//------------------------------// // 138- Penglai // Story: Changing Expectations // by KKSlider //------------------------------// “You know, I expected to be freezing my ass off,” Phasma said. “I don’t feel all that cold. Not that I’m warm or anything, I’m just completely naked in the snow on the side of a mountain. Dunno if my disguise is protecting me, or if changelings are fine with the cold.” Luna watched with a smirk as the changeling struggled to turn around on his skis. It was like watching a newborn foal walk for the first time; he spaced his legs out wide, and was waddling around, lifting a single leg up at a time. “What are you staring at?” He asked. “Someone making a fool of himself,” she said. He huffed, “It’s not fair. I’ve skied before, and you haven’t. You should be the one struggling, not me.” Luna had taken to skiing like fish to water. While Phasma struggled to have any semblance of control, Luna had left Double Diamond behind as she continuously ran down the training hill, over and over again. “She’s Princess Luna,” Double Diamond said, guiding Phasma with one of his own skis. “She’s learned quite a few skills, I imagine.” Luna nodded, “Quite right. Learning new things is one of the best ways to pass the time, so I have learned how to learn, if you understand my meaning.” Phasma cursed under his breath, “Still, ‘s not fair.” “You’re doing great, Phas!” Thorax cheered, wobbling slightly as he pulled up next to the three of them. Thorax was wearing a purple scarf, matching Diamond’s, but only Diamond had more gear on; his hat and mask set him apart from everypony else. Luna had a blue scarf on herself, but Phasma had nothing. The look of consternation on Phasma’s face vanished, “Thanks, Thorax. But unlike you, I don’t think I’ll be riding on any double diamonds anytime soon…” “Snrt!” Double Diamond stifled an outburst of laughter. “Nice one,” Luna said in between silent laughs. She had understood the double entendre, as she had asked about Double Diamond’s name and Cutie Mark much earlier. Thorax, it seemed, didn’t quite get it. “What? What’s so funny?” Thorax obliviously asked. “Nothing, nothing,” Phasma lied, failing to convince anypony. Luna unclipped a hoof and stretched it out for a hoof bump. Taking the bait, Phasma undid one of his boot clips and reached out. Subtly, Luna pulled her hoof back, making Phasma lean into the gesture more, eventually tipping him off balance. By the time he realized Luna’s trick, he was already falling onto his side in the snow, unable to stop himself. “Bastard!” He chuckled. Double Diamond, now thoroughly red-faced, helped pull Phasma back up to his hooves. “I think you’re all ready to actually try skiing,” Diamond said after composing himself. “Nothing crazy, there’s some beginner slopes up on the mountain. We’ll take a chair lift up, and take things slow.” “I can barely do turns,” Phasma complained. “You’re doing better than you’re giving yourself credit for,” Diamond said. “You’ve fallen down only three times, and that last one was Luna’s fault. You’re clearly remembering what skills you’ve already got, dude.” Phasma smiled, “Oh alright, fine. Let’s hit the slopes.” “Yeah!” Diamond cheered with sudden enthusiasm. ‘Must be some common colloquial phrase.’ The gang made their way over to the chairlifts. The tall, strange constructions were apparently the usual method of reaching the top of any skiing mountain in a reasonable timeframe. It was annoying to use the loud, rather dangerous-looking things than simply teleporting, but Luna wasn’t about to protest. ‘Only two of us can teleport. One and a half, really.’ Getting on the chairs was tricky; they had to take their skis off first, and carry them when they sat down onto the chairs coming up behind them. “Oof!” Phasma grunted as the both of them quickly got themselves seated and secured. “This seems a whole lot less safe when you’ve got twice as many legs.” With one final lurch, Phasma and Luna were off, the ground slowly falling away beneath them. Ahead, Thorax twisted in his seat and waved, which both Phasma and Luna returned, before Thorax returned his attention to his coltfriend who was sitting next to him. “I swear, Thorax has to be aware of just how cute he acts,” Phasma said. “One would be mistaken for thinking it to be a conscious effort,” Luna agreed. “So, uh…. How are you, Luna?” Luna returned a wave to a pair of ponies who stopped on the slopes to wave up at her. “I am doing well. Very well, I think. I had wondered about how ponies would receive my return for quite some time now. Last night and today… I expected to be met with some measure of hostility, especially with the Nightmare Moon mythology sticking around. Thankfully, none of my fears have come to pass.” Phasma nodded, “You know, even though some ponies are kinda intimidated by you, most are extremely happy to see you. I think you made more than a few ponies’ days.” “Really?” ‘I would think that ponies would be honored to meet a Princess, but to make one’s day?’ “Oh yeah. Quite a few were very happy to meet a Princess in person. The foals loved you.” Luna sighed contently, “They did indeed. I do not have to be an empath to see the grins on their faces when I tell them stories. Thank you for this opportunity, Phasma. I have had fun.” “Anytime, Luna. I have had lots of fun too, though my back is still killing me…” Luna cringed, “I will make it up to you. I did not mean to–” He reached over and gripped her hoof reassuringly, “I know, Luna. I can’t remember what I had for lunch a week ago, let alone a skill I would have learned a thousand years ago. Besides, you remembered how to properly do it by the end.” “Still, I should have realized–” “Quiet!” Phasma whispered, his eyes darting around the mountainside. “W–what?” Luna whispered back. Around them, the snow-dusted pines sat silently off to one side, and a wide open run lay beneath and to their other side. Luna did not detect anything out of the ordinary. “I… thought I heard something. Nevermind,” Phasma muttered. “Anyways, there’s always next time. Let’s just be glad you didn’t break a bone with your earth pony strength. We’re a long way away from a healing pod.” “That would be a poor way to go about vacationing. So, have you any familiarity with this… contraption? Or do human skiers use some other method of reaching the top? Preferably, something quieter? Or warmer? Maybe even safer?” “Heh, you’re shit outta luck Luna, chairlifts are here to stay. The only other method is a gondola lift, which is like this but enclosed. Those are rarer. You’ve got wings and the ability to teleport, what’re you afraid of?” Luna leaned over the railing in front of them, watching their hindhooves dangle in the open air. “Failing to extricate myself from this chair, should it fall. But yes, I suppose I can simply teleport. I will have to leave you behind, though.” “Acceptable losses?” “It will be a nice funeral,” Luna giggled. “It better be. Alright, get ready. We’re about to get off.” Getting off the chair was even more of a dilemma than getting on. Thankfully, the chair slowed down to the point where they could both easily get off, skis in tow. “These things really come to a stop,” Phasma remarked. “I’m used to them still having some speed at the top. Thorax and Diamond are over there, let’s go,” he said, nodding to the pair of stallions who were putting their skis on by a large map. The snow crunched underneath their boots as they marched over. When they arrived, they each placed their skis on the ground and started putting them on. “Alright,” Diamond said, “we’re going to hit this hill here, ‘Snow Problem.’ It’s a beginner's run, so it should be nice and smooth.” “You ponies and your damned puns,” Phasma rolled his eyes. “Though to be fair, I think we’d put punny names for stuff like this, too.” ‘Now that I think about it, does Double Diamond know that Phasma is reincarnated? Feh, not my problem.’ “Lead the way, Double Diamond,” Luna cheered. “W–wait!” Phasma stuttered, head darting around like a bird’s. “I heard something again!” “You heard something again?” Thorax repeated. “I heard it first on the chairlift. Now I just heard it again, I knew I heard something!” “What is it that you are hearing?” Luna asked. “I… don’t know. It’s almost like an echo of some sort…. I want to get up to the top of this mountain. I seem to hear it better the further up we go.” Luna sighed, “Very well then, what is the quickest way up, Double Diamond?” Phasma answered that question by raising his wings out from underneath his elytra, and taking to the skies, leaving his skis behind. “A straight line, apparently,” Diamond huffed. Luna picked up the discarded equipment, “Gather close, I shall teleport us to the top.” “Is that safe?” Thorax asked. “What if we try to teleport where someone is standing?” “Unlike Phasma’s teleportation spell, mine checks the location first. I think the only reason why he was able to learn his without training was because it is so bare-bones and archaic. Now step close.” They got close to Luna, and she gathered the mana to teleport to the mountain’s peak. Given that they were less than halfway up, it was going to be a rather long jump. Not so long as to warrant the long range version of the spell, but long enough for Luna to feel uncomfortable with the amount of mana used. ‘Nothing for it.’ In a blink of an eye, they appeared at the top. The view, previously only of the far horizon, now showed the entire valley, from Shimmervale down below, all the way to the Celestial Sea. The wind howled. The top was a small flat plateau, were some ponies had planted flags, but the closest lift ended a hundred hooves below them on the runs. “Sure is louder up here!” Diamond pointed out. “How exactly is he planning on hearing anything any better? And where is Phasma, anyways?” “We have beat him to the top,” Luna said. “As for what he plans on doing… I haven’t the faintest clue. It is unlike him to derail something he was looking forward to. I am getting very concerned for what is going on.” “He might not have heard anything physically,” Thorax said slowly. “He might have… heard something on his Weave? I mean, did any of you hear anything?” Luna and Diamond shook their heads. “I didn’t hear anything, either. However, I did feel…. something from Phasma’s Weave. I wouldn’t have noticed it had he not pointed it out.” The changeling king finally arrived, setting down next to them. “Wait, how did you guys beat me up here?” “We teleported, Phas,” Thorax deadpanned. “Oh right, we can do that. I forgot.” “Do you hear whatever this is any better now? The wind is quite louder up here than it is down where we got onto the mountain,” Luna said. “I don’t know. We’ll see….. Princess Procho? Is that you?” “Who’s Princess Procho?” Diamond whispered to Thorax. “Phas’s dead sister. Died centuries ago, and Phas heard her a few times way back during the war, apparently. I wasn’t here for any of that, but he told me about it.” “I can confirm this,” Luna whispered. “He has confided in me this fact.” ‘I don’t think it’s Procho,” Phasma said, disheartened. “It’s–” He abruptly cut himself off, and snapped his head in a direction. Luna followed his gaze. “I heard that, too,” Thorax muttered. One of the nearby mountains, a tall, almost perfectly cone shaped mountain, was attached to its neighbors halfway up its base. Had it not been for its almost perfect mountain-shape, Luna would consider it featureless. It had the same pine forest reaching up much of its length, and snowy cliffs the rest of the way. Even with the shape, there was nothing particularly unusual about it. Phasma pointed at it. “There. It came from there.” “What came from there?” Luna asked. “I felt… an echo in my Weave.” “What could possibly be over there?” Diamond wondered. “What could–” Phasma repeated, then he froze. “Thorax. Are you getting any of this?” “No?” Phasma let out a shaky breath, “Luna. What’s the quickest you can get an army here, and how big?” “W–what?! This is rather unexpected!” Luna stammered. ‘What need do we have for an army?!’ “How quickly?” Phasma pressed. “.... The Canterlot Reaction force, twelve hundred ponies, can be here within two days,” she said. “What on Equus would require such a show of force, here within Equestria’s borders? Need I remind you, the Fourth Hive was in the opposite direction from Canterlot. Phasma? What is in or on that mountain?” I knew how I knew. That’s what worried me the most. I had no idea what was in the mountain until I asked Double Diamond’s question aloud in my own head. ‘What could possibly be over there?’ It was The First Hive. I knew this because a Weave had supplied an answer for me. It didn’t feel like Chrysalis’s Weave, no, this one was… bigger, if that was possible. Given that it was being projected from inside a mountain and across the entire range, I could believe that. It was also colder. Like it was unliving. Not even the lobotomized princes and princesses were this unliving. “It’s the First Hive,” I told them. “It’s here. Right there, in that mountain. If Thorax couldn’t hear it, then I probably only sensed its Weave because I have one myself. I’m sure that I’m the first royal up here in thousands of years.” “The First Hive?!” Thorax exclaimed. ‘Even if a drone had come to Shimmervale, they wouldn’t be sensitive enough to feel this Weave’s presence.’ “The last Hive you visited was infested with Nightmares,” Luna realized. “That is why you requested an army! I shall send word at once!” “Tell Coxa to bring the entire Red Right Hoof, if you can. We’re going to need every soldier we can get if there are Nightmares there.” Luna teleported in a scroll, quill, and ink from somewhere, and began quickly writing a letter. ‘I have to learn that trick.’ “What’s going on? What’s the First Hive?” Diamond asked. “And does this mean we’re done skiing?” “The First Hive is the oldest known changeling civilization,” I said. “Little more is known about it.” “It’s the Hive where two drones led the evacuation, ascending to royals themselves for the effort,” Thorax supplied. “It being all the way up here is… astounding! This could be the biggest discovery we’ve made in history!” “That award belongs to the feeding solution you found,” I said. “Hmm, maybe. But still, can you imagine what this could mean for us?!” “It could mean we found Epitaph and his horde of Nightmares,” I growled. “If the Third Hive had been filled with them and one of Epitaph’s lieutenants, if my guess about their naming convention is right, then it makes sense that our oldest civilization could be his very own stomping ground.” Luna rolled up her letter, and it burned away in a blue flame. “There, it is done. It would seem we have to cut our vacation short, Double Diamond. I apologize, but Equestria could be in danger.” I returned my stare back to the mountain. As for what I heard, it was like an echo. A distortion within the Weave, like a message too degraded to hear. Radio static. White noise. The hints of a voice speaking a message. Someone or something was in that mountain, and it was trying to speak. The changelings had arrived first. The Clear Sky soared above Shimmervale, engines roaring at full burn. It came to a halt slowly, drifting past Shimmer Mountain, the mountain which the town was named after and where we spotted the First Hive from. It disgorged its passengers as it drifted to a halt. Dozens of changelings leapt from the deck of the galleon, dropping from the sky and drifting down to our spot. We had returned to our room for the day, and Luna visited the town to find the town hall, its mayor, and declare an emergency state. Today, the town was empty; no pony was to be outside. Only rarely was one dashing through the street; emergencies such as getting food, medical attention, or other important jobs were unavoidable. ‘The world may be ending, but you still have your Four P.M. shift at the grocery store…’ So, ponies watched from windows, balconies, and doorways as the airship arrived and changelings flooded forth from it. When we noticed their arrival, we went back up the mountain to its peak. I ordered Thorax to stay in the room with Diamond. He protested. I told him that if something were to happen to me, he and Coxa would be taking over, so it was imperative that at least one of us remains safe. The changelings descended down to us, and hovered above our heads as Coxa, Froghopper, and Captain Katydid landed in front of us. “Your Majesty,” Froghopper and Katydid said as they bowed. “We are here as commanded,” Katydid rose. “And ready for battle,” Froghopper finished, rising too. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that,” I said. “I’m here, too,” Coxa said. “Lace’s wings are still healing, so she’s staying in the ship for now. But is it true? You found the First Hive?” “It’s right behind you, in that mountain there,” I pointed it out. The changelings, even the ones in the air, all turned to face it. “Tomorrow, the Canterlot Reactionary Force will arrive,” Luna announced. “Let’s get things ready for them,” I said. “Froghopper, gather your lings and prepare an L.Z. down at the base of the mountain.” “L.Z.?” He asked. “Landing Zone.” He saluted, “As you command, My King.” When he took off, I turned to Katydid, “Prepare the Red Right Hoof to fight Nightmares. I’m hoping there’s nothing alive or undead in the city, but we can’t make assumptions.” Katydid saluted, “At once, High Marshall– I mean, my King.” When he took off and took most of the lings watching with him, I turned last to Coxa. “Thorax is in a resort down in Shimmervale. I need you two to stay safe. Preferably, you should not have come at all, but oh well. Stick together, and no matter what happens, ensure the survival of our species.” “I’m not leaving your side,” Coxa declared. “That wasn’t a request, Coxa. Luna will show you where Thorax is. I’m going to oversee the deployment, secure the base camp, and then I’ll come to the resort myself. Froghopper’s scouts will report to us there, and my Weave should extend out to the base of that mountain, so they should be safe from any Nightmare possessions, if my Weave can protect them…” Coxa sighed, “If you’re coming to the resort, then fine. Just do us all a favor and stay away from the front lines, should fighting break out. I’d hate to order Katydid to stun you and foalnap you.”