To Serve A Queen

"Oh my gosh..." Darkswirl whispered silently as her eyes widened to take in the sight before her.

The cave before her was enormous.  Hundreds of Changelings buzzed by through the air, seemingly busy with very important tasks.

Sunlight was allowed entrance to the hive every few yards from carefully crafted holes in the ceiling, but Darkswirl figured that these were for entrance and exit rather than as a light source.

Her theory proved to be correct when she saw a group of blue-armored Changelings carefully lower themselves into the shaft before buzzing off and down one of the many corridors.

"This place is huge!" Darkswirl said in fascination of her new home.

"Welcome to the Hive.  You're in luck since Queen Chrysalis granted me three days leave to teach you the basics of being a Changeling, but we'd better start now.  There's a lot to go over."  Cli'Kat replied with a smile as he started to lift from the ground.

Darkswirl stared blankly up at him until he snickered at her.  "Aren't you coming?  We can't reach the dorms by walking, you know."

Darkswirl blinked confusedly before turning to face her delicate looking wings.  "Are you sure these will hold me up?  They don't seem very strong..."

"They hold up every other Changeling in the hive, so why wouldn't they hold you up?"

Darkswirl blushed and bowed her head in embarrassment as she gave her wings an experimental flap.  They responded to her quickly, much to Darkswirl's surprise, although when she tried to flap them harder she remained planted in the ground.

"It's alright." Cli'Kat said encouragingly as he flew over to Darkswirl, lifting her carefully before flying off towards one of the many dark corridors.  "You're new, you've got time to learn how to fly properly- among other things."

"Other things?" Darkswirl questioned, unsure.

Although she couldn't see it from her position, Cli'Kat smiled knowingly.

~=(♥)=~

"And here we are- the female drone's dorm." Cli'Kat announced before setting Darkswirl down on her hooves and landing quietly beside her.

"The female dorm?  Why are the dorms divided?"

"It mostly has to do with a Changeling's job.  For instance, male Changelings are divided into specific jobs, such as our military, or building and repairing, while female Changelings are a 'jack-of-all-trades type of thing, except they can hold two positions that male Changelings can't."

"Like what?"

"Well, I think I should mention that firstly: Only the Queen can lay eggs that mature into pure Changelings.  The cocoon you came from was a conversion pod, used to change ponies into Changelings.  You're not a purebred Changeling, but you're family none the less.  The other thing is that female drones are sterile to other Changelings.  So, female drones take care of the eggs the Queen lays and uh...A few of them act as..."Stress relievers" for the males..."

Darkswirl's wings popped open at that comment, causing her to blush and twirl around in an attempt to catch her wings in order to put them back down.

When she had finally managed to, Darkswirl found that Cli'Kat wasn't rolling on the floor, laughing his flank of at her.  Instead, he too was blushing and shifting from hoof to hoof as his eyes darted around.  "Uh...I-If it isn't too much to ask...I mean, I know you're new and all, but...You were in that pod for a good deal of time and...Well...Stress tends to build up..."