They're... ON HOLIDAY?

by Nameless Narrator

Day 10 - Just another busy day: 2/?

10013 finds itself alone in the suite with the radio mixing chatter with music. However, as the first law of dronamics states - a drone with love not at work must get to work, and 10013 realizes that it’s pacing back and forth without having any idea it was doing so.

Alrighty, there’s no reason to sit here and wait right now because 10101 needs to get back home to call first. That gives me -how long did we take last time?- two hours, depending on obstacles. That’s a lot of time to waste by just sitting.

“What to do? What to do?” it mumbles before a faint memory from yesterday surfaces, “Oh! I gotta pay 36658 back for… paying me back for… uhh… spending my points to feed everyone. Whatever! The reason isn’t important, the points are, so I have just under two hours to find something useful to do before I have to get back to radio duty.”

Trotting out on the balcony, 10013 stretches in the morning sun, and takes flight in hopes of spotting something that would point it in the right direction.

Work hard and don’t give up. High Score will reveal a way.

***

Even this early in the morning, the resort is lively with staff preparing everything for the day as well as the occasional confused guest asking about the tremor, both making it difficult for 99380 to get the recommended combination of fresh air and silence. After aimlessly wandering for a while, 99380 just sits down on the nearest bench and thinks, making its headache briefly worse.

High Score, calling High Score. 10013 and 36658 keep saying that when I get stuck and don’t stop trying you’ll show me a way. Should I just keep walking around? I’m not sure about the stories 36658 kept telling us back home but I could still use a bit of help.

“I don’t think they meant to keep doing what clearly isn’t working, rather to explore different options of solving your problem. How about, instead of looking for a new place, you take stock of where you’ve been already?” a strange voice answers.

“AAH who’s there?!” 99380’s eyes shoot open and it looks around. When its only answer is mental silence, it tries again with: “Hello? Sorry I got spooked. Ummm, High Score?”

More nothing. 99380 briefly dips into the hive mind in case it could sense who was talking to it, but it can’t find any proof that anyone was even talking through the links. Shaking its head, the drone is no stranger to obeying ethereal voices, so it shrugs and internally goes through the locations it’s visited before, stopping on-

The sports area! It was pretty much empty at this time of day.

“Thank you, voice!” it speaks out into the hive mind politely.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you figured it out,” the voice finally responds and, now that 99380 is directly focusing on the hive mind communication, it still can’t sense any actual speaker.

Making a puzzled face as it stands up from the bench and heads towards the many courts and playgrounds, 99380 tests something by just thinking to itself:

Is this all in my head?

“Yes,” replies the voice.

Ah! Good job, head.

Unusual mental situation successfully sorted out, 99380 smiles and flies up to catch more of that recommended fresh air and get to the peaceful play zone faster.

***

10013 buzzing around hasn’t yielded any potential point increases either, but its curiosity spikes when it spots 387 sitting in a weird position on a lawn with his back propped against a tree and his forelegs on the knees of his crossed hind legs. The warrior’s eyes are closed and 10013 can’t sense his hive link at all, but it doesn’t feel like he’s asleep. 10013 ponders whether or not to disturb the warrior before 387 turns his head straight up towards it, eyes still closed. After that, 10013 can’t help itself and lands next to him.

“Good morning, 10013,” says 387 before finally opening his eyes, “Need anything?”

“Uh, no, 387,” 10013 shakes its head, “I was looking around for a way to help, saw you sitting here bendy-legged like this, and started wondering what you were doing. I didn’t want to disturb you, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” 387 reaches out and pats 10013’s head, the fact that this might be the first time in ages that a drone doesn’t wince at his touch warming his ancient heart, “I was just practicing some mind tricks and enjoying the peace after last night.”

“Did anything happen last night?” 10013 sits down by the warrior’s side and attempts to strike the same lotus pose. The new carapace allows for such mobility and it soon feels its muscles stretching and relaxing.

“Old Bugbutt wanted us to feed but it was pretty tough without shapeshifting before and now that everyone thinks we sank the ship it’s even worse. The roleplay I had to go through last night… If I ever hear ‘breed me, you traitorous bug, or I will tell the guards about you’ again, I swear I’m choking someone with the fluffy cuffs. Thank holes for Cadance and Shining Armor blasting off love almost nightly so that I had something to mix that lust with even if it meant sleeping under their floor glued to the bungalow from below.”

“Smart!” 10013 nods and pouts when it realizes something, “Goop, I could have just waited for Miss Cadance instead of spending my points to feed the guys. That way 36658 wouldn’t be mad at me.”

“It’s a lesson to stop and think before acting,” 387 shrugs and when 10013’s ears slowly droop, he adds: “If it’s any consolation, from the long-term point of view, I think you made the right call.”

“You do?” it’s almost funny how easy it is to make a drone cheer up.

“Yes, I do,” 387 nods, “It shows everyone that you care about them, not just about your veteran group. Granted, I think you overreacted and spent your points way before you had to, but I think it’s better than if you didn’t care at all. In terms of leadership, your heart was in it even though your head wasn’t and, as far as leaders go, I think that’s the better case.”

“Really?” 10013 isn’t sure how to process the rollercoaster of emotions as 387 both bashes and supports its choices, “I thought that you had to be the smartest, strongest, and overall the best to lead. You know? To know everything that can happen to others and to protect them from it.”

387 laughs.

“That’s nonsense, 10013. You can’t be the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, and all the other superlatives at the same time, but you can have the right goal and be inspiring. Look at Chrysalis-”

“I suddenly don’t like where this is going,” 10013 winces. These are ‘getting munched for treason’ kind of thoughts.

“-oh shush, she won’t eat you even if she learns what I’m telling you. Chrysalis isn’t particularly physically strong. I mean she can temporarily boost herself to pretty high levels but I think I could outclass her. She’s really good at mental tricks, but the old number 1? She could mentally twist Chrysalis into a pretzel. She’s not great at long-term strategy or even short-term tactics BUT these days she has a vision for the hive that I want to help her achieve. I don’t trust her not to slip into her old ways but when I had a long talk with 36658 I realized that questioning everything she does won’t help anything. What you’re going through is something she deals with on a much larger scale, and you must learn, just like she had to, that you can’t do everything on your own and the best thing you can do is find the right changelings to supplement your weaknesses.”

“So… if I’m not the smartest drone I just gotta find it?”

“Wrong question. Try to figure out why.”

“Uhh-”

Who do I consider particularly smart? 99111 is smart about all the weird devices, 99380 is the best at manipulating the hive mind, 36658 is the quickest thinker in a pinch…

The answer surfaces.

“-there are too many kinds of smarts to pick just one drone?” 10013 hazards a guess.

“Exactly!” 387 smiles, “The job of a leader is to know what needs to be done and to find the best tools for the job. That’s the only thing the leader needs to be the best at - leadership. Thankfully, as a drone, you don’t need to be persuasive because you guys are obedient. If you had to work with someone who doesn’t want to do the things you need them to do there would be more to it.”

10013 ponders it before hesitantly asking:

“Can I… can I tell 99111 to not use its points to ruin 36658’s High Score stories? I think it has kind of the right idea about the stories possibly making drones careless, but I think it’s not at all as much of a problem as it thinks it is.”

“Sometimes there are several good options, and sometimes even all options can be bad. You just have to pick one and live with it,” 387 nods, “I made books worth of decisions that proved wrong in retrospect. You just have to take the scar, 10013. If you learn from your mistakes, maybe you’ll do better next time.”

“What if I can’t pick a side?”

“There’s no can’t, 10013. Don’t try to avoid responsibility. Not picking a side is just another decision.”

10013 sighs.

“How do I know you picked the right drone for the job? Why am I in charge? We all know that drone ranks don’t mean much anymore.”

“No, they don’t, but they did to you older drones. We knew the veterans would listen to you because of it and the newly hatched ones would learn,” 387 doesn’t need to look at 10013 to understand what its sudden intake of breath means, “10013, I know that sounds exactly wrong, but trust me on this - if you weren’t the right one, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“...I don’t understand…” 10013 stops its objection and just grumbles.

“You don’t have to, just trust your instincts. You’re doing okay.”

10013 just sits there, mulling over 387’s words again and again and getting nowhere. In the end, the ‘trust your instincts’ line wins, and the drone stands up.

“I guess I should get back to finding some job to get back the points I… might have wasted. It’s tough today, though. Everyone seems fine just doing their thing. Is there anything you need done?”

“No, I’m good,” 387 smirks, “But maybe you should rethink your approach. While helping around can make others at ease around us, which we desperately need, Chrysalis also doesn’t want us to be seen only as cheap labor or sex objects.”

“But helping out is a good thing.”

“Hmmm, alright then. I’ll give you a point if you think of a drone weakness and help by figuring out a way to minimize it, how about that?”

“Yesss, directions!” 10013 beams, all recent uncertainty evaporating instantly. Of course, new uncertainty about what 387’s mission entails raises its head, but that’s a problem for future 10013.

“Anything else?” asks 387.

“Nope!” 10013 salutes, “I’m off to minimize!”

As 10013 heads off hive knows where, 387 smirks.

Freedom of self-determination is terrifying, isn’t it? It’s much easier when someone gives you orders, up until the point where the order is ‘go and die for me’ at which point it’s too late. That’s why it’s so difficult to get rid of dictators.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

I wonder which drone gets the power of Planning?

Lay all the location goop pieces, drone goop pieces and time of day goop piexes down and try and arrange them to have as many times and locations covered for as much help as possible, with points being a secondary?

[Screw]

That mysterious voice has roughly two paths it could lead to: it's High Score or, it's the drone's or drone collective consciousness and mental capacity growing.

As much as High Score coming back would be awesome, the drone hivemind developing a High Score guide would be very poetic. Honestly, it is kinda better in a way. The only way to kill something immortal is everyone forgetting they exist; 9999 is gooping immortal

[Scyphi]

Is this all in my head?

“Yes,” replies the voice.

Ah! Good job, head.

Yup! When the heads were being handed out to all the drones, 99380 clearly lucked out getting his.

“I was just practicing some mind tricks"

What, like Jedi mind tricks or something?

...

"These are not the drones you're looking for!" *waves hoof mysteriously*

Freedom of self-determination is terrifying, isn’t it? It’s much easier when someone gives you orders, up until the point where the order is ‘go and die for me’ at which point it’s too late. That’s why it’s so difficult to get rid of dictators.

Truth.

And look at 387, being all sensei-like and stuff.

[Nameless Narrator]

11578716
Don't get them mad, don't get them maaaad!
11578720
With the amount of possible drone stats it might take some time to find a specialist like that, and even then it would be something along the lines of "plans perfectly, but only when it's Tuesday and the plans are drawn on rice paper.".
11578879
Such possibilities! And I'm sure I'll answer it perfectly with no room for misinterpretation like a good writer would.
11579238
- Such head, much wow.
- The vaguely defined flutterpony mental stuff, like what he used before. It wouldn't be impeded by the paladin suppressor, unlike changeling communication and transformations.
- I'm now making it canon that every drone's shocked yell is a Wilhelm scream.
- 10013: "I met 387, and he was all like Sandwich Miyumyum!"