Halfling
By Dee Pad
=====================================================================

Chapter 19: Strength in Numbers

=====================================================================

Glory breathed a sigh of resignation as she reluctantly traipsed through the halls of the hive. She felt like she was being forced through an exercise in public humiliation, despite the fact that there were no other changelings to witness her walk of shame. Never in her life had she felt so thoroughly degraded as she did right now.

After her failure to kill their intruder, Glory had returned to report her encounter to Captain Wraith, too injured to continue her pursuit of Shade after he had slipped from her grasp. Of course, her superior was none too pleased to hear of her failure. Having decided now that Glory was too incompetent for such a simple job, she had been assigned a new function, one she was less than enthused about.

That's where she was headed now; to her new post. Glory was mentally kicking herself for letting Shade escape. She personally insisted that she was more than capable of killing Shade if given a second chance, especially now that she knew what kind of power he possessed. She underestimated him, that's all. She let her confidence pour into overconfidence and she got reckless. It was a mistake she was embarrassed to admit, but one she intended to correct. At least, she would if she had been allowed. Wraith was too quick to call judgment on the matter. One attempt does not provide ample enough evidence to inform a decision like that. She knew that if she were to have another go at Shade, the result would be different.

But that just wasn't the case. Whether she liked it or not, she'd been pulled off the job. It had been decided that leaving one changeling to pick off Shade was not reliable enough of a plan. At least Glory had managed that much. With her intel they now knew to send a squad of soldiers after him to ensure the job gets done. However, that didn't quell her desire to prove that she could succeed, and Wraith knew that. Glory could tell from the intense way he looked at her after she'd told him that he was fully expecting her to ignore her new orders and seek out Shade again without his say so. Whether or not she was actually going to do that she hadn't decided yet.

Glory inhaled a deep breath through her teeth, rubbing a hoof over her chest gently. Even after a night of rest, she was still feeling the injuries she'd sustained. Her back and her chest were sore, and she feared she may even have a broken rib from her fall. She should have expected Shade to be as powerful as he was. With two years of love to feed on, he was bound to be a force to be reckoned with. She had relied too much on her own unique abilities to outsmart him. She wasn't expecting him to outright overpower her. If she was going to make another attempt on his head, she'd need to devise a plan of attack.

Glory was snapped from her thoughts of self-loathing and frustration at the sound of a shrill, high-pitched squealing in the distance. It was still some distance away, though, the noise sounding as if it were echoing through the entire hive. Glory shuddered, her reluctance building. As painful as that sound was to her ears, she knew that that was where she was headed; the location of her new post. Glory was feeling a little conflicted right now. On the one hoof, she hoped she never managed to get there, that the path she was walking was somehow infinite. But on the other hoof, she certainly didn't want to be subjected to that aural nightmare for eternity. The closer she lumbered to her destination, the louder the shrieking got. She was certain the noise was going to cause her ears to bleed if she had to be subjected to it much longer. If there was any consolation, once she got there, perhaps she could find a way to put a stop to it.

After what felt like hours of having to endure it, Glory finally saw the first sign of relief: a pair of green flames flanking a passageway up ahead. Those flames indicated important areas of the hive. For the most part, they were usually only seen in and near the throne room, but Glory knew she was headed for the soldiers' quarters. It may have been called that, but most of the soldiers elected not to spend their time this deep within the hive if they could help it, as food was scarce down here. They really only gathered there when preparing for something, or during a private address from the queen.

Glory could see a single armored soldier sitting outside the entrance. He looked to be in pain, gritting his teeth and cradling his head in his hooves. Of course, Glory could sympathize; she herself was being subjected to the same torture as he, though he was forced to be in much closer proximity to the incessant wailing. But that just made this much more loathsome for her, as it was about to be her in his position.

Glory sauntered up to the soldier, rubbing her temple from the headache she was already developing. "Hey," she addressed him brusquely, raising her voice that so he could hopefully hear her over the noise.

The soldier's head shot up, as if shocked and relieved to hear a sound other than the shrill shrieking. However, his relief turned to wariness when he laid eyes on the armored female. "Glory? What do you want?"

With a disdainful groan, Glory gestured for the soldier to stand. "I've been ordered to take over this post. You can leave."

The soldier stood up instantly, his eyes widening with the deepest of gratitude, practically on the verge of tearing up. "Really?! Oh, thank you! You have no idea how great it is to hear that."

"Trust me, I do," Glory muttered under her breath, accompanied by a roll of her hazel eyes.

The soldier made to trot happily past her, but stopped to give her a sly smirk. "Don't know what you did to get this job, but it must've been bad. Sucks to be you." He didn't wait for her to respond and simply buzzed down the corridor in the direction from which Glory had come. He wanted to get away from there as quickly as he possibly could.

With her head down, she stepped into the soldiers' quarters to assess the situation and start getting a feel for her new position. Contrary to what one might expect, the area was not very spacious for a place where all of the soldiers were intended to gather. That wasn't necessarily a problem considering it was rare for more than a half a dozen changelings to be present at once. Despite that, there were several shoddily made beds of dry grass and dead leaves erratically positioned on the floor around the perimeter of the room. Those beds would hardly do anything to provide comfort, but most soldiers weren't desperate enough to sleep here anyway. The one luxury the room did have was a small pool of water against the right wall. Water poured in from the ceiling, into a small, hollowed out bowl in the floor, before seeping out through the cracks where the wall met the floor. It was mostly clean, so that was a plus.

But, right now, the state of the room was the least of Glory's concerns. Sitting in the middle of one of the several grassy beds was the source of Glory's current headache: a tiny pony foal with a pair of changeling wings bawling its little eyes out.

With an irritated grimace, the changeling stepped over to the foal, punctuating each hoofstep with authoritative force. As she approached, the infant stopped wailing long enough to look up at the new face. His bright, green eyes were glistening with tears, and his bottom lip curled out as if attempting to sucker his new caretaker into feeling sorry for him. He was going to have to keep trying because Glory was having none of his sour and needy attitude.

It was only two words, but the foal immediately broke out into a fit of crying once more. Glory clenched her eyes shut, gritting her teeth with an aggravated growl. If she was going to have to put up with this new position, then the first thing she was going to have to do was find a way to silence that incessant shrieking. She noticed the fresh leaf laying beside the foal. It was decorated with a healthy pile of various berries and a half-eaten apple that was starting to brown quite heavily. For the most part, the food seemed untouched, suggesting the foal hadn't bothered to stop crying for a bite to eat; the chunk taken out of the apple was far too big to be from him and was likely a result of his previous attendant's own hunger. Clearly hunger wasn't the issue, so it must have been something else.

The only other thing Glory could think of is that he must be hurt or sick. So, using her magic, she lifted the tyke into the air. The sudden action startled the foal and he instantly started flailing around and screeching even louder—something Glory didn't expect was possible.

Of course, he didn't listen, so Glory had to examine him as he was. It was a difficult and frustrating task, but she managed to determine that he did not have any wounds or injuries. This only proved to further Glory's annoyance.

Glory nearly jumped out of her chitin at the sound of the voice speaking up from behind her. She spun around, fully prepared to lunge, fangs first, at the uninvited intruder. However, she paused when she saw who it was. Standing in the entryway with a smug grin on his face was Guise.

Glory straightened up, gently placing the crying foal back onto the bed before turning back to Guise. "You should know better than to sneak up on people. You could get hurt." It sounded less like a warning and more like a threat.

The female ignored the sarcastic comment, instead choosing to address her own thoughts. "I see you weren't able to kill him either."

The red eyed male chuckled. "Well, you got me there. Actually, it doesn't matter if I kill him or not anymore. I'm taking your suggestion and leaving regardless."

"Then you went in the wrong direction. There's no exit this way." Glory made sure that her tone relayed the fact that she didn't have the patience to deal with him right now, but she was also admittedly curious as to why he'd come this way.

"I know that, but I learned something interesting when I ran into Shade, so I figured I'd tail you to see for myself."

Guise turned his gaze down onto the weeping foal. The tyke stopped crying for a moment and practically drew back when their eyes met, as if instinctively wanting to avoid this new person. Glory observed Guise's expression. He appeared to be experiencing a mix of surprise and amusement, but also seemed a little off-put.

"So this is the little abomination of nature, huh?" Guise leaned in to look the foal over more closely. The increased proximity of the changeling's blood red eyes and sharp fangs set off the child's danger instincts and he immediately started screeching again. Guise pulled away, folding his ears back with a pained wince. "Noisy little brat, isn't he?"

"You don't need to tell me that," Glory said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm trying to figure out what his problem is." It was then that she remembered what Guise had said when he arrived. "You said he missed his parents. You don't just suggest something like that without some knowledge of the situation."

Guise shrugged, seeming a little uncertain himself. "Just a shot in the dark actually. I spent a little time around the ponies a couple of years ago. Real family people apparently," he explained with a touch of disgust. "Can't say I know much about foals, but I feel like separating him from his parents is probably pretty jarring for the little half-breed."

"Then as much as I hate to admit it, you know more about the subject than I do. Feel free to make some suggestions."

A self-satisfied smirk stretched across Guise's smug face. "Are you asking for my help again, Glory?"

Glory furrowed her brow at the accusation. "I'm not asking you for anything. If you have nothing to contribute, then you can kindly leave."

He raised his hooves to diffuse Glory's clearly rising impatience. "Alright, alright, but I don't see why you would want me to help out. Can't you just do your little 'mind-reading' trick?"

There was a moment of silence between the two, offset only by the foal's unending bawling. Guise could see Glory was staring at him disdainfully, and his smug smirk returned in full force. There was something oddly rewarding about figuring out something before she did, even more so when he knew she would never admit it.

Reluctantly, though knowing it was her best course of action, Glory placed her hoof atop the child's head, turning him so that they were eye to eye. The foal's crying dulled to quiet whimpering and hiccuping, unsure of what this strange person was doing to him. Glory's eyes lit up with an eerie, green glow, and the child sat, unmoving, staring deep into her eyes as if entranced.

Guise observed curiously. He'd been on the receiving end of whatever this was once, but now he had the chance to see her do it to someone else. "So, what exactly is this spell you're—"

Guise rolled his eyes impatiently, but continued to watch in silence. Glory stared at the infant for nearly a minute, notably longer than when she had rooted around in his skull. As the seconds passed, the child looked to be becoming more and more uncomfortable, fidgeting and whining, but unable to turn his gaze away from Glory's. Guise knew how it felt and could certainly sympathize with the young halfling; it was in no way a pleasant experience.

Glory herself was starting to look visibly frustrated, as well, but continued to stare for another minute.

Guise was beginning to find her bossy attitude a little irritating. The only reason he didn't continue to bother her out of spite was due to his own curiosity.

After almost three minutes, Glory finally released the foal, who seemed a tad dazed at first, but eventually went back to sobbing. Guise could tell the little guy was still feeling the discomfort in his head and was surprised he wasn't wailing even louder.

Glory leaned back, closing her eyes and letting out a long sigh. "Alright. That's about as much as I can hope for."

"Then can I finally inquire about that spell? Is it even a spell, or do you, like, have psychic powers or something?" asked Guise.

The female shot him a look that said that she didn't really have any reason to tell him anything. However, Glory removed her midnight blue helmet and ran a hoof through her short, brown mane, letting out a groan of resignation. "You're obviously aware of the changelings' hypnosis spell."

"Then you know about our ability to implant false memories to make it more difficult for our victims to discern the truth."

Glory simply shrugged. "It's just a modified version of that spell. While I'm rooting around in their mind the way you would when implanting false memories, I just peruse their existing memories."

Guise's curious grin dropped. He found that explanation rather underwhelming. "What, that's it? If it's that simple, why don't other changelings do it?"

"Because it's not simple. It's not easy to cast a hypnosis spell on someone you're not siphoning love from. It took me years to perfect that spell. Not even Captain Wraith or Queen Chrysalis know how to do it. As far as the colony's concerned, I'm the first changeling to ever do it, and it's the reason why I'm one of the highest ranking soldiers."

Glory shot an irate glower in his direction, which only caused his smirk to widen.

Guise shrugged, looking to get back on track. "Anyway, what about the kid? See anything interesting in there?"

The soldier turned back down to the bawling infant, staring at him with frustration, but also a hint of intrigue. "I can't say I've experienced anything like him before. I've only ever used the spell on other changelings, and even then only adults. He's still a larva, so his mind's a little... unorganized. There weren't many proper memories, but more like a series of random images. Thankfully, because he's so young, there wasn't much to sift through."

Glory stayed quiet for a moment as she stared at the crying foal. "Something that will shut him up for a while. If I'm going to be stuck looking after him, I'm going to need some peace and quiet occasionally."

Guise sat down to observe in silence, wondering what exactly it was she saw in the little guy's memories. Glory's horn lit up and the green flames of shapeshifting magic enveloped her. Guise was pretty surprised to see the form of Shade's love bug, Winter Maple, in the changeling's place. Intriguingly, the crying foal instantly went quiet, staring up, bewildered, at the sudden presence of his mother. The disguised Glory then reached down gingerly, picking up the foal in her hooves. Amazingly, the tyke didn't fight her, but continued to gaze in mild disbelief at the amber eyes of who he thought was his mom. Glory hesitated for a moment, looking to be thinking about something. She then gently cradled the child in her fabricated, ivory fetlocks, looking into the foal's green eyes with a surprising amount of softness for a changeling soldier. She then began to slowly rock him back and forth and, even more surprisingly, began to sing.

"Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to lay your sleepy head,
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to go to bed.

Drifting, drifting off to sleep,
Exciting day behind you.
Drifting, drifting off to sleep,
Let the joy of dream land find you..."

Guise couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had never heard a changeling sound so motherly, so caring in his life. Even Queen Chrysalis, who claimed to love each and every one of her subjects, had never displayed that level of care, at least not publicly. Even more shockingly, it was working. As Glory sang the song, presumably verse for verse as she'd seen in the child's memories, the foal's eyes began to slowly and sleepily drift shut. Even Guise was feeling the effects of Glory's falsified voice, letting out an involuntary yawn of his own.

Glory sang as much of the song as she could get from the foal's memory, but thankfully it was enough. By the time she had run out of verses, the baby had fallen fast asleep. Glory breathed a deep sigh of relief, and gently set the foal down on a bed of leaves to let him snooze peacefully before returning to her natural form.

"I'm just glad it worked. I got lucky that that was one of his most vivid memories, and it popped up a few times. His mother sings to him regularly and he certainly enjoys it."

Guise looked over the soundly sleeping infant, a slight grimace creasing his lips. "He's disgustingly cute, isn't he? If he didn't have the wings, I wouldn't believe he was half-changeling."

Glory was silent for a solid minute, just staring at the foal as if in deep thought. Guise watched her with a raised eyebrow, wondering what was going through her mind. However, before he could inquire, she spoke up quietly.

Strangely, despite the comment, Guise couldn't detect any sort of disdain in her voice, but thought nothing of it and simply added to her comment with an amused grin. "At least we can agree on that."

Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had been walking down the same tunnel for what felt like hours now. Along the way they had passed a few branches in the path, but Twilight dictated that it was more likely their friends—assuming they had come this way—would have kept on the straight path forward as opposed to risking looping around on themselves or going in the wrong direction; going straight seemed like the safest bet to ensure they wound up... anywhere really, as long as it wasn't backwards.

Applejack let out a long sigh, brushing her blonde and frayed bangs out of her eyes. "Anypony else feel like we ain't gettin' nowhere fast?"

Twilight, walking ahead of the two earth ponies, glanced over her shoulder at the stetson-wearing mare. "Shade said this place was—"

"A maze, yeah, Ah know," Applejack interrupted with a roll of her green eyes. "Ah'm just sayin' that we ain't seen anything that even points to there bein' other changelings down here. Somethin' was eatin' those mushrooms from before, but how're we supposed to know that was changelings? Coulda been mice."

Twilight breathed a sigh of her own. "I understand where you're coming from, Applejack, and you're right. We don't know if we're actually getting anywhere. But we have to keep looking. Our friends are down here somewhere looking for Snowflake. How deep they've gone and which direction they went, we can't know. We knew going into this that we were going to have to rely heavily on luck."

Applejack hung her head wearily. "Ah know, it's just... not great for morale, y' know?"

The alicorn nodded in agreement. "Believe me, I'm feeling the effects, too. I don't have a lot of confidence that we'll actually get that lucky, but all we can do is keep trying and hope."

Their short exchange was interrupted when Applejack heard an odd, wet smacking sound coming from behind her. Peering over her shoulder, she spotted Pinkie Pie chewing on a mouthful of cupcake, her muzzle smattered with blue frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

"We're supposed to be rationin' food carefully. We have no idea how long we're gonna be out here. You can't just snack on something anytime you want," the orange mare scolded.

Pinkie's bright blue eyes widened sadly and she lowered her head. "I wash humbry," she whined through a mouth full of cupcake.

Applejack glared at her, unwavering, but still feeling a slight twinge of guilt as Pinkie stared at her with her puppy dog eyes. She groaned at the pathetic display. "Whatever. You've already started eatin' it, so just go ahead. Try not to make a habit of it."

Pinkie perked up instantly, a grateful, toothy grin spreading from ear to ear. "Thanks, Mom!" she chirped, tossing the remainder of the cupcake into her waiting maw.

With Pinkie Pie's craving sated, Applejack hoped they could continue to preserve their supplies for this inevitably long endeavor. She turned her head forward once more, her headlamp revealing that Twilight had gotten a little ahead of them during their short conversation. She was about to hurry her pace to catch up, but happened to shine her light down for a moment and came to an abrupt stop. She was just a single step away from a hole in the floor. Had her talk with Pinkie gone a moment longer she may have fallen straight down into it. Applejack was surprised that Twilight had managed to avoid it.

The problem now was, while Applejack was being attentive, Pinkie Pie was not. As the peppy pony happily chewed away on her cupcake, she didn't have time to react to Applejack's sudden stop, bumping right into the orange mare's rump and sending both of them tumbling into the hole.

Twilight spun around at the sound of her screaming friends, but could no longer see them. Rushing back, she saw the hole, hearing her friends panicked shouts echoing up through it, along with some thumps and thuds before one final loud thud, followed by a moment of silence.

Twilight shone her headlamp down into the hole, eyes wide with panic. She couldn't see the bottom, but the hole seemed to curve into a steep slope, acting as a slide for her friends. Regardless, she was still incredibly worried. "Applejack! Pinkie Pie! Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!"

"I'm okay!" the cheery voice of Pinkie Pie echoed up through the hole. "I landed on something soft, yet oddly firm!"

Twilight held a hoof to her chest, taking a deep, grateful breath. "Oh, thank Celestia. Well, are you two hurt? Can you walk?"

She heard a grunt from Applejack. "Just some scrapes, maybe a bruise or two. But otherwise Ah'm fine."

"Same here!" Pinkie called out, as well. "Actually, it was kinda fun! Can we do it again?"

Twilight heard the sound of hooves clomping against stone, along with a few grunts from the orange pony. But after only a few moments, she also heard the distinct sound of hooves scraping against those same rocks, followed by a pained "Oof."

Twilight nodded, having figured as much. She had a backup plan anyway. "Alright, I'm gonna come down there and teleport us back up. Just sit tight."

"Actually, there's a path down here," Pinkie Pie told her. "Maybe we should check it out."

"It's probably better that we stick to the main path," the alicorn argued. "I doubt our friends ended up down there."

"You say that, but we ended up here," Pinkie pointed out. "And that hole's too narrow to fly back up. So, who knows? Maybe they did wind up down here."

Twilight sighed with a shake of her head. "I doubt it, but now that I think about, it's possible that this could be some sort of shortcut made by the changelings to get... somewhere. I guess it's worth a shot."

"'Sides, if it's a dead end or somethin' we can just come back," Applejack added. "Now get yer flank down here."

Twilight slowly and carefully lowered her hind legs into the hole, planting her hooves against the walls to try and control her descent. But, as one of her hoofholds crumbled under her, the princess suddenly found herself careening downward much more quickly than she intended. With a panicked shriek, Twilight slid all the way down until she landed unceremoniously at the bottom and fell over onto her back. Taking a moment to compose herself, Twilight looked up at the upside-down faces of her two earth pony friends staring down at her in amusement.

Twilight rolled over and stood up, dusting herself off and shaking off the mild pain of gliding down a stone chute. She took a look around at her new surroundings, noting the vastly smaller size of the area compared to the tunnel they were traversing before; roughly large enough for the three ponies to walk side by side, but not much more. Afterward, she shone her light down the pathway that she'd been informed of. The path stretched on further than her light could illuminate, suggesting that this tunnel probably did lead somewhere, they just had to find out if that was going to be helpful.

"Well, let's not waste any time," Twilight suggested, brushing past her two friends to take the lead once more.

Pinkie Pie skipped forward to Twilight's side, raising an eyebrow when she saw the alicorn trying to work a kink out of her back. "You okay, Twilight? The fall hurt?"

The princess shook her head. "I'm fine. Like you two, I think it's just a few scrapes."

"I need a visual representation of where I'm going in order to ensure a safe teleport. If I'm going to teleport myself—or, more dangerously, other people—I want to make sure I know exactly where I'm going to end up, or the result could be... messy. Any scenario where I've teleported somewhere I've never seen before has always been to fairly open areas with minimal risk."

Applejack grimaced a little as the implications of a botched teleport manifested in her imagination. "Fair enough, Ah suppose."

"Can you teleport all the stuff in my room into my closet?" inquired Pinkie with a pleading grin. "I can't seem to fit it all inside without it all spilling out again."

Twilight just stared blankly at the party pony's odd request. "That... sounds less like a job for magic, and more like a trip to a furniture store."

Applejack simply chuckled quietly at Pinkie's childlike perception of a teleport spell, but in her mirth hadn't noticed what was in front of her. The disgusting sound of hard crunching and wet squishing forced the three ponies to halt in their tracks, their attention being diverted to Applejack's hoof. The orange earth pony lifted her hoof, covered in a viscous, greenish-yellow slime.

Twilight turned her gaze down to the ground, spotting the brittle remains of a translucent, green object covered in the slime. "I think that's an egg sac."

Pinkie's disgust instantly shifted to horror, gripping the alicorn tightly with her eyes darting around in paranoia. "Like some kinda parasite that's gonna lays eggs in our bellies?!"

Twilight rolled her eyes at the pink mare's overreaction. "I doubt it. It's more likely the egg of a changeling larva. What's more, judging by the consistency of the fluid, it seems to have hatched recently."

"That only makes it more gross," Applejack groaned as she attempted to wipe the gunk off against the stone wall.

With a thoughtful hum, Twilight stared at the shattered egg sac that Applejack had stepped in. "This is strange."

"Whoa! Keep it PG, Twilight!" Pinkie urged her with a panicked wave of her hooves.

The alicorn pushed Pinkie aside and continued her train of thought. "And she told me that female changelings typically lay their eggs in designated nurseries."

Applejack glanced around at the narrow tunnel they were in skeptically. "So this is a nursery? Awfully cramped for a place where you leave yer unborn young."

"That's just the thing. She said the nurseries are all large, open caverns. I doubt this is supposed to be a nursery."

Instead of standing around contemplating, Twilight gestured for her friends to keep moving forward as they speculated, walking deeper into the tunnel. "I suppose it's possible that one expecting mother laid her egg here to keep it safe, as changeling larva are supposedly very violent. But then again, changeling's also don't normally show any sort of parental instincts, with Shade being the obvious exception. It could be that a nearby nursery was perhaps a little overcrowded, so one of the mothers had to find somewhere else to lay an egg without having to find another nursery."

"Ya know, we can throw around theories all day, but we ain't gonna get any real answers," Applejack interjected.

Twilight responded with an earnest smile. "I know, but theories are what lead you to answers. You don't get an answer if you don't ask a question. That's how you learn new things. You don't think it's fun to theorize?"

With the alicorn's eager grin bearing down on her, Applejack found herself regretting opening her big yap. "Uh, sure, but let's focus on our mission for now, yeah? You can ask questions later when we get our friends back home."

Twilight straightened up, clearing her throat and attempting to restore her more professional air. "Right. Sorry. Let's—"

Just in front of them, only a few steps away, was another slope in the tunnel leading even further down into the depths.

Applejack breathed a loud and relieved groan. "Geez, Ah really need to look where Ah'm going."

"So I guess this is the point where we make a decision: turn back, or keep going forward," Twilight said as she gazed down the path before them.

Pinkie shot a hoof into the air excitedly. "Oh! I vote slide! The first one was fun, so this one might be even better!"

"It could be dangerous, Pinkie," warned Applejack. "What if there's just razor-sharp spikes down there?"

Pinkie just rolled her eyes at the other earth pony. "Pfft. What do you think this is, a video game? The changeling's probably didn't build traps like that."

"As backwards as that sounds coming from Pinkie, I have to agree," said Twilight. "Based on everything I've seen and heard of the Changeling Kingdom, there probably aren't many paths here that don't lead somewhere. I say we chance it. Besides, if worst comes to worst, I can teleport us out of harm's way."

"Alright, but we should stick close together to make the teleport easier for me, assuming I have to use it."

"Got it!" Pinkie grabbed her two friends and held onto them tightly, practically cutting off circulation. And without any sort of warning, made a haphazard dive into the deep. "Geronimo!"

Twilight and Applejack's only reaction was the most expected one when forced to leap head first into a potentially life-threatening situation while held in the excited death grip of an overactive party pony: terrified screaming, contrasted by the pink mare's exuberant laughter.

Shade breathed a deep sigh of relief, his stomach growling eagerly as well. Finally, after wandering around for ages, he had stumbled upon the telltale signs of food in the nearby vicinity. The hungry changeling spotted a few glowing mushrooms on his path and knew there must have been a veritable treasure trove of edibles up ahead.

It felt a little strange to him actually. Shade had only been back in the Changeling Kingdom for a little over a day and a half—at least that's what he presumed—and was already feeling as though he were about to starve. Back when he had lived there, he would sometimes go two or three days without food, his hunger being exacerbated by the fact that he shared most of his findings with Chamella. It was entirely possible that the two of them may have been even more malnourished than the average changeling because of that. Nowadays, though, Shade had easy access to food. Not just that, but any sort of food that took his fancy. So now, even going half a day without eating was practically debilitating. It was an oddly humbling thought and actually made him feel a little ashamed of himself. But it wasn't like that was going to convince him to leave his new life behind. If losing a little humility was the price of happiness, he wasn't going to complain.

But now he finally had a chance to silence his noisy stomach. Seeing as he was desperate, he even picked the tiny mushrooms that were guiding him to the real meal. They were still just as bland as he remembered, but not offensive. As long as it helped fill the void...

Shade paused as he chewed a small mushroom, perking his ears up. Buzzing. There were most certainly changelings up ahead. He breathed a sigh through his full mouth. He really was not in any mood to deal with more of this crap right now, but he didn't really have any other way to go. He was just going to have to hope that it wasn't soldiers that would recognize him.

It didn't take long to find the source of the noise, and Shade had a moment of disappointment when he did. Thankfully it wasn't soldiers, but rather larvae. About a dozen or so larvae were buzzing about in a moderately sized chamber. Shade wasn't really concerned about the relatively low number of hatchlings, though if they did decide to get violent with him, he wasn't sure if he'd have the energy to fight back.

The bigger problem was that the chamber they were in was the location of Shade's expected food source; a chamber full of sizable, glowing mushrooms. However, the ravenous larvae had already made a feast of the fungi, leaving very little in their wake. The tiny changelings noticed Shade immediately, but most of them were too bloated on food to bother making any sort of threat towards him.

Shade dejectedly sauntered over to one large mushroom that only had a few tiny bites taken out of the cap, but there was enough left over to suffice for now. He sat himself down next to it, tearing off chunks of the fungus's flesh with his magic to start chowing down. He had to figure, considering how many larvae were present, that there was probably another nursery nearby. He began to wonder exactly how deep he was into the hive, since he didn't think many females would bother coming as deep as he felt he'd gone to lay their eggs. Then again, it was pretty close to a large food source, making it a pretty ideal place to leave young. And, who knows, maybe this was the nursery where they were keeping Snowflake. Probably not, but he was going to check it out anyway.

Not wanting to waste time, Shade got back up after only a minute, levitating a few small mushrooms along with him to eat along the way. There were a few different ways out of the room, but Shade chose to go down the way that the larvae seemed to be going in and out of; that was likely the way to the nursery.

The sound of the buzzing behind him gradually got quieter, but it was starting to worry Shade that there was an even louder buzzing coming from up ahead. Really, he should have figured as much. With food being so close by, it was likely that a large number of larvae were still in the vicinity, and it was also likely that they weren't desperate enough to attack one another to get a bite to eat. With that in mind, Shade had to mentally prepare himself. It was entirely possible that he was going to have to put down a swarm of vicious hatchlings.

Shade could hear the flittering wings of the larvae clearly enough now to know that they were very nearby. In fact, he could see the opening to the nursery now. Shade popped the last mushroom into his mouth, heading forward resolutely. As much as the other changelings turned his stomach, and knowing how violent and animalistic the larvae were, he didn't want to have to hurt them if he didn't have to. Perhaps that was the influence of the ponies he chose to spend his life living with. Guise would probably accuse him of getting soft. In any case, the plan was to protect himself with a barrier and hopefully just slip through the nursery without any issue. His headaches had been becoming much less frequent, so he felt like just making a shield for a few minutes at most wouldn't be too difficult. If he were being optimistic, maybe the larvae wouldn't bother with him at all. He'd gotten lucky with them up until this point after all.

Shade made it to the nursery, taking one step inside, and then immediately freezing, regretting this decision entirely.

As expected, there were many changeling larvae buzzing about recklessly, but they weren't the big issue. The problem was the twenty or so armored adults staring at him from the center of the room.

Another trap. They must have figured that, given where he had already been, it was likely that he'd go the way where food could be found. Unfortunately for Shade, they were right. And it looked like they were taking his presence seriously now, as Queen Chrysalis had sent more than one person after him this time. Guise may have had a point about him having more power than he realized, but even with that power there was no way he could deal with twenty soldiers at once. His only option was to flee.

Without bothering to say a word to the soldiers, Shade turned tail with the aim of darting back the way he came and maybe head down one of the other routes in the larva feeding ground. But before he could take more than a few steps backward, his escape route had already been blocked by another four soldiers that had descended from above the passage.

Shade furrowed his brow and grit his teeth, turning his attention to the larger group behind him. There was no two ways about it now. He was going to have to fight his way out, and between the soldiers and the larvae, he did not have a lot of confidence. His only hope was that he could find a moment in the inevitable chaos to book it out of there, but he was not at all expecting to escape unscathed.

One of the soldiers in the center of the room looked Shade straight in the eye with the utmost seriousness, speaking bluntly and authoritatively. "Nothing personal, but we've got orders to kill you."

Another, one of the ones blocking the exit, tittered sadistically. "But feel free to fight back a bit. Wouldn't be any fun if you just gave up."

Shade didn't bother to respond. Considering his words did little to dissuade both Glory and Guise, he doubted he could talk his way out of this.

Several of the soldiers prepared to charge forward, intent on simply overwhelming him with their sheer numbers. Many of the larvae seemed content to just act as onlookers, buzzing about erratically and only pausing for a few seconds to see what the adults in the area were up to. Shade was about to just launch a blast of magic into the crowd to hopefully disorient them and give him an opening to escape, but before he could, he suddenly paused.

It wasn't just him, but the soldiers, too, were distracted by something. A sound. It wasn't buzzing, and it wasn't coming from inside the nursery. It sounded like... screaming?

As the sound got louder, all eyes turned to Shade's left, toward one of the tunnels in the nursery wall, a dozen feet above the floor. The last thing any of them expected was for three pony mares to spill out of the tunnel, shrieking loudly until they landed with a loud, collective thud onto the floor.

One of the mares, pink with a bouncy mane, shot upright with her hooves in the air and an enormous grin on her face. "That was awesome! Even better than the first one!"

"Pinkie, can you please stop usin' me as a landing pad?" groaned the orange mare that the pink one was sat upon.

"And a little warning before you do something like that would be appreciated," added the lavender alicorn.

The pink mare giggled with an embarrassed blush. "Whoopsie. Sorry about—" She paused, finally noticing through the light of her headlamp the swarm of armored soldiers who were staring in utter bewilderment at the source of the sudden interruption. The pink pony pointed in panic. "Changelings!"

The orange and purple mares accompanying her shot up at the shout, throwing the pink one onto her back comically. They immediately took up defensive postures despite the shock and confusion of the changeling squad.

Shade blinked, his jaw hanging open. He had to wonder if this was actually happening. "Twilight?!"

The alicorn's ears perked up at the sound of the familiar voice. Shining her light towards the voice, she finally noticed that among the armored soldiers was one unarmored changeling; one she recognized immediately. "Shade?!"

"Oh, hey, we found him," Pinkie Pie stated matter-of-factly with a point of her hoof.

It didn't take long for the astute princess to piece together what was happening. Without a moment's hesitation she teleported herself and her two companions with a bright flash, reappearing beside Shade and quickly throwing up a pink dome of magic around the four of them.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie wobbled a bit as their equilibrium readjusted from the sudden magical displacement. The orange mare shook her head to try and compose herself. "Geez, maybe a 'heads up' before warpin' us around would be nice, sugarcube."

"My mouth tastes like purple..." groaned Pinkie as her eyes rolled around in their sockets.

Shade cast aside his disbelief for the moment, turning his attention back to the swarm that had ambushed him. "I'd ask you what you're doing here... but I guess that's pretty obvious."

"This doesn't really seem like a great time to chat anyway," Twilight responded, turning her own eyes to the surrounding changelings.

"Yep, looks like you could use a little help," Applejack offered with an eager grin. "Not to sound like Dash or nothin', but I've been itchin' for a good fight. Wanderin' around these caves got boring fast."

One of the changelings outside the barrier chuckled. "Well, that was lucky, huh? Saves us the trouble of looking for you ponies."

"Now, if you'd be so kind as to get rid of this shield, we can get to killing you lot," added another.

The four inside the barrier ignored their goading. They knew full well that Twilight's magic was strong enough to hold them off, so they could sit in safety and prepare for the inevitable battle. They all took up formation in the center of the bubble with their backs to each other.

Shade cast a glance at his comrades through the corner of his eye. "You guys sure you're up for this? Changelings kind of have an advantage in the dark, and the lights are only going to do so much."

Twilight cast a confident smile over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I've prepared for this."

Without another word, her horn lit up with a white light which was followed by a bright flash. When all individuals present opened their eyes again—including the soldiers—they all looked around in awe as the entire chamber had been fully illuminated and dozens of small orbs of light floated around the room.

"An illumination spell. That should help level the playing field a little," Twilight explained. "And while I'm at it, I should teleport our supplies somewhere safe for the time being."

Twilight lit up her horn again in preparation for the teleportation spell. However, she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie.

"See, you've got your magic, and Applejack's got her brute strength. Some of us have to bring our tools with us," Pinkie explained with a smile, patting her saddlebag.

Twilight smiled back, catching her meaning and giving her a nod before popping hers and Applejack's saddlebags out of the area.

"Are you just about done in there?" one grumpy soldier asked, tapping the barrier impatiently.

Pinkie gave the changeling a battle-ready grin, removing a pair of small, colored balls—one blue, one pink—from her bag. "I certainly am. What about you guys?" she asked her friends.

"Don't let your guards down, everypony. They still outnumber us six to one," cautioned Twilight.

"I think we can handle it," said Shade, staring down the squad of changelings. He felt a sudden surge of confidence, finding himself grinning with his friends. He may not have been able to do much on his own, but with some very capable companions by his side, this was looking doable.

"Alright! Then let's do this!" Pinkie Pie declared, rearing up on her hind legs and brandishing the two balls. "Bring it on, chumps!"

At Pinkie's bold taunt, Twilight immediately dropped the barrier and the pink pony chucked the two orbs toward the horde of changelings. Upon impact, the orbs broke in half, spraying a cloud of multi-colored glitter all over the several soldiers in front. Disoriented and partially blinded by the vivid and sticky assault, the changelings were caught off guard, and one was quickly tackled by Applejack, knocking him back into one of his comrades. Following that, the farm pony leaned back to avoid a changeling flying at her from the side, retaliating by biting down on his short tail and swinging him around like a flail before tossing him into the crowd. The soldiers gawked at the earth pony as they watched her effortlessly take down three of them in a matter of seconds, to which Applejack simply responded with a tip of her hat and a boastful smirk.

Knowing that attacking one at a time was only going to result in a procedural defeat, five more soldiers rushed at her simultaneously. Applejack's smirk merely persisted, but she didn't engage immediately, instead breaking away from the group to lead them away and help divide their numbers.

Meanwhile, Twilight was managing to hold off several changelings herself using expertly timed barriers and pinpoint accurate beams of magic. Her attackers weren't able to get anywhere near her. Seeing that they weren't getting anywhere, even with their superior numbers, a couple of the soldiers turned their attention instead to the one unarmored changeling, who was currently dealing with two individuals. Twilight noticed that a few of them had shifted their attention, changing her own to aid Shade before he got overwhelmed.

Shade forcefully bucked one of his attackers in the chest, but wasn't ready for the one charging him from behind. However, a timely beam from Twilight saved his skin and she rushed over to his side.

"You okay?" she asked, her back to him so they could collectively keep an eye on the swarm.

It was only now that Twilight noticed how worn Shade seemed to be, with several bruises and cuts around his body. It was certainly too soon for him to have gotten all of them from this encounter. "You're not in great shape. You should stick close to me."

Another changeling was about to rush Shade from the side, but thankfully Applejack leapt in to grab him out of the air, pinning him to the ground.

"Less talky, more fighty," she suggested quickly before getting back up to continue evading the group chasing behind her.

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie jumped in beside them with a big smile. "Actually, let's keep talking! It could be fun!"

Shade quirked an eyebrow at her, but before he could inquire about the strange suggestion, Twilight blasted her with a beam of magic, causing Shade to flinch in shock. He didn't even need to ask before "Pinkie Pie" suddenly transformed into a changeling as she rolled along the ground. Twilight silently pointed out that Pinkie was actually some distance away, dealing with changelings of her own with her patented party cannon.

And Pinkie wasn't the only one being imitated. Several of the changelings had shapeshifted into Applejack and Twilight, as well, even going so far as to copy their head wear.

"We're going to have to pay attention to ensure we don't attack the wrong target," Twilight said, looking for the real Applejack. "We should probably—augh!"

Before she could finish her thought, a fake Applejack had tackled her to the ground. Fortunately, Shade was able to act quickly enough and fired a burst of magic at the imposter, knocking them off of her before hurrying over to help her up.

Upon hearing the command, the real Pinkie and Applejack rushed over to her side and Twilight quickly threw up another barrier to protect them. She gave the two earth ponies a skeptical glare at first, shining a magic glow over them before coming to the conclusion that they were, in fact, the real deals.

The four of them inside the barrier stared out at the changeling swarm, which, at this point, was actually just a cavalcade of pink, orange and purple ponies.

"Ah don't suppose changelings can see through those disguises, can they?" Applejack asked Shade.

"No such luck, sorry," he answered with an apologetic shake of his head. He turned to Twilight. "You can disrupt the disguises with your magic. Can you handle that, Twilight?"

The alicorn hesitated as she looked over all of the fakes attempting to break down the barrier with brute force. "With this many, I don't know. Even if I systematically hit each one, they would probably just be back up before I could make any real progress."

"Then we'll just have to hit 'em all at once," Pinkie said with a smile that suggested she was actually serious.

Twilight gave a shake of her head. "They're surrounding us. I can't focus the spell in all directions at once."

Pinkie pulled Twilight over to her, draping a hoof over her shoulder. The lavender mare gave her a quirked eyebrow as Pinkie whispered into her ear.

With a defeated sigh and a shrug, Twilight gave in and decided to simply trust her friend.

Pinkie lifted her hoof for a moment, looking over the crowd of disguised changelings closely. "Mmm... Now!"

At Pinkie's signal, Twilight dropped the barrier. And before the aura could even fade from her horn, she felt a hoof roughly slap her on the rear. The alicorn let out a shocked whinny, jumping with a start and inadvertently firing off a bolt of magic straight into the air. All eyes, including the changelings', watched as the bolt flew almost to the ceiling before exploding like a firework. To accompany the spectacle, a storm of smaller magic bolts began to rain down from above, peppering the ground with a series of pops and zaps. In the ensuing chaos, many of the changelings were unable to avoid the deluge of magic. It not only managed to tear apart the disguises of those struck, but also even managed to knock a few of them unconscious. The sudden assault of bright lights and loud noises even managed to scare off what larvae remained lingering in the nursery.

There were a few moments of silence as everyone attempted to compose themselves after the unexpected assault. Almost every changeling had been reverted back to their original forms, and the ones who hadn't changed back of their own will to avoid another such attack.

Twilight, still panting from the panic that had suddenly shot threw her, turned to Pinkie with not just an indignant glower, but a blush from the embarrassing noise she made. "Pinkie! You could have just told me to do that!"

Indeed, while about ten or so changelings had been rendered unconscious, there were still more than a dozen left standing, although looking a little worse for wear. And it wasn't likely they were going to be caught off guard by another attack like that.

Pinkie smirked confidently. "Oh, I'm far from complacent. I'm just getting serious."

The pink mare reached into her bags and pulled out a yellow and blue wrestler's mask, tossing off her helmet and pulling the mask over her face. She stood up on her hind legs, flexing one of her forelegs and pointing at the remaining changelings with the other.

"Prepare yourselves, amigos! You're about to get the beat down of your lives from El Pinko Loco! Wa-ta!"

Without any more warning, Pinkie leapt into the air, crashing down onto one unsuspecting soldier with a flying elbow drop.

Shade simply blinked, still a little unsure if this was actually happening. "What is...?"

Following Pinkie's lead, Applejack ran forward as well. One soldier rushed to intercept her, but the earth pony spun on her front hooves, using the momentum to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to the side of the changeling's head and knocking him out cold. Another managed to get the jump on her from behind, latching onto her back and preparing to bite down on her neck. Applejack managed to keep her footing despite the extra weight, and the soldier was caught by surprise when the orange mare countered by leaping backwards, falling onto her back and flattening the changeling with her own weight.

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was busy staring down a group of four with an animalistic growl from behind her colorful mask. They all seemed hesitant about challenging the seemingly crazy mare after seeing her unorthodox fighting style. However, one of them stepped up, baring his fangs and flying swiftly forward. Pinkie responded with a smirk and, in one fluid motion, deftly dodged to the right while also grabbing the changeling by the midsection with both forelegs as he passed, bringing him to an abrupt stop. The soldier cast a fearful look over his shoulder at the goofy mare, who flashed a menacing grin before she lifted him up, bending over backwards and suplexing the terrified changeling into the solid stone floor. The other three could only watch in horror as their comrade was left incapacitated with his rump in the air and his hind legs dangling to either side of his head. Pinkie stood back up, brushing the dirt off of herself before staring down the remaining opposition again, gesturing for them to take their turns. They were understandably reluctant.

On the other side of the chamber, Twilight and Shade were busy fending off attackers from all directions with beams of magic, standing side by side to cover each others blind spots. Shade was beginning to notice that the soldiers definitely seemed to be focusing on him. Not surprising considering none of them even expected the three ponies to show up. The fact was even more noticeable since Shade was starting to feel the headaches coming back from having to use his magic so much.

Twilight chanced a glance over her shoulder at Shade. He was wincing in pain and didn't seem to notice one soldier coming in from his right. The alicorn covered him with a blast of magic to knock the attacker out of the air.

Shade quickly looked in the direction of the unseen attacker before turning back with an apologetic look to Twilight. "Sorry, I'm not exactly in prime condition right now," he admitted, intercepting a soldier that charged him from the front with another blast.

Twilight acknowledged Shade with a nod, continuing to talk to him while fighting off more changelings. "I've gathered that. I think it might be for the best if we wrapped this up. Think you can help me out?"

"I can tell it hurts for you to use magic right now, but I was wondering if you could send out a pulse of magic with me."

Shade grimaced. He did that when he fought Glory, and that hurt like crazy. But if Twilight was certain this would get them out of this, he was willing to try. Besides, his injury wasn't quite as bad as it once was. "Alright, just say when."

Twilight watched each of the many changelings as they continuously charged at them. Each one she and Shade knocked down only got up a few moments later. They were stubborn and predictable, making the alicorn wonder how they came to become soldiers. But, if anything, they were persistent and relentless, and their sheer numbers made it difficult to properly deal with them. She was waiting for the ideal moment, and she knew it was coming soon. The soldiers were slowing down the more they got blasted, and now they had stopped entirely. They were all looking between one another, repositioning themselves in a circle around the two, obviously preparing to just all attack simultaneously so their two targets couldn't possibly hit all of them. The entire group rushed forward in unison, intent on sinking their teeth into their quarry.

Shade and Twilight let their magic explode outward as forcefully as they could, creating a large flash of green and pink all around them. The attacking changelings attempted to stop themselves, but couldn't react quickly enough to avoid the rapidly expanding energy blast. The whole group was tossed away effortlessly, throwing them into the air and some of them into the walls.

When the light died down, Shade and Twilight remained standing at the center, panting in exhaustion. They looked over their attackers, finding they had all been knocked for a loop. The force of the pulse was strong enough on its own to incapacitate most of them. The ones who were still conscience were too disoriented or injured to get back up and continue the fight, leaving Shade and Twilight a moment of respite.

Twilight breathed a tired sigh. It had been a while since she'd had to expend this much magic, but at least she wasn't too worse for wear. "Alright, that should do it," she said, satisfied that the soldiers were in no condition to retaliate. She turned her attention to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be cleaning up nicely on their end as well. "You two finished?"

Applejack gave one final buck to the changelings that had dared challenge her, adding him to the pile of soldiers she'd easily dispatched. She took off her hat for a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow. "Phew. Yep, just dandy over here."

The pink mare was busy grappling a poor, hapless soldier in a headlock with her hind legs wrapped tightly around his neck and bending one of his hind legs painfully with her foreleg. He was struggling to no avail to free himself, his face slowly turning blue and he sputtered for air.

"Tap out, muchacho. I don't want to have to break you," she warned half-jokingly.

Taking the crazy mare's advice, the soldier frantically tapped his hoof on the stone floor, and Pinkie immediately released him. He let himself go limp, taking in a deep breath of much-needed oxygen. He didn't bother getting back up; he wasn't nuts.

Pinkie hopped up jovially, pulling off her mask and stuffing it back into her saddlebags. "Okey doke! All done!" she announced as she skipped over to where she'd discarded her helmet.

Twilight nodded, popping her saddlebags back onto her back with a flash of magic, as well as Applejack's. "Great, then let's get out of here before these guys reconstitute themselves." She turned to Shade. "Do you know which way to go, Shade?"

The changeling had a quick look around. As with all nurseries, there were a multitude of possible paths to take, though, considering Pinkie Pie and Applejack's inability to fly, that narrowed down their options. He didn't really have time to think about it too hard, since, like Twilight said, the soldiers might get back up and want another stab at them. With that in mind, he opted for the simplest solution.

"I'm not entirely sure what the 'best' path is exactly, but since we both came from the same general direction, I'd suggest we go that way," he said, pointing to a tunnel opposite the direction of where Shade had entered. While the three mares came in through another passage, it was still on the same side of the room as Shade's entry point, so it made the most sense to keep moving forward.

There was no argument from the mares as they agreed with affirming nods and followed Shade out of the nursery. With the danger behind them, they all had a chance to breath a sigh of relief. Twilight noticed that Shade was rubbing a hoof against his temple, wincing in pain once more.

"The doctor at the hospital said you may have a mild concussion. I've heard about unicorns who have suffered concussions, and they're often advised to avoid using magic excessively until they recover."

The changeling looked a little worried upon hearing that. "Am I making it worse?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, it's just causing pain and slowing the recovery a little. You should be fine eventually."

Shade breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. The headaches have been getting better since I left."

"Which brings us to the next point of order," Applejack interjected sternly. "The hay were you thinkin' comin' all the way out here by yerself?! And after gettin' yer head bashed in to boot."

Shade groaned and grimaced at the scolding he expected to receive. "Look, I know it was stupid. I realized that pretty much as soon as I got here. Maybe it was the blow to the head, maybe it was my overwhelming concern for my son and my anger over the whole situation, but I wasn't thinking straight. All I could think about was finding Snowflake. I should have asked for help, but it was a little too late for that by the time I realized it. I don't need you girls to get on my case about it, alright?"

Applejack scowled slightly, but figured it best to put the lecture on hold and focus on what was important. "Ah get it. We didn't just come out here to find you after all; we wanna help get Snow back, too."

Shade managed a smile. "I appreciate that. I actually feel a lot better about this knowing I have capable friends helping me out." A quizzical expression crossed his face. "Speaking of which, where are the others? Did Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash not come with you?"

"We decided to split up to cover more ground. You aren't the only one we're looking for," explained Twilight. "We know that Winter and Chamella came here earlier than you, so it made sense that you wouldn't be together."

"Was that wise?" Shade questioned. "How are you supposed to join back up with them again?"

"Rarity and I are connected via a tether spell. It should lead us straight to them should we need to find them."

"Oh! Why don't we do that?" Pinkie suggested. "We found Shade, so we should regroup, right?"

Twilight shook her head in disagreement. "I don't think that would be wise. We'll still be covering more ground if we stay separated. We're heading for the same place anyway, right? Wherever they're keeping Snowflake?" she asked, looking at Shade.

"I don't really know where he is, but I've been looking for the throne room to find Chrysalis. If anyone will know where he is, it's her. I figure Chamella would probably follow the same train of thought."

Twilight lit up her horn, a thread a pink magic extending and swirling upward before curving backward and going back the direction they had just come from.

"Looks like we're ahead of them," Applejack noted. "So we probably should keep movin' forward. We don't wanna lose ground."

"'Ahead' might not be the right word, but, whatever," Shade commented with a dismissive shrug.

As they continued down the empty path before them, Pinkie Pie glanced over at Shade, noting his current condition. "You're looking pretty rough, Shade. Guess this hasn't been a picnic for you, huh?"

The changeling breathed a long sigh. "No kidding. I haven't really had much time to catch my breath."

"What're they after you for?" asked Applejack with a quirked eyebrow. "Yer a changeling, too. Why would they attack their own kin?"

"Because they apparently see me as a threat. I guess they didn't expect me to try and save my son for some reason, so now that I'm a 'deserter,' that makes me an enemy."

Pinkie Pie had a look of worry on her face. "Does that mean their gonna come after me, too?"

"'Deserter' doesn't have anything to do with desserts, Pinkie," Applejack said with a roll of her eyes.

"In all fairness, they have a right to be concerned about you," said Twilight matter-of-factly. "I never said anything about it before now because I trust you, but I have certainly noticed a steady increase in your magical power over the time that I've known you. Our battle back there even gave me an idea of just how much."

"Honestly, I never even noticed until Guise pointed it out to me," Shade admitted.

"The 'old friend' who impersonated you to take advantage of Winter? He's still around?" Twilight inquired worriedly.

Shade replied with a dismissive nod. "Yeah, they apparently let him out to help hunt me down, figuring his vendetta against me could be useful to them. But I don't think we need to worry about him. He seemed... different. But I guess that's what two years in a dungeon will do to you."

"So you've gotta target on yer back, and were wanderin' around down here on yer own. Sounds like yer lucky to be alive at all," Applejack commented.

"And you didn't bring any food. You must be starving," added Pinkie, her voice full of concern. "Do you want a cupcake?"

Shade couldn't help but smile a little. "You know what? That actually sounds pretty good. I managed to find some food earlier, but I'm by no means full."

Happy to help out a friend in need, Pinkie pulled a cupcake with pink frosting and a generous helping of sprinkles from her seemingly bottomless saddlebags and eagerly passed it to Shade. The changeling was more than a little excited to bite into something sweet and tasty after eating nothing but random bugs and mushrooms since arriving in the Changeling Kingdom.

Shade took a big bite of the pastry, chewing contentedly as the sugar rushed through him almost immediately. "Mmm... Perfect as usual, Pinkie. Thanks."

"Gotta wonder how Winter and Chamella are doin' on their own, too, huh?" Applejack mentioned solemnly.

"I think Chamella will be fine," Shade remarked, though his expression fell as he continued. "It's Winter I'm worried about. Not to mention that I know she and Chamella don't exactly get along. I just hope they're not at each others throats."

"If they went together, then they must have put their differences aside for the time being," Twilight surmised. "After all, they have a common goal: save Snowflake."

"I guess. I'll just have to trust them, I suppose," Shade said, though with not a lot of confidence.

"An' how're you holdin' up, Shade?" asked a concerned Applejack. "You ain't got no serious injuries or nothing', do ya?"

Shade rolled his shoulders and his neck at the mention. Now that she brought it up, he wasn't exactly feeling up to snuff. "Been better, in all honesty. I've been in a few scraps since getting here, got a few bumps and bruises, but otherwise I think I'm okay. No broken bones as far as I can tell."

"Well, if you think you need medical attention, we brought first-aid supplies with us," Twilight let him know.

"Just don't be a tough guy and try 'n' fight through the pain, alright?" Applejack warned. "If you feel like somethin's really wrong, you let us know."

Shade nodded with a grateful smile. "I will. I won't exactly be any good to anypony if I collapse from pain."

"Okay, so now that we've got all of our concerns and worries out of the way, I wanna ask what they want Snowflake for in the first place," asked Pinkie Pie. "He's just a cute, widdle baby boo. What could they need him for?"

The change of subject elicited a scowl from Shade as he thought about it once more. "Wraith said it was because he was the 'property of the hive.' As far as I know, that's the only reason, and it's a load of crap," he growled, his ire rising with every word. "There's no point in going out of their way for a half-changeling that probably won't even survive here for more than a week."

"So, who's this Wraith anyhow? He one o' the soldiers 'round here?" asked Applejack.

"More than that, he's Chrysalis's right hoof. And you don't get to be the queen's confidant without a reason."

"That's understating it by a lot. Listen to me, if we end up running into him, don't treat him lightly. He's—"

As his eyes focused forward, Shade stopped cold. His eyes went wide, his expression conflicted between fear and anger. When the three mares pointed their lamps ahead to where he was looking, they saw why.

Trotting towards them was another squad of armored changeling soldiers, though notably smaller than the last, consisting of only half a dozen individuals. The bigger difference was with one particular individual. Leading the other five was a noticeably taller changeling; not quite as tall as Chrysalis, but certainly more muscular compared to the very lithe queen. If his size weren't intimidating enough, his expression only added to it. He cast forward a steely gaze through his piercing, violet eyes as he and the squad gradually closed the distance before coming to a stop several meters from Shade and the three mares.

Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie stood their ground, tensing defensively. Shade was frozen in place, battling with his instinct to flee and his urge to lunge forward in a rage. Twilight could infer from Shade's narrowed pupils and clenched teeth the seriousness of this encounter.

"Guess his ears musta been burnin'" Applejack said quietly as she remained on guard.

Wraith looked over the four analytically, moving only his violet eyes. Eventually, his unreadable gaze fell on Shade, eliciting an instinctive flinch from the former drone. "You're proving to be a rather irritating pest. However, I should have presumed you'd be a fly who wouldn't be so easy to swat." His sight went back to the mares, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "And your allies merely complicate matters. Twilight Sparkle, is that right?" he asked, staring directly at the lavender alicorn.

Twilight was hesitant to respond. Just staring directly into his eyes was unnerving, like locking eyes with an apex predator. "We didn't come here to start a conflict," she said as calmly as possible. "We only want to find our friends, retrieve the foal you kidnapped, and go home."

"And if y'all would be kind enough to give 'im over nice and quiet, we won't have to rough you up like we did them other guys," Applejack threatened.

Wraith lifted his nose at the request. "I don't believe you're in any position to be making threats, pony. You are all trespassers in our kingdom. If you wish to leave, I'd suggest you do so immediately. Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety."

"Hey! You snuck into our kingdom first! So we're not leaving without our friends, or Snow!" Pinkie declared.

Wraith closed his eyes for a moment, tilting his head to the side until there was an audible pop in his neck before staring the four down once more. "I'm not above sullying my own hooves, if that's what's necessary."

The five soldiers accompanying him stood at the ready, only awaiting the captain's order.

Applejack leaned in Shade's direction, but didn't dare take her eyes off Wraith. "So, you were in the middle of sayin' something, right? What exactly are we dealin' with here?"

Shade allowed himself a moment of reprieve from his conflicting emotions, turning his concern to his friends. "I can't say for sure. I've never actually seen anything first hoof, only hearing rumors. From what I've heard, he once took down a manticore with his bare hooves without a scratch. I don't know how much truth there is to that, though."

"It's probably better to err on the side of caution in this case," Twilight suggested.

As he looked over the three mares again, Wraith seemed to appear slightly more aggravated. "I have no particular quarrel with you ponies—at least not under the current circumstances." His eyes then locked back onto Shade, his brow furrowing. "The traitor is the one I'm here for."

Shade raised an eyebrow. "'Traitor'? If you think I have any interest in trying to take the throne, you're sorely mistaken."

"You've chosen to side with the enemy. That makes you a traitor," Wraith stated quite bluntly. "And we don't tolerate traitors in our colony."

Shade raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you keeping them in the dungeon? I figured you'd just execute any traitors you caught."

"That's Chrysalis's decision," Wraith explained, his voice lowering an octave. "Were it my decision, those traitors wouldn't even receive the privilege of becoming food for the larvae."

That only proved to further Shade's confusion. "And yet you ask Guise of all people to help you hunt me down?"

Wraith paused for a moment, raising an eyebrow himself. "Guise? I don't recall enlisting the aid of that miscreant." The captain looked off to the side, muttering to himself. "Sounds as though I have more business to deal with. What a nuisance..." He returned his attention to the intruders. "But one thing at a time. For now, we'll focus on the four of you."

Wraith took one step forward with the intent of initiating his squad's attack on Shade and the ponies. However, he was stopped in his tracks immediately by a pink wall of magic that extended the entire width and height of the tunnel, completely separating the two groups. The captain cast an irritated glower at the purple alicorn, whose horn was glowing brightly.

"Uh, Twi, nice thought 'n' all, but we can't exactly fight 'em like this," Applejack pointed out.

Wraith narrowed his eyes contemptuously. His patience seemed to have reached its limit as he furrowed his brow and raised his voice. "I am not allowing that."

With firm and aggressive stomps, Wraith approached the barrier. His curved horn lit up brightly as well, and he thrust the sharp tip against the wall. Twilight visibly winced, feeling the impact of the strike in her horn as a shower of green and pink sparks began to spray from the point of impact around Wraith's horn. Twilight groaned in pain as she attempted to maintain the wall under the surprising pressure of Wraith's magic.

"Yeesh, he's just going straight at it, huh," said Pinkie Pie, observing the violent look in the large changeling's eyes as he assaulted the barrier. "Well, whatever. He's no match for Twilight's magic."

Pinkie's confidence in her friend was called into question when Twilight staggered slightly. The princess's eyes were clenched shut, and beads of sweat were already beginning to roll down her forehead.

"Ngh... His... His magic's a lot stronger than I expected," she managed to get out between pained groans and sharp inhalations. "I... I'm not going to be able to hold him off for long."

Applejack looked back at Wraith, shocked. "Wha—? But how's a changeling get that strong without love?" She turned to Shade for an answer.

The changeling looked just as confused as she did. "Don't look at me, I have no idea."

"Just drop the shield so we can fight 'em already," Applejack insisted to Twilight. "Don't waste yer strength on this."

The alicorn looked at Applejack through the corner of her eye, barely able to open it enough under all the pressure bearing down on her. "We don't need to fight him! He's after Shade!" She shifted her gaze at the changeling in question. "You need to get away from here! I think I can hold them back long enough for you to escape."

Shade's mouth fell open, unsure how to respond. "What?! I'm not leaving you three to fend for yourselves!"

"We don't have time for this!" Twilight shouted. She managed to muster enough strength to look around the immediate area until she directed her eyes upward. While there was no branching paths in the walls nearby, there happened to be a narrow passage in the ceiling above them, illuminated by the flashing sparks being emitted by Wraith's horn and the shield. "Up there! Just go! We'll be fine!"

"We're not arguing about this! Go!" Twilight commanded with uncharacteristic authority.

Shade hesitated. His eyes darted between Twilight and Wraith before shifting to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The two earth ponies simply gave him a nod that suggested he trust Twilight. As much as he didn't want to leave them with Wraith, he knew Twilight must have had a plan of some sort, so he decided to heed her command and quickly flew up and into the ceiling passage.

Wraith could only watch as his target disappeared from sight. He bore his fangs in anger and annoyance, jabbing his horn as hard as possible against the barrier until it outright pierced the magical wall, sending a web of cracks out from the point of penetration. The cracks quickly crawled outward until they reached the very edges of the wall, and then it shattered into pieces before the shards dissipated in the air.

Twilight let out a cry of pain as she stumbled backward from the raw force of the attack, the feeling of her spell being forcibly severed sending a sharp, painful surge through her horn. Applejack leapt to her side to keep her from falling over and helped her maintain her balance.

The three ponies cast their eyes at Wraith. The captain did not looked pleased, glaring disdainfully back at them. However, he turned his eyes back up towards Shade's escape route, then shot a commanding look over his shoulder at the soldiers behind him. "Occupy them!"

Without another word, Wraith took to the air to pursue Shade. Twilight had a moment of panic as she realized that Wraith wasn't planning to take the time to deal with them first. In a split-second decision, she opted to take flight to help Shade fend off Wraith. However, she didn't even get halfway up the cave before she was cut off by three of the soldiers blocking her path. She was still feeling the effects of her struggle with Wraith, so she was forced to alight once more and take up defensive positions with her friends.

"We'll just deal with these guys real quick and Twi can go after them," Applejack suggested as they stared down the soldiers.

Twilight shook her head. "No. I... I want to go after him, but that's probably a bad idea. I'm needed for the tether spell. We can't risk getting separated."

The alicorn looked back up at the hole in the ceiling, allowing herself to feel more assured. "Wraith is strong, but so is Shade. I think he can handle it. At least, I hope he can."

"We'll find him again," Applejack said confidently. "But right now, we gotta deal with these jokers."

The three ponies stared down the five soldiers. There was little doubt in their minds that they could handle this minor obstacle, but their thoughts were going to be on Shade as they fought. They could only hope that Twilight's trust in him was not unfounded...

Halfling

by Dee Pad

Chapter 19 - Strength in Numbers