Cargo bay two was dark save for deep red lights across the walls. Two rows of Jevruun Vrunningee tensed for the battle they’d spent the last fifty hours preparing for. Luna’s Royal Guard remained hidden within the ship as a reserve for the time being. Thunderfury, Ferrum, and Rasua stood in contemplative silence directly in front of the large bay doors, waiting for them to open. The thrum of the great propeller engines would have been almost overpowering this close to the edge were it not for the protective earmuffs everyone possessed. The ship rocked against some turbulence, sending a thrill of nerves across the thirty gathered warriors. The rest of the infantry waited with Intel in cargo bay one on the other side of the ship.

The queens had been too busy for anyone to inquire on the state of their grandmother’s hive, so the soldiers sat in pensive anticipation. The only thing they could pick up was constant chatter from their aunts and uncles, oddly distorted by some unknown force on the battlefield. Many double checked their weapons and armor. Most of it was a light aluminum alloy scale weave that still allowed flight over heavier steel. It was one thing both Twilight and Rainbow had all but demanded after the massive casualties in Rookhaven.

Thunderfury was checking over Aegis’ twin spare fuel canisters while silently wishing she would stay out of the fighting. Aegis has got to remember she’s a princess now. She’s too valuable to be out in front anymore. But it’s a bit late to try and talk her out of it now.

Ignorant of Thunderfury’s mounting worry, Rasua stood by the others in tight quarters, yet still felt very much apart from them. Not that she dwelled on it very much since she was busy with her own preparations and fearful musings. I don’t know if Queen Rainbow Dash is crazy or a genius. I give her the short list of spells I can replicate, and she jumps on three of them. A massive weight of responsibility and fear pressed down on her. Now she’s basing the whole attack on me of all people. Just because the other changeling nations would never expect sphinx magic, let alone know how to counter it.

Casting such thoughts aside, Rasua held four out of twelve precious stone orbs in her hands, and spoke words of power that were lost to the winds for most. “With my serenade, I call upon your aid.”

Those who were not otherwise distracted watched the lone sphinx with curiosity as she breathed a gentle green mist onto the four orbs, which started glowing the same color. Ultimately the changelings forewent asking her about it due to the ear protection. Rasua deposited the glowing gems in a tightly fastened satchel and locked each orb in place with a socket. She took another set of spherical gems into her hands.

“Censored, silenced, rebuked, denied.” This time, Rasua’s breath took on a bluish purple, as did the jewels shortly after.

She repeated the process with the second set before pulling out the last of her gems. This time, the words of power left an oily, dark touch on all nearby, making their skin crawl. “Demons of shadow, hate, and death, I bring your terror upon my breath.” An inky black miasma heaved its way out of Rasua’s mouth and greedily sank into the four awaiting gems. An extremely unwanted side effect of the spell was horrid breath that could curdle milk.

Some of the unnerved changelings might have asked why Rasua was apparently wielding dark magic, were they not under strict orders from Rainbow Dash to leave the sphinx to her spells. Aegis gritted her teeth at the prospect of working side by side with a dark magic user. I know Aunty closely examined Rasua’s list of spells and asked for that one specifically. So why did she ask for dark magic of all things? Any investigation was cut short when the cargo bay doors clanged loudly before yawning open into the skies beyond.

Everyone moved to look down at the burning battlefield almost two kilometers below. It was just past midnight so the raging firestorms charring the once bountiful farmlands below lit up the whole area around the caldera in harsh orange and reds. The hive itself was also ablaze in many places. The great shield tower, which had stood since long before Cadista’s current incarnation, was completely gone. Only a wreck of steel remained of it.

Sporadic fires across multiple other sections of the hive burned within heavy, blue, mana-rich mists. Seven large globs of blue mana lurched up and over the caldera wall to hit the hive within. Large orange shields were brought up, and intercepted all of them, though the massive magical artillery shot on the far west side busted through the shield, yet destabilized in the process, spilling caustic mana below.

The skies above Stripped Gear itself were awash with small black clouds and tracer rounds as the hive’s anti-air defenses focused on the latest assault trying to run the gauntlet. The hive’s own artillery still thundered in answer, but were far too few for Aegis’ liking who still remembered walking along Stripped Gear’s walls which once bristled with more guns than she could count.

As the Deception slinked its way through the skies, what was left of the south and eastern face of the caldera came into view. Fury and lust for revenge surged after the gathered soldiers saw how whole sections of Stripped Gear were in ruins and a huge area of the walls had been demolished all the way down to the forest floor. Even the corvette-destroyer, Dagger, had been brought down, and crashed near the palace. Yet the ship’s single dorsal turret was still active, and adding its voice to the remaining defenses.

The only thing that gave Aegis and her soldiers any sense of satisfaction was the virtual carpet of chitin bound corpses that covered the battlefield both in and out of the caldera. A humorless smirk marred Aegis’ muzzle at how the number of grey bodies were by far the vast minority of the dead.

The bombardment against the wall had been so heavy that the whole area was almost fully obscured by dense clouds of loose blue mana, a hallmark to the titanic magical forces levied against Stripped Gear. From what little I was able to pick up from momma’s filtering of grandma’s defense chatter, those giant crawlers double as biological artillery platforms.

A snaking green shield wormed its way from the farmlands to the breach in the wall, protecting the mass drone assault all the way up to the last few seconds before reaching the remaining infantry along the walls and inner courtyard. Principal among the defenders were flamethrowers, which, while effective at keeping the enemy back, could do nothing about the shield beyond due to their short range.

Spears of burning mana bolts spilled forth from behind the shield, answering the defender’s rifle fire. Aegis had to clamp down on all four legs to keep the wind from sucking her out of the doors. The propellers were louder than ever, but even they couldn’t drown out all of the sounds of battle below.

<Boom Team, prepare to jump!> Rainbow Dash’s voice cut through the shock of such a battlefield.

Aegis stepped aside to let five sky blue drones perch at the lip of the bay doors. Their wings unfurled, revealing they actually had four, with the second pair of wings behind the first. None of the Queens’ Guard had paid much attention to Rainbow Dash’s pet wing project, only knowing that these five drones had opted to be rebirthed to have them.

Thunderfury cocked his head in curiosity at his unique brothers and sisters. They had two sets of wings. The front pair looked like normal changeling wings, while the second pair was angled backwards and more akin to a dragonfly. As the group waited for Rainbow’s command, the four wings were held very close together, far too close to flap without hitting each other. Thunderfury had seen this strain in action before only once, and knew full well those wings were the strangest in the world for one reason: they didn’t flap.

Momma’s secret weapon, he mused with dark anticipation, and to think Aunty Twilight said bringing them for first contact was overkill. His eyes wandered down their lean frames to see there were no holes in their legs, wings, or anywhere else.

<Boom Team, launch in five.>

A humorless smirk crossed their faces as each of their wings started glowing bright cerise. Their wings didn’t buzz at all, they simply stayed rigid as they pulled in more mana.

<Jump!>

A blast of magic from the gap between their wings sent the drones behind them reeling as the Boom Team blasted out of the cargo bay.

Aegis and the others barely had time to recover when Rainbow spoke again. <We’re nearly in position. All combat personnel prepare to engage!>

Aegis shoved her way towards Rasua. Knowing she’d never be able to hear her, Aegis opted to use simplistic sign language to get Rasua ready to go.

The sphinx held her shield close to her chest. It was the only item in the changeling armory she was moderately proficient with, or dared to use.

Up on the bridge, Rainbow Dash used what was left of her scouts in the field to identify the best targets. Twilight assures me Cadista’s crew can hold the walls for at least another hour. So I can focus on the big meaty targets. You take out the logistics, you kill the army; warfare 101.

The three big crawler drones were much closer to the walls now. A dense acid green shield blanketed each one as they inched ever closer to the hive walls. “Captain, I think our targets have already marked themselves.” She gave a toothy smirk at the prospect of revenge for her fallen aunts and uncles. “You may fire when ready.”

Captain Rourke adjusted the naval hat of her predecessor as she made sure void stone shells were loaded. Several more seconds later, all main gunners reported they finished zeroing in. <Commencing bombardment, my queen.>

With the Deception tilted at an angle, the four main deck turrets lined up at a single crawler. The first salvo of void stone shells roared, disrupting the cloaking field. Poor luck saw only three of them striking home. Even so, the green shield collapsed almost instantly with most of the casters either dead or soon to be.

The thunderclap of fire and detonation focused a million eyes upon the flagship of Phoenix’s Roost hanging above the western wall of the hive below. No one had a chance to respond before the next salvo cracked the sky, and implanted themselves in the nearest crawler. The massive drone peeled off an unholy screech of incomparable pain before it exploded in a mountain of blood and broken bodies.

As one, the massive throng of changelings that had been waiting for Twilight Sparkle to reveal herself answered back with a deafening unsettling howl before surging through the air. Yet the Deception’s gunners were faster. They quickly cycled targets and destroyed the second crawling behemoth before most of the enemy could get off the ground.

Each one of the hostile drones answered by bringing up a blackish purple shield around them, giving the impression that the very earth itself was awash with black magic and was rising to greet the warship.

Through her eyes within Stripped Gear, Twilight was too paralyzed in awe and terror to stop her ship’s gunners from loading the next round of void shells. Rainbow Dash only huffed at the sight. “They’re making this too easy.” <All batteries at the ready… Open fire!>

The four deck guns spoke, launching shells so fast the waiting infantry in the cargo bays could see the contrails. The shells exploded several meters short of the target area, throwing void powder in all directions. The Deception’s crew watched, eagerly awaiting the mass to plummet back down. However, not a single hostile drone even flinched, and sped right past the void stone. Only the smaller AA cannons inflicted mild casualties due to the shield.

Rainbow’s jaw gaped in stunned silence as the black magic shields kept closing in. With the voice of a hundred thousand drones, the controlling queen behind them jeered. “As predictable as ever, Queen Rainbow Dash. You should have stayed in Equestria!”

Rausa freaked at the same voice coming out of tens of thousands of mouths at once, and scurried closer to Aegis.

“Wait… that sounded like Silandrus! Why is she here?” Rainbow Dash growled. And to think my original plan was to bombard Sticky Spit’s hive.

<Dark magic is empowered by void stones!> Twilight barked to the gunners and her sister.

Rainbow Dash cursed, but wasted no time. <Crew, clear the ammo and switch to standard flak! Aegis, that’s your cue, get your plot in position now!>

The gunners had already been on the move since Twilight’s warning. <Aye, my queen!>

Rainbow Dash angrily kicked the railing around the bridge’s windows. “You think you know me, Silandrus? Think you read my file do you?” Gotta buy time for my gunners to get the void stones out. <Raptor, punch it, show these hollow drones what it means to be a true changeling!>

Raptor stood up on the small tuft of black cloud with a malicious smirk as he warmed up his wings. <For the glory of the hive.> Charging headlong into the carpet of hostile drones, Raptor and his four squadmates dove down from above the warship, blitzing past it as Aegis’ troopers started to blanket the frigate.

Rainbow Dash saw them pass, yet her pride was crushed by the weight of the enemy ahead of them. <All batteries on my mark!>

Raptor saw the black cloud rushing towards him with such speed that he howled at the thrill of it. The all encompassing Weave of the World started to warp around him. Yet his strength alone was not enough, which is why his squad formed up around him in wedge formation to combine their efforts.

By now, the rival drones saw them, and saw the radical build up in mana pressure. Silandrus had a number of the closest drones drop their shields to launch spells, but they barely got a shot off before it was too late. Raptor’s squad broke the mana-barrier barely ten meters in front of the enemy.

A massive conical shock wave cracked near the center of the enemy formation, plowing through the swarm like a scythe through so much wheat. The collective shield collapsed almost in its entirety as the rippling wave of mana swept through the battlefield, giving pause to the battle on the ground and rocking the Deception.

The glass on the frigate’s bridge shuddered within its frame, but held firm. Rainbow’s two personal bodyguards stood closer to her, wary of the glass breaking as it did in Rookhaven. “Have a little more faith in my refit, guys.” Rainbow relished the familiar magical tidal wave that had earned her cutie mark all those years ago. Yet she only gave herself an instant of satisfaction before giving the order. <Open up, all batteries hot!>

Knowing Raptor’s team had fled the kill zone, the gunners let loose with a storm of lead rain. From her perch near the cargo bay doors, Rasua watched in fascinated horror as distant drones fell by the dozens, then the hundreds. Even the smaller, close in, anti-air guns started chattering, barely bothering to aim at any target along the port side because it was nearly impossible to miss, such was the number of their enemy. Every casualty took two more with them as the injured struck their kin on the way down.

The lone sphinx fully expected the forces arrayed against them to flee in the face of such fury. They have no airships of their own, no weapons that can reach us, or they’d have used it already. No one would throw themselves against such an imbalance of force. It is folly.

Aegis suffered no such misconception, and tightened her grip on Burny. Now’s the time. She turned to Rasua and motioned for her to remove her earmuffs. <“All hands,”> she yelled both vocally and over the hive mind, <“Spread out along the surface deck, and stay out of the heavy cannons’ way!">

Both Aegis and Intel’s platoons flew out to blanket the Deception. Intel’s solely changeling platoon latched themselves to the ventral section of the ship, staying clear of the propellers. Aegis took her troops along with Rasua to the dorsal side. After settling into her position, Aegis watched the living cloud get torn to pieces and yet none of it riled her like the others nearby. Stop toying with us, Silandrus. Show your true strength.

As if answering Aegis’ challenge, dozens of dense tendrils of black smoke jabbed up from the broken remains of the crawlers and sped through the mass of dying changelings. The heavy firepower from both the warship and the remaining anti-air artillery from Stripped Gear below switched focus onto the frighteningly fast spires of smoke, but they took much more damage to bring down. Even the few that were blow from the sky were quickly replaced by more screaming out of the pulped crawlers.

Aegis lit her horn fully expecting Twilight’s next order. <Shield teams, assist me. We’re not letting this ship go down again!>

“Oorah!” the infantry cheered back. From within a specially modified spell augmentation room, Twilight Sparkle leveraged her pony lineage to bring forth a bright orange-tinted purple shield, springing to life barely two meters away from the hull, forcing Aegis to remain on all fours. Well over a dozen drones added their strength to the queen’s spell. Scant second later, the shadowy tendrils collided with the barrier to reveal hissing furnaces of primordial rage. Furnaces of rage that were packed inside the shells of bulky muscle bound drones bearing slitted eyes. Even as the drones started flying around the shield to evade the platoon's defensive fire, their chitin bulked up and hardened, allow them to take several rounds before finally being felled.

One of them impacted almost in front of Rasua, causing her to stumble backwards at the sight of it. These black chitin clad chittering insects were exactly what Rasua feared most in coming here, causing her to shuffle backwards. Only her pride as a predator kept Rasua on her feet.

Aegis watched as the smoky drones started encircling the warship, completely blanketing it in an inky black cloud making it impossible to see beyond the shield.

<Aegis!> Twilight shouted after several tried futile to shoot the drones. <I’m lending my power to the shield, forget the smokescreen, just attack, before the mass reaches us!>

Thanks to her gauntlets leaving the bottom of her hooves free, Aegis used her wall-walking to keep standing as the warship under her hooves banked to move north. The shield itself started flickering as hostile changelings started to ram it. <All squads, I don’t care if you can see a target or not, open fire!>

Gunfire and flamethrowers joined the mounted batteries, hoping to hit something. Rasua shuffled to the side of the smaller mounted AA gun that was chattering as fast as it could be reloaded. This is madness! What kind of enemy just throws themselves against such power?

The shield impacts were happening faster and faster as more hostile drones reached the blinded warship. Aegis had to stop channeling the shield before her grip on Burny failed entirely. “I will not die here! I still have a hive to make!” She screamed in rage while adjusting Burny to a wide spray and charring a dozen drones in seconds.

“For every one you kill, ten more will take its place,” Silandrus scoffed almost patronizingly. “Cadista has failed to teach you discretion, Twilight Sparkle. A shame my lesson will not be have time to be taken to heart.”

Rasua saw more and more of Aegis’ squad begin to give out on the shield and the impacts were only increasing. I hope this works on changeling magic. I don’t have enough spell-gems to test it earlier. Focusing on four of her imbued orbs, Rasua lifted a hand to the sky and a chorus of ghostly sphinx ancestors materialized at her side. “With our song of heavenly aid, none of you shall be afraid!”

The chorus of Rasua’s ancestors sang a divine hymn that pierced the din of war like butter, bringing pause to everyone who heard it. Loose mana from the Weave itself was pulled in by the chorus with Rasua’s outstretched hand being the focus. Two of the linked orbs dimmed and shattered into dust as Rasua directed that mana to Twilight and the friendly changelings, bolstering their spent energies.

Aegis snorted approvingly, and started lending her renewed strength to the shield while pouring on more ribbons of fire from Burny. Her actions spurred the others to do the same, yet their progress was still hampered by the deep black smokescreen.

The shield itself reformed completely with Twilight’s full might backed by the seemingly depthless well of mana the serenade offered. It almost looked like the shield would hold forever, yet as fast as the wellspring of magic appeared, it vanished once the last of Rasua’s orbs blackened and fractured. The ghostly sphinxes disappeared as quickly as they came, taking their bounty of mana with them.

“A fascinating spell,” Silandrus bellowed from thousands of voices. “I’ll have to take you alive to learn how it works.”

Silandrus’ gloating was cut short by the blast wave of a second pseudo-rainboom tearing through the gathered mass of changelings once more. The magical nature of the shockwave cleared the smokescreen and obliterated half of the shadowy drones along with them.

Rainbow Dash cheered loudly. “Did you forget about them already, you old hag!”

Raptor and the others struggled to change course, and all but careened through the dazed enemy to crash back into the cargo bay close to death’s door from mana exhaustion. Their magic was spent, having been too far away to benefit from Rasua’s spell.

Rainbow ordered the medics to tend to them after getting her bearings. Her pride for the Boom team was without measure for the sacrifice they fully volunteered for. Good thing the medics know to put them on life support after making a rainboom. The battle forced Rainbow Dash to pull her thoughts away from her children. So we made it over the northern face of SG. I hope we were enough of a distraction for Granny to evacuate.

Twilight Sparkle all but barged into her sister’s mind. <Rainbow! Mother stopped channeling her hive meditation! The enemy ground forces broke through and are pouring into the city! The hangar for the last gunship was just destroyed by a mana-bomb. She’ll never escape without us!>

<Rut! With the hive med gone, her drones’ morale is going to plummet. I knew we were cutting it close, but I was hoping I’d have more time.> Rainbow paused to think of a plan. <We’d never get a shuttle down there without it getting torn apart. We need a distraction for Granny to evacuate into the northern jungle. We can always pick her up later.>

Twilight grimaced at the odds of success. She felt there was little purpose stating their poor chances. <I’ll relay the new plan.>

<Alright, good. Tell Luna to get ready for the knockout punch!> She switched over to Aegis. <Alright, girl, let them get in close and tell Rasua to get the big one ready.>

Rainbow Dash leaned on the railing with mounting anticipation as the ship’s ventral weapons as they turned their might upon the shielded ground forces. Silandrus saw the blunder when the firepower against her was cut in half. Seems my allies have forced Rainbow’s hoof. Now to break that shield and end Cadista’s bloodline!

Lifting up the battered remnants of her air force, Silandrus still had nearly fifty thousand drones on the battlefield. Since Rainbow Dash was kind enough to eliminate the rest of my outdated drones, it’s time to reveal the fruits of my research.

Scattered among the remaining air force, hundreds of Silandrus’ dedicated spellweavers cast an enchantment all across the rest of her army. Once the enchantment took hold, the long range shelling from the Deception and scant few remaining AA batteries from Stripped Gear found nothing but ethereal targets.

It didn’t matter if it was explosive or magical; none of the shells or flak touched Silandrus’ air force. The mass sped through the air as fast as their wings could take them in a giant spear formation. Rainbow Dash and Aegis stared as the living weapons charged headlong, completely unaffected by their defensive firepower.

Despite the heavy modifications to the ancient enchantment, Twilight knew what it was the instant the warship’s firepower proved useless. Thinking quickly, she altered the shield, giving it a pale yellow light. Thank the First Mother for Celestia’s tutelage.

Rasua and all the others on top of the Deception flinched the moment the spear of ethereal drones collided with the shield. Silandrus had fully expected to pass right through, but recovered from the failure all too quickly. “Clever, Queen Twilight Sparkle, but I still expected more from you.”

Aegis’ infantry resumed their attacks, only to find their bullets passed right through the ethereal swarm eating away at the shield. Only the flamethrowers managed to bring them down, but even Burny took several seconds to bring down a single drone. It wasn’t long before Silandrus’ brood fully blanketed the barrier, and started draining the shield via their horns. To make matters worse, they used the stolen mana to repair their bodies, making the flamethrowers even less effective.

“It’s a shame really. I saw so much potential in your bloodline, and you threw it all away to protect an outdated queen. Such soft Equestrian values have gotten you killed.”

“Says the queen with cobwebs in her holes!” Rainbow Dash growled at the insult. If there’s one thing I hate it’s being ignored! “Don’t act like I’m not here you old hag!” she yelled at the nearest puppeted drone, but got no response.

That’ll change reeeal quick! <Aegis, get Rasua to start casting that spell. I’m going in.> Rainbow Dash dug her hooves into the wooden deck of the bridge right as Twilight spoke from within her chambers.

<Luna’s ready to go and waiting on you.> Twilight’s tone grew frightfully worried. <Be careful, sis, Silandrus is far older than any one of us, except Luna, and you’re going into her domain.>

<You just worry about keeping the shield up, Twi, all I gotta do is keep that old nag focused on me.>

Ending the conversation, Rainbow Dash jumped out of the bridge’s hatch and started spreading her royal pheromones, using her wings to push them towards the drones. Rainbow Dash hoped the pheromones would work on a being able to pass through bullets, but for several agonizing seconds it seemed that would not be the case. Right before Rainbow Dash was about to give up the pheromones in lieu of brute psychic invasion, the four closest puppets began to lose their slitted eyes as Silandrus' grip on them loosened. “Gotcha!” I bet sis would kill to figure out how my personal perfume worked on these guys.

Rainbow Dash sneered as she spun back around to face her victims, and made sure her side of the hive mind was heavily filtered. Acting quickly, she pointed her horn at the nearest one and forced her psychic will upon the drone.

Being so close to the drone who was already being compromised by Rainbow’s pheromones, it was almost trivial to break into Silandrus’ hive mind. What awaited her on the other side, however, was nigh horrifying. Instead of the welcoming subtle forum of Rainbow’s native hive mind, Silandrus’ Link was completely monotone. There was no deviation in the hundred thousand voices echoing the singular dominating voice which Rainbow Dash immediately assumed was Silandrus herself. <Okay, Twilight, I’m in, but I don’t know how long I can remain hidden here.>

<You impudent gnat!> Silandrus growled so loudly it burst a blood vessel in Rainbow Dash’s horn. Silandrus latched onto Rainbow’s mind, keeping her from disconnecting. <You think you can sneak into my hive mind during battle?!>

Rainbow Dash nearly fell off the side of the ship after Silandrus pressed down on her with such force she incapacitated the upstart queen. <It worked didn’t it?> Rainbow prodded, only infuriating the old queen even further.

<Twilight Sparkle was respectable, but you… My hive mind is sacred, perfect, you defile it with your presence. To think someone had the gall to invade me. Me! Not even that upstart Chrysalis was such a monumental fool.> Silandrus imposed so much psychic pressure on Rainbow’s mind, she couldn’t even think of a retort. <I was actually planning to allow you and Twilight to live, just so our species had at least one strain of love producers. But now I think I’ll just kill you first, and then destroy your miserable ship!>

Meanwhile, Aegis was shaking a shell shocked Rasua violently to break through to her. She ripped off the jane’s ear muffs to yell at her. “Hey, you signed up for this, now snap out of it! We need that spell pronto!”

Rasua’s world seemed to slow to a crawl and sound was muffled like someone shoved a pillow into her ears. The snarling teenager sized insects coupled with the deafening buzzing of their wings finally caused Rasua’s brain to overload. Even Aegis’ shaking didn’t fully register, only a blurry blob roughly shaped like a changeling. Rasua absently felt something grip her head and forced her to look Aegis in the face. The panicking princess held up a brown satchel and waved it in front of her. Satchel?... My satchel. The spell!

The noise of war returned as Rasua’s vision snapped back into focus just in time to hear Aegis screaming at her. “Cast the spell! Do it now before my Aunt dies, or so help me I’ll toss you out to the wolves!”

“M-my apologies, Princess.” Burning with shame and purpose, Rasua snapped the satchel back and shoved one paw inside to touch the spherical jewels. Aegis let her go so Rasua could lift her other paw out. Even before she called upon the words of power, her breath took on the tell-tale color of dark magic. “Demons of fear, misery, and pain, I call upon you for my personal gain!”

All four orbs cracked and shattered as dark magic poured from Rasua’s mouth to her outstretched hand before flashing forward into the eyes of Silandrus’ drones that had been eating away at the dwindling shield directly in front of her.

Meanwhile, deep inside the ship, meditating in a dark room, Luna received her signal from a changeling attendant. Using her power over the Dreamscape, Luna’s mind jumped into Rainbow Dash thanks to her hybrid pony/changeling nature and then passed into Silandrus’ hive mind. To Luna, the hive mind looked like a barren dreamscape, with a massive bright violet light surrounded by extremely dim motes of light. Each one was tethered to the center by a tight cord. Rainbow Dash’s presence was flickering wildly as Silandrus assaulted her with all manner of psychic attacks. Rainbow’s mental defenses had been brushed aside in a matter of seconds by the elder queen. Currently, Silandrus was taking her time in punishing the upstart queen for the grave insult of invading her hive mind.

Luna was subtle in her trespass, and went unnoticed by Silandrus thanks to the battle and Rainbow Dash serving as crucial distractions. The Princess of Dreams saw the effects of Rasua’s spell as shadowy demons eating away at the fading lights they were latched onto.

With her own version of shadow magic, Luna’s horn darkened to pitch black. She took those waking nightmares and with a wide sweeping arc of her horn, spread them across every single point of light within the vast hive mind, flooding it with countless illusions that fed on fear.

The ancient queen wasn’t even the slightest bit affected when the nightmares were only attacking a handful of her drones. The illusionary demons were simply drowned out by the unified voice of the Link and diminished by the simple minds of the drones. Silandrus might have even shrugged off a few thousand. However, when every last one of her puppets was hit by Rasua’s terrors, their combined might quickly sped down the connection and straight at Silandrus herself. Well over a hundred thousand demonic nightmares hit her like a freight train, and the unequine scream of absolute terror shattered her mind like so much glass.

Silandrus’ hive mind became unstable as she fell into a fear induced seizure. Knowing the dangers of staying in the mindscape of a broken mind, Luna hurried towards Rainbow Dash and severed her connection to Silandrus’ drones. The Princess of the Night returned to her body which was just outside Twilight’s spell-amplification chamber. She could already see the lavender mare was near collapse herself from keeping the shield up, but her slow recovering breath revealed Rainbow’s trick worked. “Stay and rest, Twilight Sparkle, I will tend to your sister’s wounds.”

“T-thank you,” Twilight wheezed with a nod as she finally let go of the shield spell. If anypony could heal psychic injuries, Luna would be the one.

Aegis watched in morbid fascination as the hostile drones writhed, yelling in agony, while clawing at their heads trying to rid themselves of the waking nightmares. Without a unifying purpose, the panic-riddled, link-severed drones fell from the skies, thrashing helplessly before colliding with the ground. Those few who managed to survive the crash, or retained enough sanity to glide down, scattered to the four winds. If they somehow survive long enough for the illusions to fade, they’ll probably end up going feral, Aegis mused darkly.

Rasua was shaky on her paws and wheezing breath. Holy piss, how am I still alive? Images of the frightfully violent and revolting insectoids flashed in her mind’s eye, chilling her to the bone. She had to hold her hands together to keep them shivering. Yet despite that fear, she was gravely suspicious at the unanticipated reach of her fear spell. That was a very weak spell. I can only conjure illusions to afflict one or two targets, four at the very most. Even then it should only last a few seconds. How in blazes did it spread to every last one of them?

Queen Rainbow Dash had omitted how, exactly, her illusion spell would be useful. Only that Rasua was to cast it when commanded. Leveraging the clout her fear spell surely earned her, Rasua forced herself to stop shaking, and failed. She marched over to Aegis fully ready to demand an explanation. “There is something about your kind that you have failed to enlighten me about, isn’t there?”

Aegis was not cheering the victory like many of her kin, and looked up from adjusting Burny to find a trembling yet accusatory sphinx glaring at her. “We all have our secrets, Rasua. Now’s not the time. We haven’t won yet.”

The sphinx couldn’t argue with that after the distance sounds of battle caught her ears. During the course of Silandrus’ attack, the Deception had drifted almost two kilometers northeast. Aegis pointed at the burning hive below where the fires were getting out of control and the distant crump of explosions still resounded through the caldera. “If you can hold yourself together this time,” Aegis had to bite her tongue to keep from venting on Rasua. “We’re moving out as soon as we rearm.”

Even with Rasua’s spell being the keystone to Rainbow Dash’s plan, Aegis was furious that Rasua froze at the critical moment while her aunt was being assailed by Silandrus’ vastly superior psychic prowess. Is that all the vaunted predatory species is capable of? Whimpering in the corner? I’ve seen rookie ponies with more bravery. Biting down on her disgust, Aegis kept her tone neutral. “Now get back inside, the main guns need the deck clear so they can bombard the enemy positions outside the hive without having to worry about us getting in the way.”

Aegis spread the same order to the rest of the infantry. Rasua wrestled with her desire for answers, and the shame she felt at choking at the worst time possible. Thaddeus would never let me live this down if he found out, and I’d be a laughingstock for years in the colony.

Determined to prove herself, and earn those answers, Rasua followed after the irate princess. I bet if I personally save their allied queen down there, I’d earn her respect.

Twilight teleported up to the bridge to find a crowd gathered around Luna and Rainbow Dash. The princess’s horn was aglow as her magic sank into Rainbow Dash. Had Rainbow Dash been in anyone else’s care, Twilight would be traumatizing herself at the prospect of losing her sister. Thankfully, Luna’s calm exterior soothed much of the gathered changelings’ worries.

“Fear not, everypony,” Luna said after a long silence. “It seems Rainbow Dash’s mind is far stronger than I remember. The damage was bad, but repairable. She only needs a few hours sleep.”

Sighing in relief, Twilight laid down on her belly next to her sister and Luna. “That’s probably her royal blood talking. Mother always said I would never last more than a few minutes against an older queen. Rainbow must have taken that as a sign that she could last at least that long too.”

“As brave as she is reckless,” Luna remarked with a head shake, “but sometimes that’s what it takes to win.”

“We’re only half way there,” Twilight replied darkly. “Mother’s had to retreat to the palace and hatchery. Stripped Gear is overrun everywhere else.”

A few medics arrived and the two royals allowed them to take Rainbow Dash away on a stretcher. Luna didn’t wait to watch them leave. “There is no time to be lost. We have to move on Stripped Gear as soon as we are able.”

The thundering rattle of cannon fire informed Twilight that Aegis had already moved her platoon off the surface of the ship as the gunners began shelling the remaining invader’s positions outside of the hive. With Silandrus’ defeat, her forces were melting back into the jungle, yet the other queens remained inside the city.

The damage had been dealt, Stripped Gear was in flames, and the besiegers at the palace were expendable. Twilight tried to spy on the enemy positions via what remained of her mother’s personal guard, but most of them were busy barricading the interior of the palace to buy time for Twilight’s troops to arrive. <Hang on, mother, we’re coming.>

Author's Notes:

Ye thought I would leave a cliffhanger like that for weeks on end? PUH!