2: A Mechanical Solution to an Alchemical Problem
Princess Luna loomed in her darkened abode within Canterlot Castle. Her personal study had just barely enough candlelight to allow her to read comfortably with her heightened night vision. Overburdened bookshelves lined two of the walls while the third held the focus of her attention; a massive and detailed map of the known world. Her desk occupied the wall near the door out of an old paranoid habit of never having her back to the door for any real length of time.
Celestia was seated at a small round table sipping tea, with Luna's untouched cup resting nearby. Luna was pouring over the charts and letters her field agent had sent her barely an hour ago as Celestia observed the grand map from a distance. “You know sister, I would be glad to assist you in updating the maps if you brightened the room enough for me to see my hoof in front of my face.”
“The dark helps me think,” Luna mused quietly. But I could use some help to speed things along. With a brief flash of her horn, several oil lanterns floated out from one of the bookshelves and arrayed themselves to hang from empty hooks on the ceiling. Luna smirked playfully at her distracted sister and flicked the lantern on all at once, blasting the room into midday brightness.
“Much better, thank you.” Celestia drank the last of her tea with Luna pouting slightly at not getting any sort of reaction out of her supposed to be blinded sister. “I have to say, this plan of yours is quite ingenious, if a bit dangerous. I only wish we could be sure that the contingency plan won’t backfire on us.”
Luna’s reply was caught short by a knock on the door, followed by a thestral guard’s head poking inside. “Ambassadors Rolled Scroll and Blue Flare are waiting outside.”
Luna eagerly turned away from the map at the news of the arrival of her two favorite ambassadors. “Excellent, send them in.”
With a nod, the guard retreated and swung the door open wide to reveal the oddest pair of diplomats Equestria had seen in living memory. Rolled Scroll was a known sight among the royal courts, and his appearance was the principal reason why. He was effeminate to the point of being able to pass off as a mare, and did so quite often. While his manner of dress was always tactful, it wasn’t exactly welcome among the staunchly traditionalist nobility. A fact Twilight found most amusing, as such she gave her son carte blanche to dress as he wished. Only the industrial and technological power of Phoenix's Roost gave his words the heavy weight they carried among the nobility.
Blue Flare by contrast was a strong and tall mare that carried a profound sense of beauty with her. She leveraged her mother-given rainbow mane to great effect to accent the bright colors of her flowing gown dress. Flare carried herself with almost artificially perfected grace.
While the mannerisms of the two changelings, who always acted together, might confuse all but the wisest and most knowledgeable of the Royal Sister’s courtiers, Celestia understood them within two days of Flare’s introduction. The first to represent the drones, and the other their queens, a mystery Twilight left for others to discover. She nodded her head in respect. “Thank you for coming, ambassadors.”
“A pleasure as always, your highness,” Flare purred with a wink to her lavender counterpart and a curtsy.
“How might the hive be of service?” Scroll continued with his falsetto voice and a deep bow.
Luna grabbed a pointing baton, but held it under her wing for now. “This will take a bit, so you might want to grab a seat.” With a nod, both changelings took the satin cushions surrounding the tea table and sat down so they could easily observe the map. Luna noticed the changelings were sitting as close to each other as possible. Celestia offered them tea, to which both accepted with gratitude. Once everyone was ready and listening, Luna levitated several scrolls from her desk. “A few years ago, I sent a pair of explorers to map out the western coastline and terrain. Unofficially, it was to investigate the rumors of ghost ships in the area.
"They were ordered to instantly report anything that was out of the ordinary straight away. However, that never happened. At first, I assumed they had completed their survey of the coast without incident and simply moved on to chart the still unknown interior of the Endless Forest.
"It was an expedition expected to last two years before they returned to civilization to resupply and deliver their findings.”
“I take it, the due date came and went,” Blue Flare said between sips of tea. “I hope it was a simple mix up.”
“That might be wishful thinking,” Celestia replied with carefully concealed unease. “From what I’ve read of the reports, we now know there’s a new civilization taking root on our western shores.”
Rolled Scroll hummed inquisitively while Blue Flare’s eyes glinted at the news. Auntie Twi would love to see a new civ. “Who are they? More ponies or a new species entirely?”
“A new race, and we have reason to believe they’re carnivorous.” Luna shuffled through the papers as her sister spoke before finding a few drawings and levitating them over to the drones. “So you might end up with some competition in the meat market,” Celestia teased ever so subtly.
Flare took the document in her magic for both changelings to study. The parchment was torn in places, with a drop of blood or two on some of them. The drawings themselves were done in charcoal. The first few illustrations Rolled Scroll saw were separate body parts. A hastily drawn wing akin to that of a griffin barely registered to him, nor did the feline hind quarters and tail.
Yet it was the simian frontal features and fascinating head that brought a curious coo out of him. The very rough sketches revealed flat faces, absurdly small eyes, and a mouth that seems too small for a carnivore. Well, it’s not like I’m a biologist. “What a strange creature indeed. Are they long lost cousins of the griffins, by chance?”
“That I can’t tell you,” Luna replied with more than a little irritation. “I lost contact with my agent shortly after these missives arrived by dragon fire.”
“Dragon fire?” Blue blurted out with surprise. “Those are some expensive candles, your highness.”
“I’m more worried about the pony,” Luna replied with cool fire. The inexperienced drone sunk in her cushion a little at the implied reprimand. “I’m assuming he, like the explorers I sent before, was taken by these things.”
“That is what I’m afraid of,” Celestia butted in smoothly to give her sister time to cool off. “We need to handle the matter delicately. We can only hope that both the explorers and the scout were unharmed.”
Rolled Scroll sized up the alien creatures, but sadly there was no scale or units of measurement to go by. “I know mother would jump at the chance to visit a new species.” He chuckled darkly with a hoof over his mouth while looking at his blue counterpart. “We wouldn’t exist without mother’s scholarly curiosity about new races now would we?”
Eager to put her faux pas behind her, Blue Flare jumped at the lifeline Scroll gave her. “The hive is at the ready to assist you in this matter, in whatever manner we can give.”
“Glad to hear it,” Celestia replied warmly to reassure Blue, and to keep Luna from giving the drone a verbal lashing. “Now, while it is traditional for either Luna or myself to personally lead first diplomatic contact, we want to have some insurance in case these beings are unwilling to act rationally.”
“In what form, if I may ask?” Scroll replied already expecting the answer to follow.
Luna allowed herself a predatory grin. “Your flagship.”
Sadly, that flagship was held up in dry dock for ten more days before it was declared fit for service again. Most of the seven months it had been laid up was for an overhaul and upgrade of several systems, mostly revolving around the engines and replacement cloak crystals. As a result, the ship ran much smoother, and allowed the gunners to fire accurately at moderately faster speeds. Not that any of the gun crews had time to test that, with the ship immediately heading out to the west.
All that meant to Aegis is that she had steady ground onboard. She was slowly trudging along the central corridor of the Deception. She used wall walking with her front hooves to stay firmly upright on her still very shaky back legs. “Blast it. Hooves like this were never meant for two legs,” she grumbled to herself. Aegis was wearing her old uniform shirt out of sentimentality, and a way to reaffirm the reasons for her dreams of royalty.
Intel was walking beside her, perfectly comfortable on four legs, and couldn’t help but snicker a little every time Aegis checked herself when the airship rocked in the wind. “You know, I could just hold you up with my magic. You keep getting blood on the floor, that stuff’s a pain to clean up you know.”
“No, I got it, really!” Aegis stubbornly insisted. She gently pushed off the wall, and used her wings to stabilize on her back legs. “See?” She wobbled, but flailing her forelegs managed to save her snout another visit to the floor. “I got this.”
Intel watched the princess take a few careful steps forward. Her forelegs were raised outward to keep her balance, and it seemed to be working. “Two weeks out of the shell, and you’re already taking baby steps. I might be impressed if it didn’t take us less than a day to learn to walk on four.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep it up.” She finally stabilized a little better, but had to keep a hoof slightly dragging along the wall to avoid visiting the floor again. “As much as I love seeing that plot of yours, Papa said he had a surprise for me waiting in the machine shop.”
“Just as well,” Intel lamented as she cantered over to Aegis’ side. “I have to check over the diplomatic contact plan with the others.” Instead of leaving right away, Intel lingered around, watching Aegis steadfastly refusing to give up on bipedal walking until she mastered it. Intel couldn’t help but to feel a sense of pride in Aegis’ royal eyes. Well, sis, you dreamed bigger than anypony I know. I hope it all works out for you.
Aegis made it down to an intersection before noticing Intel was still by her side. She risked a light punch to wake her up. “Hey, you alright? I thought you had somewhere to be.”
“Yeah, I’m fine…” Intel sighed with more sadness than she wanted. “It’s just that with Riposte gone, and now you’re out of the Queens’ Guard, I’ve only got Ferrum out of the original four now.”
Aegis stumbled, yet she managed to deftly wrap a foreleg around Intel to rope her up into a tight hug, masking her fall. “What are you talking about? I’m still here, Intel.” The force of the hug pulled Intel full off her hooves and both crumpled in a heap. Aegis ignored the impact and just held her clutchmate even tighter. “The only difference now, is that you guard me, rather than guard beside me.”
“I guess…” Intel sunk into Aegis’ hug, drawing strength from her sister’s affection. But someday you’re going to leave to form a hive of your own.
“Come on girl, we don’t have time to be all mopey.” Intel seemed to react little to Aegis’ prodding, so she switched tactics and brushed a hoof across Intel’s nethers.
“AAHH!” Intel half scream half moaned. She blushed furiously and looked around to find a couple other drones look at her, but kept on walking. “Damn it, Aegis, not here!”
“Fine,” Aegis chuckled lightheartedly look to the right to find a broom closet and opened it with her magic. “How about I cheer you up in there?”
Intel worked her jaw for a few seconds before climbing off her clutchmate. She was feeling mildly low on love, and she remembered that deepening depression was an early sign of love starvation. In the end, Intel couldn’t tell if she was sad because of the situation, or that she hadn’t fed all day. “Okay, but only for ten minutes.”
“Make it twenty. I want to see what other benefits having two legs brings.” Aegis got up and leaned into Intel’s ear, and added a husky quality to her voice. “You can say you were helping me conduct research.”
Intel scowled at her horny sister for a few seconds before relenting. “Fifteen, not a moment longer.”
“Deal,” Aegis purred before pulling Intel into the closet.
Aegis walked into the shipboard machine shop forty five minutes later with a smug grin and more than enough love to satiate her royal hunger for the day. The shop itself was a small affair, as befitting the cramped quarters onboard. A single pair of light bulbs gave more than enough light to illuminate the various machine parts laid out in painstaking organization. Each piece had a tag on it, denoting the work order. Along two of the walls was an array of drawers of various sizes no doubt holding tools waiting to be used.
A painfully bright point of light was coming from the single rainbow-maned engineer in the room, who was welding something Aegis couldn’t see. <Heyya, Blitz. Long time no see.>
The blue drone in question freaked at the sudden address and nearly dropped her welding torch. She shut it off and removed her oversized protective helmet to greet the newcomer. “Hey there, Aegis.” She grinned at the princess. “Welcome to my humble shop.”
Aegis fell back down onto four legs and trotted over to give Blitz a brief hug. “Where’s papa? I thought he had something for me.”
“He was called away to oversee Factory Seven’s refitting, but don’t worry I can handle things for him.” Blitz found a series of cubbyholes with scrolls in them and pulled them all down with her magic to look over each one. “No, no, no, ah here it is.” Blitz skimmed her technical notes in depth before putting them all all back except the one she was reading.
She then walked over to one of the back wall lockers and opened it to reveal a set of small machines. Finding a cleared workbench, Blitz placed them down. “After hearing about the nature of your rebirth, Uncle and I got together to give you a waking up present, but it wasn’t ready until last night.”
There were four boot-like objects in total. All of them had small cables and pipes running through the structure of the boot with four sets of actuators for each. “What are they?”
“A mechanical solution to a biological problem!” Blitz chirped proudly. “Granny Caddy’s been making prosthetic replacement limbs for drones for about two centuries now. Ever since Aunty Twilight thought the minotaurs would be great customers, she commissioned my engineering section to make arms and fingers. So when I heard about your little experiment, Papa and my team modified that design to fit your legs. Go ahead and try them on!”
“Ahh-” Aegis bumbled as one of the smaller boots was thrust onto her left foreleg. “Okay.”
With her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, Blitz grabbed a headset with a collection of magnifying lenses. Aegis sat on her rump while Blitz held the captive hoof outstretched so she could examine it. “Good, good. Aunty Twi’s predicted measurements of your hoof size were spot on. No surprise coming from the mother of OCD herself. Now, you might feel some discomfort with this next part.”
Fear shot through Aegis. No pony using that phrase ever tells the truth. “What are you doing?”
“Just wait,” Blitz admonished as her magic latched onto three long thin bars and slowly inserted them through the boot and into three of the five holes that Aegis’ leg possessed. A thought struck her, causing Blitz to look up to the table and levitate a cord of bound leather, and shoved it in Aegis’ mouth. “Now, you might feel a little pressure.”
Aegis barely had time to even register the disgusting taste or the request before her hoof and leg felt like molten lead was pumping through her veins all the way up to her neck. “Rrrraaaaooww!!”
She nearly bit the leather in half and ripped her hoof away from Blitz to cradle it as the pain spiked through each hole. She whimpered with the leather in her mouth for a bit before spitting it out. “Damn it all to Flaming Flamingo Friday! Get it oooff!”
Blitz stared at the princess with stunned bemusement. “Sorry, Princess, painkillers weren’t part of the budget. Just be glad the bonding is a one time thing.” Her eyes drifted to the first aid kit by the door with a note taped on it. “Ooohhh wait a second, actually I think they were. My bad.”
She flew over the sobbing princess and grabbed the kit and thrust it open, only to have Aegis bark at her. “Don’t bother, you quack!” The pain subsided slowly, sadly, she would be throbbing for a couple of days if not a week. “What was that for?”
“Ah, hello! That was the finger-boot attaching to your nervous system. Don’t tell me you don’t know anything about how prosthetics work. Last I checked, you’re ex-military.” Aegis shot her a scathing glare with bloodshot eyes. Maybe I should talk about why she shouldn’t rip my head off. “We uhh, we used a corrosion resistant alloy of aluminum and quadrinix. That’s why the boot’s red. We can get it painted later.” Aegis’ mood soured the longer Blitz rambled on. Brilliant, Blitz, juuust brilliant.
“Can I take this thing off?” Aegis grumbled as she tested her weight on the boot. Despite her pained nerves, the fit was otherwise snug and comfortable.
“I don’t see why you’d want to,” Blitz replied with a giggle to lighten the mood. “Once your body gets used to them, they’ll give you everything Aunty Twi couldn’t. Toes to help you stand on two legs, and fingers that’ll let you grab things.”
“Showering and cleaning come to mind.” Aegis’ curt reply caught the engineer up short. Yet once Blitz’s words had a chance to sink in, Aegis took the time to fully examine the metal boot. It felt slightly heavy, with most of the weight around the hoof itself. The top of the boot stopped a few centimeters from her knee, so it didn’t impede dexterity in that respect.
Her concentration on the boot caused it to hiss with steam, thankfully away from her face, and four two jointed fingers popped out of the boot and curled into a fist directly in front of her hoof. They were long enough to curve around the hoof with ease. Hidden within their quadrinix alloyed casing, Aegis could hear whirring gears.
Taking Aegis’ silent curiosity as an excuse to talk, Blitz bounced over to hold the boot with a hoof. “As you can see, our mana steam engines have made great progress lately. The device only needs a few bits of your mana to function, but it can get very tiring after a full day’s use. I’d say if you learned to sleep with these on, it’d retain enough of a charge to where you’d never feel the strain.”
Aegis’ wings buzzed loudly with excitement, the ache in her leg forgotten. “This is awesome! I could probably fight like a minotaur in no time!” Aegis yanked her hoof back to get a closer look. She tried to flex or move the fingers, but aside from slight twitching they remained locked into a fist. “Any reason I can’t move them?”
“You can, just try one at a time. You’re holding the fingers in a ball because you think like a changeling, and not a minotaur.”
“Is that a fact?” Aegis replied derisively. “And how am I supposed to think like a walking steak?”
Blitz just shrugged with a bemused half-grin. “I don’t know. This whole thing was your idea in the first place. I guess you could just think of the fingers like a bunch of tiny legs, or monkey tails, or something grippy.” Blitz shrugged at any further questioning along that route. Honestly, what’s with her fascination with all this whole hand thing when telekinesis is so much easier? I only took this job as a favor for her, and it was a pretty interesting challenge from an engineering standpoint.
“Better than nothing, I guess.” Aegis focused on one finger at a time while Blitz grabbed the other boots and placed them on one by one.
Flying ahead of the cloaked Deception, was the luxury yacht Crystal Blue puttering along at a speed that made the crew of the changeling frigate groan. The yacht was half the length of the warship behind it, but it overflowed with creature comforts the likes of which neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash had ever expected to enjoy any time soon. With a bitterly harsh winter in full swing outside of pony controlled territory, Princess Luna and the two queens lounged on beach chairs while the entirely glass roof and one side of the wall gave a magnificent view of the snowy forest below. The room was practically a sauna from all the heating vents releasing a steady stream of steam.
Twilight was sipping on a heavenly red wine, a luxury she hadn’t tasted in years thanks to the eggs. With the decision to cut egg production to one fourth, both she and Rainbow Dash thought it best to simply go full production one week a month for the time being.
Alcohol had been a much needed distraction from the mounting impulse both queens suffered every day they went without laying. For Twilight at least, the book on griffin culture was a close second. With a warm blanket wrapped around her, and the large book with its wealth of information at her hooftips, Twilight was one extremely happy bug.
Rainbow Dash had drowned herself in alcohol. An empty keg of Sweet Apple Acres' Hard Cider gently rocked between a small table and the sky blue queen’s head which was hanging off the side of the chair. With all of the business coming in from the Jiyya industry, Sweet Apple Acres was profitable enough to give Rainbow Dash a free lifetime supply of cider. Something she was only recently able to take advantage of now that she wasn’t ovipositing every day.
Even with Twilight’s best noise dampener spell, Rainbow’s thundering snores still rattled the floor. Twilight had learned to live with it, even if it normally wasn’t anywhere near as bad as tonight. If Twilight was truly honest with herself, the snoring was a sort of white noise to her now. A sign that her sister was at peace and close by.
<Thirty six hours until arrival, my queen.>
Twilight’s concentration was broken by Captain Rourke’s scheduled update. The distraction caused her to look up at Luna who was watching the setting sun with a forlorn expression. Celestia having decided to remain behind in Canterlot, lest the sudden departure of both princesses create a panic.
Twilight’s instincts wanted to probe the ebony alicorn with her empathy, but she caught herself in time. It was an unspoken agreement between the alicorns and queens that the changelings would avoid using their empathy on any one of the three princesses. For the most part it was fairly easily to abide that, but there were times when Twilight couldn’t help but to pick up on flashes of intense emotion. Now was one of those times as the specter of loneliness crept into Luna’s heart.
I can’t imagine what sort of scars a thousand years on the moon would do to somepony, no matter how long they have to heal. While such stark isolation would be a nightmare to most beings, the deathly silence of space and being alone with one’s own thoughts chilled Twilight to her core.
Luna was staring off into space, but Twilight kept picking up brief moments of anger and a sense of urgency. With Rainbow Dash in a drunken stupor, it fell to Twilight to comfort the stoic night princess. “How are you holding up, Luna?”
Luna briefly thought about giving a non-answer. What good is that with an empath around? A waiter refilled Luna’s drink and brought over a bowl of expensive salted nuts. With a flick of a wing, Luna dismissed him, and the three guards in the room.
Twilight removed her blanket and draped it over her sister after propping Rainbow’s head back onto the chair. She scooted her chair over to be next to Luna before sitting down again. From there she remained silent, allowing Luna time to gather her thoughts.
“I admit I am a little concerned about contact. There seem to be powerful wards all over the western shore that makes finding my scout amidst the dreamscape akin to trying to find a single fish from the ocean.”
Twilight gasped at the news. “You don’t think they’re expecting us do you?”
“I have no way of knowing that for sure, Twilight Sparkle. But given the sheer size of the shrouded area, I do not believe so. It could merely be what these half-griffins normally do.”
“Ahh, I see. I hope you’re right. Do you have any idea if your field agent is still alive though?” Twilight inquired carefully. She was grasping at straws to see if she could pull the mare into a conversation.
“Slippery Shadow is a fine operative, and these beings must be most cunning indeed to have captured such a cautious stallion. I doubt they would intentionally kill him. In any event, I will not leave him to rot out here. Alive or dead, I am bringing him home.”
“Well he had to be wearing some equipment if he fire-sent those reports to you. I find it hard to believe these beings would eat him before finding out more about us.”
“Perhaps.” Luna took a slow deep breath to calm herself. I hope the original explorers are still alive as well. “One thing you should never do, Twilight Sparkle, is assume anything with a new species.” She craned her head towards the lavender queen. “That mistake is how you ended up a changeling in the first place, after all.”
“Oh… right.” Awkwardness suddenly filled the room as Twilight shuffled her hooves nervously. “I’m… I’m a little surprised you’ve been able to enjoy the pampering this boat has to offer, what with your valid concerns and all.”
Luna didn’t answer for a few minutes. The pregnant pause was too much for Twilight, who was about to drop the issue right as Luna spoke up. “You get used to such things, eventually. What is it the Guard often say…? ‘Hurry up and wait.’ Yes, that’s it.” Twilight nodded slowly. “Since there is nothing left for me to do until we arrive, there is little gain in brooding until I know Shadow’s fate.”
A minor issue back at the hive drew Twilight’s attention away from Luna, not that the moon princess noticed. Luna was too busy going over how she would present herself to the beings she didn’t even have a name for.
At least we knew what the griffins called themselves when we first officially met. She summoned her scrolls to pore over them again. Barely an hour later, both queens were snoozing on their chairs, content to spend time with Luna. The alicorn might have been touched by the companionship if she hadn’t been so focused on her work. The three royals had spent every day for the past week going over the mountain of possibilities and responses, so the queens decided to rest up early.
Luna finally snapped from her scrolls on an impulse and looked at her sleeping companions. She frowned slightly at them and the night sky in the windows beyond. Just because the crew believes we’ll arrive at the coastal town in the evening, it doesn’t mean we won’t make contact before then. I better get some sleep too while I can. If things go poorly, I may not get another chance until we return to Canterlot.
Before departing for her private cabin, Luna ordered the servants to keep the observation deck’s temperature comfortable for the sleeping queens. Yet like the Dreamwalker herself, Twilight Sparkle would not sleep normally this night.
As her body rested, Twilight’s mind finished fabricating a small dojo within the Linkscape. The room was little more than ten meters square with hard mats for the floor and walls. The dojo was well lit, but there was no identifiable source of light.
Twilight had just completed putting the finishing touches on the wall mounted clock when Aegis appeared, already standing on her hind legs. “Hey momma! You didn’t have to make the dojo for me anymore, I can handle it.”
With a beaming motherly smile, Twilight swept her daughter up in a squishing hug. “You can’t blame me for wanting to dote on you.”
The room was filled with giggling delight as Twilight slipped fully into mother mode. Aegis basked in her mother’s presence, content to let it last as long as possible. She could feel her mother’s pride in her, and that only made the moment that much sweeter.
This was the sixth night Aegis was to spend her sleeping hours in the lucid dreaming world of the Linkscape. Each night Twilight or Rainbow Dash would craft a room for Aegis to train herself in. While this form of training did nothing for her muscles, it did wonders for her muscle memory. Normally it was a rather isolated affair. Intel or some of Aegis’ other close siblings would visit her early on, but only the royals of the hive could rest properly while also spending time in the Linkscape.
As it seemed with every occasion, Twilight had to be the one to break contact. “So how’s your progress so far?”
“Well, it was kinda slow for a little while, but Blitz and Papa’s gifts are making it a lot easier and a bit harder at the same time.”
Twilight was about to inquire as to why, when Blitz materialized and quickly performed a formal bow to Twilight. “Good evening, Queen-Mother, Princess Aegis.”
With practiced grace, Twilight slipped back into queen mode. “Evening, Blitz. I trust everything went well.”
“Oh it was a complete success, my queen!” Blitz flustered before holding out a hoof. A few seconds later, one of Aegis’ mechanical hand gauntlets appeared. “A roaring success if I do say so myself.” She looked pointedly at Aegis. “At least it will be once somepony learns how to use the hand attachments properly.”
“Hey, I said I was sorry.” Aegis grumbled a bit, but everyone could see there was more apology than bite to it. “It’s my first day ya know.”
Twilight arched an eyebrow at the exchange, but neither young mare was willing to share. Blitz simply yawned and let her gauntlet dissolve into the air. “Yes, I know, I already forgave you, mostly. Anyway, if you’ll let me, I should go ahead and recreate them on your hooves to real world conditions.”
Sharing a look with her daughter, Twilight nodded at Blitz. “Go ahead. The sooner you do, the sooner you can get some sleep.”
“Amen to that.”
Knowing her creation inside and out, Blitz brought each of the four gauntlets into being around Aegis’ hooves. The room was already set to mimic real world gravity and other forces as close as possible. Aegis felt her limbs go heavy one by one for an hour as Blitz worked to recreate the gauntlets in excruciating detail. The engineer knew every facet of her creation, and she wanted to make sure Aegis would too. While Twilight knew of the gauntlets, being the one to authorize its budget, she wanted to see them in use. Even if this strain doesn’t work out for a royal, it could have serious potential for a cadre of drones.
With the items in their latest stage of development, Twilight took the time to study the gauntlets, particularly, the back legs. As with the front ones, the ‘foot’ gauntlets were secured in place with bars laced through Aegis’ leg holes. Instead of fingers, three metal toes arrayed out in front which reminded Twilight of Spike’s feet. A solitary and slightly larger toe completed the set on the back of each hoof. It was only when Blitz was testing them that Twilight noticed the toes would fold up and into the gauntlet when Aegis stood on all fours.
“Knowing you, Aegis,” Blitz eventually piped after thoroughly inspecting her work. “You’ll end up wanting to punch and kick things before much longer, so I made sure to reinforce the joints as much as possible. But!” she barked as a manic grin started splitting Aegis’ face. “Do not, I repeat, do not hit anything with your front gauntlets unless the fingers are in the fist configuration. The reinforcement only works while they’re closed like that.”
Aegis lifted her left foreleg up to inspect Blitz’s work. “Use fists to punch, eh? I think I can remember that.”
“Right,” Blitz replied sardonically. “I explained everything else to you earlier. If there’s nothing else…”
Aegis started walking around on all fours to get a feel for the weight. “Seems good to me.” She closed in to give Blitz a peck on the cheek and whispered softly. “How about I thank you later in private?”
“Hmmm…” Blitz tapped her chin with mock contemplation.
Twilight inwardly rolled her eyes and glanced away out of some shadow of embarrassment. Honestly. Mother never warned me how lecherous my kids would end up becoming, and it seems RD’s inclusion didn’t help matters at all. She was very good at disguising her discomfort as being distracted. But curbing it might end up being detrimental. I’d rather my children be overfed with love, than to possibly starve themselves, even a little, out of modesty that I guess isn’t really needed within the hive.
Even with such allowances, Twilight wasn’t going to sit there as Aegis and Blitz started going at it right there in front of her. “Thank you, Blitz,” she said with a mild edge to break the two up. Aegis huffed, but meant nothing of it, while Blitz felt rather embarrassed to keep her queen waiting.
“Sorry, sorry. Whelp, I’ll see you later, Aegis.” Blitz gave Twilight sad puppy dog eyes, sitting on her haunches. It was an act Twilight and Rainbow Dash knew all too well.
With a playful snort, Twilight opened her forelegs to allow Blitz a chance to race forward and cling to her aunt. Aegis waited an impressive five seconds before joining in. “Alright, off to bed with you. You can check Aegis’ progress in the morning.”
“Okaaaay.” Blitz dropped the sad puppy act and hoof bumped Aegis. “See you later Princess!”
A moment later, Blitz vanished, leaving Twilight alone with Aegis. The atmosphere quickly shifted to all business. “Well, you’ve told me about your progress, now I want to see it. I haven’t had a chance all day.”
“Oh you’re going to love these toe things.” Aegis quickly propped herself up, using a kick off with her front legs with a short wing burst to keep her balance. As soon as her stance shifted, her back gauntlets shot its three metal toes forward, giving the princess enough stability to stop using her forelegs to balance.
Aegis easily fell into a rifle firing stance with her legs apart, and her hands woefully empty. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you rewired my brain a bit to work with toes to begin with.” She tried to show off by spinning in place, only to land flat on her rump. Twilight gave her an amused smirk as Aegis climbed back up. “Well, you get what I’m saying.”
“I do, actually, and I’m glad to see you progressing. Sadly, as much as I would love to stay up all night to help you, Rainbow and I have already worked through the last four nights over this diplomatic meeting, and I don’t think I can handle another night of lucid dreaming. I’ll see you in the morning, Aegis.”
Some days ago…
Chirping crickets gave a deceptively peaceful backdrop to the second night Slippery Shadow twiddled his hooves in a cage adjacent to the Sphinxes’ town hall/ governor’s manor. Luna’s night sky gave the dark colored thestral some comfort. The snow on the ground was kept at bay thanks to the roaring fire pit keeping both Shadow and his guards warm in the cold winter night. The scout looked for all the world to be languishing on his back while scuffing his hooves together, yet his mind was far from inactive.
Three stationary guards around me at all times, plus two of the flying types constantly patrolling the air. They already have a few logging camps and a stable perimeter far outside the city. Do they fear an escape attempt this much, or are they always like this?
His eyes wandered to the closest guard, a wingless female if his estimation was accurate. Reminds me of Bertha, Spirit of Strength.
‘Bertha’ was eyeing the stallion closely. The hungry glint in her eye, and the runed morning star she held did a fine job of planting a cold pit of fear in him. Unlike the lost ones, these beings had the cold calculating intelligence of a sapient predator. Shadow tried to nonchalantly look away, but something told him she knew it was out of fear. Explore the world I said, it’ll be fun to see what the future brought! Bah… maybe I should have taken Queen Twilight Sparkle’s offer to stay with the hive instead. Sure she may be a freakish bug thing, but she’s still a recognized Imperial descendent. Neither Celestia or Luna know or even care of the old ways. He grumbled as the smell of cooked meat over a fire reach him from an open window of the manor. I wouldn’t mind dying in combat. The executioner’s block isn’t exactly what I had planned though, but at least that would have some modicum of respect. I got a super bad feeling about these – whatever they are. How long are they going to let me marinate in my own fear before these bastardized gryphons eat me?
With the guards keeping such a close eye on him, Shadow groaned and tried to sleep on the pile of straw he had for a bed. At least it’s dry after yesterday’s rain.
Yet before he could try to get some sleep, two wingless soldiers exited the backdoor of the manor and talked briefly to the guards. Shadow readied himself for anything as the group moved over to his cage door.
“Ge’ta!” the one with gold trimmed armor commanded. She jabbed a paw at the metal collar and chain in her possession. “Fel da lerma foosh.”
Taking his sweet time, Shadow slowly stood up and stretched to pop his joints. “Yeah, yeah, hold your oats.”
While he had not been tortured thus far, Shadow didn’t want to test his hosts’ hospitality, so he jumped outside and presented his neck for the collar to be slapped on. “Go on girly, I know your knickers are in a bunch. A bit too big for my tastes though.” The lead guard briskly applied the restraint before starting to pull him towards the manor’s rear entrance.
The interior was much like he remembered it the first time he’d been brought here. Statues big and small were scattered about in strategic locations. All of them were painted in a fresco style with pleasing colors. Without his soft shoes, Shadow was painfully aware of his loud hooves as opposed to the nearly silent paws of the feathered felines surrounding him.
He was brought into the main throne room where Thaddaeus stood beside Governor Ventras’ seat of power. The governor and his majordomo had spent a few hours each personally studying the stallion. Between them and the guards, Shadow been able to pick up on their names.
The Majordomo had a small table in front of him, a large blank scroll completely blanketing its surface. Thaddaeus was sitting on his haunches with his forepaws shifted into hands. His left held a black inkpot while the right held a thin brush.
Shadow was entranced by the sphinx’s chanting as he wrote onto the air itself. Foreign runes of black ink hung in the air, waiting for the incantation to finish. The stallion was placed on a simple mat in front of Ventras who was lording over his wooden throne. With a wave of his paw, the guards removed the pony’s restraints.
That fireplace doesn’t look like it’s for cooking. I hope this behemoth doesn’t like his food raw… or still alive. Try as he might, Shadow couldn’t stop his terror from leaking through, earning him a few contemptible glances from the ten guards surrounding the room.
Ventras silently studied Shadow while one of the guards jabbed Shadow to get him to look at her. “Valus!” the guard commander barked. She moved her paw from the base of her throat and sweeping out through her mouth. “Valus!”
“Oh, so you want me to speak?” That got her to stop, and give a mildly pleased look. “Well why didn’t you say so? I love to talk! Let me tell you something else. The old language of the Moonlit Empire was so damned flowery it drove everyone I knew crazy, so I got speech lessons from an old bean name Earl Grey. Dapper fellow, let me tell you. Physically anyway, not in speech, but it was good enough for me to blend into the modern world better, let me tell you what.
"So yeah, apparently you guys can’t understand me, but hey, you’re not telling me to shut up so I was wonder if you guys have a court jester position open, by chance? It's degrading, but its healthier than being on the menu, am I right?”
Shadow paused briefly to notice the ink floating around Thaddaeus was flowing from the inkwell and onto the page, the more he spoke. He chose to ignore it to keep his hosts happy. “You want me tell you about the Labors of Marecules? Great heroine if I do say so myself. It all started with a bout of insanity.”
Ever since Shadow was a little colt he loved the stories the city elders used to tell, and he had felt an itch to find a listening audience for years. Granted, none of the sphinxes could understand him, but if they wanted him to speak, then by golly he would speak.
He did so for hours, on and on he went about the epic tale of Marecules. He even went so far as to act out his favorite parts, only to be prodded by the butt of a spear if he ventured beyond the mat. Despite his stoic outwardly appearance, Ventras had to admit he rather enjoyed the comical dramatic little pony. He held no fear for the dark brown stallion, on the contrary, he was feeling rather attached to the amusing creature. It helped that Equestrian sounded quite melodious, rather than the gruff tongue of the sphinxes.
“So there she was! Staring down the fifty headed dog-beast with nothing more than her wits about her!”
“Git!” one of the guards commanded with a halting gesture. “Ferus malin.”
Shadow stood there with profound sadness in his eyes. “But I was just getting to the best part.”
“Git!” she repeated more forcefully.
He slumped on his mat, and looked to Thaddeus who now had forty scrolls around him. He said something to Ventras who climbed off his throne while trying to hide the crick in his back from sitting too long.
A few attendants shuffled into the room and helped scatter the scrolls all around Ventras, then everyone pulled back to give him space. Shadow watched with intense curiosity as Ventras shifted his front paws into hands, and opening a nearby bag, rubbed powder all over his arms. After closing the bag, he rubbed his hands and made a sweeping motion to cast the powder all over top of the scrolls.
He started chanting while making a strange sign with his fingers interlocked with each other to form a triangle. Ventras chanted quietly at first, slowly growing louder until he peaked right above a normal speaking voice.
The ink from the scrolls started to float up to surround the governor. Finally, he started noisily inhaling the ink which quickly fled into his mouth.
That is the weirdest magic I’ve ever seen, and I even saw arcanum in action once. Shadow got a chill up his spine when Ventras seemed to swallow the mass of ink. A few moments later, he looked Shadow dead in the eyes speaking Equish in the thestral's accent. “So, this is the tongue of prey. How very… interesting.”
“Ohhh, heebe jeebe you know Equestrian.” Shadow’s ears fell flat at Ventras’ knowing toothy grin.
“Is that what you call yourselves? Or just your language?” Ventras slowly, methodically advanced on Shadow. “Know that I am Ventras, First son of Felnarious, and patriarch of this house.”
Shadow was familiar enough with predators to know to keep from showing too much weakness. Maybe not sapient predators, but the analogy probably fit well enough. He tried and failed to prop his ears back to their normal posture. “I’m ahh, my name is Slippery Shadow these days. Not many seem to like the old naming conventions sadly.”
The governor took notice of the odd excuse, it would be a question he would ask later. Do these beings even have titles, or are they that culturally backwards? “Good, cooperation will see you live another day. Now, Slippery Shadow, you’re going to tell me all about your people and where you come from, and in return I’ll let you have better accommodations than the cage outside.”
“Oh?” Shadow’s ears perked right back up again. “Well, if you really want to know all about the Moonlit Empire, then I simply have to tell you about the Labors of Marecules. An absolute need-to-know, but ahh…” His stomach growled noisily, and his throat was dry from regaling folklore for hours. “Any chance I can get some food? Maybe I could tell you all about it over dinner?” He plastered the biggest friendliest smile his fang filled mouth could produce. They’re cat things. I’m sure fangs look fine to them.
Ventras mulled over the idea for a moment before letting off a belly laugh. “You want to dine with us?! Very well then, grass-eater, provide tonight’s entertainment, and you shall live quite comfortably within my walls.”
He switched to his native language. “Thaddeus, prepare a proper room for our guest, but watch him carefully. If he tries to run, throw him back in the cage.”
“At once, Governor.” He barked a few commands and sent the servants scurrying.
Shadow inwardly smirked at how easily it was to exploit the ignorance of others. Such a pity you never asked about Equestria or Phoenix's Roost.
The next several days would be filled with wild tales and outdated strategic information about Shadow’s old homeland, much to his profound amusement.
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You made a mistake in the chapter name...
5231474
Bah, it used to be "Biological" and i forgot the A in front of it.
... YES... he's taking my advice!!!
It's interesting that the head sphinx had magic similar to what Twilight used to learn old Moonlit Empire speak.
Who's that a picture of?
Also this was a highly interesting chapter, although I wonder. Is the synaptic relays attached to the bars / body? Or do they need to be reinstated every time she takes off her boots?
5231510 Always happy to point out what the editors (and author) miss
Holy shit a femboy/trap changeling? Yes
I'm.. kinda blindsided by the new arrivals. The restructuring of changeling civilization, heated intrigue and integration between known nations, and constant discoveries both technological and biological aren't enough plot points?
And ponies have what's essentially cybernetics now? Did I miss something?
5231563 Hey! In my defense LAP often names them something entirely different during editing. Like code names for movies in production... I sound awfully defensive right now don't I?
AWWW YISSSS
That is a rather disturbing image, a sphinx and a ball of ink... Then just -SHLUUUURP- Oh hey, I can speak your language X3
Oh Ageis.... X3
5231639
I'm a little miffed that what was meant as a side story, one the description of made sound optional when I gave it a look, turned out to be more or less the prequel to this one. I mean Aegis of course, which I didn't read before starting this and was as such confused as fuck.
5231525
5231548
Check the source link. It's Yumia.
You mean "lest"?
Sticks and stones may break their bones, but cannons will destroy them~
They better treat Shadow nicely, they're in deep by killing the explorers from the get-go. I just hope that the established 'technology > magic' from the Lost Ones persists here. I don't want to have to turn a blind eye on some super magicks that will overpower Twilight's years of development simply because plot requires balancing of opposing forces...
before I left for work I checked for updates... when I was sent straight home because I'm sick, I checked for updates. My favorite fanfic writer has a chapter update for me. I Squee'd and went straight to reading. After finishing, its another fantastic chapter, and as always cant wait for another to be released.
Cheers
Shouldn't hive be capitalized? Not sure meself...
“You get used to such things, eventually. What is it the Guard often say…? ‘Hurry up and wait.’ Yes, that’s it.”
Oh, boy, do I know that one. Followed it for four and a half years. And the infiltrator going on and on and on, started hearing the Charlie Brown adult-speak while reading it. Good stuff.
The artwork is good... But If I have to be honest... sorry to say that I think the face have something that don't seem to be exactly as good, I don't know why... even so, the history and almost everything else is very good
Yeah... Slippery Shadow is a quick thinker. So they want to know about his homeland? Well, let him talk about a millennia old civilization :P
5231678
Ah. To bad Yumia's deader than a door Nail, it' have been interesting to see her when she was alive.
5231607
The Sphinx's were introduced at the end of "For the Hive", it was a precursor to what is to come. Celestia said it has been several years since then, at least 2 years. So this enemy has been slinking in the shadows for a while.
As for Cyber Prosthetics, Striped Gear, Cadista's home was at a steampunk technological level. During the years of "For the Hive" Twilight and her brood added a level of Arcano Tech to that. Since Striped Gear and Phoenix Roost are trade partners with Equestria quite a few years now it can be assumed that Equestria has made some advances in technology. While weapons were never traded to Equestria, the cartographers did have a blunderbuss so the Sphinx won't be caught unawares by Twi and Dash's brood. The flying warship however might be a bit of a surprize, but since the Sphinx seem to have Ironclads it might not be a stretch that any fight might be difficult.
The last comment made by slippery shadow made me laugh internally so much. I cannot wait to see their faces when the changeling flagship arrives.
That was fun. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
5231922 - Ironclads as used for navigating oceans, even for a at least somewhat militarized society, though I expect the military is more colonial establishment... is a far cry from a cloaking, flying battleship. Nevermind the fact that the Sphinxes probably don't have blackpowder/gunpowder weaponry, though they may have some sort of magical parallel. They only had a simple example of a blunderbuss and promptly sent to two critical pieces in two different directions.
Even then... cannons tend not to be able to aim straight up, and the Deception survived getting hit by lightning well enough in it's earlier runs in world 'years' ago. It might well be even better now.
5232367
'Ironclads' as in multiple, this suggests that they have a grasp of naval warfare. And while they seem to be interested in colonization their culture suggests that they are more akin to Conquistadors than pilgrims. Highly intelligent predator race with as yet unknown magical and military capability should not be underestimated. While the Changeling Flagship is the most powerful weapon the continent has seen does not mean that the Sphinx don't have countermeasures.
Walking Steak is now an official specist slur against minotaurs.
Careful about calling the ponies prey, buddy. There's a whole race of changelings out there, just one hive of which roflstomped their military and, while they might not all care about their well being, they do care about their continued survival.
...I think Shadow is new best pony now.
“You get used to such things, eventually. What is it the Guard often say…? ‘Hurry up and wait.’ Yes, that’s it.”
I am laughing so hard right now.
I just imagined the sphinxes attacking the royal yacht, only for Deception to decloak in a broadsiding manouvre in a big fuck you. x3
I love how the plot developes in such a smooth way. Enough detail to imagine the setting and clear character personalities. I eagerly await the next chapter.
5231757 It should, as it is a name. The problem is 'the' Is it the Hive, or The Hive. That is the part I and probably everyone else has problems with.
Kudos on creating a unique magic system for the sphinxes (sphinxi?). I like the idea of different magic-using species, that each does so differently: the "standard" magic for the Equestrians, alchemy for the Changelings (I know that it's not strictly magic, but you know what I mean), and the ... whatever that is for the sphinx culture.
I also find it amusing that both sides think not very much of the other right now. Let's see how much that changes when the Deception decloaks above their town.
Ahh yeah, the floating stealthed warship diplomacy that so many of us were hoping for. And cybernetic fingers/toes for Aegis? Awesome.
I had a feeling that was going to be a translation spell.
Hahaha, nice. Could go poorly for him once the airships show up and it becomes obvious that he left out pretty much everything important, but at least at that point Equestrian forces will be relatively near.
Just wanted to point something out, you've got two multi-paragraphs blocks of speech, and the standard convention for such is to have a quotation mark directly after the linespace, so the first example, Luna's speech, would look like this
The second instance was Shadow's speech starting:
And the same rule should apply for his second paragraph
Gunship diplomacy, i see you're keeping the British & German traditions alive and well~
Ah... I see Luna subscribes to Captain Kirks diplomatic style - a Phaser and a Smile
Or... is it more Captain Picard - an informative discussion backed by the knowledge that his ship can blast you into so much space dust...
i m excited to read more about agis the pyro burning the queen of sticky spit with fires of hell to keep her away hopefully you expand and continue
i intend to see this as a way of killing 2 birds in side of one stone hint little birds big rock
5239394 SUBSCRIBE! THE WORD IS SUBSCRIBE! Prescribe applies to medication! Do not use words whose definitions you do not know. I know the Internet is a barbaric place, but that is no excuse for treating the English language like a bad Dark Souls player!
Loved the chapter, waiting for more.
i am still expecting to read about that isnvader zim jokes like that one dum dum who is actually smart enough to know thier mother can't look like chrysil
5239394
I would say tough love is more Picard's style.
Kirk was more of a playboy, often digging himself out or getting dug out of the pits he dug himself into by fooling around with other civilizations' women.
but still im going to guess that you are going to somehow recapture most of those babies aegis why because they may fear you at first but they that is unnless you wanted to give off some more darkness and say that those young twilights would be raised by chryilis
OH shit son here we go next epic story in the series
5243074
Oh great glorious Cthulu... how'd I muck that up! I'm sorry lol, I'm usually on the other side of the grammar lines!
5252654 Sorry for the overreaction. Being a pharmacy technician with 3 years experience means I tend to get touchy over certain words.
5252848
Trust me, no problem at all! I'm usually very aware of such mistakes and I strive to not make them myself - I'm not sure how I made such a blunder to be honest!
I think I got my second favorite pony!
I love how you portrayed Shadow's character, the pony who doesn't laugh in the face of death, but rather talks to him! Talks to him so much that death decides to give him a chance at life if only to get him to shut up.
That being said, I can't wait for the next chapter
Finally, the Sphinx are going to get screwed for what they did - mentally and physically.
So, they finally discover the Sphinxes’ existence. Can’t wait to see how that will play out. And, it seems they had predicted Aegis’s idea way before she even came up with that and went ahead with it. I’m thinking of a familiar meme when this line came to mind: “Not sure if reading the future or if she is just that predictable.” Finally, I got to hand it to Shadow, he is a clever one.
One more chapter (unless it gets updated) and I will finally be caught up. Nice artwork by the way.
C&Cs:
...with Luna's untouched cup resting before her upon it's surface.
> Replace “it’s” with “its”.
The first few illustrations Rolled Scroll saw where separate body parts.
> Replace ‘where’ with ‘were’.
...that deepening depression was an early sign love starvation.
> Add ‘of’ after ‘sign’.
Belated nitpicks!
pore
attachments properly.”
pointedly
I think you meant "disguising her discomfort AS being distracted." (or "...as distraction.")
It's, it's
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