They're... ON HOLIDAY?

Day 4 - Shipwrecked?: 4/7

"Ow, ow ow ow!" 1313 hisses in pain as a chunk of his carapace breaks off with an audible crack.

Said carapace chunk is shaped like a long saw blade, and gets immediately grabbed by two zebras who begin sawing a thicker tree into planks for a better shelter than the makeshift roof from sticks and leaves which the Quest Security ponies crafted along the edge of the jungle.

"Whooooah!" 65536, watching it, leans forward, "How long does it last? Is it a high rank thing? I tried doing this back home once to make a crown thingy for Luna like the Queen has but it crumbled to dust after a few minutes, so I opted for a paper mache one instead."

"Back in the tunnels, we wanted to make long poles once to help with clearing a cave-in without breaking all the rocks, but those cracked immediately," 10013 chimes in.

In response, 1313 sits down, breathing heavily.

"I just think that falling to pieces effectively is my speciality," he smirks, "Why are you two here, anyway? Doesn't Chrysalis need a personal fan waver or ten in this heat?"

"We're exploring!" says 65536 with a smile.

"The Queen is just resting," adds 10013, "We don't have any orders, so we're just watching what everyone else is doing and if there might be something useful to learn for when we go back home. Your zebra friends look like they're building something," it lets the sentence hang in the air.

"You should ask Zamira about that, actually," replies 1313, nodding towards her, "Zami, do you want to take a break? These guys want to know what we're doing."

"Sure, take over for me then," Zamira, her coat heavy with sweat, puts down a rock and stops polishing one of the planks with it. As 1313 passes by, she plants a kiss on his cheek, chuckles at his surprised glance, and approaches the drones, tapping on her lips before pointing first at 65536 and then 10013, "Wait, don't tell me - You're the... Nightguard and you're the leader, right?"

"Yes, ma'am!" 65536 salutes.

"You got it!" 10013 nods, "Not many ponies can distinguish between us."

"It's all about practice," says Zamira, "My girls made up a little game about betting on which one you are whenever one of you drones passes by and then 1313 judges the results."

"Ohhh!" 65536 beams.

"You're the easiest one to guess," Zamira pats its head, "Your demeanor is completely different from all the others. Much more self-assured and at ease. Anyway, you wanted to know what we're doing, right?"

"Mhm," 10013 nods, "I'm hoping to learn something that could be useful back home."

"Or if you need help we can do that too!" 65536 adds.

"I think we've got this covered," Zamira shakes her head, "It's just a basic survival practice - something to do more than anything really necessary, because those Quest Security guys did a decent job with water, fruit, and shelter already. It helps as a refresher, plus we swapped the command structure a little so that everyone gets practice at obeying orders and at giving them. As you can see, 1313 and I are now working under Zara, and Zaida is in charge of the whole thing."

"Huh," 10013 tilts its head, "That's weird, I thought the point of us low ranks was to do what high ranks say. The Queen always just delegates what needs to be done to someone under her."

"Yes," Zamira smirks, "That's why she needs to steal love from both the ponies and her own subjects, from what I heard. In comparison, we all keep 1313 topped up at all times. Even though he's never done anything like this before, he's listening to us and trying his best. He's not whining, not pulling his rank, not considering us a lower class of servants or just eye candy like Blueblood did. And look at him, with that tight body and all, physical work is doing wonders for him and he's always been smart enough to deal with the rulership stuff. He looks so much healthier than when he crashed through Blueblood's roof."