They're... ON HOLIDAY?

by Nameless Narrator

Day 6 - Worky time cancelled!: 2/8

Wandering through the apartment complex, 20100 is faced with the difficult question - what would be useful back home and something it would enjoy?

I guess drawing fits both of those, but for some reason sitting in our room with a stack of papers doesn’t feel like what the Queen meant, no matter 10013 allowing it. Maybe I could visit the casino to get us some shinies… hmm, not now. If I overdid winning by accident we might lose access to shinies completely. Better to save that option in case we need it. I should go there and win once or twice later, though, only so that if we want to trade shinies for some noms we don’t have to rush there.

So far, the important part has always been to also show that changelings aren’t dangerous and to put other creatures at ease around them. With casino out of the way, the options 20100 is familiar with thin out considerably.

Okay, so where could I draw something AND be around others? On the ship it was easy, because everyone was packed in one small place, but how would one do it here?

Clearly, the beach would be full later and maybe 20100 could draw some portraits again if it found proper paints somewhere.

Maybe I should ask 65536? I mean, it didn’t save its paints from the ship, but it might know where to find more.

Filing that idea for later, 20100 keeps up the train of logic while adding a little bit of hopeful prayer just in case. You never know.

How would you go about it, High Score? I mean, not in the way 36658 presents it, but for real. Is it the good, old - the solution is already there, we just gotta keep looking?

As soon as the drone thinks it into the emptiness of the hive mind, an idea flashes through his head.

Hah! Thanks, buddy! Every creature needs to eat. 36658 and I already know about a place where creatures are up as early as we are. And it’s one where there already are drawy rocks!

20100 beams and heads straight towards the stairs and then to the dining room on the ground floor, very carefully slipping through the door in order to not disturb anyone. A good idea too, because it can hear faint clanking of utensils from the kitchen, which means there’s already someone there, busy with all the morning activities regarding food for the guests. That, however, isn’t the important part of this place. That honor belongs to the large, empty blackboard near the door and the refilled bowl of sticks of chalk which immediately captivate 20100.

So this is the place where Smiley learned how to make drawy goop. A true piece of dronekind’s history!

20100 chuckles, grows a hole in its hoof small enough to fit a stick of chalk, and grabs it, somewhat safe in the knowledge that the kitchen griffons were less bothered by Smiley using up the chalk and more by the chance of it getting sick from eating it.

So, how to make a good drone impression? Think, 20100, you only get one shot, one opportunity to draw anything you ever wanted, one moment. Would you capture it or would you let it slip?

Its knees aren’t sweaty, because carapace doesn’t have sweat glands, its hooves are heavy, there’s chalk all over its forelegs already. Queen’s spaghetti?

Nervous, 20100 starts off with something simple - one of the tables nearby with chairs around it. Copying what it sees is easy, even though the black and white medium is certainly new.

Oh goop! This stick isn’t sharp like the pencils or smooth like the brush and it kinda messes up the lines I’m trying to ma-

20100 stops when it touches the line that came out with the wrong thickness and accidentally smudges it. It looks at its hoof, and swipes it on the blackboard, leaving behind another smudge.

“I CAN ERASE IT THIS EASILY?!” it exclaims with excitement.

In response to the voice, a griffon head peeks out of the kitchen.

“You again?” a frowning griffon wearing a white apron walks out, “Don’t tell me you’re here to eat more chalk…”

“Umm, that was Smiley, I think. I’m 20100,” 20100 replies, “I, umm, I was just trying to see if I could draw something and I made a mistake and then I saw it was much easier to wipe the drawy rock off than it is with paints or a pencil and I got excited and loud,” 20100’s ears droop, “Sorry for bothering you.”

“Weirdo bug monsters…” the griffon breathes out a sigh of relief, examining the incredible job 20100 has done drawing so far, “This is pretty good. I think I can let you draw a bit before I have to write down today’s menu. That is, if you promise me not to eat any of the chalk and to wipe the board afterwards,” he points at a rag inside a small basin in the corner of the room, “Chalk goes down easy with water,” as if suddenly remembering something, he points at the tiled floor where 20100’s forelegs left white hoofprints, “And you must clean that after yourself. We can’t have anyone trailing dust outside on the carpets.”

“Gotcha!” 20100 beams, relieved that it’s not in trouble as well as due to having clear instructions about what it can do. As long as it sticks to the rules, there’s a much lower chance of it getting munched, after all.

As the griffon leaves again, 20100’s eyes sparkle with pure happiness.

SO MANY DRAWY ROCKS AND I CAN JUST WIPE IT OFF IF I SLIP OR MAKE A MISTAKE! IS THIS HOW THE GREAT GABLONK MUST BE LIKE?

And so, 20100 wipes the blackboard just to see how cleaning it works and, shaking again but this time with excitement, it starts working on something much more elaborate.

I’ll draw properly now, I’ll show other creatures the happiest changeling place I know, and I’ll cheer 36658 up at the same time!

***

“Good morning, Miss Tricksy!” 99111 calls out from the door of the workshop before closing it behind itself.

Like yesterday, the workshop is empty at this early hour with a single exception of a blue unicorn mare wearing heavy goggles who is surrounded by workbenches, the front two covered with chemistry equipment and the side ones with wood shavings and tools.

“That’s The Great And Powerful Trixie for you,” retorts Trixie reflexively even before she stops filing a piece of wood held fast in a vice and faces 99111, fixing her goggles, “Which one are you this time?”

“Still 99111, Miss Trixie,” the drone trots to her workspace, “Whatcha doing today?”

“Same shit, different day,” Trixie shrugs.

“Oh, I saw a mop and a bucket in that big storage room over there,” 99111 points to the main raw material storage.

Trixie shoots it a glare, receiving nothing but the look of pure honesty back.

“Nevermind,” she breathes out, “Did you want anything? I’ve got a whole lot of work ahead of me.”

“I want to help because all this stuffing is super interesting, but the Queen told us not to ask for work around here anymore. We can still help if someone asks us to help, so… umm… if you could ask me for help I’d gladly do it because I want to learn more stuffing to show the guys back home.”

“The Great And Powerful Trixie NEVER asks for help, she never NEEDS help, and she can do this on her own!” scowling, Trixie leans back.

“Awwww,” 99111’s ears droop, it sits down on the floor, hangs its head, and-

*Wibble?*

Trixie resists, staring directly at the picture of misery the drone has suddenly become, for entire five seconds before:

“However, Trixie can allow you to drink from her fountain of practical knowledge by graciously allowing you to help- assist her by doing part of the menial labor so that she can focus on far more complex and important efforts.”

99111 looks up, a bit confused but hopeful again.

“That was a lot of words that didn’t make much sense to me,” it scrunches its nose, “Sorry, when we changelings talk out loud we kinda use simpler words but at the same time we’re connected in our heads so we can share the complicated thoughts we can’t put into words.”

“Trixie meant that yes, you can help,” the unicorn retorts quickly, relaxing her pompous pose, “Get over here and don’t touch the chemistry equipment. I know how that ended last time and, money or not, I don’t have the time to take a second trip to that damn tourist trap of a city,” when 99111 obediently sits down on a chair next to the desk Trixie is using right now, she continues, “Yesterday, we made the outer walls of the disappearing cabinet, but we still need to make the fake folding wall. So far, I’ve prepared the planks but we need to connect those together with hinges. Unfortunately, the only metal for free use here are raw ingots or nails, and I’m not much of a blacksmith, so I’m working on wooden hinges. They suck but they’ll be enough. We’re going to need two for each fold of the fake wall. One would work but I can’t risk anything breaking during the performance. They look like this,” she levitates up a simple wooden construction of three hollow cylinders, “Hopefully, they won’t break until after the performance.”

“Umm, I can goop them so that they’re sturdier,” offers 99111, “The hive tunnels close to the surface have these wooden beams supporting the ceiling that we have to re-goop from time to time.”

“Make a hinge first, then you can try it. We’ll check the difference.”

Some explanation of tools usable for more delicate woodworking later, 99111 gets to work. Time passes until the drone finishes its first prototype, examines a file, looks through a leg hole in its foreleg, and briefly concentrates. With a brief flash of green fire which makes Trixie look its way, startled that her chemistry went wrong, the leg hole fills up with tiny, sharp knobs.

“What are you doing?” she asks, “Be careful with that fire.”

“That’s just how we transform. I don’t think it can burn anything for real,” replies 99111, grabbing a wooden cylinder, shoving it into its leg hole, and beginning to repeatedly slide it through, shaking out the shavings while Trixie watches with fascination.

The hole gets narrower and narrower until 99111 pulls out a somewhat smoothly filed cylinder of exactly the correct size to connect the three pieces of the hinge.

“Ta da!”

Trixie blinks.

“Give me that!” she telekinetically snatches all pieces of the hinge and begins fitting them together mid-air, examining them from all angles.

“Umm, did I do it wrong?” asks 99111, tilting its head.

“No…” Trixie breathes out when she‘s finished, and puts the whole piece back on the deck, “If The Great And Powerful Trixie was capable of such petty emotion as jealousy, she would be green right now. Good job, change- nine-one- something. Now show me how you reinforce this then.”

99111 simply hucks out a glob of goop and smoothly covers all the moving pieces in a thin green film. After briefly polishing it and then letting it sit for less than a minute, it offers the finished product to Trixie. Sho taps it against the desk several times, listening for the noise, then tries to bend it without using too much strength, and finally mimics the real movement the hinge is supposed to make.

“... damn Celestia in a thong pole-dancing on a wedding cake-shaped stage,” she breathes out, half impressed and half irritated, “This could replace ebony,“ shaking her head, she asks, ”You said something about re-uhh-gooping. How long does it stay hard and smooth like this?”

“My goop specialty isn’t reinforcement, so several days at best and they’re probably not water or fire proof,” 99111 shrugs, “Plus, I haven’t had a proper love refill since… huh, since before the big ship sank, only a bit here and there, so probably less.”

“That should be enough,” Trixie nods before wincing, freezing up, taking a deep breath, looking 99111 straight in the eyes, and saying, “The Great And P- I- I could use your help, chan- 99111, for the next couple of days. In return, I can show you how to make much more than this,” she waves her hoof around, “However, it’ll be a lot of hard work with no reward.”

“HAPPY DRONE NOISES! That’s just like back home!” 99111 beams, “I’ll be here unless someone else calls for me. The Queen said we had to try stuff out while we’re here, but I think I can dash off occasionally to see what the guys discovered.”

Comments

[Skarsnik]

I wonder if 99111 will gain some of Trixie traits of character via osmosis :)

[origami]

Eminem's lawyers would like a word with you author

[Kiue Jin]

“HAPPY DRONE NOISES! That’s just like back home!”

I'm going to be honest. Whenever I see the Drones, I kind of picture the happier, meme version of the Death Korps of Kriege.

[Morphy]

11368102

I'm kinda hoping it'll go the other way and Trixie will gain some (ack) humility and honesty... and maybe employ a drone or two? Considering she can literally pay them with pocket lint and some begrudged affection, I don't see any reason she wouldn't call it a win-win situation for herself. Assuming Chrysalis would let any drones go with the showmare for a season? (Probably not)

[Booster Spice]

Just need to find a changeling whose goop shrinks on setting, so that Tixie can make prestressed dual laye goop reinforced wood items?

[Scyphi]

he points at a rag inside a small basin in the corner of the room, “Chalk goes down easy with water,”

Ooh, yes, but generally you don't want to use water to erase a chalkboard--it can damage the material of the board in such a way that it becomes less easy to draw upon and thereby ruining it.

Learned this the hard way as a kid, see.

Of course, it may vary with the type of chalkboard, so some further research might be required, but still...

Unfortunately, the only metal for free use here are raw ingots or nails, and I’m not much of a blacksmith

Hmm, semi-relevant question then--what do the changelings know of the art of blacksmithing? Is that something they've ever dabbled with? (at least within this particular changeling era, considering all the things they learned then forgot then learned again during the many upheavals of their history)

“If The Great And Powerful Trixie was capable of such petty emotion as jealousy, she would be green right now."

HA! Trixie, being green with envy is your standard operating state.

“... damn Celestia in a thong pole-dancing on a wedding cake-shaped stage,” she breathes out

That was a wordy one.

[Nameless Narrator]

11368102
The Crunchy And Atheistic 99111.
11368193
They can have the entirety of my monetization of this story. Do I make a Patreon as a joke just to show that fat 0 I would get?
Though if I ever got any money for writing fanfics, I'd spend it on PROPER COVER ART. I can barely look at the butcheries I make in MS Paint mixed with ponytown character editor.
11368201
I can see the resemblance, but there's not enough fanaticism for the Queen.
11368216
There's a story or a trilogy waiting to be written in that idea. Maybe even adding Blueblood fighting depression for good measure. That absolutely CAN'T be the reason why all those characters are involved in this story without any major influence on the nonexistent plot.
11368364
Considering how difficult it is to find a drone's specialty, that one would be pretty specific to discover, although we do have one affecting the fabric of time and space and quentun and randomness.
11368455
- MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YEARS HAVE BEEN A LIE!
- My assumption would be nothing. Or, at best, maybe a more travelled warrior or infiltrator or two would have picked something up. Still, maybe 99111 will be the one to invent the drone version of thermal reconfiguration or percussive maintenance. You know - stuffing.
- Trixie factory settings.
- Also, top 4 among the searched tags on derpibooru with safe search off.

[Kiue Jin]

11369037
Maybe. But I feel like if the Changelings discovered trench warfare the Drones would love it! They get to do all the digging they want and be useful to the warriors!

[Morphy]

11369037

The typical ideas that pre-reformed changelings integrate into society for good, or at least less like "bad" emotion-vampiric fae, have mainly pointed them at either the entertainment industry or mental health services. But that's the higher tier infiltrator/harvester changelings. Drones, especially these little guys, would be far better suited for (de)construction and logistics. ("You're not paid to think, get back to work!" - Chrysalis)

[Changeling404]

"HAPPY DRONE NOISES!"

If i know what i think I know... he just said this out loud.
I love these drones so much.

[Nameless Narrator]

11369048
Trench warfare requires the general proliferation of ranged weaponry. It's kinda hard to build two trenches within a spear's reach of each other. Although, goop is highly flammable.
11369169
The use of drones for entertainment would likely by inherently exploitative, but it's not as if they're stupid. I'd say that the good seed for future inteligence is being exposed to as many various stimuli over one's formative years as possible, and these guys just know only dark tunnels. Who's to say if a drone who hatched and in a week started working as an anchorman would be considered stupid whatsoever.
Also, I think they'd be fine with working in mental care "That lady keeps forgetting me, BUT THAT ONLY MEANS I CAN TELL HER THE ONE FUN STORY I HAVE FROM HOME ALL OVER AND SHE'LL KEEP ENJOYING IT!" and so on. Plus, hard work wouldn't be a problem if they avoided the patients whom they'd have to use for on.
11369789
Yes, it did

[Morphy]

11370009

Anyone "working" for Trixie is already being exploited.

[Nameless Narrator]

11371271
Then let's see if I can pull a Glimmy and at least partially unfuck Trixie.