The fortress shook shocked Eta-Eta awake. His insect body was moving well before his brain had caught on to his awakened state, he fell to the floor as uncoordinated limbs jumped him out of the bed. Laying on the floor in a daze the gears in his head began to turn, jarred into action by another tremor.
Earthquake?
No, that was impossible. Eta-Eta knew the area around the valley had been stable for centuries. Pulling himself to all four he trotted to his door and cracked it open to take a look down the hallway.
Directly to the right of his room he saw two warriors, fear in their eyes as they backed away from something. A shadow overcast them as Eta-Eta turned his head the other way, fearful of what he would find.
Astonished, he saw two unicorns covered in the armour of the Equestrian Royal Guard slowly coming up the hallway. They had spears strapped to their sides, but apparently felt magic was a greater weapon. Their heads were tipped slightly to point their alicorns downrange at the changelings. Eta-Eta had known to expect a reprisal of some sort, but an invasion?
His thoughts were interrupted when the two released magic bolts, throwing Eta-Eta’s comrades back in against the far wall. They crumpled against it, unconscious. He closed the door and hoped the guards hadn’t seen him.
A hope that was soon dashed as there was a slamming at the door. Eta-Eta backed away, afraid. He was unsure what to do now, there were no instructions for what to do in case of an invasion, and Chrysalis was beyond his reach. There was another slam and he backed further away, cowering.
“Open up, or we’ll open the door up for you!” The guard shouted, slamming again to solidify the threat.
Eta-Eta knew there was really only one thing to do.
“I surrender!” He shouted, just in time for the door to be blown open with a flash of magical energy.
Cowering on the floor the changeling buried his face in his forehooves, shaking with fear. He had put himself at the mercy of this pony, but he knew what the changelings would do in that position.
They had an entire dungeon for that.
“Good, it’s about time one of you bugs was reasonable,” The guard said, looking down upon Eta-Eta. “Stop cowering and get up, We’ll see what Twilight decides to do with you.” The guard prodded Eta-Eta with his spear.
Eta-Eta looked up at the figure. A frightening combination of armour, weaponry, and powerful magic looked down at him. Reluctantly Eta-Eta got to his feet and looked his captor in the eye. The guard raised an eyebrow and stared back at Eta-Eta.
“Follow me.” The guard spoke, leading Eta-Eta out of the room. Once outside the other guard took a position behind the pair. As a trio they marched down the hallway, stopping at an intersection.
“Uhh…” The lead guard looked left and right. “Which way to the throne room?” he asked.
“Left,” Eta-Eta replied. What a strange invasion to not even study the land they were conquering. Eta-Eta wondered if they were planning to raze the hive, that could explain this.
Whatever the ponies plan, he knew the Queen would have some way of defeating it. She had kept the Griffons, the other states, and the diamond dogs away from the Hive for generations. The Queen would know what to do. Eta-Eta’s fear turned to anger. These ponies had no idea the power they fought with. They assaulted him where he lived; they invaded his home, they would leave it battered and bruised.
If they left it at all.
After a few minutes of Eta-Eta directing the trio through the fortress they neared the throne room. Finally Eta-Eta would get his orders and they would drive out the invaders.
Rounding the final corner to the throne room Eta-Eta smirked as he realized the guards were leading themselves to their doom. Ahead he saw the doors to the throne room, unguarded and flung open. The smirk turned into a toothless grin as they approached.
Just as the trio was about to enter there was a deafening scream from inside and a barrage of green fire flew out of the door. The lead pony bowled the others over in his haste to retreat from the fire. Eta-Eta took a moment to gather his strength and then flung himself out from under him, sliding around the doorway to gallop inside.
“My Queen!” He shouted as he entered, sliding to a stop as he saw the scene within.
Queen Chrysalis hovered over the throne, held fast in a magenta field. Below her Twilight Sparkle stood with her alicorn growing brightly, notably her wings were covered in bandages. On her head was a curious crown. At her sides the rest of the ponies present at the failed invasion stood in a ring. Outside arcs of coloured magic energy criss-crossed the sky through smoke that rose from below. Eta-Eta galloped forward and leapt at the group of ponies.
“My Queen!” He shouted again. She turned to face him from within her magical prison, just as he was swept aside by an orange blur. Slamming to the floor he was restrained by the pony standing on him.
Twilight had been momentarily distracted by this, but turned her attention back to Queen Chrysalis. Twilight looked up the Queen, and the Queen looked down on her.
“I’ve come to end your tyranny. The changelings will be free, and the attacks on Equestria will stop,” Twilight said with the same air of authority as when she addressed the crowd. “Applejack, let the guards handle that.” Twilight said, glancing back over at Eta-Eta.
“You got it Twi’” Applejack replied, releasing Eta-Eta for a moment before one of the guards pounced on him. He struggled, but it was futile. He was no warrior and the guard that stood on him pressed down hard. It all felt like a nightmare, Eta-Eta thought. He hoped that it was. He was helpless to help his Queen. Surely however, she had some way to defeat them.
Chrysalis scowled down at the group before her.
“You have no idea what you are doing you insolent fools. The Hive needs me! You bring destruction and chaos!” Pausing for a second in reflection, she lowered her voice and smirked at Twilight. “You’re no better than I.”
“Twilight’s no tyrant!” One of the ponies, Rarity, shouted in reply. “She’s a Princess, and she earned it!”
“You think I have done no less? For generations my children have known peace, because of me!” Chrysalis returned.
“Peace? You invaded Equestria! You tried to steal my brother, you even tried to steal my magic! You’ve forced these beings into war, what say did they have?’” Twilight said, and Eta-Eta saw the ponies lift in the air, glowing brightly. He had to squint through the blinding light. “We brought something for you ‘queen’, all the way from Canterlot!”
“Harmony!” Twilight shouted as a burst of light overtook everything; and, for a moment, blinded Eta-Eta.
Once he was able to see again he looked upon the same scene as earlier, the ponies looking at one another confused.
“You fools, you can’t ‘bring harmony’ to a place that’s already living in harmony!” Chrysalis sneered at them.
“No… no it must just be that we’re outside of Equestria.” Twilight said. “That’s it, we’ll just have to bring harmony ourselves. I came here to free the changelings, and that’s what I’m going to do!”
Twilight still held Chrysalis in the field, but turned to face the doorway. “You’re evil, and Celestia taught me what she does with evil beings.” Twilight said, glancing back.
“She turns them to stone!” Twilight shouted, jumping back and leaning as she fired a long stream of magenta accented magic at the Queen.
“What?!” Chrysalis exclaimed. “No, no let me go!” She shouted, struggling vainly within her prison.
Stone began to consume her body. She looked around frantically for some way of escape, and spotted Eta-Eta still held by the guard.
“Free me!” She ordered as the stone continued upwards. “FREE ME!” She boomed to the sky as it consumed her wholly.
Eta-Eta gathered the strength to throw off his burden and dashed forward towards Twilight. Snarling like an animal released from it’s cage he dove at her with every ounce of power his insect body could muster.
He was swept aside before even getting close by magic force. Pausing only for a moment he leapt again, and was again swept aside.
“Stop!” Twilight ordered at the third attack, sweeping him away again.
“Never!” Eta-Eta shouted, gathering for a moment to leap again.
Before he could the same orange blur dove at him and they rolled away. Eta-Eta threw off the orange pony with an animalistic fury that stunned her for a moment and he galloped once again for the purple menace that had taken his queen from him.
Just as he was about to leap at her yet again he was tackled from the side by one of the guards, and quickly the other dove on top of him. He struggled against them as he looked towards the menace, scowling.
“Release the Queen!” He shouted.
Eta-Eta’s horn glowed as he summoned every possible ounce of gathered magical energy he had and threw off the two guards. Starring his adversary down he stamped the ground before taking off towards her.
“Do something Twilight!” Applejack shouted off to the side.
“I am!” Twilight returned, sweeping Eta-Eta to the side with more force than before, flinging him against the wall.
Twilight looked at him from across the room. “I only want to help!” she offered “I don’t want to hurt you!”
Eta-Eta glanced at the stone form of Chrysalis that had sunk into the throne. “Then free the Queen!” He yelled, galloping once more. Staring daggers he leapt again.
He didn’t remember landing, only the feeling of cold steel against his head.
“Stoned, get it?” A voice spoke from somewhere nearby. A faint chuckle replied.
Eta-Eta opened his eyes and was greeted with the blinding light of the midday sun and a splitting headache. He appeared to be in the hive courtyard, lying on a thin blanket on top the stone surface. Eta-Eta rolled his head to the side, and were he able to move he would have jumped out of his skin at what he saw. A royal guard stood beside him, strangely his helmets plume was red instead of the usual blue.
“Who are you?” Eta-Eta demanded.
The pony glanced down at Eta-Eta, interrupting the conversation. “Captain Pike, Equestrian Royal Guard. THX1138.” He replied. “You put up quite a fight, much more than the rest of your comrades.”
Captain Pike. Eta-Eta knew the name, he was the chosen replacement for Shining Armour following the events of the first invasion. If he was here then Twilight must have brought quite a force with her.
Eta-Eta had a thought, why Twilight, and not Celestia? Why do this now? They had expected a reprisal for the botched infiltration, but not on this scale. Eta-Eta’s conclusion was that Celestia didn’t know. Perhaps, if she could be contacted…
“My designation is Eta-Eta, and you must leave.”
Captain Pike turned towards him. “Not until Twilight orders it, and from the looks of things that won’t be anytime soon.” Bending down he looked Eta-Eta in the eye, cocking an eyebrow. “Why do you resist freedom?”
“You don’t bring us freedom, you bring us discord and destruction. Free the Queen, we are lost without her,” Eta-Eta pleaded.
The captain shook his head, looking back up “No, it’s clear you’ve lived under a tyranny for so long that you’ve forgotten the taste of freedom. We’re here to help you.”
“We don’t want your help!” Eta-Eta spat.
Captain Pike backed up and a spear was thrust in Eta-Eta’s face. Pike put a hoof on it, lowering it.
“You will,” He said, and turned to his comrade. “Take this one to the other grey eyed ones.” He ordered and trotted off.
“Captain!” Eta-Eta shouted. The Captain looked behind at him. “We’ll never give in!”
The captain shook his head and trotted off across the stone towards the fortress that loomed off across the courtyard. Eta-Eta guessed Twilight must’ve taken up residence.
Occupation
Eta-Eta scowled at the idea of her sitting on the Queens throne. He had one standing order, the last given before his Queen was turned to stone.
“Free Me!”
The words ran through Eta-Eta’s mind. Only one order, only one task. He would see that it was carried out if it was the last thing he, or anyone else, did. Ideas and plans ran through his mind, but he was interrupted as the guard prodded him with his spear.
“Let’s go.” The pegasus said as he pointed towards the leader barracks a hundred meters off.
Eta-Eta knew it was best for now to go along with them, and with the leaders he could organize some sort of resistance. He knew only Twilight, or perhaps another powerful unicorn, could free the Queen. He would have to break the occupation to free his Queen, and that would start with the leaders.
Perhaps there was a second way. If was right in his assumption that misguided invasion was led by Twlight, perhaps another of the ruling class could be contacted. Perhaps they would put a stop to this.
Eta-Eta trotted towards the barracks with the guard behind him. As he got closer he noticed a half dozen guard standing outside the large main doors to the building. Only a few stories tall the building was designed for efficiency, inside were several levels of bunks and a few rooms for storage and basic cooking apparatus. It was as utilitarian as the hive itself, only being what it needed to be. The midday sun seemed to be soaked up by the dark stone outline of the structure.
The guard put his spear in front of Eta-Eta to stop him, and trotted ahead to meet his comrades
“We’ve got a live one, how’s it going in there?” The guard asked the leader of the others.
“They’re… quiet.” he replied. “It’s almost like they’ve been turned off. I was expecting some resistance, or maybe even for them to be happy we overthrew the queen, but this is almost creepy.”
The first guard beckoned Eta-Eta forward and pushed open the door. “It’s better than the other ones- they had to nail the doors shut.” He said, giving Eta-Eta a slight nudge inside.
Eta-Eta allowed himself a slight smile on hearing that. The warriors wouldn’t give up. The leaders were bred for calm and composure in any situation, almost without emotion. The warriors were anything but. they were fighters.
Eta-Eta was both.
The door shut behind him and Eta-Eta looked down the rows of bunks in front of him. It took his eyes a second to adjust, and then the eyes of a hundred leaders came into focus. Eyes of grey watched him intently for some sign of what to do. For a moment a twinge of fear came over Eta-Eta, but he swallowed it. This was his job, this is what he was bred to do.
This was his destiny.
Taking a deep breath he addressed the collective with a booming voice. “The Hive is in peril, the Queen is captured, and it falls to us to save the Hive and free the queen,” He said, slowly trotting forward and looking over his subordinates.
“We’ve survived for this long, we’ll survive this. First-” He stopped at the other end of the room and came about face. “- I need all of you in charge of warriors to stand.”
As he said this a third of the leaders stood at attention between the rows of bunks.
“You will need to calm the warriors and await further orders. Attempt no actions of your own unless ordered by me.” Eta-Eta ordered. In unison the group nodded.
“Secondly, those of you in charge of workers. Stand.” He ordered, and a further third stood at attention. Looking them over he continued. “Ensure that the workers carry out their duties, we can’t afford to allow the Hive itself to fall into disrepair.” Once again they nodded in unison.
“The rest of you will disrupt the occupiers as much as possible. Cut their supplies, confuse them, raise false alarms. Do whatever it takes to keep frustrated.”
For a moment he paused to consider what else would need to be ordered.
“Importantly, do not undertake any aggressive actions- any of you. We can’t afford to give the occupiers an excuse to respond with violence, they hold the upper hand at the moment. When our forces are ready, then I will give the order and we will drive them out.”
Finishing his speech he trotted forward through the assembled leaders, looking for one in particular. Soon enough he found him through the telltale hole in his ear.
“Eta-Gamma, I have a special mission for you. Stay here when the others leave.” Eta-Eta ordered, and the scruffy looking changeling sat back down at his bunk. Trotting to the other end of the room Eta-Eta opened it and peered outside. The same group of guards stood idly nearby.
“Guards!” Eta-Eta shouted at them. They looked up and put their hooves on their spears as they faced him.
“I request an audience!”
The ponies looked at one another, unsure of what to do about this request. One of them shrugged and picked up his spear.
“So you’ve finally come around have you? Twilight will be glad to hear it, maybe we can all go home soon.” The guard said as he trotted over.
One way or another, Eta-Eta knew he was right.