We were at the hive, where Rushdown had joined us, and had been waiting for Gary to pick up the dogs scent. Just being here had caused Ribbon to become depressed.

“So I was told you wanted me specifically, this must be pretty important.” Rushdown's inquiry derailed that train of thought, causing me to blink a few times as I collected my thoughts.

“It is, Rushdown, we needed you in particular because of how stealthy you can be.”

“I’m listening.” He gave me a 'go on' gesture with his hoof, clearly interested.

“So the plan is to have Gary sniff out the diamond dogs that were part of the raid on the hive, and from their, me, you, Ribbon, and a few other changelings are going to sneak in there, and free everyone.”

*BARK!* Finally! Gary dashed into a rather large and uneven tunnel.

“He’s got the scent!” I quickly bolted after the oversized timberwolf, a sense of anticipation building, as Gary led us down a tunnel, following his nose.

It looked different from the normal tunnels of the hive, Changeling diggers did a good job of making everything smooth but these dogs didn’t care. Soon, the tunnel began descending at a sharp angle, the air heavy, carrying with it a sensation of unease.

-I got a bad feeling about this.-

’I don’t like this either, even the air in the hive was never this thick.’ The tunnel eventually exited into a sort of hub, lots of different paths connected to one room. Gary sniffed around for a bit and went down the biggest tunnel. Several veins of minerals dotted the walls.

After an hour of walking the heavy air about this place started to lift, alongside our altitude, it was easy to see why. The tunnel was starting to widen and I could see a light. When we exited, I took a deep breath, glad to be out of that cramped tunnel. Looking back, our little group was quite far away from the mountain that held the now abandoned hive. What lay before us was a vast expanse of grassland, the tall grass easily hid the hole we came out of, especially in this late hour.

"We should probably set up camp here."

“Alright. Cut down some of the grass, and see if we can make a fire!”

Ribbon soon found a large amount of grass hovering in her face, as I had pulled a bunch out of the ground with my magic. She swatted at it like a fly that was buzzing around her.

"Hold up." Rushdown suddenly bolted upright, his ears swiveling in search of something. "Does anyone else hear flapping?"

He's right, I do hear it... "Sounds too big for a bird, or even a griffon..." We all listened intently, until Ribbon suddenly shouted in panic.

“Dragon! Get down, hide!” Upon the word 'dragon' I was already hitting the deck, hunkered down right beside Ribbon. Her breathing had picked up rapidly, and her eyes had shrunk to pinpricks. A large shadow passed over us, and when I looked up, I felt my breath hitch.

A large brown wyvern sailed over us, as Ribbon begun whimpering in absolute terror.

-Ribbon, are you okay? If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were having some kind of horrendous flashback right now…- As the dragon flew off, I scooted closer to Ribbon, before draping a wing over her, trying to comfort her. She was practically as scared of dragons as Fluttershy was!

“Those things shoot fire! Why wouldn’t I be scared?!” Ribbon whisper yelled at me. Okay, that is actually a good point, that would hurt like hell.

"But what would a dragon be doing here?"

“I don’t know. Chances are, we’re going to find out and I don’t like it.”

"Neither do I... fighting a hydra was one thing, but a dragon!?" The only good part about this was at least it wasn't Ridley or Alduin. Now that would be bad. "Wait. Thing?"

"Yes, thing, monsters.” Ribbon turned to address everyone. “Everyling, forget the fire, we’re sending the night in the tunnel. We don’t need to be attracting any attention.”

“Monster? I know they can be greedy, but monsters?”

Ribbon walked past me, towards the tunnel. “Not all treasure is silver and gold.” The implications of that sentence hit me like a freight train.

"What, Happened?"

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

"I can see that whatever happened is quite the sore spot for you."

“Just. Drop it, please.”

"Alright, I'm dropping it."

I watched as as the other changelings finished concealing the tunnel entrance, and sat down beside Ribbon, draping a wing over her. I could tell that dragon had left her quite rattled, especially due to the incident she brought up, but refused to elaborate upon. I soon felt something clutching my side, and found Ribbon holding onto me like I was the only thing that mattered to her.

As I felt her breathing slow, I couldn't help but wonder what was in store for us.

When I awoke, I could no longer feel Ribbon against me, and instead found her standing by the entrance to the tunnel, staring out into the sky as the sun rose.

Taking care not to disturb her, I slowly got up, and made my way over, unsure of what was going on in her head. I could hear her mumbling under her breath, but couldn’t make out what she was saying.

"Ribbon?" Ribbon yelped in surprise. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok… You’re the first one up, the others will be getting up shortly.”

"Somethings been troubling you, hasn't it? Other than the dragon, I mean."

“Yes. This hive was attacked, and we failed to see it coming. Even if we rescue all the changelings that were taken from me, where will we go? We can’t just go back to that hive, it’s known, it’s one thing for the ponies to know, at least now. But, now the griffons know.”

"I can think of two places, we either colonize the Everfree, or we try to convince Celestia to let us use the Canterlot crystal mines."

“The Everfree has to many creatures in it, we’d have to show up every hydra and manticore. As for Princess Celestia, she's not really a problem, it’s the nobles and the hissy fit they’ll throw. If we did make it into Canterlot, it wouldn’t matter if we’re known. But that still leaves the problem of the diamond dogs, their made to dig, and we need a way to protect ourselves from them.”

"Ribbon, the dogs were too stupid to have done that without the griffons help, and I doubt the griffons would be dumb enough to do that if we were in Canterlot."

“Attacking us there would be a declaration of war, and Equestria as a lot of allies.”

"But do the griffons have allies?"

“I don’t know, they might.”

"And thats what worries me, if the griffons were dumb enough to do it, we could have a world war on our hooves."

“I saw from your memories, sounds horrid. Though, I doubt it would be that catastrophic here… at least for Equestria.”

"You may think that, but wouldn't that make nearly everywhere a prime target for those, windigos, I think they were called?"

“If their are any still alive, yeah, they’d be a problem.”

"Sorry to interrupt, but everyones ready." Gah! Damnit Rushdown, don't sneak up on us like that!

“Good, lets go.” Ribbon went up in flames, she’d turned herself… green, still covered in chitin… but green, as did the others. Needless to say, I was confused at first.

"Camoflauge?"

“I suggest you do the same. Rush can hide under Gary, and Gary, well, who’d want to eat him?”

"Killer beavers? And if you want to stay hidden, there's always the shade form."

“Aside from the legendary killer beavers, I think he’s fine. Now give me the shade form.”

I obliged, and allowed myself to dissolve, before flowing over Ribbon, and settling against her chitin, leaving her coated in familiar inky shadows. The transition to using Ribbons senses was still somewhat jarring.

Ribbon still poked her head out and looked around, and after seeing nothing moving, she left the tunnel behind. The others made a quick dash for the tall grass, while Rushdown just walked out with Gary right above him. Okay seriously, what did Scoots feed him? Fertilizer?

-Coasts clear, for now, anyways.- It felt nice, being wrapped around Ribbon like this, like this was were I belonged, keeping her safe, and invisible to prying eyes. I guess its one of the quirks of us being so closely linked.

We kept walking for hours with little change in scenery, at least it’s more pleasant than that cramped tunnel. It gave me plenty of time to think. One thing I’ve come to realize is that it seems every sapient race has had it out for changelings at some point or another, yet they adapted to their impromptu trial by fire. An almost... human, quality. Perhaps… Perhaps I was meant to be here? If not for that one chance meeting with Ribbon, they might still be in that fire.

One thing that did slightly worry me, was how I had seemed to have developed a hair trigger temper against any perceived threat to Ribbon, or the rest of her hive. It actually scared me that I felt satisfied after incidents like that, like I wanted to fight. Maybe, that’s why I joined the military years ago, back on my world, and I’m only noticing it now. Or is it something left over from the Nightmare?

’Chi? I can hear them. We’re close enough, I tell where they-

*ROAR*

-Aw crap.- Ribbon was on the ground again in seconds. Even if nothing could see us, it still seemed to scare her.

-Ribbon, get up! it might not be able to notice us, but what about the others!-

’NO! I don’t want to be caught again, I don’t want to go back.’

”Damn dogs, you kept me waiting and this is all you have to show?!” A small puff of flames ahead of us caught my attention. There must be a drop off ahead of us, that must be where the diamond dogs den was, and the dragons attacking it. That’s good, we’re out of sight and it’s too enraged with the dogs to notice anything else.

-Look, we aren’t even in sight of it yet, we’re fine so get up.-

’Everyling, dig. We’re digging our way into the den. Don’t let that dragon even have a chance to see you.’ I stayed silent, not wanting to disturb Ribbons concentration, and instead considering how to approach her about her previous experience with a dragon. It wouldn’t be easy. I really hoped it wasn't what I thought it was, because if it was, I would personally hunt the fucker down, and skin him alive.

-Ribbon, I know you're absolutely terrified right now, but if that dragon kills all those dogs, we might lose any chance of finding the griffons and the changelings they captured.- I just couldn't find it in me to leave her when she was this shaken up, I was afraid my presence was the only thing keeping her from having a complete breakdown. -Ribbon! You need to focus!-

’I am focusing, I’m focusing on digging!’ She actually was, I had become so focused on trying to keep Ribbon from losing it, that I hadn't noticed her join the tunneling effort. She was digging far faster than the others were, using my miasma to move large amounts of dirt at once.

The bottom of the hole we were digging gave way and Ribbon fell through into the dens tunnels.