//------------------------------// // Meanwhile // Story: Hail to the king, Hail to his Horde // by Emo Rainbow //------------------------------// The repairs on the city had been running along smoothly. Celestia had a moment to rest before more affairs with the changelings took place. When Chrysalis showed up with the information on the locust they had no choice but to trust her. A shaky balance between both royals was established. She gave them information and what she asked in return was for them to keep her and her subjects safe from the spirit that tried to kill them. "Princess." Said a deep voice of a guard. "We are completely finished repairing canterlot. Should we now reinstate all homeowners to their residents?" He asked. "Yes send them to their homes." She replied to the question. "Very well I also have come here to say that your conference with the queen of the changelings is about to start." With that Celestia dismissed him and he gave a quick salute before departing. The princess stood up and closed the doors with her magic. She opened them and they entered into the conference room. This spell was a shortcut to get around the castle. Chrysalis sat there waiting and focused as soon as she saw Celestia. "Ah. Celestia very Kind of you to show up early should we start now or wait for your sister?" Celestia gave her a what do you think? Look. "Okay then I will wait for Luna to show." A few minutes later Luna showed up ready for the next set of news Chrysalis had to offer. Why she couldn't give it all at once she would never know. "Now let me start by saying me and my subjects are very grateful for all you've done for us." She said. With the natural way her voice sounds they couldn't tell if she was sincere or being sarcastic. "That's why I decided to give you this." As she finished her sentence she tossed out the tome with all the information in it. "Wow your giving us the tome?" Said Luna as she flipped through the gooey pages. "Yes along with the final piece of information We just gathered. It wants to become all mighty. All powerful and it has the tools to do so. All he needs is the staff of hearts form. The locust are just his pawns, And really terrible things will happen if he achieves his goals." She finished her final input of information. The two royal sisters sat in thought and wondered what to do. "Also my magic specialists came in contact with it before we were attacked. They think the mysterious storm was caused by it." She said. Then Luna spoke up. "Well it's a good thing we have it. A scientist by the name of Kick start and his assistant found it. We took it into custody and we wish to study it." She told Chrysalis. "That's one less problem to worry about." Added Celestia. "Well Chrysalis we thank you for this." After exchanging temporary farewells they departed until a guard crashed through the door panting. "Prin-prin-princesses I am lieutenant Dill I have urgent news!" He said while still panting. "The artifact we recently found, the staff has been taken by the locust." He said. The princesses shut the door and opened it stepping into the war room. "Where was it stolen?" Celestia asked. The private stuttered before telling them. "The eastern edge of the blight mountain range close to the border." Celestia had an idea. She took out her mirror communicator to call Verus the last time she did he was heading that direction. She called and it immediately picked up. Verus appeared and had a numb expression. "Verus I need you to do something for me." She told him. She didn't realize the locust wasn't there then It was picked up by a strange pony with one green eye and one red eye. "What's this? Princess? Oh right Verus told us about this don't worry everything's under control." He yelled at calmly with a warm smile. "Ok then be sure to tell him I called." Said Celestia. Something about this was fishy she didn't like it. She searched for the other mirror magically but the connection was broken. The mirror was destroyed. "Lieutenant."She said to the guard who cowered a bit at her gaze. "Get a squad of the best soldiers our army can offer, And assist King Verus immediately something isn't right." She ordered he stood straight and saluted. "Yes ma'am right away!" He ran off as fast as he could. Celestia looked at the time and saw it was time to lower the sun. "Luna it's time to work." When she said that Luna nodded and both she and Chrysalis followed. Celestia lowered the sun an Luna proceeded to bring out the moon and the stars. "I assume I wasn't the only one who sensed something off about that call?" She said with a look that said she already knew the answer. "Thought so." Luna and Celestia shared a hug as they were to depart to different duties. Chrysalis turned in and as for Luna she kept the moon up in the sky. Celestia was called to the dispatch area immediately to debrief the soldiers on the special mission they'd been given. When she got there she was met with a Griffon, a Changeling, and the pegasus lieutenant from before. They gave salutes but the Changeling and Griffons salutes weren't as enthusiastic. "At ease. You three have been picked especially for this mission. Find King Verus of the Locust and assist him in stopping the evil spirit. The fate of Equestria, and maybe even the world, lies with you." She finished. The Griffon said in slurred words "Sir yeas Sir Mam!" Celestia squinted at him. "Are you inebriated mister Vance?" She asked. "No! Ahm just Drunk. Ha ha." The scottish Griffon took a swig from his flask until the Changeling swatted it out of his hand. "Oy! You got a problem?" "Yes! The princess is sending us on a super important mission the least you could do is try to be sober!" She said to him. He gave her a dirty look and picked up the empty flask and put it away. "Don't worry Princess we won't fail you and we'll sober him up." Said Dill "Good luck to all of you." Celestia said as she tipped her head to them and they set off to save the world. xxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxx The staff had finally been brought to him and he tried testing it out. He could almost feel the power as he hit the ground and when it snapped in half he was surprised as well as outraged. "What is this?" He shouted. The locust didn't know what happened. He honed his powers and sensed it the real staff a few miles west in a town. He chastised himself for not being able to tell it was fake, And he hated the fact he had to head in the direction of that idiot Viken, But maybe he wouldn't have to. He told the troops to get out of his sight. When they dispersed he summoned four spirits. These spirits were his personal hunters. "Use my blood to help guide you to the staff for my magic drips from it. Once you find it bring it back here and don't let it fall into anyone's grasp." The Hunters growled in response as a way to show they understood and they dispersed. He waited as he knew it would not be long for this to end and he would reach his final goal. What he didn't know however is how wrong he was.