“Really now Commander,” the Queen repeated for the second time, her eyes in disbelief at the sudden, and rather rash, surge of confidence coming from her SIC.
“Come at me bro,” The Commander yelled, his hooves brought up in a fighting stance.
“I’m not your bro…” The Queen sighed. She shouldn’t have left the hive to see what would happen if she was gone. Not only had one of her generals betrayed her, but also everyone in the entire swarm was killing each other. And now she was being challenged by a foolhardy Commander in Chief who’s insanity was now on par with Double’s! She knew trying to even go easy would probably kill the poor changeling. Seeing as she didn’t need to spill anymore blood, she decided that the best option…which probably would still get him killed…would be to-
“What are you waiting for,” the Commander cried, “fire away or are you too chicken?”
(Somewhere in the distance, Scootaloo felt as if her name had just been used in an insult.)
The Queen sighed. This just wasn’t her day now was it?
“Listen Commander, I need to explain some stuff to my children and if you will just listen to-“
“No!” Commander Morpheus shrieked.
“Very well…” the Queen hissed, “because I know I will reduce you to cinders if I engaged you in direct combat, and because you’ve really triggered my nerves, I’m going to ask my dear High-General to take care of you. If she doesn’t succeed, then you have my permission to fight me.”
The High-General rushed to her Queen’s side, her eyes filled with unquestionable loyalty as she uttered her words. “I’ll get this traitor for you my Queen! It’ll be fun!”
“Yes, yes,” the Queen said distractedly, before hunching over and whispering something in the High-General’s ear.
Double nodded, a bit relieved for some odd reason. The Commander, however, was still too distracted by his anger to notice any of this.
The Queen then turned to the rest of the hive. “Follow me to the town square where I will be explaining my story to all of you. Double, you know the frequency and you can listen in while you take care of this…formal second-in-command…”
“This is a cowardly attempt to hide, Chrysalis!” the Commander cried, “I won’t go down to easily.”
But the Queen had already departed, along with the rest of the hive, leaving Double and surprisingly Carbon behind to deal out the next move.
Double tossed a navy blue helmet to Morpheus, who picked it up with a bewildered expression. “What’s this suppose to be for?”
“Oh silly Morpheus,” Double giggled, “I can’t fight you without making sure your head has some safety! Don’t you know the rules of engagement? Besides, I want to defeat a Commander in Chief, not a simple drone. Now you are no longer a pawn pretending to be a king!”
“You really are crazy High-General…” Morpheus muttered, the helmet already placed over his head and strapped on with a magical brace.
“Remember when I taught you those dance moves,” Double said in a cheerful tone, “oh I think you were an amazing dancer, but you needed work. It’ll be a shame to do this, but orders are orders aren’t they Mr. Smartypants?”
She nuzzled the grotesque doll to her snout, much to Morpheus’ disgust. “How old are you?”
“Older then you, Mr. Meanie-Pants!” Double’s eyes grew red. “And what’s so wrong about Mr. Smartypants?”
“Oh I don’t know,” the Commander chided sarcastically, “maybe it’s the fact that that THING looks like it was pulled out of some trash can, smothered in ale, thrown into a dumpster for two weeks, hung out to dry near a swamp, left to rot with a bunch of stale oranges, and looks like a filly’s play toy!”
Double was frozen; her legs tense as she began to shake. Her eyes were brimming with water as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“You-you…think Mr. Smartypants is ugly?” she choked.
It was as if the Commander had been slapped out of his tantrum and back to reality. “What have I done?” he whispered to himself.
“You-you…think I’m ugly too?” her voice reached a higher pitch on the last word.
“Uhhhhhh…” Morpheus began to look towards Carbon for help. However, the general merely glared at him with undeniable hatred. Morpheus was on his own for this one.
“I mean, he could use a good wash or two-“
“YOU THINK HE’S UGLY!” she wailed, burying her head in her hooves as she sobbed out loud.
It was the Commander’s turn to be mortified. He had no idea what to do. One moment, Double was ready to kill him and the next, she was crying like a filly who had just been punched in the face.
Guilt as to his earlier tantrum filled the Commander with regret. How had he been so naïve as to forget poor Double was still his sister? How naïve had he been to insult all his friends? The Commander put down his defensive stance, sighing to himself.
“Gosh I’m an idiot.”
Walking up to the sobbing High-General, Morpheus laid a tentative hoof on her carapace. “I’m sorry Double. I didn’t mean to be so insulting. Maybe I was wrong to question Mr.Smarty-“
BANG!
Morpheus flew at supersonic speed towards the nearby wall, colliding with so much force that he went through the house and into the nearby bookstore, the wind knocked out of him. Double was already getting up, a smirk plastered over her face.
“Didn’t the swarm teach you anything Commander,” she said cynically, “compassion is your enemy’s greatest weakness. Or did you think the poor wittle Double was sad?” Her face formed an over-the top frown before going into a fit of giggles.
“Oh but the Smartypants insult won’t be forgotten Mr. Grumpy Hooves,” She said, her eyes flaring a bright red, “You will pay dearly for that. But I’ll make it last. After all, what kind of player would I be if I just extinguished you here and now? It wouldn’t be fun at all!”
Commander Morpheus glared at the High-General, his rage taking full control once again. How dare she use his compassion for weakness.
“Why you…female-hormone-loving-piece-of-resin-secreted-slime-backstabbing-“
The High General rushed up to the armored leader and held him up by his neck, her eyes locked with his. “Are you saying curse words again?”
The Commander couldn’t speak, his lungs gasping for air.
“Cause anyone who says curse words needs a time out…permanently…”
Morpheus still couldn’t speak, his eyes fluttering in panic.
“Oh how sad,” Double said in a gloomy, but sarcastic tone, “the poor wittle changeling can’t speak. What’s wrong Commander? I thought you wanted a fight. Well, I’m here to give you one for saying all those mean words! Isn’t that just fantastic?”
How did we come to elect her again? Morpheus wondered as he felt his brain seep into unconsciousness. Suddenly, the air rushed into his lungs, causing the changeling to gasp.
“Wha-what do you mean?”
Double laughed coldly, “I’m going to show you who really should be in command, Commander Morpheus…”
And with that, a green ring of fire encircled the battlefield, causing the Commander to groan in annoyance.
I’m so dead.