The Dark Horse Initative

\ Hours since Op 3 start: ???

// Days since Canterlot Incident: 107

|| the Everfree Forest

The ubiquitous dripping had increased its frequency, now a steady beat against the ground, somewhere far away. A shaky breath jolted my battered frame, uncalculated pain pounding dully within me. I felt a twinge deep within my brain.

“Did you think we would let you die that easily? What—you get to walk into our home, kill us in extraordinary numbers, and die quickly and painlessly when you become overwhelmed? All…is not so, little fly. We are amused, truly, that we did not even have to invite you here…to draw you into our web. No, being what you…are, we were expecting little else.”

The voice was harsh, stabbing, as it pulsated through my brain. I couldn’t see, or feel, beyond the blunted pain that slammed into me in waves.

“Ah, yes. You are wondering, now, how much time you have left, and you are wrong. It is not hours, or minutes, or seconds. It is years. In our service, of course.”

A jolt passed through my body, its origin unknown.

"Awaken. Your time…of assistance…has begun. You…and the others…hold much information. Have many capabilities. Hold great power…and yet nopony knows of your existence, save for yourselves. Perhaps we…are similar, in this way.”

The voice ceased for a moment, the stabbing sensation dulling in my brain briefly.

“Why have you not yet awoken? Perhaps we have damaged you more than we had intended, perhaps even more than we have already repaired.”

It paused again briefly. I began to feel again, my eyes opened a crack. I couldn’t see much, but it quickly became apparent that I was upside down, my equilibrium kicking in as soon as I saw the ground below.

“Ah, yes. Now that we have finally seen you—you…are not so different from us. But in your actions…that is where we diverge. We, ourself, is one. You…believe…you are…separate. And that is where ourself becomes superior. We act, think…even breathe…as one. All is planned, all is…deliberate. You, as one, is little more than a seething ball of unnecessary action…all manifestations of you moving at once in separate directions…you are chaos.”

I opened my eyes fully. The ground was at least 5 meters away. A burst of adrenaline coursed through me as I saw the green cocoon that enveloped my lower half, doubling the already increasing blood pressure building in my head. My vision blurred and brain pounded as the voice began again.

“Good. You are not damaged. We suppose this method of communication is no longer necessary. Perhaps it will be…interesting…to make this conversation two-sided.”

My throat felt like fire as I attempted speech, the pain in my head subsiding as my vision returned.

“Please…stop.” It came out sounding like a combined word spoken through a mouthful of glass.

“Your intentions are clear. We…rather…I, as I believe you prefer, shall cease.” The voice, much the same as the one in my head, was distinctly feminine, slow and calm, almost sultry, but with a distinct edge.

I raised a hoof to my head, feeling the gash on the side of my head, feeling deep cuts stretching across my left eye and down the side of my neck. My hoof came away sticky with drying blood. The wounds were pulsing from the excess blood flowing into my head.  A glance up at the rest of my body confirmed the horrifying pain of the deep, bloodied wounds that marred my entire left side. The room became dim for several seconds, my efforts to keep my head upright failing, my neck popping as it fell into a dangling position. I glanced at the ground, glimpsing what had apparently been speaking to me. It, or she, was staring up at me through eyes which apparently had no pupils, but rather ice blue irises spanned by compound hexagonal latticework, which were incased in a form very much unlike a changeling, being tall and thin. She possessed both a horn, jagged, jutting and divergent as well as wings, opaque and insect-like. Her entire body was seemingly coated in a black pearlescent shell like a junebug, her forelegs, chest, and long, angular neck dotted in faint specs of a lighter shade of gray. What appeared to be her hair was short, jaggedly cut and a sickly shade of greenish blue. A number of small bulbs projected on stalks from the top of her head, taking on the appearance of a deeply perverted crown. She smiled, revealing a pair of sharp, almost serrated fangs.

“You…as well as I…are very fortunate. These cuts you feel were injurious, yes, but not fatal, and what internal damage was done we…rather, I…have already repaired. Your life, as well as that of your…team, I believe is the word…was spared. Perhaps a little worse for wear, yes, but alas, you are alive.” She stated. Her voice was punctuated by intermittent pauses.

“Where…are they?” I groaned.

“Why would you need to know?” Her voice quickened. “They will remain unharmed, at least for now.” She paused as I grimaced at her. My brain was hot, my hind hooves asleep, the blood having left them entirely. “You glare at me as if I am the enemy. Beyond stopping you from murdering more of my brethren, what have I done to you? What is the cause of your animosity? Of course, my…our… superiority may lie at cause, but can’t this be put aside?”

“What…you did…in Canterlot—to all the innocent ponies you killed—Chrysalis.”

“Chrysalis?!” The voice, both hers and the one in my head, echoed as she screamed, fangs bared and glinting in the green light. My brain felt on the verge of explosion. “Chrysalis. You believe…me…to be her. I see.” She paused, smiling sickeningly. “No, not Chrysalis. Chrysalis is…like you. A shining example of the same foolish hubris so many of your kind display. While her actions in Canterlot were…useful…in displaying exactly how weak you truly are, it was an exercise in futility, an example of what occurs when One forgets All and chooses One. You see, I have already made this decision, and unlike her, I have chosen correctly. I am far removed from the pretentious machinations of a singular mind, and far beyond the likes of Queen Chrysalis. I am Imago. I am not a queen, nor a leader. If it is a title your…limited mind seeks, I am what you may call…an ambassador. However, outside of your narrow definitions, I am a singular manifestation of…a collective mind.”

I stared at her in disbelief, head bobbing as the cocoon swayed gently from my inertia. “Your kind… the changelings…are a hive…mind.”

She tilted her head, a small grin painting her expression as she pondered the word. “Hivemind. I rather like that word.” She giggled, a brief, jagged laugh. “I shall remember it. But, I suppose, yes. A hivemind.” She stopped briefly. “But enough about us. You are the subject of this meeting, after all, it is you who shall feed us, despite others within us wishing the same in…much an opposite sense,” her smile turned into a bloodthirsty sneer.

“Feed…you?” I was losing vision fast.

“Yes, did you not hear me? Surely, if you know about Chrysalis, you must know what she has said about our need for love. It is all true. As we are ever growing in number, our…supplies…grow ever less sufficient. But you...we do not seek only you, much less your…team. You are a gift, a gift given for the use in beginning the Collection.”

“The…Collection?” My voice grew weaker. I knew I was about to black out.

She grinned wistfully, her wings buzzing momentarily as she slowly trotted in circles below me. “The fulfillment of the needs of One, of All. The great Collection will grant us all the love we will ever require, it will pave the way for our dominion over all lands. It is the beginning of our time, the end of that of those who currently control. And…with your weaknesses discovered and our…provisions…already in place, it shall begin.”

My vision became blackness, my body went limp.

“Our conversation is not yet finished,” She intoned darkly. I heard her wings buzz menacingly below as I began to fade back into consciousness. “Such insolence. A brethren would have been extradited, if not executed, for such transgressions. I suppose I shall be gracious and assume this is a mere limitation manifested by your physical condition.”

I felt a burst of cold as she enveloped me in her magic, pulling me out of the cocoon. The sticky green substance that it was made from resisted, holding onto my legs as she gently pulled. Once free, she righted me in midair, letting me fall at around 4 hooves off the ground. The impact brought me back to full consciousness, pain erupting from my points of impact. The sensation of the collected blood running from my head made me extremely dizzy. I stared about the room, attempting to stand, and managing to do so, but only shakily, by leaning against a tall rock that stood off center in the circular room, which was apparently a sort of prison cell. The only entrance was a strange membrane-like door like that of the changeling’s honeycomb, but this one looked far more durable.

“That seems to have worked. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, the beginning of the Collection. You stumbling into this particular…what was the word you used? Hive? It has proven your ability to fight. You have progressed so far, and have proven your readiness. As such, you and your…team…” she shook her head. “My, what an absurd word that is…shall be the catalysts.”

“What are you talking about?” I grunted, still lying feebly across the rock. “What makes you think we’ll do anything you tell us to?” I said. My throat still felt like it was filled with razor blades, and the side of my face and neck was pounding.

Imago lowered her head, unleashing a dramatically wicked grin. “We’re talking about your mission, Cobalt Dusk. Your true purpose,” She smiled, glancing at the door with a peculiar look of expectance.

“How do you know my name?” I asked, utterly incredulous.

She laughed once more. “Oh, Cobalt. I have known of you for a very long time.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Imago,” I stated, seeing a brief flash of fury erupt behind her insect-like eyes which disappeared as quickly as it arrived. “How do you know me?”

She tilted her head back, smiling through an open mouth and letting out another faint chuckle. “Oh, you are fun,” She commented. “Suffice it to say that I have my ways. And before you scold me for not answering your other question allow me to answer it as well. This isn’t a…contract,” She snorted with derision at the mention of the word. “No, what you’ll be doing,” she began, drawing herself closer to me, steadily closing the gap until she stood within inches of me, her face almost touching mine. “What you’ll be doing, Cobalt, you’ll be doing out of love,” she quietly articulated, her warm breath intoxicating.

“Fuck you,” I growled, pulling as far away from her as I could, head pressed firmly against the rock I was leaning on for support. “What the fuck makes you think I’ll ever love something like you?!”

She smiled with confidence. “Don’t worry, Cobalt. You will.”

I snorted painfully, still somehow hiding my intimidation well. “That…means nothing.”

An explosion, heavily muted, but present nonetheless, sounded somewhere outside the prison cell. A faint vibration shook, not from above, but from deep within the mountain. Small rocks fell from the ceiling, cracking rhythmically off the walls and the stone floor below. Imago was temporarily thrown off balance before glancing calmly at the door.

Despite the pain, a small grin now spread across my wounded face. “Imago, tell me, how many ponies did your, what—brethren—capture?” I asked, fairly certain of what was taking place. She looked at me, eyes bright and sneering with derision. “Because I think your guys forgot the pegasus with all the high explosives.”

Her eyes sparkled, practically glowing, her sneer returning to her calm smile. Her horn suddenly bursting with magic, she manipulated its power to pick me back up and throw me against the rock I had been leaning against, pinning me in place spread-eagled. The pain was intense, my back cracking loudly on impact. I let out a small shout of pain, all the while a new wave of small rocks and dust fluttered down from the ceiling. A faint rumbling emanated from outside the cell, and as my body was smashed with a pressing force against the rock, I could feel it vibrating almost imperceptibly. “No, Cobalt. THIS means nothing.” The voice was once again emanating from my brain, the spikes that had ebbed now driven even deeper into my skull. “You see, you weak little creature, this,” she paused, glancing at the falling rocks around her before drawing herself as close as she had come before. “This is only the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?” I replied in the most forceful tone I could muster. Despite the fact that she was pushing me as hard into the rock as she could, her calm grin still painted her face.

“My, you truly are dense, aren’t you? If only you weren’t who you are…you would be lying in pieces by now.” Her voice now echoed both in my brain and from her lips, still within inches of mine. “Remember this, insolent little fool. It might help you on the mission which you have seemingly already forgotten. When you look into the eyes of those around you, those who control you, what do you see? Do you see trust, compassion…” She shuddered briefly before continuing. “…friendship?” She then smiled, one of her fangs dripping. The droplet hissed as it melted into the stone floor. “Or…do you see…something else?”

The sound of the mountain groaning was steadily rising, the intensity of the falling rocks increasing with every second, and I could see my horrified reflection in Imago’s eyes as they darted rapidly in their sockets, closely examining my face. Her icy pupils grew and toothy grin widened as she took note of my alarm, stemming from the still-smoking crater left by her venom. If it was possible, the malevolence in her gaze continued to grow in response to my abhorrence as she slowly withdrew herself from me, giggling cruelly to herself, but before the visibly violent machinations within her could show, a stalactite fell from the ceiling and stabbed into the ground hooves away from her. On instinct, she recoiled swiftly to avoid its impact, dropping me from my position against the rock onto my haunches. I gasped for air in relief from Imago’s magical constraint. She leered at me once more, smile still firmly in place, the membrane door opening as if by her will, her opaque wings buzzing loudly as she lifted herself into the air. “Until we meet again, my love,” She mouthed and the voice in my brain stabbed as she took one last look at the falling rocks and steadily growing cracks forming on the walls of the dungeon before hastily buzzing out of the cell, the membrane door quickly closing behind her.

The floor was shaking, and dust was gathering within the cell as the rocks falling from the high ceiling launched it into the air in choking plumes. As I sat, paralyzed with confusion and pain against the vibrating rock, a faint ray of clarity erupted out of my intensely muddled mind against the rising cacophony echoing through the corridors outside, causing me to realize I had no idea how to escape. I had no indication of how deep I was in the cave system, and much less of a clue if the explosion deeper within the system had been sufficient to bring it down. Furthermore, I had no idea how long the mission clock had been running; whether the Air Force pegasi were inbound with their payload of magic-infused explosives, or whether the explosions heralded a mission success from Crow’s explosive charges or signaled the beginning of the Air Force’s bombing run.  I had no idea where the rest of my team was, or if they were still alive. I was entirely disoriented, noting with panic that I didn’t even have a direction to run.

I looked around the room for anything to open the door. To my dismay, my dump bag was lying on a natural rocky shelf carved into the side of the wall. Inside was my mic system, as well as my knife and other miscellaneous items, like spent magazines and bags of bullet casings for my sniper rifle, which was itself unfortunately missing. Somehow, the knife had either remained hidden or had been deemed as useless during my bag’s search, as all the loaded magazines and ammunition were missing. I picked up the mic, levitating it into position and flicking the switch.

Before I could begin an SOS call, there was a loud burst of static, followed by the sweetest sound I could have ever heard. “… is Sawtooth, I’ve got Starlight with me. She’s busted up pretty bad…”

A voice in the background weakly but adamantly interjected, “I’m fine.”

“…but we’re still mobile and heading for the exit. Crow and Cobalt, come in, are either of you still there?” Sawtooth was panting heavily, the sound of hooves loud in the speaker. He was clearly running, but despite his panicked tone, I still felt a faint smile form and a wave of relief course through me as his gruff shouting continued on the other end. “Dragonsbreath, cancel flyby, the mission clock is busted, objective is potentially complete and we are still alive, repeat, cancel flyby.”

Rocks began to fall with a new found intensity, and the floor began to shake more violently. I interjected Sawtooth’s transmission over the mic. “Sawtooth! This is Cobalt! I don’t know where, but I’m stuck in one of these holding pens. I’m in pretty bad shape, but I think I’m mobile and ready to go. Any intel as to where the hell I am?” I rasped, throat still burning ferociously as I choked on the steadily rising cloud of dust.

A burst of static before more noise came over the speaker, the sound of a blade being drawn, wet splatters and vicious grunting from Sawtooth. “Shit! He’s back in the holding pens!”

“I told you we should have checked the other ones!” said Starlight’s small voice in the background.

I spoke up again, beginning to anxiously envision the whole mountain collapsing while I tried to escape. “How in the hell am I supposed to get through this weird-ass door?” I shouted into the mic. At once, a rock, probably ten hooves across, crashed down from the ceiling, landing only hooves away from where I stood.

I heard more slicing coming from Sawtooth’s end. “I don’t know, I hacked my way through it. Throw something heavy?”

The rock that fell only seconds before looked like an able projectile. It took a huge amount of strength, my shakily levitated missile weighing at least 500 pounds. With all of my remaining power, I threw the rock at the door, watching it travel in a short arc as it flew lazily towards the target. It struck square in the middle of the door, ripping a sizeable hole in its thick center, crashing against the wall on the other side. The two halves of the door sagged, dripping the same thick, gelatinous fluid as the egg sac from before.

“Holy shit, it worked!” I shouted into the mic, running as quickly as my exhausted legs would take me towards the hole, using a bit of levitation magic to throw myself through it, landing clumsily on the other side of the threshold.

A loud burst of static from the radio jarred me as I picked myself up before Sawtooth’s growl responded. “We’re waiting for you about 200 meters up the path to your right. You’d better hurry the fuck up; I think the whole mountain is coming down!” It was becoming apparent that he wasn’t kidding. As I skidded out into the hall, a massive fissure split all the way up the wall, spreading with an eruption of sharp cracks. I started running as quickly as I could. The walls were literally crumbling, each new spider-webbing fracture ejecting rocks into the hall. I was literally being pummeled by rocks of all sizes as I galloped to the best of my ability towards where Starlight and Sawtooth were waiting, throwing myself around corners and bends haphazardly. As I vaulted over a particularly large stone that had planted itself firmly in my path, a dark blur flew by overhead, not slowing by a fraction as it dived into a narrow and low-ceilinged portion of the cave, into which I quickly followed. A gigantic rock fell just as I cleared the entrance to the low section, forever sealing the prison that lay behind. There was no time to look back, only time to keep running as I was now heading steeply uphill, winding my way through the narrow and twisting hall. It was as if the weight of the whole mountain was sitting on those cave walls; the pressure causing the walls to groan and split, shooting out small, sharp shards of rock as it collapsed under its own weight. I was beginning to fatigue as even the supply of adrenaline powering me began to wane. My lungs ached from pain and fatigue, and stone dust and shards covered me, their sharp edges chafing and stabbing as I ran.  I stumbled on a rock I had not anticipated, stumbling to regain my balance before catching it and continuing, briefly looking far ahead up the path. Three pony forms were standing at the top, two of which took hovered in the air in anticipation of me catching up.

“Come on, Cobalt, keep coming!” Sawtooth roared as he spotted me. With a small surge of renewed strength, I accelerated, reaching the three far quicker than I had anticipated. I stopped for a brief second, panting heavily as the pain in my legs and lungs pulsated before I continued onwards as the other three launched forward, now satisfied as I was with them.

The mountain’s rumbling was growing ever louder, having begun at little more than a low drone but now almost a constant roar. Doorways carved into the cavern crumbled, stalactites falling like daggers from where they had formed. Slowing only slightly to regain our bearings, we burst out into a large room which other than the dust-obscured floor was fully coated in the phosphorescent honeycomb, literally peeling out of place along the walls from the constant motion, the egg sacs encased within crashing against the ground and popping on impact. Most of what few mature changelings could escape from their sacs were quickly killed by falling debris, some lucky enough to survive somehow able to begin running behind us, hissing and roaring furiously.

“Sweet—Celestia—is it good to—see you—guys again!” Crow shouted between wingbeats as he flew along beside us.

“Where the hell have you been?!” Sawtooth yelled in reply. A changeling yelped behind us as it was impaled by a falling stalactite.

We reached the end of the large room, faced by yet another roadblock. There was at least five passages, each branching off in a different directions. We ground to a halt, weaving erratically to avoid falling rocks. About ten changelings remained, charging to close the small gap we had made on them.

“Now what?” Sawtooth asked as he ground to a halt, dodging falling debris.

Starlight perked up, sidestepping a falling rock with ease as her eyes darted across the pathways presented before us. “Air currents!” She yelled in response. “Find which one has an air current!”

Her and Crow immediately went to work sprinting to the entrance of each passage to see if any of them carried air. Meanwhile, the first charging changeling that had been sprinting behind us in pursuit had reached the line Sawtooth and I had created as the others looked for a way out. My first instinct was to do what I had been: The changeling leapt into midair to pounce on me, but was intercepted by a rock that clobbered it, hitting midway between its shoulder blades and head. It flipped over its point of impact, landing like a rag doll at Sawtooth’s feet, already dead. I levitated as many rocks of equal size as I could find, numbering about seven, launching them one-by-one at the changelings as they attacked.

“I…” thwack. “…am getting…” thwack. “…so sick…” thwack. “…of throwing rocks…” thwack. “…at you…” thwack. “…ugly…” thwack. “…mother…” thwack. “…fuckers—”

“Found it! This way!” Starlight shouted. I turned from the now-halted onslaught of the charging changelings, now either dead or immobilized; to see her standing, wings flapping in the entrance to one of the passages, her mane blowing violently as the wind from the depressurizing vacuum of the collapsing cave and the entering air current formed a vortex where the two met.

Sawtooth was cleaning up the remaining two changelings, hacking and slashing and deflecting as they launched themselves at him, only to be either viciously cut or shunted by the flat of his twin machetes. He finished one with a brutal cut to the belly, and the other with his off-hoof blade by using the weapon’s spiked hoof surround as an effective bludgeon, slamming it directly into the side of the changeling’s head. He stood on his hindlegs momentarily, lungs heaving as he gasped for more air, dripping blades resting at his sides.

We all watched as another massive rock, at least 10 meters across and five wide and deep dislodged itself from the ceiling, bringing with it about 30 cells of changeling honeycomb which were crushed immediately as it landed with a deafening thud. A huge cloud of dust shot up from where it impacted. The loss of that rock seemed as if it was the last straw for the entire system, cracks spreading immediately as the cave ceiling literally began to buckle, showering us with rocks.  The room’s vibrations reached a crescendo, and the mountain itself sounded like it was roaring, the reverberating sound of a million impacts from rocks collapsing deeper within. We stood, stunned, staring in awe and horror at the spider web of fissures that was crawling across the ceiling, as well as the rolling cloud of dust that was billowing in from the other entrance to the room, all four of us seemingly immobilized by the oscillations of an entire mountain collapsing with us inside.

“We don’t have time for this, guys!” Starlight screamed over the roaring mountain, still standing in the entrance to the passageway as the rest of us looked back in response. “Come on!”

With that, we took off running into the passageway, with Starlight in the lead. The path was practically a maze of left and right hand bends, narrowing and widening at its own will, all angled steeply uphill. Every ten or fifteen meters, the path would branch off into a series of rooms, visibly collapsing as we passed. Rocks, each easily capable of crushing a pony skull were falling behind us as we sprinted up the path sending more rocks and chips ricocheting from their points of  impact, glancing off the backs and rumps of Crow and I.

Left. Right. Left. Left again. Jump up a steep embankment, right. Left. Shimmy through an impossibly narrow gap, all the while deflecting razor sharp rock chips from jumping and biting into my eyes, and another left. If it wasn’t for Sawtooth in front of me, and Starlight in front of him to guide me through this hellish underground trail, I surely would have been pulverized by the rocks falling incessantly behind me, having already lost my way once more, relying now only on the galloping ponies in front of me. How Starlight knew where she was going was beyond me. My ears popped from such rapid elevation change, and my legs and lungs were on fire from sprinting so far uphill and from my still-bleeding injuries. I couldn’t stop, stopping was a guarantee of death.

But, ahead, barely visible, through the bobbing and heaving shapes of the ponies in front of me, was a thin shaft of light, the same sickly blue-green glow I had begun to take for granted for the hours we had been inside the system. Even its languid, oppressive presence began to look inviting as compared to the almost nonexistent lighting within the passageway. After another few seconds of galloping at full tilt, we burst forth into a room which looked very familiar: it was littered with the corpses of dead changelings, dominated in the center by a rock fallen from the remains of a massive column. Starlight took flight in the high-ceilinged room, launching herself ahead of us further while splitting off from the direct path ahead to the entry into the final passageway to the exit. As we sprinted ahead, I watched her dive before almost immediately pulling back up, a black object firmly planted between her teeth—her combat knife, somehow seen and now grabbed from one of the dust-sifted changeling corpses littering the floor. I looked behind us, watching as the inexorably gliding wave of dust broke forth into the room from the passageway, quickly enveloping its features, covering the bodies of the changelings that lie on the floor. I looked ahead once more. The entryway was growing. Starlight had landed at its beginning, slowing so we could catch up and so she could sheathe her knife.

We quickly reached her, tiredly throwing ourselves uphill once more, through the pitch blackness, lit again only faintly by the phosphorescent green mushrooms, which were soon to be buried alongside everything else the mountain contained. My breathing had long ago become labored, my legs on the verge of giving out as we made it into the cave’s antechamber, which was still covered in the grotesque honeycomb, in which the disgusting and unaware unborn changelings twitched lazily. In no time, we had all reached the end of the tight room, where the thick rope dangled, the only tenuous thread separating us from this nightmare, a symbol of the reality outside. The cave roared behind me, and I knew Sawtooth couldn’t climb his way out in time although he was the first and only to throw himself up the rope, hooves wrapped around it and awkwardly shuffling up its vertical distance. My horn glowed, telekinetically enveloping him as well as myself, throwing us up the shaft. Sawtooth hadn’t been prepared for the boost, and as we burst out into the safe, muted and un-glowing colors of the inside of the tent, he landed on his rump, yelping as he flopped onto his flank.

Head Honcho’s corpse still lay on its desk, dripping blood, the body vibrating eerily as the ground shook beneath it. “Keep going!” Starlight shouted as she launched out of the tent flap. We quickly followed. The ground was vibrating, even on the surface, which was, I noted as the tent flap rolled off my back as I exited, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The night sky was cloudless, millions of stars and the almost full moon illuminating the night in their cool light. Thank Luna being the only thought that I could muster. Starlight continued forward, barely visible in the darkness, quickly crossing the 10 meter gap between the changeling garrison and the treeline (Celestia, how I missed even trees!) as Crow flew alongside her and Sawtooth and I struggled to keep up.

The next several minutes were little more than dodging around trees, and uphill once more, heading up the path we had carved to take down to the garrison before the whole ordeal had begun. The mountain’s vibrations waned, and then faded entirely as we reached position one in record time, once again coming to rest at the dirt outcropping along the path where I had sniped One-Eye and Moony. We had done enough running. We were all entirely out of breath, Sawtooth’s legs buckling beneath him as he fell to his knees. I panted, my lungs burning and blood pulsating through my brain as I turned to look at the mountain across the valley and the garrison below.

The noises the mountain was making were fantastic, a constant, grinding, thundering drumroll. It sounded like Armageddon and looked just as bad, the entire mountain slowly consuming itself, sinking into the cave system it once contained. Trees toppled and slid down the mountain as it broke itself jaggedly, rocks easily the size of large buildings crashing down its constantly heaving face, rockslides whooshing down alongside them, growing in size with each impact. The rising dust cloud shot up as the mountain ground itself into miniature pieces. The ground beneath the garrison itself gave way, drawing into it at once the group of tents, all of which folded immediately into its hungry maw.

And just as quickly as it had started, it stopped, leaving a slowly drifting cloud of dust and an expansive field of  protruding rocks in its wake, with the odd tree jutting out at a random angle here and there in the debris. The noise had ceased, the world seemingly silent as the constant din had died out, slowly replaced only by the sound of the Everfree and the noise of the four ponies who had survived its collapse trying not to die from exhaustion.

“Crow,” I puffed, “What…the…fuck…did you…blow up down there?”

He laughed, laying spread-eagled on the ground and wheezing heavily before replying. “Big friggin’ column—it looked pretty important.” He laughed, or possibly wheezed, shaking his mane, a puff of dust exploding from it. “I’ll…tell you more when I can breathe.”

Sawtooth was breathing deeply and shaking, legs still buckled and his hooves splayed out from under him, his face firmly planted in the dirt, forehead down. He was whispering repetitively, “Oh, please, Celestia, don’t let me puke.”

Starlight was staring at where a mountain once stood, at the slowly rising dust cloud. She was utterly silent, unmoving beyond the faint motion of her panting.  She now had her spot in the history books, if our actions here were ever unclassified. Despite all the odds, she had right all along. We had survived; we had made it through, even if vastly unprepared. We had even somehow survived capture by the changelings entirely intact. I watched her briefly, standing there, eyes wide, face expressionless, possibly wincing slightly. At once, her eyes flew away from the scene below as she turned to stare at me instead.

“What?” She asked. Her eyes flashed as she quickly flicked them away and then back again, her night eyes shining. I flinched when I noticed that she now wore a number of bloodied wounds from the changelings that had mauled her during their attack, several looking just as bad as the ones that I had gained. It was a miracle that she hadn’t been killed.

I chose to avoid talking about her wounds, she was well aware of them. Instead I focused on what we had just survived. “You were right. We made it. That was one hell of a good call.”

She snorted softly. “Yeah,” was her only reply. She was clearly somewhere else.

“Well, you did good. We could have just as easily let the RAF bomb the mountain.”

“It would have been for the better.” Her voice was surprisingly sullen.

“No it wouldn’t have,” I quickly replied, stunned slightly by her dampened tone. “The REA and the Royal Council would have riots on their hands if word got out about this. Mass panic, Starlight. Do you think that would have been for the better? We chose correctly, you were right about going in.” I firmly stated.

“Cobalt, we’re only alive because the changelings wanted us to be. They could have killed us so quickly—but they didn’t, Cobalt. They wanted us to leave alive.” She looked deeply into my eyes, as if searching for something. My mood sank, the temporary ecstasy of being out of the caves fading immediately. Yet again, she was right. Imago herself had mentioned that she had “repaired” me.

The changeling ambassador’s words swirled around my mind for several seconds, bringing themselves back to the forefront of my mind, reinvigorating the sense of horror and confusion they had unleashed upon me when they were first spoken. I sucked in a deep breath, releasing it slowly, looking up at the stars for an unknown answer.

“I know.” I replied flatly. “I get the feeling we’ve found a rabbit hole.”

There was a prolonged pause.

“I believe we may have,” she noted quietly, still looking into the distance. “So, then. Now what?” She replied, wandering eyes snapping back to me as she spoke. Judging from her sudden interest, she may have heard the same vague words I had from the changeling ambassador.

“We see how deep it goes.”

She nodded in reply, looking back out over the wreckage. The cloud of smoke was finally setting over the newly made field of rocks, barely visible in the predawn morning.

Static popped from Starlight’s radio, which Sawtooth had appropriated, causing him to leap into the air. “Dragonsbreath here. Team 1? Please respond.”

Sawtooth tried to regain his composure, shaking visibly despite his attempts to the contrary. “Blade here. Mission objectives completed, and then some. Awaiting exfil.”

“Copy that, Blade. Good to see you’re still kicking. What’s the team’s status? As for the mission, let’s just say we’re well aware and we have exfil now en route.”

“Good to hear, Dragonsbreath. All team members accounted for and hoof mobile, Dragonsbreath.”

“Tell all of them congratulations. Copy?”

“Copy that. ETA on that exfil?”

“Approximately one hour, and we’ve already scheduled a debriefing at 0900. You’ll never guess who’s going to be in attendance—a big group from the Royal Council. You ponies had better clean up nice.”

His headset was once again filled with static. He pushed the headset off of his ears, it now resting around his neck. “Dragonsbreath says congratulations, everypony,” he said, trademark grin again flashing broadly at us, despite him still shaking slightly.

My spine shivered. I got the feeling that this mission was only beginning.