The golden chariots soared through the sky high above the clouds that weaved around the mountain tops. Switchback had never seen the Crystal Mountains from the sky before. They were absolutely massive, but everything that was going on, coupled with their great height at the moment, made them seem small and insignificant.

Switchback looked down and watched as the mountains slowly moved out of his field of vision. He didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. Everything was coming back to him, the memories, the stress of his final days in the hive. He could feel everything building up inside of him. It all made him feel a little nauseous, but most of all he felt scared.

He was so terribly afraid of what he would find when they entered the hive, of what would happen in the next twenty four hours. Part of him just wanted to jump out of the chariot and fly to somewhere he could hide, where nopony would ever find him, but he had to do this. He had to be brave. He had failed his people once and probably caused more damage than what would have originally come. He had to right this wrong. He had to redeem himself, but not for the sake of redemption.

"We'll be landing shortly," one of the pegasi who pulled the chariot called out, pulling Switchback from his thoughts.

Soon, the group dropped below the cloud layer. They were now level with where the snow began to meet the tips of the mountains. This too brought memories back for Switchback. The snow was a vital part of his escape. He remembered eating it when he was thirsty, hiding in it when groups loyal to Chrysalis passed, bleeding on it when he had been injured.

"Are you coming, Ambassador?" Rampart asked.

Switchback was so entranced by his thoughts that he didn't even realize that they had landed minutes earlier. He looked around to see that they were now in a large camp, set in a flat area. There were tents everywhere, with even more guards wondering to and fro. Each tent was marked with a large medical cross and was filled with what appeared to be medical equipment.

"Y-yeah," Switchback answered. "I'm on my way." He climbed out of the chariot and started trotting to catch up with the rest of the group. He stopped when his attention was caught by another chariot that was landing. Several royal guards filed out, but instead of carrying a spear or sword, each was working to carry stretchers. On the stretchers were changelings.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Rampart said, "but if we stop to look at things every five seconds, we wont get anywhere."

"Right," Switchback said as he again began to follow the soldier. "What's going on here? I thought we were going to the hive."

"We are," Rampart assured, "but first we're stopping here. The hive entrance is only about a mile away, so we'll hoof it the rest of the way once we finish up here."

"And where exactly is here? What is all of this?" Switchback asked.

"This is a small outpost that was set up last night," Rampart explained as they walked. "A field hospital has been established to treat any wounded changelings found. From the looks of it, there are quite a lot."

"This was all set up in a single night?" Switchback questioned, clearly amazed that such a large base could be constructed in such a short time. The hospital wasn't the only thing there. Several large watch towers had been constructed from wood. The sheer amount of medical equipment that was on site was impressive. It looked like it would have taken days to get it all put together and functioning and yet the royal guards had managed to get it all done in a single night.

"Yes," Rampart answered. "The Royal Guard doesn't just take up responsibilities related to fighting. We also respond to disasters. Training for such events has made creating a field hospital like this one quite easy."

"I see," Switchback said as he walked along side Rampart.

The camp was very well organized, the tents forming a giant U with a landing pad big enough for multiple chariots to come and go in the empty space. Switchback and Rampart entered one of these tents where they found the rest of their group. Talisman was giving Twilight instructions on how exactly they would go about protecting her and Switchback.

"... and if we get ambushed at any point in time, do not run off unless instructed," Talisman finished.

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "Understood."

"Good." Talisman looked to Rampart and Switchback. He saluted his superior officer before giving a short report. "I just filled the Princess in on what to do in the case of an emergency. She's completely up to speed, sir."

"Excellent," Rampart stated. "Go ahead and give Switchback here the same orientation. I'm going to make last second preparations with the rest of the group."

As Talisman went over the same procedures with Switchback, Rampart walked over to August, Jackpot, and Brisk.

Brisk, being the quiet unicorn that he was, stood and listened as August and Jackpot debated exactly what they thought they would find when they entered the hive for the first time. Consequently, he was the first to notice Rampart and the first to snap to attention. Both August and Jackpot followed when they too noticed their Captain.

"At ease," Rampart said. "From this point on you can be more casual if you like. It'll help ease some of the tension in the air. Anyways, go ahead and get your travel packs ready. Then meet me outside in ten minutes." He then walked off without even dismissing the three guards.

After each member of the escort geared up and prepared themselves for what would come next, everypony met outside just off of the landing area. This was it. This was the moment that they had all been waiting for. It was finally time to head out to the hive and start this rodeo.

"Alright," Rampart said as he stood before the party. "You're all probably expecting me to say something inspirational or even motivational... well the truth is that I don't really know anything about giving speeches. So I will just say this. Everything is riding on what we accomplish here today. It is a lot of pressure and even scary, but I have full confidence in everyone of your abilities. I want to make this quick and clean. We go in, find Queen Cicadia, stay as long as we need to before leaving, hopefully with a new ally. So let's go do this."

Twilight, Switchback, and their escorts stood before the massive opening in the side of the mountain. The darkness made it seem as if the path within went on forever.

"I was expecting it to be bigger," August joked, coaxing slight smiles from everypony else.

The group stood in the fresh sunlight, staring into the cave, for a few moments before Jackpot finally broke the silence. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this over with."

"Agreed," Rampart said. "Brisk, light up and take point... and stay ready for anything."

Brisk nodded confidently as he activated a light spell and took several steps forward toward the entrance to the hive. He stopped short before looking out into the cave. He gulped loudly, knowing full well just how nervous he was. There was no going back though. This was it. He regained his composure and headed in. He was followed by Talisman, then Rampart, Twilight and Switchback, and then finally Jackpot and August. One by one, they began their adventure down the rabbit hole.

Agent Rogue Chaser, arguably the most dangerous pony in all of Equestria and self-proclaimed adventuring badass, laid on a bed staring at the ceiling. After so many missions back to back to back, he had become extremely tired. There were times that he wondered if he was operating to his full potential, even questioning some of his decisions at times.

He was certain after finally getting to come back to Canterlot for a while, he would be sleeping through the days like a thestral. He had gotten more sleep that day than he usually did in a night, but after waking up in the middle of a relatively uneventful dream, he found himself feeling well rested and ready to take on the world.

Unfortunately though, there was really nothing for him to do. He had done some sit ups and about two hundred push ups to pass the time, but soon found himself longing for something else to do, something tense, something that would give him purpose again.

He finally stopped counting the panels on the ceiling, there were about eighty six in this room by the way, and looked over to his right, hoping to find a giant fire bomb of death set to go off in thirty seconds, the source of a deadly zombie virus, or even just a simple death laser pointed at him, laying on the other pillow. Alas though, there was nothing exciting there. Just empty space.

Chaser looked back up at the ceiling and sighed. "I'm bored."

Author's Note

So here we are. We've finally made it to the hive. Get ready, because the next chapter is where shit gets real. I hope to have it out before the end of this week.