The five Avins burst into the throne room. Woodburn's fury shaded their shells a spectrum of orange, from Echo's bronze to Gena's tangerine. The drone trio addressed Libra all at once:

“Woodburn's gone mad!”

“We only have a few hours!”

“They're on their way now!”

“They're going to attack the hive!”

“They could be here by sunset!”

As they spoke, their hues merged with the throne room's and dispersed through the hive. The wall nearest the queen though turned honeybee yellow. “I feared this would happen. And there's no dissuading them?”

Canary shook her head. “When Aether sets her mind on something, nothing can hold her back.” Canary sighed. “It's what started our revolution: the desire to fly.”

Echo looked around the throne room. “So what will we do, run?”

“Other hives could take us in…” Libra frowned and paced in a large circle. “How many are there?”

“About 500.”

“Over twice our count…” Libra sped to a trot, diffusing her fear into each vein she passed. “The distance is too great, though; they would catch us before nightfall. We may have to stand our ground.”

A hundred minds cried out in response, turning the walls strawberry: a love beyond death.

“They'll never take the hive!” Elytra said.

“We'll fight them to the death!” Flitix added.

The weight of the hivemind echoed his words: To the death!

“No! That's exactly what I want to avoid! I don't want to lose a single one of you!” Libra froze, along with her emotions. “Instruct the matrons to evacuate the younglings to the eastern forest. Commanders, we meet at once.”

Canary's heart stopped. “What are you planning?”

Libra's shell turned an icy blue. “We'll flee the hive. I need you to stand guard outside the hive and let us know when Woodburn comes. We'll lure them into the hive to buy us some time. Can you do that for me?”

Canary bowed along with Echo and head out of the throne room. As they left, Libra lit her horn an empyreal gold that pulsed with the hive's own heartbeat.

Hive. Home. Danger! Hurry! Hive. Home. Danger! Hurry!

Canary gritted her teeth as the primal calls wore at her mind. Memories of a rainy day flooded her as her mind invented a thousand reasons to turn around.

“Keep straight,” Echo kept insisting. “We have a different purpose. Keep on moving!”

In egress they fought upstream a flow of changelings, each converging on Libra's call. Canary felt like she was walking through syrup; every inch of her body resisted her motion. We have a different purpose.

The chirps of crickets prophesied rain. Northern winds drove pregnant clouds to smother the setting sun, casting the hive and surrounding hills in shadow. Canary followed Echo to the hilltop and looked over the edge. Its opposite side dropped off like a cliff, giving them a clear view of the valley below. The hive stood on their right, holey as honeycomb and surrounded by sylvan slopes. Echo and Canary hid by a bush, watching the western skies.

Lightning struck. Pinpoints of light sparked in response, revealing the armored flock of pegasi to the west. After a few agonizing minutes, the flock landed in the valley and arrayed themselves around the mountain.

Echo's horn glowed green for a moment, burning the idea “They're here” into her mind.

A heartbeat later, Canary felt Echo's hoof on her shoulder. Without realizing, she'd started back for the hive, drawn on by the image of the throne room. Her body pleaded with her to go.

Echo reigned her back behind the bushes. “Resist it,” he whispered. “That signal you're feeling is the hive putting out the call to the pegasi. Just bite it down.”

Canary felt her body shake in protest, so she bit her lip and pulled back the reigns on her mind. It felt like she had a massive bug bite she was holding back from itching. The pegasi below clearly took the brunt of the suggestion: ranks broke as the entire flock streamed for the hive with Aether in the lead. Just as the final tail disappeared, hundreds of changelings flew out from the surrounding forest.

In the fading light, Canary watched the changelings form a flying wall around the hive. Lighting jumped across the northern skies, illuminating the changelings' armor. Canary squinted.

“What are they doing? Weren't we supposed to book it? Why the armor?” Canary felt a wave of cold strike her heart and she looked over to an awestruck Echo. “What's going on?”

Words struggled to leave Echo's throat. “They're—caving in the hive.” His voice rose almost like a question.

“What‽”

Raindrops broke out around them as a single word pierced Canary's mind: Fall!

The wall of changelings dove towards the hive. Just as the thunder struck, so did the hundreds of changelings. The mountain let out a groan as rocks tumbled down its face.

Echo's voice broke as he spoke. “They're—caving in the hive.”

“No!” Canary ran up to the cliff's edge just as lightning struck again, revealing Libra centered in the wall, hoof lifted, eyes to the skies.

I have to stop her. Canary stepped back and lifted her fledgling wings.

“Canary? You're not going to—”

Canary galloped to the edge and leapt over Echo. Her wings flapped faster than ever before. She could feel they were catching less air than they used to, and she was definitely losing altitude. Come on! Only a hundred yards stood between her and the queen. Canary felt her muscles tear and scream as she pushed their limits. Nearly there! A jolt of pain shot through her left wing as it cramped. No no no no no! Canary corkscrewed over left and hurtled towards the mountainside below. She glanced back at her left wing and tried to flap, but it just couldn't keep up with her right.

The thought pierced her mind: Let go.

That's insane! Canary forced open her left wing, but she only spun faster. Her heart sank.

Again the voice came: Let go!

Canary growled and angled her wings against the spin. Her corkscrew turned on its head, sending her sideways into the mountainside. Blood filled her mouth as she crashed down.

Thunder struck with the changelings, hitting the hive as one. The nearest landed nearly on top of her and spattered her with pebbles. Piles of debris slid down the mountain, suffocating smaller entries. Canary spat the blood out of her mouth and climbed to her hooves.

Confusion and fear pierced her heart. That must be from Woodburn below me. Don't worry! You'll be okay! Canary hoped they could feel it—she never knew when it came to emotions.

Libra stood on an outcropping above the main entrance, only a few tree-lengths uphill. Canary leapt from boulder to boulder up the mountain, pumping her wings with each jump. It hurt like Tartarus to use her left, but she needed the speed.

Echo landed at her side and climbed the mountain behind her. “Canary!” In contrast to the darker shells leaving the mountainside, Echo's shell glowed a bright yellow. “Get out of here! You'll get hurt!”

The hovering wall had reassembled and low loomed over the mountainside. Canary leapt onto the boulder Libra hit and inhaled. “Stop!”

The landscape brightened for a blink as lightning blitzed the skies.

“Don't do it!”

Echo glanced at Libra then leapt up to Canary's side, lighting up his horn a vibrant violet. Its pulses were the exact hue that ennobles and emboldens. Canary knew she could die for him.

The changelings struck again in synch with the thunder, keeping clear of Canary and Echo.

Canary located Libra and ran over the rumbling rocks. Sections of the mountain gave way, spawning randomly over its assaulted face. Each cavity devoured the stones around it, filling in its void. Canary scrambled up to the depression Libra stood over and seized her leg. “Stop this! These are my friends!”

Libra didn't meet Canary's gaze—her eyes were fixed on the lightning above. “I'm sorry it has to be this way, Canary. It's better that the evil die so that the good can thrive.” Libra pushed into the air, dropping Canary onto the mountain below.

As the terror underground climaxed, Canary's eyes widened as a scene flashed into her mind: herself as a little filly, crying onto her mother's empty bed. Tears rushed to her eyes and Canary leapt up to Libra's boulder. After filling her lungs to the brim, she roared like a dragon, adding to her voice all the emotional force she could muster: “STOP!”

Thunder struck, but nothing moved. The changelings hovered in place, silhouetted against the clouded stars. The only noise was the rustle of leaves around her and the faint pitter of rain to the north. Canary closed her eyes and listened with her heart. Confusion above. Joy from Echo. But she felt nothing from below.

“No.” Canary's lips trembled. “No!” Canary jumped down into the depression that was once the main entrance and tore through the rubble beneath her. She heaved a head-sized rock down the mountain then went for a foal-sized slab. “Echo! Help!”

Echo walked over. “Canary, they're… We—”

Putting her back into the slab she tilted it a third of the way up. Tears formed in her eyes. “Help me!”

Echo touched Canary's shoulder. “We can't do anything for them. It's—it's too late.”

The slab collapsed into the rocks, as did Canary. The skies above cried nearly as much as she did.

A western wind ruffled Canary's mane and the ground around her rumbled. Pebbles leapt and jumped around her. Then, like a crashing wave, Hope hit her from below.

“Move!” Echo tackled Canary to the side and a geyser of rocks burst from where she had stood.

Fire, stone, and pegasi collided head-on with the changeling wall, breaking their formation. Fire? As the dust settled, Canary saw something shining above her: a pair of golden wings, shining like a billion fireflies, and between them a pair of eyes glowing with same empyreal fire.

“Aether,” Canary whispered. “So it was true.”

Hoof met claw, both in the skies and on the ground. Most changelings worked in pairs: one in offense, the other in defense. The defensive changelings transformed their forehooves into angled shields that deflected Cloud blades from most angles. The shields came to a point in front, doubling when needed as swords. The offensive changelings had three blades on their forelegs spaced equally around their hooves. The top two blades snared the battleclaws while the lower blade pierced the aggressor's hoof. The pairs of changelings clustered together, preventing pegasi from slicing their sibling's back. Each cluster had nearly twice the count of Storm pegasi surrounding them. The scene flickered dark for a moment, drawing Canary's attention upwards.

Aether followed her battleclaws down in a dive, aimed straight for a large clump of changelings with Libra at its heart. As Aether fell, the light at her sides sputtered out of existence.

“Libra!” Canary jumped towards the Queen, but a bolt of pain ran down the length of her left wing and it snapped shut on her side.

The world seemed to freeze as she fell with the raindrops and her two leaders. Aether's claws skewered the queen's neck and the two grappled in the air. Canary crashed into the mountain below and saw her leaders hit the ground, seven stories later.

A sickening CRACK sounded over the battlefield and all stood still. Changeling and pegasi mixed at the center, filling both air and ground near the two leaders. Canary shoved aside languid pegasi and indigo changelings, catching glimpses of the bloody epicenter. Canary broke through and gasped.

Her two friends lay crumpled on the ground, neither breathing. Aether's blood dripped down over Libra's body and mixed with the puddle of sapphire blood. Rain fell on them all, stinging like wasps. Two drones pulled Aether's battleclaws out of Libra and pulled their queen out of the crater. None of the changelings noticed Aether's eye crack open when she hit the ground. Each changeling sung a personal dirge as they gravitated towards their leader. Like rainclouds quenching color from the world, so did Libra's death deplete their shells.

Without moving her head, Aether's gaze darted from changeling to pegasus, piercing the crowd. “Well‽” she croaked, voice quavering. “Kill them!”

No one moved.

Aether lifted her torso, making her broken body quiver. A fiery light burned around her eyes and flickered at her sides. Aether gasped as fresh blood trickled from her stubs. Wings of red light flickered at her sides, a twisted mirror of the golden feathers that had just saved her. Her anger crashed down on the closest changelings, spattering their shells with a fiery orange that quickly melted away. Aether's battleclaws rattled as she pointed her claws at the changelings around her. “Kill them!”

One by one, pegasi turned on their neighbors, but not one hoof rose in defense. The changelings were losing color fast and sank from the skies in a lackluster stupor. A few crawled off the battlefield but dozens fell to silver claws.

Echo.

He stood a stone's throw away from her, frozen in place. Canary ran for him, clearing pegasi and changeling alike from her path. Echo walked dolefully towards her, as if an anchor were chained from his heart and drug in mud behind him. Behind him, A yellow-eyed pegasus reared up to slice him with bloody battleclaws.

Canary leapt up, pumped her wings, and roared. Flapping her wings felt like scraping glass across her back, but she needed the speed—the flapping bought her a heartbeat of time. With her right hoof, Canary punched his right claw into his left and tackled him with her shoulder.

Canary ran back to Echo. “We need to get out of here!”

Echo nodded like a turtle. Only three tendrils of blue spiraled through his grey shell.

“Run!” Canary butted him towards the forest and he finally moved. A few pegasi met Canary's eyes from across the battlefield and Canary gave Echo another shove. “Come on, Echo!” Clusters of changelings fell like wheat to the sickle, barely batting an eye. Flitix, Elytra, and Hyacinth were nowhere to be seen. Canary bit her lip and entered the forest, pushing Echo onwards.