Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

Next Steps

The crew and passengers of the Canterlot watched the wreck burning brightly in the dullness of the clouds. Lightning flashed and flickered above them as their ship died, burning to ashes before their eyes. Everypony was safe, the airship evacuated in time. But the wounded needed treatment, and so the sullen, mournful trek began, over the rain-sodden peaks, down into the valley, looking for the capital city. They had a report to deliver to Princess Luna, another task to fulfill, even without their ship.

The storm continued unabated, adding a cacophonous background to their sad journey. They had failed in their mission, and now their vessel was gone, burning unseen in the clouds high above the capital. The wounded were carried gently by teams of Pegasi from the Assault Infantry, with the airship's navigator leading the way as best he could with his compass. Their precise location was unknown to them as the peaks were still shrouded in cloud, but they knew broadly that Canterlot was to the northwest. Wherever uneven or unstable ground was encountered, Pegasi helped lift the unicorns, earth ponies, and those of their own breed who had suffered wing injuries over the obstacle until they could walk safely again. Slowly, with the rage of the heavens still ringing in their ears, they made their descent, down the cliffs and escarpments. Rainwater turned gullies into torrents, washing out the land in some spots, necessitating yet more heavy lifting work. It was a torturous and tedious descent, but eventually, as the rain lessened and the winds slackened, they reached the lower ground and the smoother, softer slopes of the foothills. Visibility improved; they could see some of the terrain ahead. A landmark was recognised, a large outcropping of rock that resembled almost a half moon; Luna's Stack, it was called. It signalled that they were mercifully close to the city itself.

Within the hour they were inside the walls, the gates having been opened warily after the proper identification codes had been exchanged. The threat of Changeling infiltration was high and the guards were in no mood to take chances after the abduction of Twilight and her Element. Seeing Air Corps ponies on hoof and wing instead of aboard their airship was odd enough, but the situation was explained easily enough. Princess Luna was summoned, and Ironside and Spitfire made their reports.

They had found a Hive, but it was a decoy, empty. Either that or it had already been abandoned, but the presence of the rock sample of the type found lining the wall of the previous Hive made it more likely they were being deliberately taunted. The coastal plains held no other signs of Changeling activity, or activity of any kind save some natural wildlife. The caves along the sea shore had been scanned and investigated with negative results. Likely rock formations had been scoured and turned up nothing. In short, they were no closer to locating the new Hive than they had been before, and now they were down one airship.

The princess of the night sent a messenger to the princess of the day, still located in Manehattan. The humans there had been performing a final sweep of the city prior to handing back control, to ensure that every last trace of the Archenemy had been eradicated from each room, each street, each sewer and tunnel and alleyway. A long and complex job, but one that, Senior Commissar Birbeck informed Celestia, had to be carried out with the utmost precision and thoroughness. He also informed her that, for reasons he declined to elaborate on, he was now in permanent command of the siege forces. With no other leads to go on as to the Hive's location, Celestia sent the messenger back with instructions to send scout airships to the other areas of the country where it was known that several Hives had been constructed previously due to the ground and rock conditions being ideal. Hopefully Chrysalis had fallen back on areas she knew well to construct her latest home, and something would turn up, though in her letter to Luna, Celestia admitted to having doubts about the likelihood of such an operation being successful. As evidenced by the decoy, Chrysalis knew they were looking for her. She would surely not return to a location she had previously used. But that didn't leave many likely areas with good ground conditions that she could expand into. Celestia also ordered scouts to check those few other sites just in case. But Changelings were masters of disguise, not just of themselves but of their Hives also. They had only found the decoy so simply because Chrysalis wanted it to be found. An occupied Hive would be concealed by leaves, rocks, trees, branches, water. In a move of genius, Changeling sentries would disguise themselves as bushes or small trees- living organisms, and thus just as able to be replicated by a Changeling as a pony or a human. These bushes would both disguise the guards and conceal the Hive entrances from both the ground and air. Tracks would be avoided where possible by having departing and returning Changelings fly. If wounded or if dragging or carrying something, such as a cart of a body, a Changeling could use its magic to cover its tracks behind it- moving mud or snow to fill in hoofprints, shifting leaves to hide cart tracks, and the like. If Changelings did not want to be found, it was very hard to deprive them of their secrecy.

Luna organised the missions, sending messengers to surviving Air Corps bases in the desert and in the wilderness regions of the north to deploy their scout airships on search missions. There chance of success was remote, relying mainly on the foolishness of Queen Chrysalis, which was a quality she distinctly lacked. Nevertheless, it was a mission that had to be attempted, just as the Canterlot's dutiful but fruitless search had been. The Hive, the Element, and Twilight Sparkle must be found.

Aboard the Emperor's Judgement, Lord-Admiral Marcos, despite the turmoil around him from the assassination and the successful infiltration of the Changelings, still had work to be completed. He had appointed Senior Commissar Birbeck, already acting commandant, as permanent commander of the forces in and around Manehattan, and ordered him to sweep the city one final time before gathering his strength on the plains to the west in preparation for another more. New targets lay ahead, and had to be taken. Having a Commissar acting as commanding officer of such a large unit was an unusual, though not unheard of, step, but through attrition on a dozen worlds and a dozen space battles, the Crusade was running low on experienced staff officers. Galen was dead, and so war Marwan who, although pompous, had been a master at siegecraft. But the forces around Manehattan would soon be on the move, and a siege would likely not be their next mission.

The Auspex grids had been running day and night, searching for the Changeling Hive. Despite Celestia's affirmation, and the Magi's confirmation, that the creatures were cold blooded, Marcos had ordered the scans to continue in the hopes of discovering something from orbit- evidence of digging, heat signatures from fires or temperature control devices, anything that might represent the location of the new enemy. Marcos felt obliged to get permission from the Princess before engaging the target, should they find it, but he was sure she would be glad of a chance to be rid of her old foe in one fell swoop, an undefendable strike from the heavens.

On board all ships of the fleet, the internal sensors had been operating at full capacity, in an attempt to detect any traces of the unknown particle on board. While the appearance of the Princess on board had been met by a huge spike in the particle count in various chambers and corridors as she had made her way to the bridge, that just served to showcase her power. When she was present in the docking bay, the readings were off the scale. When Midshipman Vinson had been present in a different docking bay returning from a supply trip, and when Colonel Harding had come aboard, there was barely any indication above background levels. There had been, however, a notable rise in the count within the brig during the attack of the creature that had killed and replaced the Midshipman, and likewise in the medical bay, when the creatures were in their natural form and using their psychic attacks. Arch-Magos Darius had theorised that, when a Changeling was in disguise as some other life-form, the outer layer of whatever psychic effect projected their altered appearance also shielded the output of the particles. This could have either been a deliberate act by the Changelings or, more likely, as a side effect, given that the Princess had seemed baffled at the suggestion of being able to detect said particles and had explained that local technology could not do so.

This news was even more worrying than the initial infiltration. Their sensors had not failed to detect the Changelings because they were insufficiently powerful, or because they were calibrated wrong; they simply could not detect the particles that they knew were present inside its brain, so long as the creature was in disguise as something else. Further evidence, if any were needed, of the potentially grave threat these creatures could pose to the Imperials. Their motives and intentions remained shrouded in mystery. Marcos was reluctant to admit to the Princess that an infiltration of his flagship had occurred, but there was always the possibility that she might know something about what the Changelings were after. On the other hand, admitting to a potential weakness might give her cause to exploit it in the future; perhaps, despite what she said, she was actually working with these Changelings?

Marcos dismissed such thoughts. The Princess had displayed sufficient power that if she wanted the fleet gone, she could have snuffed it out weeks ago. It seemed unlikely that she would go to such lengths as arranging an intricate ploy involving assassinations, infiltrations and an entirely new species to achieve such a goal when she could just shoot their ships out of the sky. This Changeling Queen must have desires of her own, but what were they? The species had remained entirely unknown to the Crusade until they had assassinated Lieutenant-General Marwan, though that appeared to have been an attempt mainly on the life of the Princess. Why these creatures had now turned their attention most definitely to the Imperium remained to be seen.

Even amidst such confusion and potential danger, the minutiae, relatively speaking, of planetary conquest was still underway. With Manehattan finally theirs, and in the process of being turned over to the ponies, the thoughts of the Crusade's leaders turned to the next objective. The main valley, to the south of the pony capital, Canterlot, was still in enemy hands and had been since the start of the invasion. They had no doubt had time to fortify it, to move in reinforcements, and, most likely, to massacre the local populations and perform their sickening rituals and disgusting crimes. It was time for the area to be purged.

The troops from Manehattan would be moved once the final sweep of the city had been concluded, returning to staging areas at the northern end of the main valley. The pony capital would be used as a jumping-off point for the push into the valley, which would be supported by additional forces from the main landing grounds to the west of the continent. The Princess would not need one of her airships this time to witness the military might of the Imperium; she would be able to view it all comfortably from her palace windows. No doubt she would have her own demands to make, protections of certain structures or holy relics and the like. But Marcos was willing to make such small sacrifices if it meant keeping her on side, at least for now. While Celestia perhaps represented a more blatant and overt threat through her power, the Changelings were the more immediate danger. They had infiltrated the flagship already, the Arch-Magos had all but confirmed that they could not be detected by the sensors on board, and there was no way of telling how many more of them might already be infesting the decks of the Emperor's Judgement. The priority was to find the Hive. If the Changelings were anything like the Tyranids that they greatly resembled, then if you wanted to truly disrupt their plans, there was one surefire way to do so- kill the Queen.

Time? Time meant nothing any more. When it was dark, and she was alone, she cried. It was dark a lot. In fact it was dark almost all the time, except when they came for her, came to drag her away to the torture chamber again.

Twilight had slowly dissolved from the strong-willed and forceful mare she had been, into a mess, a wreck of a pony with gaunt, sallow eyes, tattered fur and straggly mane. Days, perhaps weeks, of deprivation and pain had all but broken her spirit, but not her loyalty. She had so far refused every demand made by the Changeling torturers to reveal the secrets of the palace. The trust the princess had placed in her was all that Twilight had left to cling to. She could not believe the Queen's words about sparing her friends; no doubt she would have them killed whatever outcome resulted from Twilight's torture. In her darkest moments, Twilight was ashamed to admit to herself that sometimes she couldn't even recall her friend's faces.

The mental deprivation of her lonely cell was, if anything, an even greater challenge to overcome than the pain of the torture. She knew that Chrysalis didn't want her dead, not yet, and so the torturers could only inflict so much pain and injury on her before she went into shock or suffered a cardiac arrest. It didn't matter, however, if she went mad first. So long as she could recall the method of access to the secret passage, that was all the Queen required. The state of her sanity was completely irrelevant to the Changeling plans.

The cell was dark and cold. Water continued to drip infuriatingly in a never-ending pattern. The more she listened, the louder it became, a cacophony, a torrent of noise in her ears. There was nothing else to hear except her own intermittent sobbing. There had been no food for- a day? Two? Three? She had no means of knowing the true duration of her incarceration. The meals had been the only thing that could mark the passage of time, but even they had stopped, with just a bowl of water shoved through the door every so often at seemingly random intervals. Just enough to keep her alive but starving. It was not something that had ever crossed her mind before, but the Changelings seemed to be masters at psychological torture. She had to admit it was working on her.

A hundred plans of escape had flashed through her mind at times. She would tear the shackles from the wall. She would impale the guards with her horn and steal the keys. She would somehow summon enough willpower to overcome the magical dampening spells and show her true strength. She would use cunning, guile, deception, turn the Changelings' own weapons of war against them. The reality her mind created for her, however, was just intended to shield her from the pain and fear she felt every waking moment. The truth was different. She was trapped, with no possibility of rescue. Nopony knew where she was. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't know where her mind was going.

In the past when she found herself in times of trouble, she could turn to her friends, who would always be waiting eagerly to hear her problems and help out however they could. But this time, this time she was completely alone. She didn't even know if her friends were alive; despite the Queen's promises to spare them, there was no guarantee they weren't already dead. Who knew what calamities might have been unleashed upon the surface during her imprisonment? As far as she knew there were still huge numbers of the human Archenemy to deal with, as well as the Changelings. It was even possible that Chrysalis had already conquered the planet and was just keeping Twilight in the dark about it for her own sick amusement. Twilight had no means of knowing.

The constant dripping of water made it hard, almost impossible, for her to sleep, but utter weariness took its toll eventually. She did not know how long it had been since she had slept last, nor how long it had been since anything else had happened. Her body ached all over, from the torture, from the cramped cell, from longing for home, from crying. She just wanted to escape, to get away, to be somewhere else, even if only for a few minutes. She closed her heavy eyes. Somehow, the pattering of the water became an aid instead of a distraction, like counting sheep. One drop, two drops, three, four...

Before she reached ten, she was asleep, finally, and enveloped by a blackness of an entirely different kind. Suddenly, there she was; home. She was in Ponyville. There was Pinkie, waving gaily to her pals as she helped the Cakes display their wares. There was Applejack, tugging a cart of fresh fruit along behind her, working hard as always. There was Rainbow, and Fluttershy, one flying, one walking, both chatting together. There was Rarity, sampling the finest fabrics at the market. There was Spike, hungrily chowing down on a clawful of gemstones. They weren't alone.

There was Cheerilee, there was Roseluck, Derpy Hooves, Big Mac, Lyra and BonBon, everyone. Her family, too; mother, father, brother. The princesses were present as well. Everypony was happy, everypony was smiling. Except for Princess Luna.

The night princess was the only pony who seemed to notice Twilight. She flapped toward her on her mighty wings, settling down on the ground in front of the young mare. Then she spoke, not in her normal tone, but in the great, stentorian crash of commanding sound that was the Royal Canterlot Voice.

'Twilight Sparkle!' she boomed. 'We have not forsaken you. We have not abandoned you. Hear my words and heed them, heed them well. We are looking for you, we will find you, and we will free you. This is my promise, and my sister's promise.'

Even in her dream, Twilight was bleary and unsure of what was happening around her. 'P-princess Luna...?' she muttered. 'Where...but, I'm in Ponyville. I'm right here...'

'No, Twilight,' Luna replied. 'You have been taken from us. We suspect the Changelings are responsible. can you confirm this?' she questioned.

'Changelings? I...yes...y-yes, princess...' Twilight nodded as her memories of her condition, suppressed momentarily by her dream state, were awoken once more by Luna's intrusion into it. 'Yes. Queen Chrysalis...I am her prisoner...'

'Then it is as we feared.' Luna nodded gravely. 'You must be in their Hive. Do you know where you are? Do you have any indication at all as to where exactly they took you?'

'No, princess...none...' Twilight replied. 'I was unconscious the whole time until I woke up in this cell.'

'Is there anything you have seen in the Hive that might give a clue as to its location?' Luna questioned. 'Anything that might help us narrow down your location?'

'No...I-i don't know. There's just...rock...some water dripping...it's hot...I'm sorry, princess...' Twilight sighed. She couldn't be of any help in their search as she was as clueless as they were as to her location.

'Do not apologise, Twilight Sparkle,' Luna replied. 'Conserve your strength. Do you know why the Changelings have taken you?'

'I...yes,' Twilight nodded. 'Chrysalis wanted my Element. She wants to render them useless so they can't be used to stop her. She...she has a crazy plan. Surely it won't work. But she wants to take the palace, through the secret passageways!'

Luna asked her something else, but everything around her had started fading, crumbling away, the very fabric of this reality beginning to tear itself apart. She could still see Luna, standing before her, still speaking. Her voice broke through the swirling mist that suddenly enveloped Twilight.

'We will come for you!' she shouted. 'Remember this, Twilight Sparkle. We will come for you.'

With a snap, Twilight was back in the Hive, being roughly shaken awake by the two Changeling guards, familiar faces to her now, even if they did both look all but identical not just to each other but also to any of the countless other Changelings in the Hive. Her dream was over; it was back to face reality. She wasn't even sure what had happened. Was Luna just a figment of her imagination?

What was certainly real was the pain, and now the guards had come to afflict more. They dragged her to the torture chamber and restrained her, but this time they left her alone. Instead, Queen Chrysalis returned, no doubt to gloat some more.

'Hello, my dear,' she greeted Twilight playfully. 'How are you enjoying our hospitality, hm? Your quarters here are much more...au naturel than that overstuffed room you were staying in at the palace, no?' She chuckled. 'Ah, the palace, yes, the palace. Have you come around to our way of thinking yet, Twilight?' Chrysalis asked directly. 'Will you tell me what I need to know?'

Twilight remained silent, not even looking at Chrysalis. She had said nothing to her minions; she would say nothing to her either. The Queen moved around into her view. 'Still playing the silent hero, are we? Tell me, are you hungry?' Her horn glowed and a plate of food appeared, hovering tantalisingly. There were hay patties, flowers, hay fries, even a cake of some kind. While Changelings could and sometimes did consume the same food as ponies, they usually only really did so when the supply of love was particularly low; to them, regular food was like emergency rations. It would keep them alive for a while, but it was hardly nourishing, tasty, or interesting. This plate, however, had obviously been made up specially to tempt Twilight. 'Well?' Chrysalis prompted. 'Are you hungry?' she repeated.

'Yes...' Twilight muttered in reply.

The Queen's genial tone suddenly turned harsh. 'Then now you know how my children felt for years, all because of your precious princess,' she spat. 'Long ago, when we first met, when relations between our two species were cordial, I asked her if we could take a supply of love from her ponies, to sustain ourselves as our supply was running low. Quite painless, you understand; to do so inflicts no physical harm, so long as the subject is willing, and there were plenty of ponies willing to donate. But Celestia refused, and do you know why? Do you know why, Twilight Sparkle?' Chrysalis hissed. 'No, of course you don't, because even if you had thought to ask, she would never have admitted the truth. She refused because she was afraid of me.'

Chrysalis circled around Twilight, her tail twitching and her tongue flicking out. 'She was afraid of my potential. She told me that if she granted my children enough love for them all to be well-fed, that she was afraid that we might become too powerful for her to control. She believed she had the right to control us, to control me. Such conceit! Such arrogance. But you are not like her, are you? You are her student, yes, but you have seen her do things that you did not believe she was capable of. You were upset. That is understandable. But you only knew half of the story. I have filled in another blank for you, but no doubt you will not believe me, since you hold the princess on such a high pedestal. I am sure nothing will change your mind on that point. But no matter. I don't need your loyalty, I don't need your understanding or your belief in what I say. All I need is for you to tell me how to access that passage into the palace.'

Twilight followed the Queen now with her eyes, narrowing them. 'Go to Tartarus!' she spat angrily.

Chrysalis chuckled. 'Still so petulant. I told you how Celestia refused me because she feared me. At that time, I desired nothing more than a peaceful life for my children. I had no designs on usurping her power. But her arrogant dismissal of my request changed my outlook, you see. She had the power. She had the power to refuse me because she was the ruler of the most powerful nation, and because she had the strongest magic at her disposal, and that made her believe herself greater than I. So I changed. I changed because I knew at that moment, I had to become more powerful than her. I had to make Celestia cower before me. Why? Because that was what she feared, and because her refusal to help threatened the very future of our species! A creature that could refuse a simple request for compassion on the grounds that it might one day serve to somehow undermine their own authority does not deserve that authority to begin with. To accomplish such a goal, there was only one possible approach to take. Only through fear can one achieve true power, and only through true power can one evoke fear.'

Chrysalis moved to lean over Twilight with a menacing grin on her face, her sharp fangs exposed. 'Celestia refused me because she feared me. She was right to fear me.'

A simple glow of her crooked horn, and Twilight shrieked in agony once again.

Comments

[sykko]

Twilight just dropped a big whopper of information on the potential whereabouts that Chrysalis is holding her, all it's going to take is for one of the princesses to put the pieces together.

[DezzarTac]

Aboard the Emperor's Judgement, Lord-Admiral Marcos, despite the turmoil around him from the assassination and the successful infiltration of the Changelings, still had work to be completed. He had appointed Senior Commissar Birbeck, already acting commandant, as permanent commander of the forces in and around Manehattan, and ordered him to sweep the city one final time before gathering his strength on the plains to the west in preparation for another more. New targets lay ahead, and had to be taken. Having a Commissar acting as commanding officer of such a large unit was an unusual, though not unheard of, step, but through attrition on a dozen worlds and a dozen space battles, the Crusade was running low on experienced staff officers. Galen was dead, and so war Marwan who, although pompous, had been a master at siegecraft. But the forces around Manehattan would soon be on the move, and a siege would likely not be their next mission.