Twin Suns: Heart of the Empire

Fuck him and his perfect, charming smile. He can go fuck himself, that dickhead. At least then he would have found his perfect match, asshole.

I wasn't really one to talk, considering... well... At least I was honest with my feelings. Not that that helped me a lot, pushing him further and further away from me. That was probably the reason why he didn't give me the time of day, wasn't it? I was too open and unashamed of my own feelings, it probably scared him off.

He was used to this stupid monogamous expectation of marrying the love of his life while I renounced everything that put a shackle on my freedom of choice. I was the last thing he wanted in a partner, too wild and depraved to make a 'perfect' wife, and yet... if it was for him? If he would, at last, recognize and reciprocate my feelings for him? I would shackle myself down and promise all of myself to him and only him.

As long as I could still have my precious Princesses be in on it, that is. There's no way I was giving up on that, they were literally a part of me as I was of them. I couldn't ever not love them with all of my heart (and body~).

Arachne said, gently pulling me into the hive mind with her. “Whatever it is, I’m sure we can work through this. I’m here for you, always.”

That was the only thing I really needed to hear from her in order to just start blabbering, telling her everything I have been bottling up because I didn’t want to deal with it, and all the while, she listened patiently and told me what I needed to hear most.

Yes, I have been a bitch, and no, I wasn’t a bad pony. Changeling. Whatever.

All three of us haven’t exactly been dealing with our grief in the correct way, much less had we ever (properly) addressed our guilt over not having been there fast enough to save Leaf. Yes, we have unintentionally been hurting Amore with our behavior, not because we were sleeping around like a whore (I mean... probably that as well, I guess), but because we used it as a way to ignore our feelings to avoid hurting, not confiding in him and letting him help us like he seemed to want to do.

Perhaps the thing I needed to hear most was her telling me that I was being a stupid head when I admitted to her that I thought we didn’t deserve Amore. She was of the same opinion as Orchard (no wonder there), reassuring me that being ‘deserving’ of someone wasn’t a thing I should have to worry about.

“We aren’t irredeemable, Ari. All I can say to you is to always try to be better. That was what we told ourselves in the Realm of Death, wasn’t it?” Arachne said, brushing a hoof slowly and comfortingly through my mane. “It’s okay to take baby steps, Araneae. Noling expects you to be perfect the next day. Or the week after that, or the year after. We will struggle, quite a lot even, but what counts is that we make an effort. If we just give up and waste away, though? Then nothing we do and have done matters anymore and that's something neither of us can live with. Don't throw everything away because you're feeling down right now, my love.

“You fear that we aren’t good enough for Amore, but that’s the thing... you don’t have to be. There’s no such thing as being undeserving of someone's love, it’s their decision to give it to you, after all. Besides, love isn’t something that happens from one day to another. Heck, it even took us more than a few decades sifting through our memories to stop holding a grudge against Tabetha over what happened that day in the Harvard Laboratory. We can do better, we have proven that to ourselves already. We aren’t who we were back then, and that is a massive step forward. Not only for Shadra and I, but for you as well, Ari.

“And if there is just one single thing everypony else is right about, it's that it wasn’t only our fault that Leaf died. It wasn’t us that plunged that blade into her chest. I won’t deny that we aren’t at least a little bit at fault for letting Leaf take part in the revolution, we did let her help, even lead, despite what we told her about how bloody it would get. But... we didn’t fail her as much as we think we did. We did the best we could, there was nothing we could have done that would have saved her life, in the end. At least, nothing that we were aware of that we could have done. The only thing that matters is that we were there for her in her last moments, don't ever forget that.

“Look at the outcome and not the ‘What could have been’. We are still alive and as well as we could be at the moment. Had we done something differently... we don’t know just how much things could have changed in that case. After all, we can't predict the future, only make plans and hope for the best outcome. Things might have turned out even worse had we not gone and freed the ponies from the dungeon. All of these earthponies, unicorns, and the pegasi with us wouldn’t be here without us, without Amore, and without what Leaf had accomplished during the revolution.

“And trust me when I say this, Ari: I believe in you. You are doing admirably, don’t try to change yourself to be something you are not only because you want to impress someone else. If there is somepony out there that will love us, they will do so for who we are with all of our faults, not what we pretend to be. Nopony is truly perfect and I’m sure Amore will realize that at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later. And if he doesn’t like our habit of sleeping around? Well... I'm tempted to say fuck him, but that's the thing about compromises. He is free to address that once he comes around to the idea that there has been someling right underneath his muzzle that wanted nothing more than to be that special ‘ling for him.

“Relationships are all about making compromises and talking things out when there is something bothering you. A good relationship needs communication, Ari. Both ways. And I don't just mean making flirty comments and hope he gets the point, you have to make it obvious to him that you are being serious about this.

"And... if it does work out and he agrees to give this a try on the condition of wanting you solely to himself, then that will be something we can work on together. Whether he wants all of us or just a part of us, well... we will come to that question when it actually becomes relevant. The important thing is that you are both happy.”

“I’m not giving you up for him,” I muttered hoarsely, clinging on to her for dear life. I don’t care if it is degenerate, narcissistic, depraved, and whatever else one could describe this as... Shadra and Arachne are the only ‘lings that will ever truly understand me and love me for who I am, I’m not going to allow anypony to dictate if I could love them or not. Without them... I’m only a third of the Queen I could be. I wouldn’t be whole without them. The dream only further reinforced that belief in me.

“I’m glad to hear you say that, My Queen,” Arachne smiled down at me, planting her lips against mine softly for a short but sweet moment. “I wouldn’t ever want to give you or Shadra up, either. Who would I molest then?”

I rolled my eyes with a smile on my own muzzle before letting out a tiny yelp as she pushed me over backward, trapping me underneath her with a wide smirk on her muzzle. Her purple eyes stared mischievously down at me as I squirmed around, clearly smelling her pheromones thickly in the air, evoking a tingling sensation in my lower region.

“You’re cute when you aren’t in control, you know that?” Arachne whispered, a hoof of hers caressing the side of my head almost reverently. My muzzle brightened considerably at that, unable to utter a single word out in denial. “Seeing you squirm underneath me... it’s such a stark contrast to the strong regal image you hide behind most of the time. I love seeing this side of you, My Queen... I’m the only one that ever gets to see it and it turns me on so much...”

While it was all nice and such being in full control of the situation with any stallion (or mare) out in the waking world, there was a certain... allure... to being at the mercy of someling you love. To have them do with you whatever they wanted while you were completely powerless, helpless even, to fight back for control. I wanted her to ravish me right this instant, make me forget about all the bad things in the world, but... instead, she toyed with me, not giving me anything that I wanted. It was as frustrating as it was turning me on, driving me absolutely wild before she had even done anything to me.

“Does My Queen wish for relief?” Arachne giggled to herself and I could see an almost malicious glee enter her eyes as I silently begged her to stop teasing me. I felt one of her hind legs graze my flank ever so slightly and I let out a (totally not) pathetic whine, but sadly, my Princess wasn’t so easily swayed. If anything, it spurred her on even more to torture me like this. “It’s been a while since both of us have been awake while the hive hasn’t been completely covered in ice, huh? You must be feeling so pent up, you poor thing. All of this unrequited lust, unable to enjoy a proper ride~. It must drive you crazy...”

“Arachne, p-please,” I whimpered, unable to deny her words for what they were. Pure. Temptation. “I had a bad nightmare, won’t you make me feel better?”

“A nightmare?” she asked, giving me a confused glance. I let out a frustrated huff as her curiosity got the better of her, our little thing completely forgotten in favor of learning more. This 'ling, I swear. She has the libido of a nymphomaniac succubus but her thirst for knowledge was somehow more powerful? Utterly ridiculous. “Why didn’t you say something? Ari, this is important, we haven’t had a single dream since reincarnating! What was it about?”

“I don’t know, it happened after that pulse of pure honey-like emotions,” I answered, fidgeting restlessly. For some reason, her giddiness to learn more was turning me on even further, leaving me even more frustrated over not getting any kind of satisfaction anytime soon. It was nice to see her so concerned for my well-being, though. “There was a voice that... well, 'talked'... about protecting the chosen ones and it referred to us as the Weaver of Fate, if you can believe it. That's kinda presumptuous, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think it meant us, Ari,” Arachne said and I gave her a confused look. It clearly did, who else could it have been talking about? “I think it meant... you.”

“What?” I said, dumbfounded. “That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever. It was telling us to keep the chosen ones safe and fill the hearts of our subjects with love. There was also something about not trusting the umbrum because they are pathological liars or something. Look, I don't know, okay? Everything was kinda happening a bit fast and I was surrounded by these damn scary things and I was terrified beyond belief and I couldn't really hear a lot of what the voice tried to tell me since they tried to 'dumb their language down' and the wind was howling in my ears while my heart kept hammering away in my chest because I was all alone in this scary fucking nightmare vision, trapped in this really disgusting goop coming out of everything, and... and..."—I let out a whimper, screwing my eyes shut—" I really don’t want to show you what they looked like! Trust me, these umbrum monsters look like they crawled straight out of hell.”

“Ari...” Arachne mumbled, stroking my head comfortingly while giving me a sad hum. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes back up only to find her looking at me with pity. “You are the one that gave all of these ponies their freedom back. It wasn’t me that instigated the revolution. It wasn’t Shadra that freed Gold Bar, Swirly Star, and Amore. It wasn’t us that liquified all of those locks in the dungeon beneath that city and brought down those despicable monsters for doing the bidding of a selfish mad king. That was all you. You changed the fate of so many ponies just by trying to do the right thing. Shadra and I were your moral support only, really. Making smart comments when needed and generally offering you some assistance and guidance when you needed to make a decision you were already going to make, anyway.”

“But...” I started, only for her to cut me off with a kiss. I tried to get a word in, but the flippy feeling in my stomach made it all but impossible to voice out anything that wasn’t a happy, content sigh.

“I told you...” Arachne smiled, breaking the kiss reluctantly. “Each and every one of those ponies wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. You are the most bravest being for going above and beyond to see those around you safe. That's all you. Not me, or Shadra, or anypony else you could shift the credit of your own actions off to. You constantly challenge your own fears time after time and inspire others to do so as well. Leaf would tell you the same thing, I’m certain of that. As would Amore and you know it. Being brave doesn’t mean being fearless, My Queen. I’m sure you know that, you silly bug, you.”

“It still feels like... like I could have done something more,” I mumbled, looking away from her in shame. My Princess wasn’t having any of that, though, turning my head back around so that I was forced to look up at her. The fire burning in her eyes... it was awe-inspiring, there was no better way to describe it.

“You never failed anypony by trying to do the right thing, Ari. Trust me when I say that, my love,” she insisted while squeezing my cheeks lightly in between her forelegs, her voice full of conviction. That, too, was simply awe-inspiring, I have to say. Her sheer devotion to me was something else, alright. “Circumstances beyond our abilities to influence might have caused some... pretty bad things... but that doesn’t mean everything was your fault. You can’t do everything perfectly, nopony can, so... you don’t have to feel so bad when something doesn’t work out exactly as you wanted it to. I think it’s about time for us to move on, don’t you think? We have been beating ourselves up about this far too much for far too long, Leaf wouldn’t like to see us like this... this pathetic pile of misery. Let’s just focus on what we can do instead of what we failed to do, okay? Always try your best, Ari.”

“Okay...” I nodded, a hesitant smile forming on my muzzle. I really do need to start listening, don't I? All of this guilt wasn’t healthy. Intellectually, I knew that, but... that's the thing, isn't it? I couldn't control my emotions, as much as I liked to pretend otherwise. I couldn't tell my heart to stop beating just like I couldn't turn off my own emotions. It was simply impossible.

What I could do, though, is to accept my feelings for what they are and work from there. They were irrational and I shouldn't cling on to them. I needed to let go and move on.

I could and should still grieve Leaf’s loss, that much was right and the correct thing to do, but... there was a limit to how far I should take it. I shouldn’t be grieving to the degree that I blame myself solely for everything that happened, I would only end up destroying myself in the process of doing so. My Princess was right. I can’t expect myself to be perfect, mistakes were all but guaranteed to happen, no matter what. I should always strive to be better than I was and do everything to the best of my ability. I owe it not only to Leaf but to myself as well...

I was a Queen now, not only to my hive but also to these ponies, whether I wanted it or not. I couldn’t let them down by destroying myself over something I had little to no influence over. And if that voice was right about what was to come... I couldn’t allow myself to fall to my own doubts, I need to be strong for my ponies.

I had to be stronger than ever. I couldn’t lock up in fear like I did in my vision. I wasn’t a nobody. I was better than that. I was Queen Araneae, and I would prove it to the world that I was worthy of that title. That I was worthy of the trust my subjects placed in me.

And I wouldn’t let some lowly apparitions dictate otherwise. That, I swear.

...even though they were really damn scary, to be honest. But now that I knew what was coming, I could hopefully prepare myself and my ponies for the day all of our lives would depend on.

“Great,” Arachne chirped happily. “I don’t quite remember if I’m doing this psychology thing correctly, but what I do know is that talking to someling is always a good thing to start off with. Don’t bottle your feelings and thoughts up, My Queen.”

“I’ll try to,” I said, looking ‘down’. I swallowed thickly as I was very much reminded that my Princess had me trapped underneath her and that I could (if I wanted to) reach out to the plate covering the object of my desires that occupied most of my thoughts about eighty percent of the time.

“Well, that’s really as much as I can ask of you,” she shrugged. “Now, what was that a-a-about... Ngh~... S-such a naughty ‘ling you are. Are you that desperate for...”

“Shut up, Arachne,” I breathed and licked my lips while slowly stroking the plate that hid her dick from me, trying to coax her little one out. “I’ll tell you all about that a-after... after I’ve had my fill...”

“Mhh,” Arachne let out a cute moan, but my efforts were interrupted before I could so much as touch her emerging penis with my hooves. Said hooves were now restrained above my head by a thick thread of her changeling silk. “Can’t have you be a grabby, misbehaving little slut now, can we?”

“Says the right one,” I muttered, only to realize too late that she was giving me that sadistic gleam again. I saw her lick her protruding fangs in preparation and blanched, struggling futilely in my bonds as I tried to free myself before she decided I didn’t need to be able to move. “I’m a good slut! I’m a good slut! Please! Don’t... don’t paralyze me...”

“Aww, you do have manners,” Arachne giggled with a wickedly fanged smile, rewarding me with a small head pat. I would have pouted at her for that demeaning display of affection, but I’d rather not test my luck with her when I was this close to having my brain fucked out. Her cock was certainly throbbing eagerly, I doubt she would be able to keep her hooves to herself for much longer only so that she could keep riling me up further. “I do love myself an obedient slut~.”

“Yes, I’m a very obedient slut!” I nodded eagerly, eying the tip of that tantalizing dick while I felt my own twitch impatiently to my erratic heartbeat. “And a slut gets fucked, right? Please, Arachne! I need it so damn much! I need to feel you inside me, please!”

“Hmm,” she hummed, pretending to think while clearly gleeful of my helplessness. “I don’t know~. Maybe I should wake Shadra up, let her eat me out while you are unable to do anything but watch...”

I felt my heart stop beating for a few moments as I detected absolutely no falsehoods in her words. She couldn’t... my faithful Princess wouldn’t be that cruel to me, right? She can’t just... “Please, Arachne, I’ll... I’ll do anything, just don’t leave me hanging like this. Please...”

“Anything~?” she smirked and I felt dread build up in my stomach as I saw that mad gleam in her eyes. I bit my lip, fearful of what she would ask of me if I were to nod my head. But one look at that spear of hers and I found myself reluctantly nodding, my desire... my need... overwhelming my decision-making in favor of satisfying my painfully throbbing arousal. My nethers were pulsing so much, it was hard to think of anything else but sex. “So... if I were to ask you to transform into an inanimate object, like... say, a dildo for example... you would let me do whatever I want with you?”

“A... dildo?” I asked, blinking stupefied. “That’s what you would ask of me for you to make love to me?”

“That’s all I would ask,” she replied while she grinned like the Cheshire Cat. “Do we have a deal, My Queen?”

“I...” I hesitated, trying to think of a downside of the request she made, only to come up short for an answer. Heck, I’d probably enjoy whatever she would do with me, there was literally nothing speaking against it for me. But I knew she had something degenerate in mind and I wanted to know what it was that had her so giddy over the prospect of using me like that. I would find out eventually, so... “Alright, Arachne. I’ll grant you that wish in return for your promise that you will stop teasing me so much and fuck me into the blissful state I’m craving so much right now. When do you want me to transform into that dildo?”

“Mhh, I’ll come back to you about that later,” Arachne answered, cutting my restraints away with a satisfied purr. A quick flash of fire later and I was suddenly the smaller one of the two of us, her appearance replaced by that of a similar likeness to Amore, only in the image of my Princess as a pony (and most certainly as a stallion nopony could compete with, if you catch my drift~). “Now, get those flanks up into the air like a good little slut, hm?”

“F-fuck, I love you so much, do you know that?” I moaned back, my heart doing eager flips at the thought of having a big strong stallion on top of me. I wiggled around underneath my now bigger-in-every-sense lover until I was back on my hooves and in the correct position to lift my backside up to give her... or him, rather~... easier access to my dripping wet snatch. I let out a shuddering breath as Arachne grabbed my shoulders a little bit forcefully and gave out a quiet moan as I felt that wonderfully thick, veiny pony dick of his brush against the underside of mine in a little teasing motion before he moved his rear back again, lining up his rod perfectly with the entrance of my pussy.

Arachne kept himself at my entrance for a moment, and, before I could say anything to my now faithful Prince, his muzzle captured one of my ears right as he plunged himself into me with an eager buzz from his still buggy wings. The swift motion almost caused my hind legs to give out as they felt incredibly weak after such a sudden spike of pleasure, but I held firm and forced myself to keep standing despite being stuffed full with his considerable girth, trying (and failing miserably) to get used to being stretched open so wide.

Oh, damn... I felt every little pulse of blood and twitch of his monster cock so vividly, I feared his dick would imprint on my walls for eternity. And I loved every moment of it. There truly was nothing that could ever compare to this, I thought dreamily. All I wanted was for him to stay there until I passed out in bliss. I wanted him to fill me up with his creamy white pony cum until my snatch burst in a veritable cascade of our sinful lust-filled love-making.

My moan could best be described as a cry of desperation as I lost myself in this little fantasy of mine, whining needily for my desired drug to be delivered to me like the crazy cum addict that I was.

Arachne’s muzzle quirked up into a cocky smirk as he clearly noticed the effect he just had on me. He tugged my head slightly back with him as he slowly retreated from the depths of my marehood, deliberately twitching that divine rod of his in me while giving my ear small little loving licks every time I made so much as a single sound.

Right as he neared the entrance of my pussy again, my faithful Prince buzzed his wings strongly once and had me moaning quite heavily, making him chuckle in amusement before he pushed his dick back into me while giving my ear another, slightly harsher tug.

Arachne held himself tightly against me, letting me breathe in and out while I acclimatized myself to the feeling of being spread open by his gloriously thick tool, the tip inside of me almost felt like it was expanding and deflating to the heartbeat of my faithful Prince, but I knew that was only due to him deliberately twitching his cock deep within me so as to make me sing even louder for him. My own wings were definitely showing their approval.

Like before, he retreated slowly back from my depths, twitching his dick beautifully at even intervals, almost sending stars through my vision once he was back at the entrance. Arachne was making that pony cock vibrate in the most wonderful ways by buzzing his wings fiercely for a short moment and nothing... nopony could ever compare to my faithful Prince and he knew it. Oh, he most definitely knew it...

Again, it only took him the blink of an eye to get back to the point where he hilted himself as deep within me as he could possibly get. I murmured back some happy noises as he moved his flanks a little bit so that the base of his thick rod stimulated the entrance of my marehood while also simultaneously twitching his tip inside of me, giving my ear some much-needed love as well. Then, he decided to switch things up a bit, withdrawing in one swift motion, making me feel like my insides were suddenly sucked up into the Void as all I knew was emptiness.

That feeling of hollowness was quickly forgotten, though. Arachne let out a groan as he vibrated his cock right at the entrance with the use of his wings, having me go cross-eyed in no time as I felt like I was going to orgasm any moment from now due to the buzzing alone. But my faithful Prince knew that it would take a bit more than that and he was in no mood to get this over with anytime soon.

Instead of trying to push me over the edge as soon as possible by pounding me into oblivion like a mad bull, Arachne gently moved his cock back into me at a slow pace, forgoing the rapid movements entirely for now. It felt a lot more intimate that way, in my opinion. It was less about focusing on the end goal of reaching an earth-shattering orgasm and more about the motions and feelings themselves. My faithful Prince gave me ample opportunity to feel every little twitch of happiness and love from him as he no doubt felt every part of me as he moved his pony cock back through my wet canal.

I don’t know what it was about this, but this was exactly what I needed right now. While I absolutely loved the lust-filled craze of needy wanton sex, this was something else entirely. It was more heartfelt and reassuring in its very nature. In the most straightforward of terms, it was a plain and simple gesture filled with nothing but care for my very being.

I felt loved by Arachne and I wanted to reciprocate that sentiment as much as I could, stuffed with dick as I was. So, I tugged my ear out of his grasp and turned my head just enough to give my faithful Prince an admittedly sloppy kiss, mewling out against him as he slowly began to rock us both back and forth, increasing the pace ever so slightly.

My eyes found his more pony-like purple ones, and, with one last push, I felt him press himself as deeply as he could into me while giving me a bright smile, softly pecking the side of my lips with his.

It was his own personal love letter of appreciation and care, putting every little bit of emotion into that small gesture that he could. That tiny kiss alone lit that spark of love into a veritable inferno within me, rekindling my feelings for him and Shadra all over again. They were the only beings that truly mattered to me, and without them, I could no longer exist. Truly, my own love for them was boundless in all the ways that mattered.

My love was my passion and they were the heart binding it all together. If this was a sin, I just found a new virtue. Everything I do shall reflect the blazing passion of our soul, this I swear.

Weaver of Fate or not, there was nothing that could dissuade me from this course. I am a being of lust and love at my core, nothing can change that. Not even my grief and self-doubt.

Before long, my faithful (and very handsome) Prince withdrew himself from me at a slow pace (for Arachne, that is) before he reversed the direction of his momentum and held himself against me again, his lips meeting mine for a brief kiss once more. He repeated the same process again and again like a pendulum swinging back and forth, slowly but surely wearing me down with each heavy thrust back in, with each little buzz of his wings, with every single time he twitched that glorious cock deep within my love canal, until, at last, my quivering body was wrecked thoroughly by heavy orgasmic shudders of pure bliss.

The orgasm took all of my remaining strength away from me as my hind legs gave out underneath me, dragging Arachne down with me. My faithful Prince was also shuddering with his own orgasm as his dick began to fill me up with shot after shot of hot, creamy white pony cum.

And as Arachne tried to retreat from my body with some small amount of clumsiness, the movements he made with the flared tip of his pony cock in my sensitive marehood almost sent me straight into unconsciousness, setting me off again and again because my snatch kept trying its best to keep him stuck within me (it was only semi-successful with that, sadly).

Once he was finally free from my clutches, Arachne rolled me gently onto my side, a hoof coming around to embrace me as he laid down beside me on the cold ground of the hive and I lazily gazed into those mischievous purple eyes of his, not even trying to calm my shuddering body down from the sheer orgasmic delight, content to ride out this heavenly feeling for all that it was worth. My faithful Prince was slowly trailing the tip of his hoof over my chitin while curiously studying me with those mystifying, innocent eyes, not saying a word as he let me enjoy this moment as much as I wanted. I didn’t see any of that gleeful evilness of teasing me in them anymore, but I was sure it would be back as soon as I had to make good on my promise.

I just knew Arachne was going to do something with me that would be unpleasant to go through, but I had next to no idea what that would be. I was a bit fearful of turning into something that was inanimate, afraid of how it would feel like. It would probably leave me numb all over and I was a bit terrified of being unable to do anything, but... I was also admittedly curious.

Would I become completely senseless? Would I even be able to survive such a transformation? The hive mind was a good indicator of what we could do in the waking world with our magic, so I could at least try and find out if it was at all possible to survive a transformation like that. We knew we could transform into vastly different life forms, the occasional experiment made sure of that, but... I had not yet attempted something on this scale.

I mean, I could test it out with a partial transformation, right? A limb was the perfect test object for this purpose, it wouldn’t actually cripple me out in the waking world if I were to do it in the hive mind.

'Death', as we had found out, was not permanent in the hive mind. It simply reset after about twelve hours of dreamless sleep (and I'd rather not explain how we found that out, thank you very much). It did leave us in a rather weakened state afterward, though. So much so, even, that every thought felt sluggish for another twelve hours, making us think twice before doing stupid shit (not that that ever stopped us from experimenting in order to satisfy our curiosity).

A bit apprehensive, I held a hoof up in front of me, drawing the attention of my faithful Prince at the same time. Here goes, I guess. This would either land on the list of ‘dumb things I’ve done since reincarnating’ or it would be a success and I wouldn’t have to fear this whole ‘transforming into inanimate objects’ thing so much.

I took a deep breath and screwed my eyes shut while letting my changeling flames consume my unfortunate limb, focusing on turning it into one of those old dial phones where you had to turn the little disk around in order to call someone. I felt Arachne shift against me as he no doubt watched with fascination as my hoof was replaced by a telephone of all things and any and all sensations I previously had in my hoof were suddenly muted. Not to the degree that I felt like I had just lost my limb entirely but... it was weird, to say the least. Majorly weird.

“That looks utterly ridiculous,” I muttered as I opened my eyes to take in the damage. It looked exactly as I wanted it to, but... well, it was attached to my leg (duh). It had the classic glossy red finish and the curly black cord connecting the main body and the handset with each other. I gave the thing a little shake and was a bit surprised that it was practically glued together, completely unfunctional.

I guess it was to be expected, wasn't it? I didn’t actually focus on making it be usable, something that would take me quite a while to figure out how to make it work exactly as it was intended to. There probably were some memories floating around somewhere in our collective self about how a telephone works in a purely technical way.

That's assuming we could shapeshift in such a way that we could actually make it work like that. Our little ability to transform into anything we desired wasn't as simple as we made it out to be, there was much more to it than met the eye at first glance. It wasn't just a physical transformation that we did, as my hoof currently served as 'living' proof.

On top of that, physically changing into something that was actually mechanically complex would require more focus than I think even Arachne could muster. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure it would burn through our reserves in no time. Keeping a transformation like that active for any length of time was not going to be feasible on so many levels, it's not even funny.

Alas, as it stands, unless we figure out a way to make it work without requiring a supercomputer as a secondary brain, it's going to be impossible.

As far as we understand it right now, the way how our transformations work is a matter of knowledge, energy, and concentration. Take one away and it changes just about everything. The simpler something was, for example, the less we needed to concentrate on keeping our disguise upright. The cost of energy got exponentially higher the more complex the knowledge of the desired form was, and thus, it became increasingly more difficult for us to concentrate on other things in addition to the transformation.

It was relatively easy to transform into a cat because I only needed to know about the basic shape of one and how I wanted the fur and eyes to look. My changeling magic would fill in the rest for me from memory alone, allowing me to keep the disguise up for as long as I wanted without impairing my ability to do other things at the same time (aside from the lack of unicorn magic to levitate things around with, that is).

As long as I have seen something up close before, I could turn into it. Granted, that only worked for surface-level transformations, but in most cases, that was everything we actually needed. It wouldn't hold up to the scrutiny of a veterinarian, just like my little phone-hoof wouldn't hold up to anyone that knew what it was supposed to be and how it should work.

Any transformation that was even the slightest bit more complex than 'I wanna be that', I needed to know everything. And I mean absolutely everything. In the case of my cute (and very disturbing) hoof-phone, I needed to be aware of the circuitry within it, every little part that could move, the speaker as well as the receiver, and... well, the housing, of course. I don’t even want to know what kind of nightmare it would be to change into something that was a lot more complex than an old dial phone, technology-wise.

I’m pretty sure we would never be able to transform into a computer that actually works, with the monitor and all included. And if that was already as good as impossible to accomplish, anything that had integrated microprocessors within them would be well out of reach, as well.

Speaking of difficult transformations, I doubt I would be able to transform into an actual dragon any time soon (one that was massive and could breathe fire and whatnot) since I had absolutely no grasp of the actual biology involved to make that type of thing work. Not only that, but I’m sure it would require just as much energy as transforming into a computer would if I want to make myself indistinguishable from a real fire-breathing dragon.

For that matter, any kind of mythological creature that had unique magic of their own would make shapeshifting into a perfect replica difficult. The only race I could perfectly imitate were unicorns, but... well... I was part unicorn, wasn’t I? I might figure out earthpony strength soon since the majority of the ponies I was staying with were earthponies. Pegasus magic was another thing entirely, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that they could stand on friggin’ clouds and do all kinds of shenanigans with them.

Anyway, most of this was more or less conjecture for now until I had more information available, but... I think I was on the right track with this line of thought. It seemed logical in a weird magical kind of way. We were (quite possibly) the only race that was capable of imitating the ‘unique’ racial magic of other pony tribes with our changeling magic, something that I seriously doubt any other race could replicate. It was the ultimate cheat-like ability we ended up with, wasn’t it? Such versatile magic... I wonder where the limits of it were (if it had any, that is). Aside from the mana requirements, we could literally do anything we wanted as long as we put in the effort to learn how.

This type of magic... in the wrong hooves, it could spell doom for the rest of the world, couldn’t it? Already I knew of a dozen ways to cause a lot of chaos with it, it would be for the best to keep the exact capabilities of our race a secret. I’d rather not let anypony use us for nefarious purposes.

I was glad those unicorns had not captured me and imprisoned us like so many others, at one point they would have gotten wind of the ridiculous usefulness that was changeling magic. And they would have found out about it no matter what as soon as they got the idea that I could have ‘provided’ them with an army of ‘slaves’ that could infiltrate anyone they set their eyes upon.

Without Leaf... that might have become my reality. I... my hive would have... I should stop that train of thought before it led me further down a spiral to crazy, I’d rather not get stuck in possibilities and questions of ‘What could have been’ again. Only madness was to be found at the end of that road.

“It does look ridiculous on the end of your hoof, but... what did you expect, My Queen?” Arachne chuckled, putting an end to my musings, thankfully. I would rather not linger on such dark thoughts. “I’m curious why you did this, though.”

“Uh...” I responded oh-so-eloquently, reverting the ‘hoof’ back to normal after I got tired of him poking it. “To find out if we could transform into inanimate objects?”

“Of course, we can,” Arachne said, looking at me like I was dumb (I'm not, don't listen to anything my Princesses might say). “Otherwise I wouldn’t have requested it. I did some experimenting with... ahem, ‘clothing’... together with Shadra and found out we could go all the way if we wanted to. We had a bit of fun playing hide and seek changeling style.”

“Hide and seek... changeling style?” I asked, a little bit surprised. I wouldn’t have expected Shadra of all ‘lings to go along with that (or for Arachne to be that playful). I was kinda... sad I missed it. I’m sure it must have been fun trying to figure out what was out of place.

“Uh-huh!” Arachne nodded, smirking mischievously. “I rewarded Shadra with oral sex for finding me.”

“Of course you did,” I rolled my eyes with a smile, already having suspected that they turned a little children’s game into something lewd.

“So, what was it that you said about those smoke monsters and chosen ones?” Arachne asked and I grimaced as I buried myself deeper in his black fur. Even the mere mention of them made my heart thunder fearfully in my chest, remembering the image of one of these abominations pouncing towards me while I was surrounded by their brethren on all sides. “I’m worried, Ari. That pulse you talked about and this nightmare have to be connected, and if magic is involved? You know what that means, right?”

“I do,” I nodded while I took comfort in his deep, powerful voice, biting my lip nervously. “Things will get even worse, won’t they? I don’t know what to do, my faithful... uhm, Prince?"—I looked up at him, finding no objection to being referred to with male conforming words and pronouns while he was disguised like this, so I continued on without issue.—" Those umbrum... they were like smoke and shadows, I could feel the sheer malice suffocate me just by being close to them.”

“Maybe we should wake Shadra up, she might have an idea about what we could do in order to fight against them,” Arachne proposed, getting up from the cold ground (and taking my comfy pillow with it). It was as good an idea as any, I suppose. And besides, Shadra deserved to be involved in this just as much as any of us. A quick burst of flame returned Arachne to her glorious buggy form and I gave her a hesitant nod, stretching my limbs out while I was at it. I saw her smile back at me reassuringly and felt immediately better about doing this despite my reservations. “Let’s hope the little diva won’t cry like a little baby for being awoken from her beauty sleep, then.”

“She isn’t that bad,” I pointed out but was met with a deadpan look from my faithful Princess as she proved me wrong pretty much instantly. I sighed, listening to the multitudes of curses directed our way as my beautiful little Princess threw pebbles and whatever else she could get her hooves on against the shield I put up. Her wings were buzzing angrily as Shadra futilely searched for a dark and narrow place to hide away from the cold cavernous hive in order to go back to her ‘very’ important sleep.

I frowned as this immature spiel continued on for a few minutes too long for my liking before I got enough of it, fed up with her antics. I stalked towards Shadra and hissed at her with a glare, shutting her up pretty quickly as she tried to make herself smaller in an attempt to get me to be less irritated with her. She looked nervously up at me and saw the raised brow and scowl I directed towards her, reluctantly giving us an apology for how she had behaved, all the while grumpily muttering that it was totally unfair since she was the one who was wronged here, but I didn’t care. There were more important matters that needed to be discussed rather than her damn ‘beauty sleep’. She really wasn’t doing herself any favors about her ‘I’m not cute!’ attitude (Shadra totally is ridiculously cute, trying to deny it only made it cuter).

So, I explained rather lengthily what had happened in the little nightmare vision, trying to recall each and every word that mysterious entity had left me with. Shadra insisted on wanting to know what the umbrum looked like, so, reluctant as I was about sharing that image with my Princesses, I... asked them if they were absolutely certain that they wanted to know how nightmarish the umbrum truly looked like.

Their reactions were varied, but both of them were clearly spooked out by the eerie empty white gaze and the crooked teeth, the ‘wings’ that were seemingly never in the right place and the spindly legs stretching in weird ways, even blending together in a whirlwind of smoke from what I had briefly seen when they pounced towards me. Nothing we had ever seen truly compared to the wrongness of the umbrum (and we had some pretty bad memories from Tobias of things like scientific chimeras à la Porcupine Bat-man style and... other... experiments that had gone terribly wrong... or right, it entirely depends on how one wants to look at it, I suppose).

“You said the voice told you to not trust them, right?” Shadra whispered, horrified. “I can’t for the life of me fathom how they would ever be able to gain the trust of any living being if what you showed me is true. I’m sorry, My Queen, but I don’t know what we could do to fight these things. They are creatures of the Realm of Death, right? They must be, considering their nature. How do you even fight something that isn’t necessarily alive in the strictest sense? Unless... unless we had some kind of focus to..."–she tapped her chin in thought, clearly having an idea of some sort—"That might work... but only if everypony is going to be able to help. Hmm...”

“What is it?” I asked, fidgeting as my beautiful Princess began to pace back and forth, a mesmerizing sway in her gait. She really was embracing her feminine side more and more, wasn’t she? I’m glad we threw that ‘let her come to terms with it on her own time’ mindset out the window and helped her get over her fear of being who she wants to be, it definitely showed in her improved mood. She was less grumpy even though she did become quite a bit more bitchy when she wanted to be. Shadra had her 'moments' every now and then, but she was embracing her body wholeheartedly and wasn’t hiding from every little impulse or desire.

Funnily enough, she still insisted on having her first time with Amore but was happy to have Arachne eat her out whenever. I’m uncertain whether the Amore thing was going to happen anytime soon, if ever, but... I didn’t want to crush my beautiful Princess’s dream of riding Amore’s dick to nirvana.

“The voice said that we should fill the hearts of our subjects with love, right? That we would be safe from the umbrum if we did...” Shadra said and I nodded absentmindedly, letting out an 'Uh huh...' while trying to not blatantly stare at her rump and make it obvious that I was totally lusting for that hot body of hers. Seriously, she was like a supermodel, only in small and tiny (and absolutely adorable). Unfortunately, she most definitely knew what kind of effect she had on Arachne and me, the little deviant. She cleared her throat, giving me an unamused look and I focused back on her mouth instead of... well... the rest of her, really. If only that mouth was willing to suck my dick... “You guys had sex, didn’t you?”

“How did you get that idea?” I asked, feigning innocence while holding Arachne’s mouth shut with my magic, knowing all too well how easily she would give in and proudly declare that she had her way with me as a handsome stallion, having reduced me into a pile of bliss not even an hour ago.

“I'm not blind, you idiot. Who do you take me for? You are clearly in succubus mode, My Queen,” Shadra rolled her eyes and I pouted. Damnit, thwarted by my own lust! Was I really that much of an open book to my Princesses? I can’t say I was against it, to be honest. “Anyway, back to the topic at hand... or hoof, whatever. You said you felt a pulse of pure honey-like emotions, right? What if Amore’s horn led us here for the specific purpose of finding a focus, something like... let’s say, an artifact that could direct that love into something like a shield? An artifact that would work kind of like an amplifier?”

“That would explain why it felt like Amore’s emotions...” I mused, smiling in realization. My little stupidly sexy Princess was right, that must be what that pulse must have been. That pulse of pure honey, an emotion that I still doubted was love because Amore never seemed to show any kind of signs in that regard... could it be that it was an ‘amplifier’ like Shadra said? An artifact that our subjects could focus their emotions on to keep all of us safe? It was no wonder that the voice spoke of filling their hearts with love if we had something like that at our disposal! And if we are right about it being able to work as a shield, then maybe... it could also work as a weapon. “If we can harness that much power against the umbrum, it wouldn’t even matter that they aren’t physical beings. Emotions aren’t physical, either! Eee! You’re a genius, my Princess!”

“Right,” Shadra grinned in that proud superior (and kind of arrogant) way that only served to make her look cuter. I really shouldn’t be feeding that ego of hers, but I can't bring myself to care right now! Finally, after so much worrying, I wasn’t feeling like the apocalypse was right around the corner anymore! This definitely screamed for a reward for my amazing little Princess, didn’t it? “The light of love and all that cutesy crap should be able to hurt something that is purely made out of hate. I’m sure we can infuse our spells with pure love as well, allowing us to fight those monsters and keep our ponies safe!”

“That... does seem plausible,” Arachne stated with a thoughtful hum, an excited gleam entering her eyes, eager to experiment. “If our theory is true and that honey-flavored emotion truly is love... then if I focus my love for you into my magic, it should...”

My faithful Princess lit up her horn with an adorably focused look on her face, and, after a while of trying to evoke the right emotion, the purple light of her magic began to sparkle with bright blue wisps. My senses picked up the flavor immediately and there was absolutely no doubt about it anymore.

All this time... I had been an idiot.

An utter idiot, at that. I have been trying to rationalize Amore’s confusing feelings when there was nothing rational about it. Emotions were chaotic and they refused to make sense because... the heart decides all matters concerning love and it wants what it wants. His behavior didn’t match his emotions and I jumped to conclusions from there. All it would have taken to find out what he felt about me... us... was to ask the stallion himself. Find out what it was that kept him from acting upon those emotions (although I had an idea about that already).

Amore did love me. Well, not quite romantic love just yet, but the beginning was there. Love does not happen instantly, I was very much aware of that, but... it does have to start from somewhere. Amore had been fluctuating with his honey-flavored emotions for a while now. They were still there, that much I knew for certain, and, dare I say, they were starting to get stronger than the first time we met.

There was something that I did want to confirm, though. I brought up every little feeling of friendship and companionship I felt for the ponies under my care, intent on finding out just how much those emotions differed from the love Arachne infused in her magic.

As it turns out, they didn’t. As in, they didn’t differ in flavor all that much, but they did vary in the strength of the honey flavor. Friendship had a more flowery feel to it while companionship had a more nectary feel to it. Love, though? It combined the best of both worlds and felt far more intense to my emotional senses (and had that addicting quality to it, as well...).

Amore’s love for me wasn’t quite as intense as Arachne’s love was for me, but it was definitely a type of love I was familiar with. His love for me was... kind of like infatuation, the very basis for romantic love. And if it was allowed to grow? I think we might have just found ourselves our fairy tale prince, after all. That is, if I don’t screw it up more than I already have.

It’s a wonder Amore doesn’t hate my guts by now. On one hoof, it’s his own damn fault for not saying anything about his feelings, but... on the other? I should have realized this way sooner than us infusing our magic with the one emotion that could have solved this fucking mystery as soon as I came across it.

I can’t believe how... stupid... I was. Maybe I really did put all of my intelligence into creating Arachne and Shadra. It wouldn’t surprise me, I make dumb decisions all the time. Holy effing fuck, I really need to stop acting like an idiot and trust my instincts more instead of letting my brain come to dumb conclusions.

I had just... assumed... that love felt like what Leaf had felt like for me. I didn’t even think that there was far more to love than I could have ever realized. Love was like... a gradient, I would have to say. It could start out as strongly as Aranchne's, or it could start out small and fragile, like Amore’s. And each person had their own unique type of flavor to them, as well. I couldn’t just throw everypony into the same bucket and expect them to be fundamentally the same. Love doesn’t work like that.

Before I could ruminate even further over this, I was shaken out of my thoughts (and the hive mind, at that), finding myself muzzle to muzzle with said stallion who has been occupying my mind so heavily recently.

I blushed brightly as the clearly excited stallion picked me up in his patented ‘Crush Ara Hug’, shaking my freezing ass around like a rag doll. I mean... it felt nice, even though I had no fucking idea what got him so excited all of a sudden. Although... there was something weird about this situation, I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it.

“Ara, I got my Cutie Mark!” Amore grinned while I tried my best to stop the world from spinning around so much. An excited Amore certainly was a hoof full, wasn’t he? I never saw him so... passionate. Much less so about seeing him act without a care for how others could perceive his behavior (that was more my kind of thing).

My gaze wandered to his flanks and... I had no idea what to think of it. It looked like some sort of emblem with the typical paper-cutout snowflake symbol smack-dab in the middle of it and a few ornate pieces forming a frame around it. The color was a light blue, probably the same exact hue as his unicorn magic, now that I thought about it.

“Right,” I muttered, yawning stiffly while missing my mountain of blankets and warm, fluffy ponies already. No doubt did the sudden cold surprise Shadra and Arachne as well, I could just barely perceive their presence over the hive mind while sluggishly trying to find as many blankets as I possibly could in my vicinity. “You’re a special snowflake, we all knew that. Now let me get back to sleep in a warm pile of blankets. I’m not in the mood to freeze my ass off for this nonsense.”

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?” Amore asked, pouting in a way that he considered to be ‘manly’... or ‘stallion-y’, I guess. I sarcastically raised a brow, not even finding enough energy in me to hiss grumpily back at him after being exposed to the cold so rudely like this. Fuck the cold. “I really am sorry about the temperature, Ara. I promise, we’re not far away from the end of the mountain pass.”

“Sure...” I drawled out, not convinced in the slightest. Lying ass dickhead. “Seeing that you woke me up instead of stuffing me straight into the cart, I’m guessing you found something up on the mountain aside from your destiny butt mark?”

“I don’t even... it’s not a butt mark, Ara,” Amore rolled his eyes, smiling slightly and I grinned back at him teasingly.

“It’s on your butt and it is a mark for your special talent or destiny... or whatever you wanna call it,” I pointed out with a shrug, only for him to scoff back at me. Although, as he did so, I noticed that there was something... important... missing from him. I couldn't quite put my hoof on what it was, though. Everything seemed to be there. Pink mane and tail (they are pink, don't listen to whatever he might say), charming smile, perfect posture, prudish remarks about his butt, golden amber eyes I couldn't ever say no to, and his sexy posh noble lord type of voice. Although, now that I was paying closer attention to him and his behavior... it was almost like his emotions were... gone. “Who are you?!”

“What?” Amore asked, a puzzled look appearing on his face, but I wasn’t fooled so easily. Try that again, piece of shit. “Ara, what’s gotten into you?”

“You aren’t Amore, monster,” I snarled, escaping his grip while summoning as much magic as I could muster in my weakened state. I really shouldn’t have been so cautious with my changeling honey, only using as much as I absolutely needed. But, as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. I'll just have to distract him long enough for Rock to knock this imposter out, then we could figure out where the real Amore was being held. For that matter... “What did you do with him?!”

“Hey, it’s me, Ara,” Amore hummed softly, slowly reaching out a hoof towards me but I hit it away, hissing viciously at him. At the same time, the other ponies were starting to notice that something wrong was going on, never having seen me act so aggressively towards Amore. “I... I don’t understand. You know me, Ara.”

“I know Amore,” I corrected the quite obvious imposter in front of me and I started to prowl around them, hissing every time they dared to make so much as a single twitch in my direction. “I didn’t think you umbrum scum would be that good at deception, but it’s too bad for you that I’m an empath. You can act like him all you want, monster, it won’t fool me. Nopony can hide their emotions from me and the lack of them stands out like a bright flame. So, tell me what you did with Amore. Right. Now.”

“My Queen, is everything alright?” Gentle Breeze asked as she fluttered over, concern written all over her soft warm white muzzle. “Nopony has replaced Prince... I mean, 'Lord' Amore.”

“...what?” I asked, giving her a disbelieving look. “Are you sure? You weren’t with him for the whole night, how could you know that for certain? He... he could have been replaced as you went to get help! Don't let this thing fool you, Breeze.”

“Your Majesty, I wasn’t the only one that was there with him,” she gently pointed out, standing between me and the Amore-lookalike. Her pale yellow eyes were seeking my magenta ones out in a beseeching manner as she placed a caring hoof against my side. "Just take a look at him, My Queen. Does he truly look like a monster that's about to do whatever it is that you think is going to happen? He is still your Prince, isn't he?"

My glance went from her back to Amore in uncertainty, trying to figure out why I wasn’t able to pick up his feelings anymore. The two unicorns and earthponies that went with him before they requested assistance confirmed that they were with Amore at all times and their emotions were still as open as a book to me.

“I...” I hesitated, fidgeting in uncertainty while I gave 'Amore' a conflicted look. This... this doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. No one could just go from a happy, nice, and comforting person to an emotionless husk in the span of... however long they were gone. At least not to the degree that they were a complete emotional void. This umbrum thing must have tricked them somehow into believing it was the real Amore...

But... then again, he didn’t feel like he had the touch of death upon him. It was like his entire existence emotion-wise was... hidden from me... and it seriously unnerved me to no small degree. Nothing about this made sense to me and that... that frightened me so much. We always had at least an idea about what could be a potential answer to a question that we asked ourselves, but this? This left me stumped.

“Ara, I swear, it really is me,” Amore whispered softly as he moved cautiously over to my nervous and confused self. I took a small step back, fear still running rampant through my body, but all of that changed as he tenderly cupped my cheek with his hoof.

My breath stopped as a lone tear rolled down my cheek. It was such a familiar gesture filled with nothing but care and love, I doubt an imposter could fake it to an extent like this. No one could copy the exact way he did this to a degree that was this accurate, I was certain of it. Not if... not if they didn’t completely assimilate the role they were playing, knowing every mannerism, every muscle movement, and every little quirk of their target.

Not to mention, the umbrum were creatures of pure darkness, there’s no way they could hide their hatred that well from me. The hoof of the pony holding my cheek... Amore’s hoof felt warm and gentle upon my chitin, exactly like I knew him to be. Exactly how it felt right now. There was nothing that felt different about it from all the other times he had done so. But how was that possible?

Just... what was going on here? I couldn't be wrong about this, could I? Was I already falling for their trickery?

My mind screamed at me that this pony in front of me was, in fact, Amore in the flesh, not some sort of emotionless imposter. Everything about him, from the smallest thing to the littlest detail was... still him. His scent, his mannerisms, his... his damn caring nature. Everything was still the same, aside from... well, aside from the lack of his emotions. They were completely hidden from my senses for some unfathomable reason I couldn't even guess at.

I wanted to believe it so much, but... how? I wanted... no, I needed to know what had changed him so drastically. There was no doubt in me that it was indeed him and not some monster trying to deceive me, a changeling. A race that was practically made for espionage on a biological level. There was no way that there existed anything that was better at deception than a changeling, it sounded utterly ridiculous in my mind.

It was a scary thought, wasn’t it? That there existed something that could alter a pony on such a fundamental level to hide their feelings so thoroughly from an empath. If it had been anypony else, I... I would have been scared to death, fearing that they would use that ‘gift’ against my loved ones, my empire.

Something like that... it scared me more than the umbrum ever could. I was so very glad it was Amore and not some malicious being that sought the destruction of all that I hold dear to my heart. I couldn’t let anything harm my ponies, they have already gone through so much hardship. They deserved all the happiness I could possibly provide for them, in whatever way they desired it of me.

An odd two thousand-ish ponies wasn’t exactly an empire’s worth just yet, but... it doesn’t have to be. We are a close-knit community and that was a whole lot more worth to me than building up an empire where everypony was just ‘another’ face. I’m going to make Leaf proud, ensuring every last pony in my empire was considered to be special simply because they are. Each and every one of them.

Even Amore, the idiot. Whatever he did to himself to make him into... I can’t even tell what he was anymore, but it sure as hell wasn’t an ordinary unicorn anymore. His coat was a little bit... sparkly, I would have to say, now that the light of the morning suns was hitting it directly.

I hope he will forgive me for... for defaulting back to my old ways of distrusting anyone and everyone, scared that I had lost him to some imaginary monster. I felt really bad for hissing at him so... so hatefully. He definitely didn’t deserve that.

“Amore..?” I hiccuped, realizing how much I must have hurt him by acting like... by showing him... I-I... I can be better, I don’t have to mistrust anypony ever again. I have loved ones here, and I know I can be better. I’m not a bad changeling, I'm not! “W-what happened to you..?”

“We found something truly extraordinary, Ara,” he answered with a smile and soft voice, nuzzling me gently. “My horn, it was leading me straight to it like it was meant for me. My magic... it feels like I could lift an entire mountain, now! All thanks to this...”

Amore levitated a large crystal out of his discarded saddlebags, showing me the heart-shaped object with a happy smile. I took the... well... Crystal Heart, for a lack of a better term, into my own magic and was immediately bombarded with... they were Amore’s emotions!

“I-I... I don’t understand,” I breathed out in shock, almost dropping the thing as I was totally overwhelmed by the onslaught of his... his love for me. “How could this... I... but... this doesn’t make any sense...”

“What do you mean, Ara?” Amore whispered gently, lifting my head up by the chin as I gave that... that crystal a haunted, terrified look. It was like...

“Do you know what that is?” I asked quietly, meeting his confused eyes that clearly showed his care for me. I was almost afraid to reach out to that... the word eluded me for a moment, but I knew perfectly well what that thing was.

Shadra was right, it was an artifact of immense power. Of terrible power that could, if unleashed, be worse than any atom bomb the people on Earth had ever built. It could probably hold a million lifetimes’ worth of love in it and that much positive energy... it was a terrifying thought. Unleashing it all could most likely be felt all around the world and then some.

I knew that thing was dangerous far beyond imagining. If it could hold any type of emotion... we cannot ever let it fall into the wrong hooves. It dawned on me what that voice meant by protecting the chosen against the umbrum and their sheer hate. If even one of them managed to corrupt the Crystal Heart, it would... it would spell doom for this world, plunging it into eternal darkness.

A world full of hate... I cannot let that happen. Ever.

“I... Ara, do you seriously think I know what that is after having just found it?” Amore snorted and I fluttered my wings, embarrassed. A bit of fearful anger rushed through me, mad at the idiot that he was so careless with something so powerful that... it could honestly bring about the actual apocalypse. “Why are you so afraid of it? It’s not like it is a dark magic artifact. I thought you would be happy for me...”

“You really have no idea, do you? Amore, I... I need to tell you something. And you can’t ever take this lightly, each and every one of our lives might depend on it. This is serious, I mean it! Very serious, even. Something incredibly dark is coming and this thing might very well be at the center of all of that,” I whispered, so very much afraid for him. If his horn led him to that... that thing... what did that mean for his destiny? That Cutie Mark of his and the Crystal Heart were connected in some way and with my recent dream about the threat of the umbrum... we should have never followed that horn of his to this place. But... would that have changed anything?

The umbrum might have found the Crystal Heart before us, had we gone a different way and ignored Amore’s horn. And if that had happened, everything would have been lost. For better or for worse, Amore needed to be the caretaker of that... phylactery. That’s exactly what it was, wasn’t it? Maybe not for his soul, but his emotions. What are emotions but the expression of the soul?

I knew my purpose, that voice had made it glaringly obvious as to what I needed to do. Amore... the ponies here with us... my hive... we had to keep the light going to stave off the darkness threatening to swallow this world. They were the chosen and I was to be their guardian, no matter what. Keep their hearts filled with love, that’s all I had to do to keep the apocalypse away. Easy, right?

“What do you mean, Ara? How do you know that?” Amore asked, frowning at me in concern and I felt his own fear through the Crystal Heart in my grip. He was afraid. For me and us. For all of the earthponies, the unicorns, and the pegasi in our little community.

“I had a dream. A vision, rather,” I admitted with a heavy heart, gazing intently into his brilliant golden amber eyes. If this wasn’t so important, I could have just lost myself in them for eternity, they were that irresistible. So much so, even, that I wished I didn’t have to ruin this moment and tell him about that nightmare. “Amore, we need to get to safety and keep this”—I shook the glittering heart-shaped ‘doomsday device’ around a little bit—” away from those that would seek to abuse it. It amplifies emotions, Amore! It could literally coat the entire world with a protective light if it is filled with enough love and friendship. But imagine this: if the Crystal Heart is filled with nothing but hatred...”

“It could destroy the world as we know it...” he muttered, horrified. “And it is bound to me?”

“It’s not only bound to you,” I said, grimly poking him in the chest. “It is you. In your carelessness, you created what is known as a phylactery, a vessel for your soul. Or your emotions, at any rate. I don’t know what you did, but I feel you from this thing and not from... well, you. The price for the power of the Crystal Heart is your very existence, dear.”

“I didn’t know,” Amore whispered and the camp around us fell into an eerie silence. Everypony was just as horrified as I felt Amore was. Nopony even dared to make a single move, they were that frightened. It wasn’t an easy revelation to swallow, I was very much aware of that. But it had to be said. They deserved to know what we have gotten ourselves into, unknowingly as it was. “What do I do now?”

“I don’t think you could reverse this, even if you wanted to,” I told him, looking down into the reflection mirrored back at me in the Crystal Heart. As I saw my magenta slit eyes in them, I felt determination fill me. It was no coincidence that we found ourselves here after the revolution in Unicornia. Fate clearly wanted us here, whether that was a good thing or not. Whatever it takes, I’m going to make sure it would turn out to be a good thing, the alternative wasn’t even up for debate. “Besides, I don’t think it would be a good idea to leave this behind us and forget that it ever existed. We need to keep it safe, not only because this is quite literally you now, but also because of what I saw in my dream.”

“And what was that? You said that something was coming, right? What is coming, Ara?” he asked, his concern momentarily overwhelming my senses. I hated seeing him like that, the fearful paranoia was so unlike him, but... I had to make sure he knew how grave this situation truly was.

“I...” I muttered, hesitating. I could just... keep him in the dark, couldn’t I? I didn’t want to scare him like that, like I had scared Arachne and Shadra, but... I couldn’t be that selfish and do that to him. Not to Amore. I cared too much about him to betray his trust like that. He needed to know what was at stake here, there was no way around that. I couldn’t, in good conscience, keep the truth away from him to avoid making him worry.

Well... I was already past the point of making him worry, wasn’t I? Still, the umbrum were another thing entirely.

I probably should have foreseen this, but my little ‘escape’ from the Realm of Death had consequences. I had no doubt that the umbrum were there to hunt me down for daring to defy Death. For what other reason would the 'Forces of Death’ be here other than for me? And... why would I be the only one to get a vision like that? Why would that voice seek me out instead of Amore? It can’t actually think I was nearly worthy enough of that much trust, could it? Whatever the reason, I was going to make sure it didn’t misplace it in me. I was going to show those umbrum that you don’t mess with ponies.

“Ara, please tell me what you saw,” Amore begged. “If this thing is truly as dangerous as you make it out to be and it falls into the wrong hooves, then it is our obligation to destroy it before that could happen!”

“NO!” I shot back, terrified that he would even suggest that. He can’t seriously consider doing that, not to himself. I’ve made it very clear that the heart was his very being now, he can’t just... destroy that. T-that would mean... “We are not destroying the Crystal Heart! I’m... I’m not going to lose you, Amore... I’m not going to lose someone dear to my heart again. I can’t. N-not... not again. Please, don't do t-that to m-me...”

“Ara,” he began with an exasperated huff, probably about to argue that it was the lesser evil to sacrifice himself so that no one could ever use the Crystal Heart to bring about the end of the world, but I didn’t want to hear any of that bullshit. So I cut him off. By planting my lips against his, the Crystal Heart sandwiched between us. His shock quickly turned into that honey flavor I was so familiar with from him and it felt like my entire being was bathed in it. The Crystal Heart pulsed in a manner not unlike a heartbeat, and, after we broke the kiss, I noticed Amore seemed a bit more... sparkly, I suppose. My eyes were locked with his and I could see the conflict in them, the uncertainness that I knew kept him from finding love because he clung on to that silly belief of a perfect mare.

“I won’t lose you,” I said, pressing the Crystal Heart a little bit tighter against my chest, almost protectively. A little flicker of a heartbeat went through my chest in fear and excitement, ready to lay my heart bare to him. It was up to him to decide what to do with it and I hoped he wouldn't dismiss this as just another way to get into his ‘metaphorical pants’ like so many other times. “I love you, you idiot. Don’t make me break this, Amore. I can’t. Please.”

“Ara, I...” Amore mumbled, seemingly lost for words. And, as he looked down, fighting with himself over what he wanted to say, I feared he was going to reject me again. It wasn’t like I didn’t deserve it. “I don’t want a... a fuck-buddy, as you put it. I don’t want this to be something that’s only there to satisfy our ‘urges’. Do whatever you want with your body, if that makes you happy. But I can’t... not like that, Ara.”

“I know...” I admitted, feeling perhaps not as ashamed as I should be about that part of me, but... it still hurt. I thought... things would be different this time if I spoke directly from my heart. Maybe if I explained myself better to him, he might understand, if only slightly. Besides, I didn’t want him to ‘only’ be a fuck-buddy. That’s not what I wanted, either. At least, not with him. Never with him. “It’s just... it's who I am. I can’t live without it, I told you that, but... that’s not all that I want. I don’t want to be ‘just’ a fuck-buddy with you, you dolt. When I said I loved you... I meant it as ‘let’s live our lives together until we are old and wrinkly’, you idiot.”

“I...” Amore looked up, seeing the absolute honesty in my teary eyes, and the honey flavor increased to an intensity that I have never tasted before. Not even from Leaf, if I was to be honest with myself. This feeling, this... bond... I had with Amore... it felt nice. Warm. And most importantly, it felt right. On top of that, I've never felt this full in my new life, it was a welcome feeling. I know I’ve been joking about it a lot, but when I thought of spending my life with someone... or somepony, rather... I could only think of him being the one. Anypony else would only be a fling at best. “I’m so confused right now. I thought...”

“That I’m only into that hot body of yours?” I snickered ever so slightly, receiving an awkward chuckle from him in return. I smiled, a little bit ashamed as I looked up towards those golden pools of his. I’m not going to deny that that was one of the major reasons I was attracted to him, I would be lying if I did, but... it was his personality, his caring nature, that I fell in love with. He actually cared about me, despite all of my flaws and faults, and that... that was worth a lot more to me than his appearance ever could be. He truly was the perfect husband material one could wish for, I thought with a little flutter in my chest. The thought of actually marrying him sent even more flutters through me. One day... one day soon, hopefully, I might call him just that. My husband. “Do you really think I’m that shallow? That I would only love you for your body?”

“Says the changeling in a relationship with her split personalities,” he pointed out in a low whisper, a little grin spreading on his muzzle. “You’re taking this self-love thing a bit too far, don’t you think?”

“Well, to be honest, if you’ve got someone as hot as me, how could I possibly resist? I mean, just think about it... Arachne, Shadra, and me... you get all three of us in one hot as fuck package if you accept my feelings for you,” I whispered back raunchily, touching my muzzle to his in a featherlight motion. I smirked as I saw that little fidgety motion, knowing perfectly well he only ever did that when he was trying to stop his body from popping a boner (more often than not because of something I did~). “And believe me, we are all yours if that’s the only way you are going to be mine. I really do love you, dear. You held me together when I lost Leaf and you continue to be a great shoulder to lean on. You have no idea how much I have longed to have someone... somepony... care for me like that. Amore, I... I love you for that big heart of yours, so I will give you ours in its entirety. Body and mind, we are yours to do with as you please~.”

“You would limit yourself only to me?” Amore asked with a snort, baffled. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Araneae?”

“Shut up, you,” I smiled, breathing in his scent with a little dreamy sigh. “You are worth a million stallions, my Prince. I don’t need anypony else. As do Shadra and Arachne. We love you from the bottom of our heart and there is no changing that. We trust you to take care of it in whatever way you see fit.”

“Alright,” he said, bumping the tip of his muzzle against mine almost reverently. It was such a sweet gesture from him, I couldn’t help but smile even brighter at that. “I’m willing to give this a chance. You aren’t exactly the pony I envisioned in my dreams, but... that’s not really a bad thing, is it? Reality always manages to surprise us. Instead of the damsel in distress, I find myself falling for the knight in chitin armor.”

“Knight, huh?” I grinned, seeing him blush immediately. I silenced any and all retorts he might have had with a rough kiss, throwing a hoof around the back of his head in order to keep him against me and to stop him from coming up with excuses at the same time. Excuses that would have no doubt had the intention of making his comment sound less gay. Or whatever else one wanted to consider it as, considering I was more or less hermaphroditic in nature (not quite in the actual definition of the word but enough in all the ways it really mattered~).

“If you are that much into my dick, you can openly admit it. Nopony is going to judge you for that, dear,” I whispered with a seductive tone of voice once I broke the utterly dominating kiss. I could tell he was majorly turned on by it, watching in glee as he squirmed awkwardly in my embrace. My multilayered voice wasn’t doing him any favors, either. He most certainly was a dirty little sub, wasn’t he? I licked my lips hungrily as I indulged myself a little bit in that heavenly lust radiating from the Crystal Heart. “I, for one, am most certainly out for that majestic tool of yours. One way or another, I will get at it, my lovely Prince. My body gets all hot and bothered whenever I think of you~.”

“That’s n-not w-what I meant, A-Ara, and you know it!” Amore shot back, giving me a grumpy pout. His lust didn't diminish one bit, though~. “I swear, you can’t help yourself from making comments like that, can you? I really do need to teach you manners, don’t I?”

“Aww, how cute! You're welcome to try,” I retorted with a mischievous smile, giggling to myself as he rolled his eyes exasperatedly. It was adorable, him trying to be a good influence on me but never truly following up on those ‘threats’. I think, secretly, he enjoyed the raunchy banter just as much as I did. He always had that endearing smile on his muzzle when we had these conversations and his emotions usually tended to taste better, each and every time after it happened.

“Now, what was that about the dream you had? What is coming, Ara?”

“Shadows are gathering, Amore,” I warned him, a somber mood replacing the previously cheerful (if perverse) one. I guess there was no beating around the bush anymore, huh? “There are beings out there that are... wrong. Evil, I would even say. The voice in my dream warned me to not trust the umbrum and to keep everypony here safe. And I think I’m beginning to understand what it meant by ‘filling the hearts of my subjects with love’.”

Amore followed my gaze to the Crystal Heart and I felt it skip a beat, so to say. “You don’t mean...”

“Yes,” I nodded. “This is going to play a key part in keeping this world safe. We can’t destroy the Crystal Heart. Not only because it would mean... it would mean that you would have to sacrifice yourself, but also because otherwise... the umbrum would have already won. The Crystal Heart is our only means to defend ourselves, I’m certain of that.”

“Then we will have to find a place where those umbrum can’t hurt us,” Amore hummed, taking in the ponies all around us, whispering hushedly to themselves as they watched us. Most of the mares were fawning over the fact that I finally managed to win his heart, while some, stallions and mares alike, seemed resigned that their favorite fuck-buddy wasn’t available for fun time anymore. I’m sure they will get over it... eventually. I know I will~.

“I think,” I started, glancing at the heart with an idea forming in my head. “I think that, if that horn of yours could lead us to the Crystal Heart, then it might also be able to lead us to a suitable place. Where does this mountain pass lead to, anyway? You said that the end was in sight from where you found it.”

“A great valley,” he told me, an enthusiastic little grin on his muzzle. “Lush green grass as far and wide as the eye can see. You’re going to love it, I promise.”

“Anything is better than this damn cold,” I grumbled, throwing a mock-glare his way. The only thing the idiot did was chuckle back at me. Ass. I was so going to dye his hair, damnit.

I suppose one good thing did come from Amore’s lich-ification. The unending pit of hunger was gone for the very first time in my new life, a warmth filling me to the core of my soul. It was almost enough to make me forget the feeling the touch of death had upon me. All thanks to a crystal in the shape of a heart.

Eventually, that little heart in my grip is going to become a focus for our emotions, all of our emotions, to... I don’t know, hopefully shield us and the world from the Agents of Death (once we actually figure out how to... you know... use it).

Maybe... maybe at some point the Crystal Heart would even act as a spear against those with wicked intentions and we could make this world just a little bit safer to live in. I certainly didn’t believe that the umbrum would be the only threat we would ever have to face. Far from it, even.

No matter what, I was going to protect the... no, I wasn’t only going to make sure to protect the Crystal Heart, I was going to protect Amore and everypony else from the umbrum. It was my destiny, after all. I didn’t need a fancy butt mark to tell me that, or a vision to warn me of the future.

I was a queen. The Queen. Nothing was going to change that and I would shoulder that burden with my head held high. And I would squash those that would dare to stand in my way.

Let them come, then, I ruthlessly thought with grim determination, for I will be there to rid this world of their stain. If Death truly wants to reclaim my soul, I won’t give up without a fight. I have too much to lose, after all.

Whoever that voice was that spoke to me in my dreams... I won’t fail you. I won’t fail you, Amore, Breeze, Quartz and Orchard... all of my ponies in my hive... or Leaf. That, I hereby swear.

I am Araneae Apidae, First Queen of the Changeling Race, and I will stand tall in the face of uncertainty. Even if fear and hatred try to bring me down, I will stand steadfast against the coming tide. Even if it takes my life, I will make sure those looking up to me will live to see a brighter future.

I promised it to my wayward Leaf.

And I intend to keep that promise.