The noise. It was always getting to her. The hive was buzzing consistently twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and there was no relief from it. As the changeling guard stood rigid as she was trained to, protecting the inner chambers of the Queen’s palace, she felt for the third time that day something she was taught never to feel. A longing for escape. Freedom entered her mind frequently, and today was not an exception. But today was different. She felt as if she could taste freedom…she knew it was impossible though. She should perish the thought, there was no point. She was trapped, just like every other changeling.
It was sunny, and the warm glow of the star in the sky was beaming down onto the sunbathing forms of Scootaloo, Pinkie Pie and Bon-Bon. The red hot rays were blocked only by the sun-cream that the ponies had applied to themselves, to stop sun-burn. Celestia’s magical day was beautiful, but sometimes a little TOO hot. The beach that the trio were lying on was a wonderful shade of yellow and cream, and the sand was as powdery as flour. Flour with the odd patch of seaweed of course. They had laid down beach mats and were happily talking amongst themselves.
“Hey, Scoots, you’re blocking the sun!” whispered the cream earth pony.
“Don’t lie right next to me then!” came the disgruntled reply.
“Stop with the arguing, and get with the..uh..I got nothing!” yelled Pinkie, who had evidently stuck for a rhyming word that was relevant.
“What’s the matter Pinkie, cat got your tongue?” chuckled Bon-Bon, eyes closed and smiling wide.
“No, but a cat’s got YOUR tongue!” observed Pinkie in reply, chortling to the amused scene that followed of Bon-Bon throwing a screaming feline from her face.
The trio were enjoying themselves so much they had forgotten that the tide was about to come in. As Scootaloo opened her eyes from her relaxing slumber, the water had already reached them.
“Hey, gals, we should go before we, you know, drown..” she exclaimed loudly as she scrambled up.
“Yes, that WOULD be a good idea!” yelled Pinkie Pie as she bounded around seventy metres in the air before smashing down a good distance from the approaching water. Her legs must be made of super-rubber or something, Scootaloo thought. Bon-Bon was also slowly and drowsily getting up.
As the three made their near escape from the chilling depths of the surprisingly small and not-so-deadly-at-all sea near Ponyville, they looked around. They had not noticed that the entire beach, and the surrounding area, was now deserted. How long had they napped for? Scootaloo hoped it wasn’t too late. If she still had parents, she knew they would scold her. Sometimes she missed that.
As she waved goodbye to Pinkie and Bon-Bon, she could not help wondering. Pinkie seemed to be nice and caring. There was no reason she couldn’t take in the filly and…no, she refused to dwell on thoughts like that. She concentrated on the sky instead. It was turning into night. Luna was awakening, Celestia was beginning to slumber, and the stars were slowly being born into existence yet again. One by one, she watched as each star appeared with more and more stars. It was like each star system was it’s own family, each individual burning light happy with its brothers and sisters. A teardrop hit Scootaloo’s door mat as she stepped through into her empty house.
Scootaloo’s small flat was quieter than usual. Maybe it was because there was nopony outside, but then, nopony came near the house. They all thought it was abandoned, and that Scootaloo must live in Cloudsdale or something. But still…there was a silent silence. The kind of silence that could scare you out of your wits after a horror movie, the kind of silence which meant there must be something wrong. The Pegasus filly stepped outside again, nearly tripping her forlegs over the door mat. Stupid thing, she thought. What was the point of it? She trotted down the alleyway towards the market square. Strange…there was always at least one or two ponies out trotting leisurely, or somepony trying to sell something. Silence. No noise, nothing. Not a sound. This was exceptionally worrying. What had happened to everypony? As Scootaloo wondered, she heard the familiar sounds of footsteps…except these sounds sounded just a little different. As she turned around sharply, there was a chuckle, and the orange filly gasped and yelled for help.
“Hey, Klax, we missed one!”
“Take THIS one to the inner dungeons with the other two, they’re direct friends with the elements, they can help.”
“Something on your mind, Ikira?”
“No, nothing. I’m just a little worn out today, I’ve kept this post for two days straight now.”
The changeling guards rarely get sleep. It has been known that the noise of the hive combined with lack of sleep can drive changelings mad. Ikira did not know how much longer she could take the noise. She noticed a large pack of drone knights buzz past, their drawling voices chuckling to eachother. Her face wanted to curl down into a grimace, but she knew she had to keep her features straight, or risk showing emotion to the rest of the hive.
“I was not notified of any attacks?” Ikira inquired to her colleague, Hydridd.
“Chrysalis has changed her line of assault to Ponyville. It is more quaint, and after our pretence of playing dead to the Equestrian kingdom, we have surprise on our side. Maybe luck will shine on the hive.”
“yes, perhaps it will.”
Ikira did not think that the ponies would feel the same way. She said nothing; she had already been severely punished twice for equine sympathising. But still…something seemed wrong with taking over the happy, joyful, tolerant kingdom. She winced for the tenth time that day as the noise got even worse. She thought that she was going to go insane. She would not be the first.
