//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Is a Plan B really worth it? // by Elmaster48 //------------------------------// It was a normal day in the royal guard headquarters. It is a busy place, mainly because many were organizing the security for the coronation of Twilight. But also because some busy ponies were still coordinating the hassle that represented the operation for the capture of the remaining Storm King forces, there was only one lieutenant left but still, operations didn’t stopped. That’s when well-known mare walked straight into the headquarters. No need for identification, everypony knew who she was. ¨Tempest Shadow¨ a guard murmured while glaring at the mare with a mix of disgust and anger. She may have help the element bearers to defeat the Storm King… but everypony knows that she was working with him until the last second where she switched sides. She might be still helping equestria to take care of any royalist forces of the Storm King… but feelings were still complicated regarding the unicorn with the broken horn. Tempest continued walking through the base, she was probably looking for something. Eventually she saw a stallion, possibly an officer judging by the uniform and got close to him. ¨I was told that you have some documents about the Prince Deceiver, I want to cross-reference¨ Said the unicorn. The commander nodded and guided the unicorn into a room full of documents. The room was enormous, if one doesn’t know where to look the search for even the most basic information would take days. ¨right here ma'am, normally one need a special permission for this kind of thing, but Princess Twilight gave you full access to documents regarding the Storm King lieutenants¨ the commander said while was preparing to leave. ¨can you help me?¨ Ask tempest. The commander shook his head showing his disinterest and started walking to the door. Tempest insisted ¨I really need your help¨ The commanded turned and walked right in front of tempest to tell her about the importance of his job… when tempest started glaring at him with a seductive smile. ¨if you help me find those documents… maybe I can show you certain things about me¨ Tempest stared at the commander at the eye. The commander found Tempest eyes quite good to look at, he was under the impression that her eyes were cold light blue, almost lifeless… but her eyes were in truth green, both beautiful and seductive. No stallion would call himself a stallion if they refused. So the Commander went troughs the boxes full of documents and brought different papers. A list of reports of places where the prince deceiver was sighted, a list of different military tactics and known allies. And even photos of the guy, surprisingly the Prince Deceiver was a griffon instead of being of the same species than the Storm King or his soldiers. ¨thank you, maybe I can show you something in return¨ Said tempest while approaching the Captain. The Captain removed his helmet and closed his eyes. The next thing he felt it was the most wonderful kiss he ever had… And right after that he felt his head smashing into the floor while he lost consciousness. ¨It always works¨ Said the false Tempest Shadow that in truth was Chrysalis, she finally found what she was looking for. Lord Tirek and Cozy glow were waiting for Chrysalis in the lair of Grogar. The changeling insisted that she would be able to get information on the Prince Deceiver way quicker than if she went with them. Especially because she could adopt the form of different creatures, so she would be able get anywhere and possibly ask question without drawing too much attention. But that mean that Tirek and Cozy Glow didn’t had much to do for the day, so they decided to play game after game of chess in one of the rooms of the lair. ¨You know, judging by your cutie mark I expected that you were better at this game¨ Said Tirek while doing another checkmate. ¨yeah, sure I would had gotten way far in life if my special talent was playing chest instead of manipulating fools¨ Cozy Glow answered while signing in frustration for losing a third game in a row. ¨Now I think about it, I never asked before. How did you got your cutie mark exactly?¨ asked Tirek while setting the pieces for another game. The filly simply signed and then answered ¨it was before enrolling at that school of Twilight, it’s a long story¨ Tirek insisted on his question while finishing putting all the chest pieces in place. ¨Well, we might have all day until that bug comes here, so I can hear it.¨ Cozy Glow frowned ¨okay okay. You see, I was fooled with the idea of freedom and that I would get a good life if I simply stowaway on that train that went to the city of-¨ before she could continue she heard Chrysalis entering the room, she was never so glad to see the former queen before. Chrysalis used her magic to throw away everything from the table where Tirek and Cozy Glow were playing and put a lot of papers on that table, between them a map where had highlighted a specific part. ¨I don’t only found more about that little prince, a griffon by the way. I know where he is located!¨ Said Chrysalis while grinning like she went crazy. ¨take a deep breath, I know you are exited but isn’t an excuse to throw away these perfectly matching chest pieces¨ Said Tirek while frowning. The former queen composed herself ¨forget that, i did a lot of research on that freak. Even infiltrated a military base and stole some documents¨ Cozy Glow smirked ¨yeah, probably you took the form of some commander and ordered that they give you the papers¨ Chrysalis nodded ¨something like that, now I know of places where they think it was his base located. But they don’t suspect of the most obvious place, well obvious for me¨ Tirek snorted and said to Chrysalis ¨what? Did he build his base under your former kingdom?¨ Chrysalis simply chuckled ¨you wish¨ she pointed at the highlighted portion of the map. The portion of the map that was highlighted was up the coast, just a few kilometers from what it used to be the storm king castle. ¨I was here before. There is a long system of caverns where an entire army, including airships can be completely hidden, even if you enter the cave you might not find them if you don’t know where to look¨ Chrysalis said. Her two companions stared at her, it was Tirek who asked the question that on both their minds. ¨how is that you are so familiar with that cave?¨ Chrysalis continued smiling and answered ¨this was the place where I grew up, the hive used to live there. When I took control of the hive I move it elsewhere. I really miss that place¨ Cozy Glow asked ¨you seem to like that place, why did you move the hive then?¨ Chrysalis quickly answered ¨the place where I move the hive has a better view and it looked more intimidating for any trespasser. Still, I miss that cave¨ The place that Chrysalis was referring to was down south, passing the dry bone dessert, just before getting into the sea. Tirek then asked ¨and why exactly do you find a cave interesting?¨ Chrysalis finally took a deep breath and then answered ¨maybe doesn’t mean much to you, but that cave had a lot of passages, from enormous ones where airships can fit inside to small ones where even this brat would get stuck¨ Cozy Glow was almost offended. Tirek put his finger on the highlighted part of the map ¨you are telling me that this cave is big enough to hid an entire army?¨ Chrysalis nodded ¨even if you entered inside you might don’t find them if you don’t know the right passage¨ Cozy Glow then pointed out something ¨that wouldn’t mean that if we got inside his forces would catch us by surprise?¨ Chrysalis smirked ¨i know that place perfectly, I know the most discrete places. Also what place of the cave is big enough to build a base with airships¨ ¨airships?¨ asked Tirek ¨he often attacks convoys using his fleet of armed airships, those fools actually think he has his base in some island¨ Chrysalis couldn’t contain her laughter. Cozy Glow grinned ¨so you mean that we can take him by surprise, and if he refuses to join we can take him out?¨ To the delight of Cozy Glow and Tirek the Former queen nodded. Tirek stood up ¨well, that place is a little far. So I hope you both ready for quite the journey¨ Cozy Glow and Chrysalis nodded in excitement, they were ready to deal with this silly prince, nothing would ruin this moment… ¨I CAME BACK WITH A POWERFUL ARTIFACT!!!¨ It was Grogar, he finally came back from his journey and unknowingly but a wrench in the plan of his minions. The three sigh in frustration and walked right into the entrance, to hear about what Grogar found. ¨This powerful artifact will make us defeat Twilight and any other princess that dare to oppose us, you need to work together to win¨ Grogar levitated with his magic a small purple medallion with an estrange engraving. Cozy Glow flew close to Grogar and ask him ¨cool, and what it does?¨ Grogar used his magic to levitate the medallion almost at the roof. The trio of minions looked at the artifact, ready to look what it does. Grogar grinned and made his little speech ¨this artifact is the seal of fear, there it contains the nightmares and phobias of everypony back when I ruled equestria in ancient times, not even the princesses will be able to resist its power¨ Tirek coughed and called Grogar bluff ¨show us, nothing can intimidate us¨ Chrysalis started to grin, she too was curious to see what ancient horrors this medallion had. Cozy Glow meanwhile was less than thrilled with the idea ¨hey, maybe we should use it with some other fool, not on us. Just a thought¨ unfortunately she was completely ignored. And to make things worse the doors were sealed off with the magic of Grogar, she wasn’t going to escape from this. ¨BEHOLD THE TERROR ITSELF!!!¨ said Grogar at the top of his lungs, activating the artifact enveloping the room in a dark red mist... …That dissipated almost immediately as it appeared, no apparent changes to the room aside from the broken medallion at the center of the room. For some minutes there was only silence, none of them had something to say. No comment, no question or sarcastic comment. Just processing what just happened. The filly was the one who broke the silence ¨our worst nightmare was the medallion breaking apart?¨ too late she realized that her little comment just angered the ancient monster, she probably was going to get obliterated with a blast of magic. Chrysalis yawned and made her theory on why the artifact broke ¨maybe you shouldn’t seek artifacts too ancient. Maybe something more modern, just to ensure doesn’t fall apart¨ Grogar calmed himself and answered to the former queen ¨maybe, that artifact was poorly kept. I’m going to look elsewhere for something more recent¨ The trio of minions sigh and were ready to see Grogar get out of the lair… instead he pulled out something, a bunch of parchment with something written on them ¨But first, I wrote a series of speeches we should deliver to our enemies before defeating them. This is the most important part of every villain plan¨ None of the trio disagreed about the importance of evil speeches… but at the same time the three of them wanted the annoying old monster to get out so they can search for their future ally. ¨maybe you should teach us those speeches just a day before the coronation?¨ the filly asked, trying to convince Grogar to leave. ¨Procrastination is bad, probably worse than arrogance¨ Grogar made his point, he was fully intended on teaching the trio about his evil speeches. Needless to say than the trio grand quest to find the Prince Deceiver would have to wait. An entire day was lost and the clock still ticking for Twilight coronation, neither of them were happy of losing an entire day practicing evil speeches. The silver lining is that now they knew Grogar would take more time to get back at the lair, so they would have lots of time to settle this other affair. ¨why is that there is a dessert between our home and that cave of yours¨ Cozy Glow complained, sounding a lot like a spoiled brat that didn’t got the toy she wanted. Chrysalis smirked at the suffering of the little filly ¨Now you see why my former home was more secure, maybe next time you won’t drink all of you water halfway¨ Tirek simply nodded. It was a long journey, the bone dry dessert sure deserved its name. Even if one knows where to go the place looks infinite. So isn’t surprising the amount of skeletons that the group found on the way, either that or was a good place to dispose of… problematic creatures. The trio continued walking through the dessert, no end in sight… until they found something. ¨Look, a city!¨ Cozy Glow pointed at a city at a distance, it wasn’t an hallucination. It looked ramshackle and certainly was a place of creatures of ill reputation like them. Tirek and Chrysalis looked at the city and were impressed, it was certainly was impressive that they managed to build a city of that size there. ¨it must be recent, I don’t remember a place like that before, I wonder who had the idea of living there¨ Chrysalis commented. Tirek stroke his chine and theorized¨maybe an airship crashed there and looters decided to start shop, I guess eventually became a place for commence judging by the transport vessels¨ Many would take Tirek as a mindless brute judging by his appearance, but her two companions spend enough time with him to realize that he was quite clever. Regardless, the risk was too high that a pony from equestria was there. Last thing they wanted is to get identified, for them it was sad because they would probably have enjoyed it. They continue walking for hours. Finally they reach the sea, chrysalis recognized this place. The cave wasn’t too far and would finally pay a little visit to the griffon they searched for so long.