“Step away from queen Novo,” repeats Celestia firmly.
“Look, we didn’t do anything-” Two raises her voice.
“Come over here, please.” the alicorn interrupts her.
“Come on, we won’t gain anything by antagonizing her,” I mentally poke Two.
“You can’t just fold like you always do! You’re a diplomatic guest and you know this is bullshit!” Two objects.
“Two, be quiet, please.”
I walk over to Celestia, with reluctant Two baring her teeth at anyone staring in tow.
“So, what now?” I ask, facing Celestia.
A yawn comes from the hallway, and the big, white griffon I saw at the mixer pushes past Celestia, clearly unbothered by either of us.
“Gee, a griffon is trying to sleep and now this...” grumbles Cromach, walking straight to Novo who has been moved to her bed. He pokes her few times, a green flash follows accompanied by the smell of ozone, and in the end he turns around, “Energy drain. I assume someone stole her divinity, although not completely.”
“Wait, you couldn’t sleep?” I blink, “How come? Everyone on the floor was out like a light, even I got almost knocked out.”
“Meh,” he just shrugs, “You try to sleep in an office chair with a head on your desk. I swear, the castle staff order those so that anyone trying to work will work under any circumstances.”
“I feel like you’re not taking this seriously,” Celestia frowns at the griffon.
“Not exactly, no. Hard to take something as minor as attack on a demigod royalty seriously after what I’ve been through,” he pokes my side, and in the same way as it did to Novo, green lightning spark makes me hiss and back off. At the same moment, Two snaps her jaws at Cromach’s outstretched foreleg, misses completely as he must have predicted it, and he flicks her ear with a talon, “Besides, if this guy did it then I’ll eat my own paw.”
“Ahem, with all due respect, sir,” a Royal Guard unicorn clears his throat and steps forward. Novo’s guest room is getting rather cramped by now, “We have received reports of changelings spying on this exact guest room earlier today, and even getting inside. Coupled with the fact that somepony we couldn’t track kept triggering changeling alarms all over the castle throughout the day, and king Beard as well as his retinue being the only new changeling guests this doesn’t bode well for them. Of course, changelings are energy eaters, and we’re ignoring the fact that queen Novo recognized him as the attacker.”
“Yeah, makes me wonder why...” Cromach rubs his chin.
The hippogriff guards approach us, and tap the butts of their spears against the floor.
“The queen is sleeping,” says the leading one in a hushed tone, “I would politely ask you to leave, all of you,” he looks meaningfully at Celestia who nods.
“Come,” she says quietly but firmly. A Royal Guard taps Two’s flank with his spear while Cromach points at the door. The griffon seems to be on my side, or at least on the side of common sense, so I don’t object although I can feel Two’s angry mental mumbling.
Outside, even more guards have gathered as well as some guests peeking from the closest rooms at the nighttime hubbub.
Celestia looks down at me standing there, surrounded by far too many armed ponies for comfort.
“Until the situation gets resolved, I have to ask you not to leave the castle,” she says.
“Deal,” I shrug.
“At least PRETEND you’re giving her something you don’t want to! Didn’t you learn ANYTHING about negotiating?” Two’s mental voice would be facehoofing if it could.
“I got as far as I did with honesty, Two, and it will carry me this time as well. Let Chrysalis lie and scheme her way out of things.”
“I am an infiltrator, I am YOUR infiltrator!” Two growls, “How can I help you when you do THIS?! Dad, if you want to play this the right way, immediately contact everyone who is asleep, and tell them to GTFO before the guards get them!”
“I will also require you to gather your retinue, who will be placed temporarily under arrest. For the peace of mind of all our other quests. I know you can contact them remotely, as a changeling.”
“WHAT?!” Two takes a step forward, and stops quickly when met with two spears aimed at her muzzle, “You can’t be serious.”
“This is only temporary,” Celestia adds.
“Dad, you can’t do this,” Two pleads, “I heard what happened the last time you were here.”
“We didn’t do anything this time, Two, and I’m pretty sure they know. As soon as queen Novo wakes up, we will sort this out.”
“And what if she insists you did it?” I hear Two grinding her teeth.
“I can’t have everyone in prison while the summit goes on,” I say out loud, trying to keep my cool, “If that happens, I may as well not attend at all.”
“Then pick a representative who-”
“One and Gem,” I say immediately. The strong one and the smart one.
“Ah, Gem,” Celestia nods, “I almost forgot about her. However, for the safety of our other guests, I’m afraid I can allow only one companion.”
“Okay, now she’s straight up just fucking with you, dad...”
“Then I want Gem with me. She knows all the diplomatic stuff better than anyone else.”
“As you wish,” she says, “However, I still require you to call your retinue. It will look much less… hostile if you do so than if Royal Guards wake them up.”
“Dad, no...”
“Everyone but Gem, come here!” I feel their links light up instantly as they wake up, “We’re in trouble, but stay calm.”
I share the memory of what happened and what’s currently going on with them while we wait. To my surprise, they feel more annoyed than worried.
“Meh, better a day in prison than on another meeting,” One shrugs, leaving the suite accompanied by Three and rather confused Bubbles.
“Awww, queen Novo was really nice,” sadness is practically dripping from Three’s link, “She needs 20 cc of hugs pronto! And the baddie needs to go to remedial friendship camp. What does cc mean… couple cuddles? Hmmm… that’s going to keep me awake all day in prison.”
“You’re really not bothered by someone CLEARLY conspiring against us?!” Two can’t believe the lax responses of everyone.
“Obviously, we are,” Gem joins in, “However, they’re most likely to imprison us in the castle dungeons and, well...”
“Been there, fled that, got the T-shirt… and the changelings,” One finishes the thought.
“Besides, it’s all a big misunderstanding,” Eleven adds his bit to the conversation, “Queen Novo wouldn’t teach me to swim properly if she wanted us jailed.”
“And escaping from the dungeons could actually be way easier than from the castle itself if need be,” Gem explains, “The boss and I will be in the most danger if this is some trick to get us. Still, I’m an equestrian citizen unlike the rest of you, so I’ve got the law on my side, and I know some really good mob lawyers. I mean, experts on law analysis-”
“Too late to save your good girl image, kiddo,” One snickers.
“And this, Two, is why you don’t piss everyone off immediately, and give yourself time to think,” I say, “Imagine how many more eyes we would have on us if we didn’t cooperate quietly. Sometimes, prison can be the safest place to be in.”
“I… I’m sorry, dad,” she sighs, “I didn’t mean to call you spineless...”
“You’re not the first nor the last, I assume.”
By now, everyone is cautiously walking towards us, and guards of all shapes and sizes are glaring at Cryo. She yawns, showing a mouth full of teeth, her fangs almost as long as Celestia’s horn each. Less courageous creatures back away. I swear, Cryo is way smarter than she lets on.
Bubbles sneaks around, and jumps on Cromach’s back, whispering something into his ear. The griffon shakes his head in response.
“So, here goes,” I say out loud just to pretend I didn’t tell them everything already through the hive mind. Let’s not reveal the details of we can do, “Queen Novo has been attacked, we’re the suspected party, and you’re to follow the guards quietly. I’m under house arrest until things are sorted out. Gem will be with me on the summit.”
“Alright, king,” One bows, keeping things official, “Let’s go, and let the guards figure it out. Quickly, if possible.”
After Royal Guards fasten suppressor rings onto the horns of everyone… and call for more when they run out thanks to Eleven, Gem and I are led off to our respective rooms, and the hive mind goes quiet.
It remains quiet only for a short while, though. Gem decides to sleep in my room in case of trouble, and pretty soon we’re both lying on the bed, eyes closed and pondering the situation.
“Greeeeat… and here was I thinking I could get some sleep,” I hear One complain. While I can’t connect to her completely due to the suppressor, it seems we can at least communicate.
“Seriously, what’s with the wailing and screaming?” Two joins in.
“What’s going on?” I ask, if only to see whether or not they can hear me.
“Someone’s really sad down here, boss,” Three explains, “Wait, you can hear us! We can hear you!”
“Yeah, the suppressors should be preventing that, and I can’t see what you see, but at least we can communicate like this. We must all be a lot stronger than we used to.”
“Would be a pretty pitiful state of affairs if we weren’t, after all we’ve been through,” comments One, “Anyway, things are like this - we’re split up in the cells, and there’s someone sobbing, groaning, and occasionally yelling outside.”
“I really wouldn’t expect castle dungeons to be a happy place,” says Gem.
“IMAGINE HOW AWESOME THAT WOULD BE!” Three squee’s, “We could make all the prisoners into friends and have a big reformation party! The guards and princess Celestia would be so surprised.”
“Huh, could be worth a shot on the off chance it would give her a heart attack,” One sneers, “Wait, can alicorns even have one, cheating three-in-one bastards that they are?”
I think it’s time for some royal orders here.
“Everyone, go to sleep. It’s been a long day, so let’s think about things when we’re well rested and calmer. Goodnight.”
***
Alright, so the good thing is that I can walk around the castle as much as I want, although I have to wear a bracelet which supposedly tracks my position and will trigger an alarm if I leave. Granted, when the guards put it on me earlier in the morning, it took all I had to resist the temptation to wave the hoof outside the window just to see what happens.
Aaaanyway, it turns out that Gem really isn’t bound by the same rules that I am, and that she’s free to go about her business as usual. Of course, she immediately noticed ponies following her when she did her experimental trip around upper Canterlot. Am I being overly optimistic if I think that Ten’s paladin status will mean he won’t be followed? Yes, I am.
After my morning walk, I return to my guest room, and I catch a blur from behind the window. Narrowing my eyes, I open it and look around. Nothing. It doesn’t take a genius to assume I’m being followed as well… for some strange reason since the bracelet is doing its job. Plus, someone must have known I wasn’t in the guest room.
Hmmm… planting evidence against me in the case of attack on queen Novo?
Since I have some six hours left before the second meeting, nothing is stopping me from scouring every inch of all our rooms for anything even remotely suspicious. Considering that I have experience of several damn good infiltrators at my disposal, it comes as a surprise and… to be honest… mild disappointment that I don’t find anything.
Oh well, it helps pass time until Gem returns and day two of the summit begins.
***
“What do you think is really going on?” asks Two with minimal expenditure of love.
“Wrong place, wrong time, I assume,” replies One, “Although someone spying on our empty room from the outside is suspicious.”
“I mean, why would someone attack first princess Cadance and then queen Novo? They don’t look like someone who would have a common enemy.”
“To be completely honest, I couldn’t care less. I’ve adopted the dwarven approach - as long as no one targets us, they can do whatever,” One shrugs inside her cell, “Of course, if someone as much as touches the boss, I’ll happily commit back-alley cosmetic surgery on them with a rusty butter knife.”
“That’s the thing, really, isn’t it?” Two sneers, “Everyone has been telling me that I can’t be there to solve all problems, so I need to think ahead to prevent them. And here we are, sitting locked up while dad and Gem are on the summit. We should be outside, trying to figure out who attacked Cadance and Novo, and proving that dad is innocent.”
“The second we escape, guards will start swarming around the boss,” One sighs, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I think I can take the suppressor off- AAAAAAAAAAAARHGGG!” Two’s scream can be heard both in the hive mind and the real world.
“Huh, the screaming stopped,” comments Cryo.
“I stopped trying to unscrew that damn thing from my horn...” groans Two.
“Not you, little beard. That loud crying from the other cell,” Cryo corrects her.
“Whoever was imprisoned there probably passed out,” says One, “Thank holes, actually. It was pretty annoying.”
“Or they’re dead,” Two goes straight to the radical conclusion, “And no one will know until they can smell the corpse from the outside. There hasn’t been anyone checking up on the prisoners since yesterday, and that was only one set of hoofsteps anyway.”
“Mmmmm...” whimpers Three.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” another scream resonates through the underground.
“Stop that, Two!” One snaps at her, “Only I might be able to take the suppressor off on my own. You’ll just fry yourself if you keep trying.”
“I refuse to sit here and wait until some nutjob attacks someone else, and dad gets blamed again,” Two pouts.
“Oops… I broke it,” they hear Cryo, “Uhhh… will boss beard have to pay for the ring thing or something?”
“What do you mean by ‘broke it’?” One physically leans backwards.
“Little beard figured out trying to unscrew it from one’s horn was a bad idea, so I was curious what would happen if I squeezed it, and I tried with my both hooves. It sort of broke… will I have to walk around Canterlot with another advertisement?”
“If you really crushed it, then certainly not,” snickers One, “Now sit there and don’t accidentally break the world.”
The lock of One’s cell door clicks.
“Wasn’t me!” says Cryo immediately.
“Okay, I take it that someone unlocked your door too?” asks Two, “Still think this is a coincidence?”
“Mhm,” Three agrees, and gasps as his door opens. Eleven’s head peeks inside, and another one rushes inside to give Three a hug, “Wait, did you do it, Eleven?”
“Nope, I just went out to look if someone was there, and there wasn’t,” explains Eleven, peeking into the cell of every changeling prisoner. Afterwards, he checks the next door which fails to open, “And it’s only us. Does it mean that the ponies realized we’re not the bad guys?”
“Okay, screw this! On unscrew in this case,” One grits her teeth, and starts unscrewing her suppressor. Gold lightning arcs through her and sears the entire cell as Eleven jumps out and closes the door again. With nothing more than groaning and seeing double, One eventually tosses the suppressor on the charred floor, “Eat this, Comfort! I can do this too now, and I don’t scream all the time like a little bitch.”
One rushes to Two’s cell, and sees Cryo’s gigantic forelegs clamp around Two’s horn. A moment of pressure later, the suppressor cracks and drops on the floor in pieces.
“What happened to staying put?” snickers Two while unscrewing the suppressors from Three and gathered Elevens.
One gives her a flat stare.
“Hey, honey,” she calls out to me, “the doors to our cells just unlocked on their own while none other did. Do you think we should stay put?”
“What?!” sitting at the meeting table, I exchange glances with Gem whose jaw drops a little, ”Of course not. Get the hole out of there, and figure out what’s going on. Gem and I will deal with whatever happens here.”
With a raised eyebrow, One gives Two a smug look.
“Yeah yeah...” Two rolls her eyes, “The sewer drains?” she asks.
“I’ll leave that up to you, but go quickly. Spread out, and regroup outside of Canterlot. If they added more alarms since last time, the ponies will know that you escaped and will likely chase you. I’d like to avoid fighting as much as possible. Pick a place and time I won’t know, and when you’re back together, figure out a way to proceed.”
“You heard the boss,” says One, “Get to shapeshifting. Each of you will take a different drain, and I’ll contact you when we’re down in the sewers. Close your links so that Chrysalis’ guards can’t sense us.”
With all the changelings in the dungeon hallway, it’s Three’s voice which stops the escape operation.
“I’m not going,” he says.
“You heard the boss’ orders,” One leans down to him. Three smiles at her in response.
“You should go, I’m not arguing that, but I’m useless at running… or at fighting. You know me, I’m much better at making sure ponies don’t see us as scary. I’ll stay here, in my cell, and explain what happened to the guards. I’ll tell them we don’t mean anything bad by this, but that we’re just worried. A gesture of good intentions can go a long way.”
“Deal, go!” I order.
“Honey, are you serious? Three could be in deadly danger,” One can’t believe her ears.
“Someone WANTS you to escape. My best guess is that there are more things happening at the same time. No one could have known that we would have stopped the attack in the Crystal Empire, and then one at Novo. I think someone is just using us accidentally getting in the spotlight to make ponies mad at changelings to gain some diplomatic advantage on the summit. This might throw a wrench into whatever plan is going on.”
“That’s a LOT of random guesswork, dad,” says Two, “Honestly.”
“Yep, so why are you still standing there, not shapeshifting and figuring things out? You do know that without the suppressors I can now see through you again, right?”
“We’ll be back with someone’s head, honey!” One points at the doors, and darts into her own cell. A moment later, all changelings are escaping through the various cell drains as rats or insects, all but Three who sits down inside his own, takes a deep breath, puts his suppressor back on, and listens.
***
The door to Cromach’s office opens, making the griffon currently sleeping in a let’s say… newly manually imported comfortable armchair with his hind legs on the table twitch and open one eye.
“What went wrong, Connie?” he mumbles.
“Sir, the changelings have escaped,” the unicorn salutes.
“All of them?” the serious message doesn’t faze the griffon in the slightest.
“King Beard is attending the summit, if it’s not a different changeling pretending to be him, and so is… I think Gem is her name? The equestrian citizen one,” Connie taps her hoof on the carpet, “Oh, and the small, glowing one remained in his cell.”
“Ah yes, the cotton candy one,” Cromach stretches his forelegs, and yawns.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re not taking this seriously, sir?”
“Why should I?” he shrugs.
“Because it’s our job to protect the summit from dark forces, maybe? And I know you’re not a fan of princess Celestia, but what if the escaped lings attack somepony again?”
“They didn’t do it,” Cromach sighs, “Divinity reacts to divinity. I can feel Harmony’s mark on you, and you might eventually be able to sense my power. Funnily enough, I felt more divinity from the small infiltrator redhead than from Beard, and that was still nothing even compared to you. Whoever drained Novo must have escaped before Beard got into the guest room, or maybe they didn’t finish the job because Beard arrived.”
“Then why would the changelings escape?” Connie rolls her eyes, “Right right, the usual story narrative thing - if they know they’re not behind the attack, then they either want to figure out who is, or they just want to hide for a while. I suppose we can’t have them run around and punch random ponies until they find somepony who knows something by sheer luck...”
“Yep. Grab Anvil and Bubbles, and see what you can find.”
“Astray?”
Cromach clicks his beak, and shakes his head.
“How did the changelings escape?”
“That’s the weirdest thing. Their cells were all unlocked, suppressors damaged on the floor, or missing altogether, but the dungeon guards didn’t see anyone escape or go in through the only access route. And before you ask, there were no marks of changeling venom or magical influence on them.”
“The sewer drains then,” says Cromach, “Start under the castle and see if you can find something.”
“You still haven’t answered me why not take Astray as well.”
“Oh? I just want someone to sit on the summit instead of me. It bores me to no end, and I haven’t slept properly, that’s all… almost all, now with your report. I’ve got an idea. Plus, he doesn’t have the combat power of you or Anvil, and neither the tracking ability of Bubbles.”
“One last thing, sir...” Connie shifts her hooves, “Are you sure about this? It’s all guesswork.”
“Not entirely, Connie. I spent most of tonight and this morning talking to everyone. Novo said she saw red light and a tall, black figure who certainly might have been Beard, but it also might have been Luna, or Celestia painted black, or a hooded scarecrow with a lamp from the red light district, really. I also checked up on Chrysalis, who said that while changelings actually can drain divinity, it requires a special process and leaves marks she would easily sense, and she didn’t sense anything like that from Beard. Of course, because she’s a changeling too, no one really wanted to listen to her.”
“And you trust her?” Connie raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Chrysalis was Blaze’s good friend, and despite Shadowstep and her guys leaving her and joining Silver Sun, I haven’t had any problems with her. Pretty fun drunk too, although somewhat grabby.”
“You… went out drinking with… QUEEN Chrysalis?”
“Multiple times, actually,” Cromach says, carefree to the point which makes Connie’s eye twitch, “Though she has to transform into a pony to metabolize liquor, and to avoid press attention.”
“You need to take this more seriously!” Connie stomps her hoof.
“You need to get moving before the changelings escape too far,” the griffon winks at her, smirking.
“You’re just trying to make me mad in hopes this will lead to angry sex!”
“Guilty as charged,” Cromach shrugs, “Will it?”
“Of course it will! But first, I’ve got changelings to catch,” Connie rushes out, and slams the door behind her.
***
One finds herself staring at a cave-in.
She’s managed to get through the castle drains and escape into the old mining complex inside Canterlot mountain without being tracked, seen or heard, and after reaching the central hole leading from the top of Canterlot mountain all the way down to the underground mines, she’s found that a part of the ridge spiraling on the circumference collapsed at some point. This certainly wasn’t like that before.
Examining her mental map of the underground, she decides that from here she should hear the others approach, and enhances her ears.
Soon, the quiet pitter-patter of tiny hooves reaches her ears, and One…
...One’s jaw drops when less than Eleven-sized Cryo trots out of the tunnel mouth ahead, and sits down by One’s hooves.
“I’m stuck...” announces the queen in a high-pitched buzz.
Come to think of it, One realizes that she has never seen Cryo make any major changes to her body.
“Give me a second,” One concentrates, reaches into Cryo’s mind, and withdraws, “You know what? Nevermind. You’re too big for this tunnel in your real body, and we don’t know what else might collapse.”
The stoic azure queen just shrugs, sits down, examining her tiny hooves, and waits.
“I thought we decided not to use mental links-” they hear Two’s voice in their heads, and the infiltrator clears the same corner from which Cryo arrived. An ear-to-ear smile explodes on her face, and she literally pounces on the tiny queen, “OhmygoshyouaresosmallIwanttoeatyouupandsqueezeyouand- ouch!”
She actually does pick the queen up and tries to squeeze her, only to find out that she might be small, but has the density of a diamond which scratches Two’s chitin.
“Who’salittlebeardnow? Yesyouare!” Two keeps nuzzling Cryo’s muzzle, “I’m gonna carry you on my head like a little changeling hat!”
The queen seems to take offense with that, and with a simple stretch of her forelegs, she pries Two’s legs off of herself. Then she sits down, puts each tiny hoof under Two’s hind leg, and pushes. Two simply slides upwards, now being effortlessly held by the sitting changeling approximately one fifth of her size.
“I’m the biggest beard there is!” Cryo puts Two down, and crosses her forelegs on her chest in victory, “But I’m stuck like this...”
“I heard,” Two nods, “Anyway, I haven’t noticed anyone following me. How about you?”
“No, and I’ve been sitting here and listening for a while,” says One. Her ear twitches, “Eleven is here.”
The carefully trotting herd of changelings arrive, and one looks down over the edge into the depth.
“Don’t worry, we can carry you down no problem,” Two pats the nearest Eleven’s head.
“I have a better idea,” Eleven shakes one head, “Three was right. He’s not a fighter nor a runner, and it’s similar with me. I don’t have your stamina, and I would slow you down if you had to run away. I’m good at hiding, though, so I think I should stay here and keep an eye on the boss.”
“We can carry you, I mean it,” Two shrugs, “It doesn’t really drain us at all. You’re light.”
“You know, I’m actually for it,” One furrows her brows, “We won’t be running far, we can’t. At worst, we’ll end up in the forest around lower Canterlot and then we’ll go back. I can’t reach the boss from here, but if we have Eleven in the city, he might be able to act as a mental contact between us and the boss. All he needs is just to stay tucked away somewhere, invisible.”
One freezes when her ears pick up an echo of something she can’t identify.
“Someone is around. It could be just a maintenance pony, but I’m not risking anything. We’ll have to scatter again, because fighting is the last thing we want. Eleven, turn invisible and hide. Make your way somewhere safe,” she quickly points out three sewer exits on the hive mind map - one from the underground mine, one in lower Canterlot, and one on the bottom of upper Canterlot foundations. “Open your mind links once you’re outside, and shapeshift into ponies. We’ll group up. If you know you’re being followed, warn the rest and we’ll surprise anyone trailing you. Links off, lings move!”
***
Six limps out of the council room, head hung low in a picture of total misery. He yawns, and walks into the wall.
“Ah, damn it!” he mumbles and shakes his head. At least the bump made him wake up a little.
Five quietly passes him by, headed towards the nearest staircase up.
The drone sighs, trying to make some sense of the chaos inside his brain.
“Okay, council meeting’s over. Next up is Hard Reset’s class, then I need to check the progress on the new digger...” he mumbles to himself while walking through the Brauheim castle, “That gives me… two-ish hours to get some love, and five hours to sleep… four in the worst case, and then the magma digging. Right, right...”
Six is more summarizing things for himself than planning anything, because this is the third day of paying off the broken digger, and it’s been exhausting to say the least. But, thankfully, Seven hasn’t done any more damage, and Five has just been sitting in on the council meetings, listening and barely talking.
It sucks…
“I really shouldn’t have blown up on them like that.”
With one more sigh, Six gets ready for another filled day and night.
Two floors higher, Five enters the castle library without knocking, and her murderous glare immediately interrupts Seven’s complaint at someone breaking the silence of the place.
“We need to do something for Six,” she says firmly, ”You’re a stallion, broadly speaking, what do you guys like?”
“If you have to ask me about what would help Six, you’ve been doing something really wrong for the past two years. You’re the one sleeping with him,” Seven shrugs.
“Is that all you can think about?” Five rolls her eyes.
“I’m a changeling who spends most of his time studying magic alone in the library. I need love or lust or anything companion-y. Why aren’t you feeding Six so that he isn’t passing out whenever he blinks?”
“I AM!” Five barks at him, “Whenever he’s asleep, I’m there to transfer what I got earlier. The problem is that he’s a drone, and he simply doesn’t have the capacity to keep up with this pace he set for himself. This cycle of refilling and exhausting himself is physically hurting him.”
“How did the boss do it?” asks Seven.
“He’s a king, not a drone.”
“I mean before he was a king.”
“From what I know, he mostly just lay hidden out of sight and ordered everyone around,” Five shrugs.
“Aaaand we can’t have Six do it like that because…?”
“Because both of us are braindead when it comes to the council meetings, we have all four hooves left when it comes to digging, and don’t even get me started on attending Hard Reset’s tech classes. I was there once, fell asleep, and accidentally swallowed a wrench. Don’t ask how that happened,” Five raises her hoof, “And if we tried to just be the proxy for him to listen through, it would only drain him even worse.”
“Are we really that useless?” Seven taps his hoof on the table, and closes the book in front of him, “I mean, even the hundred-numbered drones are at least doing the digging.”
Five slumps into an armchair next to Seven’s.
“We are… specialists,” she says slowly, “And right now, the hive isn’t in a position to use our skills.”
“This can’t be right,” Seven frowns, “You’re the top brawn and I’m the top brain here right now. We must be able to figure something out. After all, this is a challenge, and this situation threatens the hive in a way. What if we think about it like this - Six being exhausted to the point of passing out or making mistakes in decisions is our enemy.”
“Hard to punch an abstract concept, Seven...” Five crosses her forelegs on her chest.
“Every enemy is vulnerable, and if your speciality is physical attack, we just need to figure out where to punch, metaphorically.”
“I can punch you perfectly literally if you don’t start making sense.”
“Listen, threatening me won’t help you, so how about you shove a hoof an inch deeper into your mouth whenever you feel the need to punch me.”
“And what do I do after my foreleg comes out of my ass?”
“Hoof in!” Seven scowls at her.
“Mmmmph...” Five actually does it.
“Now, you can either help his body recover, or help him fight stress by making him forget about what happened during the day and avoid thinking about the same routine waiting for him the next day,” Seven has slipped into his academical tone, stood up, and is pacing around, “The first idea would mean a massage that works on changelings and, to be honest, I don’t have any reference material for that. Of course, you are free to rub Six all over as much as you want, it just won’t help the muscle regeneration.”
“Can I shove a spiked hoof up your asshole now, or will it cause brain damage?” asks Five, “Six is a drone. He’s used to physical work. I don’t think that’s what’s draining him.”
“That’s where number two comes in,” Seven ignores her insult.
“No, ass is where number two comes o-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” a flying book smacks Five’s head, “If this is about mental pressure, then it’s stress, and as I said, you need to make his time off worth it, make him forget about everything for a while. Now, how does the sphincter of this operation do that?”
“Whuh?”
“Sphincter is a muscle keeping the asshole shut. I think it fits you,” Seven gives now fuming Five a smug glance.
“A roll in the hay comes to mind,” Five says after a moment of thought.
“And we’re back where we started,” Seven sighs, “You need to make it special if you can’t come up with anything else. Have you thought about… lingerie, oils… I don’t know, something that’s not that rough, acrobatic nonsense One does to the boss? Something gentle but captivating? Think, muscle. Figuring out how to do this is on you. I don’t know what Six likes.”
That hits Five like a bullet.
“...neither do I...” she breathes out, “We just always… you know… just did it. When we spent time together, I was doing my stuff and he… was around, that’s all. Happy to be there.”
Seven rolls his eyes.
“Alright, are you willing to risk your relationship for this?”
“What do you mean?”
“That you need to start trying stuff out. Go buy some sexy lingerie, dance for him tonight. If it fails, we’ll try to figure out something else tomorrow. And so on and so on. It’ll be hit and miss, and some things might make it only worse, but if we do nothing, it will get only worse. Got it?”
Five nods.
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got some bits from when I subbed on guard shifts-”
“No need,” Seven’s horn flashes, and a half open bag of gold coins appears on the table, “Take this. It’s from the castle treasury.”
“You do realize we’re currently paying off a digger. We can’t add to that.”
“The dwarves won’t notice. The digger was filled with electronics, effort, and rare materials. This is just gold, already in coins so not the industrial kind. This doesn’t count.”
Five decides not to argue with that logic, and grabs the bag.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“And I’ll switch up my reading material a little just in case we need a plan B.”
“How likely is that we’ll need one?”
“You’re his marefriend who knows nothing about him and I’m… me. Take a wild guess,” Seven gives her a flat glare. With another sigh to add to her collection, Five leaves the library.
***
White lace stockings, a thong, and a soft, silk corset adorning her body. The one and only crystallized rose tucked behind her ear. Her tail tied into a loop to show off her tight butt. Faint white lipstick, and hoof polish lightly contrasting with her black chitin.
Feeling ready, Five enters Six’s room in the castle without knocking and with soft swaying of her hips. The drone looks up from a book he’s reading, and gives Five a worn out but heartfelt smile.
“You look great, Five. What’s the occasion?”
“Nothing big, really,” she saunters over to him, “I thought you could use something or someone to take your mind off of things.”
“Heh,” Six chuckles, “To be honest, I could use something to keep my mind on things. I could barely focus on the engineering lecture today, so I’m trying to catch up instead of running around and hunting for love. Speaking of which… umm… could I get a little refill?” he waves his hooves in front of himself, “It’s okay if you don’t want to-”
Five presses her lips to his, and Six feels love flowing through him like cold, refreshing water. Sadly, it doesn’t help the chaos inside his head nor does it wash away the numb pain behind his eyes. Five breaks the kiss, and closes Six’s book.
“You need rest,” she nods to the bed, “Come on, let me dance for you a little. You might want to see how I look under these,” she runs her hoof down her corset, an winks at him.
“I see you every day without clothes. Not that these cover much.”
“Not the point...” Five flicks his face with her tied tail as she walks to the bed, “Forget about everything tonight, and think only of me.”
“Five, I need to plan everything for tomorrow and get some rest before I go digging with the other drones-”
“Why can’t you leave it to them, and focus on being in charge?” Five slumps a little, her vaguely erotic display clearly failing.
“Because boss wouldn’t do that. He leads by example. He wouldn’t just tell others what to do...” Six recalls the stories about boss’ earlier misadventures, “I mean again. And even that was out of necessity. I want him to be proud of us when he comes back.”
At this point, Five has literally no clue what to say, so she opts for a cheesy:
“That sense of duty is making me so hot!”
Six sits down on the bed, which Five uses to resume her plan, and pushes him on his back.
“Now relax,” Five starts swaying around and stretching, giving Six an eyeful of her toned body, “and enjoy.”
She does her best.
For someone who has never done anything like this before, it’s actually pretty passable.
And after some five minutes, she kick off her thong, and with her hind legs spread, she cranes her neck down to look between them at Six on the bed.
He’s snoring, spread-eagle, with a thin string of green drool staining the pillow.
Five ponders punching something within reach, but quickly comes to the conclusion that doing so might wake Six up. In the end, she picks all her clothes up, and with utmost care she leaves. The dwarf guard in the hallway chokes quietly and does his best not to stare at a changeling putting on a set of clothes designed to make any stallion boil. Five doesn’t bother telling him that she can feel his lust, and keeps going with a short show. This way, at least someone will enjoy the damn set she’s wearing.
Short time later, she finds herself in the library again. Seven looks up from a fresh stack of books on his table, sees Five’s frown, and sighs:
“Didn’t go as planned?”
“He fell asleep ten seconds after I started dancing and stripping,” she immediately raises her hoof, “And keep all comments about me being boring to yourself.”
“Well… you did help him relax,” Seven can’t help himself.
“And a prime candidate for today’s braining is…?” Five cracks her hooves.
“Now now, I’ve come up with something that could balance out your un-sexiness,” he taps a book in front of him, “Since I accidentally summoned Comfort to do digging, I think I’ve figured out the principle of the summoning and contract. I can perform a ritual that will summon a succubus who won’t just wildly bang Six, but who will do a show like you tried to… only well, you know. Then she will be bound to give him a massage or something, and apply mental pressure to send him to proper, relaxing sleep.”
“And are you sure that’s what’s going to happen?” Five has her doubts at this point, rightfully so.
“Look,” Seven rubs his temples, “I… there are no actual spells here in this library. I don’t know how to explain it to you… how to tell you in what way I understand things. I don’t know an incantation and a guide to create the proper flow of magic to cause a desired effect hundred percent of the time. The voice that taught me… changed me… I understand magic on such fundamental level that I… I can create almost any effects that I want, but I don’t have the high level guidance others learn by, because dwarves don’t use magic. However, they understand energy manipulation. Not just simple things like electricity or heat, but actual magic flow, ley lines, and even divine power. They researched matter as a function of energy, so the reality we live in and others are just different combinations of energies. I have access to some of that knowledge, and the weird… analysis voice inside my head. I have to figure out what I’m doing on my own, not just repeat a set of steps.”
“So you aren’t sure that succubus thing is going to happen,” is what Five takes from that statement.
Seven narrows his eyes, and slowly breathes out. She can’t understand, and that’s okay. They’re both here to help.
“No, I’m sure I can make it happen, but I’m not sure I can make it happen hundred percent of the time. I can do the summoning right as long as I remain focused, but just in case… go get your shotgun, will you?”
“I really don’t want to wake Six up, even for this.”
“It will be worth it, and I’ll cast a sound dampening spell on him so that in case you need to shoot something he doesn’t wake up. I’ll call a succubus with the right set of skills to do what we can’t. At worst, the summoning will fail because no one like that exists, and we just quietly clear out. How about that?”
“Fine, I’ll hop off to the castle armory. Don’t start the summoning without me,” Five trots away.
When she’s back at Six’s room, the drone is still fast asleep, Seven has drawn a chalk summoning circle on the carpet which someone will have to clean up later, and Five’s shotgun is firmly on a belt around her chest.
“Let’s do it,” she says quietly despite there being no need to due to Seven’s sound dampening spell.
Seven’s horn starts glowing. The ritual drags on as all that seems to be going on is the infiltrator walking back and forth with his eyes closed, and eventually an equine figure appears inside the circle, and looks around.
Thankfully, it’s not Comfort this time. Actually, the succubus is slightly chubby, dark purple with leathery wings, and a long mane glowing green in tune with her eyes. Even to paranoid Five, she looks quiet… cuddly. She could just hug her, let her wings wrap around Five’s head and relax in the comfortable embrace-
Five bites her lip to wake herself from the instant daze.
“What an interesting contract,” the succubus’ deep voice drips like honey, “I must admit I haven’t been called for something like this in my entire existence. For someone else on top of that.”
“Can you do what’s asked of you?” asks Seven formally.
“Oh certainly,” she smiles at him and runs her foreleg on the barrier which sparkles at her touch, “The question is… can you do what you thought you could do?”
Five’s ears immediately perk up.
“What?” Seven tilts his head.
With a push of her hoof, the succubus leaves the summoning circle, much to Seven’s dropped jaw.
“The circle protects you from me, and makes me obey you, but if this is all for someone else,” she chuckles, “Then I serve him, don’t I?” she strokes sleeping Six’s head, “And he isn’t properly protected.”
Five’s buckshot hits the succubus’ wing to no effect.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, you almost hurt the little guy,” the succubus laughs out loud, and Six finally wakes up.
“Whuh?” he blinks and yawns, “Come on, guys. I need to sleep. Do you want to try magma mining for a shift too?”
“Hey, changeling,” the succubus pokes Six’s nose, “You’re mine!”
“Wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-?!” a burning hole opens under Six, the succubus grabs him by his shoulders, and in an eruption of flames, they both disappear.
The room goes silent.
“Put up a sound dampening spell around the whole room,” Five’s voice is made of pure ice.
“Look, if you want to yell at me, that can wait-” Seven’s eyes are darting from Five to the now empty bed.
“Spell. Now.”
Seven’s horn flashes, and Five’s ears pop.
Seven can’t react at all when she shotguns his foreleg off at the shoulder at point blank range.
She grows claws and grabs the separated foreleg.
“Wait-” Seven crashes on the floor as Five hits his head so hard the leg breaks in two. Several more blows with the stump follow, leaving Seven in a quickly expanding pool of his blood.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you before you cause even more damage!” Five screams into his barely conscious face.
“I… maybe I can summon him back… or something...” he croaks.
Five grabs his broken muzzle and pulls him up, shaking but deep down enjoying the crunching of Seven’s twisted chitin and bones.
“No, think about it very carefully so that you don’t fuck up this time, and then send us after him.”
“Us…?” he croaks, the word barely recognizable.
“I think you need a lesson at working in stressful conditions,” Five throws his head back on the floor so hard he bounces and the blood splashes around, “I’ll go grab some more useful gear, and you’d better heal quickly, because I’ll be holding you by the neck all the time to make sure you finally pull your weight. I don’t care if that weight is just a head.”
***
Three is sitting inside his cell with his suppressor on. He can’t sense anyone anymore, but the dungeon is quiet and strangely peaceful. The previously screaming and gurgling guy must be sleeping.
“I am a drone and I’m sitting in jail, dank and chilly jail, dark and chilly jail,” he starts mumbling the tune of the drone song adjusted for the situation, “Kinda like home, actually.”
“Huh…?” he hears the clicking of the cell doors from the left. One by one, opening and closing. Is someone checking the cells? He didn’t hear anyone come in from the direction of the dungeon entrance.
Three shuffles backwards to the corner of his cell, and takes a deep breath. This is exactly why he stayed. The guards will be mad that the others left, but he’s here to explain the situation, and make sure the boss isn’t in trouble. That notion gives him courage, and he conjures up a little nervous but friendly smile.
As expected, his door opens soon. Three nearly swallows his tongue when he sees the unpleasantly familiar gold-rimmed armor of the paladin order. The hoofsteps enter the cell, and stop.
Courage, Three!
“Please, don’t be mad. The others left, because they were worried that we were being framed, so they decided to go figure out who is behind the attack. The boss doesn’t know where they are, and neither do I at this point. When they find out who hurt queen Novo, they’ll bring them back, and we’ll be friends again.”
At this point, Three finally looks up at the pony, and whimpers as his eyes go wide. After all, you can’t forget the last thing you see before you die… no matter if you get better afterwards.
Even someone as optimistic and hopeful as Three realizes they were all wrong. The idea of unlocking the cells wasn’t to let the changelings escape, it was to make the cells accessible from the outside.
“...so you are all still alive...” growls fully armored, armed, and strangely grey Star Trail.