Rescue from the Changeling Hive

by EKessler

Chapter 7: Second Chance

Rescue from the Changeling Hive

Chapter 7: Second Chance

In the central hub of the hive, once again abuzz with life, it seemed as though a thousand changelings were scrambling for their lives. Quickly and in all directions, they flew in and out of the majority of the tunnels spreading throughout the rest of the hive. Among them was Queen Chrysalis, rather electing to walk along the crooked bridge network of the hub. She was just crossing the middle of the organic-looking bridge, trying to find the right exit.

No sooner than she appeared had a drone flown down to her side. "Mother," he started, but was immediately cut off by the queen's cross tone.

"I know! She's here." She stopped briefly, staring into space. "That witch Celestia is here," she muttered under her breath, then she continued on at a quickened pace.

The drone didn't reply immediately, but kept at her side. Eventually, he said, "Shall I accompany you?"

She slowed her pace slightly, debating it in her head for a moment. "…Yes. Yes, you may." She stopped and turned back to him. "But do not get in my way. I'm saving Celestia for myself."

"Mother," he replied in his raspy voice, "last time you fought the Princesses…"

"Last time…I fought the Princesses," she interrupted gently, yet firmly, "Celestia was assisted by that wretched Mi Amore Cadenza, and her pathetic coltfriend." She grimaced at the memory of her defeat. "This time, she does not have that luxury." They continued on their way again, finally entering one of the tunnels, not at all distinguishable from the others, but they knew the hive well. "I, however, have the luxury of power. That little abomination Screwball was troublesome, but she served her purpose over the past few days. It still confounds me how such a sickeningly sweet little filly could be so devoted to such a monstrous heathen."

"Love is powerful, Mother," the drone replied.

Chrysalis smiled and nuzzled him gently. "It certainly is, child." She then held her head high. "And it has certainly made me stronger than Celestia. I'm sure of it."

The drone continued on, but Chrysalis was still in place. "Wait," she called out, having the drone return to her. She smiled again. "Let me show you…"

As soon as he was behind her again, she stood her ground firmly. An eerie green glow emanated through her horn, growing increasingly bright to the point of being almost blinding. Then, with slight effort on her part, she released the bright light from her horn, shooting it halfway through the corridor. Then, instantly, the bright light burst, and a deafening explosion decimated the corridor far ahead of them, the blast coming just short of reaching them. The walls burned and crumbled around it, and it even damaged the ceiling above, some of it falling apart to the floor.

Chrysalis beamed at the sight of her own ability. She looked down to the side to her drone, whose mouth hung open.

"That, darling, is just a taste."

The changeling's look of wonder was then replaced by a slow smile. "Is…is there no one who can challenge you, Mother?" She smiled back before continuing down the corridor, him following her.

"No one…"

---

A powerful explosion of fire and pale-yellow aura blasted through a corridor of the hive, sending ten or so changelings to the ground and knocking them all unconscious, presumably. Princess Celestia and her guards then continued on their way through the cloud of dust.

The changelings hadn't put up a good fight yet, most of them easily knocked out by the magic of Celestia's guards, or sometimes just their physical strength, which was significantly greater than that of the average pony. Plus, the changelings never seemed to attack all at once, rather relying on smaller groups attacking one at a time. It admittedly allowed for greater maneuverability on their part, but overall proved useless against the Royal Guard.

Celestia's team turned another corner (completely arbitrarily) and found themselves in yet another corridor, though this one was much wider and longer than the others. And this one was crawling with changelings. Literally. All over the walls, and high above them on the ceiling, dozens of changelings turned to them in unison. The room then seemed much more silent.

"Wait," Celestia whispered discreetly to her guards. They obeyed, holding their ground, but not taking their eyes off of the changelings. "Not yet."

As if on demand, a powerful group-hissing shot through the corridor, tensing up the guards and making Celestia light her horn. Then, one by one, every changeling in the room detached themselves from the walls and ceiling and launched themselves at the ponies.

The guards still held their ground until the insectoids were about fifteen feet from them. Celestia then growled to those at her sides, "Now!"

Their horns flared to life as well and, in unison, they launched their magic in the changelings' direction. Just in front of the group formed a wall of magic energy, into which crashed most of the changelings, as they couldn't slow down in time. The others backtracked their flight, forced to watch as those in front of them struck the shield and were electrocuted. However, once they had fallen to the ground, Celestia charged her own horn once more and launched the shield at the remainder of the changelings, electrocuting more of them and scattering all the others.

Celestia then spread her wings and took to the air, going after the nearest changeling while the timing was good. Her unicorn guards stayed on the ground, chasing down their own share of changelings.

---

"Wha-what was that?!" yelled Discord, still held tightly to the floor. Another loud banging sound like the one before then came to his ears.

The drones in front of the cell turned back to him, glaring as usual. "I said, eyes to yourself!"

Discord was almost inclined to oblige, but he started to feel pent-up doing absolutely nothing. Even if his situation was hopeless, he could at least make it difficult for them. "No, I can hear it, there's something going on out there! What is-AAAAHHH!!" One glow from the changeling's horn, and intense pain shot from his restraints through the rest of his body. It only lasted about two seconds, but it left him twitching.

The changeling responsible continued glaring at him, but the one next to him kept trying to get his attention. He turned quickly. "What?!" His partner simply gestured strongly toward some end of the corridor, someplace Discord couldn't see. "It doesn't matter! We're under orders to guard this thing, and I intend to obey!"

"But…" The other one quickly glanced to Discord and hushed his voice as he spoke, but Discord could still hear. "…but they're coming!"

"Then you go and fight them!" replied the first changeling, much louder than the other. "You want to disobey Mother? Go ahead! See if I care."

"But…brother." He tried to plea with him, but the first one simply turned back in Discord's direction, but directed his gaze aside, away from his brother. Seeing this, the other changeling ran past him, toward whatever threat he was gesturing to.

The drone looked Discord in the eyes again. "I'm not leaving you, monster. And you aren't escaping."

"You would let your own brother fight some unknown threat just to make sure I stay put? Seriously?"

The drone's glare turned harsh. "Absolutely. You attacked my Mother, you insolent demon, and you attacked my brothers and sisters before that. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"If you would have just given me back my daughter, I wouldn't have-AAAAGGHH!!" Another jolt of pain rocketed through him, much longer than before. It left him stinging for a moment, but he managed to look back to the drone, his face completely serious. "…I wouldn't have needed to fight them…"

The drone's face lightened, but only slightly. "Look closely, you can almost see me caring."

He then looked to his side, and his eyes immediately widened. All Discord could see was another changeling (the one from before?) being thrown into him and knocking him to the side, out of view. The sight was followed by several beams of magic, coming from the same direction. Then came the patter of hoofsteps as several white and black unicorns ran up to the two changelings they just attacked, again out of sight. What followed them was, from Discord's viewpoint, a tall, white pony with long legs and golden horseshoes.

And a female voice. "Strange. He just stood there."

Discord knew he could be heard. "Yes, he did." He could see shuffle slightly at the sound of his voice. She then turned to the source and lowered her head to meet his eyes. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw her face.

"Discord!"

"Hello, Princess."

They both paused for a moment. He was just waiting for her to release him. Sure enough, her horn glowed, and concentrated magic slowly zapped the edges of the cell covering, melting it away and eventually having it fall right off. She then focused her magic on his restraints. This took a few seconds, and she seemed to have to exert herself, but eventually the magical apparitions simply popped out of existence, and Discord could move again.

With this new freedom, he spun himself out of the hole and then took to the air, making sure to exercise his formerly restrained body before descending back down to the Princess. He looked around and saw Celestia's guards all staring at him, that or subduing any grounded changelings, all of which were defeated by now. A little farther down the corridor, however, he could see some of the other guards penetrating some of the other cells embedded in the walls. Out of these spewed some kind of green fluid, followed by an unconscious pony, stallions and mares, young and old. Occasionally, however, a griffon or a donkey would appear, but the situation remained the same.

So they brought me back here, thought Discord, remembering passing this place earlier.

"Discord?" said Celestia, catching his attention. "Is there anything I should know?"

It was then that his guilt returned, and he remembered how badly he had screwed up, how he had allowed himself to be controlled by his anger. "I messed up, Celestia," he began, unable to actually look at her right now. "You were right. I hated that bug for what she did and I let it get in the way. They escaped with Screwball while we were fighting. I let her get both of us." He gestured to the cell as he made his point.

He finally said it out loud, but he didn't feel better yet. He didn't see the silver lining or find any hope. How could he? He let his only daughter, the one thing most precious to him, get abducted by parasites, and in his rage, he wasted his one and only chance to rescue her.

But…what was this, if not another chance?

"So," said Celestia, keeping her face straight and her tone level, "you just made a mistake?" Discord nodded. "And you wish to make up for it?" He was much more hesitant than before, but he nodded again, now making eye contact. "And how do you intend to?"

That perked him up as he realized what she was doing. This was just like last time, when he first decided how he was going to save his daughter. This time, he knew what the right answer was. "To heck with what happens to Chrysalis. I just want Screwball back."

He had come to that realization long before now, but now he could actualize on it. He could say it with a sense of duty. He was free, and he could try again.

Celestia smiled. "I hoped you would say that." She then gestured to her guards with her wing. "If you need, my guards are at your disposal." She gave him a hard stare. "Within reason."

Discord shrugged innocently. "Please, I'm all about reason."

She cocked her eyebrow, but grinned lightly. "Well, you probably have a better idea where to go than I do."

He turned serious again. "Yes, I do." He pointed in the direction behind him. "I remember going that way. It led me to Chrysalis." His eyes then caught the ponies and other sentient beings being freed from the cells. "Wait," he turned back to Celestia, "is Screwball here?"

She looked around, watching her guards at work. "I…don't think so, Discord. It seems as though everypony we know to be missing is here and accounted for. Of course we'll double-check, but…it seems everypony is here. But not Screwball, I'm afraid."

Discord sighed. "Figures."

Celestia nudged him with her wing. "If you want, you can go ahead while we get everypony here to safety. Hold on." She turned and ran to three guards that were attending to a pegasus mare. After a few words, the guards ran to Discord while Celestia stayed behind with the mare. She nodded to him knowingly, and then attended to the victim.

The first guard to reach Discord spoke first. "Uh, sir." It was said with obvious hesitation. "Her Highness has asked us to accompany you as you look for somepony."

He nodded. "Okay, but…" He thought for a moment. "Something's not right yet." With an amused grin, he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the three unicorn ponies had become very convincing changelings. They immediately looked at themselves and each other, not able to take their eyes away from what they saw.

Discord busted out laughing at their reactions. "Th-the look on your…ha!" He noticed that they weren't laughing with him, so he made an effort to calm down. "Okay, okay. My turn." With another snap, he resumed his own disguise, his red-eyed changeling drone. The other guards' eyes were green, and they were somewhat shorter than he was, but all of them were quite convincing. Luckily, all of the other guards saw the transformation, so they weren't too startled by the sudden appearance of what appeared to be the enemy.

Discord spoke to them sternly. "Okay, we're scouting this hive. If you see Chrysalis, stay away. She's far too powerful." They nodded. "And, if you see Screwball and I'm not there, just teleport her out of here. No need to find me first. Can you do that?" Again, they nodded.

He turned and gestured down the corridor. "Alright, then. Follow me." He and the guards ran off, toward wherever the hive would lead them.

---

Screwball sat in her cell, still chained to the floor. She held her head high, still waiting for that glimmer of hope she still believed in, whatever it may be. While she waited for anything, memories of her brief life with her father, only a few month's worth, flashed through her mind, particularly the one of him reuniting with her after an entire year.

She had stopped crying, though the fur on her face was still stained with tears. She even smiled now. After all, what else was there to do? Sulk? What good would that do?

Also, she couldn't help but let her thoughts return to the changeling that sat outside her cell. She looked back over to him and saw him still sitting there, unmoving. He was turned away, probably not seeing her as a threat. She remembered what he said, about not letting her situation get her down, about retaining her dignity. It bothered her. Not that it upset her, but she just couldn't help but ponder it. From what she saw, he was trying to be nice to her. Why? She didn't know, and she certainly couldn't guess, and it stuck in her mind persistently. As a matter of fact, it was all she could think about now.

All she could gather was that, for some reason, the thing that was supposed to be one of her captors (and her father's enemy) made a sincere effort to make her feel better in this bleak situation, just for her own sake.

Maybe she should return the favor. But how?

She didn't really think about it. The words just came out, as if on cue.

"I don't hate you."

She watched for a response. He remained still, but his ears twitched. He could hear her, so she continued, speaking in the most innocent voice anypony could comprehend. "I don't hate you or anything like that. I know you're just doing what your queen told you to do, like you're supposed to."

He still didn't move, but she knew he was listening. "I've learned about how you changelings have to feed on love, and I get that if you're alive, you have to eat. I don't like how it's us ponies you have to do this to, but I guess I understand. You can't just let yourselves starve after all." She then giggled at her next thought. "I mean, wolves eat sheep, but it's not like wolves hate sheep, it's just what they have to do. So I guess that means a changeling doesn't have to hate ponies." Her face sobered a bit, and she got up and moved a little closer to the cell window. "Do you hate me?"

She could see the drone stiffen. That must have caught him off guard. At first, it didn't seem like he was going to answer. He just sat there. Then, he turned and looked her in the eye. His blue eyes didn't look nearly as hard as before. "No, I don't hate you." He then turned right back around.

Screwball's breath caught in her throat. She sort of expected him to say that, but it was still odd to actually hear it.

"Thank you," she said, staring off into space again. "I didn't really think you would. Dad always told me things weren't that simple."

She laid back, taking in what she herself was saying. All of this was coming naturally to her, much to her own surprise, but she realized it was all true. "I'm sorry we can't be friends, or live peacefully, or anything like that. But I guess I understand. We can't really help the way we're born. I mean, you're a changeling, and I'm a pony…chaos spawn, or something." She sat back up. "And I guess I don't like the queen very much, though, but that's just because she put me here to begin with. You're just doing what she says. And that's probably why you don't like my dad. But I think I understand. Like I said, I don't hate you. You can't help the way you have to be."

Just then, her chain lifted into the air, surrounded by a green aura, and snapped in two. Her eyes shot to the drone, whom she saw turned toward the cell's covering. His horn glowed, and more magic shot into the covering, disintegrating it. Screwball just sat there, her mouth hanging open.

"Leave."

Her eyes glistened. "R-really?"

"Yes," he hissed, "leave."

Screwball's face beamed as she realized what was happening. But the drone was then in her face.

"Just listen," he whispered harshly. "The white pony princess and her soldiers are here. If they haven't already, they're probably going to free your father. He'll probably look for you, so find him. And remember, I know this from my brothers and sisters, he'll probably be disguised as a changeling with red eyes." She nodded in understanding. "And," he continued, "keep away from Mother. You don't want her to find out you escaped."

She nodded still. "Okay, okay, I will."

"And just one more thing," he hissed, pointing his hoof in her face. She could see his face soften a lot. "If you could, ask your father not to fight Mother. If you can, please just find him and leave. I don't want her to fight anymore. I'm afraid the cost may be too high for both of us."

Screwball remembered how her father looked at Chrysalis when she last saw him. She saw the hatred in his eyes, and the way she mocked him. Would he avoid conflict, or at the very least show her mercy? Even if she asked? His own daughter?

She could at least try. "Okay, I'll ask him. I promise."

The drone still didn't smile. "Good." He then pointed in the direction to his left. "Down that path, at the first turn take a left, then a right, and then go straight the rest of the way. It'll take you to the central hub, where your father will likely go, if he remembers his way. That's your best bet to find him." He backed away from the cell and let her out. "You're on your own now."

Rather than leave right away, she ran back up to him and hugged him. She felt his body stiffen as she did.

"Thank you, thank you, mister! I won't forget this, thank you!"

He gently pushed her away. "Go. Now."

The pink filly nodded one last time. "Thank you!" She then bolted in the direction he told her, as fast as she could, not looking back.

Comments

[Iamsorry]

im seriously liking this story
i just hope the changelings will be ok D: