“Good news, One! Granite agreed, but he’s steaming,” Seven’s voice makes One slowly breathe out in relief, “I had to overplay the threat a little, but we’re here in the council room working on the route you can take. I’ll be updating the hive mind map as we speak.”
“Good job, Seven. I want you to increase security all over Brauheim in case one of these Silver Sun nutjobs decides to go on a tourist trip anyway.”
“I got something even better for you, but please don’t start yelling. My head aches enough already.”
One’s eye twitches. Thankfully, none of the trio following her can notice.
“I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt just this once.”
“Does it help if I tell you it’s Granite’s idea, not mine?”
“SEVEN!”
“Okay okay. Look, Granite spread the news through the Brauheim emergency broadcast system already, and if anyone sees one of the guys you described, they’re to act like changelings.”
“Dwarves acting like changelings… you mean like doing what?”
“Transformed changeling stuff. I think one of the ideas the council guys had was buzzing in normal conversation,” Seven nods, “As far as anyone is concerned, we’re all one happy HUUUUUGE changeling hive.”
One can’t help wanting to yell at Seven, but while the idea has no chance of surviving any serious scrutiny, it’s not… terrible, as such. Bad? Yes. Absolutely brain-damagingly stupid? Close, but not completely there.
“Wait, the whole council actually agreed to this? Without biting or mind control?”
“If it helps get the shadows out of Brauheim and the tunnels, they’re reluctantly in, but there will be more talking in the future. Oh yeah, and I really hope those Silver Sun guys are as crazy asskickers as you described them, because if they leave without solving this, we’re in deep trouble.”
One just sighs.
“Let’s just hope we can get by with getting them around the city and into the hive. Who knows? Maybe they won’t even get to see a dwarf past the tunnel barricades.”
“Getting all positive and hopeful? Who are you and what did you do to One?”
“I think I’m so far out of my comfort zone that I’m getting back there from the other side.”
“Look, we all believe in you, no matter what friction there might be between us.”
“Seven, don’t take this personally, but it’s not my own performance I’m worried about here, really. I would be one hundred percent fine without dwarves, with just boss and me hiding somewhere among ponies. But he has this stupid amount of probably inborn faults we call selfless morals, so I can’t just leave with him and have you fend for yourselves.”
“Gee, thanks...”
One only sighs again, and cuts her hive link off. Unfortunately, her peace and quiet don’t last long, as within half an hour Connie spots the lamps of the barricade ahead, and asks:
“Your changelings?”
“Yeah, we put up guard posts against the shadows. I met only one, but when I was here yesterday, the reports I got mentioned several more incursions. Speaking of which, do you have a way to track those?”
“Not track as such, but I can feel their marks,” says Connie, “If I have a look around, I should find something. To be honest, the strongest mark I felt was while we were still under the Crystal Empire. Ever since then, nothing much, really.“
“That had to be where I was attacked,” explains One.
And if I wasn’t stupid I would have had you check that place out instead of relying on Seven’s reports about shadow presence in Brauheim. Then I could have sent you home and sorted this out without breaking the most important dwarf rule. Cryo was right, we warrior changelings are dumb as fu- a brick.
As One looks at Connie, she immediately realizes that for once they’re both on the same wavelength.
“You don’t need to think that so loudly,” One adds.
“Didn’t need mind control and reading for that one, did you?” Connie nods with a raised eyebrow.
One looks away, and raises her pace to reach the distant barricade sooner.
As they approach, the two dwarves don’t even bother raising their flamethrowers. Rather, they salute, one nods to the trio behind One, and says:
“Bzzzzzz.”
Kill me now.
One rolls her eyes, which thankfully no one can see. Dwarves due to her height, and the Silver Sun trio due to their convenient position behind her.
“At ease,” she says in dwarvish, and leads the way past the checkpoint. To her companions she lies, “I could talk to them telepathically, but I assumed using basic changeling dialect around you would make things less awkward.”
“So, where do we start looking?” asks Astray.
“About twenty hours back into the tunnel…?” mutters Connie, much to the annoyed glance backwards from One.
“We’re going to meet with our hive’s top wizard who might be able to figure out a better way than to have Contraception here sniff every street corner for information,” One shoots back.
“Ooooh, I can do that!” Bubbles beams, jumping up and down.
“I believe you, but let’s have a chat with Seven first anyway.”
Since everyone is supposedly ready for them, One decides not to waste time by taking the tunnels around the city in the end, and strictly follows Seven’s drafted course through the border streets of Brauheim. Those are blissfully mostly empty, with the occasional dwarf face pressed against partially covered house window.
“Your hive seems to be very curious about us,” comments Astray after he waves at a young dwarf watching the group from inside a house, and the dwarf immediately draws the curtain.
“Yes, particularly those changelings who are transformed even while doing their daily business down here,” adds Connie, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Boss was hatched in Chrysalis’ hive, and tries to propagate individuality which she didn’t. That, unfortunately, still means spending a lot of time in a unique disguise. His eventual goal is to make sure no changeling ever needs to use shapeshifting in casual setting, but that’s still far away,” One’s brain works overtime to make up a plausible explanation. Thankfully, she’s had time to work out an overall story that wouldn’t be an outright lie.
Unfortunately, there are very few access paths to the hive itself, and the nearest one requires them to pass through one of the southern plazas. As they enter the humongous circular dome, Astray whistles, and Bubbles downright goes: “Woooooow!”
“Oh hey, an actual changeling,” Connie smirks as Five previously resting by an ornate well in the center of the plaza notices the group and approaches.
“That’s Five,” One tries to save the illusion of the situation, “Her thinking is that she doesn’t leave the hive, so she doesn’t need a disguise. She’s the very old fashioned kind of warrior.”
Five salutes when she gets close, having heard One’s comment.
“I see these are the guests, One,” she says, “Seven asked me to join you in case you needed an update on the shadow situation.”
“Really?” One asks internally.
“Of course not, I’m here to help in case these guys get too curious,” replies Five immediately, “If there was anything new to report about the shadows, I would have informed you already.”
“Good job, Five.”
“Did anything happen since yesterday?” asks Connie immediately, making chill run down One’s spine.
“Seven has drafted a map of all previous encounters to help you figure out where they might be coming from. It does seem to be one direction, and that is the Crystal Empire,” replies Five, “He’s got the physical copy ready and waiting in the hive.”
“I love you,” One breathes out in relief, “I’m pretty sure that mare doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.”
“Let’s have a drink first and see where it goes,” responds Five with a snicker.
Despite Five’s quick thinking, One has to ponder that it would be much easier to sustain the hive lie if there weren’t about twenty dwarves around the small plaza, all pretending to not be looking at the group and failing miserably.
The final blow comes when just as Five is about to lead the group into a tunnel spiraling down into the real hive, ten of the fresh drones rush out of it, all beaming at One. The one in front seems to be holding a circular tray with jiggly, multi-layered, green something decorated with love gems which could, with enough persuasion, be called cake… a cake brimming with love.
“We missed you yesterday and we really wanted to thank you for you making sure we could go outside without anyone being nasty to us and we made you this! It’s a love cake,” says Hundred and Eleven, or One One One, One-Eleven, or Triple-One as known to its friends, beaming.
Five facehoofs, much to the confused looks of the drones.
“Of all the times when this would be a lovely gesture, you had to pick the only possible one when it screws everything up...” she whispers to the hive mind.
“I… but we...” One One One stutters.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Five snarls at the drone who whimpers.
“Yeeeeah,” Connie smirks, pointing at the drones frozen in misunderstanding and fear, “Those are changelings,” then she points at the nearest dwarves who start buzzing, “Those are not.”
“Alright, fu- screw it, I tried. Guards, surround them,” One rolls her eyes, and gives up, “Boss will kill me, slap me into the body of a three-legged drone, and then have me dig out a new sewer system on my own with a spoon,” she faces Connie keeping her eyes on the quickly approaching dwarves with flamethrower nozzles aimed at them, “Don’t ask questions, don’t do anything stupid. No one is here to harm you, and keep in mind that your job is still to find where the shadows are coming from. You’re just going to have some… friendly company at all times.”
The group of drones lower their heads, the one in front puts the cake down, and they all start shuffling away. They freeze when One narrows her eyes, and looks at them.
“Thank you, but take it away. I’ll have a bite later,” she says in a measured and carefully controlled tone, “I appreciate the gesture.”
A little life returns to the body language of the drones as Triple-One quickly loads the cake on its back again, and they whole group disappears into the tunnel again.
Bubbles beams at the nearest dwarf guard who just points his weapon straight at her sharptoothed face.
“Awww, why does no one here like us?”
***
With Three snoring on my back, I enter a small office inside Canterlot castle which from Two’s scouting I know belongs to Cromach. Celestia is already sitting in one of the chairs, Anvil must have been talking to Cromach, because she’s standing at attention while the griffon is sitting behind a desk with his hind legs on the table.
“Vargaz is on,” Cromach waves at me, “And he persuaded the Chineighese delegation not to leave the summit immediately.”
“Rutherford is in, and I’m going to have a long talk with Cryo… eventually. Darkhorn took some persuading, height is the one enemy he can’t fight,” I smile, “but he isn’t leaving either. Chrysalis is back only under house arrest, and that’s only to placate that idiot from Stalliongrad, because we haven’t figured out what actually made the changes to the minds of her changelings. Obviously, she isn’t leaving either, and she’s aching to chair someone.”
“What’s with the chair thing?” asks Anvil.
“Funny story. I’ll tell you later,” Cromach smirks at her, “Anyway, this means the summit is still on, and if Luna does her job well, we might avoid another surprise attack until it’s over. Surprise attack from Star Trail and Arcane Hex, I mean. Can’t speak for other unmentionable horrors from beyond.”
“I owe both of you a thank you,” Celestia breathes out in relief.
“I suppose we can finally have a good night’s sleep then,” Cromach stands up and cracks his neck.
“Seconded,” I nod, “Three’s keeping me energized, but I really could do with some shuteye.”
“I envy you lovebugs...” Cromach yawns, “Oh yeah, and boss? I’m going to need you tomorrow.”
“Oh?” I tilt my head.
“I want to check the Canterlot mountain mines, namely the place where I fought Arcane Hex. I doubt we’ll find anything, but who knows?”
“If you think it’s worth looking, I don’t mind,” I shrug, “Though I might have to attend the summit meeting. Gem needs rest much more than I do.”
“So will doubtlessly all the other rulers,” says Celestia, “I’ll call the morning meeting off.”
“Neat,” says Cromach, and ushers us all out of the office, “Have a good night, everyone, as much as it’s possible under these circumstances.”
With a nod, we all split up, and I walk off to Gem’s room. Even before I turn the lights on, I say:
“Calm down, Bright Star, it’s just us.”
The paladin is sitting in the corner to my left, his horn glimmering.
“Is anything wrong?” he asks immediately.
“No, you can take the night off. I’ll be here with her and Three,” I whisper.
“I really don’t mind guarding more of you just in case,” Bright Star chuckles quietly, “I have no problem with bulk orders.”
“And I have really good ears even when I’m asleep,” Gem rises from the bed, blanket slipping off of her.
“Aww, sorry, honey,” I give her an apologetic smile.
Suddenly, I hear soft buzzing and my back starts vibrating. Turning my head, I see that the source of these strange things is Three whose eyes are wide and looking straight at Gem.
I sigh.
“Go for it.”
“What’s wrong with-” Gem’s question is cut short as the little changeling rocket shoots from my back, instantly latches onto her neck, and hugs her with all the might of his four legs.
“He missed you, and I get the feeling that he took seeing you all chewed up in that dungeon about as well as I did, but he’s worse at hiding it,” I smile.
“Have aaaaaaaalll the loooooveeeeeeee… hnnnnggggg!” he mumbles into Gem’s neck.
“Gee, Three, I’m okay, mostly,” she pats his back, and then-
*Poof!*
Bright Star’s jaw drops. So does mine.
Gem is now lime green. And sparkly. And bright and colorful.
Looking in horror at her reflection in the mirror after noticing us staring, Gem pries Three off of herself, and sticks her tongue out.
“Huh, a fate worse than death, was it?” she comments, “I can see that.”
“YOU’RE ALL SPARKLY! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?” Three’s eyes go wide, “DID I DO THAT? THAT LOOKS SO NEAT!”
“Not for infiltrating, no,” Gem nuzzles him, “But I would love to see mom’s and Comfort’s reaction if they ended up like this,” with a long breath in, she transforms back into her zebra-like scheme.
“Awwww...” Three pouts, but immediately looks at me, “Hey, boss! Why didn’t I make you look like that?”
“Don’t ask me, I don’t even know what it was, only that my eyes still hurt even now that it’s gone,” I snicker when Three scrunches his nose at me, “What do you think, Bright Star?”
“If you somehow turn me into that carnival attraction, I’m joining Star Trail again,” he says flatly.
“You’re no fun,” mutters Three.
“How about you try that on yourself instead,” offers Bright Star, completely unfazed by my and Gem’s immediate murderous glares.
Three wraps his own legs around himself while hovering in the air, and looks into the big mirror. Nothing happens.
“Awwww...” he frowns in disappointment, “I wanted to be shiny.”
“You know what would be the best idea?” Bright Star’s eyes twinkle with pure, undiluted, evil glee, “If you tried that on Cryo.”
“OUT!” I yell at the laughing paladin deftly dodging two pillows instantly thrown by Gem, and darting outside.
The worst part is that, even as he’s gone, Three’s just hovering there, jaw dropped and eyes wide, pondering the idea.
“Chrysalis would never stop laughing at us...” I facehoof.
“Screw Chrysalis,” Gem shakes her head, “But we’d have to destroy every reflective surface that circus tent Cryo might walk by.”
“Soooooo big and shinyyyyy...” mumbles Three, completely lost in his imagination.
***
It’s the next morning, and as promised, Cromach, I, Three, and Two are walking the path spiraling up along the central shaft of the Canterlot mountain mines. We tried to fly, but it turned out to be impractical due to beams and electricity cables criss-crossing the shaft. Cromach had the most trouble navigating it, so we opted to go on hoof. It’s not as if we were in a hurry to find something with limited time availability.
“So, dad, you and that Cromach guy...” Two pokes my mind.
“Cromach and I what?” I ask, a little lost in thought. No matter what, these mine shafts will always bring memories of my first escape from Canterlot, of One and Comfort doing everything they could to get me and the survivors of Chrysalis’ invasion out.
“You feel a lot closer now that you’ve come back.”
“I think I understand his motivation and approach to things a lot better than before, that’s true. Besides, he knows a lot more about what’s going on. And on top of all that, his guys were the ones who fought the whole Vigil cult.”
“What? Really?!” I see Two twitch in the real world, “Well, I mean his guys were powerful, but they didn’t feel that powerful, considering how much trouble we had with just one Vigil.”
“It’s a long story. You can get it out of my head, or I’ll just tell you when we’re back home and have the time for story time next to a fireplace.”
“If you think it won’t help us now, then I’m fine with waiting.”
“Good. I’m not about to share with him anything regarding Brauheim, but otherwise I firmly believe we can trust him in full.”
“And his minotaur back in the castle?”
“Same.”
“Alright.”
“Huh, I don’t recall that,” Cromach stops as the expected collapsed part of the walkway blocks our progress, referring to a yellow tape with black stripes in front of it, “Although... putting up a crime scene tape instead of actually doing something for a year,” Cromach smirks at me, “Does that remind you of any current events?”
I sigh.
“You have no idea how much I just want to go home and never see this stupid city again. Nothing good ever happened to us while we were here.”
“Trust me, if I could go back to Manehattan and to selling the services of the best combat experts to spoiled rich foals, I would. Then all I want is to embezzle as much money as I can, settle down back in some backwater village of the Griffon Empire, and raise Blaze from the dead,” he gives me the most flat and cynical stare I’ve ever seen, “So I guess it’s tough titties for both of us.”
He freezes and quickly turns around.
Do I hear shuffling?
...driven by greed…
...murderers…
A chill runs down my spine. Two primes for a pounce, and bares her teeth. To my surprise, Three does the same, though, although as much as I feel the fight or flight instincts kick in for Two, it’s hug or hug harder what I feel from Three.
“I completely forgot about that damn thing...” mutters Cromach, green lightning coursing through his right foreleg.
And then even I finally remember.
...sacrificed foals…
...warm flesh must die...
...insatiable…
...only blood will-
“SHUFFLEEEEEEEEEEES!” Three whizzes forward as the blob of shifting shadows and darkness covering the whole walkway comes to view.
“THREE?!” Cromach tries to catch him, but misses as Three maneuvers around his talons with surprising agility, “Hey, boss beard, that thing is-” Cromach points ahead, and… slowly lowers his foreleg, “Okay, what law of reality is he breaking now?”
Two’s watching the situation with the same mixture of abject horror and internal facehoofing as Cromach. In front of them, and a grinning me, Three is partly buried in Shuffles’ shifting mass and hugging and nuzzling any place he can reach.
“Those two go way back,” I wink at them.
“I want that story,” says Cromach, narrowing his eyes at me. He turns his head, and his beak drops, “Okay, I’m refusing to believe that a shambling monstrosity of vengeful souls and necromantic curses has just grown tiny legs and is playing pat-a-hoofsie with Three.”
“And yet, that’s exactly what’s happening,” Two adds flatly.
“Do you want an actual explanation, or do you just want me to say that I stopeed trying to understand how Three works a long time ago, and I’m just enjoying the benefits?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Hey, without the boss, I wouldn’t be able to see how good everyone can be if you’re willing to look. That’s why boss is the best, and Shuffles is cuddly,” Three beams at us, not missing a beat at the hoof slapping game.
“That’s not an answer!” says Two
Cromach, on the other hole, actually thinks about it, and proves to me his intelligence once again.
“Blaze said the furious souls of the miners killed multiple foals who got lost over the years. Three’s good with foals, isn’t he?” he looks at me.
“He firmly believes that evil isn’t something you’re born with,” I answer, “No, he doesn’t just believe it, he lives by it. That’s a huge difference.”
Taking a breath to return back to the absurdity of reality, Cromach flicks Two’s ear. She frowns at him.
“I need your cute little nose.”
“If you want to keep your cute little talons, don’t do that again,” replies Two with little to no rancor, “What do you want?”
“I need you to fly around the collapsed part and sniff around for some… I don’t know… rotting flesh, or see if you can’t spot holes where someone could have gotten from under it. Anything that might not be attributed to the collapse itself. I don’t know, you’re the underground digging species. I simply want to know if Arcane Hex dug himself from under there or something.”
“I’ll give you access to some of our drone instincts. That should suffice,” I internally poke Two who nods and flies over the bent railing into the central shaft.
Only few minutes later, Two returns, shaking her head.
“Nothing,” she shrugs, “That mass of rocks is packed tighter than One’s holes in the soundproofed cellar.”
“Whuh?” Cromach is torn between two interesting topics - Three or a dirty story he hasn’t heard before.
“Sorry,” Two lands back by my side, “Forgot about our company for a moment, dad.”
“So, we got nothing,” I sigh.
Cromach shrugs.
“As I said, I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but we had to take a look for completion’s sake. Now, how do we get past that?” he nods towards Shuffles.
“Hmm?” Three stops playing, and just pats Shuffles’ mass, “Hey, buddy, we have to save everyone from meanies.”
...help?
“Thank you, but don’t worry about that,” Three chuckles, “It would be rough for you up there, but I’ll come see you before we go back home. And I promise I’ll visit Canterlot again and don’t forget you.”
...hugs?
Three hugs Shuffles again, the shadows shift, and in few moments there’s just the four of us living creatures standing in total, and for some amazed, silence.