Day 135, July 23rd, Monday – Stalwart’s entry

I… I’m so overwhelmed right now… Rage… sadness… worry… I can barely think straight right now and the foals had been crying when I got back. I only just got them calmed down with the help of Zera, and Nymph is beside herself in grief, not leaving Dawn’s… Dawn’s…

My wife… Meadow Dawn… was blown up today… I had been having such a good day, and now it was my worst day ever. I know I should be glad she’s not dead… but she was so close to it… I…

Dawn trotted along the quiet road on her way to the Sugar Cube Corner. These days she loved to visit the place early for a little chocolate fix before her lessons. She’d get her cocoa, relax for a few minutes with her guilty pleasure, and then start her culinary lessons with Pound Cake.

Pound Cake had taken over the bakery when his parents retired, and he had been an excellent baker. He had always enjoyed Dawn’s visits, and had been happy to assist her in learning a new hobby when she asked him. He taught her with great care and expertise, not minding her being part changeling since his wife was a caretaker drone.

Dawn always enjoyed working with him. He was patient with her and her constant insecurity or questions, and she learned by his gentle encouragement. The fact that he was married to a drone meant that she could do her un-pony-like behavior as much as she wanted, with him only showing curiosity. She even showed him her form once or twice and showed a humanized version for some parts of baking. He had chuckled and looked thoughtful at what she could do with her hands when it came to baking. Jeron, of course, joked Pound almost made that lewd, but Dawn enjoyed Jeron’s humor sometimes.

She trotted along the small street, waving happily to some of the ponies along the way. It was quiet, most were at work or school and it would be a couple hours until the dinner rush happens. It doubled as the perfect time to study when Pound wanted her to relax instead of learn. He was always so sensitive to how hard she worked and made sure she never pushed herself too hard when she needed rest. She, in turn, made a note that he might make an excellent donor for caretaker drones eventually, should she ever have any of her own.

‘And then the fire nation attacked.’ Jeron joked when Dawn appreciated the peace and quiet again.

‘You know Jeron, that doesn’t really work well when you repeatedly keep saying that when I say it’s peaceful.’ Dawn chuckled at him as she passed by one of the public trash bins.

A deafening roar of sound, heat, and pain washed over Dawn, the sound of shattering glass echoing after as she fell to the side. The world became filled with debris faster than she could register what happened or register Jeron’s regrets at tempting fate with how much he loved to make that joke.

She groaned as she realized she was lying on her side, most of her hind legs, back, wings, and an eye in almost unbearable pain as she heard screams of panic and concern nearby and she surmised they were running away from the blast. She felt a wave of cold spread from her sides and hooves as fear crept in with it. She shivered in place on the ground, trying to open the other eye to assess the damage she took… she wished she hadn’t.

Various metal and plastic pieces covered in a deep, almost shining, red were along her body. Any attempts to open or move her right eye left it and everything around it in excruciating pain. What little she could see out of her left eye, arguably her worse eye, caused panic to set into her instinctual parts of her brain, energy draining as it wanted to make her faint and run away from the problem like when she was just a toddler.

She fought the growing urge to simply sleep or pass out, even as her body let go of the alicorn form she had to conserve energy and reverted to her hybrid form with chitin broken in most places. Her light scales had been punctured by the fragments of whatever hit her like it was only tissue paper, most pieces sticking out of her like little flags over her body.

'Mom!' She called in the link, unable to hide notes of fear in her mind despite her thought’s clarity to the situation, 'Notify Stalwart for me… I’m struggling to stay awake already!'

The sound of sirens filled the air and alarm went through the Link as they realized not just one of their own was attacked, but their Legate.

A news crew that was across the street when the blast hit, having been on a lunch break, were surprised at the blast, the glass of the restaurant shattering from the explosion and after they recovered, looked at each other and swiftly moved into action, both to help and to get a huge scoop for the news.

All of them left the building since no one was hurt inside, the customers who sat near the glass having just left a few minutes prior. One of them quickly got to the van, getting recording equipment and a camera on a stand, going for a remote access through an uplink through their now-battered but functional vehicle and flipping the ‘urgent news’ signal to tell the station to get a look and interrupt broadcasts when they see the feed. The others tried to look for ways they could help on scene until the first pony could join them with the relief efforts.

One of those newsponies came running up to her and spoke to her, his face showing horror at what he saw.

"Hey, hey! Can you hear me?" He asked, his voice shaking from adrenaline as he approached the grisly scene.

Dawn weakly nodded, the one eye trying to drift closed, yet she kept trying to keep it open to focus on something.

"Barely…" she said, her voice a whisper.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t go to sleep! Stay awake!" The pony said looking around and yelling for help to have the others, like his crew. "Help! Someone! Over here! She needs help!"

It wasn't long before the sirens reached the area, and the pony and his crew waved over the guards and moved out of the way for them. The pair of guards rushed over with a first aid kit, realizing quickly as they approached just how limited it would be in helping her.

"Ma'am… Ma'am can you hear me?" The guard asked, kneeling beside her while the news crew respectfully gave some space and began their work to make a proper initial news report, their earpieces now in their ears coordinating their efforts with very few others needing much medical aid.

Dawn blinked her understanding, breathing sharp cool breaths of air. Her eye began losing its focus, Dawn focusing a lot of her effort on staying conscious in spite of it. Everything was spinning.

'I feel like I've lost a lot of blood...' Dawn relayed in the link as a warning, feeling cold and scared, but trying not to focus on it lest she made herself worse. Her lips moved to try to answer the guard, but she couldn’t think of what to say.

'Don’t say such silly things!' Chrysalis said. 'You are perfectly fine.'

The entire swarm was in an uproar. Things were happening quickly, though outside the edge of Dawn’s awareness.

"Ma'am, can you tell me your name?" The guard asked.

"Meadow Dawn..." She said faintly through her breath. 'I know I'll be fine mom… I have you and the link… no matter what… I'll be fine…'

"Today marks a strange event..." A reporter started to say, Dawn struggling to hear them clearly but assumed they were radioing or something, “-one critical injury confirmed, our foreign princess, and medics are already on their way. No information is available on who or what caused this sudden explosion across the street from where we decided to have lunch this fateful day.”

Her thoughts drifted to her husband and foals, hoping they're ok and fighting to stay awake for their sake.

“Okay. Good, good. You have a family, Dawn?" the guard asked as he frantically worked to try and treat her injuries alongside his guard partner, who was calling for an ambulance over the radio.

"Yeah… S-stalwart… Two foals…" She breathed, eye fluttering as sleep kept trying to claim her. She wanted to keep it open, but she was forgetting why as she tried. 'Mom… I can't stay awake much longer… I'm trying to hold on… Make sure Tulip knows what happened... She’ll be hurt if she doesn’t hear... from... me...'

"Hey! Hey! Stay awake! Tell me about your kids." The guard said, trying to keep her awake as he worked.

'You can tell her yourself! Don't you dare fall asleep! You have too many tasks today. Your schedule is filled, and napping wasn’t in it! You know how Twilight is about schedules.' Chrysalis warned.

"So… tired… T-they're a year old." She said over her breath, barely audible. 'I… Maybe… maybe she can make an exception? But Pound Cake won't like it… See? This is why you need your daily dose of chocolate.'

'Daughter?' Chrysalis asked, now worried that her Legate had gone delusional from the event.

"Hey… Hey! Come on, stay awake! You have to tell me about them. Their names! What they are like?" The guard asked desperately, trying to get her to stay awake, turning to yell at his partner while he treated the other injured ponies, having done what they could here. "Where the hell is that ambulance!?"

'Chocolate… gotta… have a good dose of chocolate for a good day...' Dawn thought back to her mother, clinging to any train of thought she could make, no matter how incoherent as she breathed the answer to the guard. "T-they’re… a year… old, and... a boy... and a girl."

"Names! What their names?" He asked.

'Yes…’ Chrysalis said, starting to realize what Dawn was doing. She was ready to help her daughter, even if it meant keeping up with their mind’s wandering. Any conversation with her meant her daughter was awake ‘Yes, you need to help make the chocolate for the dinner rush. Without you, Pound has to do it by himself.'

'I think… I think I'm going to be late to getting there… I hope he forgives me… I like him.' She thought faintly, speaking on her breath, struggling to breathe as her vision filled with lights that danced in her eyes. "B-bacon… no… not bacon. I…"

"Hey...HEY! Stay with me!" He yelled.

'No! You're not! You're going to be right on time, like you always are.' Chrysalis said, hiding the desperation in the message despite mobilizing every drone in the area.

'Mom… I can't feel anything… I'm so cold and wet… I… I…' Dawn thought, her eye fluttering again before she started to fade out, no longer actively responding to the link.

'Legate… Daughter… DAWN!' Chrysalis yelled at her. She quickly reached into the link, realizing her daughter was growing faint, risking passing into memory.

The ambulance skidded to a stop and the paramedics got out.

"Hey, hey! Wake up! The medics are here, you’re going to be fine… You’ve got to go home to your kids and husband… Dawn come on!" The guard yelled.

Dawn was barely aware of everything that was happening around her. She could hear things and feel things, but they weren't registering at all. Her connection to the link was vague, knowing they were there and she was there, but she couldn’t react. She had no energy to react, she simply was.

The guard moved back as the medics ran over with their gurney and tools and began to work. It wasn't long before they had the unconscious mare on it and rushing back to the ambulance while the vehicle was zooming off toward the hospital as her body struggled to stay alive.

Stalwart was at home, having just finished a shower after a jog to keep in shape between training recruits. It was a good little break this week while Zera and Nymph looked after the foals. He got back around the same time Dawn was about to leave, and now he stepped out, freshly dried.

A loud banging came from the door, frantic knocking echoing in the home and sounding like they were in danger of the door being broken down.

"Coming!" he called, suppressing his annoyance as he went to the door and opened it.

A guard stood there. "Sir, you need to come with me right now. There been an incident… your wife, she's been rushed to Ponyville General."

Stalwart's blood ran cold as a sneaking fear came to his mind. "Zera, Nymph! Please watch the foals!"

As soon as he heard them confirm the answer, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. "Take me to her!"

"Come with me. My Cruiser’s our front." The guard said. The insignia on his uniform said he wasn't a castle guard, indicating he was from the town. He galloped down the hall as he explained. "I don't know what happened. My partner just went crazy while we were getting a drink, yelling about an attack.”

“I was able to calm him down so he stopped scaring the ponies around us and he just took off, yelling at me to get you to the hospital and saying something happened to the Legate. Been with him long enough to know who that is, and I came straight here. I've never seen him like that.” The guard said, his concern for them transparent, “He's usually calm and collected, and that… he looked ready to tear someone’s head off."

Stalwart dashed after him, easily keeping up, "So what did happen? Who attacked? What happened to my wife!"

"I DONT KNOW!" The guard yelled in frustration before they dashed out the doors toward the cruiser, still running and all lights flashing. "I just told you everything I know. My partner wasn’t exactly coherent!"

"Sorry! I'm just worried." He said, both of them getting in and strapping in, "Not trying to put any more pressure on you."

"I get it. Don’t worry." He said as he floored the throttle and the cruiser peeled out, turning on the siren. "I'm worried too… if something caused Frin to lose it like that… he’s faced really bad shit and didn’t even flinch… I don't want to see what's caused him to lose his cool."

"Yeah…" Stalwart said, fear gripping his heart as he rode along. It had taken him nearly this full half a year to get used to riding in vehicles, and he appreciated their ability to get him places faster than galloping right now, even if he was still learning to drive.

It didn't take long before the cruiser skidded into the hospital’s parking lot.

"By Celestia…" the guard breathed, eyes wide at the scene ahead of him.

The entire area was filled with drones. Some were dressed in work uniforms, some were without, but every single one practically covered the walls of the hospital and other areas, leaving just enough room for people to get in and out. All of them looked ready to kill.

"I… I've never seen so many at one place outside the hive." Stalwart said, stunned as he unbuckled and started to get out, "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

"Yeah..." the guard said as he called it in.

The drones made way for Stalwart, the only acknowledgment they gave him as they watched the area around the hospital. More drones kept arriving by the minute. The Swarm was growing, making the building look more and more like a beehive that was ready to strike an unwanted target in its territory.

Stalwart walked in, trying to keep his fear under control as he worried for his wife. His fear wasn’t toward the hive, he knew their ire wasn’t at him.

The hospital itself was in a state of controlled chaos due to the growing swarm slowly covering it. Nurses were trying to keep everyone and themselves control as they evacuated the hospital.

A caretaker wearing a nurse hat approached Stalwart amidst the remaining chaos inside the hospital.

“Come with me.” She said at him as she turned and headed deeper into the hospital.

“Ok… why are ponies evacuating? Why is the hive all over the building?” He asked.

"They fear we will cause issues. The Swarm is gathering to defend the Legate while your pony healers try to tend to her." She said in an almost detached way.

"I..." He hesitated as he followed, his fear and worry rising. A lump in his throat rose as he asked, "So what happened to my wife?"

“She was attacked.” She said as she led him into areas normally reserved for staff only, and eventually they came to an area above the surgery room where he could see down into the surgical bay where a team worked. “This is as far as I can take you to where you can't interfere with these pony healers.”

“I understand…” He said as he braced himself and looked into the surgical bay.

He saw a team of doctors and nurses around the table, working and blocking is view of his wife more often than not. He could see a lot of blood in many places, machines that were helping keep the patient alive as several bags of medication and blood hung nearby, dripping into their patient.

He shook in place, for the first time feeling weak at the sight of blood because he caught a glimpse of it mingled with green fur that was being stained a deep forest green from the blood, reinforcing that it was his wife that was in this position.

"Is she going to be ok?" He asked, voice shaking with his body as he moved to sit down.

"We do not know." The caretaker said. "The best doctors this place has are working on her… but if she doesn't make it… We swear whoever did this will feel the full wrath of the Swarm.”

“All right…” He said as he slumped down. “Has the Commander been told?”

“She is mobilizing the castle into full combat deployment. She is almost to the point of declaring martial law.”

“I see…” He said quietly. "I'll say that if Nightfall or Storm wish to come, I'll allow it. I'd like whatever support I can get right now, and with my parents not here…"

He took a deep breath, eyes watering as he tried to get his emotions under control, fighting the immense sadness and worry that tried to take over his emotions.

The caretaker put a hoof on his shoulder. "You have The Hive… you have proven yourself a friend. As far as we are concerned, you are one of us."

He nodded and pulled her into a tight hug, tears coming to his face unbidden as he worried over the fate of his wife.

She put her hooves around him and was held as he cried without shame for a time. He held her tightly as he feared the worst, trying desperately to picture her safe and sound, only to remember the past and wish things could have continued without the attack.

It was some time before he finally calmed, using a box of tissues on a nearby table to wipe his muzzle as needed.

"Thank you…" he said quietly.

"You need not thank us."

"I want to… I'm grateful for what the hive is doing for us, for what these doctors are doing for us." Stalwart said, sniffling as he set down another used tissue into the trash. "Dawn would want me to focus on the good things right now, so that's what I'm going to try to do."

She nodded and remained there. Her duties were to the hive, and they would supersede everything else.

Stalwart took a breath and let it out, having calmed himself. "Is Chrysalis or Twilight or anypony going to come visit too?"

The door slammed open and the Queen entered, looking as calm and regal as always, but the air was charged around her. Anyone who knew her or knew that charged feeling could sense the bloodlust radiating from her.

The Queen of The Hive was pissed.

Stalwart flinched visibly at the sight, ears flat against his head briefly before he looked to Chrysalis, swallowing as he wondered what she would do next. She simply walked to the observation window and looked down into the surgical bay.

“She should be in the hive where we can care for her, not here with ponies, but that insufferable head nurse won't let me retrieve her, even when I threaten to turn her inside out.” She said hauntingly, a hint of a smile appearing briefly. “Impressive, to stand before a Queen and not budge.”

“What would you do differently to heal her?” Stalwart asked hesitantly.

“Place her in a healing cocoon where she belongs, not some lonesome table, bleeding out while ponies cut and prod her.”

"Well… I mean, if there's stuff that got lodged in her, I'd think it's still help if they get those things out first." Stalwart said to defend the doctors. "At least we know they're doing everything they can to save her."

Chrysalis humphed.

“Look, let them do what they can, and if that doesn't work, then we put her in your healing thing.” Stalwart said, trying to appease her. He watched as she remained silent and watchful before he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So… what happened? I'm told she was attacked, but by who? What did it?"

"We do not know. Ponies think it was a gas line, but there are none where the blast was."

"Sounds suspicious to me." Stalwart frowned. He moved over to be close to Chrysalis, rather badly wanting his mother for support right then.

"Quite." Chrysalis said and carefully placed a hoof on his shoulder. "She will make it. She is my daughter."

"And my wife…” He said before giving an empty chuckle, “Besides, she's the bearer of hope. If she's at all like it, she might be a bit frail, but she'll be tough to kill."

"Exactly."

Stalwart sighed and leaned against Chrysalis. "This… this is… my worst day ever."

"Mine too." Chrysalis nodded, speaking softly in agreement.

Stalwart stood there, trying to think of anything he could ask to distract himself. "How are my foals doing?"

"They are fine. Zera is taking care of them, as is her duty. Nymph is worried. She cannot feel her queen, but she is trying to put on a brave front for the foals."

"Understandable… I’m glad they’re doing a good job…" He said, earning a nod from Chrysalis. "I… I don't think I’ll be up for working for a bit…"

"You have already been granted emergency leave." Chrysalis informed him.

"Good…" he said softly, waiting on the doctors or more guests.

The room remained quiet as they watched the doctors work.

Storm arrived after a small amount of time, taking a look at Dawn after consoling Stalwart. She was horrified by the results. She was there to watch over Dawn like Twilight asked, in spite of the hospital being covered in changeling drones. With them otherwise taking care of nearly all the security, she focused her efforts on supporting Stalwart.

Storm was in a quandary of her own over the situation. She hadn’t always gotten along with Dawn, though when Dawn forced her to see their memories, things got a bit better, but she would never had wished Dawn harm this bad, even at her worst when she hated their guts for how she made Night feel. Now that she was seeing Dawn go through this, it was hard to say that Dawn was being anything but honest in her other difficulties before. It became a good distraction from her fight with Nightfall and their breaking up afterward, only emphasizing to her how skewed he was against Dawn.

After several hours, the light indicating surgery was in progress turned off as the team down below drew the curtains to finish up, Dawn being carted out of sight.

“They will be moving her to a room for recovery.” the nurse drone said.

Stalwart sighed, the worst was probably over. "How is she?"

"I don't know. They wouldn't let drones in there due to our behavior." The nurse said turning to go. "I'll find out what room she's being placed in."

"Thank you." Stalwart said quietly.

After a bit the Nurse returned. "Follow me."

Stalwart moved to follow, Storm close behind. They were lead to one of the upper floors, into the ICU wing. Stalwart looked on with apprehension, hoping his wife will be alright.

They entered a room where Dawn laid in a bed with an IV drip. The lower half of her face was covered in bandages, her right eye being covered similarly. Her chest was bandaged more heavily, along with her front legs practically being in a cast from the bandages. That was all they could see above the blankets in tandem with the breathing machine running to a tube into her neck. Stalwart knew that things were just as bad along the rest of her body from his look during surgery.

"Oh Dawn..." Stalwart said, going to her side carefully.

The Queen approached, looking at her daughter with a horrified expression.

"She’s in a coma due to blood loss…" The nurse said. "She’s in critical condition… the doctors have done all they can."

"Thank you nurse… I know they did..." he said, still stunned as he looked at her with a new feeling of dread.

Storm winced as she saw the extent of the damage. "This… this is messed up… I’m sorry this happened to you Stalwart. If there’s anything you need, let me know."

The Queen growled, baring her sharp teeth. "I'm going to rip whoever did this to pieces, and use what remains to decorate my throne room, as a warning to what happens when someone attacks my family." She said, her voice rumbling from deep in her throat and dripping with venom.

"I just want to have my wife back." Stalwart said, putting his hoof on hers gingerly, turning to the pony nurse, "What should we expect? How long till she's up and walking? Any estimates at all?"

"We… don't know. Her chances of walking again with her hind legs are slim. Flight isn’t much more hopeful due to damage to the muscles. … They are concerned about one of her lungs and she most likely will have severe breathing problems for the rest of her life, as well as limited range of motion in her left front leg. She suffered severe nerve damage, so feeling will also be… well, low. … The doctor said it’s a miracle she even reached the ambulance alive, much less surgery." She said, having been very empathetic and growing quiet near the end, "If she wasn’t an alicorn, she'd be dead."

Stalwart felt tears want to come up to his eyes yet again, ignoring the gasp that came from Storm at that news. He looked back to Chrysalis, wondering what she would say or do about this.

Chrysalis looked ready to tear someone, anything, apart, and could give a Hydra a run for its bits as the most dangerous thing in Equestria as she glared at nothing, her teeth bared. The nurse quietly excused herself from the room.

Stalwart gritted his teeth and gripped his wife's hoof again then nodded to himself, realizing what must be done. "And when is she being taken to the hive?"

"In about fifteen minutes, and I don't care who tries to stop us." The Queen said.

Stalwart nodded. "I'd like to be there for it… please."

"I'd have to disown you if you weren’t there." She said, trying to hint at a smile, but failing due to her mood.

"And I’d fight you to get un-disowned." He smirked briefly before seeing Dawn and feeling worry again. "Can the hive help her heal more then?"

"If I have to dump all the love we have stored up into her healing to make her better, I gladly will." The Queen said.

"I will give as much as I can if you need it." Stalwart said firmly, "Anything I can do to help at all, just name it."

"Care for your little ones. Be with them in this trying time… They won’t understand what’s happening."

He nodded, taking a breath and letting it out shakily, earning a pat on the shoulder from Storm. A few moments later, a dozen changeling soldiers entered the room and moved toward the bed.

Stalwart squeezed his wife's hoof then stood aside to let them work.

They moved and very carefully picked her up, attaching a battery to the breathing machine to let it run during transport, and began to move toward the door, towing her and anything keeping her alive.

Stalwart followed them closely, yet giving them the room they needed. As they left the room, there were a couple nurses, doctors, and hospital security lying unconscious on the floor as the drones walked down the hall like a freight train down tracks.

"For interfering with the hive I’m guessing." Stalwart said.

"Probably…" Storm agreed.

The changelings didn’t answer as they walked on and out of the hospital heading toward the Hive. Stalwart and Storm followed, the hive staying on the ground so he could keep up with his mate, and soon they were at the castle and descending to the lowest levels into the entrance of the hive.

Stalwart continued down, not caring where he went right then, only that he got to see his wife was placed somewhere safe where she could recover.

The group eventually reached a chamber with an open cocoon, and some healers began to remove the medical equipment and most of the bandaging.

Stalwart flinched as he began to see the extent of his love's wounds and looked away, Storm offering him a hoof on the shoulder.

It was bad. Much of her fur on the back side, where the blast hit hardest, was gone, showing all kinds of damage to her skin, some of it blistered and raw, but she was quickly being laid in the cocoon as she started struggling to breathe without the respirator, the cocoon being sealed as the mix was pumped into the chamber.

Stalwart flinched as he heard her gasping for breath, muscles not pulling in the air needed from the nerve damage. He looked to Chrysalis worriedly, "If she is struggling to breathe, is she going to be ok in there?"

"The mix is designed to handle the worst injuries. As long as she doesn't pass into memory before it can submerge her she will be fine." She said as the cocoon filled slowly.

He watched as she sunk in, worried if she would make it as her choking noises grew more desperate, eye moving about wildly as her body struggled to breathe and keep living.

"She is my daughter. Do not doubt her." Chrysalis said.

"I’m her husband, I’m allowed to be concerned about her." He countered with worry dripping from his voice, only letting go of his tension once she finally submerged and her weak struggling for air finished, small twitches showing she hadn’t passed away.

Chrysalis remained there, watching as the mix filled in, her stance only relaxing as the last bit of air escaped and the air-escape hole was sealed, leaving Dawn suspended gently in it.

"So…” Stalwart said as he let out a sigh of relief, “she should be out of danger now, right?"

"Yes."

"Good… how long before she hatches?" Stalwart asked.

Storm approached the cocoon, reflecting on how things were the last time she saw Dawn in one of these. She could tell the change in attitude before, now holding nothing but respect for the downed mare where she had once held only contempt.

"I do not know… however long it takes her to heal." the Queen said quietly.

Stalwart nodded solemnly, "Can I visit her whenever I need to?"

"You need not ask." Chrysalis answered. "We have even prepared a room right next door."

"Thank you… I think we will want to be here for a while…" Stalwart nodded.

"I can come help foal-sit for you sometimes if you need me to." Storm offered as Chrysalis nodded her agreement with him.

"How's Twilight taking the news? Still mobilizing the army?"

"Investigators are on the ground and… yes. They just confirmed there are no gas lines there and this was an attack… the town is being locked down."

"Wait.... That’s right…" Stalwart said, starting to growl as his emotions turned his raw grief and worry into anger. "SOME MULE OF A PONY ATTACKED MY WIFE!"

"It would appear so." Chrysalis said, watching him calmly and seeing what he would do next.

He growled at the air, looking past the cocoon as he pictured the kind of pony he thought would do this, before his eyes refocused on the cocoon itself and he took a deep breath, cooling the heated anger into a deep seated cold anger.

"We are hunting." Chrysalis said.

"Yeah… let's see what they'll do when they're caught…" Stalwart said, looking through the cocoon to see the outline of his wife. He wanted to help hunt them down, he wanted to make them pay for otherwise practically killing his wife and harming so many others in the process. Despite him thinking this, he took another shuddering breath before slumped down, realizing it wouldn’t be what she would want. "It figures… she said she didn't want to be cocooned for fear of losing time with us while our foals are too young to understand. Looks like they made a choice for her."

"Life isn't always what we want it to be." Chrysalis said. "And I don't care what they do when we catch them. They attacked my daughter."

"Yeah…" Stalwart agreed, not caring at the moment what became of them.

"Let's see… the EDF will kill them for treason, or the hive will do whatever with them with nopony knowing… honestly? I'd choose the EDF route if I were them." Storm winced.

The Queen said nothing, watching the cocoon and looking still as a statue.

"You look tense mom." Stalwart said, "Is Dawn ok?"

"She is faint in the link, but there." She said. "But to have this happen, and in our territory no less…"

"I see…" He said, nodding as he looked on at the cocoon holding his wife. It didn’t look any different from the others, but he knew it was special because of the cargo it held. He sighed and moved over to the room that was pointed out for him and his foals to have.

He entered it slowly, looking around and spotting Zera and Nymph, playing with the foals, envying his twins’ innocence as he heard them whoop and dash over to him, prancing around happily at his reappearance.

Zera gave him a sad smile as Nymph went out to see the cocoon where her queen rested, joining Chrysalis.

He hugged his foals close then pulled his caretaker close, saying quietly, "I'll be relying on you a lot Zera, you and Nymph both…"

"I will always be here. My duty is to your family."

"And I'm grateful for it." He said, hugging them all, even as his foals squirmed from the lack of freedom.

Zera hugged back and Stalwart sighed, looking around at the place, noting how it was a fully furnished apartment.

He smiled, glad to have familiarity with it being set up almost identically to the home higher up in Twilight’s castle. He looked at the bed, and felt sadness that he will have to sleep there without his wife at his side.

"Would you like me to remain here to help you sleep?"

"I… would appreciate that." He nodded, giving their hug an extra squeeze before letting her go.

She nodded. The Legate had chosen her, and her duty had changed from a regular caretaker to a Royal Caretaker, bound to the Legate’s family. She would do anything to care for them.

He smiled at her and looked around again before going to settle on the floor with his foals where their toys were lying about, his foals quickly going back to playing and trying to get him to play together with them.

Storm stayed out of the way, watching the family play and cope while wondering where Twilight was or if she would receive new orders soon. Zera watched over them, knowing her job had not gotten any easier, but determined to fulfill her duty.

I’m glad Dawn will be healed and in the cocoon, and Nymph and Zera both are trying to help us as best we can, but our home will be sad for a while until she is returned to us. We don’t know when that will be… I hope it’s soon though, but with how much she was hurt… I’d rather she take as much time as she needs. I and the foals will be fine until she hatches as long as she comes back to us whole.

MONDAY JULY 23, YEAR 1 OF PRINCESS DAWN’S STAY WITH THE EDF

Today at approximately 10:43 AM, Ponyville suffered its first bombing in decades when a homemade explosive hidden within a public trash bin went off. Minor injuries were reported, save one severe casualty currently in critical condition at Ponyville General. All evidence indicated the bombing was meant for her do to timing as well as evidence of remote detonator we discovered.

Ponyville is still on lock down, though whoever did this could have slipped out before we realized what was going on. Investigations have begun to track down the perpetrators.

It is currently a race between EDF investigators and The Swarm on who gets to whoever did this.

If The Swarm gets to them first, I doubt we will ever find a trace of them. You do not attack The Legate and Daughter of The Queen and expect to get away with it. There is no way even I could call off Chrysalis on this. She is operating entirely independently of Equestria on this matter and there isn't much I can do to stop her.

I am curious as to who gets to them first. I do look forward to seeing this play out and if Dawn doesn't make it, there won’t be a hole deep enough they can hide from me and I will make whatever The Swarm plans to do look like a picnic. That is a promise. No one hurts my friends and gets away with it.

Dawn when you find this, I am glad you are okay, and I am so sorry this happened to you. Just know those responsible have been dealt with one way or another.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, Currently in a very bad mood.

Author's Note

Now we are all left wondering about Dawn's fate and how the family will cope. I'll do what I can to keep writing despite training for a new department and such, but we will see how it goes. I apologize in advance if things do slow down too much.