I want to give you guys the chance to justify and show your creativity concerning the Hive Mind and Hive theory.

First of all let me tell you this... As far as canon goes I will agree with Magic Man for the most part that the changelings have neither hive mind nor hives. Hell I have even found out where the changelings are! Here it says that the gates to the Changeling Kingdom are south through the Appaloosan Mountain range and then on through the forest of Leota.
http://imgur.com/a/4HS8w#1 http://imgur.com/a/4HS8w#22 Another map... Hmmmm seems awfully close to where the battle with Discord took place. Wait... wasn't that in Ponyville? *scartches head* Whatever!

I'll tell you this much. When writers use the Hive Mind for me it's a sign of unoriginality, lack of inspiration, and plain ol laziness. In all sincerity I have seen it used a GAZZILION times over and it plain ol pisses me off. None bothers to explain their shit when they say "Hive Mind". I also don't like the way people see it as a race-wide propaganda of sorts because they see it like god's voice and god's voice is the voice of religion which is nothing sort of propaganda right? Whatever...

it's the same thing with Celestia being a tyrant because a singular leader is inherently bad/corrupt and the guidance/advice/whatever of the Queen of the changelings can't be anything but bad!

Although this video fails at spots here's a reason why your assumption of tyrant Celestia fails miserably upon its' feet. Because unless you establish it in your story how she is a tyrant just plain assuming by the way a system works that Celestia is a tyrant is bad. Same shit goes for the changelings. Just because you think that the Hivemind is bad because of the way it is structured doesn't mean that is true or that there aren't any benefits from this, or that free will is restricted.

Another misconception or assumption I dislike is treating the Hivemind like an instant online chatroom. Sometimes if you handle it properly it can work, and especially in comedic purposes but this is overestimating this characteristic of the changelings. I quite dislike how we generally use the hivemind like a wokey-tokey/radio of sorts. It just sounds RIDICULOUS.

The thing is that even when someone explains it they don't deviate from the "bee-zerg" concept. Especially when it comes to the zerg I am inserting the Ultimate NOOOOOO compilation. Like seriously... it might sound cool to have changelings with mutations and stuff, and if you can pull it off you're welcome but don't tell me you are being original in your concepts if you do that.

It seems we lack writers that actually perceive changelings as natural people meaning that they don't differ all that much from ponies in mentality. And who's responsible for all that? Plain Ol tyrant Chrysalis. Yea... let me just say that Tyrant comes from the Greek work that actually meant "The one who has all the political power" loosely translated. I am greek, I should know.

Another thing... the "cut the head of the hive/cut the hivemind link and the whole "swarm" goes down". Yea... why? And no... this is treating the changelings in a derogatory perspective saying that essentially they aren't able to function as individuals or that just by killing a leader a whole nation will go instantly in dissarray. Well let me tell you this people... did Commander Shepard go and kill the leader of the Reapers to win? Is there no contigency in modern society for the transition between leader to leader? Granted it might not be effective but notions like "Without a Queen/Hive mind the changelings would forever squabble and be in disarray" is plain ridiculous and underestimates the capabilities of changelings that can work as individuals. This goes to the point where a changeling without a hivemind is a purposeless individual

I personally view this bond as kind of a family/friend thing. Changelings who are born of blood can link themselves with each other and perceive general emotions, if focused enough location maybe. It is a bond that can be performed with others, can be cut off and connection can be permanently severed. It is a way to judge the ability to also lead combined with physical and mental prowess. The greater the ability to perform such bonds the more the chance to rise in the ranks of changeling hierarchy. This goes up to the Queen who's empathy and ability to communicate with the changelings is judged. The crown itself becomes a holy relic through which ancient rulers grant the ability to communicate for a limited time with all the changelings to form a concesus on matters of great importance. Like war.

Now this is the rough explanation so I can't say it's as detailed as I would want it to be. But this is not entirely about me. It's about you. I want you to show me your creativity your originality and your ability to deviate even the slightest from common fanon. So here come my questions.

How do changelings use the hivemind?
How does it work with the body?
What are the benefits?
The drawbacks?
What can it do?
What can't it do?
Is it easy to use?
How did it get developped?
How is it used?
What does the Queen have to do with it?
How does it help changeling society?
Can changeling society function without it?

I could ask more but you know the drill... you are the creators so you explain it. I might just explain mine as well.

3919596
To me, the hive-mind can be compared to the sets of data that two computers would share. (Bare with me, I know you didn't understand this explanation last time) Like the information my computer is sharing with yours when I post this comment, my PC tells your PC what the message says and where it is on the screen. So the hive-mind is basically a massive collection of identities and their status'.

In my head-cannon, the hive-mind is not 'An online chatroom' like you say. It is just a method of allowing the hive to better organise itself subconsciously by allowing each member to understand what all the other members are doing. And the queen is capable of knowing all of these 'PC's' status' at once. Here's another way to think of it:

A search engine. The Hive-mind is google, the regular hive members are the PC's and the Queen is the server. The drones or Preatorians are searching for each other on the hive-mind and can gather info about what another is experiencing. The queen can filter all of this information and view it all at once as well as being the host for the hive-mind and all of the users. As a result the queen also has the equivalent of an 'Internet history' which means she knows how her hive is using the Hive-mind as well as possessing the use of it herself. Also like a server, she can give commands and make adjustments.

But remove the server and the internet doesn't work. Without the queen, the hive does not have a method of obtaining orders and the hierarchy crumbles without a rank structure. This would mean that the changelings would essentially act like any other being would act in a situation of nation panic. Like if every member of parliment along with the royal family here in Britain were to suddenly die or disappear. There would be no government for orders and no internet for mass communication. There would be chaos.

The changelings would likely try to best get themselves acting in one large unit as best they can with nothing but the power of speech and their intellect. (They can recall anything from their hive-mind they previously 'viewed'. Like if we saw knighty's blog post you could remember what was on it.) With some luck the changelings may be able to organise themselves enough to accept on a leader. They may even become democratic, which may or may not be good for their society. But I suppose anything is better than having a power hungry (But ever so adorable) Queen Chrysalis as your monarch. A tyrant with absolute power is never the greatest thing ever for a country, we humans know this best.

3919918 Thing is we are humans they arent. Sure transition period from one system to another would be demanded but doesnt mean it cant work.

I see Game of Thrones and say houses are a worse thing to have. Even so absolute monarchy hardly exists but that doesnt mean it has to be opressive or that Chrysalis is opressive to her changelings. If she was then she wouldn't call them subjects. She would call them minions.

3919962

Thing is we are humans they arent. Sure transition period from one system to another would be demanded but doesnt mean it cant work.
I see Game of Thrones and say houses are a worse thing to have.

Erm... what?

Even so absolute monarchy hardly exists but that doesnt mean it has to be opressive or that Chrysalis is opressive to her changelings. If she was then she wouldn't call them subjects. She would call them minions.

I'm not talking about oppression, I'm talking about manipulation. Chrysalis is a clever minded changeling and instead seems to prefer to indoctrinate her hive into believing that she is their ONLY key to happiness and prosper in the world. *Cough, coughreligioncough, cough*

That's it! Chrysalis has basically created her own religion revolving around herself!

Also, humans have had really bad experience with monarchy in the past. Examples:
Hitler
Stalin
Most of the British royal family up to the 1800's
King Louie of France (The one that caused the french rebellion)
I could go on.

3920023 I M sorry i meant that we are humans changelings arent.

Even if the hivemind fell i imagine that changelings would return to normal after a transition period. Granted there is no guarantee it can work but yea...

Yes but humanity has also good examples of monarchy.

Ceasar
Alexander the Great

I could mention others if any came to mind but most you may not know. Or you may consider their leadership evil but they certainly great regardless.

I think of Chrysalis as being a better leader than most previous ones. To the point that you could look at her compared to another and say NOPE NOPE NOPE CHRYSALIS ALL THE WAY!