A week had passed, and we’d run out of games and such to play. Well, minus the time I’d woken up to find Rose Quartz trying really hard to hide that she really needed to get laid. That was awkward in the extreme, but Goo helped ‘fix’ that particular issue.

Thankfully, behind a different screen.

The reptilian pony had left by then, and a day later a Changeling with a missing wing was in one of the other beds.

It was the first time I’d seen a Changeling up close, or as up close as across the room could get, and I had to admit, she/he/it was fairly interesting. The relatively smooth sections of chitin on its back were a shiny, polished-looking citrine, like an orange gemstone. Its fur was, however, a deep midnight-blue. In all, it wasn’t too similar in anything but build to the ones I’d seen in the show.

Either way, it seemed to be healing at an incredible rate, and I could see, from across the room, the slowly-reforming wing build itself over the course of three days. I hadn’t been able to work up the courage to ask it anything, but it kept looking over at my little group quite often.

Finally, while the girls were off doing something else, they wouldn’t tell me what, I decided to ask the Changeling something, just to strike up a conversation. It had also been moved a little closer, with just a single empty bed between me and it.

“Uh... Hey there, uh, Changeling. What’s your name? I’m Zach and, uhm, how are you this fine, uhm, ‘day’?”

The Changeling looked over at me and cocked its head to one side.

“Chrrrp?”

The noise was somewhere between a cricket’s chirp and a cat’s purr. And the Changeling’s almost luminous green eyes continued to stare at me. Its head was turned at almost a ninety-degree angle, like an owl trying to get a better look at something.

“Okay... that’s an interesting way to turn your head. I certainly like the way your chitin looks. Never seen anything like it before from where I’m from. So, uhm, what’s your name?”

“Chrrup.”

Okay, still in the cat+cricket noise range, though this time more like a cat. Now that I had a better look at it, it shifted its head again, and I could see the fin-like protrusion it had in place of a mane. The spines holding it aloft curved smoothly, as if to mold flat to its head. I wondered idly what it could be for, before getting ready to ask another question.

“So, Churp, what do you like to do here?”

“Chrrrp.”

The Changeling then made a sort of clicking noise and tilted its head again at me. I was more than a little at a loss, the show had not prepared me for anything, having only shown the Queen having any sentience. Maybe this one wasn’t intelligent? Saying that might be insulting, though.

“So, can you say anything beside that cricket sounding noise?”

The Changeling blinked once, then tapped its chest. A faint green glow formed around its horn, and a wash of green energy, like electrical arcs, covered it over. After a moment, a near-perfect copy of myself was laying in the bed one over.

“Sorry, this one not remember not-hive no speak hive.”

“This one not what? I guess you are not connected to this ‘hive’ then?”

How was anypony suppose to understand that mess of words?

“No-no-no! This one forget not-hive, you, not speak in hive-speak. You speak over-speak.”

“So I don’t speak this hive-speak, huh? Well, can you speak this over-speak you mention?”

“Speak over-speak now. You speak over-speak, this one take face, this one over-speak.”

The Changeling spoke fairly rapidly, a lot more quickly than I normally did, but it had my voice. The conversation would’ve been a lot more confusing if it didn’t have those odd speaking mannerisms.

“Okay, so back to one of my original questions, what is your name in over-speak?”

“This one not-name, this one drone. This one work, not think. Overseer think, overseer yes-name.”

“So where is this overseer of yours? Shouldn’t he or she be here for you since you’re injured?”

“Overseer busy, drone not important. This one good lucky get help, not be removed of hive. This one lucky get big food here, you friend-friends very love you.”

“Alright then, fed off of our love. Lucky you indeed. So now that you are all healed up mainly, do you plan to return to the hive?”

“Yes, this one go hive soon, wing not-fix yet, soon.”

“Well, that’s great. It’s always good to be at your home. I feel a little bit homesick myself, but I like this place a lot better with the mares I have.”

“Friend-friends tasty.”

I stopped short for a moment at the comment, having to carefully remind myself that Changelings probably just went into things for the tastiness of love, not for the emotion itself.

Either way, the Changeling seemed quite happy with itself, beaming at me with my own pearly whites.

“Impressive smile you have there, Churp. Is there anything you would like to discuss while we have the time?”

The Changeling just shrugged. I watched as his/its form wavered, and then dispersed in a shimmer of green energy, revealing the orange-and-navy-blue Changeling beneath.

The changeling yawned and snuggled under its covers, closing its eyes once more. Apparently, I made it tired. It quietly, it called another chirrup over its shoulder, in what sounded like ‘good-night’ sort of tone. It had been up before me, and I had no reason to suspect it hadn’t simply been awake for long enough to be going to sleep now.

Well, having no company around, I decided to just sit back like I have been for the past week. All I could effectively do was think. When was I suppose to get out of this place? It’s been a week so far, so I should be fit to leave sometime soon.

I also did not have the ability to fly yet. It irked me that I’ve been here for this long and still don’t know how to use my wings for anything besides grabbing stuff (which was mildly painful at first, I had to spend most of the last week working on getting more flexible)

In all, I was in no way sure how useful I actually was. I had no local knowledge, I was still a bit clumsy, and there were even times when I was an actual detriment to the family I’d built. They were friends, all of them, but I had to wonder if it was actually a good thing I was leading them towards.

Morosely, I thought about what I was doing. I hadn’t had this much time to think about my situation since I’d arrived. It’d been so busy, from one mini-adventure to the next, that some of the events had blurred together, like wax sculptures melting and twisting together on a hearth.

And then, there were the times when weird thoughts would pop into my head, little things like looking at some pony and thinking ‘they look delicious’, and not in the way that was associated with bedrooms and closed doors.

On top of that, what little I’d heard about the pegasi meant that I really had no place in this world, unless I carved one out for myself. And that would make me almost as bad as the pegasi raiders I kept hearing about.

I sighed, mulling over the dark thoughts swirling in my head. The nurses had brought me some fish-based foods while I was here, saying I had started to suffer from malnutrition. It seemed that pegasi, even ground-bound ones, need protein in their diets or it makes them waste away and/or go crazy from hunger. Or both, in the opposite order; crazy, then dead.

And all the time I’d been sitting here in my bed, I’d felt the need to get up and roam around, but I couldn’t it was driving me almost as crazy as meat-deprivation would. I felt the acute need to just move, as if every muscle in my body was going stir-crazy. The only reason I didn’t, though, was that the mares I cared so much about would be upset or even angry at me for endangering myself like that.

A twinge of pain in one of my rear legs, brought me out of my thoughts for a moment, and I looked up to see that my herd had showed up. They all had big grins on (even Goo) and were supporting a small, round piece of wood with...

A cake! They’d brought me a cake! I hadn’t had a cake yet, as a pony, and they’d brought me one! I- I had to fight back a squeal of delight that bubbled up unexpectedly at the sight.

“Here you are, Zach! The doctor said you were getting out today, so we thought a cake would be a good way to celebrate.”

Rose’s words made me smile.

“I- I paid for it myself, because I seem to be the only one who actually has any money. Anything for the herd, right?”

I couldn’t help but smile at my herd. They certainly are some of the nicest mares I know, despite making a few problems of their own from time to time. And never mind that I didn’t actually know all that many ponies, period.

Everypony cuddled in for a short group hug, and then they set about cutting the cake. I got the largest piece, and was very happy for it. I was a little surprised to see that each of them had differently sized pieces, with Breeze getting the largest of them, and Slumber getting the smallest.

Breeze nibbled gently at the cake, eating it delicately, while Rose almost face-planted into hers, eating huge chunks of it gleefully. Goo simply took the entire thing into her, and it sat in her head, like a chunk of fruit in a batch of jello.

And Slumber ate hers cautiously at first, but devoured it gleefully after she’d had a taste. After seeing that none of them bothered with forks or other silverware, I decided to try just taking a bite out of the cake.

After the first bite of the dessert, I was hooked. Every one of my tastebuds lit up like a redneck neighborhood on the fourth of July. I had never had something so delicious in my life, it brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face.

And that was all from a plain, vanilla cake, no icing.

“Where’s the icing at? This thing is so delicious without it! Is icing even available down here in this cavern?”

Rose just looked at me, along with the other mares.

“Icing? Uhm, what is ‘icing’?”

Breeze’s question would’ve knocked me off my hooves if I’d been standing. They had never heard of icing?! I was having to call my Pinkie Pie-induced instincts to panic at the thought, but it still made me reel from shock at the idea.

The three mares (Goo was still sitting serenely, a bastion of calm, yet happy in the sea of confusion) all began to look back and forth in dismay. It was pretty obvious that they were trying to figure out if they’d made some cultural faux pas by not having this ‘icing’ thing I’d mentioned.

In the meantime, I just sat there, basking the happy from the after-effects of the delicious cake. Sooo... good.

“So, Zach?”

Breeze said the statement like a question, dragging my attention away from the delicious cake in my mouth.

“Yes, Breeze?”

“A- are you ready to go? The nurse said we could go as soon as you were done eating. She even told us where to go to find some dried m- meat for you and Slumber.”

Did she really need to add that last statement? I don’t want to eat meat as a pegasus! Or any other kind of pony, for that matter.

“Yes, Breeze. I’m ready to go right now. Thank you for the cake by the way.”

Breeze just blushed and muttered that Rose bought it. I couldn’t help but pull her into a hug, she was just so cute when she got all shy and flustered. She leaned into the hug, and the rest of my herd all snuggled in for it.

“I love you all, so much from the bottom of my heart. Together, we can get through anything.”

The snuggles were wonderful, and they all helped me get my clothes on, though my jacket was missing an arm and the bottom had been frayed completely. It looked as though someone had tried to make the other arm match, taking it out and turning the whole thing into a sort of hoodie-vest. It was interesting, to say the least.

The pants, though... they were ruined. The attack that had opened my belly up had shredded my pants, and if it had gone just an inch or two further ‘down’... The thought alone made me shudder. There were even scars on my back-left leg, where a stray claw had nearly split it like an overcooked sausage.

Most of my fur had grown back, thankfully, so I could walk around without my tummy feeling all weird. That had been a strange sensation, to be sure.

After all my stuff was back on, such as my backpack/saddlebags, we were prepared to leave. All five of us looked at the curved, somewhat steep stairs, and groaned, realizing how long we’d need to climb.

At least it wouldn’t be too bad, right? It’s not like we had to climb for forever, after all.

We had been climbing for forever.

Or, at least, that’s what it felt like. We’d been making progress every day for nearly three days or so of effort, ending up tired and exhausted after every hundred floors or so. At the very least, however, I was treated to a nice view of Breeze and Rose’s rears, swaying quite enticingly as they marched up the stairs in front of me. The only reason those two were up front, though, was so that someone would be available to catch Rose if she fell, what with the baby and all. Also, she was the only who (aside from me, technically) who couldn’t fly or stick to the floor/wall.

And since the stairs were, for whatever reason the architects had, on the outside of the spire as we rose, the threat of falling was a very real danger. I at least could try to catch myself, and have time for Breeze to help me, and Breeze and Slumber could both fly, and Goo stuck to anything she touched like a blob of used gum (and moved like something out of a fluid motion game).

Everypony in the group was exhausted though, as we reached our five-hundredth floor passed, out of around two thousand. It had been four days, and we could not go on for a while. Rose was sick, Breeze had taken to flying because it was easier, and Slumber had done the same.

Only Goo seemed not to mind the exercise.

Stepping into the main floor we’d arrived on, we saw that, to our incredible luck (or maybe really good foresight on the part of the builders) that the floor hosted both a market and an inn. Considering we were more than a mile away from the cavern floor, it was incredible anything even wanted to live here, but we had passed ponies living on every single story.

On this one, though, it appeared to mostly be Changelings and some sort of spider-ponies. As well, a few unicorns and even some of the bat-ponies lived here, the bat ponies becoming more and more prevalent as we went farther up the Pillarstone.

“H- hey, Zach? Y- you wanna go with Rose to find a- an inn? Me and s- Slumber are gonna go to the market. S- see what’s there.”

Breeze sounded utterly exhausted as she landed with a wince. The entire herd needed new shoes, except for me, as my sneakers were still going strong. though, they had started looking frayed around the edges.

“That sounds like a good idea, Breeze. I was thinking about finding some jobs as well to increase our funds for the future. If there is a job here, we may want to stick around for it for a week or so, maybe even a month. I know things are bad, but we need to be prepared, right?”

The girls all nodded their heads, except Goo, who just flowed up my legs to settle onto me, like a suit of greenish, clear armor. I could feel her nucleus-heart pulsing softly on my chest.

“Goo, must you always do this when we’re in public? It’s embarrassing.”

I admonished her, sure, but her warm presence was very comforting. And it wasn’t like she was doing anything inappropriate. Yet. That would likely happen once we weren’t in public.

I felt the urge to try going to the market instead.

Shaking it away, I felt Goo slide off of me, looking a little sad. She was always trying to put a smile on our faces, even going so far as to purposefully look silly just for our sakes. Still, she got a bit clingy at times, and it was mildly annoying sometimes. She’s nice, but a little too close at times, I suppose.

“Alright, you can come with me and Rose, but just try to stay your normal self and off of me, please.”

She nodded solemnly, and made the Pinkie swear motions, which I’d taught her while I was in the hospital. The others thought it just silly, but Goo understood its seriousness.

Then she glomped me, before sliding off again, but that’s just because she’s as bubbly as a can of cola.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go find us a place to stay. Breeze, please keep an eye out for jobs. I know you know, I’m just reminding, alright?”

The timid Flutterkin nodded and pressed close to me for a moment, and I gave her a tender kiss on the forehead. We decided to meet back here, at the landing of the stairs, in two hours. She and Slumber then wandered off, leaving me and Rose to achingly begin our own search for the inn.

“So, Zach? Where should we try first? That road says it goes to the ‘Quint District’, while the other says it goes to ‘Belle Quarter’. Do you have a preference?”

I had long ago mentioned that I can’t read their language, and Rose had volunteered to read for me when needed. And with the Pillarstone still being almost a mile in diameter here, there was plenty of room for a city to grow through it.

I thought for a moment, weighing the possibilities. that ‘Quint District’ looked a little less lit, but the ‘Belle Quarter’ looked way more crowded. I finally made my decision, and told Rose.

“Let’s go to the Belle Quarter for the fact it just looks more safe than the darkness at Quint.”

I really hope the names also had a clue. Belle just sounds like a place I would sleep in compared to Quint. What does Quint even mean?

The three of us began to wander down the road/tunnel carved into the stone of the massive pillar. It was relatively level, with the buildings just being carved into the stone up to the roof, which was about twenty or thirty feet above. The rippled, milky stone of the pillar made interesting banded patterns, and the wall were smoothly bored.

We kept passing Changelings, more of the ones a little smaller than me, the drones. They rarely looked up from their work or travels to look at us, and never commented on anything. The dull hum and susurrant chitters of the hive of Changelings made an almost comforting background noise.

However, the ones we saw all had gray-green coats and electric-blue chitin, unlike the orange-and-blue of the Changeling from the hospital. It was a little baffling, as they all looked almost perfectly alike.

A few larger ones, along with the bat ponies, spider-ponies, and even unicorns and earth ponies, also wandered around, visible simply by generally being bigger than the Changelings.

Storefronts and the entrances to mostly unmarked buildings dotted the walls of the tunnel-road, and I saw more types of ponies than I’d ever even thought could exist. And they were all so high above the ground, too!

There were some ponies that were tall and lithe, with green coats and brown, shrouded in simple tunics and clothes that made them stand out almost as much as the fact that they were almost a full head taller than the others.

A trio of lizard ponies, like the one from the hospital, wandered by at one point, covered in black, pebbly scales and soft, orange fur, forming intricate striping. They had sharp teeth and spoke quietly, and I only caught the barest flicker of a flat, rectangular tongue, with a forked tip like a pennant.

The bat ponies were fairly common, and I even saw a few youngsters, adorable little bat-foals scampering around and playing games like tag, or follow the leader, ducking under the adults and squealing happily. A few of the much smaller changelings, probably much younger than the other drones, joined them in silence, observing and mimicing the other players.

One pony that gave both me and Rose pause was a much, much larger pony with armor-like plates down his back and legs, and a pair of clawed arms sticking from his shoulders, a bit like a pegasus’ wings. In addition, he had a large, barbed scorpion tail, arched menacingly over his shoulder. The other ponies gave him a wide berth, but many mares kept stealing looks at him. He was gigantic, too, and looked really strong.

There were even some crystal ponies, in all sorts of gemstone colors, including a nice young mare with emerald-toned skin, who was rather obviously flirting with me until Rose pointed out that I was already in a good-sized herd. She pouted a bit, but stopped hitting on me. It had been getting really awkward, and I wasn’t sure I liked having every mare hit on me just because I was a male.

Another truly stunning pony had been a dragon-pony, and she was gorgeous. She had tiny, shield-shaped scales, in a deep, royal purple. A ruff of turquoise fur traveled down her head and neck like a mane, then split and covered the tops of her shoulders. A pair of elegant, curved horns, each looking razor-sharp, topped her head like a crown, and her tail was long and muscular, with a soft-looking frill of that turquoise fur at the end.

She was standing near a fountain (how did they get that installed? Where did the water come from?) and singing. She stood on her hind legs, which I saw had claw-like hooves, and her front legs terminated in splendid-looking claws.

I realized I’d been standing, entranced by her looks and singing voice when Rose bit my ear to drag me away. I blushed so hard, feeling embarrassed that I’d just sat and gawked at the mare.

And throughout all this, we still hadn’t found an inn. It had been nearly a full hour, meaning we only had another hour to find one before we were scheduled to meet up with Breeze and Slumber again.

“We’re never going to find the inn at this rate. All I’ve seen so far is shops, different types of ponies I never knew existed, and a really, really gorgeous singer. I mean, is the inn in plain sight? If I just turn my back, will it be there?”

Rose huffed, and set an arm around my shoulder, comfortingly. Goo also settled closer to me, though likely just to keep from being trampled.

“We might’ve simply gotten the wrong place. We should ask one of the locals, they should know.”

“Rose, you know how much I want to smack myself in the head right now? I always make things overly complicated. Ugh!”

“Oh, please calm down. It’s alright, it’s not your fault. I understand you don’t want to be treated as an invalid, but thinking really isn’t your strong suit. You’re much better at being charismatic. Okay?”

“Yeah... Yes, you’re right. I really should improve on the thinking aspect. But, yes, let’s ask a local. Maybe the singing dragon-pony?”

“Oh, I’m sure you want to do more than ask her something.”

Rose smirked playfully and nuzzled my nose playfully. I knew she was just teasing me, but I still went bright red in response. Goo also joined in on the sandwiching, and and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Which was great, because I was warm and fuzzy on the outside, too.

“C’mon, let’s ask a shopkeeper, she seemed busy anyways. I can still hear her from here, so let’s let her be.”

I nodded numbly in response, still a little sheepish over the whole thing.

We found ourselves in front of the store of a stand set up, and I was shocked to see a pair of pegasi behind it. They were selling jerky and meat, of all things.

“Hello, my fine crystalline missus, is there anything of our fine ware that interests you or your handsome young buck this evening?”

The first pegasus salespony was a male, which was a bit awkward with the layers of praise he was heaping on me but Rose took it well, tittering like a schoolgirl in response. She nudged me subtly, a signal I chose to take as ‘stay quiet and play along’.

She smiled grandly at the salescolt and flirted right back, and the two began a rather friendly banter back and forth. I was rather shocked that Rose, who was normally pretty introverted, was being such a flirt, but it was certainly effective.

Finally, she’d bought a few pieces of salted fish (for me and Slumber to share) and convinced him to part with the location of a cheap-ish inn he and his sister used while they were in the area, located in the Quint Disctrict.

On top of that, she’d also pried from him that he wasn’t from the valley; He and his sister had come from the lands nearer the coastline of the Forever Sea, near the territory of the Imperium Sol. They loved to fish around there, apparently, using clouds instead of boats because they were pegasi, and had decided to start fishing in the large underground lakes to sell in the Pillarstones.

It was a great entrepreneurial idea, and it made them a lot of money, meat being something hard to get around here.

Rose thanked the two and we left them with a wave, and I was thankful and relieved to hear that not all pegasi were pony-eating monsters.

Finally, we made our way back to the landing to meet with Breeze and Slumber, waiting happily for their arrival.

Around an hour later, we were still waiting, and now, we were worried.

Author's Note

Well now, things are starting to shift into their adventure gear. We should start picking up the pace in the story, and I think you'll like where I'm going with everything in this lofty realm beneath the crust of the planet.

Thanks to my contributors, you guys are friggen' amazing. You all know who you are, the commentators, editing folks, my friends actually doing this series with me, etc.
You're all so great.