When Chrysalis opened her eye's the next morning, she felt overflowing with Aero's love. To the point where she would even say she felt bloated, as if she had over eaten. She chuckled at that and turned to wake Aero, but strangely she found the spot empty. She was lying in the room alone.

At that she grew tense. Had she scared him away? Had she ruined the only chance she had at saving her children by simply being who she was? Sure he had made love to her in her real form, and it seemed as if he didn't mind. But deep down she began to doubt. There was a possibility that he had simply hid his disgust and went with it because his herd expected it. When that thought struck her, it made her heart ache. A feeling she had never felt before all this. First her children died before her, while she watched helplessly to aid them. After all, she herself had been starving too. This pain felt much the same, only deeper. Nobody, pony or otherwise had ever shown her, or her kind any kindness. And for once she had hope, until she had opened her eye's.

Chrysalis was close to tears when the door opened, causing her to jump. Aero walked in with what seemed to be a french toast stick, protruding from his mouth. A plate of them could be seen tottering slightly on his back as he tried not to spill it, nor the cup of syrup that sat on the plate. Chrysalis watched as he made his way over to the small table in the room. Carefully he lowered his right wing and slid the plate onto the table, and once settle he used a wing to wipe his brow before he turned to her.

"Oh, you're awake. Sorry if I woke you up, I was hungry and wanted something to eat. The other's are already awake and having breakfast." Aero said as he hopped up on the stool Cadence had left for him and snatched another stick from the plate, he then attempted to submerge as much of it into the syrup as he could before pulling it out and scarfing down.

Chrysalis simply sat there and allowed herself to calm down. He hadn't run away from her. She smiled and hopped up, joining him at the table. She looked at him with a mischievous grin before grabbing the other half of french toast that hung from his mouth. She kissed him before backing away, chewing her pilfered treat. Aero, for once instead of blushing, laughed and swallowed his food before he spoke.

"You ate the best part. No fair."

Chrysalis swallowed hers as well and replied with humor, "It's not my fault you were eating when I wanted a kiss."

At that, they both laughed as Aero finished his food. When he was done, a thought struck him. "You can eat food too?" he asked. Chrysalis levitated his plate as they exited the room before she explained.

"All changelings can eat food, but we don't gain any nutrients from it. But depending on what we eat it can give our chitin quite the illustrious sheen."

"So what about french toast then?" Aero asked, curious as to what foods would do that.

"No, french toast does not do anything for us. Foods such as that which hold no value to us physically are converted to slime for later usage." she told him. This was new to her. Nobody had ever truly had any curiosity for her kind, and it filled her with a certain glee to share knowledge of her kind with Aero. However that wasn't the only feeling that coursed through her at that moment. She felt giddy around Aero, almost excited, as if she had boundless energy and she didn't know what to do with it. She wanted him to look at her more. When he looked at her with that same look he gave to his herdmates, it made her feel wanted, beautiful. Something she had never truly felt in her own form, though she use to say otherwise to preserve her fearsome, I love me more than anyone image she had carried for so long.

They continued to chat about topics that came to Aero's mind in regards to her kind. She could see that it fascinated him. He had a shining hunger for knowledge behind those eye's that she was sure he was unaware of. Before long they reached the dining hall, where his herd and his mother were currently eating and chatting away. When they entered everypony looked to them and smiled, though Cadence's smile was by far the largest as she looked to the space between the two of them. A look of recognition drew over before she nodded.

"Im so happy for you Chrysalis. Love is a wonderful thing," She said, almost as though it were the most obvious thing in the world before she spoke again, at first with her wide smile and then a lesser smile that read as serious as it was happy. "Although yours it seems is just blooming. Aside from that, the other Princesses and I have spoken, and those here, and those not in attendance have agreed to ally with your kingdom. Though Sir Aero has helped in the short term, we feel that this merging of our kingdoms is what is needed largely to help those of your kind to thrive. Princess Celestia would like to speak with you on ways we may help with that."

The others nodded in agreement, soft smiles of their own donning their expressions. Chrysalis just stood there silently, shocked at the fact that they had agreed to her proposition. She was already grateful for the love Aero had given her, and Cadence wasn't wrong about what she was starting to feel, although for her it would only be her second time in her existence.

Everypony else almost gasped when Chrysalis broke down into tears. She simply sat at the door and sobbed as Aero and his herd gathered around her, pulling her into a hug. Something that was not lost on her as they had a great many reasons to be disgusted with her. That only made her sob harder. After what felt like an eternity, her crying leveled out into slight sniffles.

"T-Thank you. All of y-you." She said, sniffling as she tried to compose herself. After all, queens don't cry right?

Aero held the hug for the longest as everypony stepped back, allowing her some space to breath. Once that was done and over with and everypony had eaten their fill, with exception of Chrysalis of course, the table was cleared and they began to chat. It wasn't long before Cadence brought up the most pressing issue.

"This has been wonderful, but I do believe we have some children to feed?" she said, grinning at the thought of being able to see the hive for the first time. At that Chrysalis stood, almost supernaturally quick as she remembered just why she felt so full. A bright and beautiful smile bloomed as she nodded and lead them out. She spent the next few hours describing the hive's location in the badlands, and how to get there as no train would be able to take them, and due to the nature of her throne, they wouldn't be able to use magic to teleport inside. So they set off to the train, headed to the closest they could to the badlands. This just happened to be Apploosa.

When they disembarked, Chrysalis was in disguise. Not because she wanted to, but because Cadence had explained that nopony in Equestria knew of the agreement they had made, and therefore, most if not all of Equestria would still view her as villainous, and would seek to capture her. They all adopted disguises of their own with the help of their alicorn magic, so as to avoid causing a scene. As it stood, they looked no different than any other group or family that were leaving the train.

Glad that nopony would recognize them, they made their way, out of the town, following Chrysalis along a winding path that only she seemed to be able to see, or sense. After over an hour of traveling, they stopped by a watering hole that had tufts of wild grass growing around it, and what looked to Aero to be a single apple tree. However he couldn't be sure as it bore no fruit at the moment. Its leaves rustled in the slight breeze as its shade was cast over the water below.

They sat for a while, catching their breath and slaking their thirst before digging in to the food they had brought with them. Chrysalis had explained before they left that they would need to pack food for their stay at the hive, as Changelings generally didn't keep food. Or food as ponies would know it, but they did need water, and water they had.

When everybody was finished, they cleaned up, took a few last drinks of water and headed out once more. It wasn't until an hour later when the sun was between its downward arc to sunset that they arrived at the hive. It's large imposing structure towered over them in much the same way as Canterlot Castle. The difference being the Hive looked far more menacing, or in Aero's personal opinion, it looked really really cool with it's jagged edges and tunnels.

Chrysalis showed them to her bed-chambers, stating that it was the only chamber in the Hive that contained a bed and that her drones usually preferred to sleep within their cocoons. Aero silently wondered where her children were at. The place seemed so empty, as if nopony lived there any longer. His question was answered when they walked by a large chamber that emitted and ethereal green glow. Inside were rows and rows of cocoons, numbering close to a hundred so far as Aero could tell. Inside each one was a changeling, stirring or tossing in their sleep.

Chrysalis also explained to them that she had cast a spell to slow them in their cocoons, until such a time as she could bring an agreement between Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and her kind. Now that such a time had come to pass, she seemed overjoyed. She stepped into the room and released a small trickle of the love Aero had gifted her. Alleviating them for a while longer while she got her guests situated.

Having guests was a strange and almost foreign thought for her. The only time anyone had ever graced the tunnels of the Hive was when they had captured ponies or other species for a food source. Now they woudn't need to and she almost couldn't contain her excitement at the thought as it constantly replayed in her mind.

When everything was unpacked from saddlebags, and they had finished dinner, they followed Chrysalis back to the Chamber of her young and watch with aw as she stood in the middle of the room, an almost unnoticeable pink glow emanating from her as she released almost all the love she could give, short of staving herself. As she did, one by one the cocoons began opening and groggy changelings began emerging back into the waking world, feeling fuller than they had in years. As they gathered around their queen they took notice of the visitors and adopted a protective stance, quick to protect their queen from the perceived threat.

"Relax my children, they are not here to harm us. They are here to help. In fact because of them I was able to feed you all, I would suggest you show some gratitude." she explained, her tone adopting a commanding tone. And as soon as she stopped speaking, cheers erupted.

The celebrations Chrysalis put on that night were of the such that they would never forget.

Author's Note

Well well well, it seem's Ive managed to smash out another chapter eh? Who'd have thought right? Hope ya'll don't mind the lack of clop this chapter. It didn't need it, not yet. But rest assured, the next one will have a treat you will all enjoy, especially those of you here specifically for the fetish type stuff. So read away, enjoy and lemme know what ya'll think.
Ya'll motivate me.

Your's in literary fun,
StormHoof