Irradiated Changes

***

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“This is possibly either one of the most powerful, or novelty items I’ve ever seen and used.” Hacksaw noted aloud, tapping between the different tabs on the Pip-Boy before him. It wasn’t on him of course, displaying its default settings of emptiness to the drone, but it nonetheless fascinated him to no end.

“Oh, hey, there you are.” he turned, seeing James in the doorway with a Nuka Cola in hand.

Hacksaw nodded, “Yeah. Decided for some solitary while the maintenance worker went to work on something called a water chip.”

“Stanley.” the Knight corrected, “And yeah, I figured he’d let you do your own thing. Most of the one-oh-one is polite enough to not ask questions when I bring in others.”

He walked over and slid into the chair beside Hacksaw’s own, “So, you’re thinking about getting a few for Chrysalis and your siblings?”

“Assuming I can get it to work. First time I slid it on the fucking thing fell off...” Hacksaw muttered in annoyance he didn’t bother to conceal, “Problems with the slanting. If I had some sort of material to stuff in...”

“Ah, I see what you mean.” James noted, looking at the medic’s legs, “The problem is that you need a glove in order to keep them working, and since Pip-Boys are made for humans...”

Hacksaw nodded, sighing in frustration, “Yeah, yeah; I know. Hooves, not hands. Anything specific it needs to be made out of?”

The Lone Wanderer shrugged, showing his own to the Changeling, “They’re specially-made, but I think we could cannibalize a few for their modules. See this top piece?” he tapped the small bump of plastic, “Don’t quote me on this, because I’m not entirely sure, but I believe it’s some kind of neural system that links into the body and acts remotely with the Pip-Boys themselves. All you need to do is have this attached and the needle on it inserted in and you should be fine...”

“Wait, needle? If you’re right, it would be needed, but... wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?” the maintenance drone asked, looking up from the infernal device to James.

James, likewise, shrugged, “Not that I can feel. Nobody’s ever complained about them...”

“Right... Well, I managed to trade for this one, but I don’t know if I have enough caps for others, so I suppose this will be Mother’s...” the Changeling noted, “Speaking of her; they’re about a ten minute distance from the Citadel. Figured I’d keep you in the loop...”

***

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“So, that’s the Citadel...?” Chrysalis muttered to herself as she looked over the vast concrete walls of the Brotherhood’s fortress.

Indeed,  the mighty building that was the Brotherhood’s Citadel loomed before them down river; a decaying monolith of metal and concrete. To the Changeling Queen, it was much like a hive; strong, sturdy, and likely older than those who lived there now. The light of the setting sun seemed to make it all the more majestic, in a way. Shades of purple and orange put the concrete into a state of soft twilight hues against the grey in a way that evoked a sense of calm for the Changeling Queen.

“Yeah.” the Queen of the Changelings’ ear idly flicked at the sound of Sentinel Lyons voice so close to her, “The Citadel has been under Brotherhood control for... about twenty-two years now. Originally it was the United States Pentagon, but after the bombs fell and the Brotherhood moved here in fifty-three, we converted the place over to act as our base of operations. It’s not perfect by any means, but it protects us from just about anything short of an army of Super Mutants. That, and, of course, the technology left behind. That alone drew us in like moths to flame...”

“Is that a joke at my expense, Sentinel?” Chrysalis idly teased, a slight grin parting her lips even as she continued to watch the massive structure from her place on the second floor of the Duchess Gambit.

Lyons chuckled, “Maybe. Any word on James? Durga would likely be pretty pissed if she knew that her best supplier had ended up killed by a handful of Raiders.” despite the light heartedness, Chrysalis could all but taste the worry and anxiety flowing from the Sentinel, small as it may have been.

“He’s fine. Hacksaw and Moth informed me about twenty minutes ago of their victory, and that they’ll be leaving shortly after returning to Megaton. Something about a gift from Vault one-oh-one, but beyond that, it is... fuzzy...” the Changeling Queen replied simply. Then, attempting to cheer up the Sentinel, “Besides, given what I’ve heard of and seen James do, are you really that surprised that he could handle a handful of Raiders?”

Again, a chuckle from the younger Lyons, though this time the hint of worry was devoid of her emotions, “No, I suppose not.” they stood in silence a moment, before, Chrysalis’ ear twitched again, though this time it was over a minor internal debate on revealing the nature of two of her children, if not the entire Swarm, when the question was popped, “What do you mean by ‘fuzzy’ anyway?”

Eventually, she threw caution to the wind over one of many truths being cast into the fire of trust, “Hacksaw and Moth are... different. Moth especially so. Their strength within the Hivemind is weaker, more disconnected. At long distances, image and thoughts fade in clarity to just generalized versions of the big picture...”

“Any ideas why?” the Changeling Queen bit her lip at this question. Apparent of her anxiety, the Sentinel backpedaled, “If it’s personal, I understa-”

Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively, “No, no; it is fine. The problem is that I don’t even know myself.” she admitted casually.

Another short pause formed between them for a moment, likely for the Sentinel to bring up a possibility. Finally, she asked, almost tentatively, “So, like a birth defect?

Well, that was at least a new idea, “What? No! What I mean is that I can not simple remember I have a piece of my memories locked away.”

“What.” the word didn’t carry the tone of a question. More of pure shock, actually, which radiated off of the leader of the Lyons Pride like heat. It took the Changeling Queen a moment to both remember that humans were ignorant of magic, and to figure out how to properly phrase the function of a Memory Spell.

She finally sighed, “A spell that blocks off memories, for whatever reason is needed. I don’t know why it is there exactly, but if I ever need to open up a serious case of buck flank on someone, I just need to, quite easily, might I add, tear it down.

She could all but feel Lyons eyes blink behind her helmet as she glanced up at the woman. Finally, the one question that had apparently came to the human’s mind was spoken, “Buck flank?”

Chrysalis chuckled at the question. Cultural differences could be quite hilarious at times. She answered with four simple words of translation, “Kick ass, to humans.”

***

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“Well, that was... enlightening.” Hacksaw muttered to himself, the usual crunch of his hooves on gravel beneath his left forehoof now muted slightly by the ‘glove’ of his new Pip-Boy.

James nodded, his head still spinning slightly, at least in the metaphorical sense, “Yeah... Who knew Stanley had so much knowledge about the 3000 A models...”

After several Pip-Boy related acts involving haggling with Amata for enough for all of the Changelings, getting a crash course in how to wire a Pip-Boy for Changeling DNA reading and altering, and surprisingly sewing, the two Changelings and one not-quite-man had left Vault 101. Somehow, they all had accomplished what they had intended. James had caught up with and supplied his old friends, Hacksaw had emerged with enough re-wired Pip-Boys for his mother and siblings, and Moth had found a bottle of Whiskey. From there, he had decided to indulge himself in the fine art of drinking alcohol straight from the bottle. Hacksaw, strangely, had not said a word about it. James waited until they were further into the tunnel to the outside before questioning this.

“Aren’t you worried about Moth?” he finally asked as the trio made it about three quarters of the way out of Vault 101 entirely.

Hacksaw shielded his eyes with a groan as the Lone Wanderer pushed open the door to the outside, “Why? Do you know how much alcohol an average Changeling can hold before they start to truly feel the effects of alcohol usually reserved for large quantities consumed by ponies and apparently humans alike?”

“No, but didn’t you say that was his first drink in a long, long while?” the Knight asked as he lowered his own light-shielding hand.

Moth stumbled slightly as he passed between the two, keeping his balance surprisingly well for someone who just drank an entire bottle of Whiskey. the tongue-less changeling hiccuped slightly, but waved the Lone Wanderer off.

The medical drone shrugged, his tongue poking out slightly as he thought, “Average drone can handle around... what proof was that whiskey?”

“One hundred.” James noted, having remembered it upon finding the stealthier, mute drone with the bottle.

Hacksaw blinked, surprise at this fact unmasked completely, “Oh, then he’s fine. Were it higher, I would be worried, but if anything he’s just going to have a headache in a few hours. Changelings can handle it for a time, but hangovers hit us harder than ponies, that’s for sure...”

“Ah... So Moth’s a lightweight?” James then realized fully what he had just heard, “Wait, no. Back up. How can you handle that much alcohol to begin with? Even I get pretty roughed up with even a bottle of that stuff...”

Hacksaw shrugged as he pulled one of his Auto Rollers out of his dimensional pocket and began slipping it on, pulling a piece of the hoof holds down to slip his forehoof inside, “Genetics and adaptation, mostly. before we had to move into the big cities to gather emotions, frontier towns and caravans were the quickest food source in terms of love. As you can imagine, alcohol came with the culture back then, and even now. It’s not hard to see how things went from there...”

“How long have the Changelings been around, to be adapted to just alcohol?” the Knight asked as they crested the hill to Megaton and quickly approaching the gates.

The medic stopped, having slid all of his Auto Rollers by then, and brought a hoof to his chin, “Changeling Queens live around a thousand years, give or take a few centuries... so... Mother’s hive has been around for over ten thousand years, at least. Like I said before, I’m not the one to ask about these things relating to our hive. I’m medical and maintenance, not history.”

James paused to consider this, “...You’re... a surprisingly young race. Unless the history books I’ve managed to find are entirely false, Humanity’s been around for... at least fifty thousand? Something similar, if not older, I believe. Depends on if you’re talking about Homo Sapien Sapiens, or just Homo Sapiens...”

Hacksaw blinked, clearly caught off guard by the remark, “Wait, history books?” but apparently for reasons the Lone Wanderer was not expecting.

“Yeah, I manage to find books all ove- Gah!” he was cut off by a fully-armored Changeling slamming into his chest.

“Where?!” despite the volume of it, Hacksaw’s voice held within it a hint of joy and excitement James had, until that point of course, never seen before in the drone, “Have you found any medical texts?! Publishings on human medicine like setting broken limbs?! ANYTHING?!”

The Knight rolled the drone off of him, his ears ringing slightly from that last, very loud, word. He coughed slightly, “Blugh... Calm down, Hack! Jeesh, I’m reinforced with cybernetics, not a Super Mutant in Power Armor...”

He could faintly hear the sound of hacking coughs and hiccups from Hacksaw and Moth respectively, shortly before, “Alright... alright... My bad, but... just... do you have any idea how long it has been since I’ve had new informa-?”

James placed a hand over the medic’s muzzle, like hitting a snooze button on an alarm clock and just leaving his hand there for a moment. For a few seconds, silence reigned, and the Lone Wanderer could think in peace on how to explain the situation regarding any and all relevant literature in the Capital Wasteland...

A faint hiccup sounded beneath his palm; the muzzle of the drone, “Uh... James? That’s Moth.”

***

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“And you are sure that it was her?” Celestia did her best to keep a level tone before the two stallions standing at-attention before her.

Internally, however, she was reeling in shock. If what the two before her said was true, not just Celestia herself, but possibly the six elemental bearers, even Equestria itself, could be in danger. Maybe not immediately, but given enough time and planning...

Her lips formed a thin line of worry as Brass Cloud spoke, “It is, your highness. We have confirmed appearances and all, even looked at them through a Magical Eye. It is Queen Chrysalis and her Elite Guard.”

Celestia slowly let out a long, weary sigh, “Faust... Then with the attack on Canterlot, we can only assume that the Changeling Empire has broken its treaty with the Equestrian Kingdom...” she could easily see the two of her little ponies tensing, “However, if they do not know of our presence here, we must act with caution. there might be a reason Chrysalis has disregarded the contract her mother and I signed all those years ago, or why she has chosen to apparently ally herself with this... Brotherhood of Steel...”

Long Shot cleared his throat, “Of course, your highness. Shall we continue operations as planned?”

The solar princess shook her head slightly, ‘No... I want you to fall back to Equestria and inform Luna that the prisoners from the invasion are to be treated as refugees until such time as we have more information on this matter. We can not risk stepping on any Changeling hooves and provoking a war with the hives. If they die, word will likely spread like wildfire.”

“And me, your highness?” the slightly filtered voice of the pegasus beside the unicorn questioned.

She turned to Brass Cloud, his features nearly concealed entirely beneath his mask and suit, “Brass Cloud, I want you to get closer to Chrysalis and her allies. Infiltration of the ranks is permitted, but I am strictly prohibiting you to use force against any of them.”

“At your command, your highness.” he muttered, shortly followed by Long Shot giving a similar word of acknowledgement. With that, the pegasus took flight and flew southeast, gaining altitude to avoid being seen clearly from the ground.

“We must tread carefully on all fronts, Long Shot.” Celestia whispered lowly, “This planet is not the Equis we know. Its inhabitants are a powerful race of creators that surpass even those of Tartarus...”

“Of course, your highness.” she turned to him, seeing a small frown upon his lips as he walked off.

“Something on your mind, my little pony?” she asked, causing the stallion to stop but a few hoofsteps away, his back to her.

Long Shot sighed, and when he spoke, it seemed very old and weary, “Your highness... I’ve served you for many, many years. Until only recently I had no dealings with you directly, and I feel I must ask... have things really changed within a thousand years, that the Changelings are so mistrusted where once they were our allies?”

Celestia bowed her head slightly, “Unfortunately, yes. New kings and queens have risen in the shadows of their parents, and not all of them are so strong or loyal as their parents. The invasion of Canterlot has only solidified this. I’m sorry, Long Shot, but it is the truth. We can not afford to provoke them, but at the same time we can not trust them as we did so long ago... or at least, not all of them. Not without finding out more about what has happened since we parted ways after Discord was sealed away the first time...”

The stallion turned around, his head hung low and a look of shame and uncertainty on his face, “...Very well, your highness. Then I pray that you are wrong, and that there is more behind these events than simply blind greed...”

Celestia nodded with as much conviction as she could muster, “As do I, Long Shot.” she then turned around, thinking their conversation over.

“One, last thing, your highness.” he said, drawing her attention enough to warrant turning her neck around to look at him, “I feel I should warn you that if violent action is taken, that one of her guards... Well... it’s Moth, ma’am. Hacksaw too.”

The solar princess didn’t bother to keep her eyes from widening, “What? Here?!”

The unicorn gulped, “Uh, yeah. Brass and I IDed them during observations. Even left a couple of gifts from orders the Forgemasters under specific instructions, I assume for him and his siblings, if we were to ever find him again. It was mostly a slim hope, but...”

Celestia attempted to regain control of her breath, not realizing until then that it had sped up slightly. She swallowed a lump in her throat, then nodded, “Very well. If one of the Tartarus Forgers has gotten out without our knowledge and become a member of his old hive under a new queen... we must proceed with the utmost care in being absolutely sure of their intentions before we act.” he nodded, “Though, I have to ask. What exactly did you give them?”

Long Shot coughed slightly, “Well, ah, funny thing about that... The forgemasters had us leave one of those portable supercomputers and a Vorpal-Pattern Combat Knife, y’know those Vorpal Blades with the magical power fields we modeled after that old story?”

Celestia’s rapidly beating heart slowed a bit, “Ah. So just something essential for self defense and light entertainment, then. I had thought you had done something mad like deliver a suit of powered armor to him...”

“Eh, we figured it was too heavy to lug around his old suit on our travels.” he clearly joked, and indeed, the mood seemed to loosen a bit upon the realization that the two old warriors hadn’t just given their old acquaintance the power to level a city block, “Speaking of gifts for old friends, however. When news of the portal to this place reached our ears, I thought it fitting to bring you something from home.”

Long Shot rummaged around in his bag a bit, pulling out a small strong box devoid of any markings, “Just a little something.” he levitated it over, easily allowing Celestia to take it in her own magical grasp.

She smiled, “Thank you, Long Shot. Give Luna my regards, alright?” he nodded curtly, then turned and trotted off.

The smile slipped from Celestia’s lips as he crested the next hill over. She set the box down before her and sighed with grim finality, What a fine mess we’re in now...

Slowly, she levitated the strong box’ lid open, sitting down to gaze upon her little ponies aiding the Enclave below, as they had been since arriving. As she looked at the contents within, a small, barely perceptible smile graced her lips once more. Nestled within sat a small hoof full of chocolates molded in the shape of miniature suns and moons; the sign of the highly-priced pieces modeled after the cutie marks of the two royal sisters, commonly referred to as Canterlot Royals. Along with them, a single bottle of orange soda with the faded label of Manehatten Orange Industries sat atop a faded blue cloth. Next to it, several lumps of... something, lay hidden beneath the cool colored material.

Celestia chuckled slightly, a low sound of genuine happiness at the gift, “Heh... always the thoughtful one, Corporal...”

She levitated the bottle and its cloth up, and for the second time, the smile slipped from her lips. For within, a simple revolver, a familiar revolver, lie underneath, a pair of cylinders and various bullets, once covered and held in relative place by the cloth, rolled slightly, “...Always the thoughtful one...”

***

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“Switch these pieces around here,  replace this, load a new microfusion cell...” Twilight muttered to herself in a half-breath, “Aaaand that should do it!”

“Huh. Thank you, ma’am.” the Enclave trooper replied as he took the refurbished plasma rifle from the unicorn’s magical grip.

It had been almost two days since she and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, her closest friends, had accompanied the Princess to this strange new world in the wake of the Changeling Queen’s spell, opening a portal to... apparently Earth, the inhabitants, humans, had called it. Where the Queen was, Twilight had no idea, but with her had disappeared a small number of her force. In addition, her spell, unknown beyond something akin to a teleportation spell of some kind, had nullified that of her brother, Shining Armor, and his bride; her old foalsitter, Princess Cadence.

After arriving under a powerful shielding spell cast by the Princess. the seven had quickly discovered the Enclave and taken up a sort of alliance and residence with them, at least until the Princess could get everything sorted out. The time had given the six friends the ability to slowly soften up to and help the humans, and while they were highly militaristic and brutal defenders of their home, they were certainly kind when out of combat.

At least, some of them were. Most had adopted the same stance as that of a Royal Guard to fraternization; dead silence and slight glances. Thankfully, she’d found company with the Enclave’s quartermaster, a well-meaning man by the last name of Hughes. Since they’d met, and she had began questioning about the Enclave’s technology, the two had become fast friends, with Twilight helping the Quartermaster to repair damaged weapons and armor while he explained what was at her clearance level, which was just about anything short of the heavier ordnance such as the devices called Fat Mans and Missile Launchers, or the heavy Gatling Lasers, though not their large battery-backpacks; massive energy-holding devices that infinitely fascinated the studious mare as much as just about every other piece of technology that came across her eyes.

“Huh. It’s getting late.” the Quartermaster noted, sliding the rifle back into its spot alongside its fellows in the impromptu officer-turned-armory, “I’ll be turning in soon, Miss Sparkle. I trust you’ll be fine on the rest of the base?”

“Of course, Mister Hughes. Thank you again for letting me look over all of this technology. It’s... fascinating...” the purple unicorn noted, “Albeit incredibly... violent.”

“Apologies, ma’am, but we are in the armory of a highly militarized government base, small as it is. We need all we can to defend ourselves out here in the wastes. We’re just barely scraping by now after we lost our main base to... unforeseen, enemies.”

“Classified enemies to Equestrians. So I’ve heard.” Twilight sighed with a hint of a deadpan expression on her face, “I understand the possible shame and degradation of troop moral, but is it really necessary, Quartermaster?”

“Honestly, ma’am? I have no idea. I was on patrol near the Potomac when things went down at Adams. I’ve always served just to follow my orders and keep a stable life going, or at the very least as stable as one can get in America now.” he noted with a bit of embarrassment, rubbing his armored hand on the back of his silvery-grey haired head, “My apologies, but I honestly don’t know. Maybe one of the older guys could explain it in some detail without breaking protocol, but they don’t really tell the trooper who’s responsible for their gear and little else anything of over importance...”

“No, no, it’s fine, Mister Hughes. Sorry for the criticism, but... well, Equestria hasn’t had any form of invasion in a few hundred years. Being around so much violence and militarized strength and discipline can be... jarring. I don’t know about the others, but I just try to keep a cool head by learning all that I can about your culture and technology...” Twilight apologized quickly with a slight blush.

“I understand, Ma’am. It seemed your friends have been finding their own ways to cope as well.” he muttered, motioning to the window.

The purple unicorn walked over by him, raising an eyebrow as she stood up on the tips of her back hooves, front ones leaning on the window sill. A small smile graced her lips, the first in a while actually, at seeing the handiwork below, Applejack...

The garden below, once barely alive and wilted, was now thriving with life and bearing all kinds of fruits and vegetables, from tomatoes to potatoes, to corn, and several other harvestable plants, “Your friends sure know how to farm. I don’t think I’ve seen food that healthy since deployment out West...”

The Quartermaster yawned suddenly, “Ugh... excuse me, Miss Sparkle. Have a good night.”

“You too, Mister Hughes.” Twilight replied, turning back to the window.

Her thoughts began to drift as the sound of mechanized feet drifted off, Maybe my assumption about humans, or at least the Enclave, was wrong...

This one thought had been festering around in her mind since arrival. The Enclave had seemed a bit too hostile for her original liking, but after meeting the Quartermaster...

She concluded that she should take it with a grain of salt; they were a sentient race vastly different from ponies or anything similar. They were likely to be widely varying, if the size of this nation, this America, was anything close to the scale that she’d been told. It didn’t outclass Equestria in size by any means, but it was still quite admirable... and wasn’t even the full continent at that...

With a slight sigh, Twilight Sparkle turned away from the window and began to trot back to the room she and the others shared for some much-needed rest. Despite being more peaceful than she expected, such knowledge about humans, limited as it was, had all but fried her brain to anything else.

She needed a nice, long, good night’s sleep.

***

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“Hey. Hack, Moth; you two going to sleep sometime or what?” James called downstairs, leaning over the rails. A Nuka Cola was hanging loosely in one hand, with a .308 caliber round hanging in his right.

Hacksaw glanced up at the knight for a moment, then held up one of his Industrial Diggers, “We’ll be up for a few hours. I’m trying to convert the power source in these to work off of microfusion cells.”

He then looked over at Moth, who was holding up a bladed device similar to the ones on The Duchess Gambit. An idea forming in his head, the drone looked back up at the man, “Hey, you mind if Moth and I use a couple of blades from those saw-like weapons? I have an idea.”

“You’re going to put Auto-Axe blades on your diggers, aren’t you?” James asked with a cross between fascination and a deadpanned stare.

“Probably. I just need the inner teeth to stay sharp, so the issue of dulling is minor enough to be, in fact, a virtual non-issue...” before he could elaborate further, the knight waved his hand dismissively.

“Use what you need, but don’t disassemble my Mauler or Man Opener. I still need the originals until I can work both into something similar to an armor-tearing weapon of high-speed death without having to rely on microfusion or small energy cells.” with that, James disappeared back over the railing, “G’night guys. Wadsworth.”

“Have a pleasant night, sir.” the Mister Handy replied, he himself floating down the stairway.

Hacksaw turned back to his diggers, looking at the small containers of love lying nearby. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled, drawing a sigh from the drone. He tapped his stomach for silence, “Soon. I still have to rig up the proper wiring... something that  would let me change out the cells quickly...”

“Might I suggest the use of the power supply system of several Gauss Rifles for your experiment, Master Hacksaw?” Wadsworth noted as he floated by, “Given master LeBlanc noted the use of anything for your experiment, and all.”

“...Can’t hurt, I suppose. At the very least I won’t have to work on it from scratch.” the medical and maintenance drone muttered to himself, “Very well. If you wouldn’t mind, Wadsworth.”

“Of course, sir.” the robot replied simply, moving over to a locker and pulling out four of the devices within his tractor beam.

Hacksaw smiled slightly as Moth walked back into the room, a bottle of Whiskey in a levitation spell, “Perfect.”

***

“It’s bigger than I had imagined.” Cocoon noted as she flew off of The Duchess Gambit to the crude dock before the Brotherhood’s Citadel-hive. She held her Missile Launcher over one foreleg with a hoof and a bit of telekinesis, eyes tracing over the concrete shell, “Still fairly sound and easy to protect, even for all of the damage...”

“Indeed. I can see now why you chose this location as your headquarters.” Steel agreed from the heavy ordinance drone’s left, turning his head back to look at the Sentinel, “It is a marvelous hive, even by Changeling standards.”

Cocoon quickly fell in step with the commander as they began to walk, though the conversation between him, the Sentinel, and her mother faded past her as little more than a dull whisper in the back of her mind. Between the backpack, now nearly spent regardless, and the missile launcher, she was looking forward to a chance to rest and sleep without fear of an ambush on the shore.

Beside her, Cicada was bouncing and buzzing happily a moment before she struck up conversation with the Cocoon and kept up her antics, “Isn’t this great sis?! Ooo, I bet once we get things explained we can find plenty of emotions in there. I’m staaaaaaarving, since we haven’t had midday meal...”

Cicada was about to respond, before a glint caught the corner of her eye, near the Citadel’s gates. Perhaps a few yards to the left of the massive door itself, “Hey, Cicada. You see that shining thing over by the door?”

“Huh?” the bubbly drone followed her gaze, “Yyyyyeah I think. That glimmering box wedged between a couple of rocks?”

As they were still moving, Cocoon realized that her sister was indeed right. The glimmer was, in fact, a metal case of some kind, wedged between a pair of rocks like it had been placed there on purpose, and likely was. As they got closer to the door, Cicada bounced off and over to the case, the commander paying no mind and her mother still talking with the Sentinel. Sighing, the heavy ordinance drone buzzed after her sister, who now had her forehooves wrapped around the case’s handle and was attempting to pull it from between the two sections of rock that held it together, “C’mon... Cicy wants to see why someone would leave a perfectly good case lying outside of a hive...”

As if on cue, the stone ground against the case a split-second before Cicada went flying off, the force throwing her off-balance with such a surprise that even buzzing her wings didn’t help, sending her tumbling across the worn concrete head-over-hooves. The case itself went flying off in another direction, and there was a loud CLANG! before the sound of a distinctly male voice yelling, “What the Hell was that?!”

“I believe, Glade, that that was a case hitting you square in the head.” Cocoon could practically feel her mother’s mirth coming off of each word.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Cocoon, however, wasn’t paying much attention at that point, nor at the annoyed look that would likely be coming from the fellow heavy weapons expert.

Instead, she was focused on Cicada, who was currently dazed and delirious, Did anyone catch the name of that Behemoth?

Or just her normal self. The heavy ordinance drone sighed externally and trotted over to the younger drone, setting her missile launcher down long enough to help the still-dizzy Cicada to her hooves, You okay sis?

Cicada shook her head swiftly, likely to reassert some sense of perspective, before nodding, “Yep!”

If you are both unharmed, girls? both turned to see their mother with the case in her levitating grip, the Sentinel talking with the only unhelmeted brotherhood member at the gates. Slowly, the massive door in front of them began to raise via the massive machine above. Both drones nodded and began to follow the Pride and the rest of their siblings, though Cocoon’s ears folded back in a small bit of shame at the event.

Cicada, for her part, didn’t seem to show any signs of distress, going back to her normally bouncy and carefree self. Cocoon shook her head slightly, passing the gates and allowing them to lower back into place, I don’t think I shall ever understand how you can do that...

Do what, sis? Cicada fell back in step beside the heavy ordinance drone.

Be... just so carefree about all of this? The rest of us are either scared or trying to get to the salvation of this place, and you haven’t shown any negative emotion since day one. a few thoughts began to form from those of their siblings ahead, but many quashed the comments immediately, if not out of respect, then out of courtesy,or perhaps curiosity, to let Cicada voice her thoughts on it.

Oh, that’s easy. I do it so that I can keep going. Cocoon nearly tripped, the thought catching her off-guard and causing her to stumble for a step or two before righting herself. Cicada went on in spite of this, I’ve always been trying to keep everyone’s spirits high in the swarm, sis, but... its not just for them. I feel like if I lose hope, I’m just going to drag everyone else down with me and stop, lay down, and not want to get back up. If I can at least try to stay optimistic and keep my eyes on the prize, then I just know that I’ll be able to make it, and that I can see our family again...

That was... somewhat profound, sister. Steel’s thoughts echoed to them, I never thought that was why you were so... excited, all of the time.

Cicada chuckled visibly, Aw, thanks bro. I figure someone was going to ask eventually, so I might as well have a speech planned. I actually get a lot of time to think on my hooves when I’ve cheered everyone up and passed out the rations...

Before their conversation could continue further, they passed through the doors of the Citadel, arriving inside of the large courtyard that made up its center. All around them, equipment and and smaller buildings lay, though something puzzled Cocoon, Cicada, and even their mother, who voiced their collective question aloud, “Where is everyone?”

***

“Asleep, most likely.” the Sentinel answered, “Lights out was a few hours ago, but we were so close to the Citadel I figured it wouldn’t be a problem. If you want, I know there should be a few empty beds you can use. I’ll be sure to speak with Elder Lyons in the morning so that we can get everything sorted out.”

Chrysalis nodded, content with the answer and calming down the minds of what children were with her, “Very well. If you would lead the way, Sentinel.”

And with that, they crossed the courtyard and descended into the Citadel itself, climbing down stairwells and through hallways. Unlike the courtyard, the halls were fairly clean and organized, with several brotherhood members, likely the night watchmen and women, standing near doorways. Despite their arrival, few gave the Changelings a visible look behind their helmets. Nonetheless, Chrysalis could feel eyes on her as she passed, and quickened her pace to keep step with the Pride.

Finally, they arrived in a room lined with cots, most of which were surprisingly empty, save a small handful at the other end of the room. Sentinel Lyons gave her a quick nod, “Make yourselves at home.”

Immediately after those words, Cicada bounced onto the closest bed and shrugged off her pack before pulling a blanket over herself and falling asleep with little more than the thought of a good night before drifting to sleep. Chrysalis couldn’t help but chuckle softly at the antics of her daughter. Cocoon joined her for a brief moment, before taking the bed beside her sister and setting her missile launcher against the wall with her own pack, then crawling under the blankets.

One by one, the Changelings and Pride members peeled back their supplies and armor to sleep, until only Chrysalis was left awake amongst the Changelings, forelegs behind her head as she rolled the events of the last two days around within her own mind once again.

She sighed, knowing that for now, she could once again do nothing more but wait and watch, or in this case, sleep. In the past three days alone she had invaded a nation, been sent to another planet, and actually killed for the first time in years. It left her drained, both  in body and in mind, to the point where she was forcing herself to keep her eyelids open.

Eventually, exhaustion wore out over worry, and her mind drifted off into much-needed sleep. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the Changeling Queen knew she would need it, and might even be unable to find it in later days...

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Current Objectives (Chrysalis)

Find a way back to the Swarm

Sleep. You have a feeling you’re going to need it.

New Objectives (Hacksaw)

(Optional) Finish your projects

Get to the Citadel

New Objectives (Twilight)

Get some shut-eye