//------------------------------// // Day 2 - Points: 3/9 // Story: They're... ON HOLIDAY? // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// The radio has been making noises for some time. Not talking, just making noises. 99380 starts humming along and swaying its head from side to side because those are pleasant noises. “Liking the music, I take it?” the bartender asks when he hears the changeling following the tune pretty much perfectly, only with a tiny delay, “Quiet lo-fi goes great with early morning.” “I like these noises very much,” replies 99380 politely, “Is the Fuzzy lady making those too?” “No, that’s just a recording. So… you don’t know how music works either?” 99380 shakes its head, feeling even more lost than usual. “Sorry…” “I didn’t mean it as criticism,” the bartender says quickly, “I’m just surprised, that’s all. I thought that you changelings kinda knew everything about ponies so that you could… umm… you know… do the whole replacement thing.” “Ooooh!” 99380 nods in understanding, “That’s high ranks, not us drones. I’m sure 93 or 387 know all about music and radios and Fluffy ladies, and the Queen does for sure, but we just live in the tunnels of the hive, digging holes and moving anything that needs moving.” “You mean you’ve never replaced a pony and feasted on their partner’s love?” “Oh holes no,” 99380 chuckles, shaking its head, “I’ve never even seen a pony up close before this whole trip.” “Funny how little we know about each other,” the bartender finishes with his examination of stock, “Hey, changeling, I gotta go down for supplies. If you want, I can leave the radio on.” “That would be great!” 99380 beams, “Do you think there will be more talking ponies on?” “For sure.” 99380 puts its head on the counter and closes its eyes, listening to the music and humming along. Peaceful minutes pass until the drone hears approaching hoofsteps and the bar stool next to it moves. “Heya!” says a cheerful, slightly buzzing voice. 99380 mentally prods the closest hive link, from which comes a chipper reply: “Yep, that’s me too!” The link is familiar but still one which it had never connected to before. The drone sits up and turns to the right, facing… …the wide open teal eyes and the happy smile of another drone. This one is practically glowing with love and there are absolutely no scratches or unhealed scars anywhere on its carapace. On top of everything, it has a belt with a small, dark purple saddle bag around its chest, a scabbard with a metal stick on a belt around its waist, and it’s wearing horseshoes of the same hue. “Hi!” 99380 pokes the other drone’s chest, concluding its examination with: “You’re not from the hive, are ya?” “Of course I am!” the other drone pauses, “I mean, I hatched there but I live in Canterlot these days. My name’s 65536. Nice to meet you!” it offers a hoof, “That’s a pony thing - you shake it.” “Ohmyholes, you’re the hero of soup! I’m 99380,” it hooks a jagged protrusion on its foreleg into 65536’s leg hole and they shake their forelegs, “What are you doing here? The pony said he had to get some things but he didn’t need any help carrying them. Goop, I suppose I should have asked just to be sure. Oh well, there will be another chance to gain points.” “Points? I like those. What do you get for them?” asks 65536, “Did you see Luna's plushie in High Score’s shrine? I got it by earning enough points for smacking fake gribblers.” “Woooow,” 99380’s jaw drops from being in the presence of a legend, “I don’t think I’m allowed to do that here, though.” 65536 turns its head from side to side. “Yup, no real or fake gribblers anywhere in sight. How do you get points then?” “By helping!” “Gasp! That’s the best way!” 65536’s ears perk up, “You wanna help me?”  “For sure. I can dig stuff but I’m not allowed to, I can carry stuff too, and I learned how to hum a music today.” “THEN WE CAN CARRY AND HUM TOGETHER!” exclaims 65536 and hops down from the bar stool. “Wait wait wait!” 99380 shakes its head, “I’m not sure I can leave while the radio is making noises.” “Ooooh, that’s a conundrum, but I think I can help,” 65536 flies up on the counter and to the radio. A second of fiddling later, the radio shuts down with a click, “Ta daa!” “YOU’RE SO SMART!” 99380 nearly falls off of its stool. “I like you,” 65536 trots back across the counter before jumping on its stool and then on the floor. “I like everyone,” replies 99380, following 65536, “As long as they’re not mean.” “Most ponies are nice when you get to meet them,” 65536 leads the way towards the open establishment on the other side of the deck, “But there are baddies too. I get to meet them sometimes as a Nightguard. And when I do, I gotta stand my ground and stop them from doing bad things.” “Sounds scary,” 99380 nods its head wisely, “I don’t think I’d be able to do that. Before we went on this trip, I had to run away from thorny shooters and they scratched me something fierce.”  “Ohhh, those are nasty. I’d run too.” “Whoah, really?!” “Yup. Sometimes you just gotta run too, but the trick is knowing when you do and when you don’t. And, you know, sometimes you gotta stay so that the others can run. It’s tough,” 65536 rubs the side of its head, “Two months ago, I had to stop a baddie trying to rob an old mare,” when faced with 99380’s puzzled look, 65536 adds, “That means he tried to take her stash without permission. He was armed too, with a studded club - that’s a sturdy stick with knobs for harder smacking.”  “That’s mean!” 99380 frowns, “And dangerous. Sticks can be nasty.” “Yup, So I showed him my badge, then I wibbled at him, nothing worked.” “OH NO!” 99380 gasps in horror.  “Yup, I had to use my truncheon - that’s a slightly padded anti-baddie smacking stick that hurts but doesn’t harm you much,” 65536 pats the scabbard on its belt before showing 99380 its singular leg hole in its left foreleg, “You stick it into your cup holder and swing it. Ponies gotta use their mouths, which means they don’t get that much reach, so this works super well.” “I was wondering why you had only one hole in each foreleg and both in the same place.” “Oh, it’s not just for weapons. Cup holders are super useful. I’ll show ya,” 65536 flies up to take a good look at the counter of the establishment they’ve finally reached. There are twelve drone-sized vats filled with a different colorful substance each. In short, it’s an ice cream stand, “I’ll have a big cone of vanilla with chocolate chips, please, plus the Ultra Giga Tub of cookie dough flavor with banana chunks,” 65536 points to two vats before giving the chubby mare behind the counter its badge. “That tub’s bigger than you, little guy,” she chuckles, “Are you guards even allowed to eat so much?” “That’s not for me,” 65536 shakes its head, “How about you, 99380?” “How about me what?” the drone tilts its head. “You don’t want ice cream?” “Umm, that thing?” 99380 flies up to 65536’s level and looks through the protective glass shield. After a brief examination, it points at a green vat, “I like the color.” “Okie dokie,” says the mare while giving 65536 its cone. Some staring at 99380 later, she adds, “I need your identification to know which delegation’s tab to charge.” “Like this,” 65536 waves its Nightguard badge before putting it back into its bag. “I, uhh, didn’t get anything like that. Was I supposed to?” 99380 looks around, unsure how to proceed. “Can you check if Queen Chrysalis set up a spendings account for the staff?” asks 65536. The mare looks under the counter, pulls out a notepad, flicks some pages, and finally shakes her head. “I’m afraid that Queen Chrysalis’ delegation only set up the royal level account.” “That sounds just like her,” chuckles 65536 while shaking its head, “Alrighty, one cone of mint on my tab for my buddy.” “Coming right up while the tub fills,” the mare grabs a second cone to fill it with the mint-flavored ice cream. With expert speed, she soon offers it to 99380 who carefully grabs it with both forelegs and sniffs it. “Smells like 36658’s agonyslayers.” “Isn’t it making tormentannihilators now?” asks 65536. “I think the newest version is called sufferingobliterators, but that one’s still in development.” “Nice! Anyway, look,” 65536 slips the cone directly into its leg hole until it gets stuck, “Cup holders. Cone holders too,” it waves its leg to show that the cone wont drop out, “Try it!” “That’s so useful!” 99380’s jaw drops along with the cone into its freshly customized leg hole. It observes 65536 for an example on what to do with this cream made of ice, whatever that means. Licking it looks to be the main goal, so the drone does so, “Brrrrrr!” it shudders, “IT’S SO COLD!” “That’s the point. It cools you down when the sun makes it too hot out here,” 65536 smiles, its mouth covered in white smudges, “Miss Gem always says I shouldn’t eat so much sweet stuff, that I’m a diabeetus on legs already, but it’s just so delicious!”  “I like this thingy,” 99380 gathers the courage to bite off a bigger chunk before its eye starts twitching, “Myheadmyheadmyheadmyhead!”  “Oooh, brain freeze. You gotta eat slower,” 65536 nods knowingly. “I SO WISH I WAS SMILEY RIGHT NOW!” exclaims 99380. 65536 doesn’t react to 99380 rubbing its head, instead looking straight up at someone suddenly casting a huge shadow over both of them. When 99380 recovers, it looks up too, and its flight-and-more-flight instinct takes over. Unfortunately, maybe, its legs completely fail to listen. The new arrival is a positively massive unicorn mare. Not as tall as Princess Celestia, but she could be very close to Luna’s size, and broader. Her bulging muscles hint at her being able to pick up the entire ice cream stand and throw it from one end of the ship to the other, if she even needed to do so without the telekinesis provided by her long horn. Her tail is cropped short and bound, her mane is styled into a pixie cut, and both are bright, almost platinum, blond. 99380’s eyes linger on something it recognizes, though, which is the wealth of scars criss-crossing her short, white coat all over her body. Either ponies don’t heal those as easily as changelings do, or she’s keeping them to show all the wounds she suffered, 99380 can’t even begin to guess which. What the real thing paralyzing it is, is her missing right eye crossed by yet another vertical scar, fully replaced by a pool of gold glow. All her scars seem to be glowing golden from the inside, in fact, albeit only slightly in contrast to the lost eye. Her healthy eye is normal green, a fact which lets 99380 breathe again when it notices it.    65536 salutes.  “Good morning, Acting Grandmaster Sun Hammer!” The mare’s stern expression doesn’t change as she replies: “You’re off-duty. No reason to salute.” “Mister Sharp used to say that we’re all off-duty only until there’s trouble and then we’re on duty again, no matter where we are or what time it is,” counters 65536 with a proud smile. “He was a good pony and I’m glad to see he left his mark on you,” she nods. 99380 salutes with a trembling foreleg. *Squelch!* “I’m a unicorn now…” it mumbles, staring at the mare non-stop while the ice cream starts dripping down its head from the cone stuck on its forehead by the nervous salute, “I’m cold now…” tears pool in its eyes as the mare focuses all her attention at it, “...and scared…” Her presence. It’s so much worse than being glared at by a high rank after failing at filling its quota. 99380 did something completely idiotic in front of her and it knows she will remember and do… something. However, she only glances at 65536 before stepping past 99380 without a word. The drone lies down on the floor and covers its head with both forelegs, smudging the ice cream all over itself. It’s only 65536 licking its head that makes it look up again. “Ahh, good old mint. I don’t buy that one much these days,” says 65536, draping one foreleg over 99380, “You okay, buddy?” it asks, voice full of concern. “N-No,” 99380 looks at the now empty cone stuck in its cup holder, “I was so scared… and now she knows how much of a dummy I am… and that means I made the hive look bad too… and-” “Here,” two fresh cones float over to, held by the golden glimmer of telekinesis, both filled by chocolate ice cream. One stops in front of 99380 and one by 65536, “Be more careful with these.” “Wooow, thank you!” 65536 smiles as Sun Hammer walks away, heading towards the front of the ship. “T-Thank you,” stutters out 99380, the ice cream stuck in the air in front of it despite the telekinesis fading. “Your Giga Tub is ready,” announces the stall owner. “Perfect!” 65536 pats 99380’s back, “I got ice cream to carry and places to be. Wait, one more thing.” “Huh?” 99380 sniffles and looks at 65536. “Boop!” 65536 pokes its nose, and 99380 feels its love reserves replenish completely, “Took me a while to learn to do that properly,” 65536 grabs the massive bucket of ice cream and goops it to its back before waving at 99380, “See ya later, and don’t forget to eat the cone too!” “Bye bye!” 99380 waves back, stunned by everything that just happened and munching on the empty cone. “Darn,” the stall owner walks over, “Can I help you clean up?” “Huh?” 99380 wipes its eyes, only succeeding in adding crumbs to the ice cream mess all over its face, “No… no… I made a dummy of myself but at least I can be a clean dummy,” it looks downwards, “And I’ll wipe the floor too. No reason to waste good icy cream,” it starts licking the mint off of the floor as the second cone remains floating near it without melting. “Oookay,” she has no idea what to do about the changeling eating off the floor as if it was normal, so she just says, “And don’t feel bad. I almost peed myself when she ordered the ice creams for you. That mare was terrifying.” 99380 couldn’t agree more.