In Service to the Queen

by vger

Chapter 2

The journey from the hive was uneventful, but what can I really expect from walking through what is essentially a desert, the sun came up and set on schedule, it got a little hot in the middle, not much more to say really.

All this time did give me a chance to think about Canterlot, no Changeling had yet been there, with it being home to the ruling Alicorn, Celestia, security will be very tight and up until now the risk of discovery had far outweighed the value of attempting to infiltrate Canterlot. That is until now, maybe that was why the Queen gave me my orders personally, this mission is too important and 'need to know' that the normal chain of command had to be bypassed. This also goes a way to explain why my orders were so vague, if I'm captured while trying to get in then I can't tell them what I'm doing there. I could however, give away the position of the Hive which would put our whole race in danger, not that I'd give up such information; I'd die first before betraying the Hive.

This line of thinking did start to depress me after a while, so I decided to see if learning more about where I'm going would help calm my nerves, taking the Foal's guide to Canterlot out of my saddle bag and using my magic to hold it open in front of me while walking I started to read.

After the first few pages I closed the book and shoved it back in my bag with disgust. What a load of rubbish, the book made this city sound like an open house where anyone could come and go freely, yes, I could just see the capital, home of the government and it's ruler, letting anyone wander in and out as they pleased. Obviously this is some sort of propaganda tool to brainwash young minds into thinking they lived in a fair and open society.

Although it did have a brief section on the history of the city, supposedly it had been founded by unicorns. Now that may be another lie, but it sounds plausible only the unicorn race would be so stuck up about themselves that they would insist one of their cities would host the nation's ruler.

This little nugget of potentially useful information gives me a good starting point, I'm going to have to work up a good persona to use while in Canterlot and I might as well start with a unicorn, I'll blend in better with the locals and I will be able to use my telekinetic magic in the open without drawing too much attention to myself. Worst comes to worst and the locals aren't all unicorns then at least I can still use magic openly until I have an opportunity to change my skin.

I reach the foothills that surround Dodge Junction a little after dawn, from here it's only a few hours walk from the centre of the ramshackle settlement where I will begin the next part of my journey the train station. Looking around I find a familiar grouping of rocks from the last time I was here and walk twenty paces to the right where I find a small depression in the ground. A quick look around confirms I'm still alone and a few minutes of digging latter and I find a long mucky light brown coat with a matching Stetson wrapped up in the coat. I do another check to make sure no pony had wandered into sight during my digging, once again still all clear. I change my skin, this time to a tan earth pony with a pickaxe for a cutie mark and a long tangled maim. I really do hate the maim of this form, but it adds to the scruffy traveller look I'm going for, I don the hat and jacket and continue towards town.

It's mid-morning by the time I reach town, most ponies seem to be going about their business, I've worn this skin around here a few times so the locals will be familiar enough with me that they pay me no attention, at least that's the idea. Better a regular passing through than a new pony each time, ponies would get suspicious of where all these other ponies were coming from after a while.

Reaching the station I walk in the main entrance and trot over to the timetable taking up half of one wall next to the ticket booth. A few minutes study tells me there's train to Canterlot leaving in a few hours, but going directly to my final destination is out of the question. I need to change my skin at some point during the trip to Canterlot and someone might notice a Pony getting off that didn't get on. plus if I am captured I don't want to leave a trail leading back to Dodge Junction and inevitably the Hive.

Another quick scan of the timetable finds me a train to Las Pegasus leaving in half an hour, it's a little out of the way, but it gives me a neutral point to stow my current clothes and put on my intended skin. I walk up to the ticket booth and get a ticket to Las Pegasus, the attendant obliges and I fish around in my bag for the correct number of bits, this is so much easier using magic, but I mustn’t break character.

Now that is sorted I have some time before the train arrives, I could just sit in the station and wait, but ponies being social creatures to blend in it was better for me to be social. So I leave the station and make my way across the dirt street to the local tavern, which looks to be nice and quiet.

Upon entering through the double swing doors I'm gratified to find that the tavern is as empty as I expected, currently between the breakfast and lunch time rush. I walk up to the bar which takes up one wall, the rest of the place filled with tables, chairs and a small piano in one corner. Clambering carefully onto a bar stool; after all my expeditions I still have difficulty using seats, especially bar stools. Seats have always baffled me as they do not seem to have been designed to be comfortable to ponies, but what would I know, there are no seats in the Hive.

After taking a moment to confirm that I have secured myself on the bar stool, I cough a little to draw the attention of the owner, Keep, who up until then had been busy cleaning behind the bar.

“Good morning Pick, I haven't seen you about these parts for a while.”

He's right, of course the last time I was in here would be about three months ago just as I was leaving on my last expedition. Which turned out to be a complete waste of time, maybe that's why I had been selected for this mission, I was deemed as expendable if I was captured, wow now that's depressing.

“True, prospecting has kept me very busy lately, I discovered a cavern about a month ago, which turned out to be an excellent source of pyrite.”

Keep's eyes start to glaze over as I talk about my manufactured profession, just the desired effect I intended, make your stories as boring as possible so ponies lose interest in you after the first sentence.

To be fair to Keep he tries to sound interested by piping in with, “Sounds expensive.”

“No, not really, it's actually pretty much worthless, but I had thought that their would be something else down their, in the end I didn't find anything of note.”

“Pity, well, maybe you'll have more luck in the future.”

“That's why I'm out here.” Prospecting had always seemed like a good cover for this place, with my comings and goings broken up by months at a time a nomadic life style where I could be gone at a dig site for long periods of time seemed to fit quite well, although the studying up with the few Geology books the Hive had pulled together had taken some time.

“Well, I'm afraid your only going to find food and drink in here, so what would you like.” And there is the gentle segue into something Keep is more comfortable with selling sustenance.

I glance at the blackboard behind the bar showing what Keep has on tap, “Hmm, I'll go for the White Tail apple cider.” I'd developed a liking for it while in the world away from the Hive, certainly we don't have anything that comes close to it within the Hive.

“You know we have some of this years Sweet Apple Acres fresh in, not very easy to get a hold of.” I pretend to think for a second, Keep to his credit is trying to up sell me.

“I'll just stick with the White Tail, Sweet Apple Acres is a bit too tart for my tastes.” At least that's what I'd heard a Pony say at a bar in Manehattan.

“Fair enough,” Keep always gave up on up selling ponies too easily in my opinion, he was there to make money selling people drinks and food so why not push the more expensive stuff harder? “So where are you off to this time?” Now begins the polite conversation portion of the interaction.

“Las Pegasus, for a small family gathering, then I might spend some time prospecting San Palomino.” A bit of truth hidden in a lie helps make it more believable.

“Sounds nice.” Most of Keep's concentration dedicated to pouring my drink. Now it's my turn to ask a polite question.

“So how's things on your end.”

“Same old, same old, the tavern keeps me busy, despite appearances to the contrary. Not much exciting happening out here,” Keep finishes pouring my drink and puts it down in front of me while saying, “well, except for that whole nightmare moon thing a few weeks back, but that was everywhere”

“Huh?” I say before I can catch myself, if it's something that happened everywhere, then I should have known about already.

“When the sun didn't come up all day? I know you spend most of your time in caves, but you must have noticed?” This is the first I'm hearing of this, while I was no great fan of the sun, far too bright. All Changeling’s knew that the ruler of Equestria raised the sun, always has done and always will do. For the sun not to have come up then Celestia must have had to have been disposed of somehow, but that's impossible, she is a creature of infinite power which no one can match, part of the reason why no Changeling had ever been sent to Canterlot, the last thing you want to do is to bring down the wrath of a god.

This has to be a trick, Keep must be trying to make a joke, or maybe my identity has been compromised and he's trying to draw me into confirming his lie in some sort of convoluted scheme that ends up with me being hung in the town square at noon.

I don't sense any deception from him, though, I decide to play it safe and plead ignorance.

“I'm sorry I've no idea what you're talking about, now I've spent several days at a time underground exploring caverns these last few weeks, but the sun has always risen I'm sure of it!” There that provides me with a decent excuse if such a thing happened that ties in nicely with my earlier lie, and lays out my position which was the commonly held opinion of ponies the last time I was here.

“You must of missed it then, I didn't know what was happening when it did, but it was all in the papers a few days later.” I sit there in silence narrowing the eyes in a distrust.

“Look, if you don't believe me, that's fine, but you really should pick up a newspaper and catch up.”

I take a sip of my drink in response enjoying the sweet flavor, a nice change from what was available in the Hive. I still don't believe Keep but I can't sense any dishonesty from him, just a bit of frustration which could be down to my refusal to believe him.

“Okay, so let's suppose for a second what you're saying is true, what happened? Celestia decided to take the day off?”

“No, don't be ridiculous.”

“Says the pony trying to convince me that the sun didn't come up one day.” I snap off in quick response, I get a flash of anger and a glare aimed in my direction, he really does believe this happened.

“Nightmare Moon returned and banished Celestia, but a group of ponies from Ponyville managed to track down the elements of harmony and defeated Nightmare Moon bringing back Celestia.”

I stare back at him blankly, never had I heard something so ridiculous before in my life it sounds like story for little foals, be good or Nightmare Moon will take the sun away. I want to start laughing, but I can't, for whatever reason Keep seems to believe this happened. Maybe it was some sort of delusion. In the end, I decide on the best course of action I take another sip of my drink.

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, heck I had a hard time believing it myself until my Aunt in Ponyville confirmed it. At the very least grab yourself a paper and see for yourself.” I take a minute to consider what he's said carefully turning over the idea in my head, it still sounds crazy, whichever way I look at it but Keep believes it happened, and he has never lied to me before.

“Alight, fine, I'll pick up a paper, if I didn't know any better I'd be thinking that your a newsagent and a barman.” At that moment I hear the screeching of metal on metal as a train pulls into a station, a quick glance at the clock behind the bar confirms that it should be my train. I tip the glass up emptying its contents down my throat, put it back on the bar and get some bits out to pay for the drink.

“Well, that's my train, I'll see you the next time I'm in town.” I lie, after a story like that I'm not sure if I should return here, at the very least, not in this skin.

“Safe journey.” Keep responds almost automatically the same as always, I carefully get down from the bar stool, always harder than getting on, and make my way across the street to the station.

Before boarding the train though I take Keep's advice and buy a recent newspaper from the kiosk at the station, at the very least it should give me some up to date information on the goings on in Equestria.

I board the train without incident, and as the train sets off out of the station, I find myself a seat in a quiet corner of a coach and settle down for some reading.

Author's Note:

I'm a bit surprised I managed to pull this chapter together so quickly, the first chapter took me two weeks and three re-writes. Hopefully I haven't missed anything in my checking. Oh and thanks to everyone who has liked the story so far it's good to see people can actually tolerate my writing. Next chapter should be up in a week or so.

16/12/14 - updated improving the punctuation, hopefully I caught everything.

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