To Serve the Hive

by Minds Eye

Chapter 7

Icy teeth tore at his skin, searing away sensation in a fitful, howling fury—save for the boiling green glow built around his horn. His hooves pressed into the weathered stone of the path, and drops of sweat burned his unblinking eyes as they tracked his target, climbing up the face of the mountainside.

He loosed the energy he had collected, and the bolt found its mark. The impact chipped off a sliver of rock, and the lizard’s body fell at his hooves, lying still.

The Queen’s voice called to him over the wind, and he walked back to her. She sat on the edge of the path, overlooking a swaying sea of sunrise red and sunset gold climbing the walls of the valley far below, where the slant of rock ended. “Why do you kill, child?”

“I kill to slay my enemies. The Hive demands that they die.” A bird flew up from the treetops. He concentrated again, the magic flowing through him to his horn.

“Why does the Hive demand that they die?”

His eyes flicked from his target to the valley, and the hidden entrance of home. “Because they know of the Hive. They would hurt us.”

“Why kill them?”

“Because...” He let go of the energy, and the power burning around his horn vanished into the ether. “Because they would hurt my brothers and sisters. They would hurt the Hive. The Hive demands—”

She turned to glance down at him. “And why does the Hive demand that they die? Why does the Hive demand anything happen to them?”

“Because they would...” He looked at his hooves, but he knew the answer was not written in the stone. Nor was he finding it in the circle Chrysalis led him through. He sat, craning his neck to look up at her.

Chrysalis showed her fangs in a smile and whispered the answer in his ear. “Revenge.”

---

Dawnbreaker and his wings had finished their purpose, and he walked down the sidewalk as a white earth mare with a black mane and tail, eyeing the trio of unicorn stallions pacing in front of his motel. Their path had carved a niche in the crowd over the time he had scouted the area from above, and he fell in step behind them when they changed direction.

The yellow leader snarled. “What room was he in?”

Red shook his head. “Dunno. I just saw him walk out of the office this morning.”

He nodded to himself. Dawnbreaker wasn’t right for this task. She didn’t know who they were.

Blue rapped a hoof on the sidewalk. “Boss, he’s nothin’. Nothin’! Ain’t no way he—”

“Shut it!” Boss stopped. “I bet he sees us. He’s got the guts for a sucker punch, but—”

“Out of my way!” he snapped in a mare’s voice, cutting between Red and Blue and driving Boss aside with his shoulder. “What, you think you own the place? You brats are blocking the road!” He walked on, weaving between bodies and keeping his ears up.

Canterlot told him what he needed to know. Shouts and grumbles followed in his wake. He continued, focusing on long, deep breaths and a steady pace, until he reached the two warehouses he had picked out.

He stopped and made a show of looking around, letting his eyes linger for a long moment on the gap between the buildings. A bare lot dotted with stacks of lumber and machinery lay ahead, and beyond that, another street sparsely populated with ponies. He headed into the alley, wide enough for four ponies to walk side by side.

To a point.

The structure on his right changed its shape halfway down. He didn’t know or care why, but the wall cut in on itself and widened the rest of the path with enough space to duck out of sight from the road behind him.

A few more steps...

The attack flung him to the right, and he slammed against the wall. He struggled, but something held his legs together, and another force held his shoulders. A golden aura jerked his face around, and Boss glared into his eyes, flanked by the two followers. “Mud-diggers need to know their manners!”

Guilty.

He summoned his magic, bolstering his body with the same might his brothers had used to scar Canterlot. Keeping the flow of power under his skin and out of sight, he pushed against the three grips holding him—and laughed at the strength of their wills.

In another heartbeat, the four spells burned away, letting his laughter escape.

She was helpless.

The leader jerked back. “Did you two feel—” The rest of the question was cut off by the white hoof cracking his muzzle. His yellow snout gushed red, and the other two took their eyes off their enemy to watch their leader crumple to the ground.

He seized the opening—and Blue’s head—throwing himself back to drive it into the wall. His forelegs braced him, and his hinds shot up and caught Red under the chin. He reached out as the stallion stumbled back and pulled him down on top of Blue.

Boss struggled to stand on three legs, wiping his bloody nose with the fourth. “How did...?” His eyes lowered to his friends, and he lunged forward.

He dodged the wild swing and kicked the stallion’s legs out from under him, sending him tumbling down.

The blue one stirred, groaning like a youngling woken from his sleep. “My head... what...?”

She remembers.

His hoof crashed down on Blue’s skull and knocked it down to the ground. He pressed on it, leaning all his weight and grinding the blue head into the gravel. The throat was there, unprotected with the unicorn thrashing his forelegs about. It was only inches away. Too close for Blue to squirm away if he let go of the head. He just had to move his hoof a few inches...

Red grabbed his leg. “Get off him!”

He growled and tossed Red aside, then stalked over to the sprawled body. He stomped, and his enemy writhed under him with a gasping scream. He stomped again. And again, then kicked until the unicorn curled up, holding his own legs to his chest.

“What are you?”

He turned back to the leader.

“No... I give!” He waved a hoof. “You win!”

He lashed out, whipping him across the face and sending a streak of blood and a white tooth flying. Boss—all of them—were helpless before him, struggling to move, but still alive. He had to keep it that way. Too many questions, too many undecided factors, went into killing them.

But she remembers.

The three unicorns lay in a heap at his feet, whimpering into the uncaring stone of Canterlot.

He walked away.

So will they.

---

A muffled crash broke the peace of Canterlot’s night, followed by a round of laughter from the ponies inside the diner. Dawnbreaker chuckled along, leaning against the wall outside, and took the last bite from the wedge of cantaloupe in his hoof.

Delicious.

He smiled up at the moon, reliving the fight with the unicorn beasts in the twinkling starlight. Beasts was exactly what they were. The followers froze without their alpha, and pain was the only thing that earned their respect, like the Watchers driving off any creatures that sought refuge in the Hive. Still, he was pleased to know that his skills remained sharp.

More importantly, there was Cherry Blossom.

He tossed the rind of melon behind him. Not only was she responsible for feeding him the last few days, she was valuable to him. To his mission. Dawnbreaker’s role in such a brawl might horrify her if she found out, but he would rest easier knowing he had done something for her in return. The past, however, was not as unpredictable as the present.

The front door opened, letting the chatter and more light spill onto the street. Cherry Blossom walked outside, laughing. “I will! Have a good night!”

He stepped around the corner. “How was the apple pie?”

She yelped and turned to face him. “Dawn! I—” She blushed. “How did you know I had apple pie?”

He shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

Cherry blinked, taking a quick sniff of the air. She smirked and leaned closer to him, sniffing at his snout. “And how was the cantaloupe?”

He wiped the juice off his muzzle with a grin. “Just like you said.” He glanced through the window and saw the familiar, wrinkled face of a mare smiling back at him with a twinkle in her eyes. He waved a wing at the waitress. “I think we have an audience.”

“So do I. Shall we?” She stepped off the sidewalk and headed for the other side. “Not that I’m complaining, but this makes twice in one day. What’s the occasion?”

He studied her, brow furrowed. “You already know. I’m not going to make you walk home alone after what you told me today.”

“Dawn...” Her cheeks reddened, and she smiled at the ground as they walked over a spot of cleaner, freshly poured concrete. “I walked home by myself just fine for the last month, you know. Over a month, actually. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know. But I want to.”

Cherry tilted her head to the side, still smiling at the ground. “This way, then.”

Their shoulders brushed together, nothing more than a gentle touch, and he looked at her—just inches away, closer than he could remember—and smiled. “I take it you’re not disappointed?”

Her tail swished against his. “I almost forgot how nice this could be.”

He snickered. “I thought you did this every night for over a month?”

“With company, I meant,” she said, bumping him. “After I told him I was... well, when it was time for me to go home, Shining Armor ordered one of the guards to escort me. Silverbolt, from the gate. He walked me home every night for a week.”

“Good.” He clenched his teeth. “They did something right.”

“Not... quite.” Her voice cracked, and she held back a snort. “Silverbolt was pleasant enough, but he was a guard through and through. If he wasn’t ten feet ahead of me to check out every angle of every street corner and alley, he circled me like a bird. Every night. In full regalia.”

His words failed him. What was that... that was supposed to be helping? “I’m... uh...” He coughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t start a new fashion.”

She staggered and barked in laughter. “Come on down to Armored Shadows Emporium! We have all the new models for your personal security needs!” She sighed and stood straight again. “It feels good to laugh about it now, but back then, it just freaked me out. It felt like the whole city knew who I was, why I needed a guard. I just wanted to go home.” She looked at him. “You know the feeling.”

He nodded.

“So I didn’t want to be the center of attention. I asked Shining Armor to let me try it by myself one time, and it turns out I felt more comfortable without all the hoof signals and constant glares at anypony that looked at me.”

“There’s something to be said for discretion, I think.” He shrugged. “Probably just his training. He’s used to guarding a castle, after all. You can’t exactly hide one of those, but why in the world would he expose you like that?”

“I know! And I might have appreciated the company more if he was actually giving me company.” She brushed against him with her next step. “This is much nicer.”

A far cry from our first meeting. Then, she had balked at even taking the right road home in front of him. Now, she walked at his side, guiding him to her last circle of safety in the entire city.

Not the last.

He raised his eyes to the surrounding buildings, squatter and plainer than the shops and businesses they had left behind. Windows glowed in the night, and an occasional pony moved to briefly block the light. One even waved at him. “This looks like a decent part of town. How much trouble do you have here?”

“None at all. I’ve lived around this neighborhood my whole life. My parents left me in our apartment when they moved to Ponyville.” She laughed. “Oh, my parents! I really haven’t been kind to them these past few months.”

“You... have had a busy few months.”

“You’re telling me. They wanted to move back as soon as I told them what happened to me. They didn’t even write me back, just showed up at my door, but I convinced them to stay in Ponyville. Then I nearly gave them a heart attack by swearing off my personal bodyguard. Mother and I have been writing each other almost every day, even before the invasion.” She snorted. “I’m practically under a curfew now. By mail!”

A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I’m not surprised. You protect what’s important to you. She just wants you safe.”

“Gah! She says that all the time! Guess it isn’t enough that I’m inside a guarded wall all day and stick to all the well-lit roads at night now. She still wants me to ask Shining Armor for my escort back.” Cherry leaned closer to him again, looking up with a playful glint in her eyes, and batted her eyelashes. “She thinks I need a big, strong stallion close by to keep all the bad guys away.”

He smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. Still, it sounds like a luxury, getting to talk to her so often. I can’t do that.”

The light in her eyes faded, and her smile fell to a frown. “Have you not written home? Not once?”

He kept walking.

Her leg stretched in front of his chest. “Dawn, why? It means...” She blinked, mouth hanging open to speak before she closed it, frowning, and started over. “You’ve shown me how much it means to you. I know you’re homesick. Write them.”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t make a difference. They wouldn’t exactly answer me, anyway.”

Cherry was silent for a moment. “I’m this way.” She turned right, and he followed. “So where are you?”

“Huh?”

“What’s your way home?”

He looked at the ground. “I have to do what I came here to do.” He took several steps before he realized he was walking alone.

Cherry waited behind him, her eyes hard and jaw set firmly. “And they won’t even talk to you until then? Your lady doesn’t care a thing about how you’re doing? You’re completely cut off until you finish your job?”

“That’s not what I—” He grimaced and swallowed. Fool! “Okay, that is what I said, but it’s... it’s not the whole story.”

She stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate, and he stared back, not knowing how to.

Cherry cleared her throat. “There’s something I want you to see, sooner than later, but it’s inside the castle. Do you think you can meet me at my shed tomorrow?”

He blinked. “What?”

“I can come up with a distraction, but it would take some time.”

He bit down on his lip. “You know we’ll both be watched after this morning. It’s too risky.”

“I think you need to see this. Can you make it?”

The interior of the castle was the final piece to his puzzle, but the guards would all know his name or his face by now. He tapped a hoof, pondering the implications of that fact. That risk would never go away. Sooner or later, like she said. Why not sooner? “If you can think of some way to get us inside together, I can make it past the wall.”

“I can do that.” She walked by him, brushing him with her tail again. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

They stopped in front of her apartment building. He had seen it before, following her on the rooftops, but the flower bed hanging from the window sill on the third floor hadn’t been important. He had never thought twice about the colorful blinds in that window, nor did he realize they were leaves in the pattern. They hadn’t been important.

Cherry took a breath, and the start of a word escaped her mouth. She caught herself, then smiled, eyes shining into is. “This was very sweet of you, Dawn. A gentlecolt through and through.”

He felt something touch his hoof. He glanced down and saw her pink leg entwine with his.

Her lips pressed to his cheek.

His instincts—and all the ether of Canterlot—ignited with the spark of her kiss. He opened his heart to her love and let it pump the fire he felt throughout his body. Every muscle drank in the heat as quickly as they could.

“Tomorrow.”

Her voice cut through the haze, and he broke the connection, coming back to his senses.

Cherry smiled as she backed away, towards the door. “Good night, Dawn.”

“Good night, Cherry.” He waited, watching her enter the building and returning her smile when she looked over her shoulder, until the door closed behind her.

He walked away, fighting back the restlessness and sheer potential he felt from Cherry’s love. He had forgotten how potent the feeling was, but the sensations coursing through his body were the tangible proof of his success. The castle waited for him, and Cherry Blossom would provide everything he needed and more.

Finally.

Comments

[lordofmyth]

Think the guy is missing two major factors here to his strategy.
A, chrysalis is far more powerful than a drone to start with. Stronger than most unicorns for sure, albeit lacking skill.
and B. Celestia is not gonna fall for the same trap twice. Not to mention Chrysalis only amaged to overpower celestia because celestia didn't know of the power up Chrysalis had.And that only happened because chrysalis herself didn't know.

The story is going better than i originally thought it would, but it is highly unlikely he is going to have any sucess here. He was doomed the moment he committed to this.

[Minds Eye]

6301629
True, but he was never planning to fight Celestia. His goal is to find her while she's asleep or otherwise distracted and attack with the element of surprise. Announcing his intention by waking her up or giving a speech like Chrysalis did wouldn't make much sense.

A better question would be, would his attack have any effect? We don't have much canon to go on regarding Celestia's toughness to bladed weapons or other physical damage. Celestia and Luna got hurt in the Reflections arc of the comics when the Mane 6 fought their Mirrorverse counterparts, but that's all I know of. But the main character here is a drone, and his options are fairly limited if he wants to fulfill his mission.

Thank you for giving the story a shot and reading this far.

[lordofmyth]

6301678 i highly doubt he would make it far either way. even while celestia slumbered luna would be around.

celestia did take a full on blast by a stone piercing magic laser to the chest and got back up.

[Minds Eye]

6302586
It's certainly not a simple situation for either of them.

[Phoen1x]

someway

'some way' is two words.

's pretty good so far, man. I like it.