Nexus and his allies, the various ponies, and a few rogue changelings, that had attacked Northern and her friends, were bound in cuffs and chained together. They were locked in place in the third car of the train, the chains bolted to the floor as the windows were firmly locked and the unicorns were forced to wear the metallic magic repressing bands. The pegasi had their wings bound to their sides and the changelings had both the magical bands and their wings wrapped to their sides, because Northern wasn't willing to let any of them pull any funny moves on them.
Nexus, on the other hoof, had been brought into the fourth car, brought right into Copper's bigger on the inside car and bound, by means of high level magic, in the central pod. Copper had developed it for when she had the honor of transporting dangerously high leveled criminals, as it was designed to negate the magical ability of those placed in it. As far as she could figure out the only pony the pod didn't work on was Eclipse, but with the stallion she now had inside it she wasn't taking any chances. On each of his hooves was a steel cuff, cut from three sheets of pure steel, each with a lock that could only be opened by a special magical key that she had crafted from sapphires. She had another piece of equipment, a chest piece that would make it difficult for his magic to work properly if he broke everything else, put on him and even added the horn band.
With Nexus she was going way overboard, but she would rather be safe than sorry.
"Quite the assortment of devices that will render my magic useless," Nexus observed, causing Copper to turn to face him as Wisdom's ears perked up, "but it all seems wasted on me. Its as if you were preparing to capture something big and dangerous that needed to be put out of his misery before he endangered Equestria."
"Your absolutely right in that regard," Copper replied, watching Nexus float in midair thanks to the pod he was in, "Once upon a time I designed numerous machines, devices if you will, that could contain and even potentially suppress the abilities of those who posed a threat to the Princesses. The majority of these devices were designed to contain the godly powers of a rampaging alicorn, if the off chance that getting into a fight with him would trigger a breakdown that would destroy everything. But, thanks to the combined efforts of almost everypony on this train, except for you and your friends, we managed to restore order before anything serious happened.
And so these devices seemed to fade into the shadows, but I knew that if I kept working on them I could develop a method that would capture my target's magic and store it someplace safe. I could make them unable to wield magic, giving ponies a breather so they didn't have to keep fighting to their last breath and what not. In four years I am no closer to doing that, so in order to bind your magic I am required to reinforce everything with additional layers and leave nothing to chance."
"No pony can run from fate," Nexus laughed, "Death came for the King once upon a time and he'll come back to him one day."
Copper was sure of it, the stallion was utterly insane.
~The Changeling Hive, an hour later~
Waiting at the Hive's internal train station, watching the train roll in, was Eclipse and his wife, accompanied by all four of the Princesses. All around the station were dozens upon dozens of guards, mixed from the combined roster of Solar, Lunar, Crystal, Unicorn, and Changeling guards. They knew that Nexus was dangerous, but none of them were willing to risk the safety of their respective rulers in case the stallion somehow escaped his bindings. Eclipse smiled when he saw Northern and her sisters leading a long chain of ponies down onto the ramp and up to where they were waiting.
Then he noticed that Copper was bringing out a stallion, one bound in the most peculiar assortment of metallic devices, and knew that it had to be Nexus.
"Come," Eclipse loudly said, using a wing to beckon back towards the chamber his ruined gala had been in, "the Elders wish to speak with, and I quote, 'the troublemaker named Nexus'. It is best not to keep them waiting."
The changeling Elder Council was made up of the seven wisest minds, be they stallion or mare, that currently resided in the Changeling Hive. Since the beginning of the Hive they ruled in the Queen's shadow, making sure that she made the necessary steps to ensure that the Hive didn't starve or expose itself. A few Queens later the Council had evolved into a war mongering tribe, carefully choosing who to attack, when to attack, when to retreat from a losing battle, and when to surrender. It was thanks to the seven Elders that the Hive stayed shrouded in shadows, only leaving vague descriptions of what the changelings actually did behind.
It was Chrysalis, Viscarias' mother, who had broken the tradition and invaded Canterlot without the consent of the Council, resulting in exposing themselves to Equestria for the first time in over a thousand years. Then, one year after her defeat at the hooves of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, she struck out at Equestria again, this time bent on using one of their citizens against them. Again, she had moved against the Council's wishes, and, once she lay battered and defeated, they gave her daughter the right of Queen. After that they became a part of Equestria, never attacking their new allies and always at the ready to defend themselves in case one of the neighboring races decided to eradicate them.
But, like almost everypony, there were none who dared challenge the Hive for fear of their King's wrath coming down upon them if the Council wished it to happen.
The majority of his guests had gone home, leaving the gala chamber empty and giving them all a place to put Nexus on trial, but the only ones to remain were the Princesses and the ponies they brought with them. As Eclipse and his family waited near a large ironclad door Copper and her group brought in the offending ponies that had attacked them, likely on Nexus' orders. The thirty of them would likely be given jail time until Celestia called them to court, where she would ultimately determine their overall fate. The Elders wouldn't do much to them, but it was Nexus who would bare the bulk of their punishment.
Eclipse watched Copper lead in one last stallion, one who was dressed up in various bits of iron, steel, metallic bands to block magic, and even a chest piece. A stallion that he suspected was actually Nexus. Eclipse stared at the stallion as Copper locked the chains to the ground, making it nearly impossible for him to escape.
"So, you are the one they call Eclipse," Nexus remarked, twisting his head around to get a better idea of where they were, "The stories about you were true, you really have a wellspring of monstrous magic surging through your veins. You must strike terror into the hearts of your enemies with such power."
"Its not me you have to worry about Nexus," Eclipse said, the ironclad door opening a few inches, "but the Elders who advise all of us in our actions. You had best be prepared for them, because they're ready for you."
Seven streaks of darkness flew out of the gaping hole between the two pieces of the ironclad door, each swirling around the air that surrounded Nexus. He could hear voices whispering to him, or amongst themselves, as they swirled around him and descended on the air between him and the assembled ponies. Once the streaks hit the ground seven alicorn sized changelings, each of them wearing a silver robe, materialized before him and the shadows vanished into thin air.
The seven Changeling Elders were gathered to cast judgement.
"So, you are the one named Nexus," one of the Elders said, "Allow me to introduce the seven of us. To my right are Elders Aleu, Sequoia, and Jarrah, while on my left are Elders Sorrel, Spruce, and Drunix. I am Zircon, Head Elder of the Council."
"So, that means your the one whose going to surrender to me?" Nexus asked, causing the seven to raise an eyebrow, "It may not seem like much at the moment, but someday soon Equestria will be engulfed in flames. You'll soon ask me if I'm plotting to destroy the reign of the Royal Princesses and burn everything they built and kill everypony they rule. My answer would be yes, that I will decimate everything they strived to create."
"Do you honestly believe you can achieve that?" Zircon asked, one of his wings beckoning to Eclipse and the Princesses, "You will utterly fail and that's because the Princesses will always be there to defend their ponies whenever something threatens to shatter their reality. And standing between you and them is Eclipse, whose power makes others think twice about messing with him and his allies."
"Does it look like I care?" Nexus shouted, "Of course he would die to defend what he thinks is right. He has the power to level mountains, shack the ground, torment the sky, and rival the gods themselves, but all he does is sit around and let it go to waste. He should have used his power to obliterate those who stood against him and claimed Equestria as his domain."
"He does this for all of ponykind," Sequoia remarked, "Think about this Nexus; if he had decided that everything had be erased, say before you got this bright idea of yours, then you would have thought that he needed to be stopped. You wouldn't be sitting here, saying he should have destroyed everything in his path. You would be out there, fighting in a rebellion against the stallion who would have trapped the Princesses in their own prisons, and not wasting ponies time. What will destroying Equestria solve?"
"Everything," Nexus said after a pause, "With Eclipse's powers I could erase the old, corrupt world that Equestria has become and create a new world for the ponies that deserve it, Of course I would need to somehow steal his powers, but no such ability exists at the moment. I do know, however, that the first place that will be destroyed will be this once glorious warmongering changeling Hive. The only way to destroy a corrupt changeling Hive is to deliver an explosive that is capable of blowing the entire place sky directly to the center of my enemy's nest.
Now tell me, how could I deliver an explosive into the heart of your precious Hive? Why don't you ask young Copper how to do something like that."
"And what does that mean?" Sequoia asked, looking at Nexus before turning to the mechanical mare, "Any clues?"
"Yes, but none of them are pleasant," Copper sighed, "The only one that could potentially deliver such a devastating blow was once my train, the Flying Vengeance. Once upon a time, when I was fueled by a burning desire for revenge against the Changeling Queen that had crushed my original leg, I devised a plan that involved jumping from one area to another. It was the simple idea that lead to my development of both the riftgates and the warpstones, giving me the power to go where I pleased in a matter of hours. The train, outfitted with both tools, was designed for the purpose of delivering an explosive charge that would destroy Chrysalis and the Hive.
When I was told that Chrysalis had been replaced by her daughter the flames that fueled my anger burned out, leaving me to regret even considering the destruction of the Hive. Once I returned to Manehatten I set to work, erasing the Hive and any other key locations from the stone's internal powersource, effectively making sure no one could use it against my friends. It is impossible for somepony to bypass the defenses without me hearing about it."
"What if I told you that your train is on it's way here right now?" Nexus chuckled, making the majority of the assembled ponies gasp, "You never got the rest of my followers. Long before I surrendered to you and your friends I broke into your security chamber and cut down the protection you placed on the stone. The remaining few who were left behind have recalibrated the stones controlling the train, as per my instructions, and are bringing the destruction of the Hive to all of you. By my estimates you have about five minutes to escape the Hive before it and everything around it are destroyed."
"Everypony, get out of here immediately," Eclipse shouted, causing his daughters and wife to respond immediately by ushering the others towards the exit, "I hope your willing to die Nexus. You do realize that I'm not about to let you escape so you can terrorize the rest of Equestria. It almost seems like you wasted your time recruiting these innocent ponies into doing your dirty work if you were planning on killing them all to begin with."
"There's no need to bother yourself," Nexus said, shaking his head, "They all knew that my ultimate goal was to bring the ruin of the Alicorn Princesses and they were willing to start the revolution by sacrificing themselves. They are the first flares of my anger, the first few of the necessary deaths that will topple everything they stood to create. You are my grand prize, for when I have done all I can to ignite the inner monster once more I will crush you into the ground and destroy those that would dare stand against me."
Yeah? Well your still not escaping," Eclipse replied, turning his back on the stallion and heading for the door everypony else had used to exit the chambers, "Have fun visiting Tartarus with your pals."
Then he felt a sudden pulse of high level magical power, causing him to turn his head back and found a swirling vortex suspended in the air above Nexus. The stallion, however, had somehow broken through every single binding that had been placed on him and took one stop forward, the shards of metal hitting the ground in his wake. It stood to reason that if he had broken Copper's codes and had hijacked the train then he might have disabled the armor ahead of schedule so he could escape.
"You and I will see each other again," Nexus promised, his body shimmering like it was about to vanish, "So be prepared to lose everything when I come knocking again."
Eclipse growled and flared his wings, choosing to leave the vanishing stallion and exit the chamber by flight. He was already running out of time, but with his wings and determination he managed to catch up to the rest of the flying group in time to turn back. His changelings, some carrying those who could not fly on their own, and the rest of his group watched the ground violently shake in response to the train arriving. The dirt buckled, giving way as it crumbled and took the entire apple acres that Harvest had spent so long working on under. Smoke rose from the ruins as flames consumed what little remained.
The area that once held the grand changeling Hive was now a large gaping crater, filled with huge rocks, parts of the village the changelings had built, and large amounts of sand. In a single instant Nexus had destroyed what thousands of changelings gave their lives to protect and earned him the anger of an entire race.