"A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords at dawn."
–Sable Sword, House Argent, 100 CE
The tunnels of the hive were eerily quiet as the small team of five stalked through them. The way to Chrysalis's throne room was clear; all of her troops were likely posted at the hive's perimeter, awaiting the inevitable counterattack. Chrysalis had focused all her effort on preparing for a siege, never thinking that danger would come from inside.
The group came to a sudden stop at a corner; Dive Bomb quickly flattened himself against the wall and brought out a small mirror, which he used to peek around the corner.
"Two sentries," he whispered. "Flanking the door t' the throne room. Tunnel's too long an' bare t' sneak up on them. Should we try gas?"
Daisy shook her head. "I don't have anything that fast acting, and the civilians don't have gas masks."
"Hey, I'm a professional!" Daring Do huffed. "I've made my way through forest fires, volcanic calderas, and toxic swamps. Don't write me off because I'm not walking around with enough arms and armor to buy a small town."
"And I could always… um…" Creme made a soft hacking sound and coughed up a mouthful of green gel, which he rubbed over his muzzle. "Tada! Instant filter!"
"Intriguing," Daisy finally managed. "Disgusting, but intriguing."
"Enough chit–chat, I say we charge in an' kill 'em before they know what's what." Dive Bomb licked his lips and glanced at Thunderball. "You're pretty fast now with those horseshoes, right?"
Thunderball glanced into the mirror. It was a very long corridor. "Maybe we could distract them first?"
"Hold on, I know that guy!" Creme pointed at the guard on the left. "I met him the last time I visited the hive."
"Oh? Is he friendly, like you?" Daring asked hopefully.
Creme shook his head. "Um, no, I'm pretty sure he's loyal, but I can talk to him."
Thunderball motioned him forward. "Might as well give it a shot. Worst case, you get them to look the other way while I charge in."
Creme took a deep breath and walked around the corner, as if he were taking a casual stroll through the hive. He caught the eye of his acquaintance and gave a short wave.
"Oh, hey there," the changeling waved back. "Thought you'd be in hibernation."
"Nah, I'm going to be transporting love to troops on the surface when they run short."
"Sounds dangerous."
"Hey, don't worry, I'm a big changeling now," Creme grinned. "Been practicing fighting and everything. In fact, I picked up an interesting move at this karate match."
"Oh?" Both changelings leaned in. "Go on."
"Well, you start with your hooves on the ground, like you're just standing about, then…"
Creme flapped his wings and lifted his front end off the ground so that he could lash out at the guard on the left with his forelegs. His hooves caught the guard right between the eyes and knocked him into the wall. Before the second guard could react, Creme brought his left back leg up and planted it under the guard's jaw, sending him flying up into the ceiling. He listened carefully as the guard landed in a heap on the tunnel floor. There was no sign of alarm, and barely any noise as the rest of the team hurried to meet him.
"That was amazing!" Daring Do grinned. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
Thunderball coughed pointedly. "I think I saw it in a movie. Enter the Horse, right?"
"Yeah," Creme quickly nodded. "It's a Wing Chun move."
"Wing Chun?" Daring Do looked between the two of them. "Pegasus fighting style, isn't it?"
Thunderball ignored her and pressed his ear to the door. "Alright, no one noticed. We're going to breach the door, set off a few flashbangs, and neutralize the targets. Dive Bomb stays outside and keeps anyone from coming in while we're fighting."
"You're going t' let them in, but not me?" Dive Bomb gestured at Daring Do and Creme Brulee with his kukri. "I'm not gonna let you pass me up, I wanna go in an' kill that bi–"
Daisy cut him off with a slap to the face. "You have your orders; I suggest you carry them out."
Dive Bomb gave a feral growl, and for a moment, seemed like he was going to strike her back, but eventually backed off. He broke away from the group and disappeared around the corner, muttering to himself all the while.
"That was…" Thunderball cleared his throat. "Well, let's do it. Daisy, if you would be so kind?"
Daisy quickly planted a small shaped charge on the door. "Flat against the wall, and cover your ears."
The charge went off with an explosion that blew open the door and shook the walls of the hive. Daisy tossed in two flashbangs and charged in with her sword drawn as they went off, with the others close behind.
The throne room was filled with dust from the explosion, with the bodies of many changelings scattered about. Only a few were conscious, and even those were disoriented from the effects of the flashbangs. Chrysalis was alive, but clinging to her throne in an attempt to stand up, unable to escape or fight off the attack.
Daring Do laid a changeling down with a body slam, while Thunderball slammed another aside and charged at Chrysalis. He drew on the speed enhancements in his horseshoes, and was rewarded with a sudden burst of speed. Sparks flew off of his body, and he momentarily resembled a vengeful storm spirit. Chrysalis barely had time to raise a shield before they collided. A brilliant flash of light coupled with an earth–shaking explosion filled the air. The shield shattered into a million fragments, leaving Chrysalis bare.
Daisy ignored the battlefield around her and made a straight line for Chrysalis, just as she managed to toss Thunderball aside with a telekinetic throw. Her rapier whistled as it cut through the air, but came to an abrupt stop just before it could pierce her carapace. Chrysalis's horn bathed the throne room in a sinister green glow as Daisy slowly turned around to face Thunderball.
He barely had time to react before she lashed out at him with the rapier; if not for his horseshoes, he would have likely been stabbed in the neck. He sidestepped the attack and caught her under the jaw with a right jab. Daisy brought the rapier up as her head rolled back, and the blade nicked him in the right foreleg. The fabric of his bodysuit hissed as it bubbled away, and a searing pain spread through the limb.
Thunderball collapsed on the ground screaming as Daisy recovered and brought the rapier down for the kill. A shadow passed over him as Creme launched himself through the air and landed a flying kick right in Daisy's diaphragm. Her barrel spasmed as her lungs desperately fought to reclaim the air that had been knocked out of them as she crumpled into a heap at Chrysalis's hooves.
"Pitiful," Chrysalis tisked. "Looks like I'll have to take care of this myself."
Chrysalis reached for the rapier, but Daisy sprang back to life just before she could get her hooves on it. Daisy knocked Chrysalis's forelegs out from under her with a quick leg sweep and brought the guard of the rapier down on her head. It landed just below her horn with a loud crack. Chrysalis's eyes rolled into the back of her head as her body went limp.
Daisy panted loudly as she stumbled back and leveled the point of her rapier at Chrysalis's eye socket.
"Stop!" Creme grabbed her wrist. "You got what you came here for; take the scarab and go."
Creme could feel Daisy glowering at him through her gas mask, but she lowered her rapier and slashed the string holding the scarab around Chrysalis's neck. She tossed it to Daring Do, who promptly stored it under her hat.
Thunderball cradled his injured limb with his good foreleg as he hovered in the air. "Alright, mission accomplished. Let's get the hell out of here."
"Will you be alright?" Daisy hesitantly reached out to support him, only for Thunderball to brush her off. "I have morphine–"
"I'll live." He leaned heavily against Creme for support as they walked out of the throne room.
The stench of blood and ichor immediately greeted them when they stepped into the tunnel, and grew stronger as they neared the corner. A sea of changeling body parts greeted them; it was impossible to tell how many changelings had been killed, but it looked like at least half a dozen. Creme turned his head and vomited, while the others stared in shock.
A drop of ichor landed on Thunderball's gask mask from above; he looked up to see Dive Bomb clinging from the ceiling with his wings wrapped around his body like a bat. The wings unfurled as he dropped down among the bodies. He was covered with blood from head to hoof, except for his kukri, which gleamed in the tunnel light. He breathed heavily and his kukri trembled as he slowly advanced on the group.
"Did you have fun?" His voice was hoarse and shaky. "Cause I had a hell of a time back here."
"Are you–" Thunderball gagged as the scent of death penetrated his gas mask. "Are you alright?"
Dive Bomb abruptly turned away from the group. "I hear shouting from the basement, and I'll be damned if I get left out of another fight."
"What the hell is his problem?" Thunderball hissed to Daisy over a private radio channel.
"Irrelevant; we must escape first," she whispered back. "But I do agree with you, and have prepared some very harsh words for him."
They raced down towards the hibernation chamber, only to find changelings maintaining a wall of green magic which sealed off the tunnel midway. Dive Bomb roared and charged into it, slashing at it with his kukri. The blade left angry scars on the surface of the wall, but it held firm against his best efforts.
Thunderball took in a deep breath before flying into the barrier. A cackling static wreath formed around his body and he focused it into his left hoof as he punched the wall. The electric charge hit like a lightening bolt and popped the barrier with a ear–splitting explosion, which threw Thunderball back into the air. Creme Brulee caught him as Dive Bomb whooped with joy and threw himself at the changelings.
Scores of green beams filled the air; most impacted harmlessly against his dragonhide vest, but several pierced his arms and legs. Blood sprayed out at the ponies behind him as his momentum carried him on towards the nearest changeling and sank his knife into the creature's neck. It swiftly emerged on the other side with an audible snicker–snack, covered in a dark ichor that soon disappeared into the blade. All of his wounds disappeared in an instant as he stepped up to his next victim and buried the kukri into his torso.
The changelings swarmed around him, moving to immobilize him. Daisy stepped in before he could be overwhelmed and started fending changelings off of Dive Bomb with her rapier. When the dust settled, they were standing back to back among a heap of bodies.
"Hey, look, you missed a spot." Dive Bomb pointed to a changeling writing in agony on the floor. "Missed several, actually. Lemme fix that for you."
Daisy whipped around and leveled the rapier at him. "They are incapacitated. We are continuing down the tunnel to the exfiltration point."
Dive Bomb snorted angrily and began muttering under his breath again as he marched past the wounded changelings, with Daisy following close behind him. Daring Do watched them leave and motioned for Thunderball to come close once they had moved out of sight.
"Did you see that knife absorb changeling blood? And how it healed him?" She whispered. "It's a vampiric weapon — that's some powerful dark magic. For all we know, it's warping his mind."
"Sombra's horn, I was afraid of this." Thunderball ground his left hoof into the tunnel floor. "But we can't do anything about it until we're out of the hive, and have the captives at a safe distance."
Creme Brulee swallowed nervously. "And then?"
"Well, if he wants a fight…" Thunderball shrugged. "Come on, let's catch up before he gets suspicious."
Daring Do shook her head. "You're playing with fire."
The hibernation chamber at the bottom of the tunnel was filled with smoke and sealed off by another magical shield. Sounds of battle came from inside; as Thunderball drew near, a changeling was abruptly tossed against the shield face–first. It stared at them with blank eyes as it stuck to the barrier before slowly sliding down.
The outline of a mare appeared in the smoke and punched the wall with her right hoof. Electricity surged out of it and into the barrier, which dissipated with a loud popping noise to reveal Meriwether.
"About time you arrived," she chuckled. "Thought we'd have to leave without you."
"Discord's bowels!" Dive Bomb rushed past her and into the chamber to see that combat was over; changelings were lying about either unconscious or dead, with Phrase Mark and Flash Point standing guard over a small herd of ponies in the back.
"What's wrong with him?" Meriwether whispered to Thunderball.
"Never mind that, what's your status?" Thunderball looked over the captives and frowned. "Can we get them all out of here?"
"I think so, we've got a few pegasi."
"Um, guys?" Creme Brulee waved a hoof.
"So, you're thinking of asking them to pitch in and help evacuate?"
"Yeah, I think they're in good enough shape for it. The cocoons do a good job of keeping the body in stasis."
Daring Do cleared her throat. "Excuse me! I think our friendly neighborhood changeling has something he wants to say!"
Both Thunderball and Meriwether turned to face Creme. "Er, ok, look, I don't want to bother you, but I think the fighting woke up the changelings in hibernation." He pointed to the pod next to him, which was glowing steadily brighter. "I think we've got about ten minutes."
"Finally!" Dive Bomb made a beeline for the nearest pod, which Thunderball immediately blocked.
"Drop the weapon," he growled.
"You're protecting them? Despite all they've done? Buck that, we deserve vengeance! Blood f' Canterlot!"
The kurki whistled as it came down at Thunderball. He quickly stepped up to Dive Bomb and blocked his cousin's strike with his left hoof. Dive Bomb's center was left open, and Thunderball delivered a vicious headbutt that sent the thestral reeling back. Meriwether pounced on him from behind and sank an electrified hoof into his back. As Dive Bomb sank to the ground screaming in pain, she drew her combat knife with her free hoof and brought it to his jugular.
"Stand down!" Thunderball shouted. "He's no longer a threat!"
Meriwether looked between Thunderball and Dive Bomb. The knife in her hoof trembled. "You saw what he was like…"
"I am confident that he'll be alright if we keep him from that damn kukri." Thunderball approached her and whispered into the radio. "For Celestia's sake, Merry, he's your cousin. We grew up together."
She swallowed and sheathed her blade. "I...you're right. Sorry, I wasn't–"
Thunderball wrapped his hooves around her in a tight hug. "You carried out your training to the best of your ability."
Meanwhile Daisy grabbed Dive Bomb's unconscious form and slung him across her back. "Phrase Mark, would you kindly be more careful when allocating weapons?"
Phrase Mark gingerly held the kukri at a distance as she fished a leather case out of her saddlebags. "I swear, that knife checked out ok when we first got it."
"It was probably dormant at the time," Daring Do offered. "Once it fed on blood, it got more powerful to the point where it could possess him."
Thunderball shook his head. "We'll have to be more careful in the future — if we survive." He turned towards the crowd and clapped his hooves. "Alright, time to pony up! Everypony follow the unicorns in front of you down the tunnel in an orderly fashion; the sooner we get out of here, the better!"
"What about the changelings here?" Creme quietly asked as the herd poured past them.
Thunderball pulled out a bundle of dynamite from his saddlebags. "Hopefully they won't be willing to dig through a collapsed tunnel."
"You're taking their entire food supply. They won't let you go."
"Then we'll have to sneak off before they catch up." Thunderball set the timer as the last captive passed through. "Come on, let's get out of here."