Daemon groaned out her discomfort as she and Dragonok trudged their way through what seemed like an endless forest bursting with swelteringly hot steam that seeped through the midmorning air. She turned towards Dragonok who seemed unaffected by the boiling-hot weather as the duo waked through thick vegetation.

“Excuse me, master, but I was wondering about something,” she said as sweat seeped out from her scales in miniature waterfalls. “Why in Tiamantis’ name are we in the middle of this dark, steamy jungle? It’s too hot and I’m so bored. Would you at least tell me what business we have wandering around here?” She pouted as she stared at Dragonok in utter desperation to at least know where they were going so that she could have a clear goal in mind. After all, what would be the point of walking if there wasn’t a destination in mind?

Dragonok chuckled as he watched Daemon squirm in the jungle heat. Regardless of which multiverse they decide to visit, she always found a reason to vent out her frustrations at the various annoyances that bother her from time to time; whether it could be from a simple cracked claw or gigantic behemoths chasing after them after she had snatched one of their treasures that one time. It felt relaxing to see her pout when she had to deal with such bothersome obstacles.

Of course, her method of dealing with them involved her releasing a temper tantrum that ranged from simply removing and repairing the bother to crushing massive armadas with a mountain she had ripped out of the earth. To witness such moments were most amusing, and quite terrifying, to watch from time to time.

However, this was neither the time nor place to witness her temper explode so he decided to fill her in. “An explanation does seem to be necessary. Do you remember the chitin-coated ponies called changelings that shapeshift to collect love for food? I’ve just received an invitation from God-Empress Arachne to visit us at her Primary Hive Cluster this weekend.”

The only reaction he acquired from Daemon was that of confusion as she tilted her head with her eyes blank of recognition to the title. “Who’s God-Empress Arachne, master? I’ve never heard of her before.”

Of course you haven’t,” Dragonok replied with mirth edging his voice. He would enjoy the look on her face as he delivered the revelation to come. “You knew her by a different name back then after our first… encounter with them. Does the name, Arry, ring a bell?” Three, two, one…

Daemon’s eyes lit up as she bounced around in glee as her exhaustion vanished in an instant. “By Tiamantis’ shimmering crown, her?!” Little, cutesy-wutesy Arry! Of course I remember her! She’s the itty-bitty Changeling who I took care of during that one time! To think she’s now a God-Empress of all things; what an amazing surprise! I can’t wait to see her! Let’s go!” Her jaws instantly clamped onto one of Dragonok’s pauldrons as she began to drag him to their destination in sheer excitement.

Dragonok coughed to catch Daemon’s attention. “Daemon, I know you’re ecstatic to see Arry again but you need to calm down and think before you go running off in a random direction. Much has changed since our imprisonment so that the barren wasteland we once knew a thousand years ago changed into the lush and wild jungle we see today. To put it simply, you don’t have a clue where they are now but you’re dragging me nonetheless.” Three, two, one…

Daemon instantly skidded to a halt upon realizing the truth behind his words. “Um, whoop?” Her scales became scarlet with embarrassment as she noted the one important fact she had neglected to check during her burst of excitement. “Does that mean you know where they are now, master?”

Dragonok’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he nodded. “Indeed, but we cannot simply barge into her domain without announcing ourselves. Here’s what I have in mind for the grand reunion.” He cupped his hand around Daemon’s ear as he began to whisper his plan.

A gigantic smile spread from side to side, which threatened to overwhelm Daemon’s face, as she listened to his every word. “Ooh… I love it, master!” she exclaimed in glee. “When do we start? I can’t wait!”

“Hold your excitement for a moment,” Dragonok gently chided. “Just wait until we arrive.”

When ponies hear whispers of the existence of an insectoid race of ponies, they would imagine their homes to be a drab collection of underground tunnels overflowing with crawling drones. At the very best imagined scenario, it would be an underground metropolis coated with a glossy black substance to bring forth a sort of alien charm to those not used to seeing such sights.

They would be shocked to see a massive city consisting of buildings perched onto gigantic branches that even the most powerful of storms would be hard-pressed to snap into two. The hardened material used to form each residence glowed with a faint emerald light that lightly illuminated the darkness provided by the thick canopy. A colorful spectrum of fluffy fur carpeting the city’s branches would tickle visitors with a deep-seated desire to snuggle deep and slumber within its soft embrace.

Its residents wandered throughout the bustling city's main square as they prepare for the arrival of their God-Empress’ esteemed guests. Chitters punctuated by joyful gasps and raspberries echo through the air as its residents decorate the city in a flurry of fur boas and flowers in preparation for the God-Empress’ esteemed guests.

Just as they were about to put the finishing touches, everything around them became shrouded in darkness, Before anyone could panic, two strangers appeared in the center of the city square in a flash of dazzling light. One of them wore a black tuxedo that seemed to suck every trace of light into its fibers as its tri-horned helm gleamed menacingly with a dark passion. The other one was a fair mare hidden within a snow white skintight gown that sparkled with a sea of diamonds.

Without warning, they slowly danced side by side as a slow melody seeped through the air.The knight began to sing a verse in a booming bass only for the mare to claim the next verse with a soothing alto before returning the role back to her partner. The two, united in their song, wove a tale of two lovers longing for each other’s embrace as they united and separated with every twirl, leap, sashay, and slide without even the slightest pause to their routine.

Everyone watched in amazement as the duo performed in complete synergy. They could feel themselves being pulled into the raw passion of what was clearly a powerful heartsong.

One by one, the residents began to join into the chorus as they became swayed by the power of the duo’s singing. The whole town soon sang as one as they began to dance around the two strangers. As the music reached a crescendo, all of them leapt into the air as they punched the sky as they shouted out their final line.

“BABY, I CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING ANYMORE!”

Fireworks sparkled and flashed into the shapes of fantastical beasts as the performance reached its conclusion. The starstruck audience oohed and aahed as they watched the pyrotechnic display.

Once the fireworks dispersed into fading motes of lights, they began to applaud in an avalanche of stomping hooves booming throughout the jungle. The duo bowed from side to side as they basked in the afterglow of their performance.

“Dragonok! Daemon!” a voice shouted out. The two warriors turned to stare at a changeling queen in her full glory. Gossamer wings shaped like those of monarch butterflies gleamed with a healthy glow as golden chitin coated every inch her body to give off the appearance of a grim statue of a goddess prepared for war. Her gentle sapphire eyes, however, dispelled the otherwise foreboding image as they twinkled with amusement, however, dispelled the otherwise foreboding beauty. A tiny four-gem-tipped crown stood atop of her head as a slender, curved horn peeked out of an elegantly coiled ultramarine mane. A golden peytral with a ruby heart gleamed around her slender neck as her mist-thin robes fluttered in an unseen breeze.

Instead of acting regal as all empresses stereotypically do, she galloped towards them with a speed akin to a battering ram. She lunged towards them with a squee as she wrapped her forehooves around them in a passionate embrace. “I’m so glad you’re finally back! It’s so great to see the both of you after all this time! It feels like yesterday you were just here at the hive. I’ve miss you all so much.” She tightly clung onto both of them in a joyous embrace as tears rushed down her face upon their long-awaited reunion.

Dragonok gently patted Arachne’s head to comfort her. “There, there, little Arry, what matters now is that we’re here. I’m just glad you and your hives have managed to adapt so much without our assistance for over a thousand years.”

Arachne hiccupped as she nuzzled against Dragonok and Daemon. “If it weren’t for the both you and Star Swirl, we wouldn’t have been able to create this paradise. We have so much to thank you for.”

Dragonok stared off into the distance as he began to reminiscent about his past misadventures with the old wizard with a smile evident in his eyes upon his recollection. “Star Swirl, huh… those years were quite an adventure.”

Arachne nodded in agreement as she began to guide her honored guests and friends over to her private chambers. “Yes, it reminds me of the first time you first came into our home…”

It had been an especially harsh winter.

Changelings staggered about as clear signs of love deficiency appeared on their legs in the form of massive cavities waiting to be filled with the nourishing emotion. A changeling queen solemnly watched her bedraggled subjects starve with sorrow evident in her eyes. Like her subjects, she too suffered from the same affliction as her skeletal frame clearly showed.

She alone had denied herself the nourishment needed to restore her to her former glory as her amber mane hang limp. She didn’t want her children to suffer so she routed all the available food to all but herself. She may be starving but she be damned if she were to make her subjects suffer her fate just so she could live for a while longer.

A tiny royal changeling nymph walked up towards the queen’s side and latched onto one of her legs. Her tummy rumbled as she stared at her mother with enormous doe eyes. “I’m so hungry, Mama. When are we gonna get some love to eat?”

The queen hid her worry with an impenetrable mask she developed over years of hardship as she gave her only royal child a weary smile. “Don’t worry, my little Arry. We’ll have plenty of love soon when the drones come from the local harvest. Just please hang in a little while longer, okay?”

The tiny nymph nodded as her tummy continued to rumble with hunger pangs. She believed in her mother’s words after all. “Okay, Mama.” She closed her eyes as she lay onto the hard stone floor. Only the sight of her chest shrinking and expanding proved she was still alive instead of the grimmer alternative.

The queen sighed before she pecked her daughter on the cheek. She then began her journey towards the sector of the hive where love gel would be produced for consumption.

Along the way, she noted the vast number of emancipated changelings who suffered from clear signs of love deficiency. It burned away her innards to witness such a sight but she still continued onward in hopes of good news; good news that will ensure the survival of the last hive remaining of the changeling race.

She could still recall the civil war that marked the slow descent into extinction as hives fought for scraps to survive for yet another day. She could still taste the blood of the queens she killed to protect her hive after they had invaded her home time and time again. She could still feel their spindly necks snapping between her jaws. She could still see the sparks of life fading from their eyes to leave behind sightless husks as they fell into the Final Sleep one by one.

Now she and her hive were the last vestiges of the changeling race that remained, that survived, of those fatal confrontations. She had only wished there was another way; another way to have peacefully ended it without so many bodies littering the battlefields and families shattered over the lost of their loved ones. If only she-

She shook her head to dispel such thoughts from her mind. The past should remain buried in the past. What matters now is focusing on the task at hand. That would be the only way she could help her people now.

She arrived at the food production sector when she noticed one of the changelings in charge of the operation. She immediately walked towards him and coughed to catch his attention. “General Cricket, how are this year’s harvest so far?”

“Not good, I’m afraid, my Queen,” Cricket replied. “Many of the drones are unsuccessful in extracting enough love to help maintain this hive. It seems that the recent windigo attack is still on everypony’s minds which prevent them from opening up and allowing the drones to extract enough love without harming them in the process. At the worst possible scenario, we’ll have no choice but to either evacuate or force-extract love at a faster rate at the risk at being discovered.” He turned towards the changeling queen with a fading gleam in his eyes. “What shall we do, your Majesty?”

The queen sighed as she shook her head. She didn’t desire to resort to this method but she had no viable choice on the matter. It was either doing anything to ensure her people's survival or watching them scream as they starved their way through death’s door. She would not be the one to give up and let their deaths happen because of her hesitance over this matter. “I’m afraid we have no choice but to go forth with-”

Before she could say the word, a massive rumbling violently shook the underground chambers with great vigor. Everychangeling tumbled onto the ground as the earth continued to tremble all around them.

“What’s this?!” the queen yelped. “An earthquake?!” This shouldn’t be possible! The changelings shouldn’t have had an earthquake this huge here of all places. There were no faults near the hive to create a series of shockwaves that could have generated an earthquake of this magnitude. She closed her eyes to feel the waves pulse underneath her feet and noticed an anomaly: the shockwaves didn’t form a consistent pattern that most earthquakes generally follow. Instead, it felt as if a stampeding army was about to come their way!

She turned towards her brood as she delivered the dreaded news to add to their current dilemma. “My children, it seems we’re about to be invaded. Battle stations, everychangeling! Prepare for the worst!”

“WAHOO! DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WE GO!” a voice roared out of nowhere before a flurry of humongous puffballs crashed through the ceiling and landed onto the stone floor into a gigantic pile with without so much as a scratch or bump.

The dumbstruck queen could only blink at what she had just witnessed. “What in the Hivemothers…”

A clawed fist punched its way out of the fluffy hill before the ebony helm of a creature straight out of a nightmare followed suit. “HAH!” it boomed as it dragged its body out of the furry mass. “I told you I could do it! And to think you doubted me when I said I could create far more love energy compared to that spell your student cooked up to banish the windigos! Whaddya have to say about that, Star Swirl?”

Another head, this time of what seems to be a scaly unicorn with dagger-shaped teeth for a smile, popped out to point a clawed hoof towards… no one in particular. “That’s right, Mr. Beardo! You can’t beat us when we work together to create something amazing! Yay… urgh, I feel sick.” She turned away to regurgitate onto the floor in a sudden fit of nausea.

The head of a wizened gray unicorn with a flowing white beard teleported out of the furry pile as tiny golden bells jingled from his cape and hat. “Fine, you may have won this round, but you shall not win the war! I, Star Swirl, Master Over Time and Space, shall best you with an even greater spell! Count on…” He finally noticed the changelings staring at the trio with a mixture of fear and confusion in their eyes. “Tell me, Dragonok. Have I finally gone daft or are there chitin-coated insectoid ponies I see before me?”

The queen, at that moment, decided to step in. She wanted answers and by the Hivemothers she’s going to get them! “What in the name of the Hivemothers have you three invaded my kingdom? Better yet, what are those furry puffballs? I’ve never seen such-” At that moment, something soft and fluffy nudged against her leg. She turned to chastise the offender but halted when her eyes caught something she had not expected to see here of all places.

Massive surges of pure, unadulterated love continuously flow from the fluffy creature rubbing its body against her. All around her, changelings had also noticed this phenomenon and hesitantly stared at the bundles of fluff as their tongues lolled out in barely restrained hunger.

“How strange…” Star Swirl mused as he watched the confrontation between the fluff balls and the insectoid ponies. “They seem to be mesmerized by your creations. I wonder what traits have ensnared them into such a state. It can’t simply be the fur alone. I guess by the canines and saliva dripping down their mouths that they’re carnivores at the very least if not omnivore. However, if that were the case, they would have also focused their attention on us rather than simply-”

Dragonok, at this point, immediately halted Star Swirl’s analysis by simply clamping his muzzle tight with a single hand. “Instead of just simply babbling on about countless possibilities,” he began, “it would be best just ask them, Star Swirl. It’s better to obtain information from the source rather than simply create conjectures and hypotheses based on so few chunks of data.”

He then turned towards the changeling queen and nudged her to catch her attention. “Excuse me, madam, but why are you staring at them like that with such hunger in your eyes?”

The Changeling Queen didn’t noticed his efforts to capture her attention as she watched the fluffy balls with hooves and snouts bounce all over the place as they continuously blew raspberries.“I cannot believe what I’m seeing before my eyes,” she whispered. “I have never heard of creatures that can generate such pure love without needing anything to activate it yet there they stand before us. No longer will we have to fear about starvation; the famine that haunts over us has finally ended at last.” She turned towards the three strangers who had brought about this miracle to her people in their time of need and bowed before them. “Thank you, strangers, you have saved my people from famine. However may we thank you?”

Dragonok chuckled as he shook his head. “While we do appreciate the courtesy, there is no need to thank us, milady.”

“But we must!” the queen persisted. “You have saved us from a certain doom through starvation. If not for you, we may not have survived this month, let alone the winter. There must be a way for us to repay you for your kindness.”

Dragonok closed his eyes as he contemplated her offer. “As I mentioned, milady, there is no need to materially reward us for our efforts. However, would you mind if I and my friends stay here for a while with your permission? I believe my friend Star Swirl here would like to learn much about your kind, if that’s alright with you.”

Daemon snorted as she tried to suppress a sudden case of the giggles. “Come on, master!” she chided as she nudged him on the shoulder. “Admit it! You just want some peace and quiet for a while before we have to go beat up Goliath to free the Centaur Empire from his reign of terror, right?”

The changeling queen’s eyes widened upon this latest development. She had heard mention of the dreaded warmongering tyrant. He would rip the heads of those who opposed him from their still-living bodies before he scraped the flesh from their skulls to add his ever-growing throne formed of hundreds of the grinning atrocities. Her spies were fortunate enough to escape from his rule with their heads still attached after he murdered his kin to signal the beginning of his tyrannical rule with an iron fist. “Surely you jest?! No one has ever defeated that behemoth! How can you expect to challenge him, let alone defeat him?”

Dragonok simply shrugged in reply. “I have no viable idea at the moment but I shall find out when I face him in combat.” He turned toward Daemon with a stern glare. “As for you, you shouldn’t spill out such sensitive information like that.”

Dragonok rubbed the back of her head as she nervously chuckled in embarrassment. “Teehee, I’m sorry, master.”

The queen just shook her head in resignation over their upcoming fate before she moved on to a less sensitive topic. “Well, in any case, we welcome you to our Hive, travelers-”

“Mama, are you there?” her daughter shouted as she sprung out of nowhere on top of one of the fluffy creatures. “I wanna show you the new friend I’ve made!”

The queen turned around to see her daughter lying on top of one of the fluffy creatures which blew raspberries like a train puffing up smoke. That, however, didn’t catch the queen’s attention as much as the transformations evident upon her daughter’s form.

Arachne’s eyes brimmed with new life as the lifeless blue melted away to reveal gentle pupils centered in twin seas of sapphire blue. Her cavities slowly shrunk into nonexistence as her chitin slowly shifted from its shade of burnt green and into a glimmering golden hue that gleamed with ethereal vitality. The biggest change, however, involved her wings which had remolded from their familiar papery form and into a glorious set of lapis lazuli monarch butterfly wings that gently flutter against the princess’ back.

Arachne, unaware of neither her mother’s shock nor the changes in her body, innocently smiled as she slurped on the infinite supply of love provided by her mount. “Look at what I found! They’re so fluffy and their love is so tasty! I wanna call them fluffy ponies!” She then noticed the unusual trio standing before her mother. “Ooh, visitors from beyond! I’ve never had visitors before. I’m Arry and I’ll become Empress of All Changelings someday! Well, aren’t you going to tell me your cool titles as well?”

Dragonok chuckled as he stared at the little changeling princess. “Well then, allow me to introduce all of us. I am Dragonok, Chaos Champion of Power. This here is my partner and steed, Daemon the Darling in Distress, and that pony over there is Star Swirl the Puffball for a Beard.”

“HEY!” both Daemon and Star Swirl exclaimed.

Arry, on the other hoof, released a series of giggles at Dragonok’s improvised introduction. “You guys are so funny. Wanna play with me?”

Star Swirl shook his head at her request. “I’m afraid not, child. I am about to conduct a few experiments during my stay here and I shall not be…”

He trailed off as he noticed two pairs of enormous eyes stared back at him. “Please play with us!” both Daemon and Arachne plead. “Pretty please with sugar on top!”

“But… research…” As much as Star Swirl tried to deny the hypnotizing Double Whammy Cutesy Stare, his willpower crashed into the ground and scampered off into the deepest recesses of his mind. He slumped in defeat as he accepted his fate. “Alright, I shall join you in your merrymaking.”

Both mare and filly bounced about as they cheered at their success. “YAY!”

Dragonok, who had watched the whole thing, chuckled as he shook his head in amusement over the defeat of the bell-totting archmage. “This should be quite interesting.”

A smile wove its way onto God-Empress Arachne as she recalled the fond memories the three of them shared as they relaxed in her personal chambers. “Those were good times, weren’t they?” She sighed as she turned to face the bustling communities where changelings and fluffy ponies intermingle into a tight-knit community. “I’m just sad that Mother isn’t alive to see the utopia her people created alongside the fluffy ponies. She would have been so proud.”

Dragonok nodded in agreement. “Indeed she would, little one.”

“You shall not address the Supreme Mother in that manner!” a changeling donned in golden armor chastised Dragonok.

Arachne eyerolled as she waved off her guard’s remark. “Oh hush, Ploof! You know I don’t like this stiff formality when I’m around friends. Why don’t you go back and enjoy yourself for a while? It’ll do you some good to wind down before going all-out for another night of banging with your marefriend.”

The chitin around the gray changeling’s face became a bright crimson. “Supreme Mother! That’s sensitive information!”

The God-Empress tsked as she patted the changeling guard on his head. “Aw, is my itty-bitty baby shy? Don’t worry about Mommy and just go out and have some fun. Or are you going to make Mommy cry?” Her lips began to pout and tremble as she stared at him with pleading eyes.

The changeling guard instant became pale. “No, no, no, Supreme Mother! I’ll go right now! Just please don’t cry!” He immediately scampered out of her chambers before she could get the chance to release the waterworks.

Dragonok remained stoic for a few moments before he roared out in laugher. “That was quite an effective tactic you used,” he remarked with pride evident in his voice after his sides stopped hurting from laughing so much. “I’m glad to see you’ve retained much, young one.”

Arachne nodded with a small smile growing on her muzzle. “Well, I did learn from the best after all. What kind of a student would I be if I hadn’t used any of them to start with?”

A sudden knock caught their attention. They turned to face a royal changeling standing near the doorway. Gleaming cerulean slippers matched the peytral with a narrow pink heart clasped around the light gray chitin surrounding her neck. Teal curls bounced with every step she took as she approached Arachne with a warm smile.

“Mother, I’m going out with Fluffle Puff for a bit. Is that alright with –” Her mint green eyes bulged behind the tiny pair of spectacles perched on her snout when she noticed her mother had guests. Light green chitinous wings with a pair of hearts marking on the tips of each wing fluttered stiffened with fear as she realized she had just committed a faux pas. “Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t know you have guests! I’m sorry for trespassing during one of your important meeting! Please forgive me for my error!” She instantly lifted her forelegs into the air before flinging them onto the ground along with her body in what seemed like an attempt at an apology.

Arachne facehoofed as she sighed in embarrassment over her daughter’s dramatics. “What did I tell you, Chryssy? There’s no need to act like that. Dragonok, this here is one of my royal daughters, Duchess Chrysalis, or Chryssy for short. That reminds me, where is Fluffle Puff?”

A pink fluffy pony suddenly descended from above everyone from out of nowhere before brushing off her fur to make herself presentable. “Pflpflplfpf (I am present, God-Empress Arachne. I shall always be at my beloved’s side for all eternity. Is there something vital that you require?)”

Dragonok, during Fluffle Puff’s introduction, glared upward in confusion only to see no signs of how she managed to get up there without anyone’s notice in the first place. His eyes arched in amusement. It appears there’s another pony who defied logic and order like Pinkie Pie.

Arachne giggled at the contemplative expression on Dragonok’s helm before she turned toward Fluffle Puff. “I would like to introduce you to a few important guests and friends of mine. I believe you know these individuals from the history archives?”

Fluffle Puff nodded as she began to point towards each of God-Empress Arachne’s guests. “Pflplfplfplfpflfplfffplfplflpflpflfpl (Indeed I do, God-Empress Arachne. That is Dragonok who is known as the Chaos Champion of Power, the Dread Knight Who Opposes Corruption, Tyrant-Slayer, and Defender of the Changelings. And the fair maiden next to him is Daemon the Companion and Steed of Dragonok, the Caretaker of Changelings and Fluffy Ponies, Devourer-Acrobat of Apples, and Befriender of All. How do you do? I am Fluffinia Sheppardous Danger Maximillenia Puffle, Number One Champion of Food Contests and Royal Consort of My Darling Chryssy, at your service. It is a pleasure to meet you. You also can call me Fluffle Puff if you wish).” She extended a hoof of friendship that Dragonok immediately shook to seal the formalities.

“It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you fine ladies,” Dragonok said as he bowed to both of them. He then turned toward Chryssy. “Since you were be in a rush to get here, I assume that you decided to inform your mother of some sort of an important event.”

Chryssy’s eyes widened as Fluffle Puff released a tiny gasp. In the confusion, they had forgotten the reason they entered Arachne’s chambers.

“I almost forgot! We need to go to see DJ CHN6E-L1N6 at her latest concert!” Chryssy exclaimed as she nabbed Fluffle Puff and threw her onto her back in one fluid motion. “I just wanted to inform you of that before we go, Mother.” She waved goodbye towards her mother’s guest as she began to trot towards the door. “I’ll see you all later! Sorry for not staying longer! Tata!” Once she passed through the doorway, she immediately began to gallop off with Fluffle Puff in tow.

Arachne tittered as she watched the two of them disappear with a flurry of dust trailing behind them. “Those girls have brought so much joy to my life. I simply can’t wait for the wedding.” Her smile momentarily stiffened as something passed through her mind.

Dragonok’s eyes furrowed in as he detected the shift in mood. “Is there something you’re not telling us, little one?” he asked. "I sense a terrible burden crushing you from within. Please speak freely so that we may help to lessen its weight."

Arachne’s cheerful façade crumbled to reveal a deep-seated worry etched through her face. “I knew you would see through me,” she sighed. “I’m afraid I have some dire news to impart to you.”

Dragonok nodded without much surprise on his part. “I suspected as much. Sending an invitation out of nowhere did seem somewhat unusual especially since you had to risk one of your children to send the message to me.” He tilted his head as he stared at the morose Changeling God-Empress. “So what exactly is so important that you had to risk revealing your kind to the rest of Equus?”

“It involves the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” Arachne explained. “The evil forces of Equus have felt the harmonic energies emitting from the purification of Nightmare Moon and imprisonment of Discord. They feel threatened and are now plotting to find a way to destroy them all. However, as we all know, the Multinational Alliance of Equus wouldn’t stand for that sort of thing so they have resorted to the foulest of methods to accomplish their goals based from what my spies have informed me. They have found a way to momentarily create gaps in the space-time continuum to summon forth terrible forces to do their bidding.”

Dragonok’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Based on the details given so far, he knew there had to be more than simply that. “I guess it didn’t work the way they had hoped based on the look on your face, am I right?”

Arachne sadly nodded in confirmation towards Dragonok’s statement. “You would be right. They had managed to summon them but most of them became enslaved and corrupted since they didn’t have enough power to control them. Most of my spies were fortunate enough to escape when they did but not all escaped in the nick of time, I’m afraid. That is why I’m asking you to keep an eye and protect the Bearers. Should they be defeated or corrupted, there’s no telling what might happen to Equus in the long run. Please protect them, I beg of you!” She placed her forehooves on top of each other as she bowed with her head touching the floor.

Dragonok shook his head as he lifted her up from the ground. “Now, now, there’s no need for that, young one. I shall perform this duty for your sake in the name of all the good times we’ve spent together. You have my word.”

Daemon’s eyes glimmered with stars as she fisthoofed the air. “Yeah! Those baddies better watch out for the epicness of our combined coolness!”

Tears rushed down her cheeks in waterfalls. “Thank you both so much!” Arachne blubbered as she hugged Dragonok and Daemon again as she sniffled. “You have no idea how important this is for me. I don’t want to lose any of my children to those wicked creatures nor do I want to see anyone suffer again. I don’t know what I would do with myself if that ever happened.”

“I understand, little one,” Dragonok replied. “By the way, did your spies catch any information as to which location these entities were released from?”

Arachne sighed as her demeanor became somber once again. “They weren’t exactly certain. All they managed to hear was something along the lines of ‘a prison worse than Tartarus’ and ‘an abyss overflowing with pure evil.’ I’m sorry.”

Upon hearing those words, Dragonok grew a sneaking suspicion as to where these foolish mortals had summoned these creatures from. He hoped he was wrong about it but hope itself is a useless entity when used to deny the worst possibilities without preparing for them in advance. Now he knew he should visit a certain solar monarch as soon as possible to begin constructing his defenses. Regardless, though, it would be best if he didn't tell anyone about it. It wouldn't do to have everyone panicking long before they arrive.

“That’s alright, little one. I believe I have all the information I need to know for now. In any case, I’ll stay for the rest of the day with you before I have to perform my duty, Arry.”

Arachne regained her cheerfulness as she released a wide smile. “I would like that very much.”

Suddenly, Daemon pulled out a bundle of party hats before speeding around to place them on everyone’s heads; everyone in the city, that is. She then smiles as she draws out a gigantic speakerphone with a gigantic mouth in the shape of an O attached to it. “ALRIGHT THEN!” she shouted through the speakerphone so that every citizen within the Primary Hive Cluster could hear from miles around. “WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?! LET’S PARTY LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW!!!”

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, a certain party pony began to violently spasm in mid-air just before she was about to shove a Quadruple Decker Strawberry-Chocolate-Vanilla-Cotton-Candy Cake into her maw.

“Party senses… tingling…into… overdrive!”

Author's Note

For those out there who are curious as to why I developed this particular chapter and its inhabitants, I always wondered what might happen if changelings and fluffy ponies lived together in harmony. I recalled that Queen Chrysalis herself could easily gorge on Fluffle Puff's love without any ill effects to both giver and receiver during the feeding process so I thought of what might happen if changeling had met fluffy ponies over a thousand years ago before they had eventually evolved into the holey state they eventually became stuck as in the Mane Universe.
By the way, if you have any complaints, questions, or inquiries, place them in the comment below; but remember, NO FLAMING OR HATING! Just constructive criticism if you will. Thank you for your consideration.
Note: here's an interesting comment from Zemez that made me laugh my guts off.