It didn't take long for Celestia to summon Lieutenant Saber to the meeting room. As he came in, he glanced at Pincer, face unreadable. He moved to take a seat directly across from Pincer, but Celestia motioned him to one to the left. She herself sat opposite Pincer, whose hooves had been freed from their restraints.
"Lieutenant, you may begin," Celestia said.
Lieutenant Saber nodded. "Her Majesty has already given me your location and numbers. Now, how many ponies are being held in The Hive?"
Pincer looked at Saber and drew himself rigid. "About two hundred."
"And how are they guarded?"
"Each pony sustains a few pods, and one pod among those is responsible for keeping its own pony secure," Pincer said. "I suppose I should mention that a pod is composed of eight changelings plus a pod leader."
Saber leaned forward, laying a foreleg on the table. "Tell me more about the pods. Are they family groups? Work teams?"
Pincer nodded. "Yes, they're work teams. We get assigned to one depending on our skills once we're old enough, and we train and share living quarters with our podmates."
Saber tapped his hoof against the table. "What kinds of tasks do these pods specialize in? Are noncombatants expected to keep their own cocoons secure?"
"There are no noncombatants. We all fight."
"Your entire society is militarized, then."
Pincer shrugged. "I suppose. I never thought of it that way, though. It's just how we are."
Celestia let out a "hm," her eyes never leaving Pincer.
"But you do specialize," Saber prodded. "What jobs do the different pods do?"
Pincer explained how the pods were grouped into clusters, each of which was oriented towards a broader skill range than the individual pods. He ran through all of the different areas he could recall — scouting, hoof-to-hoof fighting, long-term passive espionage, impersonation of a specific target, capture of food sources, internal security, Hive construction and maintenance, child rearing, and medicine among them. When he described how unproductive workers and unfit soldiers were assigned to Cluster Thirty-two for the most dangerous work, Saber's eyes widened, and Celestia's narrowed.
"Her cruelty even to her own subjects goes farther than I'd thought," Celestia said. "Saber, please continue."
Saber nodded. "Of course, Your Majesty. Now, Pincer, I want you to give me the layout of The Hive in as much detail as possible. I'll fetch you a quill and some paper."
This proved more difficult to answer than the other questions. As he took the quill between his teeth, Pincer found himself wishing that he could transform; gryphon claws could have comfortably gripped it. But having no other option, he started inking out a map.
There were many parts of The Hive that Pincer had never been to, and he had no way to know their layout. While he could reasonably trust his memory for the parts of The Hive he regularly went to, such as his living quarters, his cluster's training area, and the path to The Hive's entrance, there were also places he'd been to only infrequently, such as the medical chambers or Commander Formic's lair. Even among the areas he remembered perfectly, there was the difficulty of mapping a three-dimensional environment onto a flat surface. The Hive was not organized neatly into level stories like an Equestrian building; rather, chambers could be dug out at any depth, with connecting tunnels sloping as necessary.
Finally he let the quill fall onto the table and nudged the sheaf of papers toward Saber. Saber spread them out in front of himself and Celestia, and the two began a whispered conversation. Occasionally, one or the other would tap a hoof on some part of the map. Pincer turned away from them to let them work uninterrupted, counting the scrolls piled on one of the shelves in an attempt to pass the time.
"Alright, Pincer," Celestia finally said. "Thank you for cooperating. We'll be keeping your sketches for future reference. Lieutenant, do you have any more questions for him?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Saber leaned forward, gathering the scattered papers into a pile. "I want to know about the movements of changeling infiltrators in Equestria. How many are there?"
Pincer straightened himself. "What do you plan to do with them?" he asked flatly.
"They'll receive the same treatment you have, of course," Celestia said. "Are there so many of them that we can't keep them in the dungeons here?"
"There are," Pincer said. "But not more than I could point you to. There are usually a few hundred of us in Equestria at a time, but I couldn't tell you how to find us all. They don't tell me more than I need to know."
"How much would you be able to tell us, then?" asked Saber.
Pincer's eyes flickered towards the door.
"How do changelings work their way into a community? How do they get back out?" Saber asked a bit more loudly.
Pincer locked eyes with him. "We... we're trained to survive in the wilderness. We sneak in through there until we reach a road, then travel normally to the town we've been assigned.
"We usually go to a city. There, we just blend in, find a place to live and a job like a pony would. In a city, there are so many ponies coming and going that no one notices a few new faces. It means it can take longer to notice ponies that have... gone missing, too.
"Then there's small communities, like the farming towns or frontier settlements. It's more noticeable when a pony goes missing from there, but it's usually not as far to take them to The Hive."
"And how do you get them back to The Hive?" Saber asked. He took a quill in his mouth and began scribbling notes on the back of one of Pincer's maps.
"Well, we wait until we're alone with a good target, and then we immobilize them." Memories of himself gagging thrashing, wide-eyed ponies and tying them up or sinking his teeth into one of their legs flashed in his mind, and he suppressed a cringe. "Then we load them into a heavy bag or a cart and sneak them into a recovery point out in the wilderness. From there, other drones take them to The Hive."
Saber spat the quill out. "Where are these recovery points?"
"I can't give you any specific ones," Pincer said. "We never use the same place twice. They're always in places that are hard or impossible to see from the air, though. Usually forests or caves... or ravines."
Saber scrawled down a final note. "Alright. No further questions."
"Very well," Celestia said. "Pincer, is there anything else you'd like to say before we conclude?"
Pincer scuffed a hoof against the table. "Celestia, would it be alright if I spoke to Saber alone?"
Saber looked at Pincer, eyebrows faintly knitted.
"Lieutenant, would you find that acceptable?" Celestia asked.
After briefly scrutinizing Pincer, Saber nodded. "I can't see the harm in it. He won't get very far if he tries anything," he said, giving Pincer a glance.
"If you're sure, then," Celestia said, rising from her seat. "I'll be just outside if anything goes wrong." With that, she left the room, closing the door behind her.
Saber looked across the table at Pincer. "So, what is it?"
"It's..." Pincer tried to whip his thoughts into order. "I wanted to ask you to... well, I know you don't have complete authority as a lieutenant. But you're with the Royal Guard, and I think you'll listen to me, so I think I can tell you—"
"What is it you want?" Saber asked flatly.
Pincer cringed. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to waste your time. It's about the other changelings."
Saber looked at Pincer, expression neutral. Pincer continued, "I know what we've been doing to you is terrible. I know you're doing the right thing, going in and saving those prisoners. And I know drones will probably die.
"Do what you have to, but you should remember, I used to be just like them. Some of them were my friends, and they helped me when I was struggling with my training and my commander threatened to beat me, or when I was worried that I might be sent to Cluster Thirty-Two, or when I just needed someone to talk to. If we can only make them see you as people and show them that they don't have to fight you, they'll come around like I did."
Pincer took a breath, then locked eyes with Saber. "You — Equestria — gave me a second chance. If I deserve one, don't the others?"
For a moment, Saber was silent. Slowly, he raised his front legs onto the table and began to lightly tap his hooves together.
"If I've learned anything about the Royal Guard during my service, it's that we're anything but a band of thugs. Our mission will be to rescue the prisoners. We'll only do as much fighting as we need to, and if anyone under my command goes out for revenge, I'll deal with them myself. You have my word on that."
Pincer was no longer looking at Saber. His head had slowly dropped until he found himself staring into his front legs, which were drawn close to his chest. His thoughts had turned to Scarab and Antenna, and what they would have said if they'd been in the room.
The image was swept away when Saber said, "Did you have anything else you wanted to ask about?"
Pincer looked up and shook his head. "No, nothing. Thanks, Lieutenant."
"Certainly." Saber slid off of his seat and started for the door. Pincer opened his mouth and raised a hoof, but his words lodged in his throat. It seemed as though saying them aloud would be treason, but how could it be any more treasonous than what he'd already done?
"Hey."
Pincer forced the word out just as Saber raised a leg to push open the door. He let his hoof fall to the ground and gave Pincer an expectant look.
"Good luck," Pincer said quietly.
A smile flickered on Saber's face before his usual firm gaze returned. "Thank you."
After Saber and Pincer left the room, Celestia summoned a pair of unicorn guards to shackle him once again and lead him back to his cell. In the corridor leading to the dungeon, they passed Twilight.
"I told her," he said to her, chains clanking as he came to a stop. The guards did likewise, but he could feel their stares. "I told her everything. Everything about The Hive. She'll be sending soldiers. It was all I could do."
"Oh..." Twilight's eyes wandered everywhere except Pincer. "Did you. Well, I'll, uh, see what happens then. But I was actually getting ready to head back to Ponyville for a while." She began to slowly step back. "I have some work I need to do in the library. I've been in Canterlot so long, I've fallen a bit behind on it." By the time she finished her sentence, she was briskly trotting away.
Pincer didn't have to use his training to know she was lying. He felt no love from her.
Pincer was not privy to the details of Celestia's plan, but she regretfully told him that she would have to confine him to the castle grounds to ensure its success. If he accidentally said something about what she now knew, it could possibly make it back to The Hive. He understood the precaution but hoped that things would return to normal soon.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when he realized that "normal" had gone, and it wasn't coming back. He'd crossed a point of no return when he told Celestia and Saber all of the secrets he'd sworn to protect since he was a larva. Part of him burned in shame about it. After all, even if things turned out as he hoped and Celestia was true to her word, he had an obligation that he'd failed to keep. His conscience gnawed at him, telling him that he deserved death and that, if Chrysalis knew, she would have put him to death.
But Celestia wouldn't, and in many ways, he felt more like a subject of hers now than he did a subject of Chrysalis'. Even knowing everything he'd done, Celestia didn't seem to think that he deserved to have horrible things happen to him. In fact, with Twilight absent, she was the one who now allowed him to feed off of her positive feelings toward him so that he could live. He lived in her castle and he was working for her. Chrysalis had always loomed in the background for him, a distant, threatening figure whose imagined judgments had clouded his every decision. There wasn't as much room for her now, though. Celestia's judgments were pushing their way to the forefront, and they were easier to bear.
Despite the comfort of this, with Twilight gone and himself forbidden to leave the castle grounds, life fell into a depressing and familiar pattern. He would wake up each day and read books or pace the length of his cell, breaking only for food or sleep. While he could ask permission to leave the cell at any time, and would usually be granted it, there was little reason for him to do so. He was required to have four guards watching him at all times, making casual conversation with anyone all but impossible. More pressingly, there was nobody to have casual conversations with; he didn't know any of the ponies residing in the castle aside from a few of the guards, who had treated him coolly even before his escape attempt, and Princess Celestia, who was unable to take much time to see him.
The sole reason for Pincer to leave his cell, aside from the occasional exercise session for which they now bound his wings, was his limited access to the castle library. He was free to browse titles at his leisure and, if given approval, check them out. He used the opportunity to read further about theater. He'd already read much on the subject during his confinement, but the library had still more to offer. When he got tired of reading about Equestrian theater, he moved on to plays and performers of the gryphon kingdom, and when he got tired of reading about those, he read about theater among the zebra tribes. He found the latter especially interesting, because zebra performances tended to rely heavily on improvisation and interaction with the audience, both of which he required as a spy.
He wondered if things could improve to the point that he could be one of the performers on stage. He'd certainly had enough practice pretending to be something he wasn't, and as a changeling, he'd be able to mimic the appearance needed for just about any role he could imagine. If he were successful, he could even have thousands of fans, all showering him with their affection. He could feed as much as he wanted, and he'd have to take so little from any individual pony that they'd barely notice.
The fantasy gave a modicum of comfort as the days trickled by, but not enough to stop familiar and troubling thoughts from gnawing at him. Every day and every hour, fear over whether Celestia would keep her word and be merciful in victory gnawed at him. He had helped to set her plan in motion, and now he could do nothing to stop it. Over the course of days, his tension came to a boil, his mind spinning ever more vivid images of Celestia calling on the sun to burn The Hive to cinders. Within a week, any mention of the sun or the Royal Guard or Celestia in one of the books was enough to make him avert his eyes and flip the page with a trembling hoof.
After six weeks of this, he was shaken out of a fitful sleep one night by a hoof banging against the bars of his cell. He rolled off of his bed and stood facing his cell door. Vigilant Watcher was there, accompanied by a unicorn guard, who unlocked the door.
"We're taking you to solitary," Watcher said simply.
Cold dread crept down Pincer's back. "What? Why? And why now?" he asked. Had something he'd told them been inaccurate?
"For your safety," Watcher said. "The attack on The Hive started a few hours ago. We're expecting to bring in prisoners soon, and some of them will probably guess we had a bit of help from you."
Pincer pushed himself off of the bed, slowly falling into line between Watcher and the guard, too tired and too worried about the implications of her words to argue further.
"Equestria has found us! The enemy is in The Hive! Everyone into position!"
Antenna's eyes snapped open at Scarab's words. She leaped out of her crevice, a flurry of buzzing wings filling the air as seven other drones scrambled to join her. As soon as they touched ground, they galloped as one toward the exit leading out of the living quarters. Many of them looked among themselves as they went, as though unsure that an attack on their home was really happening.
Beyond their living quarters was a large network of curving, flowing corridors that spread and twisted and split like the roots of a plant. Antenna knew them like the bottom of her hoof, as did the rest of her pod and the nearby pods who were also filtering through. None of them would be very far from their quarters, but she still felt a twinge of fear whenever the passage split and she had to separate from one of the others. Would she ever see them again?
Antenna was alone by the time she reached a long, bending passage with space to fly. Her wings vibrated and she leaped into the air, looking along the tops of the walls and quickly finding a crevice, just tall enough to stand in and dug at an angle so that its occupant could see any intruders as they came. She flew into it and crouched, and a few seconds later was joined by Scarab.
It was here that they would make their stand. Other pods, pods that were specialized in combat, would be responsible for driving out the invaders and protecting the cluster commanders and Queen Chrysalis. Their job was to guard their own cocoon.
As the other drones got into their positions in crevices and around corners at dozens of ambush points across the web of tunnels, the distant echo of their thundering hooves tapered off. A deathly silence followed.
"When did you find out?" Antenna whispered. "We should've had more warning than this. What's going on?"
"Never heard from our sentries," Scarab said in a low voice. "No one even knew they were here 'til they'd already gotten inside."
"Well, how many of them are there? No way the night patrol's stupid enough to miss an army coming."
"Enough that it looks like they're moving to finish us off. I don't know how they could've found all of the scouts and stopped them from sounding the alarm." Scarab shifted his legs. "Unless..."
"He wouldn't."
Scarab took a breath. "I don't like to think it, either. I trained him and I taught him since he was old enough to join a pod. There's no other way Equestria could've found us so quickly and coordinated an attack like this, though. They had help, and he's the only one who was never accounted for."
"But why would he?" Antenna asked. "He was right there with the rest of us at the wedding, and he fought as hard as any of us. What could they do to him that would make him sell us out?"
Scarab shook his head. "I wish I knew, Antenna. We might never know. Maybe if we make it through this, you'll get a chance to ask him yourself someday."
Antenna scanned the hall below, trying to push the thought of Pincer out of her head.
"I always wondered, why did you never want to be transferred to Cluster Seven with your flight scores?" Scarab suddenly whispered.
"Shouldn't we be quiet, Pod Leader?" Antenna asked. "If any come by, they might hear us." Her wings twitched. "That, and I can't really say I'm in a talking mood."
"We'll hear them before they hear us," Scarab said. "It's very likely they'll pass another ambush point first, and even if they don't, their armor will give them away. You know how sound carries in here."
Antenna looked away from Scarab. "Alright, fine. You said something about Cluster Seven?"
Scarab nodded. "All those pod leaders in that cluster asking me to trade you for one of theirs. I always wondered why you didn't want it."
Antenna's wings twitched again. "It was tempting, I've gotta admit. I never really talked about it, but I actually like flying more than I do sneaking. The chance to prove myself where I'm best, maybe become a pod leader, it sounded nice.
"But I always thought about you guys. 'Course you already know this, but you've got something going on you'd have a hard time finding anywhere else in The Hive. I mean, letting me choose whether or not I'd be traded out proves that.
"And I think it's kind of rubbed off on the rest of us. We know how things are here and we know we can trust each other, and most importantly, we know that we're all weak sometimes in some ways and yelling and threatening us doesn't do a thing to fix it."
Scarab nodded. "I just wish our Queen could see that. Do you remember how nervous Odanata was, when she was assigned to the pod to replace Pincer? It's hard to fight for something you're terrified of. You start looking for a way out. The first time she came to talk to me willingly, I knew she was ready to give everything."
Before Antenna could reply, the sounds of shouting and clattering armor came faintly from somewhere ahead. Antenna planted her hooves firmly on the ground, front legs bent low. Her wings stiffened.
"Antenna, you've made me proud," Scarab said, similarly readying himself. "You all have."
Within seconds, the sounds of fighting tapered off, and the uneven banging of the armor was replaced by a steady clanking that was unmistakably growing louder. The already heavy pounding of Antenna's heart seemed to grow more intense in turn. She stared unblinkingly at the entrance to the hallway, trying to visualize the ponies coming in and determine the best time to leap.
Antenna heard the rapping of hooves on stone getting louder and closer. A moment later, a pair of white-coated pegasi clad in shining golden armor emerged from around the corner and steadily walked down the hallway. Their ears swiveled forward, and their eyes swept the corridor ahead. They were followed from a few body lengths behind by two armored, slate-gray unicorn stallions marching in lock step.
"On my word," Scarab breathed, "we'll hit the unicorns." He was wound like a tight spring, legs bent as far as they would go and posture locked in place, as though he were a snake ready to bite. Antenna watched the guards unblinkingly, calculating as precisely as she could the needed angle of descent.
For what seemed like an eternity, the pegasi and unicorns took slow, careful steps down the length of the corridor. They glanced upward several times, and each time, Antenna's heart felt as though it would stop, but they went unnoticed. The pegasi had just disappeared underneath the crevice and the unicorns were a few paces away from doing the same when Scarab whispered, "now!"
Like a bowstring being released, Antenna's legs shot out, catapulting her off of the ledge. She pointed herself at the ground and pumped her wings so hard her back hurt, coming down on the unicorn to her right at a nearly vertical dive. Scarab was with her, having made his own jump in near unison.
"Above!" cried one of the unicorns. Their horns began to glow golden and they started to step back, but Antenna and Scarab came crashing down on them. The guard Antenna had struck was reeling, trying to plant its hooves and stay standing. She seized its neck and angled her wings to jerk left. The pony fell to the ground, helmet knocked askew. Landing on top of it, she raised her hoof and brought it down on its exposed cheek as hard as she could. There was a cry, and droplets of blood and spit splashed onto her leg.
Leaving the unicorn to cradle its head in its front hooves, and seeing that Scarab's target was also lying on the ground, Antenna turned just in time to see the pegasi closing in on them. She vibrated her wings and tried to lift off, but she'd barely left the ground before one of the pegasi slammed into her headfirst. She stumbled back as she landed, her hooves scrabbling for a firm grip. As fast as a cracking whip, the stallion turned around and shot out its rear legs. She leapt back, its hooves coming close enough to her head that she felt the wind from their movement.
In the time it took the stallion to drop its legs and face Antenna, she had regained her balance. Next to them, Scarab was bleeding profusely from his mouth, but he was forcing the other guard back with quick, precise blows from both pairs of hooves. Antenna's wings buzzed, and this time she was unable to lift off into the air uninterrupted. The pegasus unfurled and flapped its own wings, rising to meet her.
Antenna couldn't help grinning. An aerial battle would be dangerous in such a narrow, confined space, but that would put the pegasus at a disadvantage, too. Victory would go to the better flyer, and she'd be damned if she was going to be outflown by prey.
Antenna did a quick rise and dove at the pegasus, but it was ready. It flew up and away from her, leaving her charging into thin air, and she had to angle down sharply to avoid its hooves. Momentum drove her down even as she swung her back legs forward to brake, and she stopped just inches away from the ground. Ascending again, she twisted to the side just in time to dodge another blow. She used the chance to fly up so that she was level with her enemy.
What followed was a flurry of movement from both of them, left and right, forward and backward, front legs kicking and blocking as each tried to land a solid blow on the other. Before long, the sound of Antenna's own breathing became deafening to her, her heart pounding at the strain of flitting aside the enemy's lightning-fast strikes, thrusting her legs at it, and staying aloft began to grind away her vigor.
Finally, gasping from the effort, Antenna drove a hoof into the pegasus' neck. It hacked and coughed and began wavering, and she charged headlong into it before it could recover. Seconds later, they fell to the ground, Antenna on top with the pegasus splayed on its back beneath her. With a triumphant shout, she bared her fangs and lunged for its neck. But at the last second, Antenna was struck in the side by some impossible blow, exactly where her wing connected to her back. There was a sound like tearing paper, and she hissed as her wing joint exploded in pain. She was struck again, this time in the side of the head, and was sent rolling off of the guard.
Antenna could feel that her right wing was bent at an unnatural angle, and she was thankful that she was able to brace herself against the ground before she rolled far enough to put any pressure on it. Scrambling to stand, she turned to look at her assailant.
Her heart sank when she saw that it was the pegasus Scarab had been dueling with. What had happened to Scarab, then? She didn't have time to dwell on the question; the pegasus, limping slightly and bleeding from its nose, was advancing on her. Meanwhile, the other was getting back to its hooves.
She swung at the pegasi as they came close, but her movements were limited by her wing joint's screaming protests. Her enemies, not being similarly handicapped, batted aside her front legs all too quickly. The instant her defenses were down, they drove their hooves into her face, her neck, her chest, her sides, her legs, over and over, each blow hurting worse than the last. One came down on her wing joint from above, and then she was huddled on the ground, at the mercy of ponies. Her mind couldn't be bothered to register it. The only thing that mattered now was the blinding pain in her wing.
As the sharpest of Antenna's agony began to dull, she heard the pegasi speaking.
"—both of them."
"Check on Star and Winter."
Hooves clapped on stone. Out of the corner of her eye, Antenna saw the uninjured pegasus kneel over the unicorn she had defeated.
"Winter? Hey, can you hear me? Come on, get up." The pegasus prodded the unicorn with a hoof, then shook its head and looked at the other pegasus. "He's out, sir."
The lower-ranking pegasus walked over to the other unicorn and tried similarly to wake it up, but to no avail. It muttered something under its breath, then turned expectantly to its commander.
"Alright. We're carrying them out of here," the commander said. "We wouldn't stand a chance if we tried to get the mare out ourselves."
"Sir, what about the bugs? They're still alive." Antenna's heart leapt; Scarab wasn't dead!
"We can't capture them without a unicorn," the pegasus continued, "and if we leave them, they might get back up and hit us while we're carrying Star and Winter, sir."
The other pegasus, apparently an officer, looked between Antenna and Scarab. There was a slight pause before it said anything, but before it even opened its mouth, a horrible certainty seized Antenna.
"Alright. Kill them."
Antenna swallowed a cry as the lower-ranking pegasus agreed and began to trot towards her. Its pace was slow, leisurely, almost mocking. She began to push herself to her hooves, hoping she could get into a fighting stance before it could reach her. Her broken wing screamed its protests, but it would have to wait.
It didn't matter. As soon as she stirred, the pegasus quickened its pace. She'd barely lifted her front legs before it brought a hoof down on her head. Her face bounced against the ground, and she was dizzied.
Antenna felt a spike of pain as a sudden pressure came down on her wing, and she knew it was over. Even so, she wriggled and snapped her fangs at the leg pinning her, not caring if she had to break her wing off completely to escape, but to no avail. The pegasus had one front leg pinning her right where it had broken, and the other front leg was raising, raising, like the blade of a guillotine, about to fall on her head.
Then Scarab stood up.
The pegasus turned with a start, and its leg dangled in midair as it looked at him with wide eyes. Steady trails of blood leaked from sickeningly wide cracks in Scarab's face. He paid them no mind as he steadily crept towards the pegasus, red-tinged fangs bared. It looked between Antenna and Scarab, and she felt the pressure on her side ease.
The higher-ranking pegasus ran in front of Scarab, but it was too late. In one smooth motion, Antenna twisted herself loose, turned her head, and sank her teeth into the leg that had been pinning her. The pegasus shouted and tried vainly to wrench itself free. As hard as it tugged, her grip held firm, so it began to kick at her wing with its other front leg.
The other pegasus landed a blow to Scarab's face with its good front leg, splashing droplets of blood against its hoof. Scarab didn't even seem to register the kick, rearing before buffeting the pegasus with both front hooves. It began to back away from the assault, but Scarab used the chance to lift off. He struck its snout from above and it reeled, and then he dove down and tackled it to the ground. Seizing his chance, he kicked it in the face and neck repeatedly, not relenting until its shouts died off. Then, Scarab stood up and turned toward the other pegasus and Antenna. The officer didn't get back up.
Antenna had not released her enemy. Now outnumbered, it grew frantic in its escape efforts, straining itself pulling against her jaws and striking every part of her it could reach with its free front hoof. Sheer determination locked Antenna's grip in place, and it wasn't long before Scarab was in front of it, throwing kicks that it couldn't defend against. Finally the pegasus fell, and for a few seconds, the only sounds were Scarab's wheezing breaths. He suddenly reeled, struggling to steady himself.
"S—Scarab," Antenna said as she gingerly stood up, voice shaking. "Are you all right?"
"I'll be okay," Scarab said quietly.
"But your face," Antenna said, raising a hoof. "We have to get you to the medical cluster."
"No, Antenna. I won't let you try to fight your way there. It would be too much of a risk even without that broken wing."
"Too much of a risk to save my pod leader from possibly bleeding to death?" Antenna narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, Antenna. Better one dead drone than two."
"Better no dead drones than one."
"Antenna, forget it. We'll go back to our quarters and do what we can there. That's an order. Understood?"
"But..." Antenna swallowed, eyes tracing over the ugly, wet gashes in Scarab's face. "Yes, Pod Leader."
Scarab nodded, turned, and began to walk away. Antenna tailed him as slowly as she could, but not slowly enough to prevent a jabbing pain in her wing at every step.
I understand how military works, but that was still brutal to watch. The end part where he says kill them, I mean.
nifnty, and update. been a while.
seems poor winter was not able ti keep his men from trying to kill them, knocked out as he is. though their lack of mercy is what really cost them in the end. idiots.
Oh dear..... This won't go over well for Pincer.
I'm glad this is still going, I was worried for awhile there.
Wow, I looked at this story in the favorites bar of my userpage half an hour ago and was thinking, "maybe I should reread this fic again". Naturally, a wild update appears!
Well, that's my first time having that happen to me.
DAMN DOUBLE-CROSSING PONIES!!!
woo an update!
loved it!
4351115 to be fair Winter got his ass knocked out. and likely would have had their asses served on a plate for it when he woke up.
This chapter is just the right amount of intense.
Kill them? Whoa, you don't know what Celly, Pincer and Saber will do to you, bastard
Pincer just killed a lot of his family
1111 likes to 24 dislikes. and one of those is mine.
Welp. That was grim. ;_; Twilight wants nothing more to do with Pincer (honestly, she's not earning any brownie points with this; difficult secret or no, she isn't being a good friend. Pincer went on a limb and she scorned him for it), Pincer deduced as a traitor, military brutality... yeek. D: I hope the next chapter is happier, or at least has more positive points.
4351314 Y'know, if you're going to dislike a fic, you can at least say why you aren't fond of it, instead of just waltzing in and saying 'meh, that sucked' and waltzing out. As an author, I find that very infuriating - if somebody doesn't like something I did, I'd like to know why, and how I can improve myself in the future. Giving meaningless crits like that is just spiteful - there is nothing useful to be derived from it, other than confusing and saddening the fic's author.
Poor Pincer is going to be suicidally miserable.
Interesting....
4351333 hopefully Twilight will get him out of his funk.
4351239
To be fair, the one who gave out the order and the one who tried to carry it out are now both dead. No clue about Winter and the other Unicorns, though.
Yeah, Pincer will be inconsolable when he finds out. Worse still, I suspect that Scarab and Antenna will both be transferred to Cluster Thirty-two, and given orders to put Pincer down. I just don't see this Greek Tragedy playing out any other way.
4351538 Given that this only has the adventure tag, not the dark or sad or tragedy tag, hopefully that won't happen
A lose-lose situation for everyone involved. Neither side can afford to let the other live, and the only one who could have prevented it all is a megalomaniacal queen.....
4351538
The guards really didn't have any choice but to come to the decision they did. Remember what Pincer thought of the Equestrians at the beginning of the story? That kind of mentality makes them unbelievably dangerous now that they've been backed into a corner. The guards would have taken prisoners, but when that was no longer possible they had to fall back on basic military tactics: never leave an enemy behind you that's able to fight.
And what do you think the changelings would have done with the guards if they had won? They certainly wouldn't have allowed them a chance to escape the hive. Best case scenario they would have been put in cocoons and fed off until they died, worst case they would have been killed on the spot. If not by Antennae and Scarab then by some other changelings. And given that they're being left unconscious or dead in the tunnels like that, those are still possibilities.
The changelings are fighting with the belief that the Equestrians are monsters who will stop at nothing to get what they want, and the guards see the changelings as fanatical zealots who can't be reasoned with. As soon as it came down to a military action, neither side was going to be able to come out on top. No matter what happens, no matter how much they try to be merciful, Pincer is going to be branded a traitor by any and all of the captured changelings and there will be a body count on both sides.
4351538
Yeah, plot thickens.
4351621
...which is why I see Queen Cheese Legs either sending a stealth Suicide Squad out to kill Pincer, or going full locust and taking the entire hive out to raze towns between the hive and Canterlot, capturing those they can to be immediately drained to death to feed the army on their march, and anypony else they come across will be brutally eviscerated, leaving no survivors either way.
...or maybe I'm feeling a little "dark" at the moment.
It's back, WOOOHOOOHOOOOOO!
I cringed far too frequently for comfort while reading this.
Previously, I have loved this fic for one reason. While its writing conveys ideas well, that is not a standalone reason to read the fic. Its style is not exceptional. The fic's ideas are interesting, sure, but not unique enough to carry the fic for me. If I wanted, I could go find an"objectively better" (what a silly term!) changeling fic with the same general ideas as this fic, somewhere in the endless sea of the Internet.
I only read this fic because it is optimistic. To me, optimism is what made me love this fic from the first moment I saw it. Rarely had I seen a changeling fic that was as optimistic and as well-written as this one. To me, that is what makes this fic special, and what makes it worth reading.
I came for the optimism. I stayed for the optimism. I am still here because I am optimistic about the direction of this story.
While I do not wish to force my desires onto you, the artist, I simply wanted to tell you that this chapter hurt me in the way a tragedy should (side note: I dislike tragedies). If you intend to fix all of the wrongs here, I shall be doubly joyful when you do. If you do not, I shall be doubly angry and downcast.
I am not sure whether you care about my feelings, or whether they affect you at all, or whether they "should" affect you at all. That is all opinion, after all. Still, I felt that I may as well share them, for sentiment's sake if nothing else.
4351621
Alternative Solutions:
1) Sleeping gas, or its magic-based equivalent, to subdue without necessary murder
2) Temporary mind control based in magic to subdue without necessary murder.
-a) Mind control on mass scale to subdue without necessary murder which can later be undone in a safe environment so Changelings can gradually realize peace of their own volition
-b) "Mild" or "subtle" mind control to encourage peace which can be undone as explained in part a)
3) Emotional manipulation based in magic
-a) Fear gas or its magic-based equivalent to subdue without necessary murder
-b) Pleasure / Joy gas or its magic-based equivalent to reduce aggression and panic, making former soldiers into contented persons willing to either I) go willingly or II) be otherwise subdued
-c) Love gas or its magic-based equivalent for the effects of item b) with added benefit of feeding the newly subdued Changelings
4) Usage of dream magic
-a) To better implement previously mentioned methods of psychological warfare / trickery: fear via mass nightmares, joy via mass happy-dreams, et cetera
-b) To remove deeply-rooted negativity towards ponies based in fear of the unknown, and replace it with positivity, via "personal experience" (a carefully designed dream with emotional and logical / mental elements)
-c) To ascertain critical information which could make the war effort more efficient and thus spare Changeling lives
5) Infiltration utilizing magic-based stealth abilities
-a) Assassination of the Queen to force surrender / destabalize leadership
-b) Mind control of the Queen to encourage surrender / destabalize leadership
-c) Usage of infiltration to better implement the aforementioned alternatives
Those were the first five alternative solutions that came to mind within the bounds of the canonically established fictional universe of Equestria. Given more time, I could hypothetically think of many more.
Point being: Arbitrary fatalism is unjustified in this context. Optimistic, non-cynical and non-murderous solutions are not only better in form (ideal), but in fact (logical and / or pragmatic).
Personal note: I will go to great lengths to combat the supposed necessity of tragedy, and instead proport that the idealistic view of Equestria is superior to the cynical view...just like how I believe that Equestria itself, with its idealistic societal structure and collective mentality, is superior to Earth with its "necessary" cynical societal structure and collective mentality.
4351087
As shown by my aforementioned alternatives and their implications, and by the other ones I could hypotheticay provide...
...this was both brutal and unnecessary.
4351807 Where do you get that those are acceptable and/or exist in pony society from the canon?
1) We've seen no sleeping gas or Area of Effect sleep spells... Or really sleep spells at all. But the unicorns might have had them, which would be part of the reason to take them down first.
2) Because mind control isn't dark magic at all *sarcasm*
3) See issues with 1 and 2 combined
4) Can Luna see the dreams of changelings? And if so, the causing of nightmares would be unacceptable and a tactic used by Nightmare Moon and the positive reinforcement would take AGES.
5) Because assassination is SOO much better, make a martyr out of the queen... That would work so well, again same problem with mind control, forget trying to sneak past guards that can sense your presence.
Also mind control? Really? The potentially darkest kind of magic aside from Necromancy and one that the changelings (or at least the queen) have mastered? Emotion control, on a race of emotivores? I doubt that would work, or worse could possibly feed them and make them stronger. Dream manipulation would take days or weeks to have any effect if it could target them, plus Chrysalis could theoretically counter it. Thus becoming a waste of time.
Your solutions are dark and dirty sir. Nothing the guard would, should or could ever be justified in using. The results don't justify the means.
4351807
I can't help but notice that almost all of those rely on magic, which the two pegasi that were still conscious couldn't cast. They even mentioned themselves that capture was no longer an option because the unicorns were unconscious and they couldn't take prisoners and evacuate their injured comrades. And anything large-scale enough to affect the entire hive would have required Celestia or Luna to cast.
As for the specifics, 4352035 covered those quite well. By any standard, the clean death of an enemy combatant on the battlefield is a much, much less questionable act than mind control or emotion control.
Attacking the hive is not a good situation. Could there have been diplomatic routes? Possible, but unlikely given the mental state of the changelings that live there. Those sorts of things would only have worked if Chrysalis herself was willing to negotiate, and she has very clearly shown that she is not.
Should killing be your first solution? Of course not. And those two guards didn't want to have to resort to that. Even after both unicorns had been taken out, they tried to get them on their hooves so that they could afford to take prisoners. But in that situation, for those two guards, they were being forced to choose between their own safety and the safety of those they had sworn to protect, and the safety of two changelings who were, as far as they know, trying to kill them. It might not have been a good choice, but they made the only one that was open to them in that situation.
You had better have the next chappter up soon or else I swear...
that you will make me cry becuase this is awesome Please dont keep us waiting
Damn, this was kind of brutal, though I hope that overall the ponies and changelings manage to work out their differences in the end.
War. War never changes.
I love how you did not pull punches with this chapter. There are a few comments here that would have preferred a lie more then a truth. The only issue with that is great things don't hold back. They throw everything thing they have and a little bit more at us. Sometimes things get better, and sometimes they only get worse. Its that journey to find out what is going to happen... that's what makes reading fun. I hope you stick to whatever your vision is for this story and may it be unchanged by the comments.
You have gained one more follower this day. Please keep up the wonderful work.
Stay awesome!
~Lightfox Lowell
thanks for the update
Ugh, that moment when an otherwise promising story takes a side trip to crazy town. Still tracking the story, still have a thumbs up on it, but I'm suddenly wondering if I'm going to have to change either of those two settings.
I wish I could tell you that the ponies fought the clean fight, and the changelings let them be. I wish I could tell you that - but the Hive is no fairy-tale world. They never said who disobeyed orders, but we all knew. Things went on like that for awhile - searching a hostile place consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, changelings would show up dead. The ponies kept going - sometimes they could fight 'em off without killin', sometimes not. And that's how it went for the ponies - that was their routine. I do believe those first two hours were the worst for them, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, the Hive would have got the best of them.
Its a nitpick, but wouldn't this be the equivalent of naming a human "Eyebrow" or "Toenail"
4352534 Can you elaborate?
I must say I enjoyed this story thus far. You do a remarkable job of illustrating the point that no side in any cconflict is completely in the right, be it from a misunderstanding or politics at the top. I am a bit curious about the fight scene at the end here though. It strikes me as odd that the changelings would leave four incapacitated, but alive enemies in there home base unsecured. Unless I'm reading wrong and missed the part where they killed them. On the pony side, was this group a scout team? Because they seemed to be very lightly armed (No spears) I get that metal shod hooves make for a heck of a set of bludgeoning weapons but still some reach is always a good thing. Lastly I'm curious as to if there are any earth ponies in your equestrian military. Confined close quarters battle seems like it would be right up there alley and play to there strengths. Regardless, I look forwards to the conclusion of this story as it appears to be heading in that direction. Best of wishes with all your future writings.
4352625 My gut reaction is that killing subdued prisoners would not be an acceptable action in any military that has Celestia as their commander in chief/head of state. I wouldn't be surprised if such an action led to court martials and dishonorable discharges for anyone involved.
In my mind, that gives the following options as the explanation for what happened this chapter:
* A single incompetent commander willing to unlawfully kill changelings happens to run up against Pincer's friends. That's enough of a coincidence that it makes me squint questionably at the chapter.
* The entire invasion force is made up of ponies that think this is an acceptable course of action in spite of any official instructions, which makes me nervous about a story that heavily involves the guard.
* Killing subdued prisoners is considered to be an acceptable military response from Celestia down, which I do not accept in a story without a heavily AU Celestia and Equestria.
4352733 Celestia has standards for the Royal Guard, and for the most part the Royal Guard upholds them. That doesn't mean, though, that the guards are automatons with no thoughts but to follow those standards. They aren't. They're people (albeit pony-shaped) that, like you or me, make bad decisions in the heat of the moment. It's one thing for someone to say in a ceremony hall or in a briefing that they'll never kill a helpless enemy ever. It's an entirely different thing to actually follow through on that when they're far into hostile territory and half their squad is unconscious and the other half is wounded and the guys that tried to kill them could get up and start trying to kill them again at any time.
Done reading up to this point.
Bloody brilliant story man. EXTREMELY well done
4352791 Well, that doesn't make happy about the events at the end of the chapter, but at least I feel reassured that we didn't just take an unexpected swerve towards grimdark Equestria.
I knew that the ambush on the hive was going to get bloody.
I mean, the entire situation is just stupid, I know Celestia wanted to protect her ponies, but just attacking another "country" wasnt a good idea
The only thing she does here is creating even more hate on the changeling side and making negotiations and a diplomatic route impossible, the changelings already feel threatened by the ponies and now they got even more reasons to do so.
I just hope that the changelings aren't going to simply give up or befriend the ponies on a whimp after this.
Oh shit, not only is this not going to go well for Pincer, it's not going to go well for the other Changelings, but Pincer in particular since as it was mentioned, he's probably going to go on full suicidal after this.
I went back and re-read the previous chapter to refresh my memory and I have a little nitpick, if you're interested in hearing it.
I feel like these reactions are not quite what I'd expect from Celestia.
Ooh, that got brutal quickly.
It seems Antenna is still alive, though...
4352913 Thanks for the feedback, I'll look into these and consider whether to revise them.
On the one hoof, yay update!
On the other? OW! That fight scene...
Pincer is going to need to be in witness protection for the rest of his life, as all changelings of all Hives now will detest him.
This is why I like this fic, and rather enjoy the way you tell it. Unlike so many others who seem to find comfort and safety in the sunny Equestria presented to us in the show, and many fan works as well; you actually address the unpleasantness and tragedy present in the entire situation. There is no easy reconciliation, no rapid acceptance. You write optimism in the story, but you take the time to face how unpleasant the situation really is: Yes, there is hope that ponies and changelings can live in harmony. But it will take many years and many more hardships to overcome the differences between the two races, as well as the long and unhappy history already present.
So yes, I am sad and hurt reading this chapter, but it's unavoidable for issues like this. Once again; I love how you're actually facing this issue head on and aren't taking the easy way out, and am really enjoying the story. More please.
Yikes, when he said 'kill them' my heart stopped. Hope Antennae gets out. I see much shouting at Pincer in the future. I really hope that everything turns out alright in the end.
4352791 You know, thinking about this a little more, I would suggest taking this scenario and running it by one of the known military authors on the site. I'm just a random dude with no immediate military ties or knowledge after all, so I could be totally off base about this.
Cold in Gardez is the first that comes to mind. He is in Afghanistan at the moment, so he may have some observations to offer about being in hostile territory. Jake The Army Guy is another option, he is a Drill Sergeant somewhere in the States I think, so he may be a bit easier to get a hold of compared to Cold.
4353217 Jake WAS a Drill Sergeant. He's doing other military things now. Communications and whatnot. I can see if he's up for it... But to be honest in my opinion this is just fine.
Just do me a favor and don't let it escalate out of control like so many authors are prone to doing.
I have faith in your writing.