The rest of the night played out smoothly. Except for when someone dared Thorax to drink an entire mug of coffee in one go. For the rest of the night, Thorax was hovering an inch off the ground.
Coxa and I caught up while sitting in a booth, watching the lings at the main table play card games. He was doing a part time job as a data entry clerk in Manehattan. He was as enthusiastic about that as one could possibly be. Meaning he was pretty much begging me to rescue him from the cubicle farm.
We also talked briefly about Thorax.
“When he told us that the secret to not dying was to literally be ourselves, I told him he was full of shit,” Coxa said while twirling an empty glass.
“Then?”
“Then he brought enough love for us to top off tonight. Speaking of which, you should probably eat before you go on this cool adventure of yours.”
“Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder.”
“It ain’t free. I expect a full time position of doing important shit as payment. Anyways, Thorax. Figures he’d discover how to save our species through some gay shit. Makes you wonder just what his future is; the fact that he managed to find a solution to the starvation, regardless of how feasible it is, could be enough for him to Ascend to a royal changeling.”
I cringed at the A-word.
“Oh, sorry Phasma. I sorta didn’t think about the other meaning of that. You probably don’t even know the stories about King Cortex or Queen Corpora. I ain’t talking about lobotomization, I’m talking about actually changing from a drone to a royal.”
“That can happen?”
“Somehow. It’s anyone’s guess as to exactly how it is, but theories are that Panar chooses exemplary changelings to help guide our kind. So these two drones, Cortex and Corpora, were actually siblings. It’s one of the only tales from the First Hive that we still have. They led survivors from its mysterious collapse to the second hive.
“They saved so many lives– really, our species as a whole– that when they arrived at wherever the Second Hive is, they ascended to royalty. They were already a Prince and Princess, but were biologically drones. Unfortunately, that’s all we have of the tale. It could have something to do with the potentially large amount of love they had at the time. They had to take food with them for the long journey, theoretically. It could have to do with the fact that they saved the species. It could be because they sneezed and farted at the same time.”
Coxa shrugged.
Something had caught my attention, “... Royals can have drone offspring?”
“Apparently.”
‘Man, I really know very little about my own body. Bug-mom didn’t even give me the talk about the birds and the bees… Honestly, that’s probably for the best. She’d probably tell me something stupid like how it’s my duty to not have any offspring while she’s alive, and that I will literally end the Hive if I even consider having a nymph.’
“And these two royals, they ruled in a diarchy?”
“Yeah, there seems to be some precedent for that on Equus.”
“So theoretically, Thorax could be my… equal?”
“Stranger shit has happened. No wait, it hasn’t. But Thorax becoming a King or Prince is about as expected as finding out that ponies can love changelings. At this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Canterlot Mountain stands up and walks away into the sunset. Or if Queen Chrysalis suddenly repents and begs for forgiveness.”
“Maybe not the last one.”
“Yeah probably not. It’ll be a cold day in Hell before the Queen actually feels sorry for what she did.”
I pursed my lips as I watched a changeling laugh as he scooped up the chips from the pot.
“... What if she did?”
“What?”
“What if she did try to bridge the gap between us. Not saying that she’ll feel sorry, just that she doesn’t want to fight.”
“I’d say that’s a trap that only a moron would fall for.”
“I know. I’m saying hypothetically, what if it wasn’t a trap?”
Coxa rubbed his chin, “There’s a reason why there’s almost always only one or two royals alive at a time.”
“Heh, no need to tell me. A prince or princess might be the most valuable tool in your arsenal, but eventually they will gun for your position.”
“Exactly. How would you two coexist?”
“How did King Cortex and Queen Corpora coexist?”
“No one knows. The fact that they were siblings might have something to do with it, but…”
“But siblings kill each other far more often than they kill their parents in monarchies.”
“Probably, yeah. So, how do you think you two could coexist?”
“... I don’t think we could. Not unless she essentially fucks off and lives her life away from the Hive. As long as she’s here, there will always be a distrust between us.”
“Strange how that happens. Turns out, murdering your son’s siblings means he doesn’t trust you.”
“Isn’t it weird? How about Thorax and I? Could we coexist?”
We both turned to look at Thorax. He was hovering above his seat, fidgeting with his hoof of cards. When one changeling revealed their cards, thorax stuck his tongue out the side of his muzzle as he concentrated.
“Coexist? Sure. But I think if it comes down to it, Thorax would beat you in a fight. If only for the fact that no one is actually willing to hurt him.”
“Ha! Do you think we can use that against the Magistrates?”
“Well you did have him train to be a guard.”
“... Oh Panar, is Thorax going to inevitably kill me?”
“The day he becomes a royal is the day you know your life is on a time limit, despite your near-immortality. He will literally kill you with kindness.”
“... I can’t even be mad at him.”
Coxa shook his head, “It’s impossible.”
Thorax threw his cards down onto the table, sending a piece of paper with the rules written on it flying off to the side. With a triumphant cheer, he took all the chips from the center of the table.
I shifted the tightness of the straps on my chest, trying to balance out the weight. I was wearing a large backpack provided by Captain Lance for use during the investigation. With one leg being metal, my center of balance was slightly off, leading to the backpack settling strangle on my back.
I had swapped out some of the provisions within the backpack secretly. The exiles had given me the last of the spare love that Thorax brought, just in case the investigation took a long time or if I needed an emergency boost.
I covered my mouth with a metal hoof as I yawned. It was early. Like, before noon early. I had no business being awake, but needs must. As it was, I was currently waiting on Captain lance to finish having my payment loaded onto a carriage being pulled by an earth pony. The cart itself had a few boxes of what little I was bringing with me out of the town, and Captain Lance was having a lowly Private carry a small wooden chest filled with bits. The entire down payment, in full. As I watched the poor pegasus Private struggle to strap down the chest, Captain Lance walked over to me.
“Morning, Far Sky.”
“Good morning, Captain Lance.”
“Are you sure there’s no chance of you staying?”
“Unfortunately. We all have our purpose in life, and mine is not here.”
“In that case, I must formally thank you for your brief service within the Hooferville Guard. If you ever need a place to crash or a job, there’ll always be a room in the Guard Station for you.”
“Thank you, Captain. And thank you for the generous amount of bits.”
“The least I can do is max out the budget for you. The stipend we receive from Canterlot will be reviewed next week, and any bits not used is bits we don’t get next quarter, so rewarding you is a convenient way to keep what we have.”
“And here I was, thinking you did it out of the kindness of your heart.”
“That’s no small part of it. Seriously Sky, I don’t think there’s a single pony in this town who would disagree with the payment, or offering you a permanent position within the Guard.”
“That’s… nice to know. I suppose I’ll always have a fallback plan, eh?”
“Yes, you do.”
Captain Lance rubbed his chin as he examined the cart and its puller.
“Where exactly is the cart going?”
“Manehattan. I have a distant family member who will let me stay at their place as I start getting ready to go home. I can store my stuff at their home, and the pony pulling the cart knows full well where to drop off the cart.”
“You’re just trusting everything– including my bits– to this pony?”
The dark green earth pony’s ears flicked towards us as we talked about him, but he kept silent.
“He says he’s a friend of my cousin– uh, that’s who I am staying with– and if he tries to run off with my shit, he knows there’s no place on Equus where he can hide from me.”
In truth, I wasn’t worried in the slightest about the security of my items and bits. The reason being that the pony pulling the cart was Thalamus. He wanted to show his appreciation for his rescue and volunteered to get all the stuff to Manehattan, where Thorax and Coxa would arrange for some place to store it. Preferably, some place where we can stay as well.
“Well, I suppose I’ll trust your judgement, then. Are you ready to start your investigation?”
I rolled my shoulders, jostling the backpack.
“I am.”
“Great. Let me go introduce you to the team that will be accompanying you.”
I waved a goodbye to Thalamus and followed Captain Lance as he led the way back inside the Guard Station. He stopped me outside of the locker room and went inside to check on the team. I yawned again as I counted the seconds pass by.
“Alright, they’re ready,” Lance said as he opened the door and held it open. I frowned as I looked at the ponies that followed him out.
Three ponies exited the locker room, each wearing their grey guard-issued armor and with large packs on their backs similar to mine. The earth pony carried a short spear, sort of like a pilum. The pegasus had two sets of long claws at the end of his front hooves. The unicorn had no visible weapon. That was all well and fine. The problem was that they weren’t strangers.
“Hi Far Sky!” Bray Call waved to me.
“Thought we were going to stay home while you went off risking your life?” Quick Search asked as he stopped in front of me.
“Hello,” Warm Dew said.
“... Why am I surprised?”
“We’re coming with!” Bray cheered.
“Honestly, why am I surprised? I should have seen this coming. No, you three are not coming with me.”
“We are,” Dew replied.
“You do realize that this is going to be very dangerous, right?”
Search shook his head, “We are guardsponies, Sky. Putting our lives between danger and innocent ponies is our job description.”
I huffed, “I mean real danger. Not heatstroke, or dealing with the thirteenth complaint about the restrictions on parking a cart on the street this week.”
“We were right next to you during the attack. This is part of our job,” Search explained.
“Technically, this is a separate contract in which we will be paid very well,” Bray interrupted.
Dew said tersely, “We’re coming. It’s not up to you.”
I looked over to the Captain, who nodded slowly.
“But I’ve barely known you guys for a month!”
Bray rolled her eyes, “Don’t think it’s all about you. This money is enough to get me out of this town and to university.”
“It’ll be for a down payment on a new house for me,” Search explained.
“More money is always good.”
“But… Damn it all. Fine, whatever. But if it– agh, nevermind. Let’s just… go. I assume you’re all ready to go?”
They all nodded.
“Wonderful. F–Bucking wonderful. Listen to what I say, do as I do. Since I actually know what we are hunting, I’ll be taking the lead.”
Bray rubbed her chin, “Captain Lance said they are lavallern, right?”
“Lavellan. And we’re just tracking their point of origin. They had to be fleeing from something, be it a collapsed cavern, or something else. We have to find out what forced them to the surface, and see if it’s going to keep being a problem.”
“Got it!” Bray saluted.
Dew shrugged.
“You going to be okay in a leadership position?” Search asked.
I had to repress a smile.
“I think I’ll manage.”
The great doors to Hooferville slowly closed behind us as we examined the carnage that lay at the base of the walls.
There was a bit of clearing between the stone walls and the treeline, as was customary for defenses. Pressed up against the base of the huge wall was a long pile of burnt Lavellan bodies. Cleanup crews had burnt the remains earlier, and eventually the remains would be removed from the base of the wall and either buried or burnt to ash. As it was, their charred bodies lay in heaps against clawed stone. In two spots, a huge pile of dirt signaled the start of the now collapsed tunnels that the rats used to invade the town.
Compared to the pristine town-side of the wall, this side looked hundreds of years old. The frequent damage it took from wild animals and the now-rare attacks had weathered it considerably. It wore old scars and gouges like a war veteran, proudly boosting their immortality.
I exhaled slowly and examined the tracks leading to the wall.
There were hundreds of marks on the muddy ground. All of them led further back into the forest. Likely, there would be numerous marks stretching all the way back to the point of origin of the horde. It seems that this was not to be the difficult part of the job.
Bray and Search were trying their best to not gag at the horrible smell of burnt flesh. They covered their noses with a hoof as they cringed and blinked tears out of their eyes. Dew had grimaced greatly but seemed to not struggle as much. As for myself, months at the hive had made me learn how to mentally block smells out to an unfortunately accurate degree.
“Alright. Let’s get a move on,” I ordered.
The squad formed up around and behind me, with Bray on my left, Search on my right, and Dew behind me. Turning our backs to Hooferville, we descended into Blackthorn Forest. As we stuck to the tracks, the thick branches of the tall trees cut us off from the sky above, and eventually the trunks blocked the sight of the grey walls behind us.
Churned mud, broken branches, eviscerated trunks of trees, and of course an ever present rotting smell that I could detect led the way deeper into the woods.