Gloom’s breathing quickens when she opens Twilight’s map, illuminates it using her magical horseshoe, and realizes she has no idea how far along the drawn line she is. Leaning down, she checks the arrows by the floor which are still pointing backwards, so she must have cleared a much shorter distance than she thought. The trip here felt brief thanks to being accompanied by the constant talking of 99732, but now that she’s entirely alone, the weight of heavy, still air and the deafening silence are putting her on edge. She almost wants something to finally happen to relieve the compounding tension, yet she knows that here, in the hive, nothing happening is the best possible timeline.

Folding the map back into her saddlebag, she resumes walking, the unsteady and flickering glow of her horseshoes being her lifeline.

“Calm down, Gloom. You’re equipped for this. Twilight’s map works, you brought flares with you, and in case you get lost you know how to backtrack. You have some food and water as well. You’re OKAY,” she whispers to finally hear something and to retake control of her breathing.

This isn’t the first time she’s deep underground, the regular survival training sessions of the Nightguard occasionally did land her in a cave system, yet something feels different here and she can’t put a hoof on what. The darkness somehow feels worse. Maybe it’s because she always knew what to expect in a normal situation, even with much less equipment, and now that she’s experienced the magical anomaly that’s the Badlands she knows she can’t rely on her basic tools.

No, that’s not it. The longer she’s down here, the more a realization in the back of her mind grows, the realization that 65536’s soul-crushing stories about the dangers of the hive weren’t overblown for the purposes of sensational storytelling, rather that they were…

…toned down.

“They live their every day like this,” Gloom breathes out and can’t stop herself from sniffling and wiping her eyes, “And before the invasion it was worse. They barely knew one another because they spent the few days they had digging in some hole, starving and lonely.”

She’s never felt so alone in her life.

However, the more she recalls 65536’s stories, the more her worried and tense expression turns into an angry one and the faster she begins to openly storm ahead.

And it’s all the fault of other CHANGELINGS - the ruling monsters treating the defenseless drones as tools to be used up and publicly recycled in the most brutal and inequine way possible just to send a message to every other drone that any thoughts of a revolt won’t be tolerated.

Now that I think of it, the only time drones used to see each other in groups was when one or more were thrown screaming into that crusher thing in front of everyone.

Story after previously barely believable story floats to the top of Gloom’s mind, ones she thought she forgot or pushed out of her mind long ago, forming a string of sadness and hatred causing the bat pony to unthinkingly wipe her eyes and nose over and over as she’s stomping through the tunnel, completely unaware of the passage of time.

The downward sloping tunnel.

Once she realizes that something feels off, she stops and pulls the map out again which, this time, shows a newly drawn branch.

Stars damn it, Gloom, focus!

After taking a slow and deep breath to clear her head, she checks the navigation arrows which still point backwards.

Alright, let’s just head back-

The light of her horseshoes dims as if someone was sliding a switch until it fades two seconds later and leaves Gloom in complete darkness impenetrable even to her eyes.

Fuuuuuuuu- that’s fine, that’s FINE!

Gloom sits down, takes her saddlebag off, and prods the carefully sorted and packaged contents until she touches a set of three tubes next to each other wrapped in wax cloth. She pulls one of the smooth tubes out, finds the ribbed end, turns her head away from it, twists, and breaks it off. Bright, cold, blue-ish white light bathes the area.

Two more on me, two sets of five back in my backpack upstairs. Let’s hope I don’t need to use up any, but there’s still enough.

As she’s packing the rest back to her saddlebag, she notices something from the corner of her eye further down the corridor. It’s as if the light is reflecting off of something that isn’t there, something along the lines of a mirror that’s at the same time see-through as well as reflective. She’s never seen anything like that before.

Keeping it in view without looking directly, Gloom pulls out the second flare from the package and puts it into her mouth to keep at hoof just in case. Finally, she pulls out Twilight’s map, carefully checks it again to gauge the distance she needs to move back, puts her active flare on the floor, fakes fiddling with the second one-

-and kicks the first one directly at the anomaly.

It bounces.

Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

Immediately cracking the seal on the second one to activate it, she glares ahead, ready to fight.

She blinks, feels the air move, and immediately opens her eyes wide again.

There’s nothing anymore. No strange reflection or sound.

Gloom isn’t stupid enough to turn around or go forward to retrieve her original flare. Instead, with eyes trailed directly ahead, she puts the second flare behind her ear to not blind herself, and starts backing off the way she came. In a situation like this, the heat is just an inconvenience.

She can’t see or hear anything, but after what just happened…

…that doesn’t mean anything.

This is going to be a long trip back.

***

After Gloom left Twilight, the princess got fully engrossed in setting up her laboratory. Now, over an hour later, Twilight’s gigantic backpacks are lying limp on the floor and two new mobile workbenches are set up by the wall of Twilight’s part of the cave along with two wardrobe-like frames, one containing a crystal cube sitting atop a box with wires sticking out, and the other a shelf covered in various tools.

“Heh, when did unicorns learn new shapes for scrying?” asks a buzzing, slightly distorted voice coming from the entrance without the faintest hint of anyone arriving that makes the hair on the back of Twilight’s neck stand up and chill run down her spine. The alicorn reflexively spins around, wings slightly ruffled, and almost knocks over a microscope on the workbench, making Chrysalis smirk, “No need for any of that. You’re not in danger, Princess.”

This isn’t the first time the two have met since the Canterlot invasion, yet this is the first time on Chrysalis’ home turf and some memories are more ingrained than others.

“Your Majesty!” says Twilight as she regains some composure, and bows, “I’m gracious for the opportunity and I want to thank you for allowing this exchange.”

Chrysalis shakes her head and sighs.

“I’m not elated by any of this, but times are changing and I deemed that the drones could benefit from a fresh way of looking at things. After all, 17070, 65536, 99999, and Smiley are all doing more than well among ponies, so why not allow the drones here to experience something new? However, as undiplomatic as it will inevitably sound, you being here is simply the price I’m paying for letting my drones outside with guaranteed protection and a place to stay. If I trusted ponies enough to send 10k, 99111, and 99380 so far away unaccompanied, I would have done so.”

“If nothing else, I appreciate the honesty, Your Majesty,” replies Twilight and begins fiddling with her crystal cube device, “My hope, however, is that if I bring some knowledge about changelings as a civilization, not the predators most ponies still know you as, it might serve to improve the circumstances of those living undisguised in Canterlot and other pony cities.”

“It’s taking every fiber of my being to not think of you being here as research into our vulnerabilities, but I’ll restrain that part of myself… for a better future,” Chrysalis strolls around the now cramped cave, her horn barely not scraping the ceiling, “We can expand this place if you want more space,” she offers.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Twilight shakes her head, “I would be okay with simple observation and non-intrusive research, but my assistant is dead set on interacting with the drones and tainting the results, so she’ll inevitably spend more time with them than here. I only wanted to gather soil samples for the next day, but she just had to run off…”

“2119 briefed me about your companion,” Chrysalis huffs and levitates up one of Gloom’s spare bags, “and trust me that bringing a fully kitted-out Nightguard pretending to be a ‘research assistant’ wasn’t very diplomatic and trust-building of you, Princess. If I wasn’t so ‘with the times’, as the foals say these days, I might get paranoid.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight decides on complete honesty while screaming internally, “Princess Celestia insisted that I took a bodyguard with me no matter how much I explained that it could be interpreted as me not trusting your assurance of my safety. I can order her to not run off on her own anymore-”

Chrysalis smirks.

“Oh, please, don’t. You are lucky, Princess, because we have heard about Gloom, and so have the drones. In fact, I’d like you to give her an even higher degree of independence because it has the potential to be… amusing.”

“Amusing?” Twilight raises an eyebrow.

“Drones live a mix of extremely orderly and equally chaotic lives. I believe Gloom’s presence will enhance the latter and, frankly, so will yours no matter how little you want it to,” Chrysalis’s prophetic words are accompanied by an inward smile, “My hope is that the Crystal Empire expedition brings back an interesting story or two as well. Say, those crystals they use for building aren’t flammable, are they?”

“And my hope is that this exchange program wasn’t some plan to cause trouble in the Crystal Empire,” Twilight finishes plugging in all the wires into the bottom of the crystal cube and levitates up a screwdriver. Thankfully, whatever the weird magic anomaly of the Badlands is, it’s not affecting her telekinesis.

“Of course not, we’re far past that,” Chrysalis looks over her shoulder. Despite Twilight being an alicorn now, Chrysalis is still over a head taller than she is, “But I know my subjects. A certain level of trouble always tends to find them.”

With all the wires fastened and the device seemingly ready, Twilight pushes a button.

“I must admit I know the feeli- huh?!”

The air buzzes, filling with static charge, and the black box under the crystal cube explodes, albeit at a glacial pace. The expanding shockwave is visible with the naked eye, and both Twilight and Chrysalis jump backwards in time as the almost solid bubble of magic bursts, bending, twisting, melting, or downright disintegrating the metal frame of the shelf holding it. The cube slides off of the expanding ball, and Twilight telekinetically catches it before it hits the floor and moves it on the workbench. As much as Chrysalis wants to make an assassination joke to make fun of Twilight, she can’t, because unlike the alicorn herself, she’s being protected by a bubble of shimmering purple magic. Flickering and static-y bubble, but the thought counts. The protection spell fades the second Twilight looks around and sees that nothing is about to explode anymore.

“Celestia damn it! How do I fix this?” whispers Twilight under her breath before returning to reality and hastily turns towards Chrysalis, flushed and coming to the same potential assassination angle as Chrysalis did, “I apologize so much, Your Highness! There’s something here in the Badlands that’s interfering with my magic -well, the magic field in general, it seems- and it’s causing strange effects when spells are invoked. Do you know anything about it?”

Twilight has never been the best at reading others, but she trusts her years experience as the Princess of Friendship and numerous diplomatic assignments when Chrysalis tells her “No, we don’t use magic and there’s nothing limiting us, changelings”. With a sigh, she begins examining the damage.

The magical explosion didn’t damage the wires beyond the connectors, and the scrying cube is okay, which means that normal energy insulation was enough to stop the magical charge. I think I’m getting the grasp of things. The magic either gets amplified and causes a random outburst, or it’s dampened to the point of barely working. If I can figure out the conditions for either, I’ll be able to work around the phenomenon or possibly even use it to my advantage. First things first, though…

“Your Majesty, can I ask for a favor?”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to need some help or at least resources to fix-” she waves her hoof towards the ruined shelf, “-this. I know the Badlands exports rare metals and used to supply common raw resources like iron. Can I get some from your stores or can you arrange a mining operation?”

“No,” says Chrysalis simply, and smiles a smile of a spider seeing a fly blindly charging towards its web.

“I can pay! Either with what little I have brought with me or once I return to Canterlot. The price is no problem-”

“I said no,” the Queen keeps smiling, “You wanted a real experience of life in the hive, and if I bent the time of my subjects to serve you, that would ruin the authenticity. However, I also try not to interfere with the lives of my subjects outside of work unless it’s necessary, and trading is one of the favorite pastimes of both drones and, as of recently, the ‘high ranks’,” she savors the final two words, “Maybe you could try your luck with them.”

“Your Majesty-”

“Take the hint, Twilight Sparkle,” says Chrysalis flatly before smiling widely again and heading towards the cave’s exit, “However, in case you’re really forced to admit your complete and utter failure at some point, my door is always open.”

The Queen’s day only gets better when, a short while after leaving, she hears a muffled moan of pure frustration echo through the tunnels.

***

Sweating and shaking as if she just ran a marathon, Gloom checks her automatic map one final time in the light of her last dying flare, takes a deep breath, and, for the first time since the encounter, turns around and bolts. Several minutes of pure gallop later, she sees the familiar entrance to a familiar cave bathing the tunnel in the light coming from the inside, and rushes towards it, ignoring the burning of sweat in her eyes.

Twilight looks up at the visibly exhausted Nightguard from one of the two workbenches and drops whatever she was doing. Her horn flares up with magical light, and she immediately asks:

“What’s wrong?”

Gloom walks over to her bags and collapses.

“There’s something down in the tunnels,” she whispers between gasps for air, “Invisible and incredibly fast.”

Nothing seems to be following Gloom, so Twilight eases up a little after staring at the entrance for a short while.

“From what I read, there are many things inside the tunnels.”

“Not this close to the surface,” Gloom shakes her head, “The tunnels on the levels between the HSC and the throne room are supposed to be empty.”

Knowing that Gloom has more hooves-on experience with stories about the hive, Twilight doesn’t argue with the fact that Gloom saw something that terrified her. Instead, her voice prods like a scalpel attempting to get to the core of the issue:

“Is it possible that it was a changeling keeping an eye on you? I wouldn’t put it past Chrysalis.”

Gloom shakes her head.

“I know a changeling who can turn invisible and it looked different. Supposedly, it’s quite difficult and extremely taxing if you’re not used to it. There’s no one in the hive roster who could do it other than Chrysalis herself. I mean…” the bat pony pauses, “It could have been her.”

“When did it happen?” asks Twilight matter-of-factly.

“I… I don’t know, I’m sorry,” Gloom shakes her head, “I didn’t look at the watch after I left the HSC,” she pulls Twilight’s mechanical watch out to check it, “At some point during the past hour.”

“Then it’s unlikely,” Twilight frowns, “Chrysalis returned about an hour after you left, and that corridor is the main way down from the surface level. I put up a spell to alert me to anyone passing by after we exchanged pleasantries. It worked with you just now, so it’s still working and I think it would have sensed a movement. Do we tell her?”

Gloom shoots Twilight a look of surprise that the Princess is actually asking for her opinion but, after finally thinking about what happened in peace, she shakes her head.

“Maybe it really was a changeling keeping an eye on me, and the skills of the hive’s top ranks aren’t something we get updates on,” Gloom sighs, “I think I should ask the drones if they haven’t encountered something like that themselves. They spend way more time roaming around the tunnels than ranked changelings do.”

“Alright,” Twilight nods and returns to the workbench where she’s doing something Gloom can’t see from her angle, “Back to work then. I take it that you’ve tampered with the specimens then?”

Gloom sighs and rolls her eyes.

“We’ve been over this. They’re not some specimens in a jar, Your Highness, they’re a young but evolving civilization.”

“By definition, they’re specimens. I mean no negative connotation with that word, you’re the one assuming it,” retorts the alicorn, “So?”

“Yes, I ‘made contact and tampered with the drones’,” says Gloom in a mocking tone while making air quotes with her hooves, “Wait, did something happen here too?” she asks, finally noticing the visibly ruined shelf, “Or did that break on the way here?”

“Another magical accident,” comments Twilight matter-of-factly, “Did you manage to set up the observation crystals unnoticed?”

“You mean the spying crystals?”

“Don’t be silly, it’s just some harmless scientific observation,” Twilight waves it off dismissively, “If Queen Chrysalis notices and objects to it, I’ll explain it and then we’ll remove the crystals. There’s little difference between us setting up an observation camp at the drones’ place and using this method.”

Sighing again at Twilight’s naivete, Gloom reports:

“Yes, I set up the crystals, but I can’t say if I was unnoticed because I had to fly around a cavern full of creatures able to see as if it was a clear day with a stadium floodlight strapped to my head.”

To her surprise, Twilight just shrugs.

“If science was easy, somepony else would have done this already. We’re bound to encounter setbacks.”

“Speaking of science,” Gloom pulls out the crystal batteries for the radio, “Can you recharge these?”

Twilight takes a quick break from fixing pieces of the ruined shelf’s metal frame to see what Gloom brought. Her interest fades immediately when she recognizes a common brand of crystal batteries instead of some homemade changeling invention.

“Sure,” she replies, but an idea comes to mind. When in the hive, do as the changelings do, “Buuut, I heard something about trading being kind of a drone custom.”

“I set up your stupid spy crystals,” Gloom fires back.

“That’s just part of the research and the reason why you were sent here with me, that doesn’t count.”

Huffing, Gloom pulls out the automatic map and waves it in the air.

“The path to the High Score Cavern. Take it or leave it.”

Twilight smiles and attempts to telekinetically grab the map which Gloom refuses to let go until she feels the invisible pull envelop the batteries as well. Only then she lets the Princess levitate the offered map towards herself.

“Now we’re talking,” comments Twilight, putting the map and the crystals away on the secondary workbench while resuming her work, “I’ll have it done by tomorrow,” she adds when Gloom keeps staring, “If I try to do it quickly it’s likely they’ll blow up like-” she waves her hoof towards the mess next to the workbench.

“Got it,” Gloom finally nods and starts sorting through her bags.

The burnt-out flares can still be traded off to the drones and so does the wax cloth. Just gotta resupply for tomorrow.

Pulling out a military MRE, a bottle of water, a bedroll, and a sleeping bag, she prepares her sleeping spot before relaxing and slowly downing her dinner.

Note for tomorrow - figure out a way to anonymously ruin the whole ‘observation crystals’ plan, pawn or give the trash to the drones, and do whatever science nonsense Twilight is bound to want.

And hug 57999 some more. The poor guy looks like a squeezed soda can.

***

As Twilight hears Gloom’s breathing slow down, she decides to stop her own project. The scrying machine needs new internal wiring, and for that she needs purified silver or gold, some treated rubber for insulation, and a basic magical energy transformer to stabilize the flow. All of that can be built on the spot with her tools, she just needs the raw materials. To get those, she needs to trade with the drones, and for that she needs something to trade. Of course, she can beg Chrysalis to order the drones to help for no reward.

Correction - she can’t beg Chrysalis for help.

Sitting down into a meditation position, Twilight levitates up both the batteries and her journal coupled with a pen, closes her eyes, and begins channeling the unstable energy for recharging and writing simultaneously.

Day 1:

The ambient magic field of the Badlands is stronger and more chaotic than anywhere else in Equestria. I wonder what caused it?

So far, the few hive changelings I met were in general much less wary of us than the community in Canterlot. Possibly due to fewer bad experiences in trying to fit in?

Maybe, just like with recharging the batteries, there are uniquely unicorn services I can offer to trade for the materials I need.

I should have brought more food and water. Definitely more water.

Author's Note

I'm not back and fuctional yet, so don't get too excited about resuming the regular updates. I just managed to squeeze some creativity out of myself and move the plot along a tiny bit.