//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Ashley's New Life // by LostUmbrella //------------------------------// Lyra was amazed: despite having to gallop to keep Chrysalis’ peace and the visible alarm on her features, the hive and its industrious life was a sight she had never imagined to see (she had to admit that the ponies in the cocoons were plain creepy, but amazing none the less). "Miss Heartstrings," said Chrysalis in a stern tone "I promise that I'll personally give you a tour of the hive AFTER we deal with this situation if you avoid stopping and slowing me down!" "Oh, ehm, sorry..." said the other scratching the back of her head. Without another word, the changeling queen turned and trotted off. "Uhm, may I ask where are we going? And what's happening?" said Lyra after a while. "It seems that my sister entered the hive to retrieve you but ended up waking up the guardian of the dungeons, which is why we're going there." "What guardian?" "A millennia old centipede. We've arrived," announced Chrysalis as they approached a solid iron door. But when the queen tried to push it open with a hoof, it started glowing in a faint blue aura and opened itself, revealing a group of scared mares and an unconscious changeling. "What? Who are you?" demanded Chrysalis in an authoritarian tone eyeing the group. The trio froze upon seeing the queen of the hive and nopony answered her questions. "Bon-Bon, what are you doing here?" Hearing and spotting her marefriend, the cream-colored mare forgot who was standing in front of her and jumped at Lyra, hugging her. "Oh, Lyra, I was so worried" said Bon-Bon before frowning and adding "And I'm very mad at you! What part of going around disguised as a wanted changeling queen seems like a good idea to you?" "Would somepony tell me what's happening?" demanded Chrysalis in a tone that could rival the royal Canterlot voice "And where is my sister?" This was enough to wake up the unconscious commander, who, after a small bow, said: "Those are the invaders, queen Ashley has stayed back to secure their escape." Queen Chrysalis didn't waste another second and flew past Vinyl and Octavia, who were still standing in the doorway, and down the stairway. --- Ashley took a deep breath to calm down. She wasn't happy of having hit the only changeling faithful to her, but it had been necessary, otherwise he would still be there, leaving her friends alone. "I'll have to deal with number Four and his insane fixation with my eyesight someday..." she said letting out a heavy sigh. The sound of shattered stone echoed on the landing as the guardian made its way through the improvised blockade she had 'built' by destroying the ceiling. "If I get out of here alive..." she added as shards and dust flew past her, revealing her opponent. It was a massive creature, covered in a thick dark blue carapace both on the back and on the belly opened only where the many black legs were attached and where the unfathomable darkness of its mouth began. Six light blue orbs peered at her from the top of the centipede's head, emitting a dim blue sheen. "I guess you're not going back to the pit of Tartarus you came from just because I ask it, right?" The creature launched itself forward with a deafening roar. Ashley nimbly jumped to the left and shot a beam of acid green magic towards the creature. The blast hissed eerily on the creature's carapace, but seemingly without any effect. The guardian, having extracted its face from the floor, proceeded in a sequence of hits with its four foremost legs, forcing the smaller creature to an extenuating dance and leaving her no choice to strike. It went on like this for a minute, that is to say until the centipede tried to slam its massive body on Ashley, who used the opportunity to fire another magic blast, this time aiming at the eyes. The guardian darted back, roaring the pain he was suffering from his now charred eye, while the changeling piqued herself up, lots of her wounds now open again and aching. She silently thanked her luck for being able to avoid a full body slam. The creature let out another roar, louder than the previous one, and launched itself forward in blind rage. Ashley tried to fire again at its eyes, but, not having recovered from the damage she had taken, she missed. Expecting to be crushed to death by the rampaging monster, she was very surprised when a boulder found its way to the guardian's face, diverting it and making it slam headfirst in a wall. "You, reckless fool!" said a double-toned voice to her right "You really thought you could face such a creature alone?" "Chrysalis? What are you doing here?" "Saving my idiotic sister, what else?" "But you hate me!" "Admittedly you're pretty reckless and give me lots of troubles, but why would I hate you?" "In the empire, I tried to kill you and those ponies you were with, remember? And you sent that drone to ponynap me!" "Yeah, that wasn't particularly nice, but it's under the bridge now, and that drone misunderstood my orders." "What do you mean?" "I think the guardian is regaining his senses, let's continue later, uh?" said Chrysalis as the centipede got back into what can be called a fighting stance. --- "I was thinking..." started saying Vinyl. "Wait, you can think?" asked Bon-Bon wearing a stupefied expression. Lyra reproved her: "That was harsh, Bon-Bon." "Trust me girl, you would agree with her if you saw what she did down there..." bitterly said number Four, who had been peering into the darkened staircase since Chrysalis's departure. "Like I was saying," continued Vinyl ignoring the baker and the changeling "I find it pretty wrong that we're here waiting while our friend is risking her life for our sake!" "This caring side of yours is why I love you," said Octavia in a sultry tone hugging her marefriend. "Vinyl is right, we can't simply stay here, sitting on our plots!" enforced Lyra standing up "We'll go down there and save her!" "But Chrysalis -" tried to protest Bon-Bon. "We'll save her too, of course." "That's great but it's not what I meant..." "I won’t let you risk your lives," calmly said number Four turning to look at the four mares "I've been ordered to keep you safe by my queen, I won’t betray her trust." "You asked for the harsh way," said Vinyl putting on her usual grin "Lyra, brace yourself!" "Brace myself for what?" asked the mint unicorn just before she got enveloped in a light blue aura and thrown at the stupefied changeling. "Ouch, that hurt!" lamented Lyra massaging her flank. "Yeah, I know, but it's effective!" said Vinyl pointing at the unconscious commander with her usual grin "Now, let's get moving!" "Vinyl Scratch, if you ever dare to use my marefriend as living projectile again I'll be sure to buck you into the next week, understood?" said Bon-Bon in a tone that suggested it was a promise and not a treat. "Girls, save this for later, now we better get going!" said Lyra, cutting Octavia's retort short "Friend in need, remember?"