//------------------------------// // The Meeting of Queens // Story: I Am a Pet Changeling // by Queen Sanguine Dreams //------------------------------// Great job, Terra. You can run an entire base inside of a mountain with who knows what going on behind closed doors, but no, you somehow forget to tell an alien queen that there's a second alien queen just waltzing around the place. Maybe if I'm lucky, I won't have this all blow up in my face. Colonel Bunker was leading the group consisting of Queen Catalyst, Maria, Ricky and Karol through the red-lit halls of Cheyenne mountain accompanied by Lieutenant 'Olive'. She had forgotten the Lieutenant's original name, as the entire rest of the facility had addressed him as such ever since Queen Blue Sun had named him that. Doctor Shen wasn't messing around when he warned Bunker that the base was overheating; The temperature along the walls was approaching a hundred degrees rapidly, slowly crawling past ninety-five as she glanced towards the thermometers in her brisk pace. Despite being used to Queen Blue, at least from a distance, having the seven foot four Queen Catalyst chittering and clacking behind made her skin crawl. There was something that set this queen apart from Blue, and Bunker couldn't put her finger on it. More of a hunch that something wasn't going to go well very soon. It was probably her own nerves from forgetting to inform Blue Sun about the guest, but again her gut knew something was wrong. Glancing over her shoulder as she lead the group ahead, she noticed that Catalyst wasn't even aware of the temperature change. In fact, she seemed more preoccupied with the swirling alarm lights than anything else. "What was your name again?" Catalyst asked, her chittering double-voice clicking unnervingly in Bunker's opinion. "I remember that your drone here is named 'Olive', and that these three are volunteers, but I can't seem to remember yours for some reason." Oh, right. I never really introduced myself, thought Bunker. "I'm Colonel Terra Bunker, Queen Catalyst. Lieutenant 'Olive' isn't my drone, either. He's an Officer." She clarified. The group continued through a mess hall, most of the chairs being slid out and creating a tripping hazard from the rushed yet orderly evacuation of the base. Bunker decided that they would have to perform more drills later on just so people would remember the push the chairs in when a situation like this happened again. Half-eaten meals and discarded magazines or newspapers were left on the tables; some of the food still steaming. "What is it that you do, exactly?" Catalyst inquired, and Bunker couldn't help but feel like there was something crawling up her back, though she let none of her discomfort show. Perhaps it was simply the fact that she wasn't fond of bugs in the first place and Catalyst was a mix between her worst nightmares and her greatest interests. "Would you be considered a Princess?" A Princess? Bunker turned her head just enough to keep an eye on where she was going and to reply to Catalyst. "A princess? What gave you that idea?" she asked, somewhat regretting her decision to look towards the glowing alien Queen. The only thing even remotely relate-able these Queens had to humans was their hair, or 'mane' as Vahlen insisted. The eyes reminded her of a snake, the fangs reinforcing that idea. "You lead the forces in this mountain by yourself, at least from what I've seen, and you are regarded rather highly by your...subordinates." Catalyst replied, changing her wording to avoid having a conversation about the semantic difference between a worker, drone or underling again. Past the mess hall, the group moved through the general living area of the base personnel and the opened doorways that lead to bunk-beds and hastily opened dressers. Thankfully she wouldn't have to remind people about leaving their belongings on the floor, though she was still concerned about how generally messy this evacuation was. How long had it really been since this was practiced? A glance at another thermometer on the wall graced Bunker with a temperature of ninety-eight degrees in the span of the three minutes it took to cross from the last one. "We've got to pick up the pace if we're gonna make it out of here at this rate. The place is already close to a hundred." Bunker stated with the trained calm of her position, though internally she was concerned for those soldiers that remained in deeper sections of the base. She knew there were alternate pathways they could've taken that were far from the hive inside, though the realization that she hadn't run across anyone else was a good sign that everyone had escaped without incident. "If it gets any hotter I'm going to start carrying a water cooler jug around with me just to dump it on my head." Ricky complained from the back. "Just as a precaution." "I still don't understand what you're all complaining about. This seems perfectly fine to me." Catalyst chimed in, her voice again causing discomfort to Bunker. "I don't understand how you Terrans survive if you're this vulnerable to a bit of heat." "Well, were was your hive before you came here?" Karol asked, receiving an angry buzzing from the queen at the mention of a hive. "A volcano, in the Dragonlands." Catalyst replied curtly, obviously annoyed. Bunker made a note to avoid any mentioning of Catalyst's Hive in the future, for fear of something out of the movie Aliens happening to her. "A volcano!?" Karol replied excitedly. "Wait, a volcano in the Dragonlands? Did you try to get dragons to love you?" Catalyst's wings buzzed in an oddly... well, Bunker didn't really know how a cheerful buzzing sounded, but it made her feel like it was an amused kind of noise. "A dragon can't love anything but their treasures." "So... how do you get love from them, then? They won't love you or another dragon." Maria asked. "I mean, if you set up a hive in a volcano of all places, you had to feed your drones somehow." The casual conversation was a welcome distraction from the rising temperature in the base; Bunker's uniform was already starting to soak with sweat. She could tell that the kids were doing about as well as she was; Ricky had taken off his jacket and thrown it over his shoulder, Maria had taken off her shirt and wrapped it around her upper chest, and Karol... well, she decided she'd rather sweat than reveal skin, Bunker assumed. Now she was worrying if Karol was a changeling, but the obvious matted hair and sweaty face from Karol dispelled that assumption as quickly as it arrived. "A dragon loves their treasure, so all it takes is for a drone to become the treasure." Catalyst replied as if it was obvious. "For example, if the dragon takes great pride and joy in their collection of gems, yet also stolen trophies, you would disguise as a trophy nearby to soak in the emotion. Besides, the drones that choose to become a gem don't last long." "Why's that?" Maria asked. "They get eaten." Catalyst responded simply, causing the shock of an unexpectedly blunt reply on the surrounding group. The hallways were beginning to lead towards the main entrance of the mountain now, colored lines along the walls showing that the lobby was nearby. The ventilation of the base was doing its best to cool down, though the only air that came through was even hotter than the surrounding area. Perhaps the air conditioning systems had already broken trying to maintain a temperature that was too taxing on their machinery. Moving past desks and placed clip-boards on tables, the group arrived at the front lobby and sighed with relief to see the front doors already open with comparatively arctic breeze blowing in. "Oh thank Jesus!" Karol blurted with glee, running ahead of the group to be the first outside. Maria and Ricky soon ran after her, also rejoicing. Catalyst shook her head and continued after Bunker to the outside world where the main faculty of Cheyenne mountain awaited them. **** Catalyst could see row upon row of pre-fabricated buildings outside, tan and green in an odd pattern that made it difficult to see clearly at a distance. She then rolled her eyes, finally remembering the correct wording was 'tents'. The Terrans had celebrated their escape from the supposedly hot interior of the mountain, and Catalyst spotted more groups of Terrans exiting and gathering around outside. They wore similarly patterned clothing and organized themselves fairly quickly after recovering from their evacuation. Some of the people outside were passing around bottles of... something, Catalyst couldn't identify the-- It was water. Of course it was water! That's what mammals drink when they overheat: Water! The Queen was busy being thankful that she had no need for things like food or water when one of the volunteers, Maria if she remembered correctly, pointed towards the entrance of the mountain. "Look! It's Blue!" She shouted in joy, and certainly there was Queen Blue Sun in the entryway. What Catalyst hadn't been expecting was the defective drone standing directly next to her, along with a few hundred drones crawling or buzzing their way out of the mountain. Catalyst was so pre-occupied with staring at the somehow still-alive defective in front of her that she didn't notice Blue's approach until they were face to face. "Who are you?" Blue Sun asked curiously, her head tilted. "How did you get here? Were you in the... um. The Canterlot thing?" She added conspiratorially. Catalyst blinked, still staring at the defective. "Th... the what?" She mumbled. "Queen Blue Sun," Colonel Bunker stepped in, "This is Queen Catalyst. She only recently arrived on earth a few days ago." Catalyst noted the cheerful expression on Bunker, but her emotions betrayed the unease she had from proximity to the two Queens. Blue Sun seemed not to notice this, and Catalyst was busy backing away from the defective. "Is something wrong?" Bunker asked. "Why is that defective still alive?" Catalyst asked accusingly, pointing at the white changeling. "Don't you know what that thing is?" Queen Blue Sun looked at the defective, and the white drone backed away from the orange Queen. "I can be useful!" it protested. "The only use a drone like you has is death!" Catalyst hissed, backing farther away from the defective. "Why haven't you killed it yet?!" Blue Sun stood between Catalyst and her defective drone. "Every changeling is welcome in my hive, even defectives!" "You fool! That defective isn't some kind of disabled pet, it's a death sentence to any hive! You must kill it immediately!" Catalyst countered, lighting her horn in an orange-golden glow of flames that was causing the grass nearby to shrivel into brown matting. "Everyone get back!" Colonel Bunker shouted. "Clear the area, get cover!" She was using her arms to making sweeping gestures to those whom were out of earshot, and the other groups were relaying her orders to get back. "What do you mean?" Blue Sun asked, her own horn lighting in a Purple-blue glow. "What are you doing?" The defective was now in full retreat towards the base, shoving its way past hissing drones from Blue's own hive. Catalyst launched a bolt of magical fire towards the defective, cursing as her blast impacted the wall nearby causing a scorched crater. "If you allow that defective to live, your entire hive is going to die. I don't know what insanity has made you keep it alive, but you must kill that abomination!" Catalyst explained, moving towards the mountains entrance before being intercepted by Blue. "What are you talking about? Stop trying to kill my drones!" Blue protested, launching her own bolt of magical energy at Catalyst's hooves. The blast kicked up dirt and made a hole in the ground from the impact, scorch marks and smoldering grass around the edges. "I will explain when that drone is dead! There is no time for a discussion!" Catalyst hissed in response, taking to the sky and zipping past Blue Sun into the facility. Blue Sun looked towards her friends and Colonel Bunker, seeing that she was organizing her people and arming them with weapons that had a blue barrel sticking out. She didn't know what they were for, but she was wasting time just standing out here. **** "Warrior adviser!" I shouted, and said adviser buzzed right in front of me. "Organize the hive; don't upset the humans. I'm going to chase after that Queen and save my drone." "Yes, my queen!" The adviser nodded, flying off to do as I requested. I was about to take off when I heard Soft shout. "Blue! Hold on!" I turned to see the three of them running towards me, and I settled down enough that my horn stopped scorching the ground nearby. They looked overheated and worried, but the flames inside of them were far brighter than they had been before. "Don't go in there without an empty stomach... or heart, or whatever." Rough said with a grin. "We've been with Catalyst for some part of the day, and we don't think she's bad people, but she sure isn't like you." "Be careful in there, Blue." Soft added, the three of them embracing me in a hug that filled me with love. "Go save your kid, We'll take care of things out here." Timid joined in, before releasing me. "I don't think this is going to be nearly as bad as you all seem to think, but thank you for the support!" I replied happily. "Go get 'em, Blue!" Ricky cheered, and I flew off after Catalyst. **** "Come out, defective!" Catalyst shouted down the hallways. "Your kind can't hide forever!" The defective was hiding in a closet inside one of the living quarters, somewhat fighting with the hung clothing and the cramped spaces. they could hear Catalyst chittering down the halls and her own orange glow gave away where she was before she arrived. "Sooner or later you'll get hungry, and it will be all over for you!" Catalyst continued, closer now. Defective or not, the changeling was determined to be useful to their queen and hive. They had no idea what the Queen was talking about, but they were certain that being spotted by her would lead to death. "Do you know what you are, defective?" Catalyst shouted, now outside of the room. "You're a disease! A plague upon the hive you hatch from." The defective could hear the clacking of hooves come into the room, the glow showing from the cracks in the closet. "You're supposed to be dead already, so consider the time you've had so far to be a gift from your ignorant Queen." Catalyst hissed in agitation from outside the closet. "Sooner or later, defective," Catalyst shouted, "You'll get hungry, and it'll be all over!" The defective considered that they hadn't been alive for even an hour, so hopefully there was time left if this Queen's suspicions were true. What would happen when they were hungry? They had no clue, and if they had to breathe they would've been holding their air as Catalyst wandered out of the room in search of the defective. **** "I'll find you eventually, defective." Catalyst grumbled. Her searching wasn't going well with how large the mountain facility was, on top of having little clue of where she was going. "Queen Catalyst!" Queen Blue Sun shouted from down a hall. "Wait where you are!" Catalyst noted that the other Queen's horn wasn't alight, and reluctantly yielded. She was, after all, in the other Queen's hive. "You're wasting time, Queen Blue Sun. While we talk, the defective burrows deeper into your hive." Catalyst explained with poor mood. "Why are you so focused on killing my drones?" Blue Sun asked, keeping their distance from Catalyst. "Not all of your drones, just the defective that you've let run freely around. I can't believe you haven't already dealt with that terror." Catalyst replied. "Terror? They've done nothing but try to help where ever they could." Blue countered with confusion. "Then I'll be brief, since you don't already know the dangers of a defective somehow." Catalyst replied with agitated unease. "A defective is a changeling of changelings. They sap the love from their own hive in order to feed themselves, yet provide nothing beneficial in return. They need the love of a hundred changelings a day just to remain alive, and as soon as they begin hungering they will lash out and drain as much love as possible from the entire hive just to avoid being hungry again. The sooner we slay this monstrosity, the sooner your hive can come out of hiding." "Hiding? What do you mean?" Blue asked. "Your hive? The drones that were able to escape along with you are outside, correct?" Catalyst responded in concern. "Well the other drones still trapped in here won't be able to escape with that defective barring their path." "There... are no other drones." Blue replied. "That was every drone in my hive outside." Catalyst blinked in disbelief. "How long have you been a Queen?" Blue's face scrunched in thought. "Less than a day, I think?" Catalyst's own face contorted into such an expression of disbelief, annoyance, disgust and confounded-ness as to avoid accurate description before covering her face with a hoof. "That explains a great deal." she moaned. "So... is there any way to cure a defective drone?" Blue asked. Catalyst looked up from her concentrated display of disbelief to face Blue Sun. "Why would you even consider wasting love on something like that? Do you know how much that would take to re-birth a drone?" Blue blinked, and Catalyst was reminded of the fact that the Queen in front of her wasn't even born yesterday. "Of course not." She grumbled. "You'd waste the love of a hundred changelings just to cocoon that defective and rebuild it." "Then I'm going to do that." Blue insisted. "Every changeling in my hive is useful, and none are going to be thrown away or wasted." Catalyst was skeptical. "Are you going to do that for every defective in your hive? Where are you going to find the love for that? Your foal-ish ideals are going to hit the wall of reality soon enough, Blue Sun." She warned. "This world isn't like Equestria, or where ever you come from. There's something different about this place, um... whatever your name is." Blue replied a bit awkwardly. "Catalyst. My name is Queen Catalyst." She grumbled. "The colonel introduced us just a few moments ago." "I was distracted by the fact that you were trying to kill one of my drones." Blue replied dryly. "Wait a moment, are you from Queen Sanguine's hive?" A spike of suspicion came from Queen Catalyst now. "How do you know of that name?" "It must have been a while ago, back when I was a tunneler drone. I was digging a new pathway from--" Blue began before being interrupted. "Wait, wait a moment. You were a Tunneler drone? No wonder you're an idiot! You weren't hatched from a royal egg, you were implanted with one! This makes so much more sense now." Catalyst voiced with relief. Blue's face was a model of annoyance. "May I continue?" Catalyst waved a dismissive hoof. "Be quick, we don't have long to play rescue with the defective drone of yours." "Wait, you're not going to try and kill it?" Blue asked. "It's your own foolish plan, Blue Sun. If you want to nosedive into the ground, that is entirely your own fault. Your Hive, your command." Catalyst explained. "Now, the story?" "As I was saying, I was digging a pathway from a hatchery that would link into a storage room for the grubs. Unfortunately for me, that pathway ended up burrowing into another hive. I fell through the roof of another tunnel and landed face first on the ground, and when my vision had cleared I looked up at the semi-surprised face of another Queen. "What are you doing here?" She had asked, lighting her horn and looking at me in contempt. "Where is your Queen?" I vaguely remember what she looked like... and I asked if you were from the same hive because you look almost identical in appearance. Let me describe the scene for you: "Yes, very detailed. We have to find your defective, you know." Catalyst grumbled. "Just a minute! I'm almost done with my story." Blue replied defensively. "Anyway, I had explained that I was expanding the hive of Queen Chrysalis when--" "QUEEN CHRYSALIS!?" Catalyst shouted, her horn lighting instantly in a rage. "You mean to tell me that you are from Queen Chrysalis's hive!?" Catalyst continued, her voice dripping with metaphorical lava. "Ah..y-yes?" Blue stammered. "Do you still follow her?" Catalyst asked, barely containing her own rage as the nearby walls of concrete charred and melted along with the steel support structure, causing Blue to worry about a cave-in. "No! I was cast out during the Invasion of Canterlot and I haven't seen her since. I'm only alive from the kindness of humans, honestly." Blue explained, trying to defuse the situation with a calm front. She wasn't worried about fighting Queen Catalyst so much as digging her way out of a collapsed base that would crush her. Catalyst stared more than daggers at Blue Sun, but eventually relented. "Wise answer, Queen." She snapped, her voice now a low broiling venom instead of lava. "Were it not for the laws of Changelings, I would have slaughtered you." "Not that I'm not grateful, I am, but what do you mean 'The laws of Changelings'?" Blue asked, and Queen Catalyst groaned in response. "I'll answer your questions on one condition, Blue Sun: swear that no harm shall come to me for as long as I stay within your hive." "Ah... weren't you going to kill me a moment ago? Why are you asking for shelter? Don't you have your own... no wait, if you got here the same way I did, you wouldn't have a hive. Oh! Well, in that case, Yes. You're free to stay so long as you don't murder my drones or anything else in my hive." Blue replied with an overly positive smile. "I didn't kill you for the sole fact that you are no longer allied to Queen Chrysalis." Catalyst explained. "Any Queen which separates herself from their birth hive is treated as a separate Hive, even by the hive she hatched from. That has the benefit of creating a hive without ties to any other, though the downside of being vulnerable to stronger hives if that queen oversteps." "Well... I guess that's good then. Friends?" Blue asked, offering a hoof to Queen Catalyst. "What are you doing?" Catalyst asked, looking at Blue's hoof with a scrunched nose. "It's a thing that humans do, apparently. When they settle and argument or meet for the first time, they shake hands. I figured we could do the same, since we're no longer on our own planet? At least I think that's how that works." Blue rambled. Catalyst's response was a half-hearted deadpan acceptance of the hoof, which clacked against Blue's and vertically ascended and descended a few times. "Are we done?" "Yes! Let's find the defective." Blue replied cheerfully, leading the way. **** "Defective! Come out please!" Blue Sun shouted down the hallway. The defective in question was still hiding in the same closet it had been before, and was becoming worried now. It felt peckish. "I won't kill you!" Catalyst called. "Catalyst, that's not how you reassure a drone-- Or anyone for that matter!" Blue semi-quietly whispered. "Fine then, you call for the Hive-killer. I'll just remain in the back where I won't become a husk while you play the hero." Catalyst snarked. "Defective! Answer your Queen!" Blue called again. The defective in question pushed on the door to their closet, causing it to creak open slightly. The voices could be their Queen and Catalyst, but... It could also be Catalyst being clever. "I'll give you a name!" Blue called out again, and now the Defective knew for certain that it was truely their Queen. "You'll what!?" Catalyst blurted in a panic. "You can't be serious!" "Why not? I was named when I was still a drone." Blue distantly replied. The defective crawled from their closet to the nearby door to listen in on the conversation. "If you name a changeling, they become part of the royal family-- they can claim ownership of the hive from you! It's a completely moronic thing to do for any Queen, let alone giving the title to a defective! Naming a changeling gives them purpose beyond their function, it empowers them with skills and talents just as naming a pony would! Why do you think only Celestia is allowed to name every newborn in Equestria?" Catalyst explained in a semi-panicked exposition. "She is?" Blue asked. "Listen, just don't name your drones anything important, and they won't have the talents needed to usurp you the moment they think they can do better. Keep a guard on your Royal eggs, or any named drone might get the thought of a crown on their head and implant themselves with them." Catalyst continued before pausing. "You didn't steal Chrysalis' eggs, did you? I only ask because if you did, that would be hilarious poetic justice for that hive-stealing husk-loving scum-slathering--" "Catalyst, please." Blue interrupted, "We have to find the Defective so I can help them, remember?" The defective now stood in the open hallway, facing Queen Catalyst and Blue Sun. "M-my Queen?" They asked hesitantly. Both queens looked down the hallway with a startled chitter. "There you are!" Blue Sun cheered. "I... I want to help the hive but... I can feel the hunger that Queen Catalyst was talking about. I don't know if you should be close to me." The defective replied with reserved worry. Then, unexpectedly, a bolt of orange-gold flame screeched down the hallway and struck the drone directly in the chest, leaving a scorch mark where it had impacted the white carapace as the drone collapsed to the side. "Catalyst! What have you done!?" Blue shouted, her own horn lighting up. "It was a stun blast, Blue Sun. Calm down." Catalyst replied in annoyance, already walking towards the Defective. "Your hive, Your command. So long as I stay here, that is." The two Queens stood over the body of the defective, a small line of smoke drifting from its chest with the ground beneath it becoming a puddle of melted hallway. "Your move, Blue Sun." Catalyst pointed out. "Take it outside and decide what to do."