Breathing a sigh of relief, Sideralis saw Queen Chrysalis. Beside her was another tall changeling queen, or what appeared to be one. This changeling queen had a strange mane and tail that was the odd gossamer of changelings in shades of brown and yellow, which stood out in sharp contrast to Chrysalis’ bright greenish blue.

“Queen Acherontia!” Twilight’s surprise gave her voice volume as she strode forwards. “You’re alive… I heard some worrisome reports!”

“Oh, my illusion suffered a most ignoble death,” Queen Acherontia replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. The changeling queen stared at Twilight Sparkle and then at Sideralis. She blinked a few times, looking thoughtful, and then looked at Twilight once more. “Twilight… I know that you and I haven’t always gotten along. We have a very different approach to things. I know that you are very suspicious of me…”

The changeling queen became silent. Sideralis’ mouth was dry. He was thirsty and his hearing was still funny. He became aware of the tension in the room. He looked around at the changelings, he glanced at Stout, then at both Mjölna and Apple Bloom. The strange stallion they carried was quiet and still.

“To be quite honest, I haven’t trusted too many ponies… and the events of today are the reason why… but you, Twilight, I must say, you can be trusted. You still have my aid, nothing has changed. I will continue to help you.” Queen Acherontia bowed her head for a moment and then looked Twilight in the eye. “I understand that I am not the nicest changeling in the world. Given the recent developments, I would like to offer my apologies and reaffirm my dedication… and not just for the sake of revenge upon my daughter for what she did… but because it is the right thing to do.”

“Thank you, Queen Acherontia,” Twilight replied.

“At some point, I developed affection for you… when I heard that you were being removed from power, when I heard that they were going to exile you or kill you, I was quite worried… more than worried actually… I became physically ill from the news… I have never really had a friend before… we changelings are… we are…”

“Backstabby,” Chrysalis said, finishing Acherontia’s words for her.

“When I realised that I would miss you and our talks, I knew that I had to help you.” Queen Acherontia squirmed and looked uncomfortable.

“Twilight, Doctor Gizmo is safe and secure, Acherontia and her forces slipped in unnoticed here earlier this morning and liberated him from his captors. Unfortunately, Doctor Blaven was murdered. They demanded that Gizmo help them… he refused. They tortured Blaven to change Gizmo’s mind, Gizmo still refused, and Blaven was killed.” Chrysalis looked disgusted and angry for a moment, and then her face became impassive and emotionless once more.

“The hospital and medical research wing is under guard. There is a whole army between us and your friends Twilight… they know that you are here, no doubt… so there is only one thing to do.” Queen Acherontia became Twilight Sparkle.

Behind her, a few of her drones became duplicates of Stout, Apple Bloom, Mjölna, and Sideralis. The changeling queen, who now looked like Twilight Sparkle, grinned and stared at the real Twilight Sparkle as she lifted the Sideralis lookalike in a telekinesis bubble.

“We will engage the enemy, bloody them, and then we will appear to be losing. I will retreat with the hopes that they will follow me… I shall make myself look injured and helpless… capturing you will give them the legitimacy they crave,” Acherontia said.

“Wait, how many ponies in that army?” Twilight asked.

“Hundreds,” Chrysalis replied.

Frowning, Twilight Sparkle looked grim. She looked at Acherontia and a sad expression overcame her face. “Good luck… please, do your best to get away. I would like a chance for us to become actual friends.”

“I have no intention of being caught.” Acherontia raised a wing and waved goodbye.

And then, she was gone, leading her chosen companions away. Sideralis watched her go and he felt himself grow teary eyed. Too much had happened today. He had seen too much violence. Sideralis hoped that the changeling queen would make her escape and that he would meet her again; he wanted to thank her.

The hallway in which the companions stood had seen quite a battle. Blood was pooled over the floor and the walls were splattered with bright crimson. Acherontia had done more than get their attention, she had made herself impossible to ignore. As bloody as the hallway was, there were no bodies, which meant that the ponies had survived the engagement or the dead had been carted off already.

Sideralis clung to his hope that nopony had died.

As Twilight and the others made their way down the hall, Sideralis could see cracks, the walls had been damaged, and in some places, chunks of stone the size of his own head had been gouged out of the walls. The only sound was that of heavy hooves clopping on the floor and the sounds of liquid dripping.

There was a loud explosion and the entire building shook. Sideralis whimpered, fearful, and then it happened again. A deep resonant boom filled the air and everything around Sideralis trembled.

“The Ouroboros has opened fire on something,” Twilight said as she walked.

“Why didn’t Chrysalis join us?” Sideralis asked, not wanting to think about what might be happening outside. He needed some kind of distraction, he was beside himself with fear and he felt like throwing up.

“She’s off creating another distraction and then she’s going to join us in the hospital… she’ll be coming in through the personnel entrance,” Twilight replied.

“Is Ouroboros okay? I mean, he can be hurt, can’t he? He’s a changeling… I’m worried about him.” Sideralis let out a worried sigh and tried not to think about how useless he was. There was nothing he could do, he was dead weight, and the most dreadful thoughts kept entering into his mind.

“He’s been busted up a few times… he’s tough. Don’t worry, Sideralis, if he is hurt, he’ll heal up with time and love,” Mjölna said as she moved beside Twilight.

“Ponies up ahead,” Apple Bloom said as she came to a stop.

Twilight came to a stop as well, standing in a puddle of pooled blood. Twilight, who looked weary, shook her head. “I’m starting to feel fatigued. How are the rest of you?”

“Running low,” Mjölna reported.

“At about the halfway point,” Stout replied.

Apple Bloom turned and frowned. “A little over half.”

“Let’s try the access tunnels and see how we do,” Twilight said after a moment of thinking. “It’s a tight confined space… I think we’ll have an advantage down there if we run into trouble. We can bottleneck our enemies and take them on a few at a time.”

Another loud explosion rocked the building, causing it to shake. Sideralis cried out, terrified, his eyes were wide with panic now and his breathing was heavy. He was not dealing well with his fear, his pelt was foamy with white lathery sweat.

Mjölna leaned over and gave Twilight Sparkle a nudge with her body. “You know Twilight, I wish we had brought along some spine batons...”

Scowling, Twilight Sparkle stared at the heavy vault door in front of her. She stood stiff legged, her surviving eye wide with disbelief. “This should not be here… the access tunnels have been changed.”

Stout looked at the strange stallion for a moment and then at Twilight. “He had to have been made someplace. Looks like somepony has been keeping secrets from you, Twilight.”

Furious, the sting of betrayal almost becoming too much to bear, Twilight stared at the door. It was too thick to just have Mjölna, Stout, and Apple Bloom tear open. She wasn’t certain she could use her magic to open it either. Which left only one option. Turning back.

“What if Mustang is behind the door?” Sideralis asked.

“I really hope not,” Twilight replied, her voice almost a pained whine. Using her shield to block the damage from the exploding shell had taken far more out of her than she thought. Hard fatigue was starting to set in. She had flown with almost two thousand pounds of pony held in her telekinesis, had her shield spell thumped, and was now carrying Sideralis as well as keeping him shielded.

“Twilight, what do we do?” Apple Bloom asked, “I don’t wanna have to kill nopony unless I have to… I already feel real bad about what I’ve done today.”

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom… today is just turning out to be one of those days.” Twilight looked at the mare beside her, remembering fond times of when Apple Bloom was still a filly. She remembered Applejack… she remembered happy times at Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight felt a crushing weight settle down upon her shoulders. “Apple Bloom, how about you carry that stallion for Mjölna so she doesn’t burn up all of her power reserves… can you do that?”

“Yes I can,” Apple Bloom replied.

“Twilight, I am concerned about Sideralis. His mental state is rapidly deteriorating.” Stout focused her orange eye upon the blue alicorn in question.

“I’m okay.” Sideralis sniffled a bit and then tried to smile.

“Mjölna, I have a plan, but Sideralis isn’t going to like it…”

The group pressed forwards down the main corridor, moving with swift, well practiced ease as they made their way ahead in silence. Stout, Mjölna, and Apple Bloom’s hooves made no sound as they trotted, and neither did Twilight Sparkle’s. Mjölna had taken the lead now that she wasn’t walking on three legs to carry the still comatose stallion.

Ahead was the hospital wing; Twilight’s plan was one of brutal simplicity. Full frontal assault, a literal blitzkrieg in the language of the Germanes. A blindfold had been tied around Sideralis’ eyes to spare him the sight and to keep him from spooking in his agitated state.

Moving into the small atrium, Twilight saw that about a hundred or so ponies had been left to guard the door, almost all of them earth ponies. Twilight reacted as she heard the cry of the command to kill her, and she moved with swift assurance. Using her telekinesis, she ripped open the auto sprinkler system that made it rain indoors so that the trees and the greenery in the atrium could be watered every day.

The atrium began to flood, the floor filling up with water. Ponies cried out in surprise as the drenching torrent soaked them. Twilight unfurled her wings, took to the air, lifted Apple Bloom off the floor, and then a horrid lopsided smile played out over her scarred muzzle.

Mjölna and Stout both released their discharge generators as they stood in the middle of the flood, having just tapped into the electrical system while they were downstairs in the access tunnels.

The water became electric. Twilight’s blitzkrieg worked out even better than expected. Standing in the water, ponies stiffened, then convulsed. Skin began to peel and blister. Manes and tails ignited. Ears and other tender bits sizzled. Eyes bulged as teeth ground together. Several eyes popped from their sockets and exploded. Acrid smoke filled the atrium as Mjölna and Stout cooked the opposition, boiling them with extreme electric current that was conducted through the water.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. Mjölna and Stout turned off their discharge generators. Bodies writhed in the shallow water. Stout began to look around, scanning the fallen ponies, her face pinched with concern.

Letting out a sigh, she shook her head. She stared at a unicorn whose horn had popped off of his head. “There are survivors, but I doubt that they will live… most will die in just a few minutes. I do not have the means to assist them.”

“We have other priorities,” Twilight said as she flew over the atrium floor and headed for the hospital wing doors. “Be ready, we don’t know what we’ll face in here!”

As Twilight threw open the doors, she was greeted by a chaotic sight. There was a fight in the entryway. The dead body of a nurse lay in a pool of blood just in front of the doors. A pegasus battled with two earth pony mares, both nurses. There was a unicorn and he appeared to be strangling a doctor in a white labcoat, using his telekinesis to squeeze the doctor’s throat.

And just behind the unicorn there was Scootaloo, who lurched forwards, her leg braces clanking, determined to do something, anything to help. While Scootaloo was airborne, the unicorn bucked out his hind legs, catching Scootaloo in the chest and her left front leg. The pegasus mare was flung backwards with a pained cry.

Twilight screamed and made ready to respond, but she was too slow. Mjölna raised her foreleg and fired her rivet gun while Stout fired off a telekinetic pulse. The rivet gun made three rapid fire shots and the unicorn’s head burst like an overripe melon dropped from a ten story roof. An eye, bits of skull, and pink chunks flew outwards in parabolic arcs. Stout’s telekinetic blasts caught the pegasus, striking him in the head, disintegrating everything from the neck up.

Then, it was over.

Stout rushed forwards, moving to Scootaloo’s side. Blood was pooling around the orange pegasus’ body. The brace had been shattered and a stub of bone protruded from the left front leg, which was twisted at an odd angle.

The doctor, coughing, fell to the floor and kicked, trying to breathe again. Mjölna moved forwards and stood over him, scanning, looking around, trying to determine if there was any danger left.

“Scoots has a severed artery I think, she’s losing blood fast!” Stout reported as she lifted the pegasus mare in a bright orange field of levitation. Stout’s ears swiveled forwards when Scootaloo let out a gasp. “She’s stopped breathing!”

The earth pony went off on three legs, heading for a room where she could work on Scootaloo. Several nurses emerged from hiding and followed her. Hacking, coughing, the doctor rose to his hooves, his eyes bloodshot, and he staggered off in the direction that Stout had gone with Scootaloo.

“GO FIND MY SISTER!” Stout shouted.

Author's Notes:

Be patient... more will come... I promise.