[Mark]
"Ay yo, Max!" I called out as I crossed the cobblestone street after snagging something for AJ. With the conference in full swing and having little to do, I went souvenir shopping. Along the way I spotted Celestia's favorite sex toy sitting outside a little Minotaur run bistro, and decided to head over. "Fancy meeting you out… Is that a steak?" Looking up from the large, thick, slab of meat he had just cut into, he gazed at me like I had just stated, "Oh look, the sky is blue."
"Nope, I got really hungry, so I had the chef cook up my boots." He said while setting his knife and fork down, he reached into the vest he wore and pulled out… nothing, and held the nothing out towards me as he stated, "Here's your sign."
It took me a moment to realize what just happened, while Bill Engvall was not one of my favorite comedians, there isn't a Marine alive who hadn't heard of The Blue Collar Comedy tour… "I can't believe I just stepped into that one," I gave out a groan as I flopped into an adjacent chair.
"Don't sweat it," he chuckled and to my surprise, cut a hunk off his steak and placed it on an unused plate, before sliding it over to me. "How's the souvenir hunting going?"
"The what now," I asked, not realizing he was talking for all my attention was now focused on the dream before me.
"What's in the bag," he nodded towards the sacks I had been schlepping around as he held out his knife and an unused salad fork to me.
"Thanks," I said as I attacked the steak. "As for the bag, I've been getting a few things for the family, from a snow-globe for Bloom, to an assortment of jams for Granny."
While we were talking a fancy looking stallion walked by, he paused long enough to glare daggers at us before giving a snort and walking off. While I knew Minotaur's ate meat, I suddenly had to question just what I was about to shove down my maw. "It's beef," Max said, setting my mind at ease. "I asked before ordering, Minotaur's don't eat Pony… or Zebra."
"Cool," I declared, after cutting up my stake into manageable portions, I handed Max back his knife and dug in. God in heaven, I haven't had a stake that tender in a long fucking time. It practically melted in my mouth.
So we sat there for the next half hour just enjoying ourselves… until a group of changelings trotted by. "Oh, greetings and salutations royal consorts," one of them said as they passed.
"Don't look at me," I waved him/she/it off and nodded at Max. Damn it, you would think that after all this time spent with Apple, that I would be able to tell. "He's the one fucking a princess."
"But are you not also a concubine to a princess," he asked while tiling his head in wonder.
"I'm kinda married to an earth pony," I corrected it.
"But you are also bonded to our glorious Queen's daughter, are you not?"
The world suddenly went quiet and a cold pit began to form in my belly. "Would you care to explain," I asked in a scary calm voice as I gently draped an arm over the changeling and pulled it close.
"I can since the bond you have with the juvenile queen," it shot me a concerned look. "You did accept the royal mental link and become the young Queen's mate…"
"I have a link with my adopted daughter, Apple, a young parent-less changeling I found lost near Ponyville," the pit in my stomach was growing bigger by the second.
"You don't know... do you?" It blinked in mild confusion.
"Enlighten me…" I hissed.
"While it is true that the Queen lets us, her drones breed, and we are very protective of our young," it said as it began to fidget in my grasp. "If the Queen feels that the hive's future is in danger of dying off, she creates a new Queen… That new Queen is self-sufficient at birth and leaves the hive soon after to look for a mate and start a new hive."
I was stunned.
"Didn't Chrysalis say the reason for her attack on Canterlot was that her hive was starving to death?" Max piped up, not realizing he was voicing the thoughts running through my head.
"What about the link," I asked.
"The new Queen is too young to speak at first, so when she finds a suitable mate she establishes a mental like so they can communicate." The changeling informed me. "It also allows her to feel and feed off the mate's emotions without harming him."
My whole world had just slammed to a stop and the only thing I could ask was, "Why didn't someone tell me?"
But someone had, Applejack had tried on several occasions to tell me, to warn me, but I had shrugged it off to her being prejudiced towards Changelings.. But now I could see what she had been trying to do, and why Chrysalis was always curious about Apple's well being. 'Apple loves you and would follow you into the maw of Tartarus.' AJ's words came back from our time at the Crystal Empire…
"Huh, looks like that Johnnie kid isn't the only one in a… herd…" Max started to say, only to be silenced by my intense stare.
[Major]
I could tell that something was deeply troubling Mark from all the way across the street, but fuck if I cared at the moment. I was too busy talking to Chrysalis to go and check on him.
"Huh." She suddenly said, looking over as well. "He didn't know?"
"Know what?" I took a sip of water.
"About Apple being my daughter." I snorted in amusement. "What?"
"Mark wouldn't have been able to tell Apple was your kid if the two of you shoved an extensive family tree in front of him." I answered.
"She's not a goat, Major." I rolled my eyes at her. "And has anyone but him found out about that little secret of yours?"
"He's an idiot, but he doesn't talk." I answered, picking up the new martini that the bartender handed over. "Him and you are the only ones who know. The only ones who didn't come from my universe, anyway." Beck and the Shangheili wouldn't tell on me anyway, so I wasn't concerned.
"So, when do you think you can come and train my… Drop Troops?"
"Orbital Shock Drop Troopers." I clarified, putting my fork down. "And the only way they'll earn the O and D in their designation is if you guys build rockets and drop pods."
"When do you expect that to happen?" I let out a chuckle. "With you helping, anyway."
"About ten years." Shrugging, I gestured over in Mark and Max's direction. "The real roadblock is Mark, he wants you all to develop everything by yourselves." With magic, and the huge amount of resources the Hive has, that was really the only roadblock. I wasn't going to get rid of it, of course.
"I bet he'll shoot you when he finds out you showed us how to make rifles and the industry to support them." She smirked and finished off her margarita. "Want to go dance later?" I hummed a bit as I swirled the olive in my glass around, debating it.
"… Fuck it, why not."
"And probably me as well." She cheekily shot back.
"As long as you don't use me for kids." That got her to raise an eyebrow and smirk.
"I produce nymphs, not goats." I hit her for that.