The cafeteria was crowded and noisy, warm with the heat of gathered bodies and fragrant with the scents of assorted foods. Changeling and pony alike chatted happily, some ending their shifts after the long night, others taking their morning meals before turning to start their duties. One thing was the same, no matter who or why, though; they all ate in good cheer and better company.

One table in particular was drawing a bit of attention, though less than it had the first time the show had occured. "C'mon, Lory, open wide!" Holly raised a spoonful of steaming oatmeal, prodding her companion's lips with it. "Here comes the airship!"

"Holly, I-GMMPH!" Eyes widening in surprise, Lorikeet found his objections cut off by a heaping serving of too-hot and too-cinammony oatmeal being shoved into his mouth. Ignoring the chuckles of their other meal mates, he chewed almost automatically and swallowed with some distaste. Raising one hoof, he warded off another spoonful, coughing a bit as he did so. "Holly, I can feed myself..."

For her part, Holly just shook her head. "Oh no you can't." She eyed her partner and poked his side with a wing. "I promised your parents I'd take care of you, and that's what I'm gonna do! Just look at you!" She gestured at the flutterpony beside her, at the dark circles under his eyes, the lackluster shine of his wings, the rough appearance of his coat and how thin he was. "You're not eating or sleeping enough at all! And don't give me any excuses, you keep waking up in the middle of the night, and that keeps waking me up, and I need my beauty sleep!" She scowled at him, but her glare quickly softened. "C'mon, Lory. You're getting better, but it hasn't been that long... please eat? For me?"

Grudgingly, lorikeet opened his mouth again, not to object but to take in another spoonful, grimacing slightly at the excessive amount of cinammon his partner had heaped onto their morning meal, but relishing the warmth that spread through him when Holly smiled.

Holly was just happy he was focusing on her properly now. She hadn't had to keep him from drifting off all day, and he only muttered about Aunt Damsel in his sleep sometimes. He'd even stopped sleepwalking, too. One day at a time, she was getting her Lorikeet back, not that almost-stranger that'd come in from the wastes.
...
And she enjoyed spoon-feeding him, even though he could actually do it himself now. It was cute how he pouted at being treated like a foal.

Across the cafeteria, a small group sat and watched, smiling, as Holly and Lorikeet were treated to good-natured ribbing and teasing from the rest of their table, all junior Security members preparing for their morning shifts, all eager to help the only one of their number to have made the journey to either race's homeland recover and readjust to the safety of the Hive.

"You know, they really are quite cute together," Merry said with a twinkle in her eye. Beside her, Ironside nodded.

"He's a good colt," He stated, nursing his morning coffee and trying to chase away the bleariness of a long night shift. "I know I should have been worried about our little girl moving in with a boy, but Lorikeet... he's a good colt."

Snuggling up against her mate's side, and nursing her own cup of steaming tea, Merry tore her eyes away from her daughter... and the colt who she was so very, very close to. With a smile that only a plotting mother could have, Merry addressed the pegasus and changeling sitting across the table from her. "Don't you think your son and my daughter are cute together?"

Across the cafeteria, Holly fluffed herself up and Lorikeet's wings buzzed as feelings of dread inexplicably crawled up their spines.

High above the Hive, teams of changelings and ponies worked, some clearing the last of the built-up sand from former homes, others checking once-buried structures for any damage. A small group was gathered around a drawing board, going over the finishing touches to the large wind-break that now surrounded almost the entire town.

"We'll need some ribbing here, here and here," Honeycut remarked, pointing out spots on the rough-drawn map, "and some more here. We want the wall to stand up to any storm, and Queen help us if we have to dig out the town again."

Beside him, Hawkeye hummed, looking over the map before eyeing the wall. Weeks of work had turned it into a formidable structure, at least twice as tall as the town hall, looking for all the world like a cliff of dark stone if it wasn't for the curved, almost organic nature of it. Curved, sweeping struts fairly grew from the ground to merge with the both the inner and outer sides of the wall, where ribbed projections spread out to further reinforce the structure.

With a shudder, Hawkeye was reminded uncannily of the anatomical pony skeleton that hung in one of the Stable's classrooms. Specifically, the wings and ribcage and how, from the inside, it might very well look something like most changeling construction, be it a hallway, common room, or the very wall on which they now worked.

Suppressing the eerie sensation, he realised something was missing from both the construction and the plans. "There's nowhere for flyers to land up there." Taking up a pencil, he sketched out some additions to the structure. "Think we can add something like this?"

After a moment of studying, Honeycut nodded. "We can just enlarge some of the ribbing, pull it out far enough for a pegasus to land on." He paused for a moment, considering the plans. "Maybe add some actual watch stations, just in case."

Suddenly, every changeling in the area perked up, an action that was repeated all through the Hive.

Ironside and Merry skidded to a halt, followed closely by both Holly and Lorikeet, in response to the sudden call through the Hivemind, the ponies of the group alerted by nearby changelings. They all approached cautiously, staying clear of the bustling Medical staff, fighting their natural equine urges to help one of their number in distress.

"Is she alright?" Merry demanded, hopping from hoof-to-hoof, her wings flapping frantically as her gaze switched from the flustered nurse to what she could see of Damsel's coccoon through the controlled chaos of the Medical bay.

"Uh, I, yes, yes. Chief Damsel is... is fine..." The nurse, a fairly young flutterpony, stammered. "I, um, I'm sorry about the alert, but... but I wasn't trained on what do in this situation and I panicked!" She got the last part out in a rush, her face bright red. After a few breaths and a whispered 'it's fine, don't worry' from one of the more experienced staff, the nurse calmed down enough to continue. "Chief Damsel is... she... she's waking up!" She blurted out, just as the first loud crack sounded through the room.

The Medical bay became a whirlwind of activity, machines pulled free of the coccoon or disabled, towels and cloths held at the ready (and quickly surrended to the gathered family members when Merry May glared at the doctors), and everyone waited with baited breath.

Another crack, this one louder.

The sight of a sharp horn piercing the flexible shell of the cocoon, accompanied by a sound like a jelly-filled toaster pastry being torn in two as it jerked and pulled.

Finally, a damp, gunk-covered changeling falling free, not even coming close to the ground before every magic-capable equine in the room caught her, holding her in place just long enough for the towel-wielding herd to attack.

As gel was mopped from her shell, the changeling raised her head, staring through bleary, tired eyes. Her ears twitched slightly at the sounds of reassurances of her wellbeing, aimed at both her and the equines tending to her. Hooves twitched in response to tests, doctors poking and prodding everything they could reach through the huddle of bodies, leaving her with an odd sense that something was wrong.

"You're finally back," a familiar voice drew her focus, Ironside smiling as his partner blinked at him sleepily. "Welcome home, Damsel." He pulled her into a hug, and was quickly joined by the rest of his family, Holly pulling Lorrikeet with her. "Welcome home."