I had no idea how much time had passed when I awoke, but I knew that my body hurt. I was laying on some kind of cushion on my side, blankets draped over me with only my neck exposed. With a chittering grumble I opened my eyes to blurry vision. A few blinks later and I was greeted by an entirely white room. White curtains, white tiles, white bedding, white doors... white. I noticed there was a human in a room nearby, separated by a transparent wall with silver lining. They wore a black suit with a white shirt, dark glasses and a black tie, sitting on a nearby chair and reading a newspaper. Their mane was black and short cut; their coat color more of a pinkish white. If humans even had coats. They never really explained it, but I never asked either.
The room itself was more clean than I could even have imagined. Everything practically shone or sparkled and the furnishing was kept to a bare minimum. My bed had taken up over half of the room but there was still a small crevice where I could stand if I decided to slide my way onto the floor. I still felt sick from Titan One, my body complaining about its visit there very pointedly by making my movements sluggish and clumsy. I reached my right hoof out in order to pull myself off of the bed, yet the shifting of weight caused the bed to creak in protest. I looked at the human in black that was standing guard and found that they had already stood up to silently observe me.
They held a hand to their ear and spoke rapidly in a calm tone. "Party Guest has awoken, might require a Bed and Breakfast, over."
"Party Guest?" I asked in confusion. The human's face was kept purposefully blank like a mask, but their emotions couldn't hide from me. Excitement, curiosity and wonder. Nothing malicious, which was a pleasant sign. "What is a Bed and Breakfast, by the way?"
They continued to speak to the wall, their eyes hidden behind their darkened glasses. "Guest is coherent; English speaking; Non-hostile as of this moment. Advise, over?"
"Whom are you speaking to? Does your ear function like a smart phone?" I asked again, slightly annoyed that they had refrained from speaking to me. I moved my hoof again and succeeded in pulling myself off of the bed with a loud thud. Pushing myself from the ground I found that I had become very weak, possibly from being starved.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked the human again, hoping for an answer.
They waited for a moment, possibly staring at me while their hand waited on their ear. At that point I noticed a white spiraling cord descending from it and into their clothing. "Roger, out." They blurted abruptly, and moved towards me. "I would like to apologize for your treatment on Planet Earth thus far, Queen Blue Sun. Our sincerest apologies for those humans you may have encountered that would upset our relationship with your species. I am currently the only available representative in the area qualified to speak with extraterrestrial life forms, of which we consider you. If you have any needs or questions, feel free to ask me. Our knowledge of your species is exactly nothing, aside from unconfirmed reports from those humans that have interacted with you. It is the collective wish of humanity to smooth over any slights against your being and to start again, formally."
This human was very direct and their way of speaking was more formal and respectful than other humans I had encountered. Maybe this was one of the royalty for humanity? They certainly dressed like a noble at least. "I need love in order to live. I know of three humans that could provide this to me; would you be able to retrieve them?" I asked in an equally formal tone. If I was going to be a Queen I would need to play the part. Showing any form of weakness now could have disastrous consequences in the future, especially if the royalty of humanity saw me as anything but an ally.
"You need love?" They blurted before correcting themself. "I apologize, Queen Blue Sun, that was not intended as an insult." They adjusted their glasses and continued, "Would you know the names of these three humans?"
I almost replied with Soft, Rough and Timid, but those were my names for them, not their own. Remembering their actual names took more effort on my part than it should have, considering that I remembered Sheriff Jacobs and Mayor Durn easily enough. "They would be... Ricky... Maria and um... Karol." I slowly said as I recalled their proper names. So much for appearing regal and in control, me. Good job.
"Do you have a last name as well? It is very difficult to locate the right person based off of their first name alone." The human in black asked politely.
"Monte', I think." I thought longer on the subject before I confirmed it, "Yes, Maria and Ricky Monte', and... I don't know the last name of Karol, but the other two should know them."
The human nodded and moved away for a moment after excusing themself. I could barely make out the words 'Bring them up' before they returned. "They should be arriving shortly, Queen Blue Sun. Is there anything else you need for your temporary stay in this clean room?"
I had a few questions. "Clean room?"
"We have no idea what sort of pathogens or infections that could transfer between our species or their impact on either of our species biologies. You are currently inside of a hospital clean room that has been modified to temporarily house you. This is intended as a precautionary measure until we can be certain that either of our peoples will be safe with normal interaction. We understand that you've made contact with a few humans and they are being securely held in similar rooms of this wing in the hospital to separate them from the general population. They are being closely monitored for signs of infection, sickness or other ill effects that may have arisen from contact with you. We don't mean to imply that you intentionally meant any sort of harm to humanity, though we insist on taking precautions." They explained in a monologue. It all seemed recited and memorized, not at all personal.
"Who are you? You know my name, but I don't know yours." I asked in as diplomatic a tone as I could.
"You may call me Agent K. Our public identity has been erased from record to keep the public safe, leaving that as my only form of identification." The human explained.
"How long have I been in this bed, Agent K?" I inquired, passively interested that a human would need to erase themself for 'public safety'. What was so dangerous that a name couldn't be attached to it?
"About four standard Earth days, Queen Blue Sun." Agent K replied without pause.
The formality was beginning to irk me. "Please, Agent K, call me Blue. You don't seem to behave in the same way as Sheriff Jacobs or Kind-- eh, Officer Brady."
"As you wish... Blue." Agent K replied awkwardly.
Wait a minute, four days!? My eyes widened in shock as I took a step back. "Four days!?"
Agent K was alarmed, stepping forward with concern. "What's wrong?"
"How am I not dead!? A whole four days without a speck of love? How!?" I rambled, as I had never gone longer than two without more love to sustain me. How was it that I wasn't starving right now? I had asked for love earlier out of habit, but now that i took a moment to examine myself, I wasn't hungry at all!
"Blue, please calm down." They urged with their hands motioning downwards. "We'll have the three you requested here very shortly and we'll be able to figure all of this out." Their emotions were spiked with anxiety and fear, but they contained those emotions behind their mask of professionalism.
I took a few deep breaths as well as Agent K's advice, calming myself down. It wouldn't be very Queenly of me to freak out about not having a meal on time, would it? "I... apologize for that outburst, Agent K. It's just that my need for love has always been a constant. Not having it caused me to panic." I explained in as dignified a manner as I could.
After that, two white doors were pulled open, revealing a human in all white dress and face mask leading three others. Soft, Rough and Timid.
My spirits lifted, accompanied by the loud buzzing of my wings and a chitter of excitement as I smiled. "You're here!" I exclaimed happily.
They were worried and nervous as they walked in, but those feeling fell aside to relief and joy as well upon seeing me. "Blue!" Soft cheered, rushing to the clear wall separating us. "We were worried about you!"
Rough joined the wall to Soft's left. "They wouldn't let us see you for days! We came here as soon as we heard about it!"
Timid noisily bonked into the wall as well on Soft's right. "It's all over the news! A few people with smart phones caught you being pulled out of the ambulance and posted it to news channels and it drew a whole load of reporters from all the major stations in the country! It's a spectacle!"
"Unfortunately." Agent K quietly grumbled to themself.
"Are you okay in there, Blue? Do you need love?" Rough asked in worry.
"Actually..." I began slowly. "I'm not certain why, but... I'm not hungry." I looked between the three of them, noting that multi-colored flicker had become a steadily burning flame. "At least, I don't think I need love anymore."
The three looked in confusion between them. "Huh?" Timid blurted.
"There is a sort of flame in each of you," I began to explain almost clinically. "It has six colors that I can see. Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green and Purple. Right after I 'Caramell Dansened', I noticed it as a small spark. Now after seeing you again, it has grown into a flame. While I am near to you, everything feels... better, somehow. I don't feel hungry or starved like I did before. I have no idea what emotion I'm feeding off of now, but I don't even need to drain it from you anymore like I did with Rough."
Timid playfully punched Soft in the shoulder. "I knew you liked girls!" they teased.
Soft returned the punch to Timid. "Says you! You got the Pride Fire inside of yourself too ya know!"
For some reason, Rough distanced themself from both Soft and Timid with a nervous glance to myself and Agent K.
"So... what do you think the fire really is, Blue?" Soft asked after the two had stopped giggling.
"I honestly have no idea." I confessed, "It could be something unique to humans entirely."
Agent K moved away from the group to speak into their ear more, turning their back to me.
I leaned in close to the three of them. "What happened to Sheriff Jacobs and Mayor Durn?"
Soft looked confused. "Huh? How do you know them?"
Timid shrugged. "Nobody's heard from them in a few days. I think the spooks like Agent K took them somewhere."
Well, I could always just ask. I lifted my head to look at Agent K and called out, "Agent K, I have another question!"
They quickly turned around and walked to me. "Yes, Blue?" They asked politely.
"What happened to Mayor Durn and Sheriff Jacobs?"
Agent K began explaining right away. "Mayor Durn and Sheriff Jacobs have both been suspended from their positions with pay regarding an official investigation as to how long they knew about your presence on earth as well as their involvement with your incapacitation. If you have any information regarding their actions, it would greatly assist us."
I didn't know what suspended with pay meant, but judging from Agent K's tone and Soft, Timid and Rough's reactions, it was something bad. "Sheriff Jacobs and Mayor Durn arrived at the Titan One by my request in order to have a more formal meeting. I had explored the depths of the Titan One by myself and became... poisoned by the negative emotions there. I had been looking for a secluded area to... live." I explained, ending in hesitation to avoid revealing to a royal that I was intending to create my hive in their lands.
"Did Mayor Durn or Sheriff Jacobs play any role in your incapatication or injury?" Agent K asked formally.
"I do not think so, no." I replied honestly.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, Blue." Agent K nodded, taking a step back and turning to speak into their ear again.
Soft, Timid and Rough exchanged awkward looks with me. "So..." Timid began, "How's the clean room?"