The Hive Wars

Darkest Hour

Blam! Blam! Blam! Each explosion of organic combustion was like a nail driven through the soft meat of Ebon Hour's brain. The rolling beetle creatures detonated heavily against the magical dome that he had erected in haste. "Here sir, my last one," said another mage in the crimson and gold robe taking cover next to him, her outstretched hooves cradling a shimmering mana potion. "Bottoms up," Ebon replied before downing the alchemical cocktail.

The soothing bittersweet potion was a salve for his mind and mana reserves. The magical backlash from powering the primary spell matrix of the semi-spherical barrier was taxing on Ebon's horn, it being distinctively unused to such stresses. 'S....semi-sphereical,' the realization dawning on Ebon in horror, he shouted for the other mage helping him maintain the barrier.

" Lieutenant Bismuth!" Ebon was back on his hooves, careening over to the makeshift barricade where the other mage lay prone, taking opportunistic shots at the creatures with her horn when she could. Ebon's heart raced, it was only a matter of time before the changelings realized what Ebon had just put together. He skidded to a halt a few inches in front of her and Half shouted over the contiguous Blams! still echoing within the shield. "The Changlings, they could burrow from underneath us, bypass the shield!" Ebon proclaimed, gesturing a hoof first at the groups of drones flitting about at the edge of the village then at the ground underneath them.

Bismuth's eyes widened as she comprehended what her captain was gesturing at her. "What do we do Sir?" she annunciated before slinging another manabolt through the magically porous membrane of the shield at a group of the beetle creatures. "We don't have the strength or magical reserves to reinforce the barrier to be totally encapsulating," Ebon paused, before continuing "We will just have to make a break for it." Ebon helped Bismuth to her hooves and together they started issuing orders for the remaining troops to form up into a spearhead formation.

They were arrayed in a sharp concentration of force, Lemon Lynch forming the killing point of the spear, flanked by guardsponies who had abandoned their long spears in favor of shorter straightswords. The magi in the small group were gathered tight in the center of the wedge. "Ready!" Shouted Lemon and the wedge snapped to attention. "Set!" she followed and the soldiers bared their weapons with perfect discipline. Hesitating for a moment, she looked over her shoulder at her fellow captain, Ebon nodding back to her; she continued, "Charge!"

The shield was dissipated a moment before the charge started. 'This' thought Lemon Lynch, 'this' was what she lived for.'They lanced through the closest of the beetles as the fury of the charge began. 'These degenerate insects had trapped them, cut them off from supplies, killed and inponinated their highest officers.' They maintained momentum, trampling the thin line of changelings that had been set up in crude imitation of an Equestrian calvalry square.

'The charge was her art perfected, her gift to this world, beneath her hooves, the cacophony of smashing battle all around her, she relished it.' "This is our chance," Ebon shouted over the din of combat, snapping her out of her battle trance. "When we reach the center of mass we must slay the Gland Dame, they will rout without the commanding center of their hive mind." Objective in mind, Lemon braced her self for the culmination of their desperate rush as she plowed head first into the largest group of changelings at the village's center.

The impact of the wedge of ponies meeting the fortified collection of zebra thralls was great, great enough to penetrate beyond to where their changeling masters retaliated in tight organization to repel the equine aggressors. This soon devolved into many groups of individual battles as the shock of the initial charge wore off. Stalking through the melee for his prey, Ebon Hour spread out his magical senses in a wide net. "Where are you," he hissed under his breath, eyes closed as Lieutenant Bismuth and another mage watched over him, incinerating any stray changeling that came too close to their pocket of the fight.

Ebon scanned for a few moments, straining to differentiate between drone and elevated changeling, but 'alas, this school of magic is not really my forte.' Ending the spell with a flourish of his horn, Ebon opened his eyes and took in the battlefield, it was...in short, chaos. Every battle has an ebb and flow, an immeasurable number of variables that expand and contract as tactics and individual skill weave together. Soon Ebon noticed a pattern. Near the back of the fighting, in a small half-moon formation lay an island of calm in the sea of roiling combat. A dozen drones buzzed in an interlocked wall around a lithe, leggy Zebra mare with strange wood armor. "There," Ebon whispered.

Ebon pointed a gleaming hoof at the group guarding the queer Zebra, "There is our lynchpin, hiding in stripes." He drew Trotccam's razor before continuing, "Lieutenant," he said, "Prepare for teleportation, we are going to have a little chat with the Dame." Bismuth barely had time to respond before she heard a faint 'pop' and her world swirled away in a hazy kaleidoscope of colors and the ground under her hooves lurched away. Upon trans-locating, she found herself face to face with a set of particularly disconcerting visages. Several Changelings leered at her, their mouth's wide with too many teeth. Bismuth managed to steal a quick glance over at Captain Ebon Hour, staring down their presumed leader.

"Salutations Commander," he gave a short, mocking bow before the leggy Zebra. The adjacent Changlings immediately raised serrated swords in a blatantly threatening manner. "I, Captain Ebon Hour, of the 1st Royal Mage Corp, do challenge you to single combat," he punctuated the challenge by drawing his sword and slamming it, point first into the ground. Bismuth had been expecting something similar to this, seeking out enemy champions and engaging in honor duels was commonplace in an around Equestria. Still, to actually see it though was quite energizing.

The svelte Zebra shimmered briefly before her disguise dropped completely, revealing an insectiod apex predator out of a foal's nightmare, "I accept," it said, in a chittering voice.