Adapting To Shared Love

It was Hearth's Warming day, and the air was charged with excitement and merriment. Ponies and changelings had taken to nearly every street, essentially turning the entire Crystal Empire into one big party as they celebrated with food, drink and music. The changelings were largely unfamiliar with the carols their crystal pony friends sang, but after giving them a few listens, they too joined in.

Yes, just about everyone was enjoying themselves and the company they kept, and deep in the thick of it all were the beloved king and queen of the changelings themselves.

"Well, this Hearth's Warming thing is certainly something, isn't it," said Chrysalis, observing a changeling and pony huddle shoulder to shoulder as they laughed and drank eggnog.

Watching the same thing in astonished earnest as he stood by her, Thorax nodded.

"Boy, you can say that again," he said. "When Hearth's Warming was explained to me some time ago, I thought everypony would be celebrating it by spending time with loved ones by the fire, not partying out in the streets!"

"Still," Chrysalis mused. "It's nice seeing our subjects mix so well with the crystal ponies. Really helps to hammer how successful our efforts have been, don't you think?"

Again, Thorax nodded.

"Oh yeah, definitely. Being here to see the fruits of our labors up close, so worth it."

The two then went quiet after that, taking a moment to really soak it all in. Soon enough, Thorax looked up to Chrysalis, only for his mouth to form into a large and excited smile when he noticed something different about her.

"Oh hey, you're wearing the rose clip I gave you!" he said, obviously thrilled to see that she was. "I thought you said you were saving it for special occasions."

Feeling the heat rising in her cheeks, Chrysalis immediately faced away from him.

"Well... this is a special occasion," she answered, using her hoof to play with the clip in her mane. "I heard that Hearth's Warming was gonna be big, and since we planned on being out and about for all this, I figured I'd at least look my best."

That may have been what she said, but Thorax knew what she really meant. She just wanted him to see her with it; his gift to her from so long ago.

"Well I'm glad to see you with it," he said, giving her a warm smile. "With or without it, though, I still think you look cute."

Still looking away from him, Chrysalis grumbled something in response. Thorax couldn't make out what she said, but he still thought she was adorable regardless.

Just then, Thorax saw his moment, his window of opportunity. Right then and there, he had to let Chrysalis know how he felt, lest he'd never be able to rid himself of the pressure that builds in his chest whenever he thought of her. Like Cadance said: even if she didn't like him back, then at least he'd feel better.

He hoped, anyway.

Hoof to his chest, Thorax controlled his breathing and tried to still his rapidly beating heart. He was getting nervous, increasingly so, so he'd have to do it before he chickened out. He took a deep breath in, exhaled, then made his attempt.

"Chrysalis... I... I have something to tell you," he started.

Chrysalis's ear twitched in response to her name, then she turned back to him.

"Hmm?" he hummed in acknowledgment.

C'mon, Thorax, it's now or never, he thought.

"For..."

To his fear, he was getting skittish, as he was looking down to his shuffling forelegs. After taking another breath, he tried again, this time with more gusto.

"Chrysalis. For... for the longest time now, I've--"

"Nog for the king and queen, and this street's cutest couple?" asked a stallion as he butt in, presenting a tray of mugs full of eggnog to them.

His momentum thrown in for a loop, Thorax's posture jolted straighter as he blurted out, "For the longest time I've been wondering if you wanted a drink! Yeah, that's it!"

Using his magic, he took two mugs and presented the other for her to take. Outside, he kept a cheerful demeanor, but in the inside, he was silently berating himself for screwing up his chance.

Chrysalis eyed the mug curiously, then did the same to Thorax. She was sure he had much more to say than to simply offer her eggnog, but she supposed that she may have just imagined that. She accepted the mug with her own magic, then the two walked to a less dense part of the street so they could enjoy their drinks.

Things after that went well enough. They chatted idly, watching their changelings enjoy themselves with their pony companions while the two occasionally took sips from their eggnogs. Minutes into their conversation, however, Chrysalis began to notice, little by little, some rather odd behavior from her subjects.

She didn't attend many parties, so she wasn't quite sure at first, but her changelings seemed to have been enjoying themselves a little too much. Those who were laughing were doing so heartily, and there was a visible lack of balance for both the ones standing still and the ones walking. Upon playing closer attention to a changeling who stumbled past, she observed that its face was incredibly flushed, almost like it was... like it was drunk.

Her brows furrowing, Chrysalis brought the eggnog to her sights, the drink that was being freely served. Wanting to confirm her suspicion, she brought the mug to her lips for a tentative sip. In no time at all, she downed the liquid, then smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth to better taste it. As far as she could tell, it was non-alcoholic, so something else had to be the cause.

"Thorax," said Chrysalis, her eyes focused on her changelings in the crowd.

"Hmm?" she heard him reply.

"Do you notice something strange happening here?" she asked.

"Strange?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. "Something's happening only to our subjects. They appear to be drunk, but it can't be alcohol because otherwise the ponies would be affected as well."

"...Oh... oh that's a big problem."

Eyes still locked on her subjects, Chrysalis tilted her head in confusion.

"Problem? Why do you say that?" she asked. "I mean, sure they're inebriated for some reason, but things should be fine as long as they don't get themselves hurt or break something."

There was a pause before Thorax, with his words slightly slurred, spoke.

"I'm not talking about our subjects, Chryssy... The real problem I'm seeing here is..."

"Is?" she repeated, wondering why she now felt what seemed to be breathing on her flank.

"The real problem is..."

It took Chrysalis a few seconds to put together why he sounded so unfocused, but by the time she had an inkling as to why, it was already too late.

"Is how I can't get enough of this flank!" Thorax exclaimed, seconds before pouncing on said flank--her flank.

The moment his hooves planting themselves on her side, right where her cutie mark would be if she had one, Chrysalis's eyes widened, her neck extending to it full length as she produced an "Eeep!"

"Th-Thorax," she then uttered, her legs inexplicably locked in place. "What's gotten into you?"

His response was something Chrysalis didn't expect from him--from anypony, for that matter.

"Sorry, but I just... I just reeealy love your butt!" he explained with a snicker, his cheek nuzzling her posterior affectionately.

Flattered, yet alarmed, Chrysalis's tail instinctively moved to cover her more private areas as she slipped away from Thorax, which in turn caused him to slump onto the crystal pavement below. He laid flat on the ground, staring up at Chrysalis with a goofy grin on his face.

"Thorax," said Chrysalis. She craned her neck lower to him, then gently gave the side of his face a few taps before speaking. "Hey, get a hold of yourself! I need you to tell me what's going on. You and just about every other changeling here is behaving like this. I need answers, dammit!"

To her annoyance, Thorax's smile grew brighter, accompanied by a blush spreading over his face.

"I... I think I know what's going on," he drawled, his head lightly swaying as it tried to maintain balance. "But... but I don't want to say it out loud. Don't want to scare anypony. Come closer to I can... can whisper it to you."

Anxious to hear what he believed the cause to be, and why it would be so dire for him to whisper it, Chrysalis obliged and brought her face closer to his.

"Alright, now tell me," she whispered. She lightly scowled when he shook his head.

"No, closer..."

"Like this?"

"Closer~"

How close did she have to be? Any closer and their muzzles would bump into one another. Regardless, she did as she was told.

"Alright," she said. "This is as close as I can physically get. Now can you tell m--mph!"

To her shock, Thorax shot forward, pressing his lips against Chrysalis's.

Chrysalis was stunned, her eyes wide and unblinking as Thorax's forked, serpentine tongue invaded her mouth and slithered its twin tips along her teeth and pointy fangs. What came as a much bigger surprise to Chrysalis, however, was that she made no attempts to stop him. No, it was quite the opposite, in fact. Her tongue instead met with his, the both of them sliding over one another as she kissed him back.

They both hummed contently into the other's mouth, their tongues battling it out for dominance as they did so. Losing herself in the moment, Chrysalis lurched her head forward, which prompted Thorax to do the same. She wasn't aware of how long they played their little game, as time seemed convoluted to her; all she could feel, all she could taste was Thorax, as well as a strange, blooming feeling in her chest.

Moments later, before things could escalate any further from mere kissing, Chrysalis remembered that they were out in public, and immediately separated and stood tall from Thorax in a panic. To her relief, it seemed as if no pony had witnessed what the two royals were getting into. The changelings were still seemingly intoxicated and their pony friends were worriedly attending to them. It seemed that Chrysalis wasn't the only one to notice her subjects' strange behavior.

It warmed her heart, knowing that her changelings now had good hooves to fall back on.

Chrysalis looked down to Thorax, whose face was profusely blushing as he gazed up at her from the ground, and it was then that she fully grasped what had happened to her subjects. She found the cause through their kiss: Thorax's body had an overabundance of love, so much so that he was practically salivating it.

She didn't think that it would happen so soon, but it seemed that the changelings and the crystal ponies were getting along a little too well with each other. Normally that'd be fine, as it was what Thorax and Chrysalis both intended and worked so hard for, but there was one thing she overlooked.

With the two species celebrating their friendship during a festive holiday like Hearths Warming together, love was in the air. In this case, however, literally. She should have noticed it before, but the crowd, perhaps the whole Empire, was generating it, and in massive amounts.

One thing that wasn't well known about changelings is that they don't need to feed off love directly; they can also absorb it through their bodies. However, due to their evolution brought about by them always scavenging for love, something happens to them in the rare cases where they have too much of it in their systems. A chemical unbalance happens within their bodies, and the effects it has on changelings is remarkably similar to what alcohol does to ponies.

Chrysalis thought her changelings seemed drunk, but now that she knew what was happening, they might as well be. Being a queen, her body had a much, much higher tolerance for love than that of a drone, so it was up to her to explain to the ponies worried over their changeling friends.

The instructions she gave them afterwards went something along the lines of: some time away from large crowds, perhaps a little coffee and bread, and they'd be right as rain again.

"Oh no..."

That was what Thorax muttered some time later when he became much more clearheaded. At first, he was unsure as to where he was, but after his senses began to gradually return to him, he discovered himself to be lying on Chrysalis's back as she walked through the dimly lit halls of the changeling castle.

Once he began to recall what happened at the surface, where the memory of him behaving in an inappropriate manner and stealing a kiss from Chrysalis popped into the forefront of his mind, he groan as he covered his face with his hooves in embarrassment. He didn't mean to act like that, something just came over him.

Her ears twitching in response to the noise he produced, Chrysalis spoke, though she kept her gaze forward.

"Mm, of sound mind now, are we?" she asked.

Face still buried in his hooves, Thorax considered staying silent. With any luck, she'd think that he was asleep, then hopefully drop him off at his chambers. He'd rather deal with the aftermath of his actions later than sooner.

"If you're pretending to be asleep, Thorax, don't bother. I can feel your face cowering between my wings."

Looks like it's sooner, then...

"Um, h-hey!" Thorax said, a nervous smile forcing itself onto his face as he shot his head straight up. "I wasn't pretending, I was... uh, I just had a bit of a headache is all."

Being unable to see her face, it was difficult for Thorax to read if she was buying his excuse or not. After an uncomfortable pause, Chrysalis spoke.

"Mm, considering what just happened to you and the other changelings, I suppose some effects are bound to linger."

Furrowing his brow, Thorax tilted his head a bit to the side.

"After what happened to me and the other... what?" he said.

"What, you don't remember? It only happened like, what, an hour ago." When he remained silent, Chrysalis had a quick chuckle before deciding to enlighten him. "Our subjects and the ponies were producing too much love, and we were all in the thick of it. Our changelings absorbed it, got drunk off it, and started to behave erratically."

She looked over her shoulder, then gave Thorax a haughty, amused look.

"Some of our changelings, however, acted a tad more erratic than others. So," she paused intentionally, "you love my butt, do you?"

Breaking under her gaze, Thorax brought his hooves back over his face.

"Yeeeah, about that... I'm... I'm sorry. If it wasn't for all the love, I wouldn't have just, y-you know." He sighed. "Things are... things are about to get a whole lot awkward between us from here on out, huh?"

"Oh I wouldn't go so far as to say that," Chrysalis said as she faced forward again, much to Thorax's surprise. "Like you said, it was the excess love in your system that had you behave like that. You weren't in control of yourself. Still, that kiss though..."

The kiss. Thorax lamented the fact that she brought it up, as he really hoped she wouldn't. Holding his head as he shook it in despair, Thorax held his tongue. Even if he did speak, what could he say that would save him from the uncomfortable situation he found himself in? He didn't think anything could.

Noticing his silence, Chrysalis decided to take the reins of the conversation once more.

"Well," she started, albeit a bit awkwardly, "drunk or no, the desire to kiss me didn't just stem from nowhere. Clearly, at least at that moment, you harbored some... attraction for me. But rather than run off guesses and conjecture, how about you tell me why you decided to kiss me."

Thorax flinched, placing hooves flat on her back as he sat up straighter and clenched his teeth anxiously. Whether she was giving him an opportunity to come clean with his feelings for her, or she was interrogating him, he hadn't a clue.

"Uh..."

"Oh come now," said Chrysalis. "A simple answer, that's all I want. Here, I'll even make it easier for you." She cleared her throat, then said, "Thorax, do you like me?"

That seemed like an opportunity to Thorax, but he still wasn't quite sure just yet.

"Of course," he replied. "You're our queen. We all love and adore you."

Chrysalis scoffed in amusement.

"I know my children adore me, it's only natural. But what I wanted to know was: do you like me."

With that, Thorax began to believe that perhaps it wasn't an interrogation after all.

"W-well," he said, lying flat on her back while allowing his hoof to hang over her side. "I... like you, yeah. Ever since you decided to take Starlight's offer of sharing love, I've started seeing a side to you that I never knew existed. If somepony had told me years ago that Chrysalis was smart, witty, fun to be around, and has a cute smile, well... well honestly I wouldn't have believed them."

Unbeknownst to Thorax, his flattery caused Chrysalis's face to contain a bright, crimson blush.

"I've gotten the chance to see the real you, and I was in awe of every bit of what I saw. I was afraid of you then, but I guess I still am now."

At that, Chrysalis half-grimaced.

"Still afraid of me? Even after telling me all that? What, do I still give off that menacing aura?"

Quick to answer, Thorax shook his head.

"No. Well... not to those who know you've changed, at least. I'm afraid for... different reasons..."

"Different reasons?" Chrysalis questioned.

Resting his head onto the back of her mane, Thorax nodded.

"Yeah, different reasons... Like I said, you're an amazing changeling mare, Chryssy. Good company, sharp as a knife, and... and pretty darn sexy, if you don't mind me saying so. Any stallion, be it changeling or pony would be lucky to have you." Using his hoof, he drew circles in her mane as he then muttered, "Not being deserving of you one day... that's what I'm scared of. Heh, not like I'd ever have the chance."

Once Chrysalis reached the end of the hall, she stopped, as the path then split into two directions. The left hall lead to Thorax's chambers, and the right to her own.

"Mm," sounded Chrysalis, her expression conveying deep thought and consideration as she looked down both ends.

"Well, I guess this is where we part ways for the night," said Thorax. "Goodnight."

Once he made to get up and off of her, however, Chrysalis held him onto her with her magic as she casually strode into the right hallway, much to Thorax's bewilderment and confusion.

"Uh..." he uttered unassuredly, turning back to where the path split. "Aren't we turning in to our own rooms for the night? What are you doing?"

Her stride changing into a confident saunter, Chrysalis answered him with:

"Giving you a chance."