Pony Fortress 2: A Worthy Cause

by The Usurper

Dianegotiations

pop

Driven by instinct, Diana's eyes snapped open, just in time for a thin sheet of parchment to float down from the ceiling and land, perfectly perched, on her nose.

She sat up. To her disoriented mind, the surroundings were all profoundly foreign. She was looking down at a plain grey-tiled floor along which several beds were lined, all with sleeping ponies - and a zebra, and a dragon - in them. That was enough to snap her fully out of her sleep-addled state.

It was the BLU team dormitory. And she'd been sleeping atop the double-decker bed in the corner, as she always did. Why she kept waking up surprised she might never know; this was at least the fifth time this month the Administrator had decided to send her what he called a 'PM'.

"It stands for Private Message," he'd answered upon her inquiry a few days ago. "It'll become all the rage when the Internet and handphones are invented, trust me."

She had decided to drop the issue there. Mostly because she already knew where it would lead - that was to say, five kilometres into the middle of Nowhere.

Shaking the rest of the sleep out of her eyes, she dipped her head forward and let the parchment drift down onto the mattress. For a moment, she kept her gaze averted; she had a feeling she wouldn't like what it said. But after a few heartbeats she sighed and got to reading.

As was by now the norm, it was only one word long. But it told Diana all she needed to know.

Negotiation, it read.

Quietly, she ducked under the thin sheet that she called her blanket and waited, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, her hooves were on metal and her eyes were on her flamethrower. She reached her hoof out and turned on the armoury lights.

If she was going to deal with a god, she may as well be prepared.

---

"You owe me a new pawn," were the words that pulled Protea into the waking world.

"Huh?" She reached out a chitinous hoof, her eyelids slowly lifting. "Huzzat?"

"A pawn." The voice repeated. Protea's eyes cracked open fully to see the BLU Pyro, wearing all of her usual outfit except for her mask. Strangely enough, the curly mane she'd come to associate with the face of death was today straight, cascading down past her shoulders like a waterfall.

"And why?" She got up slowly, giving her limbs a little stretch, though the chafing chains were enough to remind her not to stretch too much.

Without a word, the Pyro pointed at the right side of her face. Protea lifted her hoof and touched it to her cheek. It was dusty. Drawing it away revealed the dust to be white.

Oh, right.

"That's Ician's pawn," she answered, letting a little spite seep into her tone.

The Pyro raised an eyebrow. "Why would it be his?"

"It's his chess set, isn't it?"

"It's mine. He borrowed it from me." The Pyro shook her head. "I've never even seen the guy play chess."

Protea's jaw dropped, ever so slightly. "But..."

"Don't care. I'll ask Chrysalis for one when I see her." She slipped a hoof around Protea's chains and started pulling them - and Protea along with them - to the door. "As it happens, she'd rather you waste her air than ours."

"Wait." The gears in her head began to turn. "You're ransoming me?"

"Yes. And Chrysalis agreed to it." The Pyro chuckled. "You're lucky that you've caught Ician's interest. He argued that we need the money, but everypony knows he just wants someone to face off against."

Protea let out a harsh laugh. "Since when does he ever consider me his equal?"

"Oh, no, he isn't looking for an equal," came the bland response. "He's just looking for someone to beat."

She heard the angry growl emerging from her throat before she realised she was doing it. "Hah! Good luck to him, then. If it's a beating he wants... I'll be happy to oblige."

"I'll be sure to tell him that. He'll be so happy to know that you can acknowledge your weaknesses."

Protea almost let a growl out again, but this time she kept it down. There really wasn't much of a point arguing with someone like the Pyro, even if she did for some reason seem much more intelligent than she originally seemed.

In the absence of any legitimate evidence, Protea thought sourly, I'll just assume her intelligence is limited to snappy comebacks.

They walked in silence for a while. Or rather, the Pyro walked in silence for a while and dragged Protea along for the ride. Her jailor didn't seem particularly willing to talk. If their positions were reversed, Protea would've taken the opportunity to gloat a little bit. Nothing better to break an enemy than talking, after all. That, and they needed to know exactly how they lost.

Exactly how I'm better than them.

But she was the one who'd lost now, wasn't she? No matter. She'd be back in command in no time. And when that happened, she'd grind them to dust.

Releasing her was a mistake. She'd prove it.

---

This is a waste of time. We're a killing machine, not a diplomat.

Patience. The Administrator wants to put on a show. As the lead actor, we have to play our part.

I just wish we could be nicer...

Don't we all. Sadly, this world isn't built for niceties. We've got deception to spread and orders to carry out.

Do we get to kill the god?

Absolutely. But not now.

Fine. I can be patient.

Really?

Even I am not sure if that's meant to be sarcastic or innocent.

---

"Land. Now."

"Now, my Queen? We're still a ways away."

"Anti-flight zone. We land here."

"Yes, my Queen."

Chrysalis looked out of the window of her carriage. The morning sun hadn't risen very far above the horizon yet, casting long shadows across a dusty street, flanked by dusty buildings and... dusty weapons. Grenade launchers, revolvers and shotguns alike were strewn across the battlefield, but she couldn't see a single body.

For a battle they'd supposedly lost, it certainly didn't look the part. It was almost clinical, how clean everything was. But the weapons... those were theirs.

Her carriage set down at the very edge of the town. Her guard opened the door for her. She stepped out onto the dust and gathered all four of the changelings she had brought close to her side. Her horn shimmered in the throes of a spell, coalescing the magic into a shield bubble around the five of them. She would take no chances. The Administrator was a sneaky one. She would not put assassination past him.

Moving cautiously, she set first hoof into the outer boundary of the anti-flight zone. She braced for a trap. None came. She slowly moved forward to the building at the centre of the dusty town, keeping her guards close by and behind her. They wouldn't survive a magical attack. She would. And when she shredded through whatever resistance had been set up to oppose her, she didn't want her children in the way.

But, surprisingly, the Administrator had nothing prepared. Every careful step was met with nothing but the gentle whistling of the wind on her shield. She walked the full length of the ambush-prone street, noting every little indentation in the dust where sentry guns had sat, carbon scoring on magically-reinforced wood where rockets had struck, and minigun shells littered around the sand. That could easily have been what she met today. But it wasn't.

As far as it went with the Administrator, this was a very generous gesture of goodwill.

She reached the doorframe of the central building (which was long missing its door) and entered first. At the far end of the otherwise empty room, Protea lay on the ground, bound in chains. Holding the leash was the pony she recognised as the BLU Pyro. Both of them looked up at her entry. The Pyro stood up and approached her, hooves empty. As the changeling guards entered the room behind Chrysalis, the Pyro offered her a hoof in greeting.

"Good morning, your majesty." She waited. Chrysalis was disinclined to offer her own hoof. The Pyro kept waiting, her hoof hovering in the air, until at last she sighed and put it down. "Very well. I don't want this to last any longer than it has to either."

"How much do you want for her freedom?" Chrysalis asked.

"All the food stores and armoury stockpiles in Canterlot."

"Done." Chrysalis pushed past her and telekinetically pulled a very surprised Protea into her shield. "Where is the key?"

"Done?" Protea asked in horror.

"Really." The Pyro arched her eyebrow up high, almost so high that it threatened to disappear into her dull pink mane.

"Yes, really." Chrysalis took Protea carefully around her, protecting Protea with both the shield and her body. "I'm being generous. I could just take her and leave."

"And I'd kill her and all your guards before you do." The Pyro tapped a signalling hoof on the floor. Tendrils of chaos magic burst out from the walls and popped her shield bubble like a balloon, ear-piercing sound and all. "And then you'd kill me, and then I'd respawn. So. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, yes, we have a deal." Chrysalis snorted derisively. She could barely believe the audacity of this common pony. As if she could actually stand up to a god! She boasted about the Administrator's exploits as if they were her own and made threats she had no way of backing up. But Chrysalis had no time to waste today, and she didn't want to fight battles she might lose - no matter how unlikely. "Give me the key."

"Before that, I want a guarantee." The Pyro fixed her with a steely gaze. "I'm holding her until you hoof over everything you promised."

"And then what am I supposed to do if you refuse to return her?" Chrysalis challenged. "The key, now, before I annihilate you."

"Sorry, but no," she said. She pulled out a phone - one of her commander's, Chrysalis noted in anger - and tossed it over to her. "Order the transfer now. We'll wait until all the resources are deposited outside Midnight Castle. I know your drones are efficient. It will take a day at most."

"I am a Queen," Chrysalis hissed. "I have duties to attend to!"

The Pyro shrugged. "I'm afraid those duties will have to wait."

"I will wait for no mortal!" Chrysalis roared. She stamped her hooves ferociously, crackling green lightning arcing down her horn into her eyes.

Something popped behind her, sounding all the world like a party popper and a chorus of party horns. She whipped around, and suddenly she found herself staring into mismatched eyes.

"Well," the Administrator cooed, "it's a good thing I'm here, then."

---

He savoured the wonderful, delicious surprise on Chrysalis' face. It was one for the books, definitely. He snapped his fingers, grabbed the camera that appeared on command, and snapped the scene into an immortal picture. Glorious.

"You!" Chrysalis snapped. Oh, how quickly that surprise morphed into rage. She'd always had a curious propensity for switching between emotions like she did between disguises. No wonder she was the changeling Queen.

"Yes, me," the Administrator crowed. He summoned a picture album, grabbed the image that his camera printed out, and stuck it onto the first page with some of his naturally sticky spit. (Naturally sticky only when he wanted, of course.) He shoved the album into Chrysalis' face. "It's been too long since we've met, Chryssy. Too long! Do you know how long? Cameras weren't even invented back then!" He snapped the album shut and banished it into the void. "Truly, those were the dark ages."

"What do you want?" she demanded without pause.

The Administrator tutted. "You never had much patience, my dear. Surely you have time to sit down and share a cup of tea with an old brother?"

"You are no brother of mine," she snarled.

"Ah well." He snapped his fingers. He felt a huge surge of magic leave him. But the space around him was totally tranquil. Chrysalis waited, horn raised and crackling with magic, but of course nothing happened as far as she knew.

"What happened?" she asked aggressively. "I felt that magic. What did you do?"

"Oh, not much," he said nonchalantly, waving his bear paw in the most nonchalant manner. "I just teleported all the food stores and armoury stockpiles in Canterlot to the doorstep of Midnight Castle."

She gasped. "You did what?!"

snap

Great shot. The Administrator put away the quick-summon camera and, theatrically, gave her yet another one of his nonchalant gestures - this one the patented Administrator's Nonchalant Shrug™. "You did agree to it, did you not? Now you don't have to wait. It's a win-win!"

She growled. "You had no right-"

"I had every right," he said cheerfully. "Because you agreed to it. Unless, of course, you weren't actually planning to give those things to us." He leaned in close to Chrysalis, until their eyeballs were almost touching, and gave her what he was sure was the most intense stare of her life. "And you wouldn't do anything like that, would you?"

She glared back. But she didn't say a word.

"Now," he said quietly, "you could try to kill me. You could even succeed, since I just used up more than half of my magic reserves. But before that, Pinkie will kill Protea and your five nameless soldiers, and I will teleport to Canterlot and blast every last changeling there into chitinous dust." He grinned evilly, pulled away, and booped Chrysalis contemptuously on the nose. "And wouldn't that be a shame?"

She fumed. Anger burned so brightly in her eyes that the Administrator briefly wondered if she would burst into flame. Wouldn't that be interesting? He hadn't seen a case of spontaneous combustion for a thousand years. He would like to, certainly. That was one interesting pony.

But she didn't say a word.

"I'm glad that we've managed to reach an understanding." He patted her happily on the head. "Well, adios! Here's the key." He snapped his fingers, and a key popped into existence just over Chrysalis' head, dropping neatly onto her horn. "And here's your ticket home. Ta-ta!" He snapped his fingers again. Chrysalis and Co. disappeared in a flash of white magic, never to be seen again for maybe the next few days until another invasion came along and she took her unending wrath out on some poor hapless ponies.

Over at the end of the room, in the Chrysalis-less corner he hadn't been paying attention to, Diana emerged from the darkness and swatted a few writhing chaos tentacles out of her way. "I wish you'd told me that you'd be coming."

"Well, then it wouldn't have been a surprise, would it?" He clapped his hands, re-summoning the album and showing it to her. "Two great pictures I wouldn't have gotten if you'd threatened dear Chryssy with my appearance."

"You didn't need to come, you know," she said. "I could've handled it on my own."

"Oh, doubtlessly so, my little pony." The Administrator waved his paw, and the book disappeared again. "But I needed to be here, you see. Now Chrysalis knows the supplies were an important part of this deal."

Diane raised an eyebrow. "Are they?"

He cackled. "Not at all."

---

It was thoroughly undignifying to be treated in the way the Administrator had just treated her. Only four entities could have done it, two of whom were dead and one of whom was imprisoned in stone far, far away. She was not used to such treatment. She felt like a child.

But it was worth it. All five of her children had survived. And as the key floated down to the pile of chains, encased in a sickly green aura, she freed her captured child at last and returned her to the fold.

"My Queen," Protea gasped as the chains fell away. She dropped into a low bow. "I am sorry. I cost you all the stockpiles in Canterlot. It was a terrible waste."

"It was worth it," Chrysalis affirmed. Her horn flashed, pulling Protea up into a standing position. "You are the only one of my commanders left. You are in charge of the armies."

"Yes, my Queen."

"Our next attack is on Midnight Castle." She gazed down at her Supreme Commander, eyes full of steel. "Make them pay."

"Yes, my Queen."

Comments

[The Usurper]

Hey everyone! I'm back after a really, really long time. I'm sorry for the extremely long delay, and I won't pretend that it wasn't as long as it was. A year, I think. Thanks to BronyReader446 for pointing it out.

My basic excuse is the same as always, but I am going to put out a blog post sometime this week soon to cover everything I plan to do, and the future of the stories under my account. Because I'm moving on to other things - not completely, but that means I have to do some housekeeping here, sort out what I haven't been paying attention, wrap up the stories I'm not done with, and cancel the ones I can't finish. For now, I'm planning on finishing this one - so no worries here, not yet at least.

EDIT: Of course. My first update in a year and I got into the FIMFiction featured box. What are the odds?

I guess I should be really really happy, and frankly I kind of am, but I'm more embarrassed about how badly written my early chapters are. I just read back through them and I was cringing throughout. Rest assured, hopefully, the quality will have improved after a year. Apologies to any newer readers who have to deal with how terrible it is now.

[Crimson Dawn]

Sweet an update and Diane is back. Good to hear that you will finish this story. I hope that Diane and Rainbow Dash get some closure as I thought they had a great dynamic in the previous story and it needs to be addressed again.

[RBronyReader446]

7271791 you're welcome

[Amusementist]

Pinkie=OVERPOWERD

"Says the one with the alicorn OC".

"Hey, no using my friends to reply to me!"