//------------------------------// // 18 - The Hive // Story: Exile’s Journey // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Canterlot Royal Hospital, Canterlot - Equestria 25th of Chillfrost 16 EoH Equestrians take pride in elegantly and lavishly decorating their homes and workplaces. The CRH was no exception. Most of the hospital had a soothing Neighponese theme to its decor which gave the place the calm, soothing, and relaxing atmosphere Equestrian hospitals were famous for. Except for its isolation rooms. Those were undecorated sadly, by necessity. For while a bamboo plant in a terracotta pot can go a long way to make a room cheerful, it’s also an excellent place for all kinds of nasty things to hide from the eyes of the unicorns in charge of sterilizing the room pre and post use. Celestia, Twilight, and Cadence had spent three hours sitting outside the plastic curtain which ringed around the operating table, quietly waiting for the surgeons to finish extracting the fungi, and sterilizing each wound before healing it. It wouldn’t have been so bad to sit and wait for the operation to conclude if changeling exoskeletons didn’t require power tools to make an incision. Twilight had always hated slasher stories, and it sounded like one had just taken place behind the barely translucent plastic veil. A veil which was swiftly drawn back by a blue scrubs clad unicorn making all three princesses jump. “She’s stable, your Hignesses. You can talk to her now,” the unicorn mare said through her surgical mask. “Her regeneration is functioning again, she will be okay to leave within three hours.” Princess Celestia stood up from the steel bench, stretching her wings to conceal the flank-wiggle she used to try and shake the fatigue out of her plot with. “Thank you, Doctor Silver Leaf,” Celestia said with a small hint of praise on her face. “Do you know if she is okay to speak now?” Silver’s eyes rolled, then nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. Nopony is picking up any spore or mycelium left inside her, nor is any machine we have. She’s clean. All of the extracted material has been confined… But we’re still going to decontaminate the room before anypony leaves. You’ll want to talk to her now, she’ll need a nap before too much longer.” “Thank you, and don’t worry. I don’t plan on this to cause her any stress,” Celestia said soothingly as she stepped past the doctor and walking along side the bed. As she approached the operating bed, the battered changeling queen turned her head, exoskeleton scraping as she moved due to the surgical cuts made in it which had not yet regenerated. The Queen smiled slightly. “Ah, Celestia. Now there’s an Alicorn I recognize. I thought you were sterile, good job!” She said with a wink followed by a pained flinch. “Ow.” Celestia’s wings flared open in alarm. “Polygyne!?” She gasped incredulously. “But I killed you!” Twilight and Cadence gassped in shock, Twilight remaining frozen while Cadence jumped forwards, horn blazing as she readied herself for battle. The Queen laughed wetly, instantly hissing in pain from her barrel contracting. “AH! … Man, I am out of love. I should have healed enough to laugh by now. Could somepony give me a kiss, please? It’s for medical purposes,” she asked of the room before her eyes focused back on Celestia. “No? Well, anyways, Polygyne was my sister, we were twins. I used to be called Formicary, I go by Jiila now.” Celestia sighed in relief. “Stand down everypony, it’s alright,” Celestia said as she folded her wings. “If I’m not mistaken, Jiila is Changelish for ‘Kindness’. Why did you choose to change your name? Did you prefer to use the name as a descriptor tradition of the peasant castes?” Jiila nodded slowly, her lips parting in a frown. “Yes, my brood gave me the name since I didn’t tell them my old one. I consider my status as a second generation Imperial Queen to be of no consequence. How do you know our culture? How many years have passed since Chrysalis took my hive?” “At least one point seven millennia,” Twilight chimed in, clearing her throat as she trotted closer to the ancient changeling. “Equestria has integrated two changeling hives as citizens or protectorates in the last fourteen years. Your people are welcome here now, so long as they don’t harm anypony.” Jiila whistled as she gave the lavender Alicorn an impressed nod. “Damn, what let us go from ‘hide so we aren't all exterminated like rats’ to ‘neighbors’?” Celestia’s ears drooped as her eyes softened with remorse. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to your species in the past. You gave us little choice but to try and wipe you out. I have since learned that our species can exist in harmony as symbiotes. You are not the parasites I once believed you were. I- I’m sorry about your sister.” Jiila blinked before looking at Celestia with a stunned incredulity equivalent to that of an astronomer witnessing a black hole transform into a main sequence star. “What?! No! Why!? She was crazy and needed to go down. My hive celebrated her death day like your Hearthwarming,” she exclaimed, face frozen into a confused contortion. The three princesses and ever a few of the doctors stared at the changeling, jaws hanging open in shock. “Don’t look at me like that! Especially you, Celestia! You know what she did,” Jiila protested. “What did she do?” Twilight asked, frowning as she tried to comprehend any reason someone would be happy over another’s death. Let alone their own sister. “Oh nothing much,” Jiila said with an almost artful casually sarcastic eye roll. “She just turned the entire northern half of Equestria into one single continuous bed of ASH! Didn’t even drain the inhabitants dry of love. Just burned them all. Total war policy of ‘Buck you, your mom, your sister, your cat, and what the hay, buck your motherbucking couch too!’ Her army starved to death because she refused to not literally level your entire kingdom! She brought surveying tools to ensure things were actually motherbucking leveled.” “Faust’s blood! That’s beyond insane!” One of the doctors exclaimed in unison with Twilight, their voices tinged with terror. “Damn straight!” Jiila agreed with a nod and a gasp of pain. “Absolutely no one should be sad she’s dead! Tartarus, many of us hailed you as a hero, Celestia. With my sister as the High Queen our species would have gone extinct within the next century. Scattering the hives across the world with your Elements of Harmony honesty is what saved our species from self-annihilation.” “Wait, what?!” Twilight exclaimed, eyes widening as her eyes darted between Jiila and Celestia, lips pursed in confusion. Noticing her former student’s confusion, Celestia cleared her throat. “That’s true, Twilight. I did scatter their Empire across the world. I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, I need to learn what Jiila wants,” Celestia said. Jiila chuckled. “I’m no threat to you, or your ponies. Especially not if we are allowed to feed openly,” the Queen said with an honest smile. “Be that as it may, you have a high chance of disturbing the international community’s affairs,” Celestia said with a weary sigh. “We’ve been in a rather nice, stable, and peaceful period for the last few years, and I don’t want that to end because one Queen decides to go nation building.” “I never was interested in conquest. Don’t worry about me causing a fuss,” Jiila dismissed with a feeble hoof wave. “That’s why I didn’t get crowned High Queen. I wanted to make peace, and noling believed that would generate sufficient food for us… Despite how much you ponies seem to enjoy bedding non-ponies. We could easily have just integrated with each other if all the old people could just fucking stop bitching and throw out their unscientific opinions. Idiots, the lot of them.” “Not really one for tradition, I take it?” Cadence asked with a curious frown. The Changeling Queen shook her head. “Nah. Scientifically speaking, traditions are an idiot thing.” “Excuse, me?” A baffled Celestia asked as her head tilted and face scrunched. “Er, well, I’m not calling you dumb for having them,” Jiila backpedaled. “I’m just saying that all traditions do is make it harder to change your people’s ways as you learn more about the universe and discover a better way to do something. Maybe some traditions are good, if they bring people comfort and don’t impact the way things work much. “Maybe things have changed since I was out, but as I remember, most traditions serve as chains to keep you down. Do you know how long we knew about passive feeding but refused to use it? And n fact, they taught nymphs that if you used that method you’d drop dead after convulsing in agony simply because ‘tradition good! New bad! YAY STAGNATION!’? A REALLY long motherbucking time. “So yeah. Buck tradition.” Taking advantage of the stunned Princesses moment of silence following her statement, Jiila continued. “Look, I just have one thing I want to do. All I need is to return back to my old Hive. It took for bucking ever to find that place, and I was pretty close to finishing up. See, I’ve always felt that we Changelings have a purpose that’s been taken from us. It’s… I can feel I’m meant to do something, but I can’t tell what. It’s a changeling thing. Everyling I’ve ever asked also has that empty feeling and the vague sense of an unfulfilled purpose. “It’s one reason why Queens can command so many of us. We all feel a missing sense of duty and purpose. Personally, I believe the overmind deleted the purpose from our instinctive memory. You know, back when it was a thing. The prick.” “Instinctive memory?” Twilight asked curiously. “You know how a foal can stand up and walk within a few minutes of being born?” Jiila asked Twilight before coughing violently into her right hoof. “Oh. Good. Right side air sacks are working now.” Twilight winced at the cough and then slowly nodded. “Yes. Do changelings have similar innate knowledge?” “Yeah,” Jiila said after a few short breaths. “We can dig as soon as we pupate, and several other things too. Rarely, some of us know more. Things we frankly shouldn’t know. We called it ‘the knack’, a rare condition characterised by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical. Along with a large degree of social ineptitude. “Other Queens considered them freaks, defective. Like anyling who didn’t fall within their castes average, genetically speaking. You know, greater than five percent divergence from the baseline? My mom and her sisters used them along with all the other hive’s so called ‘defective’ members to create the Emerald Hive, when we needed to make a new thirteenth hive. Too bad I didn’t get to rule them. Maybe if enough of us got together we could just verbally sort it all out. Ah well.” “And you think that the Overmind deleted information your species somehow stored genetically?” Cadence asked curiously. “That’s right,” Jiila agreed. “I know it sounds insane. But the more I’ve learned about my species, the more I reflect on what we can do and how well suited to countless applications we are. I don't think our species is natural. “Think about it. We apparently store data, passing it on to offspring even. We require only water and the affection of other species to survive. We self replicate in large numbers. We can communicate silently. We can shapechange to assume any form needed, even inanimate objects with practice… “Nothing else on this planet has similar capabilities to us. If we evolved, then we should expect other creatures to be similar to us. And yet, we are out of place here. I believe we were designed by an unknown species. Possibly as companions, perhaps as slaves.” “That seems unlikely,” Celestia said with a dismissive shake of her head. “I know that the First Kingdom made a few creatures, but nothing like your species. Not even any other sapient species.” Twilight frowned, shuffling her hooves for a moment before clearing her throat. “Actually, before you asked me to assist Repose, I was studying the Mimic Ponies native to Shorefall. They might actually have been created by the First Kingdom. But I can’t say for certain.” “Regardless, changelings have oral history going back forever,” Cadence pointed out. “Some stories date back tens of millions of years. Even with exaggeration of time for dramatic purposes… Changelings are definitely older than Pony Civilization. You just need to see the old Changeling Empire’s ruins to know that.” “I had evidence to back up this claim,” Jilla insisted. “My hive was really an archeological dig. I believe I have found our birthplace. If that is indeed what the Pyramid is, then it stands to reason I can learn what that missing purpose is by exploring, restoring, and examining the ancient structure. Although, frankly, it might be to repair and construct things because I don't have that empty feeling while I’m working. “If you allow me to leave, I will never bother you again. I will go back home, grow an eggsack, lay a few thousand eggs, and hope that this new brood turns out less feeble minded than the last brood’s bloodline was… If not I could just instruct the drones to stop breeding on their own. It would be easier to manage myself and a few of them instead of a mostly useless for my plans. My ‘intelligent’ offspring are not that intelligent. “I had to convince them the mechanical intelligence I restored was a god so they would not be frightened by its voice, and convinced them that simple maintenance work was ritualistic appeasement to keep ‘them’ happy. They honestly couldn’t understand what to do any other way. They also couldn’t be happy working on things… They needed a sense of duty, physical challenges like combat. So I invented some bullshit for them to form a culture around. “Hopefully my new brood will be smart enough to be of more use than janitors and excavators, and not be a load of dimwitted jocks. Then maybe I could learn why we exist inside the next thousand years. Buck… Please don’t be some kind of reproductive disorder on my part...” The Princesses remained silent for a moment as they shared a look between themselves. “The Sapphire Hive was an underground city filled with ancient machinery?” Celestia asked at last, her eyes holding an odd glint to them. Jiila nodded slowly. “Yeah… Why?” “The Emerald Hive is also an underground city filled with ancient machinery,” Cadence mused. “There might be something to your theory. I always wondered how they managed to fix that ruin, and if your hive also achieved the same thing…” “The Emeralds are alive!?” Jiila exclaimed, jaw dropping open. “But Chrysalis told me they died!” “Think about that for any real amount of time,” Twilight said to Jiila with a smirk. The Queen’s ears drooped in embarrassment. “Point taken. Say, how hard would it be to get a few Emeralds to come help me? You think I could get them to work for gizmos? I repaired a machine that makes stuff for you before Chrysalis tricked me into a coma. Ooo! I got the hanger’s manufactorum working. Computers and all! I never used it before, too many things to repair, but I could probably manufacture-” “That wouldn’t work. The Emeralds already have a small fleet of aircraft,” Cadence said helpfully. “Really? Cool!” Jiila exclaimed with a genuine smile. “But I wasn’t talking about air-” “Wait!” Twilight interrupted. “You said your hive couldn’t help, meaning you fixed everything in there yourself. Repose told me how the hive looked, and that it fixes itself. Your story doesn't add up!” “The superstructure is self repairing, as are critical systems like the power distribution grid, but everything else is not repaired by the self-repair system because it’s broken. Or rather, I didn’t fix it completely because I don’t know where it’s control systems are. I think they are still buried. There’s a lot of unexcavated levels down below, and a lot of systems to bring online on cleared levels. I can only work so fast after all,” Jiila explained with a twinkle of pride in her eyes. “Sooo… You did all of that,” Cadence asked. “Yep,” Jiila replied with a simple nod. “By yourself?” Twilight asked uncertainly. “Pretty much. A few of my brood occasionally were intelligent enough to learn how to help. But never more than a dozen at a time,” she sighed. “I assume that your mother missed one of those changelings with ‘the knack’ as you called it, while she was rounding them up. Right?” Celestia asked with a knowing smile. Jiila nodded. “Yeah. She did. I have a general sense of how one specific style of machinery should function. It doesn't work for everything, I can’t tell you how that heart rate monitor works, it’s alien to me. Just like any pony-made device is. “But certain ancient relics, notably everything in my hive, I just sort of know how they should work and what to do to fix them. Well, not all of them, just a good chunk of them. But seriously, the Emeralds are still around? They were riddled with genetic issues… Poor little guys. Them dying off seemed plausible.” “They are still alive, and are currently the most prosperous Hive in terms of economy and general happiness. They’ve become an industrial power most small nations can’t contend with,” Cadence reported. “However… Some Sapphires still live. We have a few hundred imprisoned as prisoners of war, we’d let them go but Chrysalis's did something to them they are… No longer people. If you can heal them, they are free to go.” “I probably can’t,” Jiila spat bitterly. “Chrysalis was drone born. That means extreme psionic abilities. She probably just deleted their personalities. I’m worker born. I can control a few hundred drones at once, but sapient changeling’s minds are not accessible to me. But you have my word that I will try to help them.” “There’s some good news to!” Cadence said with an exaggerated smile in the hopes of softening the blow Celestia had just struck the recovering Queen with. “I am currently sheltering one of your Elites, he’s fully sane and is currently caring for a small number of your Hive’s pony heard. They have begun to create a brothel and seem rather happy where they are. If you wish to join them, I can easily establish a room in their complex for you as a diplomatic suite.” “I’d like that, but I think I should leave them alone,” Jiila decided after a few moments. “If they are happy, healthy, and fulfilled then I will not disturb them. They do not need me, and I have no reason to take them away from their new lives. I can and will begin my quest anew.” “I understand,” Celestia said with a satisfied nod before turning to Cadence. “Cadence? What’s your opinion?” “She’s not lying and she has a good heart. We can trust her… But her Hive is within spitting distance of griffon territory, it’s not safe for her to return without help to secure it,” Cadence admitted with a slight frown. “Queen Jiila, once you are ready to move again, if you wish to leave you may leave. However, I am friends with the Emerald’s Captain. I would be happy to introduce you and help you get their help securing and repairing your home.” “Help sounds great,” Jiila decided after a few moments of thought. “Though the thought of meeting with changelings I can relate to is pretty kick ass. Would it be possible to stay with them for a time? I think I need a short vacation. Or at least enough time to find another mate. I need to eat after all.” Twilight giggled. “If you fixed a bunch of old technology by yourself, they will definitely like you. Also, I’ve been thinking about that ‘missing purpose’. I don't seem to recall any Emerald Changeling feeling that way. They all seem fulfilled. Maybe you’re right. You should ask them if they know what it is, or see if they just lack that ‘hunch’.” “Excuse me, Princesses, and Queen,” Silver Leaf announced politely. “But Miss Jiila should get some rest now, and we are ready for the decontamination process. You need to close your mouths now. This stuff isn’t toxic but it does taste, appropriately enough, exactly like death.” Celestia nodded. “Understood, Doctor. Please give me two more minutes,” she ordered politely. “Cadence, when we are finished, Introduce Jiila to the Emeralds, get her situated as a guest, and then return to our prior project. Twilight, head back as soon as we are clean. “Lastly, Queen Jiila, if you are willing to wait a month or so with the Emeralds, I will be unoccupied with state business and will look into any way I can help you. You’ve intrigued me. I want to know about your species history as well. Can you do that?” Jiila nodded. “I can do that,” she confirmed with a smile. “Excellent,” Celestia said before giving the Queen a nod. “Doctor, go ahead.” Light Step - 25th of Chillfrost 16 EoH Emerald Hive - Citystate of Pheonix I could see the heat rippling atop the dunes around me. I really hated the desert. Of all the environments I’d trained to fight in, deserts were the worst. Absolutely no moisture at all, and not even one square centimeter of shade. Just you and the sun with nothing between you and the angry heat laser of doom. Even two hundred meters up the air was still hot as balls. But at least I could fly. No trudging along on hoof because I had to stick with friends. ”You’re leaving?” Repose asked, not surprised but rather simply seeking confirmation. “Yeah,” I answered. “I have to move on. This place is fun, but I still have to find my fortune. I might comeback after I do. I’ve made a few good friends.” “If you come back to town, have somepony fetch me. We’ll get a drink and catch up,” Repose promised. “Now I’m sorry, but I am extremely busy. A few of these components need to be totally replaced.” ”Oh… I’ll miss you. I know we didn’t get to know each other much, but you saved my plot on that boat. I owe you one. Come back soon, alright?” Felling asked with a shy smile. “I’ll come visit,” I said giving him a light hug with one foreleg. “But hey, at least you got that hot stallion to keep you happy. Lucky bastard…” “Heh, I know, right?” Felling giggled bashfully. “It’s so much better when they like you back!” Um… Well, come to think of it- ”You need to keep your wing still or I’ll mess it up,” Shining said politely before returning to carefully preening my right wing. “How come you’re so good at this? You’re not even a pegasus!” I asked in amazement as I watched him carefully realign each feather into an artful and elegant position of beauty which my crude ‘function focused’ methods never got even close to. Shining kept working for a few more minutes, his mouth being occupied with positioning each feather. He only answered after he was satisfied with how my primary feathers were positioned. “Well… There was a very good chance that my little sister was going to be a pegasus, and what kind of big brother can’t help their little sister out with mare things? A terrible one. So I learned how to do stuff like this. It’s fun! More so when I use this sort of thing on myself. I have no idea why they don’t each stallions how to look pretty,” he rambled in between nudging some stray feathers with light pulses of magic. “We’ll need to wash your mane too, you can’t go on a date like this.” “It’s only a practice date,” I laughed. “Besides I washed my mane this morning.” “With what? Rocks and bar soap!?” Shining exclaimed as he recoiled in horror. “What else do you wash hair with?” I asked with a confused frown. Um, okay so- Jackolantern giggled naughtily atop my belly. While we hadn’t planned for the practice date to be more than her showing me what to do while on a date, I was more than happy it turned into an actual date. Or at least that I got laid. “Damn, girl. I thought you said you’ve never done this before,” the sleek orange and brown pegasus praised as she bent down to kiss my neck. “I haven't,” I admitted. “I just read a lot of erotic fiction.” “Sounds like you’re a good learner then,” Jack sighed happily, laying down atop me. I didn’t mind. At my normal size I was basically a Princess size mattress anyways. “Sooo… We’re you born with both bits, or what?” I asked, figuring that it would be okay to ask now that we’d been intimate. She shook her head. “Nope! Just a potion,” she explained. “And the size is from saline injections. Oh hey! Wanna try out having stallion parts for round two? I’ve got extra.” “Um… Sure, I guess. It’s temporary right?” I asked with a worried grimace. “Yeah, but if you like it we can go pick you up a permanent one from the shop down stairs. Just give me like, five minutes to catch my breath! Also um… You should stay with me till you leave,” Jack asked pleadingly. I snickered. “Why, because you like big mares?” “Nah, your size doesn't do anything for me. But I like all your stories! Don’t get me wrong, the sex is great, but you’re a sniper and that’s awesome! Could you teach me to shoot sometime?” She asked excitedly. “Uh, sure!” I answered giving her a happy smile. Bucking tartarus… Yeah I missed having friends. This was a terrible idea. The Crystal Empire may be one big pile of kink but I’d been making friends there and that’s where my old friends were and now I couldn’t afford to get back there until I made some cash here. I could afford lunch, a hotel, and maybe some saline solution… No, bad Light! Jack may have shown you just how fun that is but let’s not get addicted to it. There’s a time and place for the fun stuff. Besides, you already picked up the one permanent mod. Besides, the saline just gets absorbed in a few hours… I should go see that Doctor Lily and get some kind of permanent solution done someday. Too bad Jack only did friends with benefits. She and I had been into the same stuff, apparently. She would have been a great marefriend. I flew out from behind a plateau, suddenly seeing the desert stretch out endlessly before me instead of having only the rock to look at. Immediately a large triangular hill came into view, the hillside had a small tent city set up on one side of it. The colorful blankets and canvases which made up each tent formed a sort of mosaic on the sand below. Squinting at the tents I saw, they were arranged in a small market place, with several hundred assorted changelings and ponies working the stalls, or loading and unloading wagons with all kinds of crates, barrels, and… Huh… What do you call spherical shipping containers? What do you even ship in a sphere? While I squinted at the cart which was being loaded up with the mysterious steel spherical boxes (and they were boxes I could see hinges and a latch), a short dark green shelled changeling with a short cropped gray and peach mane basically materialised in front of me. I yelped, almost falling out of the air, only barely managing to catch myself and enter a hover on instinct. “Ooop! Sorry,” the changeling said with an apologetic frown as she dropped into her own hover. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just as security officer and you’re an armed felin I’ve never seen before. We don’t mind people coming through our airspace armed, this is the Badlands after all. But I’m going to need to escort you to the other side. Is that okay?” While the demand was reasonable, I shook my head. “Actually, I meant to come here. This is the Emerald Hive, right?” I asked with a hopeful smile. “Sure is!” She confirmed with a wider smile. “What are you looking for? Oh and your weapon will need to be on safe or unloaded before you land.” I nodded and slung my crossbow off my back, flipping the selector switch to safe and locking the trigger. “No problem. I’m looking for work, actually. And a place to stay. Currently broke, homeless, and I was told this place was accepting newcomers,” I explained, hoping the simple explanation would be enough. I wasn’t going to lie to her or anything. It just took a lot of energy for me to hover like this. The changeling nodded to herself and hummed. “Literally broke? No cash at all?” She asked. I nodded. “I have enough for a room for the night and some food, but that’s it. Is that a problem?” “Nah,” she said with a dismissive hoof wave. “It just means I take you to the immigration office to get setup with a work visa. As for work… Well, we have job placement programs but that will take a week to get you settled. “In the short term, if you don’t find it objectionable, anypony here is allowed to sell ‘changeling food’ if you catch my drift,” she finished with a playful wink. I smirked. “That’s weird, I thought I left the Crystal Empire,” I joked. “Heh, we’re not them, but we’re still a changeling hive. Everyling’s gotta eat, and fun fact, different sources of love taste different. If you don’t want to sell sex, you can also work in the cafeteria for a few days and just give out hugs and chill. Or go watch a movie with someling. We actually pay for stuff like that. It’s literally food for us.” “Could I really house myself doing that?” I asked curiously. “It sounds great. I don’t fancy selling sex but getting payed to hang out sounds like a dream come true.” Especially since I was missing my friends a lot already... “Awww? Really?” The changeling asked, her ears drooping sadly. “I love carnal bliss… Easily my favorite food. Not to be rude, but I did just fly up from beneath you and let me just say that, well, herms are rare. And you guys taste awesome! Ah well. “Um, but yeah. Selling your time and friendship can be a career here. It’s not going to make you rich and few find it fulfilling but you can live off it.” We tasted good!? Oh, right! They eat emotions. I guess physical sex factored into taste. Huh… I guess trying this out for a month was a good idea. Maybe I’d keep myself like this. I wasn't disliking anything about it so far. “Sooo um, I can’t hover here forever. My wings are starting to burn,” I pointed out. “Oh! Right,” the changeling exclaimed, cheeks glowing a pale green as she blushed. “Follow me, I’ll take you to customs and we’ll get you set up.” My guide led me to a large cave in the side of the hill, and then into the hill itself through a large steel door I found to be quite familiar. The Emerald Hive was the spitting image of the Sapphire Hive! Except cleaner, more lived in, and populated. But the architecture, general floor plan, lighting, all of it was the same. That was extremely interesting to me. Were the two structures old First Kingdom ruins? I’d never seen one. Or even read much about that lost civilization. I considered asking my guide about it, but I waited too long and wound up being left at a customs desk as she had to return to work. Though she did give me her name, a ‘comm number’, and asked me to call her if I went into cafeteria work so she could order a hug and a shooting match for dinner. The fact that I could literally make a living by showing off my marksmare skills blew my mind so hard I almost went through the customs check like a zombie. I completely forgot to mention I’d met Sky Trigger and he said that this was the place I was looking for. At least, until I got into immigration. And that was a major headache. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I’d said I wanted to stay permanently. A two hour interview just for a permit to live and work here for a three year period was insane. But on the upside… “Wait, you’re a Prench Scout?” My interviewer, a tall blond maned pastel pink unicorn pony asked in surprise. “Yes, ma’am. I know it says Corporal as my rank, but I have forty years of service time. I was simply never offered a promotion… Racial reasons,” I answered honestly. The mare nodded. “I’m sorry. I can imagine griffons and half-griffons face a lot of prejudice there. WOAH! Wait, what?!” I frowned as her eyes bugged out of her head. “What?” “Are you bullshitting me?” She demanded. “Or did you actually beat that absurd shooting challenge?” I laughed, reached into my pack and pulled out my beret and set it on my head. “I did. Why?” And that’s how I was immediately redirected to their Marine Corps recruiting center. Where I had the same exact interview. Again. But this time, I got to finish. And finally, finally, I had not only a work visa, but a job lined up. While I didn’t want to serve in another military right now, apparently these bugs needed some whipping into shape in terms of their shooting skills. And ‘Civilian Contractor’ turned out to pay a damn good salary. Room, board, and a salary. All for a two weeks on, three weeks off job teaching new recruits how to shoot properly. Not a bad deal! An excellent deal to be honest. I expected daily work, low pay, and having to pay for my own food and shelter. I wasn’t about to argue with the old changeling though. If they ran a sniper academy for two weeks every other month due to low recruitment numbers but still felt the need to keep instructors on a retainer, I was fine with that. It left me plenty of time to find a hobby. Or whatever it was I was supposed to do here. Well, one thing I was supposed to do here was pick out an apartment. When I’d been passed a list of places my housing grant would cover, one place had popped out. Deck Four, Civilian Quarters. The place Sky had told me to hang out at. After asking why exactly everything here was labeled with a naval term, and processing the fact that this mega-city sized place was the buried ruin of an ancient ship, I’d picked out an apartment on the deck, number Four Two Four Three to be specific, and went to explore the new section of the city I would be living in. I expected tight quarters, proper ship dimensions. Instead I got large tall rooms, wide hallways… I could be comfortable living here in my normal size! As I explored the hallways, changelings would occasionally pass me while driving large vehicles laden with cargo down the hall ways. I passed multiple retail sections with stories that had three stories all on the same deck with windows looking out into the small ‘courtyards’, formed simply because the buildings built into a room didn’t fill it completely, so someling planted a garden or built a place to sit, or a plaza between them. That’s right. Buildings built inside rooms. The sheer size of the City of Phoenix could not be understated. I spent the afternoon locating a market, my workplace, the mass transit systems, getting glomped by an earth pony mare who mistook me for their changeling mate who happened to frequently use a shape much like my own as their ‘body to live in’, getting apology ice cream, and ogling the single most sexy set of body armor I had ever seen in my life through a shop window until the shop owner felt bad and let me buy it on a payment plan with the last of my cash as money down. I walked out with her in a custom storage box. So sleek, the shiny plates were modeled after a changeling’s exoskeleton but held the most beautiful streamlined shapes, perfect for flying in! And the colors! That glossy black with the yellow highlighting, mmm! And of course, the fact that it was a set of class five full plate body armor which only weighed in at six kilos! So dreamy! I named her Luminous Iron, and I was gonna sleep inside her tonight. Because buck the hay yes! It was time to find my apartment. Consulting a wall map, I made my way to the civilian quarters on the deck. They were easy to find, and when I arrived, my Jaw dropped in amazement. Even after seeing so many other parts of the ship, this part still managed to be amazing. The entire residential area had a huge triple wide hallway running down the hull for the length of what would be a city street in most cities, and almost all of it was set up as a common room, with patches of plantlife and parks dividing sitting areas, game arenas, and even a few small restaurants. On either side of the hallway, smaller halls ran off like ribs connecting to a spine. These had small signs on them which listed room numbers, and seemed to hold forty eight apartments each. The system was elegant, efficient, and yet they still managed to make it look beautiful. I was beyond impressed. I made my way down the common area hallway, looking from side to side happily for my room number while drinking in the sights. It felt so odd to see interspecies couples happily enjoying each other's company, but it was a good kind of odd. Watching a changeling and a pony play with a foal and whatever a baby changeling was called brought a smile to my face. This was definitely a place to live! Too bad I didn’t have any friends here… Yet. I’d have to do something about that. Suddenly, I spotted my room number on one of the wall signs and turned to enter the hallway, only to stop walking as i noticed a changeling with a toolbelt around his waist clinging to the wall above the hallway, his head deep within whatever lay behind the steel panel which had been removed. A construction worker? But why? “Hey,” I called up to him, or her. I wasn’t sure how to identify changelings yet. “Is it okay to walk through here? Or is this hallway closed for some reason?” The changeling pulled their head out of the space and looked down at me, then spoke in a male voice. “You can go through. I’m just fixing the ventilation duct. The damn thing cracked and dropped down a bit… Do you live here? It will be a bit noisy for a while. I’m going to have to get a hydraulic jack to lift this damn thing into place so I can weld it.” My eyes sparkled as I had an idea. What better way to start making new friends than to help out the local repair stallion? Especially since everyone likes to have a friend who can fix stuff. “How heavy is it? I can probably lift it for you,” I offered. “At least long enough for you to tack weld into place.” The changeling flashed me a grin and laughed. “Sure! Let’s just warp spacetime so the distance between the floor and ceilings a meter and a half,” he snickered before shaking his head. “Thanks for the offered help though.” The repair stallion leaned back into the hole, grumbling something about the long walk to the maintenance store room. I smirked, set my saddle bags down by the wall, gave Luminous’ box a loving pat, trotted into the entrance to the hall and popped my neck before dismissing my collars spell. The distance between myself and the ceiling shrank rapidly, and as I arrived at my full size I gently tapped the changeling on his right flank. “So I have this whole ‘use a collar to shrink to normal size’ thing,” I said with a wink. “Sure you don’t want me to-” The changeling pulled his head out of the hole, blinked once and then almost fell off the wall. “Holy crap!” I frowned, taking a step back and bumping against the wall. “I’m sorry!” I yelped as I felt a wave of sadness start to build up in my chest. “I didn't mean to scare you! I-I’m only recently okay with being my normal size and- I just-” “Woah! No! Don’t be sad! I just didn’t expect this is all!” He said gesturing to me. “I didn’t know you could ACTUALLY reach up here and lift this if you wanted, sir- uh, ma’am… Which of your genders do you prefer to be called by?” “I’m female, I’m just trying this out for a while. I like it so far… Is it that obvious?” I asked timidly. “Yes. To changelings at least,” he explained. “Your scent is completely female, but your emotional flavor is a mix of both… And it’s a pretty nice flavor, or at least I assume it is when you’re happy. Please stop being sad. I can taste that and it’s not good.” I nodded and did my best to forget what just happened. “Alright, do you want my help though?” “Absolutely!” he said with a happy smile before pointing to the section of ceiling which sat a mere meter above my head. “See that duct in the section of ceiling I’ve taken the panels off? Push her up four centimeters on the left hoof side and six on the right. I’ll crawl into the duct and tack weld everything into place and you'll have saved me a two kilometer walk.” “Sure thing,” I said as I got into position to rear up and level out the duct. “What’s your name? I’m new here.” “Oh, no name yet. Sorry. Call me Five-zero-three,” my hopefully new friend said casually. “I’m hoping to earn a name related to repairwork. So let's make sure this gets done right.” They earned their names? Nest. “Sure thing, Five-oh,” I said grimacing at the way the number sounded as a name. I’d think up a nickname for this guy soon enough. I had to get into the hallway to get a good angle to brace it properly, and the duct was a little heavy but I was able to get it into position and hold it in place while Five tacked it back into position. The procedure took about five minutes, and when he was done, Five crawled back out of the vent and looked down at me with a grin. “Thanks! Go ahead and let go. If she’s sturdy enough for me to stand in I can finish the welds properly and you can go do your thing, miss… um…” He frowned, searching for my name which I totally forgot to give him. “It’s Light Step,” I replied as I let go. The duct creaked as I returned to standing on all fours, but stayed in place. “Cool, I’ll remember that,” Five said with a nod. “Well, looks like this is stable. Thanks a bunch!” “No problem,” I said returning his smile then turning to retrieve my bags. “Hey, Luna! I thought you left for the month,” somepony called as I stepped into the hallway again. I frowned in confusion. Was there another giant sized pony here named Luna? Searching for whoever had mistaken me for someone else I felt my heart skip a beat. An Alicorn stood in the hallway. Her back to me. Her midnight blue back. Her ethereal star filled mane flowing as she waved to a random changeling who had called her name. Holy bucking crap! Princess Luna! One of the big two! What do I do!? While I remained frozen, not knowing what the buck to do Princess Luna replied to her apparent friend. Who spotted me, ears drooping as she stared down the hallway at me. “Hello, Ka’ra!” She greeted cheerfully. “Celestia actually wants me back here for a work assignment. Apparently somepony important might be staying here for a while and she wants me to keep an eye on her since I have my vacation home here… What are you staring at?” The princess turned around, immediately spotting me. How could she not? I was huge! By the Emperor, this was embarrassing! Cadence was one thing, but this… This was the pony who had made Equestria the empire it was! A military legend was standing right there and here I was huge, and under the effects of a gender altering potion to something non-binary! I was not remotely presentable! What do I do!? Luna’s eyes widened, and dilated. Her wings snapped open reflexively, and her jaw dropped as she tipped her head back to look up at my face. Oh Faust no! No no nononono! I could have made a good impression on a legend! WHY!?! “I- I- I, um, er… H-h- S- Oh, geeze!” Luna stammered awkwardly, her cheeks turning a bright pink as she… Blushed? “I’m sorry!” I eeped, ears drooping fearfully. “I- I’ll go shrink and never bother you again.” “N-no!” Luna yelped, her face twisting fearfully. “Please no! Faust's blood no! I um, just… Stay like that! P-please.” Wait. I felt myself frown as the wheels slowly turned and- Oh sweet bloody Hearth's Warming, I think she liked me! Luna cleared her throat, awkwardly scratching the back of her head with a hoof as she kicked one of her rear hooves against the deck. “S-sorry. I’m not normally… Um… You’re really tall!” She said dumbly. I felt a blush spread across my own face. Oh my god she did like me. A bucking living legend thought I was hot! Quick brain, what do!? I DON’T KNOW HELP! “Dinner!” Luna yelped suddenly. “W-what?” I asked. “Diner, later. You, me… Please?” Luna asked, eyes pleading with me to say yes. I felt my heart flutter. “Yes!” I agreed immediately. How could I possibly turn down a meal with motherbucking Princess Luna! Oh my gosh, I totally had to ask her about the battle of Thermain Pass! Nopony in the Air Guard had ever heard the whole story and here was the source of the legend! Who was also the source of a delighted squee and a little happy hopping hoof dance. And then a mortified facial expression as she realized what she just did in full public view. “Ka’ra, help!” Luna squeaked. The changeling zipped forwards, and pointed to me. “What’s your name, giant mare with the cute tail?” She asked. “Light Step,” I answered. The changling snickered. “Really? With your size? That’s hilarious!” She giggled with a good humored smile on her face. “Right, so, what’s your room number?” “Four two four three,” I answered. “Oh, well holy crap,” Ka’ra said with a baffled blink. “This is going to be easy. Luna, go get presentable, work up the courage to talk to her normally, and then just go next door to pick her up. Light, you should go to your apartment so Luna can compose herself… You literally push all of her ‘this person is attractive’ buttons.” I tilted my head. “Seriously? All of them?” “T-tall, teal mane, half-griffon, female but with extra stuff, s-soldier…” Luna said bashfully. Soldier? Oh right I had my hat on. Oh my gosh! Embrace the night! It all made sense! I knew what I had to do! I dropped to my knees so I could give the alicorn a gentle hug. She eeped and stiffened up, making me pull back, fearing I had over stepped my bounds, only for her to dart her head forwards to give me a quick kiss on the shoulder. “I’m-sorry-I’m-not-used-to-talking-to-hot-ponies-I-need-to-go-compose-myself,-I’ll-pick-you-up-soon-I-know-a-great-Neighponese-place-on-deck-three!” Luna shouted rapidly before bolting down the hall, trying to hide her face in her wings. The second she disappeared into the hallway, her changeling friend gripped me by my collar and looked right into my eyes. “For the love of the Hive, please tell me you like her back, that was bucking delicious!” She pleaded. “It’s motherbucking Princess Luna!” I hissed back. “I’m in shock myself!” Ka’ra let go of my collar and took a deep breath. “Sorry, really sorry. Luna needs a real lover a lot right now, her emotions overwhelmed me. Please, give her a real chance, okay?” She begged, giving me puppydog eyes. “GIVE HER A CHANCE!?!” I exclaimed. “I had a poster of her as a filly that I tore out of a textbook from school! What kind of insane pony would turn her down!?” I felt my heart skip a beat as I just realized that she had asked me out. “I need to shower! Where is the nearest bathhouse!?” I eeped. “There’s a bathroom in your apartment... Are you new here?” Ka’ra asked. I nodded twice. “Ah. Makes sense. I’ll show you how it works. Let’s get you cleaned up. Luna will be at least an hour,” Ka’ra giggled. “Really?” I asked. She nodded firmly. “Yep! Trust me. I’m a scout. That’s the kind of attraction that takes a while to let you think clearly again. Come on. I’ll get you showered, shampooed, and in return you let me tag along on your date, just out of obvious range but where I can still get a bite for myself. Deal?” “Deal! I um, I’m terrible at grooming. I had a friend show me how to do my mane but uh, I’ve never actually done anything with my fur and that was motehrbucking Princess Luna nd I need to be prefect so-” Ka’ra laughed. “Light, she’s a soldier too. We just need to rinse that sand off you and brush your mane nicely. Come on, I’ve waited for YEARS for somepony to catch her eye. Poor thing’s needed a good date for a literal thousand years you know.” “She has?” I asked in shock. “Ho- Oh, yes… That whole banished thing… I shouldn’t mention that, should I?” Ka’ra shook her head. “No, just treat her like a normal pony, enjoy her company, and please please please be romantically compatible! Now come on, time’s wasting.” One extremely quick shower later, before my fur even had time to dry, Luna picked me up. The stammering awkwardness was gone, replaced by shy but happy normal-ish speech. We spent the walk to the restaurant talking about each other. The simple questions. Hobbies, friends, memories, that sort of thing. The boring stuff. Then we got to dinner and the real conversation could begin. Favorite weapons, debating the merits of halberds against crossbows and appreciating the other’s accomplishments with their chosen weapon. Discovering each other's mutual love of shock and awe tactics. Listening to her talk about the time she killed six owl bears by herself before becoming an Alicorn. Her actually being impressed when I told her about my three and a half kilometer shot that killed a crocodile. I thought she would be cool, an element of living history. I didn’t expect her to be a person I felt myself falling for. Likewise, she seemed to be delighted that we had so much to relate to each other with. Crappy childhoods, both banished from our homelands… But the most amazing thing was Luna liked me. The more we talked, the more she liked me for well, me. Not just because I was hot in her opinion. She had more of me to like than my body. That was the single most flattering thing I had ever experienced. It won her my heart. The evening flew by. And before I knew it we went back to my apartment because Luna wanted to snuggle up and watch something together. I’d told her I didn’t have anything to do that with and so we should use her apartment. She’d replied, “I have too many valuable things in my apartment which may get damaged if I ‘cuddle’ with you at your full size and frankly, Light, that’s what I intend to do… If you’ll let me.” I woke up the next morning in my apartment with a loving glowing feeling in my heart and Luna curled up on my belly under a quilt. Nothing I’d ever experienced had felt better. I gently nuzzled Luna's mane, hoping to wake her up. “Hey… Are you awake?” I asked quietly. “Shhh… Comfy,” she mumbled sleepily. “We’ll go to breakfast later. If you wanna.” That sounded like a wonderful plan. “Sure! Want to go out shooting after breakfast? I bet I can out shoot you. I’ll even use the bow of your choice.” “Heh,” she snickered. “Deal… But not yet. You’re too comfy of a mattress. Seriously, you’re like a cloud bed.” Some day I needed to find that griffon fortune teller again. I needed to give her the biggest thank you card ever made. And I needed to make another one for destiny itself. I owed them both everything. I was home.