Rescue from the Changeling Hive

by EKessler

Chapter 4: Infiltration

High above the sea of sand, Discord could feel the sun's warmth on his shoulders as the land before him became illuminated in morning's light. Whisking through the air, he scanned the horizon constantly, searching for any sign of civilization, or whatever description one would offer to a hive of insectoids. So far, his efforts were futile. Dead Mare's Desert was thus far earning its title.
"Oh, Screwball," he muttered to himself painfully. The fact that his daughter must have still been alive still kept him hoping, but that hope was fought back by the thoughts of what Chrysalis could possibly be doing to her. He did his best to push such thoughts out of his mind and focus on his current task, difficult as it was. Still, he wasn't going to stop until he found the hive. Until he found her.

It was quiet in the changeling cell that housed Screwball. She laid quietly asleep, cradled in the arms of the creature she believed to be her father, Discord. 'He' stroked her purple mane gently, assuring her a peaceful sleep, and blissful ignorance.
Slowly, however, the imposter Discord shifted her off of him, setting her onto the floor as he shifted his snake-like body around her. Once she seemed comfortable, he slowly got up, leaning into one of the walls of the green and black cell. Making as little noise as possible, he lifted his talon hand and slowly made an incision along the wall of the cell with his claw. Double-checking to make sure Screwball was still asleep, he then slithered his way through the hole he made, exiting the cell.
The changeling drones that guarded the cell quickly caught sight of him and gathered around him, prompting him to change his form. In a quick flash and burst of mist, the form of Discord was gone. Instead stood the towering figure of the adult changeling, mother of the hive, Queen Chrysalis.
The drones immediately bowed. "Mother," they both addressed in unison.
"Rise, children," Chrysalis gently replied. She lowered her head and gently nuzzled them as they rose. "You've felt it, then?"
"They've captured our sister," stated one of the drones. "The one that was with the chaos spirit."
Chrysalis looked down in concern. "Yes, which means that Discord is probably on our tails right now. And now since that pushover is now allied with the Princesses, we can probably be expecting a visit from the Royal Guard."
The drones looked to each other, worried expressions on their insect-like faces. "What shall we do, Mother?"
"First," she began, her gentle, maternal tone replaced by one of authority, "send a message to your brothers and sisters out in Equestria. They must know they are in danger. Then secure the hive, and ensure nothing gets in or out. We are not taking any chances with Discord."
"Yes, Mother," hissed one of the drones as he flew away into the outer chambers of the hive. The other one, however, lingered.
"Mother, what if Discord gets inside?"
A sinister smile spread over Chrysalis's face as she turned to the cell from which she had emerged. "I have insurance."

"There!" cried Discord as he caught sight of something out of the ordinary on the horizon to his front-right view. Too distinct to be another mirage, he watched as the distant figure grew nearer and nearer. He had been flying fast and far all night, and he had covered a lot of ground. He had skimmed over and across the sea of sand for the past few hours, probably understanding it well enough to draw his own map. Finally, he knew he must have found the hive.
Over the horizon, something large and black, in clear contrast with the yellow desert surrounding it, grew larger and clearer as Discord neared it at amazing speed.
What became clear to his view resembled something of a large castle, albeit much more crude than Canterlot. It was primarily a large dome structure, somewhat like a large wasps' nest, surrounded by smaller supporting structures that held it in place on the ground. Also, as Discord was much closer now, he could make out the finer details of the structures. The outside resembled something of black and green webbing, disturbingly fitting to the changeling style.
"This is it, all right," he muttered to himself as he flew to the ground and stopped himself behind a large rock formation. He peaked around the side to find numerous changelings flying about the hive, presumably as scouts. As he huddled alongside the rocks, making sure he wasn't seen, Celestia and Fluttershy's words echoed through his mind. With Screwball trapped inside, he couldn't simply barrel in willy-nilly, as much as he'd like to, and he knew he was able. No, he needed stealth. He needed to infiltrate them, use short, controlled bursts of his power when necessary, and get Screwball out. And after that, he didn’t know.
His expression softened as he realized how his priorities had changed.
Hmm, he thought to himself, maybe they were right. Maybe I do need to keep my anger in check. After hours of flying about a barren wasteland, he did have time to calm himself down. He wasn't nearly as angry as he was earlier, and the thought of inflicting damage upon the changelings didn't persist as well anymore. Chrysalis, however, was another story, but most of his thoughts were still held primarily on Screwball's safety.
Shaking the contemplation out of his mind, he quickly formulated a plan. Still under the cover of the rocks, his appearance quickly distorted and changed in a brief flash of light. In a mere two seconds, he was a changeling. A larger-than-average one, but a convincing one, nonetheless, although his red-tinted eyes may have been a little too noticeable.
Cautiously, he stepped out from behind the rocks and surveyed the outside of the hive. Numerous changelings were still circling the structure, and others zoomed away into the desert for some unknown purpose. None of them seemed to notice him, so, hesitantly, he approached the hive.
He then unfolded his insect wings to fly around the outside of the hive to actually look for an entrance, as one was not readily visible. Before he got too high, he noticed a swarm of about a dozen changelings fly overhead in a slow, steady formation around the hive. Seeing an opportunity to blend in, Discord joined them, though he mainly stuck to the back of the swarm. As he surveyed the outside, he managed to notice how big the hive truly was. He had seen many castles and other superstructures, but this still awed him. It towered over him and every single insectoid around him. He scanned the structure top to bottom, and he noticed how numerous changelings, about his size, were crawling all over it. That, as well as the organized chaos around him, made Discord realize that he no longer had the element of surprise. They must have been expecting him.
A unique structure, some distance below him, then caught his eye. Jutting out from the side of the hive was what looked like some kind of platform, guarded by three drones. Whatever it was, it led to an opening into the hive, the only one Discord had seen yet. So, quietly, Discord left the swarm he was hiding behind to casually descend to the platform, hoping they wouldn't see through his ruse. As soon as he touched down on the structure, however, one of the drones immediately confronted him.
"What is it, brother?" asked the drone.
Discord immediately put his mind to mimicking their voice and mannerisms. "Uh, I…have urgent news. Chry…uh…Mother is in danger."
"We already know, brother," replied the changeling in its hissing voice. "You need not worry yourself. Discord isn't getting in there."
"But, uh…" Discord tried to think of something quick, but didn't let it show in his altered face. "It isn't Discord. It's the…uh…Royal Guard! Canterlot's Royal Guard is on their way right now, and I need to tell Chr-Mother!"
"We assumed they would get involved," replied the drone, "but you still aren't allowed to enter."
"But…why not? This is important!" Discord tried looking sympathetic, but noticed a strange look on the drone's face, as well as on the others, who were now approaching them slowly.
"Because, we've locked down the hive," the drone stated as he too began getting closer to the disguised Discord, eyeing him wearily. "Mother and her guards already signaled everyone around, just a few minutes ago. Nothing gets in or out. Surely, you must have known that…"
Hive-mind! Darn it, Discord!
"Yes," the drone continued, "they said Discord might sneak up on us, maybe bearing a disguise."
Discord was trying to think of a way out of this, but noticed that the other two were now flanking him. However, on the outside he remained composed, not letting the tension get to him.
The drone was now in his face. "What am I thinking?"
Discord slipped up slightly and let his surprise show. "Pardon?"
"You heard me, 'brother,'" he replied. "If you aren't Discord in disguise, you could hear my thoughts. So…what am I thinking?"
Okay, Discord, he thought to himself, mind-reading. Child's play, right? Discord then allowed himself to hear inside the changeling's head. However, he wasn't ready for what he heard. A thousand different thoughts were running through his mind, all at the same time, and none of them were from the same source. The hive-mind. There was no way Discord could distinguish this changeling's thoughts out of the whole mess.
One last idea then came to him. It was a long-shot, but it may have been his last chance. Without the other two drones noticing, he looked straight into the blue eyes of the drone in front of him. Suddenly, his own red eyes began swirling with multicolored rings, as did the drone's. It was working.
"You're realizing that I must have been patrolling the desert whenever the signal was sent," said Discord in a very persuasive, yet still disguised, voice. "I must have been too far away."
"Y-yes, that's right," said the drone submissively, drawing awkward glances from the other two behind Discord.
"Yes, and now you're realizing that those keeping watch for Discord must need extra support, so you're taking your two friends with you to help. And you're leaving me here to stand guard."
"That…is exactly right," said the drone, slightly dazed. "Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking…" He then turned to his friends, who still looked quite confused. "Yes, I was going to tell you, we need to search the perimeter for any sign of Discord. Let's go." He raced to the edge of the platform, now out of his daze, but still doing just as Discord suggested.
"Brother," called one of the other two, "are you sure that…"
"That's an order," said the drone in a commanding tone. "We're searching the perimeter, now." He then took off, joining the hundreds of changelings already in the air. The other two looked at each other again but, reluctantly, they took off, too. As they flew into the air, they looked back to give one more look of suspicion to the disguised Discord, who was grinning innocently.
Discord then approached the opening to the hive and pretended to take a guard's stance in front of it. "I cannot believe that worked," he said to himself excitedly. "I had no idea that worked on changelings."
He then double-checked behind him, making sure he wasn't being watched. Then, as quietly as he could, he entered the hive.
Once Discord was inside, he looked left and right, finding two narrow corridors extending far beyond his view. There was a green glow to them, something coming from the inside of the walls. He took the time to notice that the material inside was much like that outside: black and green waxy coating that looked disturbingly insect. In fact, he was now able to feel it as he walked on it. On his fake hooves, it felt much like the hard, chitin-like exoskeleton that composed his disguise. He resisted the urge to ponder the odd implications of this.
Just then, a few small changelings zoomed past him, completely ignoring him as they traveled from the right to the left corridor. He waited until they were out of view, then began to fly down that corridor as well.
Hey, they know this place better than I do, right?
For the next few minutes, Discord simply made arbitrary turns throughout the endless network that composed the inside of the hive. Usually, he trailed behind groups of changelings that were also navigating inside, so he liked to think there was some rhyme to his direction. At least he had no reason to think he was going in circles.
However, after another turn, a very strange sight caught his eye. It was embedded in the wall of one of the corridors, and was extremely hard to miss. Again looking both ways to make sure nopony was watching him, he took a closer look at the strange sight. What laid before him along the wall were various cells. He had seen many like them already, some of them containing changeling young, but these were different. These had ponies inside. They all appeared to be unconscious, and they were suspended in some kind of green slime. The slime glowed brightly, much like the green in the walls that provided lighting for the tunnels, but these were much brighter.
Is…is this where they keep prisoners? Or…is this how they feed?
Discord didn't know the answer, but the thought disturbed him deeply, almost making him wince at the image. Just as quickly came a more disturbing image: Screwball, trapped just the same way, suspended in slime, on call to be fed to Chrysalis. He quickly tried to push it out of his mind, but it stayed there, reminding him of what he was here for. Whom he needed to rescue. It made him want to break out of his disguise, end this stealth and unleash his wrath upon everything there. He could feel the power up against his skin, trying to inch its way out of him. But he knew better. He needed to control himself for just a little while longer. For Screwball.
He then looked back up to the captives before him, innocent ponies who were probably stolen from their families, probably being impersonated just as Screwball was. Their loved ones would have no idea they were being deceived, and would be free to feed the changelings in their sinister way. And those taken here had to experience this.
But, he thought to himself, what will become of them?
"Brother?"
Discord's tension made him practically leap in surprise when the changeling snuck up on him. He had been completely distracted by the sight before him that he hadn't even noticed it approach. He quickly turned to see the changeling to his right completely surprised by his reaction. However, after a second, the changeling looked more shocked than surprised, body quivering as it stared at Discord.
After the initial shock, Discord wondered what it was staring at. He looked down, and realized. It was staring at him. Him him. Undisguised. The surprise made him completely lose control of his disguise. The changeling was looking right at the one and only draconequus.
"Uh…" Discord began, trying to stall. "I…this isn't…"
Just then, the changeling bolted the other way, wings flapping as quickly as they could as it tried to get away.
Discord didn't know what to do. He was found out. The changeling would surely contact its comrades, alert them to his presence, coordinate a defense, hide Screwball from him…
"The heck with it," Discord muttered. Just as the changeling was almost out of sight, Discord raised his talon hand and snapped his fingers. He watched carefully as the creature, about a hundred feet away by now, looked around in fright as the walls around it shivered and quickly contracted upon it, crushing it and no-doubt knocking it unconscious.
"Ohhh…Well, I'm sure he'll be alright," Discord mumbled to himself, not really caring. He half-smiled at his quip for a moment. Quickly donning his disguise once more, he took flight on his insect wings and went back down the tunnel the way he came, seeing as how the other way was blocked.
His cover may have been blown, he knew. This was bound to happen eventually, but he hoped it wouldn't have been until he reached Chrysalis. Still, worrying about it wasn't going to help. He just needed to keep moving, and that's just what he did.
As he once more began turning corners, the image of Screwball being held captive penetrated his mind again.

Screwball awoke with a startle, feeling some kind of rumbling throughout her cell. Wondering what that was, she slowly got up and stretched, and then it hit her: she actually had room to stretch. Confused, she hurriedly looked around her cell and realized that Discord was not there. Her father was gone.
Oh, no, she thought to herself, did they take him? What are they doing to him?
Scared, she huddled herself into the corner, feeling alone for the first time since she was brought there. It was scary the entire time she was there, but she at least had her father with her. Even when she first woke up in the hive, frightened and not knowing how she got there, her father was there, holding her and keeping her safe. Now, she didn't even have that.
However, her father had told her before to stay strong, so she did. Even as she feared for her father's safety, she didn't cry, even though she really wanted to. She just held herself together and kept her chin up, just like he said.
Then she saw it. Her swirled eyes were immediately drawn to a strange opening, some kind of incision, in the wall on the other side of the cell.
Maybe that's where they came in, she thought to herself, now more curious than scared.
She got up, hesitantly at first, and walked up to the opening, hoping to peek outside without being seen.
"…know he's here!"
The strange voice startled her. It was coming from just outside the wall.
"I could feel him being attacked…I know it was him. He's in the hive."
Whosever voice it was, it was female, and it sounded…off, somehow. Still, Screwball kept at the incision and, slowly and quietly, opened it, peeking through.
She was almost startled again by what she saw. Right there, no more than a stone's throw away, was the biggest changeling she had seen to date. And big was not an exaggeration. She was almost as tall as her father.
"Shall I gather my brothers here, Mother?" asked the changeling drone she was speaking to. "If Discord is here, I won't allow him anywhere near you."
Mother? Wait, what does he mean 'if Discord is here?' Dad's been with me this entire time!
"No, child," she said, leaning down to the drone's eye-level. "You," she pointed her hoof to his chest for emphasis. "You and your brothers. Find him, and destroy him."
What?!
"Mother, you know I would gladly die to protect you," the drone stated in its hissing voice, "but even we have heard of this monster's power. How can we…" He was cut off by her placing her hoof on his lips, silencing him.
"Remember, darling, why he is here. He is on a mission, a mission to rescue what is most precious to him." She quickly pointed her head to the cell behind her, making Screwball sick to her stomach. "Use your imagination, dear." She moved in close. "Use his feelings, his fears, to your advantage. And, when he's let his guard down, take him out."
The drone pondered for a moment, then smiled sinisterly as he bowed to his mother. Then, in an instant, a bright-green halo of light burst over him, instantly transforming him.
Screwball gaped in horror. Right there, plain for her to see, was the changeling, bearing her very likeness. Her dark-pink coat, her violet and white mane, it even had the same propeller beanie that she always wore. It only got worse as she heard the creature mimic her childlike voice to near perfection. "Yes, Mother!" the imposter cried before it burst out laughing, drawing a satisfied grin from its mother. And with that, the imposter ran off.
To the notice of the changeling mother, another rumble shook throughout the hive, drawing a slight expression of worry from her. "Good luck, baby," she said to herself, looking at the tunnel again. "I shouldn't worry, though. There is no way he can touch me now."
The Earth pony then watched as the changeling closed her green eyes and relaxed her body. Suddenly, a rough halo, the same kind as before, appeared at her hooves and moved upwards over her body. The change was instantaneous, as it only took a couple of seconds before her appearance had transformed to that of…
Discord!
"N-n-no…" Screwball could only mutter as she stared wide-eyed at the illusion in front of her. The black, insectoid mare that was there a moment ago was replaced by the chimera she thought was her father. She couldn't believe it, yet everything made sense now. That's why he couldn't use his powers to break them out. Her father was never captive with her at all. It was all a ruse. Whoever this changeling mare was, she was her captor, and had fooled her this entire time.
And her father was out there, trying to rescue her. And the changeling drones were now after him.
As soon as she saw the imposter turn back to the cell, she jumped back and huddled into the wall on the other side, keeping her back turned away.
She buried her face into her forelegs, covering her eyes. It was then that she felt herself crying gently, just quiet enough not to be heard. "Daddy…"
She heard the wall of the cell opening, then heard the sound of something planting itself on the ground. Screwball completely locked everything out of her mind, now refusing to face reality.
"Screwball, sweetheart," said the imposter. As convincing as the voice was, the filly no longer heard her father's voice. And she refused to acknowledge the changeling's presence. She just kept her face buried.
Unfortunately, she then felt an arm wrap itself around her. "Screwball, I know you're scared, but you don't have to cry. I promise you, I won't let any of those monsters touch you. Ever." The imposter then cuddled herself around the young filly, probably expecting her to feel comforted, to feel loved.
Screwball never felt more alone in her life.