//------------------------------// // 7: The Wheels in Motion // Story: Reformation of the Hives // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// Celestia sat alone at her rarely used war table, deep within Canterlot Castle. The oppressive pale marble of the windowless walls seemed to bear down upon her. The last of her advisors had departed barely a minute ago as she took a moment to organize her thoughts against the lack of sleep. Several newspapers were cast about in front of her. While she knew much of what happened above the naval docks last night, a relatively new habit of hers was to read the headlines to see what the people knew. ALLIES UNDER ATTACK! FLAGSHIP OF PHOENIX ROOST SUNK BY EQUESTRIAN NAVY VESSEL! Celestia became heavily agitated by such an inflammatory headline, and hoped it was alone. THE DECEPTION DESTROYED BY DECEPTION! ATTACK SINKS TWO EQUESTRIAN SHIPS AND CRIPPLES THE CHANGELING FLAGSHIP! Celestia glowered at the dark humor, hating it even more when it stirred a ghost of a laugh out of her. She was about to gloss over a third newspaper when there was a rapping knock on the oak doors. She took the papers and shuffled them into a neat stack. “Enter!” A pair of earth pony stallions emerged and bowed briefly before cantering over to either side of the Celestia. “I hate to tell you this, Princess” said the beige stallion with a non-descript black mane, “but I warned you this would happen.” “So it truly was the P.C.E?” she said neutrally, revealing nothing. “Undoubtedly,” said the albino stallion circling around to her right. “Our colts are still sifting through the bodies. We’ve only found three groups: the hybrid changelings, Equestrian sailors still garbed in uniform or sleepwear, and ponies in civilian garb.” The albino heaved one of his saddlebags off and dropped it on the table to start pulling out records. “As I’m sure you already know, naval dress code regulation aboard ship expressly forbids civilian attire.” “The P.C.E. is also the only criminal group with entirely anti-changeling goals,” his beige companion finished. “If I may be frank, your highness, if we had the funding and horsepower I asked for, we might not be in this problem.” Celestia fixed him with a measured scowl. “Director Mild Spice, your own reports confirmed that P.C.E. membership was at an all-time low, and due to recent efforts, public approval of Phoenix’s Roost was nearly on par with my sister. All the signs said you didn’t need a doubled budget.” Spice’s accomplice cleared his throat. “I understand the needs of a balanced budget, your majesty, but with rogue griffin bandits increasing along the national border, and the monitoring of all Matriarch aligned dragons, our department has been stretched too thin to keep a desirable level of surveillance on the P.C.E.” “We can bicker about blame another time,” Celestia stated tersely. “Right now, I want your plan on how to handle this. The destruction of two of our own warships, the docks, and the loss of the sailors themselves should obliterate any public support these…” It had been a long time since she had to use the word floating around in her mind. Bandits, pirates, mafia, and more were bad enough, but this one was the worst of all to the ageless alicorn. “These terrorists had left. I want all of you to-” A much angrier banging on the door resounded through the chamber, stifling any further discussion. And here comes a glimpse of the future. Celestia steeled herself, shoring up all of her diplomatic clout. “Enter.” Aegis all but kicked the door open as she stormed in with Blitz right behind her. “With all due respect, princess, what the hell?!” Celestia spied the heavy bags under Aegis’ bloodshot fatigued eyes. Neither proto-queen had gotten an ounce of sleep after personally joining the rescue efforts alongside Luna and the Canterlot emergency services. “How could this happen right next to your castle!?” “We’re in the process of discovering that ourselves, Proto-Queen Aegis Altair.” Celestia shifted her attention towards Blitz who was just as fatigued, but veiled her animosity better than her counterpart. “We will find out who did this, and punish them accordingly.” She noticed no drones had followed after the pair. “I’d like to wait until your mothers can join us.” “They aren’t coming,” Blitz replied with some semblance of diplomatic grace. “That light show you might have seen above the Everfree… Well, let’s just say Aunty Twilight doesn’t trust mother to keep from biting somepony’s head off and causing tensions between us.” And Aegis has more control? Celestia mused silently to herself. “Plus Aunty thinks this is a good test for our crisis management skills.” Blitz finished with a terse grimace. Hell of a first crisis test though. Aegis’ horn flashed and Burny was summoned with a fully loaded fuel canister and its pilot light already lit. The two earth ponies jumped back a step after realizing it was a flamethrower, one of the most feared and controversial weapons the changelings used regularly. “Give me a target, a building, a suspect, anything!” Unlike her subordinates, Celestia didn’t believe Aegis would actually do anything rash, in this room anyway. “We need to be calm and collected. The last thing we need is you leading a charge along the streets breaking into houses looking for suspects. That would only play into the P.C.E’s hooves.” “So it was the P.C.E?” Aegis demanded heatedly. Her grip on Burny tightened at the prospect of using it. Mild Spice did his best to appear unafraid. By the goddess, who thought it was a good idea to make this pyromaniac a breeder?! “That is what my department’s informants are trying to ascertain, but as of now we only have speculation to go on. I highly doubt the destruction of two pony warships and part of the naval dock was part the plan, so they’re probably going to deny any responsibility on this.” “Then that’s all the more reason to go out and bust some heads!” Aegis shouted with murder in her eyes. “We’ve got the best infiltrators in the game, but this is your turf, so give us something to do!” Celestia glanced at Blitz to find the same call for blood in her deep scowl as well, and counted herself fortunate it wasn’t directed at her or her ponies in general. They aren’t former Equestrians like their mothers. Aegis and Blitzkrieg will be far more difficult to handle once they form a nation of their own. They don’t seem to possess the same conviction for peace their mothers have. All it took was for several memories to surface of the recent battles Twilight and Rainbow had found themselves in ever since becoming changelings. All the more reason to keep their ire in check and properly directed. “Mild Spice has been requesting additional horsepower and funding for a while now.” Celestia pointedly did not look at the smug ‘I told you so’ face he was making, and opted to gesture a hoof at him. “I admit we haven’t tried joint agencies before, but if anything, now is the time to combine our efforts more closely.” Aegis was taken aback by the proposal while Blitz saw it for what it was. “’Turn tragedy into victory.’ Aunty taught me that quite a few times. You want to use this as an excuse to tighten the alliance even closer.” “You disagree?” Celestia said in that thought provoking tone that always worked on Twilight in her youth. Despite herself, Blitz gave a short chuckle with a half grin. “Not at all. Aegis and I of the same mind with our mothers. We want this alliance to strengthen to the point where ponies are as comfortable around us as the three tribes are to each other.” Aegis shouldered Burny after turning the pilot light off and crossing her arms. “Not to mention it’d be the perfect slap to the face against these bastards.” “Good luck with that if these changelings keep adding on more weird body styles,” Mild Spice’s assistant whispered in his ear. Ignoring his assistant's comment, Mild Spice stepped back up to the table. He gave both changelings a respectful nod. “The Equestrian Intelligence Bureau already has a taskforce assembled, but as the princess stated, we’re short-staffed.” He had to keep his mind off the potential of greater access to changeling technology. “We’ll accept any assistance you can offer.” “The crown will offer expanded funds,” Celestia added with a stern visage. “This attack was perpetrated right here in the Equestrian capital, and most likely by some of my own subjects. To do any less is irremissible. In addition, the EIB is a publicly acknowledged agency. I’ll be making a statement to the press about this joint arrangement.” It was Celestia’s turn to put some fire in her speech and bang the table with a hoof. “I want the world to know that nothing will break this alliance.” Aegis huffed in approval before taking a seat opposite of Celestia. She let Burny rest on the side of her chair as Blitz took a seat of her own. “Glad to see you’re not taking the soft approach, Princess Celestia. I’ll pull our best spies out of the neighboring kingdoms. I’d rather not have drones fresh out of the shell for this.” “A prudent call,” Celestia replied as she smoothly reclaimed her typical warm yet commanding tone. Mild Spice went about planning the cooperative element in his head while his assistance gave the proto-queens a puzzled look. “Begging your pardon. But I was under the impression Phoenix’s Roost hadn’t started its intelligence agency yet.” “We haven’t, technically.” Blitz replied with a hint of mirth across her lips. “Our meager team doesn’t go after military or political secrets.” As if anyone except the sphinxes could be a military threat. “They’re out there assessing the markets,” Aegis jumped in. “Honing their skills on more… legitimate secrets.” That didn’t sound very impressive to either earth stallion, but Celestia had to hide a frown behind a neutral façade. Luna warned me that changelings are naturally secretive. I can only hope that Twilight and Rainbow can continue to guide that nature along constructive avenues. So far so good though… “We’ll get started on having all of our up to date information ready for your perusal then,” Celesia said half to the changelings, and half to Mild Spice. “The sooner we root out the culprits the better.” Blitz hummed in thought for a moment before glancing at the princess. “Then might I suggest recruiting Aunty Applejack to spearhead the media front on this? Her dedication to the factual truth during the original public relations campaign earned her quite a bit of respect for brutal honesty, even among our harshest… opponents to the formal alliance. Even the P.C.E. could never argue effectively against her.” Aegis’ wings buzzed in agreement while Celestia simply nodded with an impressed smile. “Must be quite a reputation indeed since I believe you were barely a hatchling back then.” Both proto-queens couldn’t help but to feel complimented by Celestia’s usage of the changeling term. Blitz flashed a simple diplomatic smile that Celestia instantly recognized as belonging to Twilight. “Mother and Aunty Twilight believe hatred is born from ignorance and fear. No pony has such conviction to the real truth as Applejack. Besides, the public will almost certainly be expecting her to speak on this attack as everypony is going to start pointing at the P.C.E. very soon,” she glanced at the scattered newspapers on the table, “if they haven’t already.” Celestia marved at Blitz’s reasoning. “I must say, Twilight has taught you well. I have a feeling you will make an excellent civic ruler.” Aegis scoffed playfully and snatched one of the newspaper with her magic. “I think we all have you to thank for mother’s savviness.” “Perhaps,” Celestia admitted with a rare admission of ego. “As for Applejack, I have little doubt she’ll accept the request.” Rainbow Dash was buried horn deep in her work trying to juggle the naval preparations and tightening security around the hive. Fuel, food, spare parts, border checks for non-changelings, bolstering the national guard, and focusing the patrolling gunships closer to the hive, all of it crossed Rainbow’s plate with the mare taking it all in as best she could. By themselves, it might not have been overly difficult, but Rainbow Dash was chomping at the bit to personally put those who killed her children and crippled her favorite ship into the dirt. Her seething dark mood wasn’t helped by the fact that Twilight talked her into letting their daughters handle that matter. I know my girl will jack them up, but by the First Mother, we should be up there, not stuck down here getting ready to trounce Poly Pocket. “Grraaa! I can’t even keep producing eggs once we move south!” Rainbow Dash raged as she leapt from her bed and started beating on a well worn bucking bag Twilight Sparkle was snapped out of her Link-Trance by her sister’s outburst. “I know it’s tough, Rainbow, believe me I do, but it needs to be our daughters that handle the attack. At this point it won’t do us any good if you or I handle it.” Rainbow Dash kicked the bag hard enough to nearly strain her leg. She glowered at her sister with anger, although it was not directed at her. “Why? We have to show we’re not going to take this crap lying down! A and B aren’t ready for this kinda thing!” “And we were, when we went up against dragons, diamond dogs, Discord, and then Chrysalis’ army during my brother’s wedding?” Twilight challenged with a little steel, forcing Rainbow to back down a bit. “Fact is, we’re doing all we can to train them to be proper and competent queens. Not only do they need this to grow, but it will also allow us to focus on our more dangerous tasks.” “I distinctly remember losing our fight against Chrysalis,” Rainbow Dash muttered just loud enough to be heard. “Which only proved how far we still had to go. But I gave this task to them for one other reason.” Rainbow returned her attention to the object of her physical abuse and started beating on it again, leaving her sister to keep talking. “The public still sees the two of us as former ponies, and believe much of our loyalty to Equestria stems from that. However, they don’t know what to make of our daughters since they have always been changelings.” “Wait,” Rainbow stopped mid kick to look at Twilight with a conspiratorial grimace. “So you’re using the death of our kids and the destruction of my ship for a PR stunt?” “Way to make it sound dirty,” Twilight half growled. “I’m trying to make the best out of a horrible situation! We’re not a group of friends with no pony relying on us to make big picture decisions anymore, and we haven’t been for well over a decade.” Twilight matched Rainbow’s glower with her own. “Then why can’t we at least look like we’re personally going after both? That way we don’t look like we couldn’t care enough about our bloody flagship getting crippled to do it ourselves!” Twilight actually hesitated her follow-up at that. Seeing she was gaining ground, Rainbow continued pressing her point. “I get big picture stuff, okay? I’m not a fly by my tail daredevil anymore.” Twilight cocked a sarcastic eyebrow at that, making Rainbow fluster. “Your prank career aside, my point still stands. The fact of the matter is, sister, is that we need to let our daughters handle it.” “And I say we need to make sure that the ponies don’t think we’re just passing the buck like we don’t care!” Twilight glowered at her stubborn sister’s scowling face before suddenly dropping her stern expression and turning away dismissively. “Very well, have it your way. You want to ignore focusing on Grogar and leave me to do it all? Go ahead, but…” A thread of fear surged through Rainbow whenever her sister took that tone. Twilight’s horn glowed briefly as she summoned a book. It wasn’t just any book, oh no, it was the gold encrusted first edition Daring Do and the March of the Yao Guai with AK Yearling’s signature right on the cover addressed specifically to Queen Rainbow Dash. Rainbow’s eyes widened at the sight of the new book with her wings flaring instantly. “I - Is that the uncut version!?” “It sure is!” Twilight replied with a coy tone. “Buuuut, since you’ll be staying here, you won’t have any reading time that steaming down to the jungle would afford, so I guess you’ll just have to wait to find out what happens in the fight against the Legion of Doom. I’ll just have to read it all by my lonesome…” She cast half lidded eyes at her sweating sister. “And announce spoilers throughout the whole trip.” Rainbow scrunched her muzzle in a patented Massively Uncool Scowl of Eternal Shame. “That’s low.” Twilight levitated the heavenly book to her side. “I mean it when I say this plan is for the best. I know you’re itching to fight these morally bankrupt scum, but this is as much of a civic matter as it is a military one. Aegis has learned well from you, hasn’t she? I know Blitz will do us both proud. So trust not just me but them as well. Do that, and the book is yours.” Rainbow chewed on the inside of her mouth for several moment. Her eyes darted between her sister’s face and the seductive book right next to her. “I probably won’t have time to read anyway with all the work I have to do.” All Twilight did in response was to waggle the book a little bit with a lopsided smirk that said ‘I know you’ll make the time’. Rainbow swallowed the lump in her throat before dashing forward and snatching the book with her magic before wrapping her legs around it, all while keeping herself aloft. “Okay fine, you win, cheater! This better not come back to bite us in the flank or it’s on your head.” Satisfied, Twilight nodded with a thin smile. “I have every confidence that Aegis and Blitz are ready for this. They are our heirs after all. The public will see that sending both of them on this task is evidence enough that we are serious about the attack, especially since rumors are already circulating in the other nations about the war brewing in the jungle. Without Silandrus keeping explorers out, there’ve been many sightings of non-ponies down there lately.” Neither queen got any further into the conversation when Captain Rourke spoke over the Link. Rainbow hung her head in exasperation. She focused entirely on Rourke, knowing full well her mood would be dictated by the report. Twilight got up and briefly nuzzled her sister to try and calm her down. Both queens carefully held out optimism after hearing that. While they sensed the loss of life over the hive mind, an exact count was very difficult to determine. So the ship’s still salvageable?! A different matter still clung to Rainbow’s thoughts. Rourke paused at the question. I thought they’d be able to tell already. Then again, I don’t know how a queen’s mind works. Rainbow’s earlier fury was renewed in earnest. Twilight shared her sister’s revulsion until a dark realization hit her. Oh no… What if this is exactly what the P.C.E. wanted? I hadn’t even thought of what the other races would make of this. She’s probably already suspected something, but I better warn Celestia about how the other nations will view this attack. At the very least our ambassadors should be taking careful note of anything unusual. Not wanting to worry her already hell-bent sister any further, Twilight refrained from voicing the concern and quietly passed the news on to her ambassador Rolled Scroll. She got off her chair and looked towards the Long Shot hanging off in the distance above the naval yard. Acknowledging the dismissal, Rourke bid her farewell, leaving Rainbow Dash fuming at everything in general. She took a sidelong glare at Twilight, but ultimately held no anger towards her. “Okay, okay, I get it, Poly and Grogar are the bigger threats. It’s just that…” She groaned aloud in frustration. ”They’re more than just our kids, Twi. They’re our royal kids-” “They’ll have the princesses, some of our best infiltrators, the backing of Equestria, and our pony friends if the need arises,” Twilight gave her sister the dark, fang-filled humorless smirk of a mother wronged. “Which is more than we had going for us up against Nightmare Moon and all the others back in the day.” Rainbow sat there in contemplation for several long seconds before growling dismissively. “Fine. I don’t like it, but maybe you’re right.” At any other time, Twilight would have been both proud and happy to see her sister learning to let their royal daughters carve their own path. Circumstances as they were, she’d have to settle for just pride. “How long until we’re able to join the other queens against Polybia? They might be willing to wait, but Polybia knows she’s on a time limit.” Rainbow grimaced as she quickly went over the various reports her drones were feeding her. “Ten days, tops, eight if we push it, but I don’t like sloppy work, especially on those flimsy fighters.” “It takes time to steam south, they can fine tune it on the way,” Twilight offered. “That is with them doing it along the way,” Rainbow countered flatly. “I’m also counting on Poly to try and ambush us in some way before we even get to the jungle. Not to mention a hundred other things on my plate before the week’s out. At the very least, it’ll give me some time to keep an eye on Sectovaria before she crosses into the Chaos Lands a few days from now.” Nodding, Twilight made to leave her sister’s room. “I’ll leave you to it then. The girls may be handling who attacked us at Canterlot, but I need to personally handle the diplomatic fallout for the time being.” That was one battle Rainbow was more than happy to sit out. Unless it involved the minotaurs’ ‘aggressive negotiations’, diplomacy was not her forte. Barring that, Rainbow buzzed her wings in acknowledgement to her sister before refocusing on her work, but one thing still nagged at her. Twilight wilted a little at her sister’s morose tone. Polybia stood atop a precipice at the very fringe of a rival hive’s territory, northeast of her own hive. The jungles here along the leading edge grew unchecked by changeling hooves. The thick canopy shrouded Polybia from the glaring noon-time sun. Ordinarily, the creeping vines in the area would be trying to latch onto the queen’s legs to sink her into the earth for fertilizer. However Grogar’s necrotic magic withered the vines around her while forcing others to shy away. Polybia was becoming more discolored with her face and upper neck becoming a pale blue as she gathered the stolen magic together. Violetia… I may not be able to attack Kreesus directly just yet, but I can return the favor for that raid against my farmlands by eliminating you with one fell stroke. Summoning up Grogar’s power, a massive deep roar resounded throughout the jungle, chilling the distant drones and their queen to the bone. Polybia’s horn shone forth with icy blue magic as thundering steps cracked the rocky ground and shook loose rocks into the gorge below. Two massive Silence Behemoths emerged from the jungle, snapping trees aside to make room for their muscle bound girth. Their scaly grey hide easily snapped the wooden obstacles along their path, with their draconic tails swaying behind them. The once-proud natural predators against changelings now served a queen with all the devotion of a mindless servant. The behemoths’ ten eyes glowed with the same icy blue magic swirling around Polybia’s horn. Huge gashes crisscrossed all over each beast, exposing muscle and shriveled organs to the open air. However, no blood leaked out of their cold dead flesh. Their Link-silencing power lay dormant for the time being as they flanked their master. Though they towered over her at more than fifteen meters tall, Polybia did not flinch, fully knowing they were in her thrall in death. “Violetia, you should have sided with me all those years ago. Now you’re going to pay the price for such a lack of foresight.” She sneered at the prospect of unleashing her wrath, and savored the moment for a bit before finishing the marking spell. Now, every forest green changeling would be marked for death in the eyes of the behemoths. Bellowing another bone-rattling roar, the two beasts’ talons cracked the rock beneath them before they leaped across the short chasm and charged forth to kill for their mistress. Once they were safely out of range, Polybia commanded them to reactivate their Link silencing abilities, ensuring the doom for any changeling in their path. Excellent. Even if Violetia does somehow manage to bring down both of them, this will give my egg carriers enough of a distraction to flee without incident. An idea struck her as she peered through her spies along Kreesus and Chrysalis’ hives. Most of their drones were focused within the hives’ territory, as if waiting for reinforcements. Hmm… No doubt hoping Twilight and her warships will tip the scales. Well… one warship now. What fortuitous timing. Perhaps I can devote more forces into this assault after all. Polybia summoned up an army of drones to her position, awaiting the behemoths’ defeat. Not only her living drones, but the undead corpses of other drones answered the call of their mistress. The mass formed up behind the tree line near Polybia. “I think it’s time to add another crown to my collection,” she sneered at her expected victory. As the sounds of battle started ringing out, Polybia started flying back to her hive, content to watch the violence unfold from the eyes of her living drones. The other queens can act like they’re allied with each other all they want. None of them could set aside their pride to pool their forces in one place, so I will pick them apart like the prima donnas they are. I will earn your forgiveness, First Mother, for being declared rogue and losing your blessing. As much as she hated the other queens for it, Polybia couldn’t deny she was legitimately marked as rogue. All of this must be another test from the First Mother. It has to be. These trials over Grogar and being rogue have to all be part of her plan to mold me into her perfect instrument. Polybia gazed up at the midday moon where she believed the portal to the Silver City rested. “I will regain my honor as queen. The others will either vote to restore it, or will die by my hooves.”