"Tell me more of this... Blue Sun." Queen Catalyst asked, following the soldier known as Olive along with the three volunteers down winding pathways of concrete and metal. "Blue Sun doesn't sound like any name I've ever heard for a changeling."
Olive was leading the group, followed by Catalyst in the middle with Maria, Karol and Ricky in the back. Armed guards dotted the hallway at points with sliding doors, most of whom were quite nervous of the large alien queen walking past them with her head ducked low to avoid smacking her curved horn against the roof.
"Well, she originally came to us as a 'drone', if that's the right wording--." Ricky began,
"And you hit her with a shovel." Maria interrupted with a coy smile.
"Hey, she was scary and it was the first time anyone'd ever seen an alien. You're the crazy one, going up to Blue and bringing her in like some stray dog." Ricky countered in good humor.
"A drone?" Catalyst wondered aloud. "Was she already named, or did the drone choose her own name?"
"We picked it out for her; got tired of callin' her 'alien' all the time." Ricky explained.
Catalyst then stopped, causing an inattentive Karol to slam into the queen's backside. The group looked upwards at the shocked expression on the Queen's face. "You... named her? You did?"
"Uh... yeah? Is that bad?" Ricky asked in a mixture of curiosity and concern.
Catalyst blinked a few times. "I'm... not certain, actually." she replied, her head facing forwards once more. "I'll have to see for myself."
"Hey Catalyst, have you ever met another queen?" Karol asked, and received angry chittering as a response.
"I refuse to speak of it." The glowing queen snapped. "A different subject; if we're going to distract ourselves with conversation, that is."
"Ah, okay..." Karol awkwardly continued. "Do you have a hive of your own?"
"Different. Subject." Catalyst growled from behind her teeth.
"How are you liking Earth so far?" Maria asked in hopes of avoiding immolation at the hooves of an increasingly upset queen. "It must be pretty different from where ever you're from."
"Most of my time was spent in a hole, a flying contraption, or this different hole that you terrans call a 'base'." Catalyst grumbled, before taking a moment to further organize her thoughts. "However, despite the limited experience I've had thus far... you seem to be far more welcoming than dragons; Ponies especially for that matter. Not a single scowl or sneer since my arrival." Catalyst paused a moment to regard a sliding door that stood open in her path, barring her teeth in a grimace before quickly moving past. "Aside from these contraptions and gadgets everywhere, I can see why this 'Blue Sun' chose to use this mountain as a hive. What I don't understand is why you're all allowed to be so close to it."
"Wait, did you say dragons?" Karol asked with excitement. "Like, big flying fire breathing dragons?"
"Yes, what of them?" Catalyst replied with a bit of confusion. "Are there dragons here that don't breathe fire?"
"We don't have any dragons." Ricky explained. "Apart from yourself and Blue Sun, we don't have other changelings either."
The orange queen was now even more confused. "Do you have ponies here then? Who controls your Sun and Moon?"
"I think we call it 'Gravity'." Olive snarked. "They're a pretty big deal."
"Do they rule Earth alone, or is there a second?" Catalyst asked, intrigued.
"Olive is being a smart-ass, Queen Catalyst." Maria explained. "Nobody controls the sun and moon or anything, they just kinda do their own thing. Gravity is just a force of nature or physics or something that keeps everything in place to where it should be."
"Swear jar." Ricky chuckled.
"Eh, remind me later." Maria shrugged.
"So... wait a moment." Catalyst asked, stopping in the hallway to turn awkwardly around in order to face the three. "There is no one controlling your Sun and Moon? No ponies, no dragons... are there Minotaur? Yaks? Sea-Serpents, Griffon... anything?"
"We've got a whole bunch of mythological guesses about things like that, but nothing aside from Yaks exist anymore; If they even did, I mean." Karol explained.
"So... of all the races it's just... Terrans and Yaks. I would've thought them the first to be annihilated if it came to a war..." Catalyst hummed in thought, scratching the side of her face with a hoof in an expression of numb acceptance. "Wait, where there changelings before Blue Sun and myself?"
"Nothing like yourself or Blue, no." Maria answered. "Why would the Yaks be the first to go? They're just a bunch of annoying... goat things I think, right?"
"You're the one that's gonna to be a vet here, Maria. I have no clue." Ricky shrugged.
"I think they're a type of Ox, actually." Karol chimed in.
As the group was explaining things to Catalyst whilst figuring out semantics, a guard barred the path of Olive. "Hold here a moment, Lieutenant. Colonel Bunker is on her way here-- She wants to be part of the introductory committee."
"Fine with me, just be sure to keep your weapon out of sight. Last person to mess with Catalyst nearly got melted out of curiosity." Olive warned, spooking the guard.
"Wait, how is this possible?" Catalyst asked, drawing the attentions of the three volunteers whom had been discussing Ox in relation to Bison. "If terrans are the only species left on this planet capable of thought... what happened to all of the others? I doubt you could have vanquished all of them by yourselves."
The three exchanged looks of uncertainty. "I dunno, Queen Catalyst. If all the myths and legends are true, then we probably did." Ricky explained.
Catalyst seemed troubled by this news and took a moment to organize her thoughts. It was at that moment that Colonel Bunker had caught up with them.
"Lieutenant 'Olive'." She greeted in humor. "I see you've kept our guests entertained."
"Colonel Bunker, yes Ma'am." Olive saluted in greeting, and the Colonel returned the salute in order to continue the conversation normally. "How are you doing, Queen Catalyst? Did you get enough love?"
Catalyst was still in an informational overload daze of sorts, her eyes blinking a few times.
"Uh, Queen Catalyst?" Bunker repeated, waving a hand near the Queen's face.
"Yes!" Catalyst blurted, her head rising swiftly and denting the concrete ceiling with her horn in surprise. "Ow!" The ceiling would have wilted under the queen's ire, had it not been made of concrete and incapable of anything other than being a construction. "Who build these pathways so small?"
"Well Queen Catalyst, we weren't really expecting visitors from another planet when we made them." Bunker replied with a smirk.
"Speaking of visitors," Catalyst asked, "What of Queen Blue Sun? I had thought we were walking through this place in order to locate her."
"You were, I just wanted to come along for the ride." Bunker explained, motioning forward. "Lead on, Lieutenant."
With Olive in the front and Bunker just behind, Catalyst remained nearby the three volunteers in the back to continue their conversation.
"So... there are no ponies on this planet, nor any other creature you consider mythical?" Catalyst asked.
"Well yeah, we got ponies. Horses too, though I don't really see why you'd be worried about them." Ricky explained.
Catalyst's face became a numb mask. "You said they were slain."
"No, we ride them. They're kinda like pets, though they used to help out with farming." Karol provided.
The queen's face scrunched a moment before she replied. "Alright, I am going to give the benefit of doubt and assume that we are not talking about the same kind of ponies, or this conversation is going to drive me insane."
"Alright... what would you want to talk about instead?" Maria asked.
"If I am going to be meeting another Queen, I need to know everything about the queen herself and her hive. How many changelings are there? Are they well fed? Will she be expecting me?" Catalyst asked, her anxiety coming to the front of her thoughts.
"Oh, right. We should probably let her know you're coming." Karol replied with mild sarcasm. "We... we did tell her that Queen Catalyst was coming, right?"
"That... ah... may have slipped my mind, somehow." Bunker admitted, taking out a handheld radio. "Slight oversight, aliens everywhere, kind of hectic." She added. With the radio close to her face, she began speaking into it. Catalyst watched with interest, even if she had no idea how the contraption was working. "Shen, are you there?"
"Doctor Shen speaking." the Radio replied. Catalyst's eyebrow twitched and her head tilted in examination of the radio, causing Bunker to lean away slightly from the proximity of the large queen's face.
"Would you mind letting Queen Blue Sun know that she's going to have another changeling Queen as company soon?" Bunker responded.
"Wait, do you mean now?" Shen asked with alarm. "There seems to be a situation in the hive at the moment; I'm certain that a better time could be found."
"A situation? What do you mean?" Bunker asked, concern showing.
"Well, her eggs are hatching at an increasing rate. I'm not certain if there will be room within the chamber for all of the drones and the heat they're giving off isn't survivable at the moment. We're going to shunt off the excess temperature by opening a pathway out of Cheyenne mountain before the structure is compromised." Shen explained before red warning lights sprang to life, lazily spinning around in dramatic fashion on the nearby tunnel walls.
"When was I going to be told of this?" Bunker inquired with annoyance.
"This only began in the last minute or so, Colonel. You should be able to meet Queen Blue Sun and her drones outside in a few moments. Use the emergency exit tunnels to find your way to the main entrance- I will meet you there along with security." Shen replied, and the radio cut out.
Bunker shook her head, clipping the radio to her uniform. "This day just keeps getting more and more interesting."
"Where are we going?" Ricky asked as Bunker swiftly brushed past him.
"We're going on a little picnic outside, seeing as Blue Sun's hive turned the temperature up to eleven." The Colonel replied.
"How much is eleven?" Catalyst asked, following the group.
"Well there's hot, and then there's really hot, and then there's up to eleven." Karol summarized. "It's basically non-specific speak for way-too-freaking-hot."
"I know of at least one queen I'd like to turn up to eleven at the moment." Catalyst grumbled.