//------------------------------//
// 6: Lies Within the Shadows 
// Story: Mirrors 
// by Talguy21 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6: Lies Within the Shadows


The Hive is a big place, easily as big as Manehattan. The dungeon we were locked in was in the center. The bustling streets of the Hive were arranged circularly within a huge chitinous material that filtered the sunlight to an eerie dimness. The streets, however, were only one layer. Hundreds of miles of tunnels were carved into the earth. They were overlayed and reinforced so many times, no kind of bomb would collapse any tunnel. Of course, the place wasn't easy on the eyes. Unlike ponies, who took value in art and architecture as leisure activities or jobs, changelings had no use for them. As such, every building was as stable as a fort, and ten times as ugly. They were often just mounds of the same black material that made up most things changelings use. I could tell Rarity was having a hard time keeping a straight face. It was clearly her worst nightmare come true. Still, though this was a pit by pony standards, it's where I grew up, and that nostalgic feeling was almost worth being captured again. Though, when home wants you dead, there are few things making you want to stay long. Also, the entire place radiated fear, and fear feels like urine smells. As Entropy 'subtly' nudged Rarity out of her aesthetic overload, Twilight murmured something.

"What was that, Twi?" I ask.

"It's just... how has something like this not been found?" she answers.

"A combination of illusion magic and a little of the famous changeling 'diplomacy' tends to make the curious stay away." Entropy said.  "Now, let's follow their lead and make ourselves scarce."

As we descended into the Hive proper, we stuck to the alleys. Often times, changelings are overly cautious, even here, as Chrysalis' lack of mercy is well known. It's for this reason we didn't draw much attention. The drones were too interested in their 'purposes' to give us a second glance, moving about in clusters to accomplish some mission or another. Infiltrators kept to themselves, typically sticking to the shadows, much like our group was. Warriors, the larger variants of changelings, were often stationed as guards every so often, though a token few were intermixed with the others. Thankfully, very little interest was directed to us. Changeling visual traits are very subtle, and Entropy and I had masked ours. However, there were guards at the exit, with spears crossed over the opening in the dome. We ducked into an abandoned alley to converse. Entropy started first.

"What do we do, Dawn? They'll scan us for sure!" he whispered. I furrowed my brow. It's a longshot, but it might just work.

"I may have an idea." I say. "Entropy, how good are you at the invisibility spell?" He shrugs. 

"Passably, I guess." he said. "Couldn't take anypony with me, though." One down.

"Do you know the invisibility spell, Twilight?" I ask. The princess-in-disguise frowned and shook her head.

"I never got around to that one." she muttered. "Can you show it to me?" I nod, and light my horn. Taking great care to show every phase of the spell, I slowly faded from sight. Twilight's featured lapsed into total concentration, and her horn lit too. Slowly, her form began to flicker, and in moments after, she faded away. Rarity lit her horn too, but there was a lack of power. She seemed to be casting the spell... well enough, but she couldn't do any more than dim herself slightly. I guess that says something about changelings and illusion magic. I tried to cast the spell onto her too, but the strain of keeping both up, on top of my disguises meant all I got for my efforts was a minor headache.

"Twilight, could you try casting it on Rarity, too?" I ask. I see a magenta glow form around Rarity, and while it wasn't immediate, over the course of half a minute Rarity faded to nothing. "Excellent. Now be as quiet as you can, slip by them, and make for the treeline." I then re-apply the spell to myself, having broken it in my attempts to hide Rarity. Then, I made for the exit. The guards were none the wiser as I ducked beneath their spears and quietly moved to the trees. The Hive is on a slightly raised plateau, encircled by woodland, and from a distance, spells would make it appear to be nothing but trees there as well. Changelings were taught to see through the illusion, but for a pony, the only way to find the Hive would be to practically walk into it. I slipped into the concealing foliage, and quickly found a small clearing with a little stream running through it. I released the cloak, and sat on a log along one side. Small rustlings in the brush became distinct hoofsteps as my friends appeared before me. "Now," I begin, "until we get out of Changeling territory, we need to keep our disguises up. If they catch us, we're dead... again." All present nod, and we began our journey back to Equestria. Once or twice, we bumped into some changelings, but between some half-baked 'infiltration orders' and the fact they weren't search parties, we managed our way to the Equestrian border unharmed. We set up camp for the night near the border, and lay our heads to sleep by crackling firelight.