They're... ON HOLIDAY?

by Nameless Narrator

Day 9 - The Wobbly-leg Frogger: 9/9

With 10013’s link being so worryingly weak, 36658 could barely even guess the drone leader’s direction, much less actual location, making its search take what feels like forever. After trudging back and forth through the resort, repeatedly correcting its course and doubling back on itself, 36658 finally closes in on its target. At least according to its hive link, not its eyes, although drone eyes work just fine even as the evening shadows creep in.

According to the map, this is almost the east border of the resort. What could 10013 be doing here?

Moving a little longer in a way of a marble in a pinball machine, 36658 finally spots a motionless black pile in the distance blending with the background, and all its thoughts of chewing 10013 out for ruining their point lead evaporate instantly. It rushes over to the prone drone, now looking around the area for any signs of danger. However, a quick examination proves that 10013 is simply asleep, so exhausted that even the rising tide now washing over its hind legs didn’t wake it up.

What do I do? 10013 just needs love. Do I just share mine? It would work, but it would also bring us closer to potentially needing another refill and losing even more points.

“You know what to do,” says the voice.

Trade.

With a sigh, 36658 looks towards Princess Cadance’s bungalow just in case, but the pink glow still isn’t there.

“10013, are you okay?” it asks, just in case the lack of love is from some unseen internal damage, and splashes some water over 10013’s face.

“Mhmuh?” 10013 groggily cracks its eyes open and yawns, “36658? Hiii…”

“Can you walk?”

“Huh? Sure, just-” 10013 wobbles its legs weakly, “I must have overdone it with yoghurt again,” it lets its legs flop on the rocks it’s lying on, ”Miss Cadance said yoghurt was relaxing and I was tired so I tried it… and I guess I’m a bit too relaxed now?” it yawns again.

36658 sighs.

“Alright, let’s fix this,” it loads 10013 on its back. While drones are surprisingly heavy for their size, they’re also used to having much larger loads on their back, so 36658 easily lifts 10013 and starts trudging through the sand, the unstable surface under its hooves proving a much bigger problem than its cargo.

It can’t help smiling a bit as 10013 locks forelegs around its neck, rubs it with its muzzle, and starts quietly snoring after.

Show me the way, High Score.

“You know what to do.”

36658 takes a long breath.

Like in the old days - all we can before our time runs out.

“You’ll find a way to help all drones, 36658. It just might not be the one you see right now.”

As long as we don’t give up, you’ll show us a way.

“You will find a way,” the voice corrects it.

“...youneedahug…” mumbles 10013 in its sleep, tightening its forelegs around 36658’s neck.

***

Maybe Miss Gem left a clue where she went.

65536, having been unsuccessful in its search for Blueblood, unlocks the door to the bungalow and enters. As expected from its experience with Miss Gem, there’s a bunch of chemistry equipment on the central table as well as any flat surface within reach. The bed is a mess, the wardrobe seems untouched, but one thing immediately grabs 65536’s attention - the shower is running.

“Miss Gem?”

No answer.

It knocks on the door.

Nothing.

It floats up to the handle and opens, revealing Blueblood sitting under the stream of water who looks up with red-rimmed eyes.

“Private BB?”

Blueblood opens his mouth to say something, pauses, and just breathes out. 65536 floats over and turns the shower off.

“What happened?” asks 65536, “I found Miss Zeri and she said you apologized to 1313’s zebra friends last night.”

Blueblood nods.

“Didn’t exactly work,” he croaks.

“Is that what’s bothering you so much that you’re here?” 65536 lands at Blueblood’s hooves.

“I… I thought I knew I screwed up beyond help but after facing all of them… it was too much,” he breathes out, “I wandered around and I ended up here. I… think I wanted to ask Gem to give me some pills or something… it’s hazy,” he pauses and 65536 patiently wants for more, “But she wasn’t here and I needed an empty place where no one would try to talk to me. I… couldn’t sleep anyway because I just kept replaying the conversation with Zamira and the others. I begged my head to stop repeating it and it didn’t help no matter what I did. In the end I think I took some pills lying around. They did nothing. I can’t recall when I fell asleep but I think it was getting brighter outside. I woke up… not that long ago and I didn’t want to stain Gem’s floor… so I’m here.”

“BB, you gathered the courage to face them yesterday.”

“And look how much it helped…”

“Mister Sharp had a saying I think fits this situation, wanna hear it?”

“Hearing you talk about him, I’d say he had some advice for everything.”

“He was the wisest pony I’ve ever met,” 65536 nods.

“Careful, Luna will be jealous if she hears that,” Blueblood’s jaded attempt at misdirection does nothing to dissuade 65536 who just chuckles, “Fine… go on.”

“He said this when we were talking about my life in the hive, specifically about high ranks eating us for random reasons, some we could do nothing about. It stuck in my mind because it was the first time I heard a pony say something entirely dronish. He said - you can’t control what others do or what they think about you. You can influence it by what you say or do, but you can never control it. Even magic doesn’t work a hundred percent. The only thing you have real control over is yourself. Your mind will try and work against you, your body will try and work against you, but your true self is your will. Life is an endless battle against yourself and the best you can do today is be a better version of yourself than yesterday,” 65536 sits down between Blueblood’s hind legs and looks up into his eyes, “Of course Miss Zamira and everyone treated you like the old you. You never proved you’re a different pony. Not different enough right now, maybe, but what about tomorrow if you keep heading in the right direction? What about in a month? A year?” 65536 beams at him, “You said that deep down you know that if you don’t keep an eye on yourself that you’ll slip into your old ways, that you’d still be the old you if you didn’t get punished this hard. I also told you this before and I meant it - you made so many mistakes that you have a chance for improvement anywhere you look. You know your real enemy is the old Blueblood. You gathered the courage to face Zamira and the others and apologize, that was the best you could do as your current self. It wasn’t possible to persuade them right now in the same way it wasn’t possible for us drones to stop high ranks from eating us if they wanted to.”

“Please stop… my head is hurting again,” Blueblood grunts and pushes himself up, “You’re saying such a mix of nonsense and actually good ideas that I’ll do anything just to make it stop.”

“Ha! Drone logic for the win!” 65536 beams again and backs off.

“Any concrete ideas on where to begin other than vague, mostly pointless platitudes?”

“Having a clear goal helps, but let’s start with small steps. Everything's better in small steps,” 65536 purses its lips, “As Mister Sharp sometimes said - healthy mind in a healthy body, hmm? I’ve been looking for you for a long time so I haven’t done my pushies, pulleys, bendies, and curlies.”

“Fine, screw it!” Blueblood sighs in defeat, “If my body and mind are trying to buck me over, let’s show one of them a lesson they won't forget. No one ever said that you can’t become a better pony through sheer annoyance and spite.”

“TO THE GYM!” exclaims 65536 victoriously.

***

“Aaaand that’s turn five and I win 61 to 24,” 387 gives Chrysalis a smug smirk that makes the Queen’s eye twitch.

“Throw yourself into the sea, 387!” she growls back.

The table is empty with the exception of Scufflestick models, but to the eyes of the three changelings it’s glowing with walls and terrain mentally laid over it through the power of the hive mind. It contains models that belong to Chrysalis now playing 99111’s ‘mechanical whatevers’ vastly outnumbering 387’s Lings, but the warrior’s tactical decision making around objectives granted him a lot more success in this match in comparison to Chrysalis’ overall genocidal approach.

“He played around the turn limit and sacrificed his units accordingly to keep you locked in fighting,” says 99, nodding approvingly.

“And you into the nearest woodchipper!” Chrysalis blesses the infiltrator with her post-game ‘cheer’.

“Look, you are playing better, Chrysalis,” says 387 in all seriousness, “And I must admit that this game is significantly better designed than I gave it credit at first. Even the faction balance isn’t terrible for being thought out on the spot by drones and Shining Armor.”

This time, Chrysalis welcomes the knocking on the door, and a brief mental check reveals the knocker to be 36658. However, opening it reveals 10013 as well which makes Chrysalis sigh.

“Don’t tell me - 10013 is out of love and needs a recharge.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” 36658 nods and bows for good measure before carefully putting 10013 down.

“Well, you know the price.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I’m assuming you’ve sorted out your little ‘ideological dispute’ with 99111 then,” she can’t help making a jab, “Because this puts your group seriously behind.”

“I understand, Your Majesty, and no, we haven’t,” 36658 briefly grits its teeth and looks at the wood of the pier, “But this is more important.”

“Well, I’m not going to tell you how to spend your hard earned points,” Chrysalis shrugs and quickly refills 10013, “It’ll wake up in a moment. If there’s nothing else, we were in the middle of something.”

[10013:0, 20100:7, 36658:4, 99111:4, 99380:6, 99526:3, Smiley:6,

65536:3]

36658 quickly nods and loads 10013 onto its back again.

“No, Your Majesty. Thank you.”

Chrysalis just closes the door.

“That mention of 99111 was unnecessary,” comments 387.

“On the contrary, 387. You should know best how much they value the concept of a trade. We are doing this the drone way. Mostly for amusement’s sake, but there might be some value in them recognizing that I now consider them worth a listen and remember their issues,” Chrysalis wiggles her eyebrow at him, but 387 just shakes his head.

“Just like your game strategy, you are starting to get the overall idea but details are still completely lost on you,” counters 387, returning to the table, “You could show them something which only 65536 during its Hearth’s Warming visits to the hive does - the concept of a gift. A sign that you care beyond what they can give you in return.”

“To give something for free, 387, we must be in a position where we can do so without endangering much more,” Chrysalis manipulates the hive mind and the projected ‘terrain’ augmenting the reality of the flat game table disappears, “And to do that, we’re all going to be hunting tonight. The evening is here, and we’ve done a whole lot of refilling today on top of not being able to feed properly since this nonsense happened,” she scowls as she touches the Paladin suppressor.

***

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Trestle asks again as he looks at 20100 who is now more luggage than a drone.

“It’s okay!” replies the big, boxy backpack with tiny legs underneath, “It’s not too heavy, there’s just a lot!”

“Well, if we did miss a gift shop in this city then it must have been underground somehow,” Trestle shakes his head, “And I get that most of those are interesting mechanical trinkets, some sweets, and an amount of shiny things that would make a magpie roll its eyes, but what was it with the painkillers? I had to reassure the pharmacist that you weren’t buying all those to cook some drugs.”

“Those are for 36658! It can make pain killing goop so I wanted to give it some pony versions to experiment with and try to make something new,” explains 20100, steadily moving the cargo easily three times of its size, “All the tickers and tockers are for 99111 who likes mechanical stuff. One of the tickers is a tiny radio for 99380. It can use it before we get back home and then 99111 can do mechanical stuff with it because it’ll stop working without a bunch of these tube battery thingies, the griffon said, and we won’t be able to get them again. The expensive treats are for 99526 because it gets sick if it eats too much stuff, so I picked the best small ones. I got myself a super hard metal thingy that can scratch into stones for something I want to try out back home, and special painting thingies for you- oops!” 20100 slaps a hoof over its mouth, making the backpack tilt it sideways until Trestle steadies it, “Umm, that was supposed to be a secret.”

“I don’t need anything, 20100,” the painter shakes his head, “I don’t show it too much but I’m excited to have someone as interested in painting as you are.”

“Nu uh!” objects 20100, vigorously shaking its head, “A trade’s a trade. Besides, when I saw the amount of shinies they wanted for it I knew it had to be awesome. And you couldn’t stop looking at it too.”

“You didn’t…” Trestle breathes out, his eyes widening, “The powdered dragon scale pigments?”

“And the alicorn mane brush,” 20100 beams straight ahead because the massive backpack isn’t letting it turn its head all the way, “It kept wobbling on its own!”

“I can’t… that’s too much…” Trestle just keeps walking along the street of the port, stunned.

“I had way too many shinies anyway,” 20100 shrugs, “And those were heavier than this whole bag.”

“I…” Trestle can barely process what the drone is saying and just settles on: “Thank you. If there’s any way I can help, don’t hesitate to ask. I mean it.”

“I still haven’t found anything for 10013,” 20100 sighs, “That one’s tough.”

“What do they like?”

“That’s the tough part. 10013 likes all the usual shiny things, but… it’s our leader, you know? The top-ranked drone since High Score died. It feels responsible for all of us and wants us to be happy and healthy. They don’t sell ‘happy and healthy’ around here, I think, and I haven’t seen anything that, in my opinion, felt good enough for 10013.”

Trestle hums to himself and looks at the sky where the rising stars catch his eye.

“Shoot! We should find a hotel for the night. There’s no way we can get all that,” he nods to 20100’s cargo, “back to the resort before midnight. Maybe we’ll figure out what to buy for your friend overnight.”

“Sounds good,” 20100 nods, “What’s a hotel? We’re too far from the others so I kinda know fewer things.”

“A place to stay the night.”

“That alley looks comfy!” 20100 makes the mistake of pointing and Trestle has to stop it from rolling over again, “Ah-! Thank you.”

“You’re not allowed to sleep in the street in most places. Follow me. I’m sure we can find something reasonably priced.”

“I still gots shinies.”

“Remember you also still wanted a gift for your friend. We’ll find a place that won’t empty your wallet.”

“What’s a-”

“That won’t empty your neck pouch.”

“Ah. Lead the way!”

Author's Note:

I might have to take a break for the next week because I'm still working on notes for the "bonus" day but we'll see. So far I think I've made it in time all but once. This reminds me that I used to always take a week off between full chapters in the imbalanced days. Perhaps I should start doing that again, but I guess I'm just too desperate for validation and comments from internet strangers

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Will be intresting to see what Gem says those pills were. Hopefully they were just medium to extra strength placebos.

Chrysalis thinks she is getting used to the game. what she doesnt realise is that Shining is collecting all the drones builds from all the little games, to make up a mega 100 thousad point conflict where the rules change totally again?

Alicorn mane and powdered dragon scale? Either thats one heck of a scam, or explians why Celestia had a bob cut one year? And why Spike was in a skintight ninja suit last summer?

[PiMan]

First time you've gone all the way through a day and I haven't really understood the title for the day.

[readsponies]

If 9999 has a second coming from the hive mind to tell 36658 not to revere him as a god, was 36658 right or wrong?

[Screw]

The more I read this arc of these drones, the more I imagine they get to experience every emotion possible on the serious scale. For now, it is romance.

I know we got romance with the management king, but that is between different castes. This would be between drones. Under Chrysalis' watch.

I don't know what Chrysalis would do if she found out about the romance between the drones, but I can imagine Thorax somewhere in this situation. Afterall, this sounds like it would lead to those colourful buggies

[Scyphi]

“Please stop… my head is hurting again,” Blueblood grunts and pushes himself up, “You’re saying such a mix of nonsense and actually good ideas that I’ll do anything just to make it stop.”

What nonsense, Blueblood? That was all actually really good advice. No Drone Logic necessary!

“Just like your game strategy, you are starting to get the overall idea but details are still completely lost on you,”

That does pretty much sum up Chrysalis in a nutshell. She gets the overall idea, but she chooses to create her own details that she thinks best benefit her personally...and reality doesn't exactly work like that.

It's not always all about you, Chrysalis. I know, that's a very hard idea for you to even consider, but unfortunately true.

"I had to reassure the pharmacist that you weren’t buying all those to cook some drugs.”

It...doesn't really count as a lie if it's told unknowingly...right?

[Nameless Narrator]

11559292
- Blueblood is currently immune to minotaur herpes and his pheromones have never been more attractive to the kirin. Too bad he won't be able to use it before the effect wears off.
- Shining's plan is to make his own game in the Crystal Empire and run Games Sweatshop out of business.
- Sunbutt has to finance her cake habit somehow. You can't think that Canterlto cake budget covers all of it.
11559321
Drones got the Wavelength Reforger early in the day and couldn't properly say the name, that's all.
11559339
Chrysalis after seeing 9999 return from the dead via the hive mind: "ALRIGHT, SHROUD! I KNOW YOU'RE BEHIND THIS JUST TO STYLE ON ME!"
11559389
Well, Three did glitterbug himself entirely on his own, and the the veteran drones glitterbugged at the end of They're Everywhere, if I recall correctly. And I'm not sure if I'm giving off the wrong vibe here, but drone love is entirely platonic, more like a genuinely good family/long term best friends crossed with survivors of a catastrophy (I'm not sure how to say it correctly so I'll just let the story events speak for itself). I doubt 10013 will have any desire to recreate its "radio-plugging" experience with Clara towards 36658.
11559452
- I would personally consider it an overly generic and entirely unhelpful advice towards someone with real depression. Hell, I've gone through it for over a decade and it doesn't really go away no matter what. It's just the first step that won't last if BB doesn't find a motivation that keeps him going on his own because no one can inject it into him. However, 65536 is doing a great job of stabilizing him and giving him options. Some of it might stick before the situation becomes untennable.
- Bugbutt has it figured out. She isn't the main character of this story, she is the main character of the multiverse! Specifically this particular Chrysalis, not the losers from other realities.
- It doesn't count because it's not cooking!

[PiMan]

11559726
Oh, I must have misremembered because I thought that was the previous day.

Title makes sense now.

[Morphy]

- Blueblood is currently immune to minotaur herpes and his pheromones have never been more attractive to the kirin. Too bad he won't be able to use it before the effect wears off.

It's probably for the best, he might need more medicine for those burns while fooling around with Kirin...

[Acadians6545]

“Fine, screw it!” Blueblood sighs in defeat, “If my body and mind are trying to buck me over, let’s show one of them a lesson they won't forget. No one ever said that you can’t become a better pony through sheer annoyance and spite.”

Spite is a wonderful emotion at times, because it can be the motivation you need to start being better. It's not going to help finish being better as spite never lasts forever, but it can most definitely start that journey.