Lockheart

“Do you have everything you’ll need?” asked Chrysalis as she and the rest of the harem had gathered around the top of the hive with Tamati. He had a backpack on, heavily filled with a number of supplies and rations, but to him, it was hardly a burden to carry. “Perhaps we should pack you more stuff. Like me! What if you get horny alomg the way?”

“Heheh, I’m always horny,” he joked, though that didn’t make it any less true. “But I’ll be fine. I doubt this little excursion we’ll be taking will require more than a week at the most.”

“A week?” they cried and looked at their round bellies. The month since most of them had been impregnated was almost up and it was just a matter of time before their offspring would arrive. “But don’t you wanna be here to see the birth of your babies?”

“I’d love nothing more,” he nodded. “And I will be. It’ll be the motivation I need to get this job done faster.” He smiled and knelt down to look at his girls the best he could at eye level. “We’ll make a huge celebration out of it.”

“We can’t wait,” Abby told him.

“I’ll prepare a feast for your return too,” added Honey and soon the other girls were also attempting to talk over one another to tell him what they’d prepare for him.

“Heheh, seems you all have a lot of work ahead of you too, but please don’t concern yourselves with me when it is yourselves and our children that need the most care right now,” he told them. “I insist you all take it easy once I go. Now, let me speak to the males for a moment.” Turning around, he looked at the group of male Changelings. Most stood at attention, too frightened by him to budge an inch. Wedge hugged tightly to Biggs, too fearful to keep from shaking. The only one who wasn’t afraid was Cid.

“Don’t worry,” spoke Cid as he sooke for them all. “We’ll take good care of them for you… your highness.”

“Oh, I know you will,” he chuckled and brandished his claws in front of them. Just as you know what’ll happen if you let me down and none of you want that… right?”

“No! No way!” gulped the other Changelings. “You can count on us!”

“I’m so happy to hear that,” he smiled in earnest, the feeling of terror he was previously exuding vanished and all the males were able to let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey! Tamati!” called a voice that the dark dragon hadn’t heard in well over a week. Turning towards the sky where it was coming from, he saw Spike flying down to greet him. He came wearing a brown adventurer’s robe that was a perfect fit for him despite his increased girth.

“Ah, Spike,” he waved. “I’m happy you were able to join me on this little quest.”

“Are you kidding!” exclaimed Spike as he landed and approached his new friend. “I’m excited to go on an adventure.” After saying that, Spike rolled his eyes. “And right now, I’d take getting lost in the deep, unmapped jungles of Equestria over being back in the castle with Twilight.”

“Oh, did something happen?” Tamati wondered with a hidden grin. “Something with that pony princess of yours?”

“Um, well, I was lucky that Twilight was away for that week when I went to work out and eat, but when she got back you can just imagine how she reacted to seeing me… like this.” Spike removed his cloak and showed off his muscle gutted body. He appeared stronger and plumper than how he appeared in the pictures he sent over via dragon mail, albeit it was only a moderate increase.

“Hmm, very nice,” smirked Tamati, poke Spike’s gut, feeling the hard muscle beneath the plush flab. “I am pleased to see how well you’ve managed in so short a time, but, I take it, Twilight didn’t feel the same.”

“Well, easy to see why when I put on a hundred pounds instead of losing five,” he chuckled, not sounding ashamed at all about it. “I haven’t seen her freak out as much as she did, since she had the town battling to the death over her old Smarty Pants Doll.” Tamati looked at Spike and raised an eyebrow curiously. “I’ll tell you about that some other time, but, anyway,she started to lecture me on the importance of eating in moderation and some other stuff I just mmhmm’d through for about ten minutes. After that, she confined me to my room and put a barrier in front of the kitchen and the front door for further security.”

“See what happens when you tug at your leash,” explained Tamati. “Your master takes away more rope.”

“Fortunately, I had Sweetie Belle to help me out,” Spike continued. “Twilight just made the barrier to keep me confined so she could come and go as she pleased. She helped sneak me some snacks as well as helped give this prisoner his conjugal visits.”

“I’m sure that must’ve been kinky as hell,” commented Tamati and could see on Spike’s blushing face that was definitely the case.

“Uh, anyway, once I got the letter from you about this mission I had Sweetie take my measurements so she could get Rarity to make me this cloak for traveling and to help hide my identity if need be. Meanwhile, I spent my time eating-slash-digging a tunnel out of my room. Guess that’s one good thing about living in a castle made of crystal. I was lucky enough to break through in time to I gather some supplies and fly over. I even have copied some pages from the next section of the Elements of Discord so I can keep working on it.”

“And how’s that going?” wondered Tamati.

“I’ve started making progress on the cryptograms, but with Twilight constantly checking up on me and the time I needed to make my tunnel I wasn’t able to get quite as far as I would have liked. At least now that I’m essentially a fugitive I should have plenty of time to work on it.”

“I’m sorry to have put such a strain on your relationship with Twilight,” apologized the dark dragon. “I can only imagine how painful it must have been for you to go against her like this.”

“Maybe, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that I’d be better off with you,” explained Spike. “I still don’t know for certain if Twilight sees me as a friend or just some sort of experiment, but she certainly doesn’t know what I need right now. I would still be a stunted runt of a dragon if I just did what she said. I’m at the point where I am old enough to make my own decisions, even if they are bad ones.”

“You think joining me is a bad decision?” questioned Tamati.

“Dude, you’re literally planning to fuck up Equestria to take over,” pointed out Spike. “I can’t think of anything that is badder than that.”

“Oh,” cackled Tamati as he and Spike laughed together. “That is very true. Now how’s about I introduce you to all the Changelings here. First off, here’s Chrysalis.”

“I’m well aware of her,” Spike stated nervously. “She’s been quite a relentless villain. So, she’s on our side now?”

“She’s number one in my harem,” bragged Tamati. “In a little while she will be birthing my offspring. Isn’t that wonderful news?”

“And not the only one,” observed Spike as the other females appeared just as pregnant as their former queen. “Boy you’ve been busy.”

“And how about you?” wondered Tamati. “Will you be expecting the pitty patter or any children?”

“Will I?” Spike asked himself before thinking of Sweetie Bell. “Oh, crap! I did fuck her, but I didn’t even consider if something would happen and now I’m all the way out here! What am I supposed to do?!?”

“You can start by relaxing,” Tamati assured him with an amused tone. “If nothing comes of the sex than it’s nothing to worry about, but if there is you’ll be a man and take responsibility. Besides, she’s a part of your harem. We’ll bring her back here first chance we get and any others who join you too. Now, how about I introduce you to the others.”

“O-Okay,” nodded Spike as he was one-by-one introduced to the Changelings of the hive. There were quite a few, but in spite of their numbers, Tamati knew them all by name and correctly introduced each one quite impressively.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Thorax,” waved Spike as the last Changeling joined the other males in escorting the females back to the nursery wing to rest. “Okay, so are we all set to go?”

“I figured a little briefing would be in order first,” the black-scaled dragon told his purple buddy as he took a seat and gestured for Spike to sit in front of him. When he did, Tamati cleared his throat. “Let’s begin with what we know.”

“Well, first off, we know that an Element of Discord is possibly located within a temple in the southeastern part of the jungles of Equestria. Secondly, the only pony who knows precisely where that temple is located is A.K. Yearling, aka Daring Do. And… that’s pretty much it.”

“Come now, Spike,” smirked Tamati as he held out his arm in conversation. “We know a bit more than that, after all, her books are not just works of fiction, after all.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think we wanna wait six months for her to publish a book on her adventure there,” Spike stated.

“I wasn’t talking about a book she has yet to write, but about those she has written,” he explained. “Hmm… perhaps it’d be best to show you how I do things. Follow me.”

Opening his wing span, the dark dragon took to the sky and immediately after, his purple follower did the same. They circled around the Changeling hive a couple times before making their way south to their first destination.

“Well, we’re heading towards Daring Do’s place,” Spike assumed as he factored in what was in the direction they were going. “I bet you plan to seduce her like you did to Twilight.”

“That will come up soon enough,” smirked Tamati. “But we do have one more stop before that.”

“You’ve gotta teach me how you do that,” Spike told him as he flew beside his master. “I mean if I’m going to get a harem as big as yours it’ll be a lot of work, but you know how to get them dick-sucking lustful just by gazing into their eyes. If I could do that then I’d have every mare in Ponyville lined up for a turn to get fucked.” Hearing this, Tamati caught the wind in his wings to brake and then started to flap them to stay in place. Seeing this, Spike stopped too and turned back towards him. “Is something the matter?” asked Spike.

“While the power I possess over the fairer sex would indeed make it easier, it is for the express purpose of my conquest of Equestria and nothing more,” he stated quite seriously. “That I used it on the Changelings and on Twilight, it was to further my goal. In any other situation I would not even think to use that power nor should you covet it. It may be easy, but it is also a cheat that would only cheapen the pleasures and passion of love. Think about the sex you had with Twilight and then the sex you had with the first of your harem. I’m sure you must’ve noticed the difference.”

“Yeah,” nodded Spike seeing it after being told. “The sex was wonderful in both, but what I felt just being with Sweetie was just… it’s hard to put into words, but maybe magical might be the closest thing to what I felt. I doubt it would have been the same if she was influenced by whatever power you used. She wouldn’t have sung that song that brought tears of joy to my eyes.”

“That sounds very sweet,” smiled Tamati. “I would hope that at some point I could enjoy my harem without the use of it. Perhaps when they see all I can offer them then they will truly be loyal to me like you are.”

“I’m sure they will,” smiled Spike. “You’re a great guy and if your sparkling personality doesn’t get them then your dragonhood will.”

“Heheh, you got that right,” chuckled Tamati as noogied Spike’s spikes and then went back to flying. “Now back to the mission… oh, and thanks.”

“For what?” asked Spike.

“For listening,” he answered.

The duo flew for a while before they came upon a rather dingy-looking town. From what Spike could tell, they were not far from where Daring Do took up residence, but Tamati landed there to Spike’s surprise.

“What are you waiting for?” he called to the still airborne dragon. “We’ve reached stop number one.”

“I’m not sure how reading Daring Do’s book would make anyone think to come here,” commented Spike as he looked at a number of unsavory-looking ponies in the area, not to mention some other creatures that made the ponies seem as friendly as the ones from Ponyville. “And it looks kind of dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” questioned Tamati before he turned and made the most monstrous roar Spike or any of the townsfolk had ever heard. The black dragon then craned his neck up and unleashed a pillar of fire straight up to add to the terror. Embers rained down from the sky like snow, first glowing bright orange before fading the black ash all over everything. Screaming and panicking, everyone fled in whatever way they could to hide, leaving Tamati alone. “When it comes to danger, there is nothing more dangerous than a pissed off dragon.” Tamati than hacked and coughed a bit, spewing out some black smoke. “Ugh, but being scary sure does a number on the pipes.”

“Yeah, dangerous, unless you’re me,” admitted Spike as he touched down on the ground. He did his best to avoid shaking in fear, but even he had been intimidated by Tamati’s fierce display.

“We’ll work on that,” promised Tamati. “For now, let’s find the sleeziest dive this place has to offer. Odds are, that’s where we’ll find him.”

“Him?” wondered Spike, still not sure what his master had in mind. Despite this, Spike helped him looked around till a building caught his eye. He tapped Tamati’s back and spoke to him, “I think, maybe, that’s the place we’re looking for.” Spike pointed and Tamati followed his claw to a tavern called, “The Rogue Gallery.”

“Looks like that just might be it,” smirked Tamati as he flexed his muscles and cracked his neck, like he was preparing for a brawl. Spike gulped nervously and stretched too. He was certain he had ample strength to hold his own in a fight, but he hardly had the experience to actually use it effectively. Remaining several steps behind Tamati, Spike followed him inside.

The creatures awaiting in The Rogue Gallery were even more menacing-looking than the ones they saw earlier. There were even a number of dragons sitting down, tossing back drinks. Spike knew just from the strong, intoxicating odor in the air, that, whatever they were chugging, it had a much bigger kick than apple cider. Spike also saw minotaurs, griffins, and surprisingly enough, a very familiar looking bunny, though with the eyepatch.

“Is that Ang- nah, can’t be,” thought Spike as he turned away, but gave him another skeptical glance before continuing on with Tamati.

“Someone you know?” wondered the dark dragon.

“I don’t think so,” he replied. “Probably some other spawn of Satan. Anyway, do you see the guy you’re looking for?”

“No, not yet,” pondered Tamati as he scanned the room. He then noticed something slip into another room and he grinned. “But maybe over there.”

Hurrying through the room, Tamati didn’t hesitate to push everything in front of him out of his way to get across the room. At best, he slid tables over a few inches and at worse he ended up pushing someone onto the ground and was given a death threat in response.

“Sorry,” apologized Spike as he followed behind him nervously. “Sorry, please excuse us. Just trying to get through. Please don’t kill us.” Spike didn’t know how they did it, but they somehow reached the other side of the room without so much as a single scale out of place. Looking back, he could see that none of the creatures they angered were attempting to get even, though that didn’t mean they weren’t contemplating some gruesome payback first. “Wasn’t the point of coming here to make friends, not enemies?”

“It is, but not with them,” Tamati replied. “Our new friend should be right in here.”

Spike looked into the room, but it was pitch black and not at all welcoming. Still, Tamati entered it, blowing some small flames through a crack in his lips to light his way. Spike cautiously did the same as he entered, still unsure about any of this. “Mind telling me, who we’re making friends with?” the timid dragon asked, his fire breath blinking on and off as he opened and closed his mouth to speak.

“I saw it come in here,” Tamati mumbled. “Now where did you… oh, there!”

“Huh? What is it?” wondered Spike as he looked around and spotted a white cat a few feet in front of them. “A kitty? You had us come all this way here for this thing?” Looking over the feline curiously, it stared back at Spike and meowed before walking over to Spike and brushed up against his legs, ticking his body with its fur. Smiling a little, Spike petted the feline, running his claws gently from the top of its head down its back. After a few strokes, he picked it up to keep on petting it. “Is this the friend we came to meet?”

“Still don’t get it?” chuckled Tamati to Spike’s confusion. “Doesn’t this cat look familiar? Think back to the Daring Do books. Wasn’t there a cat like this in them?”

“A cat like this?” Spike contemplated as he scritched under the cat’s chin. His mind began to work through all his knowledge of the Daring Do series, recalling what he could of it and anything related to a white cat. It only took him a few seconds to finally recall it. “Oh, yeah. There was a cat. It belonged to… oh…”

“Finally figured it out,” smirked Tamati before turning towards the darkness. “Okay, Ahuizotl, I know you’re in here. How about showing yourself. We’ve got a proposition for you.”

“Is that so,” spoke a voice in the darkness. “How very amusing. And what could a couple of dragons want from me and more importantly, what could you have that I would want?”

“Turn the lights on and we’ll be happy to discuss it civilly.”

“Oh, forgive me for forgetting my manners,” he apologized, though his voice lacked any hint of an apologetic tone. As light began to illuminate the room, Spike and Tamati soon found the beast, Ahuizotl before them, not the mention his a tiger, cheetah, lynx, and black panther all around them, poised to strike.

Just as Daring Do’s books described, Ahuizotl had a long head with several sharp teeth jutting down even while his maw was closed. And while his head and hind legs were somewhat similar to that of a canine, his face, body, and tail were more monkey-like. He had blue skin and darker blue fur all over his body and wore goldened bands on his arms, near his shoulders, and a large, decorative one around his neck, along with one on the end of his tail which ended with another simian hand. There were red rings around his yellowish green eyes and above them were a pair of bushy eyebrows. There were a pair of golden stud earrings in his long ears as well as slicked back hair running down to his neck.

“We’re surrounded!” gulped Spike as the white cat in his arms jumped awat and blocked the door they came in, hissing as it showed off its fangs.

“Quite an adorable set of felines you have here,” chatted Tamati like there was no difference between the large predators and the domesticated house cat. “But it’ll be much easier to converse without them baring their fangs at us.”

“Since you asked so nicely,” decided the leader of the felines as he used his tail to bring a whistle in the shape of a cat to his lips. Blowing on it, his cats suddenly quieted down and stretched before getting in a comfortable position to rest. “You have five minutes before their break is over and they start to tear you limb from limb.”

“What if I could promise you Daring Do?” asked Tamati, cutting straight to the point.

“Like you are the first who has offered me that,” he scoffed. “Nobody has been able to deliver her to me before without her managing to turn the tables on us in the end. What makes you think you can do any better?”

“Because I guarantee that not only will I deliver you Daring Do, but she’ll fuck you as much as you want… in the good way, I mean.”

“She will… fuck me?” replied Ahuizotl, hearing such a thing took him by surprise and suddenly started him on a laughing fit as he pounded a fist on the ground. “Oh, wow, that’s the first time I was ever given a promise like that. If you could deliver that to me, I’d… well, I don’t even know what I’d do.”

“Then we have a deal?” asked Tamati and just like that, the laughter stopped.

“The joke was amusing, but you best know when to stop pulling my leg or I’ll strangle you with my tail.”

“I assure you that we are completely serious about this,” Tamati conversed. “Every word I said, we will make it happen.”

“And if I should give you the benefit of the doubt, what is it you wish from me?” he asked. “What is it that you desire?”

“Merely an artifact from the ruins Daring Do recently discovered east of here,” he explained.

“That seems more like something you would simply need Daring Do for,” Ahuizotl pointed out. “What do you need me for?”

“I merely saw this as a chance to make a new ally, is all,” the dark dragon answered. “I am aiming for nothing short of total domination of all of Equestria and for that I will need allies. With or without your help I’m sure I could achieve it, but I’m certain you can see the benefit of helping us and guaranteeing yourself a position in it. If I fail then you’d at least still having Daring Do and be no worse for wear. My offer is only good for right now and it expires in… how much time do I have left?”

“About fifteen seconds,” answered Ahuizotl.

“Ten seconds,” he spoke and turned to leave, Spike sticking close beside him. “Nine… eight… seven… si-”

“Wait, you have a deal,” he decided and blew his cat whistle like he was defusing a bomb about to go off. “If you can deliver me Daring Do then I will gladly join you.”

“Heh, we’ll do that right now, Ahuizotl,” grinned the black dragon as he extended his hand to shake and seal the deal. “By the way, the name’s Tamati and this here is my second in command, Spike.”

“Hiya,” waved Spike as the white fluffy cat brushed up against him once more eager to be petted with business concluded.

“Nice to meet the both of you,” grinned Ahuizotl. “I’m sure we’ll all be very good friends.”

With Ahuizotl unable to fly, Spike and Tamati accompanied him on the ground as they headed towards Daring Do’s dwelling. It was a rather bothersome trek for the dragons as the thick, jungle foliage was cumbersome for their large, bulky bodies to maneuver through without getting caught on vines or blocked by overgrowth that hid any trace of a path if there ever had been one there in the first place.

The best they could do to push ahead was machete their way forward with their claws. While using their flames to scorch a path forward did seem a much more viable option, the idea of accidentally setting the whole jungle ablaze with them in it made the two breathe with greater care.

Finally, after an hour of trekking through the humid, tropical terrain, they reached a clearing with a quaint home in the center of it. It had all the proper setup for one to remain in such an area comfortably. There was a mesh screen upon the porch that was kept in place with weights on the bottom of it to prevent the wind from blowing it around. Getting through was a simple matter of just lifting it up and going under, but it prevented pesky bugs like mosquitos from being able to get through. Along with the screen, some incense was left burning from cones placed on several spots on the railing of the porch as a secondary deterrent to bugs. Wisps of smoke swirled in the air from the cones, the trail it made completely at the mercy of the breeze.

On the porch there was a table and a lawn chair. There was a thick book on the table beside a half melted candle in a lantern. In front of the house was a vibrant and colorful cluster of flowers.

“So, this is Daring Do’s place,” commented Spike. “Say, if you know where Daring Do lives and you’re practically right next door to her, wouldn’t you be able to attack her at any time you wanted.”

“And how could I even get close with that stink in the air,” gagged Ahuizotl as he pinched his nose. “She knows I can’t stand that scent and makes her house reek of it.”

“I think it smells nice,” admitted Spike as he sniffed the incense as it reached all that way over to them. “I can’t imagine anyone being stopped by it.”

“Rather impressive if you ask me,” smirked Tamati. “She’s adapted quite well to this environment, even in the face of such a dangerous foe living close by. I’d say she’s every bit the hype her books make her out to be, but I’d say a face-to-face meeting would be the best way to know for sure.”

“Then you’re going in?” asked Spike as he looked at the large dragon. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, considering-”

“Don’t fret, Spike,” he told him confidently. “You’ll be my backup out here in the event she tries to flee. I doubt it’ll come to that so long as I can influence her, but it pays to have a backup plan.”

“But that’s not what I mean,” Spike attempted to say again only to be interrupted once more.

“I know you’re hesitant with the things we are doing, but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough,” he promised and placed a hand upon Spike’s shoulder. Spike didn’t know how else to respond, but smile and nod. Tamati then turned to Ahuizotl to talk to him. “Ahuizotl, once I have her you’ll be free to do as you please with her, but try not to be too rough. I still need her to guide me to that temple afterwards.”

“If necessary, I’ll carry her,” he joked as Tamati made his way towards the house.

Approaching the porch, the dark dragon lifted up the mesh screen and ducked under it. Stepping onto the first step of the porch, he quickly realized what Spike was trying to say as his weight broke cracked the wood and threatened to split it in half. “Maybe I should have let Spike handle this,” he thought as he found the house much smaller up close than he did from a distance.

“I can’t say this is the first time I have been ignored, but I think I’ll enjoy the show,” snickered Spike as he waved to Tamati who waved back as he tried to carefully get up the rest of the steps.

Standing on the porch, he could practically reach up to peek in on the second floor just by standing on his tiptoes, provided he didn’t fall through the floor in the process. As for getting through the front door, it only came up to his chest and wasn’t nearly wide enough for his bulky size. Just sizing it up, Spike’s current size was barely narrow enough to get through without getting wedged in the frame.

Despite not being a fit for this task, Tamati couldn’t back down without looking foolish. “Well, my pride won’t let me back down now,” he huffed as the tried thinking thin and small. Carefully getting onto his hands and knees to reduce his height, Tamati knocked on the front door and spoke casually. “Hello, does A.K. Yearing live here?” he called in and waited for a response.

“She does,” came a voice as a pony approached the door draped in a violet cloak and had a sun hat on with a white bow tied to it. She also wore a thick pair of red framed glasses. Just barely noticeable, as she walked, was her brown leather boots. It wasn’t something most would take notice of, but already prepared for this encounter, Tamati hid a slight grin. “She’s me.”

“Oh, it really is you,” Tamati feigned being starstruck. “I have read all your books. I’m such a huge fan.”

“I didn’t realize I had dragon fans,” she admitted. “Well, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr… uh…”

“Tamati,” he introduced himself. “I’m sure you hate having fans show up at your house and asking you this, but I was wondering how your new book was coming along.”

“Definitely not the first nor will you be the last,” she nodded. “And I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I have yet to decide on the overall plot. I have the beginning and some of the middle, but nothing yet on how it’ll all turn out in the end. But not to worry, something always happens to help inspire my creative process.”

“Perhaps I can help you,” offered Tamati as he opened the screen door to her home and looked A.K. Yearling in her purple eyes.

“Um, thanks but no thanks,” she answered and backed away as she sensed the building tension in the air. “Having fan input into my stories is not something I often do.”

“That’s okay,” he told her with a grin. “I don’t have to help you as a fan. I can help you as a foe, Daring Do!” Quickly, Tamati thrust his arm forward, attempting to snatch up the pony, but as his claws clenched tight all he felt was her cloak and hat between his fingers. Looking up, he saw A.K. Yearling flying up above, her wings no longer hidden by her cloak. Removing her glasses, the author’s disguise was gone and she was revealed to truly be Daring Do. Her mane and tail, no longer covered up, were striped with black and several varying hues of gray. On her flank was her Cutie Mark, a compass rose. Beneath her sun hat was a pith helmet, a far more fitting piece of headgear for an adventurer. She also wore a jungle green collared shirt and a pair of khaki pants with a black belt and her leather boots.

“If you want to help me with my book,” she retorted. “Then why not try something a little less cliche. Do you know how many times my home has been attacked after I make a new discovery? Let me guess, Ahuizotl sent you.”

“Actually, I went to him,” admitted Tamati. “And trust me when I say that the book you will write from this experience will be far different than any you have written before, one that might not be age appropriate for all audiences.”

“I’m not entirely sure how to interpret that and honestly, I don’t think I want to,” she told him as Tamati slipped his way into her home, still trying to be careful, but his huge size still ended up breaking her door frame as he entered.

“You won’t have much of a choice,” he cackled. “You already looked into my eyes earlier. Right now, you should be feeling a powerful and controlling lust come over you. There’s no use resisting so come on over, my little pony.” Waving a claw over to Daring, she slowly fluttered over to him, a look of drunken bliss on her face. Grinning deviously, he watched her approach and felt a stirring in his loins at the euphoria of another victory. “That’s it, now let’s- ow!” Daring Do socked him square in the snout, the attack more irritating than painful. “What the hell?!?”

“Well, I can cross punching an evil dragon in the face off the ole bucket list,” she laughed as she flew back while Tamati rubbed his nose before he covered his mouth as he started to sneeze flames.

“Y-You aren’t under the influence of the Lockheart?” he questioned her. “But I looked directly in your eyes. How can you resist it?”

“Fun fact about my glasses,” she explained as she carefully folded and pocketed them up. “They are more than a handy disguise. The lenses are made of a special crystal that’s helpful in protecting against most mind control magics. It pays to be prepared, especially when talking to someone with ominous, red, glowing eyes.”

“Well, it just means I gotta catch you first,” he pointed out. “Hardly unplanned for and it’ll just make victory all the sweeter.”

“You can try, but you can barely even fit in my home, let alone stand without hunching over,” she reminded him. “How do you expect to catch me while so encumbered?”

“I prefer using finess rather than brute strength,” he explained. “There are a few exceptions like due to blind rage, for example, but you make a good point that it’d be far too much trouble to catch you while trying to keep your home intact. So… I won’t.”

“Won’t try to wha-” Daring Do started to say as the black dragon rose to his feet and pressed his palms up against the ceiling. Grunting a bit as he slowly applied more strength, his intention was quite clear and the wooden boards creaked in futile protest before snapping like toothpicks. “Oh, sweet Celestia!” Daring Do cried as Tamati managed to break through her ceiling to the second floor of her home and then grasp at the floor above and pull a chunk of it down. The house trembled after taking such a blow. But he didn’t stop there as he unleashed a blast of flame overhead, torching anything flammable his breath touched and it quickly spread, setting everything ablaze.

Trying to remain calm, Daring knew it was impossible to protect her home from being destroyed and instead opted to make a run for the front door. With a swing of his tail, he forced her to back away while managing to smash through a support beam as well. The house shook and creamed even more violently as the weakened floor above started to collapse now on its own. One weakened area led to another and it was clear that it wasn’t going to take much more for the whole place to come down.

“Damn it!” cried Daring Do finding it hard to remain composed. She risked a moment to watch her head for falling debris to face her attacker just in time to see him reach towards her. Moving out of the way, she avoided him only to see she wasn’t his target but the other support beam in the room. With a semi-trying shove, he broke it off, drastically cutting down the time the house had left to nearly nothing. Debris had already fallen against the front door and the doorway to the kitchen, blocking off any means of escape. Even flying to the second floor wasn’t an option as it was full of flames and smoke. “What the hell do you think this will accomplish?!?”

“I figure,” he answered. “The easiest way to catch you is to make you come to me.”

“What is going on in there?” worried Spike as he and Ahuizotl listened to the sounds of smashing and things collapsing. They only grew more concerned as they saw fire fill the second floor and then smoke billowed out the windows.

“I wanted Daring Do, but not extra crispy,” commented Ahuizotl as he didn’t know what to make of what he was witnessing. “Are you sure your friend knows what he is doing.”

“Of course he does,” spoke Spike nervously as he petted the cat in his arms for comfort. It helped till the house finally collapsed and into a pile of rubble with nobody in sight. “I think…”

Desperately, Spike rushed to the wreckage. Ahuizotl followed behind, the incense buried in the rubble, but the smell still lingered. Grabbing broken boards and anything else they could get their hands on, the two tried to find both Daring and Tamati. They barely managed much before the rubble started to shift and out of it rose the dragon, completely unscathced, though a bit dirty.

“Tamati,” Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of making the only safe place for Daring Do to move to to be within my embrace,” he answered as he showed her safely wrapped in his arms. The look she had on her face was one of infatuation, the power of the Lockheart had taken hold while he had her in his clutches. “And with this, you can have some fun with Daring Do before I make use of her services.”

“Gladly,” grinned Ahuizotl as he approached his nemesis turned sex slave. “A rather fitting way to win to take down her base of operations very much like she had done to all of mine in the past. Now, give her to me. I have an overly elaborate death trap with her name on it.”

“Don’t you mean you’re gonna fuck her?” asked Spike.

“Oh, yeah that,” he chuckled at his mistake. “Force of habit.”

“Next,” called Cid as he allowed another male Changeling into the Nursery. As he walked in, another stepped forward in line to await his turn.

“Do we have to do this health check every time we come back to the hive?” groaned the next Changeling in line. “Can’t we all just feed them some love so we can hurry and get some rest? It was a lot of work collecting love today and we have a lot of flying going to and from Appaloosa tomorrow.”

“I know it’s a lot of work and everyone appreciates all the effort you and the other gatherers have been putting in these last few weeks,” Cid told him as he turned to look into the nursery where the other Changeling just entered. He approached one of the pregnant females in bed who smiled at himas she caressed her belly gently. Opening her maw, a magical substance started to drain away from the male and flow into her. To the female Changeling, it tasted sweet like nectar and carried with it a soft warmth that filled up her body, very possibly the love belonging to a mother for her child. In comparison, it left the male feeling hollow and cold.

“Ugh,” shivered the Changeling by Cid as he watched too. “That feeling of having all the love sucked out of your body gives me chills just seeing it happen. It almost makes me feel sorry to the ponies we do it too… almost. I know the females need all that love since they need to eat for two, but we barely have any leftover for ourselves at the end of the day.”

“Things’ll get better once more of our forces get replenished with a few new generations of Changelings,” Cid promised. “As we are now, we hardly have the force to collect love and guard the hive. We’re taking even more of a chance while Tamati is out on his mission. Him coming in here and taking over was a pain, but the very least, he was a great deterrent from other threats.”

“I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with him,” he agreed. “So, am I all set to go in?”

“I don’t see any physical signs of illness on you,” observed Cid as he looked the Changeling over, inspecting his body from head to toe and even checked his mouth and eyes for the slightest hint of the start of an infection. “And you avoided any ponies that looked ill, right?”

“I fled at the first sign of a sneeze and washed up as per orders,” he added. “I’d say I’m germ free so I should be plenty safe to head inside.”

“Then you can go right ahead and offer up your collected love to the next female,” Cid instructed. “After that, you can rest till tomorrow.”

“Oh, rest, what I love hearing more than anything,” the Changeling yawned as he made his way over to Honey who was next up to get some love and practically salivated at the sight of him approaching.

“Soon, my little ones,” cooed Chrysalis as she rubbed her swollen gut, her unborn children so close to being ready to come out. Just feeling the lives she was nurturing brought tears to her eyes. “I can already tell you will be strong, just like your father.”

“How are you doing, my Queen?” bowed Cid as he walked away from the front of the line to check on how the female Changelings were currently faring. “Are your children alright?”

“I am doing just fine,” she spoke, her voice sounding far more gentle than it normally did, certainly a tone Cid never heard from his former queen before. “Well, a little nervous, actually. I feel it is time for the laying and after that it won’t be long till they hatch and well…”

“Tamati promised to be here for their birth,” he concluded. “I know he made quite a tough promise to keep with where he has set off for, but it is still very possible for him to make it back in time. As for you, there is no sense in you to attempt to restrain from laying your eggs like you can delay it. You’ll only cause harm to yourself and your children if you attempt that. Now, the moment you are ready, just give the word. I’ve assisted in laying many times in the past so I’m practically a natural at it.”

“Well, if you insist,” she moaned, her breathing suddenly turning short and rapid. “Now would be a good time to start.”

“It’s happening now?!?” he cried at her sudden change in demeanor. She held onto her gut more tightly the process a beautiful part of nature, but a painful one all the same. Taking in a few deep breaths, Cid got himself mentally ready. He positioned her legs, bending them back and spreading them so that with her hospital gown on it was like he could retrieve her eggs beneath the privacy of a tent.

“Ok, it’ll be over in about ten minutes. Just stay strong and everything will fine,” he coached her through it, but before he could even begin, the sounds of moans from practically all the other females filled the room and a look of dread spread across his face. “You have to be fucking kidding me! All at once?!?” Looking around, he hurried to the entrance of the Nursery and called out to his two cohorts. “Biggs! Wedge! In here immediately!”

“What’s wrong?” wondered Biggs as he made his way in with a loofah in one hand and soap in the other. Wedge was carrying a bucket of water that was spilling onto the floor as he ran till he lost nearly all of it.

“We were sterilizing everyone like you told us to,” commented Wedge.

“Put that on hold for now,” he told them. “They’re starting to lay their eggs!”

“Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?” asked Wedge.

“It is, but not when I can only focus on one at a time,” he explained. “It’s a delicate process that is best to be aided by a laying coach to ensure neither the mother nor the eggs are harmed.”

“But we don’t know how to do any of that stuff,” Biggs pointed out.

“Can you cup your hands and count slowly to ten?” asked Cid.

“Hesitantly, I will answer ‘yes,’” replied Wedge, sensing he might have been better off lying.

“Then you have all the qualifications,” he informed them. “Just pick a Changeling and start counting and be ready to catch the eggs as they come out. If you think there is any problems tell me at once.”

“Well, that sounds easy, but shouldn’t we get some of the other males to help us?” suggested Biggs. “Considering even we can’t deliver this many eggs at once.”

“The three of us will be plenty,” he answered. “And I doubt I could divide my focus more than three ways. Just count to ten and catch and it’ll be fine.”

As they headed into the nursery, the wailing of expecting mothers was even worse. Cid hurried back over to Chrysalis to check on her and found she had already started, her first egg resting between her legs and a second part way through the lips of her pussy. The eggs were a grayish green color with intricate swirls of mossy green on them each very distinct in design.

Carefully, Cid spread Chrysalis’s vagina further apart and delicately pulled the second egg free before placing it and the other in a soft basket that was set aside for this moment. “Two done already,” he told her. “Time for the next one.”

“Uh huh,” Chrysalis sniffled, the experience as painful as all the times she had done so in the past. Her face was covered in sweat and her eyes puffy from tears. Looking around, all the others looked to be in a similar state of labor-induced agony.

“You know what to do already,” he coached her. “I count to ten as you steady your breathing. Once I reach ten you give a good push to lay the next egg and I’ll take care of the rest. Ready?”

“I am,” she sniffled and managed to calm herself. She listened as Cid counted, focusing on the numbers to distract herself from her egg laying.

“7… 8… 9… 10… push!” spoke Cid calmly before adding a little umph to the end, and following his instructions, Chrysalis worked her third egg out. She wailed out, the pain too much to ignore, but enough to endure as she could feel the egg make its way through her body and to her vagina. She felt him spread her legs further, seeming to know exactly what he needed to do just from experience alone and thanks to that, she was able to deliver her third egg quickly and smoothly. Clutching in it in his hands, he added it to her basket.

“So far so good,” he panted, the situation leaving him short on breath too. “How are you two doing?” He turned to check in on Biggs and Wedge, but they had not moved from where they stood since seeing all this taking place and looked very pale from the sight.

“Don’t just stand there like idiots! Help me!” he hissed.

“But it looks like you’re doing a great job,” Wedge nervously pointed out. “You don’t need us.”

“Let me put it to you another way,” he told them. “If anything goes wrong, even if something happens to one egg, I’m letting Tamati know you two were responsible.”

“Don’t hog the miracle of life all to yourself,” stated Biggs as they hurried to assist him.

“Yeah, we can count to ten too,” added Wedge as he positioned the legs of the Changeling he chose just as Cid had done for Chrysalis and started to count. He managed to count properly to ten on his first attempt, but the sight of seeing her push an egg out her baby maker, followed by him having to help pull it the rest of the way out and place it in the basket, left him quite discombobulated. When he started to count again, his numbers were all out of order. “2… 7… 4… Q…” But somehow, he still managed to get to ten at and deliver the next egg properly.

Biggs was managing well too. Though sweaty and nervous at first, he quickly adapted to the role of birthing partner, helping Abby with her eggs one after another. Watching them both, Cid saw the terror that came from one’s first few attempts at aiding in the miracle of childbirth all over their faces as they tried to keep it together, but, with each egg deposited into a basket, they grew more confident and the tension seemed to lessen in the room.

“8… 9… 10… push!” spoke Cid to Chrysalis as he managed to deliver egg number twelve. “Is that the last one?”

“I think so,” she nodded so exhausted she was barely able to utter those words. Gently feeling over the lower half of her gut, pressing into it slightly, he did a check to ensure she was done and then gave her a smile. “That was indeed the last one. Take some rest now. I’ve still got plenty more Changelings to help.”

“Th-Thank you,” spoke as she closed her eyes. “Tamati will be… very happy to see them when he returns…”

“He’ll be more than happy,” smiled Cid giving her his best bedside manner. “He’ll be elated to come back in time to witness the hatching of his progeny. Yep, he’ll be a proud papa.” Chrysalis smiled upon hearing those words before taking a well-deserved rest. Cid, however, didn’t have the luxury to take it easy. There was still lots of work he had to attend to.

“You’ll never get away with this, Ahuizotl,” grunted Daring Do as her arms and legs were bound by ropes staked into the ground, forcing her limbs to be fully outstretched without even a little leeway to be able to move them. “I’ll find a way out of this!”

“Try all you might, but it is hopeless!” he cackled. Atop the beast’s head, he wore Daring Do’s hat, leaving her monotone mane exposed to run his fingers through and mess it up. As he watched her struggle and resist, the villain could resist monologuing. “You cannot stop me as I enact my greatest plot to conquer the world! Ha! Hahahah!!!”

“Uh, they’re roleplaying, right?” asked Spike as he, Tamati, and the cats sat and watched Daring Do and Ahuizotl go through their typical spiel as enemies.

“With a bit of bondage thrown in,” added Tamati. “They got into this little sex play of theirs rather quickly, but I suppose that’s not a surprise after reading all of A.K. Yearling’s books.”

“And what exactly did you learn from reading her books?” wondered Spike.

“The obvious sexual tension between these two from butting heads so much,” the dark dragon spoke like it was so obvious. “The sheer amount of unnecessary death traps Ahuizotl has put her in clearly has to be due to some lustful desire of his to see Daring in such a vulnerable state. Also, that Daring has continually been captured, it could be she has a bondage fetish. Seeing the two of them now, I can confirm my suspicions. It actually reminds me of the kinky nights I spent with some lovely, strong and independent dragonesses. Those were some fucking good times and I learned that nothing wet their pussies better than to be taken out of their element and thrust into the role of the damsel in distress. The same thing probably gets Daring hot and horny too.”

“Wow, that was the most erotic analysis of a book I’ve ever heard,” commented Spike. “And one time Twilight did one on actual pornography.”

“Heh, is that so,” Tamati chuckled as they returned their focus back to Daring and Ahuizotl. They hadn’t missed much as the villainous monster had just been monologuing and grandstanding. By the look of the foot long, barbed boner, protruding from between his legs, it was very quite apparent that his own narcissism turned him on.

“Y-You won’t get away with this,” argued Daring Do, her eyes fixated on the length between his legs. “I’ll find a way out and when I do-”

“You’ll do nothing because you won’t escape,” hissed Ahuizotl as he leaned in close, pressing his nose against hers, their eyes locked and the trapped adventurer unable to keep from blushing or moaning, her helpless situations a clear turn on for herself as well.

“I-I will e-escape,” she murred as she looked passionately into his eyes.

“No you won’t,” he spoke to her softly before pressing his lips to hers to share a kiss. It only lasted a few seconds before he spoke once more, “you won’t…” and they made out again.

“You know it always bothered me,” she told her arch nemesis once her mouth was free to speak once more. “You always go through the trouble of tying me up all for the sake of leaving me in a room filling up with sand, a spiked wall slowing coming down on me, or surrounded by venomous snakes creeping ever so closer.”

“I would have hoped it’d do more than just bother you,” he admitted.

“Just that, if you were going to go through all that trouble to imprison me, you could have taken some time to smell the roses and had some fun with me first. You didn’t have to always go straight for the kill.”

“I’m afraid business has to come before pleasure,” he told her as he gently caressed her cheek. “But now… all we have is pleasure.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” she murred. “My pussy is growing impatient with lust.”

“Is it now?” Ahuizotl grinned as he ran his hands down her body, making sure to cop a feel on her breasts as he did before reaching her crotch and feeling the warmth moistness underneath her khakis. “Oh, yes, it does feel like someone is horny. The only question is how badly.”

“Very badly,” she moaned.

“I don’t know,” he cackled. “You aren’t even begging for it.”

“Please,” she pleaded. “Please fuck me.”

“Hmm, could be a bit more desperate,” he grinned as he slowly unbuttoned her shirt to reveal the black bra tied around her back by spaghetti strand-thick strings. Carefully undoing them and removing her bra, he rubbed her exposed chest, unable to keep from snickering.

“What’s so funny?” she moaned as he felt him squeezing her oranges rather tightly as he demonstrated more dominance over her.

“Just a bit excited is all,” he told her as he loosened his grip on her breasts to pick up her bra and dangle it over her. “I’ve always been curious as to how big your cup size was. It was hard to tell with how you dressed, but I must say a C-Cup is more than I was expecting.”

“You fucking ass,” she laughed.

“No, I’m fucking pussy,” he taunted back at her. As he had been distracting her with undressing her front, the hand at the end of his tail had gotten to work undoing her belt and unzipping her pants. It had just now finished the later and slipped its way in and stealthily creeped beneath her pants to her crotch. By the time Daring Do even realized what he had done, his tail was already rubbing her vagina without mercy.

“Oh~” Daring murred and reflexed from the sudden surge of pleasure coursing through her. The ropes binding her squeezed her limbs as they held her in place, preventing her from doing anything but take all she was given. The best the adventurous pony could manage was to barely raise her chest off the ground and scream. “FFFUCK!” Her voice echoed through the otherwise quiet wilderness, birds from all the neighboring trees took flight to vacate the area.

“Hahahah!!!” laughed Ahuizotl as he gripped her cleavage once more and pinned her onto the ground. “How does it feel, Daring? Tell me, how does it feel to be bested, by your deadliest foe? To be helpless as your body, your sacred temple, is raided and pilfered for it’s most sacred treasure?” With his increasingly excited tone, his tail began to finger her pussy, being ever more forceful by the second.

“W-W-Wonderful,” she cried, her pants getting wet at the crotch as she oozed lust out.

“Oh my, so pent up too,” he added as he drooled with growing anticipation. “I suppose one such as yourself doesn’t get much action living out here all by your lonesome. Not THAT kind of action anyway. Mmm, and you’re tight too. What’s it been? A thousand years since anyone set foot in your temple? Two thousand?”

“Far too long,” she admitted. “But you might wanna be careful about going in. It’s cursed.”

“Pah!” he scoffed. “Who ever heard of a cursed pussy?” Removing his tail from her pants, he crawled back and attempted to pull her pants down to get at her forbidden no-man’s land, but quickly found it a tricky task with her legs spread apart. Cautiously, he looked at his nemesis’s face, too far into heat and enjoyment to try anything.

Very subtly, the villain untied her legs, so he could straighten them and allow him to easily pull her pants and panties down and off her legs. Seeing her pussy exposed, he drooled with his own lust at the sight of the glistening excavation sight, waiting to be plundered. He reached down to his cock, eager himself for some sexing. He could feel pre already covering over the head and he used it to lube up the rest of his barbed length.

“I should warn you now,” he cackled as he then used his seed-covered palm to rub her pussy and mix their juices together. “Once I go in, I can’t come out till I’m done.”

“I’m afraid you got it wrong,” countered Daring, her head looking up at the sky, but a clear smirk was on her face and her composure regained. “You can’t come out till I’m done! That’s my curse I place on you.”

“What?” he questioned her, not noticing as her freed legs grabbed him by the neck and shoved his head face first right into her pussy and held him tightly against it. Her hat he had on fell off and landed beside Daring’s head.

“Now, say it,” she ordered him. Ahuizotl answered with barely audible words that were only further muffled as he spoke into her pussy. “Say it right.”

“Curb boo, airing boo,” came out of his maw rather garbled.

“Better than that,” she ordered him.

“Curse you, Daring Do,” he spoke finally clear enough for him to be understood.

“Saying it like you do when I turn the tables on you,” she demanded. “Like right now for instance!”

“CURSE YOU DARING DO!!!” he roared, his voice loud enough to send vibrations into her pussy and fill her with euphoria.

“Ahh!!! Much better~” she murred lustfully and only became encouraged to squeeze his head into her vag even tighter. “Now start licking like you mean it and I might decide to lift the curse on you.”

Ahuizotl didn’t need any encouragement to do just that as his began to lick into her pussy, his tongue quite rough as it scraped against her insides and tasted her honey. Daring moaned as he kept it up, pressing deeper in as his tongue could greedily lapped up her juices and encourage her body to leak more as he brought her closer to an orgasm. While he did this, Daring turned her head and used her mouth to pull out a concealed knife in the hem of her pith helmet. Skillfully, she cut one of the ropes holding her arms and then used her freed hand to sever the rope on the other. Leaning forward, she held Ahuizotl’s head down with her arms and let her legs get a rest for a bit.

“I think your power wore off again,” commented Spike as he and Tamati sat with their legs crossed and their dicks erect. Their claws were wrapped around their dragonhoods as they fapped to the kinky show before them. Spike’s crotch was already covered over in one climax that even dripped off onto his legs while Tamati remained with just a constant flow of pre as he showed the hormonal control to pace himself. “Perhaps we should do something.”

“We are,” answered Tamati, pausing from fapping to tap his cockhead. “It’s called, ‘voyeurism.’ I tend to discourage fapping when one has already been spoiled on the fairer flesh, but to be given a show like this, it is alright. It is like viewing an artist’s gallery and giving your critique.”

“That’s a rather non-lewd way of putting it,” responded the purple dragon. “Unless the art is lewd, but seriously, shouldn’t we be helping Ahuizotl?”

“Not to worry,” assured the dark dragon. “She is still very much under my spell. It’s just how they’re playing and it seems Daring enjoys playing the aggressor as much as the damsel.”

“Oh! Sweet Celestia!” howled Daring as she finally felt herself reach nirvana and her juices gushed out into the awaiting muzzle of her horny foe. Lapping up every bit he could get, she gently lifted his head up and looked into his eyes, this time the one to start as she moved her head over to his and embraced him in a kiss. Slowly they rocked back and forth till Daring was on top of her beloved enemy and positioned her pussy with his dick, happy to return the favor.

Carefully, she pushed into him, being wary of his thorny dick. “Ok, Daring, you’ve maneuvered perilous traps before. Just take it slowly and use your head. Pushing in is easy…” As she slid in beyond the first set of barbs, she could feel herself stuck from moving forward right away. She started to pull back out, but winced as she felt the first set of barbs pinch her tender lower lips and stop her retreat. “Ugh… But pulling just runs me into a wall of spikes.” Taking a deep breath, she twisted her body carefully while not pushing in or pulling out from Ahuizotl. Then, like finding the right number on a combination lock, Daring stopped. She attempted to push in again and found she could go beyond his second row of barbs, but as expected, the third set got in her way.

“Heheh, seems you figured out the secret of my penis, but do you have the endurance to make it to the end?” he dared her. “The further you go, the more perilous it is to escape.”

“I’ve solved every puzzle and overcome every trap before,” she panted as she began turning the other way to find the next correct spot to push forward. Inch by inch she took in more of his dick, causing free movement to become more difficult as she had to keep herself properly level. The further she got to the base of his length the thicker his barbs became, making her pussy strain to fit it in and further encouraged her to hump and pull out. It took all her will to resist the urge and press forward to reach the end.

“Almost there,” she groaned, feeling his member deep inside her, the pony’s vag barely able to fit all his thickness into it, but with one final push, she proved it possible and as if she had hit some switch to deactivate a trap, his barbs suddenly retracted, allowing her to hump him freely. Daring Do didn’t waste a second loosening her stiffened muscles by going all out.

“Hahahah!” howled Ahuizotl with bliss as he finally got to feel the pleasures of the flesh without pause. “I should have known only my greatest foe could unravel the secrets of my junk!”

“Time to see if the payload was worth all the effort,” she breathed, pulling halfway out of his length and then shoving it all right back in. Each time his cock throbbed and leaked pre a sign he was drawing nearer to his orgasming. “Show me what my mortal enemy is packing!”

“With pleasure!” he murred as he felt her slap into his crotch every time she took him in entirely. Quickly grabbing her ass, as he felt the floodgates burst in his balls, he held her close to receive her reward for solving his cock.

With a monstrous wail, he gushed into her, filling her pussy with his hot semen. Crying out herself, as she felt the load flood her insides, Daring hugged her mate tightly, basking in the moment of pure infatuation they shared. The two then rested as the lust slowly faded and fatigue settled in. Moving his hands to Daring’s head, he ran his fingers through her mane as she nuzzled his soft underbelly.

“Looks like they’ll need a bit to recover,” commented the plump, muscular, purple dragon as he took some paper towels to clean up the seed from his previous orgasm along with his more recent one. “Guess we gotta wait while they nap before Daring can take us to the temple.”

“A perfect time for lunch,” figured the godly, black dragon, in the midst of cleaning up his own ejaculation. “My harem packed me plenty of food for the trip and I made sure they made enough for you as well. Can’t have my underling malnourished by that tyrannical pony princess after all.”

“Thanks,” smiled Spike as he watched Tamati take out two large boxed lunches and handed one to Spike. Opening it up, he drooled with delight to find it had several slots with something in each. One was full of a rainbow of gems, another had some tender and juicy-looking meat. He didn’t know what kind of beast it came from, but it smelled heavenly and stoked his carnivorous cravings. There was some rice glazed with gravy from the meat too, a jar containing some fine wine, and a couple cupcakes for a snack afterwards. Compared to what Spike normally had on one of his binges, it was hardly enough to make him feel full, but it was easily enough to sate him and far more than he knew Twilight would have given him. “This stuff looks great!”

“More than you could get from Twilight?” he wondered, though he was already certain of the answer.

“Take away everything save for the rice and wine and then change them to hay and water,” answered Spike as he curiously picked a few grains of rice, in his claws, to see if they tasted as great as they smelled. His eyes lit up when he realized it did and aggravated his hunger to start eating. “Maybe add an apple for at least one meal and that was what I had to eat. Pathetic, right? What does she take me for, a dieting pony?”

“Heh, probably,” Tamati chuckled and cut a piece of his meat to eat. “I wish I could offer you more, but we need to ration our food for our excursion. If we ever get the chance, I’ll have to have Honey cook for you. I’m sure she’d love a challenging appetite like the one I’m sure you have.”

“I’ll look forward to that,” salivated Spike as he took his utensils attached to the underside of the box’s lid and started to really dig in.

“How is everyone doing?” Cid asked all the female Changelings in the nursery as he came by for their afternoon checkup.

“I’m feeling just fine, today,” answered Abby never turning her gaze away from her clutch of eggs that were gently nestled in a basket and cushioned by a blanket. She held the basket snuggly against her body, using her own body heat to keep her offspring warm. The same was true for all the other females.

“That’s great to hear,” he replied as he gave her a closer inspection and checked over her eggs as well. He did the same for all the others as well, making certain there were no health concerns. “Looks like you all have fully recovered from the laying and all your eggs appear perfectly fine too. It shouldn’t be more than a few days till they are ready to hatch.”

“And what of Tamati?” asked Chrysalis. “Will he be back home in time like he promised?”

“Well, I did receive a letter last night,” he answered. “I’m guessing it was written by that other dragon since the penmanship was so nice, but anyway, it looks like they made it to the temple last night and were planning to venture into it first thing in the morning. They should already be inside by now and if all goes well, they should be heading home at some point today. With the hatching to happen any day now, he’ll be cutting it rather close, but he might just make it in time.”

“I know he’ll make it back,” Chrysalis stated with confidence. “He promised that he would and I have no reason to doubt him.”

“Wow, you are amazing,” praised Spike to Daring as they ventured through the temple. “How were you able to keep your cool to navigate the labyrinth while those spiked walls were closing in on us?”

“If years or adventuring have taught me anything,” she answered as she stopped to take a breather. “It’s how to keep my cool in tight, perilous situations. In a lot of way, it’s a lot like making love.”

“If you say so,” chuckled Spike as he peered as best he could, through the dark depths of the ancient structure as best he could, but could only see pitch blackness. “So, are we near the treasure room?”

“We must be close,” she calculated as she cautiously proceeded forward. “We’ve already conquered the trap room so the treasure should be close. I’m just curious to see if this temple belongs to who I think it does.”

“And who is that?” wondered Tamati as he along with Spike were illuminating their path forward with long exhales of flame.

“This place appears to have been a temple built by the Zeikah Tribe, a tribe of Zebra who were said to be able to see beyond the darkness to the truth. Legend has it, those of the tribe scoured the world for objects of darkness to seal them away from the light where they could do no harm. Those symbols all over the wall are their insignia and I doubt it’d be all over the place if that wasn’t the case.”

“Looks like a crying eye,” commented Spike as he peered at a nearby one. “Kind of creepy.”

“Whatever happened to them?” asked Tamati curiously as they proceeded into a vast and empty room of the temple. There was no way leading out of it and from the looks of it, there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as they could see. Finding a few torches on the walls, the two dragons lit them to allow themselves to take a breather. “Lost to the ravages of time?”

“Possibly,” she answered. “But it is a long debated subject. Many historians believe the tribe to be nothing more than myths that have been confused for truths as they was passed down through the ages. A few more fanatical researchers suspect that the Zeikah still exist to this day, hidden in the shadows. Very few took them seriously as they were the type to back absurd theories like Alicorns are actually aliens.”

“Aliens?” wondered Spike as he imagined such a thing and didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe.

“And what is your take on it all?” pondered Tamati.

“I never put much stock into their existence since any trace of their civilization was scrutinized as being a forgery or misinterpreted and actually the work of some other civilization,” she explained. “This, however, appears to be the first time indisputable proof has been revealed and since I discovered it personally, I can hardly doubt my own eyes. As you can imagine, this was the discovery of a lifetime, but not one I could just reveal to all of Equestria if it means the stories of the Zeikah are true as well. I had to be very careful with who I told and kept it to a very select few. Just Princess Celestia and the heads of the Archeology Department, and perhaps a couple others they felt should be privy to this information.”

“And I’m guessing that’s how Twilight learned of it,” commented Spike. “And this is why she believed an Element of Discord would be in here.”

“If the object could be a big enough threat to the world then the Zeikah would indeed have sought it out,” she explained. “At the very least, there might be other powerful artifacts here to suit your needs.”

“I have no interest in anything else,” the dark dragon stated. “Hopefully, the prize I seek is within.”

“I am certain it is,” sniffed Ahuizotl as he looked around the room. “I can sense a great dark power within. Definitely something I wouldn’t mind helping myself too.”

“I hope you aren’t planning a doublecross,” smiled Tamati as he flexed his claws. “I’d welcome a brawl, but I’d rather keep our partnership intact, wouldn’t you?”

“Uh heh, I was just thinking out loud,” he chuckled. “It’s all yours. I’ve already gotten more than enough thanks to you.”

“Glad we have an understanding,” he smirked. “Now, Daring, where do we go from here?”

“There shouldn’t be any more traps, but that doesn’t mean the treasure will be easy to find,” she answered as she looked around, stopping at a tile on the wall engraved with strange-looking letters. “This looks promising.”

“What kind of writing is this?” wondered Tamati as he and the others took a look.

“It’s not Old Ponish,” commented Spike as he looked it over. “I’ve never seen letters like this before.”

“It’s Zebrew,” answered Daring Do. “It’s the old language of the Zebras. Roughly, I believe this translates to, ‘While darkness reigns, the path is clear. While light holds sway, it shall disappear.’”

“And that means?” questioned Spike as he scratched his head in wonderment.

“It’s definitely a clue to where the treasure is hidden,” figured Tamati. “The first part talks about a path… Hmm, maybe a path to the treasure.”

“A clear path in the dark?” pondered Spike. “But we can’t even see anything at all in here while it’s dark.”

“But the second part says how it’ll disappear in the light,” noted Ahuizotl.

“That’s pretty clever,” stated Daring. “They give us a clue we can only read in the light, but to solve this puzzle we need it to be dark.”

“Then we just need to blow out the torches,” concluded Spike as they quickly extinguished them.

“Our flames too,” Tamati told Spike. “We probably can’t have any light at all. Heh, I probably have to keep my eyes closed too.”

Without their flames or Tamati’s glowing, red eyes, the four now found themselves in absolute darkness. “How can we tell if it worked?” wondered Ahuizotl. “It’s impossible to see now.”

“But I can hear something,” Tamati spoke quietly and the others could as well. It was the sound of a wall sliding up. Carefully making their way towards it, they discovered a new doorway that hadn’t been visible in the light. Navigating their way forward in the dark, they reached a new room. This one, they could all tell it was far from empty and with eagerness pumping through their bodies, Spike and Tamati gave them all some light once more and revealed a chamber filled with gold and jewels, far beyond what any of them could have hoped for.

“So much treasure!” cried Ahuizotl with delight.

“More than enough for all of us,” added Tamati as he dug his claw into a handful and admired the pieces of shiny, precious metals and the craftsmanship that went into carving a zebra shape in one side and the symbol of the Zeikah on the other. “It must be worth a fortune.”

“A lot more than that,” corrected Daring. “Such a find is priceless.”

“As priceless as me?” cackled Ahuizotl as he petted Daring on the head to make her blush.

“I could never put a price on you,” she murred and nuzzled up against her villainous mate. “After finishing up here and writing my last book, I’m thinking of retiring from all this to settle down with you.”

“Oh, I’d like that,” he grinned and kneeled down to share a kiss with his beloved enemy. “It’ll give us all the more time to have fun together.”

“As much as I hate to ruin the mood,” interrupted Tamati. “I’m in a bit of a hurry to get home. My kids are on the way and we’ve got a few days of traveling ahead of us.”

“Then we’d best start packing all this up,” stated Spike as he munched on a mawful of gems. “I’ll carry as many as I can in my belly, but what about the Element of Discord. Is it here?”

“I’m gonna find out,” the dark dragon replied as he searched the room and came upon a chest buried beneath a mound of gold and other treasures. Pushing it aside, he saw the eye symbol engraved onto the lid and grinned. “This appears quite promising.” Gripping the lid, he began to pry it off the chest. His muscles bulged as it proved heavy enough to force him to exert more might than he typically required. Muscle bulged and his feet cracked the ground beneath them as he rooted his stance.

“Having trouble?” asked Spike as he watched, keeping his distance as he could feel a bit of tension from the black dragon that sent a chill down his spine.

“Seems they really didn’t want anyone to get in here,” he groaned as he kept up the effort. Looking at the lid, it became more apparent why it was so hard to get it off as it didn’t merely cover over the chest, but was designed to also wedge itself inside as well to make removing it with brute strength incredibly difficult. “Ungh! It must mean there’s something really valuable in here!”

“There is probably a secret mechanism to unlock it,” suggested Daring Do. “There’s no need to overexert yourself when we could-”

“It’s fine,” groaned Tamati as his muscles bulged bigger as he drew upon still deeper reserves of strength. “I go this. It’s been a while since I had a chance to really flex my muscles. Just stand back.”

Tamati’s claws dug deep into the box as he kept on trying and managing to pull the lid off inch by inch. They could all hear whatever locking mechanism was used to secure the lid breaking and bending as the unrelenting dragon refused to give up. Even if he did change his mind, the others were already certain he had damaged the lock to the point that force was likely the only way it could be removed now.

As the the bottom of the lid within the chest became visible, a heartstopping silence filled the three as they watched Tamati, soaked in sweat and panting, prepare to remove it. With one final, powerful pull, the muscular beast managed to finally lift the lid over his head and, with a bit of vegeance over the trouble it caused him, tossed it straight into the wall with the intent of breaking it. It smashed into the wall, but failed to break it, only slighting disappointing him. However, in doing so he succeeded in breaking a hole in the wall instead. Light leaked in, helping to better illuminate the room, but even more than that, Tamati created a much needed shortcut for their departure from the temple.

“That’ll make things easier than having to go back the way we came,” noted Spike, as he recalled the dark labyrinth they had to trek through in the first place.

“And we can leave as soon as we’re all packed up here,” snickered Tamati with delight as he reached into the chest and navigated his claws around a multitude of magical artifacts that oozed evil and malice. He clutched his claws around a large, black, spherical stone and pulled it out. “This has to be it.”

“Are you sure?” asked Spike as he took a look into the chest and saw a number of different objects from bottles containing questionable liquids, gem encrusted objects that felt like they’d possess him if he gazed too long at them, and many other things Spike had no idea what they could be and doubted he wanted to know. “What makes you think that’s the Element of Discord? It could just be some other evil artifact. Come to think of it, we don’t even know what the Elements of Discord even look like.”

“Maybe not, but you did say originally the Elements of Harmony were in the form of gems hidden within stones like this, right?”

“Yeah,” nodded Spike. “You think it’s the same for them?”

“One way to find out,” the dark dragon grinned as he dug his claws into the stone, making it crack and crumble as darkness seemed to gush out of the cracks. Even while that was happening, Tamati continued to break it apart to reach the center where he unearthed a black gemstone in a hexagon cut. Clutching it tightly, he knew without a doubt it was what he had been searching for. In his grasp, he could feel it radiate a twisted kind of magic that reached his flesh beneath his thick plating of onyx scales.

“Is… Is that it?” asked Spike, able to feel the dark power from it too and timidly kept his distance.

“Heheheh hahahah,” laughed Tamati with the most villainous laugh he could manage. It grew even more intense by the moment, going into megalomaniac territory. “HAHAHAH!!! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!”

“Um, are you done yet?” shivered Spike. “That laugh is all kinds of creepy.”

“Oh, s-sorry,” he apologized. “I was going for an ultimate evil-type of laugh, but I guess I still need some work.”

“Try reaching deeper in your diaphragm next time,” Spike suggested. “I think you need more bass and maybe stick with just one type of laugh. The bwahahas sounded the best, in my opinion.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep a mental note of that,” smiled Tamati as he gave Spike a pat on the head. “Well, I’m one step close to my conquest of Equestria with this.” Looking down at his palm, Tamati looked gleam at the gemstone, but found it was gone. “Huh? Where did it go?”

“The stone’s gone?” freaked Spike. “But we came all this way. Where could it- Oh, wait. There it is!” Spike pointed a claw at Tamati, at his neck. “It’s on that necklace of yours.”

“It’s where?” asked Tamati eagerly. “On my necklace?” Looking down, he checked and sure enough, the Element of Discord had found its way onto it, taking a place beside the Lockheart. “Heh, I guess the stone has chosen me as it’s master and taken its proper place. I look forward to seeing just what kind of power it will grant me. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find out soon, but for now, let’s pack up what we can and get a move on. I’ve got somewhere important to get back to.”

“You sure you don’t want to stick around here?” asked Tamati as he landed with Spike atop the Changeling Hive. Along with the Element of Discord, the two had brought back two heavy sacks filled with treasure from the temple. “I doubt Twilight will be happy you snuck out for so long and I wouldn’t want you to get punished.”

“It’s a tempting offer, but you still need me to continue my research,” he answered. “Plus Sweetie Belle is there and I have been yearning to spend some more time with her.”

“Mmm, I feel the same way about the Changelings in my harem, especially with how Ahuizotl was practically fucking Daring Do the whole way back. Part of me started to think he was doing it just to mess with us, but I’ll let it slide. He is our ally, after all.”

“I’m eager to see what other friends we make once I get more of Twilight’s notes decoded,” commented Spike as flew up off the ground once more, leaving his sack of treasure behind. “No telling who we might need to join us next.”

“Pretty soon everyone will be joining us,” smirked Tamati. “It is only a matter of time.”

“I wish I could take my share back with me,” sighed Spike as he wiped some saliva away from his muzzle from the thought of all the tasty gems he was leaving behind. “But that would make Twilight really curious as to where I’ve gone off to. I doubt I could come up with a convincing lie to satisfy her involving treasure. She’d just use a truth spell on me and then I’d end up spilling everything.”

“We can’t have that,” agreed Tamati, beaming with pride that his minion was so loyal to their conquest. “Just do what you have to do. In the meantime, I’ll keep it safe for you. Just take it easy for a bit. We both deserve a rest after all our hard work.”

“Can do,” nodded Spike as he circled the hive a few times before off heading straight back to Ponyville.

“And now, to see how everyone’s doing,” smiled Tamati as he headed into the hive just as Biggs and Wedge headed out.

“Oh, you’re back!” Wedge cried. “Hurry! It’s time!”

“The babies!” gasped Tamati. “Did they already-”

“Not yet, but Cid says it’ll be any minute now,” Biggs explained. “All the females are waiting for you.”

“Damn it, I gotta hurry!” the proud father-to-be cried as he hurried past them and stormed through to the nursery room. To everyone in the hive, it felt like they were experiencing an earthquake as he rushed with all his might.

“What’s that?” asked Chrysalis as she held her eggs close to her body to keep them safe. “An enemy attack? Here? Now?”

“If it was, we’d have been given the alert by now,” replied Cid. “It’s more like a natural disaster. Either way, we need to figure out what is happening if we’re to keep you all safe.” He hurried to the door, not sure if it was better to go out and investigate or remain to keep guard over the nursery. “Damn, Tamati. You should have made it back by now. You should have-”

“I’m back!” Tamati roared as he burst into the room after running the whole way. Bursting into the room, he put on the brakes to a stop in the center of it and dropped his butt onto the ground with a slight thud to complete his arrival. Looking all around him, his harem was in awe at first from shock which quickly turned to excitement. All the members of his harem were delighted at his return and cheered his name happily.

“Tamati! You made it!”

“Oh, beloved, we knew you’d return!”

“Just in time too!”

“Get your damn ass off of me!”

“Hmm?” spoke Tamati. “That last one didn’t make sense. You all love it when I sit my ass on you.”

“I’m not part of your harem,” hissed Cid. “Now, get off.”

“My bad,” apologized Tamati as he lifted a cheek to left him crawl out.

“I do all this work and still end up the butt of the joke,” he grumbled and retreated to a safe distance away.

“The eggs,” gasped Chrysalis. “Mine are hatching!”

“Mine too!” cheered Abby with delight as did all the others.

With a sigh of relief, the dark dragon watched the miracle of life unfold all around him. “Just in time,” he thought.

One after another, the eggs began to break from the top and peel like a banana as the newborn Changelings inside emerged head first. They were in a larvae-like form with a soft, white and black spotted shell on their backs. Their faces were already developed with a horn upon their head, along with their mouths and eyes. While blue was the most common eye color among Changelings, there were also a handful of variants. Opening their maws, they let out a hiss as their serpent-like tongues poked out of their maws.

“Heh, so that’s what newborn Changelings look like,” commented Tamati with a warm smile on his face. “So, very adorable.”

“Hello, mommy’s precious bundles of joy,” cooed Chrysalis. “Who is going to grow up and feast on the love of sappy ponies? You are! Yes, you are!”

“So, tell me, Cid,” Tamati called to him. “How long till they fully develop from this stage?”

“Typically it takes about two weeks for their bodies to fully develop. There are some variants based on the mate and the condition of the mother, but I’d say for you it wouldn’t take more than three weeks.”

“Then the first of the new generation of Changelings is well on its well,” he smirked with delight, already envisioning the army he was soon to possess. So much has been accomplished in this week, but this is by far the most rewarding moment of all. Soon, all of Equestria will be at my feet and nothing will be able to stop me! Bwa! Hahahahahah!!!” He laughed loudly, his voice booming throughout the room sounding so powerful and unnerving.

“Very nicely done on the evil laughter,” applauded Chrysalis.

“Oh, thanks,” he smiled. “I’ve been practicing.”

Omake

“There shouldn’t be any more traps, but that doesn’t mean the treasure will be easy to find,” she answered as she looked around, stopping at a tile on the wall engraved with strange-looking letters. “This looks promising.”

“What kind of writing is this?” wondered Tamati as he and the others took a look.

“It’s not Old Ponish,” commented Spike as he looked it over. “I’ve never seen letters like this before.”

“It’s Zebrew,” answered Daring Do. “It’s the old language of the Zebras. Roughly, I believe this translates to, ‘To those who wish to claim our treasure, they must never have experienced the fleshy pleasure.’”

“Did I misunderstand that or did it say that only a virgin could get to the treasure?” asked Spike scratching his head. Without needing to look around, he knew they didn’t have any. “Uh, what do we do now, Tamati?”

“First, we find a virgin to get the treasure,” he answered with a hint of anger in his voice the was quickly growing. “Then we find the troll who decided to put such a thing in my clopfic! Is nothing sacred!?!”