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.