“That's probably the other team!” Blue Flame exclaimed, hopping up. “I had forgotten all about them!”
“There was another team?” Silverline asked.
“Oh dear,” Rarity said, “I forgot to tell them we were safe. That unicorn outside must be Lady Solace.”
“They are... friends?” The changling sentry asked, his tone uncertain.
“Mostly,” Blue Flame answered quickly. “Rarity, could you -”
Rarity's face went blank as her horn glowed. She frowned, her horn dimming and going out. She shook her head wearily. “She's concentrating too much on what she's doing. I can't reach her.”
Silverline moved towards the tunnel that lead to the main entrance. “Then we do this the old fashioned way...”
“Woah there!” Rainbow shot up. “You should keep resting. That wing and your leg are only going to get worse if you start running around, trust me. We'll take care of this," she looked over at the male pegasus next to her "Won't we, Blue Flame?”
The deep blue pegasus looked from Rainbow to Silverline. “Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.”
“But where is our queen?” The sentry looked torn and confused, many of the other changlings shifting from hoof to hoof with him, as if connected by some unseen force.
“What do you need her for?” Rainbow asked, hovering in the musty cavern air.
Rarity flinched at Rainbow's tone, but thankfully the changlings didn't seem to notice.
“Our queen leads us,” the sentry said in a tone that implied that everypony should know such a simple fact. “And she alone can use magic among us.”
Rarity blinked and looked around. It was true. No other changlings had horns, which was often the main source of anypony's magic ability.
“But you can transform into other ponies, can't you?” she asked Sally. “Isn't that magic?”
Sally tilted her head in confusion. “That is to transform. Not magic.”
“Soooo,” Applejack got up, looking around, “none of y'all can do any magic?”
“Only those chosen as queen have the power,” a tall changling near the front answered.
“Chosen?” Rarity asked. “Do you vote?”
Numerous changlings murmured together at that. Sally only shook her head. “We don't know what 'vote' means. The Hive Effect chooses our new queen when the current queen is no more. Then the chosen undergoes a permanent transformation into the new queen.”
“The... Hive Effect?” Fluttershy asked, flying down to the ground among the changlings. She had already gotten rather comfortable in their presence, making Rarity wonder if they qualified as “animals” or “pets” in the shy pegasus' mind.
“It connects us all,” another changling answered.
“You can read each other's minds?!” Pinkie cried out, hopping around Sally. “Cool! Do me, do me!”
The changling shook her head. “It's not like that. We sometimes hear echos. Emotions of our own kind. Nothing too concrete. But it can help us interact with each other and act as one in times of great trouble or in battle.”
There was silence for a second before Rainbow began making her way towards the entrance. “Well, that's cool and all, but we gotta stop that unicorn from burying us alive. Come on, Blue Flame!”
The pegasus bowed towards his still wounded commander and rushed after Rainbow, the changlings staring at them as they left. Applejack looked down at the two alicorns who were still fast asleep. Then she looked over at Rarity and the two shared a nod and followed the pegasus'.
“Fluttershy!” Rarity called behind her as she left, “Be a dear and look after Twilight. Pikie Pie!”
“Coming, Captain Rarity!” The pink earth pony cried out in glee, wearing an army helmet that came from heaven knows where."For helmet emergencies," she answered Rarity's unspoken question.
Fluttershy watched her friends go with worry. “There shouldn't be trouble, right?” she asked Discord, looking up at him with big eyes.
The draconiquus shrugged. “If they really are your allies.” He watched Fluttershy for a moment before adding, “But just in case, I think I'll take a peek as well.”
The yellow pegasus smiled and gave him a hug before he snapped his fingers and appeared right outside the caves, high enough in the air to avoid being seen easily.
There was indeed a group of ponies outside the cave's main enterance. Most of them appeared to be pegasus soldiers, dressed in leather armor. But one was a unicorn, regally dressed in a flowing cloak of deep crimson with a long main and tail the color of gray slate. She was very calmly closing up the entrance with rocks and was nearly done, only a small portion at the top remained unfilled.
Discord frowned. Something was rather odd here, even to the chaos loving draconiquus. He floated down towards the ground behind them, too silent for anypony to notice.
“Why, hello there!” he greeted them suddenly.
About half the pegasus nearly jumped out of their armor. The other half, including the unicorn - Lady Solace, was it? - simply turned towards him, trying to hide their shock at not only being surprised by a potential enemy, but also at seeing their first draconiquus.
“I don't mean to interrupt your work, really I don't. It's just I was wondering as to the why behind it all. Seems rather strange to wall up a cave, that's all.”
“What are you?” one of the pegasus asked in horror.
Discord smiled and gave an elegant bow. “Why, I am Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony! Or at least I was. Now I'm only about eighty percent chaos, fifteen percent friendship and five percent... well, we shouldn't talk about that percent. It's not the most pleasant, after all.”
Solance walked over calmly. “We're under orders to keep the enemy within these caves from reaching the capitol.”
Discord tilted his head. “Orders, huh?” He squinted. “Even if that means trapping your first search party inside, too?”
The group was silent for a moment before Solace answered darkly, “The only ones inside these caves are enemies.”
“I suppose your 'all powerful emperor' told you that?” Discord asked mockingly, using air quotes for good measure.
The unicorn's calm demeanor vanished into a snarl. “Our Great Emperor speaks absolute truth. To question him is to question truth. These caves will be sealed and all those within shall be made silent for the safety of truth.”
Discord smirked. “Oh, really?” He snapped his fingers and the blocked entrance was instantly cleared, revealing some very serious ponies that had just heard everything they needed to know.
“Sense when - ” Applejack sneered.
“ - does truth - “ Rainbow continued.
“ - need protecting?” Blue Flame finished.
Discord snapped again to make some popcorn appear in his arm. “I do believe,” he tossed some puffy kernels into his mouth, “this shall be quite entertaining.”