Acquisitions of an Aspiring Queen

by Juntao112

Chapter 6

The chamber was calm when Adjutant returned, with all parties maintaining a respectful silence. Queen Andrenida gestured for Adjutant to resume her seat. She gave the queen a polite nod as she took her place at the table. Papilion's expression was inscrutable; Adjutant paid it no heed. There was no sense in apologizing now; the die was cast.

Andrenida was the first to speak. "Welcome back, Adjutant. I know this meeting started on the wrong hoof, but I am sure we can move past that to reach a decision that benefits all of the parties involved."

"A worthy goal." Papilion smiled, revealing far too many teeth for Adjutant's liking. "However, I fear that, in the end, this little competition over power and resources we are all engaged in is ultimately a zero–sum game, and I intend to come out on top."

The door to the chamber opened to reveal four of her soldiers, with spears held ready and black ichor coating their armor. Apida rose in shock. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" The princess was blasted back into her mother by Queen Papilion.

Silent Knight and Flash Sentry immediately stepped in front of Apida and Andrenida as spears were leveled in their direction. Andrenida cradled Apida in her hooves and stared at the scorch mark on her daughter's chitin in shock. "Papilion! Explain yourself!"

"I'm afraid that this is a hostile takeover," Queen Papilion smirked.

"You dare attack me and my children under the flag of truce? The other hives will not stand for this!" Andrenida hissed.

"I'm afraid that all they will know is how Celestia's pet changeling betrayed your trust, as she did Chrysalis's." Papilion strolled in front of her guards, who formed a protective cordon around her. "But fear not, I shall avenge the deaths of your and your daughter by assimilating your hive into my own, and leading our kind in resisting Equestrian oppression."

A stunned silence followed her statement, broken only by a dry laugh from Adjutant. "In many ways, I admire you, Papilion. If I had a choice of queens to serve under, you would rank much higher than Chrysalis." Adjutant lazily paced back and forth in the little space she was permitted. "However, you've made the same mistake as her; you let the power go to your head."

Queen Papilion narrowed her eyes. "I have the upper hoof. My soldiers control this section of the hive. All of you are at my mercy."

Adjutant shook her head. "Do you remember, my queen, when Chrysalis defeated Celestia herself at Canterlot? How powerful she became after beguiling Captain Shining Armor and draining him of his love for Princess Cadance? How much love do you think I've taken from my consort, from all those ponies who I have befriended and earned their trust??" She stood face to face with Papilion now, fangs bared in a feral grin. "I shall be merciful and afford you one last chance to take your soldiers and leave with your life."

"You're bluffing," Papilion snarled. "Guards–"

A blinding beam of green light shot out of Adjutant's horn and swept across the floor parallel to their position, leaving a deep gash in the rock as it did so. Queen Papilion and her soldiers jumped back to avoid it, though one of them was not so fortunate. His face barely had time to register the surprise of being hit before his front legs slid off of his body. Next to him, the obsidian table cracked and split in half, shattering into jagged chunks.

The air tingled with magical energy as Ace charged in from behind. He filled the room with an obscuring mist to prevent Papilion's guards from seeing their opponents. Flash Sentry and Silent Knight each grabbed one end of a table fragment and held it in front of them like a shield as they charged forward into the mist. They were rewarded with a satisfying crunch as they ran into two soldiers and slammed them into the cavern wall.

Papilion ducked as Andrenida's horn glowed. The remaining table fragments levitated into the air and soared towards her. There was barely enough time to erect a shield for herself;Her magical protection blocked the hail of stone, but her last guard was impaled with dozens of obsidian shards.

The magical shield cracked as Papilion unbound the arcane energy holding it together. She caused it to burst forth as a shockwave of energy that swept through the room, clearing out enemy and mist alike. It provided enough of an opening for her to make a mad dash for the door and out into the halls.

Flash Sentry and Silent Knight each grabbed a spear as the rest of Papilion's honor guard came pouring through the door, outnumbering them four to one. Ace lowered his horn and covered the floor with a layer of soapy bubbles. The enemy changelings skidded and fell in the doorway, causing a bottleneck for Flash and Silent to easily stab their way through.

Adjutant flew over the melee and chased Papilion to the iron gate, whose gears were already in motion. Arcane energy beaded up at the tip of Adjutant's horn as she shot a razor–thin ray of energy that sailed through the air and went right through one of the holes in Papilion's horn. Papilion retaliated with her own beam of searing light, which caught Adjutant in the shoulder. The agony was unlike anything Adjutant had ever experienced, as if her soul was being wrung out through her flesh. At the same time, it cleansed her of panic, fear, and doubt, until only white–hot anger remained.

Instead of stopping, Adjutant rammed her good shoulder into Papilion's chest, knocking her back into the left gate door. Papilion bounced off of the metal like a ball, but retained the presence of mind to twist around in the air and point her glowing horn at Adjutant. There was a flash of heat as the air distorted in front of Papilion, but before the spell could go off, Adjutant flew up and kicked Papilion under the chin.

An energy beam shot out of Papilion's horn and went wide, cutting into the cavern roof. There was a rumble as stalactites shook above them and came crashing down. Adjutant rolled back as debris formed a barrier between the two combatants. Papilion laughed and ran out the door, only to freeze in shock at what she saw.

Wild lightning shot out of the rear of the Virtuoso plowed through the tunnel entrance with an ear–splitting shriek. It burst through the entrance and caught Papilion neatly on its prow, carrying her back into the rock wall she had created. There was an unearthly roar as the ship burst through the debris and came to a screeching halt right in front of Adjutant. Dirt, rocks, and the scent of ozone filled the air; when the dust settled, Adjutant uncurled herself to see Queen Papilion's upper half decorating the helm windows. The rest of her was nowhere to be found.

A persistent squeaking sound came from the Virtuoso's left side. Adjutant leaned over to see a hatch open.

Comet Chaser poked her head out of the hatch and sighed as she saw the remains of Queen Papilion. "I knew I should have installed windshield wipers before I left."

---

Adjutant staggered back into the diplomatic quarters, leaning heavily on Comet Chaser as she did so. Ace immediately sprang up to assist her and guided her to a bed. Beside her, Adjutant could see Princess Apida, who was being slowly healed by Queen Andrenida. The scorch mark on her chest was gone now, though Adjutant could have sworn she still smelled burnt flesh and chitin.

Her shoulder ached; Adjutant looked down at it and realized she was smelling herself. She smelled like pork. When did she become injured?

"Hey, boss, are you ok?" Ace waved a hoof in front of her face. "You're looking a bit out of it."

"I'm fine." She swatted his hoof away, only to be rewarded with a burst of exquisite agony from her shoulder that left curses ringing through the room.

Andrenida's visage immediately replaced Ace's. "It's alright, dear. You'll be fine. Just let me work."

She levitated a jar over and opened it to reveal a rich, pale yellow gel within. Royal jelly. A substantial portion poured out of the jar and onto her shoulder. It felt good. Andrenida's horn glowed and gently massaged the royal jelly into Adjutant's wound, before weaving a healing spell over it.

Adjutant breathed in deeply as she tried to focus on what had happened. They were attacked during negotiations. There had been many deaths on both sides. Her eyes darted around in panic.

"Ace?"

"I'm here." She felt his hoof on her good foreleg.

"The others? Safe?"

"Silent and Flash are both in triage," he whispered. "We'll all be fine. Don't worry."

"I–what do we do now? That was our only chance."

Andrenida gave her a reassuring smile. "The other hives will take disciplinary action against Hive Ephemera. I don't foresee much resistance as their queen has...prematurely expired, but I have a feeling that you'll get quite a large amount of royal jelly as compensation for Papilion's actions."

"I didn't think...I never wanted…" Adjutant's breathing broke down into a series of rapid pants. "Is she alright? Your daughter, I mean."

"I am."

They looked over to see Princess Apida watching them.

"An apology is in order, I believe." Apida extended her hoof towards Adjutant, who shook it numbly, and Ace, who did so suspiciously. "I haven't been enthusiastic about you or your ideas, but you're not out to stab us in the back. You have my support in your future endeavors"

Queen Andrenida nuzzled her daughter's neck. "That's my girl."

"Mom, stop it," Apida sputtered. "You're embarrassing me in front of the guests!"

Comments

[nocara]

That was a clever plan, even if she would have escaped the consecuences would have be minimal. Of course a crazy pilot and overcharged changeling are dificult to predict XD

[nioniosbbbb]

I am a little bit confused with the characters sometimes and their relations with one another. Could you if possible make a blog post for those that are ignorant to them and summarize them in a few lines?

[Perteks]

Hmm only thing what is strange for me in this situation, how did he know to crash ship into hive ? Or did I read it wrong or missed something?

[Juntao112]

5599055

Presumably, word got out that there was a fight and the doors had been barred. Then Comet Chaser had a bright idea.

[Not so New Brony]

And here I was expecting Apida to pull a coup but I didn't expect for Papilion to try a hostile takeover nor of her fate, a rather humorous though morbid as it is. You sure proved my assumptions wrong in a very amusing way

[djthomp]

Well that was just Darwin in action.

[tsaukpaetra]

well wasn't that just lucky?
This is why you don't screw with the Equestrians!