The Dragonfly Hive

by Silver Dragon Blade Wing

Ponyville 8

The Hive

Upper Levels

Founders’ Room

Hurricane groaned as he woke up, while he was a soldier he did like to sleep-in once in awhile and enjoy cuddling with his Mares, Speaking of which; currently Clover was snuggled right up against his underbelly, her head tucked into the crook of his neck, fast asleep with his legs and a wing wrapped around her. He smiled softly as he felt her exhales against his fur as Clover snoozed, looking around he noticed it was only the two of them on the large Dragon King bed*.

‘The others must be out and about.’

Turning back to Clover he gently ran a hoof along her mane, the Unicorn purring at the petting and snuggling (somehow) further into him. The two laid there for a few minutes, then Clover opened her eyes and lifted her head while letting out a yawn. Smacking her lips she turned to Hurricane who smiled back at her.

“Morning Clover.”

“Morning Bolty.” Clover replied and nuzzled his ear, Hurricane chuckling at both the nickname and the tickling sensation on his ear. Then Clover got a cheeky smile and nipped his ear, causing Hurricane to squeak in both surprise… and pleasure.

Clover giggled as Hurricane gave her a look.

“What? You know that I know how much you enjoy that.” Clover said.

“I know Little Leaf,” Hurricane replied, then he smirked. “Just like I know you love this!”

Before Clover could react, Hurricane had flipped her onto her back and was nipping her neck as his wings brushed her Cutie Marks, causing Clover to purr loudly from the bliss.

The two wouldn’t be seen until later that day.

Outside the room Platinum Bar had been walking by when her sharp hearing, born among other skills from the years she had run her spy network back in the day, picked up the sounds from two of her herd. She chuckled in amusement as she walked away.

‘Always enjoying each other huh you two? Hurricane, you always knew how to please us.’

Her ears perked again hearing hoofsteps coming towards her, after a moment the owner of the hoofsteps revealed themselves to belong to Twilight, who had arrived back from Canterlot yesterday. Twilight’s eyes brightened in excitement the second she saw Platinum and she trotted quickly over to the Founder. A small smile spread across said Unicron’s face; Dragonfly had given the Founders a heads-up on Twilight and that she was likely to ask them a lot of questions.

“Excuse me, Princess Platinum?” Twilight said, jittery with barely contained glee, as she came up to her fellow Unicorn. “I was hoping to ask you a few questions.”

Platinum glanced at the long scroll held in Twilight’s magic.

‘A few questions huh, Dragonfly wasn’t kidding when he warned us.’

Looking back at Twilight, Platinum greeted her.

“Well Twilight I’d be happy to answer some questions, but please just call me Platinum, I’m not really a Princess anymore… and if I’m being honest; I never asked to be one and prefer not being one, you can only handle so much snob.”

Twilight blinked. “Oh? That was one of my questions: How bad were the Nobles of your time?”

“Trust me Twilight; The Nobles of my time were really bad, to put it very mildly. If either me or Hurricane had our way, we would have lobbed off the heads of 99.9% of the Nobles and mounted their heads on the walls.” At Twilight’s shocked look Platinum nodded grimly.

“Those Nobles caused so many problems for us it was head-spinning. But from what I’ve seen and been told by my daughters; the current Nobles are, for the most part, nowhere near what ours were, which is a good thing.”

Twilight nodded, deciding to move onto the next question.

“So, if it’s not too personal, how did you and the other Founders get together?”

A large and fond smile formed over Platinum’s face and gazed forward. “Well Twilight, it all started so long ago.” Platinum told Twilight the story of how Hurricane had rescued them from two Centaurs and the events afterward, ending with the day Clover was almost caught by Chrysalis and their plan to go into stone for a time to fool her and catch her off guard.

“But as you can tell; it didn’t quite work out like that. Thanks to Luna becoming Nightmare Moon and her banishment, the Nightmare War, the Great War, and finally the Great Famine meant we were stuck in the stone until a few years before Luna returned. Now in hindsight; the idea wasn’t our best. Just the fact that Chrysalis actually knew our plan and was simply waiting for the right moment, not like we would be going anywhere.”

She frowned deeply as she looked at the floor and lowered her head.

“I can’t even begin to word how relieved all six of us are that Dragonfly got to us first, if she had…” Platinum rapidly shook her head and straightened up. “Anyway, moving past that.”

Twilight silently agreed.

“So anyway;” Platinum continued, “as for our relationship.” She gave a fond smile. “Even after being together for so long and through so much, we’ve never got tired of each other. Mind you, and this is important Twilight to keep in mind should you ever find a partner: The ones like Hurricane, as far as I’m concerned, were worth more than triple their weight in gold, at the absolute minimum. Ever since Hurricane had rescued me and the others from the Centaurs so long ago,” Platinum shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn’t, “He’s been fully devoted to the five of us and never flirted with another Mare when we got serious, not even once. Even through the worst times and fights he was always there for us, as we were for him. Call it a story out of a fairy tale, but as far as we are concerned; Hurricane Bolt is our Prince Charming.” Platinum finished with a proud smile, while Twilight got a thoughtful look.

“While I have my doubts, I’ll keep that in mind. What is Commander Hurricane like?” Twilight asked, making a note on her scroll.

Platinum chuckled. “Besides what you know? Well… Hurricane is a bit of a goofball, a shameless flirt towards us, and can be quite lustful at times, I mean… he does have five Mares with him, so that’s sort of a given. But Hurricane is a good and honorable Stallion at heart and even when his “desires” are at their strongest, mainly during a certain time of the year, Hurricane has never once did anything to the us without our full consent and most importantly: When we carried our first Foals and went through the mood swings, Hurricane stuck with us and did the best he could to take care of us and the Foals despite often ending the day with more than a few bruises from us.” She rubbed her head sheepishly.

“Little note for you Twilight: Mood swings are nasty, I don’t remember much of those times and that might be for the best. According to my Herd; Puddinghead was an absolute nightmare during that time, and I’m willing to believe that considering her usual cheerfulness.”

Twilight nodded in understanding with a grimace. “I’ve read about that and am willing to believe it: From the stories my family has told me, my mom was a terror during her mood swings. Dad apparently got a few broken bones during those times, though I’m not 100% sure about that.” Twilight then looked thoughtful. “It’s no wonder then why Hurricane was the first Bearer of Loyalty; one or two Mares would be crazy, but five? I’m amazed he’s still alive after all that.”

“So are we Twilight, and he went through it not once, not twice, but several times.” Platinum agreed. “That Stallion’s got bones of metal.”

Twilight looked over her list and found the next question. “Oh here’s one I’m really wanting to know: How did the Princesses come into your lives?”

Platinum stopped for a moment at that and she sighed happily as those memories came back.

“It was when they were only Foals, no bigger than little puppies, and Hurricane had been patrolling with a young Flash Magnus when they found Celestia and Luna in the arms of their dying blood mother who passed soon after, but not before the rest of us arrived and Hurricane, being who he was, took the Foals into the protective embrace of his arms and wings. The mother, who was named Sunny Night, was able to tell us the names of the two Foals before she coughed up blood and took her last breath. At least she passed knowing her Foals were safe.”

Twilight stopped and looked up at Platinum with a shocked and sad look.

“That… that’s so sad. Do the two Princesses know?”

“Yes they do, but they don’t like to talk about it as it’s a very hard subject for them. As for how their mother passed, knowing what I do now about the medical fields in current times, I think Sunny might have had Tuberculosis or something similar. May she rest in peace… at least she left this world knowing her Foals were safe.”

Twilight nodded sadly.

“As for Celestia and Luna;” Platinum continued, not wanting to say on the sad topic. “While the other Founders and I have raised quite a few Foals of our own, though sadly some lines from those Foals are long gone, perhaps the closest of our kids that we’d been too, besides our first-borns, were Celestia and Luna. After we took in the two and soon started raising them as their own, which was quite the experience.”

Platinum laughed quietly.

“The things those two got into when they were young; Celesita with her craving for sweets and Luna’s late night adventures among so many other things, they would drive the guards and Starswirl insane, much to the enjoyment of Hurricane who may or may not have encouraged it.”

Twilight looked at her incredulously. “Why would he encourage it?”

“That question will be answered in a bit, as that’s kind of a story on its own. But I do have a mind-blowing fact for you: Celetia and Luna weren’t born Alicorns.”

Mind-blowing was right, as Twilight stopped mid-step as her brain rebooted.

“Wait, what?!”

“It’s true: Celestia had been a Pegasus, while Luna was an Earth Pony. We still didn’t know how or why the two ascended into Alicorns, but after Discord’s reign their connection to the Sun and Moon was a massive blessing. Not even the best Archmages of the time could figure out what Discord had done but the damage had been very serious, to put it very mildly.”

Platinum grimaced again.

“Speaking of Archmages; Twilight, as you might have guessed we knew Starswirl personally, but whatever you do; don’t ask Hurricane as it’ll open old wounds on him.”

Twilight tilted her head. “What happened?”

Platinum sighed. “I know Starswirl is your idol, and I’d hate to hurt your image of him, but it’s better you learn it from me: None of us got along with the Archmage. Clover had at one point been his student, but it had ended poorly since while a powerful mage Starswirl was not exactly a nice Pony and honestly was more like the Nobles of the time.”

Twilight looked surprised, and was about to ask before Platinum stopped her.

“Keep in mind Twilight; Starswirl did do a lot of good in regards to the things he discovered so I’ll give him that, but it left him with a rather massive ego and a holier-than-thou attitude. Though that still did not excuse what he did to Clover; the day she stopped being Starswirl’s student for her own reasons things went sour. Now I want to set the record straight and say he wasn’t abusive to her, but he was rather condescending and dismissive towards her and her abilities, which I want to point out are quite impressive then and still are now. The day she quit Starswirl had laid into her about something, I never really cared enough to find out what, and she encountered the rest of us crying her eyes out. Oh boy… that led to trouble.”

Twilight looked away. “I… can’t imagine…”

“I’ll get back to that in a moment, as for Hurricane; he hated Starswirl with every fiber of his being, to the point where he had actually called the Unicorn, to his face no-less, something that will never leave my lips. There were two things however that cemented Hurricane’s hatred towards Starswirl: One being his treatment of Clover, the other was that all Archmages of those times had; considering War to be something not worth their interest. Now… on the surface this may not seem that bad, the issue was that during this time we were literally fighting a war for our very survival as a species against the Griffin Hordes and the Archmages refused to leave their towers to help on the frontlines, where their power and skill in magic was needed most, and those few that did couldn’t be on the same battlefield without their egos getting in the way, which caused more than a few defeats on the Ponies side.”

Platinum face hoofed. “So many lives lost because a bunch of mages couldn’t control their egos.”

“That’s horrible!” Twilight stammered. “They seriously decided a war was a good time to start measuring horns?”

Platinum sighed heavily and continued.

“Yep, and understandably because of that, Hurricane saw them as traitors to their own kind and at one point had tried to charge them as much, which almost went through as there were many others who thought the same thing. The only reason it didn’t was because Chrysalis almost got Clover and the six of us went into the statues, which we finally woke up from a few years ago…”

Twilight grimaced, resisting the urge to stamp her hoof, and letting Platinum continue.

“As for the trouble that came from Clover ending her time as Starswirl’s student;” Platinum blanched. “Hurricane almost ended Starswirl that day, it had taken the combined effort of me and the other Founders, teen Celestia and Luna, the Pillars, and an at-the-time recruit Star Hunter to pull Hurricane off a thoroughly beaten and bloody Starswirl. Hurricane had even said, in a tone that was far colder than the Frozen North, and come to think of it the only time I’ve ever hear that kind of tone from him, and I quote; “If you ever make Clover or any of my family cry again, not even Faust herself or death will save you!”

Platinum leveled a look into Twilight’s eyes.

“And I can say for certain he meant it.”

Twilight swallowed, making a mental note to never incur Hurricane’s wrath.

“Still,” Platinum shrugged, “Hurricane did in a way get what he wanted; from what we have learned; the War with the Yetis and the Great Famine afterwards had all but destroyed the Archmages, most of them starving to death since no one brought them food.”

Twilight looked down sadly. “That’s an awful fate. I know they probably had it coming, but… it’s still horrible to think about.”

“I’m in agreement there Twilight, though Hurricane’s only regret in that regard was that he didn’t get to see it happen. And based on what we knew: The ones today, while still powerful, were nothing like the Archmages of old. Heck from what I understand Twilight; your own father, Nightlight Sparkle if I’m getting the name right, is an Archmage himself and quite a skilled one at that.”

“He is, and you got the name right. Dad was also Captain of the Canterlot Guard, a position he earned by raising through the ranks, before he retired to focus on raising me and my brother.” Twilight confirmed, Platinum smiled.

“Then I’m willing to bet he and Hurricane would get along well. Bolty always had respect for those types of creatures.”

“Bolty?”

“A nickname me and the other Founders have for him. We’ve been married for a long time, Twilight, so it was bound to happen at some point.”

“Right, so what about your and the others’ relation with Starswirl?”

Platinum sighed. “In truth: I’m glad Starswirl was no longer around, I wasn’t that fond of him either. My reasons, while some did align with Hurricane’s, are a bit different. The main reason I didn’t like Starwsirl was because he was too easy for the Nobles to manipulate; all they had to do was play to his ego and they had control over him, which led to more than a few massive headaches for me and Equestria as a whole.”

Twilight groaned. “I was hoping Starswirl was above such manipulations.”

Platinum rubbed her temples.

“So did I… I still remember the massacre of the Wolfponies, who had just wanted to be left alone and sadly are believed to be extinct in current times. Oh how badly did I want that flankhole Lord Ego charged as a traitor that day, and again it was because of a certain Changeling Queen that it didn’t happen. That being said; from what Celestia had told them, Lord Ego did ultimately get what was coming to him.”

“How so?” Twilight asked.

“He was among the Ponies eaten during the war with the Yetis, and as sadistic as it sounds, I hope the ones that ate him had savored every single bite.”

Twilight turned a shade pale. “Was… he really…?”

“Yes, Lord Ego had been that bad Twilight. But moving on… Clover’s dislike of Starswirl came from her time as his student, it took months for her to regain her love of reading and curiosity. Pansy, being the closest to Clover, had similar, though not as serious, feelings as Hurricane since she lost a lot of good friends during that war while Puddinghad and Smart Cookie’s dislike towards Starswirl spawned from his treatment of Clover, but they hadn’t really liked the Unicorn from the start; something about him looking down on them but I didn’t really know the full story on that.”

Twilight nodded, unsure how to continue as Platinum shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts.

“But enough of those dark thoughts; let’s go back to happy ones.”

Twilight quickly agreed and looked at her next question.

“Oh, how about your relationship with Princess Luna’s daughter?”

Platinum’s smile was very bright, to the point Twilight thought she needed sunglasses. “Star Wing, she was our beloved Granddaughter. I’m sure Luna has told you about Star Hunter?” At Twilight’s nod Platinum continued.

“Star Hunter and Luna becoming mates had been a surprise to us, that one of our little Princesses had found herself a mate, then she gave us a granddaughter in the form of a little Alicorn named Star Wing. Now that had been a massive surprise. But it was a welcome one.”

“Even when you had to raise her?” Twilight asked. “I heard that she was a bit of a hoof full growing up.”

Platinum chuckled. “Raising Star had been quite an adventure on its own; it wasn’t that she was misbehaving, no more than usual for a foal her age at the time, more that she was quite adventurous. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose. Though it got her and us into a number of situations. Still, each of us loved that little Filly; Hurricane had taken his role of a Grandfather seriously and when he was not reading to Star or playing with her, he was teaching her everything he knew. Before going into the statues, he had been training Star in some kind of “spinning cannonball technique”, whatever that was, and from what she knew Star would always keep spreading her wings out like she were going to try and fly while spinning like a top. Hurricane, along with the Thestrals and Pansy, had taught Star how to fly.”

Twilight reviewed some of her other notes. “I think I’ve read about that cannonball technique. It’s also known as the homing attack. When done right, it allows the user to turn themselves into a guided missile and…” she paused. “And I’m getting off topic. Sorry. What about the others?”

“Clover had fallen in love with Star the second she laid her eyes on the newborn Filly and took it upon herself to teach Star, which also helped Clover recover from what Starswirl had done to her. Clover had taught Star many subjects, including spells, how to read, and spotting illusions and tricks among other subjects. Though Clover had been a bit worried that Star couldn't tell the difference between reality and fiction. The number of poor dragon ambassadors Star chased thinking they were going to steal her mother and aunt.”

She chuckled. “We always found it so funny, and thankfully the Dragons had soon caught on and joined in. I think Star and Spike would have gotten along great.”

“I did read that Star later gained a fascination with dragons,” Twilight agreed. “She would’ve loved getting to know Spike.”

“I think they’d have bonded very quickly over their love of comics. Pansy meanwhile, also the shy one and the mother hen of us six, had always worried about just how little Star had seemed to care for having anything - even something protective - on her body, and to be fair; those were dangerous times. Nowadays, at least in Equestria and certain other parts of the world it isn’t so bad, but back then Pansy had always tried to find Star some suitable armor, but she never quite succeeded in that. Still one has to give credit to Pansy for trying.”

“Never giving up on her loved ones,” Twilight smiled. “I can respect that.”

Platinum rubbed her chin in thought. “I can’t help but wonder if anypony, or anyone for that matter, had been able to find a dress that Star didn't instantly try to fly her way out of. Shame too; Star did clean up so nicely.”

Twilight chuckled. “She sounds like Rainbow Dash in a way; both clean up nicely, yet both would rather not.” She smiled. “Rainbow Dash probably would’ve gotten along very well with her.”

“Perhaps; I do see some of Star’s traits in Rainbow. Puddinghead had always made sure Star had plenty to eat, with her special sugar cane pudding being Star’s favorite.”

Twilight looked at her incredulously. “Sugar Cane Pudding?!”

Platinum nodded. “Yep, it was way too sweet for our tastes, but Star loved her sugar. How that filly handled it all escapes me, but I did fallback on one fact.”

“And that was?” Twilight asked.

“Star was an Alicorn, a growing Alicorn, so she was able to take it and go for more, and believe me; she would go for more.”

Twilight thought for a moment, then nodded. “Would make sense; sugar does give plenty of energy.”

Platinum nodded and continued. “Puddinghead was, and still is, an excellent cook which likely helped. Heck Puddinghead had written the book and I know for a fact Dragonfly’s Changelings love her cooking. Rhino had said that it was quite the moral booster.”

“That makes sense,” Twilight said. “Pinkie said the same thing, and indeed, morale is raised with good food.”

“And I know for a fact that Star would have loved Pinkie’s parties. Smart Cookie had also taught Star quite a few things, but the biggest thing she had done for Star was give her a companion in the form of a dog named Wild Blue Yonder; a dalmatian with a unique black coat speckled with white spots - just like Star Wing - that had been a brave and loyal companion that the six of us could trust to watch over her when they were away.”

Platinum wiped a tear from her eye with a foreleg. “I do miss that good dog so much.”

Twilight wiped a tear away as well. “Sounds like he was more than just a pet… he was a friend to all of you.”

Platinum nodded, before moving on. “As for me; I taught Star some things in regards to the political field; she had been a Princess after all and while she likely wouldn’t have to take the throne, I felt the skills would still be useful. Sadly from what our own daughters had told us, Star disappeared the same night Luna became Nightmare Moon. We weren’t too happy with Celestia, but she had suffered enough from what came after that so we didn’t press the issue, and Star hadn’t been seen or heard from since. Most have written Star off as dead, though we were not so sure; Star learned well from us and I know that while Star was not well liked by most at the time, she still had allies of her own: Flash Magnus was her Uncle in all but blood after all, so none of us believe that Star had died that easily. If anything; it was likely Star had fled and faked her death to throw any enemies after her off her tail.”

“Plus, there have been legends of a wandering warrior on the Outskirts,” Twilight noted. “A warrior that is almost pony-like, with black and white spots. Nothing’s been clarified, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Star or one of her descendants.”

“I’ve heard of that, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was Star or one of her descendants.

Platinum turned and gazed into space.

‘Wherever you are Star Wing, our precious Granddaughter, I hope you’re having many adventures and making as many friends who have your back.’

Coming out her thoughts the two continued with the QnA, walking through the Hive passageways, passing various Changelings before eventually stopping at the Hive’s Heart and taking in the sight of the pulsing energy.

“Speaking of family;” Platinum began. “Something had been hanging around in our minds since Dragonfly and company had saved us from the Everfree city: Now we have had quite a few offspring of our own, five Mares and one Stallion after all, and we’ve noticed something about Dragonfly, but we’re weren’t quite sure what. However our current thought is that Dragonfly Wings could be one of our descendants, and he’s not the only one we think might be.”

Twilight tapped her quill against her chin in thought. “I can see why; Dragonfly has shown some of the traits you six have, but more research will need to be performed first to get any real data.”

“Agreed,” Platinum replied. “As for the others: Hurricane is all but certain that Rainbow Dash was one of his, and I can see why he thinks so; it isn’t just being the Bearer of Loyalty, Rainbow actually had many of Hurricane’s traits like his iron will, strength, and speed.”

“Speed?” Twilight asked.

“Believe it or not; Hurricane is actually a very fast flier. Maybe not as fast as Rainbow, but still faster than most Pegasi of our time. We’d have to test the current day Pegasi to see if that’s changed but that can wait until another day.”

From there the two discussed the possible connections that the current day Element Bearers might have to the six Founders; with Fluttershy being descended from Pansy Shy, Applejack from Smart Cookie, Pinkie Pie from Puddinghead (which didn’t surprise them at all), Rarity from Platinum Bar, and finally Twilight Sparkle from Clover Leaf (the former being quite giddy at the possibility).

---

Ponyville

Train Station

A whistle blew as the morning train pulled into the station, grinding to a stop and the doors opening to let the many passengers off. Among the passengers was a young adult Unicorn Stallion standing a little taller than Big Mac, not including his horn which was about two or three inches longer than normal, with a silver coat, long red mane and tail with the former resembling three enlarged saw teeth facing forward and three spikes on the back of his neck while the latter was shaped like three scythe blades with the shortest on top and the longest on the bottom, and red eyes. His Cutie Mark was an old school soda bottle with a red liquid inside and a small blue flame coming out of the top. Around his neck was a loose and long silver and red scarf that hung half-way down his front legs with thin black stripes separating the two colors with five tassels at the ends, each one tipped with a black crystal in the shape of a bear claw. There was also a small red crystal attached to the right outside loop.

Atop his head was an adorable Winged Thestral Filly around 10 years old with a deep blue, almost black, coat with a navy blue mane and tail which both had a spiraling red stripe running from base to tip, the mane had two bangs on top of her head and they hang a little to the right while her tail wasn’t hair but rather it was webbed membrane. Her stilted eyes were a Sapphire blue and she had no Cutie Mark. Her bat-like wings were a few shades lighter than her coat and her fangs stuck out a little past her upper lips, which only added to her adorableness. She also wore a dark navy blue hoodie a few shades lighter than her coat, a large red bow at the base of her tail with two long silver ribbons trailing down to the tip and held to it by small gold clips, and a large red rose as large as her eye, enchanted in such a way that it would never wither away, attached to a hairpin worn behind her right ear.

The Unicorn let out a long, satisfied sigh after he took in a large breath of air.

“It’s good to be home after our… extended trip. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed traveling abroad but I’ve been missing home. How about you, Lilly?”

The little filly on his head bounced happily, slightly moving the unicorn’s head though he didn’t seem to mind at all.

“I’m really happy to be back Uncle Silver; I’ve been loving the new sights and experiences, but I’ve missed Ponyville.”

“Well Lilly, let’s head home and we can catch-up on what we’ve missed.” Silver replied as he picked up their luggage. Lilly gave a little squeal of happiness. The second they had stepped off the platform a pink missile slammed into Silver, who just chuckled and returned the hug the pink pony was giving him.

“Good to see you too Pinks, been quite a while hasn’t it.”

Pinkie separated from Silver, only for Lilly to leap off his head and latch onto Pinkie’s face, hugging it tight. Pinkie for her part happily accepted the facehug.

“Hi Pinkie.” Lilly said cheerfully as she released said Pony’s face.

“Great to see you again Silver and Lilly,” Pinkie replied. “Ponyville hasn’t been the same without you, how was your trip? Did you experience new kinds of parties? *GASP* Party! I need to ready a “Welcome back Home” Part-””

Pinkie’s ramble was stopped as Silver put a hoof on her mouth, his eyes shining with amusement.

“Calm down Pinks, We’d both be happy for the party, but Lilly and I just got back so we’d like to get back home and settle in first. So could you hold off on the party for a bit.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie.” Pinkie replied once Silver removed his hoof from her mouth. “Gotta bounce, see you later.”

With that, Pinkie rolled into a ball and literally started bouncing against various objects like a pinball before flying off deeper into Ponyville.

Silver and Lilly both laughed. “Never a dull moment around Pinks, huh Lilly?”

“Nope, but without her around life would be boring,” the filly replied.

“True.”

Pinkie suddenly appeared before them again, though surprisingly neither Silver nor Lilly flinched.

“Almost forgot; here’s your cupcakes.” She gave Silver a mint chocolate one and Lilly a mango one before disappearing back into town. Chuckling at Pinkie’s mannerisms and munching on their cupcakes, Silver used his magic to pick up their luggage again and walked into town, making towards their home.

---

A short time later

Silver’s House

While the vast majority of Ponyville’s inhabitants chose to live closer to or within the town proper, there were a somewhat large number that lived outwards with some being more on the ‘edge’, close enough to make it into town in good time yet far enough to be out of the hustle and bustle of the town. Some however lived further out on the outskirts, being a little isolated but still close enough to get into town without wasting too much time with the Apple Family being one of them.

Silver Flame was one of the inhabitants of Ponyville who lived out of town but still close enough to get things done in town within a decent time frame, in truth his home was about a twenty minute walk at most if one were taking their time. Now being in the White Tail woods meant his house was surrounded by trees and thus was rather isolated from the rest of Ponyville, but Silver preferred this as he was always a loner and generally didn’t like being around others thanks in part to his younger school years, but that’s a story for another time.

Silver owned around nine acres of land which held his house which in truth was a large mansion, his large greenhouse he used for his work, a boat house at the edge of a medium-sized lake in the center of the property, a trailer house-like building, a small four-room workshop, and a building that looked like a small gas station with a small attached hanger. Silver had built most of the buildings, with only the house being original to the property which Silver had fixed up using restore spell-enchanted gems.

The thing was; while the property was in the middle of a large clearing, the clearing itself was also in the middle of a small fog-covered bog too deep to wade through with a long bridge wide enough for a wagon with a little extra space on each side being the only way across. Because of this bog the property had gone unsold for a long time after the original owner passed away, but Silver was fine with this. After all; no Hydras lived in this bog so that was a bonus, plus it made it more difficult for any would-be robbers.

From what Silver knew; a very rich Noble from Canterlot had bought the land and had the mansion built with the intent to live in it and likely had plans for Ponyville, though those plans never came to pass as the Noble had died in a major train accident after it was built and his family wanted nothing to do with the house. They had tried to sell it but, as mentioned before, the bog was a major turn-off for all potential buyers and no one else could come close to the price the family had wanted, and eventually the family just left the mansion to rot for a long time.

By the time Silver came along the house was… well ‘condemned’ would have been a very generous way to describe the rotted state it was in. Because of this and the fact that no one else wanted the land Silver had been able to buy the whole thing almost literally dirt cheap, the ones selling him the land had been a few Ponies known as scammers who thought they could make some quick bits.

Now the scammers did… but Silver had a little trick of his own up his scarf.

Silver had done his research and in the three months between first discussing and actually buying the land he had charged up a number of gems with a “Building Restore” spell, which was used to return broken down buildings to their prime condition, with the option of modifications set by the caster or casters.

After buying the land and house Silver had set up the gems around the house and activated them, which after about a day and a half had completely restored the rotted building back to perfect condition with his own modifications, most noticeably being it now matched the rest of Ponyville’s architecture rather than Canterlot’s as it was before.

Silver would never forget the scammers’ faces when the latter saw the restored mansion, it would have fit “stunned silence” to a T.

The house had three floors with an attic that could technically pass as a fourth floor as well as an expansive basement under the house, which also included a much smaller and isolated off-shoot three room and two hallway basement accessed through a hidden entrance. Finally under the Main Basement was an eleven-room “Bunker”, which had been one of Silver’s modifications to the house.

---

Note on the following quoted section for the readers; This section is currently incomplete as my word document for Silver’s house is on my “Archival Computer” as I’m calling it and the hard drive with the Operating System died on me so I can’t access it right now until I fix it, so for now this part is going to be incomplete until then and I’ll finish up the layout, which is most likely going to be awhile before I can get to that. So for now I will be leaving this section “as is” until then, the only other option was to leave this chapter on the backburner until then.

Luckily this section is only describing Silver’s house and can be skipped over to get back to the story. I apologize for this but there is nothing I can do about it right now. I will be finishing this part at a later date, just can’t say when, and once that is done I’ll remove this message and let you all know in the Author's Notes of a later Chapter.

For now, remember the mansion was built by a very rich Noble, so the place is no doubt massive.

The First Floor was the largest of the floors at # rooms and a small “Sub-Basement” vehicle held the Games Room and a fair-sized Indoor Pool area.

The Second Floor was smaller at # rooms which were almost entirely bedrooms and bathrooms with.

The Third Floor was Silver’s “Personal Floor” with his Bedroom, Study, . It also held Lilly’s Bedroom.

The Main Basement

The Side Basement

Finally the Bunker had eleven rooms

---

Walking along the small bridge Silver took in the peaceful atmosphere of the foggy bog, while not the first choice for many Silver liked the calm and quiet of the area and the deep waters of the bog made for a natural defense against those who might try to steal his potion formula. Sure mosquitoes could be a problem at times, but Silver had ways to keep them away.

It also meant that any… explosive and/or fiery effects from failed potion experiments were limited to the area.

The water was also, despite the thick fog at times, crystal clean and more than a few times Silver, Lilly and their family and friends had gone swimming in it when the Indoor Pool was being cleaned or otherwise not available. A large river ran through the Whitetail Woods nearby, which was where Silver had set up a hydroelectric system which supplied his home and the other buildings with power. Was a fair amount of work, but it had been worth it in the end.

Walking towards the front door Silver was chatting with Lilly, who had hopped off his head and was walking beside him, when Silver was interrupted as his hoof caught something and he went down face first in a blast of mail.

“I told the Post Office to hold my mail until I got back!” Silver said recovering and getting up. “I wish they would stop piling it in front of the door too, I keep tripping over it.”

“What happened to your mailbox Uncle?” Lilly asked as she helped Silver pick up the scattered letters.

“Had to take it down. Derpy, bless her heart and soul, kept crashing into it and getting stuck. So I took it down before she hurt herself, and I did not like that ugly thing to begin with. I don’t know what that Noble was thinking.” Silver replied.

“Well this place was a Noble’s at some point.” Lilly pointed out. “Most of them tend not to think things through.”

“True; if he had he would have not forced the train onto an unstable section of the track, which had been closed off for repairs, I might add, by threatening the crew’s jobs just because he wanted to get to Canterlot faster. I’m still amazed that despite the train being a total loss, he was the only one out of everypony on that train to have perished. Sure there were plenty of injuries including broken bones, but no pony else lost their lives.” Silver said, taking a key from his scarf and unlocking the doors.

"Karuma maybe?" Lilly suggested, to which Silver shrugged in agreement.

Entering the house and stepping into the Entrance Hall Silver set their luggage aside and belted out a few words.

“Be it ever so… there’s no place like Hoommee!”

Silver spread his forelegs wide as he sang home and the lights around the mansion came on, revealing the Entrance Hall of the house. The Entrance Hall was a grand foyer with a staircase to the Second Floor to the right with a small table with a lamp and various items on it at the base of the stairs, a thick red carpet on a hardwood floor in the center, and a large grandfather clock tucked into an alcove behind the stairs. There were three doorways on the Main Floor; one next to the grandfather clock behind the stairs to the right, one double-door type in the center of the, and one on the left.

Upstairs were two doors immediately at the top and to the right of the stairs with a hallway leading deeper into the house, to the left was a small indoor balcony that bent towards the front of the house with a door leading to the left side of the Second Floor and a large double closet in the middle of the back wall. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and joined the lamp in lighting the room up, but the most eye-catching feature was the massive circular stained-glass window above the Main Entrance depicting a red Dragon and a Black Dragon locked in combat with their blue and red flames respectively meeting in the middle to create a purple vortex in the center.

Smiling Silver and Lilly took their respective luggage and went their separate ways; Lilly to her dancing room on the second floor while Silver went up to the Third Floor. The Third Floor was Silver’s “‘Personal Floor’ and where his Study/Office was, and it was in there that he seemingly kept his most important documents. Coming up to the large door Silver paused and looked around before pulling a strange-looking key and used it to open the door, entering a medium-sized office space with everything mostly being made of a type of red-colored wood known as bloodwood. There was a large desk with a recycler chair and shelves lining the walls except for the door with books, pictures, and other various objects. Finally there was a large chandelier illuminating the room.

Closing the door Silver walked over to the wall opposite of the door and opened a panel at the base with his magic to reveal a hidden safe, opening the safe he pulled out the papers within and then opened the back up, revealing it to be a false back. Silver then reached into his scarf and pulled out a small metal cylinder no bigger than his horn and placed it in the back of the safe before placing the false back and the papers back in and ending it by closing and locking the safe.

“There, my formula is in its place and safe from any who would want to steal it, not that they’d be able to read it anyway.” Silver said with a chuckle, before a little knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. Opening it, he saw Lilly.

“Yes Lilly?” Silver asked gesturing for her to come in. Silver’s Study was one of the very few rooms in the house that Lilly wasn’t allowed in without him with her, not because he didn’t trust her, but because of the documents he kept in the room, some of which could not see the light of day, and kids talk.

“Uncle, have you seen my red leotard? Or my dance gear for that matter? I know they were packed and we checked our luggage just before the train pulled in so we know they were with us.” Lilly replied, looking understandably worried since that bag had her favorite gear.

Frowning in thought, Silver walked over to his own luggage and started looking through it, soon finding Lilly’s dance bag among it.

“Must have picked it up by mistake.” He said as he and Lilly shrugged.

Later

After settling in their home for a few hours Silver and Lilly decided to head into town, hearing from Pinkie, who had visited them a short time ago, that the Cozy Rest was open again. Only it was run by Nebula’s son Dragonfly Wings.

Curious, the two traveled into town soon reached the Cozy Rest and entered. Inside Dragonfly heard the bell ring and looked up from the comic he was reading and locked eyes with Silver, who did the same.

Both of them were stunned by the sight before them, and so were those around them.

“Goodness darlings.” Rarity said with a hoof over her mouth. “You two could pass for twins.”

She was right; other than different Cutie Marks, pupils, scarves, and different mane styles along the back of their necks Dragonfly and Silver looked exactly alike!

The two stared at each other unmoving for a minute, before Silver recovered and said “Well, I don’t think either of us were expecting to find out we had an identical twin today.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.” Dragonfly replied.

Author's Note:

* The Equestrian version of the Alaskan king bed.

And that's the next chapter of Dragonfly Hive, were Dragonfly and Silver met. Again I apologize for the section with Silver's house but as I said there is nothing I can do about it right now.

Don't think I have anything else to note at the moment, other then I'm going to shift my focus (hopefully) back to High Seas for now.

See you all next time. 👍

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

But doesn’t being the ArchQueen mean that Chrysalis is already in charge of every single changeling?

[Regis Stella]

Nice to see you back at writing this story and I'll be looking forward to the next chapter of High Seas.

Also... There's a lot more pirate things out there like Sea of Thieves Season's 12 13 and 14 and... ugggg... Skull and Bones.
They really screwed the poch on that game and it's an insult to Black Flag...

[JNKing]

Wonderful work, Silver.

Glad I was able to help with this; it was funny seeing Dragonfly and Silver react to how similar they looked to each other.

And Lilly, as always, is a treat to read about, as well as the Founder's stories.

Keep up the great work. 👍

[Silver Dragon Blade Wing]

11862011
Not exactly; "ArchQueen" was a title she choice for herself, which will be addressed in the next chapter.

[Silver Dragon Blade Wing]

11862081
Glad to be back, and the second arc for High Seas is going to be great.

I've been keeping up with Sea of Thieves and one thing I'm really looking forward to is the Burning Blade Man O' War.

As for Skull and Bones, yeah... but not unexpected considering everything, but for the moment I'm gonna hang back and watch if it imrpoves or not since it was only released not that long ago. I will however say that, at least at launch, I'm really disappointed that you can't control Frigates or large ships. Will have to wait and see if that changes.

[Silver Dragon Blade Wing]

11862219
Your help's really appreciated King.

Considering how close they are in appearance, which was completely unintentional, it is indeed funny. Though they seem to be taking it well.

[JNKing]

11862873
Always happy to share and help.

[midnight arrow]

great chapter