They're... ON HOLIDAY?

by Nameless Narrator

Day 7 - Drones? What drones?: 4/7

“That’s a tree- yes, I know it’s a different tree than before. I don’t know which exact tree that grows in this biome it is- ohthankholesit’sthem,” 387 spots several zebras surrounding a changeling, all chilling on the beach.

Curious about what drew 387’s attention, Smiley stops darting from one thing to another and pointing at random objects using the tablet hanging on a string around its neck. To 387’s surprise, the Silent’s eyes light up when it notices 1313’s group, and it bolts ahead.

“There goes the careful approach,” hisses 387 and runs after Smiley.

Of course, neither of the duo goes unnoticed by the group, and 387 finds himself intercepted by two zebra bodyguards while Smiley is let through where it immediately pounces at Zamira and clamps all four legs around her chest and neck.

“Well hello, little guy!” the zebra smiles, patting its head, “Smiley, was it?”

“Yep,” confirms 1313, standing up and joining the two bodyguards engaged in a face-off with 387, “Is this a social visit, 387?”

387 bows before 1313, which only puts the two flanking zebras even more on edge.

“Only partially, baron,” replies 387 politely, “However, I’m not here on any hive business if that’s what bothers you.”

“Obviously,” 1313 frowns before taking a deep breath and saying, “Zaida, Zara, at ease, please,” he beckons 387 to sit down with him in the shade of a beach umbrella. The zebras let them pass, but 387 can’t help noticing that one sits down in his blind spot and the other by 1313’s side.

Professionals. One is ready to get 1313 away in case of trouble and the other to get me from the back. Still, a significantly better start than with ‘Ten’.

Smiley darts to them, pointing one by one at the zebras with its tablet reading [JAM->].

“What’s this about?” 1313 pats Smiley’s head with a confused smirk.

“It turns out that Gem has been radically successful in awakening Smiley’s brain power. On one hole, its progress is unbelievable. On the other, I’ve been dealing with this since morning,” explains 387, tapping the Silent’s side, “No, they’re not Gem. They’re zebras… striped ponies.”

Smiley wipes its tablet and remains watching the black slate for a while.

“Honey, you know how I said earlier I was thinking I might want to adopt one?” Zamira sits by 1313’s side in a way which 387 immediately recognizes as body blocking his access to 1313.

Even his wife or whatever she is is his bodyguard, and apparently a good one.

“Yes?” 1313 looks at her.

“Now I know I want one!” she pulls Smiley into a hug. Surprised at its sudden wriggling and resistance, she lets go immediately. Once Smiley grabs the tablet still lying in the sand and hangs it around its neck again, it returns and curls up between Zamira’s forelegs.

387 smiles.

That’s a downright creepy smile, but damn if I can sense anything other than love from her.

“I can arrange that,” says the warrior, “We don’t hatch that many new drones these days, mostly due to the improving survival rate, but I can persuade the Queen to let one live with you.”

“Zamira has a soft spot for grateful creatures who’ve gone through Tartarus,” 1313 takes a jab at his wife.

“Well, you would know,” she immediately shoots back.

“Yeah,” admits 1313 with a smile.

“It wouldn’t be difficult to find a drone who suffered an injury which puts it in more danger in the tunnels than others,” clarifies 387, “When I said ‘improving survival rate’, I didn’t mean that the hive started planning a retirement fund.”

“I guess as long as it’s not an infiltrator in disguise,” 1313 shrugs and sees Zamira’s grin grow from the corner of his eye.

“I’m pretty sure you would recognize one unless they were around my rank and, quite honestly, the Queen wouldn’t waste someone that high up to plan some San Palomino takeover. Get on the waiting list for the Canterlot nobility and then we might talk.”

1313 sighs.

“You never know what’s inside her head.”

“I agree, but-”

We both know which version of Chrysalis is inside OUR heads.

“-as little as I trust her, at which point do I start focusing on what she’s doing right now rather than on what she did before the… invasion?”

“Solid point,” 1313 replies after some thought, “Fine,” he grins at Zamira, “But we can’t let my wife do the picking or you’ll end up swinging a pickaxe yourself due to sudden lack of available dronepower.”

“Har har,” Zamira pouts, “I’d just take one… three maximum… five if they’re too hurt. I CAN HUG THEM ALL!” she waves her forelegs in the air, startling Smiley scribbling on its tablet.

[ZZZ?->]

It points at Zamira, Zaida, and Zara in sequence. Faced with stares devoid of understanding, Smiley frowns before wiping the tablet, hucking out a fresh chunk of goop and rolling it into a stick.

“Can I?” 1313 reaches for the goop chalk stick and the tablet. The concept of giving permission to a high rank is rightfully alien to Smiley so it just watches and wibbles slightly as 1313 takes it, “I’ll give it back. Don’t worry.”

After a moment, he returns the tablet now covered in small writing to Smiley.

[Zamira, zebra, (((]

[Zaida, zebra, (((]

[Zara, zebra, (((]

[387, changeling, oo]

[1313, changeling, oo]

Smiley scrunches its nose, lies down over the presented tablet like a sphinx, and starts studying.

“That might give us some time. So, what’s the business part of your visit, 387?” asks 1313.

“Oh right,” 387 taps his hoof against the sand, “It’s about the ship crash,” he notices everyone tensing up a little, “You used tools to build the shelter you used on the beach, right? A saw, specifically.”

“Yes, pieces of my carapace,” 1313 nods.

“Did you lend those to anyone or did you see anyone else use tools?”

“Wouldn’t work,” 1313 shakes his head, “My pieces don’t last long when they’re detached from my body.”

“Ah. And did you see anyone else using tools?”

“Nope,” 1313 looks around, which is answered by the zebras shaking their heads, “I don’t think I heard woodworking noises either.”

“We were practicing our survival skills, though, not watching other groups,” adds Zamira.

“What’s this about?” asks 1313.

“I found the remains of the shelters that were built for the guests, and there were a whole bunch of saw marks and fragmentation caused by axes. Plus, the crash site was pretty well cleaned up.”

And the caches deeper in the jungle, but 1313 doesn’t need to know that. At least some of us should enjoy a ‘vacation’.

“That’s due to legal reasons. The cleaning, I mean,” replies 1313, subtly reminding 387 that he’s talking with an infiltrator who did his fair share of scouting, “The resort has a treaty with the native hippogriff tribe that they’re not supposed to do logging or mining operations on the island. As for the tools, though… my transformed carapace isn’t tough enough, so our saws were more on the brute force side rather than precision equipment. If the marks you saw were clean cuts then those weren’t made by us.”

“Thanks, I appreciate you talking to me,” 387 nods, and looks at Smiley who is still crunching its new reading assignment while Zamira is absent-mindedly scratching it behind one ear, “I won’t bother you any further. Let’s go, Smil-”

“You don’t have to leave right this moment,” 1313 glances towards Zamira as well, before offering 387 a bottle from an ice-packed cooler box sitting in the shade of the umbrella, “Lemonade? We’ve got three flavors here - lemon, strawberry, and uhh… blue blast.”

Momentarily stunned by the proposition, 387’s mind starts reflexively running through ambush scenarios before he asks:

“Lemonade? Most guests I saw around had beer or even wine, as stupid as it is to drink that on a hot beach.”

“Girls hate the smell of regular beer,” 1313 nods to the zebras, “and I must say I agree. You can get more lemony flavors here, but they’re seriously expensive.”

“Expensive? Aren’t you a noble?”

“Northern San Palomino isn’t exactly a gold mine, 387,” 1313 laughs, “Besides, I tend to invest in development rather than hoard bits, so we’re not going on any shopping sprees on this trip either.”

“I’m sorry,” 387 looks away, “I can’t help but keep forgetting that you’re an infiltrator, not just some pony noble with an overblown ego like most guests here.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing for you?”

“Huh?”

“You’re not anyone’s target for once. No lower ranks aiming to kill you and take your place, no games of politics aimed towards the hive because, let’s be honest here, neither of us is important in the grand scheme of things, not even Chrysalis.”

“Aside from our yet unexplained presence here in the first place,” 387 corrects him.

“Obviously,” 1313 nods, “Look, I’m telling you this because I’ve been talking to nobles a lot over the course of this trip. You know, doing the same scouting you were doing -oh yes, I noticed. You’re not that inconspicuous- but in different circles. My guards as well as my wife did the same and we found nothing. What’s the chances of this actually being Chrysalis’ plan to relax in a luxurious place that wouldn’t let changelings in outside of a diplomatic contact?”

“I don’t know,” 387 sighs, “Yes, I considered that possibility, but I haven’t managed to get anything concrete so far. She doesn’t trust me because she knows I’m not her obedient goon, and no one else trusts me because they think I am exactly that.”

“That’s precisely why you need a place where you can just let go and shut down, even if it is just for an hour or so,” 1313 reaches into the cooler, “So, lemon, strawberry, or blue blast?”

387 glances at Zamira booping Smiley, who scrunches its nose, pointing at her stripes, and then at the ((( on the tablet. The Silent’s jaw drops in amazed realization.

“Give me that blue thing, please.”

***

Strolling along the promenade roughly an hour and a half later, 387 isn’t particularly interested in the daily life of the resort. However, keeping an eye on Smiley who is running around with seemingly limitless energy and definitely a limitless amount of chalk goop, busy with its newly discovered primary source of enjoyment which is pointing its question-marked tablet at everything.

“That’s an ice cream stand,” replies 387, now more automatically rather than with any concern about Smiley understanding it or not. Like with every answer since leaving 1313’s group, Smiley just points its tablet at something else next, “Do you want some?”

Smiley sits down, processing.

“Nevermind,” 387 queues up behind the current shopper.

“Hiiiii, 387!” the friendly, chipper voice of 65536 greets the warrior from behind.

“Hey,” 387 raises a hoof in greeting before noticing Blueblood standing by 65536’s side and his voice loses its friendliness, “Your Highness…”

Blueblood gives him a blank glance before looking at 65536 and asking:

“Can you take this one?”

“Umm, yeah,” 65536 scratches its head, “Blueblood is kinda in trouble with Princess Celestia and everyone else, really, and there are a bunch of things I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you, but right now we’re getting ice cream. Blueblood, this is 387. 387-”

“I know who he is, and I know what he did,” 387 narrows his eyes. To his surprise, Blueblood lets out a short, barking laugh.

“I doubt that.”

“Stop that, BB!” 65536 pouts, “I know you can deal with a situation like this diplomatically. Miss Gem believes in your skills, it’s the rest of you that was the problem. Take this as a chance to exercise a new, better you,” it looks up at him and smiles encouragingly.

“I’m going to minimize the amount of air I breathe,” Blueblood rolls his eyes.

“Don’t bother,” 387 turns around and faces the stand owner, “One mint and one chocolate and vanilla mix. Both cones.”

“Coming right up,” the vendor begins preparing the ice creams.

“Mister 387,” Blueblood clears his throat, “I know what I did, I won’t make any excuses, and I’m fully aware I haven’t paid nearly enough. The best I can do right now is to avoid causing more harm. I would apologize, but I’m not stupid enough to believe you would accept it.“

“I don’t need your apology,” 387 takes the presented cones and shoves them into leg holes on one foreleg, “I wasn't the one outfitted with an explosive collar, nor one of the many whose heads ended on spikes.”

Blueblood takes a breath for a presumably long reply before breathing out again and simply saying:

“Understood.”

387 presents his foreleg to Smiley, saying:

“The brown and white one is for you.”

After sniffing both cones for some reason, Smiley takes the correct one, leaving 387 still guessing if it understood his message or just picked at random. However, when 387 starts licking its own, the Silent scribbles a [:)] on its tablet, puts it back around its neck, walks over to Blueblood, and offers him the ice cone instead.

“What?” the ex-prince breathes out, blinking in surprise.

“Smiley thinks you’re a friend, I guess,” 65536 beams.

“I-” Blueblood shakes his head, “You know what? I’ve met enough of you little weirdos to know what you’ll do if I refuse,” he takes the cone, “Thank you.”

Smiley brightens up again after the moment of uncertainty while 65536 trots by and orders two more cones, one for itself and one which it gives to Smiley.

“A trade is a trade,” it says, “You gave BB your ice cream, BB did something good, which is something that I wanted, so I gotta give you something for everything to be fair. Just be careful, it’s-”

Smiley shoves the entire cone in its mouth and starts chewing.

Smiley’s eyes twitch and blink out of sync.

It grabs its head with both forelegs and silently opens its mouth.

“Every time,” 65536 shakes its head wisely, “Our weakness to noms strikes again. Don’t worry, it’ll pass soon,” it pokes 387 who has started habitually observing their surroundings and assumed his resting ‘I will murder you if you as much as hint at being a threat’ face, “By the way, what were you two doing together? I thought you’d be scouting as usual and Smiley would be with the others.”

“It’s a long story,” 387 shrugs.

“Well, are you in a hurry?” 65536 raises an eyebrow.

“I guess not right now,” 387 smirks, “So, it all started with Gem successfully teaching Smiley to write and-”

“WHAAAAAAAT?!”

Author's Note:

Welp, my AI pony drawing experiment was a total failure, so I guess it's back to pixels.

Comments

[Doctor_Den]

It's nice to see a portion of cuteness again. And then yesterday's ending "An Exercise In Management" left a sad aftertaste.
Of course, the ending did not break into tears as "the death of the third and a touching farewell to him" but it was still sad. Press F Genuine Baby One.

[Booster Spice]

Good thing Silent, otherwise Thestrals would be falling out of the trees?

[ChakatRedstripe]

Good chapter! I wonder how much smarter 🙃 is going to get

[origami]

Smiley - changeling toddler

[readsponies]

I can't remember whether I've asked before, but how do you pronounce changeling names? I mean, the logic could go in a number of directions:

1. Changeling drones are simple, so 99111 is "Nine Nine One One One" and 10013 is "One Zero Zero One Three."

2. Changeling drones are simple, and the ranks are important numerically, so 99111 is "Ninety-nine thousand, one hundred eleven" and 10013 is "Ten Thousand Thirteen."

3. Time is of the essence when running from a gribbler, so syllable count is important when screaming in terror. 99111 is "Nine Nine One One One," but 10013 could be "One Oh Oh Thirteen," "One Nought Nought One Three," "Ten Thousand Thirteen," or even the quicker "Ten Kay One Three."

4. You never know, they could be using hex in the hive mind, judging by a half-remembered fragment of what their coordinates look like. 65535 could be FFFF. Pronounced "FFFF."

Edit: I totally forgot 5. Whatever rolls off the tongue best. So "Ninety-Nine Three Eighty" and "Ninety-Nine One Eleven." By unspoken and inexplicable rules, 99111, 10013, and 65535 are largely unaffected by this.

[Scyphi]

Even his wife or whatever she is is his bodyguard, and apparently a good one.

You'd better believe she is.

“When I said ‘improving survival rate’, I didn’t mean that the hive started planning a retirement fund.”

It'd be cool if it ever did, though. Just sayin'.

“What?” the ex-prince breathes out, blinking in surprise.

“Smiley thinks you’re a friend, I guess,” 65536 beams.

Or that Blueblood just needs it more. In any case, may this just demonstrate that Smiley's more perceptive than it's gotten credit for--probably always was.

11435527
I actually asked Nameless Narrator this awhile back, and they replied it varied both on the changeling and who exactly was doing the saying. For example, some of the drones would favor option 2 while some of the higher ranks would probably favor a mix of options 1 and 3, depending on which high rank and the current circumstances. Further, some are deliberately meant to be pronounced in a particular way, per author preference. For example, 1313 is supposed to be pronounced "Thirteen-Thirteen."

Assuming I'm remembering that all correctly--I'll let Nameless make any needed clarifications or corrections.

[Nameless Narrator]

11435011
Well, now that we have Gem learning about Silvermith presence in the north, it might be a good idea to take a look at Halls of the Mountain King.
11435028
I don't... I just don't know...
11435228
Maybe as much as a standard drone who gets enough time, explanation, and exposition to various stimuli. All being things drones usually don't get that much of.
11435280
I'd like to see a toddler spend 12 hours a day hauling boulders and running away from monsters, get proper 8 hours of sleep, and 4 hours of free time. Wait... that's basically God of War 2018.
11435738
- And who would have guessed that my original idea was that she would just get the monetary reward in book one, screw Blueblood over, and buy that mansion she wanted somewhere far away? I have a much looser control on what ends up happening than I'd like.
- At this point in time, the oldest drone alive is six years old. Let's not get carried away.
- As usual, Gem was right in her assessment of things. She's a nice little cookie trained by the best mental skill/shapeshifting user alive.
11435527 11435738
The pronounciation of changeling ranks is deliberately inconsistent for several reasons:
1) Talking isn't their primary mode of communication. Hive link contact is, and what I write as "talking" through hive links isn't just speech, rather a mix of emotions, visual representations (hence why they can make their own world, slow time, and so on), standard words, and changeling language which is a weird mix of buzzing, clicking, and body language.
2) Their identity isn't purely numerical. They recognize themselves through mental signature, which means that rank changes don't confuse anyone, really. 93 today, 99 tomorrow, it doesn't requre any extra remembering. Ranks are just the only thing that's possible to translate to words, which is why it's possible to not be able to say their rank properly in ponish. In the same way when I describe tunnels/hive map locations as "65]__lě4šw-5s" or something, it doesn't mean thatl iteral string of characters, rather an identification that's impossible to understand to anyone other than a changeling.
3) Not even ranked changeling ever used numerical assignments on missions, which were the only times where they needed to use ponish. They always just assumed some other identity. (Before the peace treaty and the no-shapeshifting laws I mentioned)
4) From the points above, it should be clearer that the pronounciation, specifically for the drones, is entirely dependent on the level of language they knew when they were able to translate their rank into ponies, what's easier for them to say when they have to, or the way they liked hearing it from someone else and it stuck.
1313 - Thirteen-thirteen was easier for Zamira to say and she likes it.
10013 - Ten-oh-thirteen
65536 - in full, proper, numerical term.
99111 - nine-nine-one-one-one
20100 - twenty-ten (yes, I know, but that's how I shorthand it inside my head)
Smiley - Smiley
and so on..
In short - read them any way you want. I won't mind and neither will they.

[origami]

11435882
I meant his newly discovered curiosity about the world and his new ability to communicate with it.

[Two_Madmans]

ohthankholesit'sthem

Stop calling Old Gods!