Power of perseverance: 2
99 wakes up on her back, finally refreshed and at peace, with the horrors of yesterday postponed for now. She also feels somewhat warm, and something heavy is lying on her chest. Her mind fires up before she opens her eyes, and she reaches out to take stock of the situation. As if withdrawing a curtain of silence and peace, nearby hive links and the mental map become accessible, and the silent and still mental world shifts into 99’s normal mental picture of reality. With that peculiar situation sorted out, 99 concentrates on the corporeal world and opens her eyes. The weight on her chest turns out to be 99380 sleeping draped across her along with a heavy spider web cloak. Somehow, she can sense that the protective sphere of mental peace was the drone’s doing, and she’s more than thankful, because she has to admit that this might have been possibly the best sleep she’s had… maybe ever.
“How can I repay you?” she mutters quietly, yet still eliciting an open eye from 99380.
“Huh? Heya, 99!” 99380 perks up and moves off of her, “Did you sleep well? With what happened last time we met, Voice and I decided to stay close just in case. Well, I did. Voice is just kinda everywhere.”
“Better than ever,” she sits up, pats the drone’s head, and removes the web cloak, “And what’s this?”
“When 99200 heard about 10k’s recovery schedule, it brought back a whole bunch of webs to make it a pillow and a cloak, saying that they felt great to sleep on and under. From the leftovers, it made a group blanket,” it pokes the piled-up webbing next to 99.
“It’s not wrong,” 99 stands up and stretches, “Speaking of 10k, how is it doing?”
“It’s resting after its first walk of this worky time,” 99380 points to the only filled alcove in the HSC where 10k is sleeping in a grey cocoon, “It took some persuading to use the webs, but in the end it had to admit these weren’t dangerous.”
“Especially since 99200 already gave a cloak to the Queen,” comments 99.
“Pff, even if something’s dangerous to us, there’s no way it would hurt the Queen,” 99380 waves its hoof dismissively.
“I guess it’s a long shot,” admits 99 and starts planning her day, “Thanks for keeping an eye on me, 99380.”
“I kept the whole me on you!” 99380 beams.
“Even better,” 99 briefly prances in place to get her blood flowing, much to the puzzled look of 99380 who nonetheless doesn’t comment. In its mind, high ranks do high rank things it doesn’t need to understand, “Say, 99380, you’re the hive mind specialist. Can you sense any high ranks in the hive?”
“Mmmm,” the drone pouts in concentration, “You’re here, Her Majesty is in the throne room with 156. Someone… uhh… is there too -I think that’s 387, he’s really hard to spot- aaand he’s gone. He must have noticed me looking.”
“Don’t worry about him. Anyone else?”
“Yup, 2119 and 3012 are on the top floor too,” 99380 scrunches its nose, “And someone’s in the lower tunnels, but I can’t sense who. Weird.”
“Don’t worry about it,” 99 hides a victorious smile. The picture of the conspiracy she’s been slowly putting together is finally coming together, “Can you tell me where they are? A general area at least.”
“Yup,” 99380 puts a private marker on an area of the hive mind map, visible only to 99, “This direction is the best I can do.”
“Thank you very much,” 99 scratches the drone behind the ear, “I’ll leave you to your business now.”
“Have fun!” 99380 waves at her as she turns to leave, and checks its own shift schedule, “Huh, I got digging today. Neat! I’ll just put away the blanket-”
It vanishes in a burst of green fire before it can do anything, leaving 99 alone with sleeping 10k and the weird slimes slowly wobbling around. 99 shakes her head and stashes the web blanket into a nearby higher alcove. She doesn’t know if the slimes eat webbing, but it would be a shame if 99200’s creation got ruined.
No one should be in the hive. As I suspected, something’s going on, someone’s been manipulating the high rank mission schedule, and the only one who can even barely notice is 99380 who has no idea that something’s amiss. If 415 and his allies are ready for the Queen and the “powerful” top ranks, it’s up to me to figure out what’s going on and put a stop to it.
***
Strolling through the lower tunnels, 99 isn’t hiding her presence whatsoever. The section pointed out by 99380 is in a safe, mined-out territory a short distance away from the core tunnels. Despite that, the rough tunnels are wide and tall enough for her to fit through, so this place can’t have been just some random shaft. After not even ten minutes of aimless walking in the right area, 99 hears hoofsteps nearby and smirks.
Huh. Still can’t sense whoever that is. Their link masking must be crazy strong, which explains how they’d be able to move around without the Queen noticing.
She doesn’t even act surprised when she rounds a bend and spots 415 waiting for her.
“You’re pretty difficult to find,” she states matter-of-factly, “A good prerequisite for attempting treason.”
“Not difficult enough, apparently,” 415’s confident calm is as infuriating as always, but 99 doesn’t let it show, “So, did you make up your mind?”
“That depends on what happens now,” 99 grins. Green flame briefly lights the tunnel, shifting 99’s normally smooth carapace into a plated and jagged warrior armor. To her satisfaction, 415 doesn’t call her bluff and backs off a step, which is a great thing, because 99 knows first-hoof from her sparring with 387 what a skilled warrior changeling can do, “All top ranks confirmed that the Queen’s daughter didn’t die, and that 745 is simply running late. And you know what? I also know from a reliable source that your story about royal daughters being solely for food is at least fifty-fifty bullshit, so I’m willing to risk avoiding becoming food by proving my worth and putting the top ranks on the trail of your conspiracy. This is your last chance to give me a reason to think my survival chances are higher with you.”
99 hides her surprise when 415 smiles back, his confidence shaking her own again.
“I hope you retain that vigor and courage when push comes to shove, 99. 745 isn’t on a mission, she returned days ago and was killed by a drone.”
“By a drone?” 99 laughs, “You can’t be serious,” she reminds herself that the old changelings grew up in a cutthroat atmosphere forcing the survival of the fittest, “I might go as far as to say that anyone killed by a drone deserves it for being weak.”
For the first time, 99 spots a shade of disgust cross 415’s face. Getting under his carapace is a small victory, but at this point she takes what she can get.
“It was the one protected by pony magic. It baited 745 to enter its head,” the warrior scowls.
Once again, the seesaw of trustworthiness moves the other way. 99 knows how Chrysalis’ own attempt at reading 65536’s mind ended, and it’s not far-fetched that a normal infiltrator could suffer a fatal wound by doing the same.
“And I’m supposed to just believe you, am I?”
“No, you’re not. I was there and I’ll let you look into my memories,” 415 shakes his head.
Warning bells immediately start ringing for 99 but, unlike the time she was attacked by the strange mental entity, she has a friend to call on.
“VOICE! I need your help.”
“I’m here. What’s going on?” asks the familiar voice of Voice.
“I’m going to dive into the head of someone I don’t entirely trust and I don’t want it to end like last time when you and 99380 had to save me. Can you keep an eye on me?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you. Pull 99380 into it if need be, just make sure it doesn’t come in person.”
“Alright, show me,” 99 speaks out loud after the exchange. She’s not skilled enough to avoid the passage of time during mental conversation entirely, but she’s smart enough to narrow her eyes and pretend she’s briefly measuring 415 instead of calling for Voice’s backup.
***
Through 415’s eyes, 99 can see him holding 99200 by the neck. As threatening as it would be to someone with a soft neck like a pony, it sort of is the easiest way to hold a drone, so 99 can’t fault the warrior yet. It decompresses the spine too, that’s why there are the weird, new neck hooks in the High Score cavern. They’re a great idea once one forgets that the drones came up with it after being unsuccessfully hanged by hippogriffs during the island trip.
“-just camping. I’m here often, so you must have missed me before. Are you here to camp too? I can dig a hole for you too, because this one’s kinda too small for all of you,” replies 99200 to a question 415 posed before the memory started. 99 can easily guess it was some variant of ‘What are you doing here?’.
A ranked mare behind 415 whom the memory identifies as 745 responds first: “Hive business. You didn’t see anything and you didn’t meet anyone today.”
65536 bursts out from a still covered part of a burrow at floor level, scowling.
“If anything happens to either of us, you’ll have the Queen and two alicorns on your necks,” threatens the drone.
“Let’s just wipe them and go then,” offers 745 and 415 nods.
745 screams and collapses, which is the abridged version of the horrifying melting, boiling, and subsequent thrashing on the floor which mercifully only lasts a couple seconds.
“What did you do?” growls 415, dropping 99200.
“I warned you,” 65536 shrugs, “99200, let’s go.”
***
“We ate 745’s body and let the drones leave,” 415 frowns, “As much as I hate to say it, 65536 was right in assuming that a mid rank’s life wouldn’t be worth the potential political consequences of punishing that little traitor.”
“That doesn’t sound like 65536,” 99 hesitates.
“Doesn’t it? It’s a pre-invasion drone. I can admit that their lives were harsh, and I now know 65536 definitely hasn’t forgotten it. Maybe, in its mind, you’re just ‘one of the few good ones’. With their new mind control resistance and militarization, none of us are safe, and the Queen doesn’t care. Perhaps she thinks that they, with their inventions, can eventually replace us all,” 415 sees that 99 is still unconvinced, “You know what? Check 99200’s memories yourself. It was there. None of my ‘associates’ have interacted with the drone ever since, so you can check all of its memories to confirm my story. You’d better do it quickly while you still have the time to choose correctly.”
99 transforms back into her casual form, although the suspicious glare she’s giving 415 doesn’t change.
“Where do I meet you after I do that?”
“The place where 745 died, how about that?” offers 415.
“You are going there right now and waiting for me,” orders 99 and, without waiting for confirmation, leaves.
A conspiracy born out of fear for their lives then, not just a power grab? That’s a good thing. It means that if I can dispel everyone’s fears or offer them some guarantees, then I can make all this go away and avoid losing some of the hive’s high ranks or harm coming to my friends in charge or the drones. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.
***
Worky time is in full swing, and the first half of 99200’s shift consists of following a tiny seam of silver which is likely to yield a hoofful at best, which for the happily humming drone only means that it’s going slowly with utmost care to accidentally not dig off anything that sparkles in the glow of its blue eyes even slightly. If today’s digging is bound to be safe, it should be done extra properly. The safety and uninteresting nature of its assignment only makes it stranger when it hears a voice call out:
“99200, it’s 99. Can you climb out of the hole for a moment?”
The drone stashes the couple small fragments of natural silver it’s found so far under its carapace and realizes it can’t even turn around inside the tiny shaft.
“I’m kinda stuck. Give me a moment to dig myself out,” 99200 quickly clears out enough space to start crawling back, “I got lost in thought and kept digging forward. 99380 is playing really nice tunes,” as much as 99 would like to listen to the hive mind jukebox, she’s way too on edge, so she waits in silence until 99200’s head peeks out of the hole in the ground, “Heya, 99!” the drone smiles, “Whatcha doing here?”
“I need to examine your memory in depth,” she gets straight to the point, “It might take a while.”
“That’s fine. 10k gave me some extra time to get more webby spinner webs. I can do that during breaky time too,” 99200 shrugs and crawls out of the hole.
“Thanks. I promise I’ll think of something to give you later. Right now I have bigger things to deal with.”
“Okay!” 99200 has no idea what’s going on, but 99 is a nice changeling so it’s all good.
The two sit down, and 99 delves into someone’s memories for the second time today.
“Voice, cover me again, please.”
“I’m here,” is the helpful entity’s calming response.
Meticulously, 99 goes through 99200’s memories of the encounter. They’re somewhat fragmented and blurry, which can be explained by the drone’s panic at being caught by high ranks for some unknown crime, but overall they confirm 415’s story. The second part of her search is longer but easier because 99 tries to find if 99200 encountered a high rank who could have tampered with its memories. Unfortunately, the encounter happened before the underground fire so there are more suspects in 2119 and 3012, although those two haven’t shown any hints of treason.
Ah hah!
99200’s mind responds to another mental query about the topic by releasing the most recent memory.
***
At the edge of rumbler territory, 99200 meets 2119 who warns the drone about the area and tells it to go home for its own safety. 99200 is nervous to its hooves, but happy the encounter ends peacefully.
***
WAIT!
99200 pauses.
Why would 99200 be scared for its life when meeting 2119? The gate sentries are the two ranked changelings with whom the drones haven’t had any trouble? Exactly the opposite, in fact, considering that the infiltrator was their referee during the big snow game.
It would be impossible to explain to a non-changeling how 99 finds the following inconsistency in the drone’s memory, but the best way would be that the hive link identity of the changeling 99200 met feels ‘blurred’.
“Voice, can you sense any inconsistency about the memory I’m examining right now?”
“Strange. The record of this encounter that’s stored in the drone section of the hive mind doesn’t show 99200 meeting 2119 but 838.”
“You store drone memories there?”
“Everything that’s not a routine occurrence gets stored there. It’s my job to filter what to keep and in what form and what to discard. I know how much 10k doesn’t trust ranked changelings in general and why, so I wanted to record a situation where a high rank warned a drone to avoid it getting harmed as a proof that 10k can call upon when it feels overwhelmed. It’s full of doubt that times aren’t changing enough. Let me connect the stored memory to 99200.”
The drone blinks, unaware what exactly changed in its head, but its mind corrects the tampered memory on its own while 99 is watching.
838 was nice to 99200 to put the drone at ease and make changing its memories easier! He’s still a mid-rank warrior, so a perfect change was out of his skill level. This also casts a lot of doubt on how the encounter with 415 really went and what his motivation is.
“I wish I could just read 65536’s mind and confirm the encounter went the way 99200 recalls it.”
“Is that a problem?” asks Voice.
“I’m too attached to my brain staying on the inside of my skull. The spell in 65536’s head can kill.”
“But 65536 can let you in if need be. The protection spell is sort of ‘smart’ and 65536 can show you some of its recent memories without triggering it.”
“WHAT?”
“You didn’t know that?”
“Obviously not!”
“65536 is asleep, but if speed is of the essence, I can just contact it through 99380.”
“Please, do.”
Minutes pass as the two sit silently in the tunnel, the drone listening to inaudible music and 99 repeatedly rewatching the unedited memory of the encounter between 99200, 65536, and the conspirators.
So, the idea was to implicate 2119, which means that it’s likely he’s not involved and wasn’t one of the changelings 99200 met. This makes me wish so much that we didn’t all look the same. This possibly rules out 3012 too. Maybe they’re not involved because the traitors didn’t consider them powerful enough to be useful or constantly too close to the Queen for their strange mental protection to work.
As she’s silently thinking, 99 realizes one thing and asks:
“Voice, can you hear me think? You could last time.”
“The Queen told me not to do that for ranked changelings. I can only react to the speech you use your hive link for.”
99 breathes out in relief.
Oh thank holes!
“Good to hear that. I’m used to having at least some modicum of privacy. Anyway, thank you for all the help so far. I’ll call you if I need you again,” 99 pauses, “Can I repay you in some way? I don’t really even know what you are other than a hive mind entity. Do drone-like hive mind entities like sweets too?” she clutches at a familiar straw.
“Don’t worry about it, 99,” replies Voice with a chuckle, “Fixing 99200’s memory and bringing this peculiar situation to light is enough of a reward, although now that I know 838 warped 99200’s memory I think I’ll remove the encounter from the extra storage. I’m not about to distort the truth.”
“You are one of a kind.”
“As far as I know, that’s technically correct. The best kind of correct.”
99 chuckles out loud, making 99200 open its eyes and blink. Despite the abundance of resources the drones enjoy these days, there’s still the lingering instinct that tells them to shut down and do nothing when there’s nothing to do.
“I’m not about to delay you any longer, 99200,” 99 pats the drone’s head and then boops its nose when its tongue involuntarily pops out of its mouth, “Thank you, and have a safe shift.”
“Bye, 99,” the drone still has no clue what all this was about, but it fulfilled 99’s request to her satisfaction and that’s all that matters. Time to resume digging. What would be a good song to get pumped up with?
“99380, gimme The Lunar Path, please,” decides 99200, and a drumbeat accompanied by a cello starts playing.
Stats
Page generated in 0.045 seconds
Total duration
723 users online
911,747 hits today, 2,139,894 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So 415 is clearly trying to frame what their doing as 'we're scared for our lives' and making the drones the bad guys.
I bet that's a reference, I should look that up someday.
i.chzbgr.com/full/6513406720/h6C8AFFE8/when-i-have-a-paper-due-the-next-day
Mid ranks doing things theyre not supposed to be able to? Someones been listening to the droning lectures?
I already know the song. I got so hyper addicted to it for an admittedly short time that I downloaded that into my phone. It's practically a core memory.
I think it is mainly because I am an ex-payday 2-2k-hours-retiree. That genre of song clicks with me too well.
Rebel Path.
I did manage to play Johnny Silverhand's mission before dropping the game for some time. Pumping tracks like that sure made me fly all over the map like V1 from Ultrakill.
Anyway, I love the difference of 99 and all the high ranks.
She is optimistic.
Almost drone-like. Way too optimistic considering she is weaker on the combative side against 387 or even 156.
But, her optimism does seem to lubricate the gears of friendship like a drone. An unorthodox infiltrator.
If she still lives, I can see 387 and 99 as 'Mr.' and 'Mrs./Ms.' of the drones.
Hell, I can imagine her as the defacto diplomat, kinda like 65536, except, on the same level as him.
Yeah, that tracks. Shall we just say that 387 really likes his privacy?
Omitting several key details with that again, like how 745 was warned (or at least attempted to be warned--I suppose 65536 did get cut short) to NOT do what she did for her own safety, that said drone in question had no actual control over the defense that ultimately killed her in her own arrogance, and that it was more Princess Luna, in an indirect sort of way as she was the one who put the defense measure there, that killed her and not the drone itself.
But, you know...the truth would mess up 415's plans here entirely, so...basically he's being a very typical conspiracy theorist.
That said, it's worth noting that currently, 99 has only 415's word on this, and she's already rather suspicious of him and not inclined to take his word at face value, not helped by the fact that 415 clearly insured there was little evidence left behind that would prove 745 actually did die at all. Almost certainly because it otherwise would've raised questions about what both 415 and 745 were doing there in a remote corner of the hive and antagonizing drones without permission in the first place that 415 didn't want, but still, trying to cover it up like he is also kinda shooting himself in the hoof with his attempts to convince 99 to his side like this. Again demonstrating that 415 isn't being nearly as clever with his whole conspiracy like he thinks, but...I think that'd already been well demonstrated by now.
Not that the potential threat he and his schemes present aren't still very real, because they are, which is why I have an invested interest in making sure said plans are thwarted before they can ever actually takeoff, but we'll see if 99 actually has enough of a leg-up on him to do that right now.
I kinda have to agree with that. Particularly since 745's death really was her own fault.
No, 65536 tried to warn her not to do it. The only thing you can really blame it for was failing to warn 745 that actual death was possible here, and that was because it actually had no idea Luna had taken the mental defenses quite that far, thinking instead 745 would just be knocked flat trying given that's what happened to the last changeling who even tried such a silly stunt (side glances over at Chryssi). Even then I'd argue 65536 was excused, because at that point it was being genuinely threatened and thus any acts of defense were probably justified, especially as in this case even Chryssi would probably back up 65536 on this front given the unsavory motives that led to 745 causing her own death in the first place.
Hee hee, yeah, that was great. I bet those hippogriffs are still traumatized by that little event.
Now see, good thing I just stopped to re-read the actual scene from the relevant chapter, because now I can be certain that's an outright fabrication.
...actually, how did 415 even get the skill to convincingly do--wait, never mind, we've got a potential flutterpony in his court too, that's probably how.
I am both laughing at his obvious skewing of events and shaking my head in grave concern at this very dangerous stance he's taken.
Yeah, that doesn't match Chryssi's world views at all. Like, does 415 even know Chryssi in any meaningful way? Never at any time has she ever shown signs of considering anything even close to an idea like that. She'd sooner use those inventions to replace just the drones rather than the high ranks, and even THAT I'm a bit skeptical about, because having some cannon fodder around would still be useful, dang it!
Oh, so we've basically got a countdown clock and everything now. Do I hear intense suspense music starting to build in the background too?
Well, I think it's still kinda a power grab, but yeah, I suppose there is a genuine fear fueling it all. There usually is with conspiracies.
*Futurama suddenly echoes in my head*
11884914
It's a mystery wrapped in an enema.
11884979
- You bet right!
- A drone sees so many fingers and starts to drool, imagining them all scratching its head.
11885079
As it turns out, the conspiracy mastermind has been 99380 all along!
11885209
Yep. I've liked the song throughout the Johnny segments in the game, but it seared itself into my memory during the hardest ending when you and Johnny go on a suicide mission to Arasaka tower alone with your maximum health dropping every couple seconds. It's clearly not the one devs wanted to be canon, but I think it's the most fitting one.
It fits here, with the whole theme of the story, and the Lunar part is unconnected but obvious.
Well, we know by now that 99 is way far from her numeric rank. In the old hive, she would be hard to place, but somewhere around 500-ish. The main point is that she's a classless individual with freedom to grow in various directions instead of hatching with a full set of infiltrator/warrior skills.
All three top changelings are, just the way they show it is different. One can also say that the entire discontent is Chrysalis' fault for not bringing more ranked changelings into the picture.
This makes me think how 65536 would fare in sparring against 99, and now I realize that 65536 would win.
11885239
No one can fault him for that.
They're putting chemicals into the noms that are turning the drones gay!
I don't want to write anything not to influence how the image of the conspiracy plays in one's head in contrast to reality.
SCARED DRONE NOISES! (They wouldn't want anyone to suffer the old rules, even high ranks if they knew how cutthroat life was for them too.)
I'm not sure even 65536 knows, but it can be assumed, considering that it knocked out an ancient infiltrator Queen, caused her headache and loss of coordination for a day, that even a top infiltrator could die.
They didn't like changelings before. Now, drones are their satan or twins from the Shining. Well, sextuplets or however many were there.
Flutterpony or not, who say there's not an infiltrator among the conspirators able to manipulate memories?
That's the worst part - the real possible concern. Exactly how real world lies take root, you just need to sprinkle in a little bit of truth.
Clearly not, and whose fault is that? The vast majority of drones saw the Queen for the first time ever in this story. Who says it's that different from other changelings? Why would it be? 156 is in charge of coordinating missions and giving orders. Building your own image of someone based on fragmented semi-truths and rumors can be extremely dangerous, and is so easily shattered when you get to know them.
With the money saved by making covers myself (and thus ruining the story's popularity by not making the cover catchy eye candy) I managed to book Two Steps From Tartarus for the final battle.
It's always someone power hungry using others with real fear for their means.
Voice, Hermes, Messenger of Gods, High Score and The Great Shiny, free association, Hive's limbo champion almost two years running.
This has me thinking about an ordinarily peaceful drone having to reckon with a vengeful hive mind ghost shacking up in its head while maintaining it's cover in canterlot or something. Cyberpunk changelings could work.
11888534
Boss' first story is kiiinda like that, but it would be neat if someone way more skilled than me wrote a much more detailed and thought through version.