From the Ashes

by Dark0592

Intermission 5: too many intermissions

Bela was amazed by this young queen. From what she was learning, the girl was barely out of her teens when she was reborn as a Royal, and barely a year had passed until she replaced Chrysalis. Bela remembered Chrysalis, both before and during her long feral period. She was honestly surprised the old queen managed to recover, both physically and politically in terms of Equestria.

“Queen Bela, I know you were worried about making a good impression, but there are a LOT of drones.” Twilight said when they entered the open courtyard in front of the hive. It was dominated by Bela’s brood. They were thin and stocky, but they seemed happy.

“My hive was destroyed not long ago by those Emerald Queens. That loss is what I owe my sanity to, so I can’t begrudge them for it… even if I do miss their voice in my mind.” The Golden Queen explained softly.

“Their voices in your mind? So you can hear your brood’s voices as well?” Twilight asked, dozens of flags going up in her mind. Another queen with a developed hive mind?

“Yes, of course I can. Is that not how the hive mind works?” Bela answered, confused. She was even further confused at Twilight’s expression. She couldn’t tell whether she was in deep thought or ecstatic or something. Those around that knew Twilight knew that look. It meant the inner scholar in her was having the equivalent of a wet dream.

“No, no it isn’t. Not at all!” The Lavender Queen piped happily. Bela’s confusion grew. “Nobody else knows why or how I’m so different, why Chrysalis’ hive mind was so different. But yours is different too! We simply MUST compare them and make notes and study it and… and…” She continues, ending by chuckling to herself and recomposing herself.

“Sorry, I’m a bit of a knowledge seeker. Something like this could yield key discoveries relevant to just about every single thing I’m looking into.” She finishes much more evenly. She couldn’t wipe the grin off of her face though.

“I see… I too thirst for knowledge, Queen Twilight. I will gladly assist in your endeavors, under one condition.” The Golden Queen replied with a warm smile that turned into a smirk. Twilight nodded for her to continue. “I am without Hive. I wish to be housed in your Hive, as it seems the safest and most interesting place to be. My brood will earn their place and I will of course pay you in knowledge and my assistance where I can offer it.” She continued. Twilight put a finger to her chin, requesting the opinions of her brood that cared to offer it. It was overwhelmingly positive but cautious.

“Sounds reasonable to me. We have become a Secretive people, you’ve probably noticed. I have many secrets of my own, secrets not even my allies know of. If you can understand and respect this, then I have no qualms with inviting you into my home.” The Lavender Queen replied. Bela smiled.

“Of course. Even if we weren’t queens I would understand the sentiment. I imagine I will learn of many of your secrets in time just because I’m there, but I won’t dig where I’m not wanted.” The Golden Queen said happily. Twilight smiled and nodded to her as they reached Twilight’s people. Nictus was arguing with Cronux, the crystal construct that was a near twin to Jordas.

“It’s alright, Cronux. I forgot to mention it but please don’t try and force the others to feed me and mine.” Twilight said, entering the conversation as if she had already been part of it.

“Twice was bad enough, the other queens should have more than enough food to at least give something.” The crystal construct grumbled, temporarily giving up its winding manner of speech.

“And if they wish to give that something then I will gladly accept it. The queens I am not already allied with are struggling to feed themselves, I couldn’t ask even my enemies to give up enough food to feed ten times their population and I will not have any consequences for being unable to provide either. What they bring for our meals is more than enough, everyone can relish the taste of it through me you know.” Twilight retorted. The thing finally huffed and turned at that.

“Generosity is new to this place, Queen Twilight Sparkle. You’ve already shaken the foundations of your people, I hope it ends well for you.” He said with almost a prophetic tone. He hummed to himself as he shambled off, it was clearly not any kind of threat. Twilight just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose again.

“She woke up for a while by the way.” Nictus said when silence replaced the argument. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“I’m impressed, maybe I should have actually fried her a bit. I didn’t want to damage her brain though, wouldn’t help if what she sees is forgotten.” Twilight said.

“Probably the love saturated food giving her a spike in energy you didn’t account for. She kicked and screamed like a kid again for a while until she realized where she was and remembered exactly what happened. Even had Cronux there to explain the rite of single combat. She shut up after that and passed out again not long after. Vera and Bie stopped the bleeding.” The Huntress explained.

“Good. I’ll let her feel like shit, she has to make up for how she’s been somehow, but I’d rather her not go into a coma or die from blood loss.” Twilight replied with a bit of a dark chuckle. Nictus nodded and turned towards the other wraiths. The workers would stay for about another month to make sure all of the food was compiled and sent to the right places for her contribution, but it was time for the rest of them to leave.

“I will warn you now, Bela. My Hive may be safe for you, but the are around it is one of the most dangerous. I have plenty of scars from just taking a stroll in the forest- from both before and after I took the throne.” Twilight warned as they gathered to depart by air.

“I see, what caused that one?” Bela asked, pointing to the scars from the Ursa.

“Ah… that was in Equestria actually…” Twilight started and told the tale as they flew.

Author's Note:

Because seriously 5 intermissions already. Intermissions, for when you actually have enjoyable filler in your head but can't make it long enough for a full chapter.
Or rather hopefully enjoyable I suppose.

Comments

[Crystal Static]

Eh, so long as you keep updating frequently, I don't really care as long as the content is decent.
Filler isn't bad, so long as it's used properly, and you sir, you use it properly.

~Crystalline Electrostatic~
23:34_4/8/2017

[Dark0592]

8083554
8083560 you guys are ok XD. And I like filler as long as it's good.
it's just draining to write. Literally 90% of ideas I have for this story is for what I plan to be the sequel. The rest needs a good amount of time to pass.

[Razzy]

Don't mind intermissions either.

Huh, so another queen with a real hive mind.

'but the are around it is one' - area