Nec Temere Nec Timide

Chapter 25:
Queen
“Ooohh, who are you? Are you new to Ponyville because I know everyone in Ponyville and I don't know yo-”

“Pinkie!” the three of us at the table shouted. Dash and I rather annoyed while Indigo absolutely horrified.

“Yep, that's me!” the pink earthpony exclaimed happily, stopping her from bouncing around the disguised changeling queen for a moment.

“I'm sure your enthusiasm is appreciated but we have some things to discuss with the lady,” I told her which deflated the party pony a bit. “I'm sure you can organize something for later."

That instantly cheered up Pinkie again who jumped back to the counter. "Okiedokie! Will do Jackie!"

The changeling queen glanced over at confusion at what had just happened but quickly returned her attention back to our group of three as she decided it wasn't important. She first addressed her own subject, telling Indigo to 'get out' before taking her seat. "You have been stirring up a load of trouble wherever you seem to appear, griffin."

"I do seem to be a shit magnet, yes, but before we start talking in honest maybe we should exchange names. Jack Grey as you have undoubtedly heard, and my friend here is Rainbow Dash."

"Alvearium, Queen mother of the Canterlot hive," she replied before getting straight to the point. "You got Celestia to make a bold request of my hive. No queen has ever bargained with any outside our own kind, why should we now?"

"Mutual interest," I simply replied, making sure Dash remained quiet with a gesture. "You have an interest in preventing the ponies from finding a way of revealing your kind and they need a way to stop infiltration into their forces."

"And why could we not deal with that renegade changeling you have locked up in the capital and be done with the matter?" Alveatium simply proposed with narrowed eyes. I sighed and reached for a rifle on my back, only to find it firmly held in place by a golden aura.

"If I wanted to kill you I would be much less obvious about it," I told the queen as she shot me a glare but she did allow me to pull out the rifle and present it in front of her. "This is the mark one, the product of pony ingenuity over the last few weeks. If they can produce something like this at the astonishing rate they did, how long do you think it will take before they find a way to break changeling disguises now they've set their minds to it?"

Alvearium scowled as she thought over my words before she spoke again. "Of course they had help from a very unorthodox source, mister Jack. I have gotten wind of what you are."

"True, true, I gave them a push in the right direction, but unlike the mechanics of building a rifle, ponies are very good at magic," I shot back, pushing the rifle back into its bag. "I do not want us to be enemies, Queen Alvearium, it would just be a wasteful affair for both your hive and the ponies."

I folded my claws in front of me on the table and waited for Alvearium's response, which came as a deep sigh. "Queen Crysalis has disrupted the balance, brought us into the light where we do not belong. I will have a reply sent to Princess Celestia to ask her what her terms would be."

"I have not known her to be really unreasonable yet, just protective of her ponies," I stated as that was mostly my experience with the pony princess.

"Let us hope that extends to my kind as well." Alvearium stood up from her seat. "Mister Grey, would you accompany me for a walk? I have heard things and read reports but I would like to measure you up for myself."

I glanced over to Dash who noticed and gave me a nod, she had relaxed a little after the queen had promised to send a message to Celestia but was clearly ready to intervene if something happened she didn't like. "Of course, give me a moment."I swiftly unbuckled my bags and passed them along to Rainbow so the only thing weighing me down was my tactical vest with ballistic plates and pistol. "Please, lead the way."

Alvearium took the lead and guided us to Ponyville's park, only a few days out on this rather sunny day. I remained relatively relaxed but did scan the sky and surrounding area so every now and then for any changeling that may be shadowing the queen, and for Rainbow from above. “My local zebra friend informed me of the hypothesis she came up with concerning you. Are you truly not of this world?”

“I fear not, no,” I scowled, still rather sore about the things I'd discussed with Zecora. “Though I didn't have much choice in my appearing here.”

“So I've heard. To have your soul pulled from a body cannot have been a pleasurable experience.”

“I honestly remember nearly nothing of the event,” I admitted, “Most of what I do know comes from a dream.”

“I see...” Alvearium said, pondering in silence for a moment. “Yet for just a soul you have a remarkable amount of equipment at your disposal.” Now it was my turn to remain silent and think for a bit.

Shit, she might be right... What if there is a way back. Zecora might have pointed me in the right direction but we were honestly still working on a bunch of assumptions.

“Perhaps that's something to ponder later. I actually wanted to talk to you about why you were so ready to defend my subject, even after I sent him to kill the drone the ponies have in custody," Alvearium stated, switching subjects. “Not that I am complaining, Cypher is still very much among the best of the best and I'm glad to not have lost him.”

“Honestly, that really was in self interest. We really need that way to protect our vital interests and if we can do so without angering even more factions that'd be a plus. Besides, I had your drone on the ground and under control, I'm not in the business of executions,” I replied as we took place on a bench overlooking the main field of grass that made up the park.

“Practical but not without a sense of honour,” the queen simply stated as she looked at a small group of foals playing.

“I'm either your best friend or worst enemy,” I stated with a nod.

“Let us try to remain good friends then,” the queen chuckled. “About the mare I found you with, the Element of Loyalty, I noticed she was wearing the same attire you are.”

“Rainbow Dash,” I nodded. “What about her?”

“I find it rather curious to find another pony in your garb, perhaps you even trained her?” Alvearium asked with a curious smile.

“Rainbow is quite remarkable in some ways, yes. I'd advise to not try and test those ways, though, you might find yourself with a few changelings fewer if you do so.” The queen's smile faltered for a moment, her gaze moving out over the park again. “She was a fairly aggressive pegasus to start, I just sharpened her and am working on giving her the ability to direct it appropriately. I can't teach her everything I know due to lack of materials but that doesn't mean I don't rate her very highly as a warrior.”

Alvearium huffed, “A warrior that is always kept safe? I know Celestia would never risk her prescious Elements so casually, and good on her to keep her ace well guarded for appropriate use.”

That got me to scowl in turn. “And what makes you think Rainbow hasn't been through the fire already?”

Alvearium looked me over again. “Perhaps I misjudged Celestia then... I apologize if I insulted you, this situation has me admittedly more blind then I'd like.”

“Rough situations bring out our true selves, show what your spine is truly made out of.”

She nodded, “I think I understand you a little better now, specialist Grey,” Alvearium replied as she looked back over at me and smiled. “I am sure we shall meet again.”

Two ponies materialised from the bushes behind us, most likely the changelings that formed the queens guard by the way they glared me down. At the same time I could see one of the clouds I'd been keeping an eye on shift and a black barrel pop out of it. Acting quickly I threw up a claw, motioning to Dash to hold her fire. The two guards lowered themselves as they didn't know what I was doing, waiting for a command from their queen to take me out.

“You weren't the only one being followed by guards,” I smirked, very self-satisfied as Alvearium also looked confused at my actions until I guided her sight to the cloud from which Dash had emerged, hair faded from a dye and my sniper rifle in hoof still facing in our direction.

She even managed to fly by her house to pick that thing up? I guess the firepower would definitely be worth it...

“I see. A good thing we kept our conversation amicable then, isn't it?” Alvearium said with a smile.

“Indeed. I assume you're heading back up to Canterlot so I'll wish you safe travels,” I said with a nod before turning and spreading my wings, flying up to where Dash's overwatch point was.

“I take the two of you remained friends then?” Dash asked as I hovered close by the cloud.

“Friendly enough, she did give me some new insight into the way I got to this world. Inconsistencies I'll need to discuss with Twilight.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that. “You think what Zecora said was wrong?”

I shook my head. “No, I think we got it mostly right but there's some things that don't make sense which we could figure out.”

“Just tell me when you guys figure something out, alright?”

“Always,” I replied, looking back at where the queen and her drones had been only to find there wasn't a trace of them left. “We should get to Twilight's so Spike can send a letter to the Princess to let her know what happened.”

“Right. Then what are we waiting for? I'll race you there!”

It took a few days after we reported our encounter with the queen before we got an update on the situation from Canterlot. The changelings had opened up limited relations with Celestia and would most likely be embedding their own among the guard to counter infiltrators. This wouldn't be known by most members of the guard, of course, only a select few who'd work with them would be aware of their presence. All this was coming at a good time as the cities at the southern border were experiencing a surge of disappearances, lots of guard units being hit hard as they specifically were being targeted.

I, though, was getting rather restless as I was getting all kinds of news and updates through various channels and wasn't able to do anything about it. Rainbow seemed to think she had the perfect solution though as we were eating breakfast.

“Oh, come on! You trained me, right?” Dash exclaimed as I shook my head and crossed my arms.

“Look, I made an exception for you already, I can't just train every single person I come across!”

“And with just the two of us, we're almost as useless as we'd be if we were alone!” Dash argued back, “And besides, I already have one person who'd be perfect! If we get one more we'd be at least be at minimum strength to do stuff!”

I grumbled in protest but honestly, she was right, just two individuals couldn't operate effectively. “Who oh who do you have in mind then.”

“Gilda,” Dash confidently stated. “She's driven and if I know her well, which I do, she's itching to get involved like the two of us are!”

Honestly, it wasn't the worst person to propose. I'd had a few conversations with the griffin around time and she did seem to not be happy about being sidelined. The time we have is so not sufficient for any real training, and then there's the number four spot... What if I...

“Come on, Jack you-”

“Alright," I cut her off. “But we run it by the princesses first.”

For a moment I could see the glee in Rainbow's eyes. “So what are we waiting for?! Let's write that letter!”

Finishing my plate I got to writing the letter explaining that I wanted to train two more individuals and that one candidate we were eying was Gilda. For the second individual though I asked if a changeling could be attached to me for training. I didn't see Queen Alvearium opposing the idea as it would mean one of her own would gain intimate knowledge of my tactics, but that also meant the princesses might not be so happy to agree.

My solution? Send the letter via dragonfire candle instead of via spike so it didn't end up directly in Celestia's hooves and stamp it so Luna would be the one getting to it first. The younger of the two main princesses had already shown to be more opportunistic rather than playing safe, getting permission from her would in my estimation be easier.

By the time I'd finished, Dash had left to get Gilda to come over and discuss if she wanted to join. I didn't expect to get a response from the princess to at least the evening though as she was probably asleep at this time. I probably couldn't have been more wrong as no more than ten minutes later the candle crackled and spit out a royally sealed letter back at me. To say the reply was long though was something else:

'Permission granted. Request relayed to changeling queen, expect reply soon.' It was signed by the princess of the night and had the appropriate seals to authenticate it as real.

That was way too easy... I guess I should run it by Spike anyhow to be certain.

Though a little suspicious of how fast the request had been approved, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth right now. Dash didn't take long to get back with Gilda in tow, the two of them walking into the living room where I was already brainstorming a way to fit as much training as possible into as small a timeframe as possible but came to the conclusion I'd still have to take at least three months to get anyone truly up to speed.

"Wait, is that a reply from Luna?" Dash asked as she snatched the document off the table and read the small message, a massive grin forming on her face.

"Hey, mind explaining what Rainbow here pulled me along for? I sort of only understood the part where she was really excited," Gilda bluntly stated, looking over at me. "Something about some proposal?"

"Dash and I are looking for more creatures to recruit. The two of us can't effectively function as just a pair," I stated, Gilda's eyes widening a bit.

"And you want me to become part of your little two creature gang?" She asked, knowing full well how extremely dangerous both me and Rainbow Dash had become.

"If you agree, then yes," I affirmed, clearly seeing Dash was right about her assessment of Gilda as she fell into thought.

"Say if I agree, what would happen?" Gilda probed, sitting down on a cloud-couch across from me while Rainbow took a seat next to me.

"About three months of intense training," I stated.

"There will be moments where you think you're dying," Dash said, her excitement giving away to a more serious tone as she had already gone through the trials I was going to repeat for sure. "It'll be tough in the extreme."

If only she knew there's even tougher training courses...

"Rainbow is right, but if you push through the adversity the reward on the other end will be immense," I added to not discourage Gilda from even attempting, luckily she didn't look like that was the case anyhow.

"I'll do it." She said after pondering the proposal for a bit. "So when do we start?"

"I want to get my number four first and gather some more equipment so It'll probably be a few days. Just make sure you're ready to drop everything you're doing and get started."

Gilda nodded and got back up, “Then I'll get my stuff in order. Guess I'll see you in a few days then.”

“Exactly. I suggest you get as much rest as you can because that'll become a scarce resource after we start,” I advised her to which she nodded again.

“I'll keep it in mind. See you in a few days.”