The Canterlot Reactionary force was, admittedly, impressive.
Whereas the Red Right Hoof had surged forth from Clear Skies like a locust swarm, The Canterlot Reactionaries arrived in style. Five airships flew in a V formation, coming to a stop at the same time.
As they slowed, flights of pegasi leaped from their structure. The pegasi flew alongside the airships, guarding them all. Unlike the Clear Skies, which was structured like a boat suspended from a balloon, these were more like the zeppelins of earth, though noticeably with enchanted armor. The long airships completely dwarfed the small yacht, and I was thankful that I had ordered the entirety of the base of the mount cleared.
Only two could land at a time. Still, that meant hundreds of ponies were disembarking at once into the clearing, rushing out with packs, hauling crates, and more in the snow flurries kicked up by the behemoth’s propellers.
Fifteen minutes to offload each of the airships, and then they were in the air again. Ponies rushed to move the supplies and soldiers out of the landing strips and into areas designated for camps. The whole process was a well-oiled machine, the ponies having trained in exercises just like this situation, and often in worse conditions.
But before the first pair of airships had set off, Luna and I were on the ground, receiving the leaders of the expedition.
Captain Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, and one of Captain Shining’s lieutenants, most likely the mare in charge of this army, had stepped off as one of the first groups of ponies on the ground.
All four of them were notably in wargear. That was fair enough, as Coxa had brought Unbroken Radiance and God-Splitter for me yesterday. Seeing Celestia and Cadence in armor was new, however; Cadence wore a silver set of boots, helmet, and barrel plate, while Celestia wore a set of Royal Guard armor.
“Your normal gear doesn’t fit?” I asked when they arrived in front of us.
“No, but at least the standard gear does. It will have to do,” Celestia sighed. “I can’t reach my previous height fast enough.”
“Are you even capable of fighting?” Luna asked.
“I am more than capable of leading, if nothing else.”
“Luna, Phasma,” Cadence greeted us. “Did you at least enjoy your vacation before it was… ruined?”
Luna nodded, “It was most enjoyable. Unfortunately, war calls to us once again.”
“Right, what are we dealing with?” Shining asked.
Luna pointed at the mountain next to us as I explained, “The First Hive, the oldest changeling civilization that we know existed, is in that mountain. Given that the previous Hive we found was filled with Nightmares, it’s likely filled with hostiles, too.”
“We’ve cleared the area for you, and scouted the mountain,” I said, gesturing to my changeling guards. “The area is secure. We’ve also found an entrance to the inside. It’s… something you should see.”
“Where is it?” Celestia asked, looking up at the mountain towering over us.
“Near the top, I’d say about three quarters up,” I answered. “It’s old, and we missed it on our first few passes of the area. There’s something else of note, though.”
“Yes?”
“There’s evidence that someone entered the ruins recently. Very recently.”
“They left some gear behind, obviously intending to egress the same way they entered,” Luna said.
“What gear?” Cadence asked.
“You’d better see for yourself,” I said.
“Is it safe to approach?” Shining asked.
“As safe as we can tell. Which… isn’t much,” I admitted.
“Then it’s a good thing the Confederacy’s strongest fighters are here today,” Celestia said. “Take us to this entrance.”
So as the airships were lifting off and replacing their silver brothers on the landing strip, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining, myself, and a whole platoon of each of our guards headed to the top of the mountain.
Eight changelings stood guard at the entrance to the cave. It was, I had said, easy to miss. The entrance was hidden behind a rock wall that had crumbled away at some point in time. The ponies’ interest was thoroughly captured as we stepped over the ruins of a thick metal wall to enter inside the cave. Whatever structure that had once separated the interior from the mountainside was as thick as a pony’s barrel was long, and that amount of metal had to come from somewhere.
The cave was mostly smooth, and completely covered in snow and ice. Inside, a whole battalion of changelings from the Red Right Hoof stood guard, keeping their eyes forward, further into the cave.
I led the way past the defenses. The walk was not long at all; merely fifty paces from the entrance to the cave was the point of interest. It was a massive hole in the ground, filled in with what looked like massive metal fans stacked on top of each other and pointed down. They were completely covered in rust, and a few of the blades had broken off. Ice encased the whole thing, and massive icicles hung down into a black abyss below the blades. In a space between the blades, a large canvas bag sat against a rock, and a thick rope was tied off around a stalagmite and led through the fan’s opening and into the abyss below.
A few spent flares littered the ground around the fan’s housing, and when we leaned over to look past the blades and down the rope’s length, one flare was tied at the end of the rope, alongside some sort of large crystal.
“What is all of this?” Celestia asked, backing up from the hole. “What use does a propeller have in the middle of a mountain?”
“And who was here?” Cadence added.
“This looks to be some ancient, yet advanced, ventilation system,” I said. “That’s a massive fan system, used to push air in or out of somewhere. As for who was here, I don’t know, but they obviously intended to leave the way they came out. That flare and crystal is a clever way of marking the exit; shine a light at it, or in this case a flare, and you light up the exit pretty clearly.”
“Where are they now?” Shining wondered.
“In there, somewhere,” I muttered.
“So what’s the plan?” Cadence asked, looking around the place.
“Now that you and your forces are here, I’m thinking we dig in and get in good defensive positions,” I said. “Then, we bait out the Nightmares, should they be lurking down there.”
“And the pony or changeling inside?” Celestia asked.
“I think she’ll be fine.”
“She?” Shining repeated.
I sighed, “Cave in the middle of nowhere, ancient ruin, traveling and exploration gear…. This has got to be Daring Do. Unless you know of any other explorers…?”
“Daring Do?” Shining laughed, “You’ve got to be kidding me! Don’t tell me you read that series thinking it was some sort of report on a real pony or something! It’s a fictional series meant for foals.”
Celestia cleared her throat, “Actually, Captain Armor….”
He shook his head, “.... No. You’re joking. There’s no way you’re serious. She’s not real! She’s not real!”
“She’s real,” I confirmed, “and I’ve run into her before, in the Third Hive. I am very interested in hearing how she has come across a second changeling civilization, but we’re getting off topic. We dig in, we kick the hornet’s nest, and the bastards will flood out and swarm right into a trap. If their leader emerges, be it Epitaph or another one of its generals named after a sin, then we gut the fucker. With them dead, the army should be in disarray, or should break completely.”
“Sounds like a better plan than sending a force in a few ponies at a time and risking countless lives,” Celestia nodded along. “Opinion, Luna and Shining?”
“They might not take the bait,” Luna said. “If that happens, we will have issues.”
Celestia glanced back at the entrance to the abyss, “We will hold an advantageous position, and I have myself been looking at this anti-Nightmare spell component that Phasma has distributed to us all. If they decide to bunker down in whatever is down there, they will be subject to some powerful, painful spells. I will need you all to help power it, of course. Shining?”
The Captain looked between the ponies and changelings we brought.
“We’ve only just begun joint training operations. The unicorns have all learned the specialized spell against Nightmares, but that’s all. No work has been put towards calibrating shields, tactics, enchantments, or anything else.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“What’s stopping us from just putting a contingent of guards on this hole and delaying exploration? The longer we can delay the war, the better prepared we’ll be.”
I shrugged, “Other than Daring Do’s safety? We have no idea what the Nightmares are up to. They insinuated that they’ve already worked to free Epitaph, but we can’t exactly take their word on that. But at the same time, if we move out of this position and then they emerge? Stopping them would be next to impossible.”
“The best chance we have is to hold them here, that much is certain,” Celestia said. “But the question is whether or not they are active… Can this ruin be safely explored?”
I tapped the ground, thinking, “In the Third Hive, the Nightmares were awakened by my Weave. That means they could already be awake, or could awaken should I speak through it at any point. Most likely that second outcome, as they did not seem to react to my presence alone.”
“And you have not used your Weave yet, correct?” She pressed.
“I have not spoken through it, no.”
“Then we should prepare to the best of our abilities,” Celestia declared. “We shall delay the fight as long as we can. Defenses shall be established, and we will withdraw to gather our strength.”
I sneered, “No.”
“No?” Celestia turned to me, surprised.
“There’s too many unknowns, and I’m not going to let them have the advantage of choosing when to fight. We’re here, and in sufficient numbers to hold the mountain should they sally out. Daring Do might have already awoken Epitaph, or could if left alone in there. She was at least half responsible for the Prophet’s awakening, though without interference he might have stayed undisturbed. There’s too many if’s to say for certain though. Daring Do is down there, and she’s mucking about in my future city.”
“Your future city? What are you talking about?” Shining asked.
“I’m not going to let a pony loot and destroy changeling artifacts. This is changeling land, by our agreed treaty, and it will be inhabited again in the future. I’ll do my best not to blow this city up, and in the future…”
“You want to establish another Hive,” Celestia guessed.
“We’re so close to extinction. We need to spread out and grow.”
“Agent Daring Do has been careful in the past. Whatever trouble she stirs, she tends to resolve without interference,” Celestia said. “We might not need to be concerned about this. How exactly was the Prophet freed last time?”
“Daring was freeing an artifact, and when I stunned her, she dropped it, and the artifact shattered.”
“In that case, if we catch her when she is leaving, can we not safely resolve this situation?”
I shook my head, “The artifact’s removal might be enough of a catalyst to free Epitaph, should there be a matching one down there. I’m not waiting around for Daring Do to start breaking shit. Need I remind you that we don’t even know how Epitaph is sealed? If we can make sure the Nightmare stays sealed if he’s in there, then we accomplish everything we could ever hope for. Time, security, and a chance for us to still choose when we fight.”
‘I’m not letting a pony start looting my city. Only I get to loot it, damn it!’
“I say we take the risk and prepare more,” Shining voted.
“...”
More distorted sounds across the Weave grabbed my attention away from the pony’s conversation. So close to an open entrance, I could tell that whoever is speaking is male. Beyond that…. nothing.
Luna pulled me away from the entrance, frowning, “Phasma? Did you hear us? We agreed to wait and see. Agent Daring Do is more than capable of fending for herself, and likely will not awaken whatever slumbers beneath our hooves. The extra time will save lives. Besides, fighting Nightmares so soon after your procedure brings risks. They might somehow exploit unseen weaknesses.”
I glanced back at the abyss.
‘There’s a pony down there, touching all my things, learning secret, long-lost knowledge that I need to know. Further, if Epitaph isn’t down there, the things we could gain from such ruins are beyond value. Knowledge, history, spells, artifacts, materials… and it is my decision to make. Not theirs. I will not throw this away out of fear.’
I shook my head and pulled free a spare flare from some netting that covered the left-behind bag.
“We stand to gain too much to ignore this. I can’t walk away, Luna.”
“The vote is split, two to two.”
“... You voted to go in?”
She smiled, “I believe in you, Phasma. I also believe in the capabilities of those we have surrounded us with. But waiting has its benefits; we can summon a proper army to garrison these defenses, and even call upon the thestrals and their expertise.”
“We will return soon,” Celestia reassured.
“No,” I said. “You can return soon, but I’m going in.”
“I cannot allow that,” Luna said. “Going in alone is too dangerous.”
“Then come with.”
“We cannot move forward without a majority, Phasma,” Luna said.
“You’re wrong,” I said. “We’re on changeling sovereign territory right now, and the Hive Eternal isn’t a democracy.”
“Phasma–” Celestia began, but I ignored her.
I brought the flare over the broken fan structure, lit it, and let it go.
“We’re going in.”
Leaning over the edge, I watched the bright red flare fall. Down and down it went. Silently, Luna watched it’s descent, too.
A hundred hooves, it fell.
The other ponies were not happy.
“You can’t just ignore us,” Shining whined.
“Now is not the time to forsake cooperation,” Celestia admonished.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Cadence moaned.
A couple hundred more, the flare sputtered as it spun in the cold abyss, a lone, distant light.
“You’re not seriously supporting this, Luna?” Celestia asked. “Rash foolishness is the quickest way to death!”
A thousand. The flare flickered, casting off sparks.
“....cuate immed….”
Words filtered through the garbled Weave message like nuggets of gold.
‘What could that be? Evacuate immediately? Why would….’
The flare fell two thousands hooves more. The abyss held no end.
“An automated evacuation message, that’s what I’ve been hearing,” I realized. “If there are any unsealed Nightmares, that would have woken them eons ago.”
The flare finally landed, illuminating what appeared to be an alleyway, so far beneath our hooves that I could only tell that it was a space between walls. The ground was far beneath that of the one outside the mountain.
“I cannot allow this!” Celestia growled. “You would throw away our chance at defeating what laid us low so thoroughly!”
“You cannot stop this,” I growled back. “I’m going in.” I nodded to my guards, “Summon the Red Right Hoof. It’s time we find out what we used to be.”
Summoning a veritable storm of power, I cast an emergency flare spell that Bray Call had taught me, back in Hooferville. A white light shot forward from my horn, piercing the stygian dark below us.
It grew brighter and brighter, my own miniature, weak sun. A fraction of the potency of the light that sheltered the Third Hive, yet strong enough to illuminate the First Hive. It was smaller than Canterlot, maybe a third smaller, yet its existence was no less a testament to the greatness of its builders.
It was circular in shape, beneath a large dome that we must have been looking through. The ceiling was easily four times taller than the whole cave was wide. Like Canterlot, it had very visible districts seen from above. Unlike Canterlot, the division of these districts were very different; one massive section encircled the entire city, likely holding practically all of the residents, the business sections, and whatever else comprises cities. The buildings were of different colors; some were wrought of black stone like the Third Hive, and others, white marble that shone brightly in the flare’s illumination. Most buildings, the ones that were still intact, had rooves of metal shingles, looking coppery in color. Every single one of them, down to the smallest hovels and shacks, were covered in snow, with only patches of the roof exposed. Large expansive drifts of snow hid sections of the city, be it parks, plazas, or even collapsed buildings underneath their white blanket.
This massive district formed a hollowed out circle that hugged the walls of the dome, with the hollowed center of the city being taken up by three distinct circles that bordered each other and held wonders of their own, two circles of equal size and one considerably larger.
From our position on the Southeast side of this mountain and the Hive, one small circle’s contents were easily seen, as was the large circle’s, while the last was partially obscured by its brothers. The small circle held what I could only guess to be some sort of cross between a university and a wizard tower. The massive structure resembled a white colored castle, only covered in holes that were once windows, rather than the smooth walls of a defensible position. Tall, circular towers with the iconic cone roof jutted up from the corners, and at times space within inner courtyards, of the structure. One particular building in this complex resembled that of a steepled cathedral; the largest structure in the district, it loomed over its smaller buildings like a child playing with its toys.
The largest district held what was no doubt the head of the city; a massive grey behemoth squatted on the circle, sprawled out with a number of wings jutting out, with almost the entirety of the structure being intact. Interestingly enough, though the roof was covered in snow, I could see ice pouring out the sides from the roof, like a hundred frozen waterfalls. Overall, the castle was circular in shape, with different terraces of many sizes plateauing off from the structure.
From where we were standing, a series of massive, tall windows spaced themselves across the castle’s southeastern side. The glass was likely gone, and the view inside was hampered by the fact that the windows were so thin that we couldn’t make out the details from high up. A few paths, still covered in snow, rose slowly from the base of the massive district, leading to a number of huge doors. Some were open, some were closed, and a number were blown off their hinges. Those doors were embedded in the walls and ground around the entrances.
On the western side, the point closest to the center of the entire First Hive, the building gradually rose up in higher and higher peaks, with the tallest point jutting up a full quarter of the dome’s height. This section had the largest windows, and though many were empty save for snow and ice, a glow pulsated from within the keep, visible through the windows’ empty frames. It shifted in color with each slow pulse.
Red. Yellow. Gold. Blue. Purple.
On and on, the colors came and went, its origin unknown and likely Nightmare-related.
The final district, the one obscured the most, was also the strangest I had ever seen. It was thanks to our height that I could see so much of the place; massive squarish buildings wrestled with each other for space. Sharp angles, tall, utilitarian architecture, and things only got stranger. Whatever the district’s function was, I could only guess.
Finally, there were the gaps between the three districts. On the outer sections, it was a white expanse of snow and ice, with some areas appearing completely flat, and others tumultuous.
‘Frozen lakes and parks?’
I could only guess.
Then, in the absolute center of the gargantuan underground city, green slopes, half covered in snow, jutted downwards until they vanished in a ugly tear of black and green. It was some sort of floor or gate that was smashed downwards, with only blackness beneath its structure. I could see long, massive rails heading from the hole to the furthest, mysterious district.
The First Hive was a city sunken beneath a hollowed mountain, drowned in snow and ice. If the Third Hive was a coffin containing a decayed, wretched corpse, then the First Hive was a snowglobe, holding within its massive expanse a fractured, dead city, slumbering beneath an alabaster coat of snow.
“It’s beautiful,” Luna whispered, unable to say more.
“Nisir,” I said, unconsciously calling the First Hive’s true name from its Weave. “Of course it wouldn’t be called the First Hive in its time… Nisir.”