Task Force Harmony

The rest of the walk was silent and tense. Ymir was the only one among them who had any idea of what to expect when dealing with an actual changeling hive and she didn't seem willing to try and explain it through her somewhat limited knowledge of the equestrian language. The rest of the team was doing their best to simply get their heads together and focused again after the last skirmish. At the minimum, they were putting themselves in close proximity to a changeling horde just to confirm there was such a horde. It could escalate quickly though, search and rescue sounded highly likely and if they had any ponies kept in pods, that would complicate matters badly.

"Hoo boy..." Aurora broke the silence as his eyes paled, sensing ahead. "That's...That's a lot of beings. I've never felt so many at once."

"Thousands," Ymir replied, moving up to Cipher and tapping his shoulder. "We need to stop. Plan."

"That might help." Healing Wave commented from her position at the back of the group. She'd been very quiet since Ymir had joined the team, though given how she had originally compared Aurora's abilities to a changeling it wasn't too surprising.

Cipher motioned for the ground to stop and move to one side of the tunnel. There was no light aside from what their eyes could manage to secure and the tunnel was wide enough for four ponies, so they were able to keep the way open in case anything came out. Ymir quickly started drawing in the dirt with her hoof, making a pair of circles and waiting for the others to gather round before making a small arrow at the base of the left circle.

"Hive very tall, the left marks ground," She explained, keeping her voice low as she drew a small square. "We move from the arrow, enter feeding point. Pods there..."

"Will have any ponies the changelings had captured." Cipher finished, glancing up at Ymir and noticing that she looked slightly agitated, unable to make eye contact with any of them.

"Yes...Sorry."

"What for?" Bulwark asked, looking at the changeling in surprise.

"I fed from them as well. It hurts them, but I was starving." She explained, folding her ears back and clenching her eyes shut, waiting for a reaction that never came.

"Nopony can blame you for wanting to stay alive. Besides, any hurt you've caused will be insignificant compared to the good you do helping us now." Aurora told her gently, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"I...Torb yees," She told him, smiling gently before looking back to her plans, drawing out several more shapes on both circles. " Some pods are higher up, fly to get to. Not sure how many ponies are there. Ground has rest and private area, spread out. Not sure how many changelings there."

"Are there any ledges, other elevation changes?" Cipher asked as he checked over the sketches. It wasn't much, but it was preferable to going through the next seventy feet and straight into the hive without any ideas.

"Yes, entrance slightly higher."

"Okay, based on how tightly packed things are exactly in there, we'll be able to make use of it for cover. If we're fast, quiet and careful, we'll be able to move without drawing attention to ourselves. We'll have to see exactly how the land looks when we're there though. Alright, lets move."

The team, minus Ymir, tapped a hoof to their hearts and stood up before moving on again. The quiet that permeated everything around them was rather unnerving, considering how likely it was it would be a stark contrast to what was waiting for them just up ahead. The tunnel got brighter as they approached the exit, Cipher taking point to get his first proper look at a changeling hive.

The cavern the hive was established in was, for lack of a better word, gigantic. Reaching at least five hundred feet above them, the darkness of the ceiling was illuminated by the faint glow of a half-dozen pods attached there and surrounded by lichen. The ledge they stood on was approximately twenty feet up from the floor, with the path from it spiralling around the walls of the cavern with further entrances and exits visible, up toward the pods on the left and down to the ground on the right. Several changeling pods were settled near the edge of the gap before him, just about tall enough to see but not enough to actually see into. Beyond that...His eyes widened as he tried to think of the word best fitting the actual hive.

Rock slums.

That was as close as he could get.

Hundreds of semi-permanent dwellings covered the floor and lower walls, each looking like they'd struggle to hold two ponies, yet he knew it was meant for at least that many changelings. They were very low as well, even the tallest ones were only about seven feet high. It make things a lot easier to see though, he could almost see the whole length of the area, enough to see that it took up most of the width of the mountain. It was easy to imagine thousands of changelings camped out here, with minimal food or comforts.

"Is this, bad, for a hive?" He asked Ymir quietly.

"It's the only hive I've known..." She replied, looking out over it before she suddenly tensed up, her normally blank white pupils shrinking to a normal ponies' size as she pointed over toward the right side of the hive. "Hi rou..." She hissed. "Chrysalis."

The rest of the team moved up to look as well, checking the view ahead. Despite the clutter of buildings, their higher position meant each of them could see the imposing, focused march of Queen Chrysalis. Flash Sentry gritted his teeth slightly and Cipher's expression darkened as they watched closely. Both had been serving when she first attacked Canterlot and all of them had seen the queen in reports. This was their first time seeing her for real though. As they watched silently, she made her way to the edge of the hive and disappeared into a side cave.

"Where's that lead?" Aurora asked, looking over at Ymir. She folded her ears back and looked at him slowly.

"Question room. Somepony is in real harm."

Rainbow Dash groaned weakly as she started to regain consciousness again. A small pull on each limb and wing confirmed they were still stuck to the wall by that stifling goo, a wiggle of her chest reaffirming that her armour was still opened up at the chestplate. She'd lost track of how long she'd been out cold this time, or how many times it had happened, just that her hind legs were starting to go numb from being held up against this wall for so long.

"Wakey wakey, my little pest."

She had just enough time to recognise the voice before a hoof slapped her across the face, leaving a mark on her left cheek. Rainbow grunted and silently convinced herself to lift her head again, remembering that hit was nothing compared to the last time when she hadn't. Her tired magenta eyes opened slowly, being met with a pair of sickening green eyes staring straight back at her, part of a familiar black plated face that was nose-to-nose with her.

"Morning." She replied dryly as she kept staring, really wishing she had her helmet right now. Though considering how close she'd come to having a hole punched through her ear the last time she'd been wearing it, maybe she didn't.

"I do hope you had a good rest," Chrysalis said sardonically as she pulled her head back and smirked, lording it over her prisoner. "We still have much to discuss."

"I've already told you everything you're going to hear from me."

"Really?" Chrysalis tapped her chin in mock thought and bared a fang. "Because, I don't recall 'Go fuck yourself' ever being on the list of things I want to hear."

"Try the list of things all your drones want to sa-" Rainbow's defiance was cut off as Chrysalis' horn glowed green and the pegasus felt her head being surrounded by its aura before it was yanked forward and smacked back into the wall. She gasped in pain as the already bruised back of her head took another hit before the magic faded and she had a moment to collect herself. The lingering stinging this time suggested that the repeated abuse was starting to take its toll.

"My children, the true changelings, know better than to think such things of me," Chrysalis turned her back to Rainbow, simply taking delight in her pained breaths for now. "Not that they would need to, their loyalty is stronger than anything livestock such as yourself could hope to understand."

"...Really? Saying that to the Element of Loyalty?" Rainbow countered, even as she winced from a fresh ache from the back of her head. Odds were that she had a least a dozen others all over her body by now, both from the changelings that had cornered and subdued her, and from Chrysalis' interrogation methods.

"The titles of a dead mare hold no meaning here. Unless..." Chrysalis mused, almost to herself, before swinging round and slamming a hoof square into Rainbow Dash's sternum. The two remaining layers of her armour could do nothing against such a hit and the mare cried out as her chest was momentarily caught in a crush between the wall and the hoof, sending fresh pain shooting through her torso. "Did that hurt? That looked like it hurt a lot."

She didn't reply, desperately gasping for air as she tried to get the life back into her body.

"That's the thing, I could beat you to death right now and all I'd get out of it is the satisfaction, and some wonderful imagery for tonight," Chrysalis leaned in again, her tone calmer and more positive as she put a hoof to Rainbow's chin and lifted it to make eye contact again. The sudden change in attitude unnerved the pegasus more than anything so far. "But, if I was to bring one of your 'friends' in here and start showing them the same hospitality...Your precious element means you'd do anything to help them."

"That..." Rainbow shut her eyes for a moment before she managed to focus enough to make a complete sentence again. "Would require you to have any of the others at all."

"What if I told you that your little squad was already wrapped up in those pods outside, being drained of everything that matters to them right now?"

Rainbow's eyes widened slightly at the thought. Chrysalis simply stared her down waiting for a response. Mentally, she was congratulating herself for having such a good poker face. Just a few more bluffs, and some unexpected competence from her followers, and she would have the mare figuratively spilling her guts for the best way to start against Equestria anew. After several moments Rainbow looked back up at her, panting hard but with conviction in her words.

"I'd say that you're really full of crap."

Chrysalis' demeanour shattered and she hissed dangerously at the restrained mare. Even now she dared defy the righteous ruler of this world?

"Sure, you've got numbers on us, but that's all you've got," Rainbow lifted her head again, smiling weakly. This was going to sound so cheesy coming from her, but she needed to remind herself and remain strong. "Every one of my friends is more than capable of taking on your drones. Even if all I can do here is believe in them, that's all I need to do. Because my belief in my friends is more than you'll ever have in your hive. Even if they don't make it, it'll just rile up my other friends, all of them up until they all team up to kick your flank from here to the void of oblivion."

"You..." Chrysalis' wings opened and she darted up into a hover, all four hooves poised to strike and her horn glowing with power. She looked ready to rage, to destroy. To tear this impudent quim apart in the slowest manner possible. "You, dare...?!"

"Almost ironic, after so much suffering you caused last time that the-"

Rainbow's taunt died in her throat as the changeling's horn glowed even brighter and her still aching chest tensed up. It was like an icy hoof had been wrapped around her heart and was squeezing the life out of it. Even as she watched, a thin pink mist phased out of her body and into Chrysalis, who licked her fangs slowly as she took it all in.

"Delicious, and more ironic," Chrysalis narrowed her eyes slightly as she took the last of it in, her voice low and aggressive. "Your love for your friends, so potent. Perfect, to fuel an end too good for you!"

Chrysalis fired a beam of her magic that connected directly with Rainbow's chest. The pegasus could feel the intensity of it through her armour as it burned through the first remaining layer, then the second. Just as it reached her fur it stopped and the changeling queen dived at her with a snarl, horn still alight. She slashed it down and the magic covered horn parted her coat and dug into her body. Rainbow had a moment of nothingness as she realised the scar from her bite wound had taken the initial blow before screaming as the combined attack started tearing through live flesh, agony like fire flooding her veins even as they began to relinquish their precious liquid.

The horn didn't go too deep, only two inches deep and three inches along the center of her chest. Chrysalis promptly pulled her horn back slightly and dug the tip into the fresh wound for a moment before pulling back properly, Rainbow's fresh blood running down her horn and over her mane. With the demented look in her eye as she savoured the moment, Chrysalis looked more like a nightmare of Tartarus than a changeling.

"I'd give it a few hours before you bleed out, if I don't try too hard to make you talk," She commented, chuckling at the bleeding, panting mare before her. "Maybe your precious belief in your friends can save you. Actually, try it, I could use the snack. Heh heh, see you soon."

"Go, now!" Cipher practically pushed Bulwark forward to cross to the edge of the ledge and drop down behind the pods, like the others had already. He didn't want to rush this but everypony had heard the screams echoing throughout the cavern. Ymir had left first, which made sense considering she could move freely and check on things to give them a clearer path. He still wasn't sure if he trusted her completely, but Aurora did, that would have to do for now.

As he looked up again to get a last lay of the land, his eyes went back to the 'question room' and his blood froze slightly as he saw Chrysalis emerging from it again. Her horn and sections of her head and mane were slightly lighter than it had been before she went in. Though the darkness didn't make it clear it wasn't hard to imagine why. He bit back a curse as he watched her take off and disappear into one of the tunnels high above before following the others over the edge, landing quietly.

The glow of the half dozen pods was bright, but the...whatever it was that was inside them was thick enough to keep them from being seen through it. None of the ponies present knew which thought was worse, that there were ponies being held inside those pods or that the changelings were keeping them ready for them. A thought that was quickly answered as a rather bulky changeling approached the pods.

All five ponies pressed themselves to the floor and held their breath, watching and waiting. Even from their restricted viewpoint, each of them could see the changeling's horn glow and a thin pink mist shift from one of the pods into his waiting maw. The goo inside the pod nearest to them suddenly swirled and shifted quickly, as though something, or somepony, was thrashing about inside. The movement died down again after a few moments and the changeling took off into one of the tunnels, leaving behind the task force. Shaken by what they had seen, but undetected.

"Move fast, stay low, stick to the shadows," Cipher told the others at a stressed whisper. "We go in, grab our friend and get out fast."

"What about the others?" Aurora asked. "I mean, if it's Rainbow Dash in there, what about Water Flare? The pods?"

"Kid, I understand wanting to save everypony," Flash told him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. "But we only know where one pony we can safely move is. I hate it too, but we can't risk getting lost or caught again, not now."

Aurora sighed and looked down, simply nodding in response. With the matter dropped, Cipher pointed to one of the rock buildings nearby and waved his hoof. Bulwark and Wave went first, getting to the cover it provided before Flash and Aurora followed them with Cipher bringing up the rear. They kept steadily moving forward this way, going from cover to cover, keeping their eyes out for any changelings flying overhead. The hive seemed to be deserted though, keeping them all on edge. Only one changeling actually seemed to be about though, a regular female that was watching the entrance to where Rainbow was being held.

Bulwark advanced first, making sure the coast was clearly before he snuck up behind her and yanked her back behind the dwelling, wrapping a hoof around her muzzle before she could react and gripping her throat hard with the other. His weight kept the changeling pinned against the rock, feeling her uselessly smack a hoof against his armour until she went limp. Bulwark grunted slightly and dropped the unconscious body against the wall. Cipher nodded his approval and made to go for the entrance, only to stop at the sound of movement coming from another area. The whole team tensed at the approaching hoofsteps. Bulwark was still at the front and had time to look at the spot they were coming from before a changeling skittered round the corner and smacked into his chest.

"Foulke!" They exclaimed as they took a step back, tensing at realising just who they were facing. "Is me, is Ymir!"

"Glad you're alright," Aurora said, making use of the fact he was hidden behind Healing Wave to double check with his magic. As soon as he was sure, he dropped it and stepped out to see her. "What's happening?"

"Spoke to Marlos, small changelings like me will stay away if we can. Many big changelings away, looking out. Seeking you."

"Lucky break for us." Wave commented.

"Okay, me and Wall will go first and secure the chamber, follow in twos after us." Cipher told them, him and Bulwark checking the coast was clear before making a run for their friend.

Everypony present hoping that they had made it in time.