//------------------------------// // Day 1 - Shippy time: 3/9 // Story: They're... ON HOLIDAY? // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// The corridors of the servant deck are significantly busier, and the drones scoot over to the wall to avoid servants running around with stacks of clothes, trays filled with boxes, or simply trotting past them and passing on messages from their superiors. The good parts are that they’ve been here once before when 387 was looking for their cabins as well as the servants paying them barely any attention, so their progress is unimpeded. Finally, they’re in front of the door. There’s just one problem - two cabins. “Riiight,” 10013 speaks out loud for the first time, “We were supposed to split up. Any ideas?” *Crying face.* *Crying face.* *Crying face.* Despite Smiley’s strange mental communication, it only tilts its head when 20100 nudges it with its muzzle and its expression remains on the positive side. “Is anything wrong, buddy?” asks 36658, “Did anyone smack you on the way here and we didn’t notice?” Smiley shakes its head and repeats its mental message. *Crying face.* *Crying face.* *Crying face.* “Do you… not want to split up?” 10013 takes a wild guess. Smiley nods. Smiley shakes its head. Smiley points down the hallway. “I’m stumped. Everyone up for following Smiley? We can figure out how to split up in the meantime.” A chorus of nods and shrugs later, 10013 looks at Smiley. “Lead the way.” Smiley only walks two doors down and stops in front of it. “That’s the sliding room!” 99111 adds its two bits to the conversation of the veteran drones. Smiley points at the door. *Crying face.* *Crying face.* *Crying face.* “Uhh, I don’t think I want to eat more bubble brick,” 99111 shakes its head. 10013 takes a deep breath, reaches up for the handle, and enters a small, tiled square room filled with lockers on the opposite end of which is an opaque plastic curtain currently drawn to the side, leaving a clear view of a classically white, black-striped zebra mare sitting under a shower nozzle who immediately looks at the drone. Contrary to 99111’s previous visit, nothing gets thrown, so the clump of drones simply enter. “Water! That’s what Smiley meant. Running water,” finally realizes 10013, before turning to Smiley, “You did, did ya?” *Happy face.* 20100 pokes 10013’s who looks away from Smiley before nodding towards the mare in the separated section of the room who is now watching them with an expression of keen curiosity. The drones wouldn’t recognize it, of course, but the zebra’s physical proportions are the perfect mix of shapely and thick that could make any stallion turn into a stuttering mess. However, contrary to the zebra who stopped them upstairs, this one doesn’t sport any combat scars so she might not be affiliated with the militaristic group. Finally, contrasting with the guard zebra’s short, black and white mohawk, this mare’s long mane is a mix of grey and pink. Faced with a stare of her pink eyes boring into its soul, 99380 hides behind 10013 and nudges the leader drone who takes a deep breath to steady itself. 10013, you’re in charge here. Make High Score proud. “Umm, hello, miss,” 10013 starts, “We were told to get cleaned up but, umm, all the water is on the outside of this big ship. Smiley here thought this, uhh, could be the place where we could do it on the inside.” The mare nods. When she speaks out, her voice is silky smooth and peaceful. “Your silent friend was right. Come here,” as the drones look at 10013 first, she adds, “Don’t be afraid,” she stands up as they enter the second room which envelops the locker room like a big C and is filled with shower nozzles separated only by thin plastic panels, “Do you need help?” “I think we should kinda figure this out by ourselves,” 10013 shakes its head, “We’re supposed to be learning about stuff.” The mare giggles. “I can understand that,” she turns around, grabs a bottle, and pours its contents over her mane, “Well, if you need any help, don’t be afraid to ask. I think you’ll find that most common ponies are rather pleasant if you get to know them.” “Thank you!” 10013 smiles. Things are looking up. “Alright, guys. Let’s go and figure this water thingy out.” All seven drones huddle under one nozzle and look up. The hive mind presents no tooltip, and the nozzle completely fails to start spewing. “Water?” asks 99526. “Water, please?” adds 36658. The nozzle remains stubbornly dry. 10013 starts exploring a metal panel with a vertical handle centered under the nozzle. It peeks into the zebra mare’s separated shower segment for some inspiration. She notices immediately despite 10013 being quiet, turns her head, and nudges the handle to the side which makes the torrent that’s washing over her shift slightly before returning to rubbing her now extremely bubbly and foamy mane. 10013 returns with the newfound knowledge and pushes the handle to the side. Nothing happens. Trickery! 10013 peeks over again. Three more heads follow it, one under its own and two above to see what it’s looking at. Without turning her head this time, the mare rinses off her long mane and pushes the handle towards the wall which makes the water stop. As she passes by 10013 on her way back to the locker room she kicks her brick of soap towards the drones. “You might want to try this,” she says with a snicker as the drones surround the soap, all sniffing it at once. 99111 licks it, “No, it’s not for eating.” 10013 furrows its nonexistent brows. The mare wasn’t looking their way. “99111, I charge you with figuring out the bubble brick,” says 10013 while fiddling with the handle, this time successfully. As the lukewarm water starts washing the black grime off of 10013, the drone figures out one final problem. “Guys? I think all seven of us under one nozzle is a bit too much.” A short moment later, over half of the shower stalls are occupied by changelings buzzing happily under customized water temperatures and pressures, wings spread and scrubbing every nook and cranny their hooves can reach. The buzzing and running water are the only sounds for some time until- “AH FGHURRED AHT TH BUBBBLLB BRIK!” gurgles out 99111 through a waterfall of green foam coming out of its mouth, jumping out of its stall and sliding over the wet tiles until it hits the wall which does nothing to curb its enthusiasm.  The others turn their showers off as one and slide over to 99111, smacking the wall like tiny bumper cars. 99111 coughs out the rest of the foam and presents half of the bubble brick with bite marks. “If you just rub this on you, it just washes off,” it says, sliding over to the nearest shower and demonstrating, “But if you eat a chunk and then turn it into goop,” it throws up a vaguely ball-shaped green glob, “it cleans everything!” Under the goop rubbing, the black ash goes down easily. Some experimentation later, it turns out that the only one who can produce the goop with enhanced cleaning properties is 99111, so it eats the rest of the soap and distributes the resulting globs to everyone. It doesn’t take long this time, and most drones are squeaky clean. While waiting for everyone to finish, 36658 curls up on the wet floor and 20100 shoves it as hard as it can. 36658, unfortunately, moves the wrong way and its trajectory ends with it bumping against the wall and bouncing into the wrong stall. “Wheee!” 99526 slides over to 20100, “What’cha doing? Looks fun.” “It doesn’t have a name yet but you curl up and the other drone pushes you so that you land in the right spot. Then you switch. I think it only works on these smooth thingies, though,” it runs its hoof over the tiles. “Why make it difficult to remember? How about just curling?” offers 99526. “Spoken like a smart drone!” 36658 beams, sliding back to 20100, “Curling it is.” 10013 finishes up and joins the sliding drones. “Okay, guys. I think we can report to 387 that we’re all clean,” it tries to tap into the warrior’s hive link and finds that it can’t feel it at all, “Uhhh, can anyone sense 387?” “I can, but I can’t even poke him,” 99380 frowns. Everyone else shakes their heads. Ooookay. Up the chain of command it is then.  “93, calling 93?”  “The changeling going by 93 is currently unavailable. Please, try calling later,” comes through her hive link. Oh goop. Was there any drone ever who did what I’m about to do? “Umm, Your Majesty,” 10013 pokes the powerful Queen’s link with utmost care. “Taking a hot bath, sent 93 out, 387 is whatever. You have your orders!” The link locks up. 10013 looks around, suddenly feeling incredibly alone. I wonder if this is how High Score felt when it was left in charge… It takes a deep breath to steady its nerves. What we do here will reflect on all drones back home.  *** Several minutes later, the dried up drones are all inside one of their two cabins. The servant cabin is made for four ponies and incredibly cramped, sporting a set of two hammocks on each side, one hanging above the other. A small table is bolted to the floor right under the porthole, and there are two shallow wardrobes next to the door from each side, one reaching up to the low ceiling, presumably for hanging clothes, and a small one serving as a secondary table for anything else. Just like the showers, the toilets must be somewhere else on this deck. However, none of the drones has touched anything yet, and all eyes are locked on 10013. “I think we were supposed to be split up.” 36658 rubs its head, “Won’t 387 be mad?” “I was thinking about the Queen’s orders-” “That can be lethal!” gasps 36658. “It can,” admits 10013, “buuut the point was for us to figure out how to split up, so… I assumed that zero was a number too.” A moment of thinking later, 99380 gasps: “It is!” “So that means we can divide into, wait for it, all of us and none of us!” “And that’s why you’re the one in charge!” 20100 nods, eyes wide in amazement, “That way we can watch each other’s backs.” “Yup!” 10013 nods, “Now, how does everyone feel?” “Squeaky clean.” “Squeaky and clean.” “Clean but with numb leggos.” “Still burping bubbles.” “A tiny bit hungry.” *Happy yawning face.* “36658, take a look at 99380’s legs. Everyone else, check for any cracks and leaks and goop those up. We can’t be bleeding all over the place,” orders 10013 and flies up on the top left hammock, “Imma check this web thingy.” Somewhat safe in the knowledge that ponies wouldn’t let giant spiders onto the ship, 10013 pokes the hammock. Upon finding that it isn’t sticky, it sits down on its edge, steadying itself with its wings the moment it starts spinning. Maybe if I stand on it? The size of the hammock holes was clearly made with ponies in mind, not drones, and 10013’s legs slip, letting the drone fall cleanly through until stopped by its barrel. “I’m caught! Run before the leggy spinners come!” it yelps. On pure instinct, the other drones bolt, slam into the closed door, and bounce off. When they recover and look around, they stop. “I don’t see any leggy spinner holes,” 20100 narrows its eyes, “Not even in the corners, and that’s prime leggy spinner territory.” 36658 licks the hammock. “Not sticky, too. Maybe ponies learned something from leggy spinners and made these?” 99526 flies up and pokes 10013’s hanging leg. “This looks kinda comfy. How does it feel?” 10013 has to admit that lying on the hammock, with its legs simply hanging through the holes, does feel surprisingly relaxing. “Pretty nice with no leggy spinners around.” “Can I try?” asks 99526. “I mean, I can’t turn my head but if you’re saying it’s not dangerous…” 10013 shrugs. 99526 flies onto the hammock opposite 10013 and drops straight down. “This feels amazing!” it starts swinging its legs through the air, “It’s like hovering but without using wings.” Just over a minute later, each hammock has two drones stuck through it, happy to simply be hanging. *Happy face!* *Happy face!* *Happy face!*  *DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!* *SPOOKED FACE!* “What was THAT?!” “Loooooud!” With a lurch, the drones find themselves suddenly leaning to one side. “We’re moving!” exclaims 20100, its head turned towards the porthole. “I wanna look!” 36658 tries to free itself from the hammock by flailing and finds out that the uneven changeling legs get stuck on the ropes incredibly easily.  Embracing the gentle rocking of the now moving ship, the seven entangled and stuck drones slowly drift off to sleep.