Ashley's New Life

by LostUmbrella

Chapter 11

"Tell me you've got a plan..." begged Ashley as she was galloping up the stairs.

"I have a plan," declared Chrysalis, flying by her side.

"Really?"

"More or less."

"Then what do we do? That thing is even more furious than before!"

"Don't make it sound like it's my fault: it was you who charred two of its eyes!"

"I wasn't saying it's your fault, even if you kept hurling boulders at it, but since you placed that thing under the hive I was expecting that you would know how to stop it!"

"It wasn't me, it was my predecessor..."

"Than what do we do?"

"We try to survive as long as we can."

"And? There must be something else!"

"And we avoid the pony."

"Good plan, I - wait, what pony?" asked Ashley before bumping face first into something furry, or better somepony "Ouch, what the - Lyra! What are you doing here?"

"Ashley, I'm so happy to see you!" said Lyra hugging her friend "We've come to save you, of course!"

"HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!" roared Chrysalis and Ashley in unison, creating with their double-toned voices the strange effect that a huge number of mares were scolding them instead of just two.

"Uhm, it depends: do we get something nice if I say yes?" asked Vinyl in a serious tone.

"Don't say such nonsense, Vinyl!" said Octavia chastising her.

"We're not insane, well maybe Lyra a little bit..." said Bon-Bon, gaining a loud "Hey!" from her marefriend, "We are here because we care for you!"

"Yep, they are all insane," said Chrysalis, wearing a sly grin and teasing her sister.

"That's very sweet, but it doesn't changes the fact that rushing towards a rampaging centipede fifteen meters long is a really stupid thing to do..."

"You never told me it was such a huge insect!" protested Lyra "It wouldn't have changed things, but I would have been prepared..."

"Prepared for what?" asked Vinyl crooking an eyebrow behind her shades.

In that moment, the guardian dug its way out of the stairs behind them, emerging in a cloud of dust and shards.

"Prepared to run, of course," calmly said Lyra.

"RUN!" shouted Ashley at the top of her lungs.

The group launched itself in a full trot towards the upper part of the hive, but they had to stop as the centipede emerged again in front of them.

"How many of this vermin do you keep down here?!" asked Octavia stomping a hoof on the floor.

They were in fact trapped between two almost identical heads of the monster.

"Only one: that is it's tail," explained Chrysalis as she and Ashley pushed the other mares between the two of them.

"It's tail? It has a mouth and eyes! That's definitely a head!" protested Octavia.

"It has two heads, one at each end of its body," finished explaining the changeling queen as her horn started glowing.

"Girls, since it's probably our last chat," said Ashley reading her horn "I want you to know that you are the weirdest bunch I ever met."

"Well, that's mean..." commented Vinyl.

"And that I was honored and happy of having met ponies like you."

"You sound like we're going to die," commented Chrysalis "You should have more faith in your sister..."

"Oh, now you've got a plan that makes sense?"

"I always had a plan, and it always made sense, it just took some time to develop and reach the final stage..."

"Does it involve being eaten alive? Because if it does I'd say it's working marvelously..."

"I assure you it's a very pink plan."

"I think you meant great, or maybe effective..." said Bon-Bon in a tone that showed how she hoped she was right.

"No, I meant precisely pink."

Octavia and Bon-Bon facehoofed.
At that point, the two heads, after having studied their next lunch long enough, charged towards the group from two sides.
When five of the six had lost any hope of salvation, a blinding flash of light forced the whole group to close their eyes. When the six mares opened them back again, they saw a gleaming light blue dome above them keeping the two heads of the guardian at bay. In front of them stood, wearing a reassuring smile, a pink alicorn.

"You should have more faith in your sister-in-law too..." commented Chrysalis with a smirk "And I told you it was pink."

"P-princess?" asked Octavia before bowing down deeply, soon followed by Vinyl and Bon-Bon.

"Lyra, bow down!" ordered the cream-colored mare noticing that her marefriend was standing there with a smile.

"Nah, she hates such formalities," answered the unicorn "Am I wrong, princess?"

"Lyra is right, there's no need to be this formal around me," said Cadence in a soft tone, without dropping her smile.

"Let's save the chit-chat for later, uh? Now, is father going to help us or do I need to mobilize the army?" asked Chrysalis in a serious tone.

"Wait, you can summon an army of changelings anytime you like? That's awesome!" exclaimed Vinyl, her eyes sparkling in adoration behind her purple lenses.

"Uhm, yes, I can..."

"How do I become a changeling queen?"

"Vinyl, stop asking stupid questions!" shouted Octavia wearing an angry frown.

"But Tavi, it would be -"

"Not another world!" sentenced the gray mare "And you're spending way too much time with Rainbow Dash, her way of speaking is rubbing on you..."

Cadence scoffed to suppress a giggle, with little success, then said: "Your father said that he will reach us soon."

"Uhm, I'd hate to sound rude," timidly said Bon-Bon "But I don't see how a single changeling, for how strong he might be, can change the situation better than how an army can..."

Cadence exchanged an embarrassed look with Chrysalis, who in turn exchanged one with Ashley, who said: "The great father of the swarm is not exactly a changeling... It's more like he is the hive..."

"Uhm, you mean as a metaphor, right? Something like 'I am the music' or 'Pinkie is the party'?" asked Vinyl crooking an eyebrow.

"More like he is a disembodied entity that permeates the whole upper part of the hive."

"So, he is a ghost and the hive is its haunting place?"

"Don't be absurd, Vinyl!" said Octavia in a stern tone.

"Admit that you were thinking that too..." said Lyra with a knowing smile.

"He's not a ghost, but a primal spirit... Something like Discord but without a true body..." explained Cadence.

"DISCORD?!" asked the four mares in unison, dread in their voice.

"Don't worry, he won't spread chaos..." said Chrysalis to calm them down.

In that moment, the two heads stopped pounding the barrier and turned to glare at something that the group couldn't see.

"He's here..." sentenced Chrysalis.

Comments

[Frankie2]

Sometimes, I think Vinyl would have made a great Element of Laughter.
: HEY!

[Razzy]

I see Vinyl is as sensible as ever.