Between Magic and Science

Rainbow Dash landed before an opening in the hive, her metal armour clanging together as she landed from her descent on all fours. It was a strange feeling, having her wings tucked beneath the armour, but still being able to fly. Twilight Sparkle landed behind her. Her helmet had adjusted to accommodate her horn, the purple extremity covered by the silvery metal of the helmet. A few seconds later, Rainbow heard the thud and the crash of Trax Dash coming to land next to them.

His hindlegs were aimed toward the ground, and his back hooves landed with a thud. Trying his best to steady himself on his back legs was futile, and he almost instantly fell on his face the moment he landed.

“Having a little trouble there?” Rainbow teased.

“Shut up...” he moaned, picking himself up on all fours, “I forgot you ponies don’t walk on two legs...” He stumbled forward, unable to walk properly in his new body. After a few minutes of falling on his face, growling in frustration, and Rainbow Dash barely suppressing laughter, he finally figured out the trick. Instead of moving both legs on the same side in the same direction at the same time, he had to move his legs in a certain order; front left, back right, front right, back left.

“We don’t have time for this,” Twilight said after a few minutes of watching him struggle, “We need to do whatever it is that we’re going to do about the Changelings.”

Twilight peered into the opening that she stood before. It was dark, tall, and ominous, but she was determined. They entered the hive, the silence nerve wrecking. There was expected to be some sort of resistance, but as the surface they walked upon began to tilt downward, they were sure that there were probably the only souls there.

Even with his night vision on, Trax Dash could barely see the walls to his sides. Something was off about whatever material that the hive’s entrance was made out of. It gave off it’s own heat, making thermal vision useless. It also was apparently hollow, making sonic optics useless as well. What baffled him even further was how the material somehow was able to absorb light waves, and make the standard night vision less effective.

As the trio cantered on, they had come across a round chamber, one that had obviously been cut out of the earth and then sloppily supported with the strange material these Changelings used. In the center of this chamber, there was a hole. It took up the majority of center of the room, but there was enough room around the edges for one pony to walk around. Upon looking down into the gap, the three found a long descent, with more holes and tunnels dug out into the walls of the drop. The bottom was nowhere in sight. The only other exit was across the chasm, a much smaller tunnel leading downwards.

“How far down do you think this goes?” Twilight asked, her voice barely a whisper over the local com channel.

“I don’t know,” Trax Dash replied, “But I’m not jumping in to find out. I don’t think my pack could carry me all the way back up.”

Rainbow Dash simply lifted a hoof and knocked a small rock in, and watched it plummet into the darkness. Several moments passed. Nothing was heard. After a full minute, Trax Dash had began to walk around the hole, moving towards the other opening. Having heard nothing, the two girls followed him. The tunnels inside of the hive were much smaller, and much more cramped than the large opening to the outside. Although it was obvious that the hive extended further underground that it covered above ground, all of the dirt had been sealed off by the mysterious Changeling material.

Twilight had kept a careful eye on her motion tracker, but had completely forgotten to keep in touch with Rarity.

“Overwatch base, this is Alpha Strike, we’re deep in the hive, over,” she said.

A staticy voice of Rarity replied, “Copy... Signal is bad... but I have your signa... least...”

“Do you have our location and vitals?”

“...rmative, but your... ediate area is... unclear.”

“Okay. Alpha Strike, out.”

Twilight sighed. They were on their own.

“Rainbow, Trax Dash, we need to stick together.”

“Yeah, way ahead of you,” Rainbow said, moving a bit closer to Twilight.

“Screw that, I’m going to go scout ahead!” He said, beginning to gallop away from the others.

Twilight stepped forward, “Wait!” She bent her head forward, aiming her covered horn at the uneasy stallion. She concentrated on a telekinesis spell, but nothing happened. She immediately realized that the armour she wore was blocking her magic, but in that same instant she saw Rainbow Dash taking off after him.

“I’ll go get him, Twi!”

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Twilight began, only to realize they were both almost out of sight. She sighed and took off after them, shouting, “We need to stick together!”

Through the hollow but sturdy tunnel walls, a Changeling had been stirred from his slumber, only to hear the intruders. He looked around, noticing that all of the other stasis cocoons used for postmaturity rest had been empty. It was almost as if something had happened that had scared the rest of his brothers and sisters away, and he himself had slept through it.

The at the heart of the hive, the Changelings were in complete disarray. Queen Chrysalis had just left the hive to discuss things with this ‘Nightmare’ character, and then somepony had gone and dropped what was assumedly a bomb directly into the heart of the hive. The winged black creatures scattered and panicked, trying to find a way to contact the Queen, or disarm the bomb, or just plain have a nervous breakdown, but one Changeling in particular was thinking. Just thinking, as much as his little hive-minded brain could think, about what exactly it meant to lose what his home was.

Most of them realized that the bomb was probably going to go off at any moment, and kill all of them, leaving their entire system of complex tunnels and layers upon layers of Durachitin nothing but a hole in the ground. Durachitin, it was what the Queen had called the substance that made up the protective walls of the hive. It was extremely strong, resistant to nearly everything Equestria could dish out. When bolstered with magic, it was nigh indestructible. But something had just smashed right through it, as if it were a cardboard box to a boulder, meaning that if it was indeed a bomb...

He shuddered. This was his life, his home, all he had ever known, and it was about to go up in smoke. He had to do something, but he didn’t know how much time he had left. After a moment of thought, he had devised a rather pathetic plan. Picking himself up off of the floor of the junction corridor, he began to fly upward, out of the main junction connecting all of the major chambers deep within the hive together.

The device itself had hit the Queen’s throne chamber, so he’d have a slim chance of getting there. That wasn’t where he had intended to go, however. Pushing past the majority of his comrades that were still swarming to see what had happened, or repair something, or whatever they were doing, he made his way to storage.

There was little chance that anypony else would be there, but he heard a name called out to him as he entered the chilled room.

“Durandal?” he heard a rough, scratchy voice, one that might have been unwelcoming to others, but it was a familiar one. Upon hearing his own name, he instinctively turned to see who had wanted his attention. Behind him, in the entrance to the storage chamber, a larger Changeling much like himself stood. It was Rio, one of the warrior Changelings that he had became acquainted with over their time in Upbringing. Rio was bulky, but still had that undernourished look that all Changelings had due to not having an excess of emotion to feed upon. The spines along his back were much larger and sharper than Durandal’s own, but that’s how warriors were designed. They were built to fight and do battle, unlike most other Changelings that were built for stealth and deception.

“Rio, what are you doing here?” Durandal’s own voice sounded higher pitched and feebler than his friend’s, making him seem weak, even to himself.

“That’s a better question to ask yourself,” Rio grinned, his long fangs suddenly becoming less menacing and much more friendly than usual. A more serious tone overtook him as he continued, “Seriously, you’re in Cold Storage, of all places?”

“Yeah, I need a few things. I have a plan to deal with this bomb, or whatever it is.”

“Really? I don’t suppose you’ve ran it by the Queen or her informants?”

“The Queen’s not in, and her informants won’t take me seriously. I’m a worker drone.”

Durandal turned to the chamber that held all of the Changeling’s scavenged equipment. Most of it had came from Equestria, from numerous guard posts scattered on the edge of the Uncharted.

“You’re not fooling around, are you?” Rio said, looking over his friend’s shoulder.

“No,” Durandal breathed, his voice cutting the frigid air like a sword. I know for a fact that those eggheads in Pony-Research won’t do anything but sit and stare at the thing, so I need to do something before it goes off!” Durandal was looking in what the ponies called ‘hooflockers’, large black boxes with a locking mechanism on the front. Inside was a metal knife, a common tool found on most Royal Guard, a pair of night vision goggles, and a magic dampener. It was one of the many counter-Changeling kits that were stacked on the floor of the chamber.

“What’s all that?” Rio peered in the box over Durandal’s shoulder, using his height to get a better view.

“Magic dampener, because if that is a bomb, it’s most likely powered by magical residue.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I’m going to disarm it myself, I’ve read enough Pony-paper to know how it’s done,” Durandal wasn’t lying either, he could remember most of the diagrams and instructions described on the bound collection paper that the Ponies used.

“Then why the knife? And those goggles?”

“Chances are I’m going to be setting off that magic suppressor right next to myself. I don’t know if you know, but that magic suppressor will affect our natural magic too,” the worker drone explained, placing the goggles on his head, resting them under his horn. “These things will help me see in the dark in case my own natural vision goes out.”

“Okay... That still doesn’t explain the knife.”

Durandal sighed. He looked at the metallic blade, second-guessing his plan. “Let’s just say... I might not be welcomed by HiveSec.”

Rio took a step back, a hoof raising to his mouth. “You aren’t going rogue, are you?”

Durandal shook his head, turning to face his friend, “It’s not going rogue when the safety of the hive is at stake.”

Durandal looked at the wall opposite of the one he was closest to, noticing the small vest that was hanging on what Ponies called a ‘rack’. There were many more like it. Rio stepped aside as he watched his friend slip is forelegs into the vest, and secure it across his chest. The vest had many pockets and straps to put various items in.

“I’m coming with you,” Rio said.

“What?” Durandal did a double take as he was walking back to the hooflocker that he had opened.

“I want to come with you,” Rio repeated, “If you’re going to get sent to exile, or recycled, I want to go with you. We’re close, you and me.”

Durandal slipped the knife in one of the straps on the vest, and secured the magic dampener in a pocket on his chest. The small orb fit nicely, as if it was intended to go there. “We used to cause trouble all the time when we were little, but this is different.”

“Maybe, but I have a plan, one that’s probably better than yours.”

“That’s a first, what is it?” Durandal replied sarcastically. Rio always had came up with the elaborate schemes.

Rio smiled, “We feign a break in. I’ll pose as an infiltrator going to check on the bomb, because it hasn’t gone off yet. We mock a fight, like we always used to, and then you get me to ‘disarm’ the bomb. Someone’s bound to accuse me of setting it off, and you take a crack at disarming it yourself.”

“Wow. You’re a genius... How do I explain the gear?”

“Say that you took matters into your own hooves, like usual.”

They both laughed at that. Durandal had always been one to act before thinking, and the wardens had always said that it was unfortunate that he was born a worker, because he would’ve made an excellent warrior or guard.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

Trax Dash was the first to hear it. He raised a hoof, and Rainbow Dash and Twilight had came to a stop behind him. It was a faint buzzing, like some sort of bug was flying near. The tunnel they had been walking in was very small, and had very little light. They had been walking for what seemed like hours, but their armours’ automated joints kept them from fatiguing, automatically moving their hooves along.

“What is it?” He heard Rainbow whisper.

“I don’t know...” Trax Dash took another step forward, and then suddenly was blinded. His low light vision automatically shut off, letting him see the crack in the ground beneath him, faintly illuminating the tunnel. “Low light off!” he violently whispered, blinking to get his eyes to stop burning.

The two mares behind him did as instructed, and peered into the crack in the floor. They could only make out the pale golden tint of light, saturating their light deprived eyes. Trax Dash scraped a hoof at the crack.

“I wish I still had my hands...”

“Think we could shoot it open?” Twilight suggested, yielding the same look from both Dashes.

“Yeah, sure, if we wanted every Changeling from here to Cloudsdale coming down on us,” Rainbow said, putting a hoof to her head.

“Twilight, aren’t you an Princess with powerful magic and stuff?” Trax Dash asked, “Do something to get us down there.”

“Well, it looks like there’s just a room down there... so I could try a teleportation spell. I’ll need to take off my helmet though,” Twilight said, removing the metal case that was over her head. It clicked, and with a hiss, came off of the rest of the armour.

Trax Dash saw Twilight’s pony body for the first time. Purple fur, a darker purple mane, highlighted with a cute pink stripe.

“Get ready...” she said, and lowered her head in thought. The three of them flashed in her mind, and then the space below them. The open Changeling corridor, just waiting for them to-

In a flash of purple light, the three armour clad ponies disappeared from the Changeling access tunnel, above the main HiveSec office.