From the Ashes

by Dark0592

9: For the Hive

“My Queen, please reconsider! The Queens never take to the field themselves, you’re too important!” Nictus protested as Twilight and her wraiths lied in ambush in the scarred forest. Every single hunter they had were stationed around the forest. The forward scouts had reported Crystarium’s force of around eight thousand was finally on its way, merely hours after the grace period was over.

“They will not know it’s me, if they do then I will return. For now, though, I need a bit of personal revenge.” Twilight retorted as she turned to her wraiths. They all had their bows ready, as well as two quivers each. Even Vera and Bie, the two medics of the group, were trained as fully fledged hunters.

“We are defending our home, today. If we do our job flawlessly then the defenders don’t even need to worry about this assault, but we all know nothing goes flawlessly around here. Leave no enemy unscathed. Stick to nonlethal unless you have to kill. If they kill even one of our brothers and sisters then they forfeit the mercy we give them. Until then, let them recover injured.” Twilight said and broadcasted over the hive mind. She could feel the flow of affirmation from her brood and smiled as she watched the small black dot that was the cloud of Crystarium’s forces closing in.

“They’re avoiding entering the jungle proper, let’s show them the accuracy of our hunters.” Twilight said as they all nocked arrows. Twilight had expected this and had her mages work on enchanting enough arrows for every hunter to have a full seven arrow quiver of spell bolts. They all nocked one of the three ‘splitter’ arrows as they were referred to. The arrow would be normal until it struck its target, then the magic would explode like shrapnel in jagged spikes of incapacitating magic. The cloud had just finished flying over the edge of the forest when Twilight released her arrow, well over four thousand others joining hers.

The invading swarm scattered, but that only caused the splitter magic to cause more effective damage. At least three thousand were felled in the single barrage, but as they released their second splitter volley the invading drones scattered into the trees so it was rendered fairly ineffective. Only half of the invading force remained, however it would take a long slog of rooting the survivors out and picking them off. Not to mention when the injured are recovered they could be added back to the total.

“The things I do for the hope of peace…” Twilight growled as she extended her full battle plating and her group shot off to zip through the treeline. Across the whole forest her hunters were doing the same, never stopping even to take a shot. This was their territory, their home. They knew it like the back of their hands and had spent their entire lives felling creatures far more dangerous than drones. Crystarium made the mistake of amassing her forces in one place, and she was feeling it now.

The invading swarm didn’t have just the hunters to deal with, though they were doing an incredibly effective job at keeping them away from the hive. The predators that call the forest home were just as dangerous, the lashers especially. The creatures had adapted to fight and kill changelings for generations, only the best hunters dared hunt them afterall.

The skirmishing went on for about an hour before the swarm pulled back out of the forest, recovering almost all of their incapacitated forces. The predators had gotten to a few hundred of them but most were already recovering. For good measure, Twilight had the last barrage of splitter arrows used to drive them further back, but she almost immediately regretted it.

She was pinged multiple times simultaneously by two separate groups of hunters. A group of one thousand and a group of two thousand were swarming from different directions. That must have been Chrysalid’s and Greta’s forces.

“Are we still to use nonlethal? We’ve only sustained injuries, but we’re all fighting strong.” Nictus asked. Twilight simply nodded, but she was already preparing herself for the casualties that had to happen eventually. Nonlethal only worked for so long in open warfare.

“My Queen, Rainbow Dash has ignored your request to remain inside and is leading her flight squadron!” Twilight heard over the link. Twilight’s view snapped up to see the rainbow hued trail in the sky coming from the hive with a small swarm of two hundred of the best fliers. They were armed with repeating crossbows. The weapons were effective at closer ranges but were fairly inaccurate in comparison to a standard bow or even a standard crossbow.

“Twi, we’ve got your backs! We’ll keep that smaller swarm at bay. You guys handle the rest!” Dash relayed over the messaging glyph she had been given.

“Sorry Twi, I tried to stop her. We’re shorin’ up the walls now.” Applejack’s voice came next over the glyph. Twilight growled in frustration but ultimately resigned to just support her friend rather than berate her. The three pronged attack was a good strategy, but with Twilight’s exponential numbers advantage slowly proved to counter it. She thought it was going well until she felt the first one. That first silenced voice. The shock of pain and then nothing. She instantly focused on the perspective of the nearest changelings and found a group of hunters engaged in close quarters combat with an invading group three times their size. Fury welled up in Twilight as she looked at the decapitated changeling that was her, and it only rose as the rest of the hunters were overwhelmed and slaughtered.

“You forfeit my mercy, Crystarium. I hope this sacrifice is worth it.” Every single changeling in her hive yelled out. Just that caused the invading swarms to falter in their advance, but quickly returned to their hostilities.

Twilight nocked a ‘seeker’ arrow, an arrow that would resonate with the arcane signature of her changelings and seek out anything that wasn’t a match. She readied a duplication spell as she fired, causing the seeking arrow to split into dozens of smaller seeking bolts of light. Rainbow Dash was almost startled out of the air as the swarm she was trying to get away from was suddenly ripped to shreds as the other hunters did the same. There were two more volleys of seeking arrows, decimating the reinforcements, but Crystarium’s main force had recovered and was now charging in with renewed vigor.

“Everyone, prepare the dome.” Twilight said aloud and through the hive mind. They all nocked their final enchanted arrow and aimed to the sky. With an unspoken command they all fired straight into the air. The arrows went high, but as they slowed to a stop they froze in the air. Some of them fell only a little, but the final product was a web of nodes to create a shield array.The shield wouldn’t last long, maybe an hour as it stood, but ultimately the time would be at least halved by the swarm now trying to smash or blast through it.

“Regroup at the Hive, we need to restock our quivers. Defenders, you’re up!” Twilight called out. The adrenaline and lust for revenge for their fallen siblings could be felt by everyone as the hunters made their way back to the Hive. Rarity had finished her designs and the makeshift ramparts were in place around the outer shell, connected via walkways to the rounded alcoves and trenches that ran along the shell. The ramparts themselves were little more than thick walls built with the organic cement infused with the properties of stone and steel through transmutation.

The Defenders made up almost a literal wall along the ramparts and along every nook and cranny they could find in the shell of the hive. The hunters got the time they needed to recraft their arrows and have a quick meal before joining the Defenders on the walls. It was at about that time the dome arrows started failing. Usually with a shield spell using amplifying nodes, once one went they all went. Since each arrow had its own supply of arcane energy rather than a single source, small pockets began shattering first. Taking the new holes, the invading swarm was effectively bottlenecked and easy to thin out slightly by the refreshed hunters.

The swarm threatened to crash over the walls, but the Defenders held their ground. It took every fiber of Twilight’s being not to join her defenders, but she couldn’t justify it any more. She sat in the center of her hive fully immersed, with her Wraiths to defend her just in case, as she used her influence to empower the bulwark of chitin that was her defenders. Crystarium’s reinforced chitin was strong, but not strong enough to bounce mana infused Black metal. The Hunters and Defenders were a perfectly synchronized machine. The invading swarm would charge the ranks, the defenders would buffett them back with whatever they could and the hunters would weave around shields and friendly masses to put arrows right where they were needed.

Keine didn’t even flinch as an arrow almost skidded across her cheek to split an invader’s carapace around the chest. The follow up could only be described as fluid as her spear found the new vulnerability and ended the invader’s life, adding its corpse to the ground as further difficult terrain for their enemies.

Being held at the cusp of the forest for so long was starting to wear the invaders down. Whenever they could get a glancing scratch or a good hit on a defender there was always one to take its place. Meanwhile, they were fighting on two fronts. The predators of the forest were growing spoiled and confident with all the new flesh to eat in the forest and wanted it fresh, so the invaders were fighting a defensive battle on the other side.

“Flee, surrender. Stop this mindless fighting! Your children are dying for nothing, Crystarium! Are you nothing more than a feral?!” Twilight growled out of every mouth on the front lines. “Leave now, collect your injured. Hold a dinner to renounce this foolish war, I will not have any more of our children’s blood on my hands!” She continued when there was no response. Of course there was no response, their hive mind was extremely limited. To show she meant it, she had her hunters stop their offensive and instead had them support the defenders. The defenders were to only push back and hold rather than lash out as they have been. At least until a life was lost, this was Crystarium’s last chance. The invading swarm kept coming, though a great many of the reinforcements were leaving immediately.

“Leave now, or I will end this here and now!” Twilight yelled out ,the cacophony of voices only adding to the furious outburst. The invaders faltered at that. The battle had stopped by now, both sides staring each other down. Slowly they backed away, but did not retreat entirely. They stayed like this for two hours before the ranks split to reveal the cerulean queen walking towards the hive.

“I will negotiate the terms of my surrender.” The queen said simply, quite a bit of venom in her tone. Without a notable command the Defenders parted enough to give the queen room to pass. She did so confidently, but couldn’t help but lose a bit of her composure when the ranks formed around her the second she passed them. It was almost like being pushed through a sea of metal and chitin with nothing but a tiny bubble around her to keep her safe. The defenders and hunters all hissed as she passed, they mirrored their queen’s mirth at seeing the traitorous queen in person but they were honor bound not to attack her while negotiating surrender.

Crystarium tried her best to saunter up to the table that had been prepared in the cavernous main chamber of Twilight’s hive, but the literal sea of hatred around her caused her step to falter. She sat down in front of Twilight, who was glaring daggers at her.

“What terms would you like to discuss, Crystarium?” Twilight asked in a cold but polite tone. Equestrians knew this tone well, it was the same tone Celestia used during court when she was trying not to blast a hole in something. Which, considering the state of the Equestrian nobility, happened quite a lot.

“I am surrendering to you, Queen Twilight. All I can ask is that we are given safe passage to retreat and that there will be no retaliatory attack. Everything else is by your demand.” Crystarium replied harshly, not able to keep up her regal demeanor she prided herself in.

“I will accept those terms on three conditions of my own. The first is that you end this stupid war as soon as possible or I will end it for you. The second is that you grant us copies of any and all archives you have about our people that do not specifically pertain to your secrets. The last is that you are barred from hostilities with myself or my allies, changeling or otherwise, lest our war be immediately resumed and I deal with the threat you pose.” Twilight explained simply, almost as if they were already facts. Crystarium was almost intimidated by the girl’s tone and demeanor. Barely a queen and she was speaking like a true ruler.

“Then I aks one last thing in return. My love and information gatherers in Equestria and its allies have been rooted out and either destroyed or expelled. I request their safety.” Crystarium countered. Twilight thought for a few minutes apparently in thought. In reality she was conversing with diplomats and contacts around the nations.

“They will be closely monitored and the information gatherers will only be allowed access to public information without being expelled.” The Lavender Queen finally agreed. Crystarium was visibly skeptical about her talking for her allies but she was in no position to question it.

“Then I believe we are done here... “ The Cerulean Queen said, standing;

“If I ever see you here again, and you were not invited, I will kill you.” Twilight warned flatly. Crystarium just nodded and turned to leave through the sea of hissing defenders and hunters. This time, though, they were accompanied by chuckles and sneers. They could see how much those words shook her and she hated it. She disappeared into her forces and they took to the air to retreat, not even bothering to collect their dead or dying.

“I want the dead collected and burned, they don’t deserve to be food for their queen’s idiocy. Save what dying you can, if they wish they may be rebirthed. Otherwise they will be sent home.” Twilight commanded as she took to the Ramparts to oversee her work been done. She didn’t need to ask for casualties. Thousands were injured, but only three hundred and forty-seven were killed. It was a miniscule number in comparison to the total population, but she could still feel her tears threatening to fall for their lives. She isolated the blank spots they left in the hive mind and searched for their traces.

Their bodies may have died, but their energy still lives on. Their consciousness. They will be reborn to defend their home another day, that is what they would want. Twilight was startled by a hand on her shoulder, but quickly let a smile form as she found it was Rarity.

“I must say, Darling, you’re even scarier than princess Celestia when she’s in a bad mood.” She chuckled, though Twilight could tell she was intimidated by her just as Crystarium was. Twilight answered by hugging her friend, which washed away the ill feeling, and was once again startled to find herself in a pile of flesh as the rest of her friends joined in.

“I couldn’t thank you girls enough for your help… With all the last minute training and other help you’ve given so few were lost... “ She said, not caring to hold her tears back. The group answered by tightening their embraces.

“Are you kidding? Of course we’d help! Not to mention it was awesome being here in person to see you absolutely trash that invasion! I was actually scared there for a second, but you ook them out at least twice over before you even had to start killing them. I think even Celestia would approve of the carnage with how many warnings and chances you gave them.” Dash rambled on into the pile.

“Thank you… I’m going to be requesting another Queen’s Dinner as soon as possible to set the end of this war in stone. After that, I want to take a vacation to Equestria.” Twilight said. The group stayed like that for a while, half of Twilight’s attention focused on the hive mind. It wasn’t too long before they broke it up, though, and went their separate ways. Twilight summoned Nictus and Keine to her as she looked out at the forest to see the invading swarm not even visible on the horizon anymore.

“I want to personally thank the both of you for your service today. You fought magnificently and led just as well, I am happy to call you both my captains.” She said, turning to them. Keine belted out a laugh and Nictus snorted.

“Please, my Queen. We’re just doing our jobs.” Nictus said politely.

“As if we would let that parasite even scratch our hive!” keine exclaimed. Twilight smiled at that and quickly hugged the two.

“Things are going to get little crazy here soon. Crystarium was the most powerful queen until we showed up, and even with help from two other queens they barely touched us. We’ll be seen as the biggest threat from now on, so I’m expecting you to prepare for the worst whenever you can. Once the war is over we’ll lose our contract with Mira and I doubt she’ll be eager to enter another one of its kind.” The Queen explained. They both nodded.

“Way ahead of you, my Queen.” Keine started. “Your friend Rarity has some incredible skills with architecture, now that we have some breathing room we can devote more of our larger drones to labor rather than defense. She talked about getting a dragon friend to help her make armor too, but that you’d be the one to ok that one.” The Defender continued.

“Ah yes, that’s right. Spike learned smithing…” Twilight said, more to herself.

“Rainbow Dash may not be a hunter like us, but the forces she took for her own command were surprisingly effective. Their boom tactics were very effective when combined with our hit and run. Both of us were too fast to be easily caught, she would soften them up with the repeaters and scatter the clumps and we’d pick off individuals.” Nictus added.

“I’m glad, then. We should get back to work, I need to finish assessing the damages.” Twilight said as they shot off in three separate directions. Twilight was off to her chambers to immerse in the hive mind at Chrysalis’ side.

Author's Note:

Large scale battles always tend to go so quickly, but apparently it was five pages worth. As a wise man once said, YOU DONE GOOFED.
Hope you Enjoyed.

Comments

[Razzy]

Yep, they done goofed.

Nice chapter, many interesting ideas at work in that battle. Surprisingly few casualties, too.

I'm kinda Hoping Mira doesn't withdraw immediately, she seemed to be quite reasonable and even somewhat nice.

'let them recover injured' - the injured

'aks' - ask

'you ook them' - took

'pick individuals' - the individuals.

[Commander Darklight]

yeah you done fucked up mabey jeuss christ even if your soldiers where good enogh to kill three changlings each im pretty sure twi still had half her hive left you dont fuck with some one with odds nearing 10:1

[Sonic Rainboom Dash]

hope the hurt locker twilight put them in will have them think otherwise before trying to wage war against her again.

[Merlin Prime]

Once Crystarium heard Twilight's population, the smart thing to do would have been to launch a half-hearted skirmish to satisfy the combat requirement. Then bend over backwards to keep herself on Twilghts good side. She should think 100 times for trying anything like that on Twi, Because next time, She Will be more than prepared, and actually call on her allies as well.

[the7Saviors]

Crystarium is a moron. She made no observation of just how big Twi's hive was the first time she was there (or if she did she didn't keep it in mind). She asked no probing questions about how said hive operated or what the numbers were. Completely ignored how obviously intelligent Twilight was. And to top it all off she fought where Twilight had a homefield advantage!

Seriously, a strategist Crystarium is not.

On another note I want trust Mira but I don't. Not yet anyway.