Transparency: Q. Mint Jewelip

Once the panic at hearing that Sleep Dep was falling had worn off, most of the remaining drones had jolted into a state of hyper focus. The organizational blitzkrieg that assaulted Deep Thought led to a series of instructions that flew far too fast to be interpreted as words, instead being forcibly injected into drone minds as fully formed concepts via the hive mind. The result was a nightmarishly fast response with very little in the way of higher order thinking, but what it lacked in appearance, it more than made up for in elegant efficiency.

Instead of a search and rescue or a methodical analysis and factoring of likely trajectories, each and every drone instantly stopped thinking, spun around and inhaled deeply. The impact of that many minds simultaneously looking for any visible or chemical sign of Sleep Dep, coupled with their adrenaline fueled senses, snapped the drones with the strongest scent of pheromones into a frenzied search while Deep Thought sent the rest to swarm the general area.

So when, about eight seconds later, Deep Thought opened his eyes, the noise of more than twenty pairs of buzzing wings assaulted his senses and drew his attention to the quickly approaching cloud of drones carrying a distracted looking Sleep Dep.

Queen Sleep Dep or, more accurately, Queen Mint Jewelip (who, for some reason, required them all to even think of her as Sleep Dep while she was disguised over the hive mind) was looking out over the fields below. The drones, their purpose fulfilled, seemed content to simply hover in the air while waiting for instructions.

Deep Thought frowned again. While he was pleased that the Queen was alright, the fact that she was so distracted that she hadn't even taken the time to address them yet was discouraging. Normally she would be fuming about now, grumbling about failed plans or mistakes made or who she was going to turn into viscous fluids with which to paint a given wall, but instead she was simply scanning the surroundings.

Right as Deep Thought was about to inquire, the Queen looked up and simply stated "She's missing."

A number of thoughts tumbled though the hive mind. Who was 'she,' how was she 'missing,' and of course 'what does missing mean?' So, while the drones buzzed along, thoughts flitting between them as they tried a gestalt approach to reasoning, Deep Thought frowned and began to consolidate the events since that wall of weaponized love had slammed them hard enough to physically launch them from the nation's capital city.

Clearly, 'she' must be referring to an individual, probably one of importance. The contraction-appended "s" implied either an 'is' or 'was', though traditionally 'was' wouldn't work in the given sentence. Missing seemed clear enough. Yet the Queen, to his knowledge, didn't know anyone in the city personally.... let alone anyone ranking high enough in her opinion to be of a concern were they to cease to exist.

Deep Thought was so caught up in his mental gymnastics that it took a sharp crack to the head to get his attention back to the now simmering Queen.

"Deep, I have no time for this. Either fetch me my coffee, conquer Canterlot, or find Recon. Ideally all three in the next few moments, but if not, I expect at least my coffee or Recon. Canterlot might take longer than one cup of coffee."

Deep Thought sighed. If it wasn't one thing with her it was anoth... wait... Recon?

With a blink, Deep glanced around at the small swarm of changelings clustered around their still dangling queen. There was Relay, bright, cheery, and vacant as ever. Tock was still frowning, glancing at the sky every once in a while. WC was hovering, silently, near another drone, his slight blinking the only thing distinguishing the infiltrator from any other drone. And there was.... no sign of Recon at all.

"My Queen?" Deep Thought started, "Have you tried to ask her where she is?"

And for the first time in a very long while, Deep Thought saw a flash of something other than blundering mental plodding from his queen. He saw, he was sure of it, a flash of anger...

"Of course I did! She's not responding. FIND HER." Mint Jewelip growled.

... and a blush of worry.

-~oOo~-

CPR hovered behind his queen while she almost radiated fury. Deep Thought was the one who normally picked out all the little details that the others missed, patched things up, and generally made sure that the hive didn't just spontaneously combust, drown, or float away on a river of lava. Deep Thought was the one who had to plug the holes, direct the drones, and explain complex ideas such as 'fire bad' to the drones that normally swarmed over hives. And even in their own hive, tiny and unique as it was, he usually found enough brain cells between the surrounding drones to rally an idea that would work. And yet, for once, the Queen herself was making Deep Thought realize something was off. CPR could see the worry blooming in Deep's eyes, opaque, glowing blue that they were... they still showed a spark of worry.

While it was not his place to question the queen, it ~was~ his place to mitigate the damage.

Flitting forward, he carefully brushed up against his queen's side, causing her to glance down. "A moment of your time, Highness?"

When Mint Jewelip blinked, probably trying to remember which one he was, CPR struck. With a grin he flitted forward, threw his hooves out and spun around.

"What a marvelous retreat, My Queen! Not only have you rescued the hive, but you've tricked another Queen into taking the blame! You've made sure that, while some idiot swarm will get the boot, we'll be off with no one the wiser! Truly a masterful move! I. Am. Impressed."

As CPR smiled, he scanned the faces of the surrounding changelings.

Deep Thought clearly hadn't bought it, but he seemed to be about the only one. Even WC seemed at least unworried... which didn't mean much since he was as unreadable as ever, but that's infiltrators for you.... stubborn with giving anything away. Still, better blank than panicking.

Completing his turn, he came back to face his queen and nearly choked on his own tongue.

She was staring at him.

"You.... whichever one you are... shut up. Recon is missing and we must find her," she reached over and idly pushed CPR to the side, "now."

-~oOo~-

The preparations had been brief. Deep Thought flicked through the collected memories of the drones, scoured the recollections of the more intelligent hivemates, and asked the higher order thinkers like Mem and CPR what they could recall about Recon's last communications.

He had surveyed the area, taken measurements, and eventually hacked up a glob of glowing green goop which he hardened into a flat surface upon which he began scratching out notes and measures.

Ultimately, he had given his conclusions to the Queen, who had finally relocated the hovering swarm of changelings down to the forest floor.

"I'm sorry Queen Jewelip, but I'm afraid everything suggests that she's either dead or that she was taken by the other queen."

Mint Jewelip frowned. How exactly such a thing worked with chitin was still a mystery, but the changelings had long since given up trying to worry about such things as medical science. After all, in a society where accidents claimed lives at the exact rate at which they were replaced, medicine was nearly a luxury.

"Then I shall have to have you all prepare to extract her from that queen... whichever one she is."

Deep Thought blinked at the statement. "Surely you could just replace her?"

And then, much to the surprise of every intelligent drone in the area, the queen simply frowned and said, "No. I cannot."

The anxious buzzing of wings echoed her response. The drones, mindless drones at least, were ready to go, to throw themselves under a mountain or into the gears of a great war machine if need be. They never questioned, never truly thought. But the others, the small clutch of rational, reasoning beings that hovered around the area nervously, they shifted uneasily.

"My Queen, wouldn't it be easier to simply spawn a new spy? You're risking more to attempt to reclaim her than if we were to simply hide for a few weeks and try again. We could be discovered." He paused to gesture back toward the city, "We could be removed entirely."

And then Queen Mint Jewelip did the second thing that day that Deep Thought had never seen: She smiled.

"Indeed, but I'm in her, and I'm a little bit disconnected right now."