//------------------------------// // Sharing truths: 1 // Story: They're home. // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// Due to yesterday’s drone-freezing incidents and the subsequent early return to the hive, extra work was done, leaving today’s worky time partially free for more activities organized by 65536, this time hopefully with less hypothermia. With the exception of several drones specifically requested by 65536 to stay in the hive, most drones find themselves once again on the open white plain, now a bit more used to the freezing cold. “THE SLOPE GOT LARGER ON ITS OWN!” someone calls out in amazement. “AND THE WHITE-COLD WE DUG OUT RESET ON ITS OWN TOO!” another drone joins in. One drone charges towards the slope and, after a couple steps, sinks into the snow up to its barrel. “Eeep! I’m stuck!” “You have wings,” 65536 reminds it with a twitch of the corner of its mouth. “Oh, right,” the drone floats up and starts flying around, poking the ground to find a more solid surface. 65536 tests the snow around the hive entrance to see if there’s a solid path left stomped down from yesterday, quickly finds it, and leads the line of drones following in its hoofsteps to the skiing slope. “Yesterday, we built that and did some skiing,” it opens, pointing at the slope, “Today, however, I have something different in mind for you. If I’m counting right, there are ninety-two of you, right?” “Yes,” 2119, following the group on 65536’s request and the Queen’s permission, nods while the drones start looking around and counting on their hooves, “Not counting you or me.” “Good,” 65536 nods, “Split into two teams-” as the wave of decision paralysis from the drones immediately washes over it, it corrects itself, “Nevermind, I’ll pick numbers at random. Team red, team blue.” All drones receive their team designation shortly after and split into two large huddles. 65536 continues: “We’re going to play snowball war! I need two volunteers from each team.” 99111 and 99856 volunteer immediately despite being on opposing teams, walking over to 65536. Two more drones join them, emboldened by the act. 65536 transforms its front hooves into claws, sweeps some snow towards itself, and packs it into a snowball. “Now you do it,” it nods to the volunteers, before looking over them at the others and correcting itself, “Well, everyone should try it, really. The goal is to make a snowball and throw it at a member of the opposing team. If you hit them, they’re out of the game. If all members are out, the team loses.” 99111’s extra limb starts waving at 65536. “Uhh, yes?” the guard drone finds itself a bit uncertain about what’s going on, but its guess that 99111 just wants to ask something and is doing this instead of raising a foreleg proves correct. “What do the ‘out’ guys do? If they just watch, they'll get cold quickly,” 99111 raises a good point. “Yup, that’s why they’ll still be allowed to build cover - dig trenches, make walls, anything to help the rest of the team ‘survive’. Let’s make it easy to understand - 99111’s team turns their carapaces red and 99856’s blue. Whoever gets eliminated –I mean, is out of the game– turns black again to show they can’t attack you and you shouldn’t attack them. Don’t use black guys as cover!” 99111 tosses its ball at 99856, hitting it in the neck. “Lead for the read team!” its back limb points at the chemist. “Heeey!” 99856 frowns at it. “We haven’t started yet,” 65536 shakes its head, “It doesn’t count.” “Pfbfbfbf!” 99856 sticks its tongue at 99111 and throws its own ball. Its experience with precision throwing of explosives into specific places of a room shows, and it hits 99111 square in the face, “Ha, headbonk!” Several more snowballs get thrown between the large groups behind the volunteers. “Glad you’re picking it up quickly,” 65536 says loudly for everyone to hear, “Two safety tips before start. Number one - make sure you’re not throwing rocks. You could seriously hurt someone if you hit an eye, and those are extremely difficult to heal even for high ranks. Number two - if you hold the ball and keep tamping it, you’ll make a harder ice ball that flies further. Be a little more careful with those too. Got it?” Mass nodding ensues, coupled with ice ball making. An exchange of fire follows, but 65536 breathes in relief when all hard balls hit from the neck down. “We’ll do one practice match while I oversee you, and then I’ll have to leave,” says 65536, “After that, 2119 will be chaperon- keeping an eye on you and making sure you’re not cheat- he’ll resolve disputable hits,” it corrects itself, knowing drones won’t cheat but can get confused easily, ” Afterwards, you’ll play three matches and whichever team wins two of them will get noms this breaky time. I’ll leave 2119 some ideas for more activities for later, but you’ll see how you’ll feel after the four games and go from there.” Snowballs start flying between the groups in the back immediately. “That still doesn’t count,” comments 65536. “Just practicing!” a random drone calls back, “We gotta w- blrgh!” a volley of snowballs explodes over its body, originating not entirely from the enemy team, “That one went in my throat…” “Before each game, you’ll have five minutes to make any kind of cover you can think of. Trenches and neck-high walls are only basic suggestions. Let’s start the first preparation round now!” The drones freeze for a moment, but when the first ones move to start building random obstacles, everyone joins. 65536 looks at 2119 now wearing both the gifted cap and the scarf. “I’ve written down the rules for the next games into the hive mind section pp-O4-se22. This is ‘elimination mode’, next one will be ‘point mode’, and the final one will be ‘capture the flag’. Of course, don’t force them to play if they don’t want to. The point is for them to have fun and enjoy anything they want to do up here.” “Got it,” the infiltrator nods, “You won’t be joining in, even for the first game?” “Nah,” 65536 nods, “It would unbalance the teams too hard, and I’ll need my hooves as steady as possible for 10k’s surgery, not frozen from making snowballs.” “Good luck with that.” “I’ll be doing the easy part,” 65536 sighs, “I wouldn’t want to be in 10k’s carapace for this.” “If there’s someone who can do this, it’s you, Ambassador.” “I can only hope,” 65536 allows itself a nervous smile before its head snaps towards the other drones, “Hey, 99200, come over here! I almost forgot you,” when the explorer drone hops over, 65536 pulls a heating talisman off of its neck and gives it to 99200, “Don’t lose it.” “I won’t,” 99200 shakes its head, “I want to test something later and if I lost it then I couldn’t do it.” “Wanna tell me what it’s about?” “Nope!” “Pff,” 65536 rolls its eyes with a smile, “I won’t show you how to make boots out of spider webs then-” *WIBBLE?!* “I’lltellyouifitworksIswear!” 99200 blurts out. 65536 pats the other drone’s head, accompanied by 2119’s snickering, and points towards the other drones digging random holes and building snow walls. “I’ll be waiting. Now, don’t you have some cover to build?” *** 65536 is gone, 2119 is watching the chaos of drones fighting for extra noms, and things are going somewhat according to plan. Key word - somewhat. The drones have adopted Scufflestick rules and shooting into melee combat now only serves as a distraction instead of an eliminating factor. Thankfully, they also keep sticking to the no contact rule, although that one’s a little bent as well. 2119 is unsure whether to stop the current level of escalated aggression. On the other hole… it’s funny. 99436 is currently balancing on its hind legs with the use of its wings, swinging a soft goop ‘sword’ held in each foreleg in the vague direction of its enemy 99911 who has a large goop stick, or more a pool noodle. The rescue team member waits patiently until 99436 flails a bit too wildly and falls over on its butt, upon which it pounces and smacks 99436 over the head. “Hah! Dual slashies, meet singular bonk!” 99911 laughs victoriously, “HEY!” and immediately yelps indignantly when a snowball hits it in the back. “Not in melee anymore!” calls out the attacking party. “Grumble grumble gonna find you and bonk you next game,” 99911 huffs, transforming its chitin color from blue to black and rushing over to a crew preparing showballs so that the “surviving” members can just keep throwing.  *** One of many now unused caves on the upper floors of the hive left over after mining operations hosts several changelings and some equipment unusual to see in the hive. In the center of the small cave lies a stone slab the size of a drone on which 10k is lying, awake and watching 65536’s final preparations for the first changeling surgery in presumably centuries. 3012, bereft of any gifted clothes despite the cave being very cold this close to the surface, is sitting by 10k’s head, observing as well and waiting for 65536’s instructions. The warrior is unsure what this is all about, but he’s here directly on the Queen’s orders and said orders are - 65536 is in charge, you do exactly what it says. Aside from the patient, the amateur surgeon, and the strong helping hoof, two other drones are present. 99380 is lying by the back wall, its body pretty much just stored away in a safe place while its presence is entirely within the hive mind, providing vastly improved access to information to the others. Finally, 57999 is sitting next to a covered stone bucket filled with steaming, somewhat green, water and a small, stone slab serving as a table for two clean towels from 65536’s travelling stash as well as a still foaming brick of 99111’s cleaning goop. The area is far from sterile, but the changelings have done their best and the hope now is that the drone immune system will be strong enough to deal with any side effects of the operation. 65536 takes a deep breath to stop its hooves from shaking. You did this yesterday. 10k’s neck hasn’t gotten much worse since, and only around the rim where the healthy carapace meets the rest of the body. It’s a proof of concept that your idea works. “The Queen provided a variety of information regarding surgeries in general,” says the Voice, the final member of the team, “Unfortunately, while infiltrators posing as surgeons exist, they only operate on ponies. The good part is that changelings shouldn’t be subject to a number of complications that are normally lethal to ponies. As for the mental assistance she promised, I will be adapting the hive mind overlay based on reading your hive link since you don’t know how to use it yourself. Don’t worry about Princess Luna’s protective spell, I’m reading only your current thoughts and also only those limited to this operation. I’ll start now so you can get used to it.” 65536 gasps when its field of view lights up with an equivalent of a holographic HUD of bright lines denoting hive mind references, identities of all present changelings and, most importantly, the highlights of all visible cracks on 10k’s carapace along with arrows showing how 65536 should cut them to peel the ruined carapace off. This is incredible… I’ve never used this before aside from the map and work markers.  “Thank you. This is how high ranks see the world at all times, or at least 99, since she’s the only one I could access before being asked not to,” replies the Voice, “The cutting pattern is the best I could think of based on yesterday’s attempt, but it’s only a guideline. If you figure out a better way, or if your requirements change, I will adjust it as you work.” “3012,” says 65536 out loud, “I need 10k to be awake during the operation, but it might be too difficult to remain motionless, so you’re here to hold it steady if needed. However, you can’t use much pressure or the carapace we’re trying to fix will break. Got it?” “Understood,” the warrior nods, “Do I use my own judgement or do I wait for you to tell me to hold 10k down?” “Both. I might be focusing on something else so you need to keep an eye on 10k as well,” says 65536, turning the hoof of its right foreleg into claws and growing one of those into a sharp scalpel. While the digging power of a drone doesn’t rely on physical sharpness, the precision of a narrow edge will undoubtedly be useful, “Finally, 57999, you’re here more as a safeguard, but I’d also like you to use your healing goop on the parts of 10k’s carapace that it manages to regrow successfully. Aside from that, before 10k regrows each section you have to clean its squishy bits with a wet towel and a very small amount of bubble brick. I’ll tell you when and Voice will show you precisely where.” “Got it!” 57999 nods eagerly and its vision lights up with the same overlay that 65536 is seeing, “Whoa, all these fake shinies! I usually only use little scribbles to remember all the plant stuff since I’m so far away from the others most of the time.” “And what do I do?” 10k chuckles. “You’re patienting, so you keep lying down unless I say otherwise,” 65536 looks around one final time and takes a deep breath, “Alright, guys, let’s do this. 10k, you’re not going to like me after this.”  “Buddy, no matter how this ends, you’re getting a statue back in our cavern next. I’m thinking of the ‘ambassador’ title, but feel free to pick one you’d like more,” 10k smirks, although its eyes betray a modicum of fear brought on by the memory of the pain yesterday. “Let’s see if we can make that title ‘surgeon’,” 65536 leans over 10k’s neck, examines the border of the carapace partially healed from yesterday, stretches its claw, and digs.