//------------------------------// // CH: 6/13 - Mandible // Story: They're EVERYWHERE! // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// Chrysalis removes her disguise, the green flash making both 68 and 96 transformed into earth ponies pulling a cart with her and their supplies glance backwards. She doesn’t bother with explaining anything. After all, she’s the queen. Queen with growing appreciation for her subjects, but still the queen. They’ve finally reached the barely inhabited forests stretching from Manehattan all the way to Appleloosa so the chances of them being spotted are miniscule and diving into memories has proven to be easier if she’s in her real form. Still, just in case of supremely bad luck, she hides under the tarp covering the cart’s contents. As her mind vanishes from their hive links, 96 and 68 understand that their queen is going for another dive into her memories and doesn’t want them to be affected by anything that might try to crawl out. No reason to waste time. Thanks to Venom, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Chrysalis skips the hive mind waiting room and finds herself hovering above a scorched pony village. She quickly finds her link to the memory - a changeling infiltrator disguised as a Royal Guard in a small group of heavily armed ponies led by a paladin and a pony who, despite her being almost completely covered in a visibly heavy full plate armor, can’t be anyone other than Celestia because, you know, size, horn, wings, and a huge halberd floating next to her.  Celestia takes her helmet off, revealing her flowing rainbow mane cut short and a devastated look on her face. Unlike the princess, with Chrysalis’ experience from the ruthless life in the hive, the scene of a massacre underneath her doesn’t faze the queen in the slightest. Ponies impaled on spikes are lining the road ahead, more are hanging on nooses from the occasional still standing two-story building, and the stomped ground is red with blood. Too much blood spread too evenly, notes Chrysalis, as if someone systematically tried to create a horrifying scene rather than simply wiping out a pony village. This wasn’t done in hate, this was for show. “Your Highness, please, wait here-” says the paladin walking by Celestia’s side. A familiar paladin, actually. Last time Chrysalis saw him, he’d just had his mind shattered by Scream.  Holy Shi- wait, no. Holy Storm, that was it. Their armor barely changed over the years… how far in the past am I? Timekeeping has never been our strong suit. Weird for a species with a perfect internal clock and shared memory. “Holy Storm, I always appreciate your concern, but I’ve seen more than your whole order combined since its inception,” Celestia cracks a grim smile, “Scorched earth tactic is nothing new to me.” “I was walking about what the monsters did before the scorching, Your Highness.” “What did your scanning spells detect?” “They weren’t all killed, most were tortured as well. A few are still alive in agony but beyond saving.” “You know what to do.” “Yes, Your Highness,” Holy Storm levitates up his solar symbol, the clouds above scatter, and numerous beams of light strike multiple places of the village including several of the impaled ponies nearby who turn to ash in an instant, “Done. Barring us, the scanning spells show there’s only one living creature in the village now a short distance ahead.” “The town square,” Celestia nods, “If I were to leave a messenger, they would be there.” It doesn’t take long for the scouting party to reach their destination, during which Chrysalis can only roll her eyes at the pure theatre of atrocities unfolding ahead. Flayed ponies, buildings covered in blood from butchered corpses on roofs, more and more spectacle. A brutal spectacle but still one nonetheless. She can’t stop herself from facehoofing at the sight of intestines and strips of skin hanging from anything even remotely vertical in the square. This is just getting silly. Based on the wetness of Celestia’s eyes, the pony princess disagrees with Chrysalis’ feelings about the absolutely over-the-top gruesome picture of brutality. What the queen wasn’t expecting is a sad sigh from the alicorn’s lips as she sees the solitary changeling sitting under a scorched wooden cross with few remains of a crucified pony hanging on it. Judging by the burn marks, it was one of the still living victims before being killed instantly by Holy Storm’s village-wide spell. The guards prime their weapons as the group approaches the creature who is about as threatening as a cupcake with a sad face drawn on in frosting. “A changeling...” one spits on the ground. “Your Highness, be careful,” the paladin grandmaster steps ahead of the alicorn, “Who knows what it can do-” “It’s just a drone, Holy Storm,” Celestia picks up the pace and soon she towers over the comparatively tiny creature who stands up and looks up at Celestia with a blank expression, “So, what does your queen have to say to me?” she looks around with a sigh, “As if I couldn’t tell already.” In a completely flat tone, the drone cites the message left in its head: “If ponies encroach further on changeling territory, every single settlement will end up like this one. We have no desire to harm the ponies who live here but we need them to survive. If you intend to take our means of sustaining ourselves away and starve us, we will make sure every single pony curses your name in agony as they die knowing who pushed us this far.” “How dare you-” growls Holy Storm. “Calm down,” Celestia shakes her head, “The drone is just relaying a message left inside its mind.” She knows how we work? How? The drone just lowers her head in resignation as Celestia telekinetically levitates it up to her face. “Little one, I’m aware your… superiors left you here to get killed by us but that is not necessary. Do you want to come with us or would you like to return home? I can promise you fair treatment,” in a low tone she adds, “At least more fair than your queen.” The drone looks up, blinking in surprise: “Really?” “Yes, I mean it,” Celestia nods. “I- I don’t know much about you ponies so I’d like to return-” Chrysalis feels the drone’s mind get swallowed by pure rage within an instant, like a tsunami crushing a coastal village. Whatever little love the drone has left flares up to enhance its physical abilities, its foreleg transforms into a spike, and all its strength focuses on one goal which is to ram the limb into Celestia’s eye socket. With a flash of golden light, a beam of magic from Holy Storm’s solar talisman hacks the drone in half before it can reach. Celestia only shoots him a glance as she presses the gurgling drone’s remaining half against her chestplate. “I’m so sorry, little one. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me,” she gives its head a soft stroke. Using the final shred of its strength, the drone stretches its neck to nuzzle Celestia’s but dies before its nose can even touch the armor. “What do we do, Your Highness?” asks Holy Storm once Celestia lowers the drone’s remains onto the ground. “Shimmerville is only ten hours ahead,” is all she says. “Do we risk the same thing that happened here happening to them?” “What the changelings are doing is more dangerous to them in the long run than to us.” *** Shimmerville is the same but clearly without the methodical approach to sparking terror.  “This happened recently,” says Holy Storm, scanning the corpses, “No doubt as a response to us pressing on.” “I had to be sure,” Celestia frowns in grim determination, “Let’s head to the town square.” Like before, a solitary drone is sitting at the scene of carnage. This time, though, Celestia stops the group from approaching. “Can you hear me, little one?” she calls out to the drone from a distance. As the changeling raises its head, she adds, “You can tell your leaders that we will leave you alone. We understand why this was done and-” The drone screeches and, with its love burning like green flame around its body, charges. “Why force it to attack…?” Celestia whispers. Holy Storm’s talisman lights up but she shakes her head. “No, this is my fault. I can at least make it painless.” A simple flash of light from her horn later the drone is completely gone in a puff of smoke, the ground around it turned to glass. This wasn’t just a deterrent, the state of the village would have been sufficient. This was meant to force Celestia to kill innocents or have them killed before her. “Send the pegasi out to scout the surrounding villages. If they’re untouched, we’re going home.” Several hours later, the pegasi scouts return to the party’s camp north of Shimmerville and consolidate their reports: “Your Highness, the villages are okay. There are feeding cocoons scattered all over the place but it looked as if the ponies were going about their evening rather than simply being herded. We got spotted by changeling patrols but they didn’t pursue us.” “Understood,” Celestia lowers her head in both defeat and relief, “If the only threat to them is a military operation from our side then we have no choice. Pack up, we’re leaving.” *** Chrysalis lands in the village square. It’s sad to see Celestia treat changelings better than we did. Than we do...   “CHRYSALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!” a roar of pure rage shakes the ground and the following earthquake shatters the few still remaining glass windows around. “Took your sweet time,” mutters Chrysalis, looking around but seeing no one, “Now where-?” A broad, towering figure bursts out of the ground behind her, grabs her tail in one motion, and flings Chrysalis against the wall of the town hall. A quick love enhancement of her carapace later to avoid getting splattered all over the wall, Chrysalis gathers herself from the ground and dusts herself off after flying like a cannonball through all the town hall walls and landing in a pile of garbage. So much for talking. Damn warriors… The ground explodes again, but taking Chrysalis by surprise twice using the same attack succeeds only in making Chrysalis fly upwards while feeling somewhat insulted at the assumption that it would work.  Queen Mandible. That’s all Chrysalis can gather from tapping into her hive link before her own mind gets scorched by the berserker rage boiling through Mandible’s entire being. “DON’T INSULT ME!” screams Mandible, jumping into the air with the speed of a rocket. Thankfully, changeling wings are excellent for maneuvering so Chrysalis avoids the mad charge with ease. “I have to get rid of you but I really want to talk first,” Chrysalis gives diplomacy a shot with expected results. “I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU!” screams Mandible after landing. “Why?” Chrysalis raises an eyebrow, feeling safe in the knowledge that she’s way more agile in the air than Mandible.  “I BUILT THIS! MY DAUGHTER MADE US GROW! AND YOU KILLED HER! YOU RUINED OUR RACE! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” “I’ve never met you,” Chrysalis calls out, “And if it helps, Venom might be the first queen I actually respect.” “DON’T COMPARE US TO YOU!” Mandible rips a signpost out of the ground and spits on its end, shaping the goo into a spike, “WE WERE NOTHING LIKE YOU MONSTERS!” The makeshift spear blurs and Chrysalis gets shot down from the sky by the piece of wood burning from friction which she couldn’t even see. Wha-?  Mandible is already on her just as she gets back to all fours, staring in disbelief at the long pole protruding from her chest. The punch is the final drop which makes Chrysalis understand the real difference between warrior and infiltrator queens. She can’t even track her surroundings as she flies through another building with barely any resistance. The best she can do on pure instinct is shut off her pain receptors completely to have the barest fighting chance. Chrysalis’ advantage over Mandible lies in her mental abilities but she can’t affect the furious queen at all. Attempting to control her is like trying to pull something out of a pool of molten lava while hanging over it on a hemp rope that’s already on fire. Chrysalis stops time. She’s not able to move but without the distraction of her brutalized body she can at least think. She’s lying on the street at the end of a line of holes her armored body made as she skipped like a rock thrown across a lake. She has a spike in her chest. Thankfully, warrior venom can do nothing to her so the main problem is just her being impaled by a piece of wood reinforced with goo. Mandible is already halfway towards her, charging like a raging bull with unavoidable murder in her eyes. Unfortunately, unlike what common combat knowledge states, furious Mandible isn’t less accurate, she isn’t less agile, and even if it was possible that she’d make a combat mistake it would be long after Chrysalis has been reduced to paste. In Mandible’s case, the fury only means that whatever little empathy she might have had is gone and any hesitancy is replaced by pure warrior instincts. The last warrior queen, the strongest one, the one who hits like a fully loaded cargo train barrelling down a mountain. Damn it. Stumbling upon a warrior immune to mind control really does put certain infiltrator… inadequacies into the spotlight. Okay, so I can’t win a direct fight. An unpleasant situation but hardly a unique one. Pros - we’re inside MY head. Cons - that doesn’t seem to mean much at the moment. Hmmm… We’re still inside my body, though, and while I might not be able to control her, I’d be a pretty bad excuse for an infiltrator queen if I couldn’t control myself. Time restarts. With a burst of green flames, Chrysalis jumps up on all fours, incinerating the piece of wood inside. Mandible’s following strike is significantly weaker than before, which means Chrysalis doesn’t fly away like a punted golf ball this time, but only grunts as she blocks it and her entire body creaks.   As Mandible primes her foreleg for another blow, Chrysalis grows a spike from her hoof and rams it through the warrior queen’s neck. The chitinous spike catches fire along with Chrysalis’ mane splattered by the completely non-metaphorically magmatic blood. In the next instant, the horrific wound she caused to Mandible gets cauterized from the inside and the pierced carapace regrows. Ooookay… just a little longer. Chrysalis dodges the next swing. And the next one. And one more before Mandible stumbles and collapses on the ground, able only to growl and shoot furious glares at the infiltrator queen. “We’re inside your memory but you’re inside my body and, unlike the infiltrator queens I fought before you, you have next to no control over my love reserves unless you’re distracting me by effortlessly tying me legs behind my back and dribbling with me like with a basketball. I freely admit that if we were fighting in the real world, you’d run over me without even slowing down. Buuut, to be completely accurate, it’s not as if I would be stupid enough to fight you head on if I didn’t have to.” “You… are all… pure evil!” growls Mandible. “Aaand I’ve just about had enough. Do you even realize how much of my love you burned before I stopped you? I AM going to feel it when I wake up and I AM going to have to organize a damn wildlife ORGY to recover! I’m taking what I want and you’re not stopping me.” Chrysalis’ horn flashes and this time the walls of Mandible’s mind shatter. “I’ll make this quick - a changeling king. Does that ring a bell?“ “No.” “Next - do you know anything about Scream?” “This… this entire massacre was her idea,” growls Mandible, “She said that the pony ruler was soft, that she wouldn’t attack if we threatened her by killing our ponies.” Chrysalis looks around. This wasn’t just a threat. If it was, the ponies wouldn’t have been tortured before dying. This was Scream’s personal vendetta masquerading as strategy and she WANTED Celestia to see it. “I doubt you’ll believe me but after meeting your daughter, I think I understand why you’re so angry. But it can’t just be your hatred for what the hive mind revenants did to Venom through Hiss that’s been poisoning our minds for centuries, because your rage makes sense. The overwhelming hatred coursing through all of us does not. What is waiting for me in the hive memories?” “Insane, worthless queens like you! Queens who would rule from a throne on a pile of changeling corpses. Queens who only think about themselves- ” “Alright, I think you don’t have much more to say. Disappear.” Frothing Mandible disintegrates along with the memory, leaving Chrysalis in the darkness of the hive mind alone. “Can’t say I disagree, though,” she adds.  She closes her eyes. “HELP ME!” Chrysalis bolts upright in the real world and untangles herself from the tarp covering the cart.  It’s pitch dark, she’s gasping for breath, and as expected she’s exhausted. None of that, though, is on her mind right now. That familiar voice. It was her daughter, it was a memory from when changelings were leaving the hive to attack Canterlot. At the time, Chrysalis dismissed the cry for help with the usual thought - if her daughter wasn’t strong enough, she may as well get eaten during the usual high rank struggle for power. After all, she was a warrior and thus unfit for eventual leadership.  However, Mandible and Venom made it work. They made it work to create the most successful changeling era in history, albeit short-lived.  Her daughter didn’t even make it to Canterlot, that much Chrysalis already knew, but for the first time, possibly in her life, she cares. “Too bad it’s too late for you...” she sighs, “But maybe it’s not too late for us.”