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by tom117z

Chapter 47: 47 - Quae Est Finis: Part 2

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Carduus ran through the tunnels of the Badlands Hive with two guards flanking him. The whole hive was in chaos as their soldiers evacuated any and all civilians from soon to be contested areas. The Captain just prayed silently that his family would be safe in that mess.

After dodging and weaving throughout many hallways, his destination, the throne room, came up quickly. Around the two massive doors his soldiers were already setting up defences as the closest civilians were gathered inside for their safety. Carduus and his companions were admitted entrance without delay as they cantered into the throne room, spotting Chrysalis and Twilight sitting on their respective thrones, determined looks of steel on their faces.

“The western entrances have been breached and there is heavy fighting,” A drone reported to the two royals. “There are so many drones attacking us; with a force that size I don’t know if we can hold the entrance for very long.”

“Do your best, and take what soldiers you need to get it done,” Chrysalis ordered.

“Yes, your highness!” The drone saluted before scampering off.

“Captain Carduus!” Chrysalis addressed him as he came into her view. “What is going on in the atrium? All hive communication from there is scattered and confused.”

“Lost, your highness. That was the first place they hit, an infiltrator destroyed you mother’s statue and the crystal it held with a mana bomb,” Carduus reported.

“Mana bomb? The fact that there was an infiltrator here is by itself disturbing, not to add what possible weapons they seem to have access to,” Chrysalis frowned.

“Yes, your highness. But she won’t trouble us any longer," venom could almost be heard in his voice.

“Good.”

Twilight looked deeply concerned. “Mother, the atrium was the centre of our hive, and the largest open space. If it is already lost…”

“I know, Twilight. Carduus, what of the guards stationed in the atrium?”

“Most got out. I split them into evacuating the civilians deeper inside, and the rest to make sure that none of those bastards gets any further in. However, I don’t know how long they will hold out without reinforcements.”

“We’re going to be spread thin, but it is done.”

Several changelings screamed as the structure shook and chunks of the ceiling clattered to the ground.

“Shit, what was that?!” Carduus shouted.

“I don’t know, but it sounded big!” Twilight exclaimed.

Carduus’ eyes widened remembered something he saw in the atrium. “Your highnesses. I believe they have a dragon with them.”

“What?!” both royals shouted.

“A dragon. Possibly the one that killed Queen Avia six hundred years ago.”

Chrysalis snarled. “And now it is here to finish the job! All my suspicions about my aunt are confirmed.”

“Mother, what do we do? We have about seven thousand scared subjects and three thousand soldiers at our disposal, Crudelis is probably attacking with three times that amount of soldiers! Plus with a dragon…”

“We need help, badly,” Carduus bluntly said.

“Agreed,” Chrysalis said solemnly.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted to the dragon, who was busy trying to calm down a group of scared nymphs. “Come over here!”

The dragon said a few final words to the nymphs before making his way over. “Twilight, what do you need?”

“Send a message to Princess Celestia. We are going to need the help of her and the EUP.”

“Got it!” he shouted as he set off to find some paper.

The hive shook again.

“Your highness! The southern entrance is breached, hostile drones are pouring in and we can’t stop them! They have breached the residential districts, we still have thousands of civilians down here, and we’re taking heavy casualties.” A panicked voice spoke over the hive to the royal duo.

It was quickly followed by another. “My Queen! We have enemy drones at the east, and the western entrance is being overrun! There are so many of them!”

Chrysalis grimaced as other such reports flooded in. Her soldiers were being pushed back rapidly, things were not looking great.

“Twilight, can the princesses and their EUP make it in time with Crudelis’ rate of progression?”

Twilight did the mental math in her head, a grim look on her face. “No. Not even close.”

Chrysalis sighed. “Evacuate the hive. Abandon all other entrances and the atrium, coordinate our drones solely on the currently clear northern entrance. Twilight, you and Carduus see to it that as many of our subjects get out as possible. Make a break for Equestria, hopefully we’ll meet up with EUP reinforcements on the way.”

“Got it!” Twilight nodded. She got up and started moving, before she stopped and turned to face her mother. “What about you?”

Chrysalis stood up from her throne and examined the many scared faces of her subjects. “I will buy you as much time as I can. Do not worry, I will follow you out.”

Twilight walked back up to her mother, and hugged her tightly. “Be careful, alright?”

“I promise,” Chrysalis nuzzled her daughter’s head. “Now go.”

Twilight nodded as she stepped away from her mother. She took one last look at her throne, before broadcasting some orders over the hive.

“Alright, we are evacuating! I want all soldiers set on securing the northern entrance and assisting the evacuation efforts; keep the bitches drones away from the civilians at all costs!”

A round of affirmatives came back over the hive, and Twilight nodded to Carduus for him to follow her as all the drones in throne room began to depart.

“Twilight!” Spike shouted out as he fell into step with the two. “The message has been sent.”

“Good. Spike, you stick with us.”

Chrysalis watched her daughter leave with a proud smile on her face.

“Your majesty!” a voice called directly to her over the hive.

“What is it?”

“Queen Crudelis is waiting for you in the atrium.”


Queen Crudelis watched the chaos from high in the air. Her drones swarmed her niece’s hive with murderous intent, and all resistance was quickly being quashed under hoof.

Crudelis couldn’t help but smile in self-satisfied glee as an event a thousand years in the making played out right before her very eyes.

Her eyes were drawn to the smouldering atrium floor as she saw a few of Chrysalis’ drones, guards by the look of them, become trapped, forcing them to retreat inside into one of the atrium’s establishments while managing to hold off several of her own drones that pursued them.

Crudelis flapped her wings and dived down towards the group of defending drones. She dropped to the floor right in front of the establishment, creating cracks in the floor as she landed.

“It’s Queen Crudelis! Shoot her!” a drone from inside shouted.

Several arrows and magic bolts came flying out through the smashed windows; the magic she absorbed, the arrows she simply caught and hurled back at her attackers with deadly precision.

Shouts of pain and death arose from within as Crudelis casually strolled up to and through the front door. There had been seven guards holed up inside, and now four lay dead with arrows protruding from their bodies.

Of the remaining three, two launched more spells at her while another charged with his sword drawn. She deflected one spell back at its caster, killing him, while the other deflected bolt went wide. Crudelis then grabbed onto the drone with the sword with her magic, lifting him into the air by the neck while snatching away his weapon and flinging it towards the other spell caster. It caught the drone in the neck, impaling him and pinning him to the wall.

Crudelis turned her head to examine the last remaining guard she now held in her grasp.

“You. Contact your queen, tell her I will be here waiting for her.”

“Not a chance.”

Crudelis simply rolled her eyes and compressed her magic, he screamed as all the bones in his body began to break one by one.

“OK! OK! Please stop! I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

“Your majesty!” the drone called out.

“What is it?”

“Queen Crudelis is waiting for you in the atrium.”

“There, I did it!”

Crudelis studied him for signs of deceit, and found none.

“Thank you.”

She then broke his neck with a sickening crack, and dropped his corpse at her hooves.


Canterlot



The castle’s dining room was host to several individuals. These included Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance. There was also Shining Armor, Vladimir, Broad Sword, Scarlet and the two changeling siblings Soronis and Puellula.

“For everything you have been through,” Celestia spoke to the two changelings. “You have my condolences.”

“That… is greatly appreciated, Princess,” Soronis said. “But unnecessary.”

“On the contrary,” Celestia said. “But to allay your fears, I have the utmost confidence that Princess Twilight will be more than happy to take you in.”

“Thank you, for everything. All of you.”

“Think nothing of it, young one,” Luna said. “It is the least we can do given the recent misunderstanding.”

“And while we are sharing sentiments, we must congratulate you too, Scarlet Snow,” Celestia smiled. “Being a mother is a wonderful thing.”

Vladimir did a double take. “Wait, what? Since when?”

Scarlet blushed. “I found out just after the honeymoon.”

Vladimir laughed, standing up from his chair and standing between Scarlet and Broad Sword. “Well congratulations to the both of you. We will go out for drinks later to celebrate.”

“Sounds good!” Broad Sword smiled.

“I think I will stick to water or something, I am pregnant after all,” Scarlet grumbled something to herself.

“Good point,” Vladimir conceded.

A green flash shot forth in front Celestia, and a scroll appeared in mid-air, before it dropped onto the table.

“What is that?” Shining Armor asked. “A letter from Twily?”

Celestia picked the scroll up and examined it. “I believe so. How timely.”

Cadance stared at the scroll. “Well, it has been a few days so maybe the council just ended? She might be telling us how it went.”

Celestia wanted to agree, but for some reason she had a really bad feeling about the letter.

“I don’t think so,” she said as she opened up the scroll and read it.

Only for the paper to burst into flames; immediately immolated in the sun’s fury. Wisps of fire could be seen flickering at the edges of Celestia’s mane and tail.

“Sister?” Luna asked in alarm.

“Organise the army – NOW! Send a detachment of the EUP to the Badlands Hive at once, Twilight is in danger!” Celestia ordered.

“What!?” Shining shot up from the table. “What happened?”

“Crudelis. She has found their hive. They are under attack at this very moment, and Spike says they won’t survive without our help!” Celestia shouted as her motherly instincts went berserk. She slammed open the doors and shot up from her seat.

“Sister,” Luna was quick to stop her. “Do you intend on accompanying them?”

Celestia looked at Luna as if she had gone momentarily mad. “Of course. Twilight is in danger, I will not stay idle here!” Celestia insisted.

“Then allow me to accompany you also,” Luna said. “She saved me once, the least I can do is return the favour.”

“And me, she is my sister. I’m coming too.” Cadance motioned in.

Celestia looked towards Shining Armor, Vladimir and Broad Sword. “I take it I can count on all of you?”

“Of course!” Vladimir and Broad Sword stood to attention.

“We are your captains, where you go we go,” Vladimir said.

“And I go where my husband goes,” Scarlet piped up.

“No,” Broad Sword stated.

“What?”

Broad Sword looked at her meaningfully. “Normally I would be happy for you to come my love, but with the baby…”

Scarlet looked towards the floor. “Damn it. Right.”

Broad Sword gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Just make sure the kids are settled in until we send for you three.” He gestured towards the startled Soronis and Puellula.

“I can do that.”

“Which EUP fort is nearest to the Badlands?” Celestia hastily enquired.

“Fort Hurricane,” Scarlet answered. “I was stationed there briefly a while back.”

Celestia nodded. “We’ll have them mobilise and head towards the Badlands without us, we’ll catch up.”

Celestia turned and briskly walked out the door. “I will not lose my daughter. Not again.”


Princess Twilight Sparkle, Carduus and Spike were at the head of the group high tailing it towards the northern entrance of the hive. Masses of civilians followed behind through the hallways as the soldiers did their best to keep them organised and safe.

“Keep up!” Twilight shouted to those shortly behind them.

A door to their left burst open and several drones in red and blue armor came piling out. However, they were not expecting to be face to face with a princess, captain and dragon all at once.

They tried to head back the way they had come, but Twilight latched onto them with her magic and pulled them outwards. Carduus moved in with his blade to finish a few while Spike unleashed a torrent of fire on the rest.

Twilight looked in the doorway the drones had emerged from, before turning to the other soldiers at the head of the evacuees.

“Keep going, we will follow shortly,” She ordered. “Carduus, Spike, follow me.”

“Twilight, where are we going?” Spike asked as they moved off from the group and moved on down the corridor.

“Look at this,” Twilight motioned to something on the wall at an interception at the end of the hallway. It was a large device pulsating with various runes.

“A mana bomb!” Carduus studied the device. “Far higher yield than the one used in the atrium to destroy the statue.”

“How much higher?” Twilight asked.

Carduus sighed. “Enough to level this entire corridor and then some. With enough of these they could-"

“Princess?” a guard spoke over the hive.

“Hold on Carduus,” Twilight stopped her captain mid-sentence.

“What is going on?” Twilight communed back.

“Something is going on down here, there is-"

A massive explosion rocketed the hive, causing Twilight, Carduus and Spike all to lose their balance and fall to the floor.

In that moment so many minds in the hive went silent.

“What was that?!” Twilight screamed generally over the hive mind.

“Your highness! They detonated several mana bombs at key intersection of the southern wing of the hive. It collapsed, all of it.”

Twilight blinked, unable to comprehend what she had just been told. “The entire southern wing? They collapsed the entire southern wing of the hive?!” She spoke out loud.

“They what?!” Carduus’ eyes widened, looking towards the bomb. “Now we know what these are for.”

“Carduus, how many changelings were in that section?” Twilight shakily asked.

Carduus couldn’t quite meet Twilight’s eyes as he told her. “As you know, most of the residential districts were located in the south. That is where… where my home is located. Was, now I suppose.”

“Carduus, I’m sorry…” Spike said sympathetically.

“Don’t worry. A home is more than walls and possessions. My family will be among those moving towards the north entrance right now. Where ever we are together, that is home. We can rebuild anything else.” He swallowed. “But, a great many civilians were down there. With its distance being the furthest from the north entrance, the shear amount of enemy drones and the collapsing rubble causing obstructions…”

“How many?” Twilight shakily demanded to know.

Carduus hesitated with his answer for a moment. “Thousands.”

Twilight felt sick. She felt as if she had been stabbed and left for dead all over again, if not worse. All those changelings…

Twilight simply placed her magic on the bomb right by them, deactivated it and let it clatter to the floor.

Suddenly the hallway was filled with noise. “Twilight, more of them are coming!” Spike yelled, trying to shake Twilight out of her stupor. As if on que, more soldiers flooded in around the corner. Without looking up, Twilight picked up the mana bomb in her magic. She drained most of the charge out of it, before re-activating it, and hurling it at the new foes.

The drones had the time to change their expressions into looks of horror, before the bomb detonated, and engulfed them all. The resulting blast was just big enough to wipe them out, and cause the ceiling to bury them, sealing off that hallway.

The Princess looked at the others, who were staring at her wide eyed. “We need to get my subjects out of here.”

Spike recovered first. “We can take a few side corridors, get back to the front quicker,” he suggested.

“Good idea,” Carduus nodded. “Come on, we need to get moving.

They trio moved off quickly towards the northern entrances. Down the smaller corridors they traversed they encountered several enemy changelings setting up more mana bombs. The changelings were swiftly dealt with before Twilight deactivated the bombs, stopping them before they could cause any more harm.

Before long they made it to the entrance, just as the front of the evacuating column also arrived.

“Princess!” One of the drones saluted on seeing them emerge. “Glad to see you are safe.”

“You too. Any problems?”

“A few stragglers, but nothing we couldn’t deal with.”

Twilight nodded. “Good. Now, get these doors open!”

Several changeling soldiers in blue armor moved up and together managed to pull open the large reinforced double doors leading to the outside.

“Alright, move on up!” Twilight ordered.

Twilight took point with Carduus and Spike at her side as the line of changelings began to spill out into the open daylight. Twilight couldn’t help but notice the sun seemed… angry, pulsing; now she knew Celestia had received her message.

Twilight stood to one side as the evacuating changelings moved on up and began to move away from the hive.

“Come on, hurry!” Carduus urged the changelings on forwards.

Twilight watched as her subjects began to pour out of the hive and into the open sky. For some of them it was their first ever time on the surface.

As Twilight briefly pondered this, she was knocked out of her thoughts as a green bolt of magic missed her by mere inches.

“Contacts above!” Carduus shouted in alarm as more bolts began to rain down.

All the soldiers immediately moved to defend the increasingly panicked civilians, firing back with their own magic. However, they were outnumbered, with most of their remaining soldiers still inside the hive with the majority of the evacuees.

Twilight took to the air and formed a huge shield to intercept a large number of bolts as they came in. They impacted the shield, and a moment later Twilight turned that shield into a magical pulse that she shot outwards in a move taught to her by her brother, causing many attacking drones to fall from the sky to their deaths. One drone struck at the princess with a spear, only for her to snatch it away and impale him on it before flinging him into another.

Carduus dodged as an enemy changeling dropped down next to him and struck. Carduus swivelled around and bucked the changeling as hard as he could, dropping him hard onto the ground where Spike pounced into him and sank his fangs into the drone’s skull.

As Carduus clashed blades with another, more skilled combatant while Spike took to the air and unleashed a wave of fire to vaporise a group of changelings assaulting a family who had strayed away from the column.

“Keep going!” He shouted down at the grateful family, pointing north.

Spike’s heart wretched however when he saw several green magical bolts fly in, striking into the group of evacuating changelings he had just saved. The blasts swallowed the whole family.

Twilight dodged a bolt of magic and shot a far more powerful beam of lavender back at her attacker, eviscerating the changeling in question. Twilight turned to see, to her horror, that several hostile drones had broken though and were moving on the northern entrance. Her own drones were trying to stop them but there were just too many.

Realising that with those enemy changelings converging on the entrance the exiting evacuees wouldn’t stand chance, and they would all be slaughtered. Twilight tried to double back and deal with them herself. However, several other of Crudelis’ drones spotted her and struck out, forcibly diverting her attention.

Carduus rolled out of the way to dodge his combatant’s sword strike, painfully aware of the fact he wasn’t wearing any armor, never having had the time to put some on since the battle started. He briefly saw Spike get stabbed just under the wing with a spear, forcing its way between two scales. But despite the injury, he used his maw to yank the spear out before unleashing fire upon its owner.

Carduus could do nothing to assist his draconic friend though as his adversary struck again, which Carduus barely deflected with his own blade.

“Scum!” the changeling sneered as he pressed the attack.

Carduus couldn’t get a strike of his own in as his attacker made blow after blow. One particularly powerful strike made Carduus lose grip on his sword. He tried to compensate by charging his horn and firing a shot, but it went wide when his adversary hit him hard in the side of the head, knocking him to the floor. Carduus tried to get up, but the blow had dazed him. He only just saw his combatant raise his sword and strike it down to finish him, with Carduus powerless to stop it.

Only for said combatant to be decapitated by a bolt of green magic, his sword clattering down just next to the startled Carduus.

Looking to the side, Carduus saw the bolt had come from a changeling drone wearing all red armor, and in fact a large swarm of drones wearing that colour of armor were bearing down on Crudelis’ changelings with deadly intent while others moved to protect the evacuees.

Twilight saw this too, and gawped as the new arrivals broke into the enemy lines and began to push the surprised rabble back.

“Your highness!” One of the new drones, a captain by the looks of him, approached the princess.

“W-what is this?”

“Queen Draco saw Queen Crudelis leave the council just after you, she sent us to tail them.”

Despite everything, Twilight couldn’t help but laugh. “Tell Queen Draco I am fond of her all the more! Your timing was certainly dramatic.”

“We like to make an entrance!” The Captain smirked. “My Queen is on route with some more reinforcements.”

“Tell her to meet us on the border of Equestria,” Twilight commanded.

The drone nodded. “It will be done.”

Twilight descended to the ground as she watched soldiers of both Chrysalis and Draco finish off the drones assaulting the group, the combined force greater than the local amount of invaders, and the evacuees successfully began to escape the hive again.

“Carduus?” Twilight landed next to the bruised captain.

“I’m good. That was too close.”

Spike also approached. “There will be more hostile soldiers. This isn’t over.”

“No it isn’t,” Twilight agreed. “But the evacuees should be safe now. The other attackers will be busier dismantling the hive.”

“So, what now?” Carduus asked.

Twilight glanced back towards the hive. “My mother is still in there. I won’t leave her.”

“The Queen?” A random drone overheard Twilight and stepped away from the group. “Your highness!” She bowed. “I might have some information you don’t.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“As I joined the evacuation, I overheard that the Queen was last seen heading to the atrium.”

“The atrium?” Carduus asked to know changeling in particular. “Why is she going there?”

Twilight gave a grateful nod. “Thank you. Now get moving, it isn’t safe here.”

The drone arose from her bow and moved off to join the rest of the evacuees.

Twilight turned to the other two. “I’m heading to the atrium, you two don’t have to come with me.”

“Like Tartarus we don’t!” Spike gave her a deadpan look. “Why would we ever let you to go alone?”

“We are with you, Twilight!” Carduus agreed.

Twilight smiled. “Thanks. Come on, it will be best we fly there above ground. The entrance is pretty clogged, so we can use the new one our guests have made.”

Twilight opened her wings and took to the air, Carduus and Spike following shortly behind.

They encountered little resistance on their way over, most of Crudelis’ forces now being within the hive itself.

However, about half way to the atrium they were stopped by an ear shattering roar that echoed for miles as a shadow crossed over them.

“Scatter!” Twilight shouted just as an unbelievable torrent of fire passed by them.

The group all moved out of the way with no injuries but a few singes to their bodies, all diving down to the ground where the massive form of a dragon landed just ahead of them.

The dragon was massive, making Spike look how a mouse would to an elephant. It had dark red scales and emerald draconic eyes that looked piercingly down onto them.

“I thought I smelled a fellow dragon,” his voice boomed. “Why do you ally yourself with these pathetic whelps?” he asked Spike.

“They’re my family!” Spike answered back.

The dragon huffed. “You have much to learn, young one.”

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded to know.

The dragon stood at his full height. “I am Niadhogr, The Consumer of Queens.”

“Niadhogr, draconic for hoarding if I recall correctly,” Twilight said. “I take it you have a large gathering of gems.

“I do, a great and mighty hoard. Larger than the sum of Princess Celestia’s personal vault.”

“So why aren’t you there? Why are you here, ‘bowing’ to Crudelis?”

The dragon snorted, black smoke briefly flowing from his nostrils. “I do not bow to any being no matter the power. But she saved my life long ago, when she could have easily left me to die. I now follow the code, forever entwined in a life debt.”

“Oh you old fashioned idiot,” Spike muttered to himself.

“I earned my name for killing the mighty Queen Avia; one who was a worthy adversary indeed!” Niadhogr bellowed. “I wonder how her granddaughter will hold up to her legacy…”

Niadhogr moved back his head as an orange glow could be seen at the very back of his open maw.

Twilight was barely able to put up a shield in time as flames came forth from the dragon.


Chrysalis tossed a dead changeling drone in red and blue to one side as she strolled casually into the atrium. Her face darkened as she saw all of her and her mother’s achievements in ruins.

It darkened still as she saw Queen Crudelis, right where the statue of Queen Avia used to be, the remains of which she appeared to have used her magic on to construct a throne to sit in.

“Ah, there is my favourite niece; so nice of you to join us.”

“Do you think the council will let you get away with this? Even if you kill me and win, they will see you as a threat and remove you!” Chrysalis shouted.

“Oh please,” Crudelis dismissed. “Did you really think I wouldn’t have a plan to control them?”

“Control?” Chrysalis asked in confusion,

“What if I told you those wild stories about a changeling able to control all others… were true?”

Chrysalis scoffed. “An old mare’s tale. You have to be kidding yourself.”

“I rarely joke,” she retorted. “Did you think I spent the last two years setting up the council and that was it? No. I had my changelings do what no others had ever bothered to do before, search the First Hive for any little secrets left behind. After so long of finding nothing, we did find something. Ancient texts detailing the Empress of the Changelings, the one who controlled all our ancestors, making slaves out of them. One who ruled an empire from what now serves as the base for our council.”

Crudelis chuckled. “She may be gone, but in those texts I found clues leading to the location to her regalia; regalia imbued with much of her power. If I were to access it…”

“I always thought you held the council’s traditions in high regard…” Chrysalis said sarcastically.

“Oh I do, Chrysalis. But there is no tradition against… change.”

“So, what happened to these texts?”

“Gone,” Crudelis stated with a smile. “I didn’t want any other sets of eyes ever seeing them. Now the regalia’s location is only to be found up here…” Crudelis tapped on the front of her head.

“You’re insane.”

“No, just ambitious.”

“If you know where the location is, why not just take it and control me as well?”

“Simple. I hate you. I hated your mother and I hate that pathetic little daughter of yours. I will not have you be part of my empire. Once the other queens are under my control, Equestria will be next. Then the Griffons, and then… well, you get the point.”

“I will not let you do this,” Chrysalis snarled. “Let our feud end today, Aunt Crudelis.”

“So be it!” Crudelis stepped off of her throne.

The two locked eyes for a few moments, hateful snarls on both of their faces as they charged their horns, green and red illuminating each of them respectively.

And then they both fired.

Author's Notes:

It continues...

Next Chapter: 48 - Quae Est Finis: Part 3 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 35 Minutes
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