12 - A Pair Of Queens
Ambrosia and her centurion blazed through the trees like lightning. Forced to follow in their wake of rustling branches, Chrysalis was hard-pressed to keep up. So fixated was she on their path, that she nearly stumbled over a changeling bearing the colors of her hated enemy
Fate had the soldier presenting his back to the charging queen. He would never see her coming and she intended to keep it that way.
The instant before Chrysalis was upon the unsuspecting changeling, a ring of yellow magic locked itself around his neck and pulled him into the foliage above. With eyes alight with fury at being denied her quarry, the queen glared into the branches.
A startled cry fell from the spot where the soldier had been abducted. "A-Ambrosia!? Wait! No! Those are my wings! What are you do-AAAAGGG-" His scream of agony was cut short with one final gurgle.
Moments later, the soldier dropped back to the ground, his body devoid of both his life and his wings, with a fresh hole through his neck, roughly the diameter of Ambrosia's horn.
"Damn you, Ambrosia! His death should have been at my horn!"
The other queen swung down from her perch, hanging upside-down like some sort of strange bat. Several drops of green blood, supplied from the changeling upon the forest floor, fell from her guilty horn. "Sorry, Chryssi! You'll have to be faster than that! We'll see if you can get the next one, 'kay?"
In one fluid motion, the Honeycomb mother flipped herself up to the top of her branch and pushed herself off, nimbly dancing away through the treetops. Chrysalis bared her fangs in frustration and gave chase once more. The flight of the two changeling queens made no further stops until coming across a grove of trees, every single one hollowed out and stripped of any leaf, dead or otherwise.
Both yellow-backed and purple-backed changelings dashed among the trees, with the odd burst of magic thrown from a horn to explode against its hapless target. Cries of death rang out as changelings on both sides fell.
Ambrosia's quick eyes darted over her hive, taking in the entire scene in mere seconds. One of her children galloped by, an airborne Miasma soldier in close pursuit. A very uncharacteristic snarl appeared on the matriarch's lips. She jumped into the chase above the Miasma changeling.
Her flips and leaps from branch to branch did not affect the accuracy of the Honeycomb queen in the slightest. Mid-leap, she cast a single spark of magic to violently and effectively remove the beating wings from the back of her child's pursuer. Before he had time to fall to the ground, the matriarch altered her course ninety degrees and dropped her entire weight onto the newly wingless changeling. Her horn found its mark with deadly precision right at the base of the soldier's neck. His death was instant. A toss of her head flung the dead body away.
She turned from her child to meet the three other enemy soldiers that had been following their hivemate. Each one froze at the sight of the murderous gleam within the queen's eyes. They knew all too well the fate of those subjected to her curiosity. What they did not know of was the wrath of the Honeycomb mother acting to protect the children she loved. Unwittingly, they would now be the first to find out . The aura shimmering around Ambrosia's horn took on a volatile dance, becoming angrier and more flame-like in its movements.
"Scatter!"
No amount of warning given could have provided the trio of changelings time enough to escape the magic of the queen before them. The one who had shouted the order to flee felt his elytra wrenched open before snapping off completely, each one issuing a sickening crunch. He fell to the ground with a howl of agony that was most satisfying to the queen's ears. The elytra of both of his hivemates followed in short succession. The matriarch's magic shaped each one of the pieces of the chitinous shells into a savage point and an unnervingly playful smile crossed her face. "I've never tried this before, but it can't hurt, right?"
With the speed of striking lightning, the lethal projectiles darted straight for the Miasma soldiers. The velocity and shape of the elytra let them effortlessly crack through the legs of their former owners. Each of the pinned changelings screamed with pain, prompting a giggle from Ambrosia. "Well, it didn't hurt me at least!"
Above the Honeycomb queen, another streak of yellow flashed through the leafless branches, also in pursuit of a group of enemy soldiers. This is useless! Seayr hissed to himself. Miasma's soldiers are keeping us locked on the ground. If we can't get into the trees, our losses will be massive!
The soldiers of every hive have their own distinct combat style, developed from a combination of their environment and instruction from their mother. The Honeycomb hive made excellent use of the trees in their forest home. A child of Ambrosia on the move among the treetops was near impossible to track, let alone mount an attack against. The Miasma soldiers were well aware of this tactic and refused to see it employed.
Through a gap in the branches, Seayr's pupiless eyes spotted his own opening. Using his forelegs, he swung himself under a branch to plant his hind legs against the one just above it, kicking himself downward at an impressive velocity. A golden sphere of magic sped from his horn before him to burst against the back of his target and draw its attention. The Miasma soldier looked up an instant before the horn of the Honeycomb centurion pierced him between the eyes.
The sound of the impact drew the eyes of the other two soldiers, who immediately disengaged their previous target in favor of the more valuable one.
Seayr removed himself from the body of the defeated changeling just in time for him to duck the oncoming charge of his first adversary. Before the second had time to strike, the centurion's wings were open and he was gone into the trees.
"Come back, coward!" the Miasma soldier shouted after him.
No sooner had the challenge been made than the armor-bearing changeling appeared from the trees again, course as straight and true as an arrow. The back of the second soldier cracked under the needle-sharp horn leading the charge.
A single soldier from any hive was no match for a centurion. In less time than it took for the last Miasma soldier to make a move, Seayr was upon him, horn in and out of his throat in one swift motion. With the gurgle of the dying soldier, there were three less enemies within the centurion's hive. The sounds of battle still rang out all around him; his work was far from done.
-------------------------
Not all of Ambrosia's soldiers had yet been freed to take the battle to the trees. A pair of them stood back to back, forced to remain on the ground. As alien as this fighting style was, they still possessed their mother's uncanny reflexes which had let them claim the lives of four of their opponents. They were growing tired, however, and the attacks from the Miasma changelings came at a relentless pace.
A focused charge succeeded in breaking through the pair's weakened defenses. The fangs of the enemy met within the throat of one of the cornered soldiers. With the death of his hivemate, the priority of the surviving soldier went from defending his brethren to self-preservation. In a single blink of an eye, his wings were open and he was off into the air.
As quick as he was, the Miasma soldiers were faster. A barrage of magenta bolts bombarded him, one of them succeeding in striking his wings and removing all control he had over them. He plummeted back to the ground, crash-landing in a bush. Surprisingly, he had time enough to remove himself from the bush before he was beset by the enemy. For whatever reason, the four Miasma changelings were frozen in fear, staring at something. Something behind him. When the Honeycomb changeling turned to share in their sight, fear overcame him as well. "C-Chrysalis!?"
The Chrysalis matriarch stepped over the golden-backed changeling, paying absolutely no heed to his fright at her presence. Her burning gaze was fixated upon the four of the Miasma hive before her. It would be some time more until she could bathe her horn in Miasma's blood, but for now, her children would have to suffice. This would be enjoyable. An angry flame danced to life around the queen's horn.
Unlike their hivemate's encounter with Ambrosia, the four soldiers wasted no time in readying their wings for escape. As soon as they did so, Chrysalis knew her target. Her child had lost his wings; she could not get them back, but her enemy's children would know the same pain. A lone burst of magic leapt from her gnarled horn. At her will, the eight wings of the soldiers lit themselves with an arcane flame. The transparent membranes burned readily, forcing their owners to their knees. Chrysalis could have slain them instantly, but her hate for Miasma kept them alive. Kept them suffering. Death would not come to them until she let it.
While her magic was at work consuming the soldiers' wings it was also busy burning four of the surrounding branches down to lethal points in preparation for target practice. With time, the screams of the soldiers waned. They had outlived what little usefulness the changeling queen had placed upon them. A magic ring that was far more constricting than it should have been appeared around each of their throats, lifting them into the air, where she bestowed them some parting words. "When you get to Tartarus, do give Arnyx my regards." she hissed. The magic choking the enemy changelings flung them backwards onto the branches.
When Chrysalis turned to leave her defeated prey, she froze. Never did she expect to have those pheromones cross her senses. Not here. Not now. The queen's shock was short-lived. She flew after the familiar scents, fearing she would be too late. What she came across nearly proved her fears true. No!
A changeling lay, unmoving and bloodied, on the forest floor before her. It was not a question of whether or not he was still alive; Chrysalis knew he was. It was his coloring. This was her child. Her eyes moved swiftly to take in the rest of the scene. Five more of her children stared down a trio of Honeycomb soldiers. Any anger she might have had toward the yellow-backed changelings was overshadowed by the desire to protect her own. She had to draw their attention. "Quickly! Flee!"
In the time that all eyes were fixed upon her, the Honeycomb changelings saw what she had done and fled into the trees.
"Damn it! You let them escape!"
Chrysalis flinched as five pairs of hate-filled eyes were trained upon her. The wound Sylph's departure had left upon her heart was still uncomfortably raw. Her instinctual reaction was the same. "Therax! Mind your tone! That was done for your own good!"
"Save it, you useless hag! Miasma gave us orders to follow her soldiers against the Honeycomb hive. You would dare to bar us from our task!?"
"Has Miasma succeeded in deluding you so much that you have forgotten the odds against you!? How do you expect to emerge victorious against Ambrosia within her own hive!? You would be slaughtered!"
"Why would you choose now to concern yourself with our lives when your previous actions so carelessly threw us aside?
"I am well aware of my mistakes and I know enough to tell you that if you choose to continue with this assault, your lives will be forfeit. If you wish to walk free from this hive, you will heed my words and stand down." she snarled.
After a bout of visual debate between the queen and her child, Therax nodded. "Very well. I will respect such a request, but only out of my desire to live." he replied coldly.
The matriarch sighed inwardly. "How many from the hive accompanied you?"
"Our group numbered twenty in total. We five, along with Infiltrator Polen, were selected from the group to lead the attack upon the hive."
"And what of the others?" Chrysalis did her best to keep the urgency from her voice.
"You no longer stand as my queen and I am under no obligation to address that question."
The female changeling could already hear her angry reply in her mind, even before Therax had finished speaking. However, to put voice to it would accomplish nothing. Chrysalis swallowed her words and knelt beside the injured Polen. While his injuries had inflicted enough pain to render him unconscious, they were far from life-threatening and could be mended easily. The changeling mother looked about once more. "Remain with me until all of Miasma's children have been slain. You may then return to the hive if you so choose."
"And Polen?"
"His wounds are too serious to allow him to travel. I will tend to them. When he is of able strength I...shall inform him of what has transpired. If he chooses, he may return to the hive at that time as well."
"No. The rest of our party will tend to him. He will not stay so you can poison his mind with your lies. He comes with us."
The furious, fang-bearing snarl that Chrysalis turned to her approaching child halted him in his tracks, causing him to flinch away. "He. Stays. Your words will not convince me otherwise."
"Understood." Therax muttered at length.
The queen gave no further words to her soldier. A gentle green light fell from her horn to bathe Polen's body with an identical glow. In response to this healing spell, the wounds leaking the changeling's blood out onto his carapace closed. That blood that had already escaped evaporated away in a small cloud of steam. His sealed wounds were then treated with precise applications of nectar from the queen's legs. That was all she could do. Any further healing would have to be done on his own time.
-------------------------
Each Honeycomb changeling that was able to return to the trees thanks to the efforts of Ambrosia and her centurion dulled the chaos and swung the conflict in their favor. As the minutes passed, the clamor of battle surrounding Chrysalis and her children gradually died away.
There was one final scream and then silence. Chrysalis waited several minutes to make sure the silence remained. "That was the last of Miasma's spawn. Follow me from the hive. Once we are without its boundaries, the five of you make haste to the rest of your party, before Ambrosia-"
Chrysalis nearly walked straight into the snout of the Honeycomb mother as she swung down from the branch reaching over the other queen's path. "Before I what, Chryssi?"
"Ah!" The startled matriarch's elytra twitched as she closed her wings from the alarm. "Air-headed idiot..." she hissed under her breath. "Miasma sent my children as part of the attack upon your hive. I kept-"
Ambrosia's yellow-green eyes lit up with excitement before Chrysalis could finish speaking. "Ooh! Can I pull their wings out too? I wanna see if they shake like Sylph-"
"Touch one more of my children and I will tear your wings out." the emerald-eyed changeling growled. "As I was saying, I prevented my children from taking the lives of any of yours. I merely wish safe passage for them back to the rest of their party."
The upside-down changeling shook her head, her mane bouncing around comically. "Can't do that."
"And why not?"
"Becauuuuse...they're right here." At Ambrosia's nod, a group of her children headed by Seayr stepped from the trees. In the center of this group were the other fourteen changelings Therax had spoken of. "We found them just outside the hive."
Chrysalis' motherly instincts rose to the top once more, peeling her lips back in a snarl. "Ambrosia, if you so much as laid a hoof upon any of them, I will choke you on your own blood."
Seayr stepped forward, fangs bared in defense of his queen. "Mind your tongue, witch! Remember which hive you stand in."
The glare Chrysalis had focused on Ambrosia was turned to the centurion. "And you mind yours, whelp. The day has not yet come when I shall let the hive I stand within decide my words."
"Today's just not your day for dealing with centurions, is it, Chryssi?" Ambrosia giggled, dropping from her branch.
"Leave Sylph out of this. Now answer me. Have you harmed my children?"
"No." she replied, puffing out her cheeks in a small pout. "They're fine. It's not like they were actually doing anything. They were just sort of sitting there, waiting."
"Then release them. They have committed no crimes against your hive."
Ambrosia nodded. "That's true. They haven't. But they have." She pointed past the rival queen to the group of five behind her. "You said that they were part of Miasma's attack force, right?"
"I did, yes. But I also stated that I prevented them from killing any of your own."
"They came with the intent though. I don't really think they would have stopped if you hadn't done it for them."
"What do you stand to gain from detaining them further?" Chrysalis shot back. "And before you even think about wasting any breath on 'pulling out their wings,' know this. I have nothing left to lose. You do not. If you detain my children and then proceed to harm them in front of me, I assure you that I will take as many of your children from you as I can before you finally kill me." The tension between the two queens was so taut that every changeling, even Seayr, had fallen silent for fear of setting it off. "Your choice."
Ambrosia coolly held the fiery eyes of the opposing matriarch. No words were shared between them, but they were communicating nonetheless. "Very well. Seayr, let them go. Escort them to the edge of our territory and make sure they leave. Don't harm them. Not unless they refuse to leave quietly."
Chrysalis nodded to her own children in turn. "Do as she says and do not give Seayr any trouble." Any sort of eye contact between the queen and her departing children was avoided. She didn't need any more of that pain today. Instead, she and Ambrosia continued with their ultimatums. "Polen will remain here, under my care, until he is fit to travel once more."
"On one condition." Ambrosia corrected. "You won't be taking shelter within my hive. Choose a tree just outside its boundaries."
It was nowhere near Chrysalis' nature to submit to the conditions of others, but with an injured child under her wing, she was willing to make a reluctant exception. "As you wish. We shall discuss the plans to deal with Miasma at a later time."
"Agreed."
------------------------
It was no challenge for the exiled queen to locate a branch adequate enough to support both her and her patient. Rather, the challenge came with the arrival of the moon. This was the second night in a row that sleep had not come to her. Her need for rest fought doggedly with the need to watch Polen and ensure his recovery. The amnesty that Ambrosia had granted her gave her a slight peace of mind. With that knowledge, the queen drifted into a light doze.
She was almost immediately roused by a crashing through the foliage, followed by a "Get back here, intruder! We told you to stay out of Honeycomb territory!"
"Oof! Get off of me! I'm only looking for my queen! I don't care about your damned hive!"
Even drowsy and exhausted, Chrysalis instantly identified the voice. "Kytin?"
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
803 users online
1,234,950 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
you did amazing, as expected
Chrys is slowly regaining her children. I wanna see her win!!
Ah, another perfect installment. In addition to your die-for-her-children mother aspect, I see the "gotta' catch 'em all" trope, too.
Two-or-so down! Two hundred-or-so to go! C'mon, Chryssi!
I would say that my favorite queen at this moment is Ambrosia. One has to love the competent, playful sadist with a lovely laugh.