If You're Reading This...
8 Months After The Battle For Canterlot...
"...-nd then I was chasing the Element Bearers down the corridors leading to the Vault... Hey, Firefly, are you listening? Fireflyyyy...."
Firefly snapped out of her stupor, just barely awake as she sat with a few of the other drones at the guard's barracks, and almost faceplanting into her meal of insect larvae and wood pulp.
"AH I'm awake I'm awake!"
"Firefly, what's gotten into you lately? You've been spacing out a lot more and you look exhausted..." Blinx said, raising an eyebrow. "Heck you almost passed out during our last shift. You aren't still thinking of that Strider drone are you?"
"What? Nooo of course not! I just haven't been sleeping very well lately."
The truth was that she had been thinking about Strider. She had been thinking about him a lot ever since his mysterious disappearance... Only a few days after Thorax's disappearance, in fact. It all seemed too coincidental. Thorax was an outcast, to be sure, but Strider? He was on the Queen's team of elite infiltrators! A highly-trained drone who can blend in to practically any population seamlessly. Why would he just... disappear?
"C'mon Firefly, we know that's an outright lie. See, this is why he was with the ranks of the Queen's elites, and you're with us." Hopper said, scowling with a bit of a hiss. "You're a terrible liar."
"Okay okay..." Firefly relented, shoving her plate forward and folding her hole-ridden forelegs on the table, burying her muzzle into them. "I just don't get it... why would he just vanish into thin air? He wasn't an outcast, and he certainly couldn't have gotten caught or something... He was an elite! It just doesn't make any sense."
"Eh." Blinx said with a shrug and a smirk. "Elites are just like us. They live, they suffer, they die. They're just harder to catch, that's all. He probably got cocky and flew too close to Sunbutt."
She and Hopper snickered and hoofbumped across the table, but Firefly didn't seem to appreciate the joke; slamming her hooves into the table and standing on her bench.
"You didn't know him like I did, Blinx! He was one of my best friends! He made me feel like I wasn't just a face in a crowd!"
Blinx winced a bit, but Hopper just rolled his cyan eyes. "Oh please. He was PROBABLY just doing it to remind you that WE'RE drones and he's one of the Queen's royal flank-kissers." Blinx scowled before leaning over and punching Hopper in the side, making him shout. "OW! WHAT?!"
"Don't you dare take the Queen's name in vain like that! She has given us food, shelter and work! A lot more than those prissy pastel ponies have ever done for us!"
Firefly shook her head and sighed. "I lost my appetite."
She stepped off the bench and started towards the sleeping quarters, leaving her other two friends to bicker among themselves. Stuff like this was the reason she preferred Strider's company; Hopper and Blinx always start arguing and then Strider would step in to cool them off and remind them of their duties. But... he's not here anymore. And life has never looked more-
"ATTENTION!"
Firefly stopped on a dime and spun around, standing perfectly straight as one of the elites walked into the guards barracks, Hopper and Blinx stopping to do the same.
"Her Royal Majesty has demanded that one of you worthless drones goes to Strider's quarters and clear it out from top to bottom! And since you're all equally worthless, you'll ALL be cleaning his quarters!"
"But it's after light's out..." Blinx said, frowning.
The elite guard gasped, as if shocked by that revelation, before cautiously approaching Blinx, ears lowering against his head.
"Oh, you're absolutely right, how could I forget? You need as much sleep as you can if you wanna survive the fight pits..."
The three changelings gulped, shaking at the mention of those slaughterfests...
"What's wrong? You don't wanna go to the fight pits tomorrow?"
"N-N-No sir..." Blinx managed to mumble.
"No?" The elite chirped with so much artificial sweetness he might as well have root beer for saliva. "You don't?"
The trio of trembling guards shook their heads quietly.
"Well, if you don't wanna go to the fight pits..." he said with the same sweet tone before his voice when back to the gravelly hissing mess it was before, "THEN GET TO WORK!!"
And before he even finished his sentence, the three guards darted from their quarters towards the Elite's Quarters, collecting the shoddily made brooms and rags from the custodial closet on the way by.
"Ughhh it feels like we've been cleaning for HOURS..." Hopper said as he took the old straw mattress off the bunk and replaced it with a new one.
"It's only been 20 minutes, Hopper..." Firefly sighed, dusting off one of the shelves with a dry rag.
"You okay, Firefly?" Blinx said, actually sounding somewhat empathetic for a change, "We know Strider meant a lot to you, so... I imagine having to throw away all these memories is really hard."
"Don't worry about me, Blinx. I'll get over it eventually. C'mon, let's get cleaning or else we'll be here all night."
The three drones continued dusting and removing old gear, decorations and the like and putting it into an old box for storage, and later, disposal. It DID hurt Firefly to have to remove all this stuff and just throw it in the trash, but... having hurt feelings was better than being sent to the fight pits any day...
They dusted and swept, replaced whatever furniture needed replacing and made sure everything was in top condition for the next elite to take up this bunk.
"Geez..." Hopper said, looking at their handiwork. "What I wouldn't give for my own room, with a mattress, a little shelf. Heh, look, he's even got a hook for his hat!"
He pointed his hoof at a small protrusion on the wall. It kind of looked like when they where building this room, they left a bit of pulp sticking up, and over the years it had hardened into a sharp hook-like spike.
"I think that's just shoddy architecture, Hopper..." Blinx said, deadpanning.
"We should probably file it down or something... I wouldn't want to get punished because the new elite ended up getting poked in the eye or something..." Firefly said with a frown.
"Whaaat? There's no need for a FILE. Just go up there and snap it off! Like this!"
And before they could stop him, Hopper darted forward, stood up in his hind legs and hooked one of the holes in his forelegs onto the protrusion, giving a deft downward tug. But... instead of a snap of chitin breaking or the crackling from Hopper's exoskeleton... there was a clicking noise.
"What did you just do, Hopper?!" Blinx half-shouted in a panic.
"I don't know! I just tried snapping off the little spike but it just... slid down!"
"Hold on..." Firefly shushed, ears twitching. The clicking noise was coming from under the cot. They all got down on their bellies and looked under the cot, watching as a rolled up piece of parchment held shut by a band glowing green strand of changeling mucus fell from a small hidden panel in the wall. They looked at each other, then Firefly slowly reached out and grabbed it, then pulled it out for inspection.
"What is it?" Hopper said.
"Well whatever it is, it's not ours. We should report it to the Elites," Blinx said, frowning, "For all we know we stumbled across something only Elites should know about."
"So why would we TELL them that?! Do you WANT to go to fight pits?!"
"Well it's better than LYING about it!! Maybe they'll be merciful!"
"Oh, yes, because the Elite guards are so well known for their mercy! Firefly, you're with me on this right? We should just put it back and act like we never found it... Firefly?"
The two drones looked at Firefly, then gasped. She had already opened the scroll and was reading it.
"IN THE QUEEN'S NAME- MhRmMRHM!!" Blinx tried to continue her tirade but was quickly shushed by Hopper's hoof being shoved into her mouth as he scowled.
"Are you TRYING to get us caught?!" he whispered aggressively.
Blinx removed his hoof and scowled at him, whispering back, just as aggressively, "You're one to talk!"
"Guys, hold on... Listen to this..." Firefly said, the look of concern slowly growing on her face as she approached her friends, then sat down and began to read them the scroll's contents as they huddled over her curiously.
If you're reading this, then you're too late. I've already escaped. And if you're smart,
you will too. I imagine that the other Elites wouldn't be caught dead cleaning up
my quarters, so the chances are good that you're probably a low-level drone or
guard. And if it's who I thinkbet hope it is... then let me start
by saying... I'm sorry Firefly. I'm sorry for disappearing and leaving you in that horrible,
awful place. But fret not. I escaped from that hive and if you follow my
instructions, you can too. And if the drone reading this ISN'T Firefly, bring this note
to her immediately. Don't bring it to the Queen. Don't give it to the Elites.
Bring it right to Firefly, explain the situation and with any luck, you both can
escape. And on the off-chance that you ARE an Elite... Run. Run far and run
fast. Don't look back because once you know what I know, you're gonna have a
bigger target on your back than Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. So do yourself a favor,
give this to Firefly, then RUN. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way,
onto the matter at hand... I've hidden several more messages, instructions and notes all over
the hive and if you're clever enough, you'll be able to escape just as I
have and live freely, away from Queen Chrysalis and away from her Elites. You'll finally
be able to just... exist without constantly looking over your shoulder, without threats of going
to the fight pits and without wondering where your next meal is coming from. Unfortunately,
Firefly, or whichever drone is reading this... I couldn't just give you my instructions outright...
It's why I needed to hide them all over the hive. But I did it
in such a way that... with a little ingenuity, you should be able to figure
out how I managed to escape. At the end of this letter is a coded
message. The solution to the message will give you the location of my next clue.
Stay safe, my precious lightning bug...
-S
"...Stay safe, my precious lightning bug..." Firefly sniffled, her mouth wobbling, "...S."
"Whoa... so... Strider... escaped the hive? Like that Thorax kid?" Hopper gasped.
Blinx, however, seemed skeptical, standing up and walking a few feet away. "Okay okay hold on... So... an elite guard disappears without a trace in the middle of the night, with nobody around to catch him or see where he went… All the other elites can’t locate him… But he leaves a hidden note detailing exactly how he did it in his bedroom. This all seems awfully fishy. It’s probably just some elite pulling a prank on us…”
“But what if it isn’t?!” Firefly insisted, pointing at the note. “Look at this! He says my name over and over again! There’s no way that they would have thought of that! Strider was like, the only elite who called us by name!”
“It’s a JOKE, Firefly. Strider wouldn’t leave a note like that. He’s too… I dunno… sneaky to do that. This seems awfully heavy-hoofed. ‘Oh, dearest lightning bug, here’s a detailed plot on how to escape a literal army of changelings without leaving a trace’...”
“Fine, maybe it DOES seem a little strange, but… look at this code!”
Firefly hoofed over the note to Blinx, who looked over it with a frown. “It’s a simple substitution cipher… It’s larva-play. You just replace one letter for another. This is the top infiltrator in the entire HIVE, Firefly. You think he’d leave these detailed instructions behind a simple substitution cipher?!”
“He said he made it for US. He would know that more complex codes would be too hard for us right away! He’s giving us something easy so that we can’t find the first couple of clues without a hassle!”
“And what if one of the elites found it first?! All of our heads would be on the line, you ignorant little-”
“Uhh girls…?”
The two female drones stopped their arguing and listened. There was a low, dull buzzing noise coming from down the hall.
“Oh swamp juice! It’s the patrol! Quick, we gotta hide this note!” Blinx said, looking for a place to hide it in a panic.
“Here, hide it under my wing!” Firefly opened up her wings, allowing Blinx to jam the parchment rather uncomfortably under one of them before she folded them again, wincing a bit from the discomfort. It was worse than that time she accidentally got stuck in a bush and was filled with twigs… That was a tangled up mess…
They all stood at attention as one of the elite guards buzzed in, scowling at them.
“Hrm. It looks to be… acceptable. You did a good job.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, maggot. Just ‘cause you can CLEAN well doesn’t mean you can GUARD well. Get back to your quarters.”
The three drones nodded and left the quarters in a hurry, making sure to keep as far away from the elite as possible in case he decided to get aggressive. As soon as they were out of earshot, Blinx looked at Firefly incredulously, shaking her head.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Firefly. It’s probably all a big joke. I wouldn’t waste your time on that silly code.”
Firefly scowled, hoping for a little more support from her only two friends in this wasteland of a home, but she knew better than to speak up. Once Blinx set her mind to something, it was almost impossible to change it. She’s more stubborn than that apple farming pony she was punched by. Her jaw still hurts when she thinks about it.
The three drones got back to their quarters and turned out the lights, eager to get a good night’s rest before patrolling tomorrow. But Firefly couldn’t just go back to sleep and forget this whole thing happened. Quietly, she snuck to the dining area of the barracks, lighting a small candle and sitting down, mulling over the cipher. While the code itself was simplistic in theory, it proved to be a little more challenging than first glance. It looked like a jumbled up mess of letters…
“Zha...zhop...sif...izkifot? Well… Blinx said it was a substitution cipher… And the word uh… mahzhof is used a lot… mah-jof? Same with the word… ixpiz-ee.”
She was so busy trying to pronounce the nonsensical words that she didn’t even hear a soft buzzing coming over. Only looking up when she saw the chair beside her move, she saw a rather sleepy looking Blinx coming over, rubbing at her eye.
“You seriously still trying to crack this code…?”
“I can’t help it, Blinx… This is may be my one chance to have a better life… To see Strider again.”
Blinx yawned, letting out a sigh that almost extinguished the tiny candle on the table, then rolled her cyan eyes.
“Alright alright… it’s important to you, so it’s important to me…” she mumbled, shaking her head and looking over the coded message.
jhopsf izqifot
mjof uxp, tfwfoui xpse
mjof uxp, uijsuffoui xpse
mjof uisff, tfdpoe xpse
mjof gjwf, gpvsuffoui xpse, njovt u i
mjof uxfmwf, fjhiui xpse
mjof fjhuiuffo, uxfmgui xpse
mjof ojofuffo, tfdpoe xpse qmvt mbtu mfuufs pg gjstu xpse
mjof uxfouz-uisff, gpvsuffoui xpse
mjof uxfouz-uisff, gjguffoui xpse
“Well it’s definitely a substitution cipher…” she mumbled, scowling a bit, then pointed her hoof at the third line from the bottom, “A good place to start is here, with short words… PG is a perfect place, because there’s only so many two-letter words. It could be NO, IS, BE, SO, IT, AT…” she continued, beginning to slow down as sleep began to overpower her, “ME… GO….”
“Blinx?” Firefly said, looking a bit sleepy herself. She looked up at her friend, who… fell asleep in her chair. Giving her a gentle nudge, Blinx woke up and blinked a few times, only barely catching herself from drooling.
“Ah, sorry… Anyway, there’s only so many options... But we don’t really have all night to do this. Tell you what, we can check out the library tomorrow, after our patrol. Maybe we can find a book on codes or something…”
“Alright… Thanks Blinx.”
“Don’t mention it…” Blinx mumbled before pushing away from the table and then quietly walking back to the sleeping quarters, “You should really get some sleep too… We’ll crack this code…”
Firefly gave a curt nod, then rolled up the scroll, blew out the candle, then picked up the scroll and started walking back toward the sleeping area with her friend. Before she crawled into bed, she made sure to hide the coded message in a small box she kept below her cot, then got settled in.
“G’night Blinx…”
She only got soft snores in response, making her smile as she rolled over and fell asleep herself, hoping that tomorrow would shed some light on this strange mystery. Little did she know just how much trouble she had just started for herself...
Author's Note
Wow, this is probably one of my most ambitious projects yet. I'm hiding codes in my stories. Yes, really! I'm allowing you, the readers, to take part in this little mystery. See if you can decipher the code before the next chapter! If you figure out the message, and copy it into the comments, please be kind and mark the whole thing as a spoiler!
As the chapters progress and our little team of changelings find more clues, the coded messages and ciphers will become more challenging, and the mystery of what happened to our little Strider will begin to slowly unravel. Will the drones figure out the mystery in time? Or will the Queen discover them trying to escape...?
