Silence and darkness covered the nursery. Meneria sat motionless surrounding her were the countless children she was tasked to care for and protect. Her nursery usually swarming with activity throughout the day had fallen quiet; its caretakers busy barricading the doors or slowly picking the locks that barred the eastern emergency exit. A near inaudible "Mother" caused her to flinch "yes child" she replied gently checking if her heart was still beating. "Mister Radioling wants to know if the storm is still going". Looking down Meneria saw the pair of blue eyes she had been occasionally whispering to for the last half hour "tell mister Radioling that the sky is still cloudy and...". She suddenly moved her face close to the small blue orbs then withdrew. Satisfied the child could not have seen her reaction when he suddenly surprised her by speaking. She continued "ask him when damsels flee". The child nodded and silently crept around his siblings slowly and cautiously navigating around the massed sleeping bodies that lined the floor of the nursery.
Exhausted from the small conversation Meneria closed her eyes and tried to sleep when something nudged her cheek. Her once green eyes, now bloodshot from a steady mix of caffeine and adrenaline sprung open "what" she whispered her tone harsh and intimidating. The intruder, another infant whimpered and froze her invisible face probably contorted in fear. "Can I help you with child" Meneria continued in a very forced positive demeanor mentally cursing herself for almost starting a chorus of wails, she shuddered at the mere thought. "m-m-mommy" the juvenile began "yes" Meneria replied suddenly feeling wrought with guilt "n-never mind".
"Wait, wait" Meneria whispered just managing to catch the child in her foreleg "mommy was just stressed but I'm better now". The small being in her arms looked away, her lime green eyes were stained with tears and darted away to avoid direct contact with hers. "See mommy was just worried".
"Mother" came a third voice, an adolescent. "Go back to sleep Tammy we're fine".
"I thought I heard something" .
"It’s just another child Tammy" Meneria replied softly, the sounds outside becoming more worrisome to her sensitive ears "go back to sleep” The tired assistant lay down and resumed snoring. Turning back towards her own small problem who had recuperated enough to look into her eyes "now child what is the matter?" wiping away a tear the lime green orbs looked away "momma Meneria I can't sleep, Jamal keep rolling onto me" she whined. Unable to stifle her dry laughter from the sheer irony of being the one to solve this particular predicament for one her assistant's head shot back up "what, who". Acting on impulse Meneria gabbed Tam's jaw holding it shut in an adamant grip "quiet" she hissed, listening to a subtle but terrifying creak in the building's wall. For a while neither moved nor breathed, eventually she released her grip "not a sound" she whispered softly, tammy nodded perhaps understanding or perhaps following her instinct to trust her. The child had recoiled, her small body was rigid undoubtedly from seeing such an outburst from her otherwise calm caretaker. "Momma, Tammy?" she whispered simultaneously they looked at her the power and presence that Meneria commanded dissipated "I..." she began unable to form words. "I'm okay" Tam countered freeing herself from Meneria's grip "Really Meneria, you know how lightly I sleep since the whole April fiasco" the adolescent mock scolded. "Sorry if we startled you sweet heart, I have a bad habit of over-reacting whenever I hear laughter and can't see anything" Tam continued chiding now eyeing Meneria. "Because it’s okay to bring coffee beans here as long as we remember to lock the container isn’t it?" the question bringing a small nervous laugh from the child and bad memories involving a mass cleaning job. Tam slowly crawled up to the pair brought bowing down to the child's level "you’re going to be fine sweetie, now what can caretaker Tammy do for you?" Despite her initial doubts about using humor to placate a crying child her assistant’s method somewhat miraculously worked. "It's alright Tammy, Momma Meneria just laughed at me" Meneria opened her mouth to dismiss the claim but was to slow "calm down" Tam whispered "what exactly happened?
"I asked Momma if she could help me sleep, Jamal keeps on rolling on top of me". Her fear of fighting ‘parents’ vanished leaving the caretakers with a small pouting demi-princess instead, Meneria stayed silent but cuddled the child, with any luck Tam would solve the problem giving her a few precious minutes of peace. "She didn't mean to laugh at you child, she just misses her husband" Mystified the child tilted her head as Tam continued "she's just jealous of you that's all". Deciding against resorting to force Meneria used what self control she still had "Tammy" she whispered gently slowly snaking her arm around her assistant's neck and grinning maliciously "why don't you help move Jamal off our little friend here, and leave your "grown up" talks until she's older". Thanks to months of working in darkness with Meneria Tam's eyes could see the outlines of her face, and the predatory grin she had "sure, thing momma M" Tam replied slowly rising and leading the little girl away.
Left to her thoughts once again Meneira simply closed her eyes and listened. The creaking had stopped, and the sounds outside had subsided for now "finally" she sighed closing her eyes trying to ignore the sound of her sporadic heartbeat. A single metallic snap woke her, her eyes still shut Meneria listened her mind instinctively trying to analyze what was making the sound. Whatever moved was metallic and rusted from either use or age, a rifle bolt? No that would mean it's one of ours, a bobby pin? Possibly, the locks are intricate and it is dark. "Mother" She felt something nudging her side "yes" she countered her voice softer than usual "its mister Radioling he told me there's green lights in the sky and new forecast". Her eyes and mouth refused to open despite her wish. Slowly she sat up straight "what did he say?" she mumbled "he said that the red curtain has fallen and all actors must run off set". For a moment nothing happened, Meneria's mind simply stopped "child" she asked in a broken voice "I know you have been up a little late but are you sure"
"Mother?"
"Are you sure that is what he said?"
"Yes mother, he's still saying it, I had to turn the switch because..."
"You haven't done anything wrong dear" she reassured, her voice returning as a familiar wave of emotions flowed through her. "Child, what's your name?" she asked trying to keep calm "Cheeselegs mother Meneria" he said with a high degree of pride. "I’m sorry, Cheeselegs?" She asked, slowly getting up "The others said it sounded right"
"Interesting, now Cheeselegs" she asked walking carefully towards where the doors should be "I want you to go about twenty paces to your left, and down the flight of stairs. I want you to find a friend of mine named Claude and tell him what you told me, and then go wait near my desk, okay". As Cheeselegs stumbled past his sleeping siblings, Meneria, cautiously tried to but weight on her legs again, her joints ached and cracked in protest after being still for so long. Fighting the pain from walking she could still hear Tam walking over the occasional crack of her shoulder moving "Tam" she spoke casually "What are you doing" Tam whispered in concern "why aren't you whispering" Meneria simply shrugged letting the audible crack silence her assistant "Tam I need you wake everyone up then meet me in the emergency exit tunnel" still processing her order Tam remained motionless "Hurry" Meneria scolded. "And sorry" she muttered as Tam began to wake the nearby children. Her next few minutes became a series of profuse apologies and hushed orders to weary workers. Awake and somewhat alert her brood was finally assembled near her desk, standing over the mass of tired eyed caretakers and worried children Meneria spoke for the first time in, according to her clock was several hours in artificial darkness "Attention everyone, in five minutes we will be leaving the building, I want four equal groups with one caretaker acting as a temporary leader, children take nothing with you unless I specifically order it"
Looking around the room lights were being turned on and bed frames overturned to retrieve what little resources her subordinates had gathered. "Claude" she called as the noises outside grew louder, the thin walls doing little to subvert the screams of anger "Ma'am" came a reply from somewhere in the crowd. "Is the door open?", "Almost ma'am" he replied looking at the floor. Meneria closed her eyes and turned to face her resident technician "Do you seriously..." she started before noticing the red and green stains covering his chest. Her threats died in her throat as Claude spoke "The door is unlocked I just need something to leaver it open, I thought it might be quieter that way". He grinned causing another drop of blood to fall "don't want to wake the neighbors after all". While Meneria took pride in her ability to handle almost any situation the world could throw at her, bleeding never bode well with her "Claude" she began turning away "Yes ma'am" he replied limping over towards her "why are you..." she managed before her paling "oh, don't worry about me miss" the technician replied moving closer to her "most of it isn't mine anyway" he whispered. Relief and disgust mixed insider her adding another knot to her stomach "can you please clean yourself up, you’re...leaking in front of infants". Her overt disgust and inability to look at him brought pained laughter from the wounded technician "don't mind me miss, most of these kiddies probably don't know what blood even looks like" he pointed towards the unopened medical cabinet on the wall "besides I’m getting plenty of stares already after Anita told everyone that I’m covered in paint". Seeing her unable to respond Claude bowed and made his way back towards the east emergency exit tunnel leaving Meneria to her chaos, he had reached the first step when a screech from outside the walls echoed into the building. Seizing the opportunity in the precious few seconds before someone spoke "To the exit now" she shouted before the nursery doors were rammed. By miracle or fear her helpers did not freeze when the blow came, the thin metal creaked with impact but did not break. Her veteran assistant, still trying to move the diminutive body of Jamal was the first to act "Tam grab the medical box, Claude get the door open, Jamal wake up!" she screamed. Her words were followed without hesitation as her peaceful demeanor broke, finding herself standing on her desk she promptly jumped down and made her way to the escape passage. Her small group of children, picked from whatever group could, or would not take with them kept pace behind her.
Her nursery door was struck again this time shattering one of the windows and tearing the curtains behind it. One more blow and the walls would break, she felt sure of it, no building could hold against desperate invaders, she had seen it before and this day would be no different. Holding the door open for her frantic aides and frightened children Meneria saw one child in particular walking towards the failing door "Cheeselegs!" she shouted. Ignoring her Cheeselegs ran towards the door turning the small radio he had brought with him on and rolling it towards the breaking door. "One minute until stage light repeat, Red curtain is down" the radio managed to cry before being seized. Content with his work Cheeselegs ran back toward her eyes wide in terror and fighting off tears. Reaching the safety of the twin steel doors that guarded the tunnel out of the building Meneria grabbed him and shut the exit behind her. "Keep moving" she shouted staring at the small child who's young face now bore a broad smile "I delayed the monsters and now they won't catch us" he shouted puffing his small chest up. The few children with her gazed for a moment before Meneria's stern gaze drove them after their siblings. Looking back down at Cheeselegs whose exultant smile had disappeared. "Mommy" he whispered staring at the floor "you’re not in trouble dear" she replied, his legs were shaking and tears would doubtlessly follow. Meneria took one last look at the hallway, making sure there were no others present to see this "we're safe here Cheeselegs" keeping her voice low "and by the way, I haven't seen acting like that since the wedding day blitz".
His tears had subsided to some extent, compliments had become rarer than meals around the nursery, and Meneria knew how each of her children loved to hear about the legendary ruse that almost won them a city. She smiled, sadly at the memory "Cheeselegs there's an technique I’d like to show you if you feel afraid, sad or even scared" he looked at her, still shaking but further from a breakdown "close your eyes and walk with me" she started at a slow pace keeping watch for anything that might trip him. "Count aloud starting zero, when you reach ten, open your eyes and repeat after me" She looked at the door behind them and locked it for good measure "one, two, three…" he started. Outside the nursery doors came loose "four, five, six…" a low rumble came from outside followed by shouts "seven, eight, nine" the tears on his face had stopped flowing. "Ten" he concluded opening his eyes to the dimly lit bunker they had arrived at "Changelings always change" Meneria started stepping inside, ducking to avoid damage to her horn "Changelings always change" he repeated following her. "But ponies never will" Meneria finished closing the bunker door "But ponies never…" The dampened sound of the explosion killed the lights and shook the underground establishment "will" Cheeselegs concluded.
What's the best way to survive a zebra attack? Luck, plain and simple. The thing I absolutely love about the stripy fanatics aside from their balefire is that ponies around here absolutely despise them. And hateful creatures never think. Walking down an alley in a large city, pretending to be unaware of the locals glaring at your monochromatic body long enough to reach a nice quiet alley and wait for the telltale signs of your impending breakfast. "Filthy zigger". Three of them by count, one earth pony, one pegasus, and a unicorn, how exotic "please don't hurt me I have a family to feed". I normally stutter when I do the whole puppy eyes and quivering mouth routine. But honestly, this is job is so repetitive it the whole mugging scene becomes amusing, I kid you not, it takes all my self-control to not break into hysterics when one tries to talk while biting a crowbar or baseball bat. Still the three of them actually look threatening and the unicorn probably has a firearm judging by the bulge in his saddlebag. "Please, just leave me alone" I murmur looking at the ground while one walks closer towards me "we won't lay a hoof on ya darling" he says levitating a knife to my foreleg. "Not a hoof" he says bringing it down the blade coated in light grey magic. His magical knife goes straight through my disguise’s fetlock plunging into the pavement below "what in Equestria" the earth pony says dropping his weapon. The pegasus figures it out and tries to fly, after a single wing beat she hits three armored bodies and falls back to the pavement in a daze. The earth pony turns in time to see his companion fall and receives a bright green blast of concussive magic from another looming figure. While his help drops unconscious the unicorn stares at my leg, his grey aura mixes with cyan colored energy causing my stripy body to catch flame and my disguise burns away in a flash. His mouth moves trying to form a coherent sentence, "don't bother" says a familiar changeling mimicking his voice "you won't be missed" turning slowly he watches as harvester twenty three slowly changes mimicking his appearance. The thug's eyes bulge and he soon faints, with some assistance of course. A quick body switch, verbal beating about the use of excessive force on a quote "clearly incapacitated target" and I’m on my way back home with breakfast in a garbage bag.
And what a sweet home it is. A hospital, or more accurately an ironic disguise filled with drones masquerading as nurses and other merciful caregivers. Home is a few levels down to be specific, just next to the industrial sized washing room; ponies called it a morgue I think.
The Bleeding heart general hospital acts as our humble harvesting hub in the region due to the sheer amount of emotion surrounding the place and more importantly because it’s the only place the insane ministry of morale mare won't stick her snout in. Unfortunately being a hospital it becomes hard to tell who is actually disguised or not "Subtle what are you doing here" asks one of the nurses "ah nurse tender hooves? Nice ta see ya lass" she groans and rolls her eyes as per usual. "Oh, beg yuir pardon ma'am ya look a lot like tha nurse in charge of me boy" the accent is a great attention getter and if the floor manager decided to get up early today. "Mister Subtle your son is fine, he told me a moment ago he just..."
"An who might you be miss" I say staring at the newcomer
"Nurse tender you've met me twice before actually, surely you..."
"O that's right yur tha nurse after me boy, again sorry there ma'am"
"Sir" comes she interjects looking frustrated "I know your worried about your son's health and he does react well to the amount of vegetables you bring in" the other nurse begins to back off returning to whatever task she had before. "But I’m sure there are some others who would love some of the produce you have"
"So do I" came another voice across the hive mind
"Shut up I’m in character” we both replied “ah dinne know ya had a veggie shortage here lassie, where'd all them carrats go" she takes the garbage bad and begins to walk towards the lower level elevator "Oh the harvest family left a while ago, reserved some spot in a stable and where going to pack just in case" she paused while walking out of sight with the bag "you know". As the nurse wandered out of sight with my cargo she sighed once letting a small blue cloud leave her muzzle. Her breath was carrying emotions as far as I could smell, weak yet intricate combination of feelings, a touch of sadness mixed with remorse. Subtle but strong enough for my eyes to see the concoction float to the ground and settle, before a set of obviously disguised legs absorbed it. Unfazed by what must have been a bitter meal the drone, disguised as a security guard stopped next me "Thirty five you need come with me immediately"
"An who might you be, lad"
"This is no time for theatrics, your presence is requested"
"All right, all right, give me a moment"
"Move" he said shoving me
"You don't outrank me, don't push it" He stopped pushing but didn't slow down. "Follow me, the commander requests your presence" he scolded walking towards the lower level entrance.
And that he did "drone thirty five please welcome numbers ten and twelve from the Manehattan hive" both drones blinked in recognition, both of their eyes turning creamy white, presumably the colours of their hive. "And prince Solance" both of the Manehattan drones bowed in respect, while our leader simply blinked his eyes to our hive colour of bright yellow. The prince turned his head and shifted his wings, radiating discontent "and why does the hive host continue to refrain from common etiquette" our leader simply chuckled without exuding any readable feeling. "And why does a prince of none come to a house of a Queen" the Manehattan drones both shot back up processing the new information "quaint" the prince replied "I come on my own behalf to extend an offer before you jump into whatever alliance is proposed here". In unison both of the visiting drones spoke their voices thick with venom "an amusing scenario, a discarded prince who seeks to disturb our agreement without food or friends". Diplomats or the proud holders of the fifth place in the dangerous augment ladder were the demi princes of a hive usually through fear their weapons of choice being, hurtful words and powerful endorphin stimulating magic. While the base leader and his guard seemed to be holding their own against the diplomats, I could feel their loathing gather like bile. If the prince felt as I did he wasn't showing it "who says I don't have friends, only a day ago I had a lovely chat with some blind drones from the Manehattan area, do they sound familiar".
The diplomats doubled their efforts subtlety focusing their magic against the prince, the air became thick with negative emotions to the point where I could not breathe properly. "Yes, interesting bunch" the prince said while his eye twitched "they said they had been attacked by a wave of drone militia while trying to deliver a message to the nearby hive". Hopefully because he saw my knees were about to give way the commander intervened "may I remind both parties here that this is meeting is kept hostility free only by my good graces". The commander spoke in a low, dangerous tone while his guard unfolded his wings and dropped into a low combat stance "what wonderful tact you possess commander" the prince stated sarcastically. "I will concede that my genes do not possess the silver tongue of an emissary" the commander replied walking towards the prince "truth be told were it not for my innate ability to dismantle threats to the hive".
The prince looked at his horn and froze as green magic surrounded it and pulled him to eye level with the commander "or the dozens of soldiers I have around the place I dare say I’d never leave the hive let alone step into someone else's". He released the prince and turned towards the diplomats "Drone thirty five walk with me" I followed his advance, as the diplomats stand strong. "While I respect the wishes of my hive and yours, should any harm come to angling under my command, intended or not". The opposing drones stood motionless and waited wordlessly while the armored head of hive security picked up a pen in his magic field floating it close to face of the opposing drone "we might have to re-negotiate our deal". One diplomat lit his horn and the other smiled passively "if there has been any harms towards any of your guards we do apologise on our behalf" the guard received a glance from the commander and returned to his position. "Sorry to interject" the prince said bluntly "but if an apology is all it takes to make you completely forget the facts that you have been defiled by whatever animals these two represent you’re more gullible than my previous company". All eyes focused on him the prince smiled showing his bloodstained teeth "Surely you noticed that not all of your underlings have escaped unscathed" he said pointing a fore hoof at me. "I'd say the poor thing has about an hour of love left in him" I knew he was right, the air still felt think even without the two malcontent Manehattan minions to poison the air. By the great mother I’m spending too much time in Zebra form. "Drone status report" the usually mild tone of the commander echoing though my skull “weakened state commander, my link is breaking". He stared at the diplomats both of them flinched under his gaze "thirty five try to keep standing" grit your teeth stifle your tears and ignore the food poisoning in front of the guests, seems legitimate. A pair of armored soldiers walked in the room and flanked our leader "escort the emissary to our storage room" he said without breaking eye contact with remaining drone. "We will not be separated our hive has warriors and will retaliate" the diplomat stated as the guards pulled him away from his partner "you killed one of my drones" the commander said coolly.
Dead? No I’m sick, some indigestion maybe but we live in a hospital, I’ll be fine, the guard glared at me with the universal 'one word and your dead' look. "It is a mere worker the loss of productivity in your hive would be minimal" the prince chuckled and walked forward to stand beside the commander "you mean like the other blind beggars I found". The remaining diplomat and the commander both looked toward the prince while the guard kept his eyes on me "It would be rude to leave such a sad story unfinished, after some encourage they did tell me what happened to them". The diplomat nervously glanced between the prince and the door small amounts of fear wafting from him "although they lost their sight, their mouths were relatively intact in fact you would not believe just how much one drone can talk if you ask them to". The commander turned to the guard and gestured him to stand at the doorway, bowing left the room and stood vigil just outside. "Did you know for instance" the prince continued "that starvation is an excellent catalyst for friendship" the commander smiled slightly, closing his eyes while listening.
"And minimum wage does not buy the undying loyalty of shipping workers" the diplomat now visibly shaken moved his mandible, words however never left his mouth "to answer your question from earlier the drones did in fact survive and make a full recovery". The diplomat's eyes shot back up threatening to bore a hole into the prince with looks alone "I wouldn't" the commander threatened; his wings slowly extending "you would risk war just for me; the prince of 'nothing'?" Solance asked rhetorically. "While I am flattered that you'd think I would fight another hive without authorisation from my Queen, you should know I would gladly shatter your carapace and take your little contingent of drones". The commander’s voice was filled with mirth, contrasting terribly with the dimly lit room and quaking representative of the Manehattan hive. Smiling in a benevolently the prince turned to face me "and how long do you think you will survive, should your leader kill me in cold blood" I simply freeze, I cannot hear the voice of the commander even when his horn glows, the burning sensation from my gut becomes a fully-fledged internal inferno. "Here is my offer, give me a place in a hive, your hive if possible I save your cleanup detail some work and you gain a prince for your empire" the commander laughed as my left hind leg began to give way "and of course perhaps thirty drones all full of vim, vigor, and insight to the Manehattan hive" the diplomat slowly stepped closer toward the door. The commander turned to face Solance, leaving the diplomat to the guard outside "and say I agree what do you gain from this enterprise" the prince slowly turned away looking down at the armored figure below him "Love, plenty of it, perhaps favor of the fairer sex, but then again I do enjoy working for the greater good" his horn charged resonating with a clear blue aura. The commander took one look at me "do it" he said as blue light swarmed around my body. "Your drone will be ready by tomorrow" the prince said "you two take him to the foodstuffs room, put him next to the ponies, remove him come the next morning" light left my world. Following quickly came voices, sounds of fellow drones moving my petrified body to the morgue, the sounds of the ponies who had yet to be encased, the diplomat demanding release lest his hive "crush the life from your sprawling bodies", a combat drone stomping a foot down in anger silencing the world again. Then one final verbal voice "we will see you tomorrow, pleasant dreams, um, double Zero".
Suffice to say they lied
