The Daughter (Revived)
by The Borg
First published
A family, a hive. The changelings. A new daughter from the queen of a hive hidden in the wastelands north of the crystal empire. Set in the time of Sombra's rule.
10/24/2015: This story has been revived, edited from start to finish and even had a whole chapter removed because it had "Milady" in the first sentence and that is unacceptable for reasons. Those that are returning are advised to REREAD since I changed some of the major points.
A family, a hive. The changelings. A new daughter from the queen of a hive hidden in the wastelands north of the crystal empire. A new daughter from the queen of a hive hidden in the wastelands north of the crystal empire. Set in the time of Sombra's rule.
These changeling are different to the average black and blue. These feature a natural white that blends with their surroundings. They have different emotional habits and an unknown past only explained in old stories.
(Told in first-person, present. So don't get your hopes up, I barely know how to write normally.)
The City of the North (But South) |Edited 10/24/2015|
Author's Notes:
This is just a foreshadow chapter, the actual story begins next chapter. So this is optional.
Edit: I edited this lightly, trying to kink out the tense errors and make it flow smoother. I'm not perfect and this is me going over my own work so don't be too cruel.
The room is decorated with dark crystals. The floor is covered in a red rug, a large jagged throne at the end of the room. Well done paintings of wizard ponies with the signature of dark magic green and purple. Some with having curved and red horns similar to angry pony bellowing nearby.
"What's this about a settlement to the north?" A gray coated stallion with purple glowing green eyes asked a rather malnourished mare in a tattered guardspony uniform. She shook in her boots, a matted and badly kept mane of black. Though it would be hard to tell what color it was naturally, her man was covered in soot. Her nervous hoof to hoof shifting was understandable in the face of a king. A dictatorial king known as Sombra.
"I-I said that some of the other guards on the north end of city saw some forms flying in the mountains. When we tried to use the spyglass for a closer look all we saw was white bodies flying around, definitely equine." The king sighs impatiently at her. "Yes, yes. But details are how I deal with them. So give me some!"
She shrunk back. "Y-yeah, they uhm...They were definitely flying, but where their heads were we saw some blue instead of actual eyes. Besides that all I can think of is that they were flying really weird. Like a bug in the spring." The king looked down at her. He hardens his gaze further at her.
"Fly like bugs? What's that mean?" She flinches back at the quiet and seemingly cold voice from him. "T--the-they were zipping. Changing direction quickly, nothing normal feathered wings could do. I'm sorry!" His gaze tells her it is time for her to leave him, trotting out with tail between her legs and a frightened expression. The loud, heavy doors of gemstone would close behind her with a extremely loud thump.
"They could be nothing..but I don't think that is the case. It can't be the case can it?" The king would say out loud, looking out a nearby window at the ponies below in shackles. They worked all day collecting his lovely collection of crystals, all but the overseers. Like that cowardly mare, humph. But if these bug ponies were to cause a problem in the future he wouldn't be able to collect enough of those lovely gemstones to overpower the royal sisters.
He needed to find where or what they were. He needed to do it now. With a flare of his horn he would be surrounded in his magic, the aura of malice growing to consume him, he disappeared.
A form of white stepping around a egg, the rest of the room of little mention, a frosty labyrinth of nooks and hallways. "My daughter, I know you will bring to our people great strength. I pray to the ancients you will live long, longer than the royal sisters." The changeling princess circles the egg, gently touching it with her magic. She feeling the life inside, moving and squirming. Ready to be brought into the world.
"It took years to get the love for you to even begin to develop. Oh with that troubled king taking over the empire we've had to ration. But not for long, the royal sisters make their move soon. When they do hopefully you will be strong enough to lead our winter-bound hive to greatness."
Her gaze lands on the number of drones going about the room checking to the other future children of the queen. They are experts at what they do. That is easy to be seen as they check and double check every egg with gentle probing magic. Heading and cooling to keep the near freezing temperature needed for them to hatch. A smile falls on her face at the sight, what a wonderful thought to have so many.
The hive only a few thousand strong is very close with itself. All have their own duty and purpose, but giving them free time to socialize was one of the better choices the queen could have made. They had personalities...Although more dulled than any normal pony. The hive couldn't handle a drone having a midlife crisis after all.
None of this mattered too much though, she had to prepare the celebration of her birth, she needed to collect together her children for it.
She passes out of the hatchery, the glowing buds of tame blue on the roof illuminating her way. Moving down a long hall coated in hardened light green wax, coupled with a chilling white in some of the more worn sections of the smooth wall. Building into the ice will do that after all.
The hall is short before she comes to a break in the path. Three other tunnels that met as an intersection are before her. Her children walking through, each off to their assigned objectives, the hive mind was abuzz with the news that a new queen would be hatching soon, some of the eyes of the drones not in a hurry met her. They would smile and exchange a "My queen" or the sort.
Going down the right hall and following some more complex tunnels deeper into the snow and ice caves. She came onto the love collection and distribution center. Twenty or so drones in a chamber with a huge indent in the middle of the floor making a pool of red and purple swirling about. The aura of the love was easy for her to feel as she came in. "We must prepare our reserve for my newest daughter, and the hive must get an extra ration to strengthen it." All eyes came to her. "Yes my queen."
She also subconsciously went about setting the throne room and dining area outside of it by ordering her children via the hivemind, Moving to obey the mother of the family. "This will be world changing. I can feel it."
Birth |Edited 10/24/2015|
I see black, feel it, and smell it. I am darkness. My innards itch and call for my attention, but I only see black, feel it, and smell it. I am darkness. My innards itch and call for my attention again, but I can't answer. My muzzle only feels open; nothing comes out when I try to speak. The darkness I am oppresses me.
But what is this? I feel something besides the itch, besides the black. A fuzzy and quiet hum in my mind, so soft. It speaks but I do not understand. I try to concentrate on it, why is it so different?
It is the voices of many, uncountable voices. But one seems to come from the mess, it speaks. It says I must leave the darkness, it is soft and gentle. But I am darkness, how do I leave it? And it seems to hear, it laughs. It tells me to thrust my head. Where? Oh, that head.
I push my head forward; something on my forehead meets the edge of the darkness. I pull back, something slimy sticking to the strange object on my head, that isn't darkness... I see light, it is blue tinted, it welcomes me. I push toward the hole in the darkness; I break it open and climb into the light.
It feels cold out here in the blue, but I see fuzzy shapes. The friendly voice seems pleased I have come to the blue, it congratulates me. What is that? Something is coming toward me, tall and white. I can't see, it's too fuzzy. Panic sets in, but the voice calms me...From outside my mind. A calm but unintelligible garble, I sit still as the big shape picks me up in a green glow. It softly rubs my exposed cheek, the green glow coming from its forehead brightens. The glow washes my skin. It cleans me of the slime I didn't notice I was covered in. The itching stops when it sets me down.
I look up, the fuzzy words in my mind slowly phasing into my mind. I hear the thousands of voices say something over and over three times. “Light Step” But the words as they should be understood seemed to have more value. I am confused, it should only mean what it means.
“A name.” The form in front of me says, the fuzzy vision and dulled hearing come in line. My sight sharpens, a happy face. The being before me with white fangs, a long black spire of a horn on her head. The green glow comes from it I realize.
Her smile and calm gaze, coupled with the soft green eyes. Green, I don't remember green. I know the color? Green, huh. But as I said, the smile, I could see it in her. She loved me, the love of a lover? No, this is the love of a mother. This was mother.
“H-ha-hello?” I feel my mouth and tongue move, but how do I speak? The buzzing in the back of my mind fades, leaving one voice. “My child, you are part of the joined mind. You hear us all, you understand all we understand."
Really? I stop to listen. I stop to close my eyes, the voices become clear. They all add to the chorus, that's when I realize it. I'm being fed information by them all, one voice explains orange, another explains I will grow a shell on my outside for protection. These are brothers and sisters all speaking to me. I feel fuzzy as they all congratulate my existence. My eyes feel wet. Tears, one quickly explains.
"Oh shhh." The honeyed voice of my mother says. Mother Rem. I am informed, but she continues. "You are overwhelmed by my children's love? Don't worry it will come under control. It must be utter bliss if you are already moved to tears."
She pauses, looking down at me. But she remembers something, her face says so. "Ah. You are Light Step, my newest daughter." Her big hooves lightly rub my back. I open my mouth to speak. "What is Loh-ve?" She laughs under her breath. "You already know, you felt it from me when you hatched little one."
My mother named Rem stands up, pulling me along in the air with her horn. I learned what that is from my brothers and sisters! We pass through my hatching room, it is filled with small holes in the wall. They all hold hard shelled eggs, unborn brothers and sisters I think. My egg was bigger than the rest, and some of my siblings looking after the eggs wave at me as we pass.
Myself and mother have pink hair, but not my siblings. I had a bigger egg. Just why is that?
"Because you are not just a normal daughter. You are my successor."
Author's Notes:
Edit: How come no one said this chapter had a repeat paragraph!? AUGH, I feel dumb now >.<'
Celebration |Edited 10/24/2015|
Author's Notes:
Any spelling, grammar, or other such errors you find should be written down and put in a comment for me to fine tune the chapter. Thanks!
Edit: Swapped around some of the banner lore. Fixed some speech, removed red paint. If you don't know about the paint, you don't need to. >~<
The tunnel I'm floating through has a green like grass wall, completely ice floor, even some white poking through the wall. It is all so beautiful to me. Curiously no one else goes about the complex tunnel system, why is it free of my siblings?
I look down from my observations of the walls. I'm still surrounded by the green glow of my mother's horn, my siblings say calling her Queen Rem is too formal. She prefers being called mother.
She has a grin on her face, almost prancing down the long hallway with me in front of her being levitated. She eyes me all the way, skipping steps in what I can only assume is excitement. "Do you think you can walk?" She asks half a minute into my questioning look at her. I give squinted eyes as my answer, she decides that is good enough and sets me down on my belly, the cold of the floor under me makes me feel more as ease. Why is cold good? I am quickly told by my sibling in the link that a colder the temperature the stronger our innate magic is.
She expectantly looks at me. Further prompting me to stand over the mindlink, it's comforting to have her in my mind I realized for a second time. "M-maybe, I-" I cut myself off. My voice, it's high-pitched and soft. It's only now I know how it sounds, and somehow...I like it. "Ooo-Aaa-Rumm." I sit here, making decidedly silly sounds.
But I hear a cough from in front of me, looking up I realize my antics. "Oh. Sorry. I-it's my voice! I like it." Mother makes a strange little snort, followed by snickering. A hoof goes to her face. What is this? Somehow I feel myself following with her, this feeling. My mouth opens and I laugh, I don't understand it completely, but the concept is easy.
It only lasts a few seconds before I calm down alongside my mother. She looks at me, pushing me to stand again. "No distracting yourself Light Step." She teases.
I look back down at my front legs, they are a smooth white. No disruptions but the lower section, I eye the curious indents in my hooves. But they don't seem to mean much so I soldier on to my task. I put my right fore-hoof on the ground firmly, followed by my left. I push myself up into a sitting position, I look back and see my hind legs patiently waiting for my command. I press them against the floor too, going into a stan- Ow!
"Owch." I'm laying flat on my face, apparently my front legs weren't ready for the weight shift. Dumb things. But I need to do it before my mother bursts out laughing.
I try again, lifting my whole body up at once. This seems to have better results based on my snout not hitting the ground. I look around myself, experimenting with my legs. I lift each hoof and stand a few seconds with each in the air. I think I can walk. "Don't sit there all day Swift Step! Your missing your birth celebration."
It only takes me a few seconds to start my stumbling and bumbling walk. Wait. Celebration?
I step and step, I tumble right. But am caught in my mother's green magic before I fall. I can see the end of the tunnel by now, it looks like a well lit chamber from here. We get closer and my motor systems seem to finally understand what I want and I walk with little difficulty. The chamber beyond this short hallway appears to be a huge dining room. Filled with pearly white chitin covered siblings, I notice I'm considerably smaller than them. As we enter I can feel the buzzing in my mind get louder, they all look my way. But I'm instructed by mother over the mindlink to keep walking toward the other side of the room.
As we walk through my brothers and sisters chitter and buzz their wings in barely held back wisps of energy. They all sit still for the most part, trying to look calm. But I can feel them in my mind. They all want to be jumping for joy right about now, all being held back by my mother.
All of them look quite the same. White and transparent fins on the side of the head, indented hooves, small framed and devoid of hair besides little tufts of white hair for fur. Each of them can only be told apart by their dented hooves, the patterns changing from one to one. I don't need to concentrate on them though, the mindlink informs me of who is who when I question.
We walk up to a wall of fog, the fog falls from above. A little slit that spews it can be seen at the top, the fog itself is so thick I can't see past it. But I am prompted to go through it by my mother's touch. I walk toward it, into it.
Cold. It's a curtain of cold, very cold and I love it. My body shivers from the feeling of pure bliss, but it comes to an end in a few steps. I'm in a chamber of pure white, no green. It looks like it was all carved. The throne made of ice carved at the end of the room.
The room is strewn in tapestries showing white wastelands and tundra with dots of green, all beautiful. One depicts a forest covered in snow as if the trees were made to live in snow, needled and tall. Another is mountains and hills with huge glaciers. One is a pink orb in the middle of a tundra. Wait. No. Something is inside the orb, I look right at it with wide eyes. "A city near us, the crystal empire. Don't bother yourself with it yet Swift." The voice of my mother drifts from my side.
Besides the throne and works of art I can see a banner not unlike the others above the throne, it shows a....horse? "No" one sister buzzes out a single word over the link. "Windigo" the banner in question portrays it rearing in the midst of a flurry, its face midsnarl at an off-picture enemy. I can't help but enjoy the seemingly chilled artwork. The one who made it could almost make me feel the air devoid of any warmth, how wonderful.
A small pop sound from hooves hitting the floor at my side again catches my attention. "That is a story for another time my little one." I hear her say.
Turning to look at her I see she is gesturing for me to sit on the right-hoof side of the throne. I move up the small three steps to the throne and turn left. Lowering my hindquarters to sit, but surprisingly I feel something soft when I sit. Looking down a see a cushion that had been levitated there by my mother. Humph, "It feels too warm!" I whine out.
"Well you'll like that more then. Besides the temperature it can be quite comfy." She says while taking her throne, sitting down. "Prepare yourself."
Prepare myself for wha- The buzzing from the link suddenly explodes in activity. I'm thrown right off my mental chair of control as the whole family comes rushing through the fog, hollering and cheering praise my way.
"Oh my..." I feel myself whisper.
The Swarm |Edited 10/24/2015|
Complete and outright chaos. That's what I expected when all the members of our family started charging through the fog. But surprisingly after the initial praise pretty much all of it amounted to. "Hello Light Step! We've been waiting for you." It is surprising to see them all setting themselves around the room in a neat semi-circle, all fang filled smiles and happy waving. It only takes five or so minutes for everyone to find a place to stand, when all have found a place to be I look at each of them again. Glinted small snippets of each ones person.
One sister of mine in the right-front row has a knack for hatching egg, another is very adept at tunneling. It seems they all have a role to play, the mindlink telling more than a look at them ever could.
That aside I hear Rem clear her throat, I glance to my left to see her looking down at the swarm of white and blue. "As you all know, Light Step here is our newest family member." The chorus of approval was surprising considering I hadn't well met any of them yet. But it felt good. "I'm sure most of you can assume that she is going to take up an important role here since it is rare I ever call a family wide gathering for a birth. As much as I want to give each a gathering, we need to keep productive."
She works her jaw a moment. "She will be taking the role of princess." The crowd sits still for a few taut moments, the idea of me being a princess hits my mind like a charging bear. She'd said that in the hallway, but I thought it was nothing. I fidget with my hooves while the crowd catches itself and mumbles among eachother. An air of approval coming from them.
I feel some blood run to my cheeks, though nobody could see that if they wanted to, my very thin pre-shell already forming. The embarrassment passes when Rem raises a hoof for silence. "Formal announcement aside. Let the feasting begin!" That won a noticeably bigger cheer from them.
Being grabbed in one hoof by a green aura, then another on the other forehoof from another sibling I'm dragged through the air into the crowd of excited ponies. I am led by a number of them out of the room and back into the chamber outside the fog, looking now I could see that large indents in the walls going up to the rather high ceiling had been made into booths for food. Tables and chairs carved from ice, the architecture around here seemed simplistic.
Being led to a big booth that looks slightly more official and near groundlevel, holding more of those /warm/ cushions, ugh. But once I reached the wall where it is I realize it's too high for me to jump. My distress only ramped up when one of my brothers quickly suggests I use my wings.
Even with the buzzing in my mind explaining the concept of flight and some visual aids from my brother who seems very happy to help I am frightened. The fear is short lived, when I hear him speak again "Just try my sister." He lands next to me. "I'll be here to catch you if you fall."
It lightens the load of fear, stretching out my long and alabaster wings. They appear to be see-through, but with a lovely tint of white that camouflaged into the surrounding ice. I try to start them up, flapping up and as fast as I can. It seems to work to an extent as I quickly found lift. If slightly off center.
It feels well and good to be in the air, even if only slightly. With much effort I feel my wings bring me up the few yards where the booth is. I lose control halfway there. My un-used are wings giving out! But I only fall a foot before I feel the body of my brother catch me in his forehooves. "T-thanks." I mumble out of embarrassment, my tiny form easy for him to snatch from the fall. If you can call a seven foot fall a drop.
"No worries." He lifts me the rest of the way, placing me up in the booth. The amused smile of my mother meets me when I look to the round table, a cushion placed next to her expectantly waiting for me to sit. I shuffle over to the cushion, sitting down. But I notice my brother leaving after placing me down I reach my hoof at him. "Wait!" He doesn't hear me because he's too far from me. But he stops, looking back at me, the mindlink? Most likely.
My mother looks at me with amusement. "Well, already attached with one of your brothers hmm?" I'm only shocked a moment before I can feel mirth from her over the link. I wave him over for him to see from his hovering position outside the booth. "Thank you sister, but any of us would have helped you." I don't really let those words go to heart. "Doesn't matter. I want you to sit with me." I say.
Only after the short exchange do I notice the multiple other lings flying to and fro with plates made of what appears to be organic brown stuff...The only think I haven't seen made of ice or wax so far. "What's that?" I point to the first plate being placed on the table in one of the few sitting in the booth with me and mother. "Wood. Taken from a kingdom to the south, made from trees." The ling placing them says as if it was common knowledge. "Why didn't the link tell me that?" He looks at me with curious eyes. "Oh, apologies my princes-" "Sister." I interrupt, he regards me with a less formal tone. "My sister, the link only works if you actually ask it. You were concentrated on from hatching until the ceremony. Just grab the attention of one of our voices and we will assist." He said before going to fly off.
The plate in front of me has just had snow placed on it. Strangely though, it holds a strange glow to it. "Ah! As your first taste of emotion infused snow. I want you to have malice, it's very rare and hard to come by!" I hear the joyful voice of my mother say.
"What?"
Author's Notes:
Edit: Redid some lore, redid some spelling, the usual.
Time lapses |Edited 10/24/2015|
It was strange for a minute, the impression I had of food was of something tasty and green..But it would appear this was a not required for life, instead a pleasure. "You'll be eating some of this first, we can infused emotion with any substance that is edible but as you can see we have a surplus of frozen water." Was all mother said.
"You'll need to fill up on some negative emotion, you just hatched after all. You need something to get your blood flowing with energy." My mother commented while placing a cube of ice into her mouth that glowed blueish. But what was before me was red, deep and leaving quite a big impression. "Why negative? What do you have?" I say, questioning the meal before me. "Well, negative emotion is more healthy for you physically. For magic power you need positive emotion. Simply put, you need energy, you make something hate you and then eat the emotion. The same goes for positive emotions."
"That seems...Strange, why would I make another brother or sister angry?" A snicker escapes my mother. "You seem to never ask the link do you? We take from other races. Emotion from our own kind is near worthless."
Deciding against further questioning for the sake of my hunger, I turn to my food. It sits patiently, the little pulses of red in it showing. My hoof reaches toward it, I will it to stick to my hoof and it seems to be effective, lifting it up.
The taste was of a cold melting liquidity sludge with little taste. I pinged the link. I was met with instruction to absorb the emotion via my horn while letting the ice and snow melt. It tastes deliciously vile, malice seems so purely straight forward I think I love it. Heh, loving hatred.
But something sours the discovery. The thought of how it was acquired. It seems so powerful that an influence such as this would be only from one with great loss. "That is a being to the south's excess hatred for the world. He is known as Sombra." My mother mutters.
"Wow, what's up with you and freaking me out on my first day here?" I say in a near mutter, continuing to sample the taste.
Mmmm..Wuh?
I wake up to the sound of the buzzing voices of my family over the link. I've lived in the ice caverns that make up home for a short while. I've grown in size by almost an inch in less that a week, I'm told I'll reach the size of my mother within two years. Not that it matters much, mother has been playing at something with me since I hatched. Something she brings up, the ponies to the south living in the city of crystal.
She told me about ponies on my second day after hatching. Since then I've been instructed in how to use the link to my further advantage, a sort of path-finding if you will. If you request to go somewhere that has been traveled before by another member of the family then they send you a imprint of their impression. You can then zero it down and find that path they took. Nifty for getting around.
But back to the city, mother says that the emotion collectors down there have had trouble getting positive emotions. Love, happiness, all that. Only the negative, and that's great for the physical development of the hive and the accelerated hatching rates. Most all the normal tier workers here don't have enough energy to use magic because of the drought of the emotion, not enough to form the spells used to cut the ice.
She says when I've grown to at least a normal ling I will stop the tyrant that now resides there gathering his power through the crystals of the city and surrounding mines. As much as she loves the negative emotion for growth and population reasons she finds it unhealthy to forget magic altogether.
This is of little importance beyond monologue , so I sit up. Collecting whatever thoughts had been going through my head and reigning them in. Today I get to see the ponies from afar. Think of that, only a few days out of the egg and I get to go on a recon outing with some of the most skilled infiltrators in our little hive.
They say a recon team a week or so prior had to take flight to get away from a snow giant, so we need to be cautious about being sighted. It's of little concern with the natural camouflage we have. Though I'm told we won't get near close enough to interact to disguise ourselves. We don't even have the energy to do so...I can't imagine how hard it is for our collectors to have enough to stay disguised.
After a quick check for all my provisions being held in the hide of a snow giant fashioned into a bag meant for my back I head out my quarters and down the steps on my immediate left. I check to see if the frozen emotion infused ice and imported compass are all still there. I pass my two personal quarter's guards on the last step. They greet my with a smile, only being armed with spears made of ebony and sharpened metal. Imported I'm sure, though not sure the merchant knew who he was selling it to.
It takes me only a few minutes stuck in my own thoughts to reach the exit we are to use today. The team of three other lings had already gathered, Some holding weapons fashioned of our 'Resourceful' weapons production teams. They mostly just use their own old shells as blades or tools, I personally find it....Strange. But it can't be helped when the only materials are frozen water and hard dirt under the water. Imports are coming in small and going out small. Not much you can export from here...
I look up from my musing to see Risen Flurry, my self appointed guide and the very same brother who saved me from my fall. Withering Blur, a killer with a white 'Ninja mask' from trotpan, she claims she can kill four ponies from all different directions. "Hello Swift Step! Do you have all your equipment?" Our final member and leader of the recon team, White Fury or just Fury as he prefers, Says to me. Looking him in the eye with an expression of excitement. "Would you keep a princess waiting for her first time outside?"
Author's Notes:
Edit: Fixed some errors, changed some sentences near the end.
Shameless infodump
Author's Notes:
You'll want to read the story description if you are returning to this story. If this is your first read-through from 10/24/2015 then don't mind this comment~
"I suppose if your so excited we can skip any more yakking and get to the fun part." I quickly find out that Yaks are a people to our direct west that mother explicitly explains "You will not step within 60 miles of!" Oh mindlink, all you do is oppress me when I ask a question. On task, on task Swift! I bring myself back to the present and nod my head. "Yeah, lets go. Move it!" Maybe I'm being too rushed? "Alright Sister, follow me and don't lose sight of me. We're moving in a snow storm to camp behind a ridge a ways from the city just like we was planned. Our collectors in the city say Sombra has been missing a couple days so this is a good time to get near the city."
I nod my head, pretending to be patient. "Alright alright, sounds good." My companions all seem amused. Stupid link and its stupid subconscious communications. I press it out of my mind and march toward the exit we happened to be taking. A hidden angled entryway in the side of a mountain on the south side of the hive. When I say hidden I mean a snow covered forest of pine trees and a flurry of glistening white agents of cold flying all around. Fury quickly catches up to me and takes the lead when I realize I have no idea where I'm going. Crunching snow under his hoof as he advanced into snowstorm. I follow behind, my ever helpful brother Flurry on my right and Withering Blur...Out of sight. When I ping for her in the link she gives me a flash of her vision. She is apparently somewhere forward of where we are, searching around for anything near us. Wow, Mother wasn't kidding about my safety.
I follow alongside Flurry, deciding to make small talk over the link. "So uhh, what do you do normally as your job before I...I guess I repurposed you huh?" He doesn't show any sign of me speaking to him next to me, but he responds over the link, his actual body still glancing around us in the thick blanket of flying snow and howling wind. "I am a caregiver for new hatches, like you. Not usually assigned to outside jobs though, I much more enjoy teaching your brothers and sisters things that the link just can't." I scrunch up my nose, but he doesn't seem to notice, so I vocalize my confusion. "What do you mean? What can't the link teach me?" Again, he seems more interested in watching out surroundings instead of looking at me to speak. "For one, how to fly. As you can personally attest to. It can't teach muscle memory or practice. Only concept and book smarts." Books? Oh. Books. The mindlink must just be cheating at this point. "Yeah, books. Anyway, it can't teach you wisdom. I help young ones fly or run, teach them what they can't know through just information."
I am pleased with his answer, nodding my head and sending him a taste of my appreciation, as useless as inter-emotional contact was. It was an easy and fast way of communication. He returned the favor almost automatically. But before I could think of another topic Fury interrupted with a signal through link to listen up. "Withering Blur has sight of a snow giant skirting the mountain west of us, its watching down into the forest, we're going to need to take the long way east and down toward the city." Snow giants...Yeah, huge muscled monsters in small numbers that hunted and survived only this far north. Covered in thick coats of fur and blubbery skin, I ping Blur for a image of it. I instantly get a image of a large figure outlined even in the snow moving distinctly in the distance.
"T-that thing must be five times bigger than mother!" I look at it in disbelief, watching the live images coming in. "It would be about seven times actually, it's a full grown adult after all. It'll most likely have fully formed tusk teeth at that size, so no way we can overpower it without any magical energy." I already know why we can't do that, so I leave it at that, letting Fury use his experience to lead us on a safer path. "So snow giants...Do you know where they live?" He looks down at me. "Usually they create dugout dens down in these forests, can't handle the temperatures in the ice formations where the hive is hidden or high in the mountains. They aren't terribly intelligent either, not known to often speak any language. But I've heard of pony stories that spoke of some that could speak." I purse my lips, knowing I'm going to regret asking the next question. "What do they eat? Besides the obvious."
"Well lets see, foxes, wild cats and wolves, deer and ponies. They've been known to eat Yaks too...But uhh they haven't ever been known to eat any lings. Thank goodness. Unfortunately what they do instead isn't too much better. They get very violent when any see a ling, it's almost a ballistic fear that just takes control of them. But instead of running it almost always leads to conflict." Woah, quite an infodump there Flurry, jeez. I decide to stop questioning about it, not for lack of drive to, but because I'd heard everything I could think to ask. I look ahead to Fury to question him over the link. "Uhm..How much longer do we have?"
"Little miss you better be ready for a couple more hours of this because of that giant. I'd settle into step if I were you."
The Path Worn
Hours of walking. That's what I've been up to, just walking and walking. The new way we were taking was winding, that giant had decided to hang out around one of the choke points on the way to the empire. Our trip is now almost two times the travel time, this storm didn't help either.
Don't get me wrong, the cold damp feeling all over my shell is lovely, but it nearly blinds you and because of it I'd stumbled more than once. Oh, my shell! Yeah! It had grown in nice, looking at it now it is smooth and hard. When I had first noticed it had begun to harden I requested all the information we had on it. It covers nearly all of my body besides some key points when it begins to blend with thick hide-like skin. It really was much more safe then anything ponies had. One of my sisters had been showing me disguise magic and managed a complete spell of a pony. They had fur, fur and soft skin. I couldn't imagine it, you could get hurt by falling on the wrong patch of ice!
"Hey Light Step, heads up, we're getting close." He is right, I can see the trees clearing up around me, becoming less and less common. I sigh, they really only add to the blinding effect you get in this storm. Querying over the link to one of the collectors stationed in the city Fury makes sure no patrols had been sent to the area we were going to be stopping at. Good thing we were close since my legs felt like they might turn to jelly at any moment. I can see the place coming into my vision as we get closer. It looks like a small snowy ridge with nothing very special about it. As I come closer I can see the signs that there is more to it though. For one a small den-like hole in the side of it is easy to see as I step closer. "We're staying in a dugout until the storm clears?" I ask aloud. "That's right, it's pretty roomy inside for the three of us though." I step up to the opening and stick my head in. He is right I guess, it looks like just a circle surrounding a pillar of ice in the middle of the relatively small shelter. "Wait, you said three?" I bring my head back out, looking over my right shoulder at Fury questioningly. "Yeah, me, you, and Flurry boy over here. Blur is sticking to recon duty to make sure nothing comes close." Oh, duh.. I guess I should expect Blur to stay doing what she is doing.
Taking a couple steps inside I can feel the slightly warmer air inside, so much for comfortable. "So the city is usually in view from just on top of this hill when it's sunny out right?" Risen answers almost automatically. "It is. Usually it is also visible at night because of the shield they have around it to keep out the cold but...Well Sombra kind of killed what was powering it." Ah. Well that's no fun. I set myself down on my side in an admittedly lazy pose, but give me a break. I've been marching through a thick forest during a storm. I'm a royal ling after all. I'm built for an entirely different purpose than travel. Examining my legs I don't see anything wrong with them, but I can feel them giving off complains non-stop. It takes me a moment to remember we have emotions to consume.
"Hand me something, I'm tired." Fury picks up on what I mean almost instantly, his hooves grabbing at the small sack on his back and pulling out some indistinct anger fused into small cubes of ice the perfect size. I pop one in my mouth instantly, the taste is much like the impression I got when I saw it. I can't name exactly what it is but I can feel just bad will. I mean it is anger but it's not only anger. I accidentally let my musing bleed over the link when I think on it. "More than one source. This came from the the vat of collected emotion. Not right from one pony." Right, so it was just cut up and mixed together from different sources. That's the first time I'd been fed that before. I look to Flurry who had explained it moments ago. He's laying in a similar manner to me, figures. He did say he doesn't go outside much.
Not really taking mind of anything further but my meal, I pop another cube in my mouth. This one mixed with more of a rage then just general anger. I look at the holes in my hooves, funny things they are, no one really explained why we had them. No one knew. It made it easy to tell who you were speaking with at a glance though since the patterns were so varied, not that the link already did that job fine. A self levitated cube in the mouth annnndd. Oh, this one is just disgust. Wonderful. It is my least favorite to taste in my professional royal opinion. But it is doing its job, I could feel my energy coming back to me and I can move myself into a less disheveled position. I can still hear the howling winds of the storm outside and some snowflakes are leaking in the entrance. This is going to be a long wait so I lay my head down.
Already I can feel the pull of sleep. A humming voice coming in through the link slyly. Mother. She has been known to broadcast a gentle hymn from the ancients. But the words are always blurred in the message, the old ways have always been partially hidden from us. Only the artifacts in the deepest parts of the hive holding any hint of what they did and were. I have been told that it was hidden and guarded on purpose. Mother says she will tell me what she knows when I have grown to a proper maturity. That aside the soft hummed tune takes my attention. Rest would be nice now..Y-yeah. I-..