//------------------------------//
// Prepare for Battle 
// Story: The Changeling King Part 2: Kings' Gambit 
// by th3l0stch1ld 
//------------------------------//

	Hours passed.  The group waited in the castle chamber for word from Celestia.  Everyone was tired and on edge, expecting another attack from Hornet eventually.  Finally, a bright gold flash appeared above Amor and a scroll hit him in the head.  As he floated it before himself and unrolled it, all four changelings gathered around him like he was telling stories to Phillies.
“What’s it say, sir?”
“Father, what does it say?”
“Amor, do we have permission?”
“Give me a minute!  I’m getting to it!”  He finally unrolled the scroll and read it out loud.  “Queen Purity of the changeling hive, you have permission to cross Equestria so long as you do not disrupt the citizens in towns throughout the lands.  I must tell you that I cannot aid you in this battle, Canterlot has nothing to do with this and I would like to stay out of it.  Signed Princess Celestia.”  Amor rolled the paper and looked up, only to see four sets of eyes concentrated on him.  “Well?  What are you waiting for?  Get to it!”  
The whole group looked at each other confused.  “Sir, get to what, exactly?”
Amor sighed.  “Avispa, Escara, get the soldiers ready to travel, we need to move now.  Purity, write back to Celestia, tell her we never expected help and can handle ourselves.  And Chrysalis…”  he sighed again.  “I can’t stop you, and I know I’m going to regret this, but get ready for battle, we’re going to need all the leaders we can get.”  All the changelings nodded as they headed to do what they were told.  Purity sat and began writing back to Celestia while the other four headed out, Escara heading to gather the soldiers and the other three heading to the armory.
The group walked through the armory, where all spare sets of armor and weapons were kept.  Walls were lined with swords and spears.  “Sir, a special set of armor was made for you, and you too, ma’am.”  They entered another room filled with black armor pieces, somewhat organized.  On one side were helmets all up and down the walls.  On the other chest pieces and back plates.  The group kept moving.  A small room off to the side of the armor filled one appeared in front of them.  Avispa opened the door and they walked in.  Before them was a table carved of building wax, along with one on the left and one on the right.  Atop of these tables were three sets of armor that were larger and somewhat different than the others.  
The helmets can only be described as what Nightmare Moon in the legends wore combined with the helms of the Canterlot royal guards, without the crest.  They were a dull grey color and had a large opening in the top to let a unicorn’s, or a changeling’s in this case, horn through.  They were designed to go all the way down the back of the neck and merge with the back plate, which is perfectly molded to cover the changeling’s shell, wrapping around the waist in the same place as well.  Two openings are in the back to allow wings to be revealed.  The back plate is broken into three sections to allow movement and bolted together.  A small section extended outward to cover the flank of its wearer, hiding their cutie mark and adding protection.  All three were different sizes, built for particular soldiers, and Amor knew who those soldiers were.
“I have to get ready as well.  I’ll be back soon.”  Avispa left Amor and Chrysalis in the small room to prepare.
Moments later, the two changelings were wearing their armor.  Avispa came in wearing a full set of black armor, a sword on his side and carrying two more.  “For you two.”  Chrysalis picked her sword up and immediately strapped it to her side.  Amor levitated his before him after strapping the sheath to his side.  He studied the blade.
“Useless.  I could use my magic if it came to that.”
“Why didn’t you today?”
“Good point.”  He sheathed the sword and began walking out, Chrysalis close behind and Avispa leading.  Now that he was moving in his armor, he could see how maneuverable it was.  He stretched his legs and arched his back.  He could barely tell it was there, other than the added weight.  He began flapping his wings.  It took some time, but after speeding his wing beats, he left the ground.  He quickly landed and continued following Avispa, content with his armor.  	Reentering the hive, Amor saw armored changelings running up the walkways to the castle.  To get away from the rush, the group took flight, reaching the castle before the crowd got too big.  The messenger had just gotten back at that point and all four landed before the queen.  Avispa and the messenger bowed before quickly rising.  Avispa took his respected place beside the three royal changelings, Escara on the other side.  The messenger looked up at the queen.
“My queen, do you need me for anything else?”
“Soon, but not yet.  Please wait nearby.”  The changeling nodded and followed his order, moving against the far wall to get out of the way.  Amor and Chrysalis walked in front of Purity.  She tilted her head and studied the two before her.  “Is that really what our armor looks like?”
“Yes, what’s wrong with it?” Chrysalis asked.
“It looks so weird.”
“I like it.” Amor stated.
Purity sighed.  “Oh well.  Whether I like how it looks or not, if it protects me, it’s fine.”
Amor grinned, but it soon faded.  “So now what?”
“Now I speak to our soldiers, get ready, and after we map out where we are to set up our camps, we’re off.”
“Alright.”  He turned to Avispa.  “Get a map of Equestria.”  The soldier nodded before turning.  He trotted through a door to their left and disappeared.  Amor turned his attention back to Purity.  “It looks like most of the soldiers have gathered.  I think it’s about time.”
“Alright.”  Purity began walking to the stairs outside the castle, Amor and Chrysalis following on either side of her and Escara following between them.  From the top of the stairs, they could see thousands of changelings gathering everywhere.  Atop roofs, flooding walkways and alleys, hanging off of walls and anywhere else they could find.  Avispa appeared behind the group with a rolled up piece of paper in his mouth.  With a majority of the soldiers gathered, Purity took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and began her speech.
“Soldiers of the changeling hive, as you all know, we were recently attacked by another group of changelings lead by a former soldier calling himself a king.”  The crowd roared in anger, but soon stopped when Purity raised her hoof.  “What we recently learned from a captive from that hive, is that the location of this hive is located in the hayseed swamps, on the other side of Equestria.  My soldiers, the reason you are gathered here today is this: we are going to war with the savage hive.  I know we can win, I believe in you, in all of you, that we could win this war.  Now I have one question for you all.”  Her voice rose drastically.  “Are you with me?”  In reply she received cheers and war cries from the group.  Amor heard one from behind him, and when he turned around he saw Avispa had dropped the map and began cheering.  Escara stood beside him, his eyes closed, head hanging and shaking in disapproval, but even he couldn’t help to grin.  One voice from the crowd shouted at the top of his lungs.  
“For the queen!”  All of a sudden the whole crowd began shouting.
“For the queen!  For the hive!”
Purity held her hoof as high as she could above her head.  “For the hive!”  The whole crowd cheered as Purity walked back into the castle.  “How’d I do?”
“Pretty good for a motivational speech.”
“Good.  Let me get ready and we’ll talk about where to go.  Avispa, care to lead me to the armory?”
“Yes, my queen.”  As the two changelings headed in the direction of the armory, Amor, Chrysalis, and Escara began walking to a large clearing in the rubble.  On the way there Amor picked up the map that Avispa dropped, spreading it out in the middle of the clearing, Amor and Chrysalis lied down beside each other, Escara simply sat down on the other side.  Amor looked up at him.
“Shouldn’t you get ready?”
“Right, I’ll be back.”  Escara trotted off to a random direction, which Amor knew was the direction of his house.  For the time being, it was only him and Chrysalis.  She put her head between his hooves.  She rolled over and looked up at him, he looked down into her eyes and smiled.
“I’ll miss you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t think we would be in the same area, did you?  No, the soldiers need leaders, and if all the leaders are together, the troops throughout Equestria will give up.  It will boost their moral, and our camps need to be spread out.”
Chrysalis closed her eyes and was silent for a few minutes.  She opened her eyes again and looked up at Amor.  “I’ll miss you.”
“I know.  I’ll miss you too.”  Amor bent his head down and kissed Chrysalis.  She closed her eyes and picked her head up, lying down again.  
The first ones back were Purity and Avispa.  Purity lied down on the opposite side of the map, exactly where Escara was standing.  She was wearing the same armor as Amor and Chrysalis.  Wearing it, the cluster of hearts on her flank was completely covered.  She looked exactly like Chrysalis, other than the emotionless look she almost always wore on her face.  Avispa, wearing his solid black armor, sat off to the side of the map in between Chrysalis and Purity.  Moments later, another changeling entered.  He was wearing the same armor as Avispa, but instead of a black helmet, he wore an older, navy blue one.  Amor looked up and easily identified him as Escara.
“Still wearing that helmet I see.”
“Tradition and sentiment, sir.”
Amor noticed a small metal amulet dangling overtop of his breast plate.  It was a small circular thing with carvings on it, but from the distance between them and the size of the carvings, Amor couldn’t make them out.  
“What’s that?”
Escara sat in between Purity and Amor, opposite of Avispa.  “What, this thing?”  He held the amulet to his own face with a hoof.  “It’s an amulet from some time back.  It’s said that each one created was blessed by the queen who ruled the hive at the time of its creation.”
“Ah, I remember now.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen one.”
“I’ve had it for a few years now.  It was one of the few things salvageable from my house.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”  Amor turned to the map.  “Well, if you don’t mind, let’s get started.”  Amor already had a large amount of the map planned out.  He began pointing around the map as he spoke.  “Alright, we can set up spots here at the base of Foal Mountain, deeper in the woods.  Another could be placed here, near the bog in the Everfree.  And another here in White Tail Woods, farther to the West.”
The whole group studied the map.  The first to speak up was Purity.  “What if we were to put one here, next to Hollow Shade, just for backup.”
Next was Escara.  “We could put one here, in the woods next to Baltimare, and here, near the base of the mountain range to the east of Smoky Mountain.”
Amor looked over the map.  His horn glowed and a quill and inkwell appeared before him.  He dipped the quill in the ink and began circling all the designated areas where camps were to be placed, along with the hive.  “So we’ve agreed on these locations.  Any objections?”
Silence.
“Alright, I’ll lead the camp at the base of Foal Mountain, along with Avispa and Escara.  Purity, you will be in the Everfree, and Chrysalis, you will be in White Tail Woods.  Escara, Avispa, you two are in charge of choosing who is to lead the other camps, along with equally separating troops to their designated area.”  Both nodded.  “Alright, get to it then.”