other teams say they’re ready.” I knew what they were going to tell me even before contacting them. “I wasn’t expecting you’d call, Sir,” Thunder said, responding to the communicator after I’d spent a good amount of time trying to reach him. “Am I going to blow your cover?” “Not at the moment, but better make it quick just in case.” “If we were to deploy today,” I got to the point, opting against having him recite through all the expected security measures and how they related to the actual findings like I’d intended originally, “what would you tell us to be careful about, and is there anything that could surprise us?” “You’d only have to be careful about getting noticed in your own forms, Sir, and there’s nothing we could find that we don’t know what to expect from. Ponyville is woefully unshielded from any threats whatsoever! I mean, they don’t even have Royal Guards, for crying out loud!” “Twilight Sparkle probably didn’t see the need for them after all the battles she’s won single-hoofedly,” I agreed. “Makes our job easier if we only have her to worry about.” “Does that mean we should expect you soon?” “I still have to check with the Crystal Empire team, but if they’re ready and Chrysalis gives the order, then yes.” “Good. We’ve gotten tired of all the cuteness in this town, even if it does provide some love to boost our regular meals!” “Then eat while you can, because you might be getting out of there any day now!” That left just Phantom, who answered my hail immediately. “Yes Sir, we’re ready,” he told me. “The Royal Guards here like to make a show of themselves, but they wouldn’t be much use against us, and there are no other security measures that we could find.” “Then you might as well start packing. I still have to report to Chrysalis, but I can’t imagine why she would hold us back now, especially with how impatient she’s been lately.” “One more thing, Sir.” “What?” “If you’re deploying now, you might want to hurry. We’ve been keeping track of the weather and it looks like it could get nasty again pretty soon. I can’t promise it won’t cut off your access path for who knows how long if you take your time.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said and terminated the connection, then proceeded to contact the hive. The remainder of support drones arrived a few days later. They’d already been told which drone would go where, and we’d been expecting them and getting ready to move out, so all that remained after their arrival was to take our stuff and get going. “Listen up!” I spoke to the team while we were still all there. “Our preparations are complete, and the real mission begins as soon as we fly out of here! You know already that this is one of the most important missions in changeling history, and almost certainly the biggest one any of you will ever be a part of, so don’t mess it up or Chrysalis’ wrath against Thorax will seem laughable compared to the wrath she’ll have for you! Do I make myself clear?” “Yes, Sir!” they replied in unison. “Do you all know and understand the strategy for capturing and replacing your assigned ponies? And dragon,” I added, looking intently at Buzz. “Yes, Sir!” the group sounded. “Why are you looking at me?” Buzz protested. “I don’t want any free interpretations of the word ‘pony’!” “I know what my task is,” he retorted with a frown. “Then let’s hear it!” “We arrive in Ponyville Castle after nightfall. Twilight Sparkle is the biggest threat and should therefore be dealt with first. We’ll take Spike while we’re there. Glimmer is said to be away at the moment and can be dealt with at a later time if necessary, not that we expect her to be any wiser to our deception than the rest of the town. Once Cutter and I are in position, the rest of the team will go replace the other five.” I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. “How will that go?” I pushed him. “You recommended that the team deals with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie next because the former can make a quick getaway to get help if she notices us and the latter can attract way too much attention to us in no time. That will put Fang and Trickster in position, and the rest of the team will then get Rarity and leave Sting in her place. Any screaming on her part will most likely be attributed to her usual drama-queen self and thus ignored by anypony who hears it. After that, it would be the apple farm, which is big enough to stash the already-captured ponies temporarily and remote enough from the rest of Ponyville that they shouldn’t notice any commotion if Applejack and Big Mackintosh put up a fight. That dog of theirs could potentially raise Tartarus, so the team should take care of it before going for Applejack. The filly and the grandmother will be easy to deal with if we get noticed. Worst case scenario, Brutus will have to bite them to erase their memories of the fight, and any injuries they receive in the fight can be attributed to farming accidents. Lastly, Morpheus shouldn’t have any trouble dealing with Fluttershy, since she’s one of the biggest cowards in the world.” “So you do remember what I said!” I feigned astonishment. “I am impressed!” He rolled his eyes but said nothing. “And Canterlot?” I turned to Banshee and Grim. “Celestia may be the more powerful one, but Luna will be awake when we arrive, so she’ll have to go first,” Grim answered. “We’ll have to be careful to sneak up on her while the guards aren’t looking, but I’m pretty sure I can pull it off without a problem.” “And Celestia will be easy pickings unless Grim causes a commotion and wakes her up,” Banshee added. “I’m actually more worried about how the supports will smuggle the cocoons past the night guards.” “Locust swears on his eggshell that they aren’t as dangerous as they make themselves look,” I retorted. “Which isn’t to say that you can afford to be careless, even if we can trust his judgment. Celestia and Luna each have enough magic to tackle us on their own and derail the mission!” “We know,” they muttered. “Any last-minute questions?” I asked the whole group. There were none. “Good! Grab your shares of the gear and let’s move out!” Sitting on a train heading for the Crystal Empire, disguised as a nondescript pony, I watched the scenery through the window, glancing every now and then at the other passengers, some of which were my disguised teammates. They had each bought their own ticket with the money we’d gathered up from the ponies we were feeding on during the preparations, and were sitting dispersed randomly throughout the train car for the ride, partly due to which seats they’d found unoccupied, and partly for tactical reasons: the other passengers would be less likely to notice we were together, and if trouble arose anywhere in the train car, at least some of us would be in a favorable position for fighting. Ordinarily, I would have preferred to fly to the Crystal Empire, but Phantom’s last report before our deployment had warned of the impending snowstorm more urgently, and I was concerned that we might find ourselves as stuck as Phantom’s team when they were on their way in, and even if we made it through, the support drones were going to have a hard time getting out. Trains were faster, at the very least, and though stuck in a metal box with limited escape options if something were to happen to jeopardize us, at least we were going to arrive at our destination on the same day as the other two teams would at theirs. I’d debated with myself over the past few weeks whether to deploy my own team before the other two, deploy everyling simultaneously and have the other teams wait until mine was in position, or allow the other two teams to strike first and then have my team finish the job on our end as soon as we could. Neither option would have been without risk, but this last-minute one might have eliminated some of the risks I’d anticipated in the other three options, and so far, it looked like the journey was going to pass without trouble. Appeased for the time being, I focused my mind on the mission itself. The preparations for it had been a welcome change of pace initially after the hunt for Thorax and my attempts to cover up my sabotage and keep his healing cocoon safe. As time went on with neither news of his capture nor confirmation of his death, I’d been able to relax and stop worrying about him eventually, believing he would have found someplace to live safely in by now. I had nothing to worry about anymore; in fact, this mission had been the highlight of my life recently, something I’d been looking forward to, something I could excel at and prove to the hive that, though I’d lost some respect following Thorax’s escape and our subsequent failed hunt for him, I was still the soldier they’d known, trusted, and feared! By all accounts, I should have been drooling venom since the moment Chrysalis had cleared us to invade and capture the ponies. But I wasn’t. For some reason, I dreaded what might happen once we arrived there. Something in the back of my mind kept nagging at me, keeping me from relishing the anticipation of completing our mission. But what, and why? Trying to get to the bottom of it, I reflected on everything that had been said over the past several months, everything that had happened, everything I’d done. There had to be something that could explain it: some strange remark, a tone of one’s voice, a piece of news I’d dismissed as irrelevant… but I couldn’t think of anything! And the harder I tried, the more it escaped me! I tried shifting my attention to something else, but that whisper in the back of my mind wasn’t going away. If anything, the closer we got to the Crystal Empire, the louder and more persistent it became, but still no clearer than it had been when I first became aware of it! What was going on? What was my instinct trying to warn me about?