They're... ON HOLIDAY?

by Nameless Narrator

Day 4 - Shipwrecked?: 4/7

“Ow, ow ow ow!” 1313 hisses in pain as a chunk of his carapace breaks off with an audible crack.

Said carapace chunk is shaped like a long saw blade, and gets immediately grabbed by two zebras who begin sawing a thicker tree into planks for a better shelter than the makeshift roof from sticks and leaves which the Quest Security ponies crafted along the edge of the jungle.

“Whooooah!” 65536, watching it, leans forward, “How long does it last? Is it a high rank thing? I tried doing this back home once to make a crown thingy for Luna like the Queen has but it crumbled to dust after a few minutes, so I opted for a paper mache one instead.”

“Back in the tunnels, we wanted to make long poles once to help with clearing a cave-in without breaking all the rocks, but those cracked immediately,” 10013 chimes in.

In response, 1313 sits down, breathing heavily.

“I just think that falling to pieces effectively is my speciality,” he smirks, “Why are you two here, anyway? Doesn’t Chrysalis need a personal fan waver or ten in this heat?”

“We’re exploring!” says 65536 with a smile.

“The Queen is just resting,” adds 10013, “We don’t have any orders, so we’re just watching what everyone else is doing and if there might be something useful to learn for when we go back home. Your zebra friends look like they’re building something,” it lets the sentence hang in the air.

“You should ask Zamira about that, actually,” replies 1313, nodding towards her, “Zami, do you want to take a break? These guys want to know what we’re doing.”

“Sure, take over for me then,” Zamira, her coat heavy with sweat, puts down a rock and stops polishing one of the planks with it. As 1313 passes by, she plants a kiss on his cheek, chuckles at his surprised glance, and approaches the drones, tapping on her lips before pointing first at 65536 and then 10013, “Wait, don’t tell me - You’re the… Nightguard and you’re the leader, right?”

“Yes, ma’am!” 65536 salutes.

“You got it!” 10013 nods, “Not many ponies can distinguish between us.”

“It’s all about practice,” says Zamira, “My girls made up a little game about betting on which one you are whenever one of you drones passes by and then 1313 judges the results.”

”Ohhh!” 65536 beams.

“You’re the easiest one to guess,” Zamira pats its head, “Your demeanor is completely different from all the others. Much more self-assured and at ease. Anyway, you wanted to know what we’re doing, right?”

“Mhm,” 10013 nods, “I’m hoping to learn something that could be useful back home.”

“Or if you need help we can do that too!” 65536 adds.

“I think we’ve got this covered,” Zamira shakes her head, “It’s just a basic survival practice - something to do more than anything really necessary, because those Quest Security guys did a decent job with water, fruit, and shelter already. It helps as a refresher, plus we swapped the command structure a little so that everyone gets practice at obeying orders and at giving them. As you can see, 1313 and I are now working under Zara, and Zaida is in charge of the whole thing.”

“Huh,” 10013 tilts its head, “That’s weird, I thought the point of us low ranks was to do what high ranks say. The Queen always just delegates what needs to be done to someone under her.”

“Yes,” Zamira smirks, “That’s why she needs to steal love from both the ponies and her own subjects, from what I heard. In comparison, we all keep 1313 topped up at all times. Even though he’s never done anything like this before, he’s listening to us and trying his best. He’s not whining, not pulling his rank, not considering us a lower class of servants or just eye candy like Blueblood did. And look at him, with that tight body and all, physical work is doing wonders for him and he’s always been smart enough to deal with the rulership stuff. He looks so much healthier than when he crashed through Blueblood’s roof.”

“Oh!” 65536 jumps up, “Thanks! You gave me an idea. Good luck with your practice!” it runs off without explaining anything.

Unfazed, Zamira pokes 10013.

“You wanna watch us work then? I doubt I can integrate you into our command structure for this exercise, but I doubt the girls would mind some interested audience.”

“Definitely!”

***

Not even 65536’s cheery mood can survive everything, and when the drone finds Blueblood lying in the shade of his shelter, the undisturbed sand around him showing that he hadn’t moved or even turned since 65536 left hours earlier, even the happy drone has to let out a tired sigh.

“Good afternoon, Your Bluishness! I brought you some chewy leaves full of water.”

“Drop the honorific,” grumbles Blueblood, “You know I’m not a noble anymore.”

“Yup. That’s why I used Your Bluishness,” 65536 pauses, “It’s not a real title somewhere, is it?”

Blueblood doesn’t respond to that.

“Come on, do you want Miss Gem to hypnotize you again and make you eat these? And if I don’t tell her about this she’ll look at me as if it wasn’t my fault but I would know it was.”

With a grunt, Blueblood pushes himself up and looks at 65536 through sunken eyes.

“...fine…” he whispers, grabs the leaves, and starts quietly eating one.

65536 briefly darts into the jungle before returning with a small pile of sticks which it arranges into the sand.

“How come you don’t get bored?” asks the drone after drawing a shape into the sand with one.

“What?”

“How come you don’t get bored just lying here?” repeats the drone, “I don’t understand much about this depression thing Miss Gem mentioned, so… how come you just don’t get bored?”

“Bored? What’s here to do? I lost everything. Rightfully so…” growls Blueblood, “That changeling and my bodyguards got one of my holdings, and my aunt showed me the report that they’re doing better than I ever did. Another damn changeling is doing better at being a paladin than I ever did,” for a second, he looks as if he wants to scream but in the end he only lets out a defeated sigh, “Doesn’t matter…”

“Yup!” 65536 agrees, spitting goop on two selected sticks and fitting them together at the frayed ends. This seems to surprise Blueblood who shows the first sign of curiosity since the trip began. 65536 looks up at him and notices the slight head tilt, “Is it bad for you that others are successful?” it asks.

“I should have been successful in their place! Everypony expected me to be successful in their place. All my life, everypony talked about everything as if it was a done deal.”

“But you weren’t and it wasn’t,” replies 65536 calmly, “Ten and 1313 are doing the job you clearly didn’t want to do, from everything I heard. Why aren’t you happy that you’re free to do what you want then?” is another entirely genuine question.

“Free to do what - starve? I have no money, no status, nothing!” snaps Blueblood, “My aunt, my parents, my bodyguards, everypony I’ve ever known told me to my face that I failed at everything I ever touched and they proved it, so tell me - what do I want? What should I want?!”

65536 pauses while scratching its head with a stick before pointing it at Blueblood.

“Wanna help me glue sticks together? We could make a hat.”

***

“99526, come over here,” 93’s voice inside 99526’s head along with an appearing map marker make the drone sitting in the shade and experimentally munching on a random leaf twitch.

“I’ll be right there,” replies 99526, tossing the leaf back into the jungle before heading towards 93’s marker. It was kinda watery but it didn’t feel as if it made its goop better in any way so throwing it away doesn’t feel like a waste.

Arriving at its destination, 99526 sits down next to 93 who is seemingly busy observing two griffons playing with rocks, sticks, and leaves, periodically changing their positions on a square grid drawn in the sand.

“Hi?” the drone greets them. The griffons briefly glance at 99526, nod, and return to their… activity.

“What are they doing?”

“Playing chess.”

“Ohhh, I ate a plate full of chess on the ship. It didn’t go exactly well.”

93, engrossed in watching the griffons move their mess around the grid, asks:

“Do you still have goop left or did you throw everything up?”

“I still have a lot. It kinda lies around in my belly once it stops, umm, overflowing, so I’m almost full. Why?”

A series of images depicting a small, unidentified, tubular object from multiple sides appear in 99526’s mind.

“Can you make this, or at least something vaguely similar?”

“Probably,” 99526 shrugs, “What is it?”

“Let’s find somewhere more private and I’ll explain. We’re going to need a flat rock.”

“Alrighty.”

The two changelings stand up and 93 asks:

“Will you two still be playing later?”

One of the griffons shrugs, replying:

“Probably. Not like there’s much to do other than wait for a ship from the resort.”

“Nice,” 93 smirks and nudges 99526, “Come with me and you might get a point!”

***

The day keeps rolling on, with most creatures lounging on the sunny beach, in the shade of the jungle, or in several cases swimming in the sea even after last night.

“ATTENTION EVERY DRONE! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! I REPEAT, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!”

99380’s mental call filled with happy amazement reaches every hive drone and, with the exception of 99526 who replies-

“Can’t! Busy with 93.”

-the drones arrive at a spot on the beach where 99380 is staring with just the happiest smile at what’s, to its eyes, basically a moving pony made of rainbow lights. The pony facehoofs, which makes colorful reflections dance over the sand.

“Ehehehe!” 99380 giggles and stomps its hooves in excitement.

“By the Empress, they’re multiplying…” grumbles the blinding pony when the other drones arrive and gradually stop, jaws dropped and eyes wide.

“You,” the pony points at the clump of drones. They all move their heads to follow the pointing hoof, “What are you doing?”

“Shinyyyyyy…” mumbles 10013.

None of the drones notice Shining Armor who arrives, brought by a second bright and brilliant prismatic pony.

“Shinyyyyyy…”

“That’s me,” says Shining Armor with a sigh, pretty sure that the drones aren’t even aware he’s there, “CADDY! Mind coming over for a second? We seem to have an infestation here.”

“What’s goin- oh…” the alicorn of Love comes over and stops, rivaling the dropped jaws and amazed stares of the drones for a few moments, “Prism, Glintstone, go stand in the shade for now, will you?”

The two Crystal Guards salute and trot off, followed by the group of drones until they reach the edge of the jungle and the sunlight stops fracturing all over their crystalline bodies.

“Whuh? Huh?” the drones exchange confused glances, “What happened? Where are the shinies?” until 10013 points at the crystal ponies, “It was you two! Who are you? Why are you so sparkly? What-”

“Changelings!” they hear Cadance call out, which is followed by a gentle flow of love that makes the drones run off back to her and fan around, “I would like it if you didn’t bother my guards right now.”

“Okay, but how are they so shiny?” 20100 nods vigorously while immediately getting to the most important point.

Cadance sighs but can’t help smiling.

“They’re crystal ponies, that’s just how they are. I think it has something to do with a certain artefact up north where we live.”

“Why are you not like them, then?” asks 10013, “I mean, you’re love-shiny, not shiny shiny.”

“I wasn’t born there,” Cadance pats its head, “I can become reflective like them only under certain circumstances.”

“You can be… shiny shiny… and love-shiny at the same time?” asks 36658 and everyone’s jaws drop. Then 36658 looks directly at the ground, adding quietly, “Sorry you’re missing this, buddy.”

“My husband’s pet name is Shiny too,” Cadance giggles.

“What’s a husband?”
“Does it make music?”
“Is it your pet?”
“I had a pet rock, but it ran away.”
“Rocks can’t run.”
“This one grew a bunch of tiny legs and two grabbers in the front and then ran off sideways.”
“That was a skittery snipper. You’re lucky, those things can take off a leg.”
“Ohhhhhh…”

Cadance, the newest victim of drone curiosity, can only stare as the drones start bickering about things that seemingly make perfect sense to them. At least until she says:

“I live in a whole city made of crys- shinies.”

The drones go silent instantly and their heads snap towards her again.

Whoah! Creepy.

“It’s called the Crystal Empire and-” Cadance calms down when the drones huddle up during her first words, ears perked.

Maybe more cute than creepy, but definitely a bit of both.

***

“Flat rock, found!” announces 99526, “Sticks of varying sizes, found!”

Sitting in a small clearing within sight of the beach, 93 beckons 99526 to sit down as well.

“Now, this is going to be a new experience for the both of us,” she says, transforming the hooves of her forelegs into claws, “Goop me,” 99526 spits at her face. 93 easily scoops it off and onto the flat rock between the two, “Guess I should have been clearer. How much time before it hardens naturally?”

“From what I’ve seen so far, about three minutes before it starts breaking instead of bending. It’s kinda wet and hot here, so I can’t say exactly.”

“That should do,” she leans over the blobs of gelatinous goop lying on the rock, “We’re not going for the most complicated shape here,” using her claws, 93 begins molding the slowly hardening goop into a shape she copied into 99526’s mind earlier.

Without being prompted, 99526 puts one of the gathered sticks into its leg hole, throws up another ball of goop, and begins working on its own version. Unlike drawing, working in three planes is significantly more difficult, or at least time-consuming. Thankfully, the moldability of the outer layer of the goop itself is easy to refresh with a good lick, so the duo soon have two small objects and 99526 asks again as 93 is examining them:

“What did we just make?”

“Just a little temptation for the griffons. I…” 93 pauses, “I think I like games which involve tactics and observation, and I’d like to be able to test myself against them.”

“That cheese thing?” 99526 tilts its head.

“Yes,” 93 doesn’t bother correcting it, “It’s highly strategic but it requires a set of pieces and a board which the griffons replaced with a simple grid in the sand and some bits and bobs they found. I want to bait them into teaching me by offering a chance to play using a realistic set.”

“We like games too, but the veterans keep mentioning something called dodgedrone or droneballl and wincing. We made up curling on the ship, but you can’t play it in sand,” 99526 nods wisely and rubs its side, “We tried that earlier. Very scratchy, even with goop.”

“This is less a physical game and a more mental one,” 93 taps her temple with a claw, “Ah, by the way-”

[10013:1, 20100:4, 36658:3, 99111:2, 99380:3, 99526:1, Smiley: :-) :-) :-) :-) :-),

65536:1]

“My first point!” 99526’s mouth involuntarily wibbles in pure joy.

“That was just for testing if we can make a usable piece from your goop. There’s another one in it for you if you help me finish the set,” 93 winks at the drone, “Considering how quickly we finished the two pawns, it might not even take that long.”

*NOD NOD NOD NOD NOD NOD!*

“Perfect. So, each side has eight pawns - these little guys we just made. Let’s start with those.”

And so, the time passes until 99526, happy that its speciality is finally not a burden, earns its second point.

[10013:1, 20100:4, 36658:3, 99111:2, 99380:3, 99526:2, Smiley: :-) :-) :-) :-) :-),

65536:1]

Comments

[Booster Spice]

My Leige, the pawns are multiplying in the games room..

We realise now the mistake of installing those log tables.

[Streamline]

I just love how adorable the drones are

[katarjin]

If these drones ever get to the Crystal Empire ....they will never get out.

[origami]

I pity the crystal ponies if drones ever made it to the empire. None of them would be left alone

[Morphy]

11283515

The Empire of Food and Shinies. They'd probably end up catatonic...

[ChakatRedstripe]

Good chapter!

[Scyphi]

"He looks so much healthier than when he crashed through Blueblood’s roof.”

Well, to be fair, he didn't exactly come through that roof very intact at the time...

“I should have been successful in their place! Everypony expected me to be successful in their place. All my life, everypony talked about everything as if it was a done deal.”

Sounds like he still hasn't quite learned the needed lesson there...but he's getting there...kind of. The depression is a bit of a major stumbling block at the moment.

“Wanna help me glue sticks together? We could make a hat.”

Might as well start small, right?

Also, bless 65536 and trying so honestly and genuinely to help Blueblood like this.

[Nameless Narrator]

11283491
...assuming more drones is not a better things... *cough cough*
11283493
It comes to those little love sucking bug horse monsters naturally.
11283515 11283584 11283701
Pinball in real life.
11283892
Here, have a stick-and-goop hat.
11283974
- All of him made it through and that's what counts.
- Blazing, Magpie, Astray, Blueblood... I need to figure out how to write a sane male character.
- That's the only thing I ever learned that helps... a bit.
- Somewhere, shomehow, meta Chrysalis fumes at the little traitor stealing the show from the hive again while being entirely powerless against "the wibble".

[Bones_]

“I live in a whole city made of crys- shinies.”

The drones go silent instantly and their heads snap towards her again.

THEY ARE SO STUPID
AND LITTLE
<3

[Nameless Narrator]

11285755
Free to a good and loving home.