Bored.
The bunyip, sea pony and changeling were bored. They wanted to head back to their respective lands but Flix had asked them to wait until he came back with Destined. He said that it would take a few days, and since they had nothing but time to kill, they decided to go visit Blue Streak.
“I’m so glad that Flix was able to get free; it just took you guys long enough!” Blue streak chuckled before he turned to look back at his group of trainees. “I SAID HOVER! WING STRENGTH IS PARAMOUNT FOR WINGED COMBAT!”
The team groaned as they kept flapping their wings to hold them steady above the ground while dragged down by several weights that were attached to their legs.
Orlonda chuckled as her acquired aggressiveness started to show. “Go easy on them – it’s not like they have seen actual combat or hunting. They are soft.”
The younger Cinder narrowed her eyes and looked over at Orlonda. “A soldier is only as strong as their trainer; you called them soft, so does this mean that you are calling Blue soft?” The dragoness moved up to Orlonda, her wings slightly opened.
The orange changeling narrowed her eyes as well and her wings opened up to their full extent. Before her travels she wouldn’t even be in the situation, but now she was almost itching for a brawl. “You know what they say.” She shifted into an orange-tinted black-scaled quadrupedal dragon and her muzzle moved within an inch or two of Cinder’s. “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”
Matriarch Cinder was starting to move before Blue held out his hoof and walked over to her. “I am guessing that Orlonda needs to vent some energy after being petrified for so long, and it’s nothing Cinder can’t handle.” The pair looked back to the two females squaring off.
Young Cinder bared her teeth. “You have no idea what hell you are going to bring upon yourself.”
Orlonda snarled back. “Then bring it, sucka!”
The dragon lunged and the two tumbled around on the ground before Cinder sprung up and took to the air, Orlonda immediately going after her.
IkaIka and the bunyip walked over to Blue and the Matriarch. “So how much time do you give them until they both calm down?”
Blue shook his head and laughed. “Oh they will go for a while. I’ll intervene if things get too serious.”
The group looked on as the two dragonesses flew around each other clashing back and forth but never grappling each other. Their growls and roars were gradually getting louder until the finally locked claws, both of them were taking in a deep breath, bright red flames started to flicker in Cinder’s throat while orange flames began to flicker in Orlonda’s throat as well.
A blue streak whipped out into the battle field and the two combatants felt a hoof shut their muzzles just as they were about to take out the other.
The Warmaster shook his head and forced them back down to the ground. “Ladies! Ladies! Play is play but let’s not do anything too drastic.”
Cinder and Orlonda just growled before Orlonda shifted back into a changeling and walked back to her friends. “Fine!”
Cinder was still fuming, that was until Blue’s kiss calmed down her inner fire.
“So, where is Flix?” The blue pony leaned against the matriarch before he bellowed out. “EXERCISE OVER, SHOWER UP AND GET REST. TRAINING BEGINS AGAIN FOUR AM SHARP! EACH MINUTE LATE IS AN EXTRA MILE OF ENCOURAGEMENT!”
The griffons fell to the ground, groaning in exhaustion. They helped each other out of the weights and limped off.
Orlonda smirked as the trainees left. “Ahh – it’s been too long.”
A bright flash occurred in the air and Destined landed gracefully on the ground, only to be piled on by Flix a few moments later. He started laughing as he rolled off.
“Okay that was awesome!” Flix stood back up as Destined groaned and stood up.
“So I took care of that. Next thing on the list. Come on Orlonda we need to get you back to the Orange Hive!” He held onto her with his dragon talons.
“Do you even know where you are going?”
“I don’t need to.”
“What about your other friends?”
“Show them a night on the town compliments of House Path. Once I get back, we are going to head off to your homes to see how they are doing. Orlonda is just the closest... I think. Meh – whatever.” Flix lifted up his claw and snapped it as the pair transformed into a pony and changeling doll, a Picasso version of themselves, then a Generation 2 version of themselves before they disappeared in a spray of shredded canterlot newspapers.
Destined looked at the two left behind. “Want to get lunch?”
“YES!” both of them shouted overeagerly.
Polistae was old – very old. While she was still the Queen of her hive, Princess Actus was in the dominant role now. She spent most of her time with an elderly Fancy Pants listening to music or going to the theater. With the Chrome Hive being so open, she had decided that hers was the next one to follow suit. She established a new branch hive a few blocks off the main theater strip in Manehatten. Her little ones were some of the best actors, dancers, comedians, and writers the world had ever known, and it filled her with great pride.
Polistae caught a flash out of the upper edge of her eye and in a snap reaction she slid her chair back only to see Flix and Orlonda crash onto her table again. Fancy, having become calmer in his older years, sipped at his tea.
“Ah… so the duo returns.” He looked at the tangled pile and the smashed crumpets, and then sipped his tea again.
Polistae, however, was ecstatic as she picked up Orlonda and gave her a huge hug.
“I was worried I wasn’t going to be around when you came back. Look at you – so big and strong now! What were they feeding you on your travels?!” Polistae stood up and carried Orlonda with her. Flix laughed and sat down with Fancy.
“So – over a hundred years as stone, hmm?” Fancy asked as he sipped his tea.
Flix snapped his fingers and sat on the papasan and that materialized, a mug of tea in his claws. “Loved every moment of it. So – still with the Queen for over a hundred years?”
Fancy Pants grinned and sipped his tea. “Loved every moment of it.”
The pair nodded to each other and continued to chat.
Orlonda was dropped onto a pillow as the old queen sat down on another next to it. “So you have to tell me everything! We have waited for so long! You have insights into the art and culture!” Her old eyes lit up as she smiled, clapping her hooves. “House Path tried to figure out where you went once you were petrified. The charts and notes were so accurate but when they went to the sea ponies, we were met with fear and suspicion. Same with the bunyip tribes. It took Wandering working his magic to integrate with the tribes to learn more about them. Actually, now that I think about it, after the initial contact the bunyips chose to stay separated from the other nations. We just keep a token port on the east coast, and the sea ponies are so far out in the middle of nowhere that, while they formed an alliance, they have asked to be left alone.”
Orlonda hmmed slightly. “I never thought that the sea ponies would be xenophobic, but regardless I bet they can’t wait to see IkaIka again. As for the bunyip tribes – that kind of makes sense, they are extremely loyal and strong.” Orlonda looked down at the queen. “Their love combined with the radical change in diet and the inability for me to transfer the love anywhere else gave me the energy and means to grow, I was down there for a little over half a year and I molted nearly twelve times!”
Polistae’s eyes went wide. “Twelve times?! Gah! It’s like you had another pupa stage. No wonder you look so tall and strong, you almost look like a red soldier caste drone!”
Orlonda grinned and flashed her sharp teeth and her fangs that had almost reached the size of her Queen’s. “Hmm... can I be reconnected? I do have a lot to share with everyone – art, music, and oral tradition.”
The Queen nodded as she sensed those familiar chi paths, and with a small amount of effort, she was brought back into the hive, appearing on top of a stage as she grinned as all of the hive was looking up at her in awe as well as respect. Even the Queen and the Princesses were sitting down in the front row. Orlonda’s horn lit up, as she started to transfer everything in the last hundred years.
When the pair moved out of the sympathetic network, they found themselves being cuddled by their companions.
“So much information! So many new schools of art, storytelling and dance – I was right to believe in you, Orlonda. Letting you go with Flix paid off more than I ever expected.” Polistae leaned back against Fancy who nibbled on her neck slightly as he willingly gave her love and affection.
Orlonda opened her eyes shortly after. “I never doubted it for a second, but I am glad you believed in me.” She leaned into the petting that Flix was giving her. “So what were you two doing while we were doing the transfer?”
Flix was about to say something before Fancy Pants coughed to stop him from speaking. “Just teaching him the finer points of nobility.”
Flix was prancing around the main lobby with Fancy, wearing two monocles and three top hats. “Galas and parliament meetings and trysts in the foyer!”
Fancy was trotting around as well, wearing eight pince-nez starting from the bridge all the way to the edge of his nose, and wearing a derby cap. “Stocks and bonds and trade agreements!”
Both were wearing powdered wigs.
A maid came in. “Sir, shall we prepa–” She stopped and stared at the two before they yelled at her.
“WE ARE DOING NOBLE THINGS!”
The mare hastily backtracked and shut the door behind her.
Flix started to grin. “The finest of points.”
The two males laughed while the changelings just blinked in confusion.