Towering over the summit of the mountain, Kreesus stood at the focal point of the ley line that ran under her hive. The storm that raged above her deafened those below with the constant clap of thunder. Hurricane force winds roared along the edges of the peak with raw lightning tearing at anything the wind didn’t blow away.
And yet Polybia’s swarm was as relentless as a machine. The drones’ wall walking abilities gave them the strength needed to force their way up, only to be met by Kreesus’ defenders. Polybia’s climbers were cut down with laughable ease by the numerous spine firing drones nestled all along the edges of the peak, with some in stone towers, giving perfect fields of fire on every approach.
The scant few that survived the deluge of lightning and spines clashed with the thick armored drones that sported sharpened claws and dagger-like legs that rent Polybia’s meager survivors asunder.
With Kreesus’ link to the ley line, she also enchanted the very mountain itself to be impenetrable to tunneling, leaving the summit the only point of attack.
Yet the week long siege was taking its toll on the hive. Blindly fired spells from below rained death of its own upon her ranks. Blackened and festering tumors sprang up from the impacts, killing drones within seconds, or seeping into the rock itself. Previously, a full squad of Rainbow’s marines had been stationed on the summit to lend their talents with holy magic to directly combat Polybia’s necrotic assault. However, Polybia had, by either sheer luck or skillful assassination, eliminated the entire squad by the third day. With the the squad dead, and the Long Shot being directly assaulted as well, nothing but a few biplanes could be spared to aid in Kreesus’ defense.
With the marines gone, the tainted magic was relentlessly creeping up the summit, even up the sheer cliffs protecting the ranged drones above.
That very same corruption was now seeping into the spire that channeled Kreesus’ ley line. Upon the fifth day of the siege, the spire of old stone and wax that stretched thin and tall along the northern edge was now a jet black edifice with motes of sickly purple pulsating within cracks that were widening each moment.
As much as she wanted to, Kreesus couldn’t use her holy magic since the ley lines were incapable of channeling such power.
Without even reaching her platform, the toxic magic was poisoning the ley energies she wielded. With five days of no rest and only honey to sustain her, Kreesus was starting to make mistakes. The hurricane force winds slowly faded, the lightning struck increasingly at random, and worst of all, her defenders had been forced back away from their fortifications. The rotting corruption decayed any who stood upon the ground. Even Fluffy itself was being corralled towards the center of the summit.
Its massive hide, while earlier enchanted with holy protection, was already pockmarked with necrotic lesions, yet still it fought with the same ferocity as its smaller kin. Its enormous legs swept the troublesome gnats away, its contours gave other drones protected firing positions. However, its wings had already been burned away in the first few days, leaving the living airship grounded.
It was an hour til dusk on the fifth day of the siege when Polybia’s drones had clawed enough of a foothold on the summit to start exploiting the corrupted soil. Well over three hundred throats started chanting a hymn that clawed at Kreesus’ mind. The clawing became a slash within moments, before evolving into an outright verbal spike in her brain as the vile symphony pierced the wind as if it were a calm day.
Starting from the land nearest the ring of Polybia’s drones, the corruption that had sunk into the ground all week now erupted in necrotic mana. Kreesus watched in horror as all that was left of the fertile summit quickly burned away by the blackish purple magic as it swept over her remaining troops and scorched Fluffy from end to end.
Her panic redoubled as the erupting corruption raced up the spire. Damn you, Polybia!
Left with no choice, Kreesus lept away from the top of the spire as the explosive energies reacted to the ley lines. Upon hitting her channeling platform, the entire spire exploded in a shower of stone and dark magic. The storm above dissipated in one final gush of air that rippled from the center, with enough force to throw dozens of drones off the mountain, ripping their wings to tatters in the process.
Kreesus did not escape the fallout of the exploding spire, and was sent hurtling towards the desecrated ground. Yet before she could splat onto the rock, several of her drones combined their magic to telekinetically arrest her fall so that she could start flying again under her own power.
There was no thanks to her saviors, and none was expected. It seems the corruption hasn’t penetrated very far. I should be safe underground until I can reach my portal chamber.
She had scarcely reoriented herself towards the nearest entryway when a deep mechanical buzz joined that of changeling beating wings. She looked towards the lip of the summit to see three full squadrons of biplanes roar into the airspace above, raining flak and small holy-infused bombs all across the poison choked battlefield.
The footholds Polybia had secured were blasted away with the holy bombs giving Kreesus’ scant few remaining surface defenders small patches of consecrated ground to make one final stand. Explosions rattled the summit as Kreesus made a beeline straight for the nearest cavernous entrance, sending shards of rock and bits of drones raining upon her. It didn’t take her long to reach the relative safety of the entrance into the deeper hive. But before descending into the depths, she felt her gaze drawn back towards Fluffy.
The living airship was still fighting with the ferocity of a cornered animal, yet it was never meant to walk. So it lay there like a living hill, with Polybia’s undead horde seeking to tear it down, one scale at a time. With his thick iron-like scales, the biplanes were free to fire on the of ghoulified mass that was trying to claw their way into Fluffy’s much softer interior. However, with Kreesus’ more mobile defenders being pushed back to the hive entryways, Polybia was able to focus her counterattacks towards the biplanes and bringing Fluffy down. As searing bolts of mana started filling the skies, the aircraft started being torn from the skies, one by one.
Several of Polybia’s drones combined their efforts to fire larger burrowing spells into Fluffy’s scales, threatening to pierce through to its vital organs.
Kreesus ordered the other entryways to be collapsed. Before abandoning the Summit and Fluffy, Kreesus glared hatefully at the nearest living drone of Polybia. She flared her horn and latched onto the hapless puppet and pulled it from the sky while a different spell sliced it’s horn off at the base. Kreesus brought the helpless drone before her and shook it violently. “You honorless filth! Mark my words, Polybia, I’ll pay you back a thousand fold for what you’ve done to me!”
Polybia didn’t bother taking too much control over the puppet, and simply spoke through it. “You had your chance to cast your vote to cancel my rogue status. You brought this on yourself.”
“I would never forsake my honor by siding with you!” Kreesus threw the drone against the stone wall of the entrance, heedless of the air war above her growing ever more desperate.
The puppet chuckled, uncaring about spurting up blood in the process. “Your idea of honor already cost you your friendship with Cadista, and any chance of having a loving daughter.” Kreesus bristled with rage, and started strangling the smirking puppet. With a final breath, Polybia poured on the contempt like rain. “Now it will cost you your hive and your future.”
Kreesus’ rage overtook her and she snapped the puppet’s neck, and hurled it as far as she could before it could explode in a necrotic bomb. The future of our race is everything. And I’ll rest that future in Twilight and Rainbow’s hooves.
With the rest of Polybia’s forces running the gauntlet of aircraft fire to reach Kreesus, she left the corpse behind and ordered the entrance to be collapsed. The act would only buy her time. With the ley line spire destroyed, the ribbon of the world’s magic sank back down into the depths of the earth, and far out of Kreesus’ reach. And with it, the enchantment upon the mountain side that kept it too hard for Polybia to burrow through. Within moments of the enchantment dying away, the tens of thousands of drones Polybia still had on the mountain side started worming their way in.
It was dusk on the sixth day when the siege ended. High up the lonely mountain, an entire wing of bi-planes made a pass over a blackened mountain summit. With Polybia’s swarm withdrawing en masse from the area, the Long Shot had moved in close and now loomed a few kilometers to the north while half of it’s remaining fighters scouted out the battlefield.
Through the eyes of their pilots, Twilight and Rainbow Dash saw a mountainside blanketed in drones, undead or otherwise, that had been torn asunder. Giant cracks in the ancient stone crisscrossed throughout the summit along with thousands of new tunnels threatening to bring the whole mountain down. Alongside the drones were several biplanes that had joined them in death. Those pilots had long since fallen silent in the Link.
As the first scout plane passed over the lip of the summit and into the farmland, what lay beyond was more of the same: blackened, smokey ruins. Honey pot drones, large individuals with abdomens bloated full of honey to feed the defenders, were dead to the last, having been too ponderous to be evacuated effectively once the front line broke down. Their golden honey now burnt into useless char. The crops and the very soil had been poisoned heavily by dark magic, leaving what plants that had survived to start growing tumors and malformations. Well over a dozen more wrecked aircraft added to the thousands of dead.
Towering over them all was Fluffy who was somehow still alive, but only just. Every crack, every injury, and entryway into the living airship sported blackish purple signs of necrotic decay. The leviathan's breathing was loud and labored, and it didn’t help that the shattered remains of a biplane was lodged in one of it’s many throats. The aircraft's burning fuel only worsening Fluffy's miserable state.
Yet the most disturbing thing to both the queens and pilots, was how quiet it was. Neither Twilight Sparkle or Rainbow Dash had been spared the darker elements of a battle’s aftermath, from the tutelage of Celestia and Spitfire, respectively. Aside from the slow wind, a few smoldering fires, and Fluffy’s wheezing there was no sound. No moaning or screaming of the wounded and dying, only the silence of the grave.
Twilight sat on her throne aboard the carrier’s bridge, the tension in the air was palpable. The thought of so much death, even if they were drones with no individual will, weighed heavily upon the entire crew. “Do you think Kreesus is still alive? Her liaison went feral so…”
Rainbow Dash’s scowl was pressed into a thin line, and dragged out her response. “I feel obligated to hope she is. We saw several of those undead Silence Behemoths trying to climb up the side.” Twilight gave her something between a scowl and a sigh, but otherwise remained silent.
What I wouldn’t give for peacetime again. Steeling herself, Twilight refocused on the ruined battlefield. <I need some volunteers to search Fluffy in case Kreesus took refuge within it.>
Every last one of the carrier’s fifty marines stepped forward, but Rainbow Dash stepped in to only allow half their number to go. After amending Twilight’s order, Rainbow leaned across her throne to speak with her sister. “We can’t risk everypony in that deathtrap. Why else would Poly leave Fluffy still breathing?”
With her mind fully drawn back to the matters at hand, Twilight nodded in agreement. “Good point. Polybia’s withdraw might not have been total. <I need magi to report to the field. Start purifying that necrotic magic while time and opportunity allows.> Less rot for us to clean up later on.
“I hope you don’t plan on us sticking around for long, Twi. We rescue Kreesus, then we’re gone. Assuming she’s still alive.”
With the biplanes forming a perimeter around the mountain, the single squad of magi started working on channeling the purifying light of the Silver City upon the worst of the necrotic corruption.
Two teams of marines, weapons held at the ready, found two of Fluffy’s normal entry points. The locations were little more than large sphincters that had been torn apart with blood and ichor oozing slowly onto the rocky ground. Rainbow Dash watched closely through the team-leader’s eyes while Twilight took a more diluted view by watching through all the marines at once.
Fluffy’s resting place was atop a broken stone watch tower in the middle of what used to be a corn field. The structure had once housed a cadre of spine flinging drones, but was now little more than crushed rock and lifeless husks. The farming fields were a festering mass of plants being slowly mutated by the dense dark magic. Worst yet, a heavy nauseating miasma was starting to pool along the ground, and was slowly rising in areas where the wind was slow. If left unchecked, the mountain could end up spilling the corruption down into the jungle below. <We need to find the Traitor, so let’s make this quick,> Rainbow ordered as the troopers came in for a landing near Fluffy. <There’s no telling how long it’ll take before that corn starts spewing poison clouds or something. I want Cleaner Team Theta burning out those crops.>
With the point-drones levitating a pair of steel shields in front of them, they led the rest of their squads up a mound of rock and broken flesh to reach the entryways.
Yet before Rainbow’s group could step hoof into Fluffy, a small stone shot out in a slow, lazy arc. Thinking faster than the marines, Rainbow quickly puppeted the flamethrower trooper, who was directly behind the shieldbearer, and held the stone in the air while Twilight, through the rest of the drones’ horns, snapped off a quick counterspell to disarm the expected mana bomb.
However, nothing happened. No spell fired from the stone for the counterspell to disarm. The marines clumped up to watch for any hostile drones to pop up from hiding places, but again, nothing revealed itself.
With no threat presenting itself, Rainbow brought the stone before her puppet’s eyes. “A Stone of Parley?”
“I didn’t want you killing my messenger on sight,” called a familiar voice from the darkened depths of Fluffy. The changelings of Phoenix Roost bristled at Polybia’s voice, and only readied for a fight even more when a single tan drone stepped out in front of Rainbow’s group. The drone had pieces missing in it’s chitin along with a fractured horn, but by the color of it’s exposed flesh, it was clear that this drone was not among the undead.
Rainbow promptly assumed full control of her puppet with Twilight taking the shieldbearer. “Why shouldn’t we? You don’t get to call parley anymore!”
“Maybe not, but I at least, still honor it.”
Twilight drew herself up into a proud stance that smacked of insult, one of the few times she let the Canterlot noble in her show through. “Just like you ‘honored’ the sanctity of the last summit?”
“We’ve all done things we regret.” Polybia ignored the threatening glares to gaze upon the corrupted ground she had wrought. “I’m sure Kreesus could attest to that.”
Rainbow Dash leveled her squad leader's flamethrower, aiming it right at the head of Polybia’s puppet. “You’ve got ten seconds before I melt your face off!”
“Well I suppose I should start off by telling you, you’re safe from me while you’re on this mountain.”
This should be good, Twilight mused humorlessly as she placed a hoof in front of Rainbow’s awaiting flamethrower. “And why should we believe you?”
Rainbow shot Twilight a cold glare with her real body, but didn’t let it show through her puppet. Twilight knew her well enough to speak before Rainbow could challenge her. “There’s no point in attacking a single drone. Let’s see what info we can get out of her.”
Satisfied with that, Rainbow nodded with her real body, and lowered her puppet’s flamethrower. She still regarded Polybia’s puppet with harsh bitterness. “Don’t tell me you’re getting second thoughts on this whole war.”
“My victory is already guaranteed, Queen Dash. Your warship is hobbled with so many of its flying machines destroyed.” Rainbow moved to argue, only for Polybia to continue uncaringly. “Kreesus is dead by my hoof, you can check the Parley Stone if you don’t take my word for it.” Twilight and Rainbow hesitated and took a look at the stone more closely. Aside from it being a sphere engraved by the symbol of parley, there was nothing else of note.
<Um, Twi, were we supposed to personalize those things?>
<Mom never told me to,> Twilight replied with equal confusion.
“...and I will soon descend upon Chrysalis’ hives as well,” Polybia rattled off like she was a salesman. “I would prefer to leave you alive, and avoid antagonizing Equestria.”
Twilight gave her a slightly troubled look. Has she become so unhinged that she’s detached from reality? “You are aware that an Equestrian fleet will be here within the hour.”
“This dark magic may be clouding my thoughts, but I am not so addled yet as to miss that,” Polybia countered with a flash of annoyance. However, a flash of her daughter living in the Sparkle house soared to the forefront of her mind. “But none of them have died yet,” she said with brief flash of wavering emotion, “and I would prefer to keep it that way.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed harshly at her. “Why do you care about others all of a sudden?” She waved a hoof at the desecrated ground. “You seem plenty willing to poison everything around you.”
“You think I want to use dark magic?!” Polybia roared at Rainbow, bringing the blue queen up short out of surprise more than intimidation. “I was losing this war, horribly in the first year and a half. It was either use that magic or die, don’t you dare tell me you’d have chosen differently.”
“Don’t act like you know me!” Rainbow snapped back heatedly. However, Twilight placed a restraining hoof across Rainbow chest. “I’d rather die than kill the very land I call home!” With her patience gone, Rainbow started to squeeze the flamethrower’s trigger, only for Twilight to telekinetically push the weapon off target.
<Hold on, there’s still more information we can get out of her.> Rainbow’s inner soldier warred with her need to smack some sense into Polybia.
<Damn it… Fine. It’ll buy time for the fleet to link up with us anyway.>
With her sister mollified, Twilight addressed Polybia with wary caution. “You made a deal with Grogar. He’s the source of your new power is he not?”
“A deal?!” Polybia belted off a disturbingly unhinged laugh that echoed through the dying land. Twilight saw the barely checked madness behind Polybia’s eyes, while all Rainbow Dash beheld was a mad mare. “What kind of fool do you think I am? I’ve enslaved that demon and robbed him of his magic.”
Twilight saw an opening and jumped for it. “He’s a being of untold age and power, Polybia. He must be manipulating you through that magic-”
“You think I don’t know that?” Polybia barked with none of the hidden madness showing through now. Brackish purple mana churned around the puppet’s horn, worsening the horrid miasma to be almost overpowering to the senses. “He may be old, but he was still foolish to think my will was as feeble as some short-lived mortal, so I got the better of him.
“As for his magic, for all the military success it’s given me, it has cost me my place in the Silver City.” Polybia’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. “But once I defeat Chrysalis, you two will be the only ones left to correct that.”
“Is that a threat?” Rainbow demanded while powering her horn with the odd mixture of silver and gold light of her holy magic. In the back of her mind, she remembered Sectovaria, but decided to let Polybia assume she was dead.
Polybia’s puppet seemed to detach from her motor control by adopting a completely unemotional standing posture. The dark magic swirling around it’s horn died away. It took her a few moments to speak again, and this time her tone was much calmer. “No, Queen Rainbow Dash, it’s a peace offering.”
“Peace?” Twilight couldn’t stop herself from raising an eyebrow at that one. “As tempting as that is, the Laws of the Summit are crystal clear. Any queen declared rogue must be hunted down and killed by the other queens. I would think anyone as well versed in the old dogma as you are would know that.”
“Unless of course, you, the Prime Matriarchs, nullify my rogue status.”
Rainbow Dash chuckled derisively to spite Polybia. “As if we’d ever do that. You’re so hopped up on dark mojo you broke The law. If I got busted in Bolt School for getting hammered, you can bet your tail I’m not going to listen to any excuses about dark magic.”
“And what if I gave you Grogar to do with as you will? Without the need to fight for him.” Polybia countered sternly as if it was a trump card. “That’s the main reason why you and Equestria are here, after all.” Polybia leered at Rainbow Dash. “Is hunting me down really worth the lives of your children? Or the mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters in the Equestrian fleet, what about them?”
Twilight’s hackles rose with a fiery sneer marring her face. “Then they would have died protecting the world from Grogar and his influence. They would be welcomed into the Silver City or Elysian Fields as heroes. For someone who has fed on ponies for centuries, you act as if you know nothing about them.”
Rainbow Dash shot Twilight an approving look while Polybia reclaimed motor control over the puppet and rubbed the frill on the back of it’s neck, speaking in a haunted tone. “Quite the contrary, Queen Twilight Sparkle, I know them better than you do.” Both Twilight and Rainbow scoffed dismissively, not that the act dissuaded Polybia from continuing. “Let me enlighten you about ponies, Queens Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. As far as the world is concerned, they are a friendly, intelligent, loved-filled people, but only so long as their little perfectly ordered world remains intact. Once that world is shattered, two kinds of ponies emerge: the skittish cowards, and the aberrations.
“Those ponies that strangely lack that prey-like tendency to run and hide, but will instead fight the cause of that shattering with every fiber of their being. Those that will wade ears deep through a lava dog that threatened a comrade, uncaring about the lethal burns he received.” The puppet made a show of looking behind Twilight and Rainbow, drawing their eyes as well to reveal the leading edges of the Equestrian Navy were close enough to be seen. “And now a legion of such ponies is on my very doorstep.
“Sure, I have enough drones and magic to obliterate Chrysalis, you, and potentially the ponies’ fleet, even with Luna leading the charge. However, my mind is not so addled yet to be so foolish to think I could take on the rest of those aberrations your ‘peaceful’ allies harbor.”
Twilight Sparkle mulled over the admission, while Rainbow took a few seconds to put the dots together. Hey, she better not be calling me an aberration!
Twilight spoke up before Rainbow could rattle off a colorful barb. “Tell you what, Polybia,” Twilight began sternly, “you stop marching on Chrysalis right now, and deliver Grogar to us here. That will give the princesses reason to pull the fleet back before things get even worse for you.”
“If you win this war with Chrysalis,” Twilight continued, only to have Rainbow Dash sharply cross a leg in front of Twilight, silencing her.
“No.” She gave Twilight an ironclad glare that demanded agreement. “As much as Chrysalis is a grade A moldy salad tosser, I won’t abandon her like this. No freak’n way!” Twilight didn’t have it in her to argue, but Rainbow was wise enough to know that Grogar was still the bigger threat, and turned to address Polybia while lowering her hoof. “You give us Grogar, and we’ll call off the Equestrian fleet, and make sure they don’t call for vengeance should you somehow bring us down. Not that I see that happening.”
Polybia took a step back and turned away to think. Hmm. With what forces I still have, I should be able to eliminate Chrysalis in a matter of weeks. After that, it would be child’s play to subdue that paltry airship of theirs and force a surrender without needing to kill them. Yes… That will do perfectly. Hiding the massive grin behind the passive face of her puppet, Polybia dipped her head in respect. “I can accept that. I will require two weeks to deliver him to you here.”
“Two weeks?” both other queens cried in unison. “Why would it take you that long?”
Polybia felt mildly disturbed by Twilight and Rainbow speaking in one voice, but shrugged it off. “Grogar has made numerous attempts to take control or escape, so I have placed multiple layers of wards and protections around him. It will take time to dismantle them safely and… prepare him for transport. I will not risk letting him break free.”
This time, Rainbow Dash spoke alone. “Fine, sure. You stay away from Sticky Spit until then, and we’ll hang around the mountain until you do. But know that we’ll be watching, Poly.”
“I would expect nothing less. I will leave this puppet with you should we need to speak further.” Polybia didn’t bother hiding her profound relief. “I-I, I thank you two.”
Her queenly pride couldn’t allow her to lose face any further, so she departed her puppet in a hurry. Upon seeing the puppet’s eyes return to their normal solid blue, Twilight quickly cast a holding spell on it, just in case. <Sargeant, get our ‘guest’ somewhere secure and away from anything sensitive. I’ll need to bring this new development up with Luna.>
Rainbow Dash waited for the drones to comply and drag off the compliant puppet before pulling her sister aside. <You really think we can trust her with this?>
Twilight’s jaw was set in stone as she planned on what to do next, and how to broach the conversation with Luna. <Not really. She may have acted sincere, but she’s gone nuts. Buuut, as long as she pulls back from her march on Chrissy, I’ll give her a chance. At the very least it will give the Steamrunner enough time to get into position.>
Rainbow was slow to nod in agreement. <Sounds about right. We’re in no position to chase her down with the planes right now anyway.> She gave a brief snorting laugh. <Ol Sticky Spit won’t like it.>
Twilight was silent for a moment as she drew her gaze upon one of the razed grain silos. She felt like she was being watched, but couldn’t narrow the location down. However, she suspected she knew exactly who owned those eyes. “Maybe not. But she knows the ponies are mostly here for Grogar.”
Perched upon the broken ruin of a grain silo, one of Chrysalis’ spies had used some subtle magic to listen in on the entire conversation. Her jaw was set in a permanent scowl, watching as Twilight and Rainbow’s forces took custody of Polybia’s puppet. The rest moved to start cleansing the land. You always did have a card to play, Polybia. Well this is one time you’ve played the wrong hand.
Chrysalis left the scout to remain hidden while her mind returned to her body. She was seated upon her ebony stone throne with her remaining sister, Jstrul, sitting on a large pillow nearby. A single drone was standing before her, parroting everything Chrysalis’ scout had just heard. “Tell me this is just a ploy, sister,” Jstrul half pleaded. “Do you really think Equestria would just abandon Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash?”
Chrysalis was silent upon her throne, taking a long drag of some tea to organize her thoughts. She placed the cup back onto a tray a servant drone was carrying. “Sister, what you just heard was guile from the one source you’d never think to look. We’ll have to move quickly to intercept Grogar before the transfer.”
Jstrul tsked and grabbed her seeing-eye drone to prop herself up. “Guile? They just threw away the ponies’ support!” she growled bitterly. “Face it sister, with them gone, we don’t have the numbers anymore to stand against Polybia, ancient goat demon or not! And that so called ‘carrier’ and a single troop transport ship could never tip the balance.”
The chamber fell silent as Chrysalis weighed her options, bleak though they were. I still can’t believe she crushed Kreesus so quickly. The Mountain lasted for a year the last time anyone dared to lay siege against it. Aside from a non-crippled Stripped Gear, that place was the strongest fortress hive I’ve ever seen.
If only the fall were a ruse though. The drones that Kreesus had left in her second hive were already breaking down into a feral mess by the time I thought to check on it. So either she’s really dead, or she’s selling the ruse at terrible cost.
“Are you listening to me?” Jstrul barked as she hobbled towards her sister. Chrysalis gave her a warning glare, but Jstrul would not be deterred. “We should take advantage of the breathing room their little pact gave us and flee while we still can.”
“Sister…” Chrysalis had a nearby drone gently caressed her sister’s jaw with the patience of saint. Some small part of her though, wished she could perform the comforting act personally. “This is not a foolishness on Rainbow’s part, as strange as it may sound, but a gift of time. Time I will not waste by abandoning the last hive we have left. If Twilight and Rainbow clearly want us to sabotage Polybia like Kreesus did with Stripped Gear, then I’m more than happy to oblige.” It’s a shame that Polybia wasn’t the one who sabotaged Stripped Gear, the irony would be just too exquisite. Chrysalis gave a forlorn sigh at the lost opportunity.
Jstrul didn’t want to let go of her suspicion on her sister’s words alone. Too much was at stake. Not only for themselves, but for the love producing daughters they still possessed. “Let’s say you’re right, and you manage to break Grogar out of Polybia's grasp. How do you intend to control him?”
Jstrul stood a little straighter now that her sister was doing more than waiting and watching. Chrysalis eventually pulled away from her sister to lounge on her ebony throne. “Fear not, dear sister, I have my ways.”
Hours later, the Equestrian fleet linked up with the Long Shot along the northern face of the mountain ruins. With Luna aboard the Steamrunner, it fell to the top two senior pony officers to represent the fleet: Commander Flash, and Admiral Steel Wing. The two of them and Cadista had been summoned aboard the carrier to be briefed on the deal Twilight and Rainbow had struck with Polybia. The room was actually the same place the pilots were typically briefed on operations, so the ponies were a bit tickled by the school desks and blackboard that still detailed the airsupport of Kreesus’ hive. Not that they dared let it show.
Cadistia had been broodingly silent during the entire briefing while Admiral Steel, a pegasus stallion with a large burn scar on his face, voiced his sour opinion. “With respect, your highnesses, this sounds like an excuse for Polybia to buy time so that she can reorganize her forces to attack Chrysalis or us.”
“That thought occurred to me as well,” Rainbow Dash commented. “So I chatted with Little Miss Necromancer afterwards. She knows that if she moves her forces from their current positions the deal is off. Worst case, she gets a few dozen more drones to hatch, kinda minor all things considered.”
Rainbow’s mildly dismissive comment drew Cadista out of her silence. She gave the two ponies a dour look. “Gentlecolts, I have a changeling matter to bring up with the queens. Could you step out for a minute?”
Commander Flash studied Cadista’s face for a moment, trying to glean the reason for the request. “If this is something to do with the battle to come, we should all be present.”
Rainbow shared an inquisitive glance with Twilight before addressing the officers. “If it relates to the battle, guys, I’ll share it with you afterwards. Is that fair, Granny?”
“If you feel the need to, that will be your prerogative.” Cadista tilted her head at Rainbow.
At least they have the manners to not have a silent conversation with us in the same room. Admiral Steel smoothed his uniform with a few swipes of his hooves and made for the door. “If you must have your privacy, then I won’t stand in your way.”
“Nor I,” Commander Flash said at length and followed after him, but stopped at the door to cast a wary eye at Cadista. However he said nothing further and closed the metal door.
Satisfied they were alone, Twilight started erasing the blackboard to occupy herself. “What’s wrong, mother?”
Cadista collected her thoughts before speaking in the most serious tone she was capable of. “I believe Polybia has wakened the Sa'rook Shol'va within herself.” She fully expected the questioning looks from the royal sisters, and pressed on without missing a beat. “Twilight, are you familiar with termite queens?”
“Ah - somewhat. I researched them a little because they curiously mimic us a bit. Why?”
“Sa'rook Shol'va is the old name for a queen awakening more of our insectoid nature and allowing herself to develop a massive egg sack many times her original size. Thus allowing her to lay hundreds of eggs daily.”
The sisters’ eyes went wide as dinner plates with Rainbow sputtering a clumsy response. “Hhhundreds!? Geeez, I love laying eggs as much as the next queen, but that’s just nuts.”
Rainbow’s claim gave Twilight’s brain time to contemplate. “That would explain some things. But why are the other queens not doing the same thing? Four years of war should have taken a serious toll on all of them.”
“Because it is viewed as a terrible dishonor to inflict upon yourself,” Cadista stated firmly with a stamp of her hoof, just to make sure neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash got any funny ideas. “Admittedly, I have only a vague memory of the practice, probably something my previous self left behind. For the past week, I’ve had dozens of my children comb the old tomes we managed to salvage from the destruction of my hive. The Sa'rook Shol'va is told to be a long and involved process to get started, but more importantly it is irreversible and is profoundly abhorrent to behold. You slowly become nothing more than a massive worm as your body is consumed by the unquenchable need to lay more and more eggs.
“Eventually, you lose yourself entirely, until there is nothing left of your mind save a barely intelligent egg factory.”
Rainbow shuddered in disgust at the mere thought of it. Ugh, no way I could ever give up being able to fly, or think for that matter. A thought struck Rainbow out of her revolted musings. “Hey, wait. If you become a non-thinking worm, then how come Poly is still - eh - mostly intelligent?”
“That I can not say for certain,” Cadista replied with no small amount of fear. “The journal my children found that information in is potentially as old as my past life. Polybia may have found a way to keep her mind from falling apart.”
Twilight had to force the mental image of Aegis doing that to herself out of her mind before it got stuck there. “If you’re right, that means Polybia was never at the Summit to begin with. Let alone ever fighting with her real body.”
“And her crimes continue to mount,” Cadista replied with a dark tone that hammered the consequences home for the sisters. “I fear offering Polybia amnesty will prove to bite us in the end.”
“But we practically gave our word,” Twilight shot back with more defensiveness than she meant to. “Yes Polybia being rogue is a major problem, but Grogar is the root of all of this. I don’t want to have to fight Polybia who would feel like she’s been backed into a corner while intoxicated by necrotic magic.”
The room went quiet as the trio mulled over their predicament. That was until Rainbow came up with an idea that felt like sour milk in her brain. “I hate to say this, but what about Chrysalis? You think she understood what we wanted?”
Twilight didn’t even bother trying to hide the self-deprecating half-chuckle. “I think so, yes. I’m only worried that she might seize Grogar for herself.”
Cadista was quick to recall what Twilight filled her in on an hour ago. “That’s the trick, I’m afraid. Any move on our part prior to Chrysalis’ own could be seen by Polybia as us reneging on our deal.”
Rainbow Dash felt like hitting something, and the wooden back of the nearest chair was looking very punchable. “See, this is why I hate wheeling and dealing.”
Twilight gave a long sigh and flopped down on one of the drone sized chairs. “...As much as Chrysalis loves to vex us, she hasn’t really done anything to harm us ever since the wedding invasion.”
“That we know of,” Rainbow reminded her with clear bitterness. “But even so, Poly’s already proven she’s unstable, and you can’t fix crazy like that.”
“Then we wait,” Cadista said with a grumbling sigh. “And see what kind of stunt Chrysalis pulls.”
Deep within a dank dimly lit cavern, Kreesus slowly cracked her eyes open. The potent mixture of a powerful sleep spell and toxins started to abate. Her drowsy mind was slow to recognize the neck-deep thick sludge. The stench of rotten eggs and decay hit her next, drawing her rapidly awake.
Her first act was to try and climb out of the sludge, but found her legs were bound together by what felt like wax and her horn was slathered in wax as well, keeping her from even casting a light spell to see.
Even so, changelings had naturally strong night vision, and she was able to make out several drones standing along the edge of the pool with more latched onto the walls and stalactites above. Each of them started buzzing their wings upon seeing she was awake, clearing out the rotten smell in the room for a strangely pleasant, almost hypnotically calming smell akin to a flower garden fresh from a light spring rain.
Kreesus’ thoughts started to haze over as she started falling asleep again until a realization snapped her out of it. NO! This smell! Why do I remember it? Mother. Yes. Mother made me remember it as that unholy taboo!
The name of the taboo escaped her, only the smell and unequal disgust far beyond what she thought she was capable of feeling came with it. She renewed her struggles, struggling in vain against her bindings and the thick sludge.
One of the drones stopped vibrating its wings as Polybia’s eyes replaced its original solid blue. She looked down at Kreesus with mild intrigue. “Strange. You shouldn’t be able to awaken at this phase.”
“This is wrong, Polybia!” Kreesus spat, surprising Polybia that she didn’t start at the ‘what’s happening’ phase of the conversation. “Inflicting this on another queen is almost as equal a crime as breaking the sanctity of the Summit!”
Polybia’s puppet furrowed its brow and leaned down to be more face to face. “Why does everyone keep saying that? Is it simply because it’s happening to you? Do you even know what it is?”
Kreesus ignored the question and spat a wad of salve in the puppet’s right eye. “Then I’m not the first one. How many others have you done this too?”
Polybia casually wiped away the salve as if she was tired of the routine. “You’ll be number six if that makes you feel special. Don’t try getting word out via some drone. I made sure to sever you completely from any of them.”
“Six!?” Kreesus’ fury started to actually punch through Polybia’s indifference. “You - you” Kreesus was so blinded by mounting indignation that should couldn’t think of a suitably scathing retortsomething scathing. “I hope when you try to enter the Silver City, the First Mother herself will be ready to slam the gates in your face!”
“The First Mother?” Polybia cried with sudden amusement. She cackled madly, giving in to the madness for almost a minute before thrusting the puppet’s face into Kreesus’ snout. “My use of necro magic aside, the First Mother would practically be there to throw the gates open for me!”
Polybia let Kreesus have a moment to think before pulling away from the trapped queen. “See, for all of Queen Twilight’s faults and lackluster view on the true First Mother, she does get one thing right: she pays attention to history.” Polybia flourished by placing a hoof on her chest. “Granted I don’t as much as I should, but I at least know the Sa'rook Shol'va was a great honor the First Mother employed on her allies.”
“Have you truly lost the last shred of your sanity!?” Kreesus’ voice cracked with boiling rage. “If it’s such a great honor, then do it to yourself!”
Polybia thought about that for a few moments before vigorously shaking her head. “No, no, that’s not how it works. It is only honorable to have it gifted to you, not to do it to yourself. Yes… that’s right.” She stood up with a troubled furrowed brow. “That has to be right. Of course it is…”
Polybia kept blankly repeating the same self-reassurances as the puppet dragged its hooves as it made its way out of the cavern. Kreesus screamed more damnations and incriminations at the withdrawing puppet, but if Polybia could hear her, she made no reaction. All that mattered in Polybia’s mind was that she was clearly in the right. That she was still just in the eyes of the First Mother. She had to be. Clearly the others were mistaken, the facts had been lost to time. Yes, that must be the case.
It was no longer self-reassurance, but a simple statement of fact, as if it had always been that way.