Godly

Godly
Chapter 11: The calm before the storm

After showing Dragana how I make the love that she and her Hive will feed from, she was surprised that I make the love come from hearts and she even touched one which flowed into her making her gasp in shock.

I spent four hours making another four weeks worth. I guess two weeks worth since we doubled our numbers. Which is added to the storage. It's a good thing liquid love doesn't go off or spoil, and as long as a changeling doesn't waste their magic, they don't burn off their energy as fast.

'I'm going to have to find another way to generate love if we're going to get more changelings living here,' I think to myself and then raise an eyebrow. 'I need to ask Amore how the Crystal Heart in the Empire works... Maybe I can fuse Cupid's love hearts with a replica of the Crystal Heart to generate its own love energy instead of absorbing it like hers does... We could have our own dome of love energy over the city where changelings can just feed whenever they want.'

"I am truly starting to believe you are a god as you claim to be..." Dragana tells me.

I smirk at her and change back into Khepri. "As I told you before, I don't care if others believe I'm a god or not. I know I am and that's all that matters to me. Besides, I'm perfectly happy right here," I reply and then my stomach rumbles. "Seems now's a good time for dinner... I could go for some pork with steamed vegetables and a cup of wine," I say and start walking to the cafeteria.

"You have wine?" she asks me in surprise.

"I have an unlimited supply of wine actually. Why? Would you like some?" I ask her.

Whilst changelings feed on emotions primarily, they can eat solid food for taste and to make more resin in their stomach. They just don't benefit from it as I do.

"I can't remember the last time I had wine," she replies with a smile.

"Alright. After dinner will be game night, would you like to join in?" I ask her.

"Game night?" she asks confused.

"You'll see," I reply and head down the tunnels.

After dinner where Dragana enjoyed her wine and partook of some pork and vegetables as well, we're now in a room filled with different games where Chrysalis, Peachy, Luna, Dragana, and I are sitting around a table and I'm now Hercules as I'll need my hands.

Dragana is giving Luna the stink eye but is being civil at least.

"Tonight's game is Blackjack! For the two newcomers, I'll explain the rules," I say and tell Luna and Dragana the rules and the values of the cards.

"So the winner is the one whose cards are the closest to twenty-one without going over. I will be the dealer today so let's begin," I say and hand both Luna and Dragana one-hundred Gil each.

"What are these?" Dragana asks as she levitates a coin in front of her face.

"The changelings' new currency called Gil made from a metal called gold. The size and number on the coins indicates their value," I reply and shuffle the deck.

"Similar to our bits, but ours are made from an uncommon crystal and each one is the same value," Luna tells me.

"Huh, I'll have to see if Cadence will give me a few to see. So each player puts up four Gil and the winner gets to claim their opponents' bets. If you're unsure and think you can't win, you can pass and get back two Gil," I say as I shuffle the deck and then deal out two cards face down to each of them.

The three changelings levitate their coins while Luna struggles to lift hers with her hooves. I cringe at the admittedly pathetic attempts where she groans in frustration.

"Chryssi, can you remove the resin from her horn for now so she can at least play?" I ask her.

"Alright," she replies hesitantly and her horn glows.

The resin on Luna's horn goes soft and after a few seconds its pulled off making Luna sigh in relief.

"You have no idea how good it feels to have my magic back..." Luna says and her horn glows as she levitates her four, one Gil coins to the middle pile.

"Right then, we'll go from left to right," I say and flip Chrysalis' cards.

"Eleven. What will you do?" I ask her.

"Hit me," she says.

I put another card down and it's the four of spades. "Fifteen," I say making her hum.

"Hit me," she says again.

Another card is placed and it's the five of clubs. "Twenty."

"Stay," she says and smiles smugly.

"Alright. Peachy, your turn," I say and flip her cards. "Seventeen."

"Hit me!" she says cheerfully.

I put down a card and it's the two of hearts. "Nineteen."

She frowns in determination. "Hit me!" she says again and I put her next card down. King of spades. "DOH!" she says and grins.

"Twenty-nine. Peachy is out. Dragana's turn," I say and flip her cards. "Four."

"Hit me," she says and winces as she says it.

I put a card down and it's a queen of diamonds. "Fourteen,"

"Hit me."

Again a card is placed and it's a three of spades. "Seventeen."

"Hit me," she says with a glare at the cards.

It's the ace of clubs. "Eighteen."

She glares harder and sighs. "I know when to fallback, so I'll pass," she says and I give her two of her coins back.

I look to Luna who looks very interested in the game so far. I flip her cards and she has six.

"Hit us... er, me," she says and I put down a five of diamonds.

"Eleven."

"Hit me," she says with a smile.

It's the jack of hearts. "Twenty-one. Luna wins," I say making Luna grin happily.

Chrysalis pouts and I hand all the Gil in the pile to Luna.

The game goes on for an hour or two and by the end of it, Luna has three-hundred and seven Gil in her pile.

"This game is most enjoyable!" Luna exclaims and the others look grumpy.

"Damn alicorn's luck..." Dragana mumbles and yawns.

"I guess we should call it a night," I say and put the cards away and change back into Khepri.

"Okay! I'll see you next week!" Peachy says and hops out the room with what little Gil she had left.

"Carl? What do I do with these?" Luna asks me and points to her pile of Gil.

"I'll take back the hundred I gave you, but you can keep the rest since you won it. Use it to buy things from the changelings. Some have started making things like figurines and furniture out of gems or any spare wood we bring back. Perhaps you can find something to put in your room?" I suggest to her.

She hums and her horn glows as a small linen or cotton looking dark blue bag appears and she puts the coins in it. She's smiling and looks like she had a good time tonight.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and let you keep your magic, Luna. Don't make me regret it okay?" I tell her in a serious tone. She's behaved well enough so far and besides, I'll use this as a test to see if she'll try anything.

"Really?" she asks with a bigger smile.

"Yes," I reply making Chrysalis and Dragana look worried.

"Thank you, Carl. I promise not to betray your trust," she tells me and gets up. "Goodnight, everypony," she says and walks out the room along with her two guards.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Chrysalis asks me.

"To be honest, I don't know. But I'll use this as a test to see if she'll try anything. She still has the guards we assigned watching her who will immediately tell you if she does something," I reply.

"Alright, but if she tries anything I'm stuffing her into a pod," Chrysalis tells me.

"And I agree. Let's just hope she keeps to her word," I reply.

"I will bid you both goodnight. I have a lot to do in the morning to plan for my new Hive," Dragana says and I smile at her.

"True. I have to raise your segment's walls and then you can start digging or even build on the surface. I just ask that any gold, metal, or gems you find you bring here. We'll convert the gold you find into Gil for you as the metal and gems will be used for more weapons and armour," I tell her.

"I noticed your weapons are different to what the ponies use. I would like to know how you made such things," she replies.

"Once I've raised the walls, I can show you our forge where we make them. Perhaps some of your changelings would like to become my apprentices?" I say and walk to the doorway.

"Then I shall see you tomorrow," Dragana says and walks past me and down the tunnel to her room.

"Things are certainly looking better for our future," Chrysalis tells me and flies up onto my back.

I chuckle and gently walk down the tunnel to my room. "For now at least. But the future holds many secrets and twists that could just as well bring disaster as well as good fortune," I reply and reach my room.

I open the door and roll over onto the bed on my back. Chrysalis flutters down and rests on my underbelly.

"I guess so, then let's hope the disasters are much further down the line than the good fortune is shall we?" she tells me with a kiss and rests her head on my chest.

I smile at her and hug her with my six legs. "We won't need to hope. As long as I'm here, I'll make sure good fortune always comes. Besides, I have someone who's the very god of good fortune and success," I tell her, making her smile and giggle.

"Now then, time for that promise," she says making me raise an eyebrow at her.

"What promise?" I ask.

"To help you relieve some stress..." she tells me with a smirk.

"I thought we were going to go slowly with our relationship?" I ask her.

"I wouldn't mind a good rutting, but I was referring to a massage," she tells me.

"Oh... I guess so," I reply and change to Hercules and strip down to just my underwear.

She hums happily and surprises me by changing the shape of her body to that of a human's. She still looks like a changeling, same head shape and face with black chitin skin and the green shell on her stomach and back, but is completely naked, her breasts are modereate in size and B-cup I think and her nipples are green like her shell. She flexes her fingers before starting to rub my chest with her hands.

I close my eyes to stop staring at her body and just relax. Damn that feels nice. I'll have to ask her when she was able to do that later.

She spends an hour massaging my body and once done I return the favour, we then cuddle up with her still in her human shape and go to sleep.

We both awaken and get around to starting our day. I need to find a way to make a toothbrush and some kind of toothpaste... gargling water and using a bit of cloth taken from the ponies to wash my teeth every morning is still a bit weird, despite how long I've been doing it now. I just hope my teeth no longer decay, but so far no tooth aches!

We have our breakfast and all of us are on the surface. Luna smiles as she takes a quick flight with her guards around the wall while I head to the westernmost side where the gate is.

"This will be your gate, at least on the surface to the Jade Hive segment," I tell Dragana.

"I suppose there will be a tunnel connecting us below as well?" she asks.

"Correct. If we come under attack, this way we can move changelings or visitors of other races to safety without those attacking us knowing," I reply and change into Geb.

I flex my floating fingers and roll my floating head a couple of times. I place both of my hands on the ground and feel the earth all around me.

I map out the area I wish to raise and after a few minutes finding all the rock, stone, and dirt I need to move, I raise the two main dividing walls before lifting the outer wall segment. I then fuse them together and release my hold on them.

"Done..." I say slowly and sit down.

Chrysalis levitates a cup of water in front of me and I change into Hercules before accepting the cool water and gulping it down.

"Amazing..." Dragana says wide eyed.

"Now you can have your changelings cover the walls with their resin and start digging your Hive. As well as making a gate in the outer wall if you want," I tell her still short on breath.

She looks around at the large empty area I walled off and smiles. "This is truly more than anyone has done for us before," she tells me and walks ahead.

Luna lands beside us and just gawks at me. No doubt watching the walls rise from above. "Not even we... I or my sister can do such a thing with our magic..." she says in awe.

I feel a bit better now and decide to show off a bit more. I then change into Terra and walk over to a large empty area in the left most corner.

"Then watch this!" I say and stomp on the ground with my right foot and the hard rocky terrain around me begins to turn into fertile soil as grass and flowers begin to grow. Small bushes then sprout and after a few minutes, a small garden is now grown.

Luna and Dragana walk over to the garden and examine the flowers and grass. "They're alive and real..." Luna says and sniffs at a rosebush.

"Dragana, if you want to keep this Garden, you'll have to keep it watered. But I can make it rain later if I need to. I plan to turn this whole area into a lush plains with wildlife everywhere. But this is just the start for now, we have much to do before then," I tell her, making her just lie down on the grass and sigh.

"This is all too much to take in..." she mumbles and I chuckle.

I change back to Khepri and walk over to Chrysalis.

"So what's next?" she asks me.

"I think we should gather Dragana's changelings that want to be soldiers and have them training with ours, get them used to using weapons before Celestia might arrive," I reply.

"But what about us?" she then asks.

"I'm going to rest to recover the energy I just used, then make more hearts for Peachy and her team to make more liquid love. Could get some of Dragana's changelings to join so they can start storing some for themselves. As for you, I wouldn't mind my Queen tagging along," I reply.

She smiles as I walk over to Dragana. "Can you call five of your changelings up here who would like to be your hive's liquid love converters?" I ask her.

She looks up from her spot in the grass and closes her eyes. After a few seconds she opens them again. "I've called the ones who want to up. They should be here in a minute or two," she replies and then gets up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Hive to build," she tells me and after a few minutes, her changelings swarm out of the keep and start digging into the ground in the centre of the area.

Five of them land in front of us and I smile at them. "I take it you're going to be the Crimson Hive's love converters?" I ask them.

"Yes, we are," a male replies.

"Alright then. I need to rest for a while so just relax until I'm ready to go," I tell them and settle down on the grass.

Chrysalis lays next to me while Luna goes back to the rosebushes and starts munching on some of the roses petals.

After a couple hours of resting and watching Dragana's changelings I get up and stretch my legs. "Please follow me to the love storage and we'll get started making some liquid love for your Hive," I tell the changelings and take off towards the keep.

They follow behind us as does Chrysalis and Luna. We make it to the Storage area where Peachy is talking to her team.

"Carl! Oh you brought some friends!" she says and hops over to us.

"They're going to be the Crimson Hive's team. So I'd like you to provide some pods for them to fill," I ask her.

"Okie Dokie!" she replies and goes to get five pods.

I change into Cupid making the red changelings stare at me now that I'm shorter than them.

"Alright you five. I'm going to make hearts filled with love, your job is to absorb them and then fill the pods with liquid love till they're full. Then you'll take five pods of love to Dragana and make your own storage area," I tell them.

"Okay..." one of them says still staring at me.

I notice one of the females biting her lower lip and shuffling on her hooves.

"You want a hug don't you..." I ask her making her nod quickly. She's not the first to ask me such a thing.

I flutter over to her and give her a quick hug making her squeal and hug me back.

"YOU'RE SO CUTE!" she yells and then blushes before letting go.

"Smooth..." the other female says and rolls her eyes.

Peachy returns with five pods and I turn to the red changelings. "So let's get started!" I say and make three hearts.

After a couple of hours, they've filled their five pods and after thanking me, carried the pods up to the surface. Peachy and her team also filled another ten pods themselves. Luna though looks a little green watching them regurgitate the liquid love into the pods.

With that sorted, I change back into Khepri and I get Dragana to send her three-hundred changelings who can fight down to our training grounds where our just as small force is training with their weapons.

"Night Stalker!" I call out getting Chrysalis' guard captain to walk over.

"Yes, Sir?" he asks with a salute.

"I want you to start giving Dragana's changelings a crash course in using the weapons. We have about a day or two before Celestia could arrive," I tell him getting him to frown.

"Of course, Sir," he replies and looks to the red changelings. "Alright you lot, who's your swarm leader?" he asks them.

"I am," a larger red female changeling replies.

"Alright. I've been told we'll be working together until told otherwise. I'll be showing you how to use each weapon and then you'll teach your changelings," Night Stalker tells him.

I leave them to it and make my way up to the surface and walk over to my garden with Chrysalis beside me. I lay down on my legs and she leans against me.

We can hear Dragana's changelings digging up their area and I just sigh and enjoy Chrysalis' company.

There's not much we can do now as we wait for Celestia to possibly attack.

Two days pass and Dragana's walls are covered in resin along with a gate. She's dug out a lot of dirt and stone and has a basic Hive set up but it's still being dug out more.

Her changelings have started to get used to using swords and spears, but I don't think it'll be enough to let them use them in a battle yet, so they'll play more as ranged units with their now fully restored magic for now.

Chrysalis and Dragana have been talking to each other and making plans on how to expand their Hives. I've been making more liquid love with both hive's converters most of the time now to stock up.

Luna has been trying to get on Dragana's good side but the Queen is still avoiding her if she can. Though Luna has kept to her word and hasn't done anything to harm us with her magic. She's still asking the changelings questions and making friends with some of them though.

I asked Chrysalis about her humanoid form and she told me that she was just intrigued at the shape when I turned into goddesses and wanted to see if she could mimic the shape. She was also curious as to why human female breasts were so high up and large.

I've spoken to the minotaur Dragana brought and he's a right piece of work. Bugger says he's from a prominent clan named Stronghorn and was sent to kill Dragana to bring more honour to said clan. Told me his name is Tahway Stronghorn and demanded I release him so he can finish what he started.

I told him that won't be happening and for his attempt at murdering Dragana and her Hive, he'll remain a prisoner for now. But he'll remain conscious and well fed as long as he behaves himself. But twice he had to be sedated for trying to break free from his pod.

It's going to be a long time before we can get him to be civil enough to talk to.

The changelings we sent to build a small outpost at the Equestrian border has come back and reported that the Equestrians are marching this way with about three-thousand ponies armed with crystal weapons and armour. They'll arrive within six hours.

So I used Geb's power to make lengths of rock covered in changeling resin between our City and Equestria as cover for our ranged magic units. This should help to prevent getting too many casualties.

"I knew she wouldn't miss the opportunity to try and get rid of us," Chrysalis says angrily while Luna looks upset.

"I'm going to ask Amore for her help. You gather our forces and get them ready," I tell Chrysalis and Dragana.

They agree and head off while I change to Janus and open a portal to Amore's Throne Room.

"Why is my sister doing this? She was never this aggressive or hostile before..." Luna says looking horrified.

"Time changes people. Perhaps she believes this perfect harmony of hers so much that she'll now do anything to see it through, or maybe being seen as a goddess all these years has gone to her head. I guess I'll have to avoid doing the same myself," I reply and head through to see Cadence on her throne but no Amore. Luna comes through behind me as well.

"Carl? Auntie? Is something the matter?" she asks after seeing the serious expression on my metal face.

"Celestia is coming with an army of about three-thousand to attack us. They'll be here in six hours or less. I've come to ask the Crystal Empire to aid in the defence of my home and its people," I ask her as seriously as possible.

She looks shocked at the news but then frowns. "What the buck does she think she's doing!?" she yells completely out of character making some of the crystal ponies look at her in surprise.

"I'm hoping you can ask her that, but I'd like to see if you, your mother, and Luna can convince her to turn back and spare everyone from needless bloodshed. Or I will use everything within my power to make sure none of my friends and home come to harm," I ask and tell her.

"Oh we'll do more than that! We shall give her an ear full! Spouting harmony and love when she would not think twice on attacking somepony else!" she replies angrily and looks to one of her guards. "Inform our mother and gather the army! We shall aid our changeling allies in the defence of their home!" she orders him resolutely getting a salute from him before he runs off.

"Thank you, Cadence. Are you sure you want to do this? It could damage your relations with Equestria," I tell her.

"This isn't the Celestia we grew up knowing. We would rather risk our relations with Equestria than sit by as she lays siege to dear friends of ours," she replies and squads of ponies in purple crystal armour pour into the Throne Room along with Amore.

"Sir, Carl. We've been told that thy home will come under siege from Celestia soon?" she asks me.

"Yes, and I've come asking for your help," I reply.

"After saving our Empire and ourself from Sombra's treachery, thou hast earned our support," she tells me and smiles.

"Okay. I'll make a portal to the Hive's keep," I say and open a new larger portal to the side of the keep.

"Guards! Head through the portal and form up once through! If it comes down to it, we will fight the Equestrians to protect our allies!" Amore tells them getting cheers in return as the guards march through the portal.

It takes an hour to get one-thousand and five-hundred crystal guards through while the other one-thousand Amore has remained behind to protect the Empire until they both return.

"So, how many ponies do we have?" Cadence asks wearing a new set of pink tinted crystal armour as well as her mother who is wearing a light red tinted set.

"Your one-thousand five-hundred guards, my one-thousand stone warriors, and about eight-hundred changelings," I reply.

"So we just match their numbers," she says and looks towards Equestria.

"If I order my warriors to attack I won't be able to stop them unless I'm Nu Wa again," I say making Cadence look uncomfortable. "So if you can't get Celestia to go back, I will not hesitate to order them to kill or restrain every last Equestrian soldier still breathing," I tell her.

"We hope it shall not come to that," she says as all of our forces are in front of the wall facing Equestria.

I change into Nu Wa and order my warriors to line up as the front line of defence and to kill any Equestrian that tries to get past them, but not to attack first unless I say so.

All we can do now is wait for Celestia and her army to get here.