//------------------------------//
// Cart Rides are Long 
// Story: Outcast of a Hivemind 
// by NovaSethyr 
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Chapter 4



Cart Rides are Long


"The wheels on the cart went round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels of the cart went round and round, all the way down the mountain," I silently sung to myself. One of the cart wheels hit a pothole, bringing my wandering mind back to the present.

The Crystal Ocean was true to it's name, it reflected the sun's warm light as it appeared in the distant horizon. It was really interesting, actually, to have been able to see the sun rise over something that could essentially be called a giant mirror. The light didn't actually bounce off and try to blind me, either, so that's a plus. 

As I continued to let my mind freely roam, I began to wonder about what I've learned about the place so far. We were in an area that was officially called the Shamrock Forests. But the locals had already given it a name: the Ruby Mines. The way 473 said the name seemed like she was expecting there to be ominous thunder in the distance, and I was genuinely surprised that there wasn't any. 

Anyways, the Ruby Mines were, you guessed it, mines that were used to harvest the areas vast amount of gems with rubies being the most prominent. There was a huge scramble of ponies trying to get at the now huge market for rubies, and from that point onward it was almost like an Equestrian version of the Gold Rush in the 1800s. A lot of ponies came to find rubies, and they found quite a lot. There were towns constructed by the mines, and for a while everypony was predicting the area to become the next Manehattan. Then the diamond dogs came.

At first, there were only a few diamond dogs, scrounging around for bits and pieces of gems to horde and stockpile for their own personal consumption. Then more starting popping up. In less than a week, there were entire tribes of diamond dogs. The diamond dogs drove away the miners, with more than a few casualties in order to claim territory. The ponies abandoned their prospering towns, leaving only a few towns that were too far from the mines or had other ways of having a stable economy. It just so happened that Minnow's Rest fit neatly into both categories.

The mines were deemed to be cursed and condemned, which left the diamond dogs to deal with the mines on their own. Not even a year later, a group of ponies decided to try and make peace with the diamond dogs and see if there was any way that both races could benefit from the copious amounts of gems. Only one came back. 

The pony who returned reported massive fights between various diamond dog tribes, and many tribes had split up into smaller tribes when internal conflicts emerged. The mines went quiet after that, no diamond dog emerged or entered since then.  Nopony truly knows what happened, whether it was greed over the huge amount of gems, territorial fighting, or even if the mines were truly cursed. Maybe the diamond dogs learned to live with each other peacefully. But looking at past diamond dog history, it was highly unlikely.

It's been decades since then, but the locals of the Shamrock Forests keep their distance from the mines and ghost towns, which have been reclaimed by nature. Which was extremely lucky for Prince Pupae, who quickly moved into the mines and started a new hive.

As the path left the mountains and into the forests, there were signs of past civilization everywhere. I saw a signpost that pointed in two directions, but there was only one obvious path. I also spotted a discarded pickax that some pony dropped alongside the road. 

The morning light shown down from the autumn colored leaves, and shafts of gold and brown drifted past my face as I laid on my back and observed the passing trees above. The cart was filled with soft hay, so it was rather comfortable as well as useful when I need to hide myself. I also noticed that I couldn't itch anymore, which is a huge plus since I don't have fingernails to scratch anything with.

Drone 473 was driving the cart, and I peeked over the edge to watch her pull the whole thing. She was currently disguised as a brown earth pony stallion with a cart cutie mark. Wasn't sure if it was just what's on her mind at the moment or just a lack of imagination, but at any rate I felt like I should help her... him... whatever.

"Hey 473, you wanna take a break from pulling the cart? It's nearly time for breakfast, anyways."

Her head twisted around so fast I almost thought she broke it. "Why don't you pull the damn thing if you want to help so badly?"

Her annoyed look combined with the unnaturally masculine voice cause me to dive in fear into the hay. "You know I'd like to, but I can't seem to transform at the moment."

"Liar, I saw you change not ten minutes after the Prince told you to practice your limitations. Now get down here and pull if you want to live."

The tone of voice did it for me, I nearly wet the hay. Or whatever changelings did. Whatever it was, I almost did it. "Yes ma'am!" I yelled as I leapt out of the cart and galloped to the front. I lifted the harness with my brand spakin' new telekinesis abilities off of 473 and started to pull. I put on the disguise of a blue furred, black maned stallion with the cutie mark of three bits with a smile on each.

473 stood to the side, still shape shifted. "Now that we have that out of the way, why not tell me a little about yourself?"

I kept my muzzle shut and looked away, not because I didn't want to talk about myself, but because I wasn't sure of what to say. As much as I wanted to have a conversation, I didn't exactly have a line of qualities and flaws to talk about with someone I've known for less than a day. Especially when I was supposedly born today. My partner took my lack of an answer as something that I didn't want to talk about, though. I didn't mind, it probably made me seem more mysterious and exotic to the drone. 

I still wanted to ask question, though, so ask away I did. "So is there something I can call you besides 473? Do you have a name, nickname, or just something you use for when your under cover?" 

"Well, no. I've never had a name that I didn't borrow or steal from an already existing pony."

"Aw, I was hoping to have a name to call you other than 473. It's not a name that rolls easily off the tongue."

"What about you? Don't you have a name to call yourself?"

"I was hatched not a day ago, I have no name to call my own." Not entirely true, but I'd like to stick with the idea that I didn't have a past before my hatching. I didn't even like my old name.

"Well, I could call you Strangeling." A small smile played across 473's lips.

I groaned loudly, from both the comment and from pulling the cart. "Ha ha. Shesh, I get it, I'm not your average changeling. Can you drop it already?"

473 looked down at her/his hooves, "Sorry, comments like those are usually the Hivemind talking."

Mention of the Hivemind got me thinking of some questions that I wanted to ask. "So, how different are changelings in the Hivemind? Is there any sort of sense of individualism or is it some sort of group conformity that forces you to think and behave just like every other changeling?"

I noticed an absence of her presence next to me, and turned to see she stopped walked and was now looking at me with an odd expression. Only her mouth moved, and it was trying to form a question that she couldn't seem to form.

"What's individualism?"

The cart slowed down, and I waited patiently for 473 to trot back to my side before returning to the relaxing trot. "I didn't expect you to know exactly what being an individual is, after living your whole like with a collective consciousness and all. I would expect that minds that were always connected never could understand what it's like thinking without it. It's like asking a fish what it's like to fly, the concept is just impossible for them to understand.

But back to individualism; simply out, it's a social standpoint that dictates that the moral is worth the individual. In a collection of a single race, each and every one of them has their own morals, their own dreams, ideas, flaws, and ways of thinking." I glanced sideways at 473, watching as she digested that nugget of information. 

She started to frown, then her eyes glinted off the sunlight for a brief moment before she resumed her usual gait. "The Hivemind does not take kindly to this idea. If everyone in the Hivemind thought differently... I shudder to think what would happen." She then shook herself as she possibly tried to stop herself from thinking on such dangerous matter further.

The next twenty minutes or so were rather peaceful. We kept up a slow but steady pace, sometimes switching who pulled the cart, The forest was true to its name, the entire forest floor was covered in clovers, giving a sense of calm and tranquility. I've always thought of green to be the spirit of adventure, but I never really knew why. When I wandered down this path, I felt the eagerness to explore rise once again. This time I knew that the forest was very inviting, and I could wander through the trees and the dense canopy for days and still feel content. I don't know why, maybe I've always been an adventurer at heart.

The reverie was broken when 473 found a dead snake. The short outburst was quelled with a small smile and lots of insisting that she wasn't afraid of snakes. Since she was so adamant about not being afraid of a dead and harmless reptile, I asked if she wouldn't be opposed to eating it. I was starving, after all. She ran over to the side of the road where I could her empty the contents of her stomach somewhere where I wouldn't see it.

I didn't mind though. Free food is the best kind of food. I tossed the snake into the cart as I watched 473 out of the corner of my eye. "Do changelings need to eat as well as feed on emotions?"

"Well, you can. It won't give enough energy to fully power you, but it can stave off the hunger for a little while. But if you're thinking that you can survive on eating alone, you're sorely mistaken. It's an essential part of the changeling diet, and if you don't feed from a host in about a week's time, your body won't be able to fully function anymore and you will die."

Starving to death from lack of emotions? That's definitely a death I'd like to avoid. But at least I knew how long I was able to last without feeding. More questions pressed in on my mind, though.

"So when was the last time you ate?"

"Well, we were searching for a new home when we happened on a travelling circus. We were desperate for some anger, so we kidnapped a few of the performers and replaced them. Then we purposefully botched the show. The ponies who paid good money were angry that the show wasn't what they expected, and the other performers were mad that they lost their reputation. We feasted like kings that day, though the circus had to close down. It's been a few days since then."

That was a bit... mean-spirited. They needed to eat, though, and they could have died otherwise. It was conflicts like this that makes me marvel at human morality and what they needed to do to survive. Now, here in the land of colorful ponies and happy rainbows, the morality still existed, albeit in the form of other races trying to survive with and against each other.

We decided to take a quick break and have a little breakfast. A small campfire had been made and we sat around it as we waited for the meat to cook. The disguises were ill-suited to consume meat, so we revert back to out changeling forms after making sure we were far enough off the road. 473 was understandably reluctant to try to eat the snake, but when it was cooked the meat smelled delicious, and she couldn't help but try a bite.

As I bit into my half of the savory meat, I asked a question that has been on my mind ever since I met 473.

"Can I call you something other than Drone 473?"

The question seemed to shock the unsuspecting pony. She thought for a bit and shook her head before biting into the snake meat again. 

"Well, how about D4? Much easier to remember than 473."

She thought again before shaking her head again with more vigor. She swallowed her portion before answering, "The Hivemind would disapprove of me taking a name for my own. That could be considered an act of... individualism." She said the word like it was treason. Considering the Hivemind and the influence it had over every changelings life, that probably wasn't far off from the truth.

"Well, I'm no Hivemind, so I'ma call you D4. If only as a way of addressing you that's easier than reciting a number, not because I consider you an individual," I amended at her horrified look. The explanation did little to relive her of her horror, but she slowly nodded as if she was accepting her doom.

After that, me and D4 (so much easier to remember now) packed up and made sure it looked like no one had passed through here. She had once again shape shifted into the stallion, but I took the time to rest and wait for whatever rules my magic followed to reset. I didn't want to change back in the middle of tow, after all. The sun continued on its path, and it was nearing it's zenith when I had last looked. We had continued down the path with no interference, no events, and no trouble. I went the entire journey expecting a random encounter to appear where we had to fight for our lives, but nothing happened. 

My fears were laid to rest when D4 stopped in her tracks.

"We're here."