Godly

Godly
Chapter 10: Rise of the changeling kingdom Part 4

After checking in with the forge and my five apprentices, we have a total of two-hundred and seven spears, one-hundred and twelve swords, three-hundred and sixteen daggers, forty-four tower shields that are held up by a changeling's magic, and only the ten suits of armour I made. Though the swords, daggers, and spears made by my apprentices are usable at best, they're still sharp and can possibly beat the crystal weaponry of the ponies.

I've also forged twenty basic looking warhammers with slightly pointed heads. These will shatter the Equestrian's crystal armour pretty good, I think.

I make my way to the liquid love storage next and check on our supply.

"Peachy," I greet the changeling at the doorway.

"Oh! Carl! What can I do for you?" she asks me happily with a big grin.

I smile at her energy. She's always been so happy and cheerful even before I arrived. "Just checking on our supply of love. How much do we have left?" I ask her.

"We have two months and twenty-four days worth if rationed normally. That's excluding the batch taken up to the keep," she replies.

"Hmmm, I might need to make more. Get the team together before sundown and I'll make more hearts," I tell her getting a silly salute in reply.

"Okie dokie lokie!" she replies and hops away like her legs were springs.

No matter the situation, she's always there to make you crack a grin. She's also taken a liking to the party games I introduced to the hive the most. Though her venture into party planning still needs some work.

My next stop is to check on the pony scouts we caught. I walk down the tunnels and arrive at the still functional pod room. We're mainly keeping it as a prison for now in case someone tries to attack us so we have somewhere to put them until we decide what to do with them.

I walk in and see the six ponies all sleeping soundly in their pods. I guess we'll release them tomorrow. I also see Luna with her two guards here as well.

"Luna? What brings you here?" I ask her making her turn to look at me.

"I was curious as to how the changelings kept their... captives. I'm happy to see they're somewhat well kept and safe," she replies.

"I see. I've been in one of those pods myself, but I was not in a comfortable position like them," I tell her and chuckle.

"What was it like?" she asks curiously.

"Green, very green. The temperature was comfortable at least," I reply and give the ponies a once over again before turning around.

"Carl?" Luna says making me look back at her. "What was all the commotion about? No pony has told us... me anything," she asks me.

"Oh... another changeling queen showed up and at first was aggressive, but I think we've managed to work out a beneficial deal together in the end. She'll be returning later today or tomorrow... though I don't think she will be happy to see you here. She blames you and your sister for ruining her life with the minotaurs," I tell her making her ears go flat against her head.

"I see... Then I will have to do my best to make amends," she replies and heads for the door with a sad expression.

I sigh and walk out as well. I head back up to the surface while Luna goes down the tunnel to the lake.

I walk out the Hive and notice the floorboards are already done and they've started on the ceiling.

"Looking good," I say making Chrysalis look at me.

"Yes. Progress is going reasonably well," she replies and walks over to me.

"I was talking about you," I tell her making her roll her eyes but smile nonetheless.

"So how's our weapon situation?" she asks.

"Not as good as I'd like, but with how inexperienced my apprentices are, it's better than nothing. We have a decent amount of weapons made and I think our magic will be strong enough for ranged combat. I'll need to look into making bows and arrows later," I reply and sigh as I look to the clouds. "Also we'll be releasing the ponies like I promised tomorrow and then we'll see how things go. I could tell them that if they tell Celestia we're here, and she brings her forces, I will kill all of them to protect my home. Maybe that will convince them to keep silent about us," I then tell her with a hopeful tone.

"I could just block their memories of what they saw here," she tells me.

"No. If they should remember then they'll tell Celestia, or Celestia might detect the magic. I'm going to give them the option of not telling, and hopefully they'll see it as saving their friends and family from marching to a pointless war. Maybe even Luna could convince them," I reply getting a thoughtful frown from her.

"I guess that would be the better option. It'll also make us out to be more peaceful than Celestia told them and her as the dangerous one," she says with a raised brow and grin.

"Now there's some positive thinking," I tell her and look to the changelings buzzing about levitating freshly cut floorboards and supports.

We spend the day setting up the framework for the second floor and begin setting the floorboards. We also have all four gates up and installed so now the wall is completed.

The sun is starting to set and I start making my way down to the love storage to make more hearts for Peachy and her team to convert into liquid love. I arrive to find them already gathered and ready to go.

"I see you're all here," I say and change into Cupid.

"Uh-huh. We're ready when you are, Carl!" Peachy replies and I start making hearts.

I watch as they absorb them and then move over to a pod and carefully regurgitate the now liquidated love into it. It would be much more disturbing if they made squelching or retching sounds but the only noise is from the liquid hitting the bottom of the pod.

We all keep this up for two hours and I feel tired.

"That'll do for today, how much did we make?" I ask and turn into Khepri.

"Two weeks worth I think, not bad for two hours. I think you're making the hearts filled with more love every time you do it," Peachy replies and tells me.

Are my gods levelling up as I use them? Na, I doubt it. Probably just getting so used to it that I'm just more efficient at it now.

"Well then, I'm off to bed. I got a Queen to cuddle," I say and walk off.

"Is game night still on tomorrow!?" Peachy asks me.

"Yes, and Luna will be joining us as well!" I yell back, making her giggle and go back into the storage room.

I walk into my bedroom to see Chrysalis on my bed brushing her hair with a black brush.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you," she tells me and smiles.

"Yeah, well... I just topped up the love storage with another two weeks supply to make up what we gave to Dragana," I reply and climb up on top of the bed making her yelp as I gently lower myself onto her.

"CARL! I need to finish brushing my mane!" she tells me and I grin as I change to Hercules, sit beside her, and snatch the brush from her.

"Tough, because I want to do it," I tell her and pull her onto my lap.

She giggles and just rests her head on my lap as I run the brush through her hair, which is surprisingly a relaxing task. She hums happily and nuzzles my stomach.

It takes me five minutes to finish and I then effortlessly pick her up and hug her gently with her back to my chest.

"This is nice," she says and wiggles herself deeper into me.

I caress her chest softly and bury my face into her hair and neck. "You know? I'm actually thankful Celestia is a jerk," I say getting her to glance at me with her large right green cat like eye.

"What would you be thankful to that old nag for?" she asks me confused.

"If she wasn't such a hostile cunt, I wouldn't have left the Crystal Empire and found you," I tell her. As cheesy as it sounded, I meant it.

She giggles and rubs her cheek to mine. "I guess so. So next time I blast her, I'll thank her as well," she replies and I lay back on the bed as she rolls over and lays on top of me on her stomach.

I wrap my arms around her lower back and lean up for a kiss. She leans forward and meets me mid way as her hooves go behind my head.

Her tongue slips out and pushes past my lips, which I welcome with my own caressing her much larger one. She sighs and pulls back for breath.

"Now let's get some sleep. We have more work to do tomorrow," she tells me.

"Do you want me to stay like this, or be Khepri again?" I ask her.

"Khepri if you don't mind, your golden undershell is soft and comfortable," she replies.

I change to Khepri and I wrap all six legs around her. "Goodnight, Chryssi," I tell her.

"Goodnight, my love."

After a night of practising with various gods in my dream for the possible upcoming battle we might have, I wake up to find Chrysalis gone. I yawn and scratch my belly with a couple of legs before rolling over onto the floor. I make my way to the door and push it open and head down to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"Good morning, Sir," a changeling guard says as I pass by.

"Morning. Do you know where Chrysalis is?" I ask him.

"She's on the surface overseeing the keep's roof construction, Sir," he replies.

"Alright. Send her a message that I'll be up once I've eaten breakfast," I tell him getting a nod in reply.

After that, I go to get myself breakfast where I see Luna and her guards leaving the cafeteria. "Good morning, Luna," I greet her making her yelp at me.

"Carl! We, I am still unused to your size and form... but good morning," she replies and sighs.

"So what will you be doing today?" I ask her.

"I have decided to talk with some changelings about their history today, Even before... we got them exiled, we barely and still do not know much about them," she replies and smiles.

"And how have you liked your stay so far?" I then ask her.

"So far it has been surprisingly pleasant. The changelings have been nice and have told me what they could when I ask them questions," she tells me.

"Well then, I'm hungry and need a nice cold bowl of carrots and lettuce. Also, remember that another changeling Queen named Dragana will be coming today or tomorrow to move her Hive in with ours, and that she also has a high dislike for your sister and yourself, so don't get upset if she gets hostile. I'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid," I warn her.

"Ah yes... I'll just have to see how that turns out when she arrives. Thank you for warning me, have a good day," she replies and walks off.

"Wait," I say getting her attention. "Before you do that, please go to the prison and wait there. I'm going to release the ponies once I've checked in with Chrysalis," I tell her.

"Very well. I shall await for thine... your arrival there," she replies and continues on.

Once I've had a quick breakfast, I head up to the surface and see the roof has been started. The wooden frame work is in place and the changelings have started to place wooden boards across them.

"Looking good so far," I comment getting Chrysalis' attention.

"Yes it is, but I think this will be the best we can do for now before the Equestrians arrive," she replies.

"Most likely. But I'd like some changelings to set up a small outpost near the Equestrian border after we release the pony scouts as an early warning system. Which I guess I should do now then," I say getting a sigh from her.

"Alright," she replies and looks back to the construction.

I head back down to the prison room and see Luna looking at the pods.

"Let's get this over with," I say and look to one of the caretakers. "Release them," I order her and she nodded.

She and the other three caretakers cut open the pods and after a few minutes, the ponies start to wake up.

"I had the worst bucking dream..." one of them mumbles and yawns.

"Swift Wing? What you doing in my bed?" a mare asks the one that spoke.

"I'm not... am I?" he replies sounding hopeful about it and looks around groggily.

"No, you're not," I tell them and he snaps awake.

"Awww, buck... it's real," he says and faceplants the floor with a groan.

"Relax my ponies, all is well," Luna tries to assure them calmly.

"Princess Luna!?" the mare yelps and gets on her hooves with a salute that smacks her hoof into her head. "Ow..." she mutters and then tips onto her side and groans as she holds her head.

They all finally wake up enough to look confused at us. "I assume that we are being released?" the leader of the ponies asks me.

"Correct, just like I promised, along with a big meal before you go," I reply and turn to the door. "If you would follow me to the cafeteria, we'll get you something," I tell them and walk out.

"Princess? Why are you here?" I hear the leader ask her.

"We shall inform thee... I mean I shall tell you on the way," she replies.

They follow me out and we head to the Cafeteria where Luna explains why she's here and asks them to keep her location a secret from Celestia.

"We're... not sure we can, Princess... Princess Celestia would want to know you're here..." the leader replies conflicted.

"Think of it this way," I say getting their attention. "I don't want the Equestrians and Celestia attacking my home. I take it you don't want to march to war either correct?" I ask him.

"No I don't," he replies.

"And even though Equestria has more soldiers than us, I can and will wipe out well over half of your forces myself while our changelings and my stone warriors will finish off the rest. And if I have to, I will kill Celestia to protect my home and those living here," I tell him.

"But she moves the sun! Without her there will be no sunrise and sunset!" he tells me in anger.

"No she doesn't. I've set the sun back into its natural orbit along with the moon. The Princesses don't need to move them anymore," I reply.

His silence tells me he's shocked at what I've just said.

"I believe Celestia took control of the sun as a means of making herself appear like a goddess. If I can just take control of the sun from her, then that just tells me she isn't one," I say and we arrive at the cafeteria. "Now then, order whatever you'd like. I even have some grape wine stored in a couple of kegs if you'd like some," I tell them and turn to the changeling guards. "Bring them to the surface once they've finished."

"Yes, Sir," they reply and they all head in.

I head back up to the surface and take a deep breath of air and sigh.

"You seem stressed," Chrysalis tells me and walks over.

I look towards her and smile faintly. "I haven't even been here for half a year and I could already be in a war. I'm also helping an entire race recover from extinction which will surely have its bumps along the way. So yeah, I guess all this has me stressed out. I was just an overweight gamer before coming here, pretending to be a god or hero in fictional games. Now I have the power of multiple gods, over a thousand people to look after, and an insane magical horse who wants me dead," I reply and stretch my limbs and neck, getting a few pops from them.

"Well, maybe tonight I can help relieve some of that stress. But for now, my scouts have informed me that Queen Dragana will be arriving soon," she tells me and nuzzles my cheek.

I return her affection and wonder what she meant about that as I sigh again. "Alright, where will we put them? Is there enough room in the Hive for them?" I ask her.

"Not really. We'll have to expand the Hive to accommodate them," she replies.

I look around the area and then get an Idea. The image of the Imperial City from the game The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion comes to mind with its districts. Maybe we can build a city similar to it and have the different districts as places for each Queen's Hive?

The centre being us the Jade Hive, and the outer ones being the other Queens Hives... It could work...

"I have an idea, but we'll have to discuss it when she gets here," I tell her getting a raised brow from her. "For now though, the ponies are eating and the guards will bring them up. I hope Luna can convince them to remain silent about us," I say and head over to my little garden next to the keep.

"I hope so too. As much as I would love to put Celestia in her place again, I don't want to put my changelings into harm's way if I can avoid it," she tells me and looks worriedly towards Equestria.

We settle down in the Garden and just enjoy each other's company for a good forty minutes. The ponies come up and gawk at what we've built so far.

"How long were we down there..." one of them asks completely confused.

"Two days," I tell him and get up.

"What? But how did you build this so fast?" the leader asks flabbergasted.

"With the help of a god, magic, and very good coordination skills," Chrysalis gloats and nuzzles my leg.

"So. What will you tell Celestia?" I ask him.

He looks around at the changelings who've stopped their work to watch. He then looks back to Luna who smiles sadly at him.

"We have to report our findings... we're under oath to never lie to the Princesses... But we shall inform her that the changelings here aren't a threat and treated us fairly... Princess Luna has also given me a letter to give to Princess Celestia," he replies. "I would rather say we found nothing, but I have a family to support and I can't afford to lose my job. I'm sorry," he tells me with conviction.

"Alright. I'm a man of my word and you're free to leave," I tell him and he frowns in thought.

"From what Princess Luna has told us and what we've seen... I personally don't think these changelings are dangerous..." he tells me and spreads his wings, as do the other ponies.

"That's good to hear, I hope you manage to convince Celestia as well and to leave us be," I reply and nod to him.

"So do I," he replies.

They take off back towards Equestria and I sigh in disappointment. Guess we'll just have to prepare as best as we can and hope for the best.

"So what was in your letter to your sister?" I ask Luna.

"That I am well and in pleasant company. I have also asked her not to do anything rash and if she wishes to come here, that it be in a civil manner," she replies.

"I see. We'll just have to see what happens. If she does bring an army, I meant what I said about crushing them, and putting Celestia down," I tell her making her wince.

"And I hope it will not come to that," she says and looks back to the Hive. "Now I have some questions I would like to ask the changelings. I shall meet you later for supper, Carl, Chrysalis," she replies and nodded before heading back down into the Hive.

Chrysalis and I head back to the garden and just watch the changelings resume their work on the roof. I look to the back of the keep and see changelings starting to carve stones into tiles for the roofing, which will be held together with resin.

Chrysalis flies above me and lands on my back where she rubs her hooves across my shell.

"I can't feel that you know," I tell her making her giggle.

"Maybe, but it feels nice to me," she replies and rests her head on me.

I smile and look up to the sky, it shouldn't be long before Dragana arrives I think. I guess I can start on planning out the districts for the other Hives.

"Chrysalis, how many Hives do you remember there being before Celestia scattered them?" I ask her.

"Twelve if I recall correctly, including ours," she replies.

"And you told me of the one you had to destroy... so that just leaves ten others left, and one is confirmed," I say and roll my neck a bit.

Chrysalis perks up and looks to the west, I look there as well and see Dragana and her Hive flying over to us in the distance. I think there's around about one-thousand of them coming.

I stand up and Chrysalis flutters down beside me. Dragana arrives and lands in front of me looking much better than before she left, she must have had more liquid love from the pods.

"I see you're looking better, Dragana," I say to her making her stare at me.

"Thank you... I have brought my Hive as well as my breeder," she replies and I notice the pod with a large brown furred sleeping minotaur in it, and he's completely naked.

"And the others?" I ask her.

"Released where they quickly ran off to their homeland," she tells me.

"Alright then. Now I have plans for where the other Hives will be that will join us by adding districts or segments to the City. This current one is for the Jade Hive and the keep here will be the gathering place for all the Queens and the main storage of liquid love that the Queens can take to their districts. There will be districts of equal size around this one for each Queen and her changelings to reside in," I tell her making her hum in thought.

"That sounds reasonable. And when will these districts be constructed?" she asks me as our changelings gather around and greet Dragana's. Peachy is hopping around greeting as many as she can.

"Once I'm positive Celestia won't try to destroy us anymore, I'll start raising the next wall and segments between them. But for now you'll have to stay with us. We should have enough space for everyone," I reply.

"This still feels wrong... but I'm willing to give this a chance," she replies and sighs.

"Oh, also, we have the Equestrian Princess Luna residing here for now. So please don't start any fights with her," I tell her making her go wide eyed.

"YOU WHAT!?" she yells angrily and I sigh.

"She fears her sister right now and has come seeking asylum. She also has resin on her horn until she's earned our trust. For now, she's experiencing life as a changeling to show her how we live here. So far she's impressed and has even shown her support in case Celestia does attack, along with the aid of Empress Amore and her daughter Cadenza of the Crystal Empire as well," I inform her.

She goes from angry to shocked. "She just let you put resin on her horn?" she asks dumbly.

"Correct. She's actually rather friendly and polite compared to her sister. So I recommend trying to befriend her as well," I reply.

She frowns and huffs. "I make no promises. But for the sake of my Hive's survival, I shall tolerate her presence," she says unhappily and looks around.

"Well then. Let's find your changelings places to stay while I plan out the districts," I tell her.

"Very well," she replies and we lead her inside.

It takes six or seven hours to find places to house the changelings, and some new rooms had to be dug out to fit them all, but we got them all in. I'm just glad Dragana's Hive is smaller than ours or we'd really have trouble fitting them all in.

We bumped into Luna while we were finding places for the crimson changelings and Dragana almost snapped but composed herself, and even as Luna greeted her, the new Queen ignored her. I just told Luna to give her some space and try to talk to her over time.

Dragana chose a room across from mine and the minotaur she brought is in the prison room. I'll have a talk with him tomorrow once everything calms down.

Chrysalis' changelings are on edge with Dragana's here with them, but so far they're being friendly to each other.

Chrysalis, Dragana, and I are in the cafeteria where I enjoy a late lunch and the two queens are drinking a small glass of liquid love each. I'm currently the Egyptian god Thoth, Arbiter of the Damned. I'm similar to Ra but with a blueish-green feathered hummingbird's head and human body, though I'm missing a finger on each hand and my feet feel weird.

I'm wearing green, brown, and blue Egyptian clothing and headdress with gold trimming. On my Pauldrons are oval shaped sapphires as well as on the front of my belt as the pupil of the eye decorating it. On the centre of my chest is an ankh with a sapphire in the top circle of the ankh.

With a few pieces of parchment or most likely papyrus I created with my energy, -I found out he could make them and scrolls since he writes stuff-, I start doodling designs of what I had in mind for the City.

"So here's what I have planned for the City design," I say and scribble a circle with the tip of my right index finger. The circle's line glows as I drag my finger over the papyrus before dulling into a black circle. "This is the current wall. From what Chrysalis told me, there were twelve hives in total before Celestia's tantrum. We currently know of two; the Jade Hive and the Crimson Hive. Chrysalis has told me of the one she destroyed in self defence so that makes eleven left," I say and look at Dragana.

"Do you have any news or had any run ins with other Hives?" I ask her.

"I've ran into one before, she called herself Metamorpha of the Violet Hive. She attacked my Hive only to be repelled and I retaliated. She got away and I haven't seen her since, that was seven years ago," she replies and I look back to the parchment.

"Alright, so here's what I have in mind," I say and draw a second circle around the first. "I'll raise another wall and then put segments with gates between them for each Hive to reside," I tell them and draw lines from the first circle to the second. making eight segments in total. "I think eight areas will be enough as we don't know how many Hives are out there still, and if there's less than we thought, the other areas could be used for industry or storage, maybe even embassies for other races."

"You've put a lot of thought into this, Carl," Chrysalis says looking at the papyrus.

"As I said before, I want the changelings to get back to how they were and even surpass the other races. That and I want to rub it in Celestia's racist face that she's wrong about you," I say with a smirk.

"You are an intriguing creature, Carl. Not only have you defied the alicorns, but you bring three of them to your side and have brought hope to our kind... I'm still thinking you might have ulterior motives for your kindness, but I just don't see how," Dragana says with a slight frown.

"My motives are to make my mate's Hive better and just live happily here. I have no other wants than that for now," I tell her and look back to the sheet of papyrus. "We'll also place towers around the secondary wall as lookouts. I'll even make more of the area fertile and one day, we can change the name of the Badlands. I'll let you Queens think of a name for the changeling kingdom."

"Sounds good. So I take it tomorrow we'll be checking the area for the second wall?" Chrysalis asks me.

"Yeah, but I'll have to raise it in segments as raising our current wall took everything I had, so I know I won't be able to lift the whole secondary wall in one go. That means we can get Dragana's area built first so she can begin building her Hive," I reply and look to Dragana. "Any particular segment you want?" I ask her.

She looks at the eight segments and points to the western most one. "I'll have this one. Should we get back on good terms with the minotaurs, I'd like to have the one facing their homeland," she replies.

"Alright then. Now that that's settled, I'm going to see if I can add more love to the stores, I want to make sure we have enough to sustain everyone," I tell them getting Dragana to perk up.

"I wish to see how you do this as I'm intrigued on how one being can feed so many changelings and more," she tells me and I shrug.

"Sure, just follow me," I reply and get up.

With that sorted out, I head to the storage area with Dragana and Chrysalis behind me.