Blue couldn’t help but scream as she hurtled down the slide, the only occasionally rough surface snagging at the skin uncovered by her armour—but not so much that she could stop. For all of her attempts to regain control, as well as Thorax’s and Coalburst’s magical intervention, she could only hope that the unpleasant trip would end soon.

And end soon it would, as she realised when a dim yellow light appeared not too far away. Holding her breath and squinting her eyes, she whimpered as the slide finally ended in something resembling a ramp. Her momentum kept her going, even as she was launched into the air; for a few moments, she was airborne. Without the time to react and to open her wings, however, she found herself landing chest first on her armour on the almost solid ground, pain sent through her body in waves. Thorax and Coalburst followed soon after, though they, at least, had learned from Blue’s distress; the former opened his wings in readiness and managed to keep airborne and the little filly, with a screwed up and pained face, was able just about able to slow her fall with her magic before she smashed into the dirt; as it was, she landed with a cringeworthy thud as opposed to the muted boom that Blue’s fall had caused.

After the noise from the falls had quietened, there was silence. Or, rather, there was silence until the three came to their senses and looked up so as to assess their surroundings—only to see a small herd of creatures staring down at them with wide eyes.

At a glance, one would perhaps have called them deer. The truth of the matter, however, was that they most certainly were not normal; first there were the pastel spots their backs, not unlike those of a fawn except in a rainbow palette as opposed to a shade of white. That alone would have hinted at the fact that they were some rare subspecies—but the massive, rabbit-like paws which replaced their forelegs put everything back into doubt even more.

No-one, neither deer nor pony nor changeling, said a word; each just stared their new company down and assesed them ever so carefully. Every little snort or sniffle did not go unmissed and instead drew the attention of each individual, everyone present suddenly alert and on the tips of their hooves—or paws. Even to breathe was loud in the situation.

Or, such was the case until a loud voice—similar to the one which had blared across the loudspeakers back in the facility—broke the near silence. The voice was feminine undeniably and had hints of melodic notes in it. That gentleness was overruled by the loud and angry intention it portrayed.

"Close the hatch, you stupid fawns!" the speaker cried as she pushed forwards through the small crowd. They parted almost without a word, falling in a bow as they did so. She did not smile at the sight; she merely threw her head around so as to clear out the final few stragglers with her antlers. In the yellow light of glowing fungi which grew around the walls she was quite a sight.

Or, so Blue thought at first. It was then, however, that she realised that the deer's muzzle was less curved than any doe's would be and their muscle mass was much too pronounced—and, below their stomach, an extra flap of skin confirmed the truth.

"Yes, my king!" a young doe squeaked as she shot past the trio, her delicate paws pounding against the dirt as she sped next to the end of the slide. Blue watched quietly as she stepped away from the large buck, closer to her companions. At the same time she kept a careful eye on the doe, whimpering under her breath as the little thing pulled on a lever made of vines on the wall; a loud thud sounded soon after and Blue yelped as she fell to her hooves, whimpering a little whilst she cowered. When no attack came, however, she then stood up slowly and looked about nervously as the somewhat amused faces of the now-standing deer surrounding her. It was at that moment that the large buck stepped forwards and hooked his antler under her leather harness before pulling her up to her hooves.

"Who," he hissed, his teeth bared, "are you?" The buck dropped her to the ground and began to pace around her as he tugged at her feathers and tapped her silver armour. He then changed his focus onto Coalburst, his eyes narrowed at the sight of her cutie mark—and then he noticed Thorax, now cowering a little way away with his hooves over his head. But, rather than eyeing him with disdain, the deer then simply frowned and stepped closer, his body threatening but not, as of yet, ready to attack. "And what are you?" He nudged Thorax's antlers with his own and laughed at their lack of grandeur, at least when in comparison.  "Are you some mutated fawn, come to challenge me for my herd and family?"

Thorax yelped and scarpered backwards, an action which only caused the gathered herd to snicker a little. He then nodded quickly, eyes wide. "Yes! Yes, that's it! I'm... I'm a deer! A mutant deer! Yep, that's definitely what I am!"

The buck raised an eyebrow and dug at the dirt slowly with his paw. "You are sure? You seem most uncertain in that claim."

"Of course I am sure!" he cried, nodding ferociously. "I know what sort of—"

"Ugh! Quit lying, Thorax!" A silence descended once more as Coalburst stared at each pony, her muzzle a scowl. "A buck? I mean, come on! Look at him!" She gestured with a fore hoof and wobbled a little when she found herself balancing only on two. "He's a changeing."

"What?" The buck leapt backwards, eyes now massive. Coalburst snorted and grinned before she gave a curt nod and flicked her tail in triumph.

"Yup! So that means he could change into some huge, ginormous buck and squa—"

The buck held up a forepaw and pressed it most forcefully to Coalburst's lips, so hard that she was knocked backwards. She, in turn, yelled and leapt backwards just as Blue—after a moment's consoderation—shot forwards to pull her back anyway; though she trembled at the sight of the massive buck, she still held the little filly to her chest protectively and sent a shaky scowl the king's way.

"A changeling? That's a stretch to believe, foal; he hasn't got any black chitin on him at all. And these pathetic antlers and funny little"—He tapped the brightly-coloured bulges on Thorax's chest—"orbs are most certainly not a... typical attribute of changelings." The buck laughed and began to prance about; as he did so, he snapped with strong teeth at Coalburst, his eyes glinting. "Explain that, pony!"

Coalburst sat up straighter and grinned. "He's... he's a nice changeling, that's why? Uh, reformed! That's the word!"

A low gasp resonated throughout the crowd and the deer simultaneously leapt backwards, whispering in hushed voices and dancing on the spot. A few bleated and bellowed and bucked as they did so; a low whining signalled a fawn's distress. Worst of all was the reaction of the King, however; he snorted loudly and pawed at the dirt, his eyes flashing as he shouted, "A nice changeling! You stupid pony foal! You are exactly like the rest of your foolish species; holier-than-thou, every one of you!" He snorted even more and snapped his teeth again; all of a sudden, his antlers appeared sharper, deadlier. "Changelings are a race infinately more admirable than yours, equine. You have no right to scorn them when it is your princess who caused this whole mess!"

Coalburst gritted her teeth together and stood up, her horn sparking slightly. "My princess! She was just trying to save us when they attacked! The changelings teamed up with Sombra and they were the ones that tried to kill us!" she yelled, her ears now pinned. Her body scrunched itself up and her neck shot up high into the air. Her eyes glinted dangerously. "If Celestia didn't try to help the changelings would've stolen all of your love and killed you!"

The king's tail flicked a little as he turned slightly and began to pace around Coalburst, each thunderous step making the cavern threaten to fall in on them. "And this—" He waved a fore paw around his herd as he continued in his feminine voice, "—is thus fine, is it, little filly? The changelings never killed anypony in their day! They hid in the shadows, fed off love on the sidelines, and did they ever hurt anypony? No, they did not! They did what they had to do to survive, little foal, but your species... You became paranoid, evil. Chased them from your villages and doomed them to starve to death!

"We do not trust ponies. You are an insufferable species, ever blaming the changelings for this mess when your kind drove them to attack in the first place! Their siding with Sombra was a mistake, but one made out of desperation; we understood that desperation. You ponies always destroyed our forests to build your farms and orchards! Your boutiques and your restaurants! And then the war began, and it was inevitable, you foal! The changelings were starved for centuries, with only the love of the falling deer kingdoms to sustain them.

"And then your princess doomed us all. Released this blasted disease and then locked away her precious few in Canterlot. And was there a single deer or changeling in that city? No, of course there wasn't. We were all left to perish. And now look at us, one of the few herds left and unrecognisable as a species. Mongrels!"

Thorax whimpered and approached slowly, cautiously. "I... I wouldn't call you unrecognisable," he murmured, his head low and his eyes wide. "You look mostly like normal deer, except for... Well, y'know, the spots and the paws. But... they're not b-bad!" The king snorted and thinned his eyes at Thorax, nostrils flared; he scarpered backwards and hung his head, whimpering as he did so. When the massive buck stepped closer, he trembled even more and scrunched his eyes shut. He waited. But the blow he was waiting for never came.

"You know what I, for one, like about the changelings as a species, little intruder?" he hissed, though he retreated now to eye Thorax—who shook his head quickly—a little less threateningly. "I like their attitude, both in general and to society. Strong, confident warriors that don't take any nonsense. I appreciate that ethic. But even more than, or perhaps despite that, each drone contributes to society and each has their own place, defined from birth. There are no struggles between the ranks and no drone is better than any other. They may all be starving but, nevertheless, they all get the same feeble amount of love from the communal pool as the others.

"Ponies... Ponies are not like that. Ponies are greedy." He glowered at Thorax and ground his teeth together so that they squeaked. "But what about you? You claim to be a deer, she calls you a changeling, but I can sense neither the magical aura about your antlers, as is customary for we deer, nor do you have the changeling's confidence. But you... you are not a pony. Your scent is not so repulsive as that of these two." He nodded to Coalburst and Blue and sent them a nasty grin. Both, in turn, bridled and looked away.

Thorax was quiet for a moment before he sat a little straighter and mumured, "I'm a changeling," in a quiet, uncertain little voice. When the king cocked his head and thinned his eyes, he then whimpered and scooted even further back so that he was pressed up against the dirt wall.

"Then why would you claim not to be?" the king boomed in his delicate—but still intimidating—voice.  After a few moments, however, he relaxed a little and softened his severe expression. "Perhaps because you fear reprisal or detest? I have heard equines are not so... accepting of changelings as deer."

"Y-yes."

"I see." The king spun around to face his herd and yelled, with a rear hoof raised warningly should Blue or Coalburst or Thorax move, "What do you say, my does and fawns? Is this intruder worth a chance?"

A low murmur rung out through the crowd. Assent.

"Well, little... changeling. Here's your chance; turn into one of your little friends over there, and prove your claim once and for all."

Thorax whimpered a little and hid under his hooves slightly, his ears fallen, but soon forced himself to sit a little straighter. He then closed his eyes, took a shuddery breath and let his magic overcome him; a moment later, a perfect clone of Coalburst sat in his place, a cheeky grin upon its muzzle. The mouth parted in a relieved sigh before the disguise then fell away to leave Thorax now sat quietly on the floor with large eyes, awaiting judgement. And it came a few moments later when the buck smiled slightly and nodded, then shouting back to the herd, "Return to your preparations. I shall have someone deal with the newcomers from here out."

Thorax gasped and leapt to his hooves, his wings buzzing and eyes now alight as he shot over to Blue's and Coalburst's side. They, in turn, grinned at him in a mixture of joy and relief that they were not about to be pummelled to death by a herd of vengeful ungulates.

What a strange world they lived in.