The armour was light, but that wasn't to say that it was not off-putting. It was a snug fit and didn't so much as rub in the slightest; still, for a mare who had never so much as worn a tight dress, it was a bizarre and distracting sensation.

Blue did her best to ignore that particular discomfort. Instead she focused on the more pressing uneasiness which inundated her heart. Each step was agony, though her pain was still numbed; the sheer terror was excruciating in itself. The immense dread of what might come around the corner was borderline disabling.

Coalburst trod alongside the mare. Her body was tense, her head lowered and ears pinned. She was careful to keep close to Blue's side, her new rapier held tightly in her magic. She swished it a few times, it making not even a rush of sound as it severed the still air; she then brought it closer to her chest and pointed it forwards like a lance.

Devastation cluttered the tunnel. Corpses littered the floor, thrown aside. Some were smashed in, bruised and bloodied; others were sliced in half, blood pooling on the floor around them. A few of the poor beasts lay moaning, moving only slightly with ragged gasps; Coalburst was quick to snuff them out, to save the damned souls from the hours of pain until they otherwise died naturally.

Blue winced as she watched the filly's unperturbed strikes, drifting away from her side slowly. As she tightened her grip on the handle of her knife, she glanced backwards as her ears pricked up, flicking.

Her screams filled the corridor immediately.

A lone ball of flames shot down from the ceiling of the tunnel, tiny but powerful as it ripped mercilessly from a cocoon. It smashed into the ground right behind Blue's hoof, its impact so great that shockwaves burst forth.

The two ponies were flung from their hooves immediately. Hurtling through the air, Blue felt all breath be stolen from her lungs as she flared out her wings and tried to ignore the ache as the air caught in her feathers. Thrown upwards, she was then smashed against the ceiling with a resounding boom. Despite its numbness, her body screamed. As she then crashed back down to the ground, she fought not to genuinely cry out as a gasp hacked itself from her throat.

Coalburst lay not far off. She shuddered as she jerked up to her hooves, trembling from the impact. Somewhat winded, her magic could only spark as she tried to pick up her fallen weapon. Her eyes widened immediately as her lips parted in a sharp inhale. She then scrambled back and pressed up against the rocky wall as she fought to regain control; loud whimpers escaped her dry lips.

"B-Blue! Get up!" she whispered as she stumbled about. Her fore leg then buckling, she fell heavily and shrieked. Small tears welled up in her eyes as she once again struggled to stand. Then she lurched forwards as blood cascaded from her muzzle and grabbed the rapier's handle in her mouth.

As she snapped her gaze upwards, Coalburst yelled through her teeth as the green flames began to die out. Spinning on the spot, her blade nicked Blue's ear as she bolted, pupils dilated. Her chest heaved with each inhale and her eyes widened beyond measure with every step; she was so powerless without her magic.

Blue leapt to her own hooves at the unexpected pain and flung herself backwards. There wasn't even time to catch her breath before tiny fangs pierced the tender flesh of her rear leg. She howled and then launched herself forwards at a full gallop, throwing her head as she bucked and bronced.

Her leg oozed slowly, but the blood was far from healthy. It bubbled a sickly shade of green, burning her fur and the muscle around the wound.

Blue hissed as she galloped, able to catch up to Coalburst quickly. The filly still struggled, her ears flattened back as her pupils whizzed about, the size of pinpricks. She could hardly think rationally, let alone get her horn to do anything but spark.

And so, though she was far from being a fighter, Blue jumped into the air and spun around. She propelled herself backwards with heavy wingbeats and hurled her knife towards the grub which now rose to its hooves. The blade struck far from its target of the creature's chest; rather, it impaled almost perfectly in between its eyes.

The young changeling bellowed before it burst into flames and shot upwards, crashing into another hanging cocoon. A moment later it fell down to the ground. Acidic saliva dripped from its mouth as it lay there, twitching in a pool of its own blood.

The corridor erupted into chaos as the cocoons began to glow green, encased in flames which jumped between each.

Blue yelped and smashed into Coalburst's flank as she dove back down to the ground. With a few seconds to catch up, she then clamped her teeth down on Coalburst's blade and yanked it from her mouth. It wasn't much good to her in her state, after all.

The massive and bloodied blade felt wrong in her mouth, but Blue forced herself to be strong. With steely willpower she skidded to a stop and spun around, letting Coalburst carry on in her stampede. As she snapped out her wings again, she jumped into the air. Shifting the rapier's blade in her mouth, she then looked down at the chaos beneath her.

Acrid green flames filled her vision. Some died out to reveal young changelings; others shot down from the ceiling to join their companions.

Blue gritted her teeth and winced as they squeaked together. She then narrowed her eyes and let her gaze focus on the largest changeling, found near the front of the herd. It was the most developed, with the strongest stature and most prominent fangs which dripped with acid. It was easily the biggest threat of the lot.

Angling her body down, Blue beat her wings once before she folder them to her side. She clamped her teeth and closed her eyes. She then gasped as she felt the blade strike flesh and flared out her wings once more; her hooves only touched down for a second as she forced herself back up into the air. The squelch of the rapier being ripped from flesh made her groan. But still she pushed off with her rear legs, the left now searing at the puncture wound. She shot back up high before even glancing down to see her handiwork.

Once more her aim was not true. Instead of the neck shot she'd been going for, the changeling was now impaled right through its midsection. Blood spurted from the wound, thick and dark and full of life—but it was already dead.

Blue couldn't help the gasp which she made upon seeing the changeling. It was a ghastly sight; her world spun immediately as her wings froze in mid-beat and her breathing hitched. Yelping as she then began to plummet, she fought to keep calm. She kicked her fore hoof with the rear by means of punishment then bit her tongue and narrowed her eyes.

As she beat her wings rapidly, she regained control of her flight and shot backwards. Instead of letting herself panic, she then focused on the grubs which had now begun crawling towards Coalburst. Not quite ready to have emerged, their rear legs dragged along the floor as they inched closer, hissing with fangs exposed, acid glands salivating. But the filly wasn't even moving and her horn sparked fruitlessly; her eyes only widened further with each stumbled step backwards.

Spinning in mid air, Blue angled herself to face the floor. She sucked in a breath and then dove straight downwards.

The floor rushed closer with each second, ready to accept her in a deadly embrace. But she did not falter; rather she gritted her teeth as she snapped her wings open again, now only a metre from the floor. As she made the pull up, the rock brushed her hooves and bit at her unarmored underbelly. But she kept airborne, did not crash. And, with the momentum from the vertical dive, she shot towards Coalburst with her hooves stretched out, her body aflame from the discomfort.

The changeling grubs went down without so much as a complaint, unconscious the moment the mare struck them. Some were thrown into the nearby walls; others merely crumpled to the ground. None, however, were dead—but that was a job for another time. More specifically, for when Coalburst regained her magic.

Though she had pulled off the manoeuvre, pulling out of it was not so easy. Blue flapped her wings with as powerful beats as she could muster but still screamed as the wall drew closer. It met her with a horribly loud thud; her bones shuddered at the impact. As she crumpled to the floor and then clambered to her hooves, however, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it only left an ache. Her new armour, too, was not so much as dented.

The silver's health, though, was not enough to ensure her own. The grubs began to crash down again; the hanging cocoons burst as the flames spread between them. The dust and noise was deafening, but the horror as the changelings began to crawl closer was even more horrid.

"Go, go, go!" Blue threw her head before she nudged Coalburst's flank and shoved her forwards. The filly needed little more encouragement; her magic was only strong enough still to manage a small pile of embers. She screamed and galloped away without a half second's hesitance.

Blue was quick to follow, but she only got a few metres before her aching rear leg gave way. She crashed down to the ground in mid stride and landed on her uncovered elbow with a gasp. Glancing back, she then yelped as she saw the state of her new wound; the puncture no longer bled, but the flesh surrounding was nearly completely destroyed. Red raw and blistered, the skin oozed steadily. But there wasn't time to falter as Coalburst raced away and the changelings dragged themselves closer. Thus, with a gulp, she snapped out her sore wings and heaved herself up into the air.

Her body felt tender, but the searing pain which should have come from the grub's acidic bite was nonexistent. That alone was enough to make her heart burn; pain was horrible, but as with anything it still served a purpose.

Each wingbeat was uncomfortable, but Blue sped on. As she kept up to pace with Coalburst, she could hardly breathe for all the aching. Nevertheless, she didn't have to continue for long; after half a minute's exertion, something cool encased her body and jerked her to the side.

Unable to fight, Blue opened her mouth to scream. Only the tiniest squeak escaped her lips, however, as her mouth was roughly clamped shut by the cool substance; unicorn magic.

Though she had squeezed her eyes shut, Blue forced them open as she was roughly marehandled. The sight which met her eyes, however, was not the enemy-filled one which she'd been expecting.

RipEar stood tall by her side, his expression severe as he glanced down at her. Through the darkness, she could tell that his body was something of a bloodied mess, strewn with cuts and scrapes and puncture wounds. His tan fur was slightly too red, but he looked relatively clean otherwise, if dusty and in need of a wash. Given all that he had been through—by the looks of the scattered changeling corpses, he'd had a good fight—he didn't honestly look that bad.

After levitating Coalburst into the room, he used his magic to drag a few rocks over to the entrance. Blue couldn't help but notice that the auras surrounding them were not just RipEar's yellow; a light silver also held them in the air. A moment later, as the rocks were laid down, the magic momentarily dissipated and the space fell into immediate blackness. It was only a fraction of a second before the light returned, however, as two unicorn horns lit up. The first belonged to RipEar, of course; the second to a malnourished unicorn stallion whom Blue had never laid eyes upon. At his side, a rather rounded earth mare stood quietly; despite her girth, her ribs were quite evident, her gauntness undeniable. Nevertheless, her face lit up slightly when she saw the fellow mare.

"Rhône!" she cried, dancing about on the spot slightly. "Oh, I thought you'd died! Why'd you run out on us like that?"

RipEar chuckled and rolled his eyes as Blue cocked her head. "You're starved, Marchande," he said, his gaze focused directly on her. "Rhône did die years ago. She... She fell from the old watch post. Remember?"

The mare raised her hoof and frowned. "I... No, I don't." She turned to face the stallion at her side and looked up to him. "D'you remember that?"

The malnourished stallion kept quiet for a moment before he nodded stiffly. "Well, yeah. Sure," he muttered, and glanced to Blue with a frown. "On which note, wha... Uh, who are you?"

"Me?" Blue took a step back as RipEar released his hold on her mouth and scowled at the stallion's words. She couldn't be sure, but it had sounded awfully like he was going to ask what she was. "Oh, I'm Blue."

The stallion gave a harsh snort. "Sounds about right," he said, then turning away as he bent down and took a knife in his magic. He handed it to the weak mare besides him, then reached behind himself and levitated something small forwards; a somewhat rusted silver pistol. He hovered it closer to Blue, took a step towards the mare and draped a hoof over her back. "RipEar? Explain the deal."

RipEar nodded as he watched the stallion closely before he turned to face Blue. "Right, so by now you know why we've been sent down here. To kill those bloody changelings. I know I wouldn't've managed without Roamer here—and his gun." He nodded to the stallion beside him. "Guns are a rare find out here; we're all cobdamn lucky he's got one. On which note, nice armour. But anyway, the point is that we've got a job to complete. The changelings have taken these tunnels as a hive—which means there's a queen."

Blue's eyes widened as she raised an involuntary hoof. "We've gotta fight a... A powered up one?"

RipEar narrowed his eyes. "You're kidding me? Powered up? This isn't some sorta game—but I guess so, if you like. She'll be stronger, but we're not facing her alone. We just have to lure her out; then, the village'll help us bring her down."

Blue whimpered quietly as she hung her head; her knees trembled as she nodded slowly. If only RipEar had told her the plan before so that she could have refused—though that, she assumed, was why he had kept quiet. "O-okay," she whispered, shuffling her wings nervously as she picked up the fallen rapier. "I... I guess we'd better get on with it, then?"

RipEar nodded, glancing to his companions to check that they were in agreeance. "As soon as Coal's back to normal, sure. We'll go—and if you muck up, I'll be buckin' annoyed. So don't."

Blue gave a somewhat nervous smile as she nodded slowly and lay down. Her trembling legs couldn't support her any longer. She let out a shaky breath, her lip quivering and sweat beading on her skin, she lay her head down and tried to put the unending fear and pain out of her mind.