"This is Zippy. Crash, can you hear me? Crash, come in...Crash?....Anypony...?"

Flash Sentry waited, desperately hoping for a response, hardly daring to breathe as he waited. As the seconds dragged on he gritted his teeth and silently cursed himself for focusing too hard on the task he had set himself. Yes it had worked, yes he had outflown the changeling swarm to the point that he couldn't even hear their wings anymore. But his wingpony, the one he'd been meant to protect, had vanished in the process. The worst part was that he couldn't even place when it might have happened. The tunnels had been a blur of rapid turns and faster flight, trying to shake off the changelings on their tails. The next corner had taken a higher priority than checking on Rainbow Dash, an even bigger sin with her injuries.

With a frustrated sigh, he checked everything on his armour was still in place and carefully started back out the way he'd come, hoping for some sign of his friend. Compared to when the two of them had flown through the area several minutes ago, it was almost unbearably quiet. Before had been filled with the rush of wings in motion, the buzzing of changelings in flight behind him and his own heart going like a freight train, all things he was used to after so many years as a soldier. Silence unnerved him though, always had. It meant anything could happen and he much preferred knowing what was coming. Most ponies could say they feared the unknown, but in his case it put him on edge more than facing down any of the monsters of Equestria.

After several minutes of retracing his flight path as best he could, his thoughts were disturbed as something knocked against his hoof and clattered to one side. He immediately pressed himself against the wall and lowered his body, waiting to see if anything would react to the sudden noise that echoed slightly around him. When nothing responded, he finally looked down at just what he had hit and gasped before he could stop himself.

Lying just beside his hoof was a helmet, identical to the one he was wearing. The visor piece was missing entirely, a small piece of the strap sticking out on the left side and looking like it had been torn apart. The latch for the mouthplate had been broken and there was a hole near the top of the right ear that looked like it had been bitten clean through.

He slowly picked it up and stared at it, trying not to assume the worst. Rainbow Dash was a better fighter than any of them, she could easily take a few changelings if this had happened late in the chase. Maybe she'd had to abandon it to get away from her pursuers. Of course, it was just as likely that...He realised his hooves were shaking slightly and his lip was curled in anger. Years of training were struggling to keep a surge of adrenaline under control, desire to give what he'd been given. If circumstances allowed it, he was going to make at least one changeling pay in blood for hurting his friend. He couldn't afford to dwell right now though, finding the others took priority. He was tempted to attempt to pull back and get backup, but the nearest settlement he would be able to reach was a guard post was in the Smokey Mountains and even to get there, he'd have to find a way out of here first.

He straightened up and placed the broken helmet on his back. If he was very lucky, he'd find Rainbow and be able to give it her back. If he was unlucky...If nothing else, Moondancer would probably like to study it. With that settled, he got up carefully again and set off at a slow walk, a single thought making its way into his mind.

'I hope everypony else is alright.'

'Is there anypony else left?'

Cipher shook the thought from his mind and wiped a thick layer of dust from his mouthplate. The rather paltry filters built into it were constantly being overwhelmed from the amount of dust still in the air from the battleground, but it was still too thick to risk taking it off. Despite getting further away from the tunnel collapse, the after effects kept lingering in the air around them, clouding vision, making breathing difficult and keeping him from pushing himself too hard. The worst part was the knowledge that he'd gotten off lightly in comparison to the two ponies moving with him.

Healing Wave sounded exhausted, her breaths coming in rasps. Unicorns naturally had less stamina than the other races and she'd never had to hold her ground like that in previous missions she'd been a part of. Bulwark though, sounded more like he was outright suffocating. Armour plates were missing from his neck, forelegs, stomach and right flank. These vulnerable spots covered in cuts and bruises and his armour was soaked in blood, both changeling and his own. At this point all that seemed to be keeping him moving was willpower and the fact no changeling had got their teeth into his throat. Even now he slowed down, legs shaking slightly as he brought a hoof up to clean his own mouthplate and coughed into it.

"Come on, we're almost clear of the worst, then we can take a breather. Just a little more, I promise." Cipher said as he slowed down to keep Bulwark going, letting the larger stallion lean on him slightly as they kept moving. The grizzled veteran grunted slightly but kept moving. As far as he could tell, he had just lost up to four of his squadmates in the space of a few minutes, he wasn't going to lose another now.

If any of the others were still alive, he hoped they were at least unhurt...

So much darkness, so much pain.

Then again, if she could feel pain, then she had to be still alive.

Most of the pain was focused in her left shoulder and chest. Even through her armour she could feel her coat was dampened by something. As for the darkness, that was simpler, her eyes were still shut. They'd been open when this started, had she actually passed out partway through? Either way, she couldn't stay here, not if that changeling was still in the area. Or worse.

Her eyes opened without difficulty, a small mercy, and she glanced around trying to make sense of where she was. It was almost as dark as it had been with her eyes shut. She was down on her right side, the same as a changeling before her. Or rather, a changeling corpse, its side had been torn open and was still bleeding slightly from the damaged internal organs, hinting it was fresh. A glance to her left showed an angled, rather jagged patch of the wall raising up quite a distance before disappearing into the darkness above, a long streak of blood visible running down it. At a guess, she'd been caught on it but the changeling had taken the brunt of the landing. It seemed safe to move and take stock of the situation at least.

After all, Water Flare wasn't the type to lay around.

She carefully shifted herself back onto her front and then up into a sitting position. Normally it would be easy but putting any pressure on her left foreleg sent fresh bolts of pain shooting through her leg and chest. As soon as she was settled, Flare brought a hoof to her chest and checked it. Sure enough, there was fresh blood on her hoof, a quick look down confirming a lot more coming from a cut that ran from her left pectoral muscle up to the top of her left shoulder. She looked back toward the bloody wall and spotted a number of her armour plates scattered near the base of it, a point she'd missed last time when her eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark yet. So, to summarise, she was possibly bleeding to death, on her own, in the dark, with nopony aware where she was or if she was even alive. It seemed like for once, this would be a perfectly good time to panic.

Yet, she didn't.

Where the fear normally started to form at the back of her mind, there was a whisper instead. A gentle reminder that the others were counting on her to get back to them, that this wasn't like it had been in Whinnyapolis, not like any time she had been losing control. There was no heat, the only one hurt was her, there were a lot more ponies who wanted to see her succeed this time. As the only pony here, she was in control of the situation, she didn't have time to panic until she'd patched herself up. Without thinking about it, she started looking round for her bags and spotted them by the broken armour at the base of the wall. Flare slowly pushed herself to her hooves and limped over to it, having to drag her bad leg beneath her for now, before checking to see what had survived the fall.

Most of her supplies had been damaged or broken against the rocks, including, most worryingly, almost all her remaining water. A roll of bandages and some painkillers were still intact though, just what she needed right now. She took the tablets with one of the two mouthfuls of water she had left and started tearing the bandages into strips with her teeth. Although she lacked anything to hold them down with, she improvised by fitting the ends between her coat and the layers of armour that had been exposed, leaning back against the wall as she carefully covered her wound. It was far from perfect but it would have to do until she could find Healing Wave. A few minutes later she was done, an already slightly bloody set of bandages securely fitted in place and the painkillers starting to kick in, the numbness in her leg and chest welcome in comparison to before.

"Okay, okay, you can do this. Keep moving, find the others." Flare told herself, pushing herself back onto her hooves and fitting her bags again. Her eyes had completely adjusted to the darkness by now and she could see a tunnel just beyond the body of the changeling. Without any other options, she slowly began to limp her way into it, wincing on every step.

Aurora gasped slightly as the world reappeared around him, jumping to his hooves with a strangely loud thud and looking round as he finally began to get his breathing under control. To his small relief, he seemed to be in one of the tunnels inside the mountain. When he'd first started to learn teleportation, Cadance had warned him repeatedly that attempting it without focusing on a destination could have unpredictable effects. As his winding passed and the adrenaline of the fight faded, he looked round for any indicator of exactly where he'd ended up and stopped at a very familiar bloodstain on the wall. His eyes shifted down slightly and saw a dried pool of blood on the floor beneath it, though no sign of what it came from. He knew already though.

This was the same spot he'd killed that changeling several hours ago. Without a destination in mind, his magic must have returned him to the last spot he'd cast the spell from. This position wasn't too bad, he had a good idea of where to go to get back to where he'd come from, as well as the exit. But that area was likely swarming with changelings by now. As insane as it sounded, his best bet was to try and move away from that position, then find an alternate route back out of the mountain and call for help. It didn't feel good to leave the others behind but it would only be for a few minutes, even less if he tele-

A groan from nearby derailed his chain of thought, it was feminine but not the kind of sound a pony made. He looked over toward it and froze up. Another changeling was getting back to its hooves just a few feet away, several marks on the ground from where it had come down. At a guess, it, or she, had been close enough in her attack to be caught in his magic and teleported with him. That explained the thud. Now though, he had to think if fight or flight would be better in this situation.

Before he could decide, the changeling looked round at him, its bright blue eyes meeting his exposed hazel one. As impossible as it sounded, he recognised it, her, whichever it was. The lack of horn helped in that regard, but the look in its eye that even he recognised as fear was the most distinctive thing. This was the same changeling that had fled when him and Rainbow Dash had been attacked. As he thought back to that incident several hours ago, he remembered how the changeling had reacted. Stance, body movements, speech. Her words had sounded as though she really didn't want to fight and he had no idea if she would understand his words. Using what she had said would at worst make her attack and he was still fit to defend himself in a one-on-one fight.

"Han't bellera meko...ka?" He asked, taking a step backward as he did. The changeling stared at him in response, mouth opening slightly. The look in her eyes showed a sense of surprise and her body relaxed slightly.

"Yees beli melkancos meko?" She replied, holding her ground. Aurora realised that even if he apparently said the right thing, he had no idea what she was saying now. Still, the edge had been taken off the situation, now seemed like a better time to try and see if he could make some headway using his language.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any other changeling words. Do, you understand any of mine?"

"Kop." Even if he didn't understand that, the nod of the head that went with it made it clear.

"Are you, able to speak pony words?" He felt bad for phrasing it that way, but if he didn't try then any further attempts to communicate would be severely limited.

"Ka orras, ka orras..." The changeling repeated the words several times, looking down for a few seconds before looking back at him. "I do."

Well, that certainly helped.

"My name is Aurora, I don't want to fight." He followed up, relaxing further. He couldn't let his guard down but if this was able to end peacefully then, who knew what might happen?

"My name is..." She blinked and tilted her head slightly. "Ymir. I do not want to fight. I must then. Not now."

"I'm sorry?" He asked, confused by the answer. Ymir, as he guessed she had called herself, tapped her head with a hoof, looking thoughtful.

"I am hive changeling. I do not know all pony talk."

"I see." Well that made sense. Likely she had learned what little she knew of pony language from changelings that had been infiltrators among ponykind.

"I see. Ka lugis." She said to herself, seemingly checking the words against the changeling translation. Aurora steadily watched her, mind racing with all the questions he wanted to ask. First things first though, he needed clarification.

"If you don't want to fight, why did you fight us before?"

Ymir stopped at that and looked down. Aurora watched her for several awkward seconds before she tapped the ground with a hoof and looked back at him with a disappointed expression.

"The queen not like not fighters. When changelings here, I must fight. Here now, I will not fight."

"Thank you." He said softly, relaxing further. Her look softened at that and as she mouthed the translation to herself, she smiled slightly.

"Torb yees." She replied, the sentiment obvious. Aurora sighed slightly and lifted his visor with his magic, blinking as his left eye adjusted to the natural light in the tunnel.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did I say to you when I spoke changeling?" He asked, stepping a little closer. Ymir paused for several seconds again at that. She was doing that a lot, seemingly trying to translate in her head before coming up with a response.

"Don't hurt me, please." She eventually replied.

"Oh." Aurora folded his ears back, feeling that sense of regret welling up in his chest again. It must have shown on his face as well because Ymir blinked several times and stepped closer.

"Melkancos, domani...Sepsis?" She said to herself before looking at him with as close to a reassuring look as she could make. "I, get why. Queen say ponies evil, food. Changelings hate ponies...I do not."

"Why?" He asked before he could stop himself, curiosity overtaking him. She shifted in place in response, now facing her turn to fold her ears back.

"I...Want to see home." She finally replied, shaking her head slightly.

Aurora nodded slowly, not understanding since all his knowledge of changelings indicated that if the hive had set up in this mountain, then she was home already. What he did understand though, was that this changeling wanted to get away from Chrysalis' rule. It might be an act, it might be genuine, but he couldn't let this opportunity go either way. His hatred of changelings was reserved solely for what the queen had done to his parents and the one who had attacked Rainbow. Ymir deserved a chance at least, even if the idea he had to give it meant giving up his own ease of escape. He slowly reached up to his mouthplate and undid it, letting it swing open and leaving his muzzle exposed.

"Maybe we can help each other," He told her, getting her attention back. "I need to leave before any other changelings find me and to get help for my friends. If you help me find a way out of the mountain, I can get you to a place where the queen wont see you and you can escape to your home. Does that sound okay?"

Ymir visibly perked up at that offer and made a small chirping sound, her wings buzzling slightly. Even with all the tension still in the air, Aurora found the sight strangely adorable.

"Ho vinona gallatassal!" She replied eagerly before collecting herself and settling down. "I like idea." She moved past him and motioned for him to follow her through the tunnels.

"Torb yees," He said simply, getting another small chirp out of her for that as he followed, using his horn to light the way and quickly sensing to see if anypony else was close. Aside from the changeling before him, it came up blank and he let it fade. "So, Ymir, would it be alright if I, asked you a few questions about changelings? Ponies have known about changelings for over fourteen hundred years, but we know so little about changelings."

"Cypi fossi remenis?" She said to herself in confusion, before looking back at Aurora. "I may ask about ponies?"

"Of course," Aurora said as he drew level with her, feeling more relaxed than he had for some time. So many questions and possibilities were running through his head, not just for this moment but what this could mean for ponies and changelings. For now though, he just had to keep on alert, and learn. "So, is it rare for changelings to be born without horns?"

As Ymir gave her reply, explaining that it was actually normal for regular female changelings to be hornless, Aurora allowed himself to relax further. Though they were still keeping a few feet between them, on the off chance either decided to try something, he had the feeling that she was genuine. Both of them just wanted a way out of here and even she'd so much as picked up on the implication of what he'd do when free, he doubted she'd have been willing to help him bring an army back if she didn't want to get away. For now, they were just going to have to trust each other.

Author's Note

And now we have our Thorax of this world. On the chance you haven't seen the disclaimer blog I wrote several months before: Despite the similarity to the S6 finale, I came up with the concepts for this story several months prior to seeing it.

As an aside, my opinion of the finale has improved since I made that review.