Queen of Equestria

by BlackWater

28 - Staged

Green field?

Twilight closed her eyes shut. They burned, but she opened them again to get a second take.

Fluttershy!

“Twilight! I can’t reach the intersection!” the yellow pegasus shouted fearfully.

She was standing just where she had been before the explosion. Her Hive Power had ignited, beginning to transform the space around them as soon as the first explosion had gone off. It had been a reactionary instinct on Fluttershy’s part to protect them and had saved her just in time before the other explosion enveloped her.

But what had been going on in those precious seconds she had heard all of those voices? She needed to get a grip on the situation. She let the hivemind fill her in, her own part of the mind coalescing back into enough semblance post-explosion to make sense of it. There was, after all, quite a bit more than just an empty green field around her.

Her hivemind put it together in a single second once she recovered…

The first explosion came from the stage front, but the direction of the blast splintered the stage upwards in a diagonal fashion. That caused herself and the mare on the ground to be knocked back but not fatally struck. As soon as the blast ignited, Midnight Strike began rushing towards her while Flash Sentry brandished his sword and took a defensive stance guarding Fluttershy.

Twilight’s guards were trained for one thing if nothing else and that was what to do during any attempt to hurt or assassinate the queen. So while Flash guarded Fluttershy and the left side stage stairwell, Midnight moved to a direct defense position near Twilight. The hivemind connection let him know she was not fatally wounded, so he skipped checking her body. Direway, meanwhile, immediately scanned and detected the first attacker to enter the crowd from an alley facing the intersection to the stage’s western side.

A second explosion erupted in flame about twenty hooves behind Direway on the stage, but nopony was close enough for the force of the blast to do any harm. The guard merely shifted his stance to steady himself on the disturbed boards of the stage. He was far more interested in the approaching assailant.

The pegasus attacker was followed by four others but only one other was a pegasus with the advantage of a swift approach on wings. That was when the third explosion happened but, by that time, Fluttershy’s Hive Power had already begun consuming the immediate sphere of space around them. As the explosion ruptured upwards, the physical space transformed and killed all of the blast save for the blinding afterimage of the initial explosion.

Pain from the first explosion heat and shock had been scrambling Twilight’s mind up to this point and that was finally when it overcame her enough to put a hole in her consciousness. But the others were still up. Fluttershy’s sphere of changed space only existed up to a certain number of hooves from her center. So only the stage and part of the surrounding ground were included and yet the outside world was still visible past the clear edge of the sphere of influence, allowing the guards to respond.

Then the shouts. The foals next to the mare who had reached for Twilight were crying for their mother who was unconscious on the ground just outside Fluttershy’s sphere. The lead attacking pegasus who was flying to the stage shouted “traitor” and brandished a spear aimed for Twilight. Direway shouted to Midnight Strike to intercept while someone in the crowd shouted for a medic for the fallen mother.

A stallion inspecting the mother shouted for a doctor as well when two more attackers flew in from the north or backstage direction. One of them cried “chaos scum” before shooting an arrow at Fluttershy. The deadly projectile only turned into harmless flowers when it entered the space, however. As that happened, Midnight Strike leaped up and knocked the spear from his target’s grasp before fighting him in the air.

“Two more!” Flash cried out when he identified two mares charging out of the inn across the street.

“Law and order will prevail!” shouted one.

“Die, anarchists!” shouted the other.

Both were Earth ponies and making a line for the stage, knocking away anyone who was between them. Somepony cried for them to stop, but it was a Royal Guard from the street who made one of them do so. Some guards had been present in the area from the city garrison and this one was the closest to respond. He managed to tackle one of the two rushing ponies.

“Get the kid!” the captured mare ordered as she was forced to the ground.

The second mare changed her focus to the foal indicated by her companion. The young filly close by seemed to realize she was being targeted because her eyes widened and she froze up in fear.

“Why are you doing this?!” Midnight Strike demanded of the attacker he was fighting.

“Run!” the guard in the street shouted to the filly, who the second mare was now headed for.

Fluttershy’s attention was diverted in concern over the imperiled foal, causing the space to flicker out. The stage returned as it had been, smoldering and broken. The Element of Kindness nearly fell into the hole created by the explosion she had narrowly avoided, but a slight change in position saved her.

The other pegasus not engaged with Midnight Strike managed to slip by Direway when the seasoned veteran got tied up with two unicorns that were a part of the attack group. This second pegasus attacker snatched up the spear dropped by his fellow assailant and leaped at Twilight with it. “For Celestia!” he shouted.

Then Rainbow intervened. She had been busy with the two attackers from backstage but came back around just in time. After that came yet another explosion. This time it was some kind of explosive mechanical projectile fired from the fourth story of the inn. It was detonated prematurely in the air by Flash Sentry, who had thrown his sword at it while racing down to protect the foal at risk.

“Get us out of here now!” Direway barked. He was fighting back three attackers now all at once and, though he was clearly handling himself, the wounds and never-ending escalation of the situation were clear signs they could not remain here any longer. It was a complete mess and they were fighting on more than three fronts from a burning stage.

“What are you doing?!” Flash Sentry shouted as the attacking mare got close to the young filly.

“Fluttershy! Where’s Fluttershy?!” Rainbow Dash panicked as the yellow mare disappeared altogether. Rainbow had finally managed to knock her opponent out. But Fluttershy’s body simply vanished and a momentary hole was created in the hivemind.

Then the sphere returned.

A green field.

Twilight was finally grounded. She could teleport them out as Direway had not so subtly suggested. However, that would leave only the street guard and a few other guards running towards him from down the street to deal with the remaining assailants. The public was still in danger.

The pony queen took inventory. Two guards at the rear of the stage had been knocked out by Rainbow Dash. A third as well in the center. The apparently more skilled pony Midnight Strike had been tussling with was just now knocked cold by him. A unicorn and Earth pony were down by Direway, leaving only one conscious unicorn fighting him.

The street guard was holding down one of the two hotel mares. Flash Sentry had managed to stop the second in no small part due to the advantage of his wings. That left a third attacker on the fourth story of the hotel, but no more shots had come from there after the one. That didn’t mean there would be no more attacks from there or, for that matter, any more explosions on or around the stage.

Twilight gave instructions to Flash Sentry over the hivemind and ignited her horn in a snap of green lightning. A bolt of it struck the unicorn Direway was still fighting with, knocking the opponent back across the road. In the next flash of green discharge, Twilight and all but Flash Sentry were mass teleported a few blocks down to the safety of Baltimare Garrison.

The garrison. It was stationed by over a hundred loyal Royal Guards and was a literal fortress within the city. Even so, it was more a matter of lucky events that had saved it from being the center of a blood bath. Or perhaps not so lucky. Luck was not something on Twilight’s mind given what happened not only at the stage, but also the warehouse and police block.

Two ponies that were dear to her were in intensive care.

If she had not been able to teleport them as soon as she had gotten the others to the garrison then they very well may have perished. The inner chambers of the garrison fort were not very welcoming. Hard rock and stone made up every non-windowed wall, floor, and ceiling. However, it was safe and that was what they all needed right now.

Twilight sniffled. The air was harsh with the sharp smell of antiseptic and the myriad of clean sterile equipment used for medical emergencies. At least the magical torch lights were not so bright that they were blinding. They still hurt the eyes, though. Twilight kept waving off nurses who wanted to look at her singed front. Parts of her did hurt but it was nothing compared to the two whose lives were still on the line.

In one room was Chrysalis. The offending projectiles had been removed from her body but the damage had been serious. Her mind was dead in their shared space but Twilight felt something there. Chrysalis was only unconscious and the changeling’s body still rose and fell with life. Her dire condition meant Twilight had only left her side to be with Applejack and vise versa.

The apple farmer might have actually been worse off. Her void magic had managed to consume enough of the magical fire blast to protect her from being incinerated by it, but it was not by much. Most of Applejack’s coat was burnt and the pain had been so severe that the medical team had to sedate her before the physical shock overtook her. She was also unconscious right now.

A Guard doctor came up to Twilight beside the medical capsule Applejack was in. “She has an 80% probability of recovery,” he reported solemnly. “The skin was not too deeply damaged so it will heal in time and her coat will come back. The greater concern is a nervous system overload and the complications that can cause. Our best approach will be to keep her under for a while with the IV. Our field medics have spells that will stabilize her healing and get her back to movement in two weeks. She will need at least a month and a half after that if the therapy spells go smoothly.”

Twilight nodded. Her gaze shifted to the Earth pony in the glass-shielded pod. She could see her own reflection in the glass, coat singed at the front and mane completely disheveled. There was a deadness in her eyes, testifying to how much she had gone through in the last twenty-four hours. Somehow the almost cave-like environment and constant sound of rushing and stressed ponies in the background paired well with her own appearance.

“Chrysalis?” she asked simply, tone even but concerned.

“Still stable. If we can keep her steady for another two hours then the greatest danger will be over. We’ve used your knowledge of changeling anatomy and it seems to have prevented complications. I can’t guarantee anything yet, though.”

A simple nod from the queen allowed the doctor to move on to his duty, which laid elsewhere.

There was just too much.

Too much to weigh on her heart.

Spike, her voice croaked even through the hivemind. Stay strong and rest up, Spike. I love you. We all do.

The dragon gave a tired and hurt affirmative. I love you too, mom. Don’t worry. We’ll live over here. I think they will too.

“Twilight,” Storm Sword interrupted upon entering the medical chamber.

The Queen of Equestria winced at the reminder of the troubles still ongoing outside the walls of the fortress. “Yes, Captain?”

“We’ve got them.”

Twilight stepped over the strewn rubble and broken wood. The building had been half destroyed from the fight with the guards, but it was still intact enough not to worry about it coming down on top of them. The place still smelled like smoke, which was in fact still rising from some spots here and there. If not for this and one adjacent house, it would have looked like the most serene neighborhood ever.

Shimmering Meadows. A private neighborhood of Baltimare walled off and locked off from the rest of the city, which partly explained why one no longer felt like they were in Baltimare once inside. The streets were pristine and every walkway was lined on either side by lush green banks of grass and willow trees. The mansions were a bit on the gaudy side though, or at least according to Rarity.

The guards were thorough and precise, doing their commander Storm Sword justice. Only three areas had been involved in any damage: these two closer-than-usual mansions directly involved in the hideout and part of the community gate. When the community gate guards had used force to prevent the Royal Guards from entering, it got a bit messy.

The queen was glad for once that she hadn’t been involved in this. Storm Sword had probably been glad too. As much as Twilight would have wanted to go after the ponies behind the recent events, she questioned if she would have been as controlled as these guards had been. The city was already in turmoil. It didn’t need to become any more of a free-for-all. And it might have become that if one of the captured assassins hadn’t talked.

Twilight came around into the next room, which was half opened by magical blasts anyways. There was at least ten Royal Guards there from Storm’s personal unit. Two of them were stationed on either side of a golden yellow mare that kept trying to shirk them and kept failing. She was clearly tired out and her eyes appeared sunken from fatigue.

Twilight approached her after hopping over a crushed office desk. “Honor Bound?”

The mare looked to Twilight but didn’t give much response besides a sneer and “I don’t talk to scum.”

“You hurt a lot of ponies,” Twilight frowned in return.

“That was your doing!” Honor blamed her. “I have no regrets fighting for freedom against a dictator!”

“Last I checked,” Twilight fought to control her darkening tone, “you and your group were the ones controlling other ponies with the dangerous ends of your weapons. I find it very unamusing that the one being called a dictator here is the one letting the ponies decide for themselves what they want to do with their city and their lives. It strikes me as a perversion of the word’s meaning.”

The only response to that was a spit to the face.

Twilight gave an “ugh” at the sensation but didn’t retaliate. Instead she looked to Storm Sword, who stood behind her at the “entrance” to the room. The captain gave her a gesture with her head to call her over. Seeing little gain to be had where she was, Twilight complied with the summons. Only after they were back at the leading walkway to the remains of the mansion did they strike up any talk.

“The tunnel connecting the two mansions collapsed?” Twilight asked first.

“Only on one side. We got to the chamber from the other and confiscated the weapons,” Storm Sword replied. “You won’t get anything out of that mare. She’s in deep. We suspect she was the key Elite member behind the coordination of Cloudsdale’s cloud poison conspiracy. The defeat or bribery of the security anyways. And she was definitely behind at least part of the Twenty Hours Coup. We found papers in the underground chamber that planned out the Canterlot Castle occupation.”

“The mastermind, huh?” Twilight glanced back at the smoking house.

“Yes and no,” Storm replied with her brisk accent. “She was behind the attack here in Baltimare and other political maneuvers in the city, but she only played a partial role in other events. There was never any one mastermind behind the coup or related events. She left the Elite party by her own admission due to power struggles within the party and disagreements over strategy. But given the findings in the investigations, the split seems more related to her ego than any difference in ideology.”

“I don’t know what I was hoping to find,” Twilight sighed.

“That she had any remorse?” Storm Sword offered. “I don’t blame you for wanting that. She hurt your loved ones very badly. I’d want the same, but...”

“I know,” Twilight gathered her spirits. “We should finish reviewing the damage, though. The residents are holding a deliberation where I was attacked. I need to know as much as possible about what happened so I can make the right decision when the time comes.”

Storm Sword began walking with her when Twilight started back towards what was left of the community gate. She gave a glance between the queen and the mansion behind them. It was good she was moving on and not wasting time but even Storm hadn’t seen her giving up on Honor so soon. Seeing the determination in her eyes, the captain gained an even greater appreciation for the mare.

“So you’re really thinking of going through with this, huh?” Storm Sword asked.

“I’m just a pony,” Twilight replied simply, her tone revealing that her mind was elsewhere. When her presence returned, so did her gaze towards Storm. “Or at least I would like to be again.”

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie Pie said, her voice much softer and less stable than usual. “I’ve already prepared your I Got All Better party.”

Spike groaned but not because of Pinkie. The pain was still throbbing. “Thanks, Pinkie,” he replied in a coarse voice.

Rarity slept beside him, her head on his right forearm. His size was back to normal, which was still about twice the size of a pony. The crystal ponies had wasted no time in putting together a medical room that could accommodate him. In fact, the room and many of the furnishings were of changeling creation. All of the over three hundred changelings had worked in a frenzied swarm to stabilize and begin healing him.

He glanced to his side where a metal contraption had been fixed to keep the injury from flexing inwards against itself. Two of his scales had been removed completely. How that had been accomplished, he had no idea. He was not conscious at the time and rather glad for that fact. Queen Flux had informed him that replacement scales could be made by the changelings to protect that spot after his underside was healed.

Queen Flux.

Who would have thought? He cracked a small smile as Pinkie exited the room to work on her plans. Every little thing had mattered in the end. Twilight had no way of knowing that making peace with the changelings and bringing them here would actually save him, Rarity, and the entire Empire. Friendship was magic. He began to chuckle at the poetic truth but then groaned instead when doing so gave him a sharp pain due to his wound.

That woke up the mare beside him.

“Spike!” she exclaimed upon awaking. “Oh...sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to shout. How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need any-”

“I’m okay, Rarity. Really,” Spike nearly chuckled at her flustered state. She was more worried right now than he was. “I don’t know if it’s just the good news mom finally has for us, but I have a feeling that everything is going to be just fine.”

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Let's see how the Queen deals with the insurgents...
Wonder what's happened outside in the meantime?
Keep going! ;)

[Rose Quill]

You and I are going to have words about this.

[Star ShaDe]

Ahhh who are they!!!

[Randomfastreader]

oh shit they put twilights hivemates in danger they WILL PAY THE PRICE!!!

[Razzy]

At least some are fine, but poor Chryssie and Applejack. :< I hope they'll make a full recovery.

And that Chryssie gets some alone time with the captured insurgents. :3 *insert a picture of Chryssie in Medic's uniform from tf2 and with a crazy grin*

'now knocked cold by him' - knocked out cold

[Valiant Spiral]

Um, so…what happened to Fluttershy?

[RegMoDII]

9514629
Her powers allow her to over write the immediate space around her. The explosion was replaced with her serenity field.

[Valiant Spiral]

9689367
Ok…what about the filly?

“What are you doing?!” Flash Sentry shouted as the attacking mare got close to the young filly.

That’s the last time the filly who was targeted is mentioned, unless I missed something.