Alarms sounded across the station. "Warning... Perimeter Beach... Warning..."
Rezeneb checked his weapons and approached the six reserve guards at the checkpoint.
"Alright, we've got at least two who sneaked in through the east corridor. The active guards are already at the entrances and checkpoints to prevent escape, so you are all going to the project labs.
"Andoth and Nareel," he pointed to two of the locals, "check Firestar."
The four-armed creatures saluted and headed off in the indicated direction as Rez continued.
"Keel and Novi," he pointed to the other two locals, "Torchwood. Torak and Norra," he pointed to the two Narrodaqaans on the team, "Shadowpiercer."
Everyone nodded and headed to their assigned posts. No one showed it, but they were quite concerned. Some of the most secret projects in existence were in this cave, and someone had just managed to sneak in, only setting off the alarm at the innermost checkpoint.
Some bats stirred as they all went past. Torak considered that one of them might have set it off, but dismissed the thought. The sensors were calibrated to prevent such mistakes.
He also considered the people from whom he defected, but he doubted that too. If they knew of this place, they would be holding some city for ransom with one of their superweapons rather than just sneaking around.
It amused him that the people most qualified for stealth had such an affinity towards more overt tactics.
As he and Norra entered the room and closed the door, they heard something move. They turned on the lights and looked around. As they did, a pair of long, furry, centipede-like creatures approached the circular portal in the floor.
Torak picked up his radio.
"We're in the portal room. Nothing in here but a couple cave frongs."
He looked to his wife. "Funny. I thought pest control got rid of those."
As a curt "Roger that" came in reply from the radio, the cave frongs looked up at the guards, then at each other, then at the guards again.
Their features then began to melt. Their legs pulled into their bodies while new limbs took their place. Their fur shed away, and gray scales grew in its place. Long snouts and slitted eyes and triangular ears replaced the small round earless heads that the creatures once had.
This time, Norra was on the radio.
"The two creatures are Narrodaqaan shapeshifters, repeat, the two..."
The two guards looked up in shock at the two miniature versions of themselves.
"LLARA! VALLIR! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING DOWN HERE?"
"Hi Mom, hi Dad!"
"We're gonna save Dak!"
And with that, the two intruders jumped into the mouth of a recently completed eldritch abomination.
Torak and Norra were already starting their own transformations. They chose forest dragons from the moons of the planet Taln, small enough to fit into the portal, but with wings large enough to lift the kids to safety. Their only chance was to catch them before they reached whatever was at the bottom, where all the test probes disappeared.
Rezeneb ran into the room to see the only two Narrodaqaans he ever trusted diving into the Shadowpiercer. The last words he could hear faded unnaturally rapidly:
"When we get back, you two are grounded until..."
Rez stared at that portal for a solid minute, unable to process what he had just seen.
Torak fell through space flapping downward as hard as he could. He could still see the eyeshine of his wife and kids. As they all got closer, however, his thoughts became clouded.
No, no, he needed to focus, but... on what again?
The kids, right. They were falling.
Where were they?
There was nothing out in the darkness. Perhaps he could shift into something bioluminescent. He concentrated, but couldn't feel any change.
He tried poking himself to see if his skin was still the same, but found only empty air. He strained as hard as he could to see, but in the darkness, there was no way he could find anything.
Why was he down here again?
There were four flashes of light around the city of Canterlot that night, each one depositing a barely conscious creature.