Conquest

by Blaze Spectrum

Chapter Six: Might Makes Right

For how creepy changelings appear to be, Thorax looked surprisingly cute asleep. Flickers of sunlight peered through the foliage, teasing him to wake up. Chitin seemed less soundly asleep, but was well and truly down for the count. A long day of training (although very little searching, despite Chrysalis' wishes) had left the two exhausted unlike ever before—even compared to losing the battle of Canterlot. In an almost picturesque scene, birds chirped, the breeze rustled the leaves in a gentle, comforting way, and all was serene in the Everfree.

"Get up!" Hexapod yelled.

Chitin jumped, and his head rocketed up. He got up so suddenly, in fact, he fell back down from lightheadedness. Thorax grumbled and shuffled his legs, unwilling to even open his eyes.

"Hmrrahf not nooow," he said, barely disturbed by Hexapod's shout.

Hexapod chucked his now replenished quiver of arrows at Thorax and it landed squarely on his face. Arrows spiraled out of the bag and clattered over the packed soil with surprising loudness. Thorax flailed about and woke right up.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed.

Chitin, who had now gotten up for good, said, "I thought you told us we could sleep in today?"

"Sure I did," Hexapod said with a tinge of condescension, "but do you two buffoons hear anything?"

Thorax and Chitin paused. The sound of the breeze, the rustling of the leaves, and the croaks of various insects all permeated the air. Nothing out of the usual except for being tame by the standards of the Everfree.

"I'll let you two guess," Hexapod said while levitating arrows back into his quiver, "might even go easy on you when training later."

The two trainees were silent. There was nothing they knew for sure, and any wrong guesses were sure to be insulted by Hexapod in a way that the two had quickly become familiar with.

"Dumbasses," Hexapod said, "there's a griffon ship nearby!"

"For real?" Thorax asked. Chitin would have usually smacked him in the back of the head, but this time he was just as taken aback as Thorax was.

"What will we even do with that information?" Chitin asked.

Hexapod paused as if he were about to ask Chitin to answer his own question. However, he decided against it, and said, "I'll explain while we're on the way. Griffon disguises, boys."

With a flash of green flame and light, Hexapod morphed into a proud, grizzled griffon that looked like he had been a mercenary for his whole adult life. Scars lined his face and were made even more evident by how his disguise's plumage had not grown back along these old wounds. Without another word, he took off and disappeared through a gap in the tree cover.

"What do we do?" Thorax said.

"I don't think we have a choice," Chitin replied. He assumed a griffon disguise and flew after Hexapod. Thorax watched Chitin disappear and sighed. With a hasty disguise and take-off, he flew off at top speed.

Hexapod was flying at a leisurely pace, waiting for his drones to follow. Once Thorax had caught up, he looked back and scoffed. "What in Chrysalis' name is that disguise?"

Thorax blinked, wide-eyed. He had assumed the disguise of a petite female griffon that looked as if she had never seen a day of hard labor in her life. Chitin turned around and also shook his head—maybe his disguise was a little too close to Hexapod's, but it was far better for blending in.

Upon realization, Thorax gave an embarrassed smile and shifted his disguise. It was a carbon copy of Hexapod's disguise.

"Dammit kid," Hexapod said, and with a quick flash of green flame, altered his disguise.

The group of three had made it about halfway to the slow-moving airship when Chitin asked, "What are we doing?"

"Recruiting them to our cause," Hexapod stated flatly.

A second-long pause. "But how?" Thorax chimed in.

"We don't have any gold or anything," Chitin added.

"Griffons are greedy," Hexapod conceded, "but that's not everything to them. There's nothing a griffon mercenary respects more than strength. Just stick with the plan and I'll take care of the rest."

"But what's the plan?" Chitin very understandably asked.

Hexapod let out a tch and a sigh. "We infiltrate the ship with our disguises. Casually ask for where the captain is—they probably aren't on as high alert for changelings as ponies are yet so don't get too antsy. I'll be lurking behind you two and can step in if anything gets hairy."

"And when we find the captain?" Thorax questioned.

"Undisguise and plead your case," Hexapod said. "Promise wealth and fortune with our hive's conquest. I'll be watching."

"What?" Chitin said, increasingly concerned. "You know how griffons are, this is too risky!"

"Young drone," Hexapod replied, "anything for the hive. It is sweet and honorable to risk life and limb for our collective good."

"Uhhhh," Thorax said, unconvinced.

"I'll protect you two. Trust me." Hexapod reassured.

At this point, they were nearing the ship. Hexapod gestured towards a starboard side hatch near the engine room, and Thorax and Chitin nodded in acknowledgement. The infiltrator approached the hatch front underneath, ensuring that the group was visible from the windows for the least amount of time possible. He twisted the door's large, wheel-like handle and dragged it open. Hexapod grunted and strained against the force of air resistance that threatened to shut the door again. Chitin climbed in and Thorax filed in right after. Hexapod then deftly flipped around to the inside of the door and rode along as the wind slammed it back shut.

"Engine room clear," Chitin called out.

"Errr, copy," Thorax said, trying to be useful.

"Spread out and regroup once you get confirmation of where the captain is. I'll find you two if I find out first," Hexapod said. Not a moment later, he flew up to a ventilation shaft, wrenched it open with his knife, and crawled in. The two drones were on their own now.

"What a jerk," Chitin said, finally out of earshot of Hexapod for the first time in a day.

Thorax gave a half-hearted, "Yea," and then started for the engine room exit. Trying to be proactive, he stated, "I'll ask through the second floor of the crew quarters. You try the first floor here."

"Okay," Chitin agreed, but he was slightly taken aback by being given an order from Thorax. The other drone had disappeared up the stairs, leaving him alone.

---

Trotting through the crew quarters, Thorax had to remind himself to not jump with every griffon he ran into. It wasn't a look befitting his disguise, and he couldn't help but think that his body language was attracting some wayward looks from the crew. As he strolled through a hallway, he brushed past a griffon, but couldn't summon the nerve to ask him about the captain's whereabouts. He tried to fight the urge to look back amidst the burning sensation that the other griffon might have taken a look back at him.

He knew what he had to do. He just couldn't. As a drone in the swarm, he had rarely really needed to use his disguises for convincing infiltration or espionage. A disguise was often just a tactic to confuse the enemy more when in open combat—the art of deception was not something every changeling was born with or learned. In Canterlot, he could have free reign to run about undisguised, and most of his time before Chrysalis' takeover was just spent sitting around waiting.

As he crossed the corner, he bumped into another griffon as he was looking at the floor.

"Hey!" the crew member shouted almost belligerently. "Watch where you're going, punk."

Thorax looked up, and the griffon quietly gasped, taken aback at the intimidating appearance of Thorax's disguise—not to mention the despondent expression that could be mistaken for quiet anger. The griffon was in for even more surprises when Thorax finally pieced together the resolve to speak:

"Do you..." he said in a high-pitched, almost validation-seeking voice, "know where the captain happens to be?"

"Huh?" the griffon said, completely confused. "Uhhh... No?"

He averted eye contact and walked away at a brisk pace, trying to get away from Thorax quickly.

---

Chitin had cleared about half of the crew quarters, operating cautiously but systematically. He had a mental catalog of all the faces he had asked about the captain, and unfortunately, none of them had given a definitive answer. A few "don't knows" there, a few "I think he might be's" here, he wasn't really much closer than when he had begun searching. He wasn't intending on asking any of them again. He made sure to not ask the question multiple times in the same room as to not draw too much attention to himself, even if the action itself wasn't inherently suspicious.

"Hey," he called out to a griffon that he had 'tactically engaged' in eye contact with a few seconds earlier.

The griffon paused and stopped next to Chitin. "Yeah?"

"Haven't seen the captain all day," Chitin said, playing dumb, "you know where he is?"

"Why would you wanna know?" the griffon narrowed his eyes.

Alarm bells started ringing in Chitin's head. He had not received a hostile response so far.

"Speaking of which," the crew member said, "who are you? Haven't seen you around before."

"Rheanius Grawft," Chitin replied quickly, "captain approached me when I was running a small smuggling run across the Celestial Sea. Wanted my skills."

"Hmph," the other griffon said, unimpressed. "Ain't heard of no Grawft clown."

Chitin cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, as a non-verbal challenge. Underneath his disguise, however, he was sweating bullets.

"Ah bugger," the griffon said, "whatever. There are over a hundred fools like you on this ship. Just stay outta my way, Grawft."

Chitin shuffled out of the hallway in a hurry and took in a big breath. Maybe that griffon didn't actually suspect anything and was just disagreeable by nature, but he was still definitely unnerved by the probe. Fortunately for him, however, he looked up and saw what he was looking for:

---

➜

CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS

---

"Jackpot," Chitin said with a smirk.

He turned around to try to find Thorax and Hexapod. He knew he could head up to the second floor to find the former, but he had no clue where Hexapod was. Never mind, he thought, and he headed back through the corridors of the first floor. He didn't make it far, however, before a head poked through the ceiling vent.

"Oh crap!" Chitin yelled.

Hexapod held a talon to his beak to hush Chitin. Then, he asked, "Any leads?"

---

Chitin and Thorax stood by the door to the captain's quarters, trying to gather the courage to come in. Hexapod had disappeared into the vents yet again, leaving the two to negotiate on their own.

"Ready?" Chitin asked.

"No," Thorax said breathlessly.

"Same here honestly," Chitin said. "Let's go before we chicken out."

He pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of a griffon at a desk with a defaced and overdecorated admiral's cap. Chitin almost let out a sigh of relief, but then he realized that the captain was accompanied by three other griffons, one with a musket and the other two sitting with their holstered pistols. All of them looked up at the two disguised drones.

Thorax gulped. "Do we do it now?" he dumbly asked Thorax. The griffons gave an incredulous look at the two. Their guns looked ever more menacing, even if they were still untouched.

"What?" Chitin said. "Of course!"

The room glowed green as Chitin undisguised. Thorax followed, realizing he had to commit.

"Honorable Captain," Chitin addressed, "we are changeling drones Chitin and Thorax."

"We come in peace," Thorax said, then he winced at the thought he may not have been helping.

Seemingly unruffled, the captain bellowed, "You two dare come before Captain Gregor? What in Tartarus' name even is a changeling?"

"Sir," Chitin pleaded, "we are here on behalf of Queen Chrysalis' hive. We need your help to perform military operations here in Equestria. We were recently pushed back after taking Canterlot, and we have been rebuilding our forces. We can offer a cut of all the gold and valuables you can loot from the cities we attack."

Thorax wordlessly nodded profusely.

Gregor disinterestedly looked away and inspected his talons. "And how can I be sure that your... Queen can keep her promises?"

"Sir," Thorax said hurriedly, "we don't -"

Captain Gregor slammed his fist into the desk, and his claws dug into the hard, stained wood. Both drones jumped and flinched. Thorax shrank down and leaned on Chitin for closeness.

"Boris, Guston, Ronalde," Gregor addressed to the other griffons in the room, "I've had quite enough of these fools. You two! How did you get aboard my ship? Rats, the both of you!"

The three griffons drew or raised their guns. Thorax hung his head and closed his eyes. Chitin looked up, trying to ensure he would have some dignity should the worst come.

---

The ceiling vent clattered to the floor. Undisguised, Hexapod dropped down. The hood of his cloak now covered his head, and the deep cowl obscured his eyes, giving him a deathly, soulless appearance. His bow was in his hooves and an arrow was already notched. No one in the room had time to think about all of this, however, as Hexapod immediately drew and fired his bow at Gregor.

Three shots went off in rapid succession, and Hexapod ducked and dodged and weaved in the center of the room, all while notching and drawing three more shots in quick succession at the remaining griffons. Once all the shots were in the air, however, he just stood there, at the center of the room. He was unharmed and his back was turned to the captain's table.

"I think we've said enough," Hexapod said.

A light green glow emanated from under his hood. This same green glow held onto Boris' musket, Guston and Ronalde's pistols, and the four arrows Hexapod had just fired. All three guns were pointed at the walls or ceilings where they would miss Hexapod and his two drones, forced out of line by the infiltrator's telekinesis. An arrow floated right before Boris' heart, another in front of Guston's neck, a third one barely touched Ronalde's stomach. Most menacing of all, however, was the arrow that floated right between Gregor's eyes. Had Hexapod not stopped his own arrows with his magic, every griffon in the room would have died.

The arrows dropped to the floor and the guns flew out of the door. Hexapod turned around, only halfway as if he could not even afford the captain the respect of fully facing him.

"Do we have a deal?" Hexapod asked.

Author's Note:

Hi y'all, and thanks for still reading / picking the story up if you've made it this far. I never thought I'd get enough inspiration to even finish the last chapter, so the fact this chapter flowed out of my mind so easily was even more surprising. It helps that not only am I a somewhat better writer than before (mainly in terms of clarity of writing), but also that I can imagine and conceive of plotlines much more easily (although of course, with flaws regardless). For now, I think I can assure all of you that this story is back, as weird as it may seem from having been essentially canceled since late-mid 2015. I can hardly promise that I'll update this frequently most of the time, but this is an excellent restart.

Don't expect the most gripping plot, and of course, expect the canon of the last few seasons of the show to be disregarded. This story is a product of its original writing time, but I decided I didn't want to let that stop me from seeing it through.

Comments

[qw3rtyklak]

God, this was a jump in writing quality! First chapters were just okay, but this is sick! Can't wait to see more of Hexapod.