3 - A Flash of Rainbow
A small group of changelings walked through the halls of the Badlands Hive, their outward silence being quite misleading—at least, to anything outside the hive—about the contact they were conducting within the hive mind itself. But to those outsiders, they would look stern-faced and professional, their gazes set firmly ahead as they moved in the direction of the atrium.
They were all adorned in a dark blue set of plate armour, the design complementing their already-insectoid appearance. They were members of Queen Chrysalis’ Royal Guard and had weapons safely sheathed at their sides as they followed their usual patrol route through the hive. Trouble was scarce in a race bound together by a joined mind, but there was always an exception. Perhaps a drone getting a not-so-bright idea and finding themselves in a spot of trouble, or perhaps a creature from the outside desert finding its way into the hive by chance.
Either way, in this place, the Royal Guard had a job to do.
This patrol, in particular, held a distinction few others did, being led directly by the Captain of the Royal Guard himself. A changeling by the name of Carduus, his armour well-fitting and proud. He had been serving in that role for quite some time, having presided over the operation to retrieve Princess Twilight Sparkle from Canterlot and bring her home.
Granted, said operation had required a full-scale invasion of the city, but the alternative was allowing the princess to die of starvation. Not exactly a thrilling idea.
They seemed to have forgiven him, though. If many of them even realized he commanded much of the force.
He wasn’t first in line to mention that detail in general conversation. Necessary as it was, that whole event wasn’t the proudest moment of the Badlands Hive. Still, Princess Twilight Sparkle seemed to be fitting in rather well, at least after the unpleasantness surrounding her initial return was taken care of.
He had to wonder how she was-
“Carduus, dear, are you ignoring me?”
He blinked. “Huh?”
“I was talking about dinner plans for the night. Then you spaced out. Judging by the feelings of nostalgia, remorse and such I was getting from your end I’m guessing you got bored and your mind wandered off.”
Uh-oh.
“Uh, no! Sorry, I was just thinking about this patrol and then my mind wandered to the Princess. I wasn’t ignoring you… on purpose.”
“Smooth, buster.”
“Would you prefer I lied?” he asked. “Oh no! I heard every word you said! Super swear, would I even tell a fib? What example would that set for Iuvenes?”
“Okay, you can stop with the cheek before the sofa becomes your future,” she shot back with a smirk he just felt over the hive mind. “But I was thinking something pony-themed. Iuvenes has taken a shine to hayburgers lately.”
“Of course she has. It’s junk food and she is a little nymph.”
“It’s so rare in the hive and we recently got an import from one of those pony companies. The Princess has been doing work to open up the hive, and I think you could let her have this one.”
“Alright. Alright. Hayburgers it is. Could you at least add some meat to mine? Chicken hayburger?”
“I’m not sure the ponies who invented it would approve,” she joked.
“Well I’m a hungry changeling omnivore and I need the right proteins.”
“Chicken it is.”
“It’s a dinner date. We’re coming up on the atrium, by the by. I should turn my attention to the patrol. Give Iuvenes my love."
“I will. Don’t let me keep you, you have more awkward reminiscing to do.”
“You’re horrible.”
“I know~”
Mares.
Returning to the here and now, Carduus gave a nod to his fellow changelings as they moved through and entranceway that opened up into a vast space absolutely filled to the brim with changelings of all shapes and sizes. Even with the young night having started to draw in, there was still plenty of life yet in the hive’s atrium.
The area was reminiscent of a shopping mall, in a way, though notably a prime example of changeling architecture. There were several floors going deep into the ground and expanding upwards all the way to the surface. The night sky was visible through a shimmering shield that, on the surface, was glamoured up to look like a perfectly ordinary stretch of landscape. Down here, though, it provided the changelings with quite the skylight.
Further down, past all the floors and establishments the changelings had set up, sat a gigantic statue of a changeling queen right in the centre. The visage was of Avia, the mother of Queen Chrysalis, and the former ruler of the hive. The late queen’s hoof was outstretched, in it sitting a crystalline orb that glowed with the magical energies providing the barrier high above them.
“It’s all looking pretty normal,” Carduus noted, gazing around the level he and his squad were on, which was around the middle of the stack. “Come on, we’ve got a few floors to traverse. Wings at the ready!”
His gossamer wings started to buzz on his back, the changeling stallion preparing to kick-off and fly out into the atrium and down several floors. Just as he did, however, he made one final glance up at the night sky. He wasn’t sure why he did, but it was like he just caught a flicker of light out of the corner of his blue orb-like eye.
But there was nothing, just the moon…
Only what happened next was definitely not the doing of Princess Luna.
Just then, a figure about the size of a pony, silhouetted against the pale moonlight, struck against the barrier from the sky. It rolled along for a few feet before coming to a rest. Its general shape was clearly that of a pegasus, but from this far away, it was impossible to make out the finer details.
“What in the...?” one of the other guards questioned, having seen the sudden event as well. “Is that a pony?”
“Sure looks like it,” Carduus said with worry. “Come on, in the air you lot! This needs investigating.”
Carduus took to the air, his squad following as they started an unexpected flight upwards rather than downwards into the atrium. Several other changelings, some hovering mid-flight and a few with their hooves firmly on the ground, had also seemingly seen the strange impact, judging by their glances and confused stares.
He let them be, focusing on heading all the way up to where Queen Avia’s shield separated the hive from the wasteland outside. Despite the light of the shield, which was admittedly directed mostly inwards, Carduus found it difficult to make out much outside due to the rapidly-descended darkness. He came into contact with the shield, stopping his flight and sticking his hooves to the surface so he was standing upside down on it. The others did the same, all lighting their horns with a simple illumination spell as they approached the silhouette that was firmly sprawled against the barrier.
They reached her, their spells lighting up her face.
“By the hives, isn’t that...?” Carduus muttered.
“I think that’s Rainbow Dash,” one of the others remarked, his eyes wide and his hoof drifting up to his muzzle. “Yeah… yeah, I think she punched me in the face back in the invasion.”
Sure enough, the pony that had just crashed unceremoniously atop the Badlands Hive was none other than Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were closed, and one of her wings was bent at a very uncomfortable-looking angle. If that wasn’t bad enough, the more Caardus looked at her, the more he got the feeling that something was off about the pegasus. He just couldn’t put his hoof on what...
“I thought she’d be better at landings,” another commented, jarring the captain from his momentary silence.
“Shut it, changelings!” Carduus barked. “She’s clearly hurt and needs help.”
“Panacea!?” Carduus called out.
“Huh? What?” his wife called back, clearly confused by his urgent tone. “What is it?”
“Gather your fellow medical drones and meet us on the surface, atop the atrium,” he asked of her. “A pony is injured. It’s one of the Princess’ friends.”
“What!? Alright, I’ll be right there.”
It seemed dinner was going to be served late tonight.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Twilight winced, quickly withdrawing from the hive mind after only a few seconds. Chrysalis sat to her right with an amused, knowing grin on her face.
“Yes, Twilight? Did something go wrong?” she asked, although her tone of voice made it perfectly clear that she knew exactly what had just happened.
Twilight huffed indignantly. “Ugh, yes, it did,” she groaned, lifting a hoof to rub against her temple. Her head was throbbing and her ears were ringing. “It was like the mess with too many Pinkie Pies all over again…”
Chrysalis’ expression soured. “You mean when that pink menace somehow made a couple dozen copies of herself and you had to be called in to fix it?” she asked in a deadpan, her ears folding back in dismay. “And did you seriously just compare our drones to your pink friend?”
Twilight was quick to correct herself. “I- I meant with how many there were! And how hard it was to make heads or tails out of any of it!” she said, waving her hooves in front of her placatingly. “It was just…”
“Overwhelming?” Chrysalis ventured, raising an eyebrow and one corner of her lips into a devilishly amused smirk. “Too much at once?”
Twilight’s cheeks slowly began to burn. “Er, yes…”
“I told you,” Chrysalis lightly chastised with a shake of her head. “Jumping in horn-first to the full size of the hive is not the wisest thing you can do when so short on experience.”
“Yeah, I get that now…” Twilight lamented, rubbing her head again. “I thought I could handle it, though.”
“Confidence is a good thing to have, but overconfidence is a surefire way to fail,” Chrysalis stated plainly. “As good at organization as you claim to be, using the tools is another matter entirely. Now, let’s try again. Not the whole hive, this time. Maybe a couple dozen or so. That should be more reasonable than literally thousands.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Twilight agreed. She took a deep breath and prepared to open up her mind again. Before she could take the plunge, however, a ping came to her over the hive mind.
“Your highnesses,” Carduus said. “We have a situation up top. Rainbow Dash has just crash-landed over the hive, and she’s injured.”
Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed in confusion while Twilight’s flew wide. “What?! Rainbow Dash? What is she doing here? She’s supposed to be back in Ponyville with the rest of my friends!”
“How bad are her injuries?” Chrysalis asked, her tone calm and collected. “Has she been attacked? Are there any threats?”
“None that I can see,” came Carduus’ reply. “It’s mostly her wing. It’s dislocated, and she’s kinda scuffed up from her landing. She also has a scar on her hoof, which I don’t remember her having before.”
“Neither do I,” Twilight said before rising from her seated position. “Bring her to the infirmary!”
“Right away.”
The link went dead, and Chrysalis and Twilight shared a look.
The older queen sighed. “It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” she asked tiredly before also rising to her hooves. “Very well, our lesson can be postponed until your friend has been seen to.”
Twilight smiled brightly at her and lunged in for a quick hug. “Thanks, Mother,” she said before turning and sprinting out of the room, leaving Chrysalis behind. She reached a hoof up to her chest and smiled softly before taking off after Twilight at a more measured and even pace.
The infirmary made up a modest section of the hive’s lower levels, not far from the base floor of the atrium. A long hall ran the length of it with a series of smaller rooms off to each side, each one capable of housing somewhere between five and ten individuals, depending on how much care they needed. A few other levels above that one were reserved for emergency situations. Changelings, or ponies too, now, with grievous injuries or contagious illnesses would be taken there for special care and treatment.
Though this was the first time they actually found themselves treating one of the latter. But, as they say, there is a first time for everything.
It was thankfully on one of the lower levels that Twilight found Rainbow was being kept. The room was devoid of any other patients, leaving Panacea and a few other medical drones to tend to Rainbow without distraction. Carduus stood off to one side, a cautious look on his face. Twilight made her approach, her ears lowering when she saw the sorry state of her friend.
Scrapes and scratches marred her body, largely around her shoulders, side, and chest. Her wing had been bound in a cast to keep it rigid, making her look rather lopsided. All in all, she wasn’t at any risk of dying. She would recover from this easily, but the question still remained…
“What happened to her?” Twilight asked quietly as she drew closer, a few of the drones parting to make some room for their princess.
“I’m not sure,” Panacea replied, moving around to check Rainbow’s other side for any other injuries. “She’s mostly in fine physical health, though… I imagine she’ll probably wake up sometime tomorrow.”
Twilight hummed thoughtfully to herself, giving the prone form on the bed before her a critical examination of her own. Not that she didn’t trust Panacea to do her job, but Twilight really knew how to look for little things.
It only took her a few seconds of scrutiny to spy several things that immediately struck her as odd or out of place. First off was the thick blue band bound around the end of her mane, not unlike how Applejack kept her’s. That was confusing in its own right.
‘Since when has Rainbow ever cared about how her mane looks?’ she had to inwardly wonder at this strange observation.
Moving on from that was the scar on her right hoof. Even a cursory glance was enough to tell Twilight that it was a month or two old at this point, and its general shape looked to be that of a bite mark from a sharp, fang-filled maw. She instinctively ran her tongue over her fangs at the sight, and inwardly noted that the bite mark was somewhat larger than her own mouth. Not that she could even imagine biting anything in that way, the very thought made her sick to her stomach.
‘I don’t remember Rainbow having any scars on her hoof, much less like that. Did something happen? If it did, how come nopony told me?’
“Aside from all of that,” Panacea spoke up, bringing Twilight out of her trance. “She seems fine. A little banged up and her wing’s busted, but she’ll be alright.”
Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good…” she said before looking down at Rainbow again. “I think I’m going to stay here for a while if you don’t mind. Just to keep an eye on her, you know?”
“That’s fine,” Panacea replied with a nod and a warm smile. “I’m sure seeing you will help put her mind at ease when she wakes up.”
It was at this point that Queen Chrysalis strode into the room, her eyes quickly locking onto Rainbow’s prone body.
“You hadn’t informed me of any impending visits from your friends,” she noted.
“Hey, you know I’m just as in the dark on this as you are!” Twilight shot back. “They would have told me if they were planning to. And the others sure aren’t here, so I have no clue.”
Chrysalis hummed in thought, her attention turning to the present Captain of the Royal Guard who had been silent up until that point. “What of you, Captain Carduus? You discovered her. What did you see?”
“Nothing to give us much of an insight, I’m afraid,” he said apologetically. “There was a brief little flash in the corner of my eye coming from the skies above the atrium. I thought it was the moon at first. Hay, maybe it was and her landing was just a timely coincidence.”
“A flash?” Twilight questioned. “Can you say anything more? Think. Anything at all that might explain why she crashed.”
“Aside from being an inefficient flier,” Chrysalis mumbled to herself.
Twilight chose to ignore the jab at her friend.
“I’m afraid not, Twilight,” he reiterated. “It was a light, I barely caught it. The next thing I saw was an equine shape sprawling from the clouds and impacting against the shield. Her scar sure didn’t come from the crash, I can tell you that.”
“You don’t need my medical training to know it’s old. The lack of flowing blood is a giveaway,” Panacea pointed out.
“Ah yes, one of the signs of death. Blood on the outside of the body.”
“We don’t tend to talk like that in front of patients, dear. It’s called a bedside manner.”
“Right. My apologies.”
“It’s fine,” Twilight said. “I know she appreciates a good bit of sarcasm and goofing around… If she were actually awake to hear it.”
“Well, I see no reason why she shouldn’t wake up sooner rather than later,” Panacea informed her. “So it’s a good thing that you’ll be staying by her side.”
“Then you can ask our little intruder about all these mysteries when she wakes up,” Chrysalis said irritably. “And do make sure she knows that she interrupted important royal changeling business.”
“It’s nothing that can’t be finished later,” Twilight chided her mother. “Once she wakes up and explains just what is actually going on, I’m sure we’ll be back to my lessons in no time.”
“I would ask you to let her recover from her self-caused bruises while we continued our lesson, but I know you value your friends too much to comply with such a wish. I’ll leave you to it, do let me know if her answers are anything I should worry about.”
“If it doesn’t bother you too much,” her daughter deadpanned.
“It does if it means something for the hive,” she shot back. “But if that’s not the case, she’s your friend and so she is your responsibility.”
“You’re all heart.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Carduus, Panacea, I believe you can return home. I trust you two could use the family time.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Carduus said with a nod of his head, nodding at his wife to follow him out of the infirmary.
“And with that, I shall also take my leave.”
Chrysalis turned, starting to make her way towards the exit as Twilight turned back to Rainbow Dash. Chrysalis stopped, however, seems to hesitate at the door as she glanced back at her daughter.
“Do not worry, daughter. Your friend will be fine, she has the best care here.”
Twilight smiled. “See, you do care.”
“Don’t push it.”
And with those final words, Chrysalis departed back to the throne room. That left Twilight alone with Rainbow, her smile fading as she examined her stricken friend once more. Her injuries… especially her seemingly older ones just didn’t make any sense.
She hoped Rainbow did wake soon. And that she had some really good answers for them.
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So far this is very interesting, it leaves me wanting to know what is going to happen next. Can't wait to see how RD reacts.
9936638
My prediction? Her reaction will be quite... volatile, to say the least. Especially based on her previous meeting with Queen Chrysalis.
9936638
It won't be pretty, I'm sure. Especially if someone uses magic on her
personally I am still waiting for the next Harmony among the stars, he/she said it would be receiving the next installment, like a year ago, but since then radio silence.
Well rainbow is gonna have a culture shock from hell
I have a feeling Rainbow and Twilight are in for some misunderstandings and awkwardness.
9936688
It's still on the list, but that list is long.
9936945
good I was getting worried
Rainbow’s gonna need a ‘Reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, bye!’ before this is all over.
To-do List:
□ Princess Rainbow lashing out at Princess Twilight.
□ Princess Rainbow freaking out over Change Chrysalis.
□ Princess Rainbow meeting Rainbow.
□ Princess Twilight unnerved by Little Flashes Chrysalis.
√ I type Princess too much.
9936708
It is not just culture shock.
The IDEA of "nice Changeling Twilight" is almost oxymoronic to somepony like Rainbow.
9937853
Also true
9936945
I cannot wait for that update!
Rainbow: (Scream) “Changeling!!!!!!!!” *Rainbow attacks Twilight.*
9937853
Almost?
Now we're wondering what a crossover with Queens Twilight and Dash would be like.
But for now... She awakens!
Dash is going to have one heck of a wake up call.
I've already made a mental list on all the ways this could go wrong
Now that I think about it, there's two Rainbow Dashes here now...how would Spike's letter-delivery-breath work in this instance? Would it get confused and return, due to the unexpected duplication of destinations? Would a letter sent duplicate itself?