//------------------------------// // 16: Of Queens and Predictably Clever Equestrians // Story: Reformation of the Hives // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// On the extensive list of things Twilight Sparkle never thought she’d be doing, dining with Chrysalis and Kreesus on moderately amicable terms was decidedly at the bottom. Chrysalis was right at home, on multiple levels, in her chair at the head of the table with her sister Jstrul sitting to her right. As always, Twilight and Rainbow sat together. That left Kreesus at the other end of the table with the young queen Valera, daughter of Silandrus, sitting opposite of the former Equestrians. A team of drones delivered an assortment of dishes, primarily vegetarian in nature, save for the mildly disquieting smell of the stew they set in front of Twilight and Rainbow. Chrysalis purred at their discomfort. “You’ll have to excuse the lack of flavoring, I don’t get many meat eating guests.” She wouldn’t actually try to poison us now of all times, would she? Rainbow grumbled at the congealed mass of glop in front of her. Any idea that Chrysalis couldn’t cook was cast aside at the lavish assortment of grains and vegetables set before the rest of the queens, all sauteed and seasoned to tantalize her senses. “If it’s all the same to you, I think we’ll get our meat from the ship.” Twilight at least gave the gelatin mass a try, only to gag on the horrid, tongue clinging insult to chefs everywhere. “I’ll have a salad if it’s all the same to you.” Kreesus tapped her hoof impatiently, and ignored the mild banter of accused pamperedness directed at the two former ponies. I have to get a drone to Ponyville and find Roseluck. Maybe… Maybe there’s a chance. Kreesus’ sole major ally, Queen Valera, noticed how distracted Kreesus was. “I’m surprised you haven’t joined the fun.” She managed to save face by looking up from her barely touched meal with a gruff inquisitive hum. “What are you going on about?” Any banter Valera was about to propagate was cut short by Rainbow Dash leaning over her plate. “How about we stop playing games and get to planning our strategy?” Twilight Sparkle scowled at the other queens. “I think the less time we all spend in one room, the less likely our alliance will fall apart.” Chrysalis slowly nodded to the point. “A sound idea.” She paused to take a bite of lettuce. “Until recently, we’ve been able to keep Polybia and her undead legions in check. However in the past few months her swarm has been continuously bolstered by every kind of undead filth you can imagine, drone, beast, even specters, whatever she deems as potential soldiers. “However,” Chrysalis continued with a wicked grin. “Kreesus’ spies have determined that Polybia doesn’t command her undead hordes like the hive mind, but through semi-royal drones serving as generals of a sort.” “Wait, wait, what do you mean semi-royals?” Rainbow asked. Despite the ill company, Rainbow was glad to take center stage away from her sister now that they were in her world now. “We’re not exactly sure what they really are,” Jstrul elaborated reluctantly as she absently rubbed her bandaged face. “They’re drones that don’t have the tell-tale glowing eyes, but they have rounded irises. Plus, they have been observed to have personalities that are distinct enough to not be typical puppets.” “So either Polybia’s been taking lessons from your hive, or she’s going off the deep end,” Chrysalis added with a smug smirk. “Either way, they die if severed from the hive mind. We only found that out when a Silence Behemoth rampaged through an army that was trying to subdue it and got too close to the puppet general. “You should have seen the glorious irony of the undead all immediately turning on Polybia’s living forces. Sadly, ever since then, these ‘proxy generals’ have been too well defended against the majority of our assassination attempts. Thus far, we’ve only killed them in conventional battle, but by then, killing them hardly matters.” “Which is where we come in,” Kreesus cut in bitterly, gesturing to herself and the Equestrians. “Your ship is a concentrated force, so you can cut deeply into these armies and assassinate the generals without having to cut through the entire swarm first. Since Polybia can’t control the undead remotely, we need only kill these ‘generals’ to make her armies slaughter each other.” “What’s this, we stuff?” Rainbow growled at Kreesus. “As far as I’m concerned, you can keep your fishery stanky plot as far away from my ship as possible. I want somepony else being our support.” “You speak as if I want this either,” Kreesus fumed, but didn’t rise to the bait. “Because of my darling Fluffy, I’m the only one here who has the knowledge of where you can hide your airship should you need repairs. And I already have multiple strains designed to support Fluffy in combat, which translates somewhat to keeping your tinker toy in the air.” “Well don’t get too comfortable,” Rainbow huffed before sliding into a superior smirk. “We have a new ship about to be released from dry-dock, the Steamrunner.” Although it galled her to do it, Rainbow Dash reluctantly started to give some specifics. They need to know what we can do if we’re to operate effectively. All it took was some expectant looks from the others, and Twilight giving her a mental nudge to finally go through with it. She sat back in her chair to give some last second hug to her hive’s biggest kept secret. “…We’re classifying it as a cruiser under Griffin naval standards,” Rainbow started idly scratching her chin. “The Steamrunner is larger and more heavily armored than the Deception. However, frontline combat is not its sole purpose, so we only gave it armament comparable to the Deception. Instead the Steamrunner carries a full brigade of infantry.” Rainbow Dash leaned forward in her chair to take a few bites of her new salad while Twilight finished. “We designed it so after our ships secure the surface, our infantry can storm the hive.” “So you do have the stomach for getting your precious drones’ hooves dirty,” Kreesus remarked offhandedly. “We allowed them to mate with you didn’t we?” Rainbow snarked with a caustic frown. Kreesus bristled, but managed to keep her cool. “Of course, we had to quarantine Steel Edge after you had your “fling”. Didn’t want any STDs going around the hive after all.” Kreesus snapped, and jumped out of her chair to the ready, with Rainbow Dash doing to same in answer to the challenge. Twilight was quick to try and restrain Rainbow with a hoof baring her chest. “Save it for Polybia. Imagine each other’s faces on the enemy if you have to.” “Sound advice,” Chrysalis purred with a playful eye. “If we’re done bickering, then let’s all sit back down and discuss how we’re going deal with Polybia once and for all.” It didn’t take much more than a cursory glance from Twilight to get Rainbow Dash to sit back down, having had her fun. Kreesus outwardly glared malice into Rainbow Dash while inwardly sighing. I’m not sure whether I actually deserve the abuse or not anymore. Jstrul was the first to begin. “We’ll keep Polybia’s forces busy on all fronts, to make sure she can’t spare enough forces to overwhelm your ships. That way you can suffer the brunt of Polybia’s armies for once,” she stated with only thinly veiled irritation. Rainbow fumed at the attitude while Twilight took it impassively. “And try to destroy priority targets, along with the generals, while you’re at it. You do that, and Polybia’s swarm will tear itself apart, piecemeal.” “Sounds logical,” Twilight added evenly, glad that Rainbow had a distraction from Kreesus. “You have current knowledge of her troop movements. Where should we strike first?” Chrysalis hummed approvingly. “So eager to get started, or just want to show off your toys?” “Don't act like you don't want to see our guns turned against someone else for a change,” Twilight replied with a half frown. “I wasn’t aware we had ever come to blows outside of the wedding, but fair enough.” Chrysalis had a drone show up with several copies of the jungle map, so that every queen would have one. It had various areas shaded green and red with more details surrounding a location barely twenty miles south of their current location. “Fortunately, you’ve come at a good time. Polybia is advancing on my principle farmlands a ways south of here. I was planning on taking her head on, but now that you’ve finally honored us with your presence-” Chrysalis paused for but a moment, as if it pained her to address her as an equal. “Queen Rainbow Dash, I trust you can do this without your frigate leading the way.” Rainbow gave off a smug grin at the address, but couldn’t help but to feel slighted. So you finally have to acknowledge me as queen, eh? ‘Bout time. “We’ll get the job done, you guys worry about covering our asses. How long until she attacks?” “Given what we know of Polybia,” Jstrul started as a seeing eye drone poured over the map. “Before first light.” “Then we’ll attack at midnight tonight,” Rainbow stated forcefully. “If Poly Pocket has any tactical sense she’ll attack earlier than we expect, so we just have to hit her first.” The rest of the meal was spent going over minute details over the plan of action. While Rainbow was busy with strategizing, a part of Twilight Sparkle was steeling herself for the trials to come. May the First Mother grant us the strength we need to endure Grogar’s power. For her part, Chrysalis was also distracted from the battle ahead of her. Grogar… what to do, what to do… Should I just eliminate you and play it safe? Well, I haven’t gotten to where I am today by playing it safe. The real question is, is destroying you the smart move? Princess Celestia truly loved partly cloudy evenings. The gorgeous tapestry of purples, oranges, and yellows across the sky sang to her love of art. Currently, Celestia rested in her secluded retreat on the far side of Canterlot Mountain. She found a certain charm in the carefully manicured stone path between the conservatory and the palace. It was a quaint and secluded mountain trail with mountain grass sticking out here and there, giving it a rugged charm. However, even here in the east conservatory, she found little peace. While her lunch had only just arrived, it remained untouched as the ageless alicorn’s eyes were fixated on the southern horizon. Pensive worry weighed heavily on her heart. My dear Twilight, perhaps I did you a disservice by teaching you to solve such problems face to face. So many good leaders die leading from the front. I hope neither you nor Rainbow Dash meet a similar fate. Steeling herself, Celestia returned to her meal and floated over a half-filled scroll along with a quill. I am tired of the rumors about this alliance with PR being called ‘fair-weather’ friends. She hated it even more because fear of a PCE retaliation to military assistance in the past had stayed her hoof. That ends tomorrow. The PCE be damned. Once I deliver this speech the first wave of ships and troops will be on their way to face Polybia and Grogar side by side with Twilight. Celestia penned several lines and ate most of her soufflé when what felt like a headache inducing wavefront pushed past her. Celestia’s unicorn magic cut out almost instantly, causing her scroll and fork full of food to clatter down to the brick tiled floor. Old combat training kicked in, causing Celestia to flare her unhampered alicorn magic as she jumped to a defense stance. In the absence of her more mortal types of magic, Celestia’s core being of Celesti, Spirit of the Sun, manifested in full. Her mane and tail roiled like the surface of the sun while her eyes became like minature burning suns in of themselves. Lastly, her body started radiating heat, quickly turning the conservatory into an oven. Sweeping her gaze across the room and windows revealed no immediately threats, aside from the cushions and plants starting to burn from her scorching presence. With none of her mortal magic available to stifle the heat, Celestia focused her senses on finding the source of the mana dampening to shut it down before she started melting the floor. With her magic sense alert, Celestia felt the collection of enchantments on her regal attire had been completely torn away. In addition, the Weave of the World was being pushed away from the building with incredible force, making any spell casting all but impossible. Who could do this!? Even I would need a building sized array to affect the Weave so powerfully. Celestia quickly removed her regalia before they could start melting into her fur, and resolved to find the source of the disturbance. She was startled to sense that who or whatever it was, they were close to the front of the conservatory. Celestia bolted to the only door in the room to check the small entry room between the front door and her impromptu dining area. No one is supposed to know I’m here except for Luna, and my personal guard. The room beyond revealed both of her unicorn solar guards were unconscious. Fearing her alicorn magic might burn her most trusted guards alive, Celestia shielded herself with the large ornately painted steel doors to see if the guards’ chests continued to rise and fall from breathing. Good, they are alive at least. A field this devoid of mana would keep any unicorn out cold, but it looks like I found them before whoever is causing this got here. Either that, or they’re waiting for me to come to them. Knowing her guards were safe for the moment, Celestia swept her senses forward into the heart of the magic-void to find a single pony buffeted against the mana winds. With her white hot alicorn magic at the ready, Celestia bounded over her guards and burst the front doors open to confront the pony. What she found gave her pause. Standing roughly twenty meters away from Celestia was a large machine, easily rivaling her in size with several glowing tubes, chugging gears, and a steady cloud of grey exhaust while giving off a high pitched whir. Beside it was a blue unicorn stallion in a royal navy officer’s uniform wearing a thick protective ring around his horn to keep from passing out. Celestia was momentarily disarmed by him prostrating himself before her, giving her cause to look for any concealed threats. Fearing her own heat, Celestia shut the door behind her and slowly side stepped away from the building to keep the guards from roasting. Her fiery mane and tail expanded along with her senses, baking everything it touched as Celestia searched for any hidden threats. It didn’t take her long to locate several ponies hidden among the rocky terrain just beyond the path. “Princess Celestia, you honor me with your radiant light,” the bowing blue stallion said above the whine of the machine. Celestia kept her eyes fixed on him while keeping her senses on the hidden ponies. Acting as if she was satisfied she and the stallion were alone, she shrank her flaming mane and tail back to a more normal size while addressing him. She couldn’t see his name tag, but his rank was evident on his shoulders. A naval officer? “What is the meaning of this, Commander?” In this form, Celestia’s voice resonated great power that threatened to burn with but a whisper. “I am Commander Gleaming Light of the E.R.N. Trottingham,” he said with unwavering reverence. “As for why I am here, please allow me to extend my apologies for meeting you like this, your highness. I know you have lived these long and difficult twelve years with a heavy heart. Always watching your step, fearing even a slight misspoken word would reveal your true motives. My gift to you and admittedly to myself, are these precious few moments. With this machine, I have pushed the Weave back, and in the process, have destroyed any and all listening spells and disabled any spying changelings nearby.” Celestia was wise enough to let him ramble on for a bit longer, if only to let him continue volunteering information. “We’ve discovered that drones are just as affected as unicorns by the Weave being pushed aside. As a result, you can speak without Cadista and her ilk listening in,” he said with a thread of hate under his reverence for Celestia. “I beg your forgiveness for any inconveniences my dampener has caused you.” “That explains the how, Commander,” Celestia stated with a chilly tone. Gleaming Light felt it unsettling that his fiery princess had such ice in her voice. “But not all of the why.” “I am a lieutenant in the PCE, my princess,” he replied evenly despite his unease, “and I came to you today to speak with the true you behind your public face.” Celestia bristled at the admission, but let her head cool almost as fast as it had heated up. This is obviously a game or a trap. A real PCE leader wouldn’t be so daft as to approach me directly, hidden assassins or not. “I don’t suppose you’ve come here to confess you’re actually a true loyalist who joined the PCE to secretly spy on them, by chance?” Gleaming Light tried to keep his hopes up in spite of the implications of her words. His composure wasn’t helped by his profuse sweating. Even if she was standing nearly twenty meters away on a slightly windy mountain top, it felt like he was standing before an open smelter. “To be honest, princess, no. I joined the PCE because I fear those love-sucking vampires will be the death of our great nation. Even so, I know my organization has much to answer for. The loss of ponies’ lives is intolerable, and the debacle at the docks was beyond inexcusable.” Celestia leveraged her countless years of politics to keep a cold and calculating expression. For now though, she remained silent, giving him the rope to hang himself with. “Ever since that disaster at the docks, and Dame Applejack’s… biting condemnations, and these long, long years of your public denouncements, many of us are having a crisis of faith… Myself included.” “Is that so?” Celestia commented condescendingly. Gleaming Light sweated bullets at Celestia’s cold reception, and hoped it was only the heat. Is she testing me? Why would she, now that she can finally speak freely!? “Yes, it is, your highness. My group has endured all these years of you publicly condemning us. Some are now taking it worse than others. I beg of you, Princess,” Gleaming groveled in front of her, not daring to step one inch closer to his smoldering princess. “In this brief moment of free speech, now that we are all laid bare, please tell me you’ve secretly supported us. That you denounce us publicly, yet thank us in your private moments.” “And here I was thinking you had long since wedged cotton in your ears,” Celestia stated bitterly, making Gleaming gulp loudly. “Well then, let’s clear the air between us.” She fixed him with a deceptively neutral stare that stood in stark contrast to her roiling fiery mane. “I despise every single thing that your organization has done, and I’d sooner banish myself to the sun than ever thank you.” Gleaming was stunned as his world threatened to crash down around him. “But you did it all to secretly try to free Twilight Sparkle from Cadista’s control!” Celestia’s age old composure threatened to break into a snarl. “Do you think me so weak that I couldn’t do that myself? That I would lie to my people, or the world for so long and so completely?” Gleaming tried to speak, but Celestia’s harsh gaze froze him in place. He was not a regular observer in the Day Court, and had never seen so much fury manifested in such a stoic expression. It was Celestia’s eyes, burning a brilliant orange of the sun that ultimately betrayed the furnace of rage she held in check. “Since you’ve been so kind to present me a chance to speak without you ignoring me,” she stated coldly, making Gleaming recoil. “Let me put this as blunt and perfectly clear as possible. In all these years, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash have remained masters of their own will since the beginning. “I pried, I searched, and I did everything under the sun to see if they were being controlled, and I found nothing,” she stated with all the steel her voluminous experience granted her. “If I had any inkling that Twilight Sparkle was being controlled by any force, Cadista or otherwise, I would not hide my true will for the sake of diplomacy. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were and remain paragons recognized by the very Elements of Harmony themselves. Including Loyalty. You believe that I would allow Equestria’s greatest defenders to be controlled by another?” she demanded incredulously. By now Gleaming Light was shrinking in on himself as his world crashed down around him. “I would not lie to my subjects to secretly find some way of purging any foreign control over either of them. No, I would have been right at the forefront, I would tell everyone the truth in this matter. Both queens are far too important to national security to do otherwise.” While Celestia was heavily invested in both queens emotionally, she refused to let that color her words, not in front of her little audience of terrorists. “I – I understand, princess.” Gleaming tried to adopt a dignified stance, but ultimately the weight of Celestia’s words crushed what was left of his spirit. “I… I accept whatever punishment you deem fit.” Celestia’s fury hiccupped at him surrendering so quickly. “You clung so dearly to the idea I secretly praised you that tightly?” And remained sane? she added derisively to herself. “It was all we had,” Gleaming replied half-heartedly. “Those of the founding members of the PCE, I like to think, did it all because we thought it was what you wanted of us. After you sent the Element Bearers to restore Princess Luna, defeat Discord, and thwart the First Invasion of Canterlot, we all assumed this was but another trial for us all since Twilight was corrup… changed. With her under Cadista’s control, you couldn’t use the Elements to free her, so I stepped in with twelve others to found the PCE.” “And yet I have never concealed my true will concerning any of those threats,” Celestia chastised bitterly. There’s no way he knows under what pretense I originally sent Twilight to Ponyville for. “Instead you think I would willingly let Equestria’s ‘enemies’ settle within our borders, gift them that land, and help merge our two societies? All for the sake of two mares?” For someone who had surrendered his fate to her, Gleaming Light took offense to being indirectly called a fool. “Did you not do the same for Princess Luna?” Celestia’s stoic mask cracked with anger at him using her sister against her. “Anypony who spent any kind of time in the palace could tell Twilight Sparkle was practically family to you.” Celestia’s reply was cut off by the mana-void engine started clanking loudly enough to draw their attention. “What is it doing, Gleaming?” “It’s failing early?!” He got no further before the engine gave off a startlingly unhealthy grinding noise followed by belching black smoke. Scant moments later part of the machine actually blew off, with the whole thing proceeding to topple over. “It was never designed to hold the Weave back for very long. Just long enough to give you a chance to speak without any changeling enchantment eavesdropping on us.” Or possible mind control. The Weave didn’t wait for him to finish that thought as it rushed to fill the void. The mana rocked them on their hooves, giving Gleaming Light a chance to duck and cover, but was less kind to the engine. The implosion of mana reacted violently with the inner workings of the machine, causing the whole thing to explode in a hail of shrapnel. With her alicorn magic unrestrained in her body, Celestia was more energy than flesh and blood, allowing her to stand in the face of the explosion that was actually chilly to her. The flying chunks of metal embedded deeply in several places in her body, but they simply melted and fell through her into the growing puddle of molten rock at her hooves. Instead of any blood that she would normally spill, her ethereal body simply wavered at the holes punched into it before reforming back to normal. Once she was cleared of shrapnel, Celestia stepped out of the hissing puddle of rock before allowing her mortal magic to return to its balanced state, causing her eyes and hair to return to normal. Her body cooled rapidly, causing the air around her to roil wildly. Finally, she shivered a bit as blood started pumping through her once more. Haven’t done that in while. Gleaming must have done some research about me to not be startled by my inner form. Celestia might have found her return from incorporeal to flesh and blood exhilarating were it not for the pony who caused it in the first place. Gleaming Light was not fortunate enough to repair such injuries so quickly. Though being thrown into a prone stance allowed him to survive, he had bits of metal and crystal embedded in his entire left side. Damn. I knew I didn’t have long before it failed, but it never exploded like that during testing. He had no time to assess his injuries, attempt to stand, or even check to see if the princess was unharmed when Celestia’s shadow loomed over him. She magically probed his body to make sure his life wasn’t in danger. “While I am typically proud to see my subjects exercise initiative. In your case however, it pains me to see such potential squandered like this.” Gleaming didn’t bother resisting as she hefted him up in her magic for transport. His gamble for the past decade was a complete and utter failure. “I am truly sorry, Princess, we thought we were doing your will.” “If that was your real aim, then you will tell me where all of your fellow conspirators are located so the Guard and the military can deal with them accordingly. In particular, I want any surviving members of the attack on the Deception.” “Of course, Princess,” he hissed in agony to which Celestia was in no mood to ease. “But not everypony will submit when they hear the truth, even if I tell them directly.” Celestia started slowly walking back over to the conservatory with Gleaming in tow. While she had a prisoner to handle, she still needed to make sure her personal guards were well enough to send a message to the palace. I think I burned all of my scrolls, so writing a letter is out until I make it back to the palace, and teleporting with him injured like this would only kill him. “Let me guess,” she replied with forced neutrality. “Those ‘honorable’ original members started to leave once they realized they had been mistaken. So you had to turn to more unscrupulous recruits?” “For the past four years, yes, Princess. If you could find it in yourself to forgive Discord, can you show this old fool and what few true Equestrians are left in the PCE some modicum of mercy?” It took her a few more steps before Celestia came to a halt as her mind churned. “Discord is a victim of his nature, but more importantly, is only one person. Even now he remains closely watched.” Celestia trailed off as she latched her magic onto half of the hidden ponies and forcibly pulled them out of hiding to hang in front of her. Each of them yelped in surprise only to either shudder in fear of reprisal, or hang as defeated as Gleaming was. “You on the other hoof, are far too many to give such a pass.” Celestia turned to yell at the rest of the hidden ponies. “If you wish to see any level of mercy from the crown, I want the rest of you to spread the word to your miserable brethren. Go to the southern palace guard station within twenty four hours and I will remember this cooperation when I decide your fate. Now go!” she commanded with all of the authority her crown possessed. The remaining ponies fled by air or hoof to do her wishes. With them gone, Celestia turned back to her collection of prisoners. “In fact, I think I already have something fitting in store for you all.” Through the creeping depths of his defeatism, Gleaming Light remembered something with a gasp. “Wait, Princess, as a token of our sincerity, I can give you the time and place of the attack we were going to conduct today.” Celestia’s regal mask nearly broke under the sorrow and fury, but reigned it in before it could manifest. “The day is almost over. Speak quickly, Commander.” Gleaming Light glanced at the setting sun to guess the time. “Phoenix Roost was supposed to be unveiling some kind of new ship from the dry docks earlier today. We were planning to have it’s destruction serve as a gift to you when you-” Heedless of his cries of pain from being yanked in front of her, Celestia glared Gleaming down face to face. “HOW?” Earlier that day… Blitz groaned as she stood atop an elevated platform near the airship dry-dock. A gathering of citizens, both changeling and non-changeling alike were currently being dazzled by the Steamrunner as it departed the shipyard. Its 650 foot length gracefully inched its way out into the world. It had a steel finish to it’s paint, a contrast to the brass found on the Deception and Long Shot. Like the Deception it had four primary gun batteries, and a scattered array of close defense guns. Along the dorsal hull, twin Octavia sword-like pipes thrummed with power. However, unlike the Deception much of the ship’s exterior was nearly bereft of gun emplacements. In their stead stood five hundred of the hive’s best infantry in the latest metal plated leather armor with their rifles gleaming in the sun. One hundred combat Clockwerks filled in the gaps. Behind the soldiers and along the stern half of the warship were a series of closed hatches where thousands of drones could deploy in rapid succession. Only the occasional small mounted gun and one of the primary deck batteries on the ventral side interrupted the assault hatches. The ship had streaks of sky blue and lavender to give it a dash of personality beyond the business end of a gun. Upon it all, Aegis stood on top of the command bridge so she was clearly visible to the cheering crowd below. Blitz shot back. She finished giving the cast-off ceremonial speech and just waved at the crowd and the soldiers and sailors on the Steamrunner. Aegis stood tall and proud while posing with Burny at the photographers hovering nearby. Launching new ships in Equestria was always a cause for some fanfare, but new warships were a rare sight. Aegis snorted in amusement. Blitz grumbled in reluctant agreement. Aegis wilted under the mental snickering she felt wafting from Blitz. Why do I feel like I’m going to regret that…? By now, the Steamrunner was slowly moving towards the western end of the hive along the standard maiden voyage route for all Phoenix Roost ships. Once the new cruiser gained a little altitude, a gunship escort slid over to take up formation with the Steamrunner. The ceremony ended shortly thereafter as the cruiser moved off to begin its shakedown. Aegis was eager to get started and retreated inside to find Captain Rourke managing the bridge. “How’s that leg treating you, Captain?” Captain Rourke looked up from the latest report from the engine room and gave her mechanical right foreleg a few test flexes. She tried to hide it, but pain lanced through her limb every now and again. “Just fine. Still haven’t gotten the hang of wall-walking with it yet.” “I can relate, a bit,” Aegis said hesitantly at memories of her old hand and toe gauntlets. “You sure you want to give up the Deception?” Rourke passed on a few commands to the crew, causing the ship to tilt slightly as it changed heading. “The Runner’s different from my old ship, true, but the Deception’s not going to be fit to fight for months if not a year. Our queens need my experience once the Runner’s good to go.” “Fair enough,” Aegis replied with an approving nod. “I’ll leave it to you to put her through her paces then while I do my rounds.” “By your will, sister.” Rourke returned her attention to the crew while Aegis cantered off to inspect the airborne’s drills. Within moments, the whole ship vibrated under the deep baritone thrum of the engines spooling up to full power. Every last changeling on board reveled in the proclamation of technological power. The hour was growing late when the Steamrunner was at a dead stop over Ghastly Gorge as it started testing its damage control response times while Aegis monitored the Airborne drilling assault deployment action. About half way through, Rourke pinged her with concern. Aegis ran over to the nearest window to spy a small dot in the distance. It was a sizable freighter, easily as big as the Steamrunner itself. Flashbacks of Canterlot made her scowl. Rourke replied with all the confounding calm of a naval officer. Something tells me it's not. Aegis turned to the brigade commander who already had several officers waiting for orders on whether or not to resume drilling. “Colonel Powder Charge, ready the mares for close combat. I got a bad feeling about this.” “Uhhh,” the colonel started hesitantly, only for Rourke to give him the questionable honor of giving Aegis some bad news. “We don’t have any ball or powder on board." Aegis down looked at him as if the colonel had grown another head. “Why not!?” “We only had training equipment up until yesterday, and troops only had time to polish their new rifles before the ceremony.” Powder Charge wilted a little at Aegis’ mounting exasperated scowl. Her imposing size at being nearly a full queen wasn’t helping him stay calm either. “But the new arms are scheduled to arrive this Tuesday.” “Well a lot of good that does us now!” Aegis growled as she pulled Burny off her back and checked the gauges. “Do we at least have bayonets?” Powder Charge and the other officers nodded quickly. Aegis calmed a little. “At least we have that, and the clockwerks. But I’d rather it not come to that. Worst come to worst, we can shoot the freighter down with the main guns if need be.” Aegis' easing nerves started to fray again when she noticed the Colonel and his staff looking around nervously. "We have ammo for the deck guns, right?” "We don't get those in until Tuesday, sister." Powder Charge started agitatedly rubbing his foreleg while Aegis was about ready to blow a gasket. “So help me, if we have a repeat of Canterlot I’m going to freak!” Powder Charge flew up and placed a reassuring hoof on Aegis’ shoulders. “Even if the freighter is another PCE attack, we already have a gunship moving to intercept, with plenty of ammo," he added bluntly, "and we’re over an unpopulated area. The gunship can shoot it down if need be. The situation is under control.” Aegis scrunched her face in painfully deep ire. “I still don’t like it. Why bother a repeat performance when we can see the fireship from miles away?” A few minutes passed as Aegis led the Airborne throughout the entire ship looking for any sort of weapon, besides her trusty flamethrower. Powder Charge remained at her side while keeping tabs on the gunship as it made its final approach on the freighter. Yet most of her concern was on Aegis and the forest of panicked hairs springing out all over her mane and tail. “Sister, maybe you should calm down.” “Calm down?” Aegis turned away from the depressingly unhelpful sickbay and the distinct lack of scalpels or anything that could be remotely used as a decent weapon. At least not unless you wanted to swing large pieces of medical equipment around like an unwieldy club, and at this point, that wasn’t looking like too bad of an option to Aegis. “Calm down!? What if the freighter has hidden weapons and shoots the gunship down!? We have to be prepared to fight!” A few more hairs sprung out with Aegis’ panicked face starting to develope an eye twitch. “What if the patrol ships from the hive don’t arrive in time!? That thing’s awfully fast for a freighter, don’t you think?” Powder Charge communed with the hive mind a bit. “Well the ship is starting to slow down to the gunship’s command. This could just be a misunderstanding.” “Wait a minute,” Aegis said with a start. “Where’s the medical staff? What if we get casualties in the attack? The hive’s over fifty miles away!” She’s not listening to me… I wonder if royal blood makes these panic attacks worse, Powder Charge mused worriedly. “They don’t-” Aegis cut him off with a hoof wave, “I swear if you say Tuesday again, something's going to burn.” “Umm… they come in next… week,” Powder Charge answered weakly. Aegis started grinding her teeth while doomsday scenarios revolving in a sunk Steamrunner, and the subsequent disappointment of her mother played rapidly through Aegis’ mind. This is big, this is bigger than big! Momma needs this ship! What if she- Her thoughts were interrupted by a letter flaming into being in front of her face. Aegis blinked, with some of her anxiety ebbing. The scroll almost hit the floor by the time she thought to snatch it up with a deft hand. “Princess Celestia? Why would she write me a letter instead of asking Rolled Scroll to pass a message along?” Like Aegis, the purple drones around her, Powder Charge included, waited with baited breath at the unusual letter. The blue drones of the Colonel’s retinue however, were derisively judging them for their proxy hero worship of Celestia. After quickly breaking the seal, Aegis’ anxiety heightened at seeing the hasty script before her. Aegis, I hope this letter reaches you in time. I have discovered that the PCE plan to board your new ship when it reaches Ghastly Gorge. They’ll be using a freighter as a decoy. Stay away from the Gorge until you have a sizable force to repel them! Since they are technically my citizens, I give you carte blanche to enact any measure of force necessary to remove the threat. “By the First Mother…” The letter shook in her magic as realization dawned on her. Meanwhile, down below in the gorge, hundreds of figures gazed up at the lumbering unawares giant airship. One pair of eyes were fixed on the gunship far in the distance. A pegasus pony slid up behind the scout leader with ears alert. “Hey, no one said we’d be going up against a damned capital ship. They’ll tear us to pieces if we attack!” Without looking away from his spyglass, the leader replied in a gruff tone. “Don’t worry about it. Of all the armed ships they’ve launched, not one of them was carrying ammunition right off the bat. Besides this just means the prize will be that much sweeter.” “And what about those clockwerks? They’re bound to have those on a warship,” he hissed back, making sure no one else heard him. “You want to purge the parasites or not?” the scout leader growled back. “They’re tough, but hardly invincible. The sphinxes say they can handle the golems.” Once the gunship had reached the distant freighter, the scout dropped his spyglass and picked up a signal horn. He blew a long growling note which was soon joined by dozens more. Within seconds, hundreds of pegasi, griffins, and winged sphinxes roared out of the eel caverns along the side of the gorge and raced up to the waiting Steamrunner.