They're home.

by Nameless Narrator

Everything old is new again: 3

Several ponies who notice the two changelings and one earth pony step off of the train from Dodge Junction shoot them surprised looks, but it’s clear that unlike Dodge, a changeling isn’t an entirely unknown sight. Neither Smiley nor 99999 would know it, but infiltrators on missions would often spend the extra day of quick march on hoof to reach Appleloosa simply because it’s much easier to get lost even in a small, active town’s crowd. Friendly relationships between changelings and Equestria or not, the moniker of raping and foalnapping parasites is difficult to get rid of. Thankfully, a small, teen-sized, female-shaped one like Smiley paired with an even smaller 99999 nervously smiling while taking in the sights with amazement in its eyes are difficult to align with those labels, especially when accompanied by a well-known figure from the Apple family.

“If ya wanna, we can talk to the ticket office guys and figure out where yer going. They gotta know all the-”

*Scribble scribble!*

[no must lern or usless]

Apple Strudel gives Smiley holding up her tablet and shaking, her eyes slightly wet.

[I do it]

“Okaaay?” the stallion points towards a small brick building at the end of the platform.

Smiley lets out what seems to him like relief and writes down:

[thank you]

“Yer… welcome?” he raises an eyebrow. Smiley just scrunches her muzzle, huffs to herself, and slowly starts walking.

“Is she’s tryin’ to prove herself or somethin’?” Apple Strudel turns to the smaller yet seemingly a much more sensible changeling.

“Yes,” 99999 nods, “I don’t know anything about it, but she was on really bad terms with our leader 10000, which is pretty weird because it seemed to me that drones disliking one another wasn’t a thing, but I spent only a couple worky times in the hive before the Queen sent me away.”

Apple Strudel waves his hoof.

“Eh, we get fleein’ lawbreakers in Dodge pretty often. S’long as they don’t cause trouble there we don’t mind. Ain’t much to steal there anyway.”

“We don’t steal stuff!” 99999 wibbles, looking genuinely hurt at the idea.

“That was an example,” Apple Strudel immediately corrects himself when faced with the nuclear version of a kicked puppy look, “I meant anyone who has to leave someplace for… reasons.”

“Ah,” 99999 immediately cheers up and the stallion breathes a sigh of relief.

“Look, lil’ guy, I want to help ya but I also got a lotta stuff to do today. I dunno where this Sand-whatever is but the ticket office has to so I’ll just leave ya with this - if ya need information, don’t be afraid to ask. If ya don’t get an answer, ask somepony else. Ya might get weird looks, but that’s all. Got it?”

“Don’t be afraid. This is not like the tunnels and you won’t get munched by anything you don’t know,” 99999 nods, “Got it!”

“Obviously, there are bad ponies in the world, but most are just normal guys.”

“Mhm,” 99999 keeps nodding.

“And a harmonica is worth only a couple bits, not a big gemstone,” Apple Strudel pats 99999’s head and the drone instinctively sticks out the tip of its tongue, “Ya know, in case ya still want one.”

“Yup, for sure!” the drone’s nodding gains vigor.

The tolling of a bell on top of the Appleloosa town hall announces nine o’clock.

“Good,” Apple Strudel takes a deep breath, “I gotta go. My boss is a nice guy but I doubt he’d be happy if I was late due to chatting wit’ changelings. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Mister. I’ll give Smiley a hug for you,” 99999 returns Strudel’s smile with its own which slowly fades as the stallion turns around and heads off into the town.

With nothing better to do, 99999 runs off to catch up with Smiley.

***

One tunnel section that’s been abandoned for such a long time that the drones didn’t even bother rebuilding it into the new, stable shape and using its walls and ceiling to conserve knowledge is finally enjoying the attention of a single drone. 10k is limping around, tapping one hoof on various parts of the tunnel and assessing the following resonance only a drone can sense.

Black-crunchy everywhere I can feel. 99856 will be able to experiment forever with this. It’s close, too.

10k taps into the hive mind map and manually adds another room next to 99856’s workshop with a marker - “To dig, not during worky time”.

Note to self - explain the new mining arrangement to everyone during breaky time.

While 10k is no 99380, manipulating the hive mind is getting easier and easier with the amount of practice it’s getting in place of standard drone work. However…

I wish I was still a good drone.

10k bites its lip, its hoof glows green, and slides it along the uneven wall of the tunnel, attempting to smooth it out.

“AAAAAAAAA!” it screams as spikes of pain run from its fetlock further and further the longer it tries to keep the dig up - foreleg, then shoulder, up its neck. It holds, tears involuntarily streaming from its eyes and gritting its teeth so hard they creak, its throaty scream growing in pitch, but when the lines of pure agony reach its head, willpower isn’t enough anymore and 10k’s body turns the drone off like a light.

More pain wakes 10k up, this time from it being shaken, It’s a dull, persistent pain of its shattered carapace pieces grinding against each other. It opens its eyes and tries to rise up, which it manages to do with a quiet squelch of blood that’s gluing its muzzle to the floor.

“Ughh?” 10k blinks, realizing that it’s facing three other extremely worried drones, “Huh?”

Without even trying, its hive link identifies that it’s in the presence of four others, and that 65536 is looking around and listening with such focus that it’s making its mind stand out like a beacon in contrast to the three quicktrotters surrounding it.

“Hey, 65536, it’s waking up!” whispers 99012, and the guard drone immediately takes charge while coming over and sitting down by 10k’s side.

“99012, monitor the hive mind. 99066 back off and listen for anything unusual. 99971, survey the tunnel for any signs of something passing through hollow spaces-”

“Not… necessary…” croaks 10k, pushing itself up with a wince as it puts weight on its previously digging hoof and pains shoots up its foreleg again, “Calm… down.”

“What do you mean, 10k?” asks 65536, putting its stubby horn to 10k’s head to transfer some love, which 10k blocks, “Huh? How are you doing that? Why are you doing that?”

“I’m okay. We’re not in danger, guys,” 10k forces a weak smile, “I just strained myself a bit too much,” it pats 65536, its voice growing steadier, “More love won’t fix me. This is about as functional as my body gets these days.”

65536 gasps. Refusing love? What a crazy idea! The quicktrotters, however, relax and regroup around 10k.

“What were you doing anyway?” asks 65536, looking around.

“Surveying. I have some news from the top to share with everyone so I’ll leave explaining it for breaky time,” 10k takes a deep breath as well as several experimental steps.

Grinding pain all over - check.

Dull pain when stepping on hurt hoof - check.

Unexpected pain - nope. Good.

“What are you doing here, though?” it asks its unexpected company, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” it points at 65536 and next at the quicktrotters, “And working?”

“Nah,” 65536 waves its hoof dismissively, “A short nap was all I needed to adapt to your schedule.”

“And we’re finished with worky time!” reports 99012 with a mix of satisfaction and worry that they all missed something, “We were all too early so we were worried we did something wrong, but there were no more free map markers to go for so we came to ask what we could do.”

“I see,” 10k quickly examines today’s hive mind tasks and the story checks out, “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. Good job.”

“So… what do we do now?” asks 99971.

“You can have an extended breaky time if you want,” offers 10k, but the trio don’t look overly enthusiastic at the prospect, “We discussed it today with the high ranks and that’s one option. The other option is to do some more work - not much so that you don’t eat up extra love but it would be something that would benefit us drones as a whole and you’d get more stuff to trade later.”

Three pairs of eyes immediately brighten up, followed by three curious smiles.

“We’re listening!”

“I guess I’ll have to repeat it later then,” 10k chuckles, “Right now, 99856 needs some black-crunchy for its experiments because the a smart box record said that it could be useful for making fire, which would open a whole lot of opportunities for more experiments. I don’t know the exact details, but we all know how helpful 99856’s inventions have been so far, so I believe it. In return for the raw material, 99856 could trade you something, I guess. I’d like to give it some black-crunchy just for experiments, though. Without trade, at least at first.”

“Oh, aaand is all this black-crunchy enough?” asks 99066, pointing at the walls.

“More than enough,” 10k nods.

99066 pulls the quicktrotters into a huddle and they whisper to each other for a few moments.

“We take it!” they turn back to face 10k afterwards.

“Take what exactly?” the drone leader raises an eyebrow.

“The trade!” 99066 beams, “We get a new quicktrotting route from here to our cavern plus a little of black-crunchy for us to trade. It’s not that far but it’s also not all easy-mode tunnels. And you get most of the material for 99856’s experiments. We all win!”

“Don’t forget - this is just for us drones, so you’re allowed to do it only when you’re done with worky time assignments for the high ranks,” emphasizes 10k.

“Yup, got it!” says 99012 and the other two nod, smiling, “Can we start now?”

“Umm, sure?” 10k tilts its head, “Just don’t overdo it, we don’t have the storage space yet.”

“Can I join for a couple runs?” asks 65536, “I know I’m not exactly a hive member anymore, but the way these three explained quicktrotting on the way here sounded interesting. I can help you dig out the storage space too!”

“I’m not stopping you, but won’t the Queen be angry that you’re working here? You’re supposed to be relaxing and enjoying Hard Swarming.”

“Pleeeease?” 65536 wibbles at 10k, “You have no idea how little I get to dig back in Canterlot! My hooves have been all twitchy since I arrived yester-”

A drone without the social skills of 65536 wouldn’t notice how glassy 10k’s look suddenly becomes, and the twitch of its lip.

“-day,” 65536 unfortunately doesn’t stop itself in time, “I hardly feel like I’m being a drone at all.”

10k looks down at the floor before raising its head with its smile now being entirely forced.

“Of course, 65536. Have fun, you deserve it,” it turns around and starts limping away, “I put a marker next to 99856’s workshop. 99012, 99066, 99971, give a breaking-down changeling some time to clear out before you start galloping all over the place,” it chuckles darkly.

“Thanks, 10k! We’ll get you all the black-crunchy you need,” calls out 99012 to the nods of the other quicktrotters.

65536, however, finally notices an unusually smooth groove in the tunnel wall and puts two and two together as it looks at 10k’s legs in their stumbling motion, namely the foreleg with carapace openly peeling off that’s leaving behind green and brown stains.

I screwed up!

***

Smiley and 99999 are sitting by the back wall of the mostly empty ticket office while the former keeps fiddling with her tablet. There are two ticket booths behind glass on the opposite side of the room, both staffed despite the morning rush being over, and serving only the occasional pony. A wooden board made of several planks with writing on them hangs between the two booths. While reading doesn’t come easy to 99999 with no collective hive knowledge node around, it eventually figures out based on one reading “DODGE JUNCTION, 23 bits, XXXXXXXX” that it is the name of the place, price of a ticket and, according to its best guess, some timestamps. Unfortunately, there’s nothing on the board even remotely resembling the assemblage of letters they’re looking for, so the two are trying to make some preparations before engaging in a conversation with an unknown pony.

Salad Domino? San Paolo? Salam Molotov?

[sanpalamala]

With a sigh, Smiley reads her tablet and lowers it.

“Some parts of it must be correct. Wanna try again?” 99999 examines Smiley’s latest attempt at writing down the location name. If it had its way, it would just walk over and ask, but the drone feels that doing that would somehow hurt Smiley despite likely saving them some time.

Smiley grits her teeth, wipes the tablet, and writes, letter after letter:

[san]

“I think that’s the correct part,” 99999 nods.

As they ponder the next part, two sets of hoofsteps approach them. The drone looks up and sees one of the booth vendor mares accompanied by a rather huge earth pony stallion wearing an apron covered in black stains.

“Can I help you with anything?” asks the mare in a guarded tone.

Smiley looks up and raises the tablet.

“San?” reads the looming stallion in a gruff voice.

“We’re trying to get someplace and we kinda forgot the name,” says 99999, “We’re trying to remember. We were supposed to take the train at Dodge Junction but the only place it went was here.”

Smiley gasps and scribbles:

[sanpolo?]

The ponies exchange glances.

“Do you mean San Palomino?” asks the mare and immediately gasps as she finds herself viciously “charged” by a changeling hugger, “Wha- I- you- stop!”

The stallion raises his foreleg into the air and 99999 gives him a curious look. In response, he slowly lowers it again, eyes narrowed in suspicion, and the drone can’t help feeling that they’ve just dodged a bullet but can’t work out why.

“Get off of me, you- you!” the indignant mare finally pushes Smiley away. Before she can do or say anything further, Smiley writes on her tablet and raises it again, this time with a relieved smile:

[sanpalomeeno tikkit. please. two. trade shiny]

99999 slowly breathes out a sigh of relief as well and rubs its temples.

You’re alone, 99999, and you won’t be returning to the hive. You can’t rely on the hive mind anymore, and the only more experienced changeling around has even bigger problems.

“Remember this - San. Palomino. San Palomino. San Palomino-”

Comments

[Booster Spice]

San Palomino?

I forgot where Dory was heading for.

Even if it was in the books for 10k to get healed, it would take the Crystal Rainbow for the power, even though thats far more mass energy than just the poor drones body?

[Scyphi]

[no must lern or usless]

I worry she's pushing herself too hard for something she's probably blaming herself too hard for...no matter how justified one might argue it is.

Mmm, but life as a changeling never has been kind for anyone, has it?

...I wonder, was she asked to do this job, or did she volunteer herself?

Whatever the case, there's definitely more happening here, more than 99999 currently understands, than we've been told...

I wish I was still a good drone.

Speaking of changelings carrying more demons than any one creature should...

[Nameless Narrator]

11729419
- Sal Monelo
- It turns out that the real San Palomino were the friends they made along the way.
- Maybe more power isn't the way to solve everything.
11729973

I worry she's pushing herself too hard for something she's probably blaming herself too hard for...no matter how justified one might argue it is.

- She clearly is.

Mmm, but life as a changeling never has been kind for anyone, has it?

- That's difficult to say. You can consider it difficult but rewarding for, let's say, Three, Or even 10k who has lived to see its kind grow. It's always a question of how much effort is worth the uncertain reward.

...I wonder, was she asked to do this job, or did she volunteer herself?

- I'm sure I'll answer that in the worst way possible.

more than 99999 currently understands,

The poor guy doesn't really understand much, but I''m sure Chrysalis had her reasons for picking specifically this drone for the mission.

[Jphyper]

I know how 10k feels. I have a condition that makes it very difficult to do my job, which is physical in nature. I hate going home early without getting everything done, but some days, I have no choice. It's either go home or pass out.

[Nameless Narrator]

11730741
Now imagine if it wasn't just a job, but also one of the main things you enjoy and what makes you yourself.