Later that night in Manehatten...

The lights from the city streets below provided an ambient luminescence to the luxury penthouse through the sheer curtains pulled across the windows. The only other source of light was from a dozen candles scattered across the room, each one flickering with a green flame. In the middle of those candles were a trio of figures laying atop a massive bed, on silk sheets that were rumpled and stained with various body fluids. Two of the figures were stallions, a slim earth pony who was in charge of the city and a fair unicorn who owned the large bank down the street. Both had far-away gazes in their emerald tinted eyes as they worked to please the female unicorn.

“Mmm, yes. That’s it, studs. Give me your love,” she said as she felt them piston in and out of both her holes. Her horn was lit with a dull, green glow, drawing in the trickles of love from the two stallions. It wasn’t much, given that these were just one night stands, but if taken from numerous stallions across the city, then it came out to a sizable sum. If only it didn’t take so long to weave her tangled webs.

The stallion below her grunted out, “M-mistress, I’m close..”

“Mph, same here..” said the one behind her.

‘Silk Weaver’ spared each of them a caressing hand on their cheek and lustfully spoke, “Finish inside me. Show me your love!”

Both stallions tensed as they hilted deep inside the mare and released their seed. A moment later, they each pulled out and promptly fell unconscious from exhaustion.

Silk’s smile fell away before her disguise, leaving only Black Widow and a look of frustration. “Typical. All that talk about being better than the other and they’re out after the first shot. If they weren’t so important, I’d drain them into shriveled prunes and drop them in the sewers.” She flared her magic to clean out the worthless seed inside her. The fools didn’t deserve to have such an honor.

Black Widow grabbed a red silk night robe and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. A bit of the stronger stuff to wash away the lingering dissatisfaction of the stallions in her room. With the glass in hand, she stepped out onto the breezy balcony and sipped at her wine as she watched the city streets below her.

Taxis were still running about, carrying couples back from their dates, or drunkards from the bar. Few ponies walked the streets this late, and the few who did were moving briskly to their destination. From so high up, Widow could peer into some of the alleyways and see a couple hobos bedding down for the night.

‘I’ll need to check on my little thralls at the fashion district tomorrow. My perfumes should be distributed across half the city by now.’ Just as the thought crossed her mind, a cart full of perfume bottles made its way down the street. The markings on the boxes clearly labeled them as her brand, L'attrait de la Soie. Painstaking years of schmoozing, bribing, and seducing the right ponies have been poured into Black Widow’s magnum opus of social webs. ‘In a few months, this whole city will be wrapped around my finger and the Princesses will be none the wiser. The Hive crown is as good as mine.’

The image of Widow’s achievement and following power gain was more than enough to excite her loins once more. Unfortunately, all she had at the moment were two unconscious stallions in her room and toys weren’t enough for her anymore.

‘Maybe I should call up that cute little receptionist? I bet she’d know a thing or two on how to use her tongue with how much she talks. Might even be a freak in bed,’ she wondered. It wouldn’t even be difficult for her to do either. She already had most of the hotel staff either under her thrall or in her pocket. What was one more caught in her web? Of course, Widow would have to be careful to not arouse too much suspicion. No sense in letting her delicate social web fall apart for one little floozy.

While most changelings would have been content with impersonating a pony for a few days to get some quick love before returning to the hive, Black Widow wanted to put down roots and draw in her prey. Gifted with a set of lust-inducing pheromones, Widow could wrap lesser stallions around her finger with only a few words and a sweet scent. It took years, but Widow could easily say that she had most of this city under her control through a few key figures. The best part was that none of the ponies beneath her realized it. The thought of her hidden power was far more arousing than whatever the stallions back in her room tried to do.

‘If only these ponies knew who was watching them. They wouldn’t be so brave to stay out at night.’ Feeling her loins heat up, Widow began to bring her free hand down to her nethers. However, before she could properly pleasure herself, a buzz rang in her ear.

Widow sighed. “Of course I have to get a call right now.” She walked back to her bedroom and, after double checking that the males couldn’t hear her, stood in front of the body length mirror. A flash of magic later, the image of one of her soldiers appeared. “I hope you have a good reason for calling me so late.”

The soldier saluted and said, “Your highness, a special report came in earlier today from one of our integrators in Ponyville. She delivered a message from Princess Chrysalis herself saying that she will not be returning to the hive for some time and is staying in Ponyville.”

Black Widow raised an eyebrow at this information. “Is that all?”

The soldier nodded. “That’s all that the report said, ma’am. You wanted to know about her movements and this happened after she had supposedly left for Canterlot the same morning.”

“I see. Dismissed.” The image faded and Widow returned to the balcony once more but now with a calculating mind.

“What are you up to, little sister?” she mused aloud, “What sort of harebrained scheme do you have in mind this time?” Chrysalis was never one for the fine art of subtlety. Almost always going bold in her gathering methods to gather as much as she could, with the wedding fiasco being the biggest and boldest she could go. It was no wonder she failed so spectacularly.

Even so, Widow recalled how much love energy her sister had gathered recently and it irked her to no end. How could a changeling who cringed at the thought of spreading her legs get so much love? No, she had to be cheating. There was no other explanation. The only question was how she was doing it.

Widow growled, ‘If that idiot keeps it up, she’ll pay off her debt in no time at all.” Widow didn’t want to even conceive the notion that Chrysalis might become queen. No, such a reckless changeling wouldn’t be fit to rule the Hive. That position required patience, precision, and a firm grasp of power, things that Widow spent years to cultivate for when she became Queen. If she lost, then it would be for naught.

The wine glass shattering in her hand broke Widow out of her trance, leaving a mess on the floor and her robe. Sighing, she stripped and tossed her robe aside for the maids to clean up later. She recalled the report about Chrysalis and thought, ‘Maybe I should pay my dear sister a visit. After all, it would be remiss of me as a big sister to not check up on her. Love knows she’s bound to make mistakes.’

A sinister grin creeped onto her face as a familiar plan began to form. “So many easy, exploitable mistakes.”

Author's Note

Let me speak my piece before you pull out the pitchforks. Yes, yes, I'm super late and I take forever to write, but hear me out. I want you to know that I had a long chapter that was half written around new years time but it was...bland to say the least, and that's a lot considering Pinkie pie was involved. I rediscovered the outline I had made (as well as missed opportunities during the rewriting ) and did some brainstorming for a while to inject some much needed life and energy into this arc. It's looking a lot better and I'm excited to try to bring it to you, which leads to my next point.

I'm taking a page from Wanderer D's Ranger fic (godDAMN I love that fic) and I'm going to try to write shorter chapters from here on out. Writing and editing 5k chapters is a pain in the ass with all the studying I'm doing so 1-3k chapters should make it easier to get things out. That much I can easily do if I'm on a roll. Even as I write this, I have another chapter that's nearing completion. Might be done before finals.

Thanks to Thardoc, Pumpernickel rye, and The Wind King for their help. Special thanks to you readers for sticking with me for so long.