Rolled Scroll and Blue Flare stood their ground while giving each other questioning looks before returning their focus to Chrysalis’ puppet. “What sort of deal?” they asked in unison.
If Chrysalis had any spite towards the ambassadors’ queens not being summoned immediately she didn’t show it. “I highly doubt you have any authority to agree or disagree with anything I have to say. So why don’t you stop stalling and get their attention?”
Neither drone cared much to humor Chrysalis, but the rules of parley were clear. “Very well,” Scroll replied flatly.
With Blue Flare following his lead, the drones communed briefly and closed their eyes. A scant few seconds later, they opened them again to reveal their mothers’ eyes. Twilight kept her puppet’s stance neutral and poised. Rainbow Dash, however, instantly fell into a combat stance with her horn and wings glowing with lethal intent.
Despite herself, Chrysalis wondered if the blue queen would actually attack her. With Kreesus’ betrayal, I doubt either one of them think there’s any use in abiding the Summit’s laws.
Thankfully for all involved, the attack never came. Rainbow held herself in check without Twilight’s intervention. Chrysalis took a moment to recompose her demeanor before any concern could show through. “Is that any way to greet a friend after I cleared the way for your little evacuation effort?”
“Don’t pretend you helped out of the goodness of your heart,” Rainbow spat angrily. “You’re here to get a favor out of us.”
Chrysalis glanced at Twilight who remained unreadable, even going so far as to mask her emotional aura. “It’s a bargaining chip, sure, but we are under the laws of parley. I did not lie when I said I had a deal for you, not a demand for recompense.”
“Those laws,” Twilight butted in with a calculated flat tone, “do not require us to repay you since we never asked for your help.”
Chrysalis flashed a toothy smirk of approval. “And my sisters said you were soft.” Chrysalis got the satisfaction of getting a faint irritated brow wrinkle from Twilight. “Perhaps you still are, but more out of necessity than anything else I think.”
“I can accept being softer than you since I can produce love,” Twilight countered with a derisive sneer.
“Ha, I am no stranger to different forms of strength, young one.” Chrysalis went so far as to nod in respect. “Silandrus was the very best of the old guard, and look where all that strength got her compared to a little ingenuity from you?”
<You don’t think she figured out how we swatted that old crone, do you?> Rainbow asked her sister while keeping her eyes fixed on Chrysalis.
<Don’t let anything slip,> Twilight warned. <She’s probing for any information, no matter how small.> “We’re too busy to play your games, Chrysalis. What do you want?”
Chrysalis snorted in snide amusement. “Undoubtedly.” She ran a teasing hoof over her puppet’s mane. “I want both of you, and Cadista if she still lives, to never colonize the jungle ever again. Including any of your royal daughters, both present and future. In return, I will stay away from Equestria and its allies. Minus my love collectors of course,” she added just slowly enough to not tip her hand.
“You want the jungle all to yourself?” Rainbow growled with grit teeth.
“I knew someone as dense as you could understand if I was blunt enough,” Chrysalis sneered. “Although, I’m more than willing to allow you unhindered passage should you wish to enact revenge against Kreesus,” she added as if she was giving a supreme gift. For the living embodiment of loyalty itself, it might be just that. “And Summit meetings, of course.”
Twilight left her sister to dream up schemes of righteous vengeance and focused more on Chrysalis. “We still have the Deception, gunships, and now a new capital ship. With Equestria behind us, and Luna’s guards keeping track of your infiltrators, you can’t threaten us with military action or espionage, you have nothing to threaten us with that we can’t answer.”
“Come now, Queen Twilight Sparkle, there’s no need for propaganda between us.” Chrysalis’ demeanor soured and turned slightly threatening. “You and I both know that none of you could stop all of my infiltrators, let alone detect them all in time should I give the word. In fact…” Chrysalis looked up and to the left as if she was distracted. “It seems as if the dragon matriarch’s horde includes some rather volatile gemstones.” A look of horror crossed Twilight and Rainbow’s faces. “If I recall correctly, those are the same ones a certain green and purple drake gifted her as recompense to keep war between them and Equestria from happening. It would be a horrid tragedy for anything to happen…” Chrysalis created a small firework style explosion of mana to her left.
“Damn your black heart,” Rainbow Dash spat venomously.
“You can think what you want of me.” Much to the hybrids’ surprise, Chrysalis flared with insulted anger of her own. “I do what is necessary! Do we have an accord or not?”
Twilight glowered with rage at her adopted brother basically being held for ransom. Yet with Cadista losing the will to rebuild, it was ultimately not a terrible offer. “I want all of your infiltrators out of Equestria. The collectors can stay, but no more spying. No more sabotage like that!”
“And I want you to defuse those gem bombs!” Rainbow Dash demanded heatedly.
“And anything else you set up as contingencies,” Twilight finished.
Smirking all the while, Chrysalis narrowed her eyes in victory. “I need to hear the words. Do you agree? I stay out of the alliance, and you mostly stay away from the jungle.”
“Agreed,” both former equestrians answered in unison. “Now give us all your sabotage plans!”
The unified speech disturbed Chrysalis greatly, but she was quick to assume it was an intimidation tactic. “So our words are bound by law. I would give all those plans, but they don’t exist.”
“What are talking about?” Twilight growled heatedly, “under Parley, lying is forbidden.”
“And I haven’t. Those explosive gems were a contingency plan Silandrus set in motion.” Rainbow Dash still didn’t believe her, but Twilight held more respect for Parley than her sister. Thus far, she had never heard of Chrysalis ever betraying those laws. “You’d be surprised at all of the schemes and plans our race’s late matriarch had written down. I must admit it was quite humbling.”
“As if you could feel humility,” Rainbow snapped.
“That’s rich coming from you,” Chrysalis rebuked with a sly grin. “In respect to the thorough account of your investigation into the history of our species, Queen Twilight Sparkle, I will of course give you a full record of all of Silandrus’ activities against your alliance. That should square our accounts.” With all of the territory my bloodline will acquire with them out of the picture, I can finally form a true changeling empire.
“We’ll need it in writing,” Twilight demanded. “Along with your sisters’ signatures as well.”
“I’ll have my people contact yours,” Chrysalis replied with mockery more at pony businessmen rather than the queens in front of her.
Chrysalis turned to leave, retrieving her Stone of Parley from where Blue Flare had dropped it. Twilight called out to her with a snide tone of her own. “I hope you’re treating my grandchildren properly.” Chrysalis turned her head back to the purple puppet wearing a knowing half-smile. “It’d be a tragedy for this accord to be nulled if I catch word they’re being mistreated.”
Chrysalis glanced at Rainbow Dash who mirrored her sister’s smug look. “Give us a reason, please.”
In spite of the sisters’ threats, Chrysalis covered her mouth and started laughing with far too much mirth for her rivals’ liking. Twilight and Rainbow’s mood soured even further at Chrysalis’ apparent flippancy. “You, you know,” Chrysalis finally managed between chuckles, “my sisters were so sure that neither of you found out about that. But,” she waggled a hoof at Twilight, “I knew, I knew, you were smarter than that.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Chrysalis. I have given you my warning. Our brood will leave the jungle to you, on the condition my grandchildren are properly cared for.”
Oh, there are so many definitions of ‘proper care’ these days. “Humor me, for a moment, won’t you, Queen Twilight Sparkle? Why did you let my sisters and I walk in and out unscathed? I have my theories, but it doesn’t hurt to ask directly.”
“Because we’re not going to put in all the security measures it would take to keep you and the others away from our sons,” Rainbow Dash answered for the pair. “And even if we did take those measures, one of you was bound to find a way regardless, and our sons’ suffering would have been meaningless. Besides…”
The two sisters started speaking as one. “By having our grandchildren, the changeling species as a whole, will either evolve further than you think, or your prize will turn sour.” Chrysalis was now fully unnerved by the perfect choirs between her rivals. While she fully believed the two queens were linked to the same hive mind, such matching speech should only be possible with puppets. “We believe our daughters and granddaughters will reshape the changeling species for the better. Provided you don’t kill them for failing to produce love.”
They’ve wound themselves closer together than a unified hive mind should permit. Much of Chrysalis’ earlier mirth evaporated. I need time to think on this little wrinkle. “I will keep that in mind.” Donning a pegasus royal guard disguise, the ebony drone fled through the open balcony.
Rainbow Dash would have asked if Chrysalis would be true to her word, but Twilight’s contemplative demeanor was all she needed to know her sister thought she would. “So what do we do? Leave our grandkids to Sticky Spit and the rest of them, or try rescuing them?”
Twilight shook her head, but her gaze remained unfocused as she thought. “They’d be as much our children, as they are of the other queens. Aside from the next Summit council, we have no way of knowing who has laid our grandchildren. The others would hide those daughters as much as possible.”
“Wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash said with alarm, “don’t the rules say a queen has to petition the Summit leader for one to be called? But we can’t vote on a new one until all the other queens stop fighting each other!”
Twilight nodded, knowing what her sister was going for. “We all played to Chrysalis’ benefit, and anypony else who has our grandchildren.” She stopped and looked down at herself. Crap, I forgot I’m still using Scroll’s body. “We’ll talk this over in our own bodies.”
Giving thanks to their ambassadors, the queens faded from their bodies. Blue Flare shivered with excitement after riding out the feeling of her queen possessing her. “Ahhhh, yeesss!” She started buzzing her wings to cool herself. “Being one with mother like that is utter bliss.” Blue Flare rolled around on the floor, hugging herself to get the feeling to last as long as possible.
Typically, Rolled Scroll would join her, but the news worried him greatly. Mother’s playing a dangerous game. I wonder what our hive’s freedom will cost us in the future.
Cadista was inside Twilight’s alchemical supply warehouse, fishing for various reagents. Several harshly bright white lights along the ceiling provided ample light to the labels of each vial or crate. The grey queen was still wrapped up in gauze and casts. Her regenerating wings were only barely starting to bud, and would be useless for another month or so.
Limping all the way from the hospital she was supposed to be stuck in wasn’t exactly an easy feat, but the Day of Mourning from yesterday had cleared her head enough to motivate her. The clatter of her crutches resounded as she found what she was looking for and used her magic to pull a wheeled cart over. After filling some empty containers of the amounts she needed, Cadista was about to move on when the door creaked open, revealing an exasperated Twilight Sparkle. “Mother! You’re supposed to be in bed until you can be fitted for a prosthetic.”
Cadista shook an ornery hoof at her daughter and grumbled impatiently. “I don’t have time for that, and fitting me now would be a waste of time.”
Judging from the amount of fire and drive in Cadista’s tone, Twilight guessed she didn’t plan on hurting herself. “Why not? Have you finally reconsidered rebirth to heal?” she asked with surging hope.
“No, I have not,” Cadista replied flatly. She paused in her search to cast an eye at Twilight. “I will say no more until you can figure out my motive on your own.” That should buy me a few seconds to keep searching.
Half of Twilight was miffed about not getting a straight answer, while the other half was glad her mother’s mood was high enough to give her a test. “Well…” she took a deep breath while slipping right into her comfort zone. “You snuck in here without telling anypony, except for these two who are still connected to you,” Twilight pointed to her brothers supporting their mother, “thus you made sure no link-chatter passed through me. Plus there’s the fact you didn’t ask me about my stock. So, you wanted to come here in secret.
“It can’t be rebirth research since you keep shutting that idea down. It wouldn’t be for drone research since you could do that via puppet while resting your body. You mentioned a prosthetic won’t matter yet so this is obviously something that you need to do before bothering with a new leg which could only mean. That. You…” Twilight gasped at the shock of comprehension. “You want to use alchemy on yourself without a rebirth.” She looked at the reagent laden cart. “You wouldn’t need that many supplies if this was something small.”
She rushed over to look at what Cadista had gathered and started listing all her mother had collected. “You’re… You’re trying to dilute your royal blood!”
Cadista grabbed a bottle and placed it in the cart, only for Twilight to snatch it up and inspect the label. “Not dilute,” she looked at her mother with horror, “You want to suppress it completely!”
“Very good, my daughter.” Cadista saw that she had everything she needed and summoned one of her sons to take the cart, and the other to help her walk to a mixing lab. “It is my solution to the ‘three queen’ problem we have.”
“B-but you’ll cripple yourself!” Twilight chased after her limping mother. “You’ve been a royal for who knows how many lifetimes! You’d be destroying part of who you are!”
Cadista was leaning heavily on her military son who bore her weight without complaint. “I lost half of who I was to Chrysalis all those years ago. Losing a bit more won’t make much of a difference.” Not if I do this, she mused, keeping the thought tightly to herself.
“You don’t need to do this!” Twilight whisper-screamed, trying to keep from panicking the drones they were passing. “You could set up a temporary hive in Equestria. Princess Celestia and Luna have already invited you to set up shop in Manehattan!”
“I told you, I’m not rebuilding. I only have two roles left in life, and one of them is being your mentor.” Cadista looked into the eyes of her nervous and loving daughter. “There’s not much left that I can teach you, young one. Even if Stripped Gear had not been attacked, you would have surpassed me within a decade at the very most. Any resources used to rebuild my hive would be better spent for Aegis or your next pair of royal daughters.”
Cadista hobbled into the mixing room and flicked the lights on. As with the storehouse before it, the mixing/alchemical research lab was spotless to an extreme. Several glass pots ranging from small milliliters to large vats were all arranged from smallest to largest. The typical cleaning chemical smell was absent due to the large ventilation fan on the roof to keep the cleaning fumes from contaminating the alchemical components.
Twilight stuck her head in from the hallway as Cadista made herself at home. “No matter what I say, or any argument I use, you’re going through with this anyway, aren’t you?” Sad reservation colored her voice.
“Your sister isn’t the only one who can be stubborn.” Cadista let her sons set the reagents on the table so she could look at her morose daughter. “I have to do this, Twilight.” Her gaze fell as her mind wandered to Kreesus. We are such prideful fools, the lot of us. Was I the one who betrayed Kreesus first? Was she only returning the favor? So many happy memories between the grey and red queens flashed past her mind’s eyes. Each of them tainted by the destruction of Stripped Gear. I have tried, but Twilight and Rainbow would never understand Kreesus or her actions. Not like I do.
Twilight buzzed over to join her mother’s side, forcing Cadista to abandon her brooding. “Then at least let me help you. Two minds are better than one.”
Despite herself, Cadista snorted in pained amusement. A week was not enough to be able to laugh without her ribs hurting. “Hence why Phoenix’s Roost and Equestria are as successful as they are.” Her mood grew stern. “Before we continue. Why did you allow the other queens to mate with your sons?”
Twilight used her magic to turn the mixers on and pull over several beakers. “You mean besides having to force all of my drones to be female, and keeping my consorts locked within their rooms so spies can’t get to them?”
“Now is not the time to be cute, honey.”
“As you wish, mother. It’s because of Gethar’s curse.”
Cadista paused to contemplate what she knew of it. Ultimately she didn’t see much in it, just the rantings of a vengeful spirit. “What of it?”
“That curse was so strong he bound it completely into our species, and it’s still active even today.” Twilight glanced at Cadista’s disbelieving face. “It’s the whole reason we die without love, and how most of us cannot produce usable love. I can’t test it, but I think the curse latched onto our nervous system especially, which would explain why that system is the most affected by the curse.”
“I see… Strong curses can taint an entire family line until the end of days.” Cadista found it difficult to focus on her alchemy. “But if you’re thinking you’re immune due to you being a pony originally, that wouldn’t explain why other pony transformees have never produced love before.”
“Ahh, but you yourself told me that all other former ponies before me were completely converted into a full changeling. You left most of my brain as a pony. As a result, all of my children, and Rainbow since her pseudo-rebirth was based on Aegis, have mostly pony brains. I came to that conclusion after figuring out why some of Ratchet’s children couldn’t produce love, and yet every single one of my other drones could produce it at their hatching day.”
“Interesting,” Cadista said with mounting pride. “So you realized that your strain always allows love, but any diluting of that runs a good chance of that production failing.”
“Yup! That’s why I am exceedingly careful every time I alter my children’s nervous system.”
Cadista still wasn’t fully satisfied yet. “But that still leaves a chance the other queens could get a loving daughter.”
“Not quite,” Twilight rebuffed with a rapidly fading smile. She finished setting the lab up for her mother, and waiting for Cadista to finish her own set up. “Some of my other children have stopped being able to produce love on their own, even after becoming adults.”
That stunned Cadista more than Kreesus’ betrayal. The fact that this was the first she had heard of it, and that it would happen at all. “What?! Why?”
That caused Twilight’s mood to sour further into disappointment and sadness. “They became hateful and anti-social. Something you’d think a loving hive mind would suppress, but it happened regardless.”
“Such is the risk of allowing drones to be sapient,” Cadista added sympathetically. The context of Twilight’s comment finally sunk in. “You knew the other queens were raised harshly to survive not only the jungles, but other queens as well.”
“You taught me that,” Twilight interjected.
“That I did. So between that, your diluted blood, and their harsh upbringing, the chance of a rival queen producing a loving daughter are almost non-existent!”
“Precisely!” Twilight replied triumphantly with some of her good humor returning. “The only way to salvage them would be to raise those daughters the Equestrian way. So long as the current queens keep trying to have my loving granddaughters, the very heart and soul of our species will become Equestrian.”
Cadista huffed out of disbelief before chuckling out of sheer pride. Not even her pained ribs could dampen her mirth. “Twilight, my dear, geniuses are a dime a dozen compared to you.”
“Thank you, mother. I just wish my sons’ freedom didn’t come at the cost of my granddaughters’ suffering.”
Cadista leveled a steely gaze at her morose daughter. “You made a hard decision, as any queen must do for the good of the hive.” She met Twilight’s gaze. Despite her pain, Cadista could see her daughter would make the same decision all over again. Biting back the pain of torn muscle and mending bones, Cadista nuzzled Twilight, halting the onset of tears. “You are a stronger queen than I am, Twilight. And I have never been prouder to call you my daughter.”
Relishing her mother’s intense pride, Twilight nuzzled her back. Some of the weight of her choice lifted at Cadista’s approval, but only just. It was in that moment that she realized the hidden meaning in her mother’s praise. She’s making a hard choice, just as I did…
The hiss of steam announced the mixers were ready, prompting Twilight to separate from Cadista. “So, where do we start?”
Blitz stood by Aegis’ side with the last of her filled memory crystals resting on the ground next to her. Four caretakers were putting the finishing touches on the rebirth pod in front of the future royal. The pod itself was the size of a queen to give the alchemical mixture enough space to fully saturate its future occupant. The highly complex alchemical components had been meticulously crafted by Twilight the previous day, and waited in a vat hanging above the pod.
The blue drone stared at her fractured reflection in the crystal, gazing mostly at her softly glowing eyes. Her fur was still damp from the extensive shower to clean out any contaminants in her fur and hooves. Blitz still found it difficult to imagine having royal eyes. Aegis stood by her side on two legs, which was quickly becoming her de facto posture. The purple princess squeezed Blitz into a sidelong hug, which ended up with Blitz pressed against Aegis’ kidneys. “Hey, what’s with the squashed face? You’re totally perfect for this.”
“Glad you think so,” Blitz fiddled with her hooves. “How can you be so sure? This isn’t just being an engineer. We’re going to rule a whole hive. This is historic!” She looked at Aegis’ incredulously self-assured face. “No matter what, we’re going to shape the future, and I don’t know if I’m the best option! What if somepony better than me didn’t enter the running?”
“Then they weren’t better,” Aegis stated flatly. “You volunteered where others didn’t. You’re crazy smart in all the ways I’m not. I think we’ll be even better than our mommas for sure!”
“Your modesty always surprises me,” Rainbow Dash quipped as she came in for a landing. By now, the caretakers were ready for Blitz to enter the chrysalis, and stood by on the elevated platforms above the pod.
Aegis only shrugged, but kept her tone respectful. “Hey, I’ll be the first to say you and momma make an awesome possum team, but Blitz and I were like, designed for each other. Or soon will be,” She added with a smirk.
Rainbow snorted in amusement before looking to her pensive daughter. “It’s not too late. You can still back out if you want. You know I won’t think any less of you. I was freaked at the idea of becoming a queen myself, you know.”
Rainbow’s early days as a full changeling were was hardly a secret. Blitz looked up at her proud mother with a searching gaze. “But you weren’t really left with a choice like I am. How can you or Aegis be certain that I’m the best pick?”
“We can’t,” Rainbow stated bluntly, catching Blitz a little off guard with the admission. Rainbow Dash knew exactly how to answer Blitz’s question after living with ‘Miss OCD’ herself for so long. “You’re an engineer, Blitzy, your whole world is numbers and exact measurements. But when it comes to rule, sometimes you just gotta go with your gut. Your tests can tell a lot, but we can only stack the deck to a point. Ultimately it’s a leap of faith.” Rainbow knelt down and squashed Blitz into a motherly bear hug. “I know you’ll do me proud, my girl. You’re too awesome to fail, and that’s a fact!”
Emboldened by her mother’s love and assurances, Blitz returned the hug with all her strength. For a long minute, Rainbow Dash kept embracing her daughter for as long as Blitz needed. Eventually, Blitz broke the embrace and flew up to the hole on top of the chrysalis. “I’ll do everything I can to be worthy of this, momma. I promise you that.”
“I know you will, champ,” Rainbow flew up to hoof bump her.
With that, Blitz squeezed through the hole face-first and shimmied herself to stand upright in the cramped pod. The caretakers pulled a hose from the alchemical vat above and started pouring it in. The thick liquid was thankfully warm as it splashed across Blitz’s back and weighed her wings down. Through the barely transparent wax shell, Blitz could see Aegis and Rainbow placing a hoof on the side.
Smiling, Blitz was filled with courage, and placed her own hoof to meet theirs. There they remained until the thick blue liquid reached her head. Rainbow sent over some calming thoughts to suppress Blitz’s instinctive fear of drowning.
Exhaling as much air as possible, Blitz dunked her head under the oxygenated liquid and breathed in as much as possible. She coughed a few times as she expelled the last of the air. The alchemical components took hold shortly after filling her lungs, causing Blitz to fall into a deep sleep.
The caretakers finished filling up the rest of the chrysalis. Once done, they left a valve on top and attached a crane to the pod so it could be lifted up to the hundreds of hatchery racks so it could be safe and sound until Blitz was ready to emerge.
Rainbow Dash made sure to keep a close eye on Blitz’s hive-voice, and eagerly awaited the day she would reawaken. Aegis’ wings were buzzing as dreams of her future hive, standing side by side with Blitz, filled her with impatient excitement. “Sis’ made sure that when Blitz awakens, that both of you will have the same physical maturation. That way you should become proto-queens at the same time.”
“Sounds good to me.” Aegis took to the air and orbited her aunt a few times out of sheer delight. “I’m about to freak out here! Blitz is freaking perfect! Our hive’s totally going to rock!” As she orbited Rainbow Dash, Aegis looked out across the hatchery, and the rows upon rows of purple and blue chrysalises. One of these days those will be our eggs, Blitz. She ached to have Burny with her so she could spew a ring of fire around in celebration. Well maybe not right there with the eggs.
“It’s a lot of work,” Rainbow said knowingly, causing Aegis to drop back to two hooves. “What are you going to do to make that future hive of yours stronger while Blitz is fermenting?”
Aegis rocked back and forth on her back legs, relishing how much easier bipedal movement was becoming. “Well I need to finish mastering my strain.” She swept a foreleg – no, her arms at her legs. That’s what the minotaurs call their upper limbs. I don’t care if they still qualify as legs, because at some point, I’ll be getting those shifting hands from the sphinxes. Shaking her internal reflection away, Aegis refocused on Rainbow Dash. “I’ve already got half of that done. Now I just need to work on my hands.”
Aegis saw the veiled look of disappointment from Rainbow Dash, and spoke quickly before her aunt could speak. “I mean, since I’m going to be the hive’s general that also includes martial prowess. I need to learn how to adapt hoof-to-hoof combat so that I can teach it to my kids.” Or would that be hoof-to-hand now?
“If that’s what you think is best,” Rainbow Dash replied crytically before taking to the air and buzzed towards the exit. <A word of advice, wait until Blitz wakes up before starting to adapt weapons and armor since she’s the engineer. Ratchet’s busy with the new capital ship Granny sent us.>
Aegis wanted to stay for a little longer and look up at Blitz’s cocoon. <I’ll start with the minotaur fighting styles once I can control my hands better.>
With Rainbow Dash seemingly satisfied for now, Aegis smiled up at Blitz. We’re going to change the world, you and I. I can’t wait to get started!
However, such thoughts of conquest of the history books were cut short by Rainbow Dash. There was an air of teasing that colored her voice, much to Aegis’ chagrin. <How about you worry about getting into Rasua’s good graces first? If you really plan on incorporating shapeshifting hoofs and hands into yourself, you might want to start winning her over on the idea as early as possible. Or steal some of her hair or a bit of blood somehow so your mother can divine how to make shifting hooves and hands. Which might be difficult if Rasua never leaves her room for anything except meals.>
A shiver ran through Aegis’ spine at the prospect. <What a joy that will be.>
<Hey Twilight still keeps dragging me to diplomatic meetings. This your chance to learn some good ol fashion plot kissing. Enjoy!>
A figurative storm cloud boomed over Aegis’ head. She groaned while leaping into the air to find the fearful sphinx. <This is just some excuse so you and momma can avoid talking to her about psychics.>
Rainbow somehow managed to let off a nasal laugh over the Link. <Don’t blame us. You two were the ones who wanted to make a hive near the Stratholme’s border. Better start learning the mind of the chimp-cat-birds reeaaalll quick.>
<So help me if I see you sleeping on a cloud, I’m going to freak!>
<Then I’ll just hide my cloud better. Good luck, Aegis!> Rainbow cheered with a sly grin. By now she was outside and found a large cloud high in the air. As if I ever get a chance to just nap anymore. Ah well, I finally have some time to investigate that ‘carrier’ Granny’s crew had been working on.