7: Oligarchy
Two months before Velvet left Manehatten.
Queen Twilight Sparkle stood within an observation blister on the P.R.N Steamrunner as she overlooked the Ebony Castle. The comforting, omnipresent hum of steam, clanking gears, and distant hoofsteps on metal did little to calm the disquiet she had upon looking at the landscape. While the castle itself had been left intact, vast swaths of jungle were still blackened and dead. The only positive light she could see was that there was no miasma of undeath writhing below her. The Equestrian Holy Corps still had a sizable presence, evidenced by the two airships hovering low over the black scar. A brigade of bright mages and paladins labored under the watchful eye of a contingent of Home Guard.
The Steamrunner was a bit early for the Summit. The Home Guard was only reporting half of the queens were present, so Twilight was not in a rush to disembark the Steamrunner just yet. Movement of small, distant objects brought her attention to a squadron of fighters being launched from the T.W.N Long Shot
Tradition dictated each queen arrive in their own form of transportation, but they didn’t need to stay there. Twilight felt a grin form at the prospect of seeing Aegis and Blitz in the flesh again. Talking over the Link just isn’t the same. Twilight’s gaze lowered to a second airship, this one was boxy and looked about as maneuverable as a lazy whale. The Column of Spring had been gifted to Sectovaria if for no other reason than to grant her experience in using non-organic technology. She better get used to it when my grandniece starts coming into her own. Steam is in our blood.
It hasn’t crashed yet, so that’s a good sign. Rainbow’s musings flittered through Twilight’s mind as easily as one of her own. It mingled with her train of thought, causing her to shake her head at the oddity. She turned around and found her sister rising from a seat cushion as she ended her hive meditation.
Rainbow stretched like a cat and yawned loudly. “Do you think Sectovaria ended up hiring sailors to run it for her?”
Twilight snorted with a laugh. “Right. Right along with having a few donkeys around as court jesters.” The good humor evaporated quickly however. “I rather hope she could learn how to do it with the books we gave her. It's the form of tribute she agreed to after all.”
Rainbow shrugged almost dismissively, and joined her sister at the window. The blue queen smirked at the joyful race between two fighters in particular that were doing a mad dash towards the Steamrunner. “So what do you think? Will they actually land, or do a teleport finish?”
A playful smile crossed Twilight’s muzzle as she tried to spot which queen was piloting the bombers. “Depends on who’s winning.”
A small flash of light came from one of the approaching aircraft. In a burst of orange fire Aegis rolled hard out of a teleport, but still mashed her face into the wall. <Ha! I win!> The bipedal queen peeled herself off the glass and stood up to face her mother and aunt. While Aegis still sported purple fur, she had a shock of orange and red bangs hanging over her face and the edges of her mane and tail. Despite standing in her bipedal form, she was noticeably shorter than the last time the elder queens had seen her. “Hey mom, we really need to hang out in person more.”
Twilight giggled and sat down so she could offer a hug. Aegis was all too happy to get some Momma-Twilight time and practically glomped her. Rainbow was quick to add to the royal hug. Aegis may have changed her appearance, but the profound love, pride, and unwavering gratitude she exuded towards her mother was all Twilight needed to know that nothing had changed between them.
Of the three, Aegis would have never broken the embrace first, so it ended up being Rainbow Dash who accepted the dismal yet necessary act to pull away first. “That new do is looking pretty snappy there, Aegy,” Rainbow said with a proud smirk at her protégé. By now, everyone had broken up to stand apart.
“Elegant entry, by the way, I hope you told your copilot you were porting out of there first,” Twilight added as she stole a glance out of the window and was glad to see the aircraft was stabilizing. A part of Twilight was both sad and confused at the new colors, but the mother in her was just happy to see her in the flesh.
A second teleport flash heralded the much calmer arrival of Blitzkrieg, not rocking on her hooves in the slightest. Like her fire crowned counterpart, Blitz was on two legs as well, but she still kept her original colors. The youngest queen in the room crossed her arms and glowered at Aegis. “I knew you’d cheat.”
Aegis stood up to her full height and dusted off her shoulder. “Yes well, all’s fair in love and war. And since I’m the militant queen, I get to use that excuse so it wasn’t actually cheating.”
Blitz huffed and let it drop so she could focus on Rainbow Dash with a smile. “How are you doing, momma?”
Rainbow wrapped a foreleg around Twilight and leaned on her sister, yet Twilight took it without so much as a thought of complaint. “Oh, you know, drills, eggs, and policing the chaos lands, not exactly in that order.”
“What about you two?” Twilight and Rainbow added in unison as Twilight leaned into Rainbow Dash in turn.
“Same thing,” Aegis answered with a shrug. “The homeland sphinxes are getting uppity. Even with our tech advantage, Tradewinds doesn’t have the numbers to be intimidating enough to keep those warhawks from nagging Ventras to claim more land and smite the psykera.”
“Stalling for time is my job though,” Blitz added quickly, fearful she might appear not up to the task. “And I’ve got it under control, Aunty, honest.”
Both of the elder queens gave approving nods. “I trust you do. Now…”
With the welcomes and pleasantries out of the way, Twilight could finally address the main question burning in her mind. “So, I’m dying to know, what possessed you two to shrink yourselves?”
Blitz gave a sigh and looked at Aegis to give an answer.
Aegis couldn’t help but to twirl around, perfectly balancing on one hoof. “And here I thought you’d never ask! I was getting a bit too irritated at either scraping my horn on the metal ceilings or having to be on all fours any time I was onboard a ship or in somepony’s house or store or whatever.” Aegis stopped prancing about and looked down at herself and moved about so she could study herself like an artist would a statue.
“So after doing some serious diplomacy of my own,” Aegis started with a flourish of her hand and a smug grin to match. “I convinced Blitz to give up the ghost and find a way to shrink us so we could stay bipedal all the time. You can’t imagine how much space-waste there is trying to make everything work for both four leg and two leg mode. It’s really just not worth it.”
Blitz sighed and played with her fingernails. “I admit, it was a fun challenge to spend my down time on. Taking out the ability to go back and forth on two and four legs made our alchemical make up so much simpler it's not even funny. Especially finding a way to keep our smaller sizes from forcing us to lower egg production.
“It really helps cut potential costs,” Blitz added with a resigned sigh. “The two of us are simply too tall on two legs, and this one refuses to ever use four legs again. Plus, any time we visit a place outside of the hive, we don’t have to worry about banging our heads. It did mean we, and by we, I mean I had to both shrink our eggs further, and come up with a brand new albumen make-up to be more energy rich.”
Aegis cut in with a proud smile at Blitz. “Short version: we were able to shrink ourselves, but not at the cost of egg production.”
“New albumen?” the sisters asked in unison with perfectly matching excitement. Their eyes flashed into a matching magenta. “You’ve been holding out on us. You’ve got to share the formula!”
A smile broke over Aegis’ face. “You got it, momma.” Her manic grin at the thought of even more voices being added to the Link’s chorus, ebbed a bit as curiosity took over. “Sooo, umm, is that eye change thing you two keep doing for fun or… what?”
Blitz stepped over to be side by side with Aegis, curiosity and no lack of excitement was plastered on her face. “I must admit it’s a bit more showmanship than you usually do.”
The sisters’ eyes reverted back to normal and they looked at each other for a long moment before Rainbow squinted at her daughter. “Uh, that’s news to me.”
Twilight rubbed her chin with a wistful expression. “But Schadenfreude did mention something like this would happen, and isn’t much to worry about. I just hope I paid him enough for that to be the truth of the matter.”
“Blech,” Aegis felt like just hearing his name gave her a bitter taste in her mouth. “What possessed you to go to him this time?”
“I wanted to make sure Amber was still free of any demonic influence,” both sisters replied when their eyes flashed magenta. “She’s nothing like Grogar used to be, so I wanted to make sure he didn’t leave any contingency consciousness plan behind or something.”
Blitz listened for Amber’s voice upon the Hive Mind and noticed she was playing with some engineers and marines onboard. “That demonologist didn’t find anything did he?”
Rainbow shook her head, their eyes returning to normal again. “Nothing on Amber herself at least.”
Twilight nodded, letting the younger queens have a bit of a relief. “But he did warn that if Grogar wanted to have a backup plan it could be lurking out there, so once she’s old enough, I’m going to have Amber trained in protective measures against undeath and demonic corruption.”
“Even if Grogar didn’t plan anything,” the sisters said together, “I have no way of knowing if any of Grogar’s allies or enemies saw the soul ritual that night. I’m playing it safe.”
“I hope you’re not tempting fate,” Aegis added while crossing her arms and giving her mother a fearful frown. “At any rate, so what did that demon rutter say about the two of you?”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash scoffed with a cheshire grin, “we were talking about that. Basically that Shaddy was saying something about our souls are two steps from being completely fused together.”
Blitz and Aegis’ eyes widened in surprise with the fiery queen rocking a bit on her hooves. “Fusing? You mean like mixing blue and red paint to get purple kind of fusing?”
“In a way,” Twilight answered with a dubious shrug. “When we’re standing in the same room, unless we focus, get really excited, or distracted we keep slipping back and forth between thinking separately, or as one mind.”
The sisters’ eyes shimmered back into a magenta color. “In the end though, if speaking with one voice is the worst thing that happens, then I can live with it.”
“Eh, fair enough.” Aegis sat down on a seat cushion, and didn’t bother adopting a quadrupedal posture, but elected to cross her legs instead. “Not like you’re merging with an eldritch horror or growing tentacles,” a mischievous grin creased her muzzle. “But I bet there are some nights you wish you could, eh Aunty?”
A raspy, breathy, tone exuded out of Rainbow’s maw. “Oh the games I could play with the boys if I did. Maybe I should figure out a way to alchemy up some tentacles anyway, whadda say, Twily?”
Ugh, it’s bad enough my hive’s two steps from becoming a bordello. This is the last thing I want to talk about. Twilight marched over to the port-side window and pointed at the third airship loitering in the skies. “Whyyy don’t we instead go see how Sectovaria and our granddaughter are doing, hmm?”
Aegis brightened at the idea, even more so than Twilight expected. “Hey yeah! Sectovaria is a vassal of yours after all. She should be following your advice a lot more than the other jerks.”
“More importantly,” Blitz added, “she’s extremely young for a queen. Um, that is, for those besides Aegy and me.” Blitz chuckled sheepishly started twirling her mane with a finger. “That probably means she’s been the most willing to adapt to the new reality of raising a loving, technophilic child.”
Twilight gave her niece a proud grin. “Well, I think it’s time to see if your intuition is correct. Rainbow, why don’t the two of us go over and visit Sectovaria before the summit starts?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Rainbow Dash started heading for the galley. “I’m going to get her some chocolate. I bet Sectovaria doesn't even bother buying her sweets.”
Roughly an hour later, Twilight and Rainbow Dash stepped off the shuttle and onto the wooden deck of the Column of Spring. The deck was covered in white flakes of corroding paint with patches of blue resin filling in the holes that were scattered about. The engines sounded strong at least, if a bit strained. The ship itself was more of a long box with engines and a single, stubby spire for the bridge.
It took only moments after the two queens stepped hoof on the deck when a formation of honor guard changelings flew out of the numerous exits and formed a living corridor from the shuttle. Twilight and Rainbow Dash waited by the shuttle until Sectovaria and her royal daughter tried to make a dignified entrance from one of the hatches leading into the cargo hold, but their haste betrayed their nervousness.
<Good thing we came alone,> Rainbow mentally poked her sister. <She looks about as self assured as Fluttershy does during Nightmare Night.>
<You better behave,> Twilight playfully admonished. <She’s our first and probably last ally who doesn’t share our blood.>
Rainbow Dash’s eyes scanned the skies, and spotted Fluffy Jr. off in the distance. <My sentiments exactly.>
Stepping forward at the same time, the sisters took the time to study the drones as they passed by. They were chitin bound, to the last. Much to Twilight’s disappointment, not one of them had an ounce of anxiety, fear, or so much as a nervous twitch. What they did have, was a singular strong emotion of simplistic contentedness. Like a dog who was performing for its owner. Not a single spark of real intelligence. Twilight didn’t need Rainbow’s thoughts to be mixing with her own to know her sister came to the same conclusion.
Nevertheless, they walked down the procession without showing their disapproval, and stopped once they reached arms length in front of their host. Sectovaria and her heir took to one knee and bowed respectfully. “Welcome - aboard, my Over-Queens. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?”
Rainbow Dash took some satisfaction from Sectovaria prostrating herself so much, and stood a bit straighter and prideful. “I wanted to see how well you’re doing adapting to inorganic tech. It can’t be easy for somepony without grease for blood.”
Twilight couldn’t help but to smile at the blue eight year old princess shaking like a leaf. I can’t really blame the poor dear, I haven’t had a chance to get to really get to know her. “I’ve also come to see my grandniece.” The little filly froze with terror, much to Twilight’s chagrin, but the little one managed to look up at her with a touch of curiosity. Twilight put on the same motherly smile she gave to all her children and laid down to be eye-level with the startled child. “We haven’t seen each other in person before, at least since you’ve been old enough to remember. I don’t think I was ever told your name, little one.” It was a lie of course, the sisters had a liaison at Sectovaria’s hive, but suspected the child wouldn’t understand.
The filly inched closer to her mother, yet stopped herself halfway towards clinging onto Sectovaria. The child was like most of her half sisters from the other queen’s, save that her chitin had been whittled down to remain only around her chest and withers. Outside of that, Twilight would swear the child looked no different than one of her direct daughters, and she would treat her no differently.
The child’s mouth was bone dry but she managed to croak out, “I - my name is Khirala Enginseer.”
“Enginseer?” Rainbow asked Sectovaria with a tilted head. “When did you get a second name?”
Despite it all, Sectovaria took the statement as a modicum of praise. “I gave it to her a few weeks ago. I hope you approve of the addition. Given the Equestrian direction our species is taking, or returning to depending on who you ask, I found it rather fitting that a more… traditionally Equestrian name following her original was symbolic of that.”
<Sounds too much like a job title than a name,> Rainbow quipped.
Twilight gave her sister a mental slap in the back of the head, earning a snide giggle over the Link. She broadened her disarming smile at the filly. “I think it’s a lovely name. You can call me Twilight or Aunty if you prefer.”
“Umm,” Khirala looked up at her mother, undoubtedly talking over the link.
Yet Sectovaria answered verbally. “It would be rude to use such formal titles if she requested something different. And she is your grandaunt.”
“Y-yes Ma’am.” Khirala looked back at Twilight.
And yet it was the blue queen that decided to take the lead. “So sprout, whadda think of the ship we’re on?”
The filly brightened a bit and nodded so hard her ears flopped about. “Mother’s been letting me read the engineering books Aunt Twilight gave her, and she even lets me pull some levers in the engine room.”
Rainbow blanched at the claim. Sure, her own children were doing the same at that age, but drones were also adults by then. “You’re reading that techno jargon before you’re even ten?”
Twilight leveled the flattest look at her sister who looked back at her defensively. “Techno jargon? Really?”
“What?! Just because I understand that sorta stuff I can’t say techno jargon?”
Twilight grumbled to herself and knew better than to try and press the issue towards Rainbow of all people. She looked back at the little princess who was tilting her head in confusion. “Well of course she can,” Twilight replied with a friendly nod at the filly. “She’s clearly got grease for blood.” Twilight oh so wanted to squash the little bug in a hug, but alas, there was a third queen present.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but to give the little princess a proud grin. “Can’t argue with that.”
Sectovaria stepped aside and gestured towards the bridge spire and its large door. “Please, my Over-Queens, the summit isn’t too far off, and I suspect you’d like to go ahead with your assessment.”
Close to two hours later, the royal entourage had gone from stem to stern and back again until they ended their tour at the bridge. The q-ship was much like it was when Twilight and Rainbow had last ridden it so many years ago, only the crew and fading paint had really changed.
The bridge had a nice view of the Ebony Castle along with the Long Shot off in the distance. Twilight Sparkle was looking out over the landscape while Rainbow was in the middle of showing Khirala how the flight controls worked.
With the two blue changelings preoccupied, Sectovaria approached Twilight with a resolute yet timid stance. “I can’t help to feel that the tour didn’t live up to your expectations.”
Twilight cast a knowing eye towards her sister, to which Rainbow nodded before continuing to distract her granddaughter. The two continued on, and Twilight waited until they were out of earshot to return her attention towards Sectovaria. “Let me make one thing crystal clear. Your maintenance and control over the freighter is frankly a lot better than I expected any old guard queen could do. That being said, you have still made little real progress on integrating intelligent drones.” Sectovaria’s ears and face wilted under Twilight’s diplomatically disappointed expression. It was a face Twilight had learned quite well from Celestia. “The most any of them seem capable of is handling a single function or two with next to no adaptiveness.
“The sole point of tribute we asked of you was the production and usage of intelligent drones.” Twilight’s glower intensified. “It seems the liaison we sent over has been covering for you,” Twilight added with a slip of anger.
Sectovaria started shaking a little, just enough for Twilight to notice. “Please, don’t punish Entreat, I kept asking him to give me more time before telling you the truth.”
“He still lied,” Twilight rebuked sternly in a lethally cold tone that silenced Sectovaria better than any physical gag. “Or at least bent the truth. Regardless, I will deal with his reassignment later. As for the matter at hoof, a lack of truly intelligent drones is not good for you or your daughter.”
Sectovaria nodded with acceptance and a touch of shame. “I must apologize to you. I have tried to develop my own intelligent drones using your instructions, but… but it feels so - so…” Sectovaria turned away, trying to put it diplomatically. “Incompatible. I fear I am simply not built to handle intelligent drones.”
“Are you sure that’s not just fear talking?” Twilight asked with more understanding than irritation. A part of her couldn’t help but to see it as an excuse.
Sectovaria turned back to face Twilight, a certain, yet pensive look about her. “No. We changelings adapt ourselves to whatever is thrown at us, be it social, mental, or genetic. But this, how to put this, this usage of a hive song to bring order to so many strong voices is the antithesis of my very being. It is a bridge too far. We queens may be bred to procreate, but it is in the Link that our purpose in the hive is crystallized. From what you told me, I see you and your kin more as conductors of an orchestra.” Sectovaria sighed in resignation. “Whereas obsolete queens such as myself are spiders amidst a silent web.
“I am no more a conductor, than you are a spider.”
Twilight’s ire faded away. Even she could tell Sectovaria had been practicing that argument, and it was not one Twilight felt comfortably knowledgeable about. “I see your point. In light of that though, leaving Enginseer here all the time, and away from a - conductor’s hive mind, as you put it, might leave her unprepared for her children’s arrival.”
Sectovaria nervously rattled her wings. “I came to a similar conclusion. Which is why it shames me to ask a favor of you after you have been excessively generous already, even though I suspect you’d approve anyway.”
Twilight considered it for a moment before waving at her. “I’m listening.”
Sectovaria took a long breath to steel herself. “Both you and your sister have demonstrated that your bloodline works best in pairs. It is painfully obvious to me that I cannot fulfill that role with Khirala, which is why I would humbly request your permission to have my second daughter from one of your consorts. To act as her partner.”
Twilight nodded solemnly. “I was hoping you’d ask before too long. Given your… conductor and spider analogy, I’m assuming you do not wish to be her rebirth partner anymore.”
Sectovaria hid behind her mane for a moment before she forced herself to face Twilight with both eyes. “As you have politely pointed out before, even as young as I am, I am still of the ‘old guard’. It is impossible to be reborn into a loving queen, is it not?”
Twilight averted her eyes as her thoughts drifted towards Cadista. A barren queen bereft of purpose. “I’ve tried, but nothing works. Not even rebirthing one of my many siblings into an exact copy does the trick.”
Sectovaria gave a resigned, thin smile. “I expected as much.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “In light of this, My duty is clear. I must to give rise to Khirala’s generation and then step aside.”
Twilight Sparkle gave Sectovaria a terse, hard look that made the young queen recoil a step. “I - you sound like my mother right now.”
Sectovaria recovered a bit, and gave a shaky nod. “It is the honorable thing to do. I wouldn’t dare to question your intellect, Over Queen, but this next generation. They are such a radical departure from everything I know, it is only by the grace of the Silver City that Khirala can still produce love. When she and the rest of her generation are of age, we old guard will have served our main purpose. Evolving the species.”
Twilight wanted to argue. Cadista had always shut down any point Twilight made. The venerable queen was old, and as much as Twilight hated to see it, she was tired. Oh so very tired. But Sectovaria was not. “Are you seriously telling me you’d have nothing further to add to our race?”
“Biologically? No.” Sectovaria turned away to walk over to a drone manning the helm. Twilight’s gaze followed her as Sectovaria brushed the drone’s frill with a hoof. “So much of what I can offer outside of protection would be of little use. I can not help them manage the Link, my grasp of this unliving technology is so much weaker. When I saw how Khirala reacted to a history book, I simply could not bring myself to care about anything she shared.” Sectovaria’s eyes drifted only so high as Twilight’s hooves. “I went through the motions of acting like it was all fascinating for her benefit, but…”
“Her way of thinking is alien to you,” Twilight offered with a touch of morose resignation.
Sectovaria nodded quietly. “I will stay with her for as long as one life allows.”
Twilight’s arguments fell flat before even leaving her lips. “Just promise me one thing.” Sectovaria met Twilight’s gaze, but remained expectantly silent. “Don’t pass this fatalistic depression onto Khirala and her sister. They should at least grow up thinking their mother will always be with them.”
Sectovaria smiled weakly. “As you wish, Over Queen.”
The time of the Summit was close at hand. Twilight, Rainbow, Aegis, Blitz, Amber, and Stellar Drift were all walking in the middle of a tall, well-lit hallway lined with tapestries. Twilight had shared her conversation with Sectovaria to the three other queens. The original excitement of the upcoming Summit had been dimmed with such a mindset to work against in the very near future.
Saving the little ones from such troubles, the quartet of queens led Amber and Stellar by the nose through the great halls. While Stellar’s eyes were glued to the extravagant tapestries that were meticulously maintained, Amber was much more concerned with the prospect of facing her first Summit. She was constantly fidgeting with both her and Stellar’s manes, much to her counterpart’s annoyance.
Stellar felt a chill run down her spine as Amber once again tried to fix her mane, making the dark purple filly swat away at the magic clinging to her hair. “Stop that! I had it just perfect!”
“It has to be worse than perfect,” Amber retorted with a puffed up face. “We’re going to see all of our half sisters, and they’re all going to think you’re a square root.” she countered with all the gruff a child could muster.
“Worse?!” Stellar cocked her head in bewilderment. A sentiment shared by the adults who remained quiet.
“Yeah, duh,” Amber started, “there’s no high society here. Looking too primped up will make us look stupid and uncool.”
“But we’re royalty!” Stellar argued back with a loud buzz of her wings. “We have to look the part in a big meeting.”
Aside from Blitz, the other adults snickered at the younglings’ bantering. Blitz was far too preoccupied by trying to put herself in the other queens’ hooves, to see if she could bring herself to kill a daughter who lost the ability to produce love, or herself if she was the love-less one. What struck her the most is that she could she see the cold, emotionless logic behind it. A logic she wanted no part of. Blitz’s gaze absently fell on Twilight, and with it, the stories Aegis told her about Velvet Sparkle. She acted out of logic too at first. I wonder how long the other queens can justify filicide before they end up like Velvet did. A crazed broken wreck.
Aegis gave Blitz a sidelong look after noticing her counterpart was brooding. She roped Blitz into a loose side hug so they could keep walking. <Come on, let’s find out what’s actually going on before we start worrying about our sisters.>
Blitz tried to calm her uneasiness, but wasn’t very effective. <I guess so.> Blitz blinked before properly facing Aegis. <Are you saying there’s more to this Summit than the Home Guard wanting a head count?>
Aegis merely ended the hug so she could shrug. <I’d put money on it. Aunty Pinkie Pie said a doozy was going to go down this time around, but she never elaborated.>
One of the final winding staircases between them and the Summit grounds stood before them. Aegis’ forced easy-going demeanor faded when Blitz failed to cheer up. <Well, if nothing else, we’ll see who’s left out there.>
Later that day, Twilight and Rainbow were seated at the head of the Summit upon twin thrones of black stone. They were starting to sweat under the burning midday sun. The other queens all seemed at ease in the humid heat of the jungle, but none were crass enough to show petty smugness at the two.
The gathered royals were muttering to themselves in hushed tones. Predominantly between rival hives since their princesses would still be bound to their mother’s hive mind. Twilight’s ear caught a few words about Aegis and Blitz’s comparatively diminutive sizes. Part of these comments were derogatory or dismissive in nature. I wonder if this has been a ploy by Aegis. Everypony should expect a smaller size means a smaller egg count per day. Twilight took quite a bit of underhanded delight at such a deceptive act.
Twilight was otherwise bored enough at this point that her instincts wanted her to up the ante of the ruse when an unfamiliar, and young looking tan, leathery princess emerged from the main entrance. She was flanked by two young princesses, the youngest of which looked no more than ten. The leading princess escort bowed her head briefly at the two Prime Matriarchs before taking a seat next to a green scaly princess who had arrived earlier. Of the four, the tan princess was the oldest, close to twenty five years old if Twilight were to guess. The youngest, a yellow chitin bound changeling, couldn’t have been more than ten.
As she studied the odd quartet, they were all huddling around the elder tan princess, with the yellow one shivering with terror. It was only upon looking at the filly fully that Twilight could taste her fear.
<My Queens, the Home Guard says that was the last of them.>
<Thank you, Intel.> Twilight inwardly sighed. I can’t blame her. Four princesses alone with no support…
Casting those troubled thoughts aside for now, Twilight turned toward Rainbow where they shared a look of understanding. Twilight and her sister pushed into each other’s minds as if they were attempting to puppet the other. Their thoughts mingled much as they involuntarily did on occasion. Soon, they could see out of the other’s eyes, hear out of each other’s ears. They allowed their thoughts to mingle and merge until a single voice spoke out of two mouths. “Welcome all to the Summit. We have a few items on the docket, so let’s move along to the most pressing issue shall we?”
The gathered royals originally had eyes upon four of the independent princesses, but Twilight and Rainbow’s unified opening speech was unsettling enough to get the Summit’s full attention.
“First up, we have four princesses who have long been absent and thought dead.” Both Twilight’s and Rainbow’s bodies moved with fluid unity to gaze upon the four princesses in question. Of the four, only the youngest of the lost ones refused to show any disquiet at the display.
Out of the group of four princesses, the eldest tan one stepped forward and bowed respectfully “Prime Matriarchs Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, my name is Electria. The others have nominated me to speak for us, so as to save time from explaining ourselves individually.”
The eeriness of Twilight and Rainbow acting as one consciousness was always a source of disquiet among the other queens. The Sisters had barely started speaking and they were already putting the others on edge.
Trying to ignore the sense of wrongness about them, one of Jstrul’s puppet seeing eye drones gave a condescending glare at Electria. “Sounds like they elected a fall-ling. Make it good, youngling, or you’ll be the next rogue.”
Electria turned away from the Prime Matriarchs just long enough to throw some shade of her own. “If I were declared rogue, I wouldn’t stop at taking your eyes.”
Jstrul bristled and moved to stand, only for Chrysalis to magically force her back in her seat. “Calm yourself sister. There’s no need to show superiority over droneless royals.” Chrysalis gave Electria and her retinue a dismissive leer. “They’ll grovel before us soon enough.”
The admonishment had been with a conversational tone, but it was even more scathing to Jstrul than Electria’s retort has been. Jstrul allowed herself to sit back down, and take solace with the future her sister expected to unfold.
“Getting back to the topic at hoof,” Electria continued as if there had never been an interruption. “The four of us, Dalia, Chidadia, Bella, and myself were left orphaned in the opening years of The Great War. We fled past the eastern coasts towards an archipelago Dalia had learned about. Since none of us had any drones between us, we had no way of knowing Polybia had lost the war until two months ago, let alone that Summits were resuming.”
Kreesus leaned in with distrust on her lips. “Not one drone? How have you survived without love collectors?”
“We nearly didn’t. There’s was a sailing vessel from the Sphinx Federation that was apparently circumnavigating the globe and performing cartography. We disguised ourselves as their officers.” Electria had a rather pleased smirk. “It didn’t need to be convincing, just enough to get us close enough to capture and pod them. There was enough agricultural experience between them for us to identify edible kelp and start a small farm from the kikki seeds Bella had kept during her escape. A pod farm of the Federation's finest is more than enough to satisfy our needs and then some.”
Chidadia stood and buzzed her wings to get Electria’s attention. “Don’t forget our… ally. They will ask.”
Instead of butting in for clarification, the royal sisters opted to see how Electria reacted to the interruption.
The Electria eyed Chidadia with something between annoyance and resignation. “They certainly would now.”
Turning back towards the Prime Matriarchs, Electria dipped her head in apologetic respect. “Truth be told, we didn’t pod everyone. One of their number was a prisoner. If he is to be believed, he apparently developed psionic powers during the voyage due to removing his wards at night to sleep. The rest of the crew took great offense to this, as I’m sure you can imagine. As such, he was more than willing to serve us instead, and is currently guarding our hive, if you can call it that.”
Kreesus hummed derisively and gave a condescending tone. “Even assuming you sensed no deception when you left, what’s stopping him from fleeing now that you’re away? He likely doesn’t know the jungles are far more dangerous than the four of you.”
Electria was about to give some assurances when the youngest, Bella, broke ranks and stood in front of her speaker. “That doesn’t matter! The other sphinxes are going to come soon. They hate our kind, and they’ll kill all of us since we’re not friends with anybody!”
Chrysalis chuckled loudly at the young princess trembling with fear. “Such is the cry of the weak.” She looked at the Prime Matriarchs with an expectant look and a simple gesture of a hoof.
Begrudgingly, Twilight and Rainbow Dash nodded at her. “The floor recognizes Queen Chrysalis. So kind of you to ask this time.”
“I am, as ever, a humble servant to our race,” Chrysalis remarked with a fang filled grin. She didn’t show an ounce of disquiet about the two Sisters acting as one. If anything, she was quite enjoying everyone else’s decaying moods the longer the Sisters acted that way. Chrysalis sauntered around the front of the dual thrones without care. “If there is one thing that those four have been useful for, it is this warning. All we have to do is let the jungle have its way with any pioneers that dare step hoof here. At most, we should keep a few scouts to destroy any hoofholds that threaten to become permanent. The sphinxes are in no position to truly threaten us here.”
“Fine by us,” Aegis commented while leaning backward and holding her head in her raised arms. “Any Feds you keep busy down here is one less screwing with us.”
“Is that right?” Jstrul purred with interest. She cast her ruined eyes down at the twin lavender and blue fillies sitting beside her who had been dutifully silent. With halting gentleness, she rubbed the backs of their heads, making the pair give off that warm, directed love. “Sister, perhaps we should be more… forceful with expelling any landing parties. They’d be a likely threat to our futures after all.”
Blitz inwardly grumbled at Aegis’ poor diplomacy and stood up to speak. “Surely doing so would rob you of a new danger to adapt to.” Blitz felt a bit gratified when Jstrul’s smirk started to slip into one of contemplation. “The jungles are dangerous, true, but they are a mostly known danger to all of you by now. The sphinxes are new, and new breeds innovation.”
“She has a point,” Kreesus added in. “The only real danger to us anymore are two things: carelessness, and each other. Were it not for our loving daughters, we’d be stagnating.”
Chrysalis sat back down next to her sister with an indignant sigh. “There you go again, kissing at Rainbow Dash’s hooves. Letting her little alliance have an easier time of it.” She ignored the scathing glare from Kreesus to focus on the Sisters. Chrysalis was a bit intrigued when both Twilight and Rainbow had matching expressions of annoyance towards both her and Kreesus. It was a moment longer before Chrysalis realized the expressions weren’t just matched, but they mirrored each other. The narrowing of the eyes, the half scowl, and even the flicking of wings were in perfect tandem. Now Chrysalis was getting unnerved, but only betrayed a twinge in her eyes. “I make no promises in regards to how I will handle any sphinx incursions along the coast.”
“As noncommittal as always,” Kreesus retorted. She waited for Chrysalis to banter back, but the black queen simply ignored the comment.
“Then I shall leave you all to handle it,” Twilight and Rainbow Dash said when the chamber fell into silence. The pair’s gaze eventually fell back towards Sectovaria. “I believe you had something to put forward.”
“I did.” Sectovaria first turned to Khirala and kissed her on the forehead. The filly collapsed right there on the spot, snoozing quietly. Sectovaria quickly looked to Twilight and Rainbow, knowing what her action looked like. “Forgive me, Prime Matriarchs, but I fear my proposal might create an environment detrimental to her love production.”
The other old guard queens balked at the claim, and it didn’t take long before they too were forcing their princesses to sleep as well.
The Sisters could feel the waves of anticipatory ire already rising up, causing them to turn towards Amber and Stellar. <Girls, why don’t you two play in Bubbleland?>
Amber pouted and watched Sectovaria make sure her daughter was positioned comfortably. <But this is my first Summit. I wanna watch!>
<Yeah, me too!> Stellar parroted eagerly waiting to see the room explode. <This is gonna be awesome!>
With Sectovaria now getting up to take her place at the center of the room, the Sisters decided to play hardball. <If you don’t go play for just a minute, there won’t be any more pudding for a month. We’ll let you come back when it’s safe.>
Amber flopped on her back in protest, and shot Sectovaria a nasty look at making her mentally leave. <Okay, fine, guah!> With that, Amber’s head slumped limply to the side as her mind lept into a Linkscape.
Stellar gave her sister the best puppy dog eyes on the planet, but they held no sway against she who suffered millions of such eyes before. Knowing defeat, Stellar kicked at the air and muttered to herself. “Stupid Secto and her meanie words.” She too ventured off into Bubbleland, and fell forward onto the stone seat.
Now that Sectovaria was standing in the center of the chamber, she tried to ignore Chrysalis dismissively toying with a pebble and not even bothering to look in Sectovaria’s direction. Sectovaria took several deep breaths to steel herself against the uproar to come. “Our species has gone through two major turning points in our history. The first was when we changelings first came to be, following the solidification of Gethar’s curse upon our ancestors. The one who survived that difficult time came to be known at the First Mother.
“Now, with the effective removal of that curse, our species is once again being reborn into a new form. A form that will out compete every other strain. For that,” Sectovaria paused to keep from shaking like a leaf. “I move that Cadista be named as the Second Mother.”
The room exploded in uproar alright. Kreesus, Electria and her allies, and above all, Jstrul denounced Sectovaria out of hand. Aegis and Blitz were more flummoxed than anything else for a few moments, while Twilight and Rainbow were so shocked their minds split back apart.
“How dare you name a Sterile the Second Mother!” Jstrul spat with such venom, her rage tasted like bile. “Were I the Prime Matriarch, I’d declare you rogue here and now!”
“She’s given much,” Kreesus half shouted, “but going as far as naming her the Second Mother is absurd. She’s not even a queen anymore.”
Rainbow was snapped out of her post-separation lull, and stormed to her hooves. “That’s rich coming from the traitor who forced her to do that!”
Aegis was just as quick to launch herself into a low hover. “How about you say that again to my face after the Summit ceasefire is over?”
“She’s not my mother!” Electria raged with her allies adding their voices in agreement. “I’ve no intention of ever weakening my bloodline with former ponies!”
“Even though our species used to be ponies?” Blitz shot at her with a biting tone and a smirk to rival that of her mother’s best. “If anything, we’re the more restored bloodline.”
Twilight Sparkle ignored the continuing firestorm of accusations and condemnations. Oh, mom is going to love this.
Back in Phoenix Roost, Cadista was enjoying some time in her personal art gallery. It was perched upon what had been the old observation tower back when the palace was a colony ship. Since it had been many years since she divorced herself from the duties of rule and politics, Cadista was content to be a fount of wisdom, but spent most of her time refining her hobbies. Surrounding her in the narrow four story studio, were her paintings, statue busts, and a few small pieces of engineering.
Cadista was putting the finishing touches on a new painted statue of Yumia when Twilight Sparkle’s highly amused voice rang out. <Momma, you’re so not going to believe this.>
A small grin crossed the old mare’s lips. As removed as she was from politics now, she still loved a good gossip. She continued on with her hammer and chisel, carefully chipping away at Yumia’s horn. <I suppose this is where you want me to make a guess first.> Twilight’s excited squeal was all the answer she needed. <Chrysalis decided to amend her old ways?>
<Even better! Sectovaria wants to name you as Second Mother!>
To her credit, Cadista chuckled with genuine mirth. <Is that right? And I’m sure Aegis has decided she wants to weaponize a refrigerator.>
<That would be safer, but no. You really are being named the Second Mother.>
Cadista halted her work, fearful she might damage the statue. She clambered back down to the ground to be more steady. <Dear, what makes you so sure?>
<Because between myself, Rainbow, Aegis, and Blitz, we outnumber all the other remaining queens. Once everypony finishes venting, I’m putting it to a vote.>
Cadista’s eyes bugged out and she dropped her tools. <By the First Mother, you’re serious!>
<I absolutely am, Second Mother.>
<You - you - I know I’ve done a great deal with creating your bloodline, but you were just as important as my work. If anypony should be the Second Mother, it’d be you.>
Twilight couldn’t help but to smile at the sentiment, yet part of her was troubled by how modest her mother was being. Did sterilizing yourself do more damage than we thought? Fierce determination struck Twilight, making her grit her teeth. <You deserve recognition. Mother implies the creator of the person, and that means you, not me.>
The Summit had devolved into a shouting match between everyone except Twilight and Chrysalis. Twilight couldn’t help but to be unnerved by Chrysalis’ too-wide grin. Shaking it off as an intimidation tactic, Twilight stood up and used her magic to firmly yell above the others. “Enough!” Her voice shoved everyone back into their seats, with Aegis and Blitz tumbling a bit more than the others.
Twilight glanced about the now quiet chamber. “Call me biased all you like, but Sectovaria brings up a critical point.” Twilight glanced around the various princesses. Aside from Electria and her allies, every last one of the young royals shared Twilight’s bloodline, and were thankfully sleeping through the whole debate. Inwardly chiding herself from losing focus, Twilight recentered her attention on the gathered adults. “You can dislike Cadista all you wish. Denounce her if you must. But none of you can deny what she has done for us all. Gethar’s curse is effectively broken. Not to mention all of you have to adapt to different thinking to keep this love curse at bay. Like it or not, my bloodline is the future of the changeling species, and the one who recreated me as I am now, was Cadista. I, for one, say she has deserved the title of Second Mother.”
“I second that!” Rainbow Dash announced instantly.
“As do I,” Aegis replied with a shake of her fist.
“And I as well,” Blitz added with firm conviction. “The facts are irrefutable.”
Jstrul looked to her sister for support, but Chrysalis seemed to be content to watch the show. Outraged, she turned back to Sectovaria. “If this must be put to a vote, I say absolutely not!”
“You’ve already lost,” Aegis retorted mockingly. She waved a hoof at Blitz, her mother, aunt, and Sectovaria. “We have you outnumbered.”
Kreesus was getting a desperate tone in her voice. “There are still only three hives between you. Even if you dismiss Electria and the others, we’re tied.”
“That’s not how the Summit works,” Twilight countered with a stern face. “One queen, one vote.”
Jstrul looked again at Chrysalis, but still she refused to speak. “I refuse to accept this!” She almost screamed at Sectovaria. Jstrul’s daughters and nieces cowed away from the bitterly spicy taste of her anger. Jstrul glared at Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “I will never accept Cadista as the Second Mother. You only shatter what unity the Summit allows if you force this through!”
Kreesus stood as close to shoulder-to-shoulder as she was willing with Jstrul. “My crimes against Cadista are already shameful enough. But I refuse to let my daughters live with the stigma that will surely follow if Cadista is named the Second.”
Further arguing was stifled by quiet laughter. Everyone looked at Chrysalis who was now cackling maniacally. She struggled to stand from how painful the laughing was getting, but her eyes were looking at each queen with intense amusement. “Oh, this is absolutely perfect. So very perfect. I vote yes!”
Jstrul gaped at the audacity. “You’ve lost your mind!”
“Have I?” Chrysalis asked as if it was obvious. “You see, dear sister, that our purple Prime Matriarch is quite the scholar with a mental condition to make sure every detail is accurate. Where do you think she would be if I had not set everything into motion when I invaded Canterlot?”
Chrysalis whirled around to face the mare in question with a smug, toothy smirk. “I’ll tell you where. She’d be back in that miserable tree library, as somepony who’d go her whole life without a mate, and be looking at Cadance with envy, forever wishing but unable to have a child of her own. But because of me, here she sits before us as the current pinnacle of our species.”
Aegis raised a hand. “You should be saying that last part at me.”
Chrysalis continued without acknowledging the interruption. “You owe your current existence as much to me as you do Cadista. You’ll have to put down in your precious history books that I am practically your sire.”
“I will never call you my sire,” Twilight growled scornfully.
“Oh, You don’t have to. Your account on history will do that for me.” Chrysalis’ massive grin turned even more smug. “This is of course, provided you go ahead with voting yes as well.”
Twilight at last got to her hooves and stepped forward to face Chrysalis. “I know what you’re playing at.”
“Is that so?” Chrysalis asked playfully, with a sinister undertone.
“How you go down in history is irrelevant. My mother deserves to be declared the Second, and no amount of mind games from you is going to stop it.”
“If I wanted it to stop, I would have voted ‘no’, now wouldn’t I?” Chrysalis turned away, ignoring any indignation from Twilight to fixate on Kreesus. “I couldn’t care less how you go down in history, traitor.” Kreesus growled her fury at the insufferable wretch standing before her, and her restraint was sorely tested. It was only now that Chrysalis graced Electria and her allies with a modicum of attention. “As for the riff raff over there, do keep in mind the post-Summit ceasefire doesn’t last forever.”
With a cold sweat, Electria shuffled back into her seat. “I withdraw my objection.”
With a dangerous smile, Chrysalis looked away. “Smart.”
Jstrul and her sister shared a few tense wordless moment before she too backed down. “I abstain.” She looked away, shame and no small amount of anger plain in her emotional aura.
“You can’t cow me like some subservient speck or weak willed kin.” Kreesus stood defiant against them all, but her gaze was locked with Chrysalis.
“Ah yes, another war is exactly what we need with the prospect of the Federation landing on our shores.” Chrysalis yawned loudly at the ease of her political maneuvering.
Among the four furry queens, Aegis was the first to find her voice. “You would actually go to war over granny being named the Second?!”
“Of course she would,” Rainbow Dash replied with begrudging respect in her tone. “Naming the Second Mother is bigger than huge. If it isn’t unanimous then that’s going to cause problems later on. Civil war at best.”
Chrysalis gasped mockingly. “So you do have a brain for more than fighting. A pity you don’t use it very often. You need the exercise.”
Rainbow Dash ground her teeth until they started to hurt, but she wasn’t about to give Chrysalis the satisfaction of getting a rise out of her.
Kreesus on the other hand struggled to keep a strong footing. “You’re bluffing. If the sphinxes come, you’d be too weak to fight them if we went to war. You would doom us all.”
“On the contrary, my poor ignorant friend, Queen Twilight and her little alliance would be left out of our conflict. Even if you did somehow defeat my sister and me, I would send our princesses to live in Equestria. It would hardly be ideal, but my bloodline would survive. In the end, that is enough.” Chrysalis looked over Kreesus before eyeing Fluffy Jr. floating in the distance. “Believe me, should you continue to this pointless objection, I can guarantee there will be war.”
Kreesus was so furious she was shaking. She pulled up to Chrysalis’ face and growled, “One of these days, I’m going to rip off that smug face of yours and mount it on a pike!”
“Even if you did, it won’t matter by then,” Chrysalis purred, “I’ve already won.”
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Woooo! I thought it had possibly died. I'd hate for such a great and unique story to not complete.
Just how many stories are going to be in this series?
Wow…I think Chrysalis is right…if it wasn’t for her, none of this would have happened.
Clever bug…
I think this should be ‘whirled’
Worth the wait. It was awesome.
9504551 9504564
Don't worry, I wouldn't let LAP drop it without wrapping it up. I'd flog him to death with his own spleen if he tried it.
That being said, this is the last HIVE story.
Well, it's been a while.
But it's good to see you back.
had
pretty sure you meant 'leapt'
I look forward to the Hive words continuing.
Chysalis is such a dick.
I love it.
Did I just detect a LARGE amount of sass in this chapter?
9504871
Not by LAP. This is the last book of the Hive-verse he intends to write.
Fuck yes! I've been waiting, re-read all the stories twice now to waiting for this chapter. I was worried that this would have died after the notice about Season 9.
*wants more but will be patient*
9504612
She'd be stupid not to take advantage of it, not to mention she'll be in changeling history for her role in this evolution, her bloodline will keep on trucking, the species will be stronger, less love-starved and far less likely to be wiped off the face of Equus by a manical superpower bent on wiping them out.
The only thing that'd make this better for Chrysalis would be if she was the one named second mother, or was the evolved one.
If this story was canon Queen Meets Princess. Then Twilight would already know that Chrysalis‘ statement about what she would be would be true. sadly it’s a side story written by another pony and not acknowledged by our illustrious author
Also, as an add on on to my comment I believe that Velvet’s arrival to the hive should be it’s own chpter. However, if you’re still uncomfortable with that you could always release both chapters at once as a double feature of sorts.
Actually it's likely for the best that Cadista is no longer a full queen when if she gets the yes vote. It's like being declared a saint after all. It would set a precedent that no active queens during a big shift could use the title for political purposes.
remove " mark at the end. Since Blitz is continuing her convo in the following paragraph.
_______________
your
__________
Personally I don't mind the longer wait to see not just the Summit, but Velvet arriving as well. That said, it's good to see you're still alive ^_^.
9505492
A bit bigger than a saint ^_^ (like the Eve / creator of an entire species). But an aptish analogy. And yep, I agree that it was for the best she couldn't vote for herself being no longer a queen. It sets up just the right precedence for the future.
Just a little bit later...
Either the shouting woke them all up, or there's a continuity error.
I get that Chrysalis is provocative, but I don't quite understand Twilight's anger at having Chrysalis point out that she was the catalyst that started this whole chain of events. It is an objective fact, but maybe it's because Chrysalis tries to twist it to make it sound like she is solely/primarily responsible for Twilight's current position, which isn't quite true, but could be interpreted as being so.
I do find it interesting, however. Glad to see this story continue ^^ Had honestly forgotten about it.
super happy to see an update to this. I'm really excited to see how this plays out.
Also, Twilight velvet arriving at the hive is going to be one hell of a chapter :P
(I really hope Twilight can find it in her heart to forgive her. I suspect its going to be one hell of a trial though. Also Rainbow is going to take some uh...SERIOUS convincing I think xDDDD )
Am I the only one who wants Chrysalis's daughters to be just as sassy as her? It would lead to some great interactions with the TwiDash line!
Awesome to see an update to this again, it had been awhile. That being said I find it sad that this is the last planned book. I mean, just in this chapter alone I was seeing things and thinking "I want more on this. This could be a whole story on its own." For example, Aegis and Blitz's hive has largely developed off screen so to speak and a book following their hive development would be awesome. This alliance that put Twilight and Rainbow as overqueens to another hive I would also love more detail on how it came about in a short story or something.
Wonderful! Thank you for the update!
9508379
They were named overqueen at the summit. In essence the one in charge of running it.
9509574
I was mainly referring to this alliance with Sectovaria that I don't recall being mentioned before now (unless I just forgot it) and how she was referring to Twilight and Rainbow as Over Queen.
9509579
In Reformation of the Hive Sectovaria swears allegiance to Twilight and Rainbow Dash and agrees to take Khirala to the Chaos Lands.
I suddenly have rather mixed feelings about Chrysalis... again. And my hatred of Kreesus was just reaffirmed... again. Good to see Jstrul is still suffering from the war.
Also... great, now we have some little fledgling brats to deal with.
Hmm, I have to admit that I've really been looking forward to Twilight and Velvet's reunion and wondering how that particular explosive plot point will end, so I'm inclined to say I favour it being part of the next chapter.
Well, if Chryssi's classifying "affecting Twilight's life enough to set her down the path to becoming a changeling'" as "siring the evolution of changeling kind"' by that logic you could just as easily make Pinkie Pie the sire of all future changelings.
...so that's all is left of the queens just 6 left ( twilight,rainbow,kreesus,Sectovaria,Chrysalis,Jstrul )
The others were killed off ...not including the princesses (do aegis and blitz count they are already developing eggs )
Hive, I've missed this. Some good old fashioned summit politics.
9557746 Aegis and Blitz are already considered full-fledged Queens. Its been implied that, with them giving rise to their hive Tradewinds, they've completed their "quest" to become Queens. Which is why, regardless of what the other queens felt (Kreesus, Chrysalis, and Jstrul) Cadista was going to be named Second Mother either way, because the voting would have been at 4-3 (before they knew that Chrysalis was going to vote yes). So actually there are a total of 8 Queens- Twilight, Rainbow, Kreesus, Sectovaria, Chryalis, Jstrul, Aegis, and Blitz.
Somehow, this sequel completely slipped under my radar. I've been following the whole series thus far and am pleased to see it continue on to the end.
I'm just wondering but how long does everyone think it will take for twilight and/Or her children to figure out how to build a nuclear reactor? Then create an airship which can fire beams of pure mana past the horizon with enough force to destroy most other ships and a shield generator to match?
Also, when is the next chapter coming out? It's just soooo gooooood!
Ps, if they ever do develop nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons I would imagine they would keep the information close at hand and very classified! (Celestia and luna should know the basics, the pros and cons, but only after they promise not to research it and because of the alliance)
EDIT
What does everyone imagine their ship style to be?
Cause to far I've been imagining either star wars separatist or halo unsc style ships, also does anyone else think that they should build a scaled down version of the lukrehulk (star wars) but modified so that there isn't a gap between the ball in the middle and the ring on outside?
Can changling add runes or instinctive spells into their bodies? Cause if so then couldn't they build Godzilla class creatures that support themselves via genetically engraved runic patterns embedded into their bones and soft tissues that increase things like durability, strength and regeneration! Also they could have spikes/fins on the back engraved with runes designed to collect/generate a lot of mana to use a magical version of Godzilla "atomic breath"
I still kind of find myself equal parts amused and impressed with Chrysalis' political maneuvering. Like, she's accepted the fact that she's simply never going to be anything more than a part of the "old bloodline". So to ensure that she gets the recognition she wants, she approves naming Cadista as the Second Mother while knowing that the scholar part of Twilight is going to inadvertently give Chrysalis recognition as the Catalyst for the new bloodline of Changelings. So instead of being Prime and lording all over the other Changelings, the next best thing is being noticed as the entire reason her species has changed for the better. Its not the spotlight Chrysalis wanted, but I suppose it'll do.
I also have a feeling that Twilight and Rainbow are going to end up being Primes far longer than Twilight had originally said they were going to be.
9664141
Hmm, now, all we need is planetary travel, a lethal sickness, and only one species of a race, that can produce the cure in their bodies. Yeah, can't help but think submarine things. X))
Jokes on you Rainbow that's where most surnames come from.
Ah, there goes Chrysalis. The elder statesmare. The font of wisdom and aged advice. Or, as it is also known: She went coocoo-wackadoodle.
Ah yes. An eternal legacy for you, black queen. One of...failure. Likely the first thing anyone will attribute to you will be your shortcomings, your ineptness, your inability to plan. Even if one version passed through your brood tells otherwise, all other accounts will snicker behind your back and away from your ears. Knowing the truth that you could not adapt, that you could not...change. In time it will become the way of things...it is inevitable considering the most basic facts of how events played out. It does not help that you are so disliked and loathed by all you interact with. Those versions will have a much better chance to spread and become real.
In the end though, that doesn't matter, as it would come down to the law of the jungle, that you so dearly love. History loves a winner, Chrissy, and you will have to go without. A lethal flaw to have for a Changeling, to go without love. Enjoy your status attached to a brighter shining star while you can. Eventually you will be shed and lost as their glory continues on and blinds others to even your greatest of failures. Be so proud of your one moment that has already passed you.
To quote Moxxi from Borderlands, "That kitten's got claws!"
oh, this reminds me of a scene in "shifting melodies: the lost stanzas", where a changeling used his shapeshifting ability to turn his tongue into several tentacles while doing sex games!
ps: one of his girlfriends is a batpony who is also very good with HER tongue...
Chrysalis is a masterpiece indeed...
Magnificent chapter. Politics can be fun sometimes