We're flying through the air at a decent speed and we've entered a blasted lands like area, rock and sun bleached stone as far as the eye can see.

"What happened here?" I ask Luna.

"Tirek happened. He drained all of the magic out of the lands while we and our Sister dealt with Discord. We got word of Tirek's desecration a week later and set out to stop him. After a long battle, we succeeded in sealing him in stone and placed him in the deepest reaches of Tartarus. Further north is where Grogar attacked with his undead army... It's in even worse condition than here," she replies.

One person did all this? And the Princesses stopped him?.. Note to self, don't piss off Celestia or Luna.

Luna then calls over the other Captains. "Now then, let us go over the plan one more time. The Hive's front gate is sealed with a thick organic substance, we will blast it in with all the ships cannons. Pegasi will remain with a few unicorns to protect the ships and provide air support while we and the ground forces will storm the Hive," she tells us.

Luna then looks at me. "We both will head straight for the holding cells and retrieve Blueblood and anypony else being held captive," she then turns to the two Captains. "Ye both shall cause as much chaos as possible within the Hive to distract them from us, try to take down as many as thou can safely. We shall contact thee telepathically when we recover our nephew. Captain Bright Mind, we want thee to find their armoury and archives to find any information about them as well as samples of their arsenal for study. Captain Hammer Strike, thou shall locate their barracks and do as much damage as thou can," she tells them.

"Yes your Majesty!" they both reply and salute.

She then looks back at me. "Adrian, when we find them, we want thou to use thy life element to heal anypony injured."

"You got it," I reply with a nod.

We continue flying for another ten minutes before we reach our destination. A small mountain with a few holes in it stands ahead of us, at the base is a large black gate that looks pretty thick.

"All units prepare for battle!" Luna shouts out very loudly.

The ships turn so their left sides are facing the gate and slowly get closer to the ground, I can hear the gunner crews loading the cannons below. After a few minutes everything is silent, everyone on deck is ready and eager to attack.

After a few tense seconds, Luna shouts out again. "FIRE!"

About fifty cannons all start firing, it's like standing in a lightning storm as the loud bangs of the cannons echo throughout the Badlands.

The shots hit the gate as the ships turn around to fire off the right side cannons, another volley of cannonballs hit the gate and it caves in. Ramps leading off the ships are extended and everyone charges at the Hive roaring their rage along the way.

Luna and I lead the way into the Hive, it seems the changeling guards by the gate got crushed and a few more injured. Luna runs down the tunnels and I follow behind her. Hammer Strike and Bright Mind split off and head down other tunnels. Hammer is heading towards the changelings Barracks while Bright Mind heads for their armoury and archives to recover anything on the changelings so they can bring them back for research.

A group of changelings ambush us down the tunnel leading to the stairs we need to get to, they have black armour like the stuff on the walls and weapons also looking like they're made from the same stuff.

I cast my stone armour spell and surprisingly, the black organic stuff walling the tunnels attaches to my armour. I kinda look like a big, bulky, and very misshaped changeling now, but whatever its made from, it's effective at blocking their green bolts of magic.

I swing my sword at the first changeling in front of me and cut off his left arm, he screams in pain and swings his curved black sword at me in retaliation.

I parry the strike and point my stave at him and charge up some mana and blast him with a gust of air, he's sent into two other changelings and they all fall over. I quickly channel three fire elements and spray them all as they scream in pain while they're burning alive.

Luna is fighting using a pair of silver swords as she can't use her scythe very well in here. She quickly decapitates one of the changelings and spins to her left, tucking her wings in and avoiding a spear thrust at her. She twirls her right sword to a reverse grip and teleports behind the changeling and stabs him in the neck.

The guards that followed us are also fighting the changelings as well. A few of the changelings start morphing into our guards so I quickly cast a nullify spell and they all turn back looking confused, our guards take advantage of their confusion and quickly take them down.

I turn my attention back in front of me and channel three ice elements and charge it up a bit to narrow the spread. I fire the spell and nine shards of ice impale three changelings in front of me. I notice one of our guards get stabbed in the gut and pushed away. I run over and jam my sword into the changeling's neck and then quickly fire a healing beam at the downed guard, his wound closes and I help him up.

He thanks me and gets right back into the fight with a look of rage.

We push our way into the Hive bit by bit, taking down changelings along the way. This place seems more like a fort than a town or city, maybe it's a remote base for troops to rest or for supplies? Perhaps Blueblood will know since he's been here for months.

My thoughts are interrupted when we get down the stairs to the third level as an arrow lodges itself into the side of my left thigh, hitting an area that the chitin like rock didn't completely cover. "GAAHH!" I yell in pain. I point my stave at the changeling responsible and cast a fire beam at her. It hits her in the chest and burns right through, leaving a two inch wide hole where her heart was. She drops dead to the floor and I rip out the arrow in my leg and heal the wound.

We reach the holding cells on the forth level with only two casualties so far, I healed the other's wounds along the way, including one Luna received as well. Two changeling guards are standing at the door, the right one has a chitin like sword and shield at the ready, the left one has a bow. I channel two earth elements and a single fire element and charge it up. I jump around the corner and aim at the right one. I release the spell and hit him right in the face. His head caves in and the small explosion blows what's left of his head all over the walls and his ally.

Luna then throws one of her swords at the other one -who is blinded by the explosion and bits of her ally- impaling her chest and then pulls it out, leaving a large gaping wound in her torso, her organs then spill out from the wound and she slumps to the ground.

We enter the holding area and search the cells, a guard finds Blueblood in the corner of a cell along with two others in there with him.

A young girl with black fur and dirty white hair, she has no mark on her hand and she's wearing rags that barely cover her, she looks no older than six years old. And shockingly, the other is an injured looking changeling who looks pretty thin from starvation.

I tell them to stand back and cast a cold beam on the door's lock, freezing it solid. A guard with a warhammer then shatters the lock and the door swings open.

Luna walks in and kneels in front of Blueblood. "Nephew, we have come to take thee home, are thou fit enough to walk?" she asks him.

Blueblood tiredly looks up at her. "Oh... aunty Luna..." he responds with a faint smile. "I knew somepony would come eventually... and yes I can walk," he says and slowly stumbles onto his feet, he looks thin, I guess they barely feed him enough to keep him alive. The little girl stands up with him and holds onto his hand, she at least looks in better condition. Blueblood then helps the changeling onto his feet as well.

"Why are you helping this changeling?" Luna asks him.

Blueblood looks back at her. "He has helped keep us alive by getting the others to beat him instead of us and in turn, I have been helping him to survive by giving what love I could to him in return," he says.

Well, if he's helped them stay alive this long and that he's a prisoner of his own kind, he can't be that bad... I cast a healing beam on all of them and they instantly perk up, though it seems the holes on the changeling's arms and legs looked like they closed... I guess I'm just imagining things. My mana is about half way gone now.

"Ah... that feels much better, thank you very much guardsman," he tells me.

"I'm a knight actually," I reply. Wow, this Blueblood is actually very polite! I wonder what Rarity would say after meeting with the real Blueblood.

"I see, but still, thank you," he says with a nod.

I smile at him. "You're welcome," I reply and nodded back.

"Is there anypony else in here, nephew?" Luna asks him.

"No, we're the only ones left. They took the others somewhere else two weeks ago and we have not seen them since," he tells her.

"How many?" I ask.

"About seventeen of them," he replies.

"Very well, let us depart from here and return to Canterlot." Luna says. Her horn glows for a few seconds and fades. "We have alerted the other Captains to pull out," she says.

---

---

So, Princess Luna found the Prince? Dammit, it was just getting fun as well. "It's time to pull out! Make your way to the surface!" I yell to my troops.

"YES SIR!" they all respond and we slowly make our way out.

A changeling lunges at me with a spear and I laugh at him. I grab his neck with my left hand and slam him into the ground. I raise my Hammer above my head and bring it down on his.

Splat.

'I love my job,' I think to myself as we leave the Barracks.

---

---

Time to leave huh? I think we have more then enough to take back with us. "The Princess has recovered the Prince, we're leaving now!" I order my guards.

"Yes ma'am!" they reply, carrying bags of scrolls, books, a few weapons and armour, even a few magical artefacts as well.

I've lost twenty of my guard for these, this had better be worth it.

---

---

I take the lead and follow the tunnel back out, we manage to head up to the third floor unhindered. As soon as I reach the top of the stairs though, a large changeling a foot taller than me tackles me and drags me down the tunnel.

"ADRIAN!" Luna shouts as she gets further away.

"GO! I CAN HANDLE THIS!" I shout back and cast a teleport spell. I appear behind the brute and he slams into a wall.

I turn around and fire an arcane beam at him. Shockingly, the beam bounces off of him and he charges again. His armour looks very thick and reflects the lights in the tunnel off from it. It looks like it's coated in something, is that what is deflecting my magic?

He then charges at me again, so I run back towards Luna and channel a shield, an arcane, and a cold element and create a mine behind me. The brute steps on it and it blasts him with a thin sheet of frost, slowing his movement down. I turn to face him again and channel three earth elements and charge it up as he continues to come at me and I release the spell.

The boulder slams into him point blank, launching him down the tunnel.

I turn back to leave but the floor below me gives way and I fall down into the darkness.

Next Chapter: Chapter 25: Badlands Assault Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 9 Minutes