The Not so Mundane Marching of a Completely Forgettable Bug-Horseby Plain SightChaptersChapter 2: Drowning?Chapter 3: Dandelion Decisions?Chapter 4: Garron?Chapter 5: Squeak?Chapter 1: Assignment?Chapter 2: Drowning?I awoke in plenty of time to begin my day. I cleaned myself, consumed some pine needles, drained an energy stone, and of course drank some water. I was physically prepared, and was in front of the elevator fifteen minutes early. This proved necessary when our officer arrived thirteen minutes early. Luckily changelings think alike, and my three companions had arrived at the same time I had. Our officer pressed the button for the -1st floor, declaring tomorrow we would be expected to make this journey ourselves at the same time. We rode the rest of the way up in an empty silence. The -1st floor was devoted to entries and exits from Hive. Our officer led us over to a gate labeled with a large number four and halted on the steps. “Currently water is assigned to gate four and you are assigned to the morning shift. This may change at any time. Today I will be walking you through the steps of this position. Pay attention because this is your one and only tutorial. To start the schedule and sign in board are located on the left side of the gate.” our officer blandly stated. “If any adjustments are made they will be posted here. Take a moment and sign in.” based upon the chart she signed, the mare 4355536 said managing to be even blander. 4355536 levitated a box out from under the steps we were on. Inside were bulky, grey, fleshy, and just generally gross looking belts. “This is a morph-pack,” she said strapping the thing around her middle. “One of the most useful pieces of tech to ever come out of our labs.” 4355536 montonly vocalized. Not so suddenly, she changed into a yellow and blue earthpony mare and was now sporting a set of royal blue saddlebags. “They are enchanted to be affected by our changing magic,” she said as she reverted to her undisguised form and changed her morph-pack into… two large beetles with flailing legs and zippers for mouths? “They can be adjusted anyway they are needed, but for our purposes” she said passing them out “they're buckets.” Buckets attached, we exited Hive through the gate. “First it is very important that you fly straight up over the treeline, so that you can’t bump into anyone gathering food. Then we fly a short 392.12 lengths east to the river.” she stated as we followed her at a respectful distance. I found it odd how specific that measurement was, seeing how hard it was to miss the river, but that comment would have been out of place. The river was wide with a smooth surface that reflected the surrounding forest. “Now fly up river, dipping under the surface to fill your buckets. Don’t let its appearance fool you, a smooth surface only means that a river is deep and has nothing to do with the strength of its current,” 4355536 commanded. She started by flying a little downstream of us, before turning around and getting low against that shiny surface. Suddenly she plunged under with a large rippling effect, and quickly returned to where we were hovering, her buckets full. “Now you.” I tried my best to mimic her actions. I flew a few lengths downstream, and turned around gliding as close to surface as possible. All right 1604490, you can do this. Three, two, one, splash! There was water up my nose. It was incredibly unpleasant. I struggled out of the water sputtering, and despising everything. I flew back to the group, cold, wet, and ticked off. “Now you need to change your buckets into sealed containers so that no water is lost on the flight back,” 4355536 droned. Ha! Droned. The flight back was considerably more difficult. I had not realised how heavy water truly was. I bobbed up and down as we flew, trying my best to keep level but failing. “The next step is to fly low over the water tank funnel, and change your morph-pack back into its original belt form,” she spoke loudly as her water crashed down around her. “The last step is to repeat. Repeat this process all day, as quickly as possible. A guard will let you back in at sundown.” And so the process began, the tedious and exhausting effort it was. Continually flying back and forth along the same path. The unpleasant and sputter inducing plunge into the cold river. The weight of the water pulling me down, and seemingly getting heavier with every pass. The stone cold criticism of 4355536 as she whipped by us, commenting on our laziness and lack of value to the hive. I couldn’t wait for our lunch break. “Lunch break? Why would you think that you deserve a lunch break?” 4355536 asked genuinely confused. So much for that respite. Clouds had begun to roll in. Large dark clouds that you could smell chaos energy radiating from. They were rolling in very fast. Perhaps sprinting in would be a better way to describe them. It was about 15:00 now, and that storm looked threatening. It started slowly, a soft drizzle. It was actually refreshing to have the droplets cooling me off as I raced back and forth between the river and the funnels. That didn’t last long and soon it was pounding. This was the kind of rain that was so powerful it was difficult to hear through. I released the water I’d been carrying into the storm and raced back to the gate as thunder boomed behind me. The rain was getting in my eyes, and the water beating down on mine wings was making it very difficult to fly. I was already so tired from the day, I was worried I was going to crash into one of the trees. Not to mention the threat lightning presented to me. The gate however was shut. I looked around, seeing 4355536 still performing carrying buckets of water. “Ma’am, what are you doing?” I shouted, “We need to get inside! It isn’t safe out here! Open the gate!”. “1604490 is sunset?” she asked. “No ma’am but I don’t see…” I started “No? That's odd since I thought I just heard you tell me to open the gate. But that would be impossible, seeing as we don’t go back inside until sunset,” she threatened starting to fly off. “But ma’am it’s too dangerous to be flying in these conditions! We need to wait until this storm passes!” I pleaded. “Our shift is not over! There is work to be done! Hive is dependent on the water which we supply them with!” she screamed. “We won’t be able to do that if we die in this storm! The funnels are open to the sky! This storm if filling the tanks faster than we ever could! Hive needs us to wait it out!” I cried. She zapped me. She charged up her horn with magical energy, a scarce and valuable resource, and fired a bolt at me, burning my right foreleg “Get back to work you waste of resources!” she shrieked. 4355536 grabbed my left foreleg with her hoof, and pulled me towards the river. She was fast (very fast) and incredibly strong, but we were both in chitin in the rain. Slowly the water worked its way into her grip. We were at the river when it happened. She was turning around to start her descent toward the surface. Time slowed down. I slipped out of her grasp and braked. I had no intention of continuing. She flew about to lengths more forward before she stopped and started to turn around. That's when the lightning hit her. I screamed as she fell unconscious and plunged beneath the water, made chaotic by the storm. I made split second decision and dove in after her. There was a chance she could still live. I plunged under. It was cold. It was in my eyes and nose. It was rapidly shoving me around, pulling me down stream at a terrifying pace. Oh, that was right. I couldn’t swim. I couldn’t see 4355536. I didn’t know which way was anymore. The river was tossing me around like a rag doll. I let out a few tears certain that I was about to die, but the river hid them. THWACK! Everything went black Author's Note I hope to update on a weekly basis. Chapter 3: Dandelion Decisions?I was surprised to wake up to the smell of fresh air. The sun was rising. The birds were singing. I was wash on some rocks in the middle of the river. I had a really bad headache! I examined my surroundings. Water, rocks, cottonwood trees? I had no Idea where I was. I flew up off my rocky bed and up above the treeline. Okay, I had absolutely no idea where I was. Nothing around me looked familiar. Except for the river. I landed on the bank closer to me. I would have been have been washed downstream. Theoretically, all I had to do was fly against the current of the water, and I’d make it back in no time at all. I chucked a stick onto its reflective surface, watched it speed off to the south, turned north, spread my wings, and stopped. That was a good point. I would make it back to Hive in no time. I would not be making it home. Sure I’d always been a part of Hive, but the past two days had proven it was not my home. Hive didn’t care about me. I had been assigned a job without voice and I’d been forced to needlessly continue that job in conditions so dangerous they took my supervisors life. I closed my wings. Well I guess I didn’t know that. 4355536 could be alive. She could have survived the strike. She could have been rescued by one of my coworkers. She could still be alive, but I had some serious doubts. No, Hive was not my home. It never truly had been. Even if 4355536 was alive, my point still stood. I didn’t want to go back. I sat down on the shore, chewing on some wild dandelions. I could do that. I could just not go back. It wasn’t like anybody would come looking for me, as far as they knew I was dead. I could go anywhere. I could do whatever I wanted. I was free. And to think, all I had to do was die. No I couldn’t do whatever I wanted. I would have to be careful about this. I didn’t want to get sick, hurt, or get caught. Just because Hive wasn’t looking for me, didn’t mean that they or any other living creature couldn’t catch me. I would have to be carefull. I stood up. So I guess I was doing this. Where would I go? Not North, that was for sure. Did I have to go anywhere? I had a river for water and a forest for food. I looked down at my undisguised hooves. No, without emotion, I wouldn’t have any magic. I couldn’t live outside undisguised. I would have to find living creatures, but where? Well, I thought standing up. Everything needs water. I could just follow the river and chances are I would find civilization eventually. I’d just have to go South instead. Think 1604490 is there anything else you need to take with you. I changed my morph-pack into generic grey saddlebags. I’m following the river, so I will cave water. Some dandelions would be nice, I thought as I shoved a few handfuls in my bag. Oh, if I planned to travel I would need energy stones. I would have to make some energy stones. I scoured the ground for a few, not very sharp looking pebbles. I washed them off in the cool river water, and reluctantly popped one in my mouth. I think it only takes about an hour for our natural slimes to form an energy stone out of a pebble, but I’d never actually done this before. I placed the rest of the pebbles in my packs with the flowers. Lastly a disguise. I couldn’t walk towards civilization undisguised, but I had no idea how long it would be before I would be able to replenish my magic. My disguise would have to be very low maintenance. A pegasus would enable me to travel faster, but I would use up a lot of magic quickly. I decided against it. So earthpony or unicorn? I decided that I would deal with the temptations of using unicorn magic, if I could save a little bit by not having to compress my horn. So I’d be a unicorn mare of average build, with a black coat, blue eyes, and short grey mane. As for a marking…. Blue flower. Yes, a botanist could be excused for wandering through the woods. I transformed. Well, I guess that was everything. I swished my pebble back and forth in my mouth. I couldn’t think of anything else of the top of my head. “Freedom here I come!” I said outloud. I turned and marched off south down the riverbank. Chapter 4: Garron?I had a total of six energy stones in my bags and had stopped making them by the time it happened. The transition was gradual. At first, there were just one or two houses out by themselves, and I would count the distance between them with my hoof-beats. Quickly though, there wasn’t anything left to count and I was in a neighborhood. The houses were very, consistent. They all had thatched roofs, they were all two stories, and they were all on the ground. I was satisfied with my choice of a unicorn, a pegasus might be a little out of place in a town with only surface dwellings. I was traveling close to the river, but wasn’t sticking to staying directly adjacent to it. I wanted to keep going the same direction, as to find this town’s communal buildings, but finding a creature to properly charge my stones was my ultimate goal. Now that I thought about it, I had been in town for an awful long while to have not seen anypony, or anyone for that matter. I paused to listen, my ears swiveling back and forth. The neighborhoods around be were quiet, just the breeze. I could hear a murmur of activity coming from the south-east. So I continued in that direction reassured. I guess my ears should have been warning enough, but it felt very sudden when I did find some ponies. I turned a corner and let out a gasp. I was surrounded. They were everywhere! It felt like I was swimming in a sea of eyes, judging eyes. Eyes that were sure to recognize me at any moment. Eyes that would see me as a monster to be hunted with pitchforks! with fire! With swords! with tar! with feathers! With anything! with everything! I wisely chose flee back around my corner, and conceal myself in a bush. My breathing did eventually slow to a normal pace, and I could once again think in peace. If I was going to live outside Hive, I would deal with ponies. I needed emotion to fuel my magic which was how I stayed not looking like a monster that needed slaying. Ponies were going to be part of my life now, and I was going to have to get used to it. I didn’t have to stay in this town. I wasn’t going to stay in this town. I was going to get what I needed, and go to a new town with less ponies. Or maybe even less gryphons. I just needed to get in and out I sighed, snacking on my hiding spot. Step one: charge my energy stones. Step 2: find somewhere I wanted to go. Step 3: find how to get there. It was only three steps, I could handle this. I stood up out of my bush, and bravely strode around the corner. I really didn’t like this. I told myself stop, observe, and think. I was on a wide and unpaved road that ran east from a dock on the river. The majority of the ponies were grouped at an open market by the dock, but there were plenty popping in and out of the businesses lining it or taking a cart east. I was only one drone running on empty, so I had to look for love already being given that I could siphon off. Well, the ponies in my immediate vicinity were traveling, they read varying degrees of determination. I decided that I would go towards the mass of ponies in the market, because they had already gotten where they were going. That was a plan. I grit my teeth, swallowed my fear, moved to the edge of the crowd, and followed the plan. Anger, that item was too expensive. Irritation, the line was too long. Disappointment, they were out of a desired product. General crowd reading was very negative, no love. Well what would someone buy at a market for someone they loved? Not the potatoes. Not the kale. Not the oranges. Flowers! We learned that in Hive. The exchange of flowers was a sign of affection. If I could pick out someone with a romantic intent, they would lead me to a buffet. I scanned: not her, or him, or him, or her… there! An adolescent, drenched in sweat and encrusted in acne, was purchasing a corsage of red roses! That was a stallion to follow! I lingered out of the way by some trashcans, and let him get a head start. Then I followed, always keeping two lengths between us. He walked east down the road for quite a while. As we went on he proved himself to be most inefficient at travel as well. He would speed up, and I would follow. He would slow down, and I would match him. We crossed the street several times with no apparent purpose. He took turns off the main road, only to get back on it. It was a real waste of time. We had crossed the street for the fourth time when he stopped. I looked around for his partner, but he wasn’t speaking to anyone. I slowly crept forward, perhaps I just couldn’t see them from my current vantage point. I was less than a length away when he whirled around glaring at me with bright orange eyes of fury. “The buck do you think you're doing! Stop following me you creep! Stay the buck away from me!” he screamed, attracting the attention of many as he swung a hoof towards me in attack. Horse-apples! Hose-apples! Horse-apples! I turned and ran. I ran as fast as my unicorn legs could carry me away from the scene. This was not good. I saw a clumping of trees up ahead and adjusted my course to take me to them. General Swift Vengeance Memorial Park, is what the sign out front read as I ran past it. Vengeance, I gulped at the word as I lept into the branches of a tall pine to hide. I needed a new disguise, something low energy but visually drastic. Mane length, not drastic enough. Eye color, not drastic enough. Mark, I doubt anypony had even seen it. I would just have to try for coat color. I started to shift from my current black to a brilliant blue. It was proving… difficult. I was only about halfway through when the headache hit. I had no magic left to give! Quickly, I stopped casting. I needed to be able to hold this form just a little longer. I lay down on my branch to just breath. My coat was different at least. It was kind of a grey-blue hybrid littered with thousands of small black dots. I didn’t exactly blend in, but at the very least my wings were still hidden. That wasn’t going to last for much longer though. Who could I feed emotion from. There were ponies on benches, ponies trotting around a path, and foals playing on … some playing equipment. Foals! They were just a constant whirlwind of emotion! To my left were the perfect candidates! There was a lime green adolent mare pushing a turquoise filly back and forth on a pendulum. I could see their laughter and feel their unity and affection. With a smile I lit my horn and reached out to feed, but was too far away. This situation was not ideal, I would have to creep closer. Cautiously, I climbed down out of my tree. Nobody had noticed me. I trotted around the path and sat down on the bench closest to the pair, mimicking the ponies around me. I lit up my horn and reached out to the foals. I could feel the magic pouring into me. It was a pleasant warm feeling that radiated from my core. It felt good to have my magic back. I took my fill, and started filling my stones one at a time. “HI LADY!” someone small and blue yelled in my face, causing me to jump and drop my magic. “I noticed you were blue, and I was like I’M blue too!” a very small and very loud colt explained jumping up and down on my lap. “I had to come talk to you because I had to tell you were blue. I would know, because I know ALL the colors! Especially the blue ones! Why is your horn weird? It was going all flashy-flashy magic-magic, but you weren’t magiking anything? I would have seen it if you were, because did you know your magic is BLUE?” he screamed in my face. I shot up and started running. “YOU’RE PRETTY WEIRD BLUE LADY!” he shouted after me. “Where to go? Where to go?” I mumbled under my breath as I ran out of the park. I still had four energy stones left to fill! Maybe a building enforcing physical restrictions on your prey would be beneficial. Yes, a building would be next step! Quikly though, which building do you run too? You were now entering the bustle of the street. Well of the three structures directly in front of you, which one looked the most quiet and empty? The Garron Public Library, located conveniently on my right, it was. I whirled through the spinning door and stopped. Quiet, careful organization, clear labeling, and even dimmed lighting were present here. This was my kind of place. The walls were the most wonderful part though. They were filled from top to bottom with books, journals, magazines, catalogs, and any and every other way to record the written word. This was a building devoted to the non-verbal passage of information, for a mare in my situation it was heaven. I started with finding emotion to fill my four remaining stones. Despite by bad experience a few minutes ago, I decided to once again try my luck with extracting from foals. Lucky for me, the Garron Library had blue arrowed signs to direct me to their appropriate section. Sure enough, I arrived to find a stallion reading a book aloud to his two foals in a large armchair. This time I was smart enough to levitate some books as an explanation for my magic, and took the extra caution of concealing myself behind the shelf for “Foals’ Mysteries”. Their connection was strong, and it only took me a few pages to fill the rest of my stones. I walked out of the foals’ section cheerfully. That was step one complete! Now I just had to find somewhere to go and how to get there. I circled around the library reading all the signs I passed. Biographies, autobiographies, horror, cooking, poetry, religion, and travel! That sounded like the section for me, so I made my way over. I chose to browse a large rack of brochures,, and began levitating them past my face. They were all so bright, this was going to be hard to choose. Eventually I just floated one of everything over to a table and sat down. There was one for Marexico with huge pyramids, but that just looked to hot. Manehatten looked way too crowded. Ponyville looked, but I didn’t think I could handle living that close to the elements of harmony. Vanhoover was also too crowded.This one was covered in hearts. My well-being was directly linked to hearts, so I picked that one up to read through. “Come see the beautiful Crystal Empire! After living under the iron hoof of the former King Sombra for one thousand years, were happy to be back. Our very own empress of love Princess Mi Amora Cadenza, defeated Sombra and restored our most valued treasure: the Crystal heart. This city may be located in the freezing tundra, but it’s always a warm spring day in the Crystal Empire thanks to the crystal heart! The crystal heart reflects the love of the people out through the air, encasing our city in a protective dome that keeps out both cold and evil kings!” I read. This city had an artifact that gathered love and projected it through the air? How could Hive not know about this? It was a dream come true! If I lived there I wouldn’t have to hunt down love, the air was full of it! The only issue was that I would be living very close to a certain pink princess who had slain an entire army of changelings, I gulped. Still, the opportunity to never have to hunt down my food again? It was a risk I was willing to take. Only a few minutes had passed since I’d fulfilled step one, and now I was done was step two. I was going to the Crystal Empire! Last and most importantly was how to get there. Looking at the brochure, the Empire had a train station. I guess the question was whether or not Garron had one. I neatly refolded the brochures, slipped the one for the Empire into my bags, and returned the rest to their proper arrangement on the shelves. I could ask somepony about the train, but that would make me stick out. A pony who lived here would know where the train was, and sompony from out of town would have come in on thee train. No, chances were very high that if I followed the one main street away from the river that I would find the train. I pranced over to the door happy to have replenished my magic supply. I moved to revolve my way through the door, but as I did an alarm started to go off. Horse-apples! I had overstayed my welcome! I ran as fast as I could out the door and down the street, doing my best to disappear into the crowd. My theory was right. At the opposite end of the road, I found the train station. There was a small train already waiting to leave. I walked up to the steps to the platform and tried to pass through the the spinning grated doors, but they refused to open for me. “They ain’t gonna open for ya without a ticket sweetheart,” and elderly purple mare informed me. She waved a small piece of paper over a crystal in the door, and passed through to board the train. Allright then, I would acquire a ticket then. I approached the young red stallion in the booth labeled tickets and said, “I would like a ticket, please,”. He looked up at me and replied, “Absolutely Ma’am! Where too?” I had not known that was a factor. “The Crystal Empire, please,” I responded. “Wow that's quite a trip!” he said, “That will be 184 bits please!” Currency! I had no currency! “Nevermind!” I hastily replied. I moved straight to the restroom, I needed to hind from anypony who had seen my now three mistakes. I sat in the stall and breathed. I didn’t have any currency, ticket, or the ability to board the train. I would be okay, I told myself. I would eventually need currency, but I wouldn’t solve that I problem today. I couldn’t get on the train, no correction, I couldn’t get on the train through the train station. I used my replenished well of magic to transform. I was a yellow pegasus mare with a medium brown and orange streaked mane, orange eyes, and a brown bag for a mark. After some consideration, I changed my morph-pack to a matching brown color. I checked myself over in the mirror, and left the bathroom flying straight up. The train lived on the tracks. I would just fly down the tracks a little, so I was out of sight of the train station. When the train went by, I would just land and ride on the roof. So that's what I did. I lied down on one of the yellow-roofed cars near the back and watched the sunset. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep. Author's Note Thank you for the feedback CaptainMoke. Chapter 5: Squeak?My wake-up call was not a pleasant one. I woke up in midair, falling off the train. Panicked, I tried to flip myself upright and glide, but in the process slammed myself against the stone wall. I shrieked as I felt my ribs snap with a sickening crack. I tumbled against the cliff cutting myself on the jagged rocks before finally landing in the mud. “BUCK!” I shouted out loud, that hurt a lot. Without standing up, I reverted back to my normal form and assessed the damage. My wings were miraculously okay, but I was by no means unscathed. I was sporting two large stitch-worthy gashes (one on my left side, and one on my right foreleg), was covered in scrapes and bruises, and I was guessing I had broken two or three ribs. This time I only mentally cursed, as to conserve energy. Think 1604490! What do you have, and what do you need? I had six full energy stones, my morph-pack, some dandelions, a brochure, and a significant amount of mud. Energy stones, I had enough magic that I could potentially use changing abilities to heal my wounds, it would just be very painful. Pain relief then, I could coat myself in slime to diffuse the magic out across my body so it wouldn’t hurt as much, and I produced slime so it being in my wounds shouldn’t have any negative effects. Oh wait, I had landed in the mud, my cuts were full of dirt. There was no way I could close any of my cuts now, they would surely get infected and there was no medical care available for a changeling outside Hive. I would have to clean them out somehow. That was what I needed, water. Alright where would I find water then? I looked around. It seemed like I had fallen about 2.5 lengths when the train had gone around a curve on a natural mountain bridge. I guess it made sense that the water would run off of that mountain to the lowest point it could find. If I walked downhill, I’d have to find water eventually. That was what I was going to do then. I tried to stand up, but my side bucking hurt like tartarus! That wasn’t happening with my ribs like this, I thought hissing in pain. Well there was no mud on my ribs, so maybe I should go ahead and heal them. I wouldn’t be able to slime myself though, so it would hurt a lot. It would be a risky move, but if I didn’t do anything I would just be lying here waiting for my death. I lit up my horn and floated two stones over into my mouth, ready for when I need them. I hoped I would never have to do this again. Carefully, I lay my head on its side, and started. In theory it was simple, I was just changing from a form with broken ribs to a form with perfectly intact ribs. It should only be as complicated gender. The issue was that it was my true form I was altering, if I ran out of magic I wouldn’t revert back to a changeling with broken ribs. The pain of using so much magic shot through me and I screamed. As my heart ran low on magic, I crushed the two stones in my jaw. Those were quickly drained, and I spat out their chalky remains. I was nearly empty, but the spell was too far gone to be stopped on my own. I regurgitated, and the world faded to black. I woke up very sore, but alive. I grabbed another stone out of my bag and drained it, alleviating my headache. That had actually worked. Slowly, I stood up, but quickly sat back down dizzy. I turned my head to look at my mudpuddle, now smeared with blood and vomit. Horse apples, when was the last time I had anything to drink? Looking up at the sky it seemed to be about noon. I stood up again, slower this time. There was only one cure for dehydration, water. With that I carefully started walking downhill flapping my wings lightly to help me keep my balance. I’d almost forgotten to disguise myself. Tired, I opted just to return to my brown-bagged yellow pegasus mare. By the lack of emergency services here to help me, I was guessing nopony had witnessed her fall from the train, and was still a good disguise. It was slow going through the thick underbrush of the forest. My wings barely had enough room to flutter, but there was also plenty of branches to catch myself with if I stumbled. I snacked as I traveled. I passed by plenty of goldenrods, which made for a sweet burst of energy. I snagged some for later, stuffing them in my bag. Otherwise my march was quiet, I encountered no ponies or woodland creatures. It was late afternoon when I finally found water. It was a cute little brook with a small cobblestone road running on either side of it. A short distance from where I emerged from the foliage, there was a hardy wooden bridge made from thick logs. I trotted over to it and took off my bags, causing them to revert back to their original form. I stashed the gray belt up under the bridge and out of sight. With some hesitation, I stood on the edge of the bridge and gently glided down into the cool clear water. I gulped a sizeable amount down with relief and started cleaning the mud of me. This was nothing like the river had been. It wasn’t fast, I could stand on the bottom all throughout it, and it was much warmer. I would almost call it pleasant, I reflected as I sent the mud and blood curling off behind me. I was interrupted by high-pitched screech and the pounding of small hooves. “Papa! Papa! Ah can’t go get the water!” a voice squeaked. “Oh really?”, an older stallion sighed, “and tell me, why’s that?” “There’s somepony bleedin’ it!” Chapter 1: Assignment?Counting today, I’ve sat in the royal amphitheater a grand total of two times. The first had been for the royal address after our Queen lead our comrades home from Canterlot, utterly defeated. There had been nothing but sorrow and pain that day, the sickening threat of starvation dragging behind our every step. Therefore, I had failed to notice much of anything about my surroundings. The royal amphitheater was by far the tallest structure carved into Hive. Its grandiose ceiling reached far above me, and was littered with hundreds of stalactites enchanted to illuminate the space. Its walls curved to surround me, elevators crammed into every available space. Most impressive though, was the gleaming heptagon stage, currently inhabited by the Queen. Our Queen, MY Queen, was here to address ME (and the 145 sisters surrounding me). The Queen lit her horn, and the room silenced for her. “My faithful followers, as changelings our duty is to Hive. We give to Hive, and Hive gives to us. Hive hatches us. Hive raises us. Hive feeds us. Hive loves us. Hive supports us, and we support Hive. Except for one small detail.” she paused, her hooves clacking as she paced. “Until this point in your lives Hive has given to you, and you have only taken,” she spat at us. “This changes today. Today on your assignment day!” We buzzed our wings and stomped our hooves in applause. “We say, ‘treat the work you do today as the most important work you have ever done’, because it is. There are no small jobs. Every task provides products necessary to Hive, and in return Hive provides us with everything we need to lead long happy lives.” The applause was much stronger now and I could feel the anticipation buzzing in the air. “That is why my followers, I am happy to present the work assignments to each and every one of you. May you perform them well for the rest of your lives!”. The excitement sloshing through the air was both suffocating and glorious at the same time. My sisters on the first bench closest to the stage rose and flew over to kneel at our Queen’s feet awaiting their fate. Our Queen enveloped the first on the left in her glow and proclaimed, “1604479! Military-C, Hive defense!”. The crowd roared as 1604479 was given her ID badge and floated over to the appropriate elevator. “1604480! Gatherer-A, emotion!” the process continued. “1604481! Builder-B, Hive repair!” I was sitting in the second row. “1604482! Caretaker-B, foals!” My row would be the next to kneel before our Queen. “1604482! Technologies-A, research!” There were only seven ponies separating me from my fate. “1604483! Caretaker-C, cocoons!” I was supposed to be excited, this was the most exciting day of my life. “1604484! Military-A, reconnaissance!” Then why was I so scared? “1604485! Gatherer-B, sustenance!” What would I be? “1604486! Military-B, offensive!” What did I want to be? “1604487! Builder-A, Hive expansion!” I wanted to do something adventurous. “1604488! Technologies-B, education!” That was it, there was nobody left on stage. My row flew up and I kneeled. The sister too my left was illuminated. “1604489! Medical-A, digestive!” Now it was my turn. Please my Queen, anything that isn’t mundane, I want excitement! “1604490! Gatherer-C, water!” Water? Of all the different jobs there are, I got water? The Queen stuck my ID badge to my chest and floated me over to an elevator in the back. It was empty except for myself and the mare who must be our supervising officer. I didn’t care to pay much attention to the rest of the ceremony. I had wanted something exciting, and water was anything but. A lifetime of flying buckets of the stuff from the river to the hive is what awaited me. Just back and forth everyday, there couldn’t be a job more mundane. I was supposed to be happy with my job. This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Water wasn’t even considered one of the bad jobs, with water you got to go outside Hive. I should have been overjoyed. I HATED it. I hadn’t even started my first day and I hated it. By the end of the ceremony, only three others had joined us in the elevator. That was fine by me, I wasn’t exactly in a cheery mood and the less there was to bother me the better. The last changeling was called, “1604624! Messenger-A, internal! My followers today begins the rest of your lives, may Hive bless you!”. The applause that followed was thunderous, and our officer closed the elevator pushing the down button. “All of you have been assigned to the day-time shift, so you won’t be starting until tomorrow morning. For now rest up,” the door opened to what I assumed were the water gatherers’ sleeping quarters, “I expect all of you to be in front of this elevator rested, fed, and charged at 06:15 tomorrow.” She shut the door and we had a whole seven hours and fifteen minutes to ourselves. I flew up to an empty comb near the top of the room and shut its membrane. I coated my badge in my slime and enchanted it to awaken me at 05:00. That should be early enough. I did not like this water carrying business, but I would have to make it work. Somehow. So, I curled into a tight ball on top of the pillow, and descended into sleep.
Chapter 2: Drowning?I awoke in plenty of time to begin my day. I cleaned myself, consumed some pine needles, drained an energy stone, and of course drank some water. I was physically prepared, and was in front of the elevator fifteen minutes early. This proved necessary when our officer arrived thirteen minutes early. Luckily changelings think alike, and my three companions had arrived at the same time I had. Our officer pressed the button for the -1st floor, declaring tomorrow we would be expected to make this journey ourselves at the same time. We rode the rest of the way up in an empty silence. The -1st floor was devoted to entries and exits from Hive. Our officer led us over to a gate labeled with a large number four and halted on the steps. “Currently water is assigned to gate four and you are assigned to the morning shift. This may change at any time. Today I will be walking you through the steps of this position. Pay attention because this is your one and only tutorial. To start the schedule and sign in board are located on the left side of the gate.” our officer blandly stated. “If any adjustments are made they will be posted here. Take a moment and sign in.” based upon the chart she signed, the mare 4355536 said managing to be even blander. 4355536 levitated a box out from under the steps we were on. Inside were bulky, grey, fleshy, and just generally gross looking belts. “This is a morph-pack,” she said strapping the thing around her middle. “One of the most useful pieces of tech to ever come out of our labs.” 4355536 montonly vocalized. Not so suddenly, she changed into a yellow and blue earthpony mare and was now sporting a set of royal blue saddlebags. “They are enchanted to be affected by our changing magic,” she said as she reverted to her undisguised form and changed her morph-pack into… two large beetles with flailing legs and zippers for mouths? “They can be adjusted anyway they are needed, but for our purposes” she said passing them out “they're buckets.” Buckets attached, we exited Hive through the gate. “First it is very important that you fly straight up over the treeline, so that you can’t bump into anyone gathering food. Then we fly a short 392.12 lengths east to the river.” she stated as we followed her at a respectful distance. I found it odd how specific that measurement was, seeing how hard it was to miss the river, but that comment would have been out of place. The river was wide with a smooth surface that reflected the surrounding forest. “Now fly up river, dipping under the surface to fill your buckets. Don’t let its appearance fool you, a smooth surface only means that a river is deep and has nothing to do with the strength of its current,” 4355536 commanded. She started by flying a little downstream of us, before turning around and getting low against that shiny surface. Suddenly she plunged under with a large rippling effect, and quickly returned to where we were hovering, her buckets full. “Now you.” I tried my best to mimic her actions. I flew a few lengths downstream, and turned around gliding as close to surface as possible. All right 1604490, you can do this. Three, two, one, splash! There was water up my nose. It was incredibly unpleasant. I struggled out of the water sputtering, and despising everything. I flew back to the group, cold, wet, and ticked off. “Now you need to change your buckets into sealed containers so that no water is lost on the flight back,” 4355536 droned. Ha! Droned. The flight back was considerably more difficult. I had not realised how heavy water truly was. I bobbed up and down as we flew, trying my best to keep level but failing. “The next step is to fly low over the water tank funnel, and change your morph-pack back into its original belt form,” she spoke loudly as her water crashed down around her. “The last step is to repeat. Repeat this process all day, as quickly as possible. A guard will let you back in at sundown.” And so the process began, the tedious and exhausting effort it was. Continually flying back and forth along the same path. The unpleasant and sputter inducing plunge into the cold river. The weight of the water pulling me down, and seemingly getting heavier with every pass. The stone cold criticism of 4355536 as she whipped by us, commenting on our laziness and lack of value to the hive. I couldn’t wait for our lunch break. “Lunch break? Why would you think that you deserve a lunch break?” 4355536 asked genuinely confused. So much for that respite. Clouds had begun to roll in. Large dark clouds that you could smell chaos energy radiating from. They were rolling in very fast. Perhaps sprinting in would be a better way to describe them. It was about 15:00 now, and that storm looked threatening. It started slowly, a soft drizzle. It was actually refreshing to have the droplets cooling me off as I raced back and forth between the river and the funnels. That didn’t last long and soon it was pounding. This was the kind of rain that was so powerful it was difficult to hear through. I released the water I’d been carrying into the storm and raced back to the gate as thunder boomed behind me. The rain was getting in my eyes, and the water beating down on mine wings was making it very difficult to fly. I was already so tired from the day, I was worried I was going to crash into one of the trees. Not to mention the threat lightning presented to me. The gate however was shut. I looked around, seeing 4355536 still performing carrying buckets of water. “Ma’am, what are you doing?” I shouted, “We need to get inside! It isn’t safe out here! Open the gate!”. “1604490 is sunset?” she asked. “No ma’am but I don’t see…” I started “No? That's odd since I thought I just heard you tell me to open the gate. But that would be impossible, seeing as we don’t go back inside until sunset,” she threatened starting to fly off. “But ma’am it’s too dangerous to be flying in these conditions! We need to wait until this storm passes!” I pleaded. “Our shift is not over! There is work to be done! Hive is dependent on the water which we supply them with!” she screamed. “We won’t be able to do that if we die in this storm! The funnels are open to the sky! This storm if filling the tanks faster than we ever could! Hive needs us to wait it out!” I cried. She zapped me. She charged up her horn with magical energy, a scarce and valuable resource, and fired a bolt at me, burning my right foreleg “Get back to work you waste of resources!” she shrieked. 4355536 grabbed my left foreleg with her hoof, and pulled me towards the river. She was fast (very fast) and incredibly strong, but we were both in chitin in the rain. Slowly the water worked its way into her grip. We were at the river when it happened. She was turning around to start her descent toward the surface. Time slowed down. I slipped out of her grasp and braked. I had no intention of continuing. She flew about to lengths more forward before she stopped and started to turn around. That's when the lightning hit her. I screamed as she fell unconscious and plunged beneath the water, made chaotic by the storm. I made split second decision and dove in after her. There was a chance she could still live. I plunged under. It was cold. It was in my eyes and nose. It was rapidly shoving me around, pulling me down stream at a terrifying pace. Oh, that was right. I couldn’t swim. I couldn’t see 4355536. I didn’t know which way was anymore. The river was tossing me around like a rag doll. I let out a few tears certain that I was about to die, but the river hid them. THWACK! Everything went black Author's Note I hope to update on a weekly basis.
Chapter 3: Dandelion Decisions?I was surprised to wake up to the smell of fresh air. The sun was rising. The birds were singing. I was wash on some rocks in the middle of the river. I had a really bad headache! I examined my surroundings. Water, rocks, cottonwood trees? I had no Idea where I was. I flew up off my rocky bed and up above the treeline. Okay, I had absolutely no idea where I was. Nothing around me looked familiar. Except for the river. I landed on the bank closer to me. I would have been have been washed downstream. Theoretically, all I had to do was fly against the current of the water, and I’d make it back in no time at all. I chucked a stick onto its reflective surface, watched it speed off to the south, turned north, spread my wings, and stopped. That was a good point. I would make it back to Hive in no time. I would not be making it home. Sure I’d always been a part of Hive, but the past two days had proven it was not my home. Hive didn’t care about me. I had been assigned a job without voice and I’d been forced to needlessly continue that job in conditions so dangerous they took my supervisors life. I closed my wings. Well I guess I didn’t know that. 4355536 could be alive. She could have survived the strike. She could have been rescued by one of my coworkers. She could still be alive, but I had some serious doubts. No, Hive was not my home. It never truly had been. Even if 4355536 was alive, my point still stood. I didn’t want to go back. I sat down on the shore, chewing on some wild dandelions. I could do that. I could just not go back. It wasn’t like anybody would come looking for me, as far as they knew I was dead. I could go anywhere. I could do whatever I wanted. I was free. And to think, all I had to do was die. No I couldn’t do whatever I wanted. I would have to be careful about this. I didn’t want to get sick, hurt, or get caught. Just because Hive wasn’t looking for me, didn’t mean that they or any other living creature couldn’t catch me. I would have to be carefull. I stood up. So I guess I was doing this. Where would I go? Not North, that was for sure. Did I have to go anywhere? I had a river for water and a forest for food. I looked down at my undisguised hooves. No, without emotion, I wouldn’t have any magic. I couldn’t live outside undisguised. I would have to find living creatures, but where? Well, I thought standing up. Everything needs water. I could just follow the river and chances are I would find civilization eventually. I’d just have to go South instead. Think 1604490 is there anything else you need to take with you. I changed my morph-pack into generic grey saddlebags. I’m following the river, so I will cave water. Some dandelions would be nice, I thought as I shoved a few handfuls in my bag. Oh, if I planned to travel I would need energy stones. I would have to make some energy stones. I scoured the ground for a few, not very sharp looking pebbles. I washed them off in the cool river water, and reluctantly popped one in my mouth. I think it only takes about an hour for our natural slimes to form an energy stone out of a pebble, but I’d never actually done this before. I placed the rest of the pebbles in my packs with the flowers. Lastly a disguise. I couldn’t walk towards civilization undisguised, but I had no idea how long it would be before I would be able to replenish my magic. My disguise would have to be very low maintenance. A pegasus would enable me to travel faster, but I would use up a lot of magic quickly. I decided against it. So earthpony or unicorn? I decided that I would deal with the temptations of using unicorn magic, if I could save a little bit by not having to compress my horn. So I’d be a unicorn mare of average build, with a black coat, blue eyes, and short grey mane. As for a marking…. Blue flower. Yes, a botanist could be excused for wandering through the woods. I transformed. Well, I guess that was everything. I swished my pebble back and forth in my mouth. I couldn’t think of anything else of the top of my head. “Freedom here I come!” I said outloud. I turned and marched off south down the riverbank.
Chapter 4: Garron?I had a total of six energy stones in my bags and had stopped making them by the time it happened. The transition was gradual. At first, there were just one or two houses out by themselves, and I would count the distance between them with my hoof-beats. Quickly though, there wasn’t anything left to count and I was in a neighborhood. The houses were very, consistent. They all had thatched roofs, they were all two stories, and they were all on the ground. I was satisfied with my choice of a unicorn, a pegasus might be a little out of place in a town with only surface dwellings. I was traveling close to the river, but wasn’t sticking to staying directly adjacent to it. I wanted to keep going the same direction, as to find this town’s communal buildings, but finding a creature to properly charge my stones was my ultimate goal. Now that I thought about it, I had been in town for an awful long while to have not seen anypony, or anyone for that matter. I paused to listen, my ears swiveling back and forth. The neighborhoods around be were quiet, just the breeze. I could hear a murmur of activity coming from the south-east. So I continued in that direction reassured. I guess my ears should have been warning enough, but it felt very sudden when I did find some ponies. I turned a corner and let out a gasp. I was surrounded. They were everywhere! It felt like I was swimming in a sea of eyes, judging eyes. Eyes that were sure to recognize me at any moment. Eyes that would see me as a monster to be hunted with pitchforks! with fire! With swords! with tar! with feathers! With anything! with everything! I wisely chose flee back around my corner, and conceal myself in a bush. My breathing did eventually slow to a normal pace, and I could once again think in peace. If I was going to live outside Hive, I would deal with ponies. I needed emotion to fuel my magic which was how I stayed not looking like a monster that needed slaying. Ponies were going to be part of my life now, and I was going to have to get used to it. I didn’t have to stay in this town. I wasn’t going to stay in this town. I was going to get what I needed, and go to a new town with less ponies. Or maybe even less gryphons. I just needed to get in and out I sighed, snacking on my hiding spot. Step one: charge my energy stones. Step 2: find somewhere I wanted to go. Step 3: find how to get there. It was only three steps, I could handle this. I stood up out of my bush, and bravely strode around the corner. I really didn’t like this. I told myself stop, observe, and think. I was on a wide and unpaved road that ran east from a dock on the river. The majority of the ponies were grouped at an open market by the dock, but there were plenty popping in and out of the businesses lining it or taking a cart east. I was only one drone running on empty, so I had to look for love already being given that I could siphon off. Well, the ponies in my immediate vicinity were traveling, they read varying degrees of determination. I decided that I would go towards the mass of ponies in the market, because they had already gotten where they were going. That was a plan. I grit my teeth, swallowed my fear, moved to the edge of the crowd, and followed the plan. Anger, that item was too expensive. Irritation, the line was too long. Disappointment, they were out of a desired product. General crowd reading was very negative, no love. Well what would someone buy at a market for someone they loved? Not the potatoes. Not the kale. Not the oranges. Flowers! We learned that in Hive. The exchange of flowers was a sign of affection. If I could pick out someone with a romantic intent, they would lead me to a buffet. I scanned: not her, or him, or him, or her… there! An adolescent, drenched in sweat and encrusted in acne, was purchasing a corsage of red roses! That was a stallion to follow! I lingered out of the way by some trashcans, and let him get a head start. Then I followed, always keeping two lengths between us. He walked east down the road for quite a while. As we went on he proved himself to be most inefficient at travel as well. He would speed up, and I would follow. He would slow down, and I would match him. We crossed the street several times with no apparent purpose. He took turns off the main road, only to get back on it. It was a real waste of time. We had crossed the street for the fourth time when he stopped. I looked around for his partner, but he wasn’t speaking to anyone. I slowly crept forward, perhaps I just couldn’t see them from my current vantage point. I was less than a length away when he whirled around glaring at me with bright orange eyes of fury. “The buck do you think you're doing! Stop following me you creep! Stay the buck away from me!” he screamed, attracting the attention of many as he swung a hoof towards me in attack. Horse-apples! Hose-apples! Horse-apples! I turned and ran. I ran as fast as my unicorn legs could carry me away from the scene. This was not good. I saw a clumping of trees up ahead and adjusted my course to take me to them. General Swift Vengeance Memorial Park, is what the sign out front read as I ran past it. Vengeance, I gulped at the word as I lept into the branches of a tall pine to hide. I needed a new disguise, something low energy but visually drastic. Mane length, not drastic enough. Eye color, not drastic enough. Mark, I doubt anypony had even seen it. I would just have to try for coat color. I started to shift from my current black to a brilliant blue. It was proving… difficult. I was only about halfway through when the headache hit. I had no magic left to give! Quickly, I stopped casting. I needed to be able to hold this form just a little longer. I lay down on my branch to just breath. My coat was different at least. It was kind of a grey-blue hybrid littered with thousands of small black dots. I didn’t exactly blend in, but at the very least my wings were still hidden. That wasn’t going to last for much longer though. Who could I feed emotion from. There were ponies on benches, ponies trotting around a path, and foals playing on … some playing equipment. Foals! They were just a constant whirlwind of emotion! To my left were the perfect candidates! There was a lime green adolent mare pushing a turquoise filly back and forth on a pendulum. I could see their laughter and feel their unity and affection. With a smile I lit my horn and reached out to feed, but was too far away. This situation was not ideal, I would have to creep closer. Cautiously, I climbed down out of my tree. Nobody had noticed me. I trotted around the path and sat down on the bench closest to the pair, mimicking the ponies around me. I lit up my horn and reached out to the foals. I could feel the magic pouring into me. It was a pleasant warm feeling that radiated from my core. It felt good to have my magic back. I took my fill, and started filling my stones one at a time. “HI LADY!” someone small and blue yelled in my face, causing me to jump and drop my magic. “I noticed you were blue, and I was like I’M blue too!” a very small and very loud colt explained jumping up and down on my lap. “I had to come talk to you because I had to tell you were blue. I would know, because I know ALL the colors! Especially the blue ones! Why is your horn weird? It was going all flashy-flashy magic-magic, but you weren’t magiking anything? I would have seen it if you were, because did you know your magic is BLUE?” he screamed in my face. I shot up and started running. “YOU’RE PRETTY WEIRD BLUE LADY!” he shouted after me. “Where to go? Where to go?” I mumbled under my breath as I ran out of the park. I still had four energy stones left to fill! Maybe a building enforcing physical restrictions on your prey would be beneficial. Yes, a building would be next step! Quikly though, which building do you run too? You were now entering the bustle of the street. Well of the three structures directly in front of you, which one looked the most quiet and empty? The Garron Public Library, located conveniently on my right, it was. I whirled through the spinning door and stopped. Quiet, careful organization, clear labeling, and even dimmed lighting were present here. This was my kind of place. The walls were the most wonderful part though. They were filled from top to bottom with books, journals, magazines, catalogs, and any and every other way to record the written word. This was a building devoted to the non-verbal passage of information, for a mare in my situation it was heaven. I started with finding emotion to fill my four remaining stones. Despite by bad experience a few minutes ago, I decided to once again try my luck with extracting from foals. Lucky for me, the Garron Library had blue arrowed signs to direct me to their appropriate section. Sure enough, I arrived to find a stallion reading a book aloud to his two foals in a large armchair. This time I was smart enough to levitate some books as an explanation for my magic, and took the extra caution of concealing myself behind the shelf for “Foals’ Mysteries”. Their connection was strong, and it only took me a few pages to fill the rest of my stones. I walked out of the foals’ section cheerfully. That was step one complete! Now I just had to find somewhere to go and how to get there. I circled around the library reading all the signs I passed. Biographies, autobiographies, horror, cooking, poetry, religion, and travel! That sounded like the section for me, so I made my way over. I chose to browse a large rack of brochures,, and began levitating them past my face. They were all so bright, this was going to be hard to choose. Eventually I just floated one of everything over to a table and sat down. There was one for Marexico with huge pyramids, but that just looked to hot. Manehatten looked way too crowded. Ponyville looked, but I didn’t think I could handle living that close to the elements of harmony. Vanhoover was also too crowded.This one was covered in hearts. My well-being was directly linked to hearts, so I picked that one up to read through. “Come see the beautiful Crystal Empire! After living under the iron hoof of the former King Sombra for one thousand years, were happy to be back. Our very own empress of love Princess Mi Amora Cadenza, defeated Sombra and restored our most valued treasure: the Crystal heart. This city may be located in the freezing tundra, but it’s always a warm spring day in the Crystal Empire thanks to the crystal heart! The crystal heart reflects the love of the people out through the air, encasing our city in a protective dome that keeps out both cold and evil kings!” I read. This city had an artifact that gathered love and projected it through the air? How could Hive not know about this? It was a dream come true! If I lived there I wouldn’t have to hunt down love, the air was full of it! The only issue was that I would be living very close to a certain pink princess who had slain an entire army of changelings, I gulped. Still, the opportunity to never have to hunt down my food again? It was a risk I was willing to take. Only a few minutes had passed since I’d fulfilled step one, and now I was done was step two. I was going to the Crystal Empire! Last and most importantly was how to get there. Looking at the brochure, the Empire had a train station. I guess the question was whether or not Garron had one. I neatly refolded the brochures, slipped the one for the Empire into my bags, and returned the rest to their proper arrangement on the shelves. I could ask somepony about the train, but that would make me stick out. A pony who lived here would know where the train was, and sompony from out of town would have come in on thee train. No, chances were very high that if I followed the one main street away from the river that I would find the train. I pranced over to the door happy to have replenished my magic supply. I moved to revolve my way through the door, but as I did an alarm started to go off. Horse-apples! I had overstayed my welcome! I ran as fast as I could out the door and down the street, doing my best to disappear into the crowd. My theory was right. At the opposite end of the road, I found the train station. There was a small train already waiting to leave. I walked up to the steps to the platform and tried to pass through the the spinning grated doors, but they refused to open for me. “They ain’t gonna open for ya without a ticket sweetheart,” and elderly purple mare informed me. She waved a small piece of paper over a crystal in the door, and passed through to board the train. Allright then, I would acquire a ticket then. I approached the young red stallion in the booth labeled tickets and said, “I would like a ticket, please,”. He looked up at me and replied, “Absolutely Ma’am! Where too?” I had not known that was a factor. “The Crystal Empire, please,” I responded. “Wow that's quite a trip!” he said, “That will be 184 bits please!” Currency! I had no currency! “Nevermind!” I hastily replied. I moved straight to the restroom, I needed to hind from anypony who had seen my now three mistakes. I sat in the stall and breathed. I didn’t have any currency, ticket, or the ability to board the train. I would be okay, I told myself. I would eventually need currency, but I wouldn’t solve that I problem today. I couldn’t get on the train, no correction, I couldn’t get on the train through the train station. I used my replenished well of magic to transform. I was a yellow pegasus mare with a medium brown and orange streaked mane, orange eyes, and a brown bag for a mark. After some consideration, I changed my morph-pack to a matching brown color. I checked myself over in the mirror, and left the bathroom flying straight up. The train lived on the tracks. I would just fly down the tracks a little, so I was out of sight of the train station. When the train went by, I would just land and ride on the roof. So that's what I did. I lied down on one of the yellow-roofed cars near the back and watched the sunset. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep. Author's Note Thank you for the feedback CaptainMoke.
Chapter 5: Squeak?My wake-up call was not a pleasant one. I woke up in midair, falling off the train. Panicked, I tried to flip myself upright and glide, but in the process slammed myself against the stone wall. I shrieked as I felt my ribs snap with a sickening crack. I tumbled against the cliff cutting myself on the jagged rocks before finally landing in the mud. “BUCK!” I shouted out loud, that hurt a lot. Without standing up, I reverted back to my normal form and assessed the damage. My wings were miraculously okay, but I was by no means unscathed. I was sporting two large stitch-worthy gashes (one on my left side, and one on my right foreleg), was covered in scrapes and bruises, and I was guessing I had broken two or three ribs. This time I only mentally cursed, as to conserve energy. Think 1604490! What do you have, and what do you need? I had six full energy stones, my morph-pack, some dandelions, a brochure, and a significant amount of mud. Energy stones, I had enough magic that I could potentially use changing abilities to heal my wounds, it would just be very painful. Pain relief then, I could coat myself in slime to diffuse the magic out across my body so it wouldn’t hurt as much, and I produced slime so it being in my wounds shouldn’t have any negative effects. Oh wait, I had landed in the mud, my cuts were full of dirt. There was no way I could close any of my cuts now, they would surely get infected and there was no medical care available for a changeling outside Hive. I would have to clean them out somehow. That was what I needed, water. Alright where would I find water then? I looked around. It seemed like I had fallen about 2.5 lengths when the train had gone around a curve on a natural mountain bridge. I guess it made sense that the water would run off of that mountain to the lowest point it could find. If I walked downhill, I’d have to find water eventually. That was what I was going to do then. I tried to stand up, but my side bucking hurt like tartarus! That wasn’t happening with my ribs like this, I thought hissing in pain. Well there was no mud on my ribs, so maybe I should go ahead and heal them. I wouldn’t be able to slime myself though, so it would hurt a lot. It would be a risky move, but if I didn’t do anything I would just be lying here waiting for my death. I lit up my horn and floated two stones over into my mouth, ready for when I need them. I hoped I would never have to do this again. Carefully, I lay my head on its side, and started. In theory it was simple, I was just changing from a form with broken ribs to a form with perfectly intact ribs. It should only be as complicated gender. The issue was that it was my true form I was altering, if I ran out of magic I wouldn’t revert back to a changeling with broken ribs. The pain of using so much magic shot through me and I screamed. As my heart ran low on magic, I crushed the two stones in my jaw. Those were quickly drained, and I spat out their chalky remains. I was nearly empty, but the spell was too far gone to be stopped on my own. I regurgitated, and the world faded to black. I woke up very sore, but alive. I grabbed another stone out of my bag and drained it, alleviating my headache. That had actually worked. Slowly, I stood up, but quickly sat back down dizzy. I turned my head to look at my mudpuddle, now smeared with blood and vomit. Horse apples, when was the last time I had anything to drink? Looking up at the sky it seemed to be about noon. I stood up again, slower this time. There was only one cure for dehydration, water. With that I carefully started walking downhill flapping my wings lightly to help me keep my balance. I’d almost forgotten to disguise myself. Tired, I opted just to return to my brown-bagged yellow pegasus mare. By the lack of emergency services here to help me, I was guessing nopony had witnessed her fall from the train, and was still a good disguise. It was slow going through the thick underbrush of the forest. My wings barely had enough room to flutter, but there was also plenty of branches to catch myself with if I stumbled. I snacked as I traveled. I passed by plenty of goldenrods, which made for a sweet burst of energy. I snagged some for later, stuffing them in my bag. Otherwise my march was quiet, I encountered no ponies or woodland creatures. It was late afternoon when I finally found water. It was a cute little brook with a small cobblestone road running on either side of it. A short distance from where I emerged from the foliage, there was a hardy wooden bridge made from thick logs. I trotted over to it and took off my bags, causing them to revert back to their original form. I stashed the gray belt up under the bridge and out of sight. With some hesitation, I stood on the edge of the bridge and gently glided down into the cool clear water. I gulped a sizeable amount down with relief and started cleaning the mud of me. This was nothing like the river had been. It wasn’t fast, I could stand on the bottom all throughout it, and it was much warmer. I would almost call it pleasant, I reflected as I sent the mud and blood curling off behind me. I was interrupted by high-pitched screech and the pounding of small hooves. “Papa! Papa! Ah can’t go get the water!” a voice squeaked. “Oh really?”, an older stallion sighed, “and tell me, why’s that?” “There’s somepony bleedin’ it!”
Chapter 1: Assignment?Counting today, I’ve sat in the royal amphitheater a grand total of two times. The first had been for the royal address after our Queen lead our comrades home from Canterlot, utterly defeated. There had been nothing but sorrow and pain that day, the sickening threat of starvation dragging behind our every step. Therefore, I had failed to notice much of anything about my surroundings. The royal amphitheater was by far the tallest structure carved into Hive. Its grandiose ceiling reached far above me, and was littered with hundreds of stalactites enchanted to illuminate the space. Its walls curved to surround me, elevators crammed into every available space. Most impressive though, was the gleaming heptagon stage, currently inhabited by the Queen. Our Queen, MY Queen, was here to address ME (and the 145 sisters surrounding me). The Queen lit her horn, and the room silenced for her. “My faithful followers, as changelings our duty is to Hive. We give to Hive, and Hive gives to us. Hive hatches us. Hive raises us. Hive feeds us. Hive loves us. Hive supports us, and we support Hive. Except for one small detail.” she paused, her hooves clacking as she paced. “Until this point in your lives Hive has given to you, and you have only taken,” she spat at us. “This changes today. Today on your assignment day!” We buzzed our wings and stomped our hooves in applause. “We say, ‘treat the work you do today as the most important work you have ever done’, because it is. There are no small jobs. Every task provides products necessary to Hive, and in return Hive provides us with everything we need to lead long happy lives.” The applause was much stronger now and I could feel the anticipation buzzing in the air. “That is why my followers, I am happy to present the work assignments to each and every one of you. May you perform them well for the rest of your lives!”. The excitement sloshing through the air was both suffocating and glorious at the same time. My sisters on the first bench closest to the stage rose and flew over to kneel at our Queen’s feet awaiting their fate. Our Queen enveloped the first on the left in her glow and proclaimed, “1604479! Military-C, Hive defense!”. The crowd roared as 1604479 was given her ID badge and floated over to the appropriate elevator. “1604480! Gatherer-A, emotion!” the process continued. “1604481! Builder-B, Hive repair!” I was sitting in the second row. “1604482! Caretaker-B, foals!” My row would be the next to kneel before our Queen. “1604482! Technologies-A, research!” There were only seven ponies separating me from my fate. “1604483! Caretaker-C, cocoons!” I was supposed to be excited, this was the most exciting day of my life. “1604484! Military-A, reconnaissance!” Then why was I so scared? “1604485! Gatherer-B, sustenance!” What would I be? “1604486! Military-B, offensive!” What did I want to be? “1604487! Builder-A, Hive expansion!” I wanted to do something adventurous. “1604488! Technologies-B, education!” That was it, there was nobody left on stage. My row flew up and I kneeled. The sister too my left was illuminated. “1604489! Medical-A, digestive!” Now it was my turn. Please my Queen, anything that isn’t mundane, I want excitement! “1604490! Gatherer-C, water!” Water? Of all the different jobs there are, I got water? The Queen stuck my ID badge to my chest and floated me over to an elevator in the back. It was empty except for myself and the mare who must be our supervising officer. I didn’t care to pay much attention to the rest of the ceremony. I had wanted something exciting, and water was anything but. A lifetime of flying buckets of the stuff from the river to the hive is what awaited me. Just back and forth everyday, there couldn’t be a job more mundane. I was supposed to be happy with my job. This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Water wasn’t even considered one of the bad jobs, with water you got to go outside Hive. I should have been overjoyed. I HATED it. I hadn’t even started my first day and I hated it. By the end of the ceremony, only three others had joined us in the elevator. That was fine by me, I wasn’t exactly in a cheery mood and the less there was to bother me the better. The last changeling was called, “1604624! Messenger-A, internal! My followers today begins the rest of your lives, may Hive bless you!”. The applause that followed was thunderous, and our officer closed the elevator pushing the down button. “All of you have been assigned to the day-time shift, so you won’t be starting until tomorrow morning. For now rest up,” the door opened to what I assumed were the water gatherers’ sleeping quarters, “I expect all of you to be in front of this elevator rested, fed, and charged at 06:15 tomorrow.” She shut the door and we had a whole seven hours and fifteen minutes to ourselves. I flew up to an empty comb near the top of the room and shut its membrane. I coated my badge in my slime and enchanted it to awaken me at 05:00. That should be early enough. I did not like this water carrying business, but I would have to make it work. Somehow. So, I curled into a tight ball on top of the pillow, and descended into sleep.
