“Granna, I don’t want to go.” Glitter huffed, glaring daggers at her grandmother as she pottered about filling a pair of Saddlebags of Holding with necessities. “It’s summer break and I would rather be out with my friends than go trekking through the badlands.”
Chrysalis huffed, “I know, sweetie, trust me I know. I, too, would rather do anything else than go gallivanting off into the unrelenting badlands, but my hooves are tied. Princess Twilight Sparkle herself is leading this expedition and even though I trust her I will not allow anypony to visit our old Hive without being present myself.”
A low growl left Glitter’s throat, “And I understand that, Granna. All of us do; I just don’t understand why I have to go with you.”
“It was Flitterwing’s idea,” her grandmother said calmly, “she believes that you should see where we once lived. Consider it as an education into your own heritage and culture.” She grimaced at a nearly empty tube of toothpaste before setting it aside and making a mental note to get a new one. “Granted, Glitter, it is a culture all but dead thanks to actions that, in hindsight, were grossly unnecessary and of which we will bear the scars forever more. Actions that I will never be able to fully atone for, and nor do I really wish to forget.” She nodded and closed the saddlebags before holding them out to her granddaughter, “Please, indulge an old mare her self-flagellation.”
Glitter sighed, taking the saddlebags into her magic and hefting them onto her back, “I feel I have indulged you much already this year, Granna.”
Chrysalis giggled and kissed Glitter’s cheek, “Just a little more sweetie, promise.”
Glitter grumbled irritably but nodded, motioning for her grandmother to lead her out. Taking the lead, Chrysalis first hefted her own pair of Saddlebags of Holding onto her back before proceeding to lead the albino out through the atrium of their home. They paused only for Shred to hurry to her side, saddlebags of his own packed and a hefty-looking sword strapped to his side, before moving over to and opening their front door. Beyond stood none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, hoof raised as if about to knock.
“This is a surprise.” Chrysalis mumbled.
“Ah, Duchess Chrysalis and Baroness Glitter, just the changelings I was looking for; I assume you are both ready to depart?”
Chrysalis nodded, “Other than to acquire a new tube of toothpaste for Glitter’s pack, we are ready.” She responded. “Shred shall also be accompanying us.”
“I am loath to let her traipse off sans protection.” He snapped, fixing a lazy salute in the princess’s direction. “Besides, somepony needs to make sure she doesn’t remove that collar.”
Chrysalis groaned irritably as Glitter giggled, “You don’t trust me to do it?” She asked.
Shred grinned at her wolfishly, “Kid, you’re both trouble and you know it. I don’t trust you two together to open a tin of beans.”
Glitter opened her mouth to return fire only for the present alicorn to cut her off, “What’s with the Saddlebags of Holding?”
“I was told to prepare for a trek to the Badlands Hive.” Chrysalis replied, beckoning for Twilight to lead them on. “Such a journey will take days by hoof.”
Twilight shook her head as she began walking through Canterlot, the changelings following behind, “Hoof? We’re not going by hoof; we’re taking an expedition train down to Appleloosa and then flying carriages to where you documented the location of the Old Hive.”
Chrysalis blinked in confusion, “Wait, what? But the briefing I received stated that we were to proceed on hoof or wing.” She said, “I admit I was confused that you met us at our doorstep, as the briefing also said that we would be travelling separate from your own expedition.” She turned her neck and began fishing through her bags, “I even have a copy of it… here.” She added, retrieving said note and offering it to the alicorn who continued to lead them.
Twilight, to her credit, didn’t even break stride as she took the note in her magic and began reading it. “This isn’t my writing,” she mumbled, “it doesn’t even have my seal.” She blinked at the parchment confusedly before sniffing at it and recoiling, “Ugh, it smells like stallion’s perfumes.”
“Any in particular, princess?” Shred asked, already taking mental notes.
She shook her head, “I don’t know perfumes, that’d be more Rarity’s thing.” She muttered, offering it to the male changeling to sniff at, “What do you think?”
He hummed in thought, “I think, highness, that a certain Princeling has had a go at your messenger.” He said, “It smells like the stuff he wears.”
“Explains why he never gets dates,” Twilight huffed, “this stuff is horrid.”
“Not just his shining personality then.” Glitter chuckled.
Twilight shook her head with a giggle, “No, it would seem not. I’ll have to have words with the captain of the Royal Guard when we get back, have every royal messenger go through some ethics training. If he’s going to disrupt confidential information from the heads of state, we very well may have a mole or two to have removed from our ranks.”
Chrysalis sighed, “I’ll leave that to yourself, Luna, and Celestia;” she said, “I have enough to deal with on my own these days. I have no idea how Celestia managed to find so much paperwork for historical landmark implementation and oversight, but I’m fully expecting my desk to be buried by the time we get home from this little expedition.”
Having turned them towards the train station, Twilight nodded. “Don’t worry about getting a new tube of toothpaste, I’ve got a spare in my own things. We’ll be meeting up with some professors from the Ministry of Equestrian Archaeology on the train, as well as the guards who will be pulling our carriages and protecting our expedition. Those carriages mentioned are currently being affixed to a flatcar for easier transport.”
“Anyone important along for the trip, princess?” Glitter asked curiously. “Aside from yourself, of course.”
Twilight shook her head, “Well, Ms Daring Do has declined our invitation, stating that she’s busy working with Ahuizotl in the upkeep of artefacts from the Tenochtitlan Basin currently housed in their own exhibit in the Canterlot Museum. My fellow Princesses are unable to join us as they have matters of state to look after, though Luna has sent ‘one of the Night’s best’ to accompany us.”
“A thestral, I would assume.” Shred mumbled, “There are ten I could name that she would be willing to part with, but I wouldn’t want to assume.”
Twilight nodded, “And as for fellow bearers of the Elements, most are unavailable. Rarity has a fashion line that she’s premiering in Baltimare, Rainbow Dash is training with the Wonderbolts, Applejack is in the middle of rotating a crop field and her planting and the aftercare will take all week at least, and Pinkie Pie has a family reunion to attend.” She paused to inhale deeply before continuing, “Spike will be coming with us, though, and he’s currently waiting on the train with the others. His fire breath giving us a quick link back to Canterlot could be vital should our expedition go pear shaped. Fluttershy is coming along as well; as an expert on animals, their habitats, and their behaviour she volunteered to join us in case we ran into anything unruly.” She chuckled amusedly, “Or cuddly.”
The quartet entered the quiet Southern Canterlot Train Station, ignoring the cranes that loomed overhead moving one shipment or another between the docks and the trains that either had ferried them into Canterlot, or were due to take them farther into Equestria. As this station was typically for freight trains and good shipments, the ponies bustling about their usual tasks gawped at them as they strolled through.
“I can’t imagine what kinds of things that live in the badlands anypony could possibly consider cuddly.” Glitter muttered.
As they finally stepped onto the train, Glitter looked about at the other passengers. Most of them were wearing or polishing royal guard armour, who all stopped to bow to Twilight before returning to their previous tasks. A small herd down the far end looked to be fiddling with surveying equipment, muttering amongst one another in complicated words that she had difficulty hearing, though one looked up at her and, after double-taking, stared at her in apparent disbelief. Twilight ignored them all, however, and led the trio of changelings to a nearby ring of seats occupied only by a lone butter-yellow pegasus reading some sort of magazine and a green and purple dragon passed out in the only seat with a sunbeam on it, snoring softly.
Glitter strained her neck to read the magazine’s cover.
“‘Equestria’s Cutest Scorpions’?”
The mare squeaked, dropping her magazine and scurrying beneath her seat before anypony gathered could blink or even process the reaction. Except of course Twilight, who sighed and levitated her back out and into her seat with practiced ease.
“Chrysalis, Shred, Glitter, this is my friend Fluttershy; Fluttershy, these are the changelings I told you would be joining us.”
Fluttershy, for her part, blinked at them as if only partially perceiving their existence for a moment before her eyes settled on Glitter and grew wide.
“Oh my goodness, albinism in changelings is real!” She squeaked before hurriedly getting up and starting to circle the filly in question. “I mean, I knew it was possible after reading that book by Flitterwing, but to see it for real, and with such a small population base!” She gently lifted Glitter’s shell to reveal her wings, pawing at them gently. “I never would have suspected that your wings would have pigmentation to make them naturally blue, but your albinism makes them pale green because of your blood! Fascinating!”
“Well, my mother didn’t want to include too much personal information in the book…” Glitter mumbled.
“Do you gain pigment when you change shape?”
With a sigh, Glitter shifted. Magic flared around her, displacing air with a fiery appearance, and where a teenaged white Royal changeling had stood, now stood a monochrome copy of the fascinated pegasus, complete with a grayscale mirror of her cutiemark. “You tell me.”
Fluttershy squealed, lapping around the changeling. She tugged a wing open, inspecting the feathers before letting it drop and circling around to her face, brushing the long white strands of her mane this way and that.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anypony this fascinated by us before,” Chrysalis mumbled, now sitting in the window seat next to where Fluttershy had been seated before. “Other than medical experts or Twilight herself, of course.”
“Most ponies think we’re creepy.” Not-Fluttershy said.
“Even my voice! Can you change individual aspects, like voice or mane?”
A second burst of magic surrounded the albino changeling’s throat as she grew a cheeky smile, “Anything at all.” She rumbled, her voice now masculine and deep.
“Princess Twilight,” a second deep and rumbling voice interrupted, “per Princess Luna’s orders we are reporting for duty.”
Twilight nodded her head to the large, burly, and dark-furred thestral Night Guard who stood nearby, hoof saluting at attention. To his left a mare of equal stature stood in stoic salute, mimicking his own. True to their training, their eyes remained glued to the roof above them and their hooves to their temples in a formal salute.
“Yes, thank you for coming at such short notice, sir and ma’am.”
“The thestral stallion is Rolling Thunder, Highness; First Lieutenant of the Nightwatch, second in command of the Night Guard, next to Captains Hammer and Anvil.” Shred informed her calmly, “And the unicorn mare is First Lieutenant of the Solar Guard, Glittering Aegis.” his eyes moving across the thestral as if sizing him up. “Thunder, what the hell does Her Highness think she’s doing reassigning Monster Hunter division to bodyguard duty?”
The thestral’s salute wavered and a blush grew across his cheeks before he sheepishly replied, “... Spilled durian on her dress, sir.”
“Accidental or intentional?”
Rolling Thunder remained quiet for a few moments before mumbling, “Dared by Captain Anvil, sir.”
Shred sighed, “It’s no wonder Hammer has a row at him at every opportunity, stallion’s a walking catastrophe of stupid ideas. Why do you never take his advice?”
“Who do you think supplied the fruit?” Rolling Thunder asked wearily, “With hindsight, my reckonin’ is they knew this was comin’ and threw me to the wolves rather than be chosen themselves.” He huffed an irritated breath, “Sly pricks.”
With a grumble Shred pointed to the other guards, “I’m in charge of you two, and one of you is in charge of that lot, they do somethin’ I don’t like I’m going to come to you for answers. Keep them in line.”
The other guards on the train, having been watching and listening, sized up the stallion and mare, each easily a head taller than them all and, after giving one another worried glances and nods, came to a consensus to not mess with the thestral and unicorn that looked like they could, and would, knot them into pretzels.
“I’ll just let the train driver know all passengers are on board.” Twilight said, shaking her head at the pair of guards. “We’re likely to be underway as soon as the carriages are fixed to the train; be ready for a long journey, we’ll likely arrive in Dodge Junction after dark, and we’re going to spend the night on the train before moving on tomorrow morning.” She gestured with a wing toward the front of the train. “Sleeper cars for ourselves and the survey teams are to the front carriages, rooms are marked for which sleepers will take them. The guard’s sleeper cars are to the rear.”
“Nocturnal shifts will be arranged before midday, Princess.” Rolling Thunder stated firmly. “We’ll inform you on the roster as soon as it is available.”
“Thank you, Thunder.” Twilight said, nodding to them before stepping through the doorway between the carriages and closing it behind her.
Glittering Aegis huffed and turned her attention on the guards huddled at the end of the carriage, “Alright foals, get your flanks into our first sleeper car, we got work to do! Thunder, find the rest of them, this can’t be all of these dummies we’ve gotta keep in line if the carriages I saw being affixed to the flatbeds is any indication.” She had turned her attention to him for but a second, but when it returned to the underlings before her, an icy glare spread across her face. “C’mon you slackers, move!”
With much scrambling and clattering of armour, the guards hurriedly stood and rushed out, followed closely by their Thestral and Unicorn superior officers.
The train lurched to a start as Glitter and Chrysalis sat opposite Fluttershy, the younger Changeling wiggling slightly to get more comfortable.
“If you want to get more rest, now would be an ideal time,” Chrysalis advised sidelong at her, “We’ve quite some time to our stop.”
Glitter nodded with a sign before resting back against the bench and closed her eyes, ear twitching as conversations around her hushed a little and she drifted to sleep.
~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~
With a gentle murmur, Glitter shifted in her sleep and lifted her head. Yawning widely, she opened her eyes in hopes to determine how long she had been asleep, only to jolt back from the startling and unexpected closeness from which Fluttershy’s teal eyes watched her.
Said yellow pegasus also leapt back startled, managing to somehow hop clear over the bench and seats in their ring and behind the seats facing the other direction, ducking her head worriedly as Glitter stared after her.
“S-sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Fluttershy stammered, “I was just curious…”
Glitter blinked at her owlishly before sighing, “It’s fine, if not unexpected.” She said, shrugging, “How long was I asleep?”
Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, “You fell asleep as we were leaving Canterlot, and we passed Ponyville about an hour ago, so… Four hours?”
Glitter stood up with a grunt, stretching her legs and quickly casting her mane-styling spell before moving into the aisle. “Suppose I should stretch and wake up a little before getting some breakfast, well I suppose it’d be lunch at this point, from my bags.”
“Your bags..?” Fluttershy mumbled, staring at her quizzically, “There’s a dining carriage past our sleeper carriage, you can get food from there?” She ducked her head a little when Glitter turned to her, “I mean,if you want to.”
“It would be remiss of me to not at least try the train chef’s fare.” Glitter admitted, starting towards the front of the train, “Would have to be better than granola bars at least. Would you like to join me?”
Fluttershy’s pink mane wobbled back and forth, “Oh, no thank you; I had something a few minutes ago.”
“Alright, then.” Glitter nodded before wandering on through the train.
Her trip through the sleeper cars was uneventful, as the doors were all closed hiding the contents of each room from view. She did find her own room, which she was apparently to share with her grandmother. Sliding the door open she found it to be unremarkable. A pair of beds on one wall, one above the other, and a small shelf for each bunk offering an alarm clock and bedside light for reading, all carved from wood with remarkable attention to detail. She noticed the railing along the top bunk to stop the occupant from rolling out should the train stop too harshly, and silently hoped to herself that it wouldn’t be required.
She’d fallen out of bed on the ground to discomfort, she could only imagine what it would feel like from over her head.
Depositing her saddlebags on the top bunk in the hope that it would signify her claim over it to her grandmother, she slid the door shut once more and continued on, making a mental note of where the restroom was at the end of the hall for future reference.
Stepping through the separating doors between the last sleeper carriage and the dining car, her attention was caught by Chrysalis waving a hoof at her halfheartedly from a booth where she sat almost surrounded by who she assumed to be the archaeologists along for the ride.
With a shrug she wandered over before being shuffled into a seat on her grandmother’s left, who had motioned for the stallions around her to allow her access. Chrysalis smiled down at her maternally.
“So good of you to finally wake up, Glitter; I was worried you’d sleep right through until dinner.” She slid a menu to her across the table, “Here, I assume you’re hungry since we didn’t get any breakfast this morning.”
The younger changeling nodded as she perused the menu, pausing only to look up at her grandmother quizzically for a moment.
“Don’t worry about the prices, our meals are coming out of my account.” She calmly informed her. “Incidentally, Glitter, these fine ponies are the cataloguing, documentation, and survey professor team that the Ministry of Equestrian Archaeology and the Royal Labs Geological department have sent to assist in our expedition to the Old Hive.” She waved a hoof to the ponies around them, “They’ve been asking me questions about the state in which we left the Old Hive, known ore deposit locations, and possible locations of artefacts with easiest access.”
One of the stallions sat to her right nodded, “Though we don’t expect the site to be completely safe, as after all these years untouched and uncared for I think we can agree that some of the structural integrity of the buildings may be compromised. Earthquakes, sandstorms, even heavy rain could have all made the Old Hive a deathtrap.” He smiled and dipped his tan furred head to Glitter, his green mane falling to cover his face and horn as he did so, “Professor Siltbrush, Artefact Documentation specialist.”
Another unicorn stallion spoke up, this one to Glitter’s left, “Even the Castle of the Two Sisters suffered from the ravages of age, and the whole premises was warded to defend it from such issues by the Princesses themselves. Without such defenses, inferior construction would not have fared so well over the last decade and a half.” He raised a silver furred hoof to wave off Chrysalis’ protests, “No malice intended, Duchess, it is merely a fact that Ponies have built some of the most sturdy structures on Equss. Observe, for example, the Gryphon kingdom’s downfall after the loss of their idol. With none of them caring about their kingdom anymore, no care was put into upkeep and after only a few decades it fell into disrepair.”
Glitter huffed and held her menu up over the pony’s orange mane for a waitress to take, “I’ll just get the Prench toast and a large glass of juice, whatever you have in stock.” She said to her, getting a nod in return before the waitress scurried off. “And while that may be true, since they found their new passion in Boffyball they’ve done remarkably well in returning to their former glory. It’s surprising how much the place has changed in a few short years, and I would dare to say that High Lady Gilda has been exceptional at revitalizing her lands and raising the spirits of her subjects.”
“She also bakes amazingly good scones, but that’s neither here nor there.” Chrysalis said, “And no offense taken, Professor Timescale; I was merely going to advise that you might be surprised. We did, after all, steal building designs and building techniques from Equestria over the years.”
Another stallion to Chrysalis’ right spoke up, running a gray hoof through his short, bristly purple mane, “I wasn’t aware you would have any knowledge about foreign politics or affairs, Miss; has your grandmother been tutoring you on the sly?”
Glitter giggled into a hoof, “Nothing quite so underhooved, sir. No, I keep up with the news because it helps my schoolwork.” She nodded appreciatively to the waitress as her meal was floated into place before her. “Thank you, and while questions are being asked, I would ask one myself; why was Buzzyear of our quaint little colony not brought along for this expedition? I would have thought that, of anypony outside of my grandmother, he would be best suited to assist in navigating the Hive, or at least aiding in its cartography.”
“He was considered by the board for said role.” Professor Timescale replied calmly, “But was rejected by the lead scholars for potential conflict of interest or that he may suffer from a nostalgic or emotional crisis.” He pushed his glasses farther up his snout with a hoof, “Your grandmother has to come along as a matter of course due to restrictions put in place on the site by the crown. Your own presence was not discussed or required and yet the Duchess chose to bring you along to this potentially dangerous digsite anyway.” He huffed and rolled his eyes, “An amateur in the field will be so cumbersome.”
“I’ll try not to get in your way, oh mighty Professor.” Glitter snarked before taking a bite of her toast. “I’d probably be more helpful to whichever one of you amongst our expedition is here for the geological survey.”
“I dunno,” the large, and only, Earth pony amongst them rumbled, “y’all don’t look like much of a digger.”
“She was being sarcastic, Shovelwright.” Siltbrush sighed, “Honestly, I think your prize student is rubbing off on you.”
Shovelwright slammed a slate gray hoof on the table, almost toppling Glitter’s juice, “Hey, I thought we all agreed apprentices were off-limits!” He snarled, “Leave Maud out of it!”
“Too right, Shovelwright; professional jabs at one another is one thing, but we did agree that our apprentices are to be left from our jocularities until they have their doctorate portfolios completed.” The brown unicorn stallion sitting two seats to the left of Glitter stated matter-of-factly. He dipped his head to her, “I would be most appreciative of your assistance if you are willing to put up with my standards, however. Never let it be said that Professor Barnsworth would deny the potential to add another to the field of artefact preservation.”
“She’s thirteen and still in school, Barnsworth;” Chrysalis sighed, “and she’ll be staying in base camp until a contingent of guards have cleared the Old Hive of potential threats before I lead her through some of our history.” She shot Timescale a scathing look, “If you behave yourselves, some of you might accompany us to what used to be my personal royal library. The tomes in there could do with proper documentation and preservation in Canterlot’s archives.”
“Royal library?” Twilight Sparkle’s voice piped up before the group was graced suddenly by her presence, “You kept books? How many? Any spell tomes? Now you’ve got me-”
“Yes, Princess Sparkle, we kept books. Many made of the usual paper, binder, and hardcover.” She swirled a hoof on the bench between them, “Some, however, are more… carved. Paper was hard to come by as time went on, so we would use stone or wood, some more pictographic than others.”
“Stone books? Sounds almost barbaric.” Timescale grumbled from his seat.
Chrysalis shrugged, “We made do with what we had on hoof. Stone, wood, you name it. Some of our ‘books’ were more just stone slabs with things written onto them. We did what we could with what we had. A lot of time has gone almost unrecorded due to our situation.” She stopped swirling her hoof and pointed it at the purple pony princess, “If you can behave yourself, Princess, I’ll do what I can to teach you our written language so you can transcribe in your own time. I plan to take as much back as I can with both my Saddlebags of Holding and Portable Vault.” She chortled at the shocked looks of the professors surrounding her, “After it has all been properly documented, of course.”
“Granna, you’re doing that thing again.” Glitter grumbled, “You know, the ‘plotting’ thing.”
“I am not!”
“Before this turns into a family quarrel, perhaps it would be best if we got back onto the topic of our recovery, restoration, and preservation efforts?” Barnsworth suggested.
*
Glitter sat staring out at the plains that stretched to the horizon as they rolled past. She had been drawn from the book that she had been reading by the setting sun colouring the landscape in glorious ambers and purples. Cacti passed by the window, occasionally tall enough to dwarf the train carriage she was sat in. Currently her attention was on her thoughts, lulled from the world around her by the gentle thumping of the train on its rails.
The stallions had been eager to learn about the types and access of artefacts that could be found within the Old Hive, so much so that any other conversation had been all but drowned out for several hours. Locations of libraries, public statuary, museums - which Glitter was surprised that were actually a thing in the Old Hive despite their lack of resources - even mundane locations like housing.
Initially when the public housing had been brought up as a possible location for searches she was confused, why would anyone keep priceless artefacts in their house after all? When Professor Timescale had, somewhat snidely, pointed out that even mundane things in the common changelings’ house would help to put their lives into perspective when compared to the lives of the common pony. Things like self-care products, bedding, and clothes would, while not strictly useful historically, be useful educationally.
He made a point that hatchling toys would be especially sought after for such a purpose when placed into an exhibit.
Also discussed and outlined was the possibility of finding remains. Chrysalis had stressed that by the time of the invasion, changelings had been dying in their homes and streets on a daily basis, which was a major contributing factor to her decision to attack the most powerful nation in the world.
This was how she’d learned that the remaining changelings were essentially under twenty-four hour surveillance and guard.
Chrysalis had openly admitted that the designs to Little Hive, in particular the reinforced windows, doors, and even the specific design of the roof made it impossible for anypony to get in, sure, but even harder for anypony to get out. A series of wards on the entire building had been set up to lock the inhabitants in until one of the Princesses deemed they could be released if triggered. The roof was designed with crenellations, though made to look like they belonged by being slanted to mimic the usual hexagons common with the inside of a beehive, were so that, at night, pegasus guards could take positions and watch the premises for both intruders and escapees.
In truth, Little Hive was a prison.
She’d been too young when it had all been built to know about any of this, but now that she thought about it, it seemed obvious. After all what home, even communal housing, has bars that could be slid into place over windows in Canterlot of all cities? Crenellations were not uncommon amongst houses in the districts closer to the castle, but she was certain that she’d never seen a guard sat atop one of those houses at night like she often did her own home.
“It was a stroke of genius,” Chrysalis had said distantly, “oh, sure, we needed somewhere to live, and rebuilding the warehouse to house us was not just easier to do but convenient after it had burned down, but Princess Luna had deliberately designed it this way. For us, it was a safe haven in a world we were extremely vulnerable to and now legitimately afraid of, but to the outside pony it looked like a low-security prison. We were under lock and key even if most of us didn’t really know it.
“And we were; let’s face it, we weren’t much of a flight risk, most of us had injuries or severe depression. I know at least Grall and Crackle still suffer from PTSD and may never recover, and I’ve caught Crackle a couple times openly defiant and hostile towards me as he blames me, rightly so in my opinion, for the outcome of the invasion. We needed to be shown, to the public, to be under the castle’s hoof, and Little Hive accomplished this.
“Placing me in charge of the rebuilding efforts for Canterlot directly after the invasion, with both a retinue of guard and advisers who could directly countermand my decisions should they decide it necessary put the blame directly in my hooves. I did not oppose the idea, as evidently my decisions were unreliable and I welcomed the flagellation I received from the public as I went about the duties.
“Shred, my personal guard, was not immune to these issues either,” she had chuckled humorlessly, “put through basic training like a rookie, treated worse than most of those he saw almost drop out… It was a long time before he gained any respect amongst the guard, and even now he is only equivalent to a lieutenant, despite earning and holding the rank of Captain. His tour of duty up north in the Kitsune Blackspot showed he was more than capable, defending his squad from a frost hydra while they retreated.
“Even still, I don’t begrudge the Princess her plan. We’re safe, or at least as safe as we can be. After the invasion, there’s a lot more that could have been done to us and we’d have had no right to stop anypony. Lock us in the palace dungeons? Remove our horns? Sell us into slavery? While Equestria would never do that last option, there’s nothing that would have stopped other countries. The Princesses treat us very, very kindly despite the fact that, for a year or so after the invasion, we were basically not people in the eyes of both the law, and the ponies of Equestria.”
“Still aren’t, to some.” Princess Twilight Sparkle had added, “I know that Fillydelphia has some places which openly bar changeling entry, and Vanhoover had rallies and marches demanding that you all be put to trial. That the Pearl House controls the city and was found to be threatening the jobs of its inhabitants if they didn’t do so, however, was a contributing factor in having them detached from their duties as the city’s representatives.”
She’d tuned them out mostly after this point, but she had learned that since Princess Luna had been given custodial representation of the city in their stead, not only had the permanent recession the city had been stagnating in reversed, but it had reversed in a matter of weeks. Apparently unbiased legal experts were now scouring through the city’s books to see exactly what had been going on for something to have been so easy to turn around.
Her eyes snapped back into focus as she became aware that she’d zoned out recalling the earlier conversation, and instead now homed in on a figure she could see sitting out in the middle of the plains staring at the train as it went. She blinked in surprise and squinted at it.
She couldn’t make out any defining features, not even a colour as the sun had made its way behind them somewhat, turning them into just a black silhouette. She could, however, get the distinct impression that it was staring back at the train.
“Glitter, there you are!”
She blinked again, a large cactus zipping past, and the figure was gone.
She shook her head and turned to find Rolling Thunder standing nearby, his gaze fixed in her direction. “Dinner is going to be served in the dining car shortly,” he informed calmly, “and your grandmother sent me to retrieve you.” He stepped back to allow her to pass him as she stood up. As she stepped close, however, he leaned closer to her ear, “I saw it as well, Baroness,” he hissed, “Something is watching us.”
She turned and gaped at him, “How- what…”
He chuckled, “You don’t become one of the Monster Hunters without a good eye for your surroundings.” He stated, “We’ve been under watch since we entered the plains.”
She blinked at his blatant honesty, “That long? And you’ve not told anypony?”
He shrugged, “I’m keeping my eye on it. So far there has been no reason to get everypony all panicky over what could just be one of Princess Celestia’s secret service ponies keeping an eye on us. Aegis is also aware, as is Shred. I wouldn’t be surprised if your grandmother knows, and we informed Princess Twilight earlier. Anyway, no more stalling; I wanna get some grub in me before I have to go wake the night shift.” He nudged her into walking towards the dining carriage with a hoof before following her.
“Actually, I have been wondering,” Glitter began as she walked, “how are the night guards getting to the campsite? Surely you don’t expect them to be awake all day tomorrow as well?”
He rumbled a laugh as they walked through the sleeper car, “Buck no, that’d be inequine.” He almost bellowed, “On the changing of the guard come morning they’ll be bunking in carriage three for the flight and day.” He chuckled conspiratorially, “We ain’t stayin’ in no tents on this expedition, three of the four carriages are ‘residential’ and the fourth is for luggage and artefacts.”
She slowed a little as she tried to process this, “How on Equss do you plan to get all of us into three carriages without crushing somepony?”
“The same way you got all your stuff into your saddlebags, little lady.” He chuckled, “They’s bigger on the inside.”
“Spatial distortion enchants on the entirety of a carriage?” She blurted, “The spell power required to pull that off would be pretty nuts, let alone making it stay for long periods of time!”
“Ah, you should talk to Princess Twilight about it, then; after all, she was the one who cast all them spells.” He closed his eyes and held a hoof over his chest as he walked, “I’m just a simple Thestral with a simple brain who has in turn a simple philosophy to life.”
Glitter snorted a laugh as they entered the dining carriage, “And that would be?”
His grin grew wide showing off his sharp fangs and he cracked an eye in her direction, “When all you have is a hammer, everypony else is a nail.”
Chrysalis’ voice cut into the air as they approached the table she shared with Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike, Shred, and Glittering Aegis, “Not sharing inappropriate stories with my granddaughter are we, Lieutenant?”
“Of course not, Duchess; merely discussing a few inconsequential details about the expedition.” He said as he allowed Glitter to sit before finding his own seat at the table. “Incidentally, we spotted somepony watching the train before returning here; it would seem that our observer is still intent on watching us.”
“Keep your ear to the ground on this, Thunder.” Shred growled, “I don’t want us to assume it’s nothing only for it to become something serious.”
“Gotta keep the ‘ling lookin’ good for his first expeditionary assignment, gotcha.” Thunder snarked, rolling his eyes before grabbing a menu and looking through it. “Don’t worry, sir, we’ll get you that desk job you want.”
Shred recoiled, “Desk job? Stars forbid I trust the Duchess to anypony not used to her crap planning.”
“I’ll pretend to not have heard that, Shred.” Chrysalid deadpanned.
“Oh don’t let me break that illusion of the perfect planner you’ve been building, my Queen; you might actually get it right one of these days.”
“Wow,” Spike mumbled, staring up at the pair dubiously, “Is this what being an adult is like for changelings? Glitter seems to have her head on straight right now but is she also going to lose all her marbles when she hits adulthood?”
Twilight swatted him upside the back of his head with her menu while Fluttershy giggled.
“I’ll try not to let age impair my judgement in the future.” Glitter huffed as she put down the menu she’d been perusing. “I might start planning something stupid, like invading a bakery for all their cookies or something.”
“Low blow, sweetie.” Chrysalis hissed, a hoof to her chest.
“You’ll live.” She hissed in return.
“Ladies, stop bickering or I’ll turn this train around and nopony is going to Changelingland.” Aegis snarked.
“Oh, please?” Glitter asked sarcastically, “I was so looking forward to spending Celestia knows how many days in a dead kingdom. I was eagerly anticipating the feeling of dread from the empty liminal spaces and sudden realization of the finality that will be the end of my species in but a few short years!”
Spike stared at her, “Wow; you really are a ray of brown muddy sunshine, aren’t you?”
“It’s going to be so boring most of the time,” Glitter huffed, resting her chin on the table as the others started giving their orders to their waitress, “I should have bought those Ogres and Oubliettes books I saw yesterday; at least learning the rules to that would have been something to do while not being escorted through Old Hive that I could maybe trick my filly and coltfriend into joining me in after we return.” She snorted, “Probably not, Sandy wouldn’t be able to sit still long enough.” She lifted her head and huffed before addressing the waitress who stood with an amused smile, “Chef’s special, extra cheddar, and a large of whatever juice you have.”
“You’re interested in O&O?” Spike asked eagerly, “I’ve brought a few of my rulebooks with me to write up my campaign with friends in Ponyville, but I usually host small sessions for the guard if they ask. I can loan you my player handbook after dinner if you’d like, a-and feel free to sit in and watch any sessions we run while we’re on the expedition.”
Glitter shrugged, “might as well; I only brought, like, two novels because somepony told me I needed to save the space in my bags for essentials.”
“I was under the impression that we were going to be going to the Old Hive on hoof, it’s not my fault that I had to pack our bags with days worth of supplies!”
“Kinda is, Granna.”
Shred cleared his throat, “Actually, I’m on your grandmother’s side for this one, Glitter.” He said, holding his hoof up as their waitress returned with drinks and started passing them around, “The cologne on the mail giving her instructions is a pretty dead giveaway that somepony has been interfering with internal messages.”
“Blueblood.” Thunder, Aegis, and Spike all said at the same time.
“Most likely.” Shred sighed, “My bet is that one of the professors is actually here to interfere with our expedition, potentially even one or two of the guards.” He shrugged, “If no artefacts return from the Old Hive, he would have grounds to say that it is merely a ghost town and attempt to have strip mining zoned for the entire area. As it is the three mile exclusion zone around the Old Hive is barely enough to keep potential issues from damaging the site should strip mining be performed.”
“That all three of you have issues with Blueblood is something that I feel I have to ask about.” Glitter pressed, looking toward the two guards and Spike in turn.
Aegis huffed, taking a quick mouthful of her drink, “He frequently demands that the Royal Guard, at least the day shift, do frankly ridiculous things. Even tried to get us to arrest Spike here one year when he went through a greed growth. Every time his missives are laced with a frankly unbearable cologne that I think he believes is fetching but really just makes me wretch and toss the damned things into the fireplace.”
“He tries to fool us into hunting animals that have strayed onto or into his property, typically harmless ones. He tried to get us to hunt a, quote, ‘extremely dangerous and horrific beast’ by sending us a report directly to my office. Turned out he had a possum in his living room and wanted us to get rid of it for him. As with Aegis’ telling, every single one was laced with his god awful cologne.” Thunder growled.
“He sent me a package via dragonfire somehow, and had badly forged Princess Celestia’s signature on it the week after my greed growth incident. Reeked of something awful that Rarity told me was ‘the worst cologne ever concocted’. Had Celestia come and see what it was, he never tried again after that.” Spike groused, frowning deeply the whole time.
Twilight blinked down at him, “I remember that package, did Princess Celestia ever tell you what it was?”
“Mom told me that it was powdered Dragonbane with a pressure sensitive spell to make it disperse,” the diminutive dragon replied irritably, “apparently not enough to actually harm even a newly hatched dragon, but enough to have made me sick.”
“WH-That’s assault!” Twilight almost shouted, rising angrily from her seat and nearly toppling everypony’s drinks.
“It’s fine, Princess.” Aegis soothed, “he learned his lesson, I assure you.”
Twilight sat down but still seethed, “Oh, and how’d he ‘learn his lesson’ for sending poison via dragonfire?”
“Poison Joke,” Aegis replied with a smile to make a shark nervous, “I should show you the photos, he looked hilarious at half his size and with no mouth.” She put a hoof to her chin before adding, “His mane fell out too,” and bursting into laughter.
Chrysalis chortled alongside the guardsmare, “Sounds like the Poison Joke didn’t mess around; I really should get a glimpse of those photos next time you’re able to present them, could make for a good laugh.”
Twilight grumbled as she took a long drink of her milkshake before saying anything more, “But even with that, to endanger a minor in such a way… No, he should have had a greater punishment than that. What he did was unconscionable, he could have seriously hurt Spike!”
“Oh, we know, Princess,” Thunder rumbled sternly, “That is why he was also fined eight thousand bits and confined to house arrest for six months.” He shrugged as she turned her attention on him, “We, the guard, wanted to make it worse, believe me. Spike has quite the group of friends amongst us, and your brother certainly wanted to make an example of him, but at the time he was still lord of Ponyville and was more or less untouchable until evidence of his corruption got him kicked from that spot; Princess Celestia did what she could to him at the time.”
“Which isn’t to say that we let him have an easy time of it.” Aegis stated, “All the staff were barred from his private quarters in the castle, as were other nobles. Only guards could enter, and we made sure he ate the same gruel that the newbies eat until we’re certain they’ve been razzed enough.
“We gave him Tartarus for his actions against Spike, Princess;” Aegis said, reaching over and rubbing the young dragon’s scalp back and forth, “and he deserved every second of it.”
“In any case, he’ll have Tartarus coming for him when we report to Princesses Luna and Celestia about his tampering of official missives.” Thunder said, leaning back to allow their waitress to deliver their meals, his own a fruit salad.
“Why wait, I can send her a report via dragonfire from anywhere.” Spike voiced cheerfully as his salad and omelette was placed before him. He reached into a bag at his side and took out what looked like a salt grinder filled with tiny emeralds, grinding it over his omelette and placing it back in his bag.
“Send that copy I gave you this morning with it, Twilight; proof would be a boon.” Chrysalis said, adding a little salt to her own dish of pepper poppers.
Glitter sighed into her plate of stuffed bell peppers with a small smile, before looking up as Shred tapped her shoulder and then over at Spike who was after her attention, “Tell you what, we’ll go get those rule books after we’re done with dinner and that message to mom; I’ll add a note to have her reply with some character sheets so I can show you how to make them!”
She smiled at him and nodded, “Sure, Spike; I’d like that.”
*
Dinner had been fun conversation amidst their eating for a while, and after the meals had ended Spike had been dragged away by the guards, Twilight, and Chrysalis to file their report to Princess Celestia. Glitter, now with no supervision other than Fluttershy, ordered a dessert and hot chocolate. The yellow pegasus had ordered a dessert of her own, a small apple cheesecake that she was quietly enjoying alongside a new magazine she’d brought with her, this one about desert foxes.
Glitter’s banana split was eaten with much gusto, especially since she didn’t know if her grandmother would approve of her having gotten it, and the dishes squirrelled away by the waitress just as swiftly before Chrysalis returned with Spike in tow. The drake then practically dragged Glitter from the room back to one of the seating booths in the carriage beyond the sleeper cars.
There he’d spread out his hoard of Ogres and Oubliettes books -though he called it a collection so as to not trigger any greed instincts- across one of the tables before sitting and guiding her through them.
An hour into reading one of the player handbooks, what Spike called a good start for beginners, he burped green flames that materialized into a small stack of papers and a set of scrolls for Twilight, Glittering Aegis, Rolling Thunder, and Chrysalis. He’d left her reading with promise to return as soon as he could, as he’d left his own campaign work on the table.
That had been some twenty minutes ago, and Glitter cowered slightly behind the book she was reading from the guards that filed past, some of whom muttered about getting breakfast yet all of whom looked in her direction curiously.
One stopped by the booth she was seated at and tilted his head at the written campaign curiously.
“Hey, this is Spike’s writing.” He mumbled before turning to Glitter, “Do you know when he’s coming back? Some of the boys were wondering if he’s going to run any one-offs during our trip.”
She nodded, “He said he’d be back soon, I think he got distracted with your commanders, or Princess Twilight.” She said nervously, “A-and I don’t think he’d like you reading his campaign notes, he was rather iffy about writing them in front of me and I’ve not even started playing the game or anything.”
The stallion nodded, “Good point, he would likely be mad if I were reading this stuff without his permission.”
“Hey, Vambrace, long time.” Spike said from the end of the table, getting their attention.
The guard backed up a little away from the table, “H-hey, Spike, how’s things? The others wanted to know-”
“If I’m running any one-offs, yeah I was asked by them as they passed me by.” The drake finished for him dismissively before hopping back into his seat, picking up his pencil and starting to sharpen it with his claws. “And the answer is yes, I will be. Before you ask, no, this is not going to be one of those one-offs. I’ll be working on those tomorrow on the flight in.” His eyes narrowed at the guard irritably, “But that doesn’t excuse you from reading my notes, Vambrace; you know the rules. Anypony caught is excluded from a session.”
“Aw, c’mon, Spike, that’s not fair! It ain’t even our sessions!”
Spike shook his head, “Rules are rules, Vambrace; what would Shining Armour do if he caught wind of this?”
Vambrace sighed and dipped his head, “Dock me a level and remove one magical item from my list.” He mumbled.
With a nod, Spike affirmed, “That’s right, count yourself lucky that I’m only barring you from one session. We usually don’t level up from them unless I deem it anyway, so you’re not going to miss out on much aside from playing and potential loot.” He shook his head again and pointed to the door, “Go get some breakfast and your orders, and don’t forget to tell the others. They know the rules too and should all be reminded of what happens if you don’t follow them.”
Vambrace nodded and shuffled off, looking very much like a kicked puppy as he dawdled out of the room. The door clicked shut behind him before Glitter found her courage to speak.
“Um, what are these rules?”
Spike laughed lightly as he placed his pencil back on the table and scooped his pencil shavings into a small baggie he had. “We have a couple of rules we keep amongst one another to keep those we play with from sneaking peeks at campaigns and cheating by knowing what is coming. The rules are simple, really. Don’t ask the Dungeon Master, in this case myself, for favors. We usually punish that one by giving their character a harder time in the next session.
“Don’t steal another player’s stuff. Do that and you’re out, no ifs ands or buts; sure you can be a thief and nick four gold or a sword from your fellow players, that’s in the game, but don’t physically steal their character sheets or item cards that I pass out. Bound magical items I’ll usually make a card for, and they become off-limits unless the character dies. Ponies will get a second chance if they can get others to back them, but otherwise those who break this rule are banned from my games.
“Don’t take out what happens in the game on others for real, for example giving other guards a hard time because they got a magical item you really wanted. Do that and you’re out for a session in time-out and will have to automatically pass up the next magical item that is found, as well as have half your in-game gold divided amongst the other players. I had to create that rule after two guards got into a big fight and ended up in the castle wards. They got in real trouble for that and Shining Armour asked me to make and disseminate the rule. Mom got real snappy with me about my O&O sessions with the guards because of that.
“Finally, don’t read the Dungeon Master’s notes. This is real important ‘cause it gives you an unfair advantage in the game and ruins the story for others if you know what’s coming. You wanna create a character that can read the future? Sure, I can give you hints of what’s to come, but I won‘t tell you outright. Breaking this rule, depending on the Dungeon Master that catches you, can have different punishments. Mine is that you miss a session. Shining Armour, like Vambrace said, will dock your character a level and take away a magical item. Crystabella, the night guard captain in the Crystal Empire will just kick you from any sessions involving that story outright.
“A couple of these rules we had to create on the fly as we’ve gone, as some guards we’ve had play with us have been less than stellar. In turn, those of us who do run games as Dungeon Master have rules of our own. No referencing popular stories unless it’s unintentional, no favoring one player over others... “ he chuckled amusedly for a moment, “no unwinnable fights. That one was a doozy, actually. I broke that rule on purpose once and boy did the guards get mad before I told them I’d only knocked them out.”
Glitter stared at him before nodding faintly, “Right,” she blurted, “and as for characters, could you maybe show me how one is made, now that we have sheets?”
“Sure, I’ll get some dice.”
*
Glitter lay on her bunk idly reading through the rulebook that Spike had been so kind as to let her borrow. She’d made a couple of characters with Spike’s aid, and was rather pleased with them. Her cervid barbarian was one she was proud of particularly; she’d rolled exceptionally well for the character’s ability scores and even with the cervid’s negative to constitution, the eighteen strength she’d rolled promised to make it a force to be reckoned with.
Her first character, a unicorn ranger, was more average across the total of its individual ability scores, but Spike had mentioned that an average character could be better than a totally lopsided one.
Chrysalis sidled into the room, shutting the door behind her and sighing contentedly as she flopped into her bed.
“Ah, it’s been a long day.” THe elder breathed, “We’ll be arriving in Dodge Junction in a few minutes, and first thing in the morning we’re all going to be piling into a carriage for a several-hour flight to the Old Hive. Are you excited, Glitter? Going to see your ancestral home for the first time!”
Glitter grunted non committedly, “I suppose, Granna,” was her initial reply, “it’ll be interesting to see where I came from, but by the same token you know I’d rather be back home with Sandy and Doublestep.”
Chrysalis sighed and rose from her bed, raising up to be able to look Glitter in the eyes, “I know, sweetie, and I’m sorry I tore you away from them. I just…” she trailed off and gazed at the wall over Glitter’s head, “I wanted to show you our past. Give you perspective of our future, I suppose. Can you blame an old mare for wanting to share her past life with her only grandchild?”
Glitter shook her head, “I guess not, just try not to be upset if I’m not fully grasping it the first time you try and explain it all to me. I am only a teenager.”
“Yes, you’ve made that very evident little miss banana split while my back is turned.” Chrysalis teased with a grin, her smile widened as Glitter blushed and backed her head away, wings spread wide, “Oh, you thought I wouldn’t find out? Please, you’ll have to get up earlier in the day to get one over your grandmother. You kids act like you invented being sneaky, it was around before even I was a hatchling...”
“Fluttershy snitched, I should have known she would.” Glitter grumbled, earning a laugh and kiss on her cheek from Chrysalis.
“She did no such thing, honey,” Chrysalis informed her, “Professor Barnsworth was worried that you might have made yourself sick with it. I think he was confused over your green cheeks when I teased you as you went to follow Spike, thinking you’d gotten an upset tummy. It was Fluttershy who corrected him, but by then, as they say, the damage had been done.”
Glitter huffed and thumped her chin to her mattress, “Sorry, Granna.”
“You don’t need to be sorry, Glitter; if you’d asked I would have said yes anyway, but perhaps something a little less on the loaded with sugar side like a nice fruit salad.” Chrysalis chortled and ruffled her granddaughter’s hair, “Did you thank Princess Twilight for the toothpaste she gave you?”
“Of course, Granna,” her albino granddaughter grunted back, “I even offered to pay her back for it, she gets the expensive stuff. I think I made Spike laugh with how I became more insistent the more she resisted.”
Chrysalis chortled and lowered back down into her own bunk, pulling out a book of her own to read before bed. “That sounds like him alright. I’ll send a message back to Little Hive to have your mother write you a note to remind you.”
Glitter nodded, “Thanks, Granna.” She mumbled, allowing the pair to lapse into silent reading for a few minutes before curiosity got the better of her, “Granna? Did they really build Little Hive to be a prison for us?”
Chrysalis sighed, “Yes, sweetie,” was her reply, “I’m sorry. The nation was afraid, we’d just poked holes in their most important defenses on a national holiday, a royal wedding no less, but along with the fear was anger. Ponies didn’t like the thought of us walking free after such an act, and in hindsight I agree with them, but it was a difficult decision for the crown to make. Initially they were going to simply reinforce the building that they’d bunked us in, but then an arsonist had struck and burned it to the ground. This gave the nobles and the crown an opening to on one hoof lock us up, but on the other hoof get us into reliable housing.
“Celestia and Luna were well aware of the animosity toward changelings at that point, and risking us attempting to get into housing of any other kind they saw as a risk both towards the nation as potential threats, and to ourselves. It was highly unlikely that anypony would have rented us apartments, or a home, and Celestia was worried that we might end up homeless; that, she believed, would put us back at square one. In turn, Luna wanted us under constant observation and guard.
“Thus Little Hive was constructed; communal housing for the few changelings left in a building designed both to protect and contain. It gave us a place to live in safety, and assured the public that we were well under the control of both the guard and the crown. The fact that, publicly, it was considered a low security prison meant that nopony raised a fuss about the bits spent on it.” She sighed sadly, “I know it’s not ideal, my dear, but… it’s home at least, right?”
Glitter closed the book in her hooves and placed it on the shelf beside her bed, her mind digging itself rabbit hole after rabbit hole. “I suppose so, Granna.” She mumbled, “But… I worry about what will happen to Little Hive.”
Chrysalis blinked, “What do you mean?”
“When the others are all gone.” She said, “It’ll be just us. Alone. In that large, empty space full of memories, good and bad. What then, Granna, when it’s gone from a home to just a prison?”
Chrysalis sighed, “Glitter, you worry ahead of your years.” She said, “We’ll cross that bridge when, and only when, we come to it.”
Chrysalis rose from her bed once again and kissed Glitter on her cheek before nuzzling into it, “We’ll be fine, love, promise.”
Glitter leaned into the gesture and hummed, “I hope you’re right, Granna.” She muttered, before turning off her light and trying to get some sleep.