From the Ashes

by Dark0592

Chapter 14

“So it worked?” Twilight asked. She was still in Canterlot, but she was currently possessing one of her researchers. She was speaking to Rainbow Dash, who was in the medical room. She hadn’t gotten hurt, instead she had experimented with Samuel and Ceren to see if the transmutation array would work on someone who wasn’t a changeling.

Rainbow Dash answered by sitting up and flaring her wings out confidently. They were certainly not the wings of a Valkyrie anymore. They looked similar to how Chrys’ wings looked when they first met, at least at first. The rainbow hued Valkyrie now sported two sets of wings, almost like a dragonfly. The inner set usually fit nicely in with outer set to form what looked like what would happen if you changed a Valkyrie’s feathers into gossamer. They were large, had a good wingspan and even had spines along it visible through the translucent blue material. They even had the same joints and folded in the same.

The inner set, aside from the new joints to fit snugly with the outer set, was more like the traditional changeling wings. They could function separately from the outer set or in tandem. When together, anything other than a straight line would be impaired though. The inner set would yield far better maneuverability, perfect for dashing through trees and dodging incoming fire. The outer set was better at high altitudes and speed in a straight line. With this change Dash would be gaining the jagged maneuverability of the Changelings without sacrificing her speed. When the inner set was folded into the outer set the wings were actually stronger and would yield much longer distance in a single flight before the wings grew tired, especially when using the wind to glide.

“We decided not to go with the Biometal reinforcement for the wing arms since the added weight would be too big of an adaptation combined with the wings themselves, but she’s already agreed to continue testing.” Samuel explained.

“And, if my theory is right, the more she does this the easier it’ll get. Even Humans and Valkyrie are built biologically for adaptation. Just on a much longer scale than we are.” Ceren added.

“I even talked to Spitfire about it, she encouraged me to do it as long as it didn’t fuck up my flying. After my recovery I should be able to blow my old records out of the water!” Dash exclaimed confidently. Twilight sighed in relief, she was worried her friend may have hurt herself when she found out she was in the medbay.

“Dash, just do me a favor and be careful? You’re new to all of this stuff, I don’t even know why Samuel and Ceren let you do it to yourself.” Twilight groaned.

“Pff, they didn’t let me. I told them to do it. I can be very persuasive.” The Valkyrie retorted. Twilight looked at the two in question. Sam looked sheepish but Ceren only shrugged. Twilight just put her borrowed face in her borrowed palm and groaned again.

“I want full reports, recovery times and a complete diagnostics to make sure there isn’t anything wrong hidden under the skin… And Dash? Thank you. You’ve done so much for us, I’m starting to wonder just how far you’ll go.” The Queen droned out, ending with a bit of a worried smile to her friend.

“Don’t worry, I only do stupid things if they work.” The Valkyrie grinned. Twilight rolled her eyes as they returned to normal.

“I’ll tell you later…” The queen said to Celestia, they were having lunch when Twilight focused elsewhere suddenly. The Princess could only nod and continue their meal. Twilight wasn’t freaking out so whatever it was it wasn’t immediately terrible.

“Alright… You were saying one of the feral queens has recovered?” Celestia said, trying to restart their conversation. Twilight nodded.

“Bela, Mira was supposed to wipe them out but then my war started and things… well. Things got crazy. They lost enough numbers and stole enough love to regain their sanity at least, a Queen’s Dinner has been called to decide whether or not she is capable of maintaining her sanity for long.” Twilight explained.

“I hope it goes well. With one war finally ended they can’t want another.” Celestia said. Twilight’s expression told her that probably wasn’t the case. Some of the other queens, namely Chrysalid, were overfond of war.

“Most of the queens remember the last time Bela was sane, though. She was apparently quite the historian and is likely to have the most detailed archives.” Twilight continued.

“So recovering her as a sane queen would be beneficial to all of you, at least if the others care about your research.” Celestia summarized. Twilight nodded as they finished their meal and moved to the balcony overlooking Canterlot.

“I hope you find something useful there, because Efialtis is not a lead I would want you to follow… I’ve dug up the old Banishing rituals and... “ Celestia continued softly, pausing at the end.

“The only way to get me there is to straight banish me I'm guessing?” Twilight asked. Celestia nodded.

“You wouldn’t be completely on your own, though… Through the ritual I can lay down terms of redemption, but with them a sentence is required. The minimum the ritual allows is a year of servitude, the sentence under that is life imprisonment in stone. Efialtis was sentenced to an eternity.” The princess explained. Twilight grumbled, she didn’t like it.

“Then I agree, I hope Bela has something interesting for us…” The Queen sighed, rubbing her face. There was a long silence before Celestia turned.

“I have some things I need to attend to, just let me know when you’re leaving so I can say goodbye will you?” The Princess said. Twilight gave a casual affirmative gesture, to which the Princess giggled and finally left. Nilan took her place at Twilight’s side.

“Are you alright, Mother? You can’t hide your feelings from us you know.” The Changeling girl asked. Twilight chuckled and leaned deeper into the railing.

“You know what I’m thinking about. All of our research and experiments indicate that in order for a hive-wide transmutation to be successful both queens need to undergo the change. My ability to produce love has proven impossible to synthesize no matter how hard we try.” Twilight explained what Nilan already knew.

“You’re worried our race will never be rid of the curse due to the other queens’ pride.” Nilan said. It wasn’t even a question, she knew.

“Mira is already considering it naturally, the Emerald Queens might come over to our side with time. Bela is an unknown, as well as the other ferals, but Chrysalid will never trust us. That’s already settled in my mind now, it’s something else… Something I haven’t even been able to talk to Celestia about.” The Queen continued. She ended in a heavy sigh.

“You want to talk to Chrysalis about it ,but you can’t…” Nilan concluded. Twilight nodded.

“Our hive cannot prosper while we both live, Nilan. She is the only reason our hive can’t produce love as I can. Even my Mother's brood will be limited in the same way since she is my royal. Ever since our experiments transmuting Mira’s drones failed I’ve been dreading this… I don’t want to lose her, Nilan…” Twilight went on, her tone softening. Nilan put a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the emotional distress the thought brought her queen.

“I’ve talked to even the older ones of our hive. We are happy as we are. It’s better than being feral. They choose this form over starvation any day.” Nilan assured Twilight. The flood of agreement from many of her oldest drones made her smile. It fell again though.

“You are my children, you may be happy as you are but I will never be happy until you are at your best… I will find a way to lift this curse…” The Queen said, the last bit strong with determination. Nilan hugged her then. No more words were needed. They just embraced for a little while before Nilan flew off. Twilight needed some time with her thoughts.

It was three days before Twilight returned to the Hive, she had delayed her return to spend more time with her family before getting back into the thick of it. The Queen’s Dinner was in a week but there was something bothering her. She was standing in front of Ceren, who was pawing the ground with her foot.

“You always were good at hiding things from me and the Hive Mind. What have you done this time?” Twilight asked. It was almost like a mother scolding a child, Rainbow Dash nearby snorted at it.

“Something awesome?” The young Changeling replied in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Dash’s laughter helped a bit. Twilight just pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Just show it to me already. I can scold you later if I have to.” The queen finally gave in. Ceren made a high pitched noise and clapped her hands quickly and rushed into her workshop. One of her Hunters walked out with her, though something was odd. Twilight distinctly remembered this Hunter missing his right arm, but it was there clear as day. The biometal carapace was oddly different, though, and she could detect a hint of arcane energy inside of it.

“Biometal Prosthetics, working perfectly. No other metal has reacted properly to our magic and life energy, not even the Black Metal. Biometal, however, not only reacts but ADAPTS to us.” Ceren explained. Twilight locked eyes with the hunter, conveying the nonverbal order to report the results.

“The recovery time was only two days, and through the magic and stuff it feels exactly like it did when my arm was real. It feels pain, sensation, the muscles ache if I use them too much and it even bleeds. It reacts positively to the healing salve and anesthetic toxin, and it’s a lot stronger too. Summary, it’s the perfect prosthetic.” The Hunter reported. Twilight looked between them a few times, ideas already springing in her head.

“I want this mass produced and the technology shared with Equestria. We can’t give them everything, but give them the basics so they can improve on their prosthesis technology. I want some time and resources devoted to larger prosthetics, maybe even full body. Good work, Ceren. Try not to hide things like this from me.” The Queen ordered, ending with a smile. Ceren gaped at her for a moment at the last part, but grinned and did her usual cute salute before rushing off to work.

“I’ll be fit for duty by tomorrow, my Queen. I am happy to be able to do what I do best again.” The Hunter said with a smile. Twilight clasped his hand as he passed. She could definitely tell the difference, but it was very minor. She made sure to have some of the workers bring Ceren some extra love and food rations over the next few days, knowing the girl she’d be working non-stop until exhaustion takes her.

“Hey Twi? Come over here a sec, we wanted to talk to you about something.” Dash’s voice came over their communication glyphs they all wore like an ear ring. Twilight turned, confused, to find Dash no longer sitting on a table in the main research hall and pinged the hive mind to find her in the nearest mess hall. The other elements were there as well.

She smiled as she entered, Dash was showing off the newest modifications to her wings. They had been reinforced and amplifying glyphs transmuted into the biometal and the gossamer between the spines. They would allow the flier to channel Valkyrie magic much easier to make what they can already do with their wings that much more incredible. Dash had apparently invented a new Valkyrie spell to encase the outer spines of them with arcane energy to sharpen and reinforce them to create wing blades. The gossamer now also had a prismatic effect on light passing through it, a personal design choice by the rainbow Valkyrie herself.

“Alright, we all got something we want to say.” Dash said when Twilight took the empty seat and a pod of wine was brought over for her. “First is me, I’ve already given my contribution with the wings so I hope you use them well. It was boring and frustrating making them happen but holy hell it was worth it!” The Valkyrie exclaimed, raising her drink.

“What the rest of us plan to do is make our own contributions as well. I’ve already gotten with Spike and some of your people to refine the design for your Battle Plating.” Rarity said.

“I got with that tinkerer of yours and we drew up a few things based on them batteries of yours and the trains. I worked in Appleloosa for a year workin on them things so I know my way around an engine.” Applejack said around a mouthful of potatoes.

“I’ve already been working with Samuel and some of the others to incorporate medicinal herbs and other medicine recipes into your healing salve. We’ve already tested a strain of antibiotics and disinfectants.” Fluttershy managed to get out without stammering, proud of her work.

“And I’ve been totally working with the Equestrian researchers and stuff to make something totally new! Your mages were a great help cuz they use batteries!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed and, from out of nowhere, pulled a metal thing out and put it on the table. It looked like a hand crossbow, but there were no strings and no bolts.

“I call it an Energy Blaster!” The pink haired girl continued. In a fluid, almost expert, flourish she picked it up and spun it. “Pull!” She called out. Three empty plates were flung into the air, apparently she had prepared this without any of them knowing. With three soft flashes of pink and the sound of thee shattering organic plates, the blaster blasted them out of the air. There was a golf clap from the room as the elements sat there stunned.

“You invented a WEAPON?!” Twilight exclaimed. Pinkie snorted.

“I mean yeah, but it can do a ton of stuff! We were messing around and one of the mages made it shoot a zappy blast to stun, and one time even a blast of water to put out the fire it started!” The woman explained while happily bouncing. Twilight just stared at her incredulously as her mages gave her all the details. Pinkie had convinced them to wait until the surprise was sprung. She was silent for a while a she processed the information.

“Pinkie, where the hell did you learn to make WEAPONS?!” Dash asked, her tone conveying her amazement.

“I make things all the time! I mean it’s not related to food but who do you think built my party cannon?” The girl replied like it was common knowledge. The table facepalmed. That would make sense. “This one is for you, Twilight!. We didn’t want to make any more in case you didn’t like it but we’re ready to design and produce them with high efficiency!” The girl continued. She was both bouncy and happy but also professional and serious at the same time. Twilight never could figure out how the girl did that.

“If they are as versatile as the person wielding them I suppose they could be very useful… Continue development and production.” She said, more to the ones responsible for putting it together than anything.

“Aw Dude! Could you imagine me and my boom and zoom team with that kind of thing?” Dash pondered. Twilight had to agree, that’d be incredibly effective. Her hunters were already stubbornly refusing to switch to them, preferring the bows. Twilight smiled, she agreed. She’d probably use them if she had to, but she could never give the bow up. Hunting was the first thing she excelled at in the hive.

Apparently enough time had passed where all of their breakthroughs were finally bearing fruit. So many successful experiments put into production in the last few days it was almost too much to keep track of.

Hopefully they could keep this momentum.

Author's Note:

And we've hit the 100 page threshold. This will probably be the last update for a little while, getting moved to full time at work so I won't have too much time to write and play video games. We'll see though, every now and then I sit down and have the inspiration to pump out a chapter.

Comments

[Razzy]

Well, maybe Twilight could move Chryssie to her own hive mind temporarily?

Oooh, full modifications... Now the griffons need to get modified, that could be really badass.

'about it ,but you can’t' - it, but

[Cross Lament]

I want some time and resources devoted to larger prosthetics, maybe even full body.

Ghost in the Carapace: Hive Together Complex, here we come.

[Snowdrifter]

 The table facepalmed. 

You and me both, Table. You and me both...

[HeartfireFirebrand]

“I call it an Energy Blaster!” The pink haired girl continued. In a fluid, almost expert, flourish she picked it up and spun it. “Pull!” She called out. Three empty plates were flung into the air, apparently she had prepared this without any of them knowing. With three soft flashes of pink and the sound of thee shattering organic plates, the blaster blasted them out of the air. There was a golf clap from the room as the elements sat there stunned.

“You invented a WEAPON?!” Twilight exclaimed. Pinkie snorted.

So you've gone from Medieval to futuristic weaponary.