The four mares rushed down one of many corridors, nearly empty of it's defending changelings that had been busily swarming the fortress.
'Least the assault did it's job, I just hope the others are fairing well out there' Sundance thought, a small pang of guilt touching her mind at the thought of using not only the guards under her command as bait, but the elements of harmony as well.
Shaking the feeling from her mind, the small group rounded a corner. The unicorn was immediately glad for the decision to use an invisibility spell as a group of changelings, lead by one in dark blue armor, buzzed over their heads. Flying out onto the battlefield.
“We had best hurry and find Wanderer, or else the group outside is liable to get overwhelmed” Celestia whispered eliciting a nod from the other three mares.
“While I'm not too fond of the idea, would it not be better to split up? We could cover more ground rather than become lost in this changeling hive” Rarity's voice sounded.
Sundance was about to shoot the idea down when Twilight did it for her. “While it would make it faster, there's always Queen Chrysalis to worry about. Safety in numbers in all.”
Nodding the Sergeant put a hoof up and shushed them quietly, “With you two whispering we're liable to get caught”
An irritated look crossed the white unicorn's face, while the purple alicorn simply nodded.
The small group rounded a few more corners before another small group of changelings flew down the hall, a small number in heavier armor galloping behind them. Much to Sundance's surprise however, they headed deeper into the fortress, making small bells go off in her head.
'Wanderer could've escaped...' the thought sent a small wave of fear through her, motioning to the others, they started after the group of changelings.
'When I manage to get out of here, I think I might want to kill all the changelings I can' I thought, wedged between two of the cocoons and out of sight.
Once the changelings had found their queen trapped along with her guard in my cell they raised the alert. The queen herself managed to recover some of her magic, somehow, before taking command of her troops again. “I want that savage found and returned to his cell! Cut off his legs if you have too!” her angry shouts sounded, forcing me into hiding.
Silently I pondered how I was going to get myself out of this mess. 'Almost makes me wish I had just bolted instead of screwing around like an idiot.' The thought quickly died as the realization of my position hit me. 'How in the name of God's green earth am I going to get out of here?'
Naked, with only minor telekinetic magic at my disposal I could only imagine myself trying to take out the hoard that was scouring the dungeon looking for me.
“Your majesty! The door to the caves has been unlocked” the call echoed through the cave system making me wince.
'Well it was bound to happen sooner or later' I thought looking to what little I had managed to scrounge for 'weapons'. Only five small stones, the biggest being the size of a curled finger, lay in a small pile nearby. Found beneath some of the cocoons and wrenched with magic from the bare walls.
Sounds similar to the hooves I had grown used to hearing against stone while in Canterlot echoed around the cavern.
'Maybe if I'm lucky, when they catch me and cut off my legs, I'll die and wake back up at the bonfire' I thought chuckling weakly. Levity did little to calm my shaking however. 'I don't want to go back...'
The sounds grew louder as I tried to calm myself, tried to focus on something, anything. Peering out from between the two cocoons, I watched as armored changelings slowly filed out from the tunnel at the cavern's entrance.
'Could I try stealing their magic again?' The question went unanswered as I settled back. The cool flame in my chest being completely silent save for the comforting coolness it radiated.
“Fan out, I want that fool found” Chrysalis' voice sounded again, making me move to peer through the gap again.
The changeling queen looked worse for wear, much of her chitinous hide was full of holes, though it looked as though much of her strength had recovered. I silently questioned how she had managed to regain her magic before shaking my head. 'The holes are still much worse than when I had arrived, perhaps I could..?' I thought looking back at one of the rocks.
Acting quickly, as I knew I would be in trouble as soon as it impacted. My magic ignited, the yellow aura shining around my hand and with a thought the rock. Looking through my peep hole I waited, covering the glow from the magic as much as I could. Chrysalis' gaze flowed over the room, watching as her soldiers searched for her lost prisoner. When her eyes were on something else I lifted the rock above my cover before lobbing it with as much strength as my magic afforded it.
To my credit, I managed to hit the changeling queen, though not in her head as I had aimed. The rock flew lower than I had anticipated shooting through the air like an arrow and into the changeling's chitin. The crack echoed through the cavern, as did the queen's screech of pain. The rock was quickly covered in green blood that seeped from the wound in the large changeling's chest.
The soldiers flocked to their leader quickly. Some standing as a cover as others stood looking her over, assumedly assessing the damage to their queen. Groans of pain sounded from behind the five changeling wall.
'Well, that did little to help my situation...' I thought, the only positive being that they were no longer searching for me; now simply looking around, very intently. 'Perhaps, if I manage to disable those ones for long enough I could make a break for t...'
The plan that started forming in my mind slowed to a halt as a green light grew brighter behind the small wall of armored changelings. Between them I could see a light around one of the changelings that was by it's queen and a strand of magic flowing, assumedly, to Chrysalis. Before long, a groan was heard and the tall changeling began to rise.
“You will regret that human” Her voice dripped with malice. A green aura surrounded her horn and a fair number of the green cocoons lifted into the air moving out of the cavern into the tunnels that marked my only escape. Her five guards still stood around her, the two that had rushed to check on her condition seemingly missing, hidden behind the changelings.
A quiet curse sounded in my mind, only for another idea to form. 'Perhaps I could simply hitch a ride?' I thought looking at one of the cocoons that hid me from their sight. A small part of me doubted the possibility of the plan working, but I had little time to choose whether or not to try as my side of the cavern was quickly emptying.
Grabbing onto the cocoon, I tried to dig my nails into the hardened gel-like substance. My nails protested the abuse, a few threatening to break, but I ignored the pain. Looking down, I grabbed one of the rocks in my magic, keeping it above me, hoping silently that it could be used as a last ditch effort to escape, as weapon or distraction.
Floating through the air on the cocoon, I paid close attention to where the changelings were looking, thankful that their queen seemed to think me stupid enough to not attempt something like this. Making note of my position, 'Or perhaps she just didn't think that I would be dumb enough to try...'
As I neared the tunnel's exit, I looked down paying attention to the changelings lines of sight. Foregoing magic, fearful it's light would give me away, I threw the rock as far as I could into one of the spots that Queen Chrysalis had yet evacuated.
The rock bounced off a couple of the cocoons before hitting the stone catching the changeling's attention. A smile came to my face only for it to vanish as the cocoons to stop feet from the tunnel's exit. Looking down at the changeling queen she was staring right at me, a smile that promised pain that sent a shiver down my spine.
“I'm not stupid you know, human. Do you honestly believe I would've survived as long as I have if someone like you could outsmart me?” The anger evident in her voice.
The cocoons dropped from her telekinetic grasp hitting the ground with a dull thud, focusing on grabbing me instead. The aura surrounding me felt as if someone had my torso in a vice, slowly tightening it to see which side my innards would spill from.
The smile turned to almost a sadistic glee as I felt the same tightness form around my leg. “Now lets see about removing those pesky limbs shall we?”
Panic sent adrenaline through my body as the force slowly increased on my leg before she started pulling, agonizingly slowly. Reaching out for the only thing I could, I grabbed one of the fallen cocoons that lobbed it at her with my magic before the pressure could grow too great.
One of the armored changelings intercepted the oncoming cocoon, effectively deflecting it. The smile on the changeling's face grew wider. “Oh come now, my subjects are mo-”
Gravity interrupted her as I focused instead on one of her hind legs tripping her up and sending her to the floor. As her head impacted the stone the aura surrounding me flickered and quickly faded leaving me to fall to the floor.
Rolling out of the impact, I made a mad dash for the exit, the angry buzzing of the changeling's wings not far behind. Leaping over the cocoons that blocked my path, I grabbed random ones as I passed, hurling the hardened gelatinous prison at the following changelings.
Looking back as I got sight of the cell door, only two of the five had made it through my panicked attempts at self defense. Stopping to focus, I grabbed the one of the changelings fragile wings and ripped it from the insectoid pony before throwing the screaming creature into it's comrade.
Turning back to the door, enraged shouts of the changeling queen echoed through the tunnel threatening my ability to hear. Rushing through the door, I swung the bar down and re-locked it in place before running down the corridor.
'If I can't get out of here before she gets out of there I am dead' I thought, hearing the slams against the iron door.
Silently I prayed that perhaps the other changelings were out collecting more subjects to extract love from. The clacking and clanging of armor as I approached the stairs signaled otherwise however. My heart sank as I looked around for something; somewhere to hide, or perhaps something to use as a weapon. The flaming green torches on the walls were the only answer beyond the barred and locked cell doors.
I managed to grab one just in time to see a small group of changelings fly down the stairs, followed by armored changelings that made my heart sink even further.
'At least let me survive this then' I prayed, reaching again for my magic despite the building headache.
Sundance watched as the group of changelings disappeared down a flight of stairs, now sure that her friend had managed to escape if only from his cell.
'I'm pleasantly surprised we haven't run into the Queen yet. You'd think that with the attack going on she'd be leading her forces against the invader, unless...'
“Alright ladies, we may want to ready ourselves.” She whispered back at the group as they approached the stairs, “I believe that the reason we have been lucky enough to not run into any real resistance is because our friend is performing an escape of his own”
Disbelief crossed Rarity and Twilight's faces. “I don't think he'd be able to perform much of an escape. Queen Chrysalis is many things, but she is far from a fool. Unless he has magic we don't know about yet-” Twilight started, but the sounds of combat echoing from the stairwell caught their attention.
Without another word, the group galloped down the stairs, dropping the invisibility spell. Fear and worry eating away at her as she ignited her horn, readying herself to blast whatever changeling got in her way. The sounds of fighting stopped abruptly as they neared the end of the stairwell only to see the naked form of her friend standing over what looked to be the changelings they had been following. Their bodies looked to be barely held together by the dark chitin that once covered and protected them.
Looking to her friend for some kind of answer, she noticed blood on his form trailing from empty skin. As if something had cut him, but the cut had healed immediately after. He looked up at her panting a strange glowing green torch in one hand and his other seemed to glow with magic, no different from her horn save coloration.
The Wanderer opened his mouth, a mix of emotions on his face, but a large magical burst shattered an iron door further down the corridor catching all of their attention.
Queen Chrysalis herself flew out from the door frame, rage obvious on her face. Her attention focused on Wanderer before she noticed us and the rage only seemed to grow. A scream of rage exited her throat, “I'm going to destroy all of you!”
Sundance watched as a small group of changelings flew out of the shattered door way that their queen had just broken through. They seemed to share their leader's intentions as darted past their queen intent on the lone human.
Silently I thanked God that the strange leeching ability that I had used earlier returned. I questioned how I would figure out how it worked, but put the thought to the back of my mind. My friends had come to save me, with at least two of the mane six in tow, curiosity brought up the question of the location of the other four, but the approaching changelings needed my attention.
The aura around my hands seemed stronger as I reached out and pulled the closest two changelings out of the air, slamming them into the ground. Despite their thick carapace, a pair of loud cracks echoed through the dungeon's corridor, and the two didn't move. Releasing them, I turned to focus on the other three.
Only for bolts of magic to fly over my head intercepting them mid flight and launching them back towards their queen. Looking back I smiled wearily at the ponies, “Am I glad you ladies are here” I said looking between the small group of princesses and unicorns.
Princess Celestia returned the smile, “I can agree with that sentiment, though I believe our departure should be quick” The elder alicorn's horn ignited with it's golden aura. Blinking I felt myself lifted from the cold stone floor before being dragged through the air to the small group of ponies.
From my position in the air I could see the rage written on Queen Chrysalis' face as she charged towards our group. Her horn glowing a nearly blinding green “No!” She managed in one last attempt at defiance before the world seemed to dissolve around us Chrysalis fading into nothingness along with the changeling's dungeon.
I blinked and found myself floating above the group of mares, only now we stood at the edge of the Everfree forest. The light of the sun burned my eyes and warmed my skin to an uncomfortable degree as the small town of Ponyville shown like a colorful beacon in the distance.