Red and Black 2

Morning light shined through the massive hole in the hive as the sun rose and tinted everything in a bright orange glow. Standing at the rubble's edge, using his hat to polish his blaster was Rekka, who averted his gaze to keep his retinas from being damaged. With him was Tenmei, who lifted a hoof to adjust his glasses. The only sound that dared permeate the area was another heavy breeze that blew into the hole; even the polishing job was fairly quiet in comparison. The two kept to themselves, though that made things a bit monotonous as an hour ticked by.

The distance was lacking in moving shapes of any sort at this time, and soon the temperature got a little bit warm. "How much longer are we gonna be out here watching for the damned Brigade?" Rekka grumbled, using a hoof to set his hat back on his head. Tenmei turned to him and shrugged.

"Watashi o naguru," Tenmei uttered, turning to the barren plains in the distance. He spotted several small, sparse splashes of green here and there, but to what they belonged eluded him.

"Oh, great, you don't know either…" Rekka mumbled, turning to the tunnel leading within the hive. His ears twitched when he heard the sound of hooves hitting stone, and his brow rose.

Tenmei turned to the noise as well, and tilted his head as Patient emerged from the dark depths rather sluggishly. "Peischent?" he tried, only to receive no response. "Paishanto-san?" he asked again, now noticing that Patient had bags beneath his eyes that looked like they'd drag his entire front quarters down at any second.

“Gallaf gymryd drosodd oddi yma,” Patient spoke with a yawn, his eyes bloodshot and half closed.

“I can take over from here.”

“Rydych yn edrych wedi blino,” Tenmei pointed out in as blunt a voice as he could muster.

”You look tired.”

Patient smiled and let out a breath from his quarter-of-the-way open mouth whilst nodding.

“Ydw,” Patient sniffed and Tenmei chuckled. “Mae Charlotte yn anhygoel o feddw.”

“Yes. Charlotte is unbelievably drunk.”

Tenmei's brow rose all the way up his forehead within seconds.”Sut felly?”

”How so?”

“Mae hi'n ceisio cael personol gyda Jonathan,” Patient replied, stepping up to the hole in the wall.

“She tried to get all touchy-feely with Jonathan.”

Tenmei groaned in exasperation and his raised brow dropped instantly. He lifted his forehooves and made several gestures with them, including one that looked like he was tugging on an invisible leash wrapped tightly around his own neck.

“Roedd hi wedi cael ei ffrwyno,” Patient deadpanned.

“She had to be restrained.”

Rekka was glancing back and forth between the two as they exchanged their banter, unsure as to what they were harping on about. Tenmei turned to him and made the leash-around-neck gestures again before using his hoof to draw a book-and-pentagram cutie mark in the dust of the rubble.

All that accomplished was making an orange brow raise questioningly. Tenmei facehooved before he finished off by rattling what Patient told him in Neighponese. Crimson eyes went wide in that instant. "You are shitting me right now," Rekka murmured.

Patient shook his head. “ ‘fraid not.”

Rekka stood up, and so did Tenmei. "Okay, we have got to see this…" The two bolted down the tunnel, barely missing a dry chuckle from Patient as they went. They slowed a little to let their eyes adjust to the dark interior of the hive, before weaving around this entrance and that in their haste to see what today's fuss was about.

No more than an hour later did they come across the unofficial sick bay housing Jonathan and Charlotte. The former was perched on a tall rock that wasn't there in the room before, while the latter was tottering around with her right foreleg cast-bound and her other three legs set to wobbling overdrive. A leash had been fastened to her neck and another rock, linked by collared anchor point, and a rune-inscribed ring was set onto her horn. She tried to reach Jonathan, but the leash only let her get up to the base of his perch.

To cap it all off her face was flushed in a vibrant red that would have made even Foxfire envious, and her eyes were very much glazed and distant. "Ghet daaaaawn heeere, you blond-maned bastard," Charlotte hissed as she reared up onto her back legs and thrust her left front hoof onto the rock, her voice so slurred it was quite a feat for her to somehow remain coherent. Rekka turned to Jonathan, only to find a wooden sign reading 'help me' hanging from his neck by woven threads of vine.

Tenmei lifted a hoof to his face and hit his muzzle with it. "Yare yare da ze," he grumbled in exasperation.

"You said it," Rekka agreed with a nod, his eyes transfixed on the spectacle before him. Tenmei gazed around the room, noticing a painfully distinct lack of any alcohol-related paraphernalia.

Charlotte ignored the two for the moment, still trying in futility to reach Jonathan thanks to her leash. "Ghet dawn 'ere and mount me, damnit!" she shouted, only to garner a rapid shaking of the head.

"Didn't the alicorns mount you enough?!" Jonathan hissed, a firm frown creasing his muzzle.

"They lifted yer tail too!" Charlotte argued, scraping at the base of the rock in an attempt to get a solid hold on it.

"The madness has begun," Rekka murmured, shaking his head solemnly with his eyes still glued to what he was witnessing.

“Nice, desu!” Patient could be heard, almost from miles away, which resulted in his utterance echoing in very quietly.

Rekka promptly facehooved. "For fuck's sake…" he grumbled before dropping his hoof and inhaling as much air as his lungs could allow. Tenmei lifted his forehooves to cover his ears, falling to his haunches as a loud, piercing shout came from his companion that was comprised of, "Cut it out already!"

That made Jonathan wince, and Charlotte slowly turned to Rekka with a reddened brow raised. "Did you get castrated or somethin'?" she asked in a tone that was oddly carefree.

Rekka breathed in deeply. "What were you doing in the last five minutes?" he asked rhetorically.

Charlotte shrugged. "Can't remembaahr," she replied.

Rekka facehooved again. "How much did you drink?!" he groaned in exasperation.

"Nine bottles' worth," Jonathan answered with a grimace. "I'm almost wondering how she hasn't passed out yet."

Rekka sat on his haunches and his other hoof rose to join the first. "Whose idea was it to get her drunk?" he hissed in a murderous tone, eyes gleaming with intent beneath his hooves.

"O-one of the nurse's friends. He had a circle-telescope cutie mark; dunno his name, though," Jonathan piped up again, frowning as Rekka dropped his hooves, stood up, and turned around. "White with a blue mane."

Rekka very briefly donned a wicked smirk a pony would only see on the face of a serial killer. "Ohoho, I know who you're talking about…" he murmured darkly, as if he himself were going manic. His horn glowed, and a small holographic box started to materialize before him, his magic acting as both light and projector. "And I have a spell to contact Shining Armor…"

Soon enough, a picture materialized within the box, showing off a throne hewn of crystal with Shining Armor himself sitting on it, cradling an alicorn foal with a large horn and wings so large they covered her back just by being folded. The baby burbled in glee, though Shining himself raised both brows as his horn glowed. "Well, this is unprecedented," Shining noted, bouncing the foal in his forelegs up and down gently. For his trouble he got little more than an excited giggle.

Rekka's grin faltered into a small, wan smile as he caught sight of the baby. "Two things," he began, "one: did you cast that Forbearance spell on Flurry?"

Shining nodded. "Just finished before you called, actually," he replied. "What's the second thing?"

"Well, we found a surviving hit team that was… thwarted at Asgard. They're in worse condition than Patchouli, and one of them decided to hit Trigger-colt for some hard booze. I heard something about being invited to a three-way one time from Foxfire of all ponies," Rekka reported, angling his head just enough that Shining could see a beet-red Charlotte.

Shining's lips twitched like he wanted to frown, but he could not bring himself to let his expression change. "You've found the Castle Destroyers?" he asked.

Rekka nodded. "Yep, and the other one's perched high up to escape the drunk ninny. Fondling may or may not have been involved," he stated, using his magic to tilt the box upward a little, so Shining could have a perfect view of Jonathan and his 'help me' sign.

"I ahm naht a ninny!" Charlotte protested, but all that got her was an unintelligible murmur from Jonathan.

Rekka tilted the box back to him. "Oh, and alicorns came by the hive. They were already dispensed with before we got here," he stated. "By the way… are the Destroyers on probation or not?"

"From alcohol, yes. Largely because they tend to drink so much otherwise… put it like this, I'd be dealing with something similar to Ember twice over," Shining replied, finally managing a small, tight frown. "I assume the one who got plastered is restrained?"

Rekka nodded again. "She doesn't seem to notice her binds, though," he answered.

Shining would have facehooved if he wasn't holding a giggling Flurry. "Remind me to make a note to self to contact Trigger in the flesh once the Friendship Express picks you guys up," he groaned. "And how is Thorax doing over there?"

"Splendid, all things considered. He's wondering why alicorns dropped by and why we were sent here. He doesn't know yet. Should he be informed?" Rekka queried, his smile turning into a frown.

Shining pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Well… he's technically a ruler now, so I guess it's safe to tell him. Just don't tell him what the Surgeons do to whatever alicorns they catch, though," he replied after a moment.

"Will do," Rekka answered. "I'll talk to you later." At Shining's nod, he dispelled the projection and slowly turned to Tenmei. "Trigger is gonna be in so much trouble…"

"What're you goin' on 'bout?" Charlotte piped up, causing Rekka to turn to her with another murderous smirk forming on his face.

"The stallion who gave you booze is gonna get an earful when we drag his ass to Shining," Rekka replied, his tone equal parts amused and icy.

*********

Foxfire and Thorax trotted through several winding tunnels, horns aglow with blue and green lights that did a decent job of illuminating their path. As they went, they were chatting fervently. "So… what happened in Equestria? Why did alicorns and the Friendship Express drop by?" Thorax began, frowning nervously.

"Very long story, but the short of it is the alicorns that dropped by were part of a larger community that was nuked into the ninth frozen circle of Tartarus," Foxfire answered, sighing. "Oh, Cocytus would keep those alicorns there for hopefully a long time yet." She paused as she and Thorax rounded a corner into a yawning hole, passing by a builder worm that purred as they went.

"Surely those alicorns mean…" Thorax stopped as he remembered what two of them were doing to his guests. He shivered enough that his elytra rattled.

"Many, I dare say almost all of them, bear ill will to everything not within their ranks," Foxfire replied, her voice grim. "The princesses, the common ponies who sadly and inevitably get caught up in the mess, and the nobles are clueless as to where they're coming from. So Equestria responded by raising security all over, and recruiting special ponies and whatever else they can accrue into their ranks to form specialized hit squads."

"Hit squads?" Thorax parroted, turning to Foxfire just in time to see her nod.

"Those two ponies dragged here by the alicorns? They're technically a hit squad. The squads are trained to the best of their individual abilities and how they function as teams, and sent out to curb the sudden arrivals of alicorns as needed. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail," Foxfire stated, donning a tight frown. "But the alicorns who aren't the princesses form a predictable pattern."

"What's the pattern?" Thorax asked worriedly as they veered to the left into another hall.

"Every town they can successfully claim as their own turns into a shithole. Economy ceases to function in those towns. Mares and foals of all ages get used until they simply drop dead. Yet I have not heard of an alicorn from any of the claimed cities being… as rational as a pony with common sense and basic decency." Foxfire huffed through flared nostrils. "As Rekka put it, they're likely not smart enough to understand decency and sense."

They veered right into another yawning hole. "Wait… they're… stupid?" Thorax asked, garnering yet another solemn nod.

"Save the occasional oddball like myself, but that's likely because of circumstance," Foxfire sighed, her tone slightly bitter. "I've seen the damage the alicorns can do to a few claimed towns. Needless to say, those towns needed an immediate purging." Her ear twitched as she heard the faint sound of scraping hooves and yelling voices. Her gaze snapped forward in an instant. "What the…" The two took off galloping towards the noise without hesitation.

"So what do you do to alicorns that can't stage a coup, or are thrawrted?" Thorax asked as they rounded a bend and the noise they were heading after got louder by a substantial margin.

"Execution, effective immediately upon capture and restraint. Most alicorns simply are beyond redemption," Foxfire hissed as they veered left after a good twenty feet to find a trio of alicorn stallions with pitifully small and erect penises pinned to the floor by massive worms. A duo of scowling, grim-faced changelings loomed over them, one with wings and elytra flared and the other with a horn that crackled with emerald flames.

"How did you get into the hive?" hissed the changeling with the flared wings, ignoring Thorax and Foxfire as they came to a stop at the scene. "What were you trying to do to the brood?"

“We need your grubs for our communes! T-they’d make perfect slaves and we’ll pay handsomely for—” the alicorn that spoke was savagely torn to shreds by the worms that held him down. Foxfire noticed that sod was a bright neon green and electric blue; a far cry from his red-and-black friends.

"Slaves?" the changeling with the crackling horn asked, turning to one of the red-and-black alicorn. "What did your friend mean by that?"

“T-they’ll just be used for our breeding! That was all! You could afford to lose a few of your young—” the second who spoke was cut off as a worm bit down on his throat. All that issued out after was a strangled gurgle. All eyes fell onto the last alicorn.

“How would you breed with those pitiful saplings? Your shrunken testicles? Have any of your ilk successfully bore or sired foals as of late?" Foxfire inquired honestly.

The two changelings looked back, bowed their heads in the presence of their king, and returned their gaze to the remaining alicorn in question.

“N-not really…” the last alicorn stammered, shaking in place. "W-we tried everything… magic, artificial insemination… we've lost the ability to produce foals for some reason…"

"Including kidnapping the Castle Destroyers to force one of them to sire a foal for your sick schemes, I presume?" Foxfire asked again.

The alicorn nodded hastily. "N-nothing worked... " he murmured pitifully.

"Not even forcing Jonathan to breed?" Foxfire queried, her eyes widening.

"H-he wouldn't… get hard… no matter what we did…" the alicorn confirmed with a nod.

"For that, I've four words to say. It's official." Foxfire took a few seconds to let the alicorn soak in the silence. The worms seemed to do so as well, looking at him intently. "You. Suck." She lifted a hoof and waved it, and instantly the worms seized the alicorn, shredding him to a pile of gore within seconds.

Thorax shuddered as the full implications sank in. Were the alicorns really this deranged? If so, they certainly gave Chrysalis a run for her bits. He turned to the two changelings and nodded to them. "Head for the wounded ponies immediately. What the alicorns just relayed… it makes me fear for their safety. I will check on the brood." The duo bowed and filed down a yawning hole that opened up behind them. The instant they departed was the same instant Foxfire and Thorax resumed their galloping, weaving down several halls in a hurry.

"If they hurt those grubs…" Foxfire growled as she and Thorax charged with determination.

*********

The brood that gathered in a massive room that had a throne sitting in the middle hissed uneasily. Sitting in the throne was a creature with an eyeless face plastered to a semi-pyramid-structure, with four claw-tipped arms and an oddly minotaur-like chest joining said arms. Its lower body was composed of worm-like segments, and its entire body seemed to be composed of blackened bone. A tooth-laden maw moved as its head moved about, seemingly scanning the whole area despite the lack of eyes.

The form hissed and growled as it looked around the room. The gigantic cavern beneath the hive was home to thousands of slithering worms and grubs as well as large mounds of eggs, which shuddered and pulsed with each passing second. All activity came to a halt, however, as two sets of galloping hooves echoed into the massive room.

“Who…” the form atop its chitinous throne somehow spoke with a slow, dry, almost feminine voice as the hooves became louder. It turned to a freshly-opened hole a dozen meters opposite of its throne as Foxfire and Thorax skid to a stop just outside it.

”King… come…please…” was the response the two were given as the creature extended a clawed hand forward, beckoning Thorax. Its voice almost sounded like it was inside the heads of Thorax and Foxfire.

Thorax obeyed instantly, cantering over before bowing low. "I've… heard several distressing things as of late, love." he stated, his tone solemn.

“Intruders... “ the form hissed. "Eldest… informed me... "

"I have received further elaboration from Foxfire," Thorax began, pausing to sigh as a chirping grub crawled up to him with a forked tongue sticking out.

The creature turned its head a bit to view Foxfire. “It has… been…” it was silent in thought for a moment. “Years... "

Foxfire cantered forward and stopped to kneel next to Thorax, mindful of the grub that had taken an interest in him. "Yes, it has, my Norn Queen." she agreed in a low voice. "But there have been… swarms of alicorns as of late." The grub turned to her and licked at her snout, and she nuzzled it tenderly.

“Alicorns... “ the Norn Queen let the word sit in her mouth. “More princesses…?”

Foxfire shook her head. "Not princes or princesses. These alicorns I speak of are… degenerates. They want to ruin all that has been built, no matter how many victims die to do so. Or at least, that is what I could glean from scanning areas they've successfully destroyed beyond repair. According to one, they have also lost the ability to breed," she reported. "I know not any other ulterior motives, aside to be able to produce foals again."

The Norn Queen let out a growling gurgle and frowned. ”Threat…”

"A worldwide threat," Foxfire confirmed with a nod. "They've even captured powerful ponies; one with access to a spell that can level a city, and another with the ability to completely engulf a target in lightning if she so chose. There's a third, but… he's a pegasus. I was told he was more or less breeding stock. I know not the exact scale of victims… but it seems we could be dealing with full rehabilitation centers when the alicorn threat has passed in the only way it can. That way would be the non-royal alicorns' complete annihilation."

"In response, Equestria and her allies have raised their armies and specialized squads to curb the alicorns. Almost all alicorns who are caught are executed; they cannot be redeemed. Only one non-royal has escaped with her life, but that is because she is not a degenerate in any way."

A moment of silence followed as the Norn Queen thought over what she'd just heard. The more thought she gave to that which she was absorbing, the deeper her frown became. Within seconds she was outright scowling, and if she possessed eyes she'd have narrowed them to meager slits.

”Thorax...aid Foxfire...protect hive…” she finally spoke. "Stop alicorns…"