The mood inside the protective dome hiding the changelings stuck in the dreamscape is as relaxed as it can be under the circumstances of them being lost in a semi-reality they don’t understand. However, each group’s successful escape from the Tantabus without any casualties has one particular side effect - while 156 and all the other higher ranked changelings are resting, for the past 10 minutes, not a single one of the present drones let its eyes leave 387.
Finally, the warrior tired of the invisible pressure on him sighs and looks at the cluster of drones.
“Fiiiine, I did promise you a reward. What kind of shiny do you want?”
“What?”
“We can pick?”
“Woooow!”
“Whoah?!”
“Wut?”
“Wat?”
“In here, I can summon anything for you,” 387 rolls his eyes, “So just pick something and have fun with it until we have to leave.”
“DRONE HUDDLE!” orders 10013, being the top rank drone currently present. The remaining four shuffle closer and put their heads to its.
*Whisper whisper whisper.*
*Whisper WHISPER whisper.*
*WHISPEEEEEER!*
“Shiny floaties!” yells 19441 suddenly.
“Shut up! NO! GLOW GOOP, WE WANT GLOW GOOP!” 10013 tackles the traitor.
“WE CAN MAKE GLOW GOOP, DUMMY! WE WANT LAAAAMP!” 13887 jumps on 10013’s back and clamps its forelegs on its muzzle to prevent it from talking.
“Fire! ALL OF THE FIRE!” 31214 doesn’t join the fray and remains yelling from safety.
The mostly harmless tugging and grabbing ends instantly with a quiet:
“A-hem!”
The small pile of drones look at 156 from whom the clearing of the throat just came. In short, an infiltrator spoke up, drones should shut up.
“It occurs to me that something temporary and, in the end, unhelpful might not be a reward befitting a deed of such magnitude.”
“Big words!” 47989, sitting between her and 387, exclaims while beaming at everyone.
156 frowns.
“What I mean is that while you can pick anything you want without me being displeased, anything 387 makes for you will only exist here. Wouldn’t you like something more permanent?” she copies 47989 and beams at 387 who stops violently shaking his head the second the drones realize what she just said, “Like knowledg- like a story? Perhaps about himself, or the old times like when he talked about queen Shroud, or about this place. Something you will remember when we get out of here.”
“YAAAAAAAAY!” the drones un-pile and start cheering, “Story-”
“I can make literally anything in here,” 387 tries to divert the new freight train of thought.
“-Story! Story! Story! Story-”
“ANY shiny, something you’d never even see in the real world.”
“-Story! Story! Story! Story-”
“A drone queen made of shinies.”
“-Stooooo- saythatagain?”
“Not. Real,” whisper 156, although loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“Story! Story! Story! Story!”
387 shoots 156 a dirty glare but has to admit defeat when she only smirks.
“Fine, I’ll think of something while we figure out a way to proceed.”
“Yaaaay!”
With a round of cheers and some stomping of hooves, 387 finds himself being hugged from all sides by the five drones.
“Geez, you’ll make me glitterbug if you keep doing that.”
156 ponders that for the first time since she’s gotten to know the warrior he’s genuinely smiling.
***
“I think I got it!” 156 clops her hooves together, “Warriors, 918, link up! I’ll show you a method that should protect you from forgetting where you are once we split up and believing the fabricated reality that the Tantabus thing makes for you.”
“Good job,” 387 nods, impressed, “This should help us with a proper counterattack.”
“Don’t celebrate yet,” she frowns, “I can’t make it simple enough for the drones no matter what I do. They just lack the brainpower.”
“Brainpoweeeeer!”
“Let the brainwaves gooo!”
“Daaaa dee da da doo doooo!”
“Yeeeah, I know exactly what you mean,” 387 nods as the drones start humming a weird, energetic tune, “How long is it going to take?”
“Can’t say. The difference in mental skills between me and the rest is massive.”
“Got it. Will they be conscious while you’re doing it?”
“They will.”
“Good, I might have a plan. It’s not a good plan but it’s better than sitting here, waiting to be discovered because, let’s not delude ourselves, Tantabus is looking for us as we speak.”
“Oh no!” 47989 gasps, “What do we do?”
“I was getting to that, dummy,” 387 bonks the drone’s head, “First, we’ll split into three groups - drones, myself, and the rest.”
“Objection!” 156 crosses her forelegs on her chest, “I’m against leaving you alone. I’m teaching mind tricks to the others just so that I don’t have to be with them.”
“They’ll need all the help they can get,” 387 shakes his head and smiles, “Besides, I’ll be sitting here, bored, scanning the dreamscape, and making sure I can pull you out like I did before.”
156 nods.
A lie. He’s lying. Why?
“Understood,” she replies.
“As for the drones,” 387 continues, “Even if we can’t make you recognize the reality where you’ll end up as manufactured, I think it might not be that much of a problem.”
“How come?” asks 10013.
“Think about it. So far, you caused much more damage to Tantabus than the rest of us, and that was only by you doing your normal thing. In light of that, I have only two orders for you,” 387 smirks, “One - watch each other’s backs and stay alive. Two - have fun.”
“You mean that?” 10013 raises an eyebrow.
“From the bottom of my heart,” 387 nods, “Do anything you want to enjoy yourselves. Dig for shinies, break stuff, don’t care about anyone other than your group because they won’t be real. So far, Tantabus wasn’t able to simulate hive links so we’ll be able to recognize ourselves.”
“Aaaand we won’t get into trouble?” asks 19441, exploring this strange, new possibility of zero punishment for having fun.
“Oh, the Tantabus will doubtlessly try to harm you, hence my PRIMARY objective of you keeping each other alive. You won’t get into any trouble from us.”
“Gotcha!” 10013 salutes, “Having fun good, mean star creature bad.”
“I couldn’t have put it better,” 387 nods.
“Are you sure that will be enough?” asks 156.
“All I’m saying is for them to focus on what they already do… mostly. Tantabus can’t turn someone into something they aren’t… unless they break down completely, which is what it will be trying to do to all of us. I firmly believe that the drones might forget where they are but not who they are.”
“Yeah, we dig stuff!”
“And carry!”
“And we like shinies!”
“Right, shinies,” 387 concentrates and each drone suddenly finds itself holding a huge golden nugget covered in gems of all colors reflecting the green shimmer of the protective dome above, “There you go, reward-”
The drones drop their presents, albeit some after quick five stages of dealing with loss.
“You said we’d get a story that we get to keep when we go home!” 10013 complains quietly, followed by ‘yeah!’ from the others. Despite previous assurances, complaining gets drones recycled or munched outright so everything going on is filled with hesitation.
“Those are some big shinies...” 387 nods towards the nuggets lying on the grass.
*EL WIBBLO GIGANTE EN MASSE!*
“Nnnggggh! Stupid… natural… empathy...” 387 clutches his chest when faced with the begging eyes of all drones at the same time. Several seconds of heavy breathing later, he chokes out, “Yes, I’ll tell you a story, now stop that! You have to decide on a topic, though, okay?”
Drones huddle up again, whispering and growling at each other.
“Phew,” 387 wipes his forehead before giving 156 a smug glance, “Now watch them argue until we have to leave. And don’t you dare push them or I’ll just make stuff up. Good game, I win, infiltrator.”
156 only smiles. A second later, 918, the second infiltrator present, asks:
“How about each of you guys gets a question or two instead, since we might not have the time for a full story?”
387 glares at 156 who only winks at him.
“Next time, make it a challenge.”
***
With 156 working in the depths of the other changelings’ minds, the drones are sitting in a half-circle around 387, eyes locked on him while the warrior mentally prepares for the questions, no matter how ‘drone’ they’re bound to be.
“Okay, one by one. Go by ascending rank so that we don’t argue,” 387 says.
“Who was the most awesome changeling ever?” asks 10013, “Like totally powerful!”
“I mean, pick any queen, really,” 387 shrugs, “If I were to choose from those, then-”
“No no no, I mean not a queen,” 10013 corrects itself.
“Oh, like a normal changeling? That would be, obviously, a contest between ranks 1 of every hive period.”
“Ooooh, I know!” 10013’s eyes light up, “Who was the first rank 1 you remember? Were they awesome? Infiltrator, warrior, drone?”
Of course, no one but 156 notices the slight misting of 387’s eyes and a moment of looking into nowhere before the warrior answers:
“Yep, he was. I can’t answer the second part, though. Long time ago, changelings weren’t so strictly split into their roles, w- they were just changelings. He wasn’t the most powerful rank 1 either, but you did ask for the oldest I can remember or that I heard of.”
“I bet he didn’t have holes at all other than cup holders.”
“He didn’t have cup holders at all.”
*GASP!*
“But that’s the best part!” 31241 clamps its forelegs over its mouth, “Sorry, not my turn.”
387 can’t help snickering.
“Old changelings didn’t have holes. Well, other than nose, ears, and all the classic jazz. The holes in our legs represent a generational lack of love. We’re not insects despite what we look like, we have a skeleton inside us just like ponies, so our armor, our exoskeleton, makes us very heavy unless adjusted with love. Old changelings had the love to maintain full armor but over time we had less and less so the changelings had to compensate. Plates instead of full armor, holes to lower the weight, same with the density. On the other hole, necessity is the mother of invention. The thinner chitin is more useful for leg blades, holes gave way to climbing hooks, strategic holes in wings allow for much better maneuverability in comparison to pegasi and griffons. That’s why it’s difficult to compare changelings throughout time because while the old ones may have had more love at their disposal, today’s changelings are able to do so much more with less that… that...” he smiles, “Maybe even drones like you could go one-on-one with the weakest of warriors from the bad eras.”
“Woooooow!” 10013’s eyes go wide.
“Now, if you want to know about the most powerful rank 1, I think that our ‘beloved’ queen’s top infiltrator might be right up there. Well, it would be a toss up between her and Haze’s rank 1.”
“Who’s Haze, another queen?”
“How did you guess that?”
“Because they have a name!”
“Smart drone. Anyway, is that enough of an answer for you?”
“Well...” 10013, “Who’s the rank 1 you like the most and what kind of a changeling were they? I mean, a nice one? Would they kick a drone if they passed us, or play drone ball?”
387 chuckles.
“That would be the oldest rank 1 I know about, definitely. He was a kind soul… I heard, but he was frail. Not much of a fighter or a mind-control specialist but an excellent tactician and commander. In fact, he would play drone ball with you-”
“...doesn’tsoundallthatnice...”
“-by which I mean that he would use a real ball and you’d get to play with it or even keep it to play with other drones.”
10013’s jaw drops, its expression a mix of admiration and disbelief.
“Yep, he was a good changeling… by all records and historical accounts.”
10013 only nods and nudges 13887.
“Ooh? My turn? Okay!” the other drone fidgets, “Where do drones come from?”
That gives 387 a pause.
“Uhh, eggs?”
“Yeah, even I know that,” pouts 31214.
“No, I mean...” 13887 shakes its head, “I mean, you talked about that rank 1 guy, right? And you said changelings were changelings, not drones, warriors, and so on.”
“Ahh, I think I understand,” 387 nods, “Well, it might surprise you but you drones, as a class, were made only when old changelings moved from the surface underground. Old changelings didn’t need to dig underground or have dedicated manual laborers, that all came with the first changeling hives. Remember my story about Queen Shroud? She was the one who relegated certain changelings into roles we would understand as drones. But the strict breeding of required changeling classes came later when it was necessary to have specialized infiltrators, warriors, and other more obscure sub-classes. Does that answer your question?”
“Mhm.”
“That was quick. Next, 19441!”
“Yay! So, my question is - was there a queen that liked us drones or were they all mean to us? Or maybe if there was a queen that was more like a drone? I think I heard a warrior say one time that Queen Chrysalis is an infiltrator. I can’t recall when, too many blows in the head. Sorry, heheh.”
“A drone-like queen? No, definitely not,” 387 shakes his head, “But a queen who treated drones fairly? Several, actually. You must understand one thing, guys, and it’s important. The way you’re treated, your disposability, is only because of the hive’s lack of love, and the hive has been low for… a very long time. Yes, some changelings are assholes but most don’t treat you badly because they don’t like you, they just… don’t think of you as… as changelings,” 387 sighs when he sees the drones’ mouths start quivering as one, “I wish I could tell you something else but I doubt you’d want me to just lie and make stuff up. If our love situation stabilizes or improves, and if our queens… don’t keep making the same mistakes again and again, then one day things might get better for you. And by you I mean drones, not you exactly. With standard drone life span, I doubt any of you are going to see that. I’m sorry.”
To his surprise, the drones just huddle closer together.
They know. They all know.
“So… you’re saying that there was a queen who liked us?” 19441 asks.
“Mhm,” 387 nods, “Queen Venom comes to mind. She even made drones go to pony schools to mix and learn. As I said, though, she wasn’t the only one. In general, the earlier queens cared for all changelings, not just for the powerful few top ranks.”
“Wooo, someone liked us!” 19441 cheers.
“Yeah!”
“We didn’t always get munched!”
“We might get a queen one day too!”
“YAAAAAAAY!”
387 can’t help smiling. Their cheers are forced, no way around it, but it’s clear they didn’t expect even the little bit of good news, or olds, they got.
“Next question, guys,” he says.
“Can I be a drone queen?” asks 31214.
“I’m fairly sure that our hive loyalists here are just itching to see you try to overthrow our current queen,” 387 raises an eyebrow.
“Oooh, scary!” to his surprise, 31214 shakes its head, clarifying, “No no no, I meant that if I got the high score! If I ate ALL THE LOVE! Would that make me a queen or would I just have the best cup holders ever?”
“Heh,” 387 smirks, “I can show you what would happen if you got enough love. In short, you’d look more like old changelings. That’s because old changelings used to love each other and that kind of love strengthened them without the predator-prey zero sum game. That’s a concept which has been lost to us over time due to power struggles and, admittedly, some following biological changes as well. To my knowledge, though, if there were enough changelings in the right frame of mind the process might occur again.”
“Oh? Show me show me show me show me!”
“Alright. You’ll just look like it, though, you won’t feel any different,” 387 closes his eyes.
31214 suddenly starts rising into the air and, with a flash, its carapace turns mossy green, its leg holes close, and some sort of fluff sprouts around its neck. It spreads its now bigger wings reflecting the light cast by the dome into a strange green-based rainbow. The drone squees ecstatically.
“I AM THE SHINY, BOW BEFORE ME!”
“Aaand that’s enough,” 387 shakes his head and the group vision ends, leaving behind a beaming drone visibly satisfied from its hooves to its stubby horn, “Dummy, your turn.”
47989 scratches its head before asking the one question 387 has been dreading more than any other.
“Where did changelings come from?”
Everyone is staring at 387 now.
“From necessity and a huge mistake,” he breathes out quietly.
“Umm, I don’t understand,” 47989 pokes the ground with its hoof.
“Yup, because I forgot I said the reward would be for the drones who successfully fought off Tantabus on their own. You were here with me so you’re going to have to earn your question too.”
“Awwww...” 47989 pouts but doesn’t push it.
“So, I fulfilled my promise. 156, how are you with that mind trick?”
“All done. 918 and the warriors should be fine.”
“Then I think we should get going. The longer we stay without making a mess elsewhere, the greater the chance that Tantabus will find us here.”
“Where are we going then?”
“Away. It doesn’t exactly matter. I’m certain Tantabus will find you the second you enter the portal,” 387’s eyes flash green and two floating, pony-sized ovals appear in the air, one near the warrior group and one behind the drones, “Where you land will depend entirely on its will.”
“Got it - be ready for anything,” 156 nods and vanishes. Invisible, she says, “Drones, get going. My group, follow me.”
“918, don’t fuck up,” is all the low-ranked infiltrator hears before 156’s hive link disappears completely. With a deep breath, 918 enters the portal.
10013 stands up and says out loud:
“You heard the high-ranks, guys! Let’s watch our backs and have fun!”
“WOOOOOOOOO!” as one, the drones charge towards their portal before their fears can catch up to them.
Left alone, 387 sighs and quietly laughs to himself.
“Made it just in time, eh? Good luck, guys, I’ll buy you as much time and draw as much attention as I can.”
The green dome fades, revealing a towering star form of Tantabus standing right behind it, its enormous hoof about to stomp down. It grins as 387’s protection disappears and shrinks down into pony- well, alicorn size.
The new form has to be Princess Celestia, although one wearing gold-foiled plate armor and with fiery burning mane instead of the peaceful rainbow one. At least that’s what 156, invisible, not breathing, and suppressing her hive link as hard as she can is thinking as she watches from the edge of the clearing.
387, however, knows who Daybreaker is and what she represents.
“I see, I’m a target of regret rather than fear,” 387 faces the Tantabus, “But wearing her form is low even for a monster like you...”
“The dreamweavers are useful entities in seeking out weaknesses of you pathetic worms. They figured out your weakness back in the forest and I know how to use them just the same. You have seen too much to fear anything but in the same way you’ve been helpless to do anything throughout the ages.”
“I know, I know,” 387 hangs his head.
With a laugh like a saw biting into metal, Tantabus looks around and 156 can’t shake off the feeling that it knows about her, that its eyes lingered on her just for a microsecond too long, and that its grin only grew a fraction wider.
In front of 387, a new swirling portal opens and the warrior walks into it without any resistance, followed by the Tantabus.
With them gone, the portal begins to shimmer and wobble, prompting 156 to charge ahead and jump into it. 387 is bound to fail under pressure because whatever he may be, he’s a good creature accepting of his mistakes. 156, however, is an infiltrator whose purpose for existing is to break into the minds of others and twist them to her will.
Empaths have many strengths but one huge weakness.
Psychopaths have many weaknesses but one huge strength.