Alas, I screwed my eyes shut because I definitely didn't need the image of what followed next in my mind. Neither did I want to know what it felt like to be fed like this, but that wasn't really an option with my changelings. I suspect Arachne had a hoof in this but they refused to produce more royal jelly than what was strictly needed (something about it taking a lot of energy to produce or some other nonsense). Even worse than that, they refused to put it in a cup for me to drink out of instead.

Royal jelly 'spoils too fast', my flanks. They just like to molest me every opportunity they get, for fuck’s sake. It wasn't in any way, shape, or form too time sensitive for me to eat it out of a cup, seriously. And even if it was, it sure as hell wouldn't spoil that fast.

I mean... maybe it reacts with oxygen? Was that a thing with royal jelly? Or were my 'lings merely trying to gaslight me with their nefarious schemes? Ugh. They might actually have a point if it does react to stuff like magic crystals, becoming toxic to consume or something. Arachne would know, having extensively studied the substance, but... would she tell me the truth if I asked her? For all I know, she would launch into an elaborate explanation where I would hardly be able to keep up with her use of science-y words. Words I was half sure she herself made up to explain magic in a semi-rational way.

Maybe I really do need to stop fighting this so much, don't I? It was clear to me that they won't change how I‘m going to get my 'meals' anytime soon (if ever). And it really was only thanks to their help that I got through laying so many eggs at once. Even now my body feels sluggish and low on energy, I didn't want to know what would have happened otherwise.

I mean, I could imagine. It wasn't that hard to assume I would have gone through a majority of our supplies of changeling honey to honor my promise to Amore to not 'purposefully' starve myself. The following fallout would have been disastrous for my brood (and myself), most likely.

Even if I had a pony volunteer to actively feed me during the process of laying my eggs, I fear I might have drained them completely dry of all emotions because of how... ravenous I could get during some parts of it. Even Amore wouldn't have stood a chance against my hunger, and draining the Crystal Heart like last time would have been out of the question, as well. Yes, it can withstand a lot, I'll give it to that heart-shaped doomsday device, but if I did that every year with a presumably worse hunger than the last... I might get close to breaking it. Fuck, I might start to lay as many as a few thousand eggs per year eventually. That would definitely put a major strain on it.

Let's just conveniently ignore that a beehive could easily number in the high thousands at any one given time. That road definitely leads toward madness. As much as the image of laying that many eggs excites me, it also manages to strike quite a bit of fear into my heart. Just thinking of it was enough to completely distract me from what Honeydew was doing, to be honest.

If I was already ravenous as fuck after laying barely more than half a hundred eggs, how much worse would it get with half a thousand? What about more than a thousand? Or suns forbid, close to ten thousand eggs?

I need to be careful, that much was abundantly clear to me. Obviously, our current population couldn't support more than a thousand, maybe two-thousand changelings if we play it cleverly. There’s only one solution to this mess I inadvertently found myself in. The hive's growth has to be limited, and if my body couldn't be persuaded to stop at a reasonable number each year, I need to take drastic measures into my own hooves for the good of the Empire.

Either I crush eggs deliberately or I find ways to cut down on energy requirements by a lot. It is going to take a lot of time until pony foals grow up to an appropriate age for my changelings to even start considering relationships with them. Unless we experience a massive boom in birth rate, that is. Ponies do get kind of easily pregnant from what I have observed so far.

But that was a worry for another time, I suppose. If I was indeed right in assuming that changelings emerge at the approximate age of twenty-five or so, it wouldn't even become an issue when my hive grows large enough for it to pose a problem. If anything, we were going to run out of space if my subjects continued the trend of three-ish foals per mare. My hive would eventually even out simply because I was the only one able to lay so many eggs at once.

Then again... if my changelings grow too large in number, they might start a similar process as to what Arachne told me bees would do. Not every new queen in a hive means that the old one has to be superseded, after all. While I very much hoped that day may never come, my instinct to serve the hive was more powerful than even my own survival instinct. The survival of the hive has the utmost priority, it is as simple as that.

Anyway! As long as my hive does not grow too large in number, my workers might not be tempted to create a new queen and start a process Arachne told me was called swarming (which typically meant the old queen would break off with a large number of her swarm in search of a new location to settle, but it also meant any new queen might leave the old hive with her own part of the swarm after emerging). If that does indeed happen sometime in the future, I'm pretty sure the Crystal Empire is going to be large enough to support a decently sized hive. Until then, I could only speculate and make guesses at best.

While the soul of this world called me the Weaver of Fate, I doubt I have any kind of future clairvoyance ability or some other, similar bullshit power. I mean, it would be kinda nice to have some forewarning about the next big thing trying to drive me insane and into depression, but that could just as easily backfire on me.

Knowing the future makes for very bad paranoia, I knew that much. The warning tales of people going completely bonkers with that kind of power didn't exist for nothing, after all. Usually, it was one story or another about learning your own fate, and when said fate involved your own death? Yeah, you better believe it's going to end up being your own fault for being a paranoid git. I'd rather live in blissful ignorance if that is the case.

As it stands, destiny has a rather strange way of manifesting itself sometimes. Sort of like finding out one of your drones managed to get a pony mare pregnant. You know... like actually finding out they managed to do just that after joking about it. Yay.

"They look almost like a changeling..." I hummed, staring at the two little bundles of joy between Silk and her mate Emerald Shine (some ponies have decided to take on a new name, either because of... well... their upbringing in captivity or because they never got a name due to... ahem, 'other'... circumstances). Said mare was currently leaning her head against Silk's chest in exhaustion while smiling tiredly down on her foals.

Said foals were a mix between crystal pony and changeling in the way that they already had tiny fangs poking out of their gums and translucent insect wings on their back. The wings looked a lot softer and roundish compared to regular changeling wings, though. Whether that was because of the dominant pony genes or not, neither I nor Arachne could tell and Shadra refused to even think of the word genetics ever since she recovered one particular memory buried deep beneath the ocean of our unwanted memories from Tabetha, Tobias, and Sam.

Apparently, we were a genetic experiment concocted up by Tobias Baker to create human clones (the less said about the reasons for that, the better). In the hands of Massive Dynamic, I could already tell they weren't even a stone's throw away from re-enacting order sixty-six in real life, seriously. I'm glad we left that shitshow of a world behind us, I don't want to know how long it would have taken until an invasion of clones took over Earth and enslaved humanity to their will.

Knowing the Fringe Division... that’s exactly the kind of crap that would happen to them, wouldn’t it?

"To be honest, they look more like breezies to me," Amore commented next to me, leaning in close with a soft smile on his muzzle.

"The fuck are those now?" I asked, thoroughly confused. I was thankful for the distraction, at least. I really didn't need to delve deeper into the sheer wrongness that was Massive Dynamic and Tobias' less-than-ethical experiments. Going down that rabbit hole was a prime way to get lost in depression while ending up with waking nightmares every living moment.

And that was another reminder I didn't need, for fuck's sake. We really need to clean up in here at some point, I'm sure there are mental spells made for the specific purpose of forgetting things. I'd rather not try to create one by myself lest I end up brain-dead.

That was one of those memories from Tabetha that had managed to make even her afraid of going to sleep despite knowing she was perfectly safe while secluded in the Harvard laboratory with her mentor, Walter Bishop.

The scientist behind that Fringe incident had a truly sick mind, abusing the trust of innocent people just because he got addicted to a rather twisted rush induced by 'stealing' dreams. Depending on when the 'alter ego' of said scientist tried to steal them, those people the 'good' doctor tried to help with a chip implant in their brain died a rather gruesome death caused by fright, even during the day. Hence the waking nightmares.

It was no wonder we really, really, really don't want to have anything to do with those memories anymore. That’s one of the more tame ones, but the implications were seriously horrifying. I’m glad we don't experience dreams anymore. If we did, I'm sure we would have our fair share of nightmares each and every night. There’s no way it would be different, what with all the other things floating around in our head.

I shudder to think what that kind of power could do in the hooves of the wrong pony. Being able to cause nightmares even while somepony is still awake... it’s eerily close to my own affinity for mind magic, isn't it? I could just as easily rip apart a pony's mind without even laying a single hoof on them. But... dream magic could just as well utterly ruin somepony if it exists.

Anyway! That train of thought was better left alone and forgotten. Even if Lord Morpheus does exist, I doubt the ruler of the sleeping realm would torment the waking world for no reason. Or innocent ponies, for that matter.

But that’s enough of that. More important for now was the little explanation Amore gave to me about these 'breezies'. Those were apparently tiny fae-like ponies with a mischievous streak a mile wide and basically useless at everything they do except gathering pollen. Those weren't quite his words as he described them, but... come on, that's basically what they were and you know it. Useless annoying fairies that even Peter Pan wouldn't know what to do with, and that's putting it mildly.

I'm glad I didn't end up as a breezy. That would have sucked majorly (and not in a fun way). Still, there is one thing we had very much in common and that is our insect slash fae-like nature. With this new pony race being born between changelings and ponies, I have to wonder... what other races were out there that could be, for lack of a better description, ‘fae’?

Were there nature spirit-like ponies out there? Something like dryads and elven ponies? What about merfolk? Was there an equivalent to that here? Hmm. We have already come across spirits taking on physical form, haven't we? After all, that's pretty much what those snow elementals in the form of cats were. The elements given form. Those were like a part of this world's magic, which is basically the definition of fae, isn't it? A supernatural, magical being. Along those lines, this world was practically fae in all the ways it matters. There’s nothing that was truly magic-less, here. At least not as far as we have noticed so far. Everything was, by its very nature, magical.

Though I wouldn't go so far as to call ponies ‘fae’ simply because they have magic in them. I think that, in this case, it was more appropriate to call every creature 'fae' that is unnatural or changed in one way or another. Or more accurately: every tribe that has come to be through means not intended by natural evolution and those born from a mix between those races. Which in turn left us with a conundrum, really. Just what do we call the offspring between a changeling drone and a pony mare?

Arachne commented and I hummed in agreement. It would be rather strange to call them that only with the fae meaning in mind, wouldn't it?

"Hey!" I pouted while I was sitting down on my rump with my forelegs crossed in indignation. Emerald gave me a tired and confused glance while Silk only snorted in mirth. Amore merely raised his brow at me and I huffed, knowing my Princess was probably right in saying that. "We're debating what to call their race since they aren't quite changelings. At least, not in the way Silk or I am. I don't even know whether they would be able to connect to the hive mind, so... there's that, too."

"I am not going to abandon my own foals just because they aren't a part of the hive, My Queen," Silk admonished me, a frown on her muzzle as she held the twins protectively closer to her and their mother. "They are too precious to me. As are you, my precious Emerald."

Said pony mare smiled as she gazed lovingly into Silk's eyes. "I know, love. Although, maybe we should come up with their names first?" I winced at the tiny, motherly glare she sent my way and laughed nervously. Right, that. I've kinda gotten used to my brood naming themselves, to be honest.

"How about... Sapphic—” Silk began before stopping herself. “Eh... I mean, Sapphire Love for this adorable little filly?" she asked and I rolled my eyes at that slip of the tongue. My daughter clearly has a sense of humor...

"And her brother?" Emerald Shine hummed, interested. I was mildly surprised that she didn't admonish her wife, but I guess she wouldn't really know what that meant.

"I don't know," Silk sighed, ear flicking in irritation. "For some reason, I can only think of girly names. I'm sorry, my love."

"It's alright, dear," Emerald smiled and closed her eyes in thought. I have to admit, though, naming ponies was one of those things I had massive respect for the parents of the foals. It has a certain sense of finality, a feeling of destiny that I wish I could make sense of. Alas, even as 'Weaver of Fate', my eyes were blind to the truth hidden in the tapestry of the world. "Say... is Midnight Shimmer the name you thought of?"

"I..." Silk mumbled, stunned, and I watched my daughter look at her in surprise and awe. "...yes. How did you..?"

Indeed. How did she know the name my little drone was thinking about? My gaze wandered over to Amore questioningly as he smiled in a knowing way and I raised a brow at him, confused.

"Don't try to question it, Ara," he whispered, nodding towards the door to give the two and their newborn foals their rest. I sent a silent ping over to Silk letting her know we were leaving before following my stallion out into the 'hospital' ward. It was more of a small hotel at the moment, to be honest. The actual hospital was still under construction, like so many other public buildings. Things were progressing a lot faster than we expected, though.

Already, the streets were nearing the point where they would be finished and most ponies had at least one form of communal housing with the houses currently available. At this rate, we might even start on the Crystal Palace before the end of the year.

I wonder how Orchard is doing. With Quartz gone, she’s the only one living in that empty house of hers. Granted, most of the time she is tending to the fields, but still...

"Is everything alright?" Amore asked me and I blinked.

"Come again?"

"You seem a bit distracted lately," he said, giving me a concerned look. "Is everything alright? You aren't starving yourself again, are you?"

"What? No!" I snorted, frowning back at him. "I'm fine, 'more. I promise."

"Then what is on your mind that you keep walking around with your head in the clouds?" he asked, holding the door open for me as we exited the building out into the bright light of the twin suns. And not for the first time, I looked at the mildly reflecting surface underneath me with a sense of foreboding.

"It's Orchard," I sighed. Well, Orchard was only one thing on my mind right now, but definitely the one I kept worrying about the most. Not even the thought of the umbrum being up to no good was bothering me as much as the thought of my best friend being, well... not quite her usual self. "How can she be so... nonchalant about Quartz? She didn't even cry when he wasn't there. She just smiled sadly and forgave him for hightailing it out of there! I'm worried she's bottling this up, but... I don't know what I could do to help her. She isn't even feeling sad anymore." Just numb. Which honestly scared me more.

"Ara... it's been a year now since Quartzite left," Amore sighed, brushing himself against me with a comforting nuzzle. Damn. He looked so pretty doing that. Being all nice and shit. What did I ever do to deserve him? Even when he frowned, he looked so gorgeous. "I think she has just given up hope, waiting for him to return. She knows he can't stay here. And what you told us of how he felt... bothered... by his change, I can make a good guess why he didn't want her to see him like that. Not to mention, he would be a constant danger to not only her but also everypony else here. Yes, she loves him unlike any other pony, but I think she has let him go out of a sense of love. She can't bear the thought of him agonizing over the fact that, if he ever hurt her, he would most likely take his own life. As much as it pains me to say this, it is probably for the best."

I hummed dejectedly, leaning against him as we neared the little crystal block of a home we have been staying in until we have our own permanent 'house'. It wasn't far off from the entrance to the hive actually, standing next to a 'young' oak tree whose growth has been considerably accelerated since we planted it. It's probably going to end up becoming our home away from home once our palace is built.

"She's a big mare, Ara. Just be there for her as much as you can and everything will be alright, okay?" he reminded me (not that that was enough to make my thoughtful frown vanish into nothingness). "You know, as much as you complain about my bleeding heart, you show more than your fair share of it yourself when those you care about make you worry for their health."

I looked up a bit at his loving smile, huffing out a frustrated breath before returning his smile with a somewhat hesitant one. "I guess so. I just wish she would... I don't know, talk about it or something. Am I the only one that blames the idiot for leaving without so much as a goodbye to her?"

"No, you are not," he replied, interlocking his horn with mine, causing my tail to rise up a little bit from the sudden flash of pleasure. For being such a prude, he sure knew how to get me aroused. "Now, how about we forget this for the rest of the day and cuddle?"

"That does sound nice," I admitted, feeling my heart skip a beat with a delightful quiver and I followed him into our darkened bedroom, a spring in my step. Both my Princesses were suspiciously absent, giving us a little bit of space. I suppose they thought I needed it more, which was kind of sweet of them, but it made me feel kind of guilty for leaving them out like this. "Say, Amore... do you ever think about what life would have been had I not been there?"

He hummed, drawing me a bit closer to himself as we got comfortable on the fluffy bed. Crystal sheep wool was seriously amazingly soft, I have to admit. "I do, and... I'm glad you were there.” He stayed silent for a moment before looking at me curiously. “Why this sudden interest?”

"I keep thinking about it, whether I deserve this, and how Quartz would still be here, a-and L-Leaf..." I mumbled dejectedly, shifting against him. My ears drooped as I listened to the steady beat of his heart, his breathing tickling the top of my head. I wish I could start over and do everything right, but I knew that wasn’t possible. And yet... "Everypony is so nice about it that it makes me feel even worse for constantly failing everyone."

"You aren't failing anypony," he scoffed and I felt him frown from his body language alone. And from the tone he spoke with, I guess, but mainly how he held me against himself. Almost possessive and afraid. "I know you know that, you silly dumb bug. Are you fishing for compliments from me to make you feel better?"

"What..?" I asked, feigning innocence. "No, never. Definitely not, nuh uh. Whyever would I do something so underhoofed like that?"

"I can hear you trying to hide that smile~," Amore teased and poked me in the side, making me giggle. "You are incorrigible."

"I could use some comforting words, though," I told him, snuggling myself deeper into his fur. That's one thing I have to admit isn't quite so nice about being buggy. Pony fur is a whole lot more pleasing to the feel than chitin, but 'more didn't seem to mind. If anything, he liked my buggy features quite a lot. Especially my wing nubs.

Amore chuckled, nuzzling my ear before giving it a lick. And mainly because of that, I guess. The smooth-ish quality of my chitin felt a lot better on the tongue than fur ever could. Not that that ever stopped me from returning the favor. "I suppose I could entertain my cute, narcissistic marefriend..."

"Hey!"

"Those were your own words to describe yourself, were they not?" he pointed out before grabbing my ear in his mouth and sucking noisily on it. He really did have a thing for my chitin, didn't he? Well, then... two can play at the same time, I thought in mischief while my tail swished around in happiness behind me. I took my revenge on him by nibbling on his chest while my hooves trailed slow circles over his chest, steadily going lower and lower towards the 'sword' that was starting to peek out of its sheath. "Ara..."

"Hmm?"

"You are not going to touch my penis, are you?"

"No, never~," I replied, grinning giddily to myself. I didn't even lie, an evil feeling welling up from deep within me. This was going to rile him up like nothing else could, I thought with glee.

The best revenge is a dish served cold. I'm so gonna blue ball him and leave him begging for release. It was the perfect evil master plan. Eh heh heh.

"Ara, I..." he started only to let out a 'squeaky grunt' as I brushed my hoof through the fur of his inner thigh, tracing his firm muscles towards the hock of his legs before going back very slowly to his Cutie Mark on his flanks.

"You... what?" I smiled, gazing up at him as he squirmed next to me. His hind legs were twitching as he puffed out a snort of frustration.

"Please, don't do this to me. Have mercy on this poor unicorn..."

I rolled my eyes, not one bit convinced to stop my wandering hooves from doing what I wanted as he made no move whatsoever to put an end to my teasing touches. "Hmm... I don't think so, 'more. You did start this, after all. You need to learn the consequences of your actions, dear~."

"I..." he started but I cut him off. Not by planting my lips against his, but by forcing him to squeak once more in frustration as my hoof found the most wonderful places while completely avoiding his stallionhood. I knew humans had some pretty sensitive skin on their inner thighs, but Amore? He stood no chance against his body as I simply hovered my hoof the slightest bit over the soft flesh covered in his creamy beige coat.

Suffice it to say, his raspberry tail wasn't the only thing that was twitching for attention. I suppressed the cackle of pure delight as I pretty much did the same thing again with his other leg, getting dangerously close to his sheath and the balls nestled a little bit further back. Those two orbs were, by human standards, quite huge but not overly so. Heck, for a pony (especially one of his size), they were nothing to write home about, more or less 'average' in size. They were cute and I rather liked them like that, able to easily fit them in my hooves. If they weren't already trying to bury themselves in their inguinal canals because of how cold my hooves were, that is.

I grinned a fanged smile as I lightly touched them, carefully shifting them this way and that in a gentle massage. Amore's heart was starting to hammer away in his chest in an erratic rhythm, something that was quite clearly put on display by the throbbing of his thick and juicy cock. I really wanted to suck on that rod for all that it was worth, but I had better ideas than that in mind. Evil ideas.

What can I say? I have the demonic succubus and mischievous fae part down pat. My glee found no bounds! Mwahahaha!

Next, I trailed the tip of my hoof sharply up next to his dick, making him inhale with a quick gasp and a shudder. I couldn't help but giggle as his dick bobbed up for a moment before flopping back down on his lower stomach a moment later. I felt him shiver all over his body from want alone which just made this so much more exciting. I had him completely ensnared in my web of lust and I savored it like the perverted pervert that I was.

Lust was just the best and that's one hundred percent true. There's no arguing against that. I mean... love is pretty nice and all but lust takes the cake. Although... if lust takes the cake, royal jelly is the icing on top. Now, if only I could have royal jelly every day without my workers insisting to feed it to me through 'personal contact', the world would be just perfect. It's almost like they took the bee thing entirely too seriously...

Haah... embrace the bug in you, Ara. The sexy, demonic, fae bug. It's your destiny~. All shall bow down before your magnificence!

Amore let out a gasp as my fangs pierced his hide with next to no resistance as I bit him directly in his pretty snowflake Cutie Mark, injecting him with enough venom that he would be unable to move a limb for a few hours. I smiled deviously as I crawled on top of his chest, looking him into his slightly panicked and thoroughly aroused eyes.

He looked so cute, utterly helpless and completely at my mercy. It was almost like a rush for the both of us, I could tell. He truly was one very, very submissive pony, wasn't he? My, my, his dick got even harder from my treacherous actions~. Not to mention, his lust-filled emotions practically exploded all over the Empire just because I did that to his Cutie Mark instead of somewhere else.

Those butt marks truly are something else, aren't they?

"Mhh, my dear Snowflake... whatever shall I do with you?" I asked, touching my chin with a hoof in a pondering way. "Do I or do I not tie you to the bed? Hmm..."

Amore tried to work his mouth but I might have given him just enough venom to hinder him from protesting against me. Oops, my bad~.

"Maybe I will leave you all alone and aroused for a few hours? Or I might just tease you to the edge of orgasm over and over and over again?" I grinned, my evil master plan coming to fruition at last. The look in his eyes spoke of crushing despair and it made me even more giddy. He clearly didn't want that, it would be nothing but pure torture. "I'm not feeling particularly merciful right now, so you have to speak up, my dear. Otherwise, I won't know what you do and do not want~."

I was this close to cackling as all he did was give me an exasperated, unimpressed huff. "What is that? You want me to feed you honey made from lust? Aww, with pleasure, dear!"

I couldn't suppress the snicker this time as I faintly felt his muscles twitch underneath me. Lust really did a number on ponies and he knew that. It was basically like inducing a mini-estrus in ponies and depending on the potency and/or amount, they would practically beg anything with legs to mount them and have their way with them. Even some of the more submissive stallions, I thought with a mischievous giggle.

Oh, it would be so fun to find out how my Snowflake would react to that...

Amore's panic spiked as I brought my muzzle close to his and I gave him... a peck. Now I really did start to cackle as his feelings turned into a confused mess of relief, fear, and anger.

"Relax, you idiot," I said, poking him with a roll of my eyes. "I'm not going to make you go gaga in the head. Do you really trust me so little? I haven't once forced you into anything you didn't want me to do, and that's something that has taken me some considerable willpower to accomplish, seriously. You, my dear Snowflake, are the walking definition of temptation.

"So, no. I am not going to drug you (aside from the venom, that is), and neither am I going to rape you. I have standards, believe it or not. Sex is reserved for when we are married, and as much as I resent having to wait, I will be patient and content myself with naughty teasing and petting. Maybe oral if you're okay with that.

"Now, after we are married, though? All bets are off. I am going to have your dick shoved so far up my snatch, it's going to be stuck in there for weeks. You aren't going to weasel your prissy, prudish ass out of making love to me, I swear.

"Every day I go without is one more day of agony. I don't think you really get this, Amore. I feel empty. So fucking empty! It's driving me nuts, downright insane even. I'm actively fighting against my instincts to get laid here, damnit. And it's getting so much harder to keep myself from doing something you don't want me to do, it's not even funny!

"Do you know what that is like? It's like giving a starving pony a breadcrumb while a full-course meal is just outside of their reach. Except I could reach out to it and it's not a feast but your wonderfully perfect dick!

"I'm a queen, dear. I need this as much as you and I need to breathe. Changelings are fundamentally different from ponies, even if we share a common trait as simple as our shape and form. A drone going without sex is like having their penis lit on fire while a worker or queen... well... I already told you that. But a queen has it worse, 'more. So much worse.

"I am meant to be bred, Snowflake. It's my very nature, my purpose in the hive. I fucking need to get fucked until I start leaking cum! I will have you scratch my itch until you pass out from exhaustion when we are married. That's not a promise, 'more, it's a damn fact. I love you to bits, but... that doesn't mean I'm happy with you right now about any of this."

Far from it, even. It was so very hard to control myself around him and he really wasn't making it easy on me. I'm already close to the breaking point, I can feel it. I don't want to disappoint him, but... with everything that has been happening, the things weighing me down... it is a wonder I'm not frothing at my mouth right now, jumping the first pony in sight to get at their seed.

A changeling queen, as we found out, is always having their nuptial flight. It doesn't end and never will. Which kind of made sense if we were right about our theory in regard to our lifespan. And that's even more true for a queen running out on sperm, I suspect. I don't think I'm going to run out anytime soon, but still. I want Amore's seed in the mix, so to speak.

Preferably only his~.

Sadly, we can't empty our stores as far as I know (and we definitely tried finding out if it was actually possible, trust me). Not that I would want them empty right now, but... eventually, I would like to freshen up the quality simply to make sure no problems arise because the seed got too old to do its job correctly.

Arachne did tell me it should be no problem since a queen produces a fluid specifically made for storing sperm in the long term, but she couldn't give me a better estimate for how long that would last than 'Probably seven years, give or take a few'.

Usually, those seven years meant the queen served her hive long enough and needed to be replaced. Let's just hope I'll last a bit longer than that.

Indefinite nuptial flight or not, I do have to think about having an heir at one point or another. Not just because the hive will eventually outgrow the population of the Crystal Empire (that much is pretty much a given, I fear) but also because... I kinda want one. With Amore.

Said stallion was looking at me with embarrassment, fear, regret, compassion, and a whole mix of other emotions that I either haven't identified yet flavor-wise or were gone from one moment to the next, replaced by different but similar emotions.

"I'm not going to leave you, you silly stallion," I smiled gently, planting my lips against his with a reassuring hum. "I would be a fool to let you go. You are my heart, dear. I did promise it to you in its entirety, didn't I?"

Relief. That was the single most prominent emotion I felt following that statement. I guess he, too, didn't feel worthy of our love for each other. It was an eye-opener, really. I wasn't the only one that felt these things, of not nearly being worthy enough of Amore's love and that of our subjects. I guess one never truly is, but that's the thing about love. It is a freely given gift granted to those you deemed fit to receive it, worthy or not.

As much as I hate the things that have happened due to my own mistakes, I'm glad I ended up here, in the end. Together with Amore. And my ponies. As well as my hive.

This, and only this place... I could genuinely call it my home from the bottom of my heart. Mistakes be damned, I love it here. It's pretty here, I have the prettiest stallion in the world as my fiancé, and... well... I am pretty, too. I'm the prettiest bug of all bugs to have ever bugged. Definitely. Without a doubt.

"Amore... I am pretty, right?" I asked and glanced down at him with a 'vulnerable' expression. I felt... I don't know, not really insecure but also not a hundred percent certain. Heck, I don't really put a lot of emphasis on my looks, I pretty much comb my mane and tail and call it a day. Maybe I should start wearing make-up... or I could use changeling flames since I'm pretty sure we don't have any. That's something we should definitely fix in the near future. That and hair dye. For no reason, whatsoever. Yep. Eh heh heh...

Amore blinked up at me, and I didn't even need to taste his confusion to know how he felt. The usual reassuring and comforting feelings were nice to taste, though.

"Yeah, dumb question, I know," I nodded, feeling dumb for asking it, in the first place. "After all, I am the prettiest changeling to have ever existed, how could I forget?"

Amore rolled his eyes, amusement replacing his confusion.

"Well, yes, you are pretty, too," I stated, matter-of-factly. "The prettiest stallion. Pony, actually. I kinda got you beat in the stallion category, too, sorry. Probably the nonbinary category, as well."

Amore snorted and I let out a giggle myself. This was just silly, but kind of fun, wasn't it? I wish every day could be so... carefree and without worries. Well, almost without worries. I do tend to blow things out of proportion, don't I?

"Say... if I am pretty and you aren't just lying to me (which I doubt you could do, even if I wasn't able to smell your emotions)... why aren't we married yet?" I asked with a pout. We have spent a lot of time together, pretty much knew what the other liked the most, and generally got along like we were the bestest friends ever. Did we really have to wait any longer?

I watched as Amore's ears drooped slowly as he looked away from me. His nervousness and hesitation were palpable in the air around us and I shifted anxiously on top of him. What could Amore really be afraid of for him to act so... unlike him? To hesitate this much?

"Awra, Eigh..." he mumbled numbly, his tongue lolling about in his mouth this and that way as he tried to fight against the venom running through his system. I rolled my eyes with a huff, regurgitating some honey up and feeding him about a small cup's worth to 'fix' my mistake. Not that I particularly felt like it was one, to be honest. A 'shot' of mixed emotions was the only effective antidote we have come across so far, one that didn't work instantly but would definitely speed up the recovery period by a significant amount. I wasn't sure I actually wanted to hear his excuses this time but I felt like he at least deserved a chance to explain himself.

I waited a couple of minutes, snuggling myself against him in the meantime. His body heat felt really nice and comforting even as I started to feel a little bit saddened. Oh, who am I kidding? I was silently starting to cry as the only thing on my mind was his silence as his legs slowly embraced me and the damn empty feeling of my marehood, constantly reminding me that there was a nice dick attached to a handsome stallion just within reach.

It really was torture, this temptation. I wasn't quite sure if my riling him up under the influence of venom served its purpose of teasing him or if I was just teasing myself with that. My goal was so close, and yet, I wasn't allowed to reach out and take my price for myself (not yet, at least).

Sometimes, I wished I could be more selfish and do the unthinkable, meddling with his mind so that he wouldn't be so prudish and just fuck me already. But that was something I cannot do. Not to him and not to myself. It wouldn't even be the same thing, really. It would be forever tainted by the knowledge that I made him do it, a pony I loved even more than I loved myself.

He really is the perfect husband material. He is nice, caring, and he doesn't succumb to my pheromones enough to rape me. What more could a girl want? A wedding, I suppose. And sex. Lots of sex.

"Ara, you know I love you, right?" Amore hummed and I nodded weakly. My eyes were still fixated on that yummy dick of his and the little droplet of pre cum leaving the slightly glistening tip. "And I know you love me, it's not really hard to miss that. It's just—... ugh. Do you know what a royal wedding usually means?"

"A lot of kinky sex?" I asked, gulping thickly as that droplet finally slid down that meaty rod of his, begging me to take it, all of it. I licked my lips dryly. "Can I..?"

"Ara, please," he mumbled, slowly shifting my head up so that I was looking up into his eyes. His golden, adorable, innocent eyes. Full of hesitation and insecurity. "Can you take this seriously for a moment? That's all that I ask of you."

"Alright," I sighed, shutting out the complaints of my needy snatch. It wasn't easy. It never was.

"As a noble, certain things are expected of you," he began and I was tempted to shatter his worldview, but I guess things were a bit different in this world, after all. If a pony as virtuous as Amore could exist here, then there has to be some truth to it, right? Although he is kinda the exception to the rule, I’m pretty sure of that. "And among those things are purity and chastity. I can't just throw that away on a whim, even if I want to. It would not only look bad for me but also the whole Empire if it became known I had... s-sex before marriage."

"So?" I asked, my wings chirping in slight irritation. "Your point is kinda mood, I already had sex with a lot more ponies than I care to count."

Amore grumbled, trying to rub his eyes tiredly with a floppy hoof. I stopped him before he could hit himself, as funny as that scene would have been. "You are... you. I...”—he let out a hmph, frustrated—” Okay, let’s just forget the chastity part for now. What I'm trying to say is... a royal wedding comes with a lot of attention. It is meant to be a big flashy event, showing off to the world that we are a powerful nation and not to be messed with. It's a show of military might, wealth, power, and fortune. Other nations might look to us and see a weakness if we make this a 'just us' thing. Trust me, I really want to marry you as soon as it is possible, but with the umbrum right on our doorstep..."

"You fear we are painting an even larger target on our backs," I realized. It made sense, too. Every other nation would see us as a laughing stock for being 'so weak' that we couldn't even deal with a pest right on our doorstep. The fact that the umbrum weren't so easily dealt with didn't matter since that's all they would see. A nation hiding behind a shield because they were weak.

"Besides," Amore said, nudging me with a smile. "What about that dress of yours? Don't you want to wear that instead of rags?"

"It's about halfway done, thanks to my changelings," I said, smiling like the proud mother that I was. They were so productive, it was downright astonishing. "We might even finish it sooner once the next workers and drones start emerging."

"When are you going to lay again?" he asked and I hummed. That was a good question. I haven't started feeling the urge yet, but I knew it couldn't be that long now until I would.

"The last time, I think I started to lay the next batch about a week after my first workers and drones emerged," I answered. "Why?"

"I'm just curious," he answered and I raised a questioning brow at that, nudging him inquisitively to prompt him to explain himself further. "Can't I be interested in it? It's unlike anything I have ever seen and I'd like to be a part of it, someday."

Huh. He looked downright jealous that he couldn’t be a part of it. And for some reason, he looked so sad he couldn’t have the same thing I did. Fuck. It broke my heart to see him like that and having to tell him that I was practically a walking ‘Rape me!’ sign during that time of the year.

"I don't think you could resist my pheromones when I get ready to lay," I warned him despite my vagina protesting against me, trying to convince me that it was just about the best idea ever. Too bad that the queen's instincts in me to keep anything away from the hive that wasn't a changeling were a lot stronger than that. The hive is a sacred place and it would take a lot of convincing to let an outsider near it. And that’s not just me but also my workers. I just know they would throw a fit if I even suggested it. They definitely would get uppity with me the closer he comes to the nursery. "Heck, my drones are banned from going too deep into the hive for a good reason, Amore. Trust me, it wouldn't be me raping you down there."

"Are your pheromones really that bad when you... you know..?"

"They are bad enough that even my workers are having a hard time keeping their hooves to themselves instead of fucking each other's brains out," I told him and I wasn’t even joking about it. "I'm doing you a favor here, Amore. Stay. Out. Of. The. Hive."

While Amore didn't look like he was entirely convinced by my warning words, he did promise me he wouldn't do something stupid if he could help it. Which left us with our original topic.

"All I'm saying is that we don't really need to impress anyone," I huffed. "It's stupid. I mean, I'm all for a big flashy wedding and all that, but... weren't you the one insisting on doing this out of love instead of what others expect from you? What happened to that?"

"I..." Amore hesitated, fidgeting. "Well.. yes. But... I don't want you to be disappointed in me. I want you to have the best day of your life, and be the center of attention like you deserve. I don't want you to think I'm not putting an effort into this... and, uh..." He bit his lip, too ashamed to continue.

"What?" I asked, nudging him as he started to clam up on me. "Come on, you can tell me. It's really sweet of you to want to make our wedding the most exciting day in our lives, but I don't really need that. As narcissistic as I can be sometimes, all I want is to be with you. In every sense of the word."

Amore sighed. "...I kind of want to show you off to the world and make every other nation jealous that I got you instead of them," he muttered, blushing brightly and I blinked. What?

That’s... wow. "I think I must have misheard you there..." I said, giving him a disbelieving look. "Surely you didn't just say you wanted to brag about your marefriend like a little colt on the playground."

"I... damnit, Ara. Yes, I want to show you off because I feel so incredibly lucky to have you," Amore grumbled, holding me possessively to himself. "You are the only one that ever saw me for me and not some rich noble that could have whomever he wanted. You are so incredibly genuine and you don't care what others think of you because your very presence demands them to respect you. You constantly put me on a pedestal, but... I do, too. You make me want to stay with you simply because... you are you. You, Arachne, and Shadra. There's nopony else I'd rather be with and I want to let the world know that. I want them to envy me for having the perfect wife, for having the most beautiful Queen to myself."

I stared into his eyes, losing myself in them like every other time, and simply returned his passionate words with a passionate kiss. A kiss so passionate, I felt him grow hard against me as my own erection joined his.

I smiled into the kiss, my wings chirping up a storm while I did my best to breathe in. It was difficult to do so, though. Amore definitely was playing dirty, his arms hugging me fiercely as he teased me with the tip of his dick. He was an ass but I loved it. It felt nice, him rubbing it against my own.

His fear and hesitation about embracing his gay desires were long since gone and I really wanted to go one step further with him. A small step, but a step nonetheless.

"Can I..?" I asked, glancing down meaningfully. Amore gulped visibly but did give me a hesitant nod, his dick giving a few small twitches. I smiled reassuringly, leaning in for a kiss.

Slowly, I started to grind myself against him as I threw my forelegs around his neck, feeling his breath begin to quicken against mine.

"Just... just so that you... mhn~... know," I panted, starting to smirk as his embarrassment of being naughty began to show on his face, clearly liking it despite his prudish upbringing. "Once we are married... I... ahn~... I'm so gonna fuck you up your ass, Snowflake."

"W-w-what..?" Amore stammered, his face exploding in an even deeper red blush than it already was. "Ara, I-I-I... I, uh..."

I chuckled, feeling his dick harden even further, sandwiched between our stomachs. "Mhh, we're going to fuck all night long like wild animals, you won't be able to feel anything for a month straight. And then... then I'm going to smear our mixed fluids all over my dick and ram it into your plot so hard, you're going to cry out like a subservient cock slut and start begging me to take you until you are mine. Just like I will plead with you to fill me up to the brim~."

Amore, much to my surprise, started to bleed from his left nostril, his emotions a total and utter mess. Even more surprising was the sudden orgasm as he shuddered against me, pressing his forehead against the side of my muzzle while shooting his spunk against us with heavy twitches from his dick.

I smiled softly, stroking his mane gently as he began to calm down from his high, bringing my muzzle to his own in a chaste kiss. "You're something else, you know that?"

"You're a deviant," he muttered back, grabbing me tightly as he forced his tongue into my mouth in a needy display of pure want. "Did you really mean that? The... t-the fucking me in m-my p-plot?" he asked me shyly.

I blinked. "Uh," I hummed hesitantly, trying to get my breathing back under control after the... it wasn't a kiss, that's for sure. It was much more than that. "I mean, after a reaction like that? Wow. I'm gonna do everything you want me to do and then some."

"Even if... e-even if I ask you to, uh... I mean, ehm..." he stammered, fidgeting around unsurely.

I tilted my head, trying to figure out what it was he was so embarrassed about. His blush was still there, more of a light tint now, but... wait a moment. He only ever got that flustered when talking about sex and...

My eyes widened as I felt him rub his tip against mine (on purpose, I might add) and I realized exactly what it was that he wanted to experience.

A flash of fire later, I heard my Snowflake squeak before sputtering around like a little colt. I grinned roguishly as I leaned my head in closer, brushing my muzzle against his ear in a feather-light touch. "Is this what you wanted?" I asked in a deep and dark voice.

Amore gulped thickly, his breath shakier than I have ever felt it against my chitin (or fur currently). His voice failed spectacularly as he tried to answer me and it made me chuckle deeply.

"Why are you so embarrassed, my cute stallion?" I asked, pressing my muzzle roughly against the side of his head, biting down on a strand of his mane and tugging at it softly. Then I kissed the side of his ear with a smirk. "Does this turn you on?"

I knew the answer before I even asked, but I wanted to hear him say it. I wanted him to admit it, embrace his feelings like he should have done oh-so-long ago now. He was a tough piece of work, wasn't he? His family's teachings were holding him down so much, he couldn't even embrace his own heart and desires out of fear of reprisal.

A story I was quite familiar with, Shadra even more so. The best realization we have ever come to is that we don't need to meet anyone's expectations but our own. Live your own life, not that which others want you to live. Listen and take advice into consideration, but don't let anyone dictate what you can or cannot do.

The gist of it? Be gay as fuck if that is what you want. Chase tail and let yours be chased, fuck stallions and mares, take it while giving it, and... just be you. Whether you are gay, bisexual, polyamorous, or whatever. Express your love in whatever way as long as it makes you and your partner(s) happy. Don't try to appease others, and more importantly, don't force upon others what you 'think' is right.

Shadra commented from the background and I snorted, bringing Snowflake in for a kiss as he was rendered speechless. Oh, he definitely was turned on by this.

I shot back, wrestling with Amore's tongue while hearing him sigh happily.

she asked me, voice filled with lust as she sent me a picture of her bedroom eyes practically begging me to fuck her silly.

I answered, smirking again.

"I love you."

"Hmm?" I hummed, quirking a brow at that sudden statement.

"I. Love. You," Amore repeated, giving me a peck after each word. "I can't say it enough. I love you. You, not whatever disguise you put on whenever you feel like it. You are beautiful, loving, and kind. Everything I ever wanted in, well... the special somepony stealing my heart. You are the perfect... uh... stallion and mare, I guess. Everything a pony could want."

I smiled. "Now, was that so hard to admit?" I asked, nipping his lip with my teeth.

"That I love you..?"

I snorted, amused. He’s so dense, sometimes. "No, you dummy," I told him, shifting slightly on top of him. "Being gay for dick."

"I, uh..."

I sighed, hitting him on the top of his head (although I was mildly tempted to hit his horn, instead).

He winced. "Ow! What the fuck, Ara?!" he snorted, glaring up at me as he rubbed the aching spot. "What was that for?!"

"For being stupid," I answered with a shrug, hearing Shadra snicker quietly to herself in the background. She probably deserved a hit over the noggin', too. Just ‘cause.

Amore pouted. "You're stupid," he grumbled back and I snorted. No argument there, but that's another topic entirely.

"Okay," I sighed, licking my lips as a bit of mischievousness reared its ugly head in me. "Repeat after me, dear."

Amore narrowed his eyes in suspicion and I merely stared back at him until he relented. I had to suppress the snickers from escaping my muzzle.

"I..." I began, prompting him to repeat my words after me and he did so reluctantly.

"...am stupid for the following reasons," he said and I had to nudge him more than once to keep up the good work. You know... embarrassing my Snowflake should be my special talent. It comes really easily to me. "I am gay for... Ara, seriously, I... Ow! Dammit, fine! I am gay for dick and would like to stuff my future wife’s snatch full with mine but I am a prudish idiot that... I'm not going to repeat that, Ara! My family is total and utter garbage, I get it. No need to rub it in. You really can't help yourself, can you?"

"Aww, you love it," I teased him with a bright smile. "You can keep pretending otherwise, but you won't fool me! Mwahaha!"

"Yeah, no... that villain laugh doesn't work with that voice," Amore pointed out, his own smile growing on his muzzle as mine turned into a pout. I perked back up as he gave me a nuzzle, though. "I suppose you are right, Araneae. I really should get over this dumb fear of being judged by some arbitrary standards my family tried to force on me. In the end, we're all ponies deep down. So... yes, I love you. I love you both as a stallion and as a mare. Whatever form you take on, I love you."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you to say, dear," I said, touching the tip of my muzzle against his appreciatively. "I love you, too. Even if you do get old and wrinkly while I stay forever beautiful until the end of time."

"Getting a bit full of yourself there, aren't you?" he smiled and I sniffed haughtily in an imitation of Shadra (I obviously didn't do it nearly enough justice, but it was good enough for me). "Maybe we should go take a bath now. It's getting mildly uncomfortable with, uh..."

"Your own cum staining your fur?" I asked, grinning. "What a waste of perfectly good sperm..."

"Shut up and I'll let you touch me a while longer."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Suffice it to say, things got steamy~. Two sexy stallions touching each other while wet... fuck. That's going to serve as pretty good masturbation material. Not that Arachne, Shadra, and I needed it, but... hot damn! I wish I had a camera to make porn with.

We should get around to that at some point, seriously. Crafting lenses wasn't going to be that much of a problem, actually. Creating everything else, on the other hoof, is going to be a pain in the flank, I just know it. There was a remarkable lack of precious metals around these parts, it was quite surprising, to be honest.

Although now that I was thinking about it... how would ponies even use cameras? Changelings kinda have the advantage in that regard, but we are a minority in the Empire at best. We have to keep accessibility in mind, which further complicates the endeavor to... uh... 'borrow' Earth's technologies.

A camera was relatively simple to use, actually. The very basic ones would only need a trigger, and going one step further, adjustable lenses and a flash. Making the film is going to be an entirely different matter, though. We just don't have the tools and machines to get something so flimsy and thin made. It would probably be easier to skip the analog cameras entirely and try to make digital ones, instead.

Which would also be quite the challenge, to be honest. But... maybe it won't be as difficult as I thought it might be.

I was thinking about this the wrong way, I realized. I shouldn't be asking myself what materials I would need in order to recreate modern technology from scratch. What I should be asking myself instead is what this world has to offer in terms of materials that could 'emulate' modern technology, for lack of a better word.

The simple answer to my goal of bringing porn... ahem, I mean the internet... to my Empire was not to 'copy' but to 'invent' new ways to do pretty much the same thing. I need to think outside the box while figuratively cheating my ass off looking at what the thing inside the box looks like and is able to do.

The solution to inventing something that was already invented without using any of the components the original is made out of was (insert dramatic drum roll here)... magic! A force so unknown and prone to do whatever it wants to was going to replace good old physics, and by Amore's perfect testicles, I swear I won't go mad trying to make it work!

No guarantees for Arachne and Shadra, though. I'm no scientist, after all. I just come up with the brilliant ideas. Besides, both of my Princesses would no doubt go insane if I so much as tried to help them do science.

I know my limitations and would very much prefer it if someone else blew up their face instead of me. And it's not like Arachne and Shadra weren't used to it by now, anyway, since they always like to 'experiment' with each other so much.

Anyway! As it turns out, Arachne already had an answer to the very thing I thought of doing. The only problem with that was creating a way for us to store a lot more energy in them than what we previously assumed they were capable of. Mana gems. Or as was the case: mana crystals.

It took her a lot of fiddling around, but eventually, she started to get the hang of it. While the purity of a crystal played a big role in how much it could store (and oftentimes, bigger did not mean better), the real trick was the shape. The rougher the cut was, the less energy the crystal could (safely) hold. And let's not go into any further detail as to what happens if you (somehow) manage to overload a crystal.

Suffice it to say, an overloaded crystal makes the thing crumble to pieces in a somewhat explosive fashion upon release of the energy stored within, completely ruining a perfectly good crystal (and all the effort put into creating it, in the first place).

With the matter of supplying energy out of the way, the actual tricky part could begin. Making a circuit (and more importantly, a processing unit).

Magic, by its very nature, is wild. Uncontrolled. Willful. It isn't easily bound, contained, and controlled, but it is easily nudged in the right direction (otherwise, unicorns would never be able to shape it with their horns). The issue with this is the problem that we have no idea how to shield any potential device from outside interference, pretty much guaranteeing a short circuit by default since this world is chock-full of magic.

First things first, we need something to 'conduct' magic and ground it. The thing is, the smaller we try to carve crystals into a circuit board, the likelier the mana was to just 'stay put', so to speak. We needed to give it the incentive to interact with the circuit as a current instead of staying stuck in the crystal.

It was a sluggish process, to be honest, trying to figure this conundrum out. The magic just liked to chill out and do nothing as soon as we tried building the most basic of basic things like a light switch. The light being another crystal more commonly found deeper down in the caverns, reacting to the mere presence of channeled magic (there apparently was a difference between regular mana and mana that was being used, Arachne tried explaining it with convoluted flow charts and slides, but I was still left scratching my head at the end of that lecture).

The saving idea came not from Arachne or Shadra (or me, for that matter), but from Amore. He did tell us about how his mother kept highly dangerous spiders around for her own sick amusement (and their silk, I suppose), telling us about how most wizard's garb was made out of magic-enhancing cloth.

Cloth made from silk. Silk that they got from spiders. Magic spiders.

It really was stupidly convenient to be part spider, it turns out. Not only was I basically Spider Bee Queen, I was magic Spider Bee Queen.

Yeah, in hindsight, we should have thought of that ages ago, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. Oh, well. It's not like our silk production shot through the roof ever since my first brood emerged.

Speaking of brood...

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered, staring at Polly. Or rather the egg she was protecting by hiding it behind her, her fellow worker's wings buzzing in agitation.

"I'm not giving it up," she said, glaring up at me and I sighed. I should have known this was going to happen eventually. Oh, wait... I did. What a fucking surprise. Not.

"I'm not telling you to get rid of it," I told her, moving past the nervous bunch of workers giving her (and the egg) a weary look.

Changelings, it seems, were very instinct-driven creatures. On a baser, more animalistic, and primal level, my workers were uneasy about the egg that, in their eyes, didn't belong here in the hive. Well... not really in their eyes, more like 'my very being is telling me to get rid of the thing that might not even share half of my genetic material if it hatches'.

Out of all the instincts, I think sharing the majority with honey bees was perhaps the worst thing about our kind of changeling. I dearly hope I won't have to deal with a rival hive vying for power anytime soon (preferably never, for that matter).

My concerns didn't lie with another changeling hive sharing the majority of their instincts with honey bees, though. What I fear are their more aggressive cousins.

A changeling race with the DNA of hornets...

Those things are nasty little buggers, there’s no arguing that fact. Basically, bees are nice, wasps are dicks, and hornets... they're like psychotic mass murderers on a good day.

I fear a fight against that kind of changeling will only end with nothing but carnage. One side would no doubt perish in its entirety, and depending on how 'productive' a changeling queen of the hornet variety would be, chances are my hive won't end up on top of the other in a fight.

And it wouldn't even end there. Hornets take everything from the hives they conquer. They steal and pillage, and they feed their young with the flesh of their enemies. Even my own larva wouldn't be spared, I knew that much.

As much as I hated the thought... if I ever come across one such hive, however unlikely it may seem... the only thing I could count on was human ingenuity, craftiness, and a whole truckload of fire. A. Lot. Of. Fire.

Basically, I would have to cheat my pretty flanks off, throw Shadra at the problem, and watch the ensuing fireworks. Whatever we end up doing, I hope we won't sacrifice our soul in its entirety trying to keep our hive safe.

I sighed as I slumped down gratefully in my little 'comfort zone', snuggling my blanket and the little pillow with more than one bite mark on it, glancing back at where the little stand-off was happening.

Arachne whispered over to me, brushing her presence against mine with a warm hum.

I grumbled back, feeling more than a little bit uneasy about this situation (and not just because that egg wasn't mine, either).

she said, making me furrow my brow.

I chided her, not in the mood for any sort of games on her part. Nor was I particularly patient right now. Her beating around the bush was annoying at the best of times.

It's not like it isn't endearing in its own way, but... sometimes, the only way to get her to focus on other things than her own thoughts was to remind her that not everyone had a friggin' supercomputer for a brain (even if we technically share it).

Arachne began, silently telling me to let her explain herself without being interrupted again. I rolled my eyes but did what she asked of me. No need to be extra bitchy right before our body goes into overdrive again. I could already feel the need in my body like an unrelenting heat. <As it stands, only Shadra's partition of the hive mind could offer the drone a new home. A home where it would be safe and not treated as an outcast.

<None of our drones would raise a fuss at getting a new brother or sister in arms, which just leaves us with the ‘where’. Where is Polly going to take care of the larva? We would need to build an entirely new brood chamber away from the primary hive.

<The thing is, workers should be prohibited from entering the secondary hive simply to prevent any sabotage from happening. I doubt Polly is going to be the only one this is going to happen to, leaving us with a rather difficult conundrum.

I growled. I couldn't believe how my faithful Princess could even suggest it, it was basically the death sentence for whoever laid the egg and the larva.

I let out a mournful sigh and nodded ever so slightly. It was either that or...

Shadra commented, sounding slightly scratchy and tired.

I asked mirthfully, not even receiving a grumble from her, only another yawn. She really must have exhausted herself far beyond her limits to not bother responding to my jab with a snide comment.

I pouted, kind of sad that I wasn't going to get to enjoy some banter with her.

Shadra groaned. she began, clearing her throat before continuing on with a poor imitation of Arachne's tone of voice.

Arachne protested and Shadra laughed with a snort while teasing her a bit more.