Transparency: Q. Mint Jewelip

Recon frowned at what she saw.

Too many in one place led to too many things that could go wrong.

Sure, 'Sleep Dep' had Deep with her, and sure, Deep was good at keeping things in order but no matter how good he was, Sleep was marvelously skilled in the fine art of 'oh-crap'ery.

Frowning, she glanced down to Relay and told the filly to send word to have them break up a bit. Nothing too fancy, just... move a few of them around a touch more so they weren't so obvious. The little pink filly grinned like a bear trap and took wing, lancing out of the window like a lightning bolt and diving straight towards the bagel shop.

Recon rolled her eyes. Stupid little messengers. Yheah, they were quick and all, really loyal too, but as for subtlety? Couldn't hide a bottle of ink in a bucket of black paint in a dark corner under a moonless night.

Even so, she watched the little pegasus filly dart across the street, pull off a landing that would make a flight instructor have a heart attack, and trot into the shop with nothing but a brilliant smile.

Moments later, she was trotting out again, a bagel with cream cheese smeared across it upon her back, before leaping up into the air and darting back up to her hiding place.

"Hey Recon!" the filly cheered.

"Yheah?"

"She said to 'watch yer mouth'!"

Recon nearly swore but then chuckled and opened wide.

A moment later the filly had tossed half the bagel over to be snapped up by her friend while she chewed loudly on her own half.

Recon shook her head and resumed her watch while she simultaneously enjoyed her impromptu breakfast.

Freakin' weird pink sky though.

-~oOo~-

"So, just so we're clear on this," Sleep Dep gestured towards the door, "when they're all busy with the wedding preparations, a few of you will get in there, grab the groom, have Duplicate replace him, and then get the heck out of there so we can keep up appearances."

Deep Thought nodded patiently. It was, after all, the sixth time Sleep had 'outlined' the basis of their plan. The first three tellings hadn't differed all that much and the last three seemed no better. He knew the general score: Recon would scout, Relay would carry non-magical messages, Duplicate would impersonate important looking targets and open up avenues of travel, Mem would log EVERYTHING, and he would personally craft all the fiddly little things that none of the others would think of. Sleep would orchestrate the whole thing, bumbling through it while the rest of them picked up the pieces or planned far enough ahead to move anything 'breakable'... pony or otherwise.

And, at the end of the day, if they all played their parts, the hive would be fed, no'ling would get injured, and nopony would be the wiser. Everyone wins.

Except the groom. He was an idiot.

Deep Thought sighed and continued to filter out Sleep Dep's rambling as she started in on iteration number seven, instead choosing to focus on the particulars of their invasion plan.

Granted, it was no simple infiltration. Breaking into Canterlot was nothing to sneeze at by itself. The Capitol city was a nigh impregnable fortress to begin with, boasting sheer cliffs, drop offs, massive walls, guarded towers, aerial defenses and countless magical arrays. The Guard was stationed around the clock and the Princesses themselves resided within the glistening walls, capable of singlehoofedly moving the sun and moon if they so chose. The risk was immense.

And yet...

If they could pull it off, the payoff would be incalculable.

Not only would they attain renown among the other hives, but they would secure enough food to keep them running for decades.

And all from a single little impersonation that would probably be completely missed after the first night.

After all, there was nothing to gain by holding the stallion after the wedding night... the Princess of Love couldn't really be expected to be a barren field in that regard.

Deep Thought chuckled softly as he started working out the particulars of the infiltration. Oh yes, Sleep would be proud of this one.

Recon watched as Deep and Sleep left the bagel shop, followed a second later by a pair of pegassi. A few moments after, another three ponies left, followed by a rather large collection over the next minute.

She rolled her eyes and muttered in frustration.

For all their skill at infiltration and disguises, the rest of them were freaking idiots.

If it wasn't for her scouting and Deep's plotting, she doubted the lot of them would have been able to sneak past a bowl of deaf tulips without taking the time to accidentally knock over the bowl, step on the tulips, and likely bump into the local Guard while trying to stealthily scream as they startled themselves.

She sighed.

Drones... useless for anything other than drone stuff.

Taking a moment to glance through the window of the bagel shop, she watched as the last of the 'team' sauntered out and began a none-to-sneaky trek along the same path as the other fifteen 'ponies' that had left in the last minute.

"Hey, Relay," she flicked her head towards a tower a few blocks away, "go over to that tower, the one with the blue roof, and wait for me there. If you get stopped, just say you're sightseein'... the Guard love tourists. You'll prob'ly get some ice cream and a quick snack just for bein' cute."

The filly blinked a few times before breaking out in that dang creepy grin again and flitting off across the bright rooftops.

"Really wish the rest of them were even that bright," Recon muttered as she packed up her spyglass and quickly shoved her notes into the scroll case at her side. "Figures that it comes down to us three again when we have to actually do somethin'."

Taking one last glance at the weird pink sky that had been the norm for the last two days of the infiltration, she frowned. Something was just off about this place. Princesses controlling the skies or not, pink just should not be the default color of the sky.

With a shrug, she flicked her charcoal colored wings, scanned the surrounding area one last time and sighted along the skyline for decent observation points. She had to keep ahead of the team after all, and there was never enough forewarning when it came to things starting to go wrong.

Recon leapt from the forth story balcony of the exotic goods tower she had been hiding in. The sign had said "nose cozies" and, though she was no fancy-shmancy Canterlot snob, she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why the heck anypony would stick a sock on their face.

"Deep Thought, I want you to stand right there and be a distraction for me."

Deep Thought froze as Sleep Dep took that exact moment to inform him of the next stage of her, no doubt, 'carefully crafted' plan.

He had a deep respect for the unicorn. A deep, abiding, timeless, instinctual respect for the wisdom and craftiness of his unicorn 'friend' that spoke of unfathomable trust and a long life of successful plans.

But, at that exact moment, he was weighing his trust against his common sense since she had decided to inform him of his part of the plan while standing not eight paces from a pair of Royal Guards.

"Do you understand Deep Thought? I need you to distract those two Guards and make sure they don't stop me from going into that building and not paying for their services."

Deep Thought began to sweat. The first of the two Guards had turned to look at the pair, his expressionless face shifting to one of blatant incredulity as a plot was outlined directly in front of him.

Deep's mind began to hum with potential excuses. Perhaps he could claim she was just teasing... joking around like so many who thought the Guard weren't allowed to move or react to tourists. Maybe they'd buy the line about winning a bet with the mare over who could keep a straight face after a dare like that. Maybe he could just roll his eyes and smile, defusing the whole thing and getting the Guard to give them 'directions' to the next spot of their 'tour'. Or maybe they'd turn out to be highly trained, diligent, and observant guards, wary of suspicious activity on the eve of a royal wedding, and simply throw them both into the dungeons on principle.

Or... or.... Sleep Dep would walk right past the pair like she owned the place as they smirked.

He blinked.

H-how?

How had she done that?

It wasn't until he looked up at the sign above the door Sleep Dep had entered that he realized what she had done...

She'd set him up for a joke as she went to use the public washroom.

-~oOo~-

She smirked softly as she took a few moments to brush out her coat, savoring the moment as she committed it to memory. It wasn't anything particularly special really, just the simple application of a brush to the soft hairs of her coat and mane and yet...

Sleep Dep took a moment to really study her face in the mirror.

It wasn't a pretty face by her standards. It was lumpy and round in all the wrong places, covered in a bland light green fur with with a mane of creamy white brushed back and held in a simple mane tie. Her horn, a stubby little thing that would look more at home on a hat rack than any self-respecting magic user, had an ugly twist to it, making it look for all the world like nothing more than a cone of lime soft serve somehow growing from her forehead. Even her cutie mark screamed 'boring' with it's coffee cup full of beans.

No, her smile fell, she was an ugly wretch that really deserved a proper makeover.

And so, with a little blob of off-white magic, she unceremoniously yanked a globe of water from the wash basin and slicked back her mane. A second application saw the water vaporized and causing her mane to crinkle into a much more interesting shape, something between a bush and a drunken platypus.

Satisfied with her new look, she gave herself a once over again and nodded as she turned to leave.

Deep Thought thought he knew everything. He always did. But today was going to be different. Today she was going to take over the world.

With a smile, she stepped out of the restroom and back onto the street, just in time to see a massive pink explosion as the shield that had been covering the city shattered.

And changelings began raining from the sky.

-~oOo~-

Deep Thought was torn.

On the one hoof, Sleep Dep had apparently become bored with her manestyle and had decided to change it herself.

On the other, the massive spell which had been 'protecting' the city for the last few days had suddenly shattered.

While he was horrified by the one, the other was potentially catastrophic.

Decision made, he turned to the Guard that had been chuckling until just a moment ago, glanced to the sky, and screamed like a filly.

-~oOo~-

Changelings were crashing into the flagstones and architecture all over the city. Eruptions of green flame and the screeches of invading drones added to the madness. Short sentences seemed to be about the depth of most of the citizens as they ran, screaming, between buildings only to turn around and run back the other way.

This, and more, assaulted Sleep Dep's mind as she looked out across the city.

Something was wrong.

She took a step, the black chitinous body under her hoof yelping at the unexpected touch of a surprisingly heavy unicorn nonchalantly using its body as a flagstone, and approached Deep Thought. She paused to look back as the small black drone struggled to its hooves and considered the situation for a moment.

Turning from the squirming black insectoid body that was pulling itself from its still flaming crater, she looked to Deep Thought (who was currently screaming for some reason), and asked the most appropriate question for the moment.

"Deep Thought, I don't remember requesting a changeling invasion. Why are there drones attacking the city?"

-~oOo~-

Half an hour had passed since the invasion had started and Sleep Dep was not pleased.

She had been working on this plan for longer than any of her previous plans and the idea that someone was ruining it was not sitting well with her.

Deep Thought was working on it, she knew. He always did his best work when being hurled across the sky at breakneck speeds while being propelled by a giant wave of weaponized love.

Or, maybe not. She couldn't really remember if that's how he normally worked things out or if he was trying something new this time.

Maybe. Maybe not.

She'd have to ask Mem later.

Regardless, she knew that this was definitely not how her plan was supposed to have worked out.

It had been flawless, a masterwork of utter genius if she did say so herself, which she took the time to do, just in case she had forgotten along the way.

"This day was going to be perfect..." she started before frowning at a vague memory from a few minutes ago when she could swear she had heard those words being said by someone else.

With a frown, she snorted and continued to ride out the pulse of love, determined to salvage as much of the situation as she could.

Someling had blown their cover. Someling had stomped all over her perfect plan. And worse yet, Someling had ruined her glorious new manestyle for her favorite disguise.

Someling was going to pay.

But, before that could happen, she'd have to get her drones back together and decide upon a new plan.

Just as she began to focus upon her magics to send out a call through her hive mind, the bubble of love burst, leaving her to topple through the sky towards the untamed forests surrounding the city. Flaring her wings in an effort to resume falling with style, Sleep Dep snorted as she dropped her disguise, reverting to her normal white chitin and glorious green mane with adorable brown flecks.

"Deep Thought, Recon, Relay, Mem, Duplicate, Ping.... um.... and whoever else is left..." she started over the link.

A chorus of voices flooded her mind, assuring her of her hive's survival... all 30 something of them. To be honest, she wasn't terribly certain of how many there were... it was a number greater than the number of holes in her legs so she couldn't really be bothered.

But, all that faded in importance as she came to two important revelations.

"I need more coffee," she stated over the link, "and... I appear to be falling from the sky."

The panic that flooded her mind made her smile.

Her little drones must be desperately trying to find that coffee shop again.

And then she blinked as a thought struck her: She didn't remember hearing Recon's voice in the responses.