Just like everyone else, 10013 has been wandering around the ship for some time. However, while the others were exploring, it was gathering courage to act upon the rather confusing invitation it got from the zebra guard.
*Puzzled face.* *Disappointed face.* *Awkward face.*
“Smiley, is something wrong?” asks 10013, immediately forgetting its own worries.
*Relieved face.*
“Hang on, I’ll be right there.”
10013 concentrates on Smiley’s hive link. It’s not far, nothing on the ship should be unreachable, but pointing out the exact location of someone else is a bit difficult. Normally, drones just ping a map location but that’s a bit beyond Smiley’s abilities.
The hive link leads 10013 down… and down… and down until the drone stops in front of a heavy metal door which is, quite certainly, locked. 10013 bangs on it.
“Are you there, Smiley?”
*Bang bang bang!*
“Gotcha!” 10013 nods, hearing the noise from the other side, “I could dig you out but you heard 387. Wait there, I’ll find someone who has the key, okay?”
*Happy face.*
10013 climbs the stairs one floor up to the staff deck. It can sense 36658 and 20100 nearby but they won’t be of any help.
I need… I need… AH-HAH!
It rushes towards a somewhat familiar dark blue uniform with yellow SECURITY written on the side.
“Mister security pony! Mister security pony!” it calls out. The pegasus turns around and its expression hardens when he sees the changeling.
“Yes?” he asks.
“My buddy is stuck behind a door downstairs! Do you have a key or do you know who has it?”
“You mean on the maintenance deck?” the pegasus frowns, “How did they get there?”
“Well, it didn’t dig through the door since we’re not allowed to, so it must have been open.”
“Great, more security incident paperwork. No matter how many training seminars some ponies get…” the pegasus facehoofs, “Alright, come on.”
10013 leads the way back down and taps at the door again. Smiley taps back.
“Identify yourself!” orders the security guard.
“Umm, Smiley can’t talk, sir,” explains 10013.
The pegasus reaches under his security uniform with one foreleg. When his foreleg comes out again, it’s wearing a heavy, studded horseshoe. With his wing, he pulls out a set of keys and unlocks the door before carefully opening it and stepping back, only to see a beaming changeling face.
“Heya, Smiley!” 10013 waves.
*Happy face!*
Smiley walks out, looks at the pegasus ready to punch, and nuzzles his raised leg before walking over to 10013 and simply waiting for the situation to unfold. The pegasus locks the door, takes off the heavy combat horseshoe, and leads the two up to the staff deck again.
“I need some information for the incident report,” he stops and faces the drones before pulling out a notepad from his saddlebag.
“Sure,” 10013 nods.
“First, your names.”
“I’m 10013 and that’s Smiley.”
The pegasus looks at the beaming Silent.
“Easy to remember, I suppose,” he scribbles something on the paper, “Which delegation do you belong to?”
“Uhh, changelings?” 10013 tilts its head.
“Changeling hive or Northern San Palomino?”
“Oh. Changeling hive,” 10013 nods, “With Queen Chrysalis.”
Speaking of San Palomino, I should visit that zebra lady. Wait, did he just say those guys were changelings too?
“Time… section…” the pegasus mumbles while writing, “Okay, I guess that’s all. In case we need anything, somepony will find you. If that’s all, you’re free to go,” he puts the notepad away.
“Thank you,” 10013 nudges Smiley, “Say- I mean do something thankful.”
Already beaming Smiley slowly waves. The pegasus nods in response and leaves.
“You wanna come with me or do you want to look for somewhere new to get stuck?” 10013 chuckles. Smiley licks its face, “Gotcha. Let’s go see a zebra- changeling- pony- something!”
Several minutes later and two floors higher, the two find themselves being scrutinized by a different muscular zebra mare for some reason wearing a lot of leather straps all over her body while standing guard by a door belonging to a nobility suite.
“Hello, I was told to come here, Miss zebra.”
“One moment,” the zebra nods and enters the suite. Only a few seconds later, she returns, leaving the door open, “Come inside.”
As the door closes behind the two, 10013 finds itself facing…
…a changeling infiltrator.
“Hello,” he opens, sitting on the bed with a worried expression, “How are you in terms of love?”
“A bit low,” admits 10013, surprised that this would be the first concern, “But… who are you? The Saint Plop-”
“The baron of Northern San Palomino,” he sighs, “Technically, the husband of the baroness of Northern San Palomino, but the lawyer insisted that it makes me a baron too. Before the invasion, though, my rank was 1313.”
“Hi, 1313. Why did you want to talk to us instead of the Queen or the high ranks?” asks 10013, sitting down.
“Straight to the point. Good,” he nods, “Who invited you?”
“The Queen.”
“I mean, you as in all of you. The hive representatives.”
“The Queen read us a scroll thingy which said you did,” says 10013.
1313 sighs and plops his back on the bed, looking at the ceiling.
“I was afraid you’d say that but I’d be lying if I said I was surprised…”
“You didn’t invite us?”
“No, I didn’t, and neither did Zamira. No offense, but the last thing I wanted was to see the Queen ever again. I doubt I’m important enough for her to try to control me but you never know,” he takes a long breath before covering his eyes with his hooves, “Holes damn it…”
10013 doesn’t know what to say, so it just sits on the floor until the bathroom door clicks.
“Hey, honey, you can’t be sleeping when you have visitors,” laughs a zebra mare of a similar strong build as the guard outside, although a little bit rounder.
“The invitation said we did it, Zami,” groans 1313, “Which means someone either did it under our name or that Chrysalis forged it for some reason. That’s why Princess Celestia said she had to send us a second one.”
“Ah,” Zamira, wearing a pink thong and a matching swimsuit top doing wonders to bring out her muscles as well as her backside, leans over to Smiley, “You’re a happy fellow, aren’t you?”
Smiley boops her. Zamira’s eyes go wide.
“1313, I found a solution to not losing my fantastic figure in the future - we adopt. Specifically this one.”
“We’re very adoptable,” 10013 nods wisely, “That’s the whole changeling thing.”
“Eeeeeeeee!” Zamira grabs Smiley and raises it up, “It’s mine now, I win at life.”
“It meant adaptable,” grumbles 1313, “They have no clue what adoption means.”
Zamira carries Smiley to the bed where she sits down next to 1313 and makes the Silent pat 1313’s head by guiding its foreleg.
“Look, it’s just so happy!”
“Yes, that’s a Silent. It has fewer brain cells than your shampoo bottle. It can’t possibly comprehend the implications of what’s going on here. It’s happy because it’s not getting eaten or thrown against a magical barrier right now.”
“1313 is not wrong,” 10013 adds, “But Smiley has been getting better. It can do way more than just wait for orders.”
“See?” Zamira shakes a completely unbothered Smiley in 1313’s face, “You have to ask your Queen to let us get one.”
“I don’t know if that would work, Miss,” 10013 shakes its head, “Most of the old storage caverns caved-in since the invasion. I mean, there are still a bunch of eggs around but we have been getting only a few new ones every month.”
“How does that work anyway?” Zamira turns Smiley around and scratches it under its chin. The tip of its tongue flops out in response, “Does she kidnap a bunch of stallions to fill her up and then she just keeps plopping out eggs for a week, or do changelings like 1313 here bring her mares so that she can fill them like egg sacks with her creepy alien facehugger dic-”
“ALL OF THE ABOVE, THAT’S THE PROBLEM! WE’RE ADOPT- ADAPTABLE!” 1313 bolts into a sitting position, “Never show Chrysalis the eastern clop magazines you keep reading, it’ll just give her ideas.”
“Well-” Zamira ponders it.
“And if we’re not careful, she’ll make me drag you off to the hive and then do all of them to you-”
“I mean, would that be so b-?”
“-and I don’t want to do that because she says so. I want to do that because I love you but I’ll have no choice but to obey and then she’ll use us to take control of Equestria!”
“Using our massive political leverage that we have as Northern San Palomino nobility? We own three villages and a chunk of desert that we only got so that we wouldn’t blab about Blueblood.”
“That’s just how it starts!” gasping for air in exasperation, 1313 grabs Zamira’s shoulders and shakes her, “Then she’ll make us overthrow the South San Palomino guys and she’ll control the entire desert!”
Smiley, now sandwiched between the two, turns around and hugs 1313’s barrel. This pleases Zamira.
“Honey? You could learn a thing or two from this guy,” she pats Smiley.
“I…” 1313 puts both his forelegs over his face again, “I don’t think you’re getting it, Zami. Chrysalis might not be the best infiltrator in the hive but she was still good enough to fool everyone, replace Princess Cadance, and completely control Prince Shining Armor. If she or that other infiltrator she has with her does something to me I won’t be able to stop it and you won’t even notice. One day, without a word, I might just turn on you-”
Zamira puts a hoof on 1313’s lips with a gentle smile before turning towards 10013.
“Little guy, is your Queen really that bad or is 1313 overreacting?”
10013 rubs its head, pondering it.
“He’s… it’s complicated,” it says hesitantly, “I mean, I saw the Queen up close only twice in my life, and it’s the same for most changelings from what I heard. Buuut… life’s been a lot better since the new rules. The high ranks aren’t allowed to eat us anymore and we get more chances now, so if anything happens that doesn’t allow us to finish our quota during worky time we don’t get immediately shoved into the crusher and recycled. No one knows how many chances we have but we’re not testing anything. Things are a lot better these days, really. Just look at me, I’m almost five years old. That’s practically ancient by drone standards, and there’s more of us who have been alive before the invasion,” 10013 smiles, “Maybe the Queen has changed.”
“I’m sorry… what?” asks Zamira slowly, her tone suddenly cold.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to explain!” says 1313, “In my time, the life expectancy of drones was what? A month?”
“Nope, two weeks,” 10013 shakes its head, “There weren’t that many of us over a month. High Score and I were pretty unique.”
A slow, choked groan comes out of Zamira’s mouth before she asks:
“Honey, how much do I have to control my language around the little guys?”
“Not at all. They’re not foals. Drones are expected to work from day one and they reach the full extent of the knowledge they need maybe by day three. Think of them more as adults who were locked up in a cellar, never had any contact with the outside world, and got hit every day in the head with a brick.”
“Heh heh, yeah,” 10013 rubs its head in response, “Last month a tunnel caved in on me, but High Score was with me in spirit and the big rocks got stuck on each other so they just squished me hard instead of completely flattening me. I got smacked in the head pretty bad, though, before I dug myself out.”
Zamira, almost robotically, stands up, walks into the bathroom, and closes the door behind her, much to the surprised stares of all three changelings. A moment later, they start hearing furious screams presumably muffled by a towel.
“... evil… shithead… month… monstrous… them all… controlling…”
*Sad face.* *Worried face.*
Hearing the fragmented tirade, Smiley hops off the bed and opens the door to the bathroom.
“-WITH A RUSTY SPOON!” comes out before Zamira presumably notices the colder air and stops, “Yes?”
Smiley flies up and hugs her neck.
With a new, determined expression, Zamira steadies it by putting one foreleg under its butt and walks outside.
“Honey,” she says sharply.
“Yes?” 1313 knows the tone. It’s the ‘We do things my way now, no questions’ tone.
“I saw Acting Grandmaster Sun Hammer of the Paladins on the guest list. We are going to find her and ask her for any possible magical protection against mind control or anything even remotely similar. Whenever we split up, take anyone from my unit with you. If you go to the toilet, Zaida will be there with you. If we’re not showering together, you’re showering with Zeri. If I get drunk and meet a sexy beefcake to have fun with over night, Zahara will be in your bed, rubbing her ass against you while Zaida and Zeri watch. Got it?!” she lets go of Smiley and jabs 1313 in the chest.
Faced with this level of authority, both 1313 and 10013 nod, although only one knows what all that meant.
“Good,” she says, “Now, how about we- what the hay?!” Smiley is now carefully chewing on her outstretched foreleg, earning a confused shake rather than a smack.
“Smiley, what are you doing?” asks 10013.
*Curious face.*
A fleeting image of 36658 crosses 10013’s mind.
“Ohhh,” the drone understands, “It wants to know how you taste. My buddy 36658 saw some zebras outside while we were waiting to enter the ship. It used to make agonyslayers by eating striped zebra trees and it was curious if you tasted the same. Now it has a poppy patch on the edge of the Badlands and makes all kinds of stronger stuff, but mostly tormentannihilators, from its goop, some of which we get to keep in case we get crushed but survive.”
“And that’s the level of storytelling clarity you get from drones,” 1313 smirks, “Don’t think too hard about it.”
Zamira only raises an eyebrow.
“I don’t need to, it’s perfectly clear to me. I told you I was a tribal shaman apprentice back home and brewing simple painkillers from birch bark is the most basic thing I ever learned. I know you can eat various things to make your goop taste different and alter its effects. We do enough kinky stuff at home. And finally, if I’m correct about the poppies then this 36-something is now making either morphine or heroin. The only thing that puzzles me is where that changeling found a thesaurus to eat in order to come up with those names.”
And now, both 1313’s and 10013’s jaws drop in sync.
“You’re a very smart stripey lady,” says 10013 after a moment of gawking.
“It takes a lot of work to be this intelligent and sexy at the same time,” she replies with a smile.
“I’m the luckiest bughorse in the world,” 1313 chuckles as he gets off of the bed, unceremoniously shoves Smiley off of Zamira’s leg, and kisses the zebra.
“Smiley, I think we got what we came for. Let’s not bother them anymore,” 10013 mentally nudges the Silent.
“Hey, Zami,” 1313 offers, easily sensing and overhearing the communication, “How about we let these two tag along for the afternoon? They could use a bit of love refill and… maybe the world won’t end if we put off talking to the Paladins until tomorrow after all.”
Zamira’s eyes light up.
“I get the happy one, you get the serious one,” she exclaims, snatching Smiley again and squeezing it like a plush toy.
*Panicked fa-* *Serious face.* *Serious face.*
“Don’t even try that, Silent,” 1313 shoots it down.
1313 really is a lucky bastard. Also Smiley now has new Zebra mum; They're like tiger mums, but even Chrissy would think twice before trying to do anything against their charge.
Zamira speaks Drone? Cooooool . These two are great and a Cheese Queen meeting must happen.
11196544
To an everyday Joe, it's too much slang, but she is an alchemist of sorts and their description made it easy to puzzle out what drugs they've been homebrewing. Unlicensed prescriptions aside, I'm quite surprised Celestia and Luna haven't both reacted the same way as Zimira here; all but commandeering a few happy but clueless drones for their own as one might go for a basket of "free kittens/puppies". Lavishing them with attention and (in effect) all the love they can stomach.
(I doubt they would name one George but ponies can get weird, you know?)
11196565
Why not?
They have a Kevin.
We dont talk about Kn.
Now how did Smiley end up in there, I wonder...?
I just asked that myself, Mr. SECURITY!
Now that's telling, the fact he thinks the two are comparable. Though I suppose it doesn't really establish anything most of the rest of us had already begun to figure ourselves, it's just added confirmation that there's other 'lings on this tub.
EEEEE! It IS 1313!
Well, it didn't take much to win Zamira over. Though I imagine by this point she's...quite familiar...with how changelings work.
You'd think she'd have asked this already by now, considering she's had 1313 in her close company for four or so years now. I mean, surely the topic came up at some point.
See, that's why I'm surprised she hadn't asked this before now--she's that kind of mare, who'd just stop and wonder about this sort of thing.
Well, that answers that question that I had on the tip of my tongue.
Sure she could! Just break your hoof off and then see if it'll pop back on again. If it doesn't, then obviously it's not 1313 but rather an intruder.
Why do I get the feeling she listed all of the most sexy possible outcomes in the most sexiest way possible on purpose?
Not...really--again, she's been living with a changeling for four + years. A low rank infiltrator, yes, but she's no doubt picked up a fair bit about how changelings think at this point. Add with this her, as cited, previous shaman experience and the new info she's gleaned about drone life, and she's already got a good hoof in the door for understanding or at least following along Drone LogicTM, more than most creatures talking with drones for the first time at least.
I mean, yeah, I guess that means calling her a "smart stripey lady" is still perfectly accurate, but I guess my point is that it's not all that surprising to me that she's the "smart stripey lady."
Indeed, for Zamira has spoken, and her word is law (at least in matters such as this).
...man, I can only imagine what Smiley might be like walking out of this afterwards.
I wonder if somecreature will die or get gravely injured. Seems like a nobility, counting in Chrysalis and 1313's hive, might be a political target or the perfect distraction for something else. I hope you keep the mystery going, Wordsmith!
11195208
Goood. Let the dark side flow through you!
11196542
They even have stripes too.
11196544
She's a mare of many talents, as 1313 could attest to.
11196565
They didn't get to see many surving ones, and kidnapping a bunch from the hive wouldn't be the best idea. They could be a part of the peace treaty "You get access to pony cities, we get drones to play with."
11196596
Kevin had fun at Cranky's wedding.
11196676
- Indeed.
- Can't ask such direct questions. Mister SECURITY will start feeling insecure and the universe will implode.
- GASP! THE SHIP ITSELF IS A CHANGELING!
- The Puzzle ling is back. Sturdier than ever.
- I mean, she adopted 1313 pretty quickly, even though it was for a hefty monetary reason at first. Now that she has status and some money, she wants a drone backpack in addition to her infiltrator body pillow.
- I'm pretty sure they got to "Yeah, if we want a foal we can do it normally in some bendy position on top of a table while 1313 is transformed into some interesting shape or just being himself because of romance" or something, not to the "Chrysalis can shoot impregnating laser tentacles from her eyes and her leg holes at the same time, instantly turning an entire mob of pursuing villagers into a changeling wall of flesh nursery"
- Some position one tries when they want to have fun or experiment, and some for romantic contact and cuddlery, I suppose. I mean, I wouldn't know, being a forever alone subhuman whose only superpower is to make chicks sahara-dry by mere presence.
- There will be more! Soon, they will take over the West San Palomino villages, and then the east! Canterlot beware, for the time of San Palomino is coming!
- "Honey, I'm home!" *Gets bashed over the head with a baseball bat just in case.*
- She knows her husband, as a changeling, values her for her, so it's extremely unlikely that a zebra who's simply a bit hotter would be able to steal him away, especially with just physical affection. She'S secure, no reason to be jealous, and if all this is necessary, then her husband may as well enjoy himself while undergoing all this.
- True, but the amount of drones she could have met in that time is... questionable at best? I can'T make up a reliable canon number, but it'S absolutely possible that she only met 65536 like once or twice and that's all, and 1313 wouldn't know much about them too past "We use them for digging or snacks.".
- Filled with love. I think that if it was possible for a drone to be hugged out, Smiley would just want to crawl up somewhere and rest.
11196802
Meh, it'S the usual - we'll meander around for a long time, then someone people like will die because I can't create feelings or tension without it, then it'll be abruptly over without that much payoff, and I tell everyone to go read an actually good story. I think I saw two in the Popular story section that outrank this one like five times.
11196830
Heh. Wouldn'T work in Equestria, but that joke didn't even occur to me. 99111, that'S like ultra police! Bad bugs, bad bugs. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad bugs.
11196840
- I meant more in terms of product than the person, but I'm offering a tiny and insignificant apology.
- Consent is important. Oh my god, I'm soooo brave for saying it. Did I earn twitter goodie boy points? Anyway, would the griffon or the pony be the one trying to aggressively start a hive?
11197387
I feel we can't name it the obvious "Clops"...
Well... you had the female be aggressive that time (was it one or eight... sorry i cant remember), I want to say that means the male should be this time... but I feel like that would end up on an episode of "Clops"...
Thinking about it, that ALSO sounds like the episode would end up back in the "restricted" section of the movie store...
Twitter stopped using those, now they take bitcoins for shady... I mean, legitimate NFTs that you can use to do and say whatever you want... many limitations apply. You can not say or do anything offensive to anyone at any time for any reason. You can not use an NFT in conjuncture with any product or service owned by a company without permission. Any proof in your favor in any of these cases will be ignored.
NFTs are not a digital currency, security, commodity, or any other kind of financial instrument... or... anything really... and have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the securities laws of any State of the United States of America or the securities laws of any other country, including the securities laws of any jurisdiction in which a potential token holder is a resident. The NFTs are not being offered or distributed to you out of kindness, and cannot be resold or otherwise alienated by their holders to, citizens of, natural and legal persons, having their habitual residence, location or their seat of incorporation in the country or territory where people were smart and made transactions with NFTs prohibited or in any manner restricted by applicable laws or regulations. Also NFT's are not actually something you, or even the creator, can "own." It is a concept that you are given permission to and is subject to the limitation of being locked into specific use-cases. Any infringement on a company's image or product will result in YOU and only you being responsible. Because we don't actually care about starting "the next best thing", we just want something to replace loot-boxes and child-accessible gambling.
... I apologize... I went WAY too overboard with this...
11197387
Oh, I never once doubted that. Only a gal that's perfectly secure with her relations with a guy would be okay with what she just proposed there. But I also know that ensuring 1313's safety and security like that also doesn't actually necessitate the heavy sexy undertones, she's just putting such focus on it because I'm pretty sure the sex part of Zamira's brain doesn't have a off switch, so she can't really help herself.
11197582
Surprisingly, for once, I didn't mean it that way, but I guess writing Choking and then Eight/One is just my natural way that bleeds over. This was basically Zamira thinking "I know being surrounded by hot, ultra fit zebras would be the dream of every guy and this is where his mind would be, so let's tease him with it, because I know he's mine beyond doubt and my mercenary colleagues are professional enough to let it slide while having the sense of humor and chill to go along with it." rather than her actually being interested in imagining it.
11197413
- That did occur to me but this time it wouldn't fit.
- Changeling Victims Unit.
- It presumes evil intent in the entirety of the dealing, which I doubt is the case. I think it's 50% greed but also 50% just sheer stupidity.
Plot twist- the entire Equestrian drugs trade is replaced by a single drone XD
Good chapter, the plot thickens.
11197612
We already do have the answer as to who becomes the drug kingpin of Equestria in the Lovebugs trilogy .
11197611
Changeling victims unit...
Start off the questioning for details by giving them something to comfort them... but instead of coffee or something... its a hug from the hug-bug or petting smiley.
Changeling Investigation Services...
Naval Changeling Investigation Services...
Clops...
Reno 99111...
Night Shifter...
I jest. The concept of NFT wasn't really the problem. And it is a company's litteral job to make money.
The problem is how they are selling the concept and getting people who don't know better to vouch and push it. We also don't like how it takes away from the voice acting sector.
Like with AI assisted voice, instead of fans who are proud they can get quite close to the original voices... it could be just two or three people with AI voices. Which is great for the individual trying to make something.
Bad for the voice actors. Small jobs like that are how many people break into voice acting.
So it is just that it simply comes with issues if it gets too big.
And that it will need regulation at some point.
People simply need to understand the potential issues.
I didn't mean for this to take a serious turn...
PFFF JAJAJAJAJAJAJA xD oh joder, al parecer el 1313 se la rifo bien rifada con zamira, xD baron y todo el cambiante loco ese jajajajaja
¬w¬ y bien que tiene los obarios puestos esa cebra sexy, ya hasta se quiere ir contra la chrysi.
11197612
Well yeah, Zamira's in it.
11905402
Good thing 1313 can reassemble his pelvis