64 vs. The Underground

by Jman9877

Chapter 60

Chapter 60

64 POV

My chest heaved as I sucked in air, taking deep breathes in and out to try and calm myself down. I was still seeing red, still seeing things that needed to be destroyed... But I knew that it was over, I didn't need to cause anymore damage. Eventually, the flaming spires that were my arms began to fizzle out, and my eyesight returned to it's natural state. If I had to guess, my irises changed from red back to brown as well.

"Frenzy, you can open your eyes now... It's all over." I huffed, really fucking tired after what had just transpired. I dispelled the axe in my hands and let them fall onto my knees, allowing myself to take a breather. Frenzy still laid on the ground with his eyes forced shut and his jaw clenched in fear. "C'mon Frenzy. Get up."

With timid movements, Frenzy's jaw began to relax a little, but he still stayed in the same place. I heard the sound of steps on the drawbridge behind me, and saw that it was everyone else that was in the Great Hall, including Blackbeak. I guess when I passed through the Retention field, it dispelled anything I was using on the other side. "Hey... I uh... I took care of Aurum..." I panted, motioning to his decapitated body. There was already a sizable pool of blood around the dead Gryphon, making me take a few steps back.

"Yes, that much is apparent..." Blackbeak sighed, reaching for the body and taking his Crown and Sword back. "I believe... that all of these nonsense has gone on long enough. Illudere, if you wish to collect your items from your quarters and depart, then I will not bar you from doing so. It's painfully obvious that we cannot continue in light of the recent events."

"I think that would be the best course of action." Illudere sighed, rubbing the side of his head with his hoof. "I believe the Changeling race will do just fine without any assistance, but we will definitely be giving aid to the Zebras. No need for unneeded suffering." He was walking back towards the Castle, but turned to me. "It's a good thing you were here to clean up the mess. Who knows what might've happened."

Novus hung back for a bit, looking a me with a small grin. "Thanks for what you did the other night. Who knows how fucked we might have been if Aurum managed to pull off a successful coup?"

Dammit... why were they congratulating me? I was... turning into something. Something bad. Every moment I was fighting I could feel myself being ripped away, being dragged down towards Super Nova. I could feel her grinning as I killed each and every one of those guards. I wasn't proud of it, but it was something I had to do. Each of those guards probably had families, and each of their families would be getting letters telling them that their husbands and fathers were traitors, and were sentenced to death. That wasn't a way to find out.

"64? Are you feeling ok?" Blackbeak asked me, probably seeing my face turning a bit green. "I know that your actions here today were not easy to do, and let it be known that you have my most sincere thanks for saving my life."

"Thanks... Frenzy. I said you can get up now. Any longer on the ground and you'll get blood on you." I commented, seeing the pool of blood around Aurum's corpse slowly creeping towards Frenzy's curled up position. Frenzy shot to his hooves at the mention of blood, shaking a bit from the events which had transpired. "And, I'm sorry for sneaking around the Castle. I know that these were supposed to be peacefully agreements, but doing stuff like that makes it seem that things aren't going so peacefully."

"And our apologies as well your Majesty." Vulnus interjected, bowing his head very low to the ground. "The actions of our bodyguards were most dishonorable."

"Vulnus, does it stink up there? I mean, you're kissing Blackbeak's ass pretty hard." I quipped, causing the bowing zebra to shoot back up and glare at me. Dolus couldn't help but laugh at the expense of her companion, although it was obvious she was in great pain. Blackbeak saw her struggling to stand up and addressed her.

"I believe my medical team is more than capable to help repair that wound. Let us see if we can arrange an appointment to fix what my men have done to you." Blackbeak offered, but Vulnus just stepped in front of Dolus defensively.

"I believe that we've endured enough turmoil during our stay here. We will leave at once and she will get treatment in her own home."

Blackbeak nodded and stepped aside, allowing the two Zebras to pass. Dolus, leaning on Vulnus, turned and looked at me. "You are a true warrior Project 64. Thank you for ridding the world of that beast."

And with that, the Zebras returned to the Castle as well. I looked at the corpse on the ground, walking over to it and grabbing the dismembered head of Aurum by the feathers on his scalp. "You want this as a trophy or something?" I asked, semi serious.

Blackbeak chuckled and shook his head. "Trophy are reserved for the ones who performed the deed. I'm afraid that it was not I who managed to stop him." With that, I looked at the last face that Aurum made before his death. Eyes widened, beak agape. I stared into the eyes of the dead gryphon, and as I did, I swore that the image of Silent Knight's head appeared for a split second before disappearing.

With a scowl, I ignited the head into a ball of flames and punted it away, sending it flying into the large moat surrounding the Castle. The head just gave me bad memories which I didn't feel like reliving, and I would rather keep it that way. I turned around to see that Frenzy was now emptying the contents of his stomach onto the floor, a bit of the bile managing to mix with the pool of blood on the floor. "You might want to get a clean up crew out here. And I suppose that Ethaxial will still be receiving a steady line of Gems to keep this place alive, right Frenzy?" I asked, but the only response I got was a heavy heave and the sound of more vomit hitting the hard cement ground.

"But what of the Zebras and their trade of coal and oil to Equestria? Won't that affect your nation negatively?" Blackbeak asked, but I just waved my hand dismissively.

"The biggest use of coal and oil is for train locomotion. Celestia's been in talks to switch to a more alternative source, but if not we'll just have to learn how to manage. I'd rather not feel like they owe us something now that we're helping Ethaxial."

Blackbeak looked down at the ground before his eyes narrowed, his gaze once again returning to me. "I wish to speak with you ni a more private matter. Frenzy Scribe?" Blackbeak called, looking at the sickly stallion who was beginning to regain some color in his face. "If you do not mind, I wish to speak with Project 64 in my private quarters."

"Frenzy, just head up to the room and wait for me. Take a bath and pack up. We'll be leaving after this too."

Frenzy nodded and just started walking away, not even glancing up at me. Great... this was his first field assignment, and it just so happened to involve an incredibly unnecessary amount of bloodshed, a failed coup d'etat, and he just had to witness all of it. I would be lucky if he even said a word to me on our return home.

Blackbeak and I followed until we made sure he was safely back in the room, before heading towards Blackbeak's private quarters at the tippy top of the Castle. There were 6 incredibly heavily armored guards standing in front of the door, each of them armed with some sort of Revolvers. Firearms were mainly used by Gryphons, but these guns looked as if they would be capable of making a fist sized hole in whatever they hit.

"Allow him in, we have private matters to discuss." Blackbeak commanded, as the guards stepped aside to reveal the steel door. Blackbeak walked in first, but I took a few careful steps forward just to make sure one of these guards wasn't going to draw on me. Once I was in, Blackbeak shut the door behind me, giving me a moment to see just how big his room was.

It was large enough that I was able to hear a small echo whenever Blackbeak's talons clicked on the ground, and his bed was easily larger than a large swimming pool at Canterlot's finer hotels. There were banners of past monarchy emblems hanging from the ceiling, and finally a large desk brimming with papers every where. My only thought was 'Twilight would have a fit if she saw that'.

"So... what did you need to talk about? I thought that all of our matters were taken care of? You're getting the gems, plus Aurum's been dealt with. What else is there?" I asked, as Blackbeak motioned for me to take a seat in front of the cluttered desk. I did so and leaned back, crossing my leg over my knee to try and relax a bit.

The King took a seat on the other side of desk, opening a drawer on the desk and sighing. "You've done me a great service today, Project 64. After today's events, I will no doubt work to further strengthen ties between Ethaxial and Equestria." Blackbeak started. I could tell there was something serious going on, but I knew better than to interrupt him. "And... to reward you for your efforts, I shall inform you of something... very troubling."

"Does this have to do with the arrangements Shura Slava was trying to set up for an attack on Equestria? I understand why you were willing to listen to her. I mean, she was offering the gems that your Kingdom desperately needed to survive, of course you would give in to her demands. Don't worry, I'll inform Celestia of what was really going on." I tried to explain, seeing no need for him to try and explain himself.

He chuckled a bit. "That... was in fact not what I was going to tell you. But, thank you for understanding my reasoning in that situation. She made an offer that I simply couldn't refuse in good conscious. No... What I wanted to share with you is a bit more troubling than that." He pulled out a piece of paper that was in the drawer he opened. "This... was found in the Changeling's guest room during the inspection. It was brought to my attention immediately."

He handed it over to me, allowing me to see what was written. I began to read the papr, which started off as a simple list of orders written in green ink from... Queen Chrysalis? Last I heard, she had been driven out of power by... hell. It was never said what exactly drove her out of power. One day she was proud Queen of the Changelings, next day? Gone. As if she disappeared.

"How was the written by Queen Chrysalis? She is no longer in power." I asked, but Blackbeak shook his head.

"Read the letter, and pay attention to what it is written in."

"What are you talking about? It's written in Equestrian. I don't see what-" I stopped after really seeing what he meant. It wasn't written in ink. This was Changeling blood. "What the fuck?" I mumbled, continuing to read the long letter.

'My location matters not. Let it be known that I will regain my title as Queen after the plan is done. The love that this nation emanates is near impossible, and thanks to an era of peace, they have little to no defences. I must know more before the final stages of planning are complete, but thankfully that will not be long. I've infiltrated these foolish creatures, and made sure that the real beings I'm disguised as are out of the picture. There is one being though... He walks like none I've seen before. He's brainwashed one of us, taking away his need for the hivemind and treating him as if he was a domesticated animal. This will not stand. The brainwashed one is too far gone, and unfortunately cannot be dealt with as of right now. While you are in the Gryphon territories, you will see the one who walks with two legs. Do whatever you can to disrupt these negotiations. If you must withdraw to cause panic, then do so. But give aid to those who you see as allies. Soon the Changelings will have Equestria. '

"Signed... Queen Chrysalis..." I muttered, reading the letter over and over. My heart rate increased as the severity of this situation dawned on me, and the hand I was holding the letter in began to grip the bottom of the paper tighter. They were planning an attack on Equestria. They knew about me. They knew about Ghost. And they were going to attack soon. "Fucking hell..."

"Indeed. It seems that the Changelings would have double crossed us at these talks if they had the chance. It seems as if Aurum beat them to it." Blackbeak sighed. "So? What will you do with this information? I suggest that tighter security measure be put into place around the castle, and everyone interrogated to find the Changelings Spy.

"No... No that's not what we do." I replied, feeling the fire in my gut beginning to burn again. "We make it seem that we have no clue. Make it seem as if we are completely open to attack. They don't know that we know of their plans. We will work around that, and then... fuck I'm no strategist. We'll figure something out."

I stood up and extended my hand. "King Blackbeak, it has been a pleasure, but I'm afraid I have to get back home as quickly as possible."

The King matched my urgency in getting out of his seat, and extending his talon to reach my hand. "Best of luck to you Project 64. I wish we could have met under less distressing circumstances."

With that goodbye, I ran out of the room with the letter grasped in my hand, needing to get back to Equestria as fast as possible. Frenzy would need to be shown this as soon as possible too.

3rd Person POV

64 and Frenzy were now airbourne, taking their motorized chariot over the Ocean and back to Equestria. Even after everything was said and done, Frenzy still saw the attempt at peace as a huge failure. Equestria failed to establish a steady trade of coal and oil from Capras, and the Gryphons were still receiving gems even thought they weren't giving anything in return. And then Frenzy read the letter...

"Well this is just great! I'm mean, not only did we mess these entire Non-Aggression agreements, but now we have to worry about a changeling spy!?" Frenzy screamed angrily, his eyes bloodshot from lack of rest.

64 rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Not just a changeling spy. Apparently Queen Chrysalis herself has been slipping in and out of the Palace. And you won't be the one dealing with it, I will. My time with Ghost helped me learn how to detect Changeling magic."

"The changelings were never going to agree to any of the terms at that meeting! They were trying to purposefully sabotage them!" Frenzy yelled, his red robes billowing in the wind. They were above the cloud layer, and the sun was shining in the air. 64 decided that he needed time to vent, so he pulled out the gem around his neck. He was about to channel magic into it, he swear he could see his green gem flash as a yellow one for a second.

He sighed and channeled magic into it, trying to come into contact with Celestia. A few moments later, her voice came through.

"Project 64? I have not heard from you in over 3 days, what is going on? How are the talks of peace going?" Celestia spouted off, trying to get as many answers as she could out of 64. The human rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"Well... they... didn't exactly go to plan." 64 muttered, not wanting to explain this to her. "In a series of unfortunate events, I managed to fight the Captain Gryphon Royal guard in an exhibition match, uncovered a military coup that conspired to kill King Blackbeak and put the same captain on the Throne, killed everyone involved in the military coup, and discovered another conspiracy against Equestria. Not bad for 3 days right?"

Silence was all that was heard from the other end, so 64 just waited patiently. He began to check his nails for dirt before Celestia finally responded. "Why... oh why in the name of Tartarus do I believe you?" Celestia groaned, as if this was a mild inconvenience, but everything involving 64 was an inconvenience to her. "64, why must everything go terribly wrong when you are in some way involved?"

"No fucking clue... but hey, at least we managed to smother the problems over here before they got too big. When I got back, we'll discuss a few more of the bigger problems."

"Very well... How is Frenzy Scribe? I would believe that the amount of chaos surrounding his first field assignment couldn't be good for him."

"He's..." 64 drawled, looking over at Frenzy who was still rambling angrily about the failure that was their mission. "not doing so good no. But he just needs time to cool down. Not everything went to shit over here like he thinks."

"I will learn what new trade agreements we must fulfill from him as well. How long until you arrive back in Equestria?"

64 took a peek at his wristwatch, and groaned when he saw that the glass was cracked. Luckily, he could still see that it was 3PM. "Yeah, we'll be there in about 3 hours. Get a hot bath ready for Frenzy, I think he'll need it."

"I'll be seeing you then"

"Later Sunbutt."

With that, 64 cut the channel and sighed, looking back at the frenzied Frenzy. 'This is going to be a loooong ride..."

Comments

[Trevor12300]

Celestia Needs to start treating 64 better

[DominiusTWD]

why the hell is celestia blaming him? holy hell she is a raging bitch.

[Jman9877]

4831594 Well it wasn't exactly his fault, he just has a tendency to make chaos follow him wherever he goes.

[setablaze53]

4848271 That's for me to know, and for you to look outside. (I'd put a crazy Pinky face here, but I'm on my phone.)