Alternia and Celestia’s combined fleets in Venecia...
In one of the Neptune’s numerous meeting rooms, Celestia and Alternia waited with bated breath for Luna to swim into view in their crystal ball. Accompanying them were Chrysalis, Cyndra, Raven, Sunset Shimmer and the rest of their guards and friends.
They did invite Retariusil to listen in on them as well as Doggess Sebastiana, but the queen had declined, saying that she needed to meet with the rest of her hive on Venecia. Unsurprisingly, the Doggess had accepted. Her island was being surrounded by the kelpies after all.
When the alicorn of the night finally did appear in the crystal ball, she looked incredibly bedraggled. Her hair was as flowing and shiny as ever, but her fur was in a fritz from a lack of grooming and her eyes were red from lack of sleep.
Celestia had bigger concerns than the state of her sister’s appearance however.
“Luna! Are you hurt?” demanded Celestia, leaning closer to the oak table the crystal ball was set upon.
“I am unharmed…” Luna’s suddenly gasped, her eyes flying wide open. “Celestia! What happened to your horn!”
Celestia groaned, sending a bit of a glare at Alternia. “Alternia had to cut it off to save me.”
“What?! I’ve been receiving reports that you engaged the kelpies, but just how bad was it?”
Sighing, Alternia scratched at her makeshift prosthetic carapace. The sheet of metal that banged over the frame simply wasn’t as comfortable as the one that used to cover her chest. “It was bad, but you first Luna, we have to know…” Alternia swallowed. “We have to know how catastrophic the kelpie attack on Equestria was.”
That was what had been in the letter. It was why Alternia and Celestia had immediately contacted Luna again to set up a time that would allow them to meet via crystal ball.
Luna nodded. “The kelpies attacked the major ports on our eastern coast in the space of an evening. Manehattan was the first to be attacked…”
Manehattan...
Crackwooomf
The sound of yells and explosions threw open the eyelids of General Iron Duke of the Manehattan Rangers. Seizing his sword by his bedside table and his gold-tasselled red tunic the general yelled for his gryphon wife, Lady Steelbeak, to get their foals/hatchlings to the basement before running out the bedroom door, through the hallways to his study where he seized the phone and dialed the Manehattan barracks, the phone ringing in his ears as loudly as the explosions in the distance.
A moment later the line connected and the ringing halted.
“Sharpe! What’s going on?” demanded Iron Duke, peeking out of the window to the bay.
Sharpe’s voice was without its usual acerbic bravada and there was a panicked note to it. “The kelpies have attacked! They came in on a big wave that fouled our ships, and now they’re sabotaging our docks with explosives! We’re assembling to meet them, sir!”
“Get to the harbourfront and the military dockyards! Contact the police chief and get him to deploy as many officers as possible to maintain order and evacuate the waterfront areas! Order them to avoid engaging any kelpies!” ordered Duke.
“Done sir!”
Duke slammed the speaker in relief and after yelling for his wife to take their children inland and out of the city, he raced from his house to the docks as fast as his four hooves could carry him.
However, at the moment he got to the dockyards he knew that they had failed.
Any small warship that had been moored had been capsized by the initial wave. Some of the larger cruises had been thrown ungainly onto the docks themselves, smashing cranes and derricks. Several of the drydock gates were jammed shut or blasted open. The ships in the slipways fared no better, some of them bearing explosive damage, while others had kelpies on their decks, ripping off fittings, and destroying the welding and riveting equipment around the hulls.
The devastation didn’t just cover the ships. All around the Manehattan military harbour, wooden piers were being smashed, supply carts and train tracks for coal carts being ripped up. A coal bunker on the shore had been set alight. Ice shards rained down on cranes and blasts of water soaked foodstuffs ready to be loaded onto ships.
Sharpe and the rest of the Manehattan Rangers had already deployed into firing lines and were in the midst of a charge, polearms, maces and warhammers, which had been issued to them to better help fight changelings, raised high, but the kelpies were already backing away, continuing to smash more of Manehattan’s military harbour as they did so.
Iron Duke resisted the urge to groan outwardly. His troops could not see his frustration, but inside he was cursing himself. For even if the kelpies were driven back, the port and all the ships in construction, were all ruined.
Present
“Buck it,” swore Alternia. That was nearly a half of the total tonnage of ships under construction destroyed in Manehattan including two of their newly ordered Very Heavily Armored Cruisers, also known as, battlecruisers.
“Precisely,” said Luna.
Celestia slammed her hoof on the table, causing the crystal ball to jump. “How were they able to use explosives? They’re an underwater race!”
“According to our explosive experts, the blast pattern and intensity of the explosives appears to indicate that they are of gryphon make. It appears the Aquestrians been studying how to use them, perhaps seizing them from the ships they attacked.”
Alternia sighed and glanced at Cyndra and Raven, who were taking notes. “At least we know they still appear unable to manufacture such things, but all the same, I want all of our armories on lockdown. We cannot risk the possibility of them stealing our ordinance.” Looking back at Luna, Alternia said. “Continue.”
Luna nodded. “The force that attacked Manehattan withdrew shortly after sabotaging the harbour. We weren’t sure if it was the last of the attacks and so we alerted our garrisons.” The blue alicorn cursed. “That’s when they attacked Fillydelphia.”
Fillydelphia…
For Marshal Ermane Rommel and the vanguard of the Cloudsdale Blues, the military air arm of Equestria that had been training near Fillydelphia, it had taken them half an hour for them to respond to the radio calls from the Fillydelphia garrison.
Unfortunately, that was all that it took.
Ermane could not see too well in the dark, but the kelpies were wreaking havoc on the Fillydelphian military dockyard as large waves and ice shards from the waters peppered beached ships, installations and piers, smashing windows, controls, columns and doors. The dry dock doors here too had been blown apart and the cranes on the slipways ripped down. The docks themselves were empty of ponies. They had either fled, or... worse.
Perhaps they were too late to save the ponies or the docks, but they could still force the kelpies from wreaking any more havoc. Ermane turned to his trumpeter.
“Signal the attack! All flights, diving runs only until the rest of our command gets here!” Unsheathing his saber from his side, the pegasi general roared. “Charge!”
The vanguard roared and dived down, a wave of wings bearing down from the evening sky, Ermane at the head as they charged at the kelpies who dove for the safety of the sea.
Alternia frowned. “Wait, Luna, correct me if I am wrong, but have the kelpies been retreating once our reinforcements arrived?”
Luna dipped her head in assent. “Yes, and there is more. According to Ermane’s and Iron Duke’s reports, there appear to be less kelpies in the Fillydelphia attack than the Manehattan one.”
“That is very strange. How many were at Baltimare?” asked Celestia.
That was when Luna, to Alternia and Celestia’s shock, smiled.
“Now this, is where it gets interesting.”
Baltimare…
General Hanna Belle, her bronze-colored armor hiding most of her brown fur, wasn’t sure, but the moment the alert had come out after the Manehattan attack, she decided that she wasn’t taking any chances. Baltimare was the headquarters of the Equestrian Foreign Legion and a major military port in its own right, though not as large as Manehattan. It also had a massive civilian population.
Luckily, she was assisted by her marefriend of five years and chief of staff, Colonel Ambrosia Hill, a pale-green pegasus pony dressed in the French Foreign Legion’s blue and red uniform, who was now standing beside her. Together, they had managed to get the rest of the Foreign Legion up and to battle positions. From their view atop a tall apartment building near Baltimare harbour, where the Foreign Legion had set up their command post, they had a pretty good view of the harbour.
Hanna Belle glanced at Ambrosia. “Your ponies up yet, cowpony?”
Ambrosia, a native of Dodge City, chuckled, but that turned into a hacking cough that had Hanna Belle glancing at her in concern.
“Well, more up than I am apparently,” Ambrosia remarked dryly as soon as she had recovered.
Hanna Belle was about to ask if Ambrosia needed to lie down, when a donkey in the Foreign Legion’s uniform.
“General! Changelings in full war armor are closing in on us fast!” reported the panicked private.
“Relax soldier,” said Hanna Belle in a level voice, though Ambrosia glanced at Hanna Belle, an eyebrow raised anyway.
“I reported the possibility of an attack to Queen Simulacris, whose hive is nearby, and she offered to reinforce us. She said she would be leading a contingent to assist us. Keep an eye on them and show her majesty to me when she gets here.”
The private nodded and saluted before galloping off and the pair continued to survey the preparations being done to reinforce the harbourfront.
“You sure it will be enough, Hanna Belle?” asked Ambrosia suddenly.
Hanna Belle sighed. “I don’t know, love.” She looked out over Horse Shoe Bay and its entrance which led right to Baltimare. That channel was guarded by two squat square-shaped forts with thick concrete walls and cannon. “We got forts barring the entrance of the bay.” She pointed to several rounded parapets flanking the sides of Baltimare. “We have our new six-inch “disappearing” guns, but all of these are designed to be used against ships, not swimming targets. I doubt even our high explosive ammunition would be effective.”
Sighing, Hanna Belle pointed her hoof to the sandbags being thrown down in the dockyards and the containers and goods being handled by pickets of soldiers into makeshift dugouts and positions, while others set up firing positions on tall buildings. Several other field cannon, Hoofstrong guns, were being rolled behind sandbags, which were behind lines of barbed wire.
“Ultimately, our defense will have to be done on land if the kelpies attack. At least we’ve evacuated the civilians and had all ships put into the piers..”
“And if they don’t attack?” asked Ambrosia.
Hanna Belle grimaced. “I got a feeling they aren’t simply going to alert us they can successfully attack a port and let us learn how to prevent that. Sure the civilians are going to grumble at being moved, but better I lose some goodwill than risk their lives.”
“I agree wholeheartedly, general.”
Hanna Belle and Ambrosia turned to see Queen Simulacris and five changelings in their laminated chitin armor trotting towards them. Remembering the protocol lessons Celestia—Alternia had taught her, Hanna Belle politely bowed.
“Thank you for coming, your majesty.”
“You’re welcome, general, and thank you for telling me of this threat,” said Simulacris warmly. Turning from Hanna Belle for a moment, the queen glanced over the ponies making their preparations. “Where should I deploy my troops, general?”
“Keep them hidden for the moment as a reserve force. It is possible the Aquestrians don’t know about the extent of our collaboration with the changelings. I’ll let you know when you are needed—”
BOOM!
They all jumped and turned to see flashes of light and hear the crash of cannons as the forts at the bay’s entrance responded, sending plumes of whitewater soaring up from the sea.
“Damnit, it seems the reports were right. The kelpies somehow have explosives,” snapped Hanna Belle.
“I’ll order our batteries to open up,” said Ambrosia, trotting toward the many ponies seated by the desk of phones at their command station.
“Ambrosia, remind the rest of our forces about their explosives and have the field guns fire at will. I don’t know how effective they’ll be, but we have the ammunition,” added Hanna Belle.
“But will they be able to hit anything?” asked Simulacris quietly, her eyes narrowed.
Hanna Belle ran to the edge of the building and started swearing. There was a thick mist rising from the water and quickly too. It was enveloping the forts and now she could barely see the flash of their guns.
“Get our spotlights on! Order Bell Hood to form a pegasus team to clear that mist as best as he can! Bow teams, fire at your discretion!”
No targets were appearing, though, as the mist closed in on the harbour. Biting her lip, Hanna Belle abandoned trying to find anything in the fog and ran to her command table where she had set up a map of her forces and their positions.
For a moment, nothing happened and Hanna Belle, Ambrosia and Queen Simulacris set off another explosive. The harbour forts reported nobody trying a landing, however. And so all those at the command centre could do was listen to the boom of the guns in the harbour and the occasional explosion as the seaponies threw charges at the forts.
Then they heard it: the roar of water.
Hanna Belle cursed and grabbed the phone that linked to the lines of all her commanders. “Tsunami! Brace yourselves!”
Slamming the phone down, Hanna Belle tried to peer through the fog again, but all she could hear was the crash of the wave upon the harbour front, the snapping of piers, the tearing of steel as ships were thrown into the harbour wall.
Water was streaming into the streets, washing barbed wire away and soaking up sandbags. It didn’t appear her ponies were being too badly hurt though.
It was about then that a flight of pegasi, Hood’s team, flapped over the harbour front, beginning to clear up some of the mist at least Hanna Belle could spy some of her forces. However, they were immediately met by a rain of ice shards.
One pegasi was skewered through the wing and he screamed as he death-spiralled to the ground. Another’s throat was cut and she fell like a stone.
“Call them back!” ordered Hanna Belle. A signal pony on the roof, ran up and from the numerous flare rockets on the side, ignited a green one that shot into the air, creating a trail of green sparks. Hood’s flight responded by falling back.
“Casualty reports from the tsunami?” demanded Hanna Belle.
Ambrosia listened to one of the staff members seated at the desk of phones briefly, before turning to Hanna Belle. “Light. Most of them just appear a bit wet. Good thing you didn’t deploy them right up against the water.”
“Any sign of kelpies?” asked Hanna Belle.
“We’re getting reports of ice shards bombarding our positions, but no kelpies on the ground, ma’am,” yelled out a staff officer.
“Order them to return fire,” said Hanna Belle. Glancing at Simulacris and Ambrosia, Hanna Belle frowned. “That’s strange.”
“Indeed, the kelpies have shown themselves to be highly aggressive attackers,” said Simulacris. Her gaze was momentarily distracted at the sound of the harbour guns firing. “And for good reason, while your guns may not be able to hit those in the water too effectively, staying in there is not ideal.”
“So why are they being so cautious?” asked Ambrosia.
Hanna Belle shook her head. “No idea, but… if they aren’t here, we may be able to take advantage of this.”
“What do you have in mind?” asked Simulacris.
“Let’s wait for for a few minutes. In the meantime, have our ponies continue to bombard the water,” ordered Hanna Belle.
And so the three did, but as the minutes passed, no company reported signs of kelpies. In fact, most of them were firing blindly into the water as a veil of mist still pervaded over the battlefield. At least casualties were basically non-existent as the ponies had dug themselves in and the ice shards the seaponies were throwing seemed quite wild.
It was about then that Ambrosia noticed something.
“Hanna Belle, the mist is lifting.”
Hanna Belle ripped her eyes from the combat map and looked toward the harbour, and saw that the mist was indeed thinning, and too rapidly for natural means. “What?”
Simulacris shook her head. “Why would they need to lift the mist? It is keeping us suppressed and preventing us from advancing.”
“Also, it’s perfect ambush territory for their kelpies who clearly aren’t affected by it if what happened to the Gryphonia fleet was any indication!” Added Ambrosia.
Hanna Belle blinked then, as everything connected, which led to a rather feral grin taking over her features.
“Ambrosia, order companies one through ten to advance to the water’s edge and fire at their discretion. Queen Simulacris, advance your changelings in support.”
“What! What about the kelpies?” demanded Simulacris.
“They probably aren’t here.” Simulacris blinked, Ambrosia looking up briefly from the phone she was holding as Hanna Belle explained.
“It’s why they’re lifting the mist. They need to see us in order to hurt us! The kelpies fought perfectly well under the mist when attacking the Gryphon fleet, so why didn’t they just rip us apart? Why haven’t we seen them even though it’s been thirty minutes into the battle?”
“A good point, general. I will advance my changelings.”
“Be careful though, we don’t know all their capabilities,” warned Hanna Belle.
“Understood,” said Simulacris as she jumped off the rooftop, her swarm following her like a black cloud.
With the mist gone, Hanna Belle could clearly see her soldiers running up, ducking behind crates and ice-smashed equipment.
And as she pulled up her binoculars to gaze at the sea, she could also see her enemy. The seaponies, poking up their heads once in awhile to send an ice shard careening toward the shore with a swing of their fin-like forehooves. Hydromancy through physical motion.
Only now though, crossbow wielding soldiers, and shells were smashing into the sea. A crossbow-wielding minotaur nailed a seapony through the head with a shot. A gigantic plume of water, kicked up by a rather lucky shell, sent a very unlucky seapony hiding in the water flying sky high, its broken body limp in the air. A changeling from Simulacris’s hive fired a magic beam that knocked what looked like a seapony with a horn, a sea unicorn so to speak, back into the water. While most of the attacks fired by Hanna Belle’s soldiers and the changelings missed, more were hitting than before.
And still there was no sign of the kelpies.
Hanna Belle quashed the elation she was feeling. It wasn’t the time, and the seaponies still hadn’t revealed one rather important thing.
Their objective. What the heck were they after?
All they’d done was fire ice shards at them and bombard the forts. Why would they—
A boom, not a cannon shot snapped Hanna Belle’s eyes to the slipways and she winced at the gaping hole in one of them, before blinking.
“Wait what?” Why in the world were the seaponies targeting their docks and not their personnel? They were what was killing the seaponies, not the docks.
Another explosion drew her attention to one of the drydocks and she saw the last part of several bright blue magic beams searing a hole right through its doors. All over Baltimare port, other explosions from seapony-thrown charges or magic beams wrecked the facilities, not hurting the Equestrian Foreign Legion too much, but destroying equipment and structures.
“Hanna! They must be after the docks!” yelled Ambrosia.
Hanna Belle’s eyes widened. The Equestrian navy’s production and repair facilities! That must have been the goal of this attack all along.
“Ambrosia, order all hooves and hands to protect the docks! Those are the enemy objectives!”
“Already on it!”
But it was too late. In front of Hanna Belle’s eyes, more docks, more piers and cranes came tumbling down as the seaponies targeted them with explosive charges and magical beams.
At one point, Hanna Belle winced as she spied a bolt of water from the sea seem to explode into a cloud of steam next to a squad of ponies. Three of the ponies screamed as hot steam scalded them to death, their fur and skin falling off from their roasted bodies. The others leapt for cover, shaking in their hooves at the death of their comrades, several of them whimpering as they nursed blisters on their hooves and lost feathers.
Hanna Belle grimaced and she momentarily felt sick. Thank Celestia, or Alternia, that whatever spell caused that seemed to be relatively rare. Still, the degree of caution that all the other squads were forced to take in light of the spell meant that their advance to the dockyards were slowed considerably.
And despite seeing the odd seaponies falling as they carried out their task to the crossbow fire from her Legion on the shores, the destruction of the docks did not stop
A moment after the last drydock door was blown up, a massive cloud of super-heated steam suddenly rose up in the bay.
Her eyes wide, Hanna Belle yelled to her staff. “Withdraw our troops! NOW!”
The ponies seated at the table of phones frantically rang them, while others fired signal rockets. Equestrian Foreign Legionaries and changelings ran for their lives, jumping over equipment and fleeing as the cloud of steam advanced to the harbour wall, washing over crates and smashed derricks.
But shortly afterward, the steam… dissipated and just like that, the waters in the bay were still once more, devoid of seaponies.
Crystal ball…
“How many casualties did we suffer?” asked Alternia.
“Three hundred,” said Luna.
Alternia, Celestia and everybody with them, froze.
“Wait what?” demanded Celestia.
Luna nodded, frowning. “We’re still getting reports in, but most of our deaths in the attacks came from what nightwatch ponies were on duty and evening dockworkers.”
Celestia shook her head, eyes wide. “We only had three hundred killed or wounded? That’s… that’s far too light. This isn’t like the kelpies!”
“What do you mean by that, Celestia?” demanded Luna. She turned to Alternia. “Alternia?”
Alternia sighed. “As you know we were engaged by the enemy…” and so Alternia explained to Luna, the fight over Aquamaris and the attack on her convoy, the sea pony capital, their discoveries regarding the treaty they had and Alternia’s theories on where the missives ended up, meeting Typhon, and finally, Tethys’s rejection of the talks.
“How… how many did you lose?” asked Luna, as if she didn’t want to know the answer.
Celestia turned to Raven, who adjusted her glasses, double checked the figures on her clipboard, and looked at the crystal ball.
“Four thousand and twenty-eight dead. Two thousand, nine hundred and fifty wounded.”
Luna was aghast. “Four thousand dead! Your fleets combined had nearly eight thousand ponies!”
“Which makes this attack on our soil, incredibly strange. What measures have you taken to reinforce our borders currently?” asked Alternia.
“Shining Armor has been reassigned at his own request with the rest of the Royal Guard to Manehattan. Cadance is with him to help him restore order and keep the civilians calm. I’ve also ordered the Cloudsdale Blues to standby over Fillydelphia and have requested the Dodge City Militia to reinforce the Foreign Legion in Baltimare.”
“That should be sufficient for now, did the generals make any observations about the attacks?” asked Alternia.
“I for one, thought that the kelpies seemed oddly reluctant to engage in prolonged open battle with our ponies,” said Celestia. She frowned. “Actually, they seemed rather focused on destroying our dockyards and ships in production didn’t they?”
“And you are correct, Celestia. The generals did notice this in their reports and more. Apparently, it seemed that the attack on Fillydelphia involved less kelpies than that of Manehattan.” Luna grimaced. “It is General Caesar Salad’s, Ermane Rommel’s, Hanna Belle’s and Shining Armor’s current opinion that this attack was carried out by three different forces. While there was an hour between the attacks, because of the sheer distance between Manehattan and Baltimare, it’s highly unlikely the attacks were made by a single force.”
“That would make sense. But then…” Alternia blinked. “Why were there less kelpies in Fillydelphia and then absolutely no kelpies in Baltimare?”
That question stumped the Princesses and they lapsed into silence.
“What if it wasn’t because they wanted to?” asked Chrysalis slowly.
“Can you elaborate, Chrysalis?” asked Luna.
Chrysalis’s brow furrowed. “What if they didn’t intentionally mean for there to be less kelpies in Fillydelphia and none in Baltimare? I mean, the seaponies took far more casualties in Baltimare than they did in the other cities because the kelpies weren’t present and Tethys doesn’t seem to be the type to commit to action unless the odds are stacked in her favor.”
Alternia nodded. “I suppose you are right, but if it wasn’t intentional, then why did it happen?”
That again, silenced those in the room as they racked their brains for an answer.
“Luna, you said the chief targets of the operations were our shipyards, our ships in construction and shipbuilding facilities, correct?” asked Alternia slowly.
Luna frowned. “Yes.”
“Would you say that Manehattan was the most important port because it was producing our new battlecruisers and it had the most shipbuilding facilities? That Fillydelphia was next because of its cruiser yards and that Baltimare, which mainly focused on light ships and destroyer production, was last?” asked Alternia.
Luna nodded and groaned. “Well, yes. That doesn’t explain why there were no kelpies in the third group, though. It may explain why they had less kelpies in the attack group for Fillydelphia, but the Baltimare attack involving no kelpies at all? Our scientists from REINS are already picking up the corpses of seaponies who have been washed on shore. We don’t have a lot of them, but it is the most damage we’ve done to the Aquestrians since the beginning of this conflict.” Luna placed her head in her hooves. “Not that it helps that much. Half our Eastern fleet is sunk now and our ship production on the eastern coasts has been set back by at least several months.”
Alternia sighed. “That is true, Luna.” Pursing her lips the changeling grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. “But it is still important to figure out just why not even one kelpie was seen in the Baltimare attack. We may be able to gain greater insights into Tethys’s overall strategy if we do so.”
“Right. Well, what do we know of Tethys in general?” asked Luna.
“Ruthless,” spoke Celestia instantly.
“Appears to abide by some honor code, and according to her viewpoint, stringently,” remarked Alternia.
Luna nodded. “According to your reports, she apparently did warn us and the gryphons several times. Missives to our capital, her warning to the Gryphons which she knew we got hold of as well, and the time with the Venecian convoy when she bumped the Llamrei and destroyed the convoy.”
Celestia scowled. “Speaking of that, Luna, can you send a scout team to search the Castle of the Two Pony sisters? We need to know if they actually did send messages to us.”
“Got it. What else?” asked Luna.
Alternia grimaced. “Decisive and cunning, she would take an opportunity and exploit it fully. The three port strikes are clearly an example where she decided to preemptively hit our ports to disable facilities important for a long-term conflict. It was a good move on her part.”
“But of course, that doesn’t explain the lack of kelpies in the third group and the losses they took because of it,” Luna replied.
“Right, that seems out of character for Tethys, who has been very careful so far to engage only when things are in her favor and has always brought enough forces to do so.” Alternia gestured Raven to jot that fact down and thought about it for a moment. There was something really odd about these port attacks. Devastating on the surface, but if one looked deeper, they stood out as being very… weird, inconsistent with the other kelpie attacks.
“They didn’t have enough kelpies.”
Everybody turned to Celestia whose eyes were wide as plates.
“Tethys, does not fight unless it is in her favor, but what if… just what if she put no kelpies in the third group, because she didn’t have enough warriors to assign them there to make them effective and worth taking out the destroyer production facilities? So they just had the first and second groups include kelpies.”
Luna shook her head in disbelief. “Wait, are you saying that… that all the kelpies have as an attacking force, is limited to what they used against our fleets in the Eastern Sea, and the port strikes? Surely they must have some kind of reserve!”
“If she does have a reserve, it was likely deemed too important to commit to in Baltimare as they believed they could accomplish the task with just seaponies. They did do that, even if they took more losses, which supports our conclusion on Tethys’s calculating nature,” said Celestia.
Alternia nodded. “And thinking about it… the kelpies have emerged from a long conflict with Samudra, and by nature the kelpies are predators. The gryphons’ population has been able to expand because they use meat substitutes, but even then they are limited. Considering those two factors, it is not unlikely that the kelpie attacking force may be limited to what they used to attack our ports and what they used to attack my fleet and Celestia’s.”
“If I may…” said Chrysalis. The three princesses turned, their attention on her. “Remember that Samudra managed to contain the kelpies for all of one thousand years and we all know how powerful they were. The only way she must have been able to do so successfully was if the kelpies were an extreme minority compared to the seapony population.”
“Putting that all together that means there’s a possibility that we outnumber the army the kelpies are fielding,” Celestia grimaced. “Well at least we know that any land invasion the kelpies attempt will be severely rebuffed next time. They don’t have the numbers to fight against all of Equestria.”
Good one sister. Though-spoke Alternia to Chrysalis.
“About that sister, I’m quite certain at this point that the kelpies have no reason to invade our lands, and will not do so,” Luna said slowly.
Alternia and Celestia glanced at Luna. “Why do you say that Luna?” asked the changeling queen.
“All of Tethys’s demands have specifically for every single living creature to leave the kelpies waters to them. To support this, we have the lack of civilian casualties in the Manehattan and Fillydelphia attacks. All attacks had the potential to do massive damage, but the kelpies limited themselves to military targets instead of trying to run rampant. This was a targeted strike for sabotage purposes, to carry out a specific goal.”
“That makes sense,” said Celestia, as Alternia nodded in agreement. “What I think is strange is why Tethys would even bother targeting our ships in the first place. It is as if she deemed them a threat when she clearly can just destroy our fleets.”
Alternia shook her head. “I’m not surprised. The ships are our method of projecting power over the ocean. She likely knows there is no guarantee that we won’t find a manner to attack targets underwater with our shipboard weaponry and hence she eliminated as many of them as possible before they could become a threat.”
Celestia winced. “But now, she’s set us back in that regard by months, and at a time like this…”
Celestia didn’t even have to look at Doggess Sebastiana, who groaned loudly, her shoulders sagging in despair.
“Venecia can’t afford to wait that long. We can have the population evacuated by airship, in fact, we are starting to move everyone out now with the supply airships that have been returning to the mainland, but at this rate, it’ll take a year and our supplies won’t last a month and a half, even with airships supplying us.” Sebastiana’s voice cracked at the last word and she couldn’t help but bury her face in her hooves.
“Which is why we need to find Murmillar’s book, now more than ever,” said Alternia firmly.
Celestia and Luna nodded.
“Agreed, it might answer questions about the kelpies that we still have,” said Luna.
“And it might reveal more weaknesses to them,” Celestia added.
“I hope it does. The diplomatic option has failed, and while I’d want it rather than war, we have no choice.” Alternia turned her gaze to Luna. “Conscript all privately owned to help with the evacuation and supply of Venecia and speed up the production of existing airshps. Order the mobilization of all our forces and make sure our coasts are guarded. I suggest leaving Shining Armor to help fortify our eastern ports.” Alternia swallowed. “I’ll take care of retrieving Murmillar’s book from Retariusil’s hive.”
“Alright, but you need to be careful Alternia, from what Retariusil has told us, the hive is flooded,” said Celestia.
“I will,” said Alternia.
The princesses talked for a bit longer, finalizing details on mobilisation, but the meeting was soon over and all three chose to head to their rooms.
As exhausted as she felt though, Alternia felt she had forgotten something as she entered her stateroom with Chrysalis.
On second thought, the fact that only Chrysalis was with her was a bit telling of what was about to happen.
“Chrysalis? Where did Harlequin and the others go?”
Chrysalis initially ignored Alternia’s question, and instead, to Alternia’s confusion, trotted to the cabin’s ‘snack bar’ where she produced from the cupboard, a bottle of whiskey.
“I dismissed them, Alternia,” said Chrysalis, as she levitated two heavy whiskey glasses from the rack.
Alternia frowned. “Why?”
Saying nothing, Chrysalis gestured to the dining table with its chairs, and Alternia, wishing for this charade to be over with, sat down. Chrysalis joined her shortly and poured.
“We need to talk about Buzz, and the changelings you lost.”
Alternia couldn’t help but flinch as a first seemed to squeeze around her heart. A blinding pressure built in her throat, so tight, so choking that she was forced to close her now-moist eyes briefly.
It was all Alternia could do to force out two words.
“You’re right.”
Chrysalis frowned. “Not going to try to deny it?”
“What’s the point? I’m trying not to let it show, Chrysalis, but I am grieving and I… I miss them.” Alternia took a sip of her glass. It did some benefit to loosening the clenching feeling around her throat. “I miss Buzz’s ridiculous attempts to hit on me. He was just so funny the way he did it and yet, I always appreciated that he would stop whenever there was a situation that required his professionalism.” Alternia swallowed, closing her eyes briefly, her mind recalling very recent memories. Happy memories.
“Then there was Diarmuid and his chivalry. Arethusa and her inability to decide whether to be shy or to be angry. Boadicea and her dedication.” Alternia cringed, shutting her eyes as the tears refused to stop trickling down her cheeks. Rather considerately, Chrysalis offered Alternia a hoofkerchief and Alternia managed to dry her eyes slightly with the corner of it.
“I loved all of them. I didn’t know all of them so well, but I loved all of them. More than the members of my own guard even and… I’m not sure why and whether I should feel this way.”
“I know, Alternia… well I don’t know exactly, but I have an idea what you are going through,” amended Chrysalis.
Alternia looked right at Chrysalis’s eyes. “What am I going through?”
Chrysalis sighed. “Something all queens who have just formed their first hive must go through, maybe even worse. The bond you had with your changelings is strong. Queens always have strong links with the first changelings they join with. Your bond with your changelings is even stronger than many other queens because you had more power to place into the bond.”
“Is this why… why I felt their last thoughts?” Alternia whispered, eyes dropping to the table.
“Felt?” Chrysalis asked, blinking.
“Yes… I felt their last thoughts… the despair behind them… the regret…they…” Alternia cringed. “They didn’t expect to end this way. None of them did. Even if they knew they were going to die.” Alternia’s moist eyes met Chrysalis’s a second before she burst into sobs. She couldn’t hold back the half-choked feeling in her throat, or the pain in her heart any longer.
“Just why did I have to lose them so soon, sister? Why?”
Chrysalis trotted and did the only thing she could do. Wrap her hooves around her little sister tightly and let her cry into her shoulder. Chrysalis didn’t care that the tears were soaking her carapace and she was actually just a tiny bit glad she was there to offer comfort and whatever support she could.
But for the most part, her heart ached at what her sister was suffering, and the sorrow she was emanating.
“I don’t know, Alternia. I just don’t know.”
Evening…
Alternia trotted across the Neptune’s deck with Diamondshell, Harlequin, Raven and Cyndra at her side.
It was a starless night. No stars twinkled and the ocean was pitch black.
For this reason, Alternia had a distinct feeling something was wrong as she walked forward.
Then out of nowhere, she heard a scream behind her.
Spinning around, Alternia gasped. Massive tentacles, several feet thick, had coiled up the deck and now seized Harlequin, Cyndra, Diamondshell and Raven.
“Princess!” they screamed. Alternia lunged forward desperately. She could feel their fear clenching her heart. She could see Diamondshell sobbing, all composure lost as she squirmed in the tentacle’s grasp. Cyndra had shut her eyes while Raven, her glasses askew was simply paralyzed. As Alternia fired a slice of a green magic at the tentacles, but to her horror, it simply dissipated against the armor of the tentacles. Tears in her eyes, Alternia summoned her halberd and hacked at the tentacles, red blood dripping from her weapon as she smashed into the fleshy part of the limb.
But it was too late
Before her eyes, the tentacles curled around Diamondshell’s flexed. A sickening crack cut through Alternia’s ears and she fell limply to the ground, carapace broken, her form smashed beyond recognition, a ragdoll.
“Help!” screamed Cyndra, just before she was frozen, her carapace icing over, frost sealing her mouth. Her breath caught in her throat, Alternia ran forward as the tentacles released her, only to find a statue of her niece standing on the deck, her face eternally locked in an expression of terror.
As Alternia raised her Halberdd to try to free Raven, her dear assistant, managed a half-choked. “Your highness!” Before the tentacles gripping around her hindquarters and those wrapped around her torso pulled away from each other.
Blood all over her face, screaming so loudly her throat gave out in protest, Alternia dropped her halberd with a clatter, and tore herself away from the sight, only to freeze in place.
Towering over the ship’s railing, her head the size of a fishing trawler, was Tethys. Harlequin was dangled right in front of her massive ship-breaking jaws, spear-length teeth revealed in a wide sneer.
“No. Please. I’ll do anything! Just let him go!” stammered Alternia unable to move, her limbs rooted to the deck.
But Tethys didn’t listen and opened that maw of shark-teeth. Right before she bit down, Harlequin, though paralyzed by fear, managed one phrase.
“I love you.”
And a moment later, he was gone, vanished into the Empress’s maw. The Empress, who was now sneering at Alternia, her blood soaked teeth and lips leering at her.
Alternia’s eyes widened as she saw the glint in Tethys’s black eyes and saw her licking her fangs.
“Oh no. Please no!” Alternia begged, backing away, but there was no escape. Tethys’s tentacles seized her, pinning her limbs in place, crushing her wings against her body, one smaller tentacle wrapping around her horn, as they hoisted her up over the Empress’s maw. Unable to move, her throat to hoarse to scream Alternia could only force a thin wail through her dry lips.
That was when she felt water, cold water soaking her body from head to toe, sputtering, Alternia opened her eyes and blinked.
She was in her room, somebody was grabbing her hoof. Dazed and blinking away her bleariness, Alternia turned and gasped.
“... Diamondshell?”
The normally stoic chevalier was wide eyed in fear, her hooves gripping Alternia’s tightly.
“But… but you died. I …I saw you die...” Alternia croaked as she pushed herself up, shaking her head as she forced herself to breath in deeply.
Diamondshell blinked, and swallowed. “My queen, it was just a dream,” she said. “I’m right here.”
“I…” Alternia swallowed, looking away as she forced herself to be composed.
It had all been a nightmare, a terrifying nightmare and there was no way Alternia away going to sleep after that. At least, not without some help...
“Thank you, Diamondshell. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to talk to my sister,” rasped Alternia.
“I agree, your highness,” said Diamondshell shortly.
Because Alternia didn’t want to wake Chrysalis up through her mental link, she decided to trot through the decks of the Neptune to Chrysalis’s chambers, just to check if she was still awake.
She didn’t expect Celestia to be sitting in the middle of the lounge room, her hoof holding a glass of whiskey, the half-empty bottle on the table. What really grabbed Alternia’s attention, though, was the book Celestia was reading.
From the images inside, it looked like an Equestrian history textbook. One of the many she had to approve to be sent to schools.
“Funny how you signed these off, even though you knew what was written is a lie,” said Celestia, not looking up.
Alternia didn’t think Celestia had noticed her, but apparently she did. And so Alternia silently trotted into the lounge room and took up a seat across from her co-ruler.
Once again, Alternia was struck by how odd it was to be staring into what was her reflection for the better part of a thousand years.
“It was pretty funny, but I always hoped one day that I’d be able to sign one off that was actually true,” admitted Alternia.
“True about how much you did for Equestria?” Celestia asked, the bitter tone in her voice telling Alternia all she needed to know.
Alternia didn’t reply. She couldn’t quite get a read on Celestia’s emotions. Sadness was perhaps the most prevalent of them, but there were other undercurrents in the alicorn’s emotional state that Alternia wasn’t sure about and she could feel more dangerous ones such as anger and resentment.
“I’m sorry, Alternia.” Celestia met Alternia’s eyes. “I had no right to question your love for Equestria. Not when I was sleeping as you ruled Equestria for a thousand years. I was just…” Celestia sighed. “I was jealous.”
Alternia really had no idea what to say to that. So she just waited and listened.
“You were there for Equestria’s most critical moments, bringing it to prosperity, protecting it, whilst I… I just slept. This Equestria… it isn’t just mine and Luna’s anymore. I don’t know how Luna got over that, but she was always more flexible and adaptable than I ever was.” Celestia groaned and sipped from her glass again. “And here I am, feeling sorry for myself and jealous of my replacement because she just did a better job than I ever could.”
Celestia took another sip, her shoulders sagging. “Not to mention, I have nothing to be jealous of. I put you through something that I know would have driven me mad. You had to lie to everypony you cared about, and look at a reflection that wasn’t yours for a thousand years.” Celestia glanced at Alternia. “I really am just a very ungrateful nag after all.”
“No, Celestia. You are more than just that,” said Alternia, her voice trailing off.
Celestia frowned as Alternia levitated a glass from under the table and poured herself some whiskey. Alternia cringed as the nightmare came back, her friends dead around her, those she loved, slaughtered and Tethys dangling her over her mouth, about to eat her.
“I’m terrified of Tethys, Celestia. That’s why I’m up this late. I’m scared about what she might to do my family and friends, I’m scared of what she nearly did to me…” Alternia met Celestia’s gaze. “And yet, although she nearly killed you, twisted your neck off, you still had the guts to stand before her to bet upon a tactic that wasn’t guaranteed to work, just so that you could save me?”
Alternia managed a wry smile. “Perhaps you’re out of touch with the times, and maybe you’re a bit stubborn, but that courage of yours… that determination to do what you believe in, it saved what remained of our fleet. I couldn’t have done that. I failed to do anything against Tethys as well, and for all my talk about how diplomacy was important, it just doesn’t seem that we can make it happen.”
“Perhaps, but thanks to your efforts, we now know our path, as difficult as it may be,” said Celestia. She refilled both of the glasses. “Down down to Goblin Town?” Alternia snorted but toasted Celestia and the pair emptied their glasses.
“You actually listened to that song?” asked Alternia, pouring more whiskey; the bottle was now empty.
“I needed to immerse myself in modern culture. The Ponies of the Hoofband series and their related works was most fascinating in that respect.” Celestia’s smile faded and she put her glass down on the table for a moment.
“Alternia, do not worry about your courage. You are brave too, in your own way. Just keep in mind that your friends are with you, to the end, whatever it may be.”
Alternia nodded. “I know…” She pursed her lips. “Would it be… churlish of me to count you as one of them?”
Celestia smiled. “I’d be honored, but first let us see how you last the night.” She opened the whiskey cabinet and grabbed a few bottles.
Sighing, Alternia waved her hoof to tell Diamondshell to make herself comfortable. “Really? Getting drunk helped get us into this mess in the first place.”
Celestia slid Alternia one of the whiskey bottles, and watched the changeling uncork it. “I don’t see you protesting.”
Alternia took a heavy gulp and sighed contentedly as she felt the liquid burn in her throat, before she levelled Celestia with a reproving glance.
“According to what Retariusil has told me, I’ll be headed into a wet, flooded, and partially collapsed hive to find a book that may or may not be in reading condition and there may be kelpies present. I think I need to fortify myself.”
“And I just survived an attempt on my life against a ship-sized kelpie empress, and had to go through my co-ruler reminding me how pathetic I can be. I think I need to drown my sorrows,” replied Celestia in an equally deadpan voice.
Alternia couldn’t help it, she burst into snickers as did Celestia a moment later.
“We’re so going to regret this when we wake up tomorrow morning,” Alternia pointed out.
“The drinking… yes, but not what we shared, I thinkest,” said Celestia meaningfully.
Alternia grinned and the two princesses clanged their bottles together.