Work Crew
A year passed.
Rarely if ever did they ever see other ponies. Only once a month were they let out, walking around dark stone rooms while ponies replaced the straw. They were offered no clothing, no blankets, nothing but loneliness and the vague cycle of day and night visible through their windows.
Drones grew up much faster than queens did, and very soon every other drone dwarfed Chip. This wasn’t to say that they beat her, that she had to struggle for food or anything. The drones understood their place in a swarm that wasn’t a swarm. She watched their tiny hive-mind form, but was unable to take it for herself yet. She could only listen, offer what reassurance she could, promise that one day she would be grown and they could escape.
It wasn’t easy to pass her time. Riley’s swarm worked by giving every drone so much love she became a person in her own right. If that had happened, she could’ve had company, taught them language, made friends. Friends could provide each other love, negating the need for their terrible food.
What kind of place feeds their dead to a crop of changeling drones grown in the dark?
Instead, Chip passed the time trying to interact with the drones as best she could, staying moving in the tiny room that was her kingdom. Chip organized them, using all their straw bedding near the drain as a waste disposal area so they didn’t have to live in their own filth (as much), and using extra water from the fountain to wash. Chip didn’t have the glamor to help these drones grow up into people, but at the very least they could grow up strong and not sickly.
When she wasn’t organizing her drones or plotting an escape, Chip spent her time by the door, listening to every word ever spoken. Learning language wasn’t easy, but she was a newborn, her brain soft and pliable to new information. She listened to the guards with their primitive weapons, listened to the mage unicorn staff, listened to the covert romances in the middle of the night. As her magic developed, she started listening to their emotions too, combining words she overheard with the emotional context behind them.
After their first year in the dark, they were each fitted with work harnesses and moved to an aboveground stable, nearly the same size as the stone one they’d grown up in. At least this one was set up outside, where she could get a good look at where she was and a better idea at what was going on.
The stable was set outside some sort of construction yard, in a city that should’ve been Alexandria. It should’ve been, because the spire of the university made from glittering crystal was a distinct feature on the skyline. Nothing else looked as it should—buildings looked primitive and small, the streets were too shallow and paved over with cobblestone. The city’s high walls were mostly destroyed.
Near them was a quarry, and every day blocks of stone had to be hauled up to where the wall should’ve been. Every day a dozen of them would be chosen, used for the same work that two earth ponies could’ve done. Drones were, after all, smaller than true ponies, and weaker too.
Chip wouldn’t have survived the work, if she ever had to do it. Fortunately for her, one changeling appeared to be much like another to the workmaster. Every morning he would choose the drones closest to the front of the stable, hook them up, and they would go to work. She could always hide near the back, sheltered by the bulk of the drones as they protected their nascent queen.
She could easily imagine what would’ve happened without her. Often the drones returned worked to exhaustion, bearing the injuries of their difficult day. Instead of leaving them to their fate, Chip managed resources carefully, controlling exactly how much each drone ate and which went out for each duty. The workmaster was almost always drunk and never cared to open the stable door for more than himself. He never noticed the way the injured were triaged and the weakest given space to eat more and regain their strength.
She still lost three drones that year, all killed during their work duties. None of it was ever explained to them, or justified in any way. Why bother justifying the death of an animal who couldn’t work? Above all they stayed obedient, working as much as they could, and so she didn’t lose any to beatings or discipline.
When the year was over, Chip found she had a nearly complete understanding of the language of these ponies. She’d grown, though not nearly like the drones. They were fully mature now, about a tenth of the way into their lifespans. She was… well, still a very small child. Maybe five or six, as far as ponies went. Like all changelings who had been born more than once, her mental faculties were always intact from the first. Her body… still had some catching up to do.
She realized something was different the day they weren’t called out to work. Like all of her kind, Chip didn’t sleep much, and she was always awake when the time came for some of her drones to be called out to work, repairing yet another section of the broken wall.
A dozen guards stood outside, surrounding another group of changeling drones. They looked smaller, younger than her own crew, lacking any scars. There were fewer of them too, and no sign of any males or intelligent drones. Just a group of dirty, downtrodden animals, about twenty in number.
“Your next year’s crew,” said a bored-looking pony, the only one holding a clipboard instead of a weapon to keep the drones in line. Not that the guards had very much to do—this lot was even more crushed than her own. “For the sake of the accounts, we need to know how many survived the previous year. You will receive enough new strength to return to a full compliment only.”
“Well, uh…” Their workmaster was a fat, drunk, slothenly earth pony named Chives, at least she thought so. Even as her grasp of mind-magic instinctively grew, and she saw more and more of the minds of those she overheard, she still couldn’t be certain of the meaning of words. She’d learned only by listening and observation, and only had a year of data to work with. “Time’ll be right pleased with me, I think.” He spun around, pointing towards their stable. “I got me twenty-two of my twenty-five. Strongest, healthiest bunch’a workers you ever saw, too.”
The unicorn holding the clipboard was far cleaner and less drunk in his appearance, and he sighed visibly, shaking his head. “That’s impossible, Chives. Previous record-holder was Longbrick, back in ’09, with half. Such a bold-faced lie isn’t going to get you the bonus for keeping your lord’s property.”
“See ‘afore yourself!” hiccupped Chives, gesturing more vigorously.
“Wait here.” The unicorn began walking forward, past the drunk Chives, leaving his guards behind.
Hide me. Chip dropped down off the water-barrel where she’d been crouching, scampering back into the crowd of her resting drones. None of them were asleep, not when they expected Chives to arrive for the day’s work detail. She slipped back into their midst, resting so that only her front would be visible, as though poking out from within the group of the other weakest, most injured of her drones.
A few seconds later, a key rattled in its lock, and the rusty gate swung open. The inspector entered, staring around at the interior in wonder. “Idyia’s bones, he was telling the truth,” he muttered, poking a few of them with magic. The drones snapped to a standing position, ready to receive a harness that wouldn’t come. “Not dead.”
He left, slamming the door closed, his tone disbelieving. “This is… this changes everything, Chives. How in Aethling’s name did you do it?”
“I’m just… I got a touch for ‘em, alright? I know not to spare the lash.”
“Roadapples.” The officer said something else, something too quiet for Chip to hear. She crept back in the gloom, close enough to hear. She couldn’t share her drone’s senses yet. No two-year-old queen had a true swarm.
By the time she made it back, creeping up onto the water-barrel to spy out the open window, she saw the officer handing over a tall stack of notes to Chives.
Despite his apparent intoxication, Chives didn’t drop them. He turned them over in his hooves, face falling when he finally counted. “Where’s the other five hundred? This is… an’ only four hundred marks… I’d earn a hundred for each’en past the ten mark. I knowa rules.”
“We’ll hold the rest in reserve until next year, Chives,” said the officer, gesturing with his hoof. The guards began shoving three of the sorry lot of drones towards the closed gate. “You’re going to be observed, Chives. Watched closely this coming year. We’re going to see exactly what you do. If you’re lying…” The pony made a threatening gesture. “But if you’re not, well… quit the cider while you’re at it, and I’ll get you a promotion. How’s supply officer sound? Second lieutenant Chives, eh? That, and the rest of your bounty from this year.”
“I’ll do it,” the earth pony insisted, no longer sounding so slurred. The promise of wealth seemed to have brought the world into focus for him. Chip was used to the feel of his mind, sluggish and drowning in sorrow. Yet now, something new. Hope? “I won’t lose a single one, Arinna as my witness. The king himself will be praising my name next year. An’ I want what you said about the rest of this year’s bounty in writing, yeah?”
“You can’t read,” the officer scoffed, as the guards opened the stable doors again, tossing the drones in. They didn’t so much as look inside themselves, just slam the door closed and lock it once more.
“I got a girl who can!” Chives argued. “Writing, like you said. Put the, uh… lieutenant bit in there too. And mark it. Sign it real good, Captain Accounts. Real good.”
“Fine.” Accounts rolled his eyes. “I’ll put it in old-tongue and get it notarized, just for you. You’ll have your paper this time tomorrow. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are other details to refresh.” He turned, leading the guards and their chattel away. The captive drones stared longingly back at the shut doors, sensing something within they’d never known, knowing they wouldn’t get it.
Chip wanted to help them, the same way she wanted to help every captive changeling she saw. But what could she do? Her own had barely survived as it was.
She made her way back to her sleeping spot at the back of the room, moving slowly enough that she hoped she wouldn’t be heard. Maybe they wouldn’t have to work today.
The stable doors banged open. Chives made his way in, kicking the newly-arrived drones out of the way. “Worthless beasts!” he scoffed, stumbling through their ranks.
Chip froze where she stood, only halfway down the aisle. Shit. Shit shit shit. At once her drones moved, rushing forward, and standing in tall lines near the entrance, as though assembling for work detail.
For once, their handler wasn’t confused. His mind no longer seemed the least bit intoxicated, as though he’d drawn on his earth pony magic to clear it. But Chives had never shown even a little talent before. How is he doing magic now?
“How the fuck am I supposed to do the impossible again?” Chives roared, shoving more of her drones out of the way. She could feel their anger rising, the desire to attack and kill Chives very strong. It took all her mental persuasion to keep them from it.
No, she pressured. Not yet. We can use this.
He was still moving towards her. Reluctantly, she instructed the drones to move out of the way. She couldn’t make him un-see what he’d seen.
Chip turned around, staring up at the bloated, sweating earth pony baring down on her. She didn’t let herself feel fear—didn’t let her show defiance, either. She kept her expression flat, looking up at him as ambivalently as any farm-animal ought to look.
Chives stopped in his tracks, shocked at the sudden, synchronized movement from her drones. His eyes found her, and she sensed sudden anger from him. “Runt!” he shouted, hooves cracking the stone floor as he stomped towards her. “How are you still alive, little one? Hiding in the back like a coward?” He swung at her with a hoof, hard enough to crack chitin and ruin one of her limbs.
Unlike her changelings, Chip dodged out of the way. She might be young, might be small, might be feeble and half-starved, but she was also a queen. Queens could move with the speed of air, when they wanted to. Faster even than a pegasus, if they had the glamor to burn. Chip had very little glamor to her name, but she had enough for that.
Instead of hitting her, the strike smashed into the ground, sending up chunks of rock. “I’ll kill you!” Chives roared. “More food for the others! A runt like you obviously isn’t pulling its own weight!”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea,” Chip answered, in a rough squeak of a voice sore from disuse.
Instead of charging at her, Chives froze in place, shock mingling with fear. “Y-you… beasts… talk…”
“The others can’t.” Chip met his eyes, speaking calmly and clearly. Her voice didn’t yet possess the strange reverberation queens and older changelings possessed. Didn’t have the right organs for it yet, she suspected. “I can. And I meant it. If you kill me, you’ll break your promise. You said you’d keep all of us alive in exchange for that promotion. If even one of us dies, Accounts will use it as an excuse not to give you the promotion you deserve.”
“H-how…” He took a deep breath, glancing once over his shoulder towards the door.
Chip followed his glance, and whispered a silent order to her drones. Clog the exit. Everyone, get in his way. Everyone stand on that side, but don’t leave. We aren’t escaping. Not yet. Not with chains on their hooves, not with city walls rising around them and guards so close. Chip would not try something like that until she was sure they would succeed.
The move had the desired effect. Anger was replaced completely with fear. Fear of her in particular, as Chives took in the wall of drones who seemed suddenly less pliant than they’d been minutes before.
Well, except for the three new ones. Those hadn’t integrated yet, and cowered in the corners without even trying to join with the others. They were their own unit, still longing for the contact of the rest of their group.
“I’ve heard every word you ever spoke around me, Chives.” Would her words be less frightening as the tiny squeak of a five-year-old child? She had to proceed like they wouldn’t. “I know you’re drowning in gambling debt. I know you have a child somewhere in the city you’re afraid is going to be sold, as soon as the collectors come for you. I know five hundred marks isn’t half of what you owe.
“And let me tell you something else.” She stalked forward towards him, horn glowing faintly green. It was the only magic she could manage yet, but it probably looked imposing. As imposing as she could, anyway. “You aren’t the reason these drones survived this last year, and you know it. Most years, you’ve been penalized for saving so few of us.” She didn’t actually know that, but it sounded like it might be true. Another surge of fear from Chives confirmed it.
“You can’t know that,” he argued, though his voice was very quiet now. Terrified. “All the king’s beasts come from the same cave, you’re all grown together. I can see the brand on your flank, right there. You weren’t even alive for my previous years.”
“No,” she agreed. “I wasn’t. But I know you, Chives. And I want you to know something else, most important of all—you’re doomed without me.” She gestured with one hoof, and as she did all the drones moved to the walls. The gesture hadn’t been the command, that had been mental—the gesture was just so Chives would see. “I kept them alive. I kept them working hard, kept them from getting sick, kept them clean. You would’ve murdered just as many of my sisters this year as before if it wasn’t for me.”
Chives cowered on the ground, covering his face with one hoof. Even prone she was scarcely taller than he was. He was a massive stallion, and not just because he was so portly. Her drones sensed his fear, and for a second it took all her focus to keep them from attacking him. Showing such weakness to a predator was a very bad idea, in particular a group of predators that had been fed meat for all their lives.
“Just tell me what you want, demon! Please, don’t hurt me!”
“I want to help you,” she said, moving one of his legs away. “Our interests can coincide. We can help each other.”
“How?” he demanded, a little anger finding its way back into his tone. “You want me to sell you to a brothel instead? It’s not much better there, honest! I’ve seen the way they treat you… terrible rough stuff they do at some of those places… work crew is better. At least half of you survive each year in most crews… brothels never have any survivors. Ponies…” He shook his head, and there was genuine disgust on his face. “Enjoy making you suffer.”
Chives’s disgust was probably the only thing that saved his life. Chip felt rage swell in her chest, rage that boiled over to the drones, who crowded in close, preparing to attack and then devour the captive prey.
Then she steadied herself, cleared her mind, and dismissed her anger. Chives isn’t responsible for that. I can’t fight for everypony, not right now. “No, not a transfer.” She sat down on her haunches, just out of reach. She was ready to spring out of the way at a moment’s notice, if she needed to. If he tries to hurt me, we’ll have to kill him. Take our chances at any escape. If Chives walked away from this wanting her dead, killing him would be her only chance. If they came back with a dozen armored guards… they were all dead.
“No, nothing like that. I want to help you get out of everything, Chives. I want to help you keep all of us alive for the next year. You could pay off all your debts with a second lieutenant’s salary, I suspect.”
He nodded, eyes widening in even greater surprise. “You want to help me? Help the one who’s… b-beat you? Who has gotten so many of you killed? Why?”
“Because our interests align. I want these drones to survive. You want them to survive too, so you can get your promotion and the bonus for two years in a row. There’s just one thing…” She reached forward suddenly, snatching the crumpled marks from the open pocket of his wrinkled coat, and setting them on the ground in front of her.
“Part of helping you means helping you manage your funds.”
“Y-you can’t.” A faint flicker of anger boiled in his chest, and he clearly debated whether he would attack her for the money.
Before he could resolve the debate, she gestured for more drones to come over. “If you try, we’ll rip it to pieces.”
“Dammit!” Chives shouted, spitting at her. “That money’s worth more than you are, beast!”
“Yes,” Chip agreed. “And that’s why you aren’t going to spend it on booze.”
He slumped back onto the ground, deflating a little.
“Do you have any other money on you now?”
He nodded reluctantly. “Thirteen clips.”
“Right. And how much would it cost for, say… a cloak? About my size?”
“What?”
“A cloak,” she repeated. “I won’t need it once I…” get enough glamour to change shape, she almost said but thought better of it. On the edge of starvation as she was, she knew she didn’t have the strength. Even if she knew the magic was there, felt it right within reach… if she used it, she might start starving right there.
“Well, I’ll need it to start with. You have a child? I can pretend to be that child, but only if people can’t see me.”
“That’s…”
“Brilliant, I know.” She stalked up to him again, baring her tiny sharp teeth. “Listen carefully, Chives. I’m the key to happiness for you. I can get you promoted. I can make your job so easy that you don’t have to swing a whip. But in exchange…” She gestured back at the pile of money sitting in the straw. “You can’t blow all of that now. We’ll need it. Some of it to pay the interest on your loans, to buy you some more time. Some of it to buy supplies, so no more of my sisters will get worked to death. Anything left over after that can go to provide for your child. What was his name?”
“Her name,” Chives corrected. “It’s Blooming Posy.”
“Blooming Posy,” she repeated. “She’s going to be quite surprised with how much better a father you’ll become, Chives. By working with me, she can inherit whatever property you retire on with your officer’s salary, instead of dying as a slave. Believe me, I know that isn’t the life anyone would want for their daughter.”
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If all you do with your slight random advantage is trample others into the dirt, then eventually youll trample the dirt so deep it will return to the slime, and consume you.
Chip, you're working diplomacy for a trader.
Wait a minute, does that mean
RileyChip's hive will get better?That worked out pretty neatly - ponies will probably think Chives' rapid turnaround is because of the promised money and promotion, rather than because he's being managed by a tiny changeling.
The "Time" Chive refers to as a superior couldn't be Adventure Time, could it? It seems about the right time period for her.
Interesting that they're swearing by "Idyia's bones", but that this seems to be still before Alex's return. Did Alex take on an identity that already existed when she took that name, or was the religion of "Arinna and the rest" actually based on Alex and Sunset (making her Arinna, maybe?) and... I'm not sure who else would be "the rest" in that pantheon.
8034015 before this chapter I had never though about it, too. I believe Idya is too Alex just as the Corpse Emperor is to the true Emperor of Mankind. A myth created by desperate and/or corrupt fanatics in the wake of a greater disaster that ruined civilization.
Once she could prove who she is, though, she might wrest control of said church from Charybdis and become the Idya of legend. Akin to the Emperor rising from his golden throne.
This is GREAT stuff! I'm really enjoying myself here. I just love how Chip managed to do so well on her Intimidation Check there. There's just so much of this story to love! Though now I am very curious to see what happens next! <3
Clever girl....
8034678 damnit, it would've happened sooner or later.
Chip's already got that queens way of thinking going it seems. Very clever...
Classy, Queen.