Arc 10: Ragnarök
Queen Chrysalis snorted in laughter. The drone laying prostrate before her didn't move.
"An entertaining joke," Chrysalis sneered, "but hardly a believable one."
"Your Majesty, I'm telling the truth," Cricket pleaded. "King Phasma did defeat Daybreaker. He just did it in a roundabout way, avoiding fighting her directly."
Chrysalis's muzzle scrunched up, "Hmmm. That is more believable. Prince Phasma was to me as I was to that alicorn: so pitifully weak that our efforts were laughable. He would not win in a fair fight, but he did learn to not fight fairly. Let’s pretend for a moment that your hilarious tales are true. Is Canterlot in our control already? And how exactly did he defeat the greatest threat to our species?"
"Err…" Cricket mumbled. "He defeated Daybreaker by releasing Discord, the primeval destroyer, and used the ponies' greatest weapon to defeat them both, basically."
"Feh! If the Prince had released the anathema to civilization, we would have noticed, even deep in the Underhive. Tell me the truth, this time without the nymph's tale."
Cricket glanced at the other changeling in the room.
"The truth," The drone echoed, but said no more.
The drone was named Councilor Midge, and he represented the rest of the Fourth Hive in Cricket's interrogation.
"That is the truth," Cricket insisted.
"You can't pull the wool over my eyes that easily," Chrysalis sneered.
"Regardless of how Celestia was defeated," Midge interrupted, "can you confirm that Canterlot is in changeling hooves?"
Once again, Cricket stuttered and stalled, "W-well, uh, n-not exactly."
"Explain," Midge demanded.
"It's technically still under the rule of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And Princess Cadence, too, technically. But she's always been more of a ruler in name only."
"Now that I can believe," Chrysalis snarled. "So Prince Phasma didn't defeat Celestia, and… what? He's their prisoner now? Puppet?"
Cricket shook her head, "No. He defeated Daybreaker, and now the ponies and changelings are working together. Peacefully."
"Ha!" Chrysalis barked. "Oh, that's a good one!"
"But it's the truth!" Cricket yelled. "Daybreaker was defeated, and Celestia is back! With Luna being involved with Phasma, they all gain through cooperation. For the last time, Daybreaker is a separate entity from Celestia!"
"Ah yes, Nightmares," Midge rolled his eyes. "The Council has dismissed that claim."
"You can't be serious."
"While it is true that Celestia had changed her appearance," Midge admitted, "the fact of the matter is that this is the first time we've ever seen her at war. She simply could have accessed a more powerful connection to her Cutie Mark."
"What a load of–"
"And," Midge continued, "at the end of the day, it does not matter. An alicorn is an alicorn."
"Except for the fact that Phasma saved Equestria, and thus put himself in their good graces," Cricket huffed.
"We don't believe in nymph's tales," Chrysalis hissed. "There are no Weave monsters, and there is no working with ponies."
"... The Council is in agreement with Queen Chrysalis. Cooperation with the ponies is completely illogical, and therefore impossible. Saint Phasma tried, and paid the price for his attempt. We will not make the same mistake. The entire Parliament unanimously voted to continue the war."
Queen Chrysalis smiled smugly at Cricket.
"We can't be friends with food. It simply isn't possible," Midge explained.
"Praetorian Thorax found a way," Cricket said. "He found a way that doesn't hurt ponies or require them to be podded. We've formed a mutually beneficial pact with the ponies. We can end the war peacefully!"
"No more nymph's tales," Midge growled. "Queen Chrysalis, it seems nothing more can be learned from this Infiltrator. Saint Phasma might be alive, but if he is, he has been brainwashed or mind controlled by the alicorns. As representative of the Council of the Fourth Hive, I demand his capture. The alicorns, we leave to you."
"We will begin Infiltration at once," Chrysalis announced. "The entire city, from the Palace to the slums. With the alicorns and the majority of the defenders located elsewhere, we can secure the city and lay a trap for them at the docks…"
Her voice trailed off as she left the room with Midge. Cricket was left alone with a hundred pink-tinted reflections of herself.
Cricket sighed, "Fuck."
Less than two days later, Queen Chrysalis was overseeing the infiltration. It had taken far too long for her taste; the paradoxical tyranny of her lessers had shackled the invasion plan.
Once the commands of a royal had moved mountains. Now, they seemed to be contested at every turn by drones who had been alive less than a century. It was taking all of Chrysalis’s patience and manipulative skills to keep the drones supplicant and executing her plan.
But a price was to be paid. Everything was so behind schedule that Chrysalis was beginning to wonder if they would all be in position by the time that the ponies returned. The Beastmaster reported only delays, the Generals bickered over optimal Infiltrator placements, and the acquisition experts had been complaining since they had first set off into the Surface Tunnels.
Apparently, moving several thousand podded ponies through the Underhive was a difficult task. Who would have thought?
'That's why we left most of them behind. Idiots. All of them, idiots! Can't they see that this is our final chance? Our last attempt? Panar can only help us so much, the rest is up to us.'
But finally, things had been set in motion. The ball was rolling, and it wouldn't stop until the changelings were finally the dominant power over the entire surface, not ponies. Though there would be significantly less ‘assets’ acquired from the Surface Tunnels than Chrysalis would have liked, there were enough to get the job done.
By the end of today, the trap would be set.
The thought broke through the cloud of anger and frustration that had plagued Chrysalis since Eucharis's death.
Chrysalis grinned at her own reflection, "Don't worry, I'll get you back, too. I'll have the throne, the kingdom, the Prince, and the Chamberlain back. Even if I have to take one or two of them apart first.
"Oh, yes. We'll be doing this whole song and dance again, this time we'll suffer no betrayal from idealistic foolish sons. This time, we are united. As united as we can be…"
She admired herself in the pink crystal. Her chitin, once polished and gleaming, was covered in Knicks and healed cracks. Her hair was a mess, coated in a thin layer of dirt and blood. She was no longer the spitting image of a Queen. Instead, she was a disheveled warrior, gone through hell and back.
And a warrior was exactly what she had to be in order to defeat Princess Celestia, the will of the sun incarnate.
“Nneh…” She chuckled. “Nha! Heheh…. Ha ha! Haa hahahaha! Aaaaah-hahahaaahahaa!”
Chrysalis threw her head back as she cackled madly.
“Aahh…. No more cowering. No more hiding. Our day in the sun, as Panar promised.”
She twirled a hoof through her hair, straightening out a few curls and knots.
“This day is going to be perfect!”
She rolled her shoulders, puffing out her chest and posing.
“The kind of day I’ve dreamed about since I was small!”
She picked up her jagged wedge of Seer Stone, twirling it and thrusting into invisible opponents.
“Every–”
Chrysalis’s song was cut off when the sound of bells ringing echoed throughout the caves, making her cringe and drop her ad-hoc sword. The pink crystals hummed and vibrated in tune with the infernal ringing, making the whole thing ten times worse.
“But of course, I must fight for it every step of the way, don’t I?” She growled to herself. Picking up her sword, she hurried out of her chamber and yelled, “Legate Pharynx! Make ready for war!”
Private Hard Tack was sitting down on a bench, watching the changelings and ponies drill.
The changelings had shown up earlier, and were running drills alongside the E.U.P. in the gym. Having finished his laps, Hard Tack was taking a breather between exercises, finishing his stretches while sitting down.
Currently, he was keeping himself amused by the display. The changelings were practicing getting in and out of their armor in a timed fashion, only they were all bad at it. None of them had any experience, and it showed. It was like watching the rookies flounder around like fish out of water back in basic.
Sadly, Tack’s entertainment came to an end. The changelings finished their drill and dispersed into several smaller groups. Some continued exercising, others headed off into the palace.
A pair of the bugs sat down next to Tack on the bench.
“This seat taken?” One asked.
Tack shook his head, “Sit where you please.”
“Thanks,” the changeling said, leaning back and cradling his helmet in his hooves.
Tack had to admit, the changelings’ new armor looked a bit strange, but fitting. It was a toned down version of their King’s, much like the drones themselves. It suited them well. It was motifs and parallels all the way down.
“Eurgh, I tell you, this shit’s gonna be the death of us,” the changeling complained to his companion.
“Or it’ll save our lives,” the second changeling pointed out.
“Both,” the first huffed. Slowly, the changeling took off his hefty metal armor, groaning the entire time.
‘.... I should probably talk to these guys. It’s the right thing to do. Princess said we should try to be friends with strangers, and these changelings sure are strange… Just gotta say hi….’
After an awkward pause, Tack asked, “Tough day?”
“Long day,” the changeling answered. “Lots of running around, sitting and waiting, then more running. At least we got this armor out of it.”
That confirmed Tack’s suspicions: that the changelings had gotten the armor today, and that he hadn’t spontaneously forgotten that the bugs had been wearing armor the entire time they were here in Canterlot.
“I’m Radius,” the changeling announced, reaching out a hoof.
Tentatively, Tack met it with his own, “Hard Tack.”
The changeling gestured next to him, “This is my brother, Ulna.”
“Sup,” Ulna said.
“Hey,” Tack replied, increasingly unsure of what to do.
“So, uh…” Radius cleared his throat, “What do ponies talk about? Like, as friends or whatever?”
Tack shrugged, “Stuff? What do changelings talk about? Like, as friends or whatever?
Radius snorted, “We passed time by sharing stories of work back in the Fourth Hive. Ulna here was a… grower of plants, of sorts. I carried stuff from one place to another.”
“And now you’re both guards?” Tack asked. “That’s quite the career change.”
“Everyling’s a soldier,” Ulna said. “No exceptions. Even the Broodmothers received combat training, though they’d never leave the Hive.”
“Huh,” Tack grunted. “Dunno what a Broodmother is but that’s… depressing. What if you didn’t want to be a guard?”
“Not a guard, a soldier,” Radius corrected him. “And it didn’t matter what we wanted. We had to fight. I haven’t heard of anyone trying to resist mandatory training, but I imagine that if they did, they’d… Err… Let’s just say Chrysalis doesn’t give second chances often, and someling refusing to fight for the Hive would be going against the grain too much…”
“Oh,” Tack said.
Then he stared at the ground.
‘Thank Harmony I’m not a changeling.’
“Did you… like your previous jobs?” Tack tried restarting the conversation.
Radius shook his head, and Ulna nodded. “Hard to like being a glorified cart,” Radius complained. “Plus, we–”
Radius and several other changelings snapped their heads to look at one of the gym’s walls.
“Someling’s in trouble,” Ulna grumbled.
“What? What’re you all looking at?” Tack asked, trying to see.
“King Phasma’s yelling at someone in that direction,” Radius explained. “Whoever they are, they seemed to have made him furious…”
“Should we...?” Ulna let the question hang.
“No, there’s several patrols close,” Radius shook his head. “Right. What were we talking about?”
“Uh… nothing much,” Tack said. “You uh… you guys play hoofball?”
Radius shared a look with his brother, “I’ve never heard of it.”
Tack blinked, “Right. You, uh, want to play? It’s a fun sport, and I was going to go play a match with some friends at the end of the hour. We’re always looking for new ponies– err… players.”
“That sounds like fun?” Radius said, uncertain. “I’m down, at least. Ulna?”
“.... Sure,” Ulna grunted.
“Great!” Tack beamed. “You know that field northeast of the garden’s hedge maze? Game’s going to be played there.”
“I think I know the place,” Ulna said.
“Sounds like we’ll be there, then,” Radius nodded. “Thanks for the invite. We were going to spend the afternoon leering at ponies through the palace’s windows. This sounds more fun. We– Shit!” He yelled suddenly.
The changelings in the room all began yelling and rushing for the exit at the far side of the room.
Radius stumbled forward, off the bench, dropping his helmet as he did so. Awkwardly, he scooped it up in his magic and began hastily putting on his armor as he began to run across the room. Ulna followed him, one step behind and significantly more gracefully.
“What’s going on now?!” Tack called out.
One changeling, in the middle of putting on his barrel plate, slowed momentarily to yell back, “War! We’re going to war!”
Cursing to himself, Hard Tack followed in their hoofsteps, putting on his armor with far more success, and began the difficult process of tracking his Sergeant down in the growing crowd of Royal Guards and changeling soldiers at the exit.
Time Turner was enjoying a cup of coffee at his favorite Café in downtown Canterlot. He frequently visited the city to sell his crafted wares to the well off ponies of upper class society.
While he enjoyed the comforts of Ponyville, there simply wasn't the clientele required to run a full time business of clock making.
The clock tower above Estrella's Telescopes and Horseshoes began chiming loudly.
Frowning, Turner didn't even need to read the clock's face to know that the bells were early. Five P.M. was in seven minutes, not right now.
"Curious," he muttered.
"Something the matter?" His waitress asked. The pink pegasus was placing a menu in front of him.
Turner smiled at the mare, "There seems to be a rather excited colt ringing the bells early–"
Time Turner's ears flicked towards a new sound. The bell peals of Harmony Counseling had added themselves to the premature orchestra of bell chimes.
"Curiouser and curiouser," He muttered. "Two separate bell towers now. What could…"
Third Street Bank joined, the high pitched bells making his coffee ripple.
As the seconds passed, more and more bells joined in on the far too early choir: the Harmony Chapel's off Sunset Boulevard, then the one off Second Main Street, and then the Middle District's rang like a distant thunderstorm.
"Oh no," The waitress gasped, and Time Turner slowly rose from his seat.
The ponies in the street around the café had stopped and were all staring at the chiming clock tower's face.
It was still a minute early.
"What's…" Time trailed off.
One last set of bells finished off the city's performance. Turner had seen them from afar while walking around Canterlot– especially while visiting the central plaza, and had learned about them when he had taken a tour of Canterlot Castle. The Silent Seven. Seven massive bells, each five times bigger than a pony, sat in their own towers, encircling the palace like holy shrines. They had tolled only twice in Time Turner’s lifetime, and while he wasn’t in the city either time, he knew when and why they had rung.
The first was to commemorate the coronation of Princess Cadence, years ago. The city, no, the nation had celebrated the rise of the young alicorn. The bells had rung in celebration, announcing to the world that there was one more Princess of Equestria.
The second time was when the city burned. When the changelings had arrived and laid siege to the city, the bells had tolled and shook the city with their ferocious rings. Time Turner wasn’t in Canterlot at the time, but he had heard their echos from all the way in Ponyville when they had begun to ring.
They did not ring during the Grand Galloping Gala. Had Princess Celestia been herself at the time– and therefore would have cared more for warning her ponies rather than keeping a semblance of control– and had the Royal Guard not been so thoroughly thrown into chaos, the Silent Seven would have most assuredly sung their deep, foreboding song during that night.
Now, today, they rang once more.
The faded-blue giants swung back and forth in their shrines, visible even from across the city. Their peals did not shake liquid, nor did their sounds echo. Instead, the ringing of the Silent Seven shook the very air of the city; the bells' enchantments assured that no one, nowhere, could avoid hearing them. They pierced any silencing enchantments that may be present in the city, and the distinctive booming setting them apart from any other noise anypony would have ever heard. They did not shake water, but instead commanded it to violently rip itself apart; the pools at the base of fountains and the streams gently rolling down the hills of Canterlot thrashed to and fro from the vibrations, sent into a tumultuous fury with each blow.
Time Turner felt the air in his lungs vibrate sympathetically.
“Bolt, get inside now!” One pony screeched, dragging Time Turner’s stare away from the ringing gods.
The mare who broke the spell was leaning out a window, screaming at a small brown unicorn colt who was playing with a ball-and-cup in the street. The colt dropped the toy and rushed into a nearby doorway, slamming it shut behind him.
With the spell now broken, the ponies began to panic. Yelling, many dived through doorways, locking themselves into the nearest shelter. Others began galloping towards their homes in far-off corners of the city. The pink waitress called out for everypony to follow her inside, holding the door open to the café behind her. Time Turner staggered for the safety of the café, his head beginning to spin from the rising fear and anticipation that was spreading from pony to pony like an infectious disease.
As the door closed behind him, Time Turner caught a glimpse of Royal Guards, galloping as hard as their hooves could carry them to the Palace.
Canterlot would burn once more, and this time, Time Turner would be in the inferno.
Royal Guards followed the Infiltrator out the window, seeking to apprehend the intruder.
The loud ringing of bells began to fill the air, replacing the yelling of ponies.
“No, no, no, no,” Celestia mumbled to herself. “This can’t be happening. Not again. Not now!”
‘Shit, this is a bad time for a PTSD episode!’
I spun on my hooves and picked up the smaller alicorn by her shoulders, “Princess Celestia! Now is the time for action, not panic! The Reactionaries– and Luna, Captain Shining Armor, and Cadence– are hours away! It falls to us to repel the invasion! Order the guard! Organize the defense! Rally! We cannot falter, and we cannot fail! Lives are at risk!”
“Yes, you’re right!” She growled back, courage flowing back to her. “No ponies will be lost today! No Nightmare will rise! Together, we can end the war!”
Celestia had gotten her emotions back under control in an instant, the practice of thousands of years of dealing with leadership honing her razor-sharp focus like the edge of a blade.
‘I can see why Luna was the war leader. Celestia needs someone to ground her and focus her first before she’s ready to jump into action.’
I myself was panicking a bit, of course, but if I faltered, the Fifth Hive would die. Fighting on was the only course of action. I set her back down on the ground, and Celestia faced her captains, who were galloping back into the room from where they exited.
“Princess Celestia!” One of them called out as arrived.
“Ponies! The city is once again under attack! We must find out where the bulk of Queen Chrysalis’s forces are, and challenge them! Protecting the civilians is our top priority, but finding the Queen is our second. If you find her, report the sighting to me at once. We cannot allow a repeat of last time. To your stations! Let the changelings of the Fourth Hive know that we will not be bested again so easily!”
The officers saluted, “Yes, Your Highness!” They barked in unison.
Then, they ran off.
Celestia watched them go, letting out a shaky breath. “I will find a secure place in the Palace to coordinate the defense,” she told me. “I need you by my side. Chrysalis will try to find me again, I know it. If I am taken down, the defense will falter and fail.”
“I have to evacuate the Fifth Hive’s VIPs,” I said, shaking my head. “She won’t take prisoners, unlike when they defeat ponies. I need what few civilians I have to survive this.”
“Can you find out where she is with your Weave-thing?”
“No. It’s muted, though, so she isn’t close….” I trailed off, thinking. “She could be in the Crystal Caves. It’s still the perfect spot to stage an invasion. Trouble is, that knowledge is useless. There’s no way we can clear out the caves and hold the city at the same time. When her presence gets stronger, when she arrives, I’ll get back here to help defend. We’ll combine our forces right now; changelings in armor will be friendlies, and they will be attached to Royal Guard squads to minimize confusion and improve our coordination. I gave Captain Katydid standing orders to do just that in contingencies like this one…”
Celestia nodded once, “Then get your evacuation done as soon as possible. I hate to tell you to abandon your drones, but–”
“You’re not evacuating your civilians,” I said. “I’m under no illusion that what I’m doing might be seen as abandoning any semblance of cooperation, and that it could do lasting damage. But losing my top echelon would be catastrophic. I’ll get back as soon as possible, don’t worry.”
“Then we best get to kicking flank,” Celestia said. “Raven! Where are you?! I need a suit of armor!”
‘I’d better get Unbroken Radiance and God-Splitter, too,’ I thought as I lifted off the ground and started to fly out of the throne room.
Thorax, Coxa, Lacewing, Captain Katydid, Double Diamond, and the rest of my top changelings were staging in the foyer of the palace. They stood to the sides of the room as Red Right Hoof and Royal Guards marched in and out of the room, both to get orders and their armor, and to leave to get to their assigned positions in the city.
Undoubtedly, the First Fang shared my concerns and superstitions about the room, as they were in a rushed panic. Captain Katydid and Coxa were barking orders to the dozens of changelings rushing in and out of the room. Since the changelings had been moved out of the Crystal Caves, everyling left in Canterlot was either integral to the running of the new kingdom, or was a soldier in the Red Right Hoof.
Sticking out from the flowing crowd of changelings like a cliff face against the crashing waves of the ocean was Lacewing. Hovering above the crowd, she was scanning all of the entrances, a task already being done by the Red Right Hoof guards on the outskirts of the room.
'Out of everyone, she's probably the most upset about being in this room again.'
Her eyes locked onto God-Splitter, which I had rested in between my shoulder and neck. Her eyes traced its shape down to me, and yelled to the others.
“Phasma!”
Many of the changelings stopped and turned to where she was pointing, some stepping out of the way for me. Royal Guards stopped briefly, but continued on their rushed deployments– and begrudgingly, the seconded Red Right Hoof soldiers followed them.
“Phasma, what the hell is going on?” Coxa yelled as I neared.
‘Did I not make that clear?’
“The Fourth Hive is here. We must evacuate the Fifth Hive’s command staff and get ready to end this war, once and for all,” I announced, my voice carrying over the chorus of orders being barked, hooves marching on stone, and confused yelling.
"Shit, it's really happening," Coxa mumbled as I stopped in front of them.
"Are we gonna be… okay?" Thorax asked, nervously glancing around the room at the rushing guards.
Double Diamond gave Thorax a reassuring nod, but let me speak.
"You will be," I stated. "I want all three of you leading the evacuation. Get to Manehattan, and be prepared to coordinate with whoever becomes in charge of the Equestrians if Canterlot falls."
"If they take all of you out, what hope could we possibly have of winning?" Lace scoffed.
"More often than not, history is decided by the actions of one person. That person could be any one of us, or a nameless changeling drone, or even a pony. All you have to do is take out Chrysalis. Kill her if you can."
"If she kills you, that would make the Royal subspecies extinct," Captain Katydid pointed out, overhearing our conversation.
"Do it anyways," I ordered. "If Panar decides the Royals have outlived our usefulness, then so be it."
'More like I don't trust any other royal to be anything but a tyrant. Especially if they're Chrysalis’s child. If I die, the drones'll be getting a democracy, whether they like it or not.'
"We're not abandoning you!" Lace declared.
"We're in this till the end," Thorax, of all people, agreed.
"Oh yes you will be, but this is not the end for you," I said. "The Fifth Hive does not die today. Coxa, you and Thorax are in charge of the Hive after today. This is non-negotiable. Now get ready to move out, the longer we stand in this gods-forsaken room, the more I am reminded of the death toll from our last fight with Chrysalis."
'Oestridae. Weevil. Captain Cicada. Every ling that gave their life in pursuit of a better tomorrow. I will not fail you. I shall not fail you.'
“I hate to say that you should leave your friends,” Diamond said, awkwardly rubbing his neck, “But doesn’t this seem kinda out of our league, Thorax? I, uh, I know I don’t have a place here, and as much as I don’t want to put myself above the other ponies in the city, if an out is being offered I’ll take it.”
"Don't worry, Phasma will be safe with us!" A pony declared from behind me.
Sergeant Search, Corporal Bray, and Private Dew had lined up behind me. Truth be told, I had forgotten about their presence when the Infiltrator tried to foalnap me.
They must have been standing to the side, letting the Royal Guards do their job while I talked with Celestia, and had followed me here.
"You three Phasma's friends from Hooferville?" Coxa asked.
"They are," Thorax confirmed while the ponies nodded.
"Introductions can wait," I said. "Right now, we need to move."
After a few more minutes, the last of Coxa's pencil pushers arrived from the far flung corners of the Palace, and we were ready to set out. Captain Katydid would stay behind and continue to help organize the collaborative defense forces from the Palace.
The First Fang continued to try to convince me to let them stay, but I had made up my mind, and now we were in the middle of a war zone. They knew better than to try to pick a fight with their commander while a battle was raging, or in this case, about to be waged.
With a few squads of Royal Guards who had yet to deploy, and a few squads of Red Right Hoof that were both attached to myself and the First Fang, we left the relative safety of Canterlot Castle and headed into the city.
Our destination was not the Clear Skies, docked in the Western docks, but instead the freight train station on the Eastern edge of the city, firmly seated within Lower Canterlot.
Chrysalis was bound to have measures against fleeing ponies, and was most certainly contesting all of the airship docks. So, the contingency plan was to commandeer one of the cargo trains. They would be far less defended than the passenger trains at Canterlot's main entrance.
We began marching through Canterlot. The streets were mostly clear, though abandoned carts and miscellanea often made themselves obstacles. The ringing of the bells had died away for the most part, leaving the city as silent as the dead. The marching of hooves on cobblestone echoed down the street as we went through the city.
‘As dead as the towns we swept through during the initial invasion of Equestria…’
Occasionally, a patrol of Royal Guards crossed our path, or a civilian or two would dart across the street ahead of us. But for the most part, the city was as dead as Nisir. Around us, a general feeling of fear and confusion permeated through the air like a miasma or fog. It parted as we walked, sourceless and thin enough to forget that there were ponies in most of the buildings that we passed.
"You didn't put up a fight when the ponies said they'd fight by your side," Lace complained.
We were marching through an empty boulevard in Middle Canterlot, the general feeling of tension only building.
"The ponies won't be executed if the Fourth Hive gets their hooves on them," I stressed.
"This doesn't make any sense," Coxa said to himself. "The entire Badlands' border is guarded. How could the Fourth Hive have slipped through?"
"I don't think that matters anymore," Sergeant Search said. "They're here now."
The medians in the center of the road that overflowed with flowers abruptly came to an end as we passed into Lower Canterlot.
"Oestridae died by your side," Lace said, voice wavering. "You don't think we're not prepared to do the same? That we need to be coddled?"
“And I’m a Praetorian,” Thorax pointed out. “I know how to hold my own in a fight.”
“You’re very brave,” Diamond said. “And suicidal.”
I sighed, "I need Coxa and Thorax to lead the Hive. Coxa knows how to run the Hive, and Thorax has the heart and vision to keep it on the right path."
“That’s sweet,” Thorax smiled.
"And me?" Lace asked.
"I dunno, you're kinda useless," I grinned. "If I let you stay, then there would be no way to convince Coxa to leave."
"Damn right," Coxa grunted. "I think leaving you is stupid, though. Our best chance at winning is hitting them with everything we've got."
"Which is why Luna, Cadence, Shining, and I will be hitting Chrysalis directly when they all show up. I need you guys out from under our hooves and somewhere safe."
The pointless argument continued until we reached the train yard.
The industrial sector had been even quieter than Upper and Middle Canterlot, right up until we started running into the pony patrols that were moving between the different perimeter sections of Canterlot's defenses.
A patrol was waiting on the main road, their defenses facing inward.
"Halt" A unicorn yelled at our formation. "No pony is to enter or leave Canterlot! The trains are closed! Go back to your homes at once!"
"Are you blind, or just daft?!" I yelled back, not slowing down. "I am King Phasmatodea of the Fifth Hive. Step aside, soldier, and let us through!"
The pony hesitated and then continued again, "Halt! No pony is to–"
"For Harmony's sake, step aside, Private!" A unicorn yelled from atop a building to the side of the entrance. "Even from up here I can see that they're not civilians! Move aside! You there, I will be down in a moment!"
With that, the unicorn's helmeted head vanished as she backed away from the edge of the roof.
“Keep moving,” I ordered, and pointed to one of the trains laying in the yard. “Get that one up and running, that’s your ticket out. It had three passenger cars, enough to carry everyone we were evacuating. Lace, get to decoupling the cargo cars. There’s a connection between the last passenger car and the first of the cargo cars, remove that connection. Coxa, get the engine running, or find someone who can. Thorax, get any ponies on the train off of it without a fight, then make sure everyling’s situated and accounted for.”
I slowed to a halt, planting God-Splitter’s head onto the ground and wrapping a hoof around the handle. The changelings passed me, but the Royal Guards and Red Right Hoof soldiers slowed, looking for directions.
“The Red Right Hoof attached to the command staff, secure the train,” I ordered. “Royal Guards and the rest of the Red Right Hoof, stay with me. We’ll head right back to the castle the moment that train leaves this yard.”
The changelings and ponies nodded, and we waited as the unicorn officer finally exited the building.
“Right, Your Majesty– wait, where are they going?” She asked, staring at the changelings heading across the train tracks.
“We are evacuating the Fifth Hive’s command staff out of the city,” I said.
“Errr…. I’ve received no notice about this, King Phasma. My standing orders are to prevent anypony from entering or leaving the city. There simply is no safe way out, so your ponies– err, changelings, will have to shelter inside the city.”
‘This is exactly what I feared and planned for.’
“If the Fourth Hive captures my changelings, they will not be taking prisoners,” I said to the pony, looking down at her. “I will not let my command staff be executed.”
“What are they– you’re commandeering a train?! All of our orders state that the city must be locked down! We can’t let a panic start! The last thing the Guard needs is a stampede for the only exits, which can’t even bring ponies out of the city in the chaos!”
I checked behind me. The streets were still completely empty, with every pony taking shelter inside. I could even see a few looking through windows at me.
“There doesn’t seem to be a risk of that,” I pointed out. “Princess Celestia authorized this evacuation. You gonna try to overrule her?”
The officer pawed at the ground nervously, “No. Just… get your command staff out of the city quickly. The engineers are taking shelter in that building over there, if you need them.”
I blinked in surprise, “I didn’t expect it to be this easy.”
Bray flinched back, "Why would you say–?!"
An alarm bell started ringing.
“Contact!” Some pony screamed.
I facehooved, “I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that!”
“That’s the Northern flank!” The officer yelled, beginning to gallop away. “Interior defenses! Ponies, to me!”
“One squad reinforce the train’s defenses. The rest of you, we’re holding the line,” I told my soldiers.
We ran after the Equestrian officer, heading for the Northern flank. The flank appeared to be a small road closed and barricaded, with the simple wooden beam gate reinforced with several cut logs, pulled from the yard.
Before we even made it halfway across the yard, the gate exploded. Splinters the size of ponies were sent hurtling into the ground and buildings around the entrance as a massive creature tore through the defenses as if they were wet paper.
Ponies scattered, leaping out of its path as it dove to the ground. The creature of a massive armored worm, the color of lapis lazuli. Its head was a spiked pit. Ringed with teeth the size of my whole body. Behind its smooth head, a mane of blood red quills jutted out, each as tall as a manticore.
The thing screeched as it quite literally carved a path of destruction through the yard, ripping apart train tracks like they weren't even there.
"What in Harmony's name is that?!" Sergeant Search yelled.
"I have no idea," I replied, readying my hammer.
"Tatzelwurm!" A changeling yelled from the forward group. They had only just reached the train.
"One of those, apparently. Anyone know how to kill it?" I asked as it slowly veered to a warehouse and plowed right through the buildings front façade.
'Apparently Chrysalis doesn't care about getting the city intact.'
"We have to sever the central nervous cluster!" A changeling yelled.
I examined the worm's segmented body, but there was no obvious weak point.
I yelled back, "Where's that?!"
"No clue!"
I noticed a group of pegasi flying evasive above the Tatzelwurm. Blue bolts streaked through their formation, and some swerved recklessly to avoid getting hit.
Tracing the bolts' firing arcs, I saw the Tatzelwurm rearing up and back over itself, before lunging forward and snapping a metal train engine in half. The magical bolts were being shot from a group of four Praetorians sitting at the back of the worm's mane, taking pot shots as they ducked in and out of cover. Curiously, their signature Praetorian helmets had a red stripe down the center.
More yelling drew our attention back to the shattered ad-hoc barricade. In the wake of the Tatzelwurm’s fury, changeling Legionnaires had arrived, immediately putting pressure on the bewildered pony defenders.
"Put pressure on those loyalists! Don’t let them get any farther! I'll keep that thing's attention away!" I ordered the soldiers.
With a yell of uncontained fury, I took to the skies, and charged the Tatzelwurm's head. The giant was rearing back once more, preparing to strike against another idle train. The evacuation’s train was immediately behind the worm’s target, and would almost certainly be destroyed in the worm’s follow-through.
Errant spellfire dazzled and screeched through the air as the Second Invasion of Canterlot began in earnest; the two sides clashed, exchanging spellfire, but I could not spare even a single glance in their direction.
Instead, I put my faith in the drones and ponies to hold off the reinforcements as I focused on keeping the giant at bay.
Coxa leaned against the railing, yelling at the changelings rushing below on the platform.
“Worm, get that coal car loaded yesterday! Springtail, I want those love-crates loaded up in two minutes flat! Thorax, is everyling ready?!”
Thorax looked up at Coxa, “Other than everyone you’re giving orders to, yes! Is the engine ready to go?”
Coxa kicked the barrel shape of the engine behind him, “We’re getting the fuel topped off! Three minutes, and we’re off!”
An explosion shook the train slightly. The groaning of metal overshadowed the yelling momentarily as a nearby train bent horribly.
‘This fighting is getting far too close!’
Phasma was keeping the Tatzelwurm at bay, while the soldiers likewise kept the Fourth Hive busy. Still, both forces had limited ability to keep the enemy contained.
‘We need to hurry this up.’
“Tibia! You got thirty seconds to get this train moving!” Coxa ordered, turning around to face the interior of the engine.
The beleaguered drone cringed, “I don’t know what half of these levers even do! I–”
“Figure it out, or start guessing. This is no time for caution!” Coxa dismissed the drone’s concerns. “Thirty seconds!”
“Coxa! I got ponies in the nearby warehouse asking what the Tartarus is going on. What should I tell them?!”
Coxa grunted and leaned back to address Thorax, “Ignore them, and get aboard! The rest of you lot, finish your tasks and hop on!”
“We’ve got at least another minute,” a nearby drone said, staring past the engine’s nose.
The drone was a Red Right Hoof Lieutenant, as indicated by the ad-hoc paint pattern on his pauldrons.
“We’re going to be a big target, and I have no idea how fast we’ll be going backwards,” Coxa stressed, giving the train yard’s exit a withered glare.
The train was facing inwards, towards Canterlot, with the carriage cars towards the exit. Lace had managed to decouple the freight cars and together with a couple of other drones, had pushed them onto another track. The pony engineer they had press-ganged into helping was hiding behind a junction box, watching Phasma duel the Tatzelwurm.
Coxa shook his head, “If only these ponies had turned the train around for us… No use crying over spilled love, we’re moving now! Worm! The coal! That cart is the last load!”
“Aye, sir!”
With a deep breath, Coxa yelled, “All aboard! All aboard! Tibia, time’s up! Move us out, now!”
‘Anyling left behind can jump aboard, or fly to the train. We’ve got to go, and we’ve got to go now!’
The coal-dust-coated drone sighed heavily, “Here goes nothing.”
Pulling levers and flicking switches, the drone got a reaction out of the engine. Spewing smoke as black as tar, the engine lurched suddenly, beginning to pull itself inwards, towards Canterlot.
“Reverse, damn it!” Coxa yelled.
A shard of lightning shattered the forward facing window next to him, forcing him to duck back into the cover of the engine compartment. Their movement had alerted the Fourth Hive of the train’s operation status, and had just put a target on their front.
“Take us away from the fighting, Tibia! Away!” Coxa yelled, grabbing a shovel with his magic and beginning to shovel coal into the open furnace hatch.
“I’m fucking trying!” Tibia screeched back, desperately pulling an oversized lever back.
With another lurch, this time sending Coxa to the floor, the train halted. Then, it began backpedaling.
A piece of red hot stone embedded itself in the wall next to Coxa. The Red Right Hoof Lieutenant ducked inside, taking up position by the shattered window. Several shards of ice shattered against his armor.
“These Uttu-fodder really don’t want us to leave,” the soldier groaned as he lined up a shot.
“No shit!” Coxa moaned, scrambling back to his hooves and getting back to shoveling coal.
But they were leaving. Slowly, picking up more speed with each passing second, the train was backing out of the chaotic rail yard. Scorch marks now decorating the engine’s hull, the evacuation was underway.
But up ahead, the outnumbered ponies and Red Right Hoof changelings were being forced to pull back. That meant there were more and more positions opening fire upon the train.
“Speaking of spiders–” The Red Right Hoof Lieutenant began to say, but a spear of ice as big as Coxa’s foreleg rammed straight through the soldier’s muzzle, impaling him to the back wall of the engine car with a sickening ripping sound and groan of metal. With no protective enchantments on the armor, a direct face shot was deadly.
"Fuck!" Coxa reeled back from shock.
Tibia screamed as Coxa recovered and took up the soldier's former spot behind the window.
‘Ah. Spiders.’
Bounding across the battlefield from the shattered gate were five– no, six Great Uttu spiders. Riding atop their backs, changeling riders were guiding the monsters using reins, and were firing spells at the train and the wall above and around the exit.
“How did they manage to tame those?!” Coxa wondered, firing an Empowered Will laser bolt out the window, striking one of the riders and sending them flying off their saddle.
Though his main trade was leading the Hive, every changeling alive was a soldier in some way. Coxa had, of course, participated in the mandatory combat training, and had continued to drill with Phasma following the establishment of the Fifth Hive.
That shot was lucky, though.
The Uttu spider simply continued on its way, heedless of its rider’s demise. The creature dodged to the left to avoid a followup shot, and began crawling across the front of a warehouse. It was distracted by an opened window, choosing instead to find something– or rather, someone to feast on inside.
The train was still picking up speed, and the rest of the Uttu were slowly failing to catch up. Coxa smiled as he saw the gray and brown spiked arachnids slow down. The train passed through the wall that rose above the yard’s main exit, officially leaving the city. The evacuation was now on Canterhorn’s mountainside, and the shrinking figures of the battle had an even harder time hitting them.
The metal under Coxa's hooves vibrated as the Tatzelwurm growled out a challenge. The beast made directly for the fleeing train, tearing apart the tracks in its unbridled fury.
Coxa knew that it's weak point was within its skull, but only a direct hit to the top of the skull would have a chance at piercing the bone. Given how the worm was testing, turning, rolling, and thrashing, such an attack was impossible.
He spied Phasma whacking the creature's head in ineffectively. God-Splitter was good against armor and magical armor, but the spell-resistant hide was perfect for taking blunt impacts. For all of the King's efforts, the worm was merely pushed aside or enraged, and nothing more.
"That thing's gaining on us!" Tibia yelled, looking out the front-facing window on the other side of the coal hatch. "What do we do?!"
"All we can do is push it!" Coxa growled in frustration. "Do you…" he trailed off when he looked at Tibia.
It was what was past Tibia that had stalled him. The open space between the engine car and the coal car held glimpses of the rolling forests and fields beyond Canterhorn Mountain. Slowly, an idea formed.
"If pushing it is all we can do, then that's exactly what we're going to do!" Coxa leaned out of the engine car and waved, "Phasma!"
Phasma didn't hear Coxa. He was too far away, and Coxa's cries were drowned out by the howling of wind and the steady chugga-chugga of the engine and wheels.
Frustrated, Coxa fired a volley of tiny magical missiles at Phasma. Most missed, but a few pinged off his magical armor, making him look around for the source. He caught sight of Coxa gesticulating madly towards the far side of the train.
Towards the cliff.
Phasma didn't nod, instead choosing flying away from the worm, towards the mountain.
'We won't have much time!'
"Alright, Tibia!" Coxa called out, bringing himself back inside the train. "Are we at full speed?!"
"Of course we are!" The distressed drone hissed.
"Good, then–"
Coxa and Tibia suddenly slammed into the front of the engine room, Tibia yelling in pain as he pulled a hindleg out of the open furnace. Pulling himself up, Coxa saw that the Tatzelwurm had not only caught up to the train, but had bitten into the front of it, holding on and not letting go.
“Remind me why we’re escaping by train?!” He groaned.
“Because they’re going to be watching the skies!” Tibia answered.
“That was rhetorical– nevermind, just hit that thing! We have to make it let go!”
Wrapping his hooves around a metal strut, Coxa held on as he tried to aim his horn at the head of the Tatzelwurm. The worm thrashed from side to side, jostling Coxa and keeping him from aiming. All the same, Coxa fired spells wildly. Focused will laser blasts, ice shard sprays, and a stray fireball did little to hurt the beast, but Coxa kept giving it his all. The beast did not let go. Instead, teeth crunched inwards, tearing deeper into the engine's nose.
Phasma, now nothing more than a blur, dived down the mountainside, no more than a meter above the steeply sloped surface. With God-Splitter extended in front of him, the Royal pulled out of the dive and leveled with the worm.
Not a second later, Phasma hit the Tatzelwurm. With such force, not even the beast's thick outer layer was invulnerable. A sickening crack accompanied a rather nauseating amount of give in the creature's side. The thing screeched in pain, the guttural sound left Coxa’s ears ringing.
More importantly, the impact had pushed the worm. Before the hit, the worm was traveling along the tracks, ripping them apart as it rolled over them. Now, the Tatzelwurm was rolling, writhing, and spinning away, towards the mountain's cliff. The Praetorians that once clung to its back had either been thrown completely free, or were crushed into paste under its weight.
Phasma continued to push and hammer and roll the monster as much as he could, but it was his initial momentum that did all the work. The creature attempted to recapture its own momentum by wiggling around and squirming into the blast. The effort doomed it.
It might have slowed down before hitting the rails of the passenger lines, right before the cliff at the edge of the tail lines, but it's own efforts gave the worm the last nudge it needed to break past the rails and protective enchantments at the cliff's edge.
Coxa watched as the worm dropped from sight, its long body slowly following its head as it unwillingly dived off Canterhorn's legendary steep slope.
"Coxa! The engine!" Tibia yelled, pointing at the engine's wound.
The entire front third was an unrecognizable mesh of twisted metal and pouring smoke. The engine wheels were sparking and screeching around them as the engine had once more been knocked off its track.
"Decouple the car! There's no saving it this time!" Coxa ordered.
Even if they got the engine back on the rails, there was no way that its wheels would fit back on them in their condition. Point in case, one forward piston jutted out to the side, extended in and out of the train's dying engine.
When they decoupled the engine car, Coxa pulled the engine brakes with his magic. They watched as the engine car screeched and slowed, wheels failing to maintain grip and speed. It shuddered, and then derailed.
The wounded car slammed into the mountainside, metal meeting stone with a deafening crash.
The passenger cars continued to roll down the rails, aided by gravity in their descent.
"The evacuation is a success," Coxa muttered before remembering the unnamed soldier who was still pinned to the rear wall of the engine car. Now, they would be nothing more than a gory mess. "For a limited definition. Come on, Tibia. Let's go check in with Thorax and see who we lost…"