Chapter 17 - Game of shadows
Chapter 17 - Game of shadows
Queen Chrysalis sat in a big ornate chair with a glass of red wine in her hand, flanked by several of her daughters as she listened about the latest news from Canterlot. The monarch was dressed with an elegant low cut green dress that hugged her feminine figure quite nicely, showing her legs and arms as well a good portion of her cleavage, but like the opulent decors of her palace, it was mostly to satisfy her personal vanity rather than to impress foreign visitors or masses of adoring subjects. The only outsiders that came to her hive were the victims of their raids, and they usually didn’t last long, while the lower classes of Changelings were genetically programmed to serve her unconditionally.
Behind her, a huge window took up most of the wall, offering a grandiose view of her colossal magmatic chamber of the extinct volcano where her hive was built, but aside for it, the wide room was mostly bare of details aside for a few decorative columns and the floral theme carved in the ceiling.
The only furniture in the room consisted in her chair and the small round hardwood table in front of her, on top of which was placed a round silver colored device roughly the size of a dinner plate with a blue crystal in the middle. The magical device wasn’t as sophisticated as a mana window, but it still served its purpose perfectly. Hovering a few inches above the glowing crystal was a life sized holographic projection showing the upper half of a unicorn, as evinced by the long protuberance protruding from under the hood of the pony, but this was all the queen could evince about the identity of her interlocutor, for the pony was wearing a white mask that completely hid their visage, along with a heavy hooded dark robe and white gloves.
Chrysalis couldn't even tell if the pony was a stallion or a mare, due to what she assumed was a talisman at the end of the mask's muzzle. Each time the pony spoke, the gem glowed a soft pink, altering their voice so that they assumed an androgynous tone.
‘An effective and ingenuous disguise, but I still think it looks ridiculous,’ Queen Chrysalis thought, taking a sip from her tall glass of wine. Given their peculiar feeding habits, the wine, just like any other beverage or food, brought little nourishment to her body, but she still consumed it to enjoy its pleasant taste.
Supervillain costume aside, the unicorn had proved to be a precious asset so far, providing precious information that allowed the success of their recent raid. All in exchange of a few favours, like infiltrating certain places to steal particular items or disposing of certain troublesome ponies, the last one being one of her favorites. You never have enough food when you have an entire hive to rule.
“That’s quite a lot of information that you were able to gather. How accurate are your sources?"
"Very accurate," the unicorn calmly replied. “Some of this information was gathered personally by me.”
The Changeling queen raised a brow. “Risky,” she commented. "Are you sure no one suspects you?"
“Absolutely. I’m in the perfect position to access confidential material without raising suspicion,” the unicorn said with confidence.
“If you say so, Shadow Herald,” Chrysalis commented with a little shrug. While it obviously wasn’t the real name of the pony, the title intrigued her nonetheless. Did it mean that the unicorn was just an intermediary between her and their leaders? Unlikely. From what she had seen so far, the Shadow Herald seemed to be somepony very high in the ranks of their organization, Unicornia Imperat.
According to her sources, Unicornia Imperat was a unicorn supremacist organization that was officially destroyed by Celestia shortly after her sister's banishment, but as she was able to discover a few months after her failed invasion, a small group had survived the purge and had kept working hidden in the shadow for centuries, until they had contacted her to propose an alliance. An alliance that the Queen had quickly accepted once she had realized how useful they would be for her plans.
“What else were they able to discern about these creatures, these, uh, Sangheili?” she asked, testing the way the foreign word rolled on her tongue.
“Not much more than what I’ve already told you. Instead of interrogating the prisoner, the princesses,” - the pony pronounced the title with contempt - “let Twilight Sparkle and her ragtag band of companions have an amicable chat with the alien.”
“Aww, the white hag and the asocial brat want to befriend the visitors from the stars,” Chrysalis cooed mockingly. “How pathetic.”
“There’s nothing to laugh about. This is yet another demonstration of their incapacity,” the unicorn said, clearly unamused. “Once again she and her sister have shown that they’re not worthy of ruling Equestria, betraying the trust of their subjects by making stupid decisions that put the lives of ponies in danger.”
‘Bold words, coming from a hypocrite like you,’ Chrysalis thought. After all it was thanks to the help of Unicornia Imperat that their recent raid had been a success. The rebel group had not only provided her with valuable intelligence, but its members had also performed discrete acts of sabotage all across Equestria, preventing the royal guards from realizing something was wrong until it was too late. Many would have been disgusted by their treason, but Chrysalis couldn’t care any less about their lack of morality. If this group of ponies was willing to betray their own kind in order to achieve their purpose, who was she to complain?
“Furthermore,” the unicorn continued after a small pause, “as much as it hurts me to admit it, given their past results, there’s the possibility that they may succeed. After all, they did manage to befriend the draconequus.”
That did give Chrysalis pause. “An alliance between Equestria and the Sangheili would be problematic for our plans,” she had to agree. The Sangheili had proved to be fearsome opponents, far superior in combat to her drones and even her mighty centurions. “But I take it you already have a plan, am I right?” the Queen said with a knowing smile.
“After their attempt to infiltrate the castle, relationships between ponies and the aliens are tense. Celestia hopes to solve the situation using diplomacy… however, if something were to happen during the meeting, things would quickly degenerate, maybe even leading to a conflict.”
Chrysalis smiled evilly. “I like the way you think. So, what do you need?” she asked, knowing that she was somewhat involved in the plan.
“We have agents all across Equestria, but our numbers are low in the castle and most of them are not suited for the task,” the Shadow Herald admitted. “We cannot introduce too many ponies loyal to our cause without raising suspicion.”
“So you need muscles for the dirty work, huh?” Chrysalis slowly swirled the wine inside her glass, pondering the request. “We both know the issues that your request poses. There may not be a force field around the city like last time, but there’s still the problem of those detection spells.”
“We already have a way to work around the problem,” the Shadow Heral assured her.
The queen raised a brow in mild surprise. “You mean that those amulets you boasted about so much lately are actually real?”
“It wasn’t easy,” the Shadow Heral admitted, “but as expected, our mages were successful in creating amulets able to hide the magical signature of your species.”
“Hm-hm.” Chrysalis didn’t sound particularly impressed by the prideful tone of the pony. “Do they actually work?”
“Of course,” the pony replied as a matter of fact. “They were crafted by some of the best unicorns on the planet after all.”
‘Yeah, yeah, I get it. Unicorns master race, bla bla bla,’ the queen thought in annoyance. “Alright, I’ll trust you on this. After all, if my drones are discovered it will be your problem.”
“The amulets will work,” the pony said firmly.
The queen shrugged. “If you say so. How many of my Changelings do you need?”
“At least eight, a dozen would be better.”
“An entire squad?” Chrysalis asked with mild surprise. “They’re not enough for a frontal assault and they’re too many if you plan to do something like placing a bomb under the peace table.” As much as the idea of blowing up Celestia’s fat ass with a few kilos of explosive was endearing, she had other plans for the alicorn and thus she needed her alive. Possibly in one piece.
"We have already made arrangements to take care of the alien delegation. We need the help of your drones for another task."
"Which would be?" Chrysalis insisted, starting to get annoyed by the lack of details.
“Killing the Zealot. If she dies while she’s still under Equestrian custody, the blame would fall on the princesses.”
“Bullshit,” the Changeling Queen said flatly. “You don’t need all that firepower just to assassinate someone. A single infiltrator would be sufficient. There’s something you’re hiding from me.”
“I assure you-”
“Stop acting all high and mighty, we both know perfectly that you’re the one that needs my help. So, either you tell me what you really need my soldiers for, or you can go fuck Grogar’s corpse as far as I’m concerned. And please, don’t lie to me, or I can assure you that my drones will not obey you if you give them orders that differ from mine.”
Chrysalis could swear that under that mask the pony was glaring at her, but she didn’t care.
"... We need them to abduct Twilight Sparkle."
That made Chrysalis pause. “The nerd princess? Why would you need her?”
“That’s none of your concern,” the Shadow Herald replied curtly. “I told you why I needed your drones, but that’s it. Just do as I say and you’ll receive another shipment of prisoners as reward for your help.”
Chrysalis felt her left eye twitch, but she somehow managed to contain her anger, although barely. ‘Do you really think you can boss me around like some lowly lackey under the promise of a measly tribute? You’re lucky we’re not in the same room, or I would strangle you with your own guts for your insolence.’
“Very well,” she said dryly. “You said that they will receive the alien delegation tomorrow at dawn, isn’t it?”
“That’s correct. When can you send your drones?” the unicorn asked.
Queen Chrysalis finished what little wine was left with a single gulp and handed the glass to a nearby Changeling without even looking at the lowly creature. “Tonight at midnight, at the usual place. Make sure the idiot you send this time remembers the correct watchword in time. You know what happened last time.”
She barely suppressed a grin as she noticed the Shadow Herald shake in repressed anger. “And I suggest you feed your pets before sending them on a mission,” the masked unicorn said stiffly.
“I’ll try to remember. But you know, we’re so many and the food is so scarce…”
“Spare me the part of the misunderstood creature,” the pony said flatly. “You’re not a victim of her tragic nature, we both know that you like what you are.”
“Aww. You’re no fun,” she said in annoyance with a pout. “Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”
“That would be all for now. I’ll contact you again once your drones will be in the castle for final details.”
"I can hardly wait," Chrysalis said with an insincere smile, promptly dropping it once she cut the spell, ending the transmission. “Urgh. I swear, if I have to listen that supremacist moron any longer I’ll go crazy,” she groaned, rubbing her face with a hand.
She eyed the now inactive communication disk. It may have not been as advanced as a mana window, but the device was still not something within range of everyone. The costs of material and manufacture, along with the complex spells behind it spoke volumes of the resources Unicornia Imperat had at their disposal. It also revealed a few details about her unlikely ally.
She may not know what the pony looked like under that disguise, but behind all that paranoia she knew for sure that the Shadow Herald was an arrogant individual. Not just for the way they spoke with her, often bordering condescension, but for the very simple reason that she was able to see them in the first place. An enchanted scroll or journal would have been the safest way to communicate, and there were far easier ways to speak through distance, ranging from special spells to radios, but the fact that the unicorn had chosen a method that allowed her to see them, even if it meant that they had to don that disguise each time was a proof that all of this was just a way to show off their power and resources and satisfy their ego. ‘Truly pathetic.’
“I still don’t get why we have to cooperate with those idiots,” one of the younger queens asked rhetorically. “They’re food and yet they think of us like equals.”
“They’re useful tools, it doesn’t matter what they think,” Chrysalis said as she stood up from her chair and walked toward the large window behind her. “As long as they serve their purpose, we’ll pretend to be best friends with them.
“Any news from Phasmidia?” Chrysalis asked as she watched her hive from the thick glass of the window. It was hard to believe that the huge cave inside which the hive was built had once been the magmatic chamber of a now long extinct volcano, or that said place was in the middle of a deserted wasteland, and yet here it was. The hive was a masterpiece of architecture and ingenuity, easily rivaling Canterlot in terms of size and maestosity. It consisted of countless towers of various size and shape, interconnected with bridges and catwalks, while huge glowing concretions hanging from the ceiling provided all the necessary illumination, while an intricate system of underground tunnels and chambers effectively doubled the size of the complex. Chrysalis sometimes thought it was a pity that the only ones able to appreciate it were the high-caste Changelings.
“Her guest is still unconscious,” Mirage informed her, casually adjusting a lock of her hair. “She’s tried to wake him up using her powers, but his body seems to be refractory to magic.”
Chrysalis caressed her chin thoughtfully while idly observing the activity below. Wherever she looked she could see Changelings performing their tasks with a coordination and efficiency unthinkable to any other species. “How peculiar,” she commented out loud.That was something that demanded further studies. The Sangheili already had a massive technological advantage over the races of Asgard, if they were also immune to magic then things were even more complicated.
“Mirage, I want you to go to Equestria with the drones,” Chrysalis said to the younger queen.
“Do you want me to oversee the operation in Canterlot, mother?”
“No. After you’re done with the Shadow Herald or whoever will be waiting for you in the forest, reach Phasmidia and help her in interrogating the alien. If by tomorrow evening you haven’t achieved remarkable results, bring that creature here and I’ll personally deal with him.”
The young queen smiled with malevolent delight. “I can’t wait to play with him.”
“Just try to not overdo it. We need him alive… for now.”
The door opened and in came six equines, each kept still by two Changelings holding them by the shoulders. The majority were Equestrian ponies, but there was also a zebra stallion and a Saddle Arabian mare. All prisoners had their hands tied behind their backs and were gagged with rags to muffle their screams.
“Oh, just in time! I was starting to get hungry!” Chrysalis said with a cheerful tone as she made her way toward the prisoners.
One of the ponies, a blue pegasus stallion, managed to get his mouth free from the rag. “Let us go, you fucking monsters!” The pony thrashed and kicked, trying in vain to escape the grip of his captors. They may have not been earth ponies, but they were stronger than they looked.
“Ohohoh!” Chrysalis chuckled in amusement, walking toward the rebellious stallion. “You’re a fiery one, huh? I like it when they fight back,” she said with a somewhat sultry tone, licking her lips. Despite his bravery, she could clearly feel his fear.
And it was delicious.
“What do you want?” the stallion demanded, darting his nervous gaze across the room, not missing the way the younger queens in the room were watching him and the other prisoners with malice.
“You know how we Changelings feed off of love, don’t you?” Chrysalis asked rhetorically with a smile that didn’t bode anything good.
“Yeah,” the stallion replied hesitantly, before his eyes suddenly widened like he had realized something. “Wait. You’re gonna fuck our brains out or something?”
The question caused the Changelings in the room to erupt in a loud laugh.
“Hmm, your offer is tempting,” the Queen said amused. In an uncharacteristic gesture of tenderness, she gently cupped the stallion’s face with her hands and stared at him with bedroom eyes. He was quite attractive, with a nice athletic body and a thick red mane. Maybe in another situation he would have been a good toy to vent some tension. She tightened her grip around the stallion’s face and brought him closer, until their snouts were just a few inches of distance. “But I’m not in the mood today, so I’m just going to suck your life,” she said coldly as her eyes and horn began glowing of an eerie green light.
Chrysalis widened her mouth and the stallion started immediately screaming in agony as she sucked the multi colored cloud coming from his eyes and mouth.
‘No matter how many times I do this, it still feels amazing,’ she thought with pure pleasure while she drained not only the stallion’s emotions but also his life force, barely noticing the muffled screams of terror of the other prisoners.
It had took her years to decipher the content of those yellowed manuscripts she had casually found while exploring the ruins of that centaur castle and even more to adapt the process to the physiology of the Changelings, but it was well worth the effort. Love tasted amazing, but why limit their diet to a single choice when there was an entire menu? She could taste a whole array of emotions, each one tasting differently, and together they formed what she could only describe as a symphony of flavours.
It was a pity that she was still working on the spell by the time she tried to invade Canterlot, but the desire for revenge was just one more reason why she eagerly looked forward for the day she would drain Cadence and her damn husband.
The process lasted for almost a minute, after which Chrysalis finally released her grip from the pony, which promptly collapsed on the floor. The color of his coat was several shades paler than the original, just like his empty eyes, which now stared unfocused at her hooves as he struggled to draw what were probably his last weak ragged breaths. One of the downsides of the process was that while it allowed to obtain much more energy, feeding off from the victim for too long would usually bring them to their death.
“Aww, mother,” one of her daughters pouted in disappointment, looking at the unhealthily pale form of the stallion. “There’s not much left.”
“Don’t worry my dear, there’re still plenty of food for all of you,” Chrysalis assured her with a warm smile, a complete contrast to the merciless look she gave the remaining prisoners, whose muffled screams matched their desperate thrashing as they attempted to escape the drones holding them in place as the hungry Changeling queens approached them.
She looked down at the now motionless body of the pegasus and smiled cruelly.
‘And soon, we’ll have as much as we want.’
Once the transmission ended and the hologram of the Changeling Queen disappeared, the Shadow Herald took off the mask and let out a long sigh of relief. Dealing with Chrysalis was always so tiresome but it was a necessary evil if they wanted to succeed.
‘If everything goes as planned, once the two tyrants will be disposed of we'll no longer need those monsters and could get rid of them.'
Gathering enough ponies without causing suspicion and sending them to the Changelings to keep them on their good side was getting increasingly troublesome.
'Better get back to work. Time is ticking and there's still much to do,' the unicorn thought, quickly removing the rest of the disguise before hiding it in a secret compartment at the bottom of a wardrobe along with the communication disk.
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Step 1: Tracking beacon
Step 2:
ExterminatusGlassingStep 3: Party
*blinks* I had completely forgotten this was an Anthro story.
in the words of Lex Luthor: WRROOOONNG!!!!!!
8025471 i forgot the tech they had
Wonder how Mr Unicorn is going to deal with Discord once he takes out the only thing capable of stopping him, given Discord then gets to play with Sun and Moon, against which that giant spacecraft is so much dust and sewing needle?
Do only the Reapers use MHD weapons, or do the Sangheli also use dumb iron shot, which tends to be Extremely magic resistant?
Bets people. Egocorn is Blueblood, Fancy Pants, unimportant background noble 273?
Who is going to be first to think.. nice jewelry, where have I seen it before? Or is Pinkie readong from a script that hasnt been written, Mirror World style, yet?
8025756
Hmm... all likely possibilities... but I'm going to go with; Random strawman pony inserted because reasons for 200, please.
8025384
WHAT HERESY IS THIS!!!!!
8025449 Yeah, that was an oversight. I changed her line a bit.
8025471 I hope it's not an issue
8025384 "Burn their filthy hole in the ground!"
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8026103
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8025262 No one expects the chibi Sangheili!
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8026332 Eh, just of the mind that it doesn't add anything. I'm good.
I can see it happen now, international scandal of an alien assasination causes more aliens to raze the planet and all life on it. Even if chrysalis' plan goes off perfectly, killing all sentient life will lead to no life and the death of her kind as well as everything else
8036728 You're correct, I'm Italian. I'm sorry for the mistakes in the story, I have an American friend that edits the chapters before they're published, but I think I will involve more people in the future to help me with the story. Thank you for the criticism, I like to know what the readers think about the story.
8036942 Thanks for pointing out that detail, in my country the word to say 'reign' (regno) is the same for 'kingdom' and thus I didn't thought about checking to see if it was appropriate (it's not the first time and it probably won't be the last that something like this happens). I'll make sure to correct it as soon as possible.
8036818 She doesn't know how far the Sangheili would go in the eventuality of a conflict, all she care is to prevent an alliance between them and the ponies, which would make harvesting the equine population impossible (If you're familiar with Stargate Atlantis, think of the Changelings as this universe version of the Wraith).
8037043 true, and she is too stupid to realize that eliminating the princesses and the ponies would doom the planet anyway with the whole moon and sun controlling thing and the fact that discord is on the ponies side.
8037027
No problem man, it's it's generally really well-written regardless.
The "reign' issue does appear to be prevalent throughout the story, not restricted to any single chapter, but ctrl-f searching for reign in each chapter should highlight all the uses of it, then you can check if it's correct in it's context.
8037396
Chrysalis may be evil and arrogant, but she has plans for the royal sisters
EDIT: don't forget that the story is set at the beginning of Season 4 (man, I suddenly feel sooo old), when Discord was still new to the whole 'being a good guy' thing.
8037173
Regarding; his poorly thought out attack upon a surrendering enemy without his leader's knowledge and against her direct orders, which nearly resulted in the death of a civilian.
Even if the Elites decide not to pursue his death in favor of diplomacy, I imagine they certainly won't agree to any operations in which he is central/command (if not because of his dishonorable acts then because he seems ineffective at his job) or accord any respect whatsoever towards him.
The Lunar Captain/Shining (when he shows up) will be busy methinks, as the likely preferred military co-leaders/advisers of the Elites in joint military ops.
8038422 That was undoubtedly an unwise decision, although I think he paid with his honor when Zhar almost turned him into a kebab with his sword.
It's still early to talk about joint operation (that is, if there will be any...)
8047650 Not really, he prefers being a lone wolf but he has no real issue working with other Sangheili. If anything, he doubts her skills as leader of a team.
Calling it right now, Captain Doucheface (Steel Shield) is Shadow Herald. I don't remember exactly what color his coat is, and I don't really have time to go check through seven chapters to find it, but I'm calling it right now. If I turn out to be wrong, you may all boo me in the later chapters.
... But I'm calling it.
8061700
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Maybe he's the traitor, or maybe he's a loyal soldier. Who knows...?
8061739
Personally I think it's Steel Shield's second in command.