47 - The Empress
The First Hive
The hive was largely silent. The swarm had long since departed for Equestria en masse, only leaving a token vanguard behind alongside the Empress herself. The hive still has its perception filter hiding it from view, but the Empress would not be so foolish as to believe it protected her from harm, nor that the small force of changeling soldiers at the hive would be of any use to her in a conflict.
No. There were still free drones, she knew that the former captain of her favourite Changeling Queen was still not of the hive, and he knew the location of the hive all too well.
The Empress knew it was only a matter of time until the ponies made a strike directly at her. Perhaps even the alicorns themselves would come, attempting to end the war in one fell swoop.
In fact, she was counting on it.
The Empress hummed as she contemplated this, standing outside the hive and examining the surrounding forest. She still had some final preparations for such an eventuality to make. The swarm had murdered and destroyed whatever stood in its wake, and she did not doubt the rage held within the pseudo-goddesses sitting in the Equestrian throne. Simply waiting for their arrival was all but suicidal, and suicide was not a concept that greatly appealed to the Empress of the Changelings.
But she did have a few things in mind.
The coming fight would be difficult, but with a certain trump card she felt safe in her confidence. Either way, it would be an interesting event indeed.
The trump card in question had been far quieter within the hive mind since their earlier ‘talk’, at least once she realised her struggles against the chains which trapped her were both futile and exhausting. If she continued to be good she considered giving her a little bit more of her mind back, at least what she took after their last talk, but only if it was needed. She was not interested in Twilight becoming another Queen Crepuscule.
Saying that, her mind had a potential usefulness in the following days.
The Empress hummed lightly to herself, before turning back and walking into one of the hive’s four main entrances. She passed by two guards as she went by, neither moving an inch. The interior hallways of the building were just as quiet, if not more so, as the exterior was. She passed by one more guard on the way to the throne room, where two more stood by the entranceway. There weren’t even any changeling young to be found, they having been spread among a few of the other hives alongside a token force protecting them much akin to the one surrounding the Empress.
The nymphs were useless on the battlefield, and in most tasks. It was best they were kept safe and trained steadily as they grew, only then would they make effective servants of the hive in adulthood.
The children were the future, after all.
The Empress ascended the steps and sat atop her familiar throne, ensuring the throne room doors were fully closed before closing her own eyes and delving once again deep into the hive mind. She could see the usual sphere representing the consciousness of the each and every member of the hive.
She gathered up seventeen of those orbs, setting another two to one side. She considered the spare two for a moment, before deciding to leave them be. She let them loose, the two spheres of light drifting off into the expanse as the princesses they belonged to continued their assigned tasks.
She was then left with the minds of the seventeen Changeling Queens of whom she used to enact her will. They had proven most useful up until that point, each one an individual magical powerhouse and together being all but a weapon of mass destruction to all of the Empress’ many enemies. Manehatten had proven as much to the world.
The gathered Changeling Queens were still in the drowned city, along with the bulk of their forces. The EUP had basically declared the surrounding area a no-go zone to all ponies, the generals attempting to consolidate their forces and plan a counterattack. But by the time they had one devised, the swarm would have long moved on. The changelings had sent groups to clear up any ponies who got too nosy for their own good, and others to hound the EUP as they pleased; however these groups were small and scarce, and most were eliminated by the ponies akin to the survivors of Las Pegasus who were being systematically hunted down by a group known as ‘The Longshots’. It was of little consequence in the end, they were little more than distractions to keep the EUP occupied.
The Empress intended to have the swarm split into a few groups and move into isolated areas, leaving the ruins of the former metropolis to rot and dirt. There they would continue to hound the EUP with small groups much as they had currently been doing, simply biding time while waiting for the crucial next step to take place. A next step which would be followed by a dagger into the heart of Equestria, one which would shatter the country and leave them in a disorganised chaos. Once that was done, and with the heavy damage they had already inflicted both physically and to the ponies’ morale, the rest of Equestria would be a far simpler conquest. Their EUP would crumble, their cities would kneel, and the ponies would become the first to be annexed by the New Changeling Empire, its peoples becoming workers and soldiers as they moved their sights onwards.
There was just one thing that still held Equestria together in strength, that gave them the hope to fight on, that would prolong the war into months and even years while it could be over and done with so much sooner. And that was why she was counting on their next move to be what she had predicted, which was where the Empress’ next step came in.
And for that next step she would need the queens. And she would need Twilight Sparkle.
Manehatten Ruins
The ruins of the once great city, a pinnacle of technological and societal progress, was locked down tight by the swarm. The sea had long since retracted, taking much of the infrastructure with it, though some areas remained sodden and filled with filth and scavenging rats, all but uninhabitable to most life. There wasn’t a single living pony within the city limits, though changelings were still coming across the unrecovered dead. The cadavers were left were they laid, being no more than empty shells and meaning nothing to the hive.
The entirety of the bay had been wiped clean of everything, the fleet that had once been such a dominating presence having been shattered and dragged out with everything else. A few fires still raged too, threatening to consume what little had survived the tsunami’s wrath.
One group of drones bucked their way through some loosely stacked rubble and entered into a washed out boutique, the line of exquisite fashion accessories that had once been on display having been reduced to naught but ruined rags scattered along the ground. Among the ruin was the body of a now unidentifiable mare who had attempted to take refuge within the boutique, or perhaps had been an unlucky customer. It mattered little to the drones who stepped over the mare without so much as a glance, continuing their scout of the premises. Upstairs was a far cry from the once posh establishment below, there existing the crumbled remains of some sort of night club, albeit that area was devoid of any corpses. It was one of the few places without at least one to be found.
Satisfied that there were no stragglers hiding within, the red eyed drones left the building to crumble and be reclaimed by nature in the time to come, moving onto the next as did many other such groups.
Meanwhile, most of the hive either hovered around the city or stood idly by on rooftops, their piercing gazes eyeing the skies around them suspiciously. Princesses Insecta and Imperious were busy coordinating the search teams through the hive link, but both of their mothers were not by their side. No, the Empress was summoning the Changeling Queens and they would not, and could not, ignore her.
So as it was the seventeen Changeling Queen all lowered themselves onto Manehatten’s largest remaining buildings, gathering themselves into a circular formation. The sights from atop the building were something to behold, and only from such a height was the devastation truly evident in all its scope. They could see just about every district, and in the distance the still partially submerged island that once held a large green statue of a mare, the statue no longer anywhere in sight.
But the queens didn’t look. Not even a glance out of the corners of their eyes. Their Empress had need of them, and that was all that mattered. They could feel her presence, her gaze concentrating fully on them in an expecting manner. Each sent a ping over the hive mind it show their response, and thus she began to speak to them.
“Ah, there you all are,” she spoke over the hive mind in a manner not dissimilar to that of a strict schoolteacher. “I trust I am not interrupting anything?”
The question was largely rhetorical, the Empress knowing full well what they had all been doing before her summons. The Changeling Queens knew as such, so they didn’t answer.
“No? Very good.” She would not waste her own time any longer, she had important work for them all. “I have sent instruction to the swarm already, the daughters of Cocoon and Vulgaris shall lead them in your stead.”
“What would you have us do, Empress?” Queen Vulgaris enquired.
The Empress felt a slight tinge of malcontent from within Vulgaris, buried deep down. But it faded a moment later, ultimately uninteresting and largely un-noteworthy to the Empress. She felt discord within all of them from time to time, but that was to be expected. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t the only one unhappy with their predicament, but time changes everything.
No exceptions.
“Queen Twilight Sparkle,” the Empress addressed as she turned her attention to that particular Changeling Queen. “I have need of you. I believe the Equestrian’s will, at this point in time, be planning an attempt on my life.”
The Empress released a little more of her mind, wishing to hear her own input as she had done when planning their invasion. If only until she had given her commands.
“I find that conclusion a wise one,” Twilight dutifully responded. “In fact, I do believe this was always the intent.”
“You remember well, Twilight Sparkle,” the Empress replied. “And my plans for that eventuality can now be enacted.”
“We live to serve you.”
“Yes, you do,” she sadistically agreed. “Queen Twilight Sparkle, the likelihood of the princesses themselves coming to the hive is high. It is far too important to be left to some assassin, and I can only imagine that Celestia will be the first charging in.”
“Your vanguard at the hive will be helpless against them,” Twilight noted. “You are powerful, Empress. But against potentially three alicorns, should they choose to leave the throne empty in the meantime, you may not win.”
“I’m am fully aware,” the Empress stated. “You are to return to the hive immediately. When they arrive you will be of great use to me. Nothing else matters until the deed is done.”
“I will leave immediately.”
“Good, waste no time so that the princesses do not get here first. That is all.”
Twilight Sparkle opened her wings and immediately took to the skies in the direction of the First Hive. The other queens watched her depart, before asking the question on their entrapped minds.
“Empress,” Queen Cocoon addressed. “What do you wish of the rest of us?”
“Yes, I had not forgotten you…”
The Empress informed the sixteen Changeling Queens what their own task was to be. Xerox, Plastron, Cocoon, Pupa, Tempora, Antannae, Carapace, Acadica, Arisana, Austriaca, Germanica, Nursei, Ingrica, Orbata, Pensylvanica and Vulgaris. Each of them was given a singular task, one they were to complete in unison. All willing to serve through a drive not their own.
Each one ready to bring about the end of the alicorns.
So with that final sentiment they too departed, setting off to do what the Empress bid them. The swarm would move on soon after, the changeling all too ready for what the ponies had in store for them.
Boy this chapter was a pain to write, if only because of the chaos brought forth by moving into a university dorm.
Anyway, here's what's left of act 2...
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I'm so looking forward to that moment Celestia meets Twilight again, even if it will still take some time to reach that point.
I smell tragic will come to one specific princess...
i prey something happen and twilight either break free or the princess get her safe but she goes into a coma or deep sleep where the empress is unable to get o her
Interesting I'm sure I will not like those last five chapters but I will still read though
Please tell me the Equestrians are still going to surprise the Empress somehow and she's not playing them like three little violins.
Also, I am looking forward to Celestia's meeting with Twilight. Will it go the usual Hollywood way where Celestia goes 'oh noes, you are like a daughter to me, I can't hurt you, please just kill me instead' and then Twilight prepares to kill her, but in a sudden bullshit Deus ex machina twist suddenly snaps out of the mind control? Or maybe Celestia will do whatever it takes to protect her country, like a proper ruler should? I hope to find out soon!
Won't Immortalis be suprised when she finds out just what the "natural order" REALLY has in store for her... Certainly not any position of power, that's for sure!
So, which of the Royal Sister are going to perish? Celestia, Luna, or both? Will Twilight finally do the deed that will give her the strength she needs to break free of the Empress's control? There's at least one more act after this, so I doubt it. I thought of something else that could happen but I know it's not going to.
Luna gets killed. Daybreaker is born. Kills Empress but is a bigger threat to Equestria than the Empress ever was.
Well this is getting exciting, I hope the princesses have a ace in the hole of their own.
Hmm, not much to be said about this chapter, just that I'm glad that Immortalis is not stupid enough to think that such an attack on the Equestrian country would not result in retaliation. But I did notice something odd
On mass isn't actually an English spelling the term comes from French and is spelled en masse. Which means by mass in English, just thought I should point this out. See you next week Tom!
8432239
We literally saw her escape in the chapter about Manehatten's fall.
8432450
It may not be intentional, but the Empress will certainly be surprised. And a little singed.
Sigh, Empress OP as heck!
I am so looking forward to when the Empress gets her royal plot kicked. :D
*sigh* Another really great chapter, and waiting to read the next one. Keep up the great work. :)
8432759
oh, right. Now that you mention it I remember it
Sometimes it hard to remember what happened exactly in which story
You have successfully painted such a bleak situation to the point I cannot tell how the situation will resolve. I look forward to future updates.
Hey empbitch catch! *slings a 500 Mtons of titanium at c at the first hive* I do love pyhsics!
8432808
Changeling Queens are extremly strong. What you expected from changeling bearing even higher title?
8434389
And by this you destroyed whole Equus with all inhabitants. Great victory, mate.
Um, I get that things are going to hell, but that is all that is happening. It is beginning to look like that is all that is going to happen. This kind of downhill decent has been going on for months. Don't you think it is almost time for some hope?
8437620
Act 2s are usually the bleakest. Act 3 is the climax.
Also the story is marked 'dark' for a reason.
8437620
its a minor apocalypse in a dark story. it is a bit grim for my liking but we're not warhammer yet