That night, after I had cleared up the mess created by my now shattered mirror, I spent a while thinking. While idly fiddling with the guitar. I was thinking about the upcoming battle. I was thinking about the others, would they be okay? I was thinking about Dan, he was finally coming back.

At some point, I must have dozed off. Last I remember I was looking out of the window, peering down at the many guards roaming the streets, telling families the evacuation plan, sometimes even taking ponies from their homes, presumably they had training and were required to fight.

Some of the scenes I saw... were not pleasant.

I was stirred out of my sleep by a slight shaking feeling. This shaking soon escalated to almost earthquake levels of shaky-ness.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head from the windowsill and looked about the room. Everything looked fine but I could hear the strings of my guitar vibrating due to the earthquake. The rumbling ground shook more violently as I felt something pass through me, like a shock-wave, as a deafening roar of metal and magic came from under the castle.

I pinned my ears to the sides of my head, trying to block out the sound as I ran out of my room. I had to find my Queen, and make sure she was okay, whatever was going on clearly wasn't good. The shaking eventually stopped, but the yells and screams from the guards passing by hadn't.

Guards charged past me as I ran through the hallways towards my Queen's quarters. I debated going back and checking on everyone else first, but I had to be sure she was alright. She was weakened last I saw her.

I got to her door and stopped. I was gasping for breath and practically dripping with sweat as I knocked on the door and waited, taking that time to collect myself. Ever since I left the guard, I had let my fitness slip.

"Enter." She called from inside her room, sounding rather calm considering it sounded like the whole mountain just exploded.

I walked in and shut the large door behind me. She was living in one of the guest rooms that was more... accustomed to her height. The ceilings were high, the doorways were large and everything, even the sofas, were slightly up-scaled. Anyone could feel small in a room like that.

"My Queen, are you alright?" I asked as she turned to face me with a small smile. "I felt tremors."

She shook her head. "I am fine, s- Ebony. I to have felt these vibrations. I expect it to just be a magic mishap of some kind, the ponies are well known for 'messing up' even the simplest of spells." She continued after heightening her poise. "Leave me, I have many things to plan. Many... many things..." She said, frowning slightly.

I noticed a large pile of papers on one of the over-sized tables towards the back of the room. Many of which seemed to be maps and battered tomes.

"As you wish." I said as I began backing out through the door. "Thank you, my Queen."

The door shut between us.

I turned and ran back towards Chrome's room, all the way back next to mine. Though, perhaps even luckily, upon the second corner, I ran straight into an orange unicorn.

"Ebony!" She yelled as I picked myself up off of the floor, hitting her was like hitting a brick wall, she wasn't even fazed by my impact. She picked me up by my shoulders, staring into my eyes with pupils the size of pinpricks. "Did you hear it?!"

I nodded awkwardly. "Yeah, it was- Woah!" She, without warning, threw a hoof around my neck and tossed me onto her back. She began sprinting down the halls at an incredible speed.

I was laying across her back. I quickly rotated myself so I was facing backwards, so I could wrap my hooves around her barrel. Even then it was hard to keep from bouncing off of her, she was fast. I noticed a pony and a griffin following us.

"Steve? Dawn?" I asked, giving each of them a look respectively, they both nodded.

Dawn flew alongside me as I rode the unicorn, who was ducking and weaving around oncoming traffic. "You heard the explosion right?" She asked. I nodded to her. "That sound came from the facilities under the palace! Every guard is headed there now!"

I blinked. "The facilities? Isn't that where-"

"Yeah" Steve said, catching up slightly. "That's where Chrome works, last we heard, he was down there!"

I realized I had not seen Chrome the previous day.

"We have to make sure he's okay!" I yelled to the two tailing Feather.

"Wha'do you think we're doing?!" Steve yelled as we sped down the hall.

I thought for a second. "Wait, if we're going there now, why are all of the guards going in the other direction?"

I turned around to see where we were headed. An empty hallway greeted me, it ended in a open door and a balcony. Feather yelled from under me, "Those are the ones who are too scared to use the shortcut!"

My eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen. Feather reached the door before the balcony. I ducked down, gripping Feather as tightly as possible. Feather leaped from the edge of the balcony. I prayed to the ancients that she knew what she was doing. Our two feathered friends followed behind us in a nose-dive.

After a couple seconds of free-fall, our followers pulled up slightly. It was then, and only then, I realized all to late that I had wings too. I braced for whatever impact was set to greet me as I saw the tops of trees enter my upwards-facing gaze.

I was hit with a wall of water. It quickly consumed both Feather and me. I trusted that Feather was alright and continued gripping her. I could not swim. Luckily, she was fine, and dragged us both to the surface of the small, yet very deep, pond. By its placement, it was safe to assume that it was actually placed there as a form of emergency escape.

Sodden with water, Feather got to the brick lining of the small pool and tossed me up, back onto dry land. Steve helped me to my hooves as Feather pulled herself out of the water. I shook off what little water had stuck to me. Feather did the same, but with an effect similar to that of a slightly blocked hose-pipe.

We were in one of the palace gardens, we had dropped at least 8 stories in a matter of seconds.

"You two okay?" Dawn said, landing beside Steve, who was already on the ground.

"Yeah." I said, I imagine Feather simply nodded, since I never heard a response.

And just like that; we were off again. Feather used her head to scoop me back up onto her back as she rocketed past me. We all rushed towards the nearest wall, at its base was a staircase heading downwards that I hadn't noticed due to the hedges surrounding it. Feather jumped the entire flight of stairs and burst through the heavy-looking doors at the bottom.

We rushed through the underground halls. As we advanced, I noticed all manner of science equipment and tools being held in glass-walled rooms lining either side of the halls. All of the rooms were vacant. When we headed down another floor, the reason for this became as obvious. There was a thin layer of smoke lining the ceiling, luckily, the vents at the top of each of the doorways were stopping the gas from advancing up, and through the palace.

Feather took some rather sharp turns while we were running, one in particular would have sent me through a pane of glass if Dawn hadn't have been there to catch me in mid-air.

Eventually, we came to a standstill. There was a dead end. On the left wall there was a set of large metal doors hanging limply from their reinforced hinges, but they remained mostly closed, aside from a gap near the top of the doors since they were both slightly angled. Steel beams prodruded down from the ceiling inside the room. There were what looked like burn marks leading from the doors and the doors themselves seemed to arch out towards the hall, an impressive feat considering they looked to be a couple feet thick.

On the wall straight ahead there were a set of what looked like regular office doors, a pink stallion in a white lab coat was beating his hooves against the doors and yelling. "Star, you maniac! Open these doors or we'll both-" he burst into a fit of coughs.

Steve and Dawn froze when they saw the pony, for some reason.

"Oh crap." Dawn mumbled. I think I was the only one to hear her.

Feather stood in front of our group, but remained quite a distance from the pony. The pink stallion turned around to face us, perhaps somehow hearings our hoofsteps over the sound of flames and distant calls of alarm.

The air in the hall between Feather and the pony went cold.

"Chrome in there?" Feather asked. She clearly knew the answer, he had all heard him yell through the door. Her facial features were dead cold, frozen in a neutral glare that scared me, and she was not even looking at me.

The stallion narrowed his eyes at the unicorn. "Oh look who it is. The walking slaughter. Still avoiding punishment I see?" When written, that line looks sarcastic, but I assure you, the face and tone of this stallion... They were both deadly serious. "And yeah, your maniac coltfriend is in there. He's gone completely nuts!" His face shifted towards the end there. He was actually scared, but not of Feather, despite the chilling glare he was receiving. Whatever Chrome has done is really affecting this guy.

"How so?" Feather asked in a level tone.

The pony and griffin with me behind her didn't so much as breath. Not only due to the situation, but due to the large amount of smoke still pouring into the halls, it was slowly collecting at the ceiling, getting closer and closer to the ground, and in turn, us. Eventually we would have to hit the floor just to be able to take in a breath.

I could here the voices of guards approaching from the floor above.

"He just destroyed a couple centuries worth of research and tools by piling them into the reserve engine room, then overloading said engine to the point at which it exploded!" The pony yelled, enraged. "Then he went and locked himself in the break-room and won't let anypony in!"

Feather closed her eyes for a second, as if thinking over her words carefully. "Move out of the way, I'm talking to him."

The pink pony rolled his eyes and huffed dramatically. "Good luck with that. He's barricaded the door from the inside." He hit the door with a rear hoof to emphasize his point. The door remained unmoved.

"I will say it again." Feather said calmly. "Move out of the way, I am talking to him."

There was a dead silence in the halls, aside from the guards who had just reached the floor we were on by the sounds of it.

Feather sighed and mumbled under her breath, "May they forgive me."

The unicorn tilted her head down, aiming her horn at the stallion.

The scientist didn't move, and smiled smugly. "Hah, everypony knows you don't use your ma-"

He froze as a deep purple aura surrounded Feathers horn. Arks of light leaped from her horn, hitting seemingly random points on the floor in front of her. Feather strained slightly and these bolts of energy stopped and her horn glowed brighter, the light turning white.

There was a high-pitch crackle of energy as a beam of white light filled the hallway in front of us. It lasted a couple of seconds. In those seconds all three of us that were behind Feather had frozen.

The light faded and I peered through the hooves I had placed over my face, dreading the sight. Surprisingly the stallion was fine. He was standing there, completely unmoving with a look of fear on his face.

Feather flicked her hair back into its usual position as she raised her head back up. She didn't seem very fazed at all.

The pink pony fell limp, hitting the charred ground in front of him. Behind him was a perfect silhouette of his previous position, made out of what was left of the door. The entire door was gone, aside from the shape of the pony.

Steve shook himself slightly and ran to the pony and hefted him up onto his shoulders. "I've got this guy, you three get Chrome." He said as he rushed passed us with the unconscious pony.

Feather didn't show any signs of moving, so me and Dawn nodded to Steve and moved past the scarily neutral unicorn and into the newly opened room.

The wall opposite the door was charred and shattered, as if it could fall down at any time. The room opened up to our right, revealing a comfortable room that seemed to be missing a lot of chairs. They were probably used to barricade the doors. One chair remained.

Chrome was sat on the one chair that was left in the center of the room, cradling a rather large and rather empty bottle.

There was an open safe on one of the walls. There was a painting on the floor in front of it. The safe was empty, tall and narrow. In the back of the safe, there was a note tacked to the wall, "In case of emergency, drink - Star. Ps: don't touch unless you're me." It read.

Chrome didn't seem to take notice of us as he attempted to take a swig from the empty bottle, he realized it was empty and threw it against the wall. It didn't have the decency to smash, and instead simply bounced and clinked onto the ground.

"Chrome?" Dawn asked, approaching him slowly. "We've got to get you out of here."

Chrome's eyes lazily drifted over to her. He blinked slowly. "Dawn?" He slurred. "What... What are you doing here?"

Dawn shook her head and placed her hooves on Chrome's shoulders. "Chrome. What did you do?"

I turned while she spoke, facing the doors and peering past the pony-shaped piece of metal. Feather was now facing away from the door, and seemed to be holding a wall of guards at bay in the hallway. They seemed to be having a heated discussion. I turned back to the two in the room.

"Erm... Dawn? We gotta hurry this up." I said, worried for both our safety and Feather's. The smoke was getting a little too close for comfort.

Chrome spluttered slightly. "I just... Dan's going to die... and it's all my fault..."

Dawn huffed. "Chrome, this better not be a suicide attempt..." She said, in an accusing manner.

Chrome looked confused for a second, then spotted the black smoke pouring into the room. His eyes widened as he drunkenly stumbled backwards in his chair, resulting in a rather nasty fall. He righted himself, wavering like a flag in the breeze. "I didn't- wel- I- uh- bluh-..." The frantic sentence quickly turned into a slurred mumbling as his eyes lost focus and he fell to the floor yet again. This time it was clear; he was not getting up for quite some time.

Dawn rolled her eyes and put her head under his stomach and lifted him onto her back with some effort.

"Got Chrome! We need to get out of here, now!" Dawn called down the hall to Feather.

Me and Dawn ran down the hall, stopping either side of Feather.

Feather's horn flashed.

And just like that, we were back in the upper floors of the palace.

Feather turned to us. "The infirmary is down that hall." She said, pointing down an empty passage. "Left, second right, fourth right." Dawn nodded and began her way down the hall with Chrome in tow. I made to follow her, but Feather put a hoof to my chest.

"I want to make sure he's..." My sentence faded as I saw her gaze.

Her horn was smoldering slightly. Her eyes were dim in expression but burned with an unwelcoming fire that burned blood red. The air I tasted was saturated with the sickeningly bitter aroma of fear, trauma, regret, sorrow... and so many more. In the reflecting surface of her wettened eyes, I could see so much suffering, so much pain... I could now understand why she never used her magic... it reminded her of everything she had done. Clearly she was not as quick to forgive herself as Dawn seemed to be.

I backed away from her slightly. "I'm... sorry I..." Again, my words seemed to fall away as I stared at her.

She let out a long sigh, hung her head and turned. "Follow." She said quietly. It was an... unfamiliar voice. Her voice was usually so calming, but now all that was left was a coarse whisper.

She began heading down one of the dark hallways. I did as she said and followed, silently. Slightly dreading the possibilities of what was to come.

We passed many windows lit with the moons light. Foreboding shadows cast upon the walls as we trudged through the halls. We headed down a couple of flights of stairs. It was clear she was leaving the palace, but I didn't want to break the dense silent air that surrounded us.

I gave my deduction skills a pat on the back as we left through the main gates of the palace. The streets where dead, no ponies in sight aside from the odd guard making the rounds. They all held lanterns on their saddlebags, casting an eerie amber light about the streets. The security had clearly been put up a notch after my Queen was threatened. Plus there was whatever Chrome did, Dawn's probably got Celestia on the case, so I'm sure they're fine.

As we walked through the city, I could have sworn I felt myself becoming more... energetic, more... empowered... I brushed off this sensation, but didn't let it leave the back of my mind.

Eventually, we stopped outside of a house. Feather stopped for a couple of seconds, before pushing the seemingly unlocked door open. I followed as she walked in.

The lights were already on when we entered, the house was very warm, in both atmosphere and temperature. There was a short hallway that passed by a sitting-room of sorts and led to a kitchen. Past that kitchen was a conservatory by the looks of it. What was up the stairs attached to the hallway opposite the sitting-room's door I don't know. A bedroom and a bathroom I assume.

Feather turned to her left, midway down the hall and into the sitting-room. As the door opened, a blast of warm air came forth. I could hear a fire from inside. I stopped following for a second to admire the hallway. The wallpaper was a light blue, decorated with clouds that repeated in a uniform pattern. Just inside from the front door was a small table. On it were keys, a couple scraps of paper, a letter or two and a picture in an oaken frame.

It was of a small family. An orange filly stood between two adults who were a yellow mare and a red stallion. Their filly was an amusingly perfect blend of the two colors. The stallion stood upright and proud, while the mare was leant down slightly, placing a hoof on the small unicorn's back with a reassuring smile on her face. The filly seemed confused and looked only just old enough to bare the cutie-mark she wore on her flank.

Satisfied that the house I was in was indeed Feathers. I turned around and walked through the doorway she had disappeared into.

It was a small square room. The walls were a deep brown-ish red and the carpet was thick and plush. There were three large armchairs in the room, all facing the large open fire. I walked around the chairs, to see Feather sitting in the middle one, it was a lot more scuffed and unkempt when compared to the other two chairs, which looked like they had barely been used. Feather was looking impassively into the fire.

"Feather?" I asked, timidly.

Whatever revery Feather was in was shattered as I spoke. I flinched as her eyes shot to me and she leapt towards me slightly, freezing just in time to stop herself from catapulting at me. She turned her wide eyes to the floor, took a very slow breath and closed them. She slumped back into her seat.

"Sorry Ebony." She said after a while. She lifted her head, meeting my eyes. "I... forgot you were there... and I thought you were..." She paused and sighed, dropping her head back down again. "Do you know why I asked you here?" She said, half mumbling.

I swallowed audibly before I answered. "You... wanted to talk?" I guessed.

She nodded and exhaled. "Ebony, you are... in no way mature. At all." Her voice was her characteristic blend of harshness and care. "What are you going to do when the hive attacks?"

I blinked and thought for a second. "I guess I'll... I'll stand beside Dan and my Queen, and make sure they go unharmed."

Feather turned to me. She had a thoughtful look on her face as she asked me a question that sounded like she had recited it hundreds of time in her head. "Ebony. If your queen were to turn on us... whos side would you be on?"

I thought over the question multiple times.

Who would I choose? My Queen, my hive? Or Dan, the princesses... Equestria...

"...Dan... Dan, I'd side with Dan." I said after a couple seconds of consideration.

Feather raised an eyebrow. "And if Dan were... compromised?"

"I doubt I'd be willing to take sides if something happened to Dan."

She shook her head. "This is a dangerous game that you are playing, Ebony..."

I narrowed my eyes in curiosity, "Why are you asking these questions?"

"This will be my first battle in over fifteen years." She said, shrugging. "I don't want to be stabbed in the back. It's not that I don't trust you Ebony," She must have seen the look on my face. "It's more that every changeling I've ever 'met', other than you, were mindless, ruthless creatures that would stop at nothing to... 'Serve the queen'."

I nodded slowly. "Those were likely drones or warriors, they do not have freedom of thought. I am a scout, and a very important one at the time of my creation. I was given the intellectual capabilities of a pony, so that I could work my way into society better. But... they always said I was strange... somehow."

She hummed and stood from her chair, giving me an appraising look up and down. "What you got in terms of weaponry?"

I tapped my hooves together. "If used correctly, these holes and indentations can work like hooks against other changelings. I don't know that method of combat, so I'd probably just end up getting tangled with another changeling..."

"...Anything else? What about your magic?"

"Oh, yeah. I know a beam spell, it's not too strong though. I'm barely amateur at basic object manipulation. ...I guess I could stab stuff with it..." I said, trying to look at my horn. I failed to do anything but look stupid.

Feather snorted. "You'd be lucky to break the skin with that thing, I've seen changelings take the heaviest of blades with little to no effects."

"Yeah, sharp objects are not exactly the best way of... dealing with... us."

Feather shook her head grimly. "Oh, they are the best way of dealing with changelings, you just have to hit them in the right spot."

I noticed her eyeing me. "W- where?" I asked looking down at myself.

She walked up to me and tapped the side of my skull. "The bone's real thin on the sides here. Dawn tended to go for the eyes and stomach though." She said, smirking as I gulped slightly. "Don't worry, I'll get you a set of armour with the weak spots covered."

I blinked. "Oh thanks Feather... It won't be heavy? Will it?"

She rolled her eyes, maintaining her smirk. "Let me guess, you want the light armour, don't you."

I smiled sheepishly. "Yes please."

"Fine, I can get that sorted for you. Now go get some sleep, it's late." She began making her way to the sitting-rooms door.

I thought for a second. "Wait, Feather..." She stopped and turned her head towards me. "Are you okay? You didn't look well earlier."

She sighed through her nose. "It's because I used my magic." I gave her a curious look. "...Well, it's because of everything I've done in my pas-"

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD

She was cut off by a thundering at the door. The empowering sensation from before had returned without me noticing it. hearing the door seemed to make it surge for some reason.

Feather gave the door a strange look.

"Wait here." She said as she turned around again and headed for the door. I waited in the room, trying to stay as quiet as possible.

I listened in on the conversation happening around the corner.

"What are you doing here?!" Feather yelled under her breath. "You're not supposed to have been released for another day or so!"

There was a silence.

I froze as the familiar voice echoed through the warm hallway. "...I was... going to be released?" He responded. I heard a hoof impact with a unicorns face. "Did... Did I just accidentally break myself out of a prison a day before I was going to be released?"

"Yeaahhhh..." Feather sighed.

"Just my fucking luck."

Guess who's back! It's that guy! You know the one!

This chapter was all-over-the-place.

Unfortunately, this is one of those chapters that asks a lot of questions, but answers very few of them. But at least it gives me something to write about in the next chapter. That's what chapters are meant to do after all... or at least... these ones are meant to do that...