"What do you make of it?" Carduus asked.

“Make of what?” Queen Chrysalis asked in return.

Queen Chrysalis and Captain Carduus were situated in the room shared by the two royals from The Badlands Hive. Twilight was sound asleep in her bed while the other two talked in the centre of the room.

“This Serpens character. If he was the one to attack Princess Twilight…”

“I know, Captain. I know. Vespula sent the assassin, Crudelis killed Vespula.”

“So… what do you make of that?” Carduus asked again. “Do you believe it?”

Chrysalis sighed. "I don't know. If what was said in the council is true, then Vespula was behind the assassination attempt, not Crudelis."

“But what did Vespula do to ‘betray’ Crudelis. I find it hard to believe she isn’t involved.”

Chrysalis only responded with a grim look.

“Not to question you, my Queen, but why didn’t you press the issue?”

“Oh I would have loved to,” Chrysalis snarled. “But too few queens cared, we would have just been overruled.”

“Wouldn’t have cared? An entire hive has been wiped out!” Carduus protested.

“A small hive, and insignificant to the majority. Had I tried to press further it would have likely been myself, Draco, Xerox and Cocoon versus eleven others. Guess who would win that vote. Some others may not have been particularly impressed by her actions, but they had little motivation to pursue it further when they were more interested in their own petty issues.”

Carduus groaned. “That’s politics for you…”

Chrysalis sighed. “Indeed.”

Neither noticed as Twilight’s eyes opened, waking from her revelation filled slumber. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and swivelled her head to see the other two occupants of the room.

Carduus tapped his chin as he thought to himself. “So we are back to square one. With no idea if your aunt is behind this.”

“Unfortunately. And as much as I hate to admit it, perhaps she wasn’t behind this one. Perhaps it was Vespula who went after Twilight after all.”

"Objection!" Twilight shouted as she fluttered off of her bed and jumped between the other two startled changelings in the room. "Heh, sorry. I’ve always wanted to say that ever since I read that book with the spikey maned ace attorney. Either way, I KNOW Crudelis did it!"

“Hold on…” Carduus deadpanned. “Spikey maned ace attorney?”

“Quiet, Captain,” Chrysalis shushed Carduus, eliciting an irritated groan of protest from him. “Twilight, what do you mean you know Crudelis is behind it?”

“What Serpens said to me two years ago, right before he attacked me, I have finally remembered!” Twilight quickly informed them.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened. “You did, how?”

“I’ll tell you later, but right now it isn’t important. What is important is that he whispered ‘Queen Crudelis sends her regards’. Queen Crudelis, not Vespula! Whether she was involved or not, it was she who instigated it all.”

“So she is behind it!” Carduus raged. “And she set up this council directly afterwards… Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.”

As Carduus and Twilight talked, Chrysalis just sat there, a dark expression dawning on her face as her hooves caused the flooring to crack beneath the pressure.

“Princess, you are in danger as long as you remain here.”

Twilight subconsciously held onto her scar. “M-maybe. But here? At the council? If she were to try anything it would break so many tradition the queens hold most dear. They would rip her to shreds should she try. I doubt even she could handle the wrath of fourteen queens at once.”

Now the adrenaline rush she had after discovering the truth was wearing off, Twilight couldn’t help but begin to feel some nervousness and fear at the implications.

“She wouldn’t have set this up without some kind of agenda, she must-“

“Twilight!” Spike shouted as he burst through the door, followed by the two guards usually standing outside of them. The door was left open ever so slightly as it swung mostly closed.

“Your highnesses,” The two guards saluted. “I know you didn’t want to be disturbed, but young Spike insisted he had to speak to you.”

“Spike?” Twilight addressed the dragon. “What is it?”

“Here,” he simply said as he handed over a scroll with the seal of Crystal Empire emblazoned onto it, a tag displaying the word ‘URGENT’ hung just off of it. “A letter came for you from Cadance and Shining Armor.”

“What could be so urgent?” Twilight muttered to herself as she undid the seal and read the letter out loud.

Twilight,

We have recently had a situation here in the Crystal Empire, a situation that has now been resolved. However, we have encountered two young changelings who survived the horrific massacre of their hive; does the name Vespula ring any bells for you? Either way, they have seemingly confirmed two things. We know who attacked you, and who orchestrated it - Queen Crudelis is behind it all! You mother was right, and you are now in grave danger.

Please be careful, Twilight.

Your friend and sister,
Cadance.

Twilight looked up from the paper she had just been reading. “Well, as if we didn’t need enough proof. “

“That traitorous, murdering, scheming little bitch!” Chrysalis shouted at the top of her lungs, startling all in the room. “I was right all along, and yet I did nothing!”

“Mother, it isn’t your fault,” Twilight said as she held onto her mother in a tight embrace. “You had no proof, you couldn’t have-"

“Halt!” one of the guards suddenly shouted as he drew his weapon and pointed it towards the crack in the doorway.

All eyes moved to where the guard was threatening, and saw a single glowing blue eye peering through. As soon as the drone realised he had been spotted he opened his wings and bolted off down the hallway.

All those inside the room came running out, the guards had their weapons drawn and both royal’s horns were alight. Even Spike had fire rising up his throat.

But the drone was already gone.

“Guards, I want this entire section locked down, no changeling gets in or out without my or the royals' permission!” Carduus ordered the two guards.

They both saluted, and ran off in opposite directions down the corridor to gather and coordinate the others.

Spike’s wings shuffled nervously. “Who was that?”

“Trouble,” Chrysalis muttered. “Captain Carduus, there has been a change of plans.”

“Your highness?” Carduus tilted his head.

“Given what we have learnt, it is far too dangerous for us to be here.”

“But can’t we just take this to the council?” Twilight asked.

“Which Crudelis is currently running?” Chrysalis pointed out. “Besides, I’m not going to leave your safety in the hooves of a bunch of squabbling queens. We will discuss out next move in the safety of our own hive. We may need to have a discussion with Celestia and Luna on our return.”

“I’ll begin making arrangements,” Carduus said.

“Make it quick Captain, we leave in a few hours. Try to keep it hushed for now as much as possible, recruit Draco’s drones to help if you must, we can trust them.”

“Spike, come with me. I’ll need your organisational skills.” Carduus motioned for the dragon to follow.

“On it," Spike replied as he moved to follow.

“My Queen!” a drone called out as he ran to catch up with Queen Crudelis in a mostly empty corridor.

“Yes, what is it?” Queen Crudelis turned her piercing gaze to the much smaller changeling.

“They know, your highness. I overheard a warning provided to them from the Crystal Princess.”

“Did you now? And how did she know?” Crudelis asked without much worry.

“I- erm…” the drone stuttered.

“No matter,” Crudelis dismissed. “If my niece is as predictable as I believe she is, she will run back to that little home of hers. It is time to finish this. Is everything in place?”

“Yes, my Queen.”

“Good, have them all ready for my arrival. I will have our agent acquire the device. And once she has succeeded in her task, Chrysalis will fall.”

The Badlands Hive

A lone female changeling drone quietly made her way through the corridors of Chrysalis’ hive. The hive’s storage was just ahead, and she had a good idea of where to look for her objective.

She had just received the go-ahead from her Queen, it was time.

She ducked into a little alcove as a couple of guards passed by, and once she was sure they were gone she scrambled from her position and through the doorway into the storage room.

She spent a good few minutes exploring the room, going through the vast spaces, passing all sorts of odds and ends from food to furniture all neatly organised into clearly defined sections. She was half tempted to enter a door which, according to the signage, led to the hive’s love reservoir. However, she had a job to do.

Eventually she came upon what she was looking for. One section was blocked off with reinforced doorways leading into the area holding all of the hive’s weaponry, and that was where her objective was held.

It was locked, and her magic would have a hard time breaking through the protective wards around it.

‘Good thing they misplaced a key...’ the drone scoffed as she brought out said key and placed it into the lock, the door opening without any sign of protest.

She passed by swords, shields, armor and a great many other pieces of hardware. But it was one particular thing that interested her.

She carefully picked out a square package with runes etched into the surface. The device pulsated with blue leylines and oozed with barely contained magical power.

A mana bomb.

Author's Notes:

Prepare for the worst.

Next chapter will release in a few hours, and it is a doozy.