//------------------------------// // The Banshee Queen of Abilene // Story: Change is Good // by AdmiralTigerclaw //------------------------------// I guess I should start from something you would know... The attack on Canterlot during Princess Cadance's wedding was big news, I'm sure. The audacity of the attempted coup against the seat of power of a nation. You'd have to be blind and deaf to miss it once the story hit the presses. But me? Obviously I didn't know anything about it. I couldn't have if I wanted. I guess I could say that while Chrissy was trying her hoof at real-life Risk, I was a world away experiencing the grand excitement of an early Thursday morning. That is to say, not much considering it was early enough that only a portion of the eastern horizon was lit. I was about an hour southwest of a city named Abilene on a back road trying to get an early start on some contract work for the windmill company out there... I should mention just so you have a little more background that I have a skill in something called electronics, which is more or less an entire field of knowledge related to creating, harnessing, and controlling lightning to use in all manner of ways from powering machines without magic, to creating thinking machines so powerful they can store the combined knowledge of the Canterlot archives in a box no bigger than a pencil. Please don't ask, the explanation will literally take a decade. Like I was saying, I wanted an early start on my day so I could finish early. It was Thursday, and working in my field had earned me enough credit in the industry that I could pretty much dictate my own terms to whoever I worked for. In this case, I preferred to make my own hours for the routine stuff so long as I agreed to be on call for emergencies. Getting an early start to a weekend of doing nothing but catching up on my sleep and plucking away at a pet project was foremost on my mind. The sooner I finished the tedious stuff, the sooner I could go home and relax in quiet solitude. Of course, driving the back roads was one of my favorite parts of this particular contract. My transportation, a type of large, self-powered cargo carriage called a truck, was large enough that it could handle moving at a pretty decent clip once I left our smoother roadways in favor of gravel of the many back roads that spider-webbed between the wind towers. And considering the land the towers were set up on was considered private property, I had them all to myself. At least, that's what I thought. Not to imply that I was doing any dangerous forms of driving. Hardly... Rather, I have a habit of just kind of zoning out as I go. Just me and the thoughts in my head, staring out at the pre-dawn sky. Now, unlike Equestria, the weather is wild where I'm from, and the area I was in had been suffering from extended drought conditions for the last couple of years. If it wasn't farmland, it was left to do its own thing. So the grasses were all brown and dead... Especially in late August. If you ask me, that saved Chrissy's life. Occupied as I was with my own thoughts, it was the sharp contrast of pine green to dead tans and browns that made me glance to the side. It was only there in the corner of my Truck's high beams for a moment as I passed, but enough to register 'different' on the synapses. Back on my world, there's information stating that the human brain can process visual images as short as one-three hundredths of a second in length, and can do so with incredibly good accuracy. If you've trained your memory, you could remember an entire area with just a glance. Now, I won't claim those kind of skills, just verifying a fact for you. It took at least five seconds after I'd passed before my mind caught up with the fact that the flash of green was attached to what I recognized as a body. Trucks don't do sudden stops too well on gravel. I should mention that now in case ponies reach that tech level in your lifetime. But the moment I realized I'd seen a body, in the middle of a ditch, in the middle of nowhere... Well, in my line of work, we call that a red flag. After turning around, It took me only a moment to find the spot and aim my truck's lights at it. I found that body Chrissy had been strutting around in a few minutes ago lying face down in the dirt unconscious. Honestly, at first I thought she was dead and that I'd just found a rape and murder victim who'd been dumped in what the killer thought was the middle of nowhere. Humans normally wear clothes almost all the time, and the fact that she was naked, face down in a ditch was a very disturbing sign. I feel kind of stupid to admit it, but at the time, my shock of finding her made me momentarily lose all sense. At least, to the point I prodded her with my foot the same way you might poke something with a stick. I about jumped out of my skin when she moaned in pain. I guess that's what I needed to actually take action, because I had my phone- don't ask right now -out contacting the authorities and making for the emergency kit under the passenger seat. I remember talking to the operator, but I don't really remember what was said. All I remember was when I turned the body over, I was horrified. Her nose was bleeding, and it looked like her entire front had been thoroughly beaten from head to toe. The bruises were so bad that it looked like a piece of meat being flipped on the grill... Okay, confusing expression for herbivores. Don't think too hard on it. What I mean to say is, she looked like she'd been rammed head on by a truck, or a bus... Something... Equestrian terms aren't exactly a strong point for me. But needless to say, it was something very large, and very powerful- “Like Prince Shining Armor's shield,” Lady Stonewall interrupted Gazer, causing him to turn his eyes away from the fire. “Yes,” the drone nodded. “Like that. At the time I didn't know any better. But the thought of it makes me cringe. She got ejected from the city of Canterlot with the force of a bomb going off. It's a wonder she survived the initial impact, let alone impact with the ground.” Gazer said nothing for several seconds. “She was breathing,” he continued. “That was amazing enough to me at the time considering it looked like the act itself was torture. But the emergency operator wanted me to see if she'd respond. So I spoke to her.” The drone steepled his hooves and looked back into the fire. “Her eyes opened,” he stated distantly. “Emerald green. And you know what she did next?” “What?” Crystal asked. Gazer turned his eyes up to the younger mare. “She screamed.” It wasn't a high-pitched girly scream, or the scream of unexpected pain, or anything you'd imagine a scream could be. I've heard Canterlot ponies scream in fear the first time they saw me wandering around, and those pitiful shrieks of offended principles and shallow fear paled in comparison. It was the blood-curdling wail of a banshee, or perhaps of someone waking to find themselves being devoured alive by an alien monster would be more accurate. I wanted to say it had enough force to throw me backwards, but really that was all me. I'm sure that 'death scream' was heard all the way to the nearest ranch in the area, considering it left my ears ringing for a good few minutes. She tried to move at that point, a mad flail of limbs as if she didn't know how to use them at all. I wasn't sure at the time what was wrong, but she couldn't stand, and barely managed to fumble with crawling before tripping over herself. She settled on dragging herself as fast as she could away from me... Which went about as well as you'd expect after seeing what a human body looks like. I'd dropped my phone when I fell, but it was easy enough to retrieve both it and a flashlight without losing track of the woman. I was forced in the end to catch her as the operator had instructed me to do my best to keep her from accidentally hurting herself. You can imagine how awkward and difficult the next ten minutes were for me. I ended up stuck pinning her to the ground, trying not to get hit from uncontrolled jabs while she continued to scream and flail in absolute panic. At some point, she found her words, and I was bombarded with the most unusual array of threats and claims I'd ever heard. It wasn't any more coherent than the random flailing, at least as far as I knew at the time. You find someone face down in a ditch one day, and they immediately start screaming about being queen, and how it's all unfair, and if you knew who she was or how you'd regret it when her warriors arrived... I was relieved when the police arrived on the scene with an ambulance shortly after. Of course, by then she'd worn herself down and the screaming had slowed to crying but still. By the time I was able to move, it felt like I'd been the one to commit whatever act I thought had happened to her. The sun was up by the time the police and the EMTs managed to calm her down, but her ramblings were no more coherent than before. I wasn't paying much attention at that point because I was busy answering questions for the county Sheriff who'd finally shown up. Before long though, one of the EMTs had become more concerned with me than with the woman I'd found. Apparently she'd gotten quiet and had sorted her panic out enough to be considered lucid. Meanwhile, I looked like I was coming close to having a mental breakdown from the shock. After a few more questions, I gave the Sheriff my name and number, and he told me to go home, get something heavy to eat, and nap it off. If he needed me for anything, he'd give me a call later. Needless to say, my weekend started early. “And I thought that was the end of it,” Gazer shrugged. “It wasn't the end,” Nora replied factually. “That much I can see.” “Heh,” the drone scoffed. “You've got that right. If that were the end, we wouldn't be sitting here on the eve of one of the greatest, and silliest turnaround stories in Equestrian history. By human standards, that should have been the end of my dealings. Brutality victim rescued; attacker later identified, hunted down, captured, and convicted; and everyone moves on with their lives.” “My Lord.” A slight buzz caught the attention of the group, and Gazer turned to examine a changeling that was standing politely to the side. It was carrying a few containers and a rather odd cup held in its TK field as it stood at a pretty good impression of a guard stallion at attention, save for its wings buzzing in short, rapid pulses. “Ah!” the drone exclaimed as the smaller changeling gently shifted his load forward. “Thank you Thing Two. I think I'll skip on the water after all- When was the last time you had a break?” The identified guard blinked once before seeming to remember itself and replying. “Six hours My Lord-” “Sir,” Gazer waved as he carefully pulled one of the containers and glasses free. “I keep telling you that. 'My Lord' just makes me feel like I should be decked out in armor carrying a lance-” “You live in natural body armor,” Fancy snarked. “Shut up, pony whose name ends in 'pants' but doesn't actually wear any,” Gazer snapped back over his shoulder before turning back to Thing Two. “Just sir... Now take that water and go chill out in the shade until the sun goes down. Just save some for Thing One as well unless you want to go fetch more first.” “But my queen's orders-” the warrior began to protest with a nervous buzz. “The queen's orders are my problem now,” Gazer cut him off. “You let me deal with that and you deal with not dying of a heat stroke at your post. You're practically burning up. Now git before I pitch you into the ocean.” “S-Sir,” the warrior bowed and quickly retreated to a shadowed corner of the terrace, where it quickly blended into the scenery. Gazer opened his mouth to say something, but then sighed and turned back to the fire. “Funny thing,” he stated as he started working at the lid of his juice container. “Changelings can partially see in infrared. His sweat fin was practically glowing like a neon sign.” “Infrared?” Nora asked the obvious. “What does that mean?” “HEAT,” Fancy Pants provided helpfully as Gazer started fighting more obviously with the container in his grasp. “I gather that much from the documents he sends me. Infrared is a name for heat. And apparently changelings use it to see the body heat of others.” “It's pretty cool,” the drone was now practically grunting over the container, but stopped for a second- “No pun intended...” -and began prying at it with renewed effort. “But,” he continued with another grunt that sounded more frustrated. “It can be annoying at times. Thermal-optical hybrid vision really messes with the color sense. Ask Chrissy to pick out a dress some time. When she finds one she likes, stick it in sunlight and wait ten seconds.” With a sudden frustrated growl, Gazer nearly threw the container down. “Fancy?” he asked in a tone not too unlike an upset foal. “Could you-? I still can't work these nubs properly and if I can't get some juice out of this in the next five seconds I'm going to jam it up on the can-opener and BATHE in it.” “Of course,” Fancy quickly levitated the container and the cup away from the drone and effortlessly began pouring the juice. “Allow me...” “Thanks,” the drone slouched visibly before sitting back in his seat. “Anything more complicated than a pencil or tougher than a door knob and I'm about as helpless as a newborn. The only saving grace is the ten thousand plus biologically programmed servants who would throw themselves into an active volcano just to fetch me toilet paper.” “You have been practicing right?” Fancy asked as he rotated the cap onto the cup and levitated it across to the drone. “Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, AND the Queen have been getting on to you about that lately.” “I write technical documents,” Gazer replied with a pout, then practically snatched the cup out of the air. He then locked his face on it before turning it up and gulping its contents down with a loud series of slurps. After a moment, he lowered it, gasping for air. “Better,” he sighed. “But yeah, I practice. I just make no progress. A hoof grasping looks the same as a hoof that isn't unless it's wrapped around something. I've got a better understanding of the can-opener sticking out of my skull than I do these things. And I've only managed to master color changing transformations and beacons.” “All in good time,” Fancy Pants soothed as the drone turned the cup up once more. “All foals still take time to learn that. And I daresay you've taken to flying like a natural given today's display. Don't beat yourself up just because you're a little behind in one area.” Gazer brought his cup down again, sighing for air. After a moment, he noticed two pairs of eyes silently watching his every move and turned to face Nora and Crystal. After a few glances between them and the cup he was holding by a pair of fake pegasus wings attached to the side, he snorted. “Yes,” he stated deadpan. “It's a foal's sippy-cup. Get over it.” Realizing she was being spoken to and that she was staring, Nora quickly averted her gaze to the fire. “Apologies,” she quickly tried to cover. “I didn't mean to-” She reached out a hoof and yanked Crystal Clear's muzzle away. “-we weren't trying to offend you. It was just unexpected-” “Yeah,” Gazer interjected. “I know. It's not every day you come across a grown... ma- stall- dro-... BAH! It's not every day you run into me for the first time and learn I practically can't operate without my thumbs. I'm like a coma rehab patient crossed with a Cerebral Palsy case... Except green... And awesome looking. Like I said, ten thousand plus servants are a godsend.” “Indeed,” Fancy chimed in with a light laugh. “At least you look at the bright side. But I believe we've digressed from the point of this little fireside chat.” “Yeah,” the drone nodded. “Right about that. It's hard to appreciate why I'm complaining when they don't know where I'm coming from. Where was I at anyway?” “You thought that was the 'end of it' I believe,” Crystal Clear chimed in. “After the screaming or something.” “OH!” Gazer nodded, leaning back for a quick swig before he continued. “Yeah... I thought I was done with it.” Society in our age has procedures for this sort of thing... To the point we can track just about any legitimate citizen in our nation right down to what they had for lunch the same day. Sound creepy? You're in good company on that one. But I'm getting off topic. By all accounts, the last thing I should have heard of this random girl should have been my statements to the Sheriff, and maybe a court summons at a later date as witness testimony in an attempted murder case. I took a weekend I'd just extended and just buried myself in my pet projects. I'll admit, I'm a creature of habit. Disrupt my habit, and I get antsy... Get me antsy and I start to over think everything, and over thinking things just makes me anxious... Which is another way to say 'antsy'. I've measured it... I've walked over five miles in a day in my own house from the pacing alone. It's good for the cardio, but my mother used to worry when I was younger. My solution has always been the same. I get antsy, I go pick up my pet projects, and bury myself in them until I'm ready to pass out. By the time Monday rolled around, I'd all but forgotten the previous Thursday morning. At that point, my mind was safely preoccupied with picking back up on the work that I'd gotten behind in. Admittedly, the work I had planned to knock out wasn't much, but it was supposed to be relaxing work to cap off my week. Now I had to knock it out quickly and then get half way across the county to check on a few other obligations. It wasn't anything frantic, but I was forced to actually put some urgency into my normal morning routine... Something I hadn't done in a year and a half. But I was thinking, even as I checked to make sure the right gear was loaded up in the truck, that if I routed it right I could be home a little after noon or one and take a nice afternoon nap. That plan died in a fire the moment my phone went off just before nine. There was a case worker, or... someone along those legal lines wanting to see me up at the hospital in Abilene. Wouldn't tell me why over the phone, so I was forced to pack my things in, inform the guy I was contracting for, and head into town. That would turn out to be another waste of a day, as it ended up just being another round of questions for the legal vultures. I wish I could say that after what amounted to thinly veiled interrogation I was able to get away, but a nurse overheard the discussion and decided for me that I wanted to go see how their patient was doing... Or that the patient wanted to meet her savior. I don't know. Doctors and Nurses creep me out with the way they sometimes seem to excrete good cheer like a physical substance. Not that I haven't seen them with the 'mask' off. Maybe that just makes it worse. Anyway... Not wanting to look insensitive, I agreed to a short visit with little fuss. The nurse lead me to the room and shut the door behind me. The girl I'd saved looked a little better, having had about four days to recover. Puffed up worse than a fresh bag of marshmallows though... But considering how I'd found her, that was an improvement. She was just laying there, staring blankly at a wall. “How ya' doing?” Not a coma patient by far, she gave me at least a good thirty second glance, and returned her sights to the wall in front of her. She had this look of... I don't know. All I knew is that there wasn't a conversation in the world I could start that wouldn't die horribly six seconds after conception. I don't read people the best half the time, but I had learned enough over the years to recognize there was nothing worth saying. So my unplanned visitation ended in something under one minute and twenty seconds. The best I could do at that time was think of something to say that was encouraging. Or at least an attempt at humor without being insensitive. “Well... At least you're in one piece.” I'm an engineer... I was about to leave when one last thought struck me. Glancing back, she was still staring at the wall. Inwardly I shuddered at the thought of doing nothing for days on end. I know the medical staff aren't so dim-witted as to not be able to find some kind of entertainment for patients, but still... It's a hospital. They try, but sometimes you needed to poke the staff. “Excuse me,” I caught the first nurse that was powering by. “But, your patient in here looks about bored out of her skull. You got anything-?” I got a porcelain smile in return, but a helpful point down the hall to a cart. Being practically-minded, that was good enough for me. Unfortunately, the cart itself wasn't... At least, not the contents. “What is this, the dark ages?” I grumbled with disgust as I rifled past the sides of a dozen children's books. Probably there more for the benefit of families that had children along for visiting, but not helpful to me in the least. Of course, the questionably sane thing would be to fish another nurse out of the flow and get directed to BETTER entertainment options, or maybe a TV remote for the room, but my work patterns had already taken over at that point. If they didn't have what I wanted or needed, I went and got it myself. I don't like wasting my time waiting for others to spontaneously develop mind reading powers. I was back at my truck before I knew it, rummaging through the junk under the seat and returning to the room with an older Galaxy Tablet 2- explanation later -in my hands and a suitable charger. I'd been seen going in and out already, so they paid me little mind. “Hey,” I got the eyes again the moment I came through the door. “Got something for you.” I placed the device on her table next to her bed with the charger. “All our advanced medical technology,” I shook my head. “And they still can't cure boredom.” I think I'd give that one an seven out of ten as a conversational joke. No gut buster or proper joke by any rights, but I've said worse. Trying to find humor while staying neutral to a sensitive situation can be a bit difficult. “I think that's got-” I paused as I pointed at the device. “Tetris, Angry Birds, Angry Birds Space, Bejeweled Blitz, Farmville Two- No, I deleted that one. Zombie Gunship. Robot Unicorn Attack... Two- What else...?” I paused again trying to remember what else I'd crammed into the thing while she gave me an expression slightly more sophisticated than her previous poker face. “Meh...” I announced at last. “There's a bunch of decent time-wasters on there. That should at least keep you busy for a while. The battery's a little old though, so you'll want to keep it on the charger. Take it easy.” I was already on my way out even as I finished the battery statement. The poker face was awkward enough as it was, but the confusion face was begging me for an explanation I didn't want to launch into... Considering my penchant for lengthy technical jargon. . I figured it was okay to give away my old tablet... A good deed point for the day... Not to mention I probably would have just junked it the next time I bothered to clean out the truck. I had a newer one I was using to organize my current list of jobs and money to spare. That thought had put my mind back on work. All in all I had no place to be aside from home, and I figured I could still at least break even for a solid one day behind schedule. It was going to cost me in fuel, but I decided to at least give my contact a call back and let them know I was going to be out there. So that ended my Monday. Again, I thought that would be the last of it. Again, I ended up wrong. “That was awfully nice of you,” Nora commented idly. “Just giving somepony you didn't know... whatever it is you had. A tablet... thing? Whatever that is.” “I was feeling sympathetic,” Gazer waved a hoof. “Like I said, I'm an engineer. So I get bored easily and have an overactive mind. I can't NOT do anything for more than an hour or two before I go stir crazy.” “So she fell for you after that,” Crystal spoke up. “Didn't she?” Gazer blinked at the younger mare as if she'd grown a second horn. “What?!” he asked. “What kind of sugar-coated, nonsensical romance rubbish has Celestia been feeding you peo-eh... ponies?” Fancy Pants stifled a chuckle. “Well,” Crystal cocked her head slightly. “You up and gave her a really nice gift from the sounds of it for no reason.” Gazer blinked, glancing at the younger mare before turning to Fancy Pants. The refined stallion said nothing. Lacking in any commentary to play off, Gazer turned a slack-jawed gape back to Crystal Clear. “You think a mere show of sympathy and a toy is going to do anything to her?” he asked. “Young lady, that is a changeling swarm queen. NASTY is her biological default setting. When I gave her that tablet, I sealed my fate.” It was Thursday again when I got another call to return to the hospital. By that point I was caught up on my work and ready to get a jump on some little tasks I'd been stockpiling. I want to say I was irritated at the idea of returning to the hospital, but to be honest, things had been a little monotonous and the unexpected travel was a nice break. I found out when I got there that there'd been a bit of a snag involving the patient, and the legal department. Christy- she was at least going by a name at that point -didn't exist. No identification, no social security number, no birth certificates, no maiden name, no finger-prints, no dental records... Nothing. Immigration didn't know what to do with her. Aside from the green hair and being completely oblivious to... seemingly everything, she spoke flawlessly without any hint of foreign accents. She was discovered to be fully literate, a fact that ruled out a few other ideas the department had been having about her. And despite some rather bizarre claims the first day or so, she definitely wasn't some mental ward escapee. The doctor that did the mental evaluation concluded she was fully lucid and functional. Without any paperwork or a criminal record to speak of, they had nothing but an injured girl with a blank-slate history to deal with. According to the case worker, recent legislation in the immigration laws put her close enough to deferred action that they were going to try and waive it if they could get someone to sponsor her. That's where I come in of course. See, when I had given her that old tablet on Monday, her nurse had seen me on my way back in with it. That little piece of info had made it back to the case worker, who then did a little digging on my background. To put this in clear perspective, I was self-employed, owned my own chunk of land, and made enough money that I hit a pretty high tax bracket. No arrests, no convictions, impressive reputation in my industry, blah blah blah... Yeah. As far as they were concerned, I was so well off that taking care of an individual on behalf of the state should have been nothing. I don't know if what they did was technically legal, but I doubt that would have mattered since I consented to the matter of my own free will. “Wait...” Crystal Clear interrupted. “The way you've been talking, you make it sound like you were a bit of loner.” “Agreed,” Nora joined the younger mare. “You sound like the mellow type of stallion to me and I doubt you'd just agree to take in a stranger or would fall for anything simple. How did they convince you to do that?” Gazer let out an unsure laugh and leaned back, looking up at the first star in the evening sky. “They set the nurse on me,” he concluded. “Guilt-tripped me without me even realizing it until it was too late. She must have been a pro at it. I got dragged to lunch, and she dissected Chrissy's possible futures for me in casual detail like she'd seen it a hundred times before. By the time the question itself officially came up in my conversation with the case worker, I was practically volunteering. It never occurred to me until later that I'd been played like a piano.” “Awww...” Chrystal Smirked. “The tough little stallion got suckered by a cute face, didn't he?” The drone lidded his eyes on shot Crystal a harsh glare. “It's not polite to tease,” Nora chastised her younger associate. Crystal pouted for a moment in silence before the administrator turned her attention back to the drone. “Do continue,” she nodded. “So yeah...” Gazer began after a brief delay. I got roped into agreeing to essentially put a total stranger up in my own home. In time, I would probably consider that one of the weirder experiences of my life, but nothing held a candle to what came next. No sooner than I filled out some paperwork to establish where 'Christy' would officially be in residence for future legal matters, than did I get informed that she was being discharged. Her nose turned out to be the worst of her injuries despite the massive amount of bruising she'd taken. And given that she was up and moving by this point and clearly lucid, the staff saw no reason to keep her confined to a hospital bed. So the next thing I know, I'm escorting her out to my truck, her head turning this way and that as she examined everything that moved. It felt like I was taking a little kid on a road trip. We load up into my vehicle, and I turn the engine on... It's a diesel engine, not that such a thing means anything to ponies. But I'll just say for the record that it has a very menacing sound for an engine. The moment the starter whirred and the engine growled to life, she bolted. Or rather, she tried to. Apparently the concept of levers being used to open doors from the inside was beyond her, and the windows apparently didn't register as solid objects. Automotive glass- which is what those windows were made of -isn't quite so easy to break. I think I stared at her for a good five seconds while she groaned. For most situations, I would have offered words of sympathy, but my mind was hung up on the absurdity of what she just did. When she caught me staring, she just scowled back. “Buckle up,” I said at a loss for anything else. That bought another five seconds of blank stares before I realized she really didn't have any idea what I meant. So I found myself out and around the passenger side explaining to her in gruesome detail the consequences of going head first through a windshield while I strapped her in. Yes, the truck can go fast enough that if it struck something, you could be thrown from it with enough force to end your life... Messily. I had a perfect driving record, but that didn't mean I was by any means suicidal. I think, at least for a few minutes, that knocked some sense into her. I was able to get us out of the parking lot and onto the highway- which is a large road we have that allows us to travel long distances at high speeds -before I noticed any other strange reactions. Maybe the descriptions I'd used had been a little too much. But I noticed her breathing in the relative silence of the vehicle had become a little... Intense. A glance told me all I needed to know. She had one hand on the 'Oh shi'- Pardon, you don't get that -the 'oh-horseapples-handle' and the other flat against the seat. “You okay?” I'd asked. Another glance when she didn't respond. She was looking at me, but said nothing. “Do you need me to stop the vehicle?” I asked. Again, nothing... I stole another glance before I decided to change lanes to slow down. If she was going to have a panic attack, I wanted to be ready for it at least. “K-Keep... Keep going...” I almost did the opposite when my foot went for the brakes. That was probably the first coherent thing I'd heard from her. “Oh...” I felt the smile on my face when I responded back, almost in a tease. “So you CAN talk.” It was quiet again for a moment. “Yes...” Two coherent statements in under a minute. That must have been a new record. “Well,” I quickly put together a bit of a joke in my head. “That will make things easier. My mind-reading powers aren't what they used to be.” I swear I heard a snort before I caught another glance of her staring at me slack-jawed. Okay, either that joke was just THAT horrible, or she actually believed it. Either way, talking with her had the desired effect. Her hand had come off the handle and her breathing was relaxing. We rode in silence for another few minutes before I spoke again. “Better?” I asked. “Yes...” she said at length. “Good.” It wasn't the most sophisticated conversation I'd ever had. But considering my previous experience had been a wrestling match in a ditch... Well, progress! Now, my wish was that she'd at least come out of her shell a little mo- “Go faster.” Out of nowhere, as it were. I could say I was shocked how she'd recovered from her panic, but I think that's a given. It took me a second to respond. “Pardon?” I asked. “Go, faster.” She spoke in a tone that raised the hair on the back of my neck. It sounded as if she were somehow insulted, or as if I'd just asked the dumbest question in the universe. “Alright...” I shrugged it off as just the way things had been. “Faster it is...” I moved the vehicle into the left lane, and accelerated. Gazer paused, glancing to the side as a changeling worker or warrior, likely Thing One by the way it was huffing slightly and carrying a small black box, trotted up to the group. “Thank you,” the drone nodded as he took the item carefully. “Six hours, right?” The changeling nodded, its wings buzzing in short, rapid bursts as it continued to pant. “Thought so,” Gazer rolled his eyes. Then he pointed with a hoof- “Go join Thing Two in the shade. He's got some water.” “M'Lor- Er... Sir,” the warrior bowed and turned to join his partner. Gazer followed him for a moment before turning back to his guests with a surprised look. “Well,” he commented. “At least one of them is learning... Where was I? Ah-” 'Christy' was like a little kid. After a few minutes of nothing but the rumble of the engine and the whine of the turbocharger, I managed a glance at her to find that, despite some obvious apprehension, she seemed... I don't know. You'd have to ask her what she was thinking, but she had the slightest smile on her face. The kind of smile you see when someone finds something they like. “Faster...” She almost seemed to mouth it. “Faster...” I had parroted. “You sure?” “Yes. Faster.” It sounded more like a command than an agreement, but I was too busy to think much on it. Instead I just took us up a notch on the speedometer. It was faster than we were supposed to be going on that road, but not too fast. “Faster!” I almost jumped when she about shouted in my ear. When I glanced at her next, her eyes were wide open and gleaming like emeralds, and had a smile on her face like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't help but oblige her just that little bit more. We were out of the city and traffic was pretty light. It made me laugh to see her look back and forth with rapid, frantic glances as she tried to get a clear view of the things we passed. “You act like you've never been in a truck before,” I tried another attempt at conversation. This time I was pleasantly surprised when she had more than one or two words prepared. “I... Haven't,” she began. “Nothing at all like this.” That was encouraging, to say the least. “You get used to the whine,” I don't know why I chose that to say out of a million possible options. I wanted to keep her talking, that much I understand. But up to this point, I didn't have much to work with, so it just felt awkward. At that point, I guess I killed the conversation because she said nothing else until we approached one of the small towns around Abilene. I had to slow the vehicle down, and she didn't really like that. “What are you doing?” I almost jumped when she snapped at me. “Why are we slowing down?” “Speed Limit's thirty through this town,” I'd stated as if she understood the term at all. “I have to slow down.” “What?” she asked. “Go faster.” Consider me shocked. She'd gone from timid china-doll to 'Her Imperial Highness' in a split second on me. I almost jammed the throttle on surprised reflex if it weren't for the fact that I had higher facilities reminding me that would have been stupid. “Yeah, not happening,” I replied without so much as a stutter. “I'm not in the mood for a ticket, or smearing us into the side of another car.” “You're disagreeing with me?” she sounded almost shocked if it weren't for a hint of anger I could hear in her tone. “How is that not- Do you know who I am?” “You're a sympathy case with a lot of holes in her history,” I stated point-blank as we slowed down towards the center of down. “Unless there's something you'd like to tell me that you were afraid to tell that case worker at the hospital...” This was certainly more conversation than I'd expected, and not even remotely in the direction I'd wanted. 'Christy' worked her mouth, going so far as to puff up her cheeks for a moment before snorting with irritation. “Go faster!” she reasserted. “We're not going any faster in town,” I stated. This was going to get annoying, fast. “But I want to see how fast this ground machine can go!” a swap of her tactics, I think. “It's DANGEROUS,” I implied. “Or did you forget what I told you earlier?” “But-” she began. “I said, NO,” I dropped my tone for that one. We'd come to a stop at the light in the middle of the town at that point, and I used the opportunity to fix the girl with a firm glare. Strangely enough, her reaction was only a moment of 'almost-fear' followed by a return glare. “I'm ORDERING you to go faster,” she commanded. Yes, COMMANDED. There was no hesitation to it and no lack of surety in her voice. She was speaking with every ounce of authority she could muster. Which hilariously enough, wasn't much considering her circumstances. “Not happening,” I kept my eyes locked on hers. “I'm afraid that the inside of this vehicle is the sovereign territory of the tyrannical dictatorship of Me, Myself, and I. No other authorities are acknowledged within' its boundaries.” On a deliberate thought to add impact to the statement, I turned to face forward. “Have a nice day.” That had the impact of silencing her for all of two seconds before- “Please?” It was as if she'd gone from commanding to pleading like it was part of a list. A really, really short list, but a list. A few red flags were raised in my mind at this behavior. “Would you like to get out and walk?” I threatened as the light went green and we started to roll again. Of course, I was bluffing. Even if she had suddenly turned strangely bossy, I wasn't going to leave her on the side of the road. And I learned she was actually pretty perceptive too... “You're bluffing,” she called it without so much as blinking. “You wouldn't dare.” “Yep,” I nodded as we continued to pick up speed on the way out of the town. She was oblivious to it by now. “But I can always turn us around and head back. Because it sounds to me like there was more to finding you face down in a ditch than you're telling us. And I know a few people who'd be interested to hear what else you might have suddenly remembered.” I was fishing for a response at this point. “Ugh!” she snapped in frustration. “No one listens to me here...” Interesting... “Really?” I asked. “Care to elaborate?” I got nothing but a renewed scowl from her and no further conversation even as the natural course of driving took us up to the speeds she'd wanted previously. And like I'd mentioned, she seemed to be oblivious to it because she no longer looked like she was enjoying the ride. Instead, she ended up occupying herself with the backs of her hands. 'Christy' seemed oddly interested with them as she began to wiggle her fingers both individually and in groups. Before long, I caught glances of her experimentally playing with the passenger side air vent, the glove box latch, and wrapping her fingers around the door-handle... In two deft motions I enabled the passenger child-safety switch and locked the door with a click. “What was that?!” 'Christy' had jumped visibly at the sound. I would have laughed if the mood hadn't been so sour. “Power locks,” I replied. “You're leaning on the door and I don't want you to accidentally fall out.” She glanced at me blankly for a moment before motioning to herself. “I'm tied in place by this... harness,” she pointed out. “Better safe than dead,” I used an old adage in response. That got more silence for a while. My turnoff had come up and we were on a side road before she spoke again. “Where are you taking me?” she asked. “Home,” was my automatic response. “The official at the hospital made it pretty clear you had no place to go. So you'll be staying with me. At least, until they can get your status sorted out and get you on your feet.” “Really?” she asked. My mind red-flagged again. “You're going to take care of me? That's... sweet of you.” I was a bit preoccupied driving, but that tone and mood swing. It sounded so... So... Scripted. There's no better way to describe it. I'm sure you ponies encountered it before. 'That Tone', the one you get from an employee who either is desperately trying to hide the fact they'd rather buck you in the face than serve you, or butter you up in an attempt to weasel a big fat tip out of you. It almost gave me the shivers. What made it worse was the way she shifted into it with absolutely no effort at all. The last time that had happened, I had a woman trying to sucker me out of an hour's pay for a job I didn't like doing in the first place... For the record, I was doing one of the guys I was contracting for a favor on that one. I told him 'never again' after having browbeat the woman into the ground about the expenses I had to deal with in doing her 'easy' repairs. I don't do domestic for a reason... But I'm getting sidetracked... 'Christy' had me more than a might bit suspicious. However, immigration, and possibly the FBI- pardon... Federal Bureau of Investigations, which is a big government criminal investigations department- They couldn't find anything on her in a week and seemed to think she was safe enough to be handed off to someone like me. There was something that just wasn't adding up. And while it's obvious now, if you would have told any of my kind that story at the time, we would have laughed you into the ground. So as I pulled my truck up to my house, I was feeling just a touch wary. Part of me was hoping I was just being paranoid and she was a little off center after a traumatic experience, but the part of me that makes me good at my job just couldn't shake the inconsistencies. I decided to at least trust the judgment of the authorities. If they thought she was safe enough, then I should be okay. Besides, I was big enough to overpower her if she tried anything, and she was still showing a strange-seeming almost-clumsiness when I had taken her out to the truck earlier. “We're here,” I announced, putting the vehicle in park. 'Christy' looked up from her continued preoccupation with her thumb. After a few scrutinizing glances, she replied. “This is your home?” I had more metal and glass in my construction than most people, mainly because I could afford it and I wanted a stronger home. It was one floor, elevated off the ground with wide awnings and a deck all the way around. It provided maximum light and the best view of the land I lived on while still allowing it to stay cool in the summer heat. Too her, it was probably a crazy shiny metal thing. “It's definitely where I sleep at night,” I tried to joke. I wanted at least some kind of light mood back after sour one we'd just been through. “Let's go inside and get something set up for you.” “WAIT!” I jumped, legitimately that time. 'Chrystal' was looking at me with, I couldn't tell if it was fear, or anger. “I'm still trapped in this harness,” she gestured. “Let me out.” I'll admit, that one made me give her a dumb look. “Seriously?” I asked, coming around the passenger side. “You can't find the button?” “Button?” she blinked, looking down. “The... button. Button...” “Orange button, on the buckle,” I provided helpfully. The girl was behaving again like she'd never seen a truck in her life... Of course, something she'd already mentioned she hadn't, but the behavior was still uncanny. Fooling around for several seconds, she examined the harness, trying to find the button I'd told her about until she finally fumbled across it. 'CLICK!' Even from outside, I saw her jump as the shoulder harness whipped free and retract. After a few seconds of just looking panicked, she finally spoke. “Oh... Huh...” “Incredible...” I shook my head. The power lock on the door stymied me for only a second before I just used my key. But I got it open with almost no fuss compared to her actions with the- we call it a seatbelt. Now, when you head back to Canterlot, check out the Royal Chariot Staging Area, if you can get in. My truck is big. The step for the passenger door alone is as high off the ground as the top of a pony's head. To the uninitiated, that can come as a bit of a surprise the first time they go for a ride in it. So it was only by the luck of the fact that I was standing right there that I was able to catch 'Christy' when she came tumbling out of the cabin. “Whoa!” I'd yelped, having gotten under her arms in time. “Watch that step... You okay?” She was breathing in near panic again, and shaking something fierce in my grasp, but she was able to respond politely enough. “Y- Yeah, fine. Thank you.” “You gonna' be okay walking?” I asked. “Fine,” she stated a bit more firmly. So I let her down slowly and she managed to stay on her feet without any fuss. In the process, I noticed the tablet I'd given her forgotten on the seat, so I picked it up to give to her. “Don't forget this.” She practically snatched it out of my grip and hugged it to her chest like it was the only thing in the world that was hers. Which, ironically enough, was probably true. “Like that much?” I asked. I got a scowl in return, but a slight nod. That got a smirk from me, which in turn got a smirk poking back. “At least it's not going to waste then,” I mused, then turned to start unloading my gear. It was mid-afternoon in August and virtually broiling outside. Even in the few seconds we'd been standing there, we were already starting to sweat. And to be honest, she didn't look like she had the constitution for more than about ten minutes. “Best! Food! Ever!” The sound of a shout and giggling cut Gazer's commentary short as they all turned to see who was coming. Chrysalis and Fleur were trotting down from a nearby building. The former was levitating a platter in a green field, a circle of still-steaming slices sitting on it. The latter was trying- and failing -to maintain a neutral face while the queen made display of sinking her fangs into the gooey triangle floating in front of her. “So squeamish, you ponies,” Chrysalis giggled more with strands of cheese bridging the gap between her muzzle and the upheld slice. Upon closer inspection, Nora realized Fleur was looking just the slightest bit off in her color. The reason become more obvious as the smell hit her nostrils. That pizza had everything possible in Equestria on it. Having a job that was effectively the glorified supervisor for sanitation ponies, Lady Stonewall was more intimately acquainted with the smell of rotting garbage than she'd ever admit to anypony. While the pizza that Chrysalis was approaching them with wasn't rotting by any means, the overlap of scents from the sheer amount of mismatched ingredients was no less nauseating to the administrator. Even without the drone's previous warning, she already knew that if the queen made any offers, she would be politely turning them down. “Her baking skills are... improving,” Fleur managed between shallow breaths. “You should, be proud how far she's come since she...” Fleur broke her facade to step away from the offensive odors as she choked and coughed. Chrysalis simply rolled her eyes and joined the group, setting her food in an empty chair. “You stare down a great changeling queen without flinching, dear,” she taunted. “But I load down a pizza and you break faster than any torture I could have ever devised.” Fleur continued coughing, her hacks now sounding very wet, suggesting the smell might have pushed it a little too far this time. “Chrissy,” Gazer interjected. “Even among humans, your choice in pizza toppings would be considered a chemical weapon and banned by the Geneva conventions. And I'm pretty sure that's chicken-anchovy mixed in there among other things- is that POPCORN?” “Stale...” Fleur coughed. Chrysalis looked between the drone and the model. “I didn't want it to go to waste,” she shrugged, taking another bite of the triangular disaster and smirking. Gazer shook his head, his own nose wrinkling at the smell. A moment later he cast an apologetic look at Fancy Pants, who shifted his head every so slightly with a roll of his eyes. “I-” Fleur coughed one last time before she trotted over to rejoin the group. “I do mean it when I say she's improved. Topping selection aside, she's fairly competent around a kitchen. It's a shame she wastes that talent on pizza. She could probably be competitive at the annual baking contest in Canterlot.” “Well,” Chrysalis sat up regally. “I AM a queen.” This statement was punctuated by the string of cheese hanging off one of her fangs. Instantly the group broke out in a fit of laughter that left the taller changeling staring blankly for a few seconds before she remembered to check herself. That ended however when another fit of coughs broke out. This time from Crystal Clear. “Wh-” she hacked as she spun away from the fire. “Whoa- Brutal...” Chrysalis sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before picking her platter up and levitating it a good distance away. Immediately, a worker popped up to take care of it. “Don't go far,” the queen called out, then promptly turned and tore into her current slice with all the aggression of a griffin ripping flesh to hide a less than queenly utterance. “Thank you,” Fleur's eyes were still watering, but she seemed genuinely pleased. “Of course,” Chrysalis shrugged around her bite. “Can't have fireside chat if I scare away all my guests...” She paused to swallow ignoring Fleur's chagrin at her unsightly manners. After a moment to, hilariously enough, dab her muzzle with a napkin, she turned Gazer. “So what did I miss?” “I was just talking about the first time you almost face-planted your way out of my truck,” he shrugged. “I remember that,” Chrysalis frowned. “I didn't quite appreciate not having wings until that happened. I must mention that I was genuinely grateful for the save, troublesome as I was at the time.” “Really?” the drone asked. “I always wondered what you were thinking. Seemed pretty shaken up about such a short fall after all...” “It's not easy to keep up an act like that,” the queen nodded. “Even for a changeling, that transformation was beyond anything I'd ever experienced. No magic, no wings, nothing to work with but the knowledge I could assimilate on the fly. I'm sure you noticed, I was frightened.” “Yeah...” Gazer spoke more to himself before focusing on the queen again. “I did notice that. I was always wondering what was running through your head that could make even the seatbelt scare you.” The queen bit down and inhaled the last of her pizza slice before speaking again. “Would you like to hear my side?” she asked. Gazer quirked an eye, his wings opening and re-stowing in some kind of fidget. “I think we all would,” he admitted. Chrysalis looked around, finding the four ponies giving the queen surprisingly enthusiastic nods. Even Fancy Pants had adjusted his position to be slightly more attentive. “Very well,” she stated while shifting into the most regal posture she could pull off. “I'll just start by admitting something that is never to make it back to the princesses...” Chrysalis took a deep breath. “I was more than just a little frightened, I was terrified.”