Ashley's New Life

by LostUmbrella


Chapter 9

As soon as her vision cleared up, Octavia noticed the larger creature sitting beside the wall, who was watching them.
It took her a couple of moments to recognize the distorted features of the creature as those that identified the changeling race, fact that caused a scream to erupt from her lips.

Immediately, Vinyl tried to tranquillize her: "Tavi, calm down! She's a friend!"

"Leave her be: the room is soundproof..." said Ashley shrugging.

"Strange, why is it?" asked Bon-Bon crocking an eyebrow.

"They told me she snores a lot..."

---

Once Octavia had calmed down and was recounted the whole story, the four mares took their leave, again with the help of Ashley's invisibility spell.
The changeling guided them through slowly descending tunnels into the lowest part of the hive: the dungeon.
It was a deep spiraling staircase made of black chitin with many holes opened in the external wall, each one closed by a blue semitransparent organic wall. While it is certainly true that it was mostly unused, the prison was meant to keep both those ponies who were hostages, dissident changelings and those who had to disappear from the scene (despite what other races thought, changeling's laws did not feature death penalty).
Octavia shivered at the resemblance those cells bore with the cocoon she had been held into, Bon-Bon noticing that long luminescent centipedes crawled in a transparent conduit above their heads; Vinyl only asked how could she get some of the blue webbing to decorate her room.
They proceeded slowly, examining every cell in the dim light the centipedes offered, searching for any hint on their friend whereabouts. They had almost reached the bottom of the spiral when Octavia, who was at the group's rear, tumbled in a broken step and fell, dragging the others with her. Luckily, there was a landing nearby.
The prisoner held in the cell in front of which they had landed was very surprised when three ponies piled on a shades-wearing changeling appeared out of thin air.

"I'm sorry, everypony" said Octavia in a pained tone.

"My queen!" exclaimed the prisoner leaning against the organic wall.

"Number Four? What are you doing down here?" asked Ashley noticing the changeling commander in the cell.

"I am faithful to you, my queen, and I'll always be!" he answered with a deep bow "On a side note, I'm happy to see that you're taking care of your eyesight, even though purple doesn't really suit you..."

"Those are my shades!" protested Vinyl levitating her sunglasses back on her muzzle.

"Who is this, Ashley?" asked Bon-Bon getting back on her hooves.

"This is number Four, one of the three commanders of the changeling army, and currently a dissident to my sister's reign it seems."

"It didn't sit right with me serving a pony princess, and queen Chrysalis never treats me as well as you did" explained number Four.

"Isn't him the one you often tell Lyra about? The counselor you mistreated the most?" asked Bon-Bon in a whispered tone.

"Yes, that's him..."

"Wait, he said something about a pony princess!" exclaimed Octavia "Maybe she can help us!"

"Yes, that awfully sweet princess from the Crystal Empire is often here," explained the stallion "She's the queen's sister-in-law apparently, and so queen herself."

"Considering what I did, I strongly doubt she'll do anything that could favor me..." sentenced Ashley in a pained tone.

"Then let's get your friend out of there!" said Vinyl grabbing the whole translucent wall in her telekinetic grasp.

Both changelings tried to stop her, but she had already pulled.

"Vinyl! Do you really think that if that was wise he wouldn't have already done it?" asked Ashley, who had gotten pretty angry.

"What's the problem? He's free and I have my new carpet!" protested the DJ.

"Mare, that thing isn't meant to keep prisoners inside, but the guardian outside!" explained a visibly shaken number Four.

"What guardian?" asked the three ponies in unison.

As to answer their question, a deafening roar came from the bottom of the stairs.

---

After calming the poor musician and explaining her that Chrysalis wasn't going to hurt her, she accepted to explain the circumstances that leaded her in the hive.

"Let me get this straight," said the black queen sipping her tea "You wanted to understand changelings better, so you researched our disguise spell and, while copying my sister's appearance, you where kidnapped by number Two Hundreds Sixty Six?"

"Yes, exactly," said Lyra munching a chocolate cookie.

"And she couldn't see through your disguise since you aren't a changeling..." mumbled the first tapping her chin with a hoof.

"Well, this sounds crazy but I believe her..." sentenced the alicorn snatching the last cupcake (her seventh already) before regarding her sister-in-law and adding with a giggle: "And I absolutely want to learn that spell too!"

"I'm not that sure that it's such a good idea: one shapechanger in the family is enough," said Chrysalis shaking her head.

"Aww, you're no fun..." replied the other pouting a little.

"So," said Lyra as she finished her tea "What happens now?"

In that moment, the room doors flew open as a very distressed looking drone entered.

"My queen, ehm, queens! The guardian is on rampage!"

"What happened?" asked Chrysalis standing up.

"We don't know, my queen: there shouldn't be anypony down there, except for the prisoner, yet, the guard at the door was found unconscious; we suspect somepony has entered the hive and tried to free number Four."

"Impossible: only an unicorn with huge mana reserves could accomplish such a feat!"

"Or maybe a changeling queen..." suggested Lyra giving her unrequested opinion.

"Ashley!" exclaimed the two immortals in unison, starting to realize what happened.

"Cadence, go and wake my father, bring number Eight Thousand and Two with you. Miss Hearthstrings, you come with me," ordered Chrysalis in a tone that did not admit replies.

---

They had tried to stop the creature using 'Vinyl's carpet' to block the path, but the guardian had ignored the membrane, charging forward in blind rage and leaving the five fugitives with the only hope of reaching the upper hive.

"Vinyl?"

"Yes, Tavi?"

"If we get out of here alive, remind me to kill you!" panted the gray mare as the whole group galloped as fast as they could up the spiraling staircase.

"But I came to save you from the changelings!"

"Girls," said number Four in a stern tone "Would you kindly postpone this discussion for AFTER we escape the guardian?"

As to punctuate the reality of the danger they were in, a loud roar echoed from behind them.

"It's getting near, run faster!" ordered Ashley who was at the rear of the group.

Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the sound of a thousand sharp legs ticking on the stone floor was growing nearer; moreover, the three ponies weren't used to such intense physical activities at all and, as result, were running out of energies.

Noticing that, Ashley halted on a landing and said: "Go on, I'll keep it for you!"

"But Ashley -" tried to say Bon-Bon, only to be silenced by a holed hoof placed on her mouth.

"Tell Lyra I'm sorry," she said before turning to face her fellow changeling "Number Four, make sure that those three reach their homes along with Lyra Hearthstrings, understood?"

"But my queen..."

"No buts, general, this is an order!"

"But your aim might suffer from your bad eyesight..."

Half a minute later, the three ponies were dragging the unconscious commander up the stairs, an indent in the form of a hoof was visible on his left cheek.