The guards and scientists stopped in front of a closed gate. The guards once again were frustrated, while Spark Fire carefully observed the triple hexagon symbol on the gate. It reminded him a lot of a changeling's colors, and this made him feel uneasy. The scientists attempted to open the gate with a nearby control panel, though it malfunctioned the second they tried to activate it. Tired of waiting, one of the pegasus guards hit the panel with his hoof with tremendous force. To the surprise of the others, the gate started to open, the guard facing the scientists with an arrogant smile that made it difficult for them to hide their anger. They walked into the next room the same way they came to it, with Spark Fire behind everyone.

It didn't take them long to realize that the room was darker than they had anticipated. The unicorn guard signaled for Spark Fire to join him in using their magic to create light, and Spark Fire quickly came to the front of the group with his partner, both using their magic to light the way. The guard knew that having Spark Fire at the front with him would mean they would need to walk slowly since he liked to take a good look at his surroundings, but he didn't mind, he was used to working with him. The scientists paid little attention to that detail as well, their job did not involve walking at a fast pace for long periods of time. With the pegasus guards, however, it was a different story, and more than once they attempted to make the unicorns walk faster.

The room was about as big as the Princess' throne room, and with the help of the light, they saw that there were a few closed doors, each with their own control panel, though the guards simply ignored them. When they were in the middle of the room, Spark Fire suddenly stopped, using his horn's light to reveal a trail of green slime that led into the darkness. He signaled the others to stay behind, and he slowly walked, following the trail and at the same time paying attention to the darkness at his sides. He eventually reached a gate similar to the one they had opened earlier, except this one was already open. Before turning around to let the group know that it was safe to proceed, he took one last look into the darkness of the next room. What he saw made him run back to the group as fast as he could.

"Changelings!" he shouted.

He barely had time to rejoin the group as the sounds of insect wings were heard from the end of the room, and seconds later a swarm of changelings came from the open gate. The four guards quickly stood in defensive position, spears and magic ready to attack. The changelings were faster than they thought, and the guards only managed to defend themselves for a couple seconds before being overwhelmed. Spark Fire managed to cast a fire spell that made the changelings attacking him drop to the floor, though he had no time to confirm if they were killed by the spell. His fellow unicorn guard saw he was, for the moment, free to move. However he noticed more changelings coming from the gate, and realized Spark Fire had only seconds before another group of changelings attacked him again.

"Sparky, go! More changelings incoming!" The guard's voice was barely audible above all the noise from the changelings' attacks. "Get somewhere safe!"

"I'm not leaving you all here!" Spark Fire was ready to attack the changelings attacking his partner.

"Just do it!" shouted the guard very loudly, this time heard clearly.

Spark Fire knew his friend's tone. Though he would have gladly stayed to help, he decided to obey and quickly ran away, avoiding changelings as he looked for a way out. The gate they had used to enter the room was blocked by more changelings, forcing him to try to open one of the doors. While he was not bad with technology, he was bad at trying to use computers under pressure, and was tempted to try to destroy the panels like the pegasus guard had done earlier, but this would close the door forever if it didn't work, and blasting the door open with a spell needed more time than he had. Luckily, when he avoided one of the changelings, it crashed into the control panel, opening the door and allowing Spark Fire to escape. The room he had entered had a platform very similar to the one from the barn, though this one was easier to activate. Before any changelings had the chance to follow him, Spark Fire was already out of their reach.

As the platform moved upwards, Spark Fire looked at the platform's controls, and saw a screen with what seemed to be a map of a hive-like complex, with a blinking red dot showing the platform's location. He saw that the room he was in earlier was the center of the complex, and that he was now headed towards an area named "Lab Sector D". He also saw that the platform that took him and the others into the complex was one of only 2 ways out, the other one located at the bottom level of the complex, in an area named "Throne". He did not like the sound of that, remembering the changeling queen from the invasion of Canterlot.

The platform reached its destination about 10 minutes after it started moving, enough time for him to observe and study the map and memorize most of it. While this may have seemed impossible for anypony, Spark Fire had developed his "habit" of observation shortly after he became a royal guard. Since crime rates in Canterlot are low and Equestria was not currently at war with another nation, guards are often limited to keeping watch and guarding the castle's doors, and this was often boring for the new recruits. Spark Fire found an interesting way to entertain himself while keeping watch, looking at the ponies walking in front of the castle. Originally he focused on the colors and races of the ponies, then on their clothes and finally on their expressions, this eventually made him able to correctly guess many things about the ponies, and with time he started doing the same with his surroundings. He was very proud of this, and often said it was his second talent, since his cutie mark already showed his real special talent which was entirely unrelated.

As he walked out of the platform, he set his priorities in order. First, he would gather information as soon as possible, then look for the others and find the way out. He started walking towards the exit, and before being able to get to the control panel of the door, he saw something on the floor right in front of him, a keycard with the same symbol the gates had. He lifted it with his magic to get a closer look, and was able to read the words "Dr. White Rose" on one side of the card, next to the picture of a female unicorn.

Author's Note

As with the first chapter, criticism is welcome.