Chapter 3: Barricade

Sand, sand, and yet more sand.

By the maker, how I hated sand…

The five or so hours of walking through it after leaving the strangely-placed museum didn’t help my opinion of it much, either. The noon winds sent coarse walls of orange into my face, tangling it with my hair and leaving blockages in the holes of my hooves, leaving a yet-more irritating itching sensation.

I found that fiddling -for lack of a better term- with my new pip-buck was a good way to ignore its grainy presence. Messing with the dials and buttons taught me how to select the menus on the screen… And how to cause the device to freeze, forcing me to reboot it. It even showed to contents of my inventory. How did it do that? I recall the vision-obscuring text earlier mentioning ‘inventory monitoring or something of the sort... but how, though? One interesting thing I learnt however, was that my revolver was called The Yearling. It felt like the name should’ve been more significant than I felt it was.

Glancing up from my new wrist-bound equipment, I could see the walls of the badlands basin rising in the distance, a faint column of darkness the path led towards seemed to indicate the passage into outer Equestria was still intact... or maybe it had collapsed just inside where I couldn’t see it from this far away. I couldn’t really be sure, my drones had habitually avoided the area to begin with, choosing instead to fly over the walls to minimise pony contact outside of intended observation areas.

I, meanwhile, had spent nearly every day since the war underground in the hive. Save for occasionally stepping outside to stop my body’s excess chitin from dying off at a lack of any need to shield my body (Which, after a certain point, would cause it to start turning pale, drying up, and falling apart). It needed to protect me from something, it may as well have been the heat. Though intense sunlight was evidently not a substitute for radscorpion pincers.

Eventually, I found the ‘Radio’ section of the pip-buck’s interfaces, most of them were listed as ‘unknown signal’, most of those and a few of the others (which were listed simply by frequency numbers which I couldn’t comprehend) were out of range.

Shrugging and selecting one of the available signals, the sound of a guitar strummed suddenly out of the device’s speaker. It was partnered with a steady drum beat and a cheerful whistling tune, a trio of backing singers ‘ooh’d a tune not dissimilar to that of the whistler. I turned my head and glanced at the drone as he turned in response to the sudden sound, the two of us sharing a look with one-another.

I was glad that he didn’t seem to be struggling with the reduced weight he was now carrying. He then moved his attention to the device as the whistling stopped, the brief pause in vocals was quickly filled by the voice of a stallion singing, the backing vocalists sang along with him.

‘Heartaches by the number,
Troubles by the score,
Every day You love me less,
Each day I love you more,
Yes, I’ve got heartaches by the number,
A love that I can’t win,
But the day that I stop counting,
That’s the day my world will end.’

This rather out-of-nowhere number was surprisingly catchy, the chorus was cheerful despite the implications of the lyrics, I hadn’t even noticed I was swaying my hips to the rhythm with every step I took. The backers returned to their oohs and hmms as the lead stallion sang.

‘Heartache number one was when you left me,
I never knew that I could hurt this way,
And heartache number two was when you came back again,
You came back but never meant to stay.’

The chorus again, the trio returning to sing along. I found myself humming to the words, the drone joining in as I let my tail swish back and forth with my hips.

‘Yes, I’ve got heartaches by the number,
Troubles by score,
Every day you love me less,
Each day I love you more,
Yes, I’ve got heartaches by the number,
A love that I can’t win,
But the day that I stop countin’
That’s the day my world will end!’

A cheery whistling solo followed, much like the one at the beginning of the song. The ease of which its sound and rhythm managed to drag me along was borderline terrifying, yet I felt powerless to resist it. Was this feeling what happened whenever the ponies broke out into song, as I was told they did before the war?
If it was, how had I not encountered it before? I’ve had seven hundred years or so, yet never had such things happen when near me before. Maybe my radio was cursed or something? Or maybe this was simply my first time actually noticing it? I had sung just the night before, Maybe it was a pony thing? It’d probably be best to just go with it being a pony thing, at least for now. The less thought about spontaneously bursting into song and dance, the better.

‘Heartache number three was when you called me,
And said that you were coming back to stay,
With hopeful heart I waited for your knock on the door,
I waited but you must have lost your way.’

One last time the chorus came and before I realised what I was doing, I found myself singing along. The drone hummed to the tune, letting his path zigzag as he streamed along behind me, following the swish of my tail like a wave.

“Yes I’ve got heartaches by the number,
Troubles by the score,
Ev’ry day you love me less,
Each day I love you more,
Yes, I’ve got heartaches by the number,
A love that I can’t win,
But the day that I stop countin’,
That’s the daay my woorrllld will eennnndd!”

The second the song finished, I mashed every option on the pip-buck I could see. Silencing the accursed thing before it could steal me into another lyrical hallucination with a *click*, I gave a relieved sigh. The surge of emotions that had gone through my mind as I sang along had felt fantastic, But still alien to me. It was as though I wasn’t in direct control of my body. It was probably best I avoid the radio for now... and probably for a good, long while after that.

The steep walls of the basin were close now, and it was clear the incline exiting it had not, in fact, collapsed. Though it seemed that ponies had, at some point or another, built a massive wooden wall near the top of the incline. Like a security gate of sorts. It couldn’t have been used for the radscorpions, they could just burrow under it, so it must’ve been to stop ponies... or changelings, perhaps.
My pip-buck gave a *beep* as we approached it, automatically switching to a map screen and marking the location as ‘Barricade’. Was that the name of the place or a statement of the obvious? Also, since when did this thing have a map?!

As we closed on the wall, the sun hidden behind the walls of the basin incline, closer inspection revealed the obstruction to be made of massive, ancient tree trunks. Bound tightly together with rope and chains, each as wide as I was tall, and shaved of all their branches with the tops sheared down to long spikes. Seemed more like a fortress wall than a barricade, at least from this side. For all I knew, It could’ve been a junkyard or a toxic waste dump on the opposite end.

Inspecting closer still lead me to a hole in one of the trunks, a doorway carved out of the ancient timber, and a solid iron door with a closed view-slit at eye-level (at regular-pony-height-eye-level, anyway) and another just below it. I figured there couldn’t be much harm in knocking, though I elected to drone to do so in my stead. I couldn’t be too careful, after all.
Walking up to the door, he brought the side of his fist down on the metal, each impact causing it to rattle and groan against its hinges.

*THUD. THUD. THUD.*

“Calm yer’ ass out there, I’m comin’” an elderly-sounding stallion’s voice echoed from behind the door. With a click, the door’s view slits slid open to reveal a pair of worn eyes and the barrel of a double-barrelled shotgun. The eyes gave a confused look when they saw the drone. However upon seeing me, they widened in horror. "ALICORN!” He suddenly bellowed.
Alicorn? What? I was confused, did he mean like the princesses or something? The hive’s gathered observer information mentioned nothing about- *BANG!*

My ears rang as I felt myself pushed backwards from a sharp splintered impact to my torso, though I retained my balance. While I had been zoned out and wondering what was going on, the old stallion had fired. The drone had dodged out of the way, but the searing pain in my stomach not unlike that of hot pokers made it clear he wasn’t aiming for him. I looked down at the greenish-yellow blood oozing around my stomach and staining my outfit, slowly flowing down my torso.
“Awwww…” I muttered, tasting blood leaking from the corners of my mouth “...That was my favourite dress…” I staggered forward a step, clutching at the wound, and suddenly found my vision spinning vertically. That was how spinning vision worked right? I’d never actually- Oh right, I’m on an incline, that’s just me falling over backwa-*Thud!* Ow.
“My queen!”

The back of my head stung, having collided with the sack of valuables I’d been hauling over my shoulder as it hit the ground. The ringing in my ears soon faded, though my hearing remained somewhat muffled. As I stared at the sky and high walls of the incline, my vision began to blur. I coughed in an attempt to flush out the blood pooling at the back of my throat, when this did little but splatter blood on my face, I moved my head to the side, letting it flow out onto the ground, trying to breathe.

I spotted the black, holed hoof of the drone entering my vision, and heard muffled yelling as he crouched down. I felt his hands grip my jaw and point my face to him. I was mostly staring into space at this point, surely the fool realised that what he was doing was not helping in the slightest.

Without my jaw to the side, I could feel the blood pooling up in my throat again, and let out a choked cough. What little focus I had that wasn’t towards panicking about drowning in my own blood was eyeing my Eyes Forward Sparkle. The alicorn in the corner of my vision had appeared, the torso segment flashing, the ‘OK’ had been replaced with text rapidly flashing between ‘CRIPPLED’ and ‘Bleeding!’, and a droplet icon flashing next to it.

‘Huh’, I couldn’t help thinking as my vision darkened, ‘So that’s what being shot feels like… Probably should’ve worn a disguise…you stupid bug... ’

_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_ _-_-_-_

“So... Daring Do, is it? Can’t say that’s the most original name I’ve ever heard”

“Says the one whose name is the term for a tree that loses its leaves in winter”

“Touché. I’ll give you that one.”

“Still, I appreciate your insistence on letting me weather this sandstorm from inside your hive.”

“It is quite alright, I assure you. We may not go actively searching for explorers in the badlands, but we help those we can. Though I must insist you keep our location and existence secret. There will always be those who will attempt to seek us out for their own gain.”

“Thank you. You have my promise, Queen Deciduous.”

“Please just call me Deciduous, Miss Do. My mother passed away but a week ago. I was awaiting confirmation from my sister Evergreen as to whether she should choose to come back and rule the hive as is her right as the eldest. Her lack of response forces me to assume she is either unreachable or dead. So I have taken up the mantle. Though I must commend you on your knowledge of changeling hierarchy.”

“That’s fine, I guess. Though doesn’t that seem a bit presumptuous? To assume she’s dead, I mean?”

“Quiet, you… I made good on my efforts to locate her and was met with few results. Now, come and join us in the main chamber, I’m sure the young would love to hear your tales of adventure. It’ll be a good way to pass the time whilst the storm rages.”

“Hmm, have you got drinks?”

“Of course! Vintages fit for a Queen! Haha!”

“Then I would be honored...”

-_-_-_- -_-_-_- -_-_-_-

I opened my eyes slowly, still in a daze. I had no idea where I was, or how much time had passed. The wooden ceiling above me indicated I was indoors, but that was about all I could gather from looking straight up. The feeling of blood in my throat had gone, now replaced with dryness and the faint metallic taste of iron. Turning my head to the side, letting my vision clear and groaning at the stiffness of my neck, I got a good view of… a dark brown wooden wall … Huh. Turning it the other way, however, I got a better view of the room I was now in.
I spotted the drone in a chair, hunched over the side of the makeshift bed I now found myself in, his face planted firmly in his crossed arms, sleeping.
Smiling and returning my attention to the rest of the room. The walls bore a hideous shade of brown, it was a surprisingly stark contrast to the dusty and worn walls of that museum in the badlands. The walls here looked like they had been steadily rotting over the years, having become almost fluffy-looking with how much it had swelled and splintered with age.
I saw jars sitting on shelves running along the walls. They were all filled with varieties of liquids, most of which seemed to be various hues of dark red. A bookshelf sat on the far wall, filled with medical books and tools in varying degrees of wear and tear.

Returning my attention to the bed I was lying on, The worn blanket itched, the feeling of the fabric against my skin felt... off. Like my entire body was numb. Though it -and the unsurprising revelation that the metal on the outside of a pipbuck is cold- also gave me the oh-so-helpful knowledge that I wasn’t wearing my dress anymore... or anything apart from my pipbuck, the tattered quilt was the only thing covering me.
Moving my hands along my torso, the numbness turned to a mild stinging pain as it neared my stomach, at the center of which lay what felt like a field of small holes in my skin, covered by a coarse but tightly woven fabric. Bandages…? Oh right, I got shot. But surely healing magic would’ve sufficed? Or a potion? Ponies still used potions, right?

Sitting myself up -well, more attempting to sit myself up than actually succeeding- was rewarded with a sharp pain in my back as I felt my back muscles spasm and my wings twitch in distress. I figured that since I had been shot, at least some of what had hit me had gone all the way through, tearing into my wings and getting lodged into the natural plate that shielded them from outside forces.

I instead shifted onto my side, using the flat of my hand to sweep over my back to the best of my ability. Maybe I could pull the fragments out, if some had gone through as I predicted... nope, smooth as aged glass, save for the seam between the two to release my wings. What was in there was on the inside. Even if I were to open the plate, it wouldn’t make pulling them out any easier, and it’d likely just invite more bleeding if any of it was dislodged. Or worse, caught between the two, then it’d just tear the skin off completely.

Opting to return to laying on my back, I pulled an arm from beneath the blanket to wake the drone. Initially, I just rubbed his head, stroking the fleshy crest along the back of his scalp. When that yielded no results, I shook him. Still nothing, so I gave him a shove… still nothing! With an annoyed sigh, I shifted back to my side, facing him I pulled my leg up with a strained grunt and placed a hoof firmly on his forehead. And then forced him over, knocking him onto the floor with a shocked chirp and a defensive hiss. I couldn’t help but let off a giggle at that, though I was not quite sure why exactly I thought that was funny.

While I took the time to return to lying on my back and re-blanketing myself, I watched the drone gripping his forehead while standing up again, his emotions shifting rapidly when he realised I was awake. Mostly between anger at the sudden kick to the face, and relief when he realised his would-be assailant was just his queen.

Rushing to my side, clearly deciding on the latter, his wings buzzed with eagerness. “Thank the Maker! You’re alright! I was worried that you’d be in a coma or something like that.” The warm smile I had been giving him lessened a bit. ‘How peculiar... no “my queen”? No “your highness” or anything like that? I must’ve been out awhile if he was behaving anything like that.’ Drones that spend an extended period of time without the queen controlling the hivemind tended to lose their reflexive referring to my title. A minor thing, really, but it still irked me when I noticed it.

He seemed to catch on to my confusion, as he quickly spoke up again. “Oh! You’ve been unconscious for almost a day now, the town’s doctor wasn’t sure you’d make it. And without you heading the hivemind...” He looked at the floor, his ears folding down “I‘ve been… scared. I was fearing the worst, And I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get to my other hive-mates on my own.” He paused “And on that note...I’d like to...um… givemyselfaname!” He spat it out so quickly I initially feared it to be something bad. I stared at him for a moment, taking in what he’d said... And then promptly burst into laughter.

“BAHAHAHAHAH! A name? That’s all? I was expecting you to want to run off with the eggs or some equally absurd and illogical idea!” I gave him a rough pat on the head, which he seemed to enjoy just a little bit. “Little drone, I do not die so easily. I’m not at a hundred percent yet, to be sure, but a single shotgun- uh shot? -isn’t going to kill me so easily. There’s no need to be so dramatic.” To be honest, it probably could’ve had I not been brought here.

Speaking of which... “Anyway, how did we even end up... wherever it is we are? Last I recall, I was face-up, watching you unintentionally drown me in my own blood.” His ears drooped, sadness seeping steadily from him. While I felt a little bad for him given that he was only trying to help, I still needed answers.
Letting him have his little guilt-trip, I sat myself upright while wrapping the blanket around my torso and mentally biting back the aches and pains coming from it. Leaning against the wall, I felt… okay. Not spectacular, but okay.
“I’m sorry about that, my queen,” Ah, there it is. “It’s just… you were in pain and I wasn’t sure what else I could’ve done...” He would’ve spoken further, but the door opening cut him off. The mare that stepped in was likely the aforementioned doctor...or maybe a scientist, the unmarked lab coat she wore made it kind of hard to tell. Not that I was focusing much on that anyway, I was more interested in why she had half a zebra face.

Right down the middle of her head, her grey fur ended with a thick line of scar tissue running down her face, along her muzzle and past her neckline, suddenly changing to white and black. If the colour change wasn’t distinct enough, the end of her muzzle went from the smooth shape of a pony’s to the black-skinned and slightly bulkier one of a zebra. I couldn’t see where the scars ended, but her left arm being covered in stripes made it clear it went past her shoulder at the very least.

This was surprising, shocking even, but I had to remain calm and polite. Calm and poli-“Holy Shit! What are you?!” I slapped my hands over my mouth, wincing and mentally kicking myself as the mare’s body steadily radiated annoyance… Good going, Deciduous, seven hundred years old and you still can’t keep your mouth shut when something surprises you. I cleared my throat and tried my best to save face “E-excuse me, that just slipped out. Your appearance is somewhat… Unusual.”

“I could say the same of you, Bughorse McCheeselegs,” she responded tersely. Ouch. She folded her mismatched arms over her chest “You’re no perfect picture, yourself. You’re lucky the old stallion at the gate used second-rate buckshot he loaded himself instead of the solid-slug rounds we give everyone else. Judging from where he’d aimed, he’d have torn your spine out.”
She unfolded her arms, taking a moment to look at me, her eyes trailing down the vague shape the blanket covering me made against my body… With how slowly she was going, I wasn’t sure if she was giving me a checkup or checking me out. The short burst of flustered emotions that appeared when she caught my confused look made me less sure of the former.

“Speaking of the gate, what were you doing out there? Usually when someone arrives from the badlands gate it’s somepony we’ve sent out that way, not someone coming in.”

My ears folded back, I wasn’t sure if I should even tell her my plans. For all I knew, she would try to find the hive, or stop me from heading outward. I didn’t want to take that chance. Although,I didn’t want to have to leave my hive in the first place either. I would’ve been happy to spent the rest of my first millennium safely underground, but no. Besides, the hive was sealed, why would I have to worry anyway? I decided it’d be best to worry about it later and ask a few questions of my own.

“I have a better question: Why help me? As far as that old stallion was concerned, I was one of these ‘Alicorns’ he was going on about.” She huffed again.
“Given what little we know about alicorns, it seemed pretty far-fetched that you were one of them, though I can’t blame the guy for putting a round through your gut. Alicorn abduction is a terrifying thought.”
“And on that note, what exactly are they?” I asked. My infiltrators had given me limited news on this particular subject, they never reported encountering any, but heard mentions of them from time to time over the last decade or so. The incredulous look the half-zebra was giving did irk me a bit, but she sighed and explained to me what she knew about the Alicorns.

What I learnt surprised me. Apparently, the alicorns had shown up out of the Maripony area some time roughly a decade ago, abducting ponies to bring back to join a thing of theirs called ‘Unity’. She didn’t really have much to go on as to what ‘Unity’ was, but if it required being foalnapped, It was probably for the best that I didn’t know.

I spent a good few minutes conversing with the half-zebra after that, exchanging names and explanations of our appearances. Apparently her story was that she was the reason the town she was born in stopped using pre-war surgical laser technology, her survival had been an unintended miracle. I only gave out the basics: ’I’m a Changeling, I’ve lived for a very long time, and I need to get to Saddle Arabia’ was all I would say on the matter.

Much to my annoyance, it only ended up with her asking a flurry of yet more questions like ‘Why Saddle Arabia?’ ‘How long have you lived for?’ ‘How do you plan on getting to Saddle Arabia?’ ‘Where even is Saddle Arabia?’ and ‘What the hell is a changeli-’ I tuned her out, staring off into space.
The drone meanwhile, spoke to me from the hivemind, having moved over to the far corner of the room where the eggs lay, still in their cases.

‘My queen, are you alright?’

‘Yes, just ignoring these questions I’m not going to answer. ...Drone, how are the eggs doing?’

‘They’re stable, my queen. I had to feed them some of my own love reserves while you were unconscious, but they’re alright.’

I let out an internal sigh ‘That’s a relief. Thank you drone, I’ll be sure to give you some of my own love reserves in recompense once I have my strength back in full.’

‘Hopefully that shouldn’t take too long then. Thank you, my queen.’

‘Think nothing of it, the last few days have been… stressful to say the least.’

‘Yes, my queen.’

We sat in silence for a time, the literal half-zebra still prattling on with questions I had long since ceased listening to. I kept my vision on the Drone, watching as he removed an egg from its case, gave it a light tap with his horn, and watched as the little form inside began to glow.
It wriggled a little, the shape of a muzzle was very distinct, opening and closing softly. Its little arms fidgeted, little more than flat nubs on the end, and its entire lower-body resembled that of a grub.
It was beautiful.

‘...Drone?’

‘Your highness?’

‘You mentioned something about a name, correct?’

‘Yes, my queen. I was… Considering the idea of giving myself one while you were unconscious.’

‘I think that’s acceptable.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. I’ve decided that it’ll be important to distinguish you from your future hivemates in a way other than by age. Do you have a name in mind?’

‘Er… No.’

‘Hmm, how about… “Carapace”?’

‘Carapace? It’s simple, easy to remember… Carapace… I like that one.’

‘Very well, Carapace-’

‘Heh…’

‘When we get the hive back to its full strength, I am making you my first new hatchery guard.’

‘I-I… I am honored, m-my queen.’

‘Indeed. But for now, keep checking on the eggs, and let me know when the doctor stops talking.’

‘She...already did a few minutes ago. She’s been staring at you since.’

‘Oh…shit.’

Notes:

Deciduous - Level Up! (Level 4)

New Perk(s)

Gutshot: You really aren’t good at this whole ‘Social’ thing, are you? Being shot in the gut has shredded your wings and left shrapnel in your rear plates, you receive a -50% to your torso’s durability, -30 to Maximum Health and a minor loss in speed until it heals. Also, you can’t fly.

Surgical Lasers = Bad: Your recent info gathered from the unfortunate half-zebra has left you more nervous around pre-war medical equipment, you gain a +5 to the Medicine skill when healed with traditional methods, but technological pre-war pony stuff will not heal you past 75% HP. Thankfully, potions do not fall under this category.

My Hive, My...Family (Level 1): You have bonded with your changelings for the first time in a way that a pony wouldn’t consider outrageous, weird or some strange form of slavery. You give a +10% exp bonus to changelings in your hive. This perk has 10 levels, each with different effects.

Mother-Figure: While none of them are specifically yours, the changelings are your children. The young are therefore the most important, and add +5 to your DT should they be in danger.

Carapace - Level Up! (Level 3)

New Perk:

Identification: You have a name! A feeling of individuality flows over you, adding +1 to all of the Skills you excel in most.

Author's Note

Apologies to the, like, five of you that are actually following this thing for me taking so long.

A part of it was me being lazy, and another was me writing over 6,000 words, hating the later half and chopping it up to begin again with something completely different.

I aimed for this chapter to be around 6000 words...only managed about 4,700 or so...

I basically cut my losses, finished self-editing this to the best of my ability, and then uploaded this. There's likely some stuff I've missed in the editing, as self-editing never really works out, no matter how hard you try.

Special thanks to Kkat for creating FoE, as usual.

Enjoy c: