//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: The Hive // Story: Dissonance: A Hidden World // by Braininthejar //------------------------------// music link Rarity looked around the chamber in disgust. “By Celestia, where are we? And what is -” she stopped abruptly and looked down on her own body, the fur matted and sticky and the mane turned into slimy strands by the remains of the pod fluid. “We… we must get out of here, quickly!” Pierce lunged forward and put a hoof on her mouth. “Be quiet!” he hissed. “Do you want them to hear you?” He looked at the mares, making sure all of them could stand. They all looked worn out but focused and listening to him intently, except for Fluttershy, who was dry heaving at the sight of the still twitching changeling, and Dash, who was flapping her wings, trying in vain to get the fluid off her feathers. “Wait here,” he said in a calmer voice. “I’ll check if the way is clear. Our diversion could start any moment, and we need to make use of it when it starts.” He went out of the chamber, recovering the knife from the changeling’s body as he went, and disappeared from sight. The Elements of Harmony were left alone with the bodies. “What do you think is going on?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Well, we can ask him when he comes back,” said Applejack, “but it looks obvious we’ve been captured by changelings.” Twilight examined the mess of organic growths along the wall. She sighed as her mane fell over her eyes with a wet sound. She lit up her horn and pushed the fluid off her body. It wasn’t enough to get her properly cleaned, but at least the sticky mess would stop getting in her way. “These pods must have kept our bodies suspended while we dreamed,” she theorized, “but that doesn’t explain how our minds ended in the Void Passage, or the whole fake Ponyville thing.” She turned towards Rainbow Dash, who was still flapping her wings with annoyance, and began to clean her with her magic. “Perhaps they wanted to mess with our heads to make us use the Elements for them?” said Dash. Twilight frowned. “Could it all have been just a dream?” she had already finished with Dash, and was now moving among her friends, helping them one by one. “No,” she realised, “I’m still using magic the way Obsidian showed me. So at least that part must have been true.” “I say we should find the queen, and make her tell us what it’s all about,” said Applejack. “But first, has anypony seen my hat?” “You better leave that for later,” said Pinkie Pie, jumping into the middle of the group, “because we’re about to have a -” There was a low rumble somewhere above, and the whole cave shook, specks of dust falling from the ceiling. A couple seconds later, Pierce poked his head into the chamber. “That’s our cue. Everypony ready?” Six heads nodded in unison. Pierce put a hoof to his mouth in a silencing gesture, before waving at the mares to follow. Outside the chamber there were intersecting tunnels, partially reinforced with strands of resin, but mostly made of bare stone. Here and there strange, thorny vines were growing along the ceilings. As Twilight raised her head to examine one, her horn sparked unexpectedly. “Keep away from the vines,” whispered the stallion, “They make magic go haywire. They also get grabby if you get really close. I don’t know how the changelings are keeping them dormant, but they seem to be using them to protect the hive.” There was another distant explosion. Twilight looked up, then at Pierce. “What’s going on up there?” Pierce gestured at her to wait, before sneaking ahead and checking the next intersection. He spent a moment listening. There was a sound of distant buzzing, but nothing too close. Finally he nodded at the mares to follow. “Princess Celestia’s attacking the hive,” he said. “She only managed to locate you this morning. Since then she had been preparing to rescue you. When she found out there is a hive here, she sent me down here to find you. It would be too risky to try teleporting here,” he said, pointing up at the nearest black vine, “so I’m to get you on your hooves and as close to the surface as possible. We’ve established a meeting spot where Princess Luna can enter to pick you up.” The tunnel ended in another chamber. Pierce walked through it first, reaching the opening on the other side. The girls followed him hesitantly. There was more light here, the glowing crystals supplemented by some kind of phosphorescent fungi. There were also pods, dozens of them. Twilight turned her head curiously, but the closest one proved empty. “This is…” she started, pointing at the structure overgrowing the walls. “Their food storage,” answered Pierce. “Almost empty fortunately. They were keeping a low profile. They couldn’t have hidden so close to Ponyville if they kept abducting ponies.” “Ponyville?” said Applejack. “Wait, where exactly are we?” She was interrupted by a loud gasp. Rainbow Dash had been flying above the rest and ended up disturbing one of the pods. The dull liquid sloshed around, briefly revealing a desiccated husk floating inside, a suggestion of stripes visible on what was left of the coat. Rainbow Dash turned from cyan to turquoise. “Let’s get out of here, quick,” she mumbled. Pierce nodded. “That’s what I’m here for. Now we need to -” he turned and his horn flashed. A small item flew from inside his coat, hitting something high in the ceiling. The girls scattered, yelping, as a changeling fell down from above, crashing into the floor in their midst. Applejack looked at the body. “That was fast.” “Paralyzing poison and some piercing enchantments,” said Pierce. “But I hoped there wouldn’t be any guards in this part.” His ears swivelled as he caught a distant noise, a high-pitched chirping that suddenly turned into a long screech. The girls all gave him questioning looks. music link “This means we’ve just ran out of time,” he sighed. “Now, follow me!” he said, running up a corridor out of the chamber. They’d ran for a minute before encountering the first enemies. Two changelings emerged from the tunnel, running in the opposite direction. One of them screeched, his voice reverberating through the complex. The other gurgled and spat, sending a globe of resin at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus ducked under the projectile before pouncing forward at the bug pony. “No!” shouted Pierce. He was already shooting at the first opponent, a small needle stabbing through the changeling’s larynx putting an end to his screaming. Dash collided with her target, but found the creature rolling with the impact and then bucking upwards, sending the pegasus tumbling over him and knocking the breath out of her. The changeling was about to take into the air, when a purple aura appeared around his membranous wings, holding him in place. Twilight waited for Pierce to strike the creature down, then released her spell. Rainbow Dash rose from the ground, groaning. “Never do that again!” barked Pierce. “You got in my line of shot. And are you even trained in silencing your mind?” Dash looked at him in confusion. “My mind?” Pierce was already on the move, the girls following suit, trying to walk as far around the dead changelings as they could. “Changelings are empaths,” explained Pierce. “They feel your emotions. If you can’t silence your mind, they see right through your attacks. That thing could have put a horn right through your throat.” Dash recovered enough breath to get back to the air, catching up with the running stallion. “But I’ve beaten dozens of those in Canterlot!” Pierce didn’t even look at her, instead focused on the way ahead. Another big explosion shook the complex. “The same ones that overpowered the city garrison in minutes?  No matter, we’re not here to fight, just sneak out and away from these vines.” There were more screeching sounds. More changelings were in pursuit. Pierce reached a large intersection and skidded to a halt, before pointing at one of the ways. “There. We’re close,” he said. A trio of bugs emerged through smaller tunnels in the ceiling, dropping almost in the middle of the group.  One pounced straight at Pierce, a half-sphere of green energy forming in front of it as it charged, deflecting the needle launched at its face. The other was trying to support him when Dash dropped at him from above. He weaved out of the way of the stomp and turned around, bucking the legs from under the pegasus before spitting a globe of resin at her. The gooey substance splattered over Rainbow’s side and right wing before hardening rapidly, sticking her to the floor. The last one went straight for Twilight. She instinctively formed a shield bubble. As the creature used its own protective spell, the two collided in a shower of sparks. Then Twilight’s barrier shifted, shrinking and thickening from a sphere to a small disc. The unicorn focused and pushed. She could see the understanding in the thing’s insectoid eyes, but it had no way of dodging this one - the barrier rushed forward, knocking the monster off his hooves and slamming him into the opposite wall. In the corner of her eye she saw Pierce taking down his opponent. That bug had not bothered with resin, instead going straight for the throat with his fangs, the stallion teleporting away at the last moment to avoid the bite and get in his attacker’s blind spot. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie and Applejack were trying to help Dash, with mixed results. The changeling proved too agile to land a good hit on. On the other hoof, he seemed to have the same problem with Pinkie Pie, the agile pastry chef bouncing in erratic patterns that made her surprisingly hard to grab. She’s using her Pinkie sense, Twilight realised. There was too much movement for her to aim a clear shot. Instead she used her telekinetic grab again, surprising the changeling by snagging his wings. Applejack wasn’t about to waste the chance. The creature saw the attack coming, but all he could do was block, not nearly enough to stop the buck of the earth pony. It slammed into the wall next to the one Twilight had knocked out earlier. “Hurry,” said Pierce, shaking his opponent’s body off him. He started running again, stopping just long enough to see Twilight unstuck Dash from the floor. “How do they keep doing this?” grumbled the pegasus. “Told you already,” replied Pierce. “Now let’s get going.” Their way opened into a larger cavern. The glowing crystals were more abundant here, leaving little space for the vines to keep growing. “We’re here,” said Pierce. “But the princess isn’t here yet.” He looked around warily. “Can’t you teleport us yourself?” asked Rarity. Pierce shook his head. “The whole group? No way. I’m no prodigy, just very well trained. Short blinks is all I can do.” “What about Twilight?” asked Fluttershy. “I… think I could,” said Twilight. “I’ve done similar things before. You’d just have to tell me where exactly we are, so I have a point of relation.” “We are under Everfree, about -” started Pierce. He was interrupted by a bolt of green energy coming his way. A dozen or so changelings rushed into the cavern through various entrances. *** music link “Perish, monsters!” Princess Celestia turned in the air, her horn illuminating the night with blazing gold as it fired shot after shot, flash frying the incoming changelings. The air was vibrating with the buzz of hundreds of insectoid wings. The princess of the Sun surveyed the battlefield with a grim expression; she had been right to have left her guards behind. It would be a sad day if her ponies had to see her like this. She conjured a barrier as some of the creatures from below fired a barrage of green projectiles. Then expanded it, smashing the oncoming fliers from the sky. They just kept coming, the flying monsters wrapping themselves in barriers of their own before ramming straight into Celestia’s shield. For a moment the princess disappeared in a press of black bodies. Then her shield exploded outwards, filling the air with bits of charred carapace. A globe of resin flew through the clearing smoke, hitting one of Celestia’s wings. She managed to stay in the air, but had to use a levitation spell to regain her balance. The next wave of attackers used the opening, ramming into her before her shield was formed to full strength. This time she started falling down, the changelings clinging to her, trying to block her wings and bite past her protections. There was a flash of light, a bolt of lightning striking the struggling mess, jumping from one creature to another while sliding over the outside of Celestia’s barrier. As the electric charge arced away towards the ground, the princess shook off the dead monsters, and spread her wings wide, landing in a large crater that now formed a clearing in the forest. “Luna! You shouldn’t be here!” she called up towards her saviour. The princess of the Moon landed beside her, the silver light of her horn dissolving the resin on Celestia’s feathers. “I’m not leaving you to die,” she proclaimed loudly, before projecting another bolt of lightning, striking down some approaching opponents. Celestia looked at her angrily. “That was not the plan! You were supposed to meet agent Pierce and rescue the Elements!” Another group of changelings prepared to ram her from the sky and she created another barrier to shield herself. “The plan didn’t assume there would be hundreds of those things here!” barked Luna, lashing with her lightning left and right. “This is ridiculous!” said Celestia through gritted teeth. ”There is no way to secretly feed a swarm of this size. There shouldn’t be - “ she paused and raised her eyebrows slightly. “They’re not real. It’s some kind of a clone spell.” She pointed a hoof at the charred pieces littering the crater. One after another the remains started dissolving into strands of magic. “That explains it,” said Luna. “So, it is a fight we cannot win. We have to find the source of the clones.” “I’ll handle this!” shouted Celestia. “You go find the girls.” Luna looked at her. “And who’s going to raise the Sun if they overwhelm you?” She looked down and nodded. Celestia understood her and stomped her hooves, crushing the enemies tunnelling underneath her. “I can handle this!” she hissed. “Yes. But I won’t risk it!” replied Luna. “We win this battle together. Then we descend the tunnels to look for your student.” There was a moment of silence punctuated by explosions and sizzle of lightning. Finally, Celestia spoke. “Let us hope we do not regret this.” She looked up. “To find the source of the monsters, we need to clear the sky for a moment.” Luna nodded. “This is why you told your guard to stay back didn’t you?” Celestia did not answer, already focused on what she needed to do. This attack would require some very good protection first. *** music link The cavern was a complete chaos. Twilight barely managed to throw up a barrier before the first shots came, Fluttershy ducking instinctively behind her while the rest of the girls scattered, either trying to fight or ducking for cover. Pierce rolled aside, letting the shots aimed at him slip past his side, and returned fire, needle after needle emerging from inside his coat. Dash went up towards the ceiling. Several changelings spat towards her, but she was ready this time. “Over here, you overgrown cockroaches!” she shouted. Two bugs rose to the challenge, flying up to catch her. Twilight saw changelings charging at her and her friends, their comrades still keeping suppressing fire on her. The previous day... “Active defence is good,” said Obsidian, “but it absorbs attention and makes it hard to attack. If you don’t want to give up initiative,  it is best if your shield can do something more.” Time to show them some new tricks, thought the unicorn. Her horn glowed brighter and the barrier in front of her turned opalescent. A second later the changelings shrieked; rather than detonating harmlessly on Twilight’s shield, their shots were now deflected away, filling their side of the cave with wild ricochets. Something rushed past her, wreathed in green flame, heading for Pierce; two changelings charged him, the first one forming a ramming shield to deflect incoming projectiles. The second one transformed mid-step, his limbs stretching as he turned into a leopard, pouncing over his companion’s back to claw and bite at the troublesome agent. Twilight turned to help him, momentarily dropping her guard - even as he blinked away to avoid the mortal peril, she felt a globe or resin hitting the side of her face. Around her, her friends weren’t doing much better. Rarity managed to find some rubble and was chucking pieces of it with her telekinesis, but achieved little, her targets either dodging or shielding themselves. Applejack and Pinkie were trying to keep the attackers busy, but while Pinkie could thwart their attacks, the creatures weren’t deterred at all. Twilight was trying to help them, but she wasn’t given a chance; the changelings had clearly made her and Pierce priority targets and it was taking all her attention to keep defending herself. “A formation of allies can keep your flanks safe,” said Obsidian. “But if you don’t have one, stay on the move. Don’t make yourself an easy target.” Twilight blinked away, appearing in one of the entrances to the cave, behind most of her opponents. There was a moment of confusion as the attackers suddenly lost their target. Twilight shot a stunning spell at the nearest changeling. As she did, she noticed one creature groaning on the ground - it was clearly stunned, but still alive. That’s one of their shots, she realized, they used stunning spells too. The changeling she shot at barely dodged, sensing her intent to strike at the last moment. Two creatures pounced at her, but she blinked again, leaving them colliding in mid air. Her shot reached them before they could recover, sending them both sprawling on the ground. Meanwhile, two changelings faced Applejack. The farmpony was already tired, her famous strength not yet fully recovered after her long cocooned sleep. Hearing Fluttershy trying to hide between the rocks behind her, she made a stand, staring down the two insectoids. The changelings looked at her with calm expressions, then at each other. And then they kissed. “What in tarnation?” said Applejack, raising an eyebrow. The two looked at her again, separating. They then charged at her, passing her on both sides, a lariat of sticky strands stretching between their mouths. It snagged on Applejack’s legs, causing her to stumble as the two attackers passed each other behind her rump, wrapping the resin trap around her. Rainbow Dash heard Applejack’s yelp of surprise and chanced a look down. She could see Twilight and Pierce were still fighting, and Pinkie was doing a good job at staying out of reach, but Rarity seemed stunned and Fluttershy was about to get cornered. Dash folded her wings dropping rapidly to dodge as one of her opponents flew at her. She recovered her flight and sped towards Fluttershy. One of the changelings cornering Fluttershy turned towards Dash and inhaled. Dash was already starting to roll aside to dodge the projectile, when the creature’s throat glowed green. The changeling spat through closed mouth, the resin shooting in strands between his teeth, the magic tying them together to form a web. Unable to stop in time, the pegasus fell face first into it, turning her into a flailing, sticky mess. “Dash!” shouted Twilight. She was still busy with two changelings. Desperate, she extended her telekinesis and managed to grab both. Her eyes glowed white as she lifted them into the air and slammed them against each other. There were seven changelings still standing in the cave, three of them weaving and shifting from one predatory shape to another, trying to take down Pierce. He just blinked once again, getting out of the grip of a constrictor snake his foe had turned into. Another changeling rammed him with his horn, pushing him into the wall. Twilight shot a blast in that direction knocking the creature out while it was trapped by the agent’s coat. To her relief, Pierce pushed off the wall and immediately retaliated; he was winded, but there must have been some armor under his clothes to stop the stab. The snake-shaped changeling was struck down with a needle through the throat before it could shift again. They use stunning spells and resin to catch us, though Twilight, but him they’re trying to kill. They still want us alive. She switched to doing what she had seen Pierce do, blinking close to a changeling and blasting him from the side, where it was hardest for him to dodge properly. Four left. One had shifted into a leopard, this time managing to pounce at Pierce and knock him over. Two were trying to flank Twilight from the air, their horns lighting up with stunning spells. The unicorn blinked once, appearing between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I hope this works… She closed her eyes and focused. She could almost feel the shots coming at her, but she was ready in time; her eyes blazed white, a powerful barrier spreading from her like a shockwave. The spell washed over her struggling friends, dissolving their bonds, then spread further, hitting both the already unconscious and the still airborne changelings, flinging them away in all directions. Twilight swayed. The gunk from her face was also gone, but she couldn’t see quite clearly, the sudden power spike leaving her dizzy and lightheaded. She looked towards Pierce to see he had won his struggle - his black coat was in tatters, but his opponent was down, a handle of a knife sticking from his neck. Rainbow Dash and Applejack picked themselves up from the ground. In the far corner of the room, Pinkie Pie was noisily trying to wake up Rarity. Twilight shook her head, trying to clear it. One, two, three… wait. The realisation struck her just as her eye caught a glimpse of movement, the last changeling skulking on the ceiling, his carapace turned grey and blue to match the crystals overgrowing the rock. The unicorn opened her mouth for a warning shout, but even as she did, she knew she’d be too late, the insectoid dropping down onto Pierce, sinking his fangs in the stallion’s thick neck. “No!” she shouted, shooting a beam of energy from her horn. It was barely a spell, more like an instinctive pulse of energy, recklessly aimed just over the agent’s head. It did its job though; the changeling felt it coming, but couldn’t get out of the way in time, the concussive blast launching him off Pierce’s back and all the way through the cave before slamming him into the rock wall with a crunch. “You okay?” asked Rainbow Dash, running to Pierce’s side. Applejack and Fluttershy quickly followed suit. The stallion craned his neck, trying to look at his injury and winced in pain. “No, I’m not,” he said. He closed his eyes. “Oh, bother. That one was an assassin. The venom doesn’t kill, but it dislurp-” He blinked several times, trying to finish the sentence, but found his lips and tongue not quite obeying his will. Fluttershy looked upon him with fear. The stallion stumbled, then went limp. Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried to support him, but after a moment of futile effort set him gently on the ground. “What do we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash, looking around frantically. Twilight Sparkle looked around the cave. Rarity had managed to get up from the ground and was now leaning against Pinkie Pie. The cavern was littered with changelings, some killed or paralyzed by Pierce’s needles, others knocked out by stunning spells or by Twilight. She looked towards the last one she had shot - he was alive and groaning in pain, green goo seeping from his injuries. I almost killed him. I didn’t mean to hit that hard. Twilight’s ear twitched. There were more screeching sounds getting closer. “More are coming,” said Twilight. Her mind raced, considering the options. “There is no other way. I need to teleport everypony myself. I hope we’re not too far away from home.” The group huddled around the unicorn as she closed her eyes and focused. I don’t even know where we are. What if something goes wrong? No, the teleportation spell doesn’t allow materialisation in things it can’t displace. At any rate… She shook her head. No! Focus on the result. Energy follows attention. I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home! There was a bright flash of fuchsia light and the seven ponies disappeared.