Chapter 10
“So, what am I looking at here?” Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe prompted, as she resisted the urge to poke at the crystals and rocks on display before her.
“These are various types of self-levitating minerals, my Queen,” Honeydew explained excitedly. “This one is referred to as skystone, this one as loftstone, these are cloudstone and cloud crystals respectively, this is stratite, and this is… Oh dear. BEAKER! YOU LEFT YOUR LUNCH ON THE TRAY AGAIN!”
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe blinked, then looked up. Sure enough, Honeydew’s assistant was floating around near the ceiling of the cavernous laboratory, tumbling through the air as if he were weightless.
“Self-levitating, you say.”
“Yes, my Queen. Normally these minerals are naturally buoyant in the air and will drift around with the wind, although some formations will hold a static position in the sky.”
“I notice that, other than the sample your assistant apparently ate, none of these are floating.”
“Oh, that’s the fascinating bit, my Queen! Apparently the self-levitation is a naturally occurring form of expressed magic! Which, as you should know, the anti-magic properties of your throne automatically absorb unless they originate from a changeling. However, with even just a little infusion of changeling magic, any one of these mineral samples will levitate for hours at a time! Think of the possibilities! We could design our airships to do without those pesky envelopes!”
“And yet Equestria continues to use envelopes for their airships, despite the fact that a third of their population could easily gain access to these rocks.”
“My Queen, I feel that I should point out that some of these minerals were extracted from Equestrian airships.”
“Which, no doubt, also had envelopes.”
“Well… Yes, my Queen.” Honeydew admitted.
“And where did the samples that were not previously part of an airship come from?”
“Oh, that’s easy, my Queen! There’s an area not too far from here to the west where floating islands fall after drifting into the Badlands from over the Macintosh Hills! It’s been very convenient to gather samples to study since the islands tend to break apart on hitting the ground!”
“Honeydew.”
“Yes, my Queen?”
“You may test small craft outfitted with these minerals, but our primary airships will be designed to be fully supported by envelopes whether or not you succeed in designing or replicating a system that can work without an envelope. One will serve as the back-up to the other.”
“As you command, my Queen,” Honeydew conceded, trying not to sound disappointed. Well, at least she got the go-ahead to make small craft without those pesky ropes and envelopes that Beaker kept getting tangled up in. She supposed that would have to do.
*O o O o O*
Moonbeam found that she was actually starting to get used to the bug-pony appearance of the changelings, and was even beginning to be able to tell some of them apart as the days went by. Not that she knew more than a few of their names, as Captain Mayhem’s company was just a bit too large for her to have memorised them all just yet, but they had a mix of the professionalism she expected soldiers to have and the casual comradery (and occasional interpersonal hazing) she had seen among various cliques back at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.
And, unlike those cliques, the changelings were apparently willing to push a bit further past her shyness to include her in whatever they were doing.
“No, Flake, that particular type of cave lichen isn’t edible,” Waterbug sighed in exasperation as Flake started scraping some of the glowing green substance off of the walls.”
“But ponies eat this stuff,” Flake responded, “I heard Vertex and Frons talking about it back at the hive.”
“It’s a mildly toxic hallucinogen with little nutritional value. If we feed this to Moonbeam, she’s going to be tripping for days and end up hungrier than before she ate it. We need to gather the more stringy lichen.”
“Are you sure? It doesn’t glow nearly as much, and at least the stuff I’ve been gathering is green. Ponies eat green.”
“Argh… Hey, Moonbeam, you do have at least some survival skills right? Either knowledge or spells that help you determine what is safe for you to eat?”
“Ah, yes?” Moonbeam replied. “I mean, yes, I do. On both counts. Both knowledge and spells.” She appreciated that the changelings were helping her gather more food for herself, but she kind of hoped that the other groups that were also doing so were more like Waterbug than Flake, as Waterbug was at least keeping the fact that she was a pony and not a changeling in mind. She wasn’t sure what changelings ate, and given their prominent fangs, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to know. Not that ponies couldn’t eat meat, far from it, but few chose to do so, and even then it tended to be more because of health reasons due to either living or working in high altitude conditions where the air was naturally harder to breathe.
Her diet back when she was attending Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns had included far more fish, poultry, and squirrel than she was strictly comfortable with. Give her a lowland diet any day, with plenty of grains, fruits, veggies, and maybe the occasional serving of pork, ham, or bacon. Because at least pigs weren’t cute! Oh those poor campus squirrels...
“So which of these lichen are safe for you to eat?”
“I bet it’s the green ones!” Flake interjected. “They have a nice healthy glow!”
“Actually, Waterbug is right about those,” Moonbeam pointed out, then hastily spoke up again as Flake deflated. “Although they do have some medicinal uses! I just wouldn’t want to eat any of it unless I needed to, and even then only in very small amounts,” she elaborated while holding her forehooves so close together in front of her as to almost be touching.
“Oh,” Flake shook off his despondency, dumped his bucket, and then started scraping the stringy lichen into it.
Only to have Waterbug knock the bucket out of his hooves.
“Dumb-ass! Clean the bucket and your hooves first!”
Moonbeam shook her head and went back to examining the various lichen, using her magic to pluck the types she knew were edible and placing them in her saddlebag for later. Sure, it might not be much social interaction, but it was still more than she had back in Equestria, and overall she was just happy to be included in even this much.
“AAHHH! DON’T LICK THEM CLEAN, YOU IDIOT!”
Moonbeam and Waterbug dropped everything and grabbed Flake in their magic, galloping as fast as they dared all the way back to the main base camp.
“Wheeeeeee!”
Moonbeam wasn’t certain whether or not Waterbug was going to murder Flake after this, but she was going to very politely suggest to the captain that the two be separated for a while...
*O o O o O*
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe felt a small surge of pride as she observed the testing of the very first airship constructed completely by and for changelings. Sure, the undercarriage was more of a dinghy, the propellers were hoof operated, there were no sails, and no place to install any sort of magically self-levitating rock, but it was all theirs from start to finish. All in superlight black resin shaped into a vague bug-like form, slung under a green silk envelope that was doing its job adequately, and crewed by three changelings who at least seemed to know what they were doing.
It was probably a plus that Beaker was still drifting around weightlessly back in the lab the magic rocks were in.
“This is wonderful, my Queen!” Honeydew exclaimed, ecstatic that the latest test was going flawlessly while her Queen was here to see it. The first few test flights hadn’t done so well. Nothing serious, just some minor incidents and maybe a crash or two, but after a few adjustments and changing up the participants for some who had actually served on forgein airships before, many of these issues seemed to have been resolved.
“Who designed the aesthetic?” Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe asked as the tiny airship was put through its paces.
“That would be Elytra, my Queen. She has been working with Tarsal, who has become very familiar with the superstructure of various airships we have available.”
“I see.”
“Er… Do you disapprove, my Queen? I could have Elytra transferred to a different project...”
“No, leave her in place. I wish to see where she is going with this style. She, and any other changeling who wishes to add stylistic flair to any proof of concept designs may do so, as long as the final result remains functional and competitive.”
“Competitive, my Queen?”
“I’ll have someling bring you a rundown of airship types and functions. If we are going to explore this field, I want us to do well. I…” Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe blinked and tilted her head as she returned her full attention to the test. “Did the test ship just vanish?”
“Aha! I see they got the stealth system to work! Good! Good!”
“Very impressive. What method are you using?”
“I believe that this attempt involves inducing a pigmentation shift in the silk and resin. As you can see, or perhaps not see, it is surprisingly effective for such a low magic method. It helps when most of the materials involved are produced by changelings.”
“Very nice. I approve.” Whatevra finally caught sight of the camouflaged airship, almost invisible against the same color sky. Not perfect, and she was sure that some pegasi and griffons would be able to spot this method with greater ease, but the idea had merit even if the advantage wasn’t absolute.
And then the tiny airship reverted to full visibility and started to drift.
“Oh dear,” Honeydew observed, “it appears that the crew exhausted themselves maintaining the effect.”
“Honeydew.”
“Yes, my Queen?”
“A stealth system shouldn’t have a detrimental effect on the health of the crew. Or passengers. Fix it.”
“Yes, my Queen!”
*O o O o O*
Moth and Gypsie looked up as Waterbug and the pony, Moonbeam, rushed into the camp’s medical station carrying Flake between them in their magic. Flake, for his part, was drooling and radiating awe and excitement in equal measure. “What did Flake do now?” Moth asked as the two set Flake on the cot.
“He licked some mildly toxic hallucinogenic cave lichen,” Waterbug reported.
“It was green and glowy and tasted like plaid!” Flake added with enthusiasm as he stared vaguely in Moth’s general direction.
“How much did he lick?” Gypsie asked as she and Moth started examining their patient.
“At least five times the recommended safe dose mentioned in the Equestrian Field Medicine Journal,” Moonbeam stated. “At least for a standard poniform of his approximate mass. I don’t know if any of that applies to changelings.”
“Gypsie, break out the medical gel, we’re going to do an emergency flood and purge. Waterbug, take Moonbeam and report to Captain Mayhem. Flake, get back down and stay put, or Gypsie and I will bucking tie you to that cot!”
“Ooh, kinky!”
“Flake, I know for a fact that you don’t even know what that means,” Moth retorted.
“Sure I do! It means tied up, or bent out of shape, or something like that, right?”
“How about you lay down, get some rest while Gypsie is getting the medical gel, and I’ll tell you… basically never.”
“Okay!”
O o O o O
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe found Humblebee waiting for her atop the hivespire upon her return to Jasper. Dismissing her escort, she turned her attention to her advisor. “Anything to report, Humblebee?” she asked as she headed inside.
“Yes, my Queen. Captain Mayhem has requested permission to return to the hive for a few days in order to clear up some issues.”
“Anything immediately outstanding that might warrant an early return at this point?” Whatevra asked. The expedition had been going fairly well to date, as far as she knew, and even the impromptu introduction of an actual pony guide into the unit earlier in the week hadn’t prompted Mayhem to ask to return.
“Captain Mayhem mentioned something about acquiring some pony specific supplies if one was going to continue being part of the expedition. Apparently they need to resupply their medical gel as well. On a related note, I believe there was also some mention that it might be a good idea to pod Flake for the safety and sanity of everyling involved.”
“Give the go-ahead. I’ve been wanting to meet Moonbeam anyway, and this is as good an opportunity to do so as any.”
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Yay.
Well damn, I had forgot that this story existed ! And frankly, I'm quite happy to see it isn't abandoned because it really is quite good and fun, which is everything a comedic fic could ask for, so, congrats !
Also, a Changeling that's high out of its mind is both the funniest and the most terrifying thing ever.
Flake, you absolute brick.
Enjoying the story, and I'm interested to see how pony/changeling relations will go in the future!
Squirrel? Exactly how expensive is the school meal plan at Gifted Unicorns, if the student body is trapping and eating fried squirrel to keep from starving?
Also, make a note: import top ramen through next portal to Equestria. I sense a great need!
Why not?
It would save on magic and crew
10526447
Moonbeam is used to a lowland diet, and was too shy to ask around how the locals or other students sourced the extra proteins required for a high altitude diet in Canterlot.
Not that she was the only student to have ended up supplementing their diet with squirrels, but most of them actually simply either ask around for where the appropriate shops are, or get directed to them by the school nurse after they get sick the first time because they aren't able to process enough oxygen.
I wonder how moonbeam will react to the queen? Maybe she could give some advise in regards to the airship systems?
Self levitating rocks... It does sound like something very useful for airships, but their sources for obtaining them are from floating islands that crashed and other airships that didn't rely on them in the first place. Why did the islands crash? Why don't the equestrian airships rely on them?
All signs so far point to them being just plain unreliable. Maybe they have a limit to how long they can sustain levitation before giving out. Or maybe they draw magic from around themselves for power, and magic is thinner in some places than others. If it's the latter, it shouldn't be an issue if the thin magic areas can be mapped or otherwise detected.
served on forgein airships before - served on foreign airships before
Ah, I'm glad to see this story again! There really aren't that many Changeling stories out there that don't go down the grim route. The levity this story brings is much appreciated.
Also, I'm looking forward to seeing what Moonbeam thinks of the Changeling Queen.
10526501
The floating islands that Honeydew said her rock samples were from crashed because they drifted into the giant anti-magic field over the Badlands that the changeling throne is still putting out.
10526524
That just leaves the question of why Equestrian airships don't rely on them.
Though I suppose it's possible that they just can't access enough to float a full size ship, but having some helps more than none at all.
Other than something like that, I just can't see why it wouldn't be the primary means of lift if it was reliable.
Oh gods this chapter was a blast to read!
Honeydew: "hmm blast you say..."
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe: *sprays Honeydew with a spray bottle* "No, no more explosions!"
Beaker: "Mimimimimi!"
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe: *looks to Beaker then to Honeydew* "Honeydew?"
Honeydew: "Yes my Queen?"
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe: "I shall be confiscating all your explosives"
Honeydew: *pouts* "Killjoy..."
Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe: "What was that?"
Honeydew: "Nothing my Queen"
LOL sorry couldnt resist
10526451
Because disrupting magic is easier than disrupting physics. You don’t want to be one ‘Dispel Magic’ from plummeting into the ground if you can avoid it.
Plus if the enemy think you are being held up by a balloon they will waste time and effort disabling it only to find you have backup levitation.
10526533 Equestrian airships already have some sort of suplementary lift system. They must do, based simply on the relative size of the envelopes and gondolas. Even if the envelopes were filled with vacuum, it still wouldn't be enough lift to support them. Theoretically, you could have some dense gas such as argon supercharged with a reverse gravity spell as the lifting gas, but even that might not be enough.
My headcanon that the hull has a similar enchantment to whatever allows flying chariots and carts to fly after pegasi pulling them, rather than hanging down like giant weights. It's effective weight is adjusted fto be just above zero, or it is 'neutrally buoyant', so the envelope only has to lift the mass of the passengers and cargo. There must also be some measure of adjustability since we don't see them dumping ballast when they take on passengers.
As to why they even have an envelope when they could theoretically create an all magic flying ship? Possibly tradition, or a holdover safety regulation. Consider the life jackets on a modern aircraft. The chances that they'll ever be useful, that a crash in the water will actually be soft enough to let people survive is very low, but every flight still has them.
10526501
10526524
Where's Bullwinkle with a ship's wheel when you need him?
10526533
I would suggest it's because of precisely that - large fields of otherwise undetectable anti-magic.
Oh lord... Changeling drones are like children...
10526618
Modern aircraft don't have life jackets. The seat cushion is the flotation device. As for Equestrian airships, I'd have to assume they have A, discovered a gas that is ultra-light while still providing counter pressure to the canopy, or B, they may even be stuffing them with cloud material. No, a vacuum isn't going to work because it doesn't displace air. In order to create a vacuum within a canopy, the canopy must be capable of withstanding the full weight of the atmosphere around and above it. If a simple vacuum could actually make things lighter than air then lightbulbs would float around like balloons. Gasses like hydrogen and helium were used because when it fills a void it expands outward at a rate that either roughly matches the outside pressure or pushes back at a greater pressure. Even so, the gasbags can not be filled past the point where it would pop.
10526618
Pretty much this. The envelopes are a supplementary lift system, a safety redundancy, and a big, easy to see, obvious target.
There are other naturally occurring self-levitating materials on Gaia as well, such as loftwood and sky jellies (just to name two examples), but pretty much every such material has its own issues to work around, whether it be scarcity, the hazards involved in gathering them, or the fact that sky jellies are pretty much what you'd expect airborne jellyfish to be...
Okay, so... is Queen Whatevra going somewhere with all this? Or is she just messing around?
10526718
Long term, Whatevra would like to normalize relations between Gandahar and its most powerful close neighbor, Equestria.
Longer term, she'd like to restore Gandahar and bring it out of the gradual state of decline that it has suffered over the past several thousand years.
There are also other issues that will be addressed as they come up.
Short term? Find out if there is still a horde of giant, changeling eating spiders sealed away somewhere in the Umbradepths beneath Gandahar, and if so, resolve that issue before said existential threat inevitably breaks out of its time-release seal.
Because the world Equestria is on seems to run on tropes, and Queen Whatevra Wa'Nabe recognizes a Sealed Evil In A Can situation when she hears one.
Ah yes, the continued adventures and headaches of Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabe, always a fun read
Oh noce we are bsck on our normal Show of Queen Whatevra Wa'Nabe doing best as she can While building strongest Force that Bad Lands has seen ever....and while doing Basic comedy by misunderstanding
10526696
Thank you for the explanation. It's just the whole aeronautical enterprise came outta left field for me... but maybe I'm just not paying enough attention.
10526545
i've been re-reading that crazy "MLP time loops"...in those stories, Trixie REALLY goes overboard with explosives.
Beaker and Honeydew are so on point I kept accidentally picturing muppets instead of changelings.
Dang it I ran out of chapters
10526802
ditto
I imagine the self levitating minerals would be great for a small observation craft with the (hopefully enhanced) stealth system.
(Aha! The Changelings have discovered stealth airships! Kind of! Sort of! It's a start dang it!
Anyways, very nice to see the Queen pushing the Changelings forth to further advancement! May the rise of the great Changeling empire continue! Mwahahahahaha! ... I mean, nice Changeling nation... She's going for a paragon route.)
Hmmm... he was not completely wrong in that regard.
10526662
Or like b1 droids from Star Wars clone wars
Yay more good Lings!!
Your writing is still so interesting since I first started reading your stuff, which sounds longer than it is (only about a year or so now) but even the older stories or ones I normally wouldn't read are great
10526681 You could have a vacuum with a rigid envelope, capable of withstanding external atmospheric pressure. Unfortunately a shell strong enough to support that much pressure differential in compression would be far heavier than the mass of air the vacuum would displace. However, it was meant as a limiting case, not a suggestion for an actual concept.
Maybe I didn't make that clear, though I didn't think I needed to. So I will. What I meant to say was that even if the envelope contained nothing or material with zero mass and was effectively providing buoyancy equivalent to the full mass of air it was displacing, it would still not produce enough lift to support the gondolas we've seen. The lifting gas would have to have negative mass to provide enough lift.
Though there is a special case that could be used to create a vacuum balloon. If the envelope had fine superconducting cables running through it and sufficient current was passed through them, the magnetic fields could provide active support, and produce an envelope that was rigid, even with vacuum inside. Though the cables and power source would have to be very light.
Interesting as always.
10527065
{Roger Roger!}
static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/7/7b/Roger-Droidography.png/revision/latest?cb=20181120054640
The queen might want to tell Honeydew to keep the use of hydrogen as much out of the equation as possible. Great lifting gas very available....very very explosive if things go wrong.
Fun!
Nice to see a new chapter, been waiting for one.
Now for the highlights;
Well, I see a number of possibles... and why would the very first thing my mind be a weapon of some sort?!
What the hay brain?!
The Queen does have a good point there.
Honeydew, small craft are cheap, easy to build, and don't make as big of a mess if something goes wrong. I know it's not what you expected, but one must start somewhere.
Seems Moonbeam is fitting in well.
Why do I have the feeling that type of lichen is their version of LSD.
Just be thankful you didn't have to eat mice or rats Moonbeam, and as for Ponies eating meat I guess it's more of a once in awhile thing or when needed. Funny enough that is the same thought process in my own stories.
Why do I hear Red Foreman's voice from the "That's 70 show"?
.......... Moonbeam sweetie, were you something of an Outcast in school? If so then I know your pain.
Definitely heard Red's voice there, and now we wait for the "hoof in flank" jokes.
Yeah... that might be a good idea.
Like I said, one must start somewhere.
That's the point of prototypes, to work out the issues.
Good to see the Queen is being smart about this and I'm all for variants.
Well... things are getting interesting, though for some reason I pictured the Stealth Ship from "The Expanse" while I was reading that.
Indeed, as there might be some cases were the ship has to stay cloaked for long periods of time and the crew need to stay healthy for it to work.
The tone I heard sounded like he had dealt with this sort of thing far too often.
.................................................................................................. What?
He's not wrong on that.
That would be a good idea.
Now for the two to met face-to-face.
10527226
On that we are agreed.
Lmao, the don't lick them clean part had me in stitches
10526430
Yay squared!
10527294
Presumably because LSD comes from a type of fungus and lichen is a compound organism made partially out of fungus. Also because of the listed symptoms largely matching.
Naming a Changeling, Elytra is like naming a Pegasus, Wings.
And I love it.
10526681
Cloud stuffed would make a weirdly canonical amount of sense given the weight capacity we've seen of cloud based pegasus structures.
Yay for airship!
But I don't think doing both is an good idea. Because then you have the weight of the gems (I assume those gems are heavy?) and the size of the envelope at the same time.
If you are worried about an backup better invest in an parachute to allow an save landing.
But maybe she will have the same thought later after seeing the small version.
Good points.
Ponies do eat greens, and glowing stuff is always good (a glowing belly helps against getting lost in the dark tunnels).
Good chapter!
I enjoyed reading it.
Small suggestion: whenever you do an time jump consider hinting how long time had passed.
For instance, how long between the last and second-last paragraph? It could be a few days, it could be several months...
Stealth tech with Shapeshifters? That one badass tactical advanced thing to use in the future.
I wonder if Moonbeam might be waaay happyer here than in Equestria ones she lived in Gandahar for a wile.
Huh... Maybe the Changelings could sell the glowing stuff in small numbers. Big enough to have a good time but small enough so they dont trip for more than a few hour or a day. Should generate a nice income.
Wile Airships are a great idea for transport of personal and materials i wonder if the should first cover basics. Changelings in this age seem to be very low tech
10526741
She’s genre savvy!