156, 387: 8
They brought these accursed THINGS...
The Tantabus growls as it senses a group of four changeling drones get dragged into its world like the others before them, and their reality shifts into a dark, dank, roughly dug underground tunnel with one dead end and a cave-in on the other.
Claustrophobic, with almost nonexistent air flow, and deathly silent. Sane creatures never last more than a few hours in grim circumstances like-
“OH MY HOLES, IT’S TOTALLY LIKE BACK HOME!”
“AND NO HIGH RANKS IN SIGHT!”
“PLUS NO ORDERS!”
“WOOOOO, PARTYYYYY!”
“DIGGY, DIGGY, DIGGY!”
“BONUS POINTS FOR THE FIRST SHINY!”
Of course, Tantabus can ‘see’ perfectly within the section of the dreamscape its focus is on, but in this instance, seeing does not immediately equal believing.
What…?
The creature of nightmares can only stare as the drones begin effortlessly dismantling the walls of the tunnel like termites inside a block of wood, forcing Tantabus to spend its focus to expand this particular segment of dreamscape reality.
You will NOT escape.
It learned its lesson last time and, instead of trying to scare the drones on its own, it reaches into the minds of the changelings to summon the worst horrors they’re afraid of.
There is plenty to choose from.
“Aaah!” yelps 31214 as it suddenly breaks through a wall which previously felt like it would simply be a block of solid rock as far as its drone senses can reach, “This tunnel is weird!”
Yes… uncertainty, unfamiliarity. It all starts with ripping them out of their comfort zone.
“How weird?” asks 10013, peeking into the short hole 31214 has managed to dig so far.
“Sudden holes weird!” replies 31214.
“Any baddies?”
“Nothing so far.”
“Shinies?”
“Nope!”
“Awww...”
And with that, the drones all resume digging as 31214 starts throwing pebbles and gravel left behind by its digging into the newly open cavern.
How are they this calm again?! Their senses JUST failed them. No matter, even the most resilient minds can be broken with time and patience. No genius, no mental fortress, nothing can withstand nightmares beating against its defensive walls forever.
With Luna already in my grasp, there’s nothing to save you.
“Hey, guys, there’s so much space in here!” 31214 calls out of the newfound cavern into which it tumbled after its examinatory method of ‘throwing rocks in there’ failed to yield any negative results, “Be careful, though, the hole’s near the ceiling!”
No. No escape, no space. The walls will close around you and you will see one of you get torn to shreds before your own eyes.
Hissing and screeching bursts out of the walls of the cavern as the ground trembles.
“Baddies! BADDIES!” 31214’s yelling shouldn’t be audible in the cacophony of noise, yet the other drones immediately react as one and push through the short tunnel like a changeling noodle. The Tantabus clearly doesn’t have enough experience with changelings to know about the hive links, “Melty gribblers down- AH?!”
31214’s flight path of dodging small flocks of ‘flying munchers’ turns into an uncontrolled fall as a spit of acid from the ceiling hits its wing.
“The ceiling toooooooo-!” it spirals down towards the dozens of hungry mouths breaking through the seemingly solid ground and simply waiting for their prey.
10013, the first one in the stack of drones filling the entrance tunnel, jumps into the cavern without a word. A moment of confusion crosses Tantabus’ mind as it watches the drones behind it begin kicking the walls in sync seemingly without any orders.
The result reveals itself soon as a chunk of the cavern collapses inside, letting the drones peek out of the tunnel simultaneously. Tantabus can’t know it yet, not without properly absorbing the mind of someone with real knowledge of changelings, which these days would mean either Chrysalis herself or some of the top rank infiltrators, but 10013 immediately taps into the mind of 19441 who remained on lookout to be able to dodge the falling rocks which is much easier than the spitting creatures aiming at it.
“It’s raining gribblers, hole-lujah!” 10013 bolts downwards, its wings buzzing as quickly as they can, towards 31214 barely slowing down its drop with its one healthy wing. The ceiling monsters ripped out of their habitat by the artificial earthquake have other things on their mind than to attack the drones as well as the mouths on the bottom being fed a steady diet of rocks, “It’s raining gribs- yeah, yeeeah! GOTCHA!”
Within a few more seconds, they’re all safely back inside the original tunnel as, with the help of the two returned drones, the remaining duo bury the entire cavern of horrors with a one final ‘boom!’ and everything goes silent barring the heavy breathing of changelings. What Tantabus doesn’t sense is the common knowledge running through the minds of all its victims - drones stick together.
No matter, they’re stuck here now. Let’s see how you deal with solid granite.
A small pulse passes through the drones’ surroundings which they acknowledge by freezing and their ears twitching, listening for any signs of danger. When no immediate threat presents itself, they relax again with the exception of 31214 who starts sniffing the ground.
“Umm, guys? The tunnel’s being weird again. The floor is made of big hard now.”
The drones perform several exploratory pokes all over the place.
“31214, how’s the wing?” asks 10013.
“Hmmm...” the wounded drone wobbles the dissolved remnants of its wing, “I think it’s okay as long as you don’t want me to fly. It doesn’t even really hurt anymore.”
“Really? That shouldn’t-” 10013 realizes something, “Everyone, how are you as far as the old love levels go?”
The drones pause before breaking into a general chorus of shrugging and “Been worse”.
“My point exactly. The four of us just collapsed a cavern and we’re not completely exhausted, and you two started with it on your own.”
“Huh...” general shrugging turns into vice-admiral confusion.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asks 10013, wiggling its eyebrows at its mates.
“Why do we have the leg holes? I think it’s cup holders,” offers 19441.
“Yes- I mean no!” 10013 shakes its head, “Valid question but not the one I’m pondering right now.”
“Then I’m stumped.”
“We haven’t lost any love by doing what we just did!” 10013 exclaims with a wide smile, “That means we can break through big hard easily!”
“So… up?”
Tantabus can only stare as the small group of drones begins tunneling upwards as one at a low angle in which they can avoid sliding back down. If it currently had a corporeal form, its jaw would drop. It scans the minds of mortals for what’s commonly believed to be the hardest substance.
No. Just NO! Physics can go screw itself. Walls made of DIAMOND!
Another pulse passes through the ground, and 10013’s hoof hits something way too hard.
“...guys...” the leading drone breathes out a whisper, “...you won’t believe this...”
Yesss! You are stuck here, and now you will slowly descend into madness with only darkness as your companion and-
“THE WALL IS MADE OF SOLID SHINY! EVERYONE, COME GRAB SOME!”
Within a few moments, the diamond wall reflecting the teal bioluminescence of changeling eyes is filled with holes as all four drones get to digging their share of shiny.
NO, whatever you bug monsters are, I am the master here!
As 13887 jabs its hoof into the diamond wall and breaks off another chunk, the entire underground reality vanishes, leaving the drones floating in nothingness for a few seconds before they drop on the stone floor of what looks like a ruined throne room of an abandoned castle.
“Awww...” whines the drone as its foreleg hits only empty air.
A short while later, the dark, starry night visible through the partially crumbled ceiling coalesces into the galaxy-coated equine form of Tantabus who faces four drones blinged-out with enough diamonds in their leg holes to make any common treasure vault jealous.
“YOU!” booms the voice of Tantabus, “I WILL MAKE SURE YOU-”
“EEEEEEE, it’s a pony made of shinies!”
Tantabus finds its starry mane and legs being tugged and poked with no regard for evil monologue.
“YOU WILL FEAR-”
“Look look look! Imma pony!” 13887, hovering in the air next to Tantabus’ head, pokes its face through the flowing mane.
“ENOUGH!” roars Tantabus and a tendril of dark blue smoke breaks the floor and violently pulls the drone out of its mane and in front of its face, “You...” it bares its fangs.
“Hi! I’m 13887,” the drone tries to be friendly when faced with clearly overwhelming force.
“Heh, so weak and pathetic,” the tentacle tightens around 13887’s neck which, to Tantabus’ surprise, doesn’t result in begging and choking.
Yet…
“Hey, let 13887 go!” 10013 steps forward.
“Hmph, no.”
*Crack!*
The tentacle tosses the drone with a clearly broken neck towards the other three before vanishing.
Now feel in the knowledge that your life is insignificant-
“BOOO! THAT’S CHEATING!”
“AND 13887 WAS ONLY A WEEK FROM RETIREMENT!”
“We don’t have tires, dummy, we have legs.”
“Oh, right. 13887 was only a week away from the crusher!”
“Yeah, cheater!” 10013 points at Tantabus with a scowl.
“Why aren’t you running?” growls Tantabus, “I just killed one of you with barely a thought.”
“Well duh,” 19441 rolls its eyes, “Anyone can do that, and at least it was quick. I’ve seen infiltrators who made drones eat each other from hind legs up. Remember 112458 and 336585?” it looks towards the others who nod, gagging a little.
“And we’re not completely stupid,” adds 10013, “You just made the shiny tunnel vanish and all this appear,” it waves its hoof around, “If we run, you’re just gonna cheat again and make it so that we end up here.”
“Yeah, cheaty cheater!” 31214 points an accusatory hoof at Tantabus, “Can’t win fair and square so you gotta cheat.”
“Worse than warriors, really...” 10013 shakes its head in disappointment.
And that’s it.
That stupid little gesture.
Tantabus’ eye twitches as it advances on the drones, its galactic mane now showing an exploding supernova.
“I thought you’d be useful as points of entry into the real world but no...” the reality distorts around them as the castle begins disintegrating, “You are useless. Just DIE!”
“See? Just a cheaty cheater,” 10013 sits down on its butt and crosses its forelegs on its chest.
“Mhm, totally,” 31214 nods, sitting down next to the leader, “Cheaters never win in the end.”
“Yup,” 19441 takes its place on 10013’s other side, “They get eaten by someone who actually does the work.”
“AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH!” Tantabus screams, its entire focus shifting to the three drones defiantly sitting in front of it.
You will die the most painful death your tiny minds can comprehend.
Then they stick their tongues out at it in perfect sync.
Tantabus’ concentration shatters along with reality exploding as all the gathered power gets released in a massive shockwave resonating through the entirety of the dreamscape.
***
10013 opens its eyes, finding itself lying in pitch blackness pierced only by silvery lines on a familiar invisible floor.
“Huh? The hive mind gathering room?” it sits up, immediately noticing the other drones shaking their heads and blinking in surprise.
All the other drones.
“13887! You’re alive!” it scrambles onto all fours before pouncing at the previously killed drone.
“Omigosh, I AM!” 13887 blinks in surprise, “EEEEEEEE!” it squeezes the other three drones hugging it, “No starry spook can stop us!”
*Whoooom!*
“What’s whooming?” the drones don’t stop hugging but their heads start turning around until they notice a swirly green oval hanging in the air nearby.
“Who’s up for exploring the glowy green whoomy?” asks 10013.
“I kinda like living but this place is boring,” 13887 shrugs, “Maybe it’s full of green shinies.”
All the drones grin and that’s all they need.
“On three?”
“Can I count to that on my hooves?”
“Yeah, it’s after two.”
“Ooooh, that one.”
“No, not one. Two.”
“I’m confused.”
“On GO, okay?” 10013 corrects itself. There’s no way to tell what each drone knows with no connection to the hive mind.
“What number’s tha- ow!” 19441 gets smacked over its head, “I was just joking, grumpy.”
The portal swallows them all.
The next thing they hear is an excited:
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” coming from 47989.
“Huh, you’re all alive,” adds smirking 387 thoughtfully.
The four drones ignore the warrior and immediately dogpile 47989.
“You’re okay!”
“You can talk again!”
“You won’t believe it, we were in a tunnel made of shinies! Wait… where did it all go?” 31214 starts examining its now empty leg holes.
“Drones, report!” orders a firm voice of 156, stopping the reunion and making the drones look around.
They’re in a forest clearing covered by a shimmering green dome. It’s quiet, the wind is whispering in the canopies, and it looks like everyone who got snatched during the nighttime ambush is here.
Seeing no immediate threat, 10013 recounts what happened to them, ending with:
“-and then we all jumped into the green whoomy,” it salutes.
156’s silent glaring is unnerving but 387’s chuckle encourages the drones.
“Well, 156, it looks like you owe these guys your life, and same goes for our other warriors,” 387 smirks at 559 who salutes back at 10013 and says:
“Thank you for your service, drones. Without you distracting the enemy we wouldn’t be in a position to take 387’s portal here.”
“156?” 387 winks at the still stunned infiltrator, “Got anything to say, maybe?”
“I-” she stutters, “Well done, drones. Very well done,” she reaches towards 10013 who flinches but relaxes when she simply pats its head, “I… owe you- stop snickering, 387!”
“I wasn’t,” replies the warrior with his hoof still over his mouth.
“Ass.”
“Aaah, and we’re back to normal,” 387 relaxes and looks first at the group of warriors and then at the drones, “I suppose now’s the best time for questions if you have any. No? Good-”
“387, where are we?” asks 559 politely.
“Why am I alive again?” asks 13887.
“Why aren’t we hungry?” 10013 joins in.
“Why didn’t the drones believe in their reality like I did, you know-it-all?” 156 raises an eyebrow.
“Hmph,” 387 frowns, “Alright then, I’ll tell you what little I know and what I think happened.”
He pauses to summarize things in his head before continuing:
“I’ll give you the short version. We’re in the dreamscape, a dimension connecting the unconscious minds of creatures. The creature you faced is the Tantabus. I don’t know what its precise identity is but it’s somehow connected to princess Luna,” he faces the blank stares of the drones, “A pony princess responsible for protecting dreaming creatures. This is a safe zone I created so that the Tantabus doesn’t find us as easily. Now that you’re all here, though, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hide us.”
387 realizes, looking at the changeling audience sitting in a half-circle in front of him, that none of them have much of a clue what he’s talking about.
“Look, guys, explaining this to you without the hive mind knowledge at hoof would be a pain and likely pointless. 156 can share some info through her hive link but even that wouldn’t be enough so you’ll have to do with the simplified version which is that we’re in a different, very dangerous world with different rules than ours, okay?” as they all nod, 387 breathes out in relief.
“Now, all the other questions have a similar answer, I think. This is the realm of the mind, not the body, and to me it seems that the Tantabus isn’t used to the changeling minds which gives us some advantages over it. Why? Tantabus is connected to Luna, as I said, and during the times when ponies last knew about us, Luna was… away. Drones are much less individual than us high ranks so trying to manipulate their singular minds without the knowledge of the shared hive mind doesn’t work that well. It’s like… it’s like telling lies to multiple creatures who can instantly compare the versions they’ve been told and find inconsistencies. That’s why we- you, fully developed lings, are easier to fool. Plus… think whatever you want but drones are way more used to threats and death than us warriors.”
“Hmph,” 791 huffs.
“Just trust me on this,” 387 shoots him a glare, “Anyway, I digress. Since this is the realm of the mind, I think Tantabus couldn’t erase 13887 from the minds of the others involved and when your reality exploded, your unreal bodies withdrew back into the hive mind which is, in principle, very similar to the dreamscape. So similar, in fact, that if we had several top rank infiltrators with us we could likely shape it and fight back directly. As for the love thing, I think that since we’re not really exerting any pressure against actual reality, we’re not burning extra love by doing things because we’re sort of just… dreaming or thinking about doing them while our bodies exist in something close to hibernation.”
“So our bodies are somewhere else?” asks 156.
“No… no no no,” 387 shakes his head, “You must understand that all this is at best… educated guesswork? Yeah. The only expert who could give us real answers is Luna. I’ve been here before but only in the usual way, not by getting sucked in from reality by dreamweavers.”
“You know what? Fine,” 156 rolls her eyes, “What are the facts then? We have a lot of love at our disposal, right?”
“No, we have the same amount we had before being abducted. We’re just not losing love by doing normal stuff. So no, we can’t perform some crazy invulnerable transformations. Buuut, we still have the advantage of Tantabus not knowing how we work.”
“Okay, so how does this help us get out?” asks 156, “We’re all here together now so that’s our main goal.”
“I’ve been thinking about it and I’m not sure what the Tantabus wants-”
“Oooh! Ooooh!” 19441’s raised foreleg interrupts 387, “We do! We do!”
“Uhh, what?”
“That Trombonus thingy said it wanted to get into the real world through us but then it got angry and said mean things and decided to kill us instead,” 19441 beams, “Cheating meanie.”
“I see...” 387 rubs his chin, “So we are the reason for the state of the dreamscape and the incursions into the real world. Well, not us per se but the fear we induced by attacking Canterlot,” his tone turns thoughtful and more as if he’s talking to himself, “Luna will be protecting ponies but not us for the same reason Tantabus can’t get to us as easily which means that despite its temporary loss of self-control it needs us to get out. That gives us a chance but not if we prove too problematic. We need to be tasty.”
“Does Totalus like mint? I can make minty goop,” offers 47989.
“I doubt it,” 387’s head snaps towards the drone as if completely forgetting that he wasn’t alone here, “You know what? I’ll think about what to do. You just use this time to rest.”
“Can I help?” asks 156.
“If you can figure out a way to avoid losing yourself in a reality Tantabus will conjure up and teach it to the warriors, that would be a great start. We have to fight back but in a way that doesn’t make Tantabus think it would be less hassle to just kill us.”
“Which means…?”
“Which means we have to play its games and win just like the drones did.”
“We won something?” asks 10013.
“Was it a shiny?”
“We had a lot of shinies but they all disappeared.”
“I kinda liked the shiny tunnel.”
“My wing’s back!”
“Wooooow, that’s so cool!”
“You came back from the dead.”
“Oh, right… do I get a shiny?”
“Me too! I totally saved 31214.”
“Me too! I gave 156 a hug and it made her less angry.”
“Guys, guys, guys, listen to me! 47989 has high-rank calming hugs.”
“OH MY GOOOSH! We don’t gotta play dodgegoop with rocks anymore?”
“Okay, shinies for everyone, right?”
156 and 387, faced with five drones giving them eager stares, exchange glances and sigh.
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Does that mean they get the shinies? Or no?
10860785
I sure hope so. They did such a good job.
It is OK
Give us MORE
Drones try doing the Nun and Princess skit.
Abbot and Castleano?
As for Trombone, thats Pinkies slide?
I didn't really realise that one or more of these stories were not concurrent, but other than that I am not having any trouble following multiple storylines.
That raises the unsettling thought that the reason the drones are so effective against the Tantabus is because they are, in a way, already "broken" because of all of the abuse they regularly face and have become adjusted to.
Asking the real questions here, I see.
Not...terribly? I mean, you do have to stop sometimes and remember what's what with certain arcs if it's been a longer enough gap since it was last updated, but for me, that's not really too big a problem, and really sort of inevitable with multiple-storyarc stories like this, especially when they're all being told simultaneously.
Personally, I wouldn't fret too much about it. But doing something to provide details to recap where logical in story at least the basics when coming back to an arc after a few chapters gap probably wouldn't hurt too much. Nothing complex, of course, just a "after the 'lings had done this" and the such at the start so to help bridge them together. Unless it wouldn't make sense for it to, of course--this chapter is a good example of that, but it makes up for it later on during 387's attempt to explain things and the passing comments from all of the 'lings on what they had been doing prior to ending up here.
And even all of that makes it sound way worse than it actually is, so again, I wouldn't fret too much about it.
It's ok for me. Well, I always need to remember which number does what but anyway
10861474
"Previously, in They're EVERYWHERE!"
10860785
10860824
Clearly, that question was the planned, most critical cliffhanger.
10860840
I'm working on it!
I'm also working, so... I'm OCCASIONALLY working on it!
And my brain often feels like an empty sponge so... I'm working on it when stars align and the conflux of all nine realms happens!
10860873
Drones are a weird mix of desperate ingenuity and puppies with ADHD. Chrysalis didn't have just 3 stooges back at the hive, she had tens of thousands of them.
10860970
Then I clearly am doing something horribly wrong as well as surprisingly right.
10861474
- Yes, with the addition of the hive mind workings being unknown to Tantabus. The first meeting with 65536 was pretty clear about it, this one just proves 65536 definitely wasn't unique.
- Drones have their priorities straight.
- And then Ponk joined a the "Chrysalis turned into gay sparkly bug deer" drone band.
- That short recap thing could be useful. I'll try to incorporate it somehow if I don't forget as usual. I get the feeling that the problem isn't exactly the multiple plotlines, rather tha multiple plotlines in addition to the weekly updates, so that it feels like a much longer gap between chapters of some arcs (Looking at you, 1313!)
10861574
And sometimes the numbers have meanings, sometimes they don't. It's a mysteryyyyyy.
10861764
In the cesspit which is the hive mind, she was the sensible one. And as history inevitably teaches us - the eternal fate of the peaceful and enlightened is to eventually be overrun by the armed and dumb.
10861865
- Everyone can do it with shapeshifting (Two, Gem, etc.) but someone can do it naturally due to their genetic branch (Boss, 17070).
- True, all these guys are exploring the edges of the swamp Blaze had to wade through without boots and with a cinderblock tied to his neck.
10861893
There's still 9999 left and he's droneproof!
10861895
derpicdn.net/img/2020/8/30/2434760/full.png
10861937
Good.
You are doing good.
Story is good, it is worth waitng and updates are often enough so I don't forget what happened earlier.
Conclusion:
Keep up the good work.
Not particularly confusing but I hadn't caught the time difference between Chrysalis and the others
10861937
Ok, this is officially the worst reformed Chrysalis I saw so far
My mind immediately turned this into Diggy Diggy Hole
11224291
Read "Halls of the Changeling King" where I parodied that song and yes, this is a reference to it.