Mud and Chocolate

One of the gauges slowly climbed to the red zone. I watched its inevitable rise as it passed from the safe green zone to the cautious orange. My hoof shot out to the jungle of ropes that hung from the ceiling and grabbed the one that Steam Trails had pointed out to me. With a simple tug, the steam pipe on top of the train expelled large clouds of water vapor and the gauge dwindled down to the green zone again.

I shot a glance at Yuri. He was still busy sulking in a corner. Scrunching up my muzzle I focused on a map stuck on the wall. The network of lines formed a confusing scribble of curves and loops that almost drove me insane. These ponies were so inefficient. It was a small miracle they managed to find their way out of bed in the morning.

We were on what the map called “The Golden Line”, the one that lead straight to our destination without any rail changes, thankfully. My Brothers had been right once again as was to be expected.

’Canterlot.’ I shuddered as I thought back to that place, if I never saw it again it would have been too soon. But Mother had personally asked me to do this, there wasn’t any other way.

I frowned as my eyes followed the path on the map we had followed. Leaving the controls for a second I grabbed one of the many coals that littered the ground. I looked at Yuri again, but he was still in his own world. Against my will I felt a frustrated scoff leave my snout. Turning to the map I inconspicuously tracked the dark rock over it, obscuring our track.

Nobody needed to know that there were no stations behind us.

My teeth ground against one another again and I could feel a nasty jaw cramp building up, but I didn’t care much. ’Why hadn’t she just listened to me? I would have let them go free. I really would have.’ It felt like someone had torn out my stomach and stitched up the hole, leaving a painful emptiness behind. ’That idiot.’

As soon as Steam Trail’s face popped up in my mind, the emptiness was quickly replaced with warm, pain-dulling anger. The best I could think of her was that she had stayed true to the role of being a mother, no matter how imbecilic her actions had been. But that was only begrudging respect, with an emphasis on begrudging.

I was, quite literally, shaken from my thoughts as the small carriage jumped up along with my heart for a fraction of a second, making me yelp in surprise. ’Stupid train tracks,’ I thought as I felt my face grow warm with embarrassment.

Well, I didn’t have to worry about her again. Maybe she would make it, maybe not. It was none of my concern. “The heart of a changeling must be small,” Mother always said. I tried to live by those words; there wasn’t really any other way to get by in this world.

It seemed that my prey had also stopped his sulking. Without saying a word it stood up, grabbed the shovel and went to work, shoveling coals in a soft and steady rhythm as the fire in the mechanical heart of the train grew again.

I stared at him for a few seconds, unsure of what to do -- what to say. I felt a strange need to tell him what had happened -- to explain my reasons again. I bit my lip as I turned my attention to the forest of levers that was the control panel. It wasn’t a changeling’s role to explain and reveal.

If he knew the truth of what had happened, it would just complicate things. It would make me look weak. My ears fell flat against my head as I looked down on the floor.

Of course, the human chose that moment to look at me. Quickly straightening my back and ears, I pretended to be absorbed with driving the train, playing the act of unmoved and strong guide with enough fervor that I almost felt real confidence again.

“Dozor, can I ask you something about what happened?” I blinked in surprise as the man spoke. I didn’t really know what I had expected to hear from him. Curses, accusations, maybe a questioning of my mental status, but not that question, not in that worn out voice and not so soon.

’What is it?’

“Was it-" the man let out a frustrated sigh. “Can you look at me when I’m talking to you, just this once?”

Slowly and with great reluctance, like I was about to stick my hoof in lava, I turned my head towards Yuri. Two small and intense brown eyes greeted me from his thin face. “Was it really-“ the human stopped himself once again as he laid a warm hand on my shoulder. “Was it necessary? Just tell me that there was no other way.”

’I already told you, it’s for the best.’

The man shook his head. “That’s not what I asked.”

I hesitated for a moment, how had I gotten myself trapped like this? That kind hand and that earnest voice were worse than the most ruthless interrogation. ’It was necessary,’ the lie rolled of my tongue with practiced ease as I met his eyes unwaveringly.

How could I possibly tell him that I just couldn’t have prevented it? In the end, lying just was easier and safer, like it always was. It’s better to be disliked than to be seen as incompetent.

He stared at me for a long time after that. Searching for something that could not be found. “Okay.” And just like that, he went back to work, no more questions asked. Maybe he just wanted to believe me?

I stood in a daze as I watched the busy hands of my prey moving the shovel around again. The pressure of his hand still weighed on my shoulder like a phantom pain, and those honest eyes still lingered on my face. I muttered an excuse about being too far into dangerous territory as I wrapped myself in the Diamond Dust disguise. I couldn’t bear walking in my own skin for then.

After that, silence reigned. We only spoke when it was necessary, and even then, only in short sentences. Fortunately the lack of words was not hostile or oppressive like in the forest, where the isolation that it bred seemed like a physical force that was constantly and relentlessly pushing me down. This one was almost soothing, like the pressure that had built up was slowly dissipating away.

Was this how other species solved their conflicts? Strange. I hadn’t ever given it any thought. No wonder they fought and squabbled so much among each other. Sometimes it was hard to even comprehend that there was a thinking mind behind every creature that I stole love from. I couldn’t imagine how it was for creatures like Yuri.

Still, this seemed to work. It probably was more comfortable for the human as well, and I needed to be on his good side. And if I was honest with myself, he was the only company and food that I had. Though he could be annoying and naïve, it was better than being completely alone, especially now that I was too close to those damnable ponies to risk talking with the Hive. No doubt, sensitive ears and minds were vigilantly keeping watch since the failed attack.

Lost in my thoughts I wandered aimlessly across the floor. I needed something to clear my mind. I hung my head out in the window, hoping that the fresh air that played with my tattered ears would sweep away the cobwebs in my head. Suddenly, there was an immense flare of light in the sky, like the sun had appeared to knock the moon out of the sky. I tried to look at it, but the flash seared my eyes, leaving blue-white dots in my vision.

Before I even could blink the stars out of my eyes, a blast of hot air and sound slammed into the train, like the crack of a great tree being snapped in half by an angry giant. The explosion raged and rumbled so fiercely that my teeth clattered together like pebbles.

Yuri rushed so rapidly to the window that I almost thought that he’d crash into it. Peaking out of the window he feverishly scanned the snow-covered landscape. “What’s going on? What was –was that a bomb!?” Another flash of light appeared, followed by that overwhelming noise storming across the land.

’No, look up there!’ I banged my white hoof against the window at the dazzling display of light and violence. In the darkness of the night sky I saw shapes -- black silhouettes against the intense white of the lightning.

Wings, hoofs, feathers and claws were all visible for a fraction of a second as lightning bolts shot across the open heavens. As the train rode closer, I could hear things being shouted in Equestrian across the air, barely getting over the horrific growling and shrieking of the nightmare given flesh in their midst. ’What in the world is that?’

“A demon,” Yuri whispered next to me as he pressed his face against the cold window.

The pegasi were darting in front of the giant monster as they avoided swipes of claws and snapping teeth, like sparrows attacking the mythical bird, roc. Armor-clad hoofs struck at clouds, kicking lightning at the demon, but the beast was as nimble as it was terrible. Effortlessly it turned, ducked, and dodged in midair, never being close to the searing hot spears of death that were thrown at it.

A shrill yell crossed the star-filled sky as one of the pegasi flew too close. With its mighty claw, the demon tore through the pony’s armor like it was wet paper. Understandably, the pony reacted by falling down to the ground faster than a sack of bricks.

The demon roared in triumph, forgetting for a moment to move. That was all the time that its opponents needed. One well-placed bolt sped towards the ground, taking a detour through the nightmarish creature’s head. Like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the beast fell down, swerving right and left as the wind guided it. With a mighty crash it hit the ground, throwing up a fountain of snow.

As the train sped past them, we saw the pegasi split up in two groups, the larger one headed to the demon as the smaller one dashed to their fallen comrade.

The ponies quickly went to work on the large carcass, fastening knots and attaching hooks wherever they deemed fit. With a single command, they all rose in a perfectly coordinated effort, lifting the corpse up and flying off out of our field of vision.

“They did it. I can’t believe they did it!” The human looked at me, his small eyes wide and excited. “They took down a demon! Just like that! I didn’t even know those monsters could die!” Yuri paused as he watched them for as long as possible, his grin slowly being replaced by a confused scowl. “Why are they taking it?”

I mulled the questions over in my head for a moment.’Maybe they want to use the corpse as a warning for others of its kind not to come close?‘ I heavily shook my head as I dismissed the thought. ’No, ponies don’t have the guts to do that sort of stuff. And it would stink.‘ Putting my disguised hoof against my chin, I ran by all motivations that I could think of in my mind. I almost slapped myself as I finally thought of the most obvious solutions. ’It’s food, of course.‘ With a bright smile I looked at Yuri, who stared at me like I had just declared my undying love for snorting pudding. ’What? Oh, right, they’re stupid herbivores.‘

“Even if they weren’t, there’s no way anyone could eat a mutant.” He pressed his face against the window again as he stared at the second team that was still standing around the small snow heap. “I don’t care how clean the land is here; mutants are always filled with enough radiation to make your insides cook.”

Before I could ask what he was talking about he pointed out the window. “Hey, look. They finally found their friend.” Before I could look outside, I saw the man’s careful smile die on his face. His already sickly pale skin turned almost a white as that of one of my larval Sisters. “Oh.” The small sound he made was barely more than a breath.

It made the fate of the pegasi more than obvious, looking outside was just a formality to find out what had happened. There was the body, the neck standing at a strange angle as her colleagues lifted it out of the snow.

’ What, you’ve never seen a dead body before?‘

“Of course I have.” Yuri coughed as his eyes were still glued to the scenario that was playing out in the snowy hills. “I just,” He brought a hand to his mouth in some vain attempt to hide his feelings. “I never saw anyone die before, not like this anyway.”

I walked back to the control panel, not even sparing another glance outside as I started checking the gauges and pulling levers. ’At least it wasn’t anyone we cared about.‘

The human’s voice exploded in the confined room. “Shut up!”

I blinked in surprise at the indignation in his voice. ’Well, it’s true, isn’t it?‘ I waved away the burning look I could feel on the back of my head. ’Every second, creatures die out there, alone, afraid, in pain. You don’t expect me to cry for any of those, do you?‘ A small tingling sensation made its way up into my stomach as the train started to steadily rise with the landscape. The trees outside gave way for rocks covered in moss and open prairie yielded to steep mountains. The human didn’t notice nor didn’t care for the rather spectacular landscape change as he struggled to come up with a reply.

I beat him to the punch, however. ’You know what would happen if someone told those ponies outside of the dozen or so changelings that died this year? Or if I died?‘ I let the question hang in the air for a second, not expecting an answer. ’They wouldn’t cheer or hold a party, but they wouldn’t cry either. They would be relieved, just like a lot of other creatures in the world.’ Involuntarily, my teeth ground against each other. ’So excuse me if I find it hard to care.‘

The blood rose to my cheeks as my bile throwing was finished. I hadn’t meant to say anything like it, but once I started, I simply couldn’t stop. Why couldn’t I just be more agreeable instead of lecturing the human like he was some young changeling? Had my time in the forest dulled my social skills that much?

“Bullshit!” he practically shouted, stomping his foot on the ground with so much force that the wooden planks creaked. “That kind of thinking killed the world and now it’s killing the metro.” He opened up his backpack and started to frantically search in it. “You remember that corpse we found outside the village?” I nodded, quite honestly, I was fascinated by his sudden change in temperament. “He was a part of a group of people that kill others when they don’t find them ‘Russian’ enough”. He said "Russian" while he bent two fingers on each hand like rabbit ears. “There are other groups in the metro that will kill you if you don’t join them, that will let you die right in front of them if you don’t have the bullets that will make your life worthwhile to them.” He pulled out the red, white, and black piece of cloth. “People like that tell themselves the world is doomed anyway. This or that person is a hopeless cause – that it’s easier or better to kill them than to help them. I don’t have anything in this world, why am I supposed to care for others?” He put his free hand to his chest as he paused, calming down a bit. “I don’t want to be like that, Dozor. I can’t be like that.” He panted and his shoulders heaved. I stared in his watery eyes.

He walked up to me with the armband crumpled up in his fist. Slowly he crouched down in front of me and placed his hand once again on my shoulder. “Dozor, you are a difficult person, sometimes even unpleasant.” I frowned, tensing up. “But you know what? I’ll care if something happens to you. I’ll care if your siblings and mother are hurt. You deserve to exist just as much as I do. No matter how much of an ass you are.” Saying nothing more he threw the piece of cotton in the fire.

I laughed, but less bitterly than I had expected as we both watched the flames licking the armband. ’That’s sweet, but you really don’t know what you are talking about.‘ He only didn’t loath me because he didn’t know changelings like everyone else did, and I was helping him. Those were the facts, clear as day. Still, it was nice to know that he was dedicated enough to his goal to still tolerate me, despite everything that had happened.

We stood there for a few seconds. With a small cough I broke up what I supposed was a “moment”. ’Why don’t you go look through the window for a second? You never been on a mountain before, have you?‘ The look on his face was quite priceless as he turned back to look outside, dropping his backpack in the process. A smile formed on my face, one that wasn’t necessary, but couldn’t be stopped even if I wanted it.

It was breathtaking, simply breathtaking. I saw the world like no one else had seen it in twenty years. I saw the tundra, the forest, and the rising mountains. It felt like I could see the whole world from there. I did my best to blink away the sudden bout of dizziness as I grabbed onto the window sill until my knuckles turned white. Even the sudden vertigo couldn’t persuade me to look away from this, humanity’s second chance.

Even only in the reflected moonlight the snow was nearly blinding. I knew that people had died down there, that monsters roamed the forest and the sky above it, but for this moment it all seemed so clean and peaceful that it almost hurt to look at. Like virgin snow.

For a second, I was thrown back as the world was plunged into a near absolute darkness. Feeling the familiar pressure build in my ears I swallowed. A tunnel -- it almost felt nostalgic. “It’s beautiful.”

I looked back at Dozor, who was standing near the crackling fire, the flames colored her purple mane and white coat a dark orange shade. Her alien face was all business as she drove, meticulously checking and re-checking everything for the slightest problem.

She was so bitter, just like Stepan, that old stalker. The harshness of the outside world seemed to have a habit of seeping into the characters of those who lived in it.

“I can’t believe that this track is still intact.” It was more of a miracle, actually. The older people in my station always told me that cities and infrastructures had been the first things to go in the war. The metro would have been bombed into oblivion if the rightful paranoia of others hadn’t made it so that it was constructed under a near impenetrable layer of rock and earth.

’Why wouldn’t it be?‘ Dozor was still looking outside towards the light at the end of the tunnel that was approaching us. ’As far as my Sisters know this track has been here for around five hundred years.‘ She snorted in what I could only guess was amusement. ’Ponies may be wasteful and inefficient, but they sure know how to keep their trains running on time.‘

“Five hundred years?”

’Yes, as far as we can tell the Raiser of the Sun settled around here a thousand years or so. The train tracks were built later to accommodate her earth ponies and unicorns.‘

Under the wave of unknown terms that Dozor threw at me, those few words stood out. “Five hundred years...” Like a shout in an empty pit those words bounced around in my head, slamming left and right against the walls of my mind until they made their way out again.

The tunnel ended, throwing our little train out in the open and in the dim light of the night. And there, at the end of the track, stood our destination, no longer obscured by mountains or darkness.

A large waterfall streamed down the mountain, resting upon a plateau in the mountainside in a lake. The beauty of that scene faded into obscurity compared to what was in the lake, however. White marble towers reached to the clouds, adorned with gold and purple spirals, mosaics of flowers and other intricate designs. It was like a fairytale version of Saint Basil’s Cathedral, which had once stood proud in the center of Moscow.

In the night sky, I could see a few of the creatures, Dozor had called them pegasi, move with lanterns in their mouths, almost like they were competing with the stars in the sky to see who could make a more enchanting display as they moved from and to the city in their patrols.

It was a city. A true city.

Something that didn’t belong in my world. Something that didn’t exist in my world.

My strength left my legs as I fell down hard on my knees. The pain didn’t even register in my brain. I could vaguely feel Dozor ask me something as she pulled on my shoulder, but it all seemed so unimportant at that moment as the city burned its way in my mind. It was like my body didn’t exist anymore, like I was watching the life of another man named Yuri, while I was nothing more than an incorporeal observer that didn’t have any stakes in what happened.

When I was a little boy I had once seen a man end up in the hospital because he had been wounded by a horde of mutants that had tried to break through our lines. Now, there was nothing special about that, but the poor soldier had had his eyes gouged out before he was able to put the abomination down. With all the morbid curiosity of a little boy I had snuck into the hospital. The man was easy to find as his muffled screams echoed in the cramped hallways of our home.

As I had seen him lying on the piece of cardboard that passed for a hospital bed, shaking feverishly in a pool of his own sweat, I could hear him whisper the same things over and over. “It’s dark as death in here. Can’t they be bothered to place some candles near me? Can’t believe the doctor says those things, they should take away his license! If they would just take this damned blindfold they could see that it’s just a couple of black eyes, nothing serious.” He kept mumbling like that to himself even as the blood seeped through the white bandage around his head. I had never really understood how someone could deny something as obvious as that. As I saw that city, that pearl in the mountain, it suddenly wasn’t that difficult anymore.

Just like that man knew, I had known it, too. Maybe I had known the moment I saw Dozor, or her hive, or that burned down town. But I had known; I just hadn’t wanted to believe it.

I wasn’t near Moscow because Moscow had never existed in this world, this alien world.

A sharp pain suddenly broke through the storm of my thoughts. ’Yuri! Wake up!‘ I yelped as I quickly pulled my hand out of Dozor’s mouth. Carefully inspecting my gloves I could see a few small holes in the leather, some droplets of blood came pouring out.

“T-thanks.” I clutched my hands to my chest. They wouldn’t stop shaking.

’What in Mother’s name was that all about?‘

“Nothing! Nothing.” I stammered. “I just,” pausing I breathed in deeply as I tried to find the words that I needed, “realized something.”

To my surprise the changeling gave a knowing nod. ’Ah, so you’ve finally admitted it to yourself? I was wondering if you’d find the strength to see it.‘ She held up one of her snow-white legs. ’Don’t worry, it changes nothing.‘ She finished her gesture by pointing at the castle. ’The creatures in there are very skilled in magic. Skilled enough to solve even our problems.‘

I didn’t ask any more questions. I should have, any rational person should have, but I didn’t. I guess that I simply didn’t dare to ask questions. Being this close to salvation for mankind was like a dream too good to be true, and if I asked the wrong questions, tried to work out the logic and details, it would all turn to ashes in my hands.

I huffed as I pulled myself up again and looked outside, seeing it for the first time as the alien landscape that it was. How sad was it that the air on another planet was more breathable than the one where I was born? How strange that I could drink the water and eat the food without dying on the spot? But Dozor was right, this changed nothing. If we could live here, it was better to leave behind our homes that were destroyed. We had no more place on that planet; we had been replaced by new life, like we had replaced the dinosaurs.

I tried not to think about it too hard as we entered the station.

Well, “entering” might have been too gracious a term for what Dozor was accomplishing with our poor train.

The train tracks groaned, the wheels buckled, and the engine strained as we stopped and rushed forward in seemingly random intervals. I got a very nice close up of the very few horses outside that stared at us like we were a parade in honor of incompetence when my head smacked into the window. “Dozor!” Several of the multi colored creatures outside held their hoofs against their ears with anguished expressions as the train scraped against the tracks once again. In the clean and cheerfully painted houses lights went on, revealing several horses that probably cursed us for disturbing a good night’s sleep.

’Don’t scream, Yuri, you’re going to draw attention to us.‘ My guide’s brow was swimming in sweat as she pulled, pushed, and kicked against levers. ’Stopping a train is a very delicate process.‘ We slammed forward once again, only to stop as we both fell down on the floor.

’Nearly there!‘ Dozor pointed at the building at the end of the tracks. It was large, with at least three train tracks converging inside it. Two large clocks adorned either side of the beige walls of the building while spooked birds flew away from the purple roof. Through the semicircular windows that made up the largest part of the walls I could see a group of very anxious mutants staring at us, one of them wearing a blue uniform with a small cap that it was currently munching on with a furious expression on its face.

Heralded by the sound of twisting metal and the smell of burnt rubber, we forcefully bumped up against the buffer stop, finally ending our ride. ’Ha! A perfect stop, you see?‘ Dozor leaned proudly against the control panel as I tried to keep what little contents my stomach had inside.

A lever popped up and our train promptly crashed into the station’s back wall.

’Well, we stopped, that is the important part, really,‘ the changeling said as I could only see three of her legs come from under a coal pile.

I decided not to answer that as I checked myself for broken bones. A sudden pounding on the train’s door followed by an angry sounding rant made us look back. Dozor produced a small hail of coals as she popped her head free from the pile.

The white-coated unicorn with a blond mane and darkened eyes busted through the door, spitting out the small conductor cap. It moved like a rampant fire, pointing at the controls, screaming right in Dozor’s face, throwing water over the engine fire while giving a tirade and growling as it pointed at me. My guide put a hoof under her chin as she nodded thoughtfully before looking at me. ’She’s angry.‘

’Gee, thanks for the translation, Dozor.’

I just cleaned the dust off my armor as I tried to keep my voice as level as possible. “I don’t know what you find funny about this, but they’re probably going to make us shoveling crap for the rest of our lives to pay off this mess.” I threw up my hands, making the miniature conductor back off in confusion at my strange language. “Do you have the money to pay for this? I don’t! How are we supposed to finish our mission now?” I practically screamed at the changeling.

’We cheat, of course.‘ Haughtily throwing her purple mane aside with a flick of her head she sang something to the furious unicorn. Like magic, all the anger left the blonde horse’s eyes and she quickly put on her crumpled cap as best as she could while giving a courteous bow. Laughing softly behind a hoof Dozor’s horn lit-up light green as she pulled out a notebook and a quill from the conductor’s uniform. With a confident smile like she was doing the unicorn a favor, she wrote something down. Gleefully the white horse held the piece of paper in her mouth as she began to guide us with the utmost respect outside of the wrecked train, all smiles and politely ignoring my strange appearance.

With a commanding shout, she easily dispersed the small crowd that had gathered around the crashed train. Some flew away, others ran, but a few stayed close, peeking out from behind pillars as they curiously eyed us. With a last heartfelt bow that made her mane fall down in the snow the conductor dropped us off in the streets.

“What did you do to her?” I clasped my hands together in an attempt to chase away the cold that immediately seeped in my bones again. Even Dozor readjusted her makeshift clothes to protect against the biting wind that was funneled through the streets. The clean streets, with clean houses, and clean shops. Everything coated in pure snow and a bright glow of lanterns. A city that was asleep, safe, not dead.

She gave a winning smile as she gestured for us to walk while we conversed. ’You, Yuri, are an official diplomat here to discuss very important political business. And as a diplomat you are more than capable of covering for any damage done, materially or otherwise.‘

“I am?”

’It’s what that piece of paper says. Besides, it’s technically partially true.‘ She shrugged. ’Of course, you aren’t from the spotted belly Diamond Dog tribe far out in the north, but what would a regular pony know about that? Most of them couldn’t even name the difference between a Minotaur and an Ophiotaurus.‘ She laughed with contempt.

I decided to just nod and pretend like that made sense. I never had been good with local animal names, on account of them all being extinct and me being on a different planet apparently. “What’s the plan now, anyway? We can’t just barge into their leader’s home and ask for help, I suppose.”

’Trust me, I’ve got it all planned out.‘ Her eyes lit up as she looked to our right at a small and inconspicuous shop. She gently shoved her hoof in my stomach to signal for me to stop. ’And here we are, just in time.‘ She shook off the small layer of snow that had accumulated on her back, apparently not being too concerned about covering me with half of it. ’I was getting sick of being snowed on.‘ I could relate to that as I wiped my clothes clean, returning the favor to her.

She banged her hoof on the wooden door, impatient, loud, and… giddy? That was the first time that I had seen her genuinely smiling in ages. And not the kind of smile that she gave rabbits and squirrels before she leapt on them and broke their necks.

In any other place this shop would have been a fit home for a rich man, but in this city it seemed that remarkable things became unremarkable, and miracles were mundane. Here it was nothing more than a building like the many others that surrounded it.

The shutters were closed, making it so a thick wooden plate with little hearth shapes on it greeted me instead of a shopping window. The walls were a dull shade of pink, and the only real reason that I knew it was a shop was by the signpost that was placed on the wall. Of course it was written in a gibberish language that I couldn’t understand, but it gave off that “come-spend-money-here-vibe” like the merchant stalls back home.

Dozor barely managed to jump out of the way as the door swung open and slammed hard into the wall. The soft light of a levitating candle revealed a pair of large, green, and more than a bit peeved eyes. They belonged to a small dark grey unicorn with a slender frame and an immaculately kept, clean-cut mane. She moved like she owned twice the personal space of a normal man, making wide sweeping gestures as she apparently chewed my comrade out for the rude awakening. Her voice booming and grand, even while speaking at a normal volume. Watching her must have been somewhat like an opera singer, or maybe it was more akin to watching a loud drunkard.

’Well now. That’s no way to greet your Sister, is it?‘

The small unicorn froze mid-gesture, suddenly stopping her loud barrage of accusations for a moment. An enormous smile bloomed on her face as she sprang forward, clinging around Dozor’s neck. ’My dearest Sister!‘ A shared laughter ran through the streets as the slender horse nearly lifted my partner up in a tight embrace. ’It’s so great to see you again. You’ve grown up so much since I saw you last time!‘ Finally releasing the changeling the shop owner grabbed one of her legs and nearly dragged my comrade in. ’Come in! Come in! I can’t let my dear Sister stand out in the cold -- what would Mother think?‘

I stood outside, rather flabbergasted by the tornado of a creature that had just dragged my guide into its lair. The unicorn poked her head outside the doorframe soon enough though, looking less than pleased with me. Spouting some impatient sounding words she nodded her head towards her shop. ’That’s an invitation, I suppose.’

Books. Shelves, cases, piles on the ground, and chests filled to the brim with books of all sizes and shapes filled the little room that I walked into. The smell of burning candles and old pages assaulted me as I gasped. There were so many of them, so much knowledge in one place, it was overwhelming.

It was rumored that Polis, the last station in the metro where humans still lived like humans, would pay fantastic amounts of money for the few brave stalkers that pillaged the surface for books. Here in this small innocuous shop, they were carelessly displayed like it was nothing. And of course it was, what worth did these things have when the knowledge was still well alive? They were nothing that couldn’t easily be replaced, rewritten.

Before I could gawk anymore, I was quickly pushed through a small door to the side. A surprisingly large room basked in candlelight was revealed to me as I made my less than elegant entrance. Dozor was already there, eyeing the fourth creature in the room like she was ready for a fight. The creature in question was one of those winged horses and it looked almost identical to its roommate, except it was significantly smaller and currently poring over a book nearly bigger than it was. It didn’t even seem to notice us as it sat reading on the large wooden table that stood between the only two beds in the room. The last remaining part of the room was taken up by an old fashioned stove that wouldn’t have been misplaced in my home with a large stack of chopped wood next to it and a small but functional kitchen.

’Brother!‘ The dark grey unicorn swept past me as she placed her two front legs on the table with a bang, but it was to no avail as the horse kept reading calmly and endured the mental shouting like it was nothing more than a mosquito. ’Get your snout out of those tomes! Our little Sister has come to visit!‘ His eyes and ears shot up as a small but collected smile formed on his face.

’A Sister? Truly?‘ His eyes soon fell on Dozor, who quite frankly looked like she had been punched in the gut. ’Ah, yes, one of the scouts. It’s been too long.‘ The pegasus carefully marked the page he had been on as he closed the book and walked over to my guide to embrace her in a warm hug.

After a moment of staring cluelessly with her ears flat against her head Dozor eventually returned the hug. ’What’s a Brother doing away from the Hive?‘

The “Brother” released Dozor and walked back to the kitchen. ’I know, I know. It’s heresy,‘ he said as he opened one of the cupboards, retrieving four ceramic mugs. ’But I’m here on Mother’s request. Exceptional times ask for exceptional measures. Desperate times call for desperate measures, she said.‘ He tried to hide a smile as he poured a dark brown liquid into the mugs and placed them on the hot stove. ’Personally, I find it quite exciting.‘

Dozor seemed unconvinced as she pawed the floor nervously. ’This is wrong. You should have stayed in the Hive.‘ She frowned as she watched at the dark grey unicorn. ’Right, Sister? We have our jobs and the Brothers have their jobs. That’s how it works, right?‘

Before the unicorn could answer the Brother fluttered down in front of me. Studying me like I was a guinea pig on a dissection table. ’Yes. Yes. Normally I would agree with you, but I hardly could say no to mother, could I?‘ Dozor didn’t answer. ’Besides, it seems like I’m not the only one breaking conventions these days.‘ He flew up, staring me straight in the eyes. ’You, you can “hear” me, correct?‘ I nodded.

The slender unicorn almost exploded as she grabbed her brother midflight and nearly head butted him. ’Wait, what! It can hear the Hive mind!? That’s impossible!‘

The pegasus flinched for a second as he stepped back, taking a moment to comb his mane back into shape with his hoof. ’Calm yourself, Sister. You really should pay more attention to matters around you. No wonder I win nearly every evening at cards.‘

With a huff and a suddenly straightening of her back the unicorn’s expression changed from one of complete disbelief to hurt pride. ’You know darn well that you only win poker night because you are better at cheating than I am.‘ Stomping her hoof on the table she seemed to remember herself. ’Baby Sister, how is this possible!?‘

Even poor Dozor seemed a bit overwhelmed by the brash horse. ’I’ll explain.‘ She closed her eyes as a weak green light started to shine from her horn. The other two changelings closed their eyes for a second as their horns, even the previously invisible one on the head of the pegasus, started to glow too.

’Ah, I see.‘ The brother rubbed his chin with his hoof as he gave me that strange look again. ’A completely new species. And alien at that. And such a strange mind. No barriers, no walls. Extraordinary. Your species is probably the only one that can be part of the Hive mind, besides us. ‘ He barely contained a smile as he was lost in thought. ’Yes, I can understand why the Queen did this now. A very bold plan indeed. This is a chance we can’t let go by.‘

The quiet horse’s meaningful pondering was quickly disturbed as his sister jumped nearly to the ceiling. ’Brother! Did you hear!? We have an ally!‘ She happily started to hop and trot in circles around me as she continued her mental barrage. ’An ally! An actual ally! Our best ally yet!‘ She continued undisturbed, even as her brother quietly reminded her that I was apparently the first and only ally that changelings ever had. ’Do your people have a lot of love? How many of you are there? Are you bad at playing cards? You seem like you don’t know how to play cards. Do you want to play cards for bits?‘

“I… uhm… Dozor, are other changelings usually like, well, this?”

Dozor blushed as she scratched her head. ’No. Changelings just start to get a little… eccentric when they haven’t been in the Hive for a long time.‘

Clearing his throat a little louder than was absolutely necessary the brother walked to the table, and levitated the four mugs with his invisible horn. ’Sister, please, stop badgering the human. The chocolate milk is ready.‘ He let his gaze wander the room for a bit, stopping to look every one of us in the eyes for a moment. ’We have things to discuss,‘ he said ominously as he took a small sip of chocolate milk and burned his tongue.

“So,” I said as I sat down and held the warm cup in my hand, enjoying the warmth spreading in my hands. I took a small whiff of the suspicious brown liquid inside. “What’s ‘chocolate’, or ‘milk’ for that matter?’

’Oh, you really want to know?‘ The pegasus’ eyes lit up while he was waving cool air on his tongue. ’Well, it all goes back to the 1680s when a science goat by the name of Hans Clone went to the far away tropical island Hamaica where he-‘

’Brother! Now is not the time for history lessons!‘ the dark grey unicorn said as she chugged the chocolate milk down like there was no tomorrow.

’Ah, yes, of course. I apologize.‘ He preened his feathers for a moment before he continued. ’As you can probably imagine, getting an audience with Celestia or Luna, those are the leaders of this country, can take up to a few weeks. Sometimes even months. Especially now that the pegasi are going crazy because of all the strange weather we’ve been having.‘

’Yeah, we should be halfway through spring by now! My bet is that the pegasi are simply too lazy to do their jobs this year!‘ the unicorn smacked her empty cup down on the table as she wiped her mouth clean.

’Indeed, Sister. Fortune would have it though that our little bookshop has been getting some royal attention as of late.‘

A fine spray of burning hot chocolate milk erupted from Dozor as she nearly dropped her cup. ’The Raiser of the Sun and Moon know about you!?‘

The shopkeeper burst out laughing. ’Yeah! We originally planned to let me infiltrate as royalty and used this shop as a starting point when one day, WHAM.‘ She hit the abused table once more. ’In walked Celestia and Luna! They said that they “tired of being around all those posh ponies” and wanted “to stay in touch with the common pony”.‘ It was almost scary how well the apparent infiltrator could manipulate the tone of her thoughts. If I hadn’t seen her I could have sworn that someone else had joined our mental conversation. ’They’ve been coming around here weekly, mostly picking out trashy science fiction novels and such.‘

The studious pony spoke up once more. ’Indeed, they’ve become quite attached to my Sister’s charming personality.‘ The shopkeeper blushed as she waved away the compliments she got from her brother and Dozor, claiming that it was just her job. ’But what’s more important is that they’ve made us promise to not say a word about it. I imagine that they don’t want to lose their favorite bookshop, or let the public know the “low-class” books they’ve been reading.‘

My guide sprung up at that. ’So we’ve got leverage. A weak spot that we can exploit.‘

’Very sharp, my young scout. I’ll write up a letter to request an audience with them and our infiltrator will deliver it tomorrow. In the meantime you two can rest up here and prepare. Agreed?‘

“And this will help my people get here?” I said while I was still inspecting my cup. It smelled strange, really sweet, like rotten mushrooms, only without the rancid after smell. I was actually kind of nervous about it, especially after that green goo that Dozor had fed me, but not drinking it would be rude. And turning down a free drink was just unthinkable.

’Yes!‘ The shopkeeper slammed the table with her front hooves again, making the cups jump. ’Your people will be here and we can help each other as allies. We’ll rebuild and be strong and wealthy once again.‘ She grabbed her empty mug and raised in the air with her magic. ’A toast! To allies and a better tomorrow!‘

’I’ll toast to that, Sister.‘ The studious unicorn’s cup joined the other, clinking like bells.

Even Dozor was not far behind with her own mug. ’Hear! Hear!‘

Smiling despite myself I joined in, bumping each mug. “A better tomorrow!”

With that, I took a large gulp of the chocolate milk, feeling warmth and sweetness spreading through my entire body, leaving me in a blissful daze. It tasted like ambrosia -- better than any vodka, tea, or mushroom soup that I’d ever had. It tasted as sweet as the future seemed in that moment. It could have only been better if I had Sasha or Sergei to join in, but my new comrades would do.