A Change in Scale

Chapters

Chapter 1: Old Coals Stir
Chapter 2: Kindling
Chapter 3: Feeding the Flames
Chapter 4: Burning Bright
Chapter 5: Lively Blaze

Chapter 1: Old Coals Stir

A Change in Scale

A collab between Macro Zecora and Klamnei

Chapter 1: Old Coals Stir

“Isn’t this amazing, Pharynx?!” Thorax gestured about their guest room in Canterlot Castle. “The windows! The artwork! The BEDS! It looks so much better than from outside a pink forcefield!”

Pharynx, Thorax’s brother, grunted as he watched the window for possible snipers. “My squad breached the gates during the invasion. Wait until you see the stained glass windows.”

It was the day of the annual Allied Nations Summit. Hosted every year in a different capital, the Summit was a meeting of all the friendly races to discuss trade, global affairs, and defense against hostile threats. This certainly wasn’t the first time Equestria had played host, but it was the first since Thorax and Pharynx had rose to power.

Thorax did a little dance, his hooves thudding on the plush carpet. “Ooooh, I wanna know everything I can about this whole city! I wanna see all the markets, and monuments, and—”

“We don’t have time,” Pharynx said, walking over to him. “The Summit starts in ninety minutes. We have to stay here.”

Thorax wilted. “Awww, but we always sightsee beforehoof! That’s what’s fun about these meetings!”

Pharynx grit his teeth. “Which is why we usually arrive early. We’re cutting things close as it is here—”

“Because someling tried to sever a train car coupling,” Thorax grumbled.

Pharynx glared at his younger—albeit much larger and more imposing brother. “I told you, that device looked like an explosive. I thought someone was trying to disable the train.”

Thorax shrank away. Even now, the dreaded Big Brother Glare sent chills up his spine. “L-Look, I need a breather before we dive into all this. I can’t handle being in a stuffy train car all day, then going straight into a stuffy castle room talking about stuffy things with stuffy leaders! I gotta get out and mingle for a bit without having to be all calm and dignified!”

“Being dignified is what dignitaries do,” Pharynx said without missing a beat. “Equestrians may have a high tolerance for silliness, but you still represent our race. Never forget that.”

Thorax started to pout, but then, a slow smirk crept up on his face. “Yes, Thorax is a foreign dignitary...” He shapeshifted with a burst of green flame, turning into a blue pegasus with a pocket watch cutie mark. “...but Monsieur Grand Erner isn’t.”

Pharynx fought the urge to facehoof. “Please, no…”

“Hear me out,” Thorax said. “You’re my chief of security, right? That means it’s your job to keep me safe!”

“Which is why your impulsiveness drives me looney.”

Thorax ignored that. “What if… what if you were to take my place? You’ll be all calm and collected and awesome like always, and I’ll have time to, erm… empty my head, let’s say.”

Pharynx narrowed his eyes. “Which head, exactly?”

Thorax’s wings twitched at his sides. “Well, e-erm… y’know…”

And here was why Pharynx was glad he wasn’t king. “You forgot your lust inhibitor again.”

“I got distracted!” Thorax blurted. “A new letter from Ocellus came, then Chittersong wanted me to listen to the latest version of the national anthem, and then Ditto delivered his report on—”

“Three times now,” Pharynx said. “I know they call you the king of the lovebugs, but you can’t keep forgetting the item that reins in your ridiculous sex drive! I swear, I’m starting to think you’re doing it on purpose!”

Thorax dragged a hoof along the floor. “Ph-Phary, please… I never mean to forget, honest! But there’s nothing for it now, and… y-you don’t understand how strong the urge is! I-I… I almost went nuts on the train coming here, and I’m not gonna be able to focus on anything like this…”

Pharynx stared long and hard at his baby brother. “Why couldn’t have you have been a no-nonsense dictator? Or even a reclusive despot? That would’ve be easier to serve under.”

Thorax gave him puppy dog eyes. “Pleeeeeeeeeease?”

Pharynx let out a long, slow sigh. “Fine. Go and do what you need to do, but hive almighty, do it discreet, and with consent. The last thing we need is a sex scandal right before the Summit.”

Thorax caught Pharynx in a tacklehug. “You’re the best! What would I do without you?”

The tiniest of smiles graced Pharynx’s lips. “Let’s pray we never find out. Now, hurry and go, Little Fang. I can’t cover for you forever.”

“Gotcha!” He stepped away from Pharynx just in time to see him shapeshift into ‘Thorax’. The two of them nodded to each other, then the real Thorax snuck out of the room while Pharynx waited for the escort to bring him to the meeting.

***

The castle hallways were bustling with workers and foreign assistants alike. Ponies in gold armor watched creatures of all kinds move to and fro, everything from griffons to hippogriffs to kirin to buffalo trotting under the light of ornate chandeliers. No one paid attention to Thorax as he joined the throng, merely walking around him when he slowed to check his disguise in a window.

Thorax struggled to remember how to get back to the main entrance. He wasn’t kidding when he said he couldn’t focus—his body was built for LOTS of sex, and the longer he fought the urge, the harder it became to ignore. A myriad of emotions was already assailing his sensitive nose, the entire spectrum of feelings pressing in on him from all sides. It was sometimes hard to tell what was what with the smell of other races’ food tinging everything, but one thing was certain, the emotion that stuck out most was the hot, spicy aroma of lust.

“Mmm…” Thorax raised his head and sniffed. Perhaps it was because of his current state, but to him, it smelled like the whole castle was saturated in sex. “Guess I’m not the only creature feeling antsy...”

He flared his nose for another deep whiff. So many choices available, a veritable buffet for him to choose from. He began sifting through the spicy scents for a partner that stuck out, not particularly picky about gender or race. Such things were a lower priority for a shapeshifter—what mattered more was if the creature could give him a good time—

And then he caught wind of it. Not a hot, spicy lust, but a fiery, searing need. A mere eddy of it was almost enough to bowl him over, and a few faint whiffs later, he was drooling in more ways than one. Thorax shivered as he followed the scent like a bloodhound, his mind getting foggier with each heady sniff.

“Female…” Thorax travelled downstairs into one of the ballrooms and began weaving through a crowd of diplomats. “Young… and fertile, wow, very much so... “ He suddenly caught a hint of vanilla. “Inexperienced? Interesting...”

Thorax moved past the finely-prepared dishes of hippogryph sushi and griffin pastries. He ignored the rambling diplomats, disregarded the dull-eyed employees, looked straight through the intense musicians. Everything was a blur as he hunted down the heavenly scent, the crowd thinning as he made his way over to the far corner. The aroma beckoned to him like a moth to the flame, and after sidestepping a large yak blocking his view…

“Oh...”

Thorax had met Dragon Lord Ember many times before whilst visiting Ponyville. That’d been years ago, though, and while he did recall the dragons being at every Summit, it’d always been an emissary. This was the first time Ember had come that he’d known of, and the first time they’d crossed paths in hive-only-knew how long.

And hive alive, had she flourished. Now a towering six foot-four, Ember loomed over everyone in the room save the yaks and the Equestrian royalty. The light from the stained-glass windows reflected off her glistening blue scales to make her shine and outline her lithe, curvaceous form. Her arms were smooth and toned, her claws were perfectly filed, her large, egg-rearing hips were wide and full, and her long tail swayed back and forth between her powerful legs. drifting up now and then to lightly fan her nethers. She was leaning against a pillar munching on sapphires while two dragon guards stood watch—said guards even more massive and menacing than her.

Thorax realized he was sweating. He had just enough time to curse mammal biology before a fresh blast of Ember’s desire hit him like an ursa major. Now it was laced with physical arousal, a sweet and pungent scent reminiscent of… ozone? How she didn’t have a waterfall between her legs, Thorax didn’t know. But regardless, he immediately stepped forward to approach her, smiling wide and waving.

“Dragon Lord Ember! Wow, you’ve grown since—”

The guards blocked his path. They gripped their spears and growled, eying Thorax like a bite-sized morsel.

“Eep.”

“I swear to Io,” Ember said in a strange, hissing language. “If you dungbrains keep trying to scare off every creature that tries to talk to me, I’ll make you sing a song about the importance of manners! Stand down! NOW!”

Thorax’s ears twitched. That had definitely been Ember, but her voice was fuller and smoother, her once-gruff rasp now like the purr of a great cat. He’d no idea what she’d said, but whatever it was made the guards part even faster than they’d stepped in.

“Sorry,” Ember said, her cat-like eyes drilling into him. “Snarl and Sear are still learning the ways of other cultures.”

Thorax gulped. That little scare had cleared his mind a bit, but the fog was settling back in, fast. “A-Ah, good to see you again! I don’t think we’ve ran into each other since Ocellus’ and Smolder’s graduation. You remember, don’t you?”

Ember squinted. She stared with parted lips, until little by little, a smile tugged at her mouth. “ I’m not sure what you mean, strange-creature-I’ve-certainly-never-met. I remember Ocellus’ and Smolder’s graduation, but I don’t recall a cutie like you there.”

Thorax licked his lips. Ember was a giant to him in this form, his gaze level with her pure blue belly scales. He could almost see his reflection in them. “I-I’m sorry you don’t remember. My name’s… e-erm, Monsieur… crap, what was it... MONSIEUR T! Yeah, sure… It’s good to see you again, Dragon Lord. You look like you’ve been doing well.”

Ember’s tail fanned her groin a little faster. She shifted her generous hips, a hungry look creeping into her gaze. “Good to see—gah… meet you too, Tho—ergh, Monsieur T. I suppose I’ve been doing well enough, but leading a country is a lot of work. Nothing I can’t handle, of course, just new things I keep having to get used to.”

Thorax drank in her womanly form like a fine wine. “L-Like what?”

Ember stretched against the pillar. “We’d be here all day if I got into that. I’m sure you can tell what I’m dealing with right now, though.”

Thorax closed his eyes and inhaled deep, the fogginess now stronger than ever. “What is it?”

A blush crept into Ember’s cheeks. “We call it… u-uh, the Snap. It’s when dragons go from walking on two legs, to walking on all fours. There’s a lot of other things that happen with it, but we call it the Snap because our spines—”

“GOT IT!” Thorax said in a rush. “Definitely got it.”

Ember snickered. “It sounds worse than it is. Feels weird, definitely, but the more annoying part is... well how you found me, I’m guessing.”

Now Thorax was starting to get a hungry look about him. “You say that like it's a bad thing.”

Ember's eyes flicked to his undercarriage, then she remembered he could hide that. “A-Anyway, what about you? Is this your first Allied Races Summit?”

Thorax didn’t reply right away, as he’d been ogling her again. “Huh?! O-Oh... no, but it is the first I’ve been to in Canterlot. Haven’t been to this city much at all, really, the only other notable time was when Mother—”

Ember cleared her throat. She tilted her head at the stained glass window beside them, which was a depiction of Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. They were firing a great wave of energy to repel a swarm of—

“Hmm.” Thorax sucked on his teeth. “Impressive detail.”

Ember watched the colors filter through the window like a kaleidoscope. “This is my first Summit, period. I usually just send an emissary, but both my father and my advisor said I should come before my Snap finishes. After that, well… let’s just say I’m going to have trouble fitting indoors.”

Thorax didn’t know why, but hearing that sent a sudden thrill through his veins. “You don’t say…”

“It doesn’t feel like I’ve been missing much so far.” Ember gestured to the fancy crowd. “I get the intent, but it still feels so… so… drat, what’s the word… disingenuous! There we go. I shouldn’t have to put up an act just to talk to this bunch, you know? Why would I pretend to be somedragon I’m not to begin with?”

Thorax chuckled. “It gets easier the more times you come. Some creatures are cardboard cutouts, but they’re pretty easy to spot. The main appeal is meeting up with old friends and letting our masks slip off. No titles, no politics, no dressing up or any of that junk... just friends catching up and spending time together.”

Ember raised an eyeridge. “I’d think someone like you would like ‘dressing up’.”

Thorax let his disguise fall just enough to let his eyes change, his glossy reds devouring her like a feast. “It all depends. Some friends are uptight, some are more loose. It’s not easy to take all of me.”

There was a gravelly crunch as Ember dug her claws into the pillar.

Thorax could literally taste the sexual energies pouring off her. “Say… I’m having a problem of my own right now similar to yours. I know we were never together or anything, but maybe we could—”

He was cut off by Ember’s purr. “Finally started to be assertive on your own, eh?”

Thorax licked his lips. “Tell me where your guest room is, and I’ll show you how assertive I can be.”

Ember’s tongue felt like sandpaper in her mouth. “S-Second floor, east wing. First suite on the right.”

Thorax took one more deep sample of her lust, then walked past her to the exit, brushing his tail across her thighs in the process. “Ten minutes.”

Ember’s knees almost buckled. She watched him go with the smallest of moans, hanging onto the pillar as his retreating form was lost amidst the crowd. She realized she was panting, her heart pounding like a jackhammer, every part of her tingling like mad.

“By the Wheel, he’s changed,” Ember muttered.

Snarl and Sear exchanged looks. “Your orders, Dragon Lord?”

Ember glowered at them. “Our position here is tenuous enough without you alienating everyone you see! King Thorax is a gentle soul, but his brother is among the most vicious of the shapeshifters. You're lucky you weren't flayed alive.”

Snarl and Sever froze. “That pony was a shapeshifter?!”

Ember stabbed a claw at the exit. “Take me back to my room. The King will be along shortly t-to… never mind. J-Just pray he doesn’t tell his brother of this, because if he does, I’ll gut you myself and save him the trouble!”

***

Ten minutes seemed like an eternity. Thorax was barely keeping his disguise intact by the end of it, but thankfully, the second floor was as busy as all the other floors. Nopony paid his strange behavior any heed amidst the hustle and bustle.

“You’ve got this,” he mumbled. “You’ve known Ember a l-long time, r-right? Just because she’s… sh-she’s—ergh, how’d I never notice?! All this time, with j-just one message! ONE! I can’t believe I c-could’ve… WE could’ve!”

His thoughts had been in a loop ever since he’d left. What-ifs, might’ve-beens, regrets and unknowable questions, all to loop around and then start another circuit. Grainy memories were surfacing for the first time in years, some muddled beyond reckoning, others crystal clear. How had this happened in the first place?! He been looking to blow off steam, hadn’t he? When had it… WHY had it?!

“Because it’s her,” Thorax realized. “It’s not someone random, it’s—rggggh, okay, okay, okay. If that’s how it’s gonna be, to Tartarus with the Summit. Sh-She deserves… oh, does she ever deserve… Ph-Phary’s covering, so I can… y-yeah. Okay, then...”

Somehow, he made it to Ember’s suite. He stood before the door in complete silence, staring at it like it was a portal into the unknown. Just a single tap would suck him into the depths, with no hope of things returning to how they were.

He raised his hoof and knocked.

Snarl greeted him. He ushered Thorax in, then moved away like he had the plague.

Thorax blinked several times. “Uh… thanks? I don’t bite or any—”

The rest of that was blindsided by a tidal wave of lust bowling over his psyche. Boiling hot and bubbling, the emotion was nearly enough to make Thorax lose it from proximity alone. It was only through sheer will he kept his disguise intact, and suddenly, every step to what he assume was Ember’s bedroom became a battle.

“Hmph.” Sear watched Thorax stagger like a newborn deer. “Are you seeing this, Snarl? King of the shapeshifters… HA! He’s barely strong enough to walk! If this is the one who leads them, why should we fear—”

Thorax erupted into green flame. In the blink of an eye, he went from a three foot-six pegasus to a six foot-eight king, the last wisps of flame drifting off him like feathers. His beetle-like horns could pierce scales, his diamond-hard hooves could shatter bone, and his immense alien magic was so great that Sear and Snarl swore gravity had doubled.

And that’s nothing to say of the mighty monster beneath his barrel…

“You were saying?” Snarl remarked.

Sear swallowed hard. “Mistakes were made.”

Thorax chittered a curse. He’d hoped to give Ember a kind of striptease! Ugh, nothing for it now... his only path was straight ahead, so he hurried over and ducked into the slightly-small bedroom.

Ember was there on an oversized bed. The room was steamy as a sauna, little flames escaping her nostrils and making it even hotter. She hummed low and deep upon seeing him, her tail swishing at her side. She spread her legs wide as he approached, one claw gripping the mattress while the other traced her clit.

“It seems you’ve grown as well." She motioned to how close Thorax’s horns were to the ceiling.

Thorax felt himself twitch. “Ch-Changelings… ah, g-get bigger and s-stronger… the more high quality love we get…”

Ember’s gaze fell on the part of him that’d done the twitching. His long, thick cock was hard and dripping, so foreign, tempting, and all for her. “Good to know...”

Thorax leapt onto the bed like a cat. He crept closer and closer to her until less than a hair’s breadth was between them, Ember watching him the whole time. She was shaking like a leaf, and his thirsty stare spurred her to finger herself faster, her outer lips puffy and warm.

His first touch was a simple nuzzle, but his warm chitin on her cheek was like gasoline on a flame. She moaned as he ran a hoof across her chest, exploring her smooth, dry scales with a gentle caress.

“Th-Thorax…” Ember stopped to suck in a breath. “I’ve never… n-n-never…”

“Shhhhh.” Thorax traced his hoof up Ember’s neck until her lust spiked. He made a note of the place and continued to feel out her pleasure spots. Jaw. Neck. Chest. Abdomen. Between the wings. Buttocks. Groin. Base of the tail. They all yielded different levels of pleasure, but it was all part of her ‘map’. He licked her neck with his long, forked tongue, and he was rewarded with a delicious hiss, Ember gripping him and thrusting her hips.

“Gods…” Ember moaned at the tightness in her core. “No wonder they call you lovebugs...”

Thorax kissed just behind her ear ridge. “I remember we spent a lot of time in Ponyville learning about friendship. How’s about now, we start learning about something a little… more?”

Ember suddenly realized how close their faces were. “Thorax...”

Thorax tilted up her chin. “Lesson one...”

He kissed her with a tenderness she’d never known, his soft lips guiding hers to move in time with his. Ember followed like a first-time dancer, but the feel made her melt into Thorax’s embrace. He deepened their kiss with a husky moan, and she moaned right back with fervor, her head buzzing with his every touch.

Thorax’s hooves strayed down Ember’s back. Her toned muscles flexed and slid, her slender body bristling with latent power. He began massaging the little spot between her wings, and she squealed loud into his mouth, her tongue shooting out to mingle with his. Thorax worked her hotspots like a blacksmith works a forge, the flames of passion burning while he drank in the love she shared.

Thorax broke their kiss. He stared into her fierce eyes a moment, then swooped back in to plant little pecks along her jaw. She smelled like warm sand on a hot summer day, her breath earthy and sweet from what he guessed were sapphires. She was so very hot to the touch, yet Thorax couldn’t get enough, his kisses trailing south to relish her smooth, polished scales, her slender shoulders, her flat tummy, her hips—

“AH!” Ember’s eyes snapped open to see Thorax looking at her sex like a hunter about to pounce. “F-Fine...” She gripped the bed even harder. “You think you can.. mmmff, t-teach me about love?! Go on, th-then, teach me!”

Thorax just smirked. “Let’s say lust is like a phoenix. Even when its burns out, all it needs is a spark to rise up stronger than before. You can’t stop it… but you can guide it… plan for it… enjoy it… like so.”

He bent down again to breathe on her sex like he was stoking the flames within.

Ember writhed and flexed her leathery wings. “I s-swear, if you stop now—”

Thorax nosed along where her scales gave way to tender flesh. He smelled ozone again, sharp and sweet, but there was a thickness to it that made him want more. He gave her entrance a light kiss, his tongue poking out just enough to slip inside, her internal muscles clenching as he tasted her walls.

Ember went rigid and howled something in Draconic.

Thorax snickered. She tasted like spicy honey, and the flavor hooked him in as worked his nimble tongue, slithering and wiggling into every depth and crevasse. He could feel her heart quicken, and the sensation pushed him to work deeper and deeper until a great burst of love and lust soaked into him. He was a butterfly feeding from a flower, his wings buzzing as he gripped and groped Ember’s gorgeous hips, and her sexy sounds were the perfect seasoning to the love she shared.

Ember could barely move. She could hardly even wiggle her tail as she cried out Thorax’s name, his frenzied tongue ravishing her in ways she’d never imagined. A small part of her rankled at how easily she’d been turned into jelly, but considering who was responsible, and the amount of times she’d fantasized this exact thing...

Thorax ate Ember out a bit longer before pulling out and licking his muzzle clean. He loomed over her like few others in this city could, swinging his legs over while his cock oozed on her stomach.

Ember snapped to with a jolt. “Wh-Why… why’d you—”

But then she saw what he was doing. She crooned and guided him down best she could, his eyes never leaving hers as he slowly began to align their hips. His mammoth size descended with painful slowness, and while it took a few tries, at last she felt him graze her. Gods help them both if he kept going slow like this, because she wasn’t sure—

Thorax slipped into her with a strong, fluid push.

It was hard to say who made the more satisfied noise. Thorax felt Ember’s muscles rippling, pulsating in ways he’d never known, pulling him in farther and farther until he was nearly up to his churning balls. He was big in all the right ways, and he knew just how to use his member to make her cry out for more like they’d been mates for years. Her tunnel was deep enough to take all of him with ease, yet her walls tightened around him all on their own. Ember moaned and bucked her hips, her legs and tail yearning to wrap around him, but she kept following his lead.

Ember’s insides were hot beyond the norm, but not so much to be intolerable. Thorax never knew he’d enjoy such heat during sex, but enjoy it he did, his cock leaking and twitching more and more. He grit his teeth and started rutting Ember in a strange pattern, his hips sliding in at different angles and etching a rapturous look on her face. He played her like a living instrument, his every note making her toes curl and call out for more. Each thrust made the flames burn hotter, hit a new sensitive spot that was like music to their ears, yet there was no randomness, merely a response to what they both wanted.

Fire began to burst from Ember’s nostrils. She was becoming less a dragon and more an inferno, her lusty growls spurring Thorax to be rougher… fiercer. The change bled into her emotions, and Thorax answered with a guttural hiss, breaking into a savage pace punctuated by wet, meaty slaps. Ember roared, his lightning fast pounding carrying such power that she felt like she was being fucked into the bed. A gout of flame escaped her that faded against the room’s wards, but what didn’t fade was Thorax’s stamina, minutes passing with him rutting her with the same insatiable fury.

But Thorax couldn’t last forever. He could feel his whole body rumbling, his movements more and more impeded. Ember wasn’t far behind, her silky soft walls contracting tighter than ever. Ember arched her back high, and Thorax’s chitin shifted colors as he wrapped his tail around hers and yanked—

SNAP!

A bolt of lightning lanced up Ember’s spine. She saw white as her powerful sex clamped down harder than ever, and Thorax’s spongy tip flared, filling her again and again with warmth. They clutched each other in the thrall of their joined orgasm, lost to lust and need as Thorax pumped her full, yet Ember couldn’t get enough, her nerves blazing with each new spurt surging into her.

But like all things, it did eventually wind to a close.

“By the Wheel...” Ember went limp on the bed. The mattress had been scored with deep claw marks, but they almost seemed like badges of honor. “That was…”

Thorax kissed her. They remained joined like that for a time, shifting now and again to drag out her high. “Good?”

Ember shuddered. “I don’t e-even have words…”

Thorax smiled. “Empaths don’t need words, silly.”

“I never knew sex could be like thaaaaat~” Ember moaned as Thorax pulled out of her.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Thorax said. “I led the dance, but it still takes two to tango. You were great.”

Ember licked his nose. “You’re welcome.” She sat up and stretched with a grunt. “Ugh, I could go for a nap now. Gonna need tons of coffee to keep myself awake for the Summit."

Thorax blushed. “S-Sorry, heh. I wanted to make sure you enjoyed it, so I pulled out all the stops.”

Ember examined him. “You’re not tired at all, are you?”

“Nope!” Thorax chirped. “I’m always jazzed after sex.”

Ember rolled her eyes. “Lovebugs. Well regardless, if this is what I have to look forward to, I’ll definitely be coming to more Summits.”

Thorax’s eyes lit up. “R-Really?!”

Ember cupped his cheek and ran her thumb beneath his chin. Thorax’s handsome face was wiser, more measured and mature, but otherwise the same from decades past. “...We should’ve done this a long time ago.”

Thorax made a trilling sound. “E-Ember… how… h-how much do you really want to go to the meetings today?”

Ember raised an eyeridge. “About as much as you, most likely. Why?”

Thorax wet his dry lips. “You know why.”

Ember chuckled. Her eyes drifted to his groin, expecting to see him deflated and recharging. “I suppose we do have a lot of lost time to make up for. As soon as you’re—”

Thorax was harder than ever. Not only that, Ember could swear his nuts had swelled larger, every inch of him quivering and ready.

Ember’s need flared back up in a flash. “Well, then. Good thing I’m a quick learner.”

He pulled her into a fresh, fervent kiss. He was desperate and passionate as he’d been from the start, and Ember was soon matching his ardor, pulling him into missionary once more. He thrust his hips and reclaimed her tunnel, and then they were moving in time again, their hearts beating as one.

Maybe these Summits weren’t so bad, after all...

Author's Note

Huge thanks again to Macro Zecora for working with me to make this story a thing. If you're into things like macro and beegness, then I check out MZ's profile and look through the stuff they've done.

Also, this little doodle was done by ComfyPlum. I think it sums up these two pretty well.

Chapter 2: Kindling

One Year Later-

A loud boom erupted over the streets of Griffinstone. Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom made the throngs of griffins go wild, mobs of adrenaline-pumped ponies and other creatures stomping their hooves and clapping loud. It was time for the Allied Nations Summit yet again, and Thorax and Pharynx were among the crowd, the former’s loud whoops and hollers easily heard above the throng.

“Look, Pharynx!” Thorax pointed at Spitfire flying low with the griffin acrobats. “I never knew pegasi and griffins could perform stunts together!”

Pharynx looked to where his brother was pointing, then immediately resumed watching the crowd. “I never knew ponies and griffins had such knowledge of pyrotechnics. Maybe we should start researching explosives, as well.”

Thorax sighed. “‘Oooh, maybe we should start researching explosives, as well, nyah!’ How about you just relax and enjoy the show for a change? It’s a bunch of stunts, not a display of force. Quick, over by the valley! The sun’s coming up, and they said something special—”

A series of mighty cracks rent the air. The city cannons fired right as the sun crept over the horizon, artillery shells screaming as they flew into the forest valley with frighteningly powerful blasts.

Thorax stared. “Were those live rounds?!”

Pharynx didn’t bat an eyelash. “Not a display of force at all.”

“U-Uh…” Thorax put a hoof behind his head. “S-Still, though! You gotta admit it’s pretty spectacular. All the bright colors, so many sounds booming and banging, and all these neat tricks they keep doing! How come our military doesn’t do anything like that?”

Pharynx narrowed his eyes.

“Think about it!” Thorax put a hoof around him. “The ponies have the Wonderbolts, the griffins have the Hunter-Talon Corp, so what about us? You could even give them a cool edgy name if you wanted, like the Doomslashers! Or the Swiftwings! Shiftstalkers? Eh? Ehhhhh?”

The smallest of smiles tugged at Pharynx’s lips. “Sometimes I wonder how we’re kin.”

Thorax snickered. He gave his brother a nuzzle, then turned his gaze skyward again just in time to see Fleetfoot streak low over the crowd.

Reluctantly, Pharynx glanced up at the show. He watched for about ten seconds before losing interest… but when he made to watch the crowd again, he noticed his little brother’s face. Thorax was dancing in place, his eyes sparkling with an open-mouthed smile, gasping and cheering with every stunt.

Pharynx look softened. He scooched a tad closer to Thorax, still monitoring the crowd, but occasionally looking up for the more death-defying stunts. “Doomslashers…”

***

Griffinstone was built upon and around one of the largest trees in the world. Drasil was its name, and its scope and size defied description, so massive that the record for doing a lap around its base was twenty minutes. Thorax and Pharynx’s quarters were nestled against a great root on Drasil’s south side, which while cozy enough, was quite a ways from the elevated Griffinstone Keep, where the Summit meetings were hosted.

Thorax and Pharynx watched the aerial show for another twenty minutes before they had to get ready for the meetings. They took wing and flew low over the winding city paths and homes sculpted into the living bark, a blur of colorful creatures below preparing to start the day.

“I’m not taking your place again, by the way!” Pharynx called to Thorax. “If you didn’t bring your inhibitor—”

“I brought it!” Thorax gestured to his saddlebags. “I’ll put it on once things start. I’d rather not feel numb any longer than I have to.”

Pharynx grunted. “So long as you don’t skip another day and a half of meetings. I wonder how many creatures last year wondered about ‘Thorax’ excusing himself during a five minute recess, only to come back looking and smelling like he’d just got out of the shower?”

Thorax chirped like a cricket. “I-I can’t wait to see her… her last letter said she’ll be here soon! Eeeeee! I have so many plans!”

Pharynx rolled his eyes. “How many of those plans account for potential size difference?”

It was true. The friendliness and openness of reformed changelings had been embraced more and more by the greater world, and while the growth was negligible in most changelings (about a half-inch or so) the King and Prince were… different. Thorax now stood at a towering eight foot-eleven, twice the size of most griffins and nearing three times the size of a pony. Pharynx wasn’t far behind at eight foot flat, and even the biggest griffins had to crane heads back to meet the brothers’ eyes, most passerby only came up to their chests, and the rest could easily pass under them.

“Actually, I remember she said something about having a growth spurt of her own.” Thorax tried to recall the conversation, but a lot of it was hazy. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I can just shapeshift to something smaller if need be.”

Pharynx sighed. “Look, I… I know you want to spend time with her, but don’t miss any more meetings. This is a political meeting first, and a get-together with friends second.”

Thorax got a saucy grin. “You want to talk about politics? Our relations with the dragons have never been better. We wouldn’t have that if without—”

“You KNOW.” Pharynx’s voice sliced through his brother’s. “Why we’re here. The Shah of Dromardia was looking for you, and you were nowhere to be found. The Antelese ambassador had questions about our joint logging operation, and I couldn’t answer her. The Tuktu Thane is interested in searching our western wastes for—”

“Okay! Okay!” Thorax said. “I get it. You’ve made your point, okay?!”

Pharynx pinned back his ears. “One can only hope. I’ve arranged for a carriage to fly us up to Griffinstone Keep, so as soon as we get back to the hotel, we need to get cleaned up and ready to go. We’ll have to fly up ourselves if we’re late, so don’t dawdle.”

Thorax looked up at the Keep hundreds of feet above them, built atop a branch so huge it defied all understanding. “Fine, fine...”

“I was hoping we could set aside some time to talk with the Saddle Arabians,” Pharynx went on. “There’s still a chance we can open up a trade deal—”

Just then, a strange scent filled their noses. It set off their empathic senses as well—a strange mix of roses, ozone and... sulfur? It toyed with their nostrils and overpowered the sweet scents of the excited crowd beneath them, toying with and stirring memories of...

“Pharynx,” said Thorax.

Pharynx raised his nose and sniffed. “What… IS that?”

It’d been a year since Thorax had felt this, but it was unmistakable. And it was much, MUCH stronger than before.

“I think we should land,” he said. “C’mon.”

The two of them coasted down to a dirt street. They folded their wings just as the crowd started to murmur and pause, all heads turning as one towards the grounds of the flight show. Thorax and Pharynx cringed as the emotions of the crowd began to shift, going from bland calm and sweet merriness to metallic surprise and sour fear.

Thorax looked back at the stadium they’d just been at. He sniffed again, a hungry smile creeping up on his face. “Speak of the devil…”

A massive form emerged from the smoke of the flight show. The light of dawn made it hard to see what it was, but it was approaching with startling speed.

Pharynx bristled. “Is that…?”

The performers had already scattered. The thing blotted out more and more of the sun, the crowd torn between panicking and gawking at the majestic sight. Leathery wings larger than sails, blue scales larger than shields, ivory teeth longer than swords, and clawed feet big enough for two griffins to sit in. Its body was lithe and graceful, considerably longer than tall, but even still, at least seventy feet at the shoulder. She had curved horns, her brilliant red eyes were fierce and proud...

Thorax’s heart skipped a beat. “Ember...”

Pharynx’s lips parted. “You’re kidding.”

The wind was strangely calm as Ember slowed her descent. She was massive, yes, but even she was tiny compared to the tree the city was built around. A single flap of her great wings should’ve blown over buildings and sent creatures flying, but her strokes were silent and fluid, her every move having catlike finesse. Few were astute enough to notice the subtle glow around her body, but Pharynx certainly did as Ember came close.

“So, dragons can perform magic, after all.” He snorted. “Terrific. Just when I thought they couldn’t get any more dangerous.”

Thorax ignored him. He’d been thinking for months on what to say when he and Ember were face-to-face again. Yet for all his preparation, all their back and forth letters, all the things they’d shared about the decades they’d been apart...

Ember glided past the crowded buildings and flew to the edge of the cliffside. She did a lazy circle around an empty open area and landed on all fours,her colossal feet touched down with mighty BOOMS that sent shards of stone flying. She spread her wings out far as she could while standing tall and proud.

“Greetings, Griffinstone!” she boomed loud as she could. “Rejoice, for the dragons have arrived for the Allied Nations Summit!”

It was a good thing Ember wasn’t empathic like the changelings. The foul shift in the crowd’s emotions was enough to make Thorax and Phayrnx retch, and they took wing at the same time to escape it. They didn’t really think, they just flew towards the nearest thing that didn’t reek of pungent resentment and acidic annoyance, which, in this case, happened to be Ember herself.

“Growth spurt, indeed!” Pharynx called to Thorax. “And here I was worried you might be the large one! I’d like to see you shapeshift to match that!”

“Not now, Phary!”

Ember noted the two colorful, kiwi-sized creatures approaching. “Ah, the welcoming party.” She tucked in her wings to let them approach. “I’m Dragon Lord Ember, first of my name. Where might I—”

She stopped upon making out their features.

“Thorax!” A reddish tint colored her cart-sized cheeks. “U-Uh, hi! I didn’t realize you’d… well, I suppose you saw me come in, h-heh… I, erm… meant to tell you how i-intense my growth spurt’s gotten, but I… may have been putting it off… S-So, erm… s-surprise?”

Thorax was speechless. His heart was pounding, and the closer he got to Ember, the more her emotional aura drew him in. His every vein sizzled, electric with sensual energy, so loud it buzzed in his ears.

Ember paused. She waited for him to say something, but the longer he went quiet, the more she began to suspect. His wolfish smile, the intensity in his gaze, his heavy breathing despite keeping aloft with ease. His wings were beating fast and light as he fidgeted mid-air, and Ember couldn’t help but glance at his undercarriage before remembering (again) that his kind could hide that...

“Well, well.” Ember leaned a bit closer, smirking. “Don’t I feel like a silly dragon? Can’t say I expected this, but I’m certainly not complaining. You like the new me, don’t you?”

Thorax bit back a moan. “Oh, sweet stars a-aLiVE…”

Ember licked her lips. His stutter had been accompanied by green flames beneath his barrel, his painfully hard length revealed, hefty, and dripping. “This is what happens when you become dragon lord, you know. Your size and strength increases alongside the prosperity of your subjects, more and more without ever stopping. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING good about you gets drawn out to the max, but dragons don’t actually have a max, so…”

Thorax only heard about half of that, as he was more interested in another s-word Ember didn’t seem to have a max on.

“Good to see I can still take your breath away,” Ember said giggling. “I really should’ve just told you, shouldn’t I? I don’t know why I got hung up on it.”

Thorax finally shook his head clear. He took a few more seconds to confirm that yes, this was real, but then, he shoved all thoughts aside and just said the only thing that seemed to matter.

“I missed you.”

Ember purred like the world’s largest kitten. She took a moment to let him appreciate every inch of her, turning in place and striking a pose. She was now funneling an incredible amount of energy into him, and she was only giving him more the longer he ogled her.

Pharynx fought the urge to facehoof. “For Mother’s sake...”

A moment or two of showing off later, Ember held out a claw for both Thorax and Pharynx to land. “I know you said in your letters that you were going to come, but I’m still a little surprised. Don’t changelings and griffins have a bad track record, or something?”

Art by RossmaniteAnzu - Colored by 09Hankris

Pharynx, after noticing that Thorax was still on the verge of drooling, cleared his throat. “It’s more accurate to say changelings have bad track record with everyone. Coming here is no less a risk than most other places, and even if it was, it’s our prerogative to make amends with those we’ve wronged. We want to emphasize our new love-acquiring methods render our old ones obsolete, and thus make strides towards ending hostilities.”

Ember’s great eyes slid over to him. She took in his darker color, his shrewd expression, the subtle way he always keep both her and Thorax in view. He was always right on the verge of dashing forward, but he never actually did. “Prince Pharynx. I didn’t realize you’d learned to talk like a politician.”

Pharynx shrugged. “We changelings are all about change. I’ve learned many things these past years, both from my brother, and the world.”

The two stared at each other like hawks. Neither said a word, but a conversation took place regardless.

“The yang to Thorax’s yin,” Ember said at last. “Good. Making friends and playing nice is all well and great, but as I’m sure you’ve learned, not all races are the same. I was worried some might use your peace attempts as an opportunity to take revenge.”

Pharynx’s eyes flashed. “Oh, please... PLEASE let them try.”

Ember grinned. “Therrrre’s the edge I was looking for.”

Thorax may as well have been in another dimension. He was listening to Ember’s breath rise and fall like a great bellows, her fiery scent and emotions lacing her every word. He struggled to control that familiar tension inside him, doubly so thanks to her dizzying her arousal… which he realized she was using magic to focus in on him. She was so immense neither brother could see anything but her head and chest, but thanks to her little peep show, they’d glimpsed the waterfall dripping between her legs...

“Alright, I suppose I should let you get ready for the Summit.” Ember paused to let out a yawn that showed off her cavernous mouth. “Lots of important things to talk about, and all that… But first, I’m a little tired from my flight, so I think I’ll go to the other side of that hill over there and sun myself a while.”

Thorax snapped to. “Huh? You’re leaving?!”

“Just a little ways away from the city,” Ember said without looking at him.“ Y’know, somewhere out of sight, and earshot...”

Thorax’s hips thrust on impulse. His own increased size had brought greatly increased virility, and an impressive-sized puddle had formed beneath his quivering tip. His bowling-ball sized nuts churning with enough seed to drown someone. and if he stood here much longer, he was going to coat her whole palm with pre.

Ember chuckled. She set the brothers on the ground, then after admiring her glistening palm a moment, made a long, long show of licking it clean. She spread her mighty wings and leapt up, and after rising high with a few hard beats, she angled away towards the hills.

“Y-Yeah…” Thorax mumbled. “See you—OW! Pharynx! Hey, hey, hey!”

“Don’t even think about it.” Pharynx had grabbed Thorax’s tail with magic and was now dragging him back towards the city. We’ve a Summit to get to.”

“I can’t just ditch her!” Thorax said. “She wants to—”

“You are our king!” Pharynx said, his voice rising. “You’re supposed to have our race’s best interests in mind! To be a leader is to serve the public—that’s why we’re called 'public servants'!”

Thorax freed himself with a growl. “Being late to one meeting isn’t going to be the end of the world! I’ve been waiting all year to see her—”

Pharynx whirled on him, stomped up, yanked his face down with magic. “Listen to me, and listen to me now. Our race has been a menace for longer than anyone even knows. Our mother was a monster, our grandmother was a monster, and nearly every last one who preceded them was just as bad or worse. It’s a miracle in and of itself we’ve managed to survive this long, but it’s an even greater miracle we’re allowed at these gatherings despite our past, let alone try to network or trade! You symbolize peace when all others before you have only wanted war, and the only time we make any headway is when you’re leading the way! I don’t have whatever it is you have, Thorax! None of our kind does!”

Thorax gulped. Even though he was nearly a foot taller, it felt like Pharynx was standing over him. “I-I…”

Pharynx looked straight into Thorax’s rose-red eyes. “There’s no one else like you. No other changeling can do what you can. You either guide us into a new dawn, or we fade with the setting sun. There comes a time when we all have to make sacrifices, little brother, and the burden of the crown forces us to make more than most.”

Pharynx’s look softened, and he pressed their foreheads together with a click. “Please.”

Thorax swallowed hard. There was a long silence, the brothers standing amidst the plateau. A mild morning breeze rolled through that whistled into the valley and rustled some bushes nearby. Pharynx stepped away a few seconds later, then stood still as a statue to stare hard at Thorax, waiting.

Thorax closed his eyes. Slowly, he reached in his saddlebags and pulled out a simple iron ring, plain and dull. He grimaced at it like the necessary evil it was, then carefully, he slid it on his erect member.

Pharynx breathed out a sigh. “Thank you, my King.”

The effect was immediate. Not only were Thorax’s roaring urges gagged silent, but the rest of his empathic senses, as well. When he opened his eyes, it wasn’t Thorax the Lover who stood there, but Thorax the Leader.

Thorax glanced at the morning sun. “The first meeting’s in forty-five minutes. We’ve just enough time to get back to the hotel and get ready before the carriage arrives. Lead the way.”

Pharynx saluted. “Sir.”

***

An entire day’s worth of meetings later-

Thorax stood alone in a study in the upper levels of Griffinstone Keep. It was ornately decorated compared to most of the other rooms he’d been in so far—the chairs had actual cushions, the bookcases were filled with books, the rug was in one piece, and murals of sleeping griffin chicks were carved into the walls. It was certainly a welcome change from the bland, scuffed up rooms he’d been in so far... but that wasn’t why Thorax had chosen this room to brood.

No, it was mainly because he didn’t have to crouch down in here.

The interactions with the other leaders had gone well so far. Pharynx had handled the military and trade questions, and Thorax had handled.. well, everything else. There was quite a bit to address considering the changelings were still new, and combined with how many nations were present, Thorax hadn’t gotten to speak with everyone.

Not that he was secretly grateful for that, or anything...

Thorax hung his head. Wearing the lust inhibitor always felt like taking some kind of drug. His empathic senses were as much a part of him as his legs or wings, and the sensation of his brain trying and failing to connect the dots always gave him the willies. A little voice kept insisting the should yank the thing off, but another voice reminded him of Pharynx words that morning.

“Heavy is the burden of the crown...” Thorax looked out the window to his left—

“Hey, you! Slemon—erm… um… blast this infernal language... CHANGELING, that’s it! Hey! Changeling King!”

Thorax turned. A pair of familiar dragons in armor were approaching from the far entrance, one surly and stomping while the other edged behind. Neither of them had weapons this time.

“Snarl and... Sear, I believe?” Thorax regarded each of them in turn. “You were the Dragon Lord’s escort last year at Canterlot. I didn’t realize you’d accompanied her again.”

Snarl and Sear closed the distance, pausing upon realizing they now needed to look UP at him. Sear was the one who’d initially spoken, but it was Snarl who now stepped forward, bowing and elbowing Snarl to do the same. “Ah… forgive our rudeness, Your Highness. I’m afraid Sear struggles with more than just the common language.”

Sear huffed and looked away.

Thorax was undeterred. “I’ve heard tell dragons respect strength above all else. I’d suggest you not dismiss me or my kind so easily—we’re not afraid to defend ourselves.”

He might as well have been speaking in tongues for the way they looked at him.

“Perhaps I should put it another way.” Thorax glared at Sear, the air growing heavy with changeling magic. “Lose the attitude, buster, or I'll tear out your throat while disguised as your mate.”

Sear went whiter than a polar bear in a blizzard.

“Forgive him, King Thorax!” Snarl struck Sear’s legs with his tail to make him kneel. “Please, we only came to deliver you a message from our lord!”

Thorax had had a feeling that was the case. “I’m listening.”

Snarl pointed above them. “Dragon Lord Ember wishes to speak with you in private. She’s waiting at the topmost observation platform overlooking the valley.”

Thorax let his magic fade. “Don’t test my patience again.” He exited the study without looking back, ducking through the too-small paths leading up to the higher, larger branches.

Snarl punched the side of Sear’s head. “He’s not a dragon, idiot! He doesn’t understand our ways!”

Sear chuckled, rubbed the new dent in his helmet. “No, but with that kind of ferocity, he’ll make a fine mate for the Dragon Lord.”

Snarl narrowed his eyes. “Have you ever heard the saying, ‘Demons run when a good soul goes to war’?”

“Of course.” Sear smiled and dusted himself off. “And just think, they’re all convinced his brother is more dangerous.”

***

It was approaching sundown. The treetop paths were lit by large chunks of amber with giant glow worms in them, the fresh scent of living wood and cool air comforting Thorax along the way. Normally he’d just fly up to the platform, but he wasn’t exactly in a hurry to face someone he’d just stood up, so he was admiring the view.

The warm light was almost a mirror to the distant city lights below. Thorax followed the signs that indicated the way to the observation platform, at last climbing an incredibly low and narrow flight of lengthy stairs that led out to the longest branch. The branch itself was immensely long and thick, stretching out the length and width of a hoofball field and then some. It was here that was the best place to view the deepest part of the valley beside Griffinstone: a treacherous, yawning chasm known as the Abysmal Abyss.

Ember wasn’t anywhere to be found. Thorax wasn’t sure what to think of that, but then again, perhaps this was her way at getting back him. Shrugging, he trotted the distance to the platform, which took a few minutes given its size. He waited on the empty platform a while before going to the guardrail and peering down into the expanse.

“Yeesh...” Thorax made a face. “Looks like it goes on forever.”

“It supposedly does,” said a voice behind him.

Thorax froze. He hadn’t realized, but the stairs he’d ascended had been cut through the midway point of the gigantic branch. That left plenty of room for even a giant creature to roost, even one as large as Ember. Thorax turned around, and sure enough, Ember was perched right behind the stairs like an oversized bird of prey, smiling and watching with laughing eyes.

“I flew down for a good ten minutes and didn’t see a bottom,” Ember said. “Lots of cozy-looking caves, though... some even big enough for a changeling and a dragon.”

Thorax blinked several times. “A changeling and a—wait.” He flicked out his tongue. “You’re not mad... Why aren’t you mad?”

Ember laughed. “Snarl and Sear saw everything from a bush. I’ll admit, your brother did have a point. I can’t hog you to myself when your whole race is depending on you.”

Thorax made a mental note to apologize to those two. “Okay, well… I still didn’t enjoy doing it. Been miserable all day.”

Ember beckoned him over. Thorax flew to land her palm like before, but this time, she lifted him to her cheek for a nuzzle and a kiss. “I missed you too, by the way.”

Thorax leaned against her warm scales. Her head alone was larger than his entire body, and somehow he knew she was only going to get bigger. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t smelled her at first—even in the open air and his empathy dampened, her sweet, sharp aroma was like a fog.

“How…” Thorax took several quick sniffs. “How are you doing that?”

Ember raised an eyeridge. “Doing what?”

Thorax kept sniffing her like a bloodhound. “I couldn’t smell you at all when I first got up here, but now you’re all I can smell!”

Ember giggled. “My head advisor’s been teaching me magic so I can visit cities without making a mess. Turns out there’s loads of spells that help dragons tread softly—it’s just most don’t use them.”

Thorax frowned. “I… don’t understand why they wouldn’t. Magic is dead useful! I don’t know how I’d live without it!”

“Oh, I’m with you, believe me.” Ember spread her wings around them to shield them from the wind. “But let’s not talk about me right now, okay? We don’t have as much time this year, and I know we both want to make the most of it.”

Thorax hummed. “I certainly do…”

Ember kissed him again. “Good. Now, from what I understand, you have a special ring that makes you not want to mount everything with a pulse, and your brother talked you into putting it on.”

Thorax blushed. “U-Uh, something like that.” He sat on his rump, spreading his haunches to let her see.

Ember squinted. “It’s THAT kind of ring?!” She leaned in closer, then closer still, her nostrils flaring. “Mmmm, we might be able to have some fun with this…”

Thorax hummed at her warm breath hitting his whole underside. But his brain was at a loss as to why there was no greater response, even when Ember literally gave his whole lower body a smooch.

“Quite a powerful little doohickey,” Ember said, leaning back. “This morning you looked ready to turn into the biggest thing you could and rut me in front of the whole city. Now you’re limp as a noodle! Is it something you just got recently? Or…?”

“I should’ve had it last year in Canterlot,” Thorax admitted. “But I forgot it on accidentally, so… yeah. It’s… not the first time it’s happened.”

Ember’s eyes flicked to Thorax’s crotch again, then back to his face. “No wonder your brother went off on you. I’m not sure whether to be impressed or annoyed at him, to be honest—he made sure you kept your head in the game... by keeping your other head from going in me.”

Thorax laughed despite himself. “I know Pharynx means well. He just doesn’t really get intimacy… or social interaction at all, really. Sex has never been anything more than a meal for him.”

A smile tugged at Ember’s lips. “But you’re not your brother, are you?”

In reply, Thorax used a little bit of magic of his own. Ember suddenly something soft and warm against her cheek—like an invisible pair of lips as large as her own. She looked down just in time to see Thorax’s horns lose their glow.

“We could be having sex right now, you know.”

Ember licked her lips. Her heart was beating louder the longer Thorax was touching her, creeping more and more into her ears until it was all she could hear. She kept catching shadows of his intensity, hints of his charm and need leaking out. Even in the short time they’d been talking, she’d noticed a pressure building around him, and that pressure was building stronger...

“C’mon.” Ember flared her wings wide, tightened her grip on Thorax, then leapt off the branch into the abyss below.

You can understand why Thorax screamed. Falling out of control isn’t something anyone enjoys, and nothing gets your adrenaline pumping quite like your own impending demise. He did eventually stop upon realizing Ember hadn’t slipped, though, and by the time she’d evened out and started flapping north, he was more curious than anything else.

“I’m taking us to a place I found!” Ember bellowed to him. “Just enjoy the ride!”

Thorax got goosebumps. Even over her immense wingbeats and the whipping wind, he’d heard her clear as day. The dusky pines sped beneath them as she flew at a mind-boggling speed, and once they were beyond the city, a sudden aurarolled over Thorax, spreading out far beyond him in a radius around Ember. It pressed in on all his senses like a loving embrace, and the longer he was immersed in it, the more eager he got.

Thorax held on tight to Ember’s claw. “So big…”

***

The moon and stars were out by the time they descended. Their darkvision allowed them to see they’d followed the forest valley north towards the nearby mountain range, and said valley had been growing deeper and more crag-like as the vegetation thinned. Ember was now angling towards an outcropping in the sheer cliffside, specifically to a cave big enough for even her to enter.

Thorax spotted the glint of old metal mine cart tracks leading into the cave. Ember let him take wing so she could land, and he watched her drop onto the outcropping with a THUD heavy enough to make dust fall. He followed suit once she’d folded her titanic wings.

“So I’m guessing either you really, really liked my magic kiss back there,” Thorax said upon landing. “Or you really, really didn’t.”

A shiver ran through Ember’s sinuous form. “I haven't stopped thinking about you since last year. Nodragon has been able to come close to what you did! You lovebugs are something else, you know that? ”

Thorax smiled. “I was actually a little nervous going into it with you. I was worried I might not be good enough.”

Ember rolled her eyes. “Same old Thorax. Always pulling your punches and selling yourself short.”

“Short?! I’m quite tall, thank you very much!” Thorax put his hooves on his hips. “I’ve grown a ton since the last Summit! Just… not as much as you.”

Ember waggled her eyebrows. “How big a form can you take?”

Thorax hesitated. “A-Ah, well… I’m not sure. It’s harder to shapeshift into bigger things, and the largest form I’ve ever tried—”

“Hold that thought,” Ember said with a sudden grin. “You stay exactly how you are, little lovebug. Lemme show you this neat place I found.”

The air immediately grew warmer upon them entering the mine. The entrance had been expanded from a natural opening in the earth, the griffins needing to do little to convert such a large cavern. Shards of loose rock cracked and snapped under Ember’s great weight as she led on, hordes of glowing crystals surrounding them.

“How’d you find this place?” Thorax asked as he flew alongside.

Ember flicked out her tongue like a snake. “I could taste the gems from miles off. The griffins have tons of abandoned places like this all over… perfect for a growing girl like me.”

And growing in all the right ways, too. Rippling muscles, shining scales, bright eyes, sparkling white teeth, a beautiful muzzle, a sleek barrel, long claws, deliciously wide hips, and an incredibly long tail. Thorax betted he could stare at her for hours and not get bored.

“Did it hurt?” he asked. “Growing so big, I mean. It feels nice for me and Pharynx, but that’s because we grow by molting.”

Ember laughed. “Are you kidding? Dragons love getting bigger! Sprouting new scales, feeling our bones shift, becoming greater and stronger as the world shrinks around us... there’s nothing like it!”

Thorax tried to imagine what it must’ve been like for Ember the last year. The thoughts immediately made him feel warmer. “The… e-erm, oldest changeling records mention a group of ancient changelings called the leviathans. They were so big they even dwarfed ursa majors, but we’re not sure how true that is. Considering Pharynx and I keep getting bigger, though, who know?”

Annnnnnnnnnd now Ember was picturing Thorax as a horny leviathan. A sequoia-sized changeling cock filled her thoughts, bobbing and twitching, each drip of pre able to fill a small lake. “W-Well, don’t you worry. Real or not, I know we’ll still be able to have fun! I’ve got some ideas how to make things work…”

Thorax wasn’t sure if that was exciting or ominous. “Should I know about these ideas?”

“You’ll seeeeeeeeeee~”

They kept walking until they got to an uneven fissure in one of the walls. It was covered with cracks and scrapes along the sides, made just wide and enough for Ember to squeeze through. It may as well have been an archway for Thorax, but that’s what it might’ve originally been for all they knew.

“Ergh...” Ember squeezed herself into the crack. She was dextrous enough to manage most of her body through, but her hips were another matter. Dust fell from the ceiling as her mighty claws gouged the stone like putty, her battering ram of a tail whipping side to side. Thorax blushed as he watched from a safe distance, catching glimpses of the treasure between her rear legs. He could smell the drops of honey glistening, his sensitive nose catching the heavenly scent and drawing him in like a moth to the flame.

Ember flexed and heaved. The rocks cracked around her some more, but at last she slipped in. Thorax followed without comment, following behind her sexy tufted tail. A few dozen feet later the tunnel opened into a larger area, and Thorax was able to see...

“Whoa...” It was an enormous geode. A sapphire, to be exact, around eighty feet high and a hundred and twenty feet long. Everything within the space was blue gemstone—the floor, the walls, the ceiling, all of it reflective and smooth. Collapsed platforms and pieces construction equipment were scattered about here and there, but the only surfaces that looked worked on was the smoothed-out floor.

Thorax gaped. The blue crystals were smooth and reflective, a thousand Thoraxes and Embers staring back at them. “Wow…”

The space was just large enough for Ember to be in, but only just, and already, her body heat was starting to warm up the room. “I’ll tell the griffin king about this place tomorrow, but until then, we have it alllllllll to ourselves.”

Thorax inhaled deep. He could feel a calm, fuzzy sensation in his stomach, an almost dopey look creeping up on his face. “Ember…”

“Hey, you.” She reached down and scooping him up. “I’ll admit we dragons aren't known for planning things most of the time. We handle things as we come, and whatever happens, happens. My father ruled that way, my grandmother ruled that way, on and on. I’m the first to try and do things differently, and… well, it hasn’t been easy.”

Thorax’s expression sobered. “Tell me about it.”

Ember smiled. “I’ve a lot of respect for what you’ve done. I was taught to be a leader, but you didn’t have anyone to show you the way. Yet you’ve done so much in so short a time! That’s amazing!”

Thorax put a hoof behind his head. “It sounds more impressive than—”

Ember shushed him. “You’re special, doofus. When push comes to shove, you figure out a way to win, even without force. You know how to be strong in all the right ways, and your letters have been the highlight of this entire year for me. The changelings are lucky to have you as their king.”

Thorax hummed. Ember’s giant red eyes were fierce and proud, yet holding a gentle warmth he’d come to love. He wasn’t aware her arousal had already permeated the small space... nor had he noticed he was hard as a rock.

“Of course, you’re also an amazing lover,” Ember went on. “I mean, I know already told you, but I was serious that nodragon’s come close to what we did last year. I don’t have your weird touchy-feely emotion sense, but I’ve been practicing a few things I think will make up for it. It’s payback time, little lovebug~”

Thorax’s wings were fully splayed now. He was kissing and nuzzling Ember’s palm with little trilling sounds, his head hazy as she brought him in for a soft kiss. “Wh-What… what’d you have in mind?”

Ember set Thorax down on the cool, smooth floor before coaxing him onto his back. “Let me put it this way. Dragons may not be known for planning things, but if there’s one thing we are, it’s our pride.”

Thorax quivered at her touch. “I-I’m aware…”

“You didn’t just rut me last time, you showed me pleasures I didn’t even know existed! You had me begging for more without even trying, and by the time we were through, I was nothing but a pile of mush! You left me exhausted and satisfied and wanting more so badly I’ve spent the last year getting off to thoughts of you!”

At this, Ember raised her front paw, licked it several times, then lowered a soft digit to his crotch. “Now... it’s your turn.”

Thorax gasped. His entire body shook at her first touch, but the sensations still felt far away. The inhibitor’s accursed dullness was even obscuring her rubbing his dick! “E-Ember… the, a-ah... the ring...”

“Leave it.” Ember trailed her digit upward, coating his entire chest in saliva. “It’s more fun this way.”

“But you’re… u-ungh!” Thorax thrust his hips. “N-Not doing anything for me...”

Ember smirked. She bent her great head down, opened her cavernous mouth, and licked off the pre he’d just coated his whole underside with. “Sure about that?”

Thorax’s only reply was a moan.

Ember inhaled Thorax’s sweet musk. His pheromones were so unlike a dragon’s, but damn if they didn’t tighten that knot in her belly. “Have you seriously not noticed you’re overpowering that thing?”

Thorax blinked. It took considerable effort to focus on anything that wasn’t Ember, but after fighting through the fog, he realized a few important things. Not only had Ember been sharing an incredible amount of love and lust this whole time, he’d been drinking it all in without restraint. With every passing second she empowered him further, her warm emotions free to soak in thanks his empathic senses being numbed. He had to have consumed more than he typically did in a week, maybe two! It was like Ember was pouring an entire year’s worth of pent up feelings into him!

Thorax wrapped his legs around her claw and started grinding on it. His felt on edge, jittery, his mind clouded with that familiar need. His eyes rolled back as he registered his pheromones mixing with hers in the cramped space. “M-More…”

Ember purred. Thorax’s scent easily filled her lungs now, and she moved in close to coat him in her moist breath. Her eyes rolled back as well upon tasting him, and before long she was lapping at his sex over and over. Thorax urged her on with soft sighs her name, a fresh thrill racing through him each time he caught a glimpse down her deep throat. Her wet tongue rolled out again and again to stroke his legs and groin, yet all he did was coax her on, Ember using a bit of magic to keep him in place to really lick him.

Thorax was starting to get feeling back proper. He could feel more and more of Ember’s spongy tongue, but what really excited him was her godly size. Everything about her was a feast for the senses, and he made louder and louder groans while humping her tongue. His sweet scent intensified as seconds passed, along with larger and larger waves of something sticky coating his belly and chest...

Thorax’s eyes snapped open. He looked down between Ember’s licks, shocked to find the inhibitor ring still snug and tight around his engorged cock. Yet his length was bigger and longer than he ever remembered, his burgeoning nuts drenching his chest with pre...

“H-HowwWWwWWw…” He trailed off into a moan as Ember fed him a spike of raw lust. The burst made his balls swell even bigger, and the greatest surge thus far escaped him to hit his neck and face.

“Mmmm…” Ember’s licks trailed up Thorax’s body. Even she was no match for the potent pheromones of a royal changeling, although that implied she wanted to resist in the first place. His taste was like a drug she couldn’t get enough of, and she didn’t pause in licking clean his neck, face, horns… then the rest of him for good measure. Thorax warm chitin was so smooth, so alive, so healthy, and the longer she immersed herself in him, the more she wanted.

Neither of them knew how long they went back and forth. A few minutes, five, ten, a half-hour... perhaps even longer. Ember’s eyes were fully dilated by the time she pulled back from Thorax, her breaths hard and fast, a desperate, gnawing hunger burning in her core. Thorax was coated nose to tail in her saliva and his own emissions, and without her constantly lapping the latter up, they quickly took over.

“So much…” A stray thought made Ember wonder what Thorax’s orgasms had to be like. “Oh, Io… if only you were bigger...”

Thorax didn’t speak Draconic, but the longing in Ember’s voice wasn’t lost on him. “Wh-What?”

Ember didn’t reply. Instead she pressed a claw to a scale beneath her jaw, where she’d etched a rune containing a spell. She raised her now-glowing claw and pointed it straight at Thorax.

A burning heat struck Thorax. It focused in on the sharper, pointier parts of his body, and he felt a fading sensation of feeling in those parts… before abruptly, all feeling in them vanished entirely.

“Yesssss, it worked… nngh…” Ember struggled a moment to switch positions, the ground shaking as she rolled onto her scaly back. Her sinuous tail coiled around Thorax to lift him onto her crotch. “Now you’re ready...”

Thorax didn’t need to ask what for, as the answer had been calling to his nose all day. Ember’s plan was quite clear as felt for his horns a moment, not surprised to find them vanished.

“How long?” he asked.

Ember moaned as she slid a digit in her pussy. “A-A few… mmffff… hoursssss…”

That was all he needed to hear. Ember was radiating more love and lust into than ever, and Thorax absorbed it all like a sponge, chittering as the pressure built more and more. He wasted no time in rubbing Ember’s labia with both hooves, and the instant he did, her claw pulled out to creep around him, coaxing closer...

“Yes… Th-Thorax…” Ember fought the urge to thrust her hips. “A-Ahh…”

Thorax pressed his cheek to her hot, slippery flesh. He kissed and licked with his meager mouth, massaging and rubbing her tremendous privates as best he could. She guided him deeper with a gentle claw, little by little pushing him deeper until his forehooves slipped in with a wet schlick. Before long his head followed, and he immediately began running long tongue all over her inner walls. Her powerful muscles pulled him deeper, sucking him into her hot, tight, wetness, and he buzzed his wings at the halfway point to vibrate on her clit.

Ember squealed. Thorax was a living vibrator, and his every touch strengthened her fiery desire. His magically-smoothed body tickled and teased her the deeper he went, his hooves and head pleasuring spots she hadn’t even known! She didn't know if he was using that 'pleasure-seeking' technique or flailing at random, but that didn’t stop her from pushing him in the rest of the way, her hungry cunny swallowing him whole.

The lust inhibitor may as well have been a decoration. Ember’s tight, slick tunnel engulfed Thorax, his senses saturated in her most intimate place. Raw, intense emotion oozed from her velvety softness, and he could hear her moaning his name over and over, her tunnel consumed by need. He started squirming, thrusting, wiggling, thrashing as much as possible, and soon Ember wasn’t moaning, but roaring, the muffled sound reverberating around him.

Ember raked the sapphire floor to pieces. She worked her inner muscles like she’d practiced as Thorax literally fucked her from the inside. She took breaths in great gasps, her tongue lolled out and panting, her hips rising and falling to further smash the floor. It went on like that for a while, but soon it was clear Thorax was having difficulty getting any farther inside her. Without thinking, she thrust her tufted tail into her pussy, pushing him deeper, DEEPER…

Thorax was at a loss. One second he’d been humping and thrusting like mad, the next he was being pushed by something. He was now pressed against an even smaller opening within Ember’s tunnel, guarded by a bottleneck of muscle he couldn’t get past. Thorax had just enough time to register this was the source of Ember’s lust before he suddenly sensed something beyond… something strange, unique. It was difficult to tell, but whatever the thing was felt like… strange clusters, each containing incredibly small and fragile things that shone like stars.

Thorax was speechless. There were more of those stars than he could ever hope to count, and upon detecting them, their combined latent energy sang to him like a chorus of sirens. His inhibitor’s magic was snuffed out in an instant, and Thorax’s eyes glowed white as he came in an explosion of sexual energy. The burst was so great it travelled out into Ember, and she went rigid as her muscles clenched and spasmed in a mighty peak.

Thorax felt himself slipping amidst the shared orgasm. Ember’s walls weren’t spasming in rhythm anymore, but randomly, and stronger! He fought to remain inside her, but his muscles were locked up! He tried to shapeshift as a last effort, but it was too late. He slid back farther and farther until was shunted out of Ember amidst a wave of their combined emissions. He fell spread eagle on her tail with his dick shooting into the air like a fountain, and by then he could do little but pump his hips like mad, each salvo setting off fireworks in his mind.

It was a long time before either of them came down. Thorax’s eyes refocused to stare up at the ceiling, realizing that he’d been moved at some point to the sapphire floor. He was drenched nose to tail in sexual fluids, and upon sitting up and wiping off his face, the first thing he saw was Ember’s long, body, curled into a ball around him like a living barrier.

“Mine,” she said.

Thorax chuckled. He turned and saw her head resting on the floor right beside him. “I suppose this is the closest we can get to spooning.”

Ember caressed his face with her long, forked tongue. “Mmmm, my lovebug.”

Thorax smiled. He shook himself off as best he could before flying up to lay on her head. “Was it good for you, too?”

Ember laughed. “Whatever you did at the end there made me go over so hard my whole body went numb. That hasn’t happened since the last time we were together.”

Thorax took that as a yes. He looked down at the inert metal ring still attached to his stallionhood, at last sliding it off and holding it up. “I guess you were right about it being better with the ring on.”

“I’ll say! I—” Ember paused at his tone of voice. “Wait… we broke it, didn’t we.”

“Eh, more like overloaded.” Thorax shrugged. “I can fix it when I get back to the hive.”

A smile tugged at Ember’s lips. “Somebug’s gonna get in troubbbblllleee~”

“I’d let Pharynx ream me out for a year straight if it meant spending more time with you,” Thorax said.

“Oh, shut up.” She was about to ask him what fixing the ring entailed, but just then, she felt him shifting in place atop her head. It wasn’t hard for her to guess why—she’d felt him getting a boner the second he’d laid down on her. “You really can’t get enough of me, can you?”

Thorax blushed. “I-I…”

“Here.” Ember took him in her claw again, brought him around to her chest, and held him close for a hug. The remainders of her lust seeped out of her body and into his, adding to the considerable energy she’d already shared. “Better?”

Thorax gulped. He could still hear the singing—those teeny-tiny stars, calling to him like a faint serenade. He still didn’t know how many there were...

“Thorax?”

Thorax jolted. “U-Um! Yes! Yes, much better. Don’t worry about me being horny again, it’s just part of being me. I’m more surprised at how much eggergy—ENERGY! Ahem… that you shared with me. How’d you manage to store so much?”

Luckily, Ember was too spaced out to notice. “You said changelings grow bigger and stronger the more quality love you get, right? I figured we’re going to have any kind of fun next year, you’re going to need all the help you can get. That’s why I used dragon magic to store up as much excess as I could through the year.”

And that’s when Thorax realized. “Because you’re going to just keep growing more and more.”

Ember grinned wide. “I’m averaging about two inches a day right now, but I can tell it’s speeding up. The next time you see me, I’ll be bigger than my father, and not by a little bit.”

Thorax bit back a moan. He looked behind them to gaze at her barrel, where he knew the tiny stars were waiting. Whether due to her being Dragon Lord or just being a dragon in general, something told him there’d be more next year. “E-Ember—”

“We should go get cleaned up.” Ember rose, stretching out like a cat and kneading her claws on the ground. “I’m gonna fall asleep if I keep laying down like this, and then I’ll have to smash my way out of here. I barely fit through the exit as it is.”

Thorax gulped. “Right, right… with you growing so fast, and all…”

Ember waited for him to get clear before turning to the exit. “Ahhhh, that was everything I’d hoped. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint, Thory-Thor. Not even the biggest and most hung dragons can compete with you.”

Thorax was quiet. He watched her wiggle her way back through the opening, her tail raised high to show off her still-wet slit. He felt tight and jittery, his thoughts whipping around in a whirlwind, his body working like mad to process the mind-boggling amount of energy coursing through him.

“Her lovebug…” Thorax looked at his reflection in the geode facets. Thousands of Thoraxes stared back from all sides, their glittering tails filling the room with stars. “My dragon…”

***

The Next Morning-

“Announcing! The Tzaress of the Crystal Empire and the Princess of Love, Mi Amore Cadenza!” a herald proclaimed.

The Griffinstone Keep courtyard became filled with the sound of strange trumpets. A pink alicorn with her mane in an ornate headdress appeared with an entourage of crystal ponies, all of them walking tall and proud as the other diplomats and attendants bowed and applauded.

But there was one who did a bit more than applaud.

“Princess Cadance!” Ember called over the throng. “Hey! Over here!”

Cadance stopped. It wasn’t hard for her to see who was calling, but you couldn’t really blame her for hesitating. “E-Erm, Tourmaline, go with Topaz Shine and the others to find out where we’re seated at the meeting table, would you? I’ll just be a moment…”

She left her entourage to fly over to Ember, who was laying in a sploot opposite the crowd with Snarl and Sear. Cadance smiled and waved upon approaching, much to the surprise of the other diplomats.

Ember rolled her eyes. “Yes, we know each other! You’d think this is my first Summit, sheesh…”

Cadance landed to look up at Ember with a grin. “I’m guessing that crate of truthfire gems I sent for your birthday didn’t last long.”

Ember burst out laughing. “If it makes you feel any better, they made a great dessert. Only truthfires have that cool, minty aftertaste.”

Cadance giggled. “I’ll have to make another errand to the Puddinghead Tundra, then. I hadn’t realized you’d gotten so big, so quickly!”

Ember shook her head. “We dragons have a saying: It’s better to hoard a chest of gold than a mountain of coal. I’ll take quality over quantity any day.”

Cadence frowned. “Er... not to belie what you’re trying to say, but… you do know coal is actually really valuable, right? To non-dragons, at least. We use it as an energy source.”

Ember blinked. “Wait, what? That nasty, sooty rock that starts on fire?”

Cadance nodded.

Ember looked around at the other diplomats, who all of a sudden looked very interested. “Telllll you what, Cadance? Why don’t you come with me a few minutes so we can, uh… catch up on old times, and stuff? These meetings don’t have to be just about diplomacy, and, uh... I’ve found it’s nice to touch base with old friends.”

“Sure” Cadance unfurled her wings, raising them both high, high in the air. “Ahh, stretching my wings this much is great! I need to come to these things more often!”

Ember pointed to the roof of the Keep. “C’mon. You can tell me allllll about the wonders of dirty, cruddy ol’ coal.”

Meanwhile, while this was going on, Pharynx and Thorax were in the nearby prep area waiting for their signal to enter the courtyard. Pharynx was standing watch at the entrance while Thorax lay in a sploot similar to Ember’s, his horns glowing with a body-scouring spell.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Little Fang,” Pharynx said after a time.

Thorax regarded him. “Meaning?”

“You know what I mean,” Pharynx said without looking at him. “All you and Princess Cadance talked about is what might happen if you succeed. How about what might happen if you fail?”

Thorax narrowed his eyes. He stared hard at Pharynx a few seconds, but when his brother didn’t bite, Thorax hung his head. “Why do you think I asked for her help in the first place?”

Pharynx sighed. His eyes flicked to where Cadance had been sitting a few scant minutes ago. “I always forget you sought asylum in her kingdom when you fled the hive. I suppose if anyone’s going to help you succeed in winning the Dragon Lord’s love, it’s the princess of the stuff.”

Thorax looked at him a few seconds, his lips slightly parted. “I thought you’d be mad I went to someone else instead of you.”

Pharynx shook his head. “We both know I can’t help you with this. If you’d come to me first, I’d have said you’re suffering from some kind of mind parasite. I may have forgot how you know the Love Princess, but I was well aware she’s an old friend. I’d have sought her counsel, as well.”

Thorax dragged a hoof along the ground. “O-Okay, well… that’s, e-erm… something of a relief... I-I thought you were peeved at me considering what you said when I introduced you.”

“I was complimenting her and her husband’s power,” Pharynx remarked. “She certainly seemed to appreciate the distance she repelled us during Mother’s invasion—”

“ANYWAY,” Thorax said. “Courting Ember’s not as risky as you think. Don’t forget, we’ve known each other for years. We’ve a bunch of stuff in common, we’ve been writing and thinking about each other since the last Summit, and not only did she make me burn out my inhibitor last night—”

“Which I should clip your wings for,” Pharynx grumbled.

“—LOOK at me!” Thorax gestured to himself. “This is how much love and lust she’d been harboring for me, Phary! Enough to do THIS!”

It was true molting was quite pleasant for changelings. Shedding one’s old, smaller chitin brought a lot of relief, but it was also kind of messy and gross, as the flakes of hard tissue falling off tended to get everywhere. Thorax had been trying to scour all the loose chitin off his body with a cleansing spell… but considering he’d been molting every hour since returning late last night (and growing several inches each time) he was having trouble staying clean.

Pharynx didn’t actually look. He was well aware Thorax had grown over four feet taller to now stand at thirteen-something-or-other. “How much more do you have to burn through?”

Thorax pursed his lips. He did an internal check, gauging how much love and lust was still coursing through him. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if I grew twice this size yet.”

Which would put him well over two stories, Pharynx realized. “This is a one-way street, Little Fang. If you go down this path, the consequences will follow you regardless of what happens. Your true form will always be gigantic, and you’ll only be able to interact with others by taking smaller forms, including our subjects! You’ll need to become the best shapeshifter alive just to lead a normal life! Better than even Mother!”

Thorax grinned. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve surpassed her.”

…

Pharynx chuckled. “Perhaps we are related, after all.”

Thorax scooted over to Pharynx. “I need to do this, Phary. I… I-I can’t just pretend these feelings don’t exist! I’ll never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to make things work with Ember. I’ll grow to the size of a mountain if that’s what it takes—I want to be with her!”

It wasn’t easy for Pharynx to stay focused with Thorax looming in his peripheral. Even with his little brother flat on his stomach, he could still look Pharynx dead in the eye. His huge body exuded a tantalizing warmth as he took up over half the floorspace, and if he tried to stand up, his horns would tear right through the ceiling.

“And here Mother told us ingesting too much love at once was lethal.” Pharynx sighed. “Either it’s different for the royal caste, or that was another of her lies.”

Thorax made a mental note to look into that. “Look, if it helps at all, both our kingdom and Ember’s will benefit if we start a relationship. We’ll be able to work together in ways we can’t even think of right now—”

“For hive’s sake,” Pharynx said with a groan. “Are you really going to make me say what I’m actually worried about?”

It was a scene that’d repeated ever since they were nymphs. Pharynx, the great warrior, renowned hunter of their kind, feared for his subtlety, respected for his efficiency, commended for his cunning and guile. Thorax, the timid runt, weak and sensitive, with neither the will nor the spirit of a ‘true’ changeling. Few had known the two were clutchmates before the reformation.

Thorax pressed his lips into a thin line. “...I’m not going to get hurt, Phary.”

“How do you know for sure?” Pharynx demanded. “She could be using you for all you know—”

“She isn’t!” Thorax said. “You don’t have to worry—”

“Don’t tell me not to worry!” Pharynx snapped. “I’d cut a bloody swath through this entire city to keep you safe! If she breaks your heart, so help me...”

Thorax was quiet. A million responses flew through his mind, but none of them seemed right. He just sat there beside his brother, watching his face twist like he was trying to swallow his tongue.

“I’ve protected you from blades,” Pharynx said at last. “I’ve protected you from spells, traps, projectiles, and more. All our lives I’ve tried to be your shield, because the thought of you becoming prey scares me more than you’ll ever know. Dragon Lord, princess, warlord, monarch, hero, villain, legend, child, adult… I don’t care who they are, what they are. If Ember hurts you, I’ll put a ballista bolt in her neck and twist until the light leaves her eyes. Do you understand me?!”

Thorax winced. He could see it in Pharynx’s face, too—that twisted snarl, that dead look in his eyes. “I—”

Thorax was interrupted by a familiar pressure was returning. He squirmed as the feeling grew stronger and stronger, his skin feeling like there were ants beneath. “A-Ah, one second, Phary…”

He fidgeted and wiggled in place, his muscles bristling and flexing. The warmth he was giving off grew stronger, and he sprang to his hooves with his head crouched down. His horns grazed the roof as he arched his back over and over, grunting and chittering until—

CRKKKKKKK!

It was like he was caked in dried mud. Cracks formed on Thorax’s body as his chitin crumbled, first in little pieces, then larger and larger chunks until some were the size of dinner plates. A shower of chitin fell away as the growth spurt hit him, his body lengthening and widening, his head rising ever closer to the ceiling, his back legs inching towards the opposite end of the tent.

Pharynx didn’t even wiggle an ear as he magically blocked the flying debris. “Been an hour already, I see. How time flies.”

A minute or so later, the remains of Thorax’s old chitin lay littered on the floor. He twisted around and stretched with a sigh, shaking like a massive green dog to get it all free. “Ahhh… that was a good one.” He laid back down and turned back to Pharynx. “I think that was the biggest one so far.”

Pharynx could tell. They’d been eye-to-eye with each other while he was laying down before, now he barely came up to Thorax’s chin. The warmth of his little brother’s growing body was more noticeable than ever. “You alright?”

Thorax nodded. “Just a little itchy… U-Uh, hey… it’s been awhile since Cadance went out there. Has she gone over to Ember?”

Pharynx squinted. “She just did. Looks like they’re talking about something—”

He saw Cadance raise both her wings.

“—and it seems she’s given her blessing,” he said. “I guess your trysts were enough to push your friendship into something more, for it seems you and Ember are indeed a good match.”

Thorax squee’d. “I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knewwwww iiiiit~ Eee-hee-hee!”

With the signal given, Pharynx could now look away and address Thorax proper. “But that means we have work to do. If Ember really is growing as fast as you say, you’ll need to obtain an immense amount of love to match her. You’ll also need to continue gaining it so she won’t outpace you, as well as master shapeshifting, all while maintain your duties as king—”

“Pharynx,” Thorax said. “I already told you, I don’t care what I have to do. I want to be with her.”

He then looked past Pharynx, his thoughts filled with tiny twinkling stars. “I want to build a future with her.”

And for the second time in twenty-four hours, Pharynx saw his little brother’s eyes sparkle, that same wide, open-mouthed smile forming on his face.

“Tear it all…” Pharynx sighed, long and slow. He glanced at the crumbling molt shavings on the floor and clucked his tongue. “We’re going to need a bigger hive.”

Chapter 3: Feeding the Flames

A Few Weeks Later-

A high-speed train roared across the snow-flecked tracks towards the Crystal Empire. It was a typical frigid day on the Truthfire Tundra, the slicing wind blowing the powdery snow about like ocean waves. This area had always been a nightmare to traverse, but even with such danger so great, the Truthfire Tundra was heavily trafficked by those seeking the fabled truthfire gems—a magical stone capable of negating even the most powerful illusions.

A cramped Pharynx sat in his true form in one of the luxury passenger cars. He and Thorax had made arrangements to make this trip undisguised, and thankfully, the journey had been uneventful thus far. But if nothing else, Pharynx now understood why his kin referred to the irksome stone as kth’raxxi: ‘morph-bane’.

Pharynx sneered at the carpeted floor. He’d forgotten to bring anything to read, and the only thing he’d managed to find was a short (but admittedly fascinating) history of the Crystal Empire. The great Crystal Mountains took up much of the northern horizon, the east and west nothing but flat land and blue sky. The emotions of the ponies in nearby compartments were all jovial, unperturbed that the only thing keeping them from a violent, high-speed death was some enchanted metal and glass.

“I suppose ignorance really is bliss.” A short laugh escaped Pharynx. “I’ll never understand ponies...”

He scratched his right knee, a few bits of chitin flaking off his long muscular legs. He’d had an unexpected molt yesterday, one that’d shot him up an entire foot. He now stood at a dizzying nine feet flat, and the fresh memory of the experience was enough to make him shiver, his body still remembering the pleasant tingle of becoming bigger... stronger… greater—

BONK!

“GAH!” The ceiling cubby proved a headache yet again. Largest compartment on the train his royal ass! He couldn’t stand up, he couldn’t stretch out, he couldn’t even move without banging into something! Even the flimsy seat felt like it was going to collapse under his weight, and with his greatly increased magic and physical strength, he was half afraid he was going to break it just by shifting positions!

Cursing, Pharynx tried to distract himself by feeling out the emotions of the nearby ponies. He’d seen that many of them were crystalline in nature, which was an oddity also reflected in their mindscapes. Their emotions had a unique feel to them—fruity and light, yet carrying a sour note like a long-forgotten memory…

Pharynx’s stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten ever since the train had left Canterlot, and a small, traitorous voice couldn’t resist the opportunity to whisper how easy it’d be to—

Pharynx grit his teeth. He forced himself to recall the last day of the Griffonstone summit, when Thorax had confessed his feelings to his dragoness lover. Pharynx still recalled Ember’s overflowing giddiness, spicy and fierce like a delicious mulled wine, so emphatic and intense that it literally forced him to swallow it. He about went deaf when Ember’s roar echoed out over the whole valley, and about had a heart attack when she’d snatched up Thorax for a hug. But he preferred both those things over Thorax shapeshifting into a larger form, pushing Ember onto her back, and—

“ERGH!” Pharynx flung open the door and squeezed out of his clown car of a compartment. The ceiling wasn’t any higher out here, but he didn’t care. He shimmied his way down the meager path to the back of the car, ignoring the murmurs trailing from the compartments he passed.

“Yes, little ponies, the big, strange changeling is about.” Pharynx knew any of them would have quite a time getting past him if need be, but they’d just have to wait. “Stare at me all you like if that’s what keeps you calm. Clearly I’m more interesting than traversing through a deadly climate in a shoddy metal tube—”

Suddenly, a pair of young colts emerged from the bathroom before Pharynx. They stopped upon realizing he took up the entirety of the aisle, but in the blink of an eye, the bigger of the two smiled and waved. “Hiya, mister!”

Pharynx blinked several times. “Uh… hello, little f—erm, little one.”

“We’re gonna go under you, ‘kay?” the colt said.

Pharynx nodded. “Understood.”

The bigger colt poked the smaller one’s shoulder. “Little brother’s it!” He then scampered under Pharynx and down the hall.

The younger colt gasped. “Onyx! Wait!”

“Nyah-nyah~!” Onyx called. “Ollie can’t catch me!”

But Ollie still hesitated. He looked up into Pharynx’s face with bright blue eyes. “E-Erm…”

Pharynx chuckled. “I think he just dared you.”

Ollie gasped. He grinned wide, crouched down like a cat, and zipped forward to chase after his brother, their laughter trailing in their wake.

Pharynx’s eyes lingered where the colts had been. “Once upon a time…”

There was a coat closet at the end of the aisle. It was easy to tell which coat was Pharynx’s—it was three times the size of the others. He took care not to rip it with his stronger magic, but he’d figure out the amounts eventually. Typical molt adjustments and all that.

“Gonna break ten feet before year’s end at this rate.” Pharynx reached for a padded helmet the size of a sledding saucer. “I really need to learn that Endure Elements spell…”

He turned to the door leading outside. He took a deep breath, counted to three, then whipped it open and leapt into the blinding sun.

The first breath was like a knife down Pharynx’s throat. The cold hit him like a battering ram, his sensitive bits shrinking as he was pelted with a spray of stinging snow. He took wing with a hiss and flew low over the cars with the aid of magic and brute strength, the howling wind ripping away all warmth away for his audacity. But Pharynx pressed on and made a beeline for the GIANT boxcar that towered over all the others, the racket of its oversized clacking wheels drowning everything else out.

Pharynx opened the rear door and zipped into the pitch blackness. He closed it fast as he could and rubbed his chest like mad, his darkvision adjusting to reveal that his muzzle was inches from a living wall of lime green and orange. Said wall rising and falling at a steady pace, each fall hitting Pharynx’s head with hot, moist air.

“S-Sorry, b-brother,” Pharynx said between shivers. He looked up at Thorax’s crammed form, smooshed into the enormous boxcar like a sardine. “I c-c-couldn’t—ACK!”

“Woohoo! Phary’s here!” Thorax pulled Pharynx into a tight hug. Now twenty-seven feet tall and immensely stronger in all respects, there was little Pharynx could do to resist Thorax’s affection. “Now neither of us will be bored!”

Pharynx probably would’ve been squawking if Thorax wasn’t so warm. “What I’d give to have your cold resistance...”

Thorax snorted. “You wouldn’t need it if you knew—”

“Shall I point out all the things you’ve been pig-headed about over the years?”

“...Sorry,” Thorax said.

Pharynx shifted to be more comfortable in his brother’s embrace. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We’ll arrive at the Crystal Empire soon, and at last be through this kth’raxxi-ridden wasteland.”

Thorax nodded. “Why’d you come out here? Was the passenger car too much?”

Pharynx grunted. “Cooped up, the kth’raxxi, the speed, the hunger, the nerves...”

Thorax was tempted to point out Pharynx hadn’t even needed to come along in the first place, but kept that to himself. “The trip back south isn’t going to be any better, you know.”

Art by RossmaniteAnzu - Colored by nonsequitur

Pharynx pursed his lips. “I’m more worried about you. I know you’ve traversed this tundra alone once before, and—well, if this idea works, few things will pose a threat to you, but still. I don’t care if this climate doesn’t bother you, promise me you won’t linger here, alright?”

Thorax gave him a gentle squeeze. “I promise. I’ll get through, meet Ember’s envoy, then fly on with them to the Dragonlands.”

Pharynx sighed. “And don’t worry, next time we get invited north, I’ll make sure to have learned the Endure Elements spell.”

Thorax rolled his eyes. “Surrrrrre you will.”

“I mean it!” Pharynx looked up… wayyyyy up to his brother’s laughing eyes. “I always meant to learn it, I just never had the time! And it’s not like it’s all that big a deal—I was still one of Mother’s top assassins without it.”

Thorax booped his elder brother’s muzzle. “Oh no, look out for Prince Pharynx, the big, scary changeling assassin. He’ll take you out before you even see him coming… unless you hear his teeth chattering.”

Pharynx narrowed his eyes. “Did you just make fun of me, Little Fang?”

Thorax’s laugh shook the car. He bent down his great head, opened his wide mouth, and revealed that his ‘little fangs’ were longer than daggers.

A smirk tugged at Pharynx’s lips. “As if that’s supposed to matter. Even if you outgrow the behemoths of old, you’ll always be Little Fang to me.”

Thorax hummed. Even when his horns could scrape the boxcar’s roof while laying down, his four legs were all bent against the walls, and his shoulders were pressed snug against the sides... “And you’ll always be Phary, my awesome, badass cuddlebug of a big brother.”

Pharynx got a sly look. “Cuddlebug, am I?” His horn glowed, a touch of telekinesis sliding right between Thorax’s rib plates.

Thorax flinched. “Y-You wouldn’t...”

Pharynx examined one of his hooves. “They say the most brutal attacks come from those you love.”

Thorax meeped as Pharynx had just given his ticklish belly a poke. “This… This is treason!”

“THEN CONSIDER THIS A COUP!” Pharynx tumbled out of Thorax’s hug, flew up in a flash, and booped his little brother’s nose right back. “Now is the time of PHARYNX!”

Thorax found himself enshrouded in magic and spun onto his back with a thrumming, metallic CLANG! He could only yelp as his world spun, now at the mercy of a pair of giant, telekinetic hands that began tickling him without mercy.

“PHARYYYYYYYY!” Thorax’s voice cracked. He tucked in his legs on reflex, but that did nothing to stop the magical assault. “Nohohohoho! STAHP!”

“I was biding my time all along!” Pharynx cackled, fluttering over him. “You’ve fallen right into my trap! I know all your weak points! There’s nothing you can do!”

Thorax’s voice gave way to high-pitched fits. He wheezed for air in between mighty guffaws, the shifting and squirming of his multi-ton weight rocking the entire car. “No… fair! I’m—eeeeeee! Three times your—AHHHHHAHAHAHAHA!”

“FOOL!” Pharynx grinned wide. “The larger you get, the easier a target you are! You could grow to the size of a mountain and I could still bring you to your knees!”

Thorax was sent into full-blown laughter. He gulped down massive lungfuls to convert into belly laughs, his booming shouts even drowning out the train. The car rattled and shook every time he kicked the magically reinforced walls, the colossal hits putting deep dents in the metal.

“You never stood a chance!” Pharynx said, now working his magic along Thorax’s sides and leg joints. “I was always poised to—”

The boxcar’s front door SLAMMED open.

“Are you INSANE?!” a muscular mare screamed, stomping in with a coal-stained shovel. “You’re gonna derail the whole train!”

The brothers froze. They looked up to see an irate crystal pony glaring at them, her seething, boiling emotions like a volcano to their senses.

“I don’t give a damn what you love bugs eat!” She brandished her shovel at them like a battleaxe. “You’re too big to rut while we’re on the rails! CUT IT OUT!”

Pharynx’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. “WHAT?!”

Thorax laughed harder than ever.

“Keep it in your sheaths!” The mare whipped a few pieces of gum at them. “Chew on those if you need something in your mouths! No hanky-panky until we get to the Empire, or I’ll shove truthfire gems so far up your asses, you’ll never shapeshift again!”

And with that, she slammed the door.

“WAIT!” Pharynx dashed after her. “It’s not—”

“Don’t… bother,” Thorax said between gasps of breath. “Too... angry.”

Pharynx bit his lip. He looked at the door one last time, but the biting cold was like the chill of death. “DEFINITELY need that Endure Elements spell…”

Thorax put a hoof on his chest. “I can’t even remember the last time I laughed that hard… you’re a tickling master, Phary.”

Pharynx snorted. “Don’t tell me none of your ‘friends’ have ever gotten playful. I’m sure you’re just as good at it.”

“You know that’s not the same. The bedroom—”

“The motive and target, no, but the action itself, yes.” Pharynx flew up to lay upon Thorax’s chest. “A translatable skill, if you will.”

Thorax rolled his eyes. “You could be just as good at pleasing lovers as I am. You’ve a real talent for it, even more so than other changelings! You could be one of the best!”

“I could say much the same about you and battle.”

Thorax gave him a sour look. “...Touche.”

Pharynx’s look softened as he looked towards the ceiling. “...I’ll make you a deal. If a time comes I feel confident knowing there are others who can build on the foundation of what we’ve built, when the hive doesn’t need everyling playing to their strengths to win the trust of this world...”

Thorax exhaled out his nose. “When our survival doesn’t depend on me staying the lover, and you the fighter.”

“Aye.” Pharynx met his eyes. “Our fate now lies with the dragons, Little Fang. We could bring peace and prosperity to both our nations, but that future hangs upon our every action. Now’s not the time to experiment.”

Thorax wrapped his warm arms around Pharynx. “You’ll find love one day, Phary. Trust me, there’s a rough-and-tough creature out there you’ll fall head over hooves for! We just gotta find ‘em.”

“Be still, my beating heart,” Pharynx droned. “But right now, let’s focus on getting you set with your own rough-and-tough, shall we? Dragon Lord Ember may have accepted your courtship, but if you wish to match her advancing size, you’ll need Princess Cadance’s aid.”

Thorax hugged Pharynx like a living teddy bear. “Thank you for helping me with this, Phary. I swear, I won’t forget this.”

Pharynx was quiet. He rested his head against Thorax’s huge chest. He wished he could burn everything about this moment into his memory—the sound of Thorax’s breathing, the smell of burning coal and powdery snow, the black and white outline of the boxcar, the constant bumps of the railroad... the comfort of being enveloped by his brother’s warmth and love.

With any luck, he wouldn’t forget this, either.

***

The Crystal Empire was as awe-inspiring as ever. Thorax and Pharynx had been given a merry welcome at the train station, and after taking smaller shapeshifts of themselves (about the size of your average stallion), they’d been escorted to the castle while fanfares played. The roads were clear and polished, the sun was warm, the grass was fresh, and the clean northern air was a joy to breathe as ponies cheered around them.

“Impressive.” Pharynx tilted his head back to behold the mighty spires of the Crystal Palace. It was shaped like a gigantic spearhead, and the bulk of the castle was propped up on four square ‘legs’ that also served as stairways. He also noted said stairways appeared to lead down, as well. “And here I thought the stories of this place were exaggerated.”

Thorax followed his gaze. “Right? Blew me away first time I saw it. I bet it’d make even Ember feel small.”

Pharynx squinted. He could only spot two aerial patrols, but the magic around the building was palpable. “Prince Shining Armor has remained vigilant since Mother’s rule, I see.”

Thorax shot him a look. "Please don't.”

“I meant it as a compliment,” said Pharynx.

Thorax gestured to a pair of passing guards. “Didnt you give me an earful about this back at Griffinstone?”

Pharynx glanced at them. They were clad in light blue plate armor studded with various gems, each carrying a silvery-blue spear with a head of barbed crystal.

“Soulguard armor,” Pharynx murmured. “Truesight spellstones, immunity runes… Even I’d have trouble eluding troops like these.”

Thorax fought back a groan. “Phary...”

“Look at their spears.” Pharynx pointed at the weapons. “See that ripple around the tip? The metal is inlaid with kth’raxxi. Combined with the armor and everything else, these soldiers are an assassin's worst—”

“He’s just tense from the train ride,” Thorax said to the soldiers, who’d stopped to listen. “Truthfire gems have him on edge.”

The soldiers bit back a laugh. They nodded to the two royals, then went on their way without a second glance.

“Phary,” Thorax said in a low voice. “This isn't some place looking to clap us in irons. Shining Armor and Cadance have been friends for years.”

“Friends capable of singlehoofedly flinging an entire army across the country in a single blast,” said Pharynx.

Thorax stared at him. “You’ve had every opportunity to voice misgivings about this. Why are you—”

“Because you're too complacent, Little Fang.” Pharynx gestured to their surroundings. “Never turn a blind eye to the potential dangers around you. What if some ne'er do well got their hooves on that equipment? Are you friends with every creature in this city? Do you think everyone here is happy we’re here?”

Thorax noted their esclet's were looking back at them. “But like I keep telling YOU, taking that idea too far is a recipe for disaster. You can’t live your whole life being paranoid.”

“So you should live your whole life being naive?” Pharynx said. “Regardless of how Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance have treated you, they’re still frighteningly powerful. Shall I remind you of the casualties their repelling blast caused?”

A long silence fell.

“...It’s been a long time since then,” Thorax said.

“Tell that to our dead.”

“Is this going to be a problem?” Thorax snapped. “Because you’re more than welcome to wait at the station.”

And just like that, Pharynx’s ire fell off his face like a mask. “Thorax, Thorax, Thorax. If you want to win the respect of the Dragon Lord’s subjects, you can’t keep walking around wearing blinders. Strength is everything to their kind, but ‘strength’ can manifest in different ways. I’m trying to make you see what those ways are.”

Thorax blinked several times. “You’re trying to—” But that’s when he sensed the bubbly amusement beneath Pharynx’s facade. “Oh, hive alive. Why do you always make these lessons so dramatic?”

A lopsided grin formed on Pharynx’s face. “You need to take better note of what’s happening around you. Stop forgetting the past, and start recognizing the bigger picture. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor may be our allies, but no mindset is static, nor unanimous. Dismissing their power is as foolish as it is insulting.”

Thorax opened his mouth to reply… but then closed it again.

“A good leader acknowledges strength regardless of the situation,” Pharynx went on. “Ally, enemy, friend, stranger, subordinate, superior... power is power. Respect is a two-way street, Little Fang, and I guarantee the dragons will study you to see if you’re strong enough for their leader. You need to study them right back if you want to win them over. It's just like infiltrating a town in the old days!”

Thorax facehooved. “You just had to make that analogy.”

Pharynx patted his brother’s side. “Practice your assimilation with every chance you get.” He started trotting again towards the castle, studying and analyzing with a careful eye. “It’ll serve you well in the long run!”

***

“Cadance! Shining!” Thorax waved at the waiting duo. “Hey-hey!”

The Crystal Heart wasn’t always on display beneath the castle. More often than not, it was kept in a secure indoor viewing area centrally located within the castle itself. This viewing area was a high-ceilinged dome with crystalline patterns of all colors and shapes, the pale violet walls etched with pictures of northern vistas, grassy hills, and the Empire’s symbol. Long tapestries with emblems of the Equestrian coat of arms hung from the ceilings, and ornate light fixtures set with glowing minerals lit the room.

Visitors could typically come by during viewing hours and see the relic that kept their city safe, but right now, the Heart was nowhere to be seen. The only ponies present were Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and a smattering of standard guards, each standing at attention by intricate flower sculptures.

Cadance waved back. “Hey! Glad to see you made it!”

Shining was about to wave as well, but then paused upon seeing Thorax and Pharynx’s sizes. “Didn’t you say they were—”

“Oh, good,” Thorax said, looking around. “I was afraid we were gonna be cooped up for hours!”

Green flame swirled about the brothers. Everyone in the room tensed as they started to grow before their very eyes, their bodies swelling and expanding foot by foot, their heads climbing higher and higher. When they were done, Pharynx stood twice the size of the tallest of them… and they didn’t even come up to Thorax’s knees.

Shining clicked his teeth. Even at his above-average height, Pharynx alone stood head and shoulders above him. Thorax was another matter entirely, his horns almost scraping the ceiling.

Cadance giggled. “Any questions?”

“Eeeee! It’s been too long since we all met up!” The floor shook as Thorax ran up and scooped Shining and Cadance up in a massive hug. “Just like old times!”

Pharynx noticed the guards fidget. “Uh, Your Highness…”

“It’s okay!” Cadance called. “Thorax has always been a hugger.”

“Wow, look at you!” said Shining with a laugh. “Cady said you’d had a growth spurt, but I wasn’t expecting this! You’re larger than a house, buddy!”

Thorax straightened to his full, dizzying height. “Isn’t it great?! I’ve never felt this amazing in my life!”

Cadance nuzzled Thorax’s warm chest. “It really has been forever since the three us were together. We’ll have to pay you a visit next time, hmm?”

Thorax laughed. He started to say how great that would be, but then caught note of a certain something about his old friends. He studied his old friends a moment, and that’s when he realized he wasn’t detecting anything at all. It was like they were emotionless copies of themselves, or...

Shining sniggered and elbowed Cadance. “Told you he’d notice.”

Cadance giggled as well. “You may have given us an idea, Thorax.”

Thorax’s lips parted. “That’s how you’re gonna—” He meeped and widened his eyes. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. You don’t have to—”

“It’s fine,” Cadance whispered back. “We’ve been talking about this a long time. This is just an excuse to take the plunge, that’s all.”

Shining smiled and kissed her cheek.

Thorax sucked on his teeth. Part of him wanted to cheer, another was screaming caution. His mouth twisted a moment as the tug-of-war went back and forth, but finally, he gave he nodded to his friends and gently set them down.

“Uh... y-yeah! You’ll definitely have to come visit next time you’re down south!” Thorax looked around for something, anything... “Hey, Pharynx! What’re you doing still by the door, shyster? Cadance, you remember my big brother from the summit, right? I don’t think he and Shining have met...”

Shining regarded the newcomer. Pharynx was a large, dark-colored changeling, quiet as a shadow and lithe as a cat. His scarred, teal legs were bristling with pink muscle, as was his sculpted chest and toned barrel. His violet eyes were sharp and alert, but strangely, his nose was wrinkled like he’d smelled something foul. He had antlers similar to Thorax (along with your typical front horn) and while he made no effort to conceal himself, Shining’s gaze kept wanting to slide over him.

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Prince Pharynx.” Shining noted the resemblance between the two brothers—same horn shape, same muzzle shape, same patterns in their chitin. They even had the same habit of swivelling their deer-like ears towards every sound. “I hope crossing the Truthfire wasn’t too stressful.”

Pharynx didn’t answer right away. The soldiers around him reeked of sour caution, and every bit of it directed at him. Shining and Cadance were odorless and bland, their magic auras suppressed to almost nothing. He took a deep breath and approached at a calm trot, the tension building until you could cut it with a knife.

Pharynx cleared his throat and stopped beside Thorax. “Princess Cadance?”

Cadance fought back a smile. “Yes?”

“Before we do anything else, please allow me to say to the prince what I said to you when we met in Griffinstone,” Pharynx said.

Thorax flinched. “Phary—”

But Cadance held up a wing. “Let him have this, Thorax.”

Thorax wondered if he could shift into a mouse and slip into the wall. “I-I… ergh. Alright.”

“Thank you.” Pharynx met Shining’s eyes. “Prince Shining Armor. Several years ago, when Thorax fled our mother’s tyranny and sought refuge here, you and Princess Cadance admitted him despite having every reason not to. It’s because of that we’re all standing here today."

Shining said nothing. He merely watched and waited as Pharynx collected his thoughts.

“That decision changed the lives of countless changelings and more,” Pharynx went on. “But when I speak of it now, I’m not speaking as a prince. I’m not speaking as a changeling, an ambassador, or even a freed citizen. I’m just an older brother, no more, no less.”

Pharynx bowed low before Shining. “Thank you.”

Silence. The emotions in the room shifted and swirled, the guards fidgeting and looking away. Thorax’s face was scrunched up with pink cheeks, but everyone else’s remained the same...

Cadance snickered and whispered in Shining’s ear. “Can you see the resemblance now?”

Shining worked his jaw. His eyes never left the back of Pharynx’s head, but whatever was on his mind—

“Okaaaaaay!” Thorax’s booming voice made them all jump. “You’re acquainted! Good! I was hoping I could introduce you both at the Summit, but—say, that’s a good thing to talk about! The Summit! Yeah!” Thorax yoinked Pharynx to his feet with magic. “How come you haven’t been at the last few, Shining?”

Shining dropped the statue act. “Hmm? Oh! It’s... hard to set aside time for both me and Cady to go, see. Not to mention the darn things always seem to fall when I’m going the hardest training the troops...”

Cadance shrugged. “The Summit’s not really a military thing, anyways. I usually handle the trade deals and international relations most of the time, so it’s not a big deal if Shining stays back and holds down the fort.”

Thorax’s laugh was a deep, rumbling hum. “It seems like it’s been paying off. Maybe you can show us some of the drills you’ve been running? Pharynx is always saying I’m too lenient with ours.”

Shining tapped his chin. “I suppose we could exchange strategies and analyze each other’s tactics. Maybe identify what each of our forces can improve, create joint maneuvers together, or even do some changeling-pony drills together… Now that would be interesting.”

You may as well have told Pharynx that Hearth’s Warming was coming early.

“Maybe once Flurry’s finished with school, she can keep an eye on things so you can take more trips?” Thorax asked. “Say… where is she, anyways? I haven’t seen her around yet.”

Cadance and Shining’s faces fell.

“She’s… not here,” said Cadance. “She’s in Canterlot apprenticing under Starswirl the Bearded.”

Thorax blinked. “...What?”

“THE Starswirl?!” Pharynx said.

Shining shrugged. “He wasn’t exactly hard to convince. He’s already taught two alicorns, after all.”

“But even that aside,” Cadance said, seeing the look on Thorax’s face. “Flurry needs someone brilliant to teach her. She's as gifted with magic as Twily, learning concepts and mastering spells so fast that Sunburst ran out of things to teach her. We could tell she wanted to go all-in with magic, so we talked it over as a family, and…”

Thorax clicked his wing coverings. “I’m… u-uh, wow. I guess I’m not sure what to say, to be honest. I suppose that’s good for her and all, and I’m happy for her, but…”

Cadance’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “We know. We feel the same, and we usually have to come to her these days to see her. We’ve been getting pretty lonely without her...”

Shining put a hoof around Cadance. “And with Flurry’s studies taking up so much of her time…”

Thorax winced. “I’ll have to keep all that in mind. I might be able to get a hold of her so we can catch up next time I’m in Canterlot, but we’ll just have to see. I know she’d love to meet Ember.”

Cadance laughed. “That she would. But speaking of Ember, let’s get on to why you came here in the first place, shall we? You didn’t come here to hear about our problems, you came to get help with yours.”

Pharynx’s gaze lingered on the empty pedestal in the center of the room. “Is Prince Shining Armor up to speed on what we discussed in Griffinstone?”

“Just Shining is fine,” he said, straightening his shoulders. “And yes, I am. I was against it at first, but considering, e-erm… the timing of things, it might very well be fate. Exploiting some weird quirk of your biology, though...”

Thorax put a hoof behind his head. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. We’ve known changelings grow bigger and stronger the more love they receive, we just didn’t know the royal caste, uh…”

“Can fast track it,” Pharynx said.

Thorax gestured. “Sure.”

Shining leaned back on his haunches. “Even still, I’ve never heard of anything like this. We’ve made all the arrangements and precautions we can, but ultimately, these unknowns mean we can’t guarantee your safety. Are you still sure?”

Thorax didn’t hesitate. “Yes. I’d like you to empower me with the Crystal Heart, please.”

Shining watched him for almost a full minute. He said nothing, but the silence was like a ton of bricks.

“...Guards,” said Cadance. “You’re dismissed.”

The soldiers paused. They looked at her, then Shining… then Pharynx...

“That was an order, ponies,” Shining said.

The soldiers spun on their heels marched out with the sound of jostling metal. A few seconds later, the four royals were alone in the echoing room.

Pharynx chuckled in the silence. “Greater spellstones, empowered runes, and fast-acting venom wards on all of them. Should I be flattered, or impressed?”

Shining slowed. “May I call you Pharynx?”

Pharynx nodded.

“I noticed there was one role you left out in that list of yours.” Shining approached Pharynx, never once looking away. “Not that I blame you, of course... I’m not looking to start a fight, but I’m not going to ignore what I’ve heard about you, either.”

Pharynx smirked. “Likewise.”

Shining noticed Thorax fidget in place. “Your brother taught us years back that even bitter enemies can become stalwart friends. I haven’t forgotten that lesson, but even if I had, your words earlier would’ve reminded me. I think we can learn a lot from each other… if you’re willing, of course.”

Pharynx chuckled. “The battlemage and the assassin.” He held out his hoof, and the two shook with a soft clack. “Our military’s stealth tactics, your military’s versatility with magic… sounds like a fearsome team.”

Shining’s eyes lit up. “Let’s talk more about that joint training later.”

Thorax and Cadance let out the collective breath they’d been holding.

“For now, though we’re going to need your help empowering your brother,” Shining signalled to Cadance. “We can’t have him feeding off the Crystal Heart directly, so Cady and I are going to sync up with it and share the energy with him that way. We need you to stay in the room and make sure he isn’t overwhelmed, okay?”

Pharynx furrowed his brow. “You’re sounding like we’re going to do this right now. As in, this instant, in this very room.”

“That’s right.” Shining glanced up to give Thorax. “I know you just got here, but we only have a limited time to do this. Clock’s ticking, and all that.”

Thorax got the hint. “I suppose it is. We should probably get started, then.”

Pharynx looked back and forth between them. “Did I miss something?”

“I think we’re good to pull back the curtain, Shiny!” Cadance called.

“Right.” Shining stepped back and cracked his neck. “Brace yourselves, you two.”

Pharynx squinted. “What—”

It slammed into him like a brick wall. His only warning was a sound like a fizzy drink before he and Thorax were struck by a tidal wave of divine magic and sweet, airy love. The viewing room sparkled with a crystalline sheen as the holy light revealed patterns of snowflakes and glowing symbols everywhere, the whole space forming into one humongous array. Pharynx swore he heard chimes as a carved stone of purest crystal materialized upon the pedestal, it’s scintillating power making it hover and spin in place.

“Hive alive...” Pharynx stepped back as another pulse filled him with energy. “How...”

Shining smirked. “Let’s just say the Heart’s got a few secrets of its own. It saw a better outcome if it stayed hidden to begin with.”

Thorax crooned at the familiar light. “Didn’t I tell you the Crystal Heart can see the future, Phary?”

“It can do WHAT?!” Pharynx whirled on him. “You think I’d forget something like that?!”

Thorax scrunched up his face. “...Okay, maybe I meant to tell you.”

Cadance put her hoof on the Crystal Heart. The artifact brightened, thrumming like a tuning fork and coming to a standstill. “The Heart’s already agreed to help you, Thorax. However, it’s asked we not tap into its full power right away so you can have time to adjust. But Shiny and I can only do that up to a certain point, so you’ll have to acclimate quick as you can. We can’t hold back forever.”

Thorax’s stomach was rumbling. He could already taste the first eddies of warm love being shared, more succulent than he even recalled. “S-Sure… sure...”

Shining went over to Cadance. He approached her from behind, savoring the sight of her heart-shaped rump, her thick, shapely flanks, the sway of her tail and motherly hips. He sidled alongside and began planting feathery kisses along her shoulders and withers, his velvety muzzle and soft breaths sending tingles down her spine.

“Shiny…” Cadance’s tail lifted up high. “Oh, stars...”

Pharynx wings snapped open. “Is that how they’re going to—oh, no.” He waved at Thorax. “Little Fang! Something’s wrong! I can’t sense anything about them—their emotions! Their magic!”

Thorax was tempted to give Pharynx flak considering the impromptu ‘lesson’ on the way here, but that could wait for now. “Pharynx... what does my lust inhibitor do?”

Pharynx frowned. “That doesn’t explain why—”

“There are inhibitors for things besides emotions, too.” Thorax took another sip of shared love, so hearty and sweet. “Some for magic, some for impulses, and some can temporarily ease physical conditions like estrus, and rut.”

Shining hummed and kept nuzzling Cadance. Swirls of colorful magic coiled around them like a vortex of will o’ wisps. Cadance cradled Shining’s head and pulled him into a kiss, their eyes rolling back as their horns crossed and heads buzzed.

The sudden love spike made Pharynx’s head buzz, as well. “The H-Heart will overpower whatever they’re using! That’s what she meant by—” He froze. “‘Lonely’… ‘timing’… ‘clock’s ticking’...“

Thorax snickered. “To be honest, I’m surprised they haven’t tried for another foal sooner.”

Pharynx felt a chill. “L-Little Fang, we both know conception generates more love than anything else! I know this is what you want, but the energy of these two… boosted by THAT relic?!”

But Thorax wasn’t listening anymore. He was pawing at the ground, eyes greedy and wide, his moose-like horns dangerously close to the ceiling. He was already tasting hints of something more in the love—a spicy, powerful kick just beneath the surface.

Pharynx cursed. The energy was getting stronger, and he didn’t share his brother’s desires of gigantism. There was only one way could think of to stay in the room, so he drew upon the ambient energy to make himself as small as possible, then hid beneath Thorax’s wing coverings.

“The things I do for you,” Pharynx grumbled. “Why couldn’t you have fallen in love with a breezie?”

Cadance and Shining broke their kiss. Cadance nuzzled his long blue mane, tracing his neck and pawing at his fuzzy chest. The clean, fresh smell of his coat was enough to make her heart race, and he was just as drawn to her, smooching the crook of her neck and inhaling deep. He stroked her mane in turn while echoing her whimpers and whines, their fervor rising at a snail’s pace.

The Crystal Heart began to whir. A cool, crackly vapor filled the room that tinged everything with soft pinks, bright yellows, and deep blues. It was a feast greater than any changeling had ever dreamed of, yet it was only a sliver of what the Crystal Heart could do. Thorax hummed and scooched against the wall to enjoy dinner and a show, his thick sheath twitching and swelling.

“Mmhhh…” Thorax rubbed his emerging cock in slow strokes. He tried to pace himself with the love, but when he didn’t feel any hint of his limit, he sucked it down in long, greedy gulps. The crackly colors funneled into him in an effervescent stream, but he could tell there was more… so, SO much more...

Cadance wrapped her wings around Shining. Every breath she took was fuel to the fire, but she remained steadfast. Shining followed her lead, slow and sure, his impulses clawing and straining like a grizzly in a cage. Just about everything felt dull and far-off to them, Shining’s rut roaring like an enraged dragon across his mindscape, and Cadance’s estrus was the same, shuddering and yearning to be filled with Shining’s every touch. Their dampened sense of smell was already catching wind of each other’s emerging excitement, but it was only a vague hint of Shining’s dry, thick musk, a touch of Cadance wet, cloying heat.

Their rising desire grew more insistent by the second. They hardly felt any of it, though, Cadance’s dripping, winking nethers and Shining’s raging boner the only visible signs. They kept things slow and steady, obeying the Crystal Heart’s words to bring about the best future.

Which was indeed what the Heart intended… but the thing about ancient and sentient magical relics is, they tend to be manipulative little shits.

Bzrrrrrrrrrrt!

The Heart’s energy spiked out of nowhere. It manifested in a multicolored ribbon that spread out through the room fast an arrow, hitting everyone in the room. Cadance was first, her wards and spells shorting out with a dreadful sizzle… and all her suppressed sensations immediately crashed into her at once—a pooling, bubbling lake of lava in her core, a clawing feeling in her chest, a twisting, clenching hunger in her loins, and the world so foggy she could barely see. Her tail lifted high as her nethers winked, hard, and her eyes fell on Shining to—

Shining grabbed Cadance in his magic. She caught a glimpse of his manic eyes before he spun her around, brute-forced her into position, and mounted her so fast she had to flare her wings. Her back legs locked as his heavy, solid weight settled atop her as her, and before she could do more, he grabbed a mouthful of her mane and pulled.

The sound she made caused half the castle to blush.

The Crystal Heart crackled like a power grid. It spun faster, pure bolts of energy to flowing through the duo and into Thorax. He consumed them all with a hum, his erect member throbbing as the colorful fog snaked towards him. He could smell his own pheromones mixing with the scents of his friends—the perfect seasoning to such rich, ample love. It was so powerful and potent he swore that already—

“Nggggh!” Thorax writhed and twisted. Little cracks appeared all over his shuddering form, a tingling, stretching spreading through him that was half-pleasure, half-ache. His muscles pulled taut before swelling longer and thicker, his bones lengthening and creaking with dull groans, his magic swelling and beating like a second heart. Higher and higher his head rose as thin fragments of chitin shattered off him, his horns soon scraping the ceiling… then piercing… then breaking to the next floor...

Thorax was panting by the time it was done. He barely even registered the debris he’d knocked free. He barely registered that his virile package had grown more than the rest of him, his dense, heavy nuts taking up even more of his lap. He was a cat rolling in catnip, eyes wide and dilated, and all he could think about was the lithe, fertile shape of his smiling blue dragoness.

“Yes…” A thick drop of pre oozed down Thorax’s shaft. “Ohhhhh, YES.”

Shining’s hot, hard stallionhood slid against Cadance’s outer lips. His attempts left a slick, sticky trail on her barrel, her stiff, splayed wings spasming every time he missed. She squirmed and whined until he eventually found the angle and pushed inside her soft, tight flesh, and she bore down on him with a scream she’d never made before, nor since.

Shining’s eyes glowed in response. His mane and tail morphed into blue flames of searing mana, and for a moment, blazing wings of pure fire ignited from his shoulders before vanishing like a mirage. He snarled and plunged into Cadance with merciless thrusts, the Heart’s power racing through him to empower him even more. Yet no matter how rough or savage he was, Cadance always wanted rougher… faster… deeper...

Their hips collided with a sharp, slippery SMACK. The sound soon set the rhythm of their frenzied lovemaking, Shining’s jet-black cock claiming Cadance’s pink marehood over and over. Another bolt of magic arced from the Heart into them, and Shining’s sizeable nuts swelled even larger, more potent! He could feel his stretchy skin of his sack tingling and sinking lower, the heavy orbs tripling in every way! His pre became so slick Cadance couldn’t trap him no matter how hard she tried, and so Shining kept about his sacred task without pause, gliding in and out of her like a well-oiled machine.

The Crystal Heart sparked and spun even more. The ceiling chunks Thorax had knocked free slid forward to orbit around it a whirling ring, adding to the gathering energy and pouring growing bolts into Thorax in an arcing beam. It was more love than he’d ever had in his life, but the more he had, but all he had to do was imagine Ember bathing in a lake of lava with a come-hither stare, the bubbling molten rock giving her scales a reddish tint. He wanted to do things like that with her, dragon-exclusive things so foreign and unique…

But even with shapeshifting, bathing in boiling rock—

A fiery ray exploded from the Heart, separate from the flow of love. It bypassed Cadance and Shining to strike Thorax in the chest with a ZORCH. A hot, tingling burn swept through him, and his vision flickered as his skin felt tight again...

“NGGGH!” Thorax thrust his hips and slid further against the wall. He could already hear his chitin cracking, a strange itching just beneath. His legs bulged, his frame spreading upward and outward, his thunderous groans peppered with mad laughs. A delicious inferno was pulsing in his head, swirling within his lungs, coursing through his legs and veins.

Thorax swore he was transforming into fire. but when his old layer of skin fell away, he found something else—his skin tissue had changed, evolving into a cross between glossy chitin and a scaley, dragon-like hide. At first he thought it was a dream, but he could still feel the inner flame burning bright in his chest, wisps of tangy, sky-blue flame escaping his mouth with his every exhale. He touched the pebbly surface of his leg, its fine, bumpy texture soothing to the touch.

Thorax’s mind spun like a carousel. He meant to say something, knew he should say something, but before he could open his mouth, the Crystal Heart powered up even further and added three more ribbons of love to his feast.

“Snnnkkkkt…” Thorax eyes grew unfocused again. It felt like he was sinking into a soupy, syrupy mire, and all he could see was Ember—her smiling face, her husky voice, her strong heart. He started wolfing down energy even faster than before his rear legs stretching across the room, each one as big across as Cadance and Shining were tall. Thorax’s swelling nuts were creeping closer and closer to his friends, and if he kept devouring love and growing larger at this rate, they’d probably be overwhelmed!

But Cadance and Shining were beyond such concerns. Cadance was in a trance, her tongue lolled and drooling, her cheek sliding back and forth on the floor. She only existed where she and Shining were joined, her inner muscles in fervent pursuit of motherhood. Nothing else mattered in that moment—not the magic tearing great chunks off the room walls, not the Crystal Heart emitting continual ribbons of prismatic light, not even the ravenous, forty-foot changeling sucking down said ribbons while stroking his throbbing cock. All that mattered were the ticklish white lights flowing out from her deepest, most sacred place, twinkling like stars as they fell into place, waiting...

Then the Crystal Heart rang like a church bell. The sound did nothing for Thorax, but Shining flinched like he’d been struck. The enchanted sound echoed in his head as it searched for that final missing piece, the one tiny part to finish a certain puzzle. It was a single itty-bitty switch inside him, and all it needed was a little flip, to begin setting things in motion—

There.

Shining ROARED. His innate magic swelled greater… greater… greater, until it was great as it was always meant to be! His eyes turned pure white, his voice gained a faint echo, and the wings of flame appeared again to last longer this time. He widened his stance and fucked Cadance even harder, never stopping, never thinking, purely devoted to his sacred task.

Cadance’s eyes turned white as well. Her mane and tail flowed in an unfelt breeze, her cutie marks glowing bright as the magic around them. Her aura changed into a spiralling beam that coiled around Shining’s to form a shimmering double helix of magenta and blue. The Crystal Heart took this helix like it was some kind of interwoven tether, then without warning, used it to connect them to Thorax.

“!!!”

And just like that, Thorax FELT Shining fucking Cadance like his life depended on it. His supercharged rut was howling at him like a berserker, that coiled spring in his core pushing him like the world was about to end. Thorax also felt Cadance’s tight marehood gripping and clenching Shining’s cock like a vice, her terrible heat raging like a pounding storm. He felt all this in addition to the sensations from his body, still voracious and tingling, revelling in the buffet of love being offered to him...

...just as Shining and Cadance did, too.

It was hard to tell who yelled louder. All three of them renewed their efforts as the Crystal Heart gained a corona of holy light, it’s magic rising faster and flowing through them all the more. The corona enshrouded Shining and Cadance to lift them onto Thorax’s abdomen, and Thorax could only groan at the sight of his friends rutting in the shadow of his towering shaft—

CRUNCH!

Thorax snapped to long enough to see a shower of debris fall before being sucked towards the Crystal Heart. He realized his whole body felt hot and pliable, like a plastic you could mold. His head was rising steadily, his body pulsing and expanding with slow growth, and not only was the delightful internal heat still inside him, it was making all this happen without needing to molt!

Thorax bit his lip. Forty feet had been a memory for a while now, as had fifty. He was even creeping up to sixty feet at a steady rate, the floor cracking and splintering under his massive weight. His chest had filled out, his muscles inflating and gaining definition with every breath. His legs were like sculpted stone, as big around as fallen logs and inching ever-closer to the far wall. His gargantuan frame was taking up over half the room, and Shining and Cadance looked absolutely puny now, likely not even coming up to his ankles!

The delightful heat was travelling to Thorax’s groin now. He watched as his package swelled to twice its size... then triple… then quadruple, his sackspreading his legs wide while his dick grazed the ceiling. He could feel how dense each burgeoning orb was, filling more and more with increasingly-virile seed. His thickening cock was dripping and oozing like a lava flow, and the mere thought of Ember’s reaction made his balls swell even further to quintuple their old size!

Cadance and Shining noticed Thorax’s musky scent getting stronger. It was the only warning they got before his heightened hormones slammed into them like a seventy-foot linebacker, their combined lust and need merging into something… primal. The Crystal Heart surged to full power then, it's clear, ringing magic playing like chimes in the wind, the colorful beams now shifting to pure white. More and more debris funnelled towards the Heart to be compressed into whirling rings, spinning so fast a breeze kicked up to ruffle Shining’s and Cadance’s coats.

Thorax roared a jet of flame. He devoured the untold power in a frenzy, his hulking body claiming more and more of the meager room. Cadance pushed Shining for everything he was worth, and he raced her to the finish with a yell, that familiar finish just on the horizon. The room rumbled and shook, tapestries ripping from their hooks and paintings falling loose. Distant evacuation alarms sounded throughout the chaos, but they were deaf to it all. All that mattered was the Crystal Heart shining like the Sun above them, its awesome magic chaining through them and into Thorax—

But then several things happened at once. Thorax’s mighty stallionhood punched through the ceiling and smashed a water pipe, a deluge of warm water to cascading down to shower Shining and Cadance. The warmth proved enough to push Shining over the edge, and he went stiff to pump a deluge of his own into her depths, his psyche exploding in fireworks that spread to the rest of them. Cadance yelled and clamped down, his essence converging with the first of the little lights…

Which Thorax sensed it the instant it happened. An explosion of pure, intimate love resounded in Cadance, like a thousand heartfelt confessions of love all at once. The Crystal Heart FLASHED, the immense excess energy barreling into Thorax in a great bulge. At first it looked like he wouldn’t be able to handle it, his body straining and contorting, but then his whole form ballooned several feet larger, and he absorbed it all with a lewd sucking sound.

“MORE!” Thorax’s feast became a feeding frenzy. He was filled anew with amazing, tingling pressure, and his groin the first to grow, his nuts bulging to the size of houses and pressing against the far wall. His shaft surged with new length and width to punch through a second floor, flooding it with pre on its way to a third floor—

A second explosion of love went off in Cadance. The Crystal Heart pumped the immense love into Thorax, but this time, he devoured it without fail. His one hundred foot-body was now so hot it was steaming, his thrashing, growing form straining against the room’s constraints—

A third explosion occurred, followed shortly by a fourth.

Then a fifth came right on its heels, then a sixth…

A seventh…

An eighth, ninth, and a tenth...

Thorax roared like the behemoths of old. He exploded out of the viewing room with a CRUNCH, growing bigger and bigger with each fresh swell of power that funneled into him. He ripped through rooms, hallways, and ceilings of the Crystal Palace like they were paper, his body converting the offered energy to mass like a futuristic reactor. The palace workers were evacuating, emergency portals opening and teleport runes activating all over, the clamor of Thorax’s destruction echoing throughout the building.

Thorax smashed through libraries, guest quarters, studies, and meeting rooms alike. Nothing could contain his building-sized muscles, his flagpole-sized tail, his sail-like wings, his tree-like horns… NOTHING! The whole castle quaked as countless crystal chunks flew towards the Crystal Heart to create more thin, orbiting rings—

SMASH!

Thorax grew his way into the throne room. The long carpet draped around his rising shoulder like a sash, his right horn crushing Cadance and Shining’s thrones to pieces. His monstrous cock was already penetrating the upper floors, the glistening flesh throbbing with every pump of his godly heart. His barn-sized nuts were having yet another growth spurt, soon filling the majority of the throne room as their production increasing another fourfold. He was a sexual titan, his intoxicating pheromones permeating the whole castle, his slick pre coating—no, marking everything it touched.

Thorax had a moment of clarity to gawk at the spire of flesh before him. He couldn’t help but trace a hoof along one of the pulsing veins, and when he did, the sensation was so great it raced through the three of in a circuit. More tiny white lights slipped into Cadance womb, all of which were claimed by Shining’s seed and became embedded in her nutrient-rich walls. The newfound life caused even more surges of energy to flow into Thorax like water, which in turn made his shaft rumble and surge larger, which made more white lights fall in Cadance—

FLASH!

Suddenly, everything stopped. Near all sensation fled Thorax, his vision going white to leave him floating in a void. He felt himself being steered towards a strange font of power, beckoning to him like a lighthouse in a storm. Dizziness swept over him as he drew close…

Life in love, for life in fire.

Thorax staggered. He was before a... presence of some kind, it’s immense power weighing down on him like a cement mixer. He couldn’t look directly at the thing, but the way it spoke in his mind with a voice like chimes...

A trade in full for heart’s desire.

The featureless plane flickered. Thorax’s vision returned to show he was in a field stretching out as far as the eye could see. The field itself wasn’t very interesting... but the precious ovoid shapes populating said field, innumerable in number and bristling with life...

Thorax’s jaw dropped. “Those are...”

But will you prove a worthy sire?

Suddenly, all Thorax could see was blue scales. Ember’s long, cat-like, mountainous body occupied the whole skyline, her city-sized eyes soft and warm as she stroked her immense pregnant belly. Her womb was so large and full, it had to be three to four times her size!

Thorax fell to his knees. “Oh, p-please… Yes, m-more than anything...”

The Crystal Heart’s laugh was like falling water. Thorax watched as dragons large and small worked to massage their fertile Dragon Lord. She hummed and stretched her wings to fill the whole sky, yet her smoldering, smoky eyes were always on Thorax.

“I’m thinking we try some fertility spells next time,” she said.

Thorax returned to reality with a bellow. He gripped his length and pleasured himself with all he had, the delicious heat building up faster than ever! The palace crumbled as the Crystal Heart gathered its orbiting rings and fused them together, transmuting it all into a ball of pure empathic energy.

Your courtship pushes her higher and higher

My blessing shall help, but more you’ll require

Know this—her kind cares not for a Purifier

You must show them your strength… MAKE them admire.

The Crystal Heart streaked towards Thorax like a shooting star. It phased into him and infused the crackling energy into his very soul before exiting him and flying out of the castle. Thorax’s moan boomed over the whole city, his great form quivering and shaking as the power swirled inside him.

It was agony. It was bliss. It was some mixture of the two he wanted more of, even if it drove him mad. Thorax suddenly felt so very cramped—the familiar pressure buzzing like enough electricity to power Equestria for weeks. Walls and ceilings were threatening to collapse around him, but he was far too concerned with the coiled tightness that just kept building, building, BUILDING—

It was like a bomb going off. The first surge saw Thorax grow twenty feet larger in the span of a second, hislegs bursting through the outer walls with loud BOOMS. Palace floors gave beneath his impossible weight until he hit the ground with a great dust plume, only for the basement levels to follow and plummet him into a freshly-made hole. But then Thorax grew out of this hole to rise back up into the crumbling palace, his head returning to the ruined throne room and rising!

Shining and Cadance were still in the Crystal Heart’s holy aura at the base of Thorax’s crotch. They felt everything Thorax did, their extended peak enduring with each wave of shared pleasure. The glowing, twinkling lights in Cadance were still coming to be, and their hearts and minds soared with the promise of young colts and fillies—unicorns, pegasi, crystal ponies, possibly even others.

Thorax rose up out of the Crystal Palace like a living skyscraper. Cart-sized drops of sweat dripped off him as he pumped his godly shaft, his titanic sack churning with life and power. The Crystal Heart glowed high above him like a shining beacon of love, still pouring the energy of Shining and Cadance’s efforts into him to make him that much bigger. Thorax’s core muscles were seizing up now, his hooves pumping without rhythm, his tower-sized cock flaring as the pressure rocketed hundreds of feet up his shaft. He spasmed and thrust one last time, and with a roar heard throughout the Empire...

Ponies later said it was like a volcano erupting. Impossible gallons of sticky seed rained onto the city in a thick downpour that coated over a fourth of the city in Thorax’s pent-up need. Immense standing pools formed around all his palace-sized body to eventually converge into a swamp of sex. Lights flashed behind his ursa minor-sized eyes with every spurt, his limbs trembling and tight, grunting and gasping as he fired jet after jet with earth-quaking jerks. His aching nuts clenched over and over to flood city streets, then whole city blocks, then entire districts...

Minutes passed, and Thorax was still going. His hypercharged pheromones had spread throughout the whole city now, sparking passionate romps and sexual awakenings in everyone past puberty. His royal seed even flowed beyond the city to cover a portion of the grassy plains. Those unaffected feared he might never stop, but his peak finally did wind down, clocking at around fifteen minutes.

Thorax felt like he’d just run a marathon. His mind was still floaty, but lucid enough to realize what he’d done. He summoned Shining and Cadance to him with magic, not surprised to find them still joined but spent. Their rut and heat would likely rear their heads again soon, though, and if their minds were still linked to Thorax...

“U-Um…” Thorax wet his ship-sized lips. His friends looked less than an inch tall to him, but their magical auras were like white dwarves. “I—”

Cadance laughed in his mind. Don’t worry about it, Thorax. This is why we have magic.

This isn’t even the worst damage we’ve done! Shining said, laughing as well. You should’ve seen when we invited the yaks down for Hearth’s Warming. Now THAT was some damage!

Thorax blinked. “Snilldar Fest? Isn’t that where—oh, my sweet stars...”

Chapter 4: Burning Bright

A Few Days Later-

Dragons don’t really build things like towns. They don’t build much of anything at all, really—their size, strength, resilience, and connection to the elements don’t translate well. Not to mention most dragons don’t require shelter beyond a place to store their hoard, and their reclusive nature discourages them from socializing in general.

Many things had changed with Ember’s rule, but in regards to dragon communities, there was still only one place that could be considered as such: Shearwind, the Wings of the World, highest peak of the Concordant Mountains. Here lay the capital of the Dragonlands, and also within lay the ancient lairs of the Dragon Lords.

Ember paced in her throne chamber near the stormy mountain summit. It was decorated in a theme of ice and fire, the weathered stone emblazoned with hot reds and frosty blues. Flaming ice crystals were set about in braziers for light, and a stream of boiling-hot water poured into a hot spring behind a gargantuan throne of blue granite. The re-sized Bloodstone Scepter rested upon the throne amidst etchings of frozen flame, it’s crimson light pulsing like a living heart.

Ember glided along the stone floor like a sapphire shadow. The ground was steady and unshaken in her wake, her several hundred-ton weight quieted by the usual spells. The only sound was the faint tap of her greatsword-length claws that set a tempo to her thoughts, her battering ram of a tail swaying like an oversized pendulum.

She was groomed and pampered to the letter. An acid bath to make her scales shine, a filing and polish of her claws and spines, a wing ‘preening’ and membrane softening with scented Saddle Arabian oils, a fang whitening with enchanted Dromardian pumice. She’d been snacking on those minty Crystal Empire gems for the last hour, and she kept glancing at the curling pathway on the cavern’s far side, straining for any sound like hooves.

“Rgggh…” Ember tore her eyes away and resumed pacing. She munched on a few more minty gems, her thoughts turning to the other thing Cadance had—no. Princess of Love or not, dragons and makeup didn’t mesh. Perhaps when things were more… developed, but right now—

“Dragon Lord!”

Ember turned. It was her head advisor and mentor, a little drake named Preelix. He was a tiny thing for a dragon, about the size of a stallion but nowhere near as bulky. His mottled bronze scales were covered with runic tattoos that glimmered in the light, and he moved with a nimbleness of a salamander. He bowed low before Ember while Snarl and Sear gave him wary looks.

“Preelix.” Ember waved a claw, and Snarl and Sear exited without a word. Once they were gone, Preelix teleported to hover before Ember’s gigantic face.

“The shapesssshifter king and prince have been received on the northern platform,” he said in a slithery tenor. “They’re on their way here.”

Ember nodded. She gestured to a large glowing platform before the throne, where a small pile of mana emeralds waited.

Preelix’s eyes gleamed. He teleported to the platform—

“No more than two!” Ember called after him. “I know how you get with those.”

Preelix grumbled something under his breath. Nonetheless, he snatched one two succulent gems and stuffed them in his maw, his eyes rolling back at the sweet, sugary taste.

Ember snickered. “Were all so easy to please.”

There was a pause while she let him eat. She came over and sat beside him, filling Preelix’s peripheral with a wall of blue. The platform glowed and rose up until it was eye level with her, and she took a second to make sure the private conversation spell was still in place before speaking.

“So, is it true?” Ember said. “Is Thorax really…?”

Preelix wiped the emerald flecks off his muzzle. “Yessss, and no. The king is quite large, to be sure, but not the sssssize his letter claimed. I’m thinking the Heart’s magic didn’t fully take.”

Ember’s face fell. “Well, you did warn me that might happen. Absorbing that much love at once in the first place was crazy to begin with. He’s lucky he didn’t burst.”

Preelix’s laugh was like shifting gravel. “Like an over-bloated tick. But ssssscaled to your size or not, I sense that noisy rock did more to him than meets the eye. You’ll be quite pleassssed, methinks.”

Ember raised an eyeridge. “Care to elaborate?”

Preelix chuckled. “And spoil the ssssurprise?”

Ember studied her tiny friend in silence, his familiar magic dancing around her like a summer breeze. “Alright, alright. I suppose he deserves a little fun after all he’s done. I just hope enough of the magic was permanent that—”

A blazing hot warmth flickered in the back of her mind. Her body rumbled from within, the warmth spreading through her to make her muscles twitch, her scales crawl, and her joints shift and pop. A giddy rush bubbled up in her that flowed to her limbs like water, and she hummed and stretched out as far as she could, her hum getting louder… stronger...

Preelix feigned surprise. “Oh, that reminds me. While out and about, I received a message from Mount Aris. Her Majessssty Queen Novo has agreed to your proposal for trade: their coral and deep sea pearlssss, for coal.”

Ecstasy shot through Ember like an orgasm. She could feel her fire breath burning hotter by the second, her legs, wings, and tail feeling pinched before stretching out and expanding. Her features lengthened, her muzzle swelled, and the rest of her followed an instant later. She grew inch after delectable inch, every part of her becoming larger… better... greater!

But alas, the rush left far too soon for Ember’s liking. She couldn’t sulk with the endorphins racing through her, but the desire for more lingered. She adjusted her stance and rose to her new height, grinning wide at how much higher she now loomed over Preelix’s platform.

“If you would, Preelix,” she said.

Preelix bowed. He teleported off, then returned with a metal rod etched in spidery white runes. He pointed it at Ember and spoke a command word...

“One hundred twelve feet, eight inchessss.” The measurement popped up in Preelix’s mind like an epiphany. “At the sssshoulder, mind you. Wingspan is—”

Ember’s horns glowed, and two more mana emeralds bounced off Preelix’s chest. She left him to his snack and swept down the corridor to her right, said corridor guarded by dozens of invisible wards, traps, and other defenses. They remained silent as she passed and entered the cavern, humming at the golden light that greeted her.

It was like the vault of King Midas. Coins, gems, paintings, sculptures, and magical items from around the globe, all gathered over the course of millennia by Dragon Lords past. A ring capable of summoning lightning, a belt that increased the wearer’s strength, gems that created endless water, diamond-carved busts of ancient leaders, brooches of purest platinum, thread woven from the night sky. Coins from empires long gone, scrolls of forbidden knowledge, trinkets from other dimensions, preserved herbs thought extinct, keys that could open any lock, tomes of apocalyptic power, glass balls that let you see other worlds, potions that could restore youth. Rare minerals and ingredients of all kinds, water walking footwear, bits of fallen meteorite, paintings of the Sun and the moon from up close… and so, so, SO much more.

“I could double this collection with the money we’ve made these last weeks.” A fierce, hungry look spread on Ember’s face. “Who’d have thought trading was so much more lucrative than raiding?”

Preelix appeared by the item racks with a FLASH. He put the metal measuring rod where he’d found it, then teleported back to Ember. “There’sssss been no word from Griffinstone yet. We won’t hear from Yakyakistan until next week, and we’re still in talks with Zebrica. However, according to my calculationssss, if all three agree to a deal...”

The thought sent a thrill up Ember’s spine. “I’m going to need a bigger throne room.”

Preelix fluttered to her shoulder. He watched the vast riches with distant eyes, faded memories flitting about the room like ghosts. “You’ve done well, Skysssscale. T’would seem your decision to embrace the ponies’ harmony was correct, after all.”

With the speed of a snail, Ember swivelled her neck to stare like he’d grown a second head. “Did… you just admit you were wrong about something?”

Preelix ignored that. “Consider this: A month of trade hassss amassed you more wealth than all your predecessors combined. That has many more implicationssss beyond the most obvious… How many have you considered?”

Ember snorted. Her pristine fangs were larger than Preelix’s entire body, and every time she spoke, her husky words washed over him like a wet, minty tide. “I’m going to be bigger than Father by week’s end. Forgive me for getting a little swept up in all this.”

Preelix held up a paw. “Yessss, your size and strength has increassssed alongside your subjects’ prosperity. You’ve grown nicely since your ssssnap… BUT, l don’t think you realize how badly the world wants these dirty, smoky rocks. I believe they’d have begun ssssearching the world for them within the decade, and sooner or later, they’d have learned of our ssssupply.”

Ember tilted her head. “And?”

Preelix folded his arms. “If we were still sssstuck in our old ways, what do you think might’ve happened?”

The implication was like a slap in the face. Ember looked up at the uneven ceiling, its red, swirling patterns like spidery veins. “I’m… not sure I want to think about that.”

“You musssst,” Preelix said in a soft voice. “A dragon keeps their hoard safe, young Skyscale. What’s chief among a Dragon Lord’s hoard?”

Ember clenched her fists. “...Their subjects.”

“And what was my first and mosssst important counsel to you?”

“Never try to fight the world,” she droned.

“Never, ever, ever.” Preelix waved a claw, magically patting Ember’s huge shoulder. “It’s a Dragon Lord’s duty to keep us safe... even from themselves. We are mighty and proud, but the weapons of this war—for it is indeed a war—are wordssss and wit. Learning the rules isn’t enough to carve a place in this changing world. We musssst also be self-aware.”

Ember looked past him a moment, her claw tapping his chin. “I was thinking of reaching out to our allies to decide who to approach next. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Yes,” said Preelix. “The good word of others will go a long way in opening the door, esssspecially with those unwilling to talk with us.”

Ember bowed her head. “Have I mentioned I don’t know what I’d do without you?”

Preelix murred. He waved his claw, and a small image of Ember’s head appeared before him, which he pressed his forehead to with a click. “You’ve your father’s brains, and your mother’s heart. Use them as you always have, and I promise, the riches in this cave will be a sliver of what awaitssss.”

Just then, a sigil on the wall lit up.

“Your shapeshifter ssssuitor,” Preelix said, dismissing the image. “Shall I go and deliver him from the Dunderhead Duo?”

Ember rolled her eyes. “Get out of here.”

Preelix left, and Ember took a moment to collect herself before returning to the main chamber. She retrieved the Bloodstone Scepter and settled upon her now-smaller throne with a deep breath, flexing her jaws in prep of speaking the ‘common’ tongue. She checked her scales for pebbles, examined her claws, ate a few more minty gems—

Shadows appeared in the far corridor. There was no sound on their approach, no clacking, no rumbling, no nothing. She heard only silence as the trio rounded the bend. Preelix appeared first on the wing, and behind him were Thorax and Pharynx, the brothers looking around the room with wide eyes...

It was easy for Ember to lose her sense of scale when alone in this room. She couldn’t get an good gauge on Thorax and Pharynx’s size, but near as she could tell, Thorax looked like he came up to her chest, while Pharynx came up to her… barrel? Wait, what?

Ember compared Pharynx to Preelix. No, her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, he had to be at least four times bigger than he was in Griffinstone! He looked the same otherwise—same flat expression, same subtle movements, same calm eyes, just… bigger. He’d barely come up to her shins the last time she saw him, and that’d been when she was forty feet smaller—

Thorax’s coy smirk drew Ember in and brushed her questions aside like dust bunnies. He wasn’t walking, he was advancing on her, his wing coverings straining and his ruby-red tongue licking his lips. His physique was a sight to behold, his defined muscles gliding, his sculpted legs and chest bulging. She could actually see the individual muscles flexing around his neck and shoulders! Preelix had been right about him not being quite the size as her, but an improvement was still an improvement...

The trio stopped just before the throne. Preelix flew to Ember and whispered to her in Draconic. “Sssshall I skip the rigmarole?”

“Io above, yes.”

Preelix laughed. He flew over to his perch by Ember’s throne, he cleared his throat, then spoke with a spell that made him sound like he was right next to each of them.“Dragon Lord, I present to you King Thorax and Prince Pharynx, rulerssss of the Changeling Realms.”

Ember shifted in her seat. “Welcome to Shearwind, Your Majesties. It looks like you’ve some stories to tell.”

Thorax ogled Ember's pampered form. She was longer, curvier, more beautiful than ever… and much, much bigger. “Looks like you do, too.”

Ember grinned like a wolf. She was stretched out on her side, her powerful legs curled so she could fit upon her throne. “‘Something's different about you two... aside from the obvious, I mean.”

Thorax put a hoof behind his head. “Ah, yeah. I didn't mean for it to happen, least of all affect Pharynx, too—“

Pharynx turned to the side, inhaled, and breathed out a humongous blast of scorching magical flame.

Ember's and Preelix's jaws dropped.

…

“...Notttttttt how I was hoping to show them,” Thorax murmured.

Pharynx shrugged. “I sneezed.”

Ember now noticed what was different about the brothers. Their chitin had developed intricate scale-like patterns, and their natural scents were like the hot, spicy smell of healthy and potent male dragons... very, very, VERY healthy and potent...

“The Crystal Heart miiiiiiiiiiiight have us altered us a bit.” Thorax exhaled a puff of his own flame to show them. “It all worked out in the end, but I wish we’d had a little more warning… or choice in the matter, heh. I don't think we’ll be messing with the Crystal Heart again any time soon.”

Preelix laughed. “Manipulative little shit, issssn’t it?”

Ember felt like she'd just been flipped on her back. She tried to keep up a good front, but considering she was aware they could sense the lust rolling off her... “I-Is... is it true you grew to the size of a castle, Thorax?”

Thorax hid his grin. “I did at first, but when the mental link with Shining Armor and Cadance fell apart, a lot of the energy flowed back into them. We decided not to push our luck after that—”

“To say they were playing with fire is an understatement,” Pharynx grumbled. “The damage they caused was catastrophic—if Shining Armor and Cadance hadn’t known spells from Starswirl the Bearded himself—”

“Don't mind Phary.” Thorax put a tremendous hoof on his brother’s back. “He's just frustrated some of the excess love seeped into him by proxy... plus the whole 'getting permanent dragon features without consent' thing.”

Pharynx snorted. He opened his mouth, revealing that not only were his fangs more pronounced, he’d developed bulky molars… gem-crunching molars.

Ember was starting to feel flushed. Her claws were flexing and scraping pony-sized gouges in her throne. Her tail was draped over her groin, but it was getting harder to keep there. “I've n-never... erm, heard o-of such a thing happening before. This isn’t normal for changelings... is it?”

Thorax chewed on his lip. “We haven’t really known what’s ‘normal’ since we broke free of Mother's rule. We shouldn't have even been able to absorb this love much at once to begin with, but here we are, huge and hungry as ever.”

“And with no end in sight,” Pharynx grumbled. “I’m going to have to become a master at size-shifting to do any wetwork. Not there's much of that on the border patrols, mind you.”

Thorax frowned. “Why would you want to sneak up on a malwurf now? Wouldn’t it be easier to chase them down and stomp them?”

Pharynx ground his hoof on the floor. “Oh, there’ll be plenty of that... but I like a little variety.”

They both laughed.

Ember wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly had a thought of Thorax smashing his way through a horde of savage monsters. He let out a flame-tinged roar, his sides heaving and legs drenched with gore, claiming to all that this land was HIS. A shiver ran through Ember from just imagining his fierce eyes meeting hers, his lust burning like—

Preelix coughed.

Ember snapped to. “S-Say, uh… Pharynx? My advisor Preelix is quite talented at stealth and subtlety magic. He might be able to teach you some things.”

Pharynx’s eyes widened. He looked to Preelix, his lips slowly parting. “Wait… Preelix? I know that name...”

Preelix’s quiet laugh echoed in everyone’s ears.

“I was wondering if Amore’s sssssuccessor had included my part in their history.” Preelix’s lighthearted tenor now held the weight of millennia. “She pardoned me, you know. Kind soul, that one...”

Pharynx went white as a sheet. “You… You stole, ages ago… the Empire almost…”

“Sssshall I introduce myself proper?” Preelix stood up straight and bowed. “Preelix the Spell-Eater, and your sssservice. Sting of the East, the Sorcerer with Scales, the Sidewinder... and other names I’m less fond of. In ages past, my hubris prompted me to steal the Crystal Heart and claim it for my own. The Sun and Moon pursued me, but in my foolishness, I sprung a great trap that wounded the Moon, thinking it’d discourage them from their chasssse.”

Preelix shuddered and looked away. “That’s when I learned of her. Theskafar... ‘Ash Queen’, the dark sssside of the Sun.”

Thorax felt a chill. “The dark side of…? Hold on, you can’t mean—”

Ember shushed him. “Respect your elders, my lovebug.”

Preelix stared Pharynx down like a hawk. “The Heavenly Sisters have inner demons, young prince. You want to talk about rissssks and playing with fire? Be grateful your fool mother’s campaign caused so few Equestrian casualties. Theskafar is fury and vengeance incarnate, wielding flames so hot even dragons burn. Theskathur is mad and cruel beyond reckoning, obliterating her foes with ice and starlight. The defeats you ssssuffered are nothing compared to what could’ve been.”

Pharynx gulped.

“Master Preelix has lived a more colorful life than most,” said Ember, tossing Preelix a few more mana emeralds. “He also knows a thing or two about wetwork—long retired, of course, but still applicable. You could learn a lot from him.”

Pharynx’s legs felt like jelly. “I’d b-be honored.”

Preelix studied Pharynx for something only he could see. “We’ll need a sparring partner. Someone around your ssssize, preferably. My daughter, Smolder, sssshould suffice...”

“Smolder...?” Thorax did a double-take, then looked to Ember. “Smolder?!”

Ember got a saucy grin. “Let’s just say power and wealth are like the fountain of youth for dragons. Preelix’s line is… quite robust.”

Thorax's world spun. “Around Phary’s size…”

Ember yawned, showing off her collection of humongous white teeth. “It’s settled, then. Pharynx and Preelix will go collect Smolder and head to the south sparring grounds. Oh, and feel free to take your time with the lessons, Preelix—King Thorax and I are going to be busy with a different kind of wetwork...”

She lifted her tail at this, revealing her hot, glistening slit dripping honey down her thigh.

“Annnnnnd that's my cue.” Pharynx turned and flew towards the door.

Preelix flew off as well without a word. Their wingbeats faded off into silence, and a few seconds later, Thorax and Ember were alone in the great throne chamber.

Thorax’s wings snapped open. Her cloying, rainy scent washed over him, his legs turning into jelly. “E-Ember, you—ohstarsyes… the coal trading’s making you g-grow, isn’t it?”

“Later, my lovebug.” Ember beckoned him forth with a claw. “Right now, I just want to know one thing. These changes of yours, are you fireproof now, like us?”

Thorax fluttered to her in a daze. “We... w-we stopped for a l-lava soak on the way here...”

That was all Ember needed to hear. She pulled him into her arms and kissed him, a dual moan escaping them that never truly faded out. Their thin tongues danced and mingled, one hungry kiss becoming two, then three, each new exchange sending fresh heat to their cheeks. The sound of their smacking lips was all they could hear in the quiet, and in that moment they could've been anywhere in the world, so long as they were together.

A glistening thread still connected them when they broke. They nuzzled and explored all along each other's necks and chests, humming and touching, murring and nibbling. Ember noted the firmer, tougher feel of Thorax's body, and Thorax noted the blooming color of Ember's scales. She was brimming with vim and vigor, every inch of her even more alluring than it’d been weeks prior, her eyes brighter, her curves more pronounced, her face more sultry and shapely. Her emotions had already been unlike any other, but now there was an even greater power to them...

“You crazy drake,” Ember whispered. “I can’t believe you went this far, all so we could have a little time together.”

Thorax looked up at her. “A 'little'? What, you didn't really think I shrank this much after outgrowing the whole Crystal Palace, did you?”

Ember paused. “...Come again?”

Thorax laughed a second time. She felt his muscles ripple, and then his whole body began to swell in her arms, his limbs stretching, thickening, expanding before her very eyes! His solid weight pressed her deeper and deeper into her throne, his dry, spicy scent getting stronger as his package filled both their laps.

“Are you...?” Ember grabbed his rear and felt his flanks expanding in her grasp. “You are! How—”

Thorax kissed her nose. “I did shrink some, but I should be able to keep up with you for a while. At least for the time I’m here.”

Words failed Ember. She could only watch as Thorax surged yard after yard, bigger and bigger until he was the same size as her. They were now spooning on the cramped colossal throne, though it wasn't exactly comfortable spooning...

“I figured you'd grown since Griffinstone,” Thorax said as he stood up. “Wasn't sure how much, though, so I figured it was safest—”

“...Bigger,” said Ember.

Thorax wrinkled his brow. “Eh? Bigger?”

“Bigger.” Ember sat up, an odd look on her face. “Can you?”

Thorax hesitated, but slowly, he nodded. He reclaimed ten more feet, his hooves spreading across the stone, the ground falling away in his eyes.

Ember leaned forward. “More...”

Thorax scaled back more of his size-shift, gaining yet another ten feet. He was now almost a full head taller than her, her emotions searing hotter with every inch he rose.

Ember clutched the throne so hard she punched holes in it. “MORE.”

Ten more feet later, and now it was Thorax fighting the urge to pounce. His mammoth hooves pawed the ground with huge BOOMS, for Ember was shoving her sweet, infectious desire down his gullet.

There was the tingle Ember had been looking for. “Thorax, I need you to listen very carefully.”

Thorax took a step forward. “Yeah?”

“Come with me to the hot spring behind us, and take me like the sexy drake you are.”

Thorax’s hips jerked on their own. A beach ball-sized drop of pre fell from his tip to plummet seventy feet to the ground. “Like the sexy drake I am, eh?”

Green flames spilled over his body. His chitin hardened, his maw bulged, his teeth lengthened and sharpened into even fiercer fangs, and his tail became solid and prehensile. His wings gained bones and leathery tissue, his hooves split into terrifying claws, and he sprouted fearsome teal spines all over. Last but not least, the base of his cock swelled with a fat, hefty knot, and his shaft gained rib-like ridges along the sides.

A second later, Thorax's new form was complete. His majestic horns curved up and forward like inverted ram horns, and his violet, cat-like eyes narrowed in on his soon-to-be prey. His scales shifted in hue as the light played off them, with added reds and blues to complete the whole spectrum.

Thorax growled like an earthquake. “How’s this?”

You could've knocked Ember over with a nudge. A prismatic dragon loomed over her, his shifting colors playing across her spellbound face. Her mouth was dry as a bone, and it felt like she was burning up inside, her thick, damp, cloying need so hot and heavy the air shimmered above her crotch.

“Take you...” Thorax THUDDED around her throne slow and smooth, his voice never above a murmur. “Yes, that's the dragon way, isn't it? Dragons take what they want...”

His presence surrounded her. His scent was drowning her. That inner fierceness she tried to keep down while around him was breaking free, clenching the coiled spring that’d been so very tight since their last tryst...

“Eh? What’s this?” Thorax sniffed loud in her ear. “O-ho... so this how it typically goes down for dragons, is it? No wonder you were so new to foreplay…”

Ember swallowed hard. A pot of water was boiling inside her to fill her head with fog. She wanted to explain she couldn’t help this, but all that came out was a growl.

“So, you want me to take you, but you’re going to fight every step of the way.” Thorax’s tongue flicked out to taste the air. “Well I say ‘fight’, but you’re so small and weak! Just how do you plan on beating me?”

Ember couldn’t stop the inner volcano. Her limbs were shaky and tight, her claws digging into her scepter. Smoke was rising from her mouth, her teeth bared in a snarl. Her vision was turning red, a legendary wrath pounding in her ears.

"Cute,” Thorax whispered in her ear. “The little dragoness doesn’t realize she’s already lost. Try all you like, but you never had a chance! You've been MINE since the first time I saw you, and there's nothing—”

The chamber quaked with Ember’s roar. She leapt away and whipped to face Thorax, her wings flared and claws bared. Thorax mimicked her and answered with a roar of his own, and as one, they inhaled and blasted each other with a swirling inferno of dragonfire. They were enveloped in a blistering blue cyclone fueled by elemental magic, flames running along their scales and mixing in each other's lungs. The chamber became a sweltering oven, the heat funnelling down the corridors with deadly speed, and the floor quickly melted where their fires met, a bright red pool of lava spreading along the floor.

Ember cut off her stream with a snarl. The flames had given her cover, so she used it to barrel towards Thorax like a silent avalanche. Lava splashed around her as she gathered herself and leapt at his silhouette, the outline of a fool who DARED—

Thorax sensed her a mile away. As soon as she pounced, he bound her wings with magic, then ducked beneath her airborne form. He caught her in his mighty horns and tossed her behind with a bellow, flinging her head over tail into the bubbling, boiling spring.

SPLOOSH!

A hissing cloud of steam blanketed everything in fog. The spring was only knee-deep to Ember, but that was enough to make a wave several stories high. The whole mountain shivered under the force of Ember’s tremendous landing, but it shivered even more when she got up and let loose an ear-splitting scream, her eyes red with—

A hulking shadow swept over her. Thorax forced shut her jaws with monstrous magic, then spun her around to face the wall. Piping-hot rain fell around them as he grabbed hold of her tail and yanked, and try as Ember might, she couldn’t prevent herself from being reeled in like a fish. She made to try and kick Thorax, but right then, he breathed a second gout of fire onto her back that shot a delightful tingle up her spine...

Ember’s girly moan was music to Thorax’s ears. Her emotions were an open book to him—her every desire plain as day. He let go of her tail as it flagged to the side, and he reared and groped every luscious yard of her curves. Ember shrieked at him through closed lips, but said shriek turned lewd even before he settled atop her, doubly so when he grabbed her frills and forced her to crouch.

Thorax freed Ember’s mouth and pulled her in for a desperate kiss. She squealed and returned it without pause, their tongues wrestling and flames mixing, always with him in control. He cocooned them in his multicolored wings and massaged her, his tail seeking out hers and wrapping around tight. His thick cock was like a boiling rod of steel pressed against her scaly belly, their combined musk thicker than the superheated fog, but they wouldn’t be left wanting for long...

Thorax pulled back his hips and thrust at full force. He missed, but he tried a second time, then a third… then at last, he found the mark. Ember wailed and bore down on his throbbing size with all she had, and he answered with a love bite, his razor-sharp fangs stinging her scaly nape. Their joined fluids were as hot at molten glass as he hammered her over and over, Ember’s enraged bliss coursing through them to spur them faster, fiercer, ever more desperate for release. Ember never stopped fighting one way or another, but every failed attempt made the fuse inside her that much shorter.

The fleshy sounds of their union were heard throughout the mountain. Cavern ceilings shook, items fell from shelves, some dragons covered their ears, others cheered and made wolf whistles. The racket only got louder as Thorax bucked hard, harder, then harder still, the boiling steam and churning waters roiling around them like a maelstrom. They were two tireless titans, frenzied and fearless, and ponies were little more than bugs to them!

“Mine…” Thorax’s eyes glittered with eerie light. He could see the twinkling stars in Ember’s womb once more, and just as he’d guessed, there were more than before. Many, MANY more! “MINE!”

Ember both swooned and seethed. She urged Thorax on while trying to throw him off. She wanted to tear his throat out, she wanted to be with him forever. Her claws curled in time with his steady tempo, but she also wiggled her hips to coax him deeper and keep him inside. He was a behemoth that fucked her with feral need, yet he kept angling his hips to hit her best spots. He was a merciless force of nature, yet he kept running his claw along her cheek with soft murrs. Time lost all meaning as they went on and on, not stopping until one of them was conquered, and even then they might not stop...

Ember swore she was melting into the floor. Thorax’s every thrust kissed her clit, his bulbous knot spreading her outer lips more and more. It didn’t matter how hard she clenched around him, he always pulled free. His sixty-five foot cock filled her like nothing else could, her silky tunnel his to shape! She could feel his boulder-sized nuts swelling every time he bottomed out, and the thought of them having children together, of her wonderful Thorax getting her pregnant over and over, each time setting the record for the world’s largest clutch—

“OHHHHH!” Ember squeezed with the force of gods. Her fire breath evaporated what remained of the spring, the temperature climbing and climbing until most of the floor was molten rock. The newfound heat and pressure made Thorax go into high gear, his jerky thrusts flooding her with gallons of slick pre. Ember was still flying high when a surge of strength hit Thorax, and he knotted her with deafening roar, his tip flaring against her innermost barrier...

But when Thorax pumped everything he had into her, Ember felt… hollow.

Granted, it felt warm, and it was definitely good overall, even a little satisfying. But it was like taking a bite of fool’s gold, or eating a chunk of fake diamond. It didn’t take anything from the delicious high, but nor did it add anything. She didn’t reach any new peak, didn’t feel any new sensations.

It didn’t take Thorax long to realize something was wrong. His eyes snapped to the twinkling stars, but even as his peak stretched out long enough to refill the empty pool, there wasn’t a single change...

...blessing shall help, but more you’ll require...

The memory cut through the haze of his peak with a pinched off feeling. He almost lost it entirely, but Ember’s squeezing and sultry moans renewed him. His limbs seized, his tip flaring to pump a renewed surge twice as hefty as the last. It was so much Ember wound up peaking a second time, her womb and tunnel overflowing with thick, hot seed—seed she SO very wished could take...

Thorax’s orgasm lasted a little bit longer before leaving him. He eased his grip on Ember and kissed her forehead, his immense claws running between her scales in a gentle caress. “My dragon.”

Ember made a husky sound from the back of her throat.

Thorax smiled. His knot was still buried inside her, so tight and warm that neither of them moved. “That was quite a lot of love you just gave me. Felt different, too… were you saving up again?”

Ember swallowed hard. “You... know, don’t you? You s-said... last year, empaths don’t need words…”

Thorax kissed her cheek, then her lips, long and slow. “I love you, too.”

Ember hummed. She pressed her forehead to Thorax’s, her minty breath filling his nostrils. “We’re both so busy... running our kingdoms, travelling all over, making this work will be...”

Thorax hugged her tighter. “I’ve gotten some pointers on how to make certain things easier.”

Ember blinked. “What kind of—”

Suddenly, the blazing hot warmth flickered again in the back of Ember’s mind.

“Ooooh...” Ember’s body rumbled and shook. “A-Already? I thought—”

Then, the blazing hot warmth doubled.

“Mmhhh!” Ember’s eyes rolled back. “YESSSSSSS~”

Thorax felt it, as well. He didn’t understand at first, but then he sensed Ember giddy rush, followed by her scales shifting beneath him. Her muscles pulsed larger, her joints cracking like fireworks, her bones groaning and strengthening…

“Whoa…” Thorax could only watch as Ember grew. She was soon supporting his incredible weight with ease, her stance widening, her body lengthening, her power increasing in every way! Her tail snaked out until it was as long as his, and her gait spread until Thorax had to stand half on his claws. Her scales gained deeper color, her claws, fangs, horns, and spines all hardened, and her eyes shone even brighter. Thorax soon caught wind of her renewed arousal, but her scent was changing by the second, more alluring, more fertile…

Ember was beyond words. The last changes were her inner font of magic exploding in size, followed by her fire breath gaining a wider, larger cone. She’d now grown to the same size as Thorax, and she had to guess, she’d say this was the Griffinstone and Zebrica deals going through. But that could be figured out later, for she could feel Thorax twitching inside her, hear him murring and growling like the insatiable love bug he was.

Green flames suddenly erupted above her. Thorax, now in his true form, pulled his knot-less cock out to rut her with renewed strength. She welcomed his re-entry with a victorious shout, and he chittered and kissed all along her neck and chin, the now-denser cluster of stars glimmering in his peripheral.

Perhaps together, they could figure out who next to trade for coal...

Chapter 5: Lively Blaze

Three Months Later -

The Dragonlands Railway was one of the first significant acts of Queen Twilight Sparkle’s new administration. Initially a non-stop route between Equestria and the neighboring countries, the way to Mount Shearwind’s Sulfur Station hadn’t seen much traffic before Ember’s coal trade. Now, the Concordant Mountains were alive with trains from all over, leaving the once-vacant depot scrambling to transform into a proper commercial hub.

An Equestrian train entered the mountainside tunnel marking the final approach to Sulfur Station. The train’s driver, an old thestral named Steamer, checked the engine gauges as his vision adjusted for the gentle glow of countless gemstones set within the walls. Experience had taught him he could make it to Sulfur Station without any additional effort, so he took a seat by the boiler and rehearsed his Draconic.

“I hope I get to see the Dragon Lord’s hoard one of these days.” The guttural rasps and hisses made the language tricky for some races, but thestrals could speak it without so much as an accent. “Spell-Eater was saying it was the most gold he’d ever seen in one place, and that’s something coming from him. Maybe he can put in a good word for me—hay, maybe I’ll just ask myself! She seemed nice enough that one time we met, and I know Spell-Eater loved showing off that motherlode of his—”

The tunnel’s final bend revealed a surprise. A solid wall of scaly blue flesh blocked the exit, the barest hint of sunlight shining through via a sliver at the top.

Steamer screeched. He banged his wing hard as he half dove, half flew for the train whistle.

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~

The cave shook with a great rumble. The wall of flesh wiggled, the blue scales lifting up in time to dodge disaster. Steamer screeched again as his nightbound eyes were blinded by accursed sunlight.

The train emerged into a gently-sloping plateau marking the base of the immense Mount Shearwind. The colossal statues of past dragon lords glared down at travellers making their way up the windswept path, the HISS of nearby geysers a constant accompaniment to the backdrop. A mile ahead, the bustling hub of Sulfur Station lay situated within a repurposed quarry.

But Steamer wasn’t looking at any of that. He was staring at the owner of the titanic tail he’d almost hit, who was stretched out next to the tracks alongside an equally titanic changeling.

“Mother of Twilight...” Steamer could barely see Ember’s and Thorax’s faces high above. They were like extensions of the mountain itself, so big either of them could’ve gripped Steamer’s one hundred and fifty car train like a pencil. His entire field of view was colorful chitin, shining scales, sleek muscles, and supersized limbs like living landmasses. His train was moving at top-speed, yet it took almost twenty seconds for him to chug pass their lounging forms.

“You’re kidding.” He rubbed his eyes, but the astonishing sight remained. The heady buzz of magic and life sent a thrill through Steamer’s blood. “H-How much did they grow since last time?! It’s only been two weeks!”

The great WHOOSH of Ember’s long tail sent chills down his spine. She curled it around Thorax, both of them smiling and waving at the tiny train. They then resumed nuzzling and cuddling like nothing had happened, their sleepy hums echoing off the cliffs.

Steamer didn’t know whether to be worried, angry, or dismayed. He decided on all three. “They’re lucky they’re a cute couple, else I might have some words...” He tore his gaze away and looked to Sulfur Station, his sore wing throbbing the entire way.

***

The design of Sulfur Station resembled a dragon’s claw. Four clusters of platforms were separated by the type of trains they accommodated, with things like location and type of goods shipped ordering things from there. Dragonkin of all kinds flew to and fro between the clusters—or ’talons’—most of them working, but a few also travelling. There were also a handful of non-draconic races present, the most prevalent being changelings.

Steamer powered everything down at his usual platform in Talon C. He stretched his old bones and set about gathering his things, his wandering eyes inevitably drawn to the gargantuan lovebirds in the distance. The memory of their gentle body heat was striking, their health and vigor downright palpable. He couldn’t even grasp how big their wings would be if either of them spread them out—

“Good to see you again, cousin.”

The raspy voice had come from behind him. Steamer didn’t bat an eyelash—he just grinned and continued to gather his things. “Y’know, one of these days I’m going to find a way to prove our races aren’t related.”

The voice chuckled. “All races are related. You need only go back far enough.”

Steamer turned and found Preelix sitting in the engine window. He swung his legs back and forth, small wisps of purple flame drifting from his nostrils, his mottled bronze scales and ornate tattoos shining bright in the day.

“I apologize for the Dragon Lord’s tail.” Preelix offered him a lumpy bag. “Rest assured, the wards I’ve taught her would have activated in a crash. A scare is a scare, however.”

A wondrous, fruity fragrance crossed Steamer’s nose. He snatched the bag with a skree and looked to behold a dozen ripe mangoes, all kept fresh with a Stasis spell.

“Apology accepted.” He grabbed one of the fruits, a low, happy hum bubbling from his throat.

“I imagine you got quite the view passing through.” Preelix gestured to Ember and Thorax. “They’re a good five hundred feet tall now, give or take. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Steamer made to exit the locomotive. “Please tell me you’ve been teaching them your shrinking magic. I know you’ve been teaching it to your… erm… oh, shells. What did you call the king’s brother again? I know ‘Nastorr’ means teacher, which is what he calls you, but you didn’t call him ‘student’. You called him something else.”

Preelix smiled. “‘Roh’swal’. It’s just a more traditional word for those learning the Silent Hunt, like ‘disciple’ or ‘apprentice’, that’s all. And yes, I’ve been teaching him and the others my size spells as best I can. They’re getting there.”

The chilly air was heavy with the smoky smell of industry. The high quarry walls of Talon C were dotted with the same luminous gemstones that’d been present in the train tunnel, although they only lit up once the sun fell behind the mountain. The way out of the talon was marked by a view of the sprawling mountain range, and the skies above were dotted with dragonkin traversing Mount Shearwind. Steamer took all this in as he stepped off his train, Preelix fluttering after to perch on his back.

“Got more station helpers.” Steamer tilted his head at a dozen changelings loading a freight of boxes. “Still getting along?”

Preelix couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not hard to get along with a race of empaths that are eager to please. The little friction that’s cropped up has resolved just as quickly. ”

Steamer watched the colorful changelings work together like a well-oiled machine. Looking around a bit more, he realized the changelings were focusing on detail work while the dragons managed things on a larger scale. “Took me forever to understand dragon culture and read your race’s moods. They understand it straight out of the gate. That empathy of theirs sure is something.”

Preelix followed his gaze. “They’re more like us than you think. Their king’s love of peace fills their hearts, but their prince’s ferocity runs in their blood. Like dragons, the shapeshifters have left their cruel ways behind, but the shadow of the past still calls to us. We each struggle to find a balance amidst a rapidly-changing world, with our young rulers leading the way.”

Steamer grunted. “So it’s not just the magic emotion stuff. You’re basically saying dragons and shapeshifters have so much in common, you go together like peanut butter and chocolate.”

Preelix laughed and gestured down the platform. “Or agates and shale, as we say. It also doesn’t hurt that the Dragon Lord and Shapeshifter King have been pining for each other for much of their young lives, but that’s a whole different matter.”

A quill and a collection of slightly-charred forms appeared in front of Steamer. “I brought the signing papers with me so the crews can get started loading your train,” said Preelix. “Let’s finalize the transaction so they can get started.”

Steamer fished around for his bifocals and looked things over. It all looked fine to him: One hundred and fifty cars of Dragonlands coal, paid in full by the Royal Equestrian Treasury, exchange rate set at the current year, international tariffs in accordance with the Allied Nations Treaty of Fair Commerce. Transaction approved by Royal Ambassador Prince Spike of House Sparkle, notarized by HRH Queen Twilight Sparkle of Equestria: Alicorn of Magic, Steward of the Skies, Protector of the Harmonious Realms… yadda, yadda, yadda. Steamer flipped to the last page and browsed until he found what he was looking for: Signature of Designated Equestrian Courier.

“Excellent.” Preelix took the signed papers and gestured to several nearby dragons. They immediately set to work loading literal tons of coal into the train’s many cars, the loud BANGS and metallic WHACKS filling the air. “Now, if you’ll look past the station, I don’t think you’ll want to miss this.”

Steamer frowned. “Miss what—”

A loud moan shook the air. Steamer yelped as Ember tensed up beside Thorax, her sapphire wings spreading wide like a second sky. Every dragon in the station shuddered as a sudden primal surge rushed towards her with the speed of a hundred lightning bolts, the rush of power soaking into her and burning bright. It wasn’t obvious what’d happened at first, but then Steamer noticed Ember’s great head start to rise over Thorax, her legs creeping closer to the train tracks...

“By the Sun...” Steamer watched Ember grow even bigger. The spurts came in a steady rhythm every few seconds, inch by inch, foot by foot. Her claws and spines lengthened, her limbs and tail thickened, her curvy frame grew curvier, and her strengthening voice made her moans echo throughout the mountain range. Five hundred feet became five hundred and fifteen… five hundred and thirty… five hundred forty-five… five hundred sixty...

The sensation faded at five hundred seventy-five. Ember opened her eyes and took in her new, higher vantage point, then looked down at the smiling Thorax, who now only came up to her shoulders. She could feel his eyes roving over her, his sheath bulging with every improvement he saw. Her scales were brighter. Her tail was longer. Her fangs were whiter. Her egglaying hips were even wider, her flanks and rump where thicker and stronger than ever, and deep within her, he sensed that hundreds more little lights had formed...

Thorax crooned. Ember squeezed him with her tail, their hungry expressions a mirror of each other. His hooves wandered across her hips to grope her flanks, her shapely ass so firm and thick.Ember wrapped him in her velvety wings and pressed her snout to his chest, then snaked out her long, wet tongue to lick and nibble the hollow of his neck. It wasn’t much surprise when those kisses trailed upward to meet his lips, but the surprise came when an airy, light sensation filled the air.

Steamer’s lips parted. It was the dragons who’d shuddered before, but now, it was the changelings. “So much love…”

Preelix nodded. “We’re not sure where it’s all coming from. I sense the Crystal Heart’s magic at work, but how... I’ve also sensed the same amplification energies within Prince Pharynx.”

Thorax could feel the love bubbling up inside him. It was like a living fire that burned hotter by the second, each second of infusion making him feel more alive. Flames swirled and mixed in their mouths as Thorax gripped Ember tight with a groan. That tight, coiled sensation was returning, faint at first, but soon all of his scaly chitin was itching. His muscles flexed and
bulged against Ember’s wings, his endless desire desperate for every drop of fierce, potent love.

Ember wanted to take him right there. Thorax’s stallionhood was wedged tight between their writhing forms, and the scent of his rising need was as noticeable as her own. His growing weight pressed against her until he threatened to push her over. His heavy nuts were getting denser. His horns were getting longer. His bulky muscles, his sculpted flanks, the thrum of his growing power, all of it was becoming more. She was no longer a head taller than him, but only half a head taller, and even though he was consuming more love in few seconds than most changelings did in their whole lives, he only wanted more.

Steamer watched Thorax grow and grow until he reached Ember’s new size. The spectacle seemingly passed, Steamer ran a hoof through his greying mane andglanced at Preelix. “Have I mentioned I’m glad we’re on the same side?”

Preelix didn’t laugh. Instead, his distant eyes looked up to the sun, the silence dragging while the workers toiled around them.

“The dragons will never forget the Ash Queen.” Preelix put a paw to the discolored scales across his chest. “Nor the Frost Queen, the Chaos Lord, or any others that almost destroyed our world. I foresee a bright future with these new Heavenly Sisters, but we mustn’t allow Queen Twilight Sparkle or Princess Cadance to develop inner demons of their own. Our very survival—”

Suddenly, a bulky dragon with long claws snatched Steamer’s bag of mangoes. They threw the bag into the locomotive right as Steamer yelped and whirled around… but said motion proved to throw Preelix off-balance.

“WAH!” Preelix took flight to avoid a fall. “What the—”

The rest was cut off by a flurry of claws. Displaced air blasted Preelix’s face as the dragon worker’s oddly-shiny talons missed him by millimeters. Preelix dodged the strikes and made to repel the worker with magic… but the spell slid off them like grease.

“Wha—”

SLASH!

“ARGH!” Preelix clutched his thigh. Seething, he glared daggers at the worker, who, rather than press the attack, jumped back and… bowed?

“Nine,” he called. “We’re tied up again, Nastorr.”

Preelix snarled through grit fangs. “Io above, Roh’swal!” The attack hadn’t drawn blood, but it had ripped a scale. “That wassss a good one…”

The worker’s violet eyes gained a glossy sheen. A staggering magical aura became apparent as Pharynx resumed his true form… or rather, a much smaller form of it. Granted, he still towered over his kin at eleven foot-seven...

Steamer rolled his eyes. He looked around, watching as every changeling in sight bent the knee. “I take it your daughter’s patrolling with the Drakkengard, Spell-Eater?”

Preelix didn’t reply right away. His attention remained on Pharynx, still poised to attack with that measured stare of his. Preelix’s heart was thudding fast, the thrill of battle stirring in his veins. “I apologize again, Cousin. I hadn’t realized my roh’swal would be so antsy without his regular sparring partner.”

Pharynx smirked. “You’re the one who blinked away all of a sudden. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were afraid of losing.”

Preelix’s eye twitched… until he burst out laughing. “Very good! Yes, just like that! You can’t spring a trap without first baiting your opponent! Excellent!”

Pharynx pawed the ground. He could feel Preelix's emotions plain as day—a bubbly thrill, heady attentiveness, an immeasurable store of patience, but most of all, his sour-sweet pride. “Must be embarrassing to be having trouble against me. And here I thought you were supposed to be this legendary warrior! Has the Sting of the East gotten rusty?”

Preelix narrowed his eyes, still smirking. “...That said, I am curious if that magic around you can deflect Sidewinder...”

Steamer wanted to facehoof. “You know he’s playing you, and you don’t even care.” Grumbling, he trotted for his locomotive while tossing Pharynx a dark look. “I swear, if you bruised my mangoes...”

A silence fell like a heavy blanket. Everyone on the platform was backing away from Pharynx and Preelix, the only sound being the flurry of hushed whispers, the deep, rumbling purrs of Thorax and Ember, and the clack of Steamer locking up his cabin.

“Last point,” Pharynx said. “Winner takes all.”

Preelix held out his arm. A violet flamberge of pure energy materialized in his grip, its muted hum making the spectators murmur the weapon’s name. “If you losssse your size-ssssshift completely, I win. If you draw blood on me, you win.”

“Agreed.”

The spectators ran for cover. The platform was soon cleared save for Preelix and Pharynx, who remained totally still. The wind swirled around them as they listened to the sounds of Steamer shuffling inside his cabin, who then peeked outside his window and saw the two of them still standing there like idiots.

Steamer sighed and pulled the train whistle.

FWEE!

Pharynx vanished in green flame. He melted into the shadows right as Preelix swung Sidewinder and made it split into interlocking segments. It resembled a cross between a ghostly whip and a sword, its razor sharp segments rattling the air with an eerie T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T!

Pharynx saw the serrated edged edges lashing towards him. They slid over his back with a bit of magical ‘push’ on his part, but Preelix was already attacking again before he could respond. The air filled with telltale rattling as Pharynx evaded a string of speedy attacks: Dodging left, rolling right, leaping back, ducking down, evading up, around, diagonal, front, and more. He was within the eye ofa raging bladed tornado, Sidewinder chewing through wooden boxes, raking the stone ground with flurries of sparks, and even shearing through metal carts.

“Not bad!” Preelix said. “Not bad at all! A sssssimple solution to a complex problem!”

Pharynx hissed. He could evade, but couldn’t get anywhere near Preelix. He managed to get off a spell and send a blurry illusion of himself running the opposite way. Sidewinder arced around to strike both targets, but the pause was enough for Pharynx to magically SLAP Preelix.

Preelix laughed. “What wassss that?! You won’t be drawing blood like—”

A brutal yank on Sidewinder almost tore it away. Pharynx’s subtle aura had enshrouded the blade, and with a burst of magic, had slingshotted it back at Preelix.
.
“Bah!” Preelix dismissed the weapon before it could hit. “Nice try—”

Pharynx closed with Preelix. He reared back for a strike...

FLASH!

...but hit only air.

Pharynx cursed. He searched his teacher’s emotions and soon sensed them zigzagging around behind him. Preelix was a bronze blur as he etched several draconic runes around the platform, the claw-like shapes already glowing and distorting everything around them. A shroud of impenetrable darkness was creeping towards Pharynx, its wicked tendrils reaching—

“Please.” Pharynx took aim and blasted the illusion runes apart. Unfortunately, this gave Preelix time to not only resummon Sidewinder, but also prepare an extra spell of his own. Illusory bits of coal appeared all around and started pummelling Pharynx as he fought to escape the trap. They passed right through him, of course...

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

But the real pieces didn’t.

“Don’t get hit by too many!” Preelix called over the noise. “Black’s not your color anymore!”

Phanynx growled. The exploding coal was nothing to his scaly chitin, but the bothersome soot made it hard to see. He took wing and flew circles above the haze while Preelix continued harassing him from below. Soon Sidewinder’s rattling edge was added to the assault, and Pharynx was once more forced to do nothing but dodge.

“Plan B, then…” Pharynx took a deep breath. When Sidewinder came at him again, he spun around and cast a volley of ice at Preelix. Preelix didn’t even bother to dodge—he simply opened his mouth, inhaled, and… proved why he was called ‘Spell-Eater’. But meanwhile, Pharynx had angled himself to be in Sidewinder’s oncoming path, and after a slight change to his grease spell—

PING!

Sidewinder bounced off Pharynx’s horn. Pharynx’s head vibrated like a tuning fork as he tumbled and wobbled through the air. His concentration dropped amidst his fight to right himself, and without it, a strange ‘ball’ in his mind, compressed and separated from the rest of his essence, shuddered.

A portion of the essence unravelled. A WONDERFUL warmth flooded Pharynx’s body in an intoxicating, energetic rush, one that he couldn’t help but savor. His body shook with a magical whum, and then all at once he began to swell. His chest spread wider and fuller. His legs and wings lengthened and thickened. Pounds upon pounds of toned, bulging muscle piled onto his larger frame. He slammed his eyes shut so he wouldn’t see the world shrink around him, flames spilled from his mouth to heat the air.

Preelix felt the energy spike plain as day. He watched Pharynx grow an entire foot larger in a heartbeat, then surge four feet more a few seconds later, then explode another eight right after! “Ah, blast it.” He held back his next salvo and called to Pharynx. “Wet clay, Roh’swal! Wet! Clay!Picture yourself rolling it into a ball!”

Pharynx bit back a moan. He followed Preelix’s advice and eased his stranglehold, and after a final surge pushing him nine additional feet higher… it stopped.

Preelix folded his arms. Pharynx now stood at thirty-three feet tall—about half his true size. He was so big he could’ve let Steamer’s train pass between his legs. “Ssssloppy. Better than the others, though...”

Syrupy magic and violet flames wreathed around Pharynx. His chitin felt warm and tingly, and the tantalizing intensity still egged him on... but more importantly, he could sense something else...

“Nnnnnnf...” It hit him like a haymaker. The amazing spicy scent of lusty dragons, the addicting aroma of willing drones, and so, SO much more. It all funnelled into that familiar tightness pooling behind his groin. “H-Here we go...”

Preelix clucked his tongue. His eyes drifted to Pharynx’s… lower bits, which had just faded into view.“Io’s claws... Either all royal sssshapeshifters are born breeders, or the Crysssstal Heart has a cruel ssssense of humor...”

Pharynx shifted his back legs. The weight of his recently-enhanced package dominated his mind alongside its ever-rising need. His dense, burgeoning nuts already brushed against his thighs, bloating lower and heavier by the week with no sign of stopping. His thick, bulging sheath relinquished foot after newly-enlarged foot of its virile prize before the spectators’ eyes. The length of said prize swiftly grew past his lower ribs, its girth surpassing his bulky legs...

“U-Unggh...” A haze engulfed Pharynx’s mind. These urges, this tightness had been nothing before the Crystal Empire. “How does Thorax deal with this?”

Preelix sighed. He dismissed his illusion and Sidewinder, then flitted up to Pharynx and got his attention.

“Roh’swal,” he said. “It sssseems that hit shorted out the Out of Sight, Out of Mind sssspell. Let’s pausssse so I can re—”

Preelix realized Pharynx was smirking.

“Oh, sssshells.”

A vortex of slicing winds sprang up around Preelix. A vicious cross-breeze hit his torn scale and pulled it off entirely before he could flee.

“YEOW!” Preelix blinked to the end of the platform. He glared daggers at Pharynx, who merely continued to smirk. “Devioussss little claw-biter! You did all that on purpose, didn’t you?!”

Pharynx might’ve laughed if he wasn’t barely holding it together. Emptiness gnawed at his gut like he’d been fasting for days. Need ached in his groin that only worsened by the second. He had to end this quick and reapply the spell, or else—wait, Preelix was still talking...

“...is the lessssson I’ve been getting at with thissss game.” A toothy smile split Preelix’s face. “No matter who or what you face, no matter when or where you are, there’s no greater advantage than creativity. Always keep your wits about you in battle! The skilled and the strong are nothing before the ssssly! If you do this, then ALL will fear your wrath, from the meekest mouse to the fiercest dragon!”

Preelix then beckoned Pharynx forward. “Make me question what I know!Keep me guessing and never stop! Be unpredictable in every way! Improvisssse and adapt! NOW!”

…

Well, then.

Guess it was time for Plan C.

“RAAAGGGGH!” Pharynx’s charge scattered both debris and spectators alike. He pumped his wings with the strength of a tempest, Preelix watching all the while without moving an inch. It seemed like he wasn’t going to do anything at first, but then, he conjured a normal-looking fireball and threw it right in Pharynx’s path.

FWSSSSSSH!

A line of fire spread across the platform, then rose up like a curtain with a loud roar of flame. Pharynx could still sense Preelix’s emotions, but they couldn’t see each other—

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T!

Sidewinder struck Pharynx from behind. It made to wrap around him, but the magic coating Pharynx saved him. He ignored the back attack and plunged through the flames even as the sword gave chase.

Once on the other side, he saw Preelix was lifting up tons of coal to block Pharynx’s path. He couldn’t even see Preelix through the mess, but he could still sense where the old wyrm was, and also that he… was eager to see what Pharynx would do?

“Keep you guessing…” Pharynx got closer and concentrated. Like all dragons, the emotions of his teacher were as fierce and intense as a mountain storm. Their love was much richer, heartier, and far more bountiful in certain circumstances, but that was just one emotion of an entire spectrum. It always puzzled Pharynx the only emotion any of his kind bothered with was the one they could eat, especially considering their redemption had proved it wasn’t a specific emotion that’d been the problem—but how they’d been acquiring it!

Preelix’s mind shone like a beacon before Pharynx. The logic seemed sound; if a skilled enough changeling shared another emotion in the same way love was shared—

“AHHHH!” A blast of alien, jittery agitation stabbed Preelix’s psyche. It was like his concentration was a calm pond, and a big rock had been thrown in to make choppy, disruptive ripples. Sidewinder disappeared in a blink. Tons of dirty coal fell crashing to the platform with a teeth-chattering WHAM. Preelix himself became engulfed in a purple aura, his own ‘ball’ of compressed essence shuddering in his mind...

Preelix traced a strange symbol across his chest. There was a whum, and several of his mottled scales fell off to reveal an ancient, ugly burn scar. The tough, ashen skin had been tattooed as well with draconic runes, but these ones were blood red. Preelix brandished a claw and pierced one of them.

“GAH!” Pharynx’s agitation rubber-banded back to him. Now those same ‘ripples’ were spreading to disperse his concentration, the remainder of his compressed essence rushing into him faster than you could say ‘feedback’. He gunned it before the euphoria took him.

Preelix wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. He was still glowing, but his aura had formed into a crimson spherical forcefield around him. Pharynx’s mind felt like taffy, but he tried to shift one of his front hooves into a dragon’s claw. He took aim at Preelix’s exposed thigh...

CRACK!

And that’s how baseball became the national sport of the Dragonlands.

Preelix went flying. Not only had Pharynx failed to shapeshift his leg, he’d clubbed Preelix’s strange barrier with a growing hoof the size of a barn door. Preelix sailed out of Sulfur Station and collided with Mount Shearwind with a BOOM like a volley of cannonballs. Chunks of stone hurtled in all directions in a shower of dust and stone. A spiderweb of cracks snaked out that could be seen all the way from the station. Every creature in the station whirled towards the noise, and even Thorax and Ember heard it a mile away.

Pharynx landed in a glowing heap. He rolled to the side and lay part way off the trashed platform, the sooty stone and steel rails groaning beneath his rising mass. It felt like a warm pair of invisible hands were massaging his whole body: stretching out his legs, billowing out his torso… and especially swelling his hefty member and nuts.

It was all Pharynx could do not to give in right there. He regained six feet of wonderful size in an instant, then another ten seconds later. He moaned low at the scrape of retreating debris around him, the tingles and jolts of his bones and muscles strengthening more and more. His body continued expanding to occupy both the platform and the railway, until the fourteen foot growth spurt put him at his current standing height of sixty-three feet, seven inches.

Pharynx’s eyes rolled back. Longer and thicker than a column, his cock risen over him by its own virile strength. His heavy, dense sack dominated his lap amidst a heady tingling buzz. He fought through the fog long enough to see a glistening violet tower of flesh towering over him, and he could hear his boulder-sized balls building their potent bounty—

THOOM!

The noise came from far away. What had Pharynx been doing, again? Something to do with Preelix, right? He was pretty sure that was right. Oh well, it probably wasn’t important. Nothing was important save for the throb of his pre-slicked shaft. His shaky hooves reached for his sensitive flesh—

“Out of sight, out of mind, thy lust and pride I now confine. Cast aside and left behind, thou shalt be whole, but also blind, thy vices gone to all but time.”

ZAP!

And just like that, Pharynx was staring up at the sky. A blur of bronze shifted in his peripheral...

“Nastorr!” Just beside Pharynx, a battered Preelix had landed on one of the remaining boxes. “Are you—”

Preelix chuckled despite the pain. “You hit like a train. I’ll have ssssome good bruises from that one...”

Pharynx sat up, his huge shadow swallowing Preelix. “I, erm… was aiming for your leg…”

Now Preelix burst out laughing. “I can’t ssssay you missed! But don’t look at me like that, oh no, no-no-no-no. I’m the one who chose to fight you at thissss size. I’ve a habit of sssshowing off in front of an audience...”

Pharynx blinked. He realized they’d gathered dozens of onlookers from the other platforms and talons. Not only that, but thanks to his lofty vantage point, he could see them gathered on the ends of their platform, perched atop nearby trains and railtowers, or just hovering in the air.

“I’d no idea your kind could usssse your empathy like that.” Preelix waved a claw, and his artificial scales gathered before him. “Unpredictable, indeed… I can’t remember the last time I had to invoke my blood runes! I guessss that means our spar is a draw.”

Pharynx saw what Preelix meant. Against the dull grey of his master’s scar, the thin rivulets of blood were clear as day. “That doesn’t count. You said I was the one who—”

“It’s a DRAW, Roh’swal,” Preelix said. “...Now, how’d I ssssend back your little surprise?”

Pharynx scrunched up his face. His retort still fought to escape, but he swallowed it with a sigh and went through the fight in his head. “You… had a surprise of your own.”

Preelix nodded. “Indeed I did. Among other things, that shield issss how I thwarted Princesssss Amore, long ago.” His fake scales reattached themselves one by one. “The craftiesssst foes always have something hidden up their sleeve: Unorthodox attackssss, versatile defenses, exploitation of weaknessssses, clever preparation, thinking on the fly, and so on. Thesssse are the pillars of the Silent Hunt, my roh’swal,and the traits I see in you. You worry your ssssize will hamper you, yet already, you’re using it to your advantage. Heed these words well: so long as you keep your mind sharp, I promisssse, you’ll only grow more capable the bigger you get.”

Pharynx’s face flushed. He looked down at himself, his legs alone each larger than a boxcar. A giddy, electric rush still raced in his chest from the bristling, addictive power thrumming inside him. He swore, he just wanted more of it the larger he became...

“I’d a feeling you had an ulterior motive with all this.” He looked to Thorax in the distance. “I’m still not totally on board, but... it wouldn’t be the first time Thorax has made me second guess my point of view. He thinks differently than the rest of us, has the courage to go against the grain.”

Preelix smiled. “You and your brother sssshare a bond more precious than any gem. I can ssssee you’ve influenced each other in many ways, and the mutual respect between you has had a great impact on your ssssubjects.”

Pharynx frowned. “How do you mean?”

“Come, now.” Preelix flew up and landed on Pharynx’s muzzle. “It’s not jusssst your brother they follow. Your devotion and sssservice has made you a hero in their eyes! Haven’t you noticed them following the example you and your brother have set? Look! They embrace your values and goalssss even now!”

Pharynx did. He saw the onlookers creeping back onto the platform little by little, their assorted murmurs arguing over who won the spar. He also identified the feelings of his fellow changelings: their sugary affection, their warm relief, their fierce pride, their hearty reverence...

“I-I...” Pharynx swallowed hard. “But, Thorax is the one who…”

Preelix patted Pharynx’s shoulder with magic. “You are their champion, roh’swal. You’re the ssssharpened blade at their sides, their symbol of ssssssstrength and pride. Without your courage and determination, King Thorax’s vision would crumble.”

It took him awhile to get there, but the more Pharynx looked on, the more he began to see. “I... make them feel safe. Thorax thinks in the long-term, so they’re trusting I’ll protect them until we’re truly at peace...”

Preelix nodded. “A united front inspires confidence, a divided one ssssows doubt. You and your brother’s trust and support of each other imparts a message of sssstability, and your success has strengthened it even more. The more confidence you insssspire, the more loyal your subjects will be… but even a popular regime can fall out of favor.”

Pharynx shifted in place. “So if Thorax has embraced his size...”

“Yes.”

It was hard to believe all of this was real sometimes. Having to be mindful of where he stepped at all times, maintaining a slew of defensive wards on top of that, the world around him always shrinking smaller. The thirty-plus feet he’d gained over the last three weeks was mostly a result of never feeling full. He'd tried to moderate himself, but his body always insisted he should be having more. Even gorging himself didn’t fill him up—just less hungry.

“Thorax chose this path for romance,” Pharynx said. “He wasn’t trying to be a better king, or benefit our race. He just wanted to be happy… to make HER happy.”

Preelix’s eyes gleamed. “True as that might be, ssssomething tells me you and your brother rarely share motive for your actions. Perhaps thissss was always meant to be.”

Pharynx sipped at the adoration. It was light and sweet, like a fizzy fruit punch one had at weddings. He relented and began consuming everything being offered, the emotions swirling into him like water down a drain. He hummed as the electric rush in his chest spurred him on.

Meanwhile, Preelix leapt back into the air and turned to those who’d gathered. “Hear me, dragons!” he shouted in Draconic. “In the name of the Dragon Lord, I, Preelix the Spell-Eater, hereby recognize the strength of the shapeshifter prince! His cleverness and guile are a boon to both his race and ours! May Io smile upon our newfound alliance!”

The bystanders cheered. The admiration and adoration went up another notch to Pharynx’s delight, and he continued to devour it without pause. A heady buzz was already gathering inside him, his scaly chitin feeling tight—

“Not bad, Greenie.”

Pharynx choked. His eyes re-focused to see an orange, hippogriff-sized dragoness hovering in front of his face. She was quadrupedal and sinuous, long, dextrous, and fit, with pink-purple spines that morphed into a frill on her head. Her sparkling blue eyes danced as she watched Pharynx cough and splutter.

“Can’t say very many have managed to hit Dad like that.” The dragoness’ smug look held his gaze prisoner. “Even fewer have lived to tell about it.”

Her spicy-sweet scent filled Pharynx’s nostrils. The wear of travel still clung to her, her well-muscled frame and large wings smudged with dirt and grime. Her scratchy voice was playful, and her emotions… well, that was another matter.

“S-Smolder?!” Pharynx’s wings twitched. “I… didn’t know you were back.”

Smolder landed on his shoulder. “Saw you and the old wyrm going at it on the way in. Thought I’d check it out.” She smirked and moved closer to his ear. “Quite the ‘royal scepter’ you’ve got there.”

Pharynx tilted his head. A vague memory regarding… something tried to surface, but a magical force pushed it away. “Wait, what?”

“Say, where’d Dad get off to?” Smolder searched the platform. She saw the crowd and the groups of workers cleaning up the mess, but that was it. “Wasn’t he just—”

“I thought I heard your voice!” Preelix zipped up from behind them. “Good timing! Did you catch the fight?”

It was easy to see the family resemblance. The most prevalent was Preelix’s bronze scales matching Smolder’s bronze horns, wing membranes, and underbelly scales, but there were other similarities, as well. The shape and pattern of all their scales matched, their tails were proportionally the same length to their bodies, their eye shape and fang structure were the same, the color of their magic was only a few shades apart, and their curved talons were identical.

Smolder looked her father up and down. She was about to say something, but then noticed his artificial scales were on crooked. She leaned in and started adjusting them for him.

Preelix blinked several times. “Again?! Grrrr, these new prossssthetics...”

Smolder giggled. “Hold still.”

“Wait, wait.” Violet magic spun about Preelix’s foal-sized form, his raw, ancient power making the air shimmer like a mirage. Pharynx felt the weight on his shoulder increase as Preelix grew to the size of an adult pony, then an adult hippogriff, then a touch beyond to stand over his daughter. “Now you can use more than your clawtipssss.”

“Right.” Smolder resumed smoothing out his fake scales. A short time later, they looked natural as could be. “Much better. Good fight, Dad.”

Preelix touched his snout to her brow. He checked her over for cuts or bruises, which made Smolder roll her eyes. “SSSSeems the Drakkengard patrol was dull as ever. I bet you could usssse a long lava soak after roughing it all week.”

Smolder’s eyes went huge. “I’d literally kill—”

The rest was drowned out by the noisy crowd. Several dragons were now shouting to Pharynx and Preelix while holding up various hard, flat surfaces. Smolder glared at the throng like she was ready to make good on what she’d just said, but they kept on yammering.

Pharynx paused between gulps of adoration. “Er… what are they doing?”

Preelix laughed. “I suppose you wouldn’t know. It’s cusssstomary for young dragons to commemorate a good battle with something sssscored.”

Pharynx raised an eyeridge. “Scored?”

“Scratch marks, ya battering ram,” Smolder said. “Show him, Dad.”

Preelix spread his wings and leapt off Pharynx. He glided over the crowd and landed behind them, and immediately, half of them split off and held out their rocks. Preelix took one and raked his claws on it.

“Just like that.” said Smolder, pointing. Her horns glowed, and all the rocks being offered to Pharynx rose up thirty feet into the air. “Here, I’ll hold them for you. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you will need to sprout some claws.”

Pharynx still didn’t quite get it, but it didn’t interrupt his meal, so... He willed his front-left limb to become like a dragon’s, then set about scratching stones while munching away. The tightness in his chitin was yearning for release at this point, the electric sensation sizzling inside...

Smolder’s eyes gleamed. Subtly, she trailed a claw up to a spot just beneath her ribs to a very specific bronze scale. It absolutely wasn’t crooked, nor had it been at any time. “Looks like Dad talked you out of trying and failing to starve yourself. Better late than never, I suppose. Think you can keep yourself from passing out in the middle of our spars now?”

Pharynx bit his lip. “Y-You’d better still… pose a ch-challenge. I won’t be—mmmmf—catching up to my... b-brother, b-but you’llllllll still be… h-hard pressed!”

Smolder burst out laughing. “You think I’ve been going all out against someone who can barely stand? I’ve been hoping you’d get your act together, big guy! Maybe now I can cut loose!”

The ‘big guy’ moniker made Pharynx wince, but it was swiftly forgotten. “S-Speaking of cutting loose...”

It was all Smolder could do to keep her tail down. She could feel Pharynx’s body tightening, his warm chitin rumbling beneath her. She was rather tight and shaky herself, but that was from a different hunger. She laid down on her stomach and kept her front claws from wandering south.

The platform and train rails groaned under Pharynx’s increasing weight. The murmuring crowd stepped back as his growth became apparent to all, the weathered stone cracking and tempered steel bending. Pharynx reached seventy feet tall and kept on rising, tons upon tons of mass forming and spreading, claiming and empowering. Seventy-five feet tall was soon after, but there was still so much more love being offered. He started savoring it less and consuming more, and he was rewarded with a blissful heady rush while the ground fell away. Now eighty-five feet tall and rising, he sucked down the remaining edible emotions in one ravenous go. A final combo of tightness and relief made him shudder, and he outgrew the platform with a groan to finish at the new size of ninety-nine feet, seven inches.

“Ngggh...” Smolder’s stiff wings fought to unfurl. Emptiness and need roared inside her and made her squirm. Pharynx’s mouth was like a deep cave, his six-foot fangs longer than she was tall. His long, carpet-like tongue was dextrous and wet, and she could only imagine what that cock of his was like now...

Pharynx snapped out of a daze. The first thing he saw was the dragons and changelings in the crowd around him. His nostrils alone bigger than they were, and the sprawling Sulfur Station was like a model to him now. Panic was the knee-jerk reaction upon realizing the large steel trains were (comparatively) little more than toys, but he managed to avoid a full-blown freakout. He looked over at Smolder on his shoulder, and saw she was squatting like a cat with her tail curled around her.

“E-Erm…” Pharynx stifled a fiery burp. “Anyway, I’m glad I caught you before Thorax and I headed back to the hive. Ocellus came home to visit her parents last week, and she wanted me to give you a message.”

The louder, fuller boom of Pharynx’s voice made Smolder quiver. She could taste his elemental fire, smell his healthy, dragon-like scent all around her. “Nice! How’s she liking being a professor?”

Pharynx resumed scratching the crowd’s rocks like nothing had happened. “She said she’ll catch up with you proper at your friends’ next get-together, but thought you’d like to know now your friend Yona is pregnant. Again.”

The emptiness inside Smolder throbbed. Fortunately, her horns already glowing from holding the rocks, so she was able to magic her soaking slit dry. “Heh-heh... Earth ponies and yaks, man, who knew? I don’t even know how many kids her and Sandbar are up to now. I lost count with all the multiples.”

Pharynx paused. Upon the mention of kids, he could’ve swore he’d sensed a desperate desire in her. His powers of empathy were growing along with the rest of him, but near as he could tell, Smolder’s emotions were placid as always. “...Can I ask you something?”

Annnnnnnd now the throbbing was a full-on longing ache. Smolder’s heart skipped a beat as she looked up into Pharynx’s huge, looming eyes. “What’s up?”

They stared at each other in silence. Not for the first time, Pharynx found himself drawn in by her kind face, her pretty horns, her easy smile. Every time they talked in private, the stresses and tensions of being a prince seemed to fade into the background. “I didn’t think ponies and yaks could have children together. I asked Ocellus about it, but she said something about a ‘Pinkie Promise’. She added, however, you weren’t bound to the same promise.”

Smolder had to chuckle at that. “Well, look at you. Good guy prince going the extra mile to keep a Pinkie Promise. I like that.”

Pharynx didn’t normally blush, but her sudden sultry tone set his face on fire. “Did… you volunteer to go to the School of Friendship? Or did you have to go?”

Smolder’s brain encountered an error. “Wait, what?”

Pharynx started. “U-Um! I mean… th-that is… I-I-I wanted to ask you two things! Yeah!” He became very interested in scoring the offered rocks. “I’ll, a-ah… get to the other in a second...”

Io above, he was cute when he was nervous. “Certainly not what I thought you were gonna ask. Why the sudden interest, hmm?”

Pharynx shrugged. “Call it curiosity—” He was cut off by Smolder’s yelp. His shrug had nearly thrown her off his shoulder. “Shells! Sorry!”

“I-It’s fine!” A lie; a flat-out lie. She’d flared her wings to steady herself, and they’d snapped out hard like they were spring-loaded. “Ow…E-Erm, I had to go, yeah! I didn’t want to, but Dad pushed for it hard. He said he wanted me to have ‘true strength’. Didn’t really get it at the time.”

Pharynx stared. Smolder was crouched down on all fours, her stance wide, her heavy wings spread for balance. She looked like a hunter ready to swoop onto its prey. “But you wound up liking it in the end?”

“Yeah—ergh!” Smolder brute-forced her wings closed and laid back down. “Made friends, learned lots of things, mastered new magic, saved the world a few times… And at the end of it all, I realized Dad was right. Harmony and friendship are powerful stuff—they even beat Theskathur! Equestria is a powerhouse!”

Pharynx couldn’t argue with that one. “Though it certainly makes you see Canterlot Castle’s statue garden in a different light.”

Smolder’s face fell like a stone. “...Y’know, I’m not sure what thought I find scarier: one of their super-powerful immortals going bonkers, or some other nutjob getting their grubby limbs on the petrifying rainbow laser.”

A heavy silence fell. Pharynx finished scoring the rocks and Smolder levitated to them to their owners, but then she hovered up a bunch more. It seemed many wanted scorings from both combatants, and while Pharynx and Preelix weren’t thrilled, they didn’t have it in them to say no to the young drakes and dragonesses. So, they kept scratching whatever was shoved in their faces while the station workers loaded coal in the background.

“Sometimes I wish things were the way they used to be,” Pharynx said after a time. “No complicated politics, no mountain of responsibility, no strange new way of life, none of this growth business. There were once only three things I had to worry about: my orders, my brother, and the hive. That was my entire world.”

Smolder’s thoughts sobered. She got that far-off look again, the tip of her tail tracing figure-eights in the air. “Yeah, I hear you. Things were a lot easier for me before I went to the School of Friendship. I don’t resent my dad or anything, but…”

“You still miss it sometimes,” said Pharynx.

Smolder nodded. “So, what’s your second question?”

She may have been neutral towards Pharynx, but he could still sense she was the most loving dragon he’d ever encountered: She loved her family, she loved her friends, she loved her country, her race, and so, so much more. Everything she loved was precious to her, and each one made her fight that much harder. Made her fierce loyalty burn that much brighter.

“My brother and the Dragon Lord have been... discussing things,” Pharynx said. “Things that involve combining two separate entities to make something new, if you follow. Some things would be easy to merge, others would be trickier, and others still are daunting to even think about.”

Smolder made a note to start accumulating more wealth for her hoard. A lot more. “Especially if they’ve never been done before.”

Pharynx wet his dry lips. “Ocellus told me about the medical tests she’s run on your friends’ children. Compatibility with all pony variants, compatibility with all yak variants. The yakony genome is so stable that, in several generations, when the species has spread out enough…”

“Two yakonies can have kids just like two of any other race,” Smolder said. “Completely new species. Pretty cool, huh?”

Off in the distance, Thorax and Ember continued to snuggle in the sun. Neither Pharynx nor Smolder were looking that way, though—they only had eyes for each other.

“How?” Pharynx whispered. “How’d they make it happen? A spell? Alchemy? An item? A ritual?”

The thought of ‘making it happen’ made Smolder’s tail twitch. “Alright, Greenie, alright. I suppose I can tell you what I overheard and point you in the right direction. But just know—assuming this works for dragons and changelings at all—I’ve no idea if this works on a larger scale. You’ll have to ask the hippogriffs about that.”

Pharynx tilted his great head. “The hippogriffs?”

“Mmhmm.” Smolder examined one of her paws. “It was Silverstream’s post-wedding present to them. No idea what she did or used—all she said was, ‘on the next full moon, Yona and Sandbar will be in harmony forever.’ Sounded like typical Silverstream stuff, but the next thing I know, Sandbar’s junk is so huge he needs a harness, Yona is knocked up with quads, she won’t shut up about Sandbar’s ‘endurance’, and all the while, that crazy horse-fish-bird is wearing the smuggest look I’ve ever seen!”