Queen of Equestria

by BlackWater

6 - Action Plan

Chrysalis was hungry. Those blue and yellow pegasi were getting all of this attention from her queen and she hadn’t gotten even a kiss since they had been in this grimey city. The transformations were draining her power with every flash. She was now posing as a deep blue mare with a pearl necklace and a few silver teeth. Some local Elite.

“Our police department has failed to contain the insurrection,” Golden Connection explained to the long table of thirty seated Elite party members – the exclusive club of the most wealthy and connected members of Las Pegasus. “They’ve taken at least a dozen of our party members hostage already and have formed armed gangs throughout the city.”

“These terrorists must be brought to heel!” Bronze Bits shouted angrily from the far end of the table, his voice infused with an unstable rage.

“But Queen Twilight Sparkle has signed their new government into power,” Chrysalis interjected from the middle of the table as her disguise, Silver Freedom.

That caused quite the wave of bickering from down one side and around the other. “She’s not our ruler” was voiced at least twice along with “evil dictator” and “insane tyrant.” To prevent her being seen as offering cover for the “illegitimate ruler” or blowing her cover, Chrysalis advanced the conversation.

Silver Freedom stood from her luxurious pillow, which prevented the polished redwood floor from being too uncomfortable to sit upon. “If this Twilight Sparkle supports them then we have no choice but to capture her along with the leaders of this revolt. Without the heads, the rebels will fall apart.”

“We can restore order,” the Chief of Police stated from beside Golden Connection. His deep burly voice rumbled with resolve. “I can muster those in my department still loyal to law and order. We will need to rough up some of these ringleaders. It’s the only way these ponies are going to respect the law. We have to start with Twilight since arresting her will force the terrorist heads to turn themselves in. They’ll fall like dominoes after that.”

A glasses-wearing mare wrote out some numbers on a long scroll before her. “What are the chances of success? I don’t want to keep my investments here if it’s below eighty-five percent. Anything below that will cost me millions.”

“Over four hundred officers of my department remain loyal and ready,” the chief responded coolly. “We’ll go in one unit with riot gear. We also have an armored wagon with military surplus equipment. Arrest is guaranteed, alicorn powers or not.”

Silver Freedom worked to hide her frown. “Don’t we need that wagon in the streets?”

The chief shook his head, his close-cropped gray mane lacked the length to wave with the motion. “We’ve got tear gas for that.”

“Why didn’t you use that sooner?!” the glasses mare complained with a ticked brow.

“We were temporarily locked out of the equipment warehouse by one of our traitors,” the chief grumbled. “She’s been taken care of. We have our full arsenal at our disposal now.”

Glasses mare kicked her cushion out from under her in a quick rise. “Then do it now! Gas all of them!”

“Not before arresting Twilight,” Golden Connection shut her down. “We need the ringleaders first or it will just devolve into guerrilla fighting.”

“Tonight,” Silver Freedom crossed her hooves. “She’ll be vulnerable then. We know her location, right?”

“Yes,” Golden Connection replied before the chief could.

Got it, Twilight confirmed over their hivemind. Thanks, Chrysy. I’ll have a special treat for you after this is over.

I hope so, the changeling whined pitifully. I’m starving.

“I was hoping for some more time but I suppose this will do,” Twilight gave a “hm” of thought as she paced their inn room.

“Four hundred?” Rainbow clearly expressed her worry both in her tone and in her bothered face. “How is there so many? Were there even that many Blue Guards back in Canterlot?”

“Simple math,” Twilight waved it off. “There are far more police officers than royal guards in Equestria. Las Pegasus has a population over two hundred thousand. They have quite a few more officers than just four hundred. The Chief probably came up with the highest number of allies they could equip and organize for the raid before tonight.”

“Why don’t we just take them out now when they’re all together?” Rainbow frowned and insisted with a splay of her hooves.

I don’t have enough energy right now for that, Chrysalis answered.

“And I want the ponies of Las Pegasus to handle this,” Twilight added. “If I’m going to keep battling this ‘dictator’ narrative then the city ponies will have to deal with their own corruption.”

“But we’ll help, right?” Fluttershy asked meekly from the bed where she had been reading some book.

Twilight turned to look at her with a big smile. “Of course!”

Direway, Twilight switched her focus to her guard in the city that had helped Chrysalis accomplish the infiltration. He was currently guarding a tied-up pony – the real Silver Freedom, who the new community police were taking to detention. Leave her to the citizens to handle. I want you to go to Turnip Toss. She’s the team organizer for the city’s new Emergency Response Unit. Tell her about the raid. I suspect she’ll be able to take care of the rest.

But none of them has any training, Direway remarked but began carrying out orders anyhow. What chance would they have against hundreds of police officers in riot gear?

I’ve only talked with her briefly, but she seemed quite resourceful, Twilight offered with trust. I doubt even that military wagon will be much of a problem for her.

“They’ve got what?!” Turnip Toss rumbled and stepped back. Her wild mane tossed and she began pacing feverishly in her garden where Direway and two other ponies stood.

It was getting dark again even though it was only the early afternoon. Pegasi were finishing preparation for another rainstorm. Turnip had been taking care of her crops in the morning and then lost part of both it and noon talking to the other two ponies there, who were the assistant organizers for the newly enacted Emergency Response Unit. Technically, the new government had authorized her to handle any situation requiring substantial effort whether it related to natural disasters or matters of civil unrest.

She hadn’t thought her first major operation was going to be fighting the old police department to save the Queen of Equestria. She was no random choice for her position, though. She may have had a talent for gardening, but her wide frame, thick muscles, and fearless resolve could have put her in the Royal Guard if she had chosen it.

Direway was silent. Her assistants poked at the soft soil with more than a little nervousness.

“Okay! Okay...” Turnip breathed deep and let it out. “The wagon was made for urban fighting. If we can get it off the road, it can get stuck. It’s got a two-hundred hoof reach with the top-mounted dartgun, right?”

“They replaced that two months ago with an automatic crossbow,” one of the assistants, a unicorn stallion, corrected. “Its got double the fire speed and three times the range.”

“The old mayor authorized them to use live fire in ‘exceptional circumstances’ too,” the other assistant, a small pegaus mare added. “We have to assume that’s what they are going to do.”

Turnip Toss walked past the small mare and plucked the map from the assistant’s saddlepack as she did. There was a bench in the garden against the wall of her house where she stopped to lay the map on. She then pointed to a spot on it a short distance outside the city. “Then we have to stop it here on the turn before Deadbranch Road. That way it will be out of range of the inn. We’ll need a roadblock that four hundred officers couldn’t move out in a hurry and something sticky to hide in the soil off the road to guarantee the wagon’s axles gum up.”

“I think Bouncy down at the rubber factory might have something like that,” the unicorn suggested.

Turnip turned to her other helper. “Flip?”

“Ummm,” the small mare, Barrel Flip, thought hard. “M-maybe if Cargo’s big rig breaks the flatbed while carrying one of those giant smokestack assemblies he delivers for Factory Fever?”

“That won’t make them think there could be a trap,” Turnip nodded. “Good thinking. Now we just need some way to deal with all of those officers.”

“Pray to Celestia?” the unicorn deadpanned.

Turnip rolled her eyes and then ordered him. “Go get the trap set up and be discreet. Flip, get the volunteers together for an operation. See if you can’t get more than four hundred. We need to toss some ideas. I don’t want us having to rush riot police with nothing but horseshoes and hope.”

“On my way.”

“Got it!”

Turnip looked back to Direway. “You can go back and tell Queen Twilight she has no reason to worry. Las Pegasus just upped the priority on keeping the peace.”

You sure, Twilight? Spike insisted for the twentieth time from the throne of the Crystal Empire. He was worried about some random mish-mash of ponies defending his mother.

Yes, yes, Twilight groaned from her inn room. Don’t you have your own matters to attend to?

Like helping Rarity to choose which shade of amethyst to wear? the dragon deadpanned.

“It is crucial!” Rarity huffed from beside him on the adviser’s throne. “You do not expect me to go out there and insult the fashion sense of the crystal ponies do you? They may have little respect for our private lives but that does not justify any reduced respect for the public on my part!”

I understand your concern, Spike, Twilight admitted. But I assure you that you will be completely at ease tomorrow. In fact, I think both you and Rarity should take some private time for yourselves for all of tomorrow. The Empire is very peaceful right now anyways, if I understand the situation properly through the two of you.

Private time? I beg your pardon, Rarity began to feel defensive for some reason. Her hooves didn’t know where they wanted to be right then.

Spike fidgeted.

I will seclude your part of the hivemind tomorrow after the events so you might enjoy some peace of mind and privacy.

Rarity gave a restrained and warped growl of frustration. Do not tell me that wicked Cadance has something to do with this, Twilight.

Oh, no, Twilight rejected calmly. I just thought it would be nice since I’ve noticed the feelings you two have had lately. I wanted to give you some space since I’ve only recently realized how much I’ve needed some myself...with the girls, she added on the end.

Thanks, Spike responded before Rarity could say anymore. With that, they were back to their own throne room in the palace, focus no longer on the hivemind or the queen that had also focused on other things.

“Look, Spikey,” Rarity began gently with a wave of her hoof. Her thick overcoat continued to keep the cool of the palace at bay, though it paled in comparison to the freeze of outdoors. “It is not that I would not treasure any time with you I can get-”

“You just don’t want Cadance to feel it was because of her,” he finished in a prediction. “You want to feel like you alone are the one responsible for it.”

The unicorn frowned but failed to deny it.

Spike shifted on his seat and then considered whether they might be more comfortable elsewhere. Technically, they were alone, but it was the throne room. Any pony could theoretically come in at any moment. “Reality just isn’t like that.”

Rarity rose a brow that was not the least bit unpleasant.

Spike tried explaining himself and, hopefully, lighten Rarity’s mood. “I mean, we’re only the way we are now because of the hivemind. We probably wouldn’t even be in a relationship at all if not for Chrysalis bringing this about. Not to mention I met you in the first place because Twilight moved to Ponyville. So you can already blame two others for how we’re together. The ponies around us shape who we are and...”

Rarity’s face did soften but her gaze was directed downwards.

“...and I like that. I mean, I like us,” Spike couldn’t help feeling his words were less than poetic. “I guess it’s just how I feel?”

The white mare sighed, as if to get something out of herself besides just the breath. “I know, Spikey,” she answered and looked back up to him. “And I am glad you feel that way. I know I am being stubborn about this for no good reason. It is a weakness of mine. Perhaps we should grab some dinner and talk a few things over, yes?”

The medium-sized dragon smiled at the idea. “I could go for that.”

I’m not sold, Applejack worried as well. Maybe I should be gettin’ over there too.

Stay where you are, AJ, Twilight ordered, though in a friendly manner. You should be relaxing with your family. They need you. I don’t. If everything else fails then I still have Dashie and Shy. Not to mention all of our Hive Powers.

And me! Chrysalis tried to keep herself from being left out. She made a buzz of loneliness.

Yes, you, the queen giggled. And I have a very special treat waiting, just as promised. Tomorrow morning. Consider it breakfast.

One of the Soleil sisters came into the cozy room with the hayburgers Twilight had been hungry to devour for dinner. The maid gave a little shiver upon entering the room since the temperature was quite a bit warmer as compared to the cooler hallway. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined her in earnest at the table. The blue pegasus in particular seemed to be determined to set a new record on how fast a pony could get a hayburger in their belly.

“Tell the queen we found them. I repeat, we found them! One-oh-five by three-oh-eight Northeast of Vanhoover!” Storm Sword, Captain of the Royal Guard, shouted to the scout next to her behind the fallen moss-covered tree log. She had to practically scream in spite of the distance because of the boom and roar of the magical fire her soldiers gave and received in earnest.

The cool old-growth forest was awash in natural mist, but it was heating up with the blaze of magical bolts and zaps. Nothing had gone to plan, but they were holding out. Scarce light filtering through the heavy tree canopy told of a waning afternoon. The soil beneath their hooves stained like wet clay across their coats – a feeling Storm Sword’s units had gotten used to in previous conflicts across the familiar biome.

“Flank!” one of the veteran unicorns dived next to her after just running through the shower of green changeling fire. He had been peppered with shots as soon as he came out of his own cover over fifty hooves away and nearly collapsed. “They’re flanking us! We’ve lost signals from squads three and six!”

Storm Sword could see a dark mist creeping their way from where all the changelings were supposed to be minus those in the apparent flank maneuver. This wasn’t good. What was supposed to have been a locate and tail operation had been discovered and turned into a skirmish. Her half-hundred veterans could take the hive to, at worst, a stalemate. But Sombra was coming. Only Twilight and her special friends could fight his shadow form.

She looked back to the cool-faced pegasus scout. “Don’t trust the communication channels. Lack of reinforcements means they’ve likely replaced our relay ponies with changelings. Go straight to Canterlot and tell the queen directly. We’ll give you cover so fly!”

As soon as the word was out of her mouth, Storm Sword darted around the log and weaved through the fire to the right. “Come get me, bug brains!” she bellowed and dived into a roll to avoid a salvo.

Much to her surprise, the barrage of green fire actually stopped after that. Of course, she didn’t prolong her exposure and finally leapt behind another log where her second-in-command, Bronze Barrier, presently resided.

“What in Tartarus?” she looked to him with bewilderment. Was this a fake-out for a surprise volley?

He shrugged and kept alert with his eyes to his own scout twenty hooves away, who was giving a hold signal. The scout’s eyes widened and her signal started to turn to a “fall back” but it was too late. A wave of black smoke crashed over the decaying log like a tsunami over a tiny island. Instinct forced the two veterans to roll back and fire cannon-grade blasts from their horns simultaneously. But each remembered even as they acted that the shroud was immune to such things.

Creeping tendrils of the dark haze slithered and tied around all of Storm Sword’s hooves, yanking her up from her low position on the ground and causing her camouflage helmet to fall off her head. Bronze jumped towards her to try something – anything – that might break her free. But the mist struck him with another tendril hard, sending him sprawling back out of cover. Changeling fire instantly resumed, striking him repeatedly and holding the rest of the military ponies where they were.

Storm Sword struggled as hard as she could, her considerable muscles bulging and then relaxing with the futility. Her mind switched gears rapidly. She was done, but if she acted right then maybe she could get some intel out of Sombra before it was over.

“What do you want?!” she shouted over the resumed roar of exchanging magical fire. She could see the green dancing back and forth with the rainbow of colors of her own forces due to the height Sombra now held her at. As the dark stallion’s visage formed into a toothy grin within the shroud, she thought to strategically add his title. “King!”

“Somepony remembers my place,” he hissed with an arrogant smirk. “Tell me, little slave, do you fear death?”

She wanted to reply with “only your ugly face” but used her trained focus and control to say something that would be more useful. “I die here or when I get old. Makes no difference to me,” she at least managed to keep her will. “Why does it interest you?”

“Little slaves are so carefree about death. As they should be,” he hissed again.

Was he trying to be a snake or was he just missing some teeth, Storm Sword questioned off-hoof to herself.

“I am the king,” he explained. “I was destined by prophecy to live forever and thus I will.”

“There’s a self-help book on that? Because I didn’t know,” Storm Sword scowled in sarcasm. This time she couldn’t help keeping back the line before it was out of her mouth.

Sombra, however, just sneered. “Your puny slave mind is too small to comprehend. I don’t care if you understand or not. I thought that it would be easier to get this princess to follow me but it seems her interest lays elsewhere. I should have left your relays as they were. It might have gotten her here sooner.”

Again Storm Sword wanted to say “you’re toast when she gets here” but she instead chose to pursue his goals. “How will Twilight help you become immortal?”

“Little slaves couldn’t possibly understand,” he repeated annoyingly. “Now watch your pathetic rabble fall...”

He twisted her around painfully in his magical grip to show her the best view of the fighting that could be possible in a thick forest such as this. Indeed she could see changelings moving around both sides of her encirclement, flanking them. Normally this would not be a situation her experienced team would get into, but Sombra’s dark magic had used mists and illusions from the very beginning to corral her units – a fact she only now realized.

It got worse. The changelings moving to flank them began transforming. Familiar faces of her own ponies were duplicated to the most minute detail. Her heart sank. They could infiltrate their cover and take them out in close quarters without warning. She did the only thing she had left to minimize losses.

She screamed a final order.

“Retreat and sound off!”

Bronze Barrier’s scout was close enough to hear before the commander was thrown to the ground and left unconscious. The scout gave her signals and they all began calling off their duty numbers, clearly differentiating them from faux allies running up on them on all sides.

“Fall back! Sound off!” the scout continued to repeat as they fled the field of battle. More of their true comrades were getting within earshot as they converged to their pre-designated retreat point. Though shaken, the scout kept her cool and confirmed the rest of her squad around her, remembering past engagements that had forced a hurried retreat. Until she could find the third-in-command, it was up to her to muster the platoon.

Comments

[Jphyper]

I have some issues here. The way you're pacing this thing means that 3k words per chapter is too short-- the ending is abrupt, leaving a chapter that feels incomplete. Plus, there's too much going on. While I do think the battle against Sombra's forces is a good cliffhanger, it would've been better-suited until after the police issue was resolved. I see what you're trying to do, with the dual plots of Las Pegasus and King Sombra, but you can't have them both flaring up at the same time when they're not converging unless you're going for an action thriller, which, according to the story tags, is not what you're going for. It's too much, too soon.

[Razzy]

Secret agent bug~

Hmm, special treat... *Eyebrow wiggle*

Shit's going down.

'infused with an unstable rage' - unneeded an

[Randomfastreader]

full retreat get the blazes out of here and report to the queen...

[tsaukpaetra]

So, what, Sombra wants to eat Twilight or something? Silly Sombra, immortality can't be taken by force like that!
At first we thought the last scene was the police battling, even with the scene marker it wasn't immediately apparent we switched to the scouting force.
Keep going! ;)