1 - It ended at Glitterstone Mine
“I still don’t understand why you are agreeing to this meeting,” huffed Orchid, turning away from the window. Standing a little under 6 feet, not counting the horn, the glossy black humanoid still had an awkwardness to her movements that belied the grace she was capable of. The changeling queen attempted to fold her arms over her ample chest a couple of times before brushing back her purple hair and trying to simply lean against the wall. At which point she crumpled one of her butterfly wings. Taking a moment to get her body under control she put on her best ‘I meant to do that’ face, “And I don’t like the idea of you negotiating with the Princess of Love.”
In short, it would have been an adorable display under less dire circumstances. That Orchid became ridiculously cute when she pouted didn’t help any. Also not helping was the pair of snorts that answered it. One came from Rufus, who was standing off to one side of the desk. The gray and black Diamond Dog was currently tallying reports from the miners on the gem and metal veins they had found. Rufus only cared about what his pack needed and what I needed from his pack. With any luck the dogs could be supplied primarily from the old mine shafts, leaving the perishable supplies for my pony and minotaur forces. If he had any further comments on Orchid’s complaining, thankfully, he didn’t share. The room's other occupant however…
“Why? Afraid she’s going to tell him about all the ponies that actually care for him?” sniped Hopeful Dawn, the source of the second snort. The brown unicorn mare was leaning over her forehooves, ears directed forward and was staring daggers at the source of her ire. She had never gotten along with Orchid and, recently, had become outright catty. Fortunately, she had completed her report on our supply situation and exact numbers of forces we had before looking to cause trouble. I decided to pursue the report for a moment as an excuse to ignore both females.
Forces? At final count we number 1200. 700 dogs, 200 ponies and 150 minotaurs with over 100 foals and 50 calfs. Dogs are mostly miners, while the others are all families. Supplies enough to last a few weeks, though, depending on the dogs. I glanced up from my fruitless arranging of troops on a map. First to check if Rufus was done, then out the window, across the snowy field to the bright summer day where the Equestrian forces had stuck camp. Over 5000 golden armored troops, all four known Alicorns and dozens of magical dodads and an impenetrable magical shield. And my back still hurts from that skirmish with the royal sisters. Spine? Meet Pine, I mentally commented, while debating how to defuse the coming catfight. I was in no mood to listen to another.
“While I appreciate the vote of confidence, it took both of us to tag team Luna. And well once Celestia joined in, we’d have been captured if your drones hadn’t been able to direct the dogs to us. They’ve been after our heads for most of this and if now they’ve decided to talk. I’m actually curious what they have to say, and don’t worry Orchid, you’ll be with me the whole time.” Both females spun around to face me at that proclamation; Dawn with her ears pinned down, eyes narrowed, and a small frown while Orchid somehow managed to pale a few shades.
“But but but... the wedding... we invaded... and and you want to put me in front of her? That was her wedding that we almost destroyed,” accused Orchid. I hadn’t forgotten and she wasn’t going to like the rest of this plan either.
“You’ll also be her primary escort while she is on the grounds. If they are going to put a queen forward, I have to as well.” That sent Orchid to the floor as she adjusted her stride and promptly got her feet tangled in her green dress and purple tail.
“Hear that? He’s finally offering you up as a sacrifice.” Came a childish taunt from the left.
“Look, I figure the two of you will neutralize each other or at the least you can prevent her from messing with our troops here. Beyond that, if she’s as good as people keep claiming, she should be able to understand that you aren’t Chrysalis and that your kind now has a new direction.” I shot a mild glare over to Dawn, but she merely stuck her tongue out at me. Turning back, I walked around the table and took Orchid’s hand to help her back onto her feet.
“You are risking my life on the hope that she will be forgiving and open minded.” There was actual fear in that tone. Her yellow eyes unfocused for a moment as she passed the plan out to the hive and listened to the feedback. When she focused back on me, I could tell I needed to provide more for her to play along.
Leading her back to the table, I called Rufus and Hopeful Dawn over to look at the map and our chances.
Rufus rubbed his chin with his huge rough paw, “Dis not looking good.”
The mare looked at the map worriedly, “They outnumber us by that much? What do we do?!”
Orchid merely gave a whimper.
“We are, put simply, doomed if they attack. The only thing we can do is make it as costly as possible. Or, if we can get the shield down, we can get out, but yes they have more than triple our forces and all four princesses on the field. I don’t like using you as bait, Orchid, but if this meeting is just a trap, I’d rather spring it early and go down in battle instead of hiding in here till we starve. Anyways, you won’t be leaving our controlled zone so the danger should be minimal.” It was enough for her, but only just. If anything went off script with the peace talks, she would probably bolt. I really wish I knew what I had to done to warrant this level of response. It felt entirely disproportionate.
The intense cold of my frost spell was the main thing keeping the Equestrian ponies back but that was only buying us time. When Celestia finally decided to go for it, I would not be keeping the temperature down. Some of the magical things also blocked and negated changeling shapeshifts, so we weren’t able to get any active spies into the force either. They knew exactly what we had and what to expect.
After the ambush yesterday, we had holed up in the central buildings of this old mining complex. Connecting the buildings to the mine itself was simple for the Diamond Dogs and at least gave us a vantage point to coordinate from. One snowstorm and a night of fortifying had given us some breathing room, but with no supplies incoming and little hope of escape, things were not going to go well.
Then this morning, a pony had walked up under a white banner and requested peace talks. Well it had been more like “Her Imperial Highness Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has seen fit to grace your unworthy selves with her presence ...blah blah blah….and feels this situation can be resolved through diplomatic means”. I wasn’t sure about how to take it, but Orchid, Rufus, and Dawn had all viewed it as legit if a bit strangely worded.
It had taken some finagling but we more or less set up a meeting for a few hours later. Which, at the current time, was about an hour ago. It seemed there was some dissent on the Equestrian side as Candydance or whatever was currently in talks with the other alicorns and some military ponies… meaning a shouting match that had lasted well over an hour by this point. Eventually, Princess Pink Pink Pink seemed to win out and marched her way over to our gate.
“Well, that’s your cue. And get a tea party set up in that field with her facing the building.” With one last look, Orchid was on her way while a number of drones received the mental orders and carried a small table, chairs, pillows, and tea cups to the designated area. With that sorted, I reached up and grabbed the Alicorn Amulet hanging around my neck. Exerting some focus, I altered the frost spell to no longer include the small tea party. If one is hosting an honored guest, one must provide appropriately.
Despite her acting, I could tell Orchid was tense as she approached the wooden gate that separated the interior of the complex from the outer wall. Once the gate opened, Cadance took a seemingly involuntary step back upon seeing the bipedal queen while the guards who had been following her froze for a moment rushing forward with weapons drawn, but a sharp word stopped them. My little queen self-consciously adjusted her braid before greeting the pink pony princess and inviting her forward. One last argument between Princess Heart-ass and her guards ensued and then the two queens were moving together.
I’d planned on giving the two roughly an hour to get settled with each other, but after they finally started talking… well it didn’t look like they were going to finish anytime soon. Interestingly, Orchid chose to lead Cadance past the nursery before leading her to the tea party. I’d given them a full extra hour after they reached the tea setup and they were still going at it. From this range and being a poor reader of pony expressions, I didn’t have lot to work with as far as to how Cadance was taking things. Orchid’s body language, while still uneasy, was no longer tense and rigid. I took that as a decent sign. Not as decent was the platoon of soldiers that followed from just outside the wall and seemed ready to launch an assault every time Cadance stepped out of sight.
Helmet, armor, Water Shard, drones on tea duty, dogs with emergency tunnels. Let’s do this. Affixing my cape and giving my spear a twirl, I stepped out into the sunlight. The conversation stopped quickly and both turned to watch as I marched through the snow. As I reached the table, Cadance stood and addressed me directly.
She spoke in a formal, rehearsed tone. “Lord Legate, I am Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire, and an envoy from Equestria. I am hoping that the current stalemate can be resolved without the need for bloodshed on either side. Are you amenable to trying to bring this fiasco to a close with me?”
“I am,” I said, taking my seat and gesturing for her to return to hers. “I will admit I am not sure how to take this, as my history with Equestria has been one of unprovoked attacks against me and my person.”
Interesting she called this a fiasco. But state the situation plainly and see what she knows or is willing to share. I thought to myself.
“I assure you that whatever wrongs you feel you have suffered were not maliciously inflicted and were only in response to…” Cadance trailed off as I removed my helmet. Without the tinted glass to hide my face, I got the usual reaction. A focused stare followed by confusion then by acceptance. At least she didn’t ask if I was a minotaur. I was able to tell when she saw the truly relevant feature though, the horseshoe shaped scar on the right side of my face. A scar that was lined with stars and crescent moons.
“I’d have thought Luna’s bragging would have reached you if you were to act as a negotiator,” I smirked at her. If they were going to send someone uninformed of their behavior, well I had my own priorities. Protecting the good names of anyone else involved in this whole situation was not one of them.
“Ehhhehhh. How about you give me your version of the events leading to today? I think there have been far too many assumptions getting to this point,” Cadance replied uncertainly.
Huh, was my first coherent thought. Did they really send her in here not knowing anything or has she decided what they told her doesn’t mesh? This was going to be a long tale.
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This. Is the kind of story I love.
Interesting start, and it's well written. Too early to tell how it'll go, but there's definitely promise here.
6568756
Glad to hear it.
6569794
Hopefully somewhere fun and interesting. Glad you enjoyed.
Love this story so far.
Looking forward to seeing where it goes. Keep up the good work, sir!
i.imgur.com/LaJ9Kmo.gif
Cadence is a distraction, whatever she knows it or not. Called it.
6570215
Glad to hear it.
6570419
Thanks.
6570750
It is suspicios isn't? Thanks for the comment we'll have to see if you're right.
This sounds cool, hopefully you're a regular updater, would love to see where this goes.
Awww, I just LOVE your description of Orchid. One problem, though... "I walked around the table and took Orchid’s hand to help her back onto her feet." ummm, she has hooves, not hands... Other than that, absolutely brilliant!
6575218
Glad you liked it. But I think you overlooked an important word:
Orchid is mostly human including hands and feet.
6574860
I certainly hope to be. But will probably in a bi-weekly to monthly range.
6575292 Oh... Woops.
This stinks to the clouds of "OC mary sue is the only sane character."
6612216
Too early to judge. If the story shows the OC struggling to get this far, then we can throw out the Gary Stu item.