Sarah leaned forwards against the edge of the cocoon, her breaths shallow and her eyes were darkly shadowed. Her stomach roared at her and her mouth was dry enough that she was almost at the point of trying to drink some of the liquid that surrounded her. The woman had lost a lot of weight, most of it muscle mass, along with quite a bit of fat. According to Nim, the mental beatings she took weren't helping either. Making all those defenses cost energy, and energy comes from food, or stored fat, which Sarah was rapidly running out of. In short, she didn’t quite look like a ghoul... but it was getting uncomfortably close.

As the grains of time continued to fall within her mind she dimly wondered how long it would be until Chrysalis came back to finish her off, surely it wouldn’t be too long and the woman knew she wouldn’t be able to protect herself. She didn’t even have Nim to fall back on, the alicorn was still sound asleep, unable to do anything more then snort or moan in her sleep.

The woman had once again tried to punch her way out of her prison but it was futile, if she couldn’t do it while at full strength there was no way she could do it now. Her head drifted even farther forwards and her eyes closed tiredly. However, before she could drift off the sound of chitinous hooves impacting off of the ground made her look up, her spirits sinking deeper as she saw the changeling approaching her.

Despite its exhaustion, her perceptive mind was still picked up a few things about the changeling. Firstly, it was a changeling that she’d never seen before, lean and graceful with an impeccable pale pink mane. Second, the changeling was staring at her with widened eyes. Thirdly, most importantly, she was carrying plate of bread and a glass of water! Despite herself, Sarah felt her mouth begin to salivate and it was all she could do to keep herself from moaning at the sight of the simple food.

Reflection stared at the human woman with open concern, she’d obviously been horribly abused by her... mother and the mare could see her ribs showing through the cocoon. Despite the ratty, half starved, appearance, Reflection was positive that this was Luna’s Sarah. If nothing else, she perfectly matched the statue in the garden.

As she drew nearer, Sarah began to shake in the cocoon, clearly trying to get to the food held in her grasp. Reflection glowered, her mother was going to pay for this atrocity, but that came later. Now, now it was time to introduce herself.

“Please hold still, Sarah,” the changeling said, her lyrical voice soft and steady. “I don’t want to spill any of this water.”

Sarah froze. “You’re using my name?” she asked, her voice cracking from dryness.

“Yes,” Reflection answered, giving her a smile as she brought the glass of water up to Sarah’s lips. “Now, I’m going to do this slowly alright? Don’t take big gulps or else it could go down the wrong pipe and you’ll be coughing it all up.”

Sarah glowered at her but nodded slightly as she pursed her lips just a bit to allow the water to trickle down her throat. Her eyes shot open in surprise, that water was pure, cold, and delicious! It flowed down the back of her throat, filling it with moisture and the woman let out a sigh as she drank more and more of it until the cup was half empty and the changeling pulled it away.

“But I wasn’t finished!” Sarah protested angrily.

“True, but you’ll probably want some to wash down the bread, right?” Reflection replied with a raised eyebrow.

“I... yes,” Sarah stated, looking down at the bread hungrily now that she’d been reminded that it existed.

“Small pieces again,” Reflection instructed as she broke the bread into a dozen pieces and sent one up to Sarah.

The woman sniffed it for a moment and then leaned forwards to bite into it. The explosion of flavors hit her like a ton of bricks and she fell back against the cocoon as a happy moan left her throat. This was the first time she’d ever had a bite of something that wasn’t two hundred years old or irradiated in some way other than Punga Fruit and she loved it.

Reflection for her part just raised an eyebrow as she brought the next bite up and the woman demolished it along with the next few. When the last peice of bread was gone and Sarah had drunken the dregs of the water glass the woman looked down at her and Reflection suddenly found herself under the inspection of a pair of incredibly perceptive eyes.

“You’re not one of them,” the woman stated quietly. “If you were, you wouldn’t have been so careful with me.”

Reflection blinked twice and then a small smile crossed her face. “You’re right,” she said with a whisper as she walked closer to Sarah. “I’m supposed to be here spying on my mother... but I’d say that you take priority,” she added, her voice even lower.

Sarah wouldn’t have normally been able to hear her, but her elven ears were good for some things. The woman’s heart soared. Someone had been listening to her prayer and the thought of Luna appearing to rescue her or even simply having this changeling help her escape from the cocoon overpowered her for a moment.

“Well... can you get me out?” Sarah replied after a long moment of silence.

“I could, but you wouldn’t get far,” Reflection stated with a shake of her head. “There are too many changelings and you’re far too weak even with my help to get out of the Badlands.”

Sarah’s heart fell but she hadn’t really expected that to be an option anyways... she wasn’t sure if she could even walk at the moment let alone run through ‘the Badlands’.

“I... alright, can you get radio Luna then? Tell her to come and rescue me?” Sarah asked slowly.

“I don’t have a here in the Hive,” Reflection replied before she shook her head. “But don’t worry, once I leave this room I’m going to fly back to Canterlot and I’m going to tell Luna about this. I may work for her sister, but she knows of me.”

“Okay... good... please... stop standing here and do it!” Sarah whispered urgently. “Chrysalis could come back at any second and I REALLY don’t think that I can win again. Nim’s unconscious and I’m running on dregs and-”

“I will,” the changeling replied in a soothing tone as she gave the woman kind smile. “I’m a fast flyer, just hang in there.”

Sarah noded frantically once and unbidden to herself, small tears began to trickle down her face. She was getting out of here! She was going to be reunited with Luna!

Reflection saw the tears and had to restrain herself from crying as well, the poor woman looked so incredibly tired and abused that it broke her heart.

“Goodbye,” the changeling said as she started walking from the room but on the way out she spotted something lying in the gloom off to the side. It was a silver sword with a scrawled note lying beside it in her mother’s script.

To any drone or operator, this sword is magical and most likely would clue that bitch Luna off to its location somehow, for that reason it is staying within this magic proof room. DO NOT REMOVE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

Reflection frowned down at the note as she struggled with a decision. Should she or should she not take the sword? If she did, then Luna might show up at this very moment and that would be good... but she’d be armor and weaponless and who knew what might happen in that case. With a sigh Reflection shook her head, she had to get to Canterlot, now.

Luna sighed as she walked towards the armory to retrieve Moonlight, it was time to practice wielding the great sword’s length again. Her father had been more right than he knew when he’d said that she hadn’t been trained to wield it.

The blade was nowhere near as intuitive as Daybreaker had been and it lacked a certain ‘flare’ that Daybreaker had always carried about it. Still, the Queen did have to admit, the idea of carrying a six foot long blade into battle unquestionably had an appeal all its own.

She donned her armor, a simple set of steel that was enchanted to deflect most types of minor magic spells along with minor projectiles like arrows, and began to practice her swings. Moonlight slashed a blazing trail through the air, its Damascus blade creating ripples of power through the air as the sun high above beat down on her.

The alicorn lost herself in her training, ignoring the sweat that flowed off of her body and dripped to the ground beneath her as she swung, sidestepped, slashed, and pirouetted and smashed. After fifteen minutes the mare took a break to take a sip from a nearby water bottle and notice that Jackdaw was eying something in the sky.

“What is it?” Luna asked as she turned to follow his vision.

“Looks like a changeling,” Jackdaw replied as he reached for his mini-crossbow. “Want me to take it out?” He asked around the weapon’s handle.

“No, I’m perfectly capable of doing it,” Luna replied as her eyes narrowed on the changeling. “Besides, it would not have gotten this far unless it had clearance to do so.”

“True,” Jackdaw agreed, though he kept the mini-crossbow ready to use.

Luna frowned as the changeling drew closer and then her eyes widened slightly as she remembered where she’d seen her before. It was Refection, the spy that Celestia had planted within the Hive. She sheathed Moonlight at once and stepped aside, offering the changeling more room to land in the Courtyard.

“Your Majesty thank goodness I found you so quickly!” Reflection exclaimed immediately upon landing. The changeling then collapsed to her knees, panting heavily. Luna offered her the water bottle but Reflection shook her head and pushed it away. “Listen to me. Chrysalis has Sarah your lover held within her Hive and is in the process of trying to break her.”

Luna’s heart stopped beating for a second. “What?”

“Chrysalis, my mother, has Sarah, your lover, trapped within her Hive and has been torturing her for the past week,” Reflection repeated, adding more details this time.

Luna blinked and then her eyes hardened. “WHAT?!” she roared, her eyes glowing a fiery silver as magic began to swirl around the mare.

Her mane spread out beneath her helm until it was flowing all around her head in a display of nearly incomprehensible power. Reflection wilted under the sheer magnitude of her anger but quickly summarized where Sarah was being held and what had been done to her. With every sentence Luna’s anger grew more and more palpable until it Reflection could actually feel energy radiating off of Luna.

Jackdaw stared at the mare before taking a single step towards her and tapping her on the shoulder.

“WHAT IS IT?” Luna snapped at him.

“You go save your love, I’ll go tell Celestia to get her cake eating ass in the air and out there,” Jackdaw stated, not in the least bit phased by Luna’s residual anger. “I figure that she’s the only one who can actually ‘guard you’ in this case so...”

Luna gave him a firm nod and then looked at Reflection as her anger cooled a bit, of course... that did not mean it was gone. Oh no. It was there. It was most certainly there.

“Reflection, go to your love and you are relieved of any spying for the next month, thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming to me when you did,” the alicorn said as she did a quick equipment check, old habits falling into place. Sword? Check. Armor? Check. Magic levels? Double check. She was ready to go.

Before Reflection could say a word, Luna vanished with a flash.

Chrysalis stalked towards Sarah, practically spitting with rage. “You killed FIVE of my best children and you made me look like a coward you insipid little BITCH!” she roared as she reached Sarah and slapped her across the face.

Sarah’s only reaction was to grin.

Chrysalis growled and slapped her again. “I am going to do so many awful things to you Sarah. You think that what you put me through in your mind was bad? I will make you suffer hell like you’ve never even dreamed of!”

“I don’t really care,” Sarah replied, her smirk widening as energy flowed through her. A wave of pain wailed through her body but she ignored it and kept her smirk wide. “You think you can break me? You’re wrong bitch. Dead wrong.”

“We’ll see about that!” Chrysalis retorted before she bit down into Sarah’s neck, her jaws tearing into Sarah’s skin with a fury unlike any she’d used before and dark drops of blood began to leak from where they’d passed.

Sarah let out a moan as more of the pleasurable venom drilled into her body and despite herself her hips began to jerk rapidly within the cocoon.

“That’s right, you want to please me, don’t you my pet?” Chrysalis asked as she released Sarah and began to lick up the blood, making Sarah moan again as her tongue circled over her sensitive skin. “When I’m done with you, you’ll call me Mistress and then once that is complete you’ll plunge the knife into Luna’s heart!”

“Go-fuck-yourself!” Sarah gasped between waves of bliss that assaulted her mind.

Chrysalis was surely going to say something in response to that. It was probably going to be a brilliant retort of some kind. Something to really force Sarah to understand the hopelessness of her situation. However, something stopped her before she could.

The ceiling shook. It was almost imperceptible and ordinarily Chrysalis wouldn't have noticed it. However, it was impossible for the ceiling to be shaking this deep in the Hive, sure, it could have been an earthquake, but... only the ceiling was shaking. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t the ceiling itself doing the shaking; it was the Wards.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened as the ceiling shook again, this time hard enough for Sarah to pick up on it.

“Oh, that looks neat,” the woman commented dryly. “I wonder who’s causing that.”

Chrysalis snapped her eyes away from the ceiling to stare at Sarah angrily. “I don’t know but I will be ready for the-”

The ceiling exploded.

Luna grimly blasted her way through the final ward with her horn and then slammed her hoof down. The ceiling gave way beneath her and she descended into the room. Her eyes easily took in the entire room in a matter of seconds. Sarah, her love was in a cocoon, Chrysalis, the bug was standing near her. The mare’s horn glowed brilliantly and the rocks that had been in the process of crashing to the floor were caught an inch above the ground and easy as thought, redirected right at Chrysalis.

The Changeling Queen barely had time to scream before a boulder slammed into her chest. Luna didn’t spare her a second glance as she closed the distance between herself and Sarah. Moonlight sprang free from its sheath and in a single movement the front of Sarah’s cocoon was torn open and the woman’s naked form toppled forwards only to be caught by Luna’s magic.

She would have been overcome by joy and relief at that very moment if not for the fact that her mind was still full of an incalculable amount of anger. So she set Sarah down on her back, the woman collapsing against her like a foal, and turned back to Chrysalis who was in the middle of trying to get up.

Out of the corner of her eyes she spotted a splash of silver to the side of the room and noticed Daybreaker lying there. Her magic reached out for her old sword and it jumped into her grip as she approached the downed Changeling Queen. Chrysalis had made it to her feet.

“You think this is the end of it? You think you can kill me surrounded by my chil-”

Moonlight’s hilt bottomed out against her jaws as its tip cleanly exited through her rear end. Luna stared at her, the incredible anger that she’d been holding in suddenly erupting with a earsplitting roar.

"SHE! IS! MINE!"

The words were not so much said as they were projected as pure energy into Chrysalis’ mind which had been unable to leave her now impaled body. That done Luna activated Moonlight’s enchantment and pulled down. The blade’s silver light flared as it chewed through the chitin and then its length exited her, the body falling to either side as what used to be internal organs seeped out from between the halves.

A topaz shape suddenly hurled itself at Luna but the mare caught it in mid air to see a small changeling grasped firmly in her magic. Luna barely paid it any attention as she stabbed Daybreaker through its stomach and then cut it in half lengthwise in a shower of brown ichor.

Then she glanced back at Sarah who was in the process of hugging her armoured neck as if it was in danger of disappearing, which considering everything, was actually a fairly legitimate fear.

“You are safe Sarah,” Luna whispered to her as her horn began to glow. Sarah, whose eyes were wet with tears as she whispered to herself.

“Luna... Luna... Luna.”

Luna appeared in the infirmary wing of the Palace, startling several nurses and a doctor. The alicorn staggered, the sheer amount of energy she’d just used twice and a row catching up to her almost immediately. Only the fear of Sarah hitting the ground beside her kept the mare from simply collapsing and she turned towards the doctor. He was a brown unicorn stallion with a foppish mane and an hourglass circled by a pair of snakes much like a caduceus. His name was Doctor Time and he was the royal physician who had moved from Trottingham.

“Doctor Time, please I need a bed large enough for her along with an I.V. drip... and a bed for myself, I think I’m going to pass out in a matter of minutes,” Luna said as the armor around her suddenly seemed to gain a hundred extra pounds of weight.

“At once my Queen,” Time answered in his normal unflappable Trotish accent, as if this sort of thing happened every day. “Chop chop everyone, you heard the Queen,” he called to the others as his horn began to glow and Luna’s armor vanished causing Sarah to fall two inches and then cling even tighter to Luna’s neck.

Luna blinked for a moment before she remembered that every piece of armor she or Celestia could wear was encoded so that the Doctor could remove it. After all, nothing is worse then a doctor who can’t do his job because there’s a hunk of metal in the way.

As the Doctor began to circle her, the room fell away from Luna’s perspective and she instead only had eyes for the woman who was currently hugging her, crying her eyes out. Unlike before, Luna couldn’t help herself. Her horn began to glow very faintly and Sarah rose from her back and she set her down standing on the floor in front of her. Sarah fell forwards against her but Luna caught her easily with her wings and brought her head down beside Sarah’s, cradling the woman gently against her chest.

“Do not worry Sarah,” she whispered in Sarah’s ear, tears streaming from her eyes. “I’ll never let you go.”

“Oh Luna... I finally found you,” Sarah said between a gasp. “I finally found you.”