Twin Suns: Heart of the Empire

she lamented, her voice getting a bit more ‘distant’ and I got the distinct impression that she was pouting back at me.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the rest of her ramblings as I raised an eyebrow at Amore, curious about what he wanted to talk about with me. Amore fidgeted for a moment longer before he let out a long sigh, rubbing his neck awkwardly while his emotions got a little bit sour and... acidic, much to my surprise. That was new.

“Ara, I... I’m sorry,” he said softly, almost ashamed even. Then again... scratch the almost, he definitely was ashamed of himself, he even tried to appear smaller and... less threatening? No, that wasn't quite it, I couldn't put my hoof on what it was. I blinked, utterly baffled. That was definitely not the thing I had been expecting. I don’t even know what I was expecting after Arachne had assuaged my fears, but this certainly wasn’t it. “Look, I... I have been neglecting you and I didn’t even realize it and...”

“Okay, what the fuck are you talking about?” I huffed, slightly irritated that he was beating himself up over something that was probably a minor thing, at best. And here I thought it was going to be something serious and world-ending, not this... this dumb self-loathing. That’s what the acidic taste was, wasn’t it? “You haven’t been neglecting me whatsoever, where’s this coming from?”

“Uh, I... uh,” Amore stammered while he fidgeted, stunned. “I haven’t had sex with you and you need to feed more?”

“...what?” I blinked for what felt like the hundredth time within the span of a few seconds. “Please, don’t tell me Arachne told you that... Ugh, for fuck’s sake! I can't believe her! She's such a horndog...”

“I...” Amore gulped, avoiding my eyes while his ears splayed back. “I don’t understand. She made it sound like...”

“Dear, Arachne would say anything to get what she wants,” I rolled my eyes. “I ate two jars worth of honey out of... what? Sixty, maybe eighty? We aren’t going to starve, you dumbass.”

“But...” Amore bit his lip and he whispered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like he was disappointed. I wasn’t quite certain if I heard him correctly, but I think he was about to say something very important to me that might have changed... I don’t know... his prudishness, maybe. Not that I thought that was gonna change anytime soon, knowing the dolt. I certainly wasn’t going to have sex with him if he had to force himself to do so.

“Hey, whatever it is, don’t let it get to you, okay?” I said with a smile, bumping his side with a hoof. “Arachne worries too much, don’t you start listening to her when she’s like that, okay? Who knows what will come from that.”

“Yeah... who knows,” Amore muttered, still sounding kind of sad and... suspicious? I don't know, it was hard to tell with his emotions being all depressing and shit. I watched him a little bit with apprehension before I shrugged, turning back to the current project in the making. “Say, uh... you aren’t just saying this to make me feel better, right? You aren’t starving yourself? I couldn't live with myself if you were hurting and I did nothing to help...”

“Pfft. Nah, I'm totally fine,” I giggled, shaking my head. I mean, I kinda was walking a fine line here, but a little bit of hunger hasn’t killed anyone before, right? As long as my brood has enough, I could live on an empty stomach, no problem. “So, what did you guys come up with? This doesn’t look like the structure of roads I’m familiar with.”

“Arachne had this big moment of, uh... you know...” Amore began, a heavy blush spreading on his muzzle. I had to admit, that was interesting, as well. He rarely blushed that hard. It usually only happened when he thought of something naughty~. He does sometimes get more interested in my dick before going back to the whole 'I wanna marry my fairy tale princess and spoil her rotten' mindset. “She might have... uh...”

“What?”

“She held onto my flanks and showed off my Cutie Mark for everypony to see...” he whispered, his tomato-red blush spreading further down his neck. I blinked slowly, unsure if I had heard him say what I think he just said, before... bursting out in laughter. “Oh, come on, Ara! It's not funny!”

“Oh, it definitely is!” I cackled, tempted to roll around on the ground and make a scene, but thankfully, I could (barely) keep myself from embarrassing him even further. The line between teasing and bullying was sometimes a bit too close to each other and I didn't want him to think I was being mean to him. “What? Did she make inappropriate jokes? She did, didn’t she? Oh, damn... this is rich!”

“You really are the worst,” Amore grumbled with a pout, though he did grin very subtly to himself afterward. “She made it sound like my Cutie Mark would become the national emblem of our kingdom.”

“Empire,” I commented, cheekily sticking my tongue out at him.

Amore rolled his eyes with an exasperated huff. “Right, Crystal ‘Empire’. Which makes no sense, whatsoever. Ponies are calling me a prince (thanks for that, by the way) and you are a queen, which would make this a kingdom and not an empire.”

“Eh, technicalities,” I muttered, waving my hoof dismissively. “The Crystal Kingdom doesn’t sound nearly glorious enough, so... Crystal Empire it is. Besides, I could call myself the Queen Empress. Mhhn, that sounds really sexy... What do you think~?”

“That you’re incorrigible,” Amore sighed.

I giggled, nudging his shoulder with mine. “Why, thank you, my love.”

“I didn't mean it as a compliment, Ara.”

“I know,” I shrugged, not in the slightest hurt by his comment. “So... roads?”

“Well, she made the argument that we should build them to the image of my Cutie Mark and that we should take pride in it,” Amore explained, rubbing his neck awkwardly with a hoof. Seeing him all bashful and shy was seriously triggering something in me, wanting to tease him in order to make him blush more. Though, perhaps compliments might get me further with that...

“You should,” I said, smiling mischievously. Plan 'make Amore blush like a little filly' was a go. “It’s pretty.”

“Not the word I would use, but... t-thank you, nonetheless,” Amore mumbled bashfully and I couldn’t help the giddy squee from escaping my throat at how absolutely adorable he was. Today must be a good day, indeed, for me to fluster him so often.

Fuck, yes. I'm totally going to milk this for all that it was worth! Eh heh heh...

“So, anyone seeing our Empire from the mountain range or flying over it will see a snowflake, huh?” I mused with a teasing smile, idly shifting on my hooves back and forth in a playful manner. Amore let out a confirming (if embarrassed) hum, and now that I was thinking about it, I couldn't help but wonder... “Why a snowflake..?”

“What do you mean?” Amore asked, momentarily confused. “I told you, she thought it would be good for morale to make it look like...”

I interrupted him with a roll of my eyes, my hoof holding his muzzle shut (making him blush oh-so-delightfully again). Damn, I was on a roll! “No, not that. I meant, why is your Cutie Mark an emblem of a snowflake and not a depiction of the Crystal Heart? It doesn’t make any sense to me. What’s it even supposed to mean?”

“I...” Amore began after he nudged my hoof away but stopped pretty soon after, bewildered. “That is a good question, actually. Why is it a snowflake..?”

His head turned to stare at his own flanks with nothing but uncertainty and confusion. I suppose his own giddiness at finally getting his destiny butt mark had made him forget to question the very appearance it took on and what it meant, happy to finally have his ‘purpose’ being shown clearly on his butt for everypony to see. A purpose that was, for all intents and purposes, shrouded in mystery.

The thing is, Amore never put any thought behind it and Arachne came up with her own conclusions (not entirely surprising, she was kinda prone to doing just that). We quite literally had no answer as to why it took on the appearance that it did when it should have depicted the very thing that gave him his butt mark in the first place. I can’t by any means call myself an expert on all things Cutie Marks considering I wasn’t even an ‘actual’ pony (mentally, I mean), and thus, knew next to nothing about them aside from the fact that they just ‘appear’ when a pony realizes their talent (or something along those lines, anyway).

Clearly, even that assumption of mine has been wrong. Apparently, ponies could get their Cutie Marks even without a single clue as to what they did to earn them.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true for Amore, I guess. He actually knew what it was that he did, but not why he got it for the thing that he did. It was like a contradiction, really. Sort of like sucking dick and suddenly getting the Cutie Mark of being a friggin’ heart surgeon. The two were, plain and simple, not connected in any way.

So... why did he get a snowflake, instead? What was it that the snowflake represented aside from what Arachne read into it? To be honest, I actually thought it was a pretty good idea to make it into the symbol of our Empire, but that was by no means an answer to the predicament we suddenly had on our hooves.

It didn’t even make any sense in the way that most ponies get Cutie Marks that correspond with their names (and let’s just conveniently ignore the fact that they even get them in the first place considering it was kinda weird for nature to manifest like that since they are a social construct more than anything... it’s absolute madness to look at them from a biological point of view).

I mean... sure, there were plenty of exceptions that proved that ponies didn’t ‘have’ to get Cutie Marks that represent their names, but those were exemptions. They were outliers in a pretty weird magical system of ‘special talents’ displayed in the form of symbols on their butts (Amore can pout all that he wants, they are and always will be butt marks, end of story).

The rule of... hoof, I guess... was that (for some reason) ponies get Cutie Marks that represent their special talent and their names. Heck, even I as a changeling, and thus a species that (presumably) couldn’t get a Cutie Mark, thought that that made sense in a weird magical kind of way. Ponies get Cutie Marks that represent them and that was it.

So... why did Amore get a snowflake emblem instead of a heart-shaped doomsday device on his butt? It neither matched his name nor his accomplishment, leaving us with pretty much nothing to go on.

In short, we basically had no idea why it manifested aside from the event of him discovering the Crystal Heart in the mountains and we also had no clue as to what kind of 'special talent' it even represented. It was utterly perplexing to puzzle out.

His name literally meant love, so why was it that he got a mark that did not represent that? I mean, sure he was kinda prudish, but he had a pretty good grip on what it meant to be in love with somepony. I have to admit (and I don’t say this lightly), but... Amore had a better understanding of all things concerning love than me, and I’m supposed to be the succubus bug monster feasting on those emotions!

Gah! This was causing me nothing but headaches. The stupid thing refused to make sense and it was seriously starting to irk me. Well, as much sense as something of an obviously magical nature could make, I guess. Magic clearly had a weird sense of humor, manifesting in the strangest of ways, sometimes.

Sort of like my rebirth, now that I thought about it...

It was pretty strange, wasn’t it? Somehow, in some way... all of my wildest dreams and desires came true in the way of being reborn as a species that wasn’t shackled by the restrictions of sex, gender, identity, and what have you. The fact I could change into any pony and pretend to be them was telling enough. Then, there's also the fact that I could change into a different species altogether, the only thing that I really needed to know was the general basic appearance and no one would be the wiser (okay, maybe it was not quite as simple as that, but let’s pretend for a moment that it was). I spent centuries lamenting the fact that I did not want to be reborn as anything less than the perfect mix of both biological sexes (even though we did end up learning that we could only reproduce with one part instead of both... as far as we have discovered so far, that is).

Magic made no sense whatsoever.

And, on top of all of that nonsense, there was the whole destiny thing. Ponies clearly believed in a grander fate, a purpose to their existence, and I wasn’t inclined to disagree on that end considering, well... my purpose in the hive being the queen and all that. As much as I kept joking about the 'if I could get a Cutie Mark, it would end up being something lewd' thing, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if it turned out to be something changeling-related. I’d probably shrug and say ‘Makes sense, I guess.’ and be done with it.

Amore’s mark, on the other hoof, did not make sense. I mean, yeah, he was my special snowflake and would remain my special snowflake for as long as neither of us screwed it up too badly, but... I doubt that had anything to do with it. As much as I liked the idea of it representing our love for each other, I don’t think that’s what it was. It clearly has to have a deeper meaning and it continues to elude me (and him, for that matter).

The only thing that I could vaguely make a connection to love with was the symbolism behind snowflakes being delicate and short-lived (and so very fragile). Something that fits quite well with how love was oftentimes depicted. It’s an emotion that has to be treasured, that could fall apart if not properly nurtured and maintained, and causes more heartache than you could shake a hoof at. But still... it felt like I was missing something here. There has to be more to it than a vague comparison between the symbolism of snowflakes and the mysterious nature of love.

“A snowflake never falls in the wrong place...” Amore muttered, throwing me for a loop as I turned my attention back to him, more than a little bit confused by what he just said.

“What do you mean?” I asked, watching his eyes take on a slightly stormy look. To be honest, it made him look kinda hot...

“It’s something my grandfather Astraeus used to say to me and my cousin,” he answered, his gaze wandering away from the mark on his flank over to me. “He was the only one that ever treated us kindly in our family...”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I whispered, leaning myself against him in a show of comfort. “He must have been a great stallion.”

“He isn’t dead yet,” he smiled sadly. “My mother got into a fight with her brother and since then, I haven’t seen my grandfather or my cousin. I really don’t want to talk about it...”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to,” I said, nuzzling my cheek against his. “So... what was that about a snowflake never falling in the wrong place?”

“It kind of reminds me of how we ended up here,” he responded, looking up at the Crystal Heart floating serenely in the sky. “A series of massive coincidences. You showing up in Unicornia and freeing everypony of their bonds, the journey we undertook as my horn kept insisting we go this way, the Crystal Heart calling out to us on the mountain, the dream you had as I went searching for it... the umbrum lying in wait for us and the Crystal Heart saving us from certain doom. It seems so... unreal. And yet, here we are, creating a home for ourselves despite all of these struggles.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Unreal...”

That and the series of coincidences leading up to my rebirth. Combining both of them... it was more than unreal, in all actuality. If anything, it was downright impossible and utterly unbelievable on such a huge scale, it couldn’t have been a mere coincidence. And then, there was also the way the world itself kept calling me: The Weaver of Fate. Even Child of Fate, as if they actually meant it in a literal sense.

What was the meaning behind all of that? Was there even a meaning or was I reading too much into it? I mean... there had to be one, right? I was sure of it, but... what was it?

Was I merely a pawn in the grander scheme of things? Was I truly a ‘Weaver of Fate’ as the soul of this world implied? It clearly thought I was meant to be here despite the circumstances behind my death and reincarnation. And why did it say what it did? Why 'Weaver of Fate’?

I mean... Arachne was right when she said that it was I that set all of those ponies free, changing their fate for the better and so on, so I kinda get the ‘Weaver’ part. What sort of weird metaphor was ‘Child of Fate’ supposed to be, then? Was I literally the child of, well... the Goddess of Fate (or God, I'm not going to assume anything here)? That... sounded absolutely ridiculous in my mind, it could by no means be true. Alas, I doubt I would get a definite answer from either the Crystal Heart or the one it came from any time soon, so I would have to get my answers in a different way. Somehow. I'm not sure how (or if it will ever happen, for that matter).

The thing is, it started to sound kind of... plausible... the more I thought about it. After all, a massive series of coincidences that were as unlikely as actual flying pigs being a thing kinda gave me the impression that something must have meddled quite heavily with the variables to make sure this exact outcome would be the end result of their intervention. Was it that light that abandoned me? Or was it literally Fate setting the pieces into place for my eventual return to life?

Or... could it have been something else, entirely?

For a moment, I stepped back from all of my previous assumptions and considered the one thing that I would usually never do. I crossed myself out of the equation, taking on a new perspective without myself in it. What would have happened had I not been there? What would have been different? How would have things played out had I not interfered?

The answer to that came surprisingly easy to me. Amore would still be locked up in his cage, beaten up and bruised for daring to speak out against the so-called ‘King of Unicornia’, and so would Gold Bar and her friend Swirly Star. L-Leaf would still be alive and her ‘master’ would be free to continue abusing her to his rotten heart’s content like the slimy bastard that he was. The earthponies would all still be slaves to a mad king and his equally mad supporters. There would have been no revolution that would have given them back their freedom. At least... not anytime soon. The unicorns would still be torturing their fellow ponies beneath the city in the name of their misguided beliefs on unicorn supremacy. And they would have continued on like that unopposed... just like the umbrum would have been free to get what they wanted.

The Crystal Heart would have been defenseless.

I could see the answer to all of my questions so clearly now. I was the Weaver of Fate in the sense that I set everything back on its intended path, fixing what was broken. None of what would have happened had I not been there was ‘meant’ to be. I was the one that, without knowing it, repaired the torn 'Threads of Fate', ensuring everything played out how it needed to play out.

I was a pawn.

I was being used.

I was a damn character in a play I didn’t choose to partake in.

And... I was the only one that could make sure my subjects would be happy. I was the one standing in between the umbrum and eternal darkness. And, I had to admit, it didn’t bother me. It didn’t bother me one bit that I was nothing more than a mere pawn in the grander scheme of things for some God (or Goddess, who knows) that had who-knows-what planned for me. As long as I could make sure my subjects got to live their lives not in fear but in comfort, I was fine with it. They deserved to live in luxury and compassion, being able to love whomever they wanted, laugh and cheer whenever they desired to do so, and generally pursue their own dreams to their heart's content.

I was the one that gave them their freedom, even if Fate itself placed their shackles around my fetlocks, making me their pawn... I couldn’t even be mad at that. I got every little wish of mine fulfilled, I got to live as I was meant to be, and I had the most wonderful of ponies around me. I even had a stallion around which my heart couldn’t stop racing.

I was a pawn, and that was okay. It was a far better life than all of Tobias’, Tabetha’s, and Sam’s combined. Despite being made a pawn to forces unknown, I was happy. And I wouldn’t abandon my self-appointed mission of serving those that needed it most of me. It was my path to redemption, I knew that with perfect clarity. I did beg for a chance to better myself and if this was the only way to reach that goal, I would take it and embrace it wholeheartedly.

Which still left me with the mystery of what Amore’s Cutie Mark was supposed to represent. Ugh.

The thing is, what else could a snowflake represent? More and more, the thought Arachne had put forth (most likely as a joke) started to make sense, weirdly enough. When thinking about it, snowflakes not only portray delicateness, the short nature of life and its fragile quality, they also represent uniqueness. Each and every snowflake is different from the other and what is our Empire if not a show of that very thing? That despite the fact of everypony being unique, there can be unity and solidarity? That it can be a peaceful and harmonious place?

Isn’t that what Arachne is trying to prove by making the snowflake on Amore's flanks into our national symbol? To show our pride in our individuality? Our Empire is one of grace and beauty, a veritable beacon of hope. Our Empire represents the will to live and no one could take that away from us. Not even mad creatures of shadow and death.

And, as I thought back to the vision I had on the mountain, I was reminded of the crystal that paved the ground underneath my hooves. As I looked out towards where our ponies were setting the markers for the roads, I got a strange feeling that, if we were to make those roads out of crystals, they would end up looking exactly like what I had witnessed in my dream. And we actually had the means to make it into one single crystal, didn’t we? After all, we had already done so with our little experiment in creating a hive nursery.

The Crystal Emotional Resonance Theory. Crystals store magical energy. They store magic and emotions. Or rather, they conduct magic and emotions. My eyes widened and I turned them towards Amore’s flanks (this time without any inappropriate thoughts, whatsoever... totally) as a glorious realization dawned on me. I had thought about it all wrong, I was such a stupid idiot.

The Crystal Heart and the snowflake were connected. If I pictured it in my mind, the Crystal Heart would be floating smack dab in the middle of the snowflake and if I took it further and applied Arachne’s theory to it, it was almost obvious how much they truly were connected.

The snowflake would be the conductor for the emotions my ponies would direct towards the Crystal Heart and the heart would be the ‘battery’ storing that energy for later use. It wasn’t meant as a focus at all. What we were doing right now was horribly inefficient, even. Without a proper focus, the Crystal Heart could never achieve its full potential. It needed something to direct that energy in a controlled manner.

In my mind’s eye, a single object came into being. I knew what sort of thing was capable of directing power like that. After all, every unicorn I've come across has one and I, myself, had managed to cripple mine (somewhat). What we needed was a ‘horn’ to bundle all of that energy and form it, direct it, and... unleash it.

Amore was very confused as I started blabbering excitedly, bouncing giddily around with him in my embrace. Oh, this was going to be great! Glorious, even! Ah ha ha! I can’t believe my own genius! Yes! Oh, fuck yes! I’m so fucking sexy, it’s not even funny!

“A-Ara, please...” my stallion muttered weakly, turning slightly green from the overly excited dancing session I subjected him to. “What's the matter? Why are you so excited all of a sudden?”

I gave him a massive kiss, invading his mouth with my tongue (much to his embarrassed protests), before giggling again. I don’t care if Fate set me on this path, I will milk it for everything that it was worth! I was going to build the most epic monument to penetrate the damn sky and disguise it as a tribute to love like the pervert that I was! Mwahaha, I’m a friggin’ genius, nothing could stop me!

“O-okay, Ara, t-that’s enough!” Amore grunted, shoving me away from him, breathing heavily from a lack of oxygen. “Fuck, you’re a hoofful at times.”

“Language~,” I teased him, grinning wide and cheerfully. He sent a glare my way, but I didn’t care. I was gonna have so much fun with this! All the lewd comments I could make would make any respectful French lady blush like a tomato as I put the Paris Eiffel Tower to shame with what was, essentially, going to become the most glorious of palaces to have ever been built. This was going to be utterly brilliant, I can’t wait! Eee!

“I really hate you, Ara,” Amore muttered, getting his disheveled mane back under control after what I subjected it to. Though, seeing him with a ruffled mane was kinda seriously hot. Generally seeing him not be the perfect image of a noble stallion was making me all hot and bothered, I had to admit. It had that certain something that one only ever saw on a rare occasion, which made it that much more of a treat to see. “You constantly saying bad words has corrupted me!”

“Oh, don’t be such a wuss,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. That was another thing, actually. Him not constantly acting all prim and proper was making him a bit more... relatable, I guess? It wasn’t like being around him and his politeness was making me ashamed of my own behavior. After all, I regularly put on a façade of regalness for the sake of our subjects and their sense of ease (all the while thinking the most naughtiest of things~, but let’s not focus on that right now). It’s just... him always being like that even while more or less in private was kinda... aggravating. It’s like he never allows himself to let his mane down, so to speak, and that kinda saddened me more than anything. “I didn’t corrupt you. Otherwise, you would be sucking my dick right now~.”

“What?!” Amore stammered out, another blush exploding all over his muzzle and I grinned. This day truly was a special day, I mused. “D-don’t say stuff like that! Ponies could hear you!”

“Oh, they definitely did,” I snickered, watching our subjects go about their task of setting the markers while trying not to let it show on their bodies that they clearly were imagining their prince doing just that to their glorious queen. I could tell some were even disappointed they wouldn’t get to watch it happen, those dirty little voyeurs~. Oh, how proud I was of them... it warms my heart to the core, truly. “What? Are you afraid they would judge you? Heck, more than a 'few' of them had sex with me. Trust me, you wouldn't even be the first one to give my dick that kind of treatment~. Not to mention, there are regular orgies happening around this place, I doubt they would look at you any differently if you were to engage in that kind of fun time with me. Nopony, and I mean not a single one, would give a fuck at that. If anything, some would be more than tempted to join in or watch~.”

“Y-you... you are a damn succubus,” Amore grumbled, shifting on his hind legs and I knew he was futilely trying to hide his body’s reaction to my teasing. This definitely was a day that I wouldn’t forget quite so soon. If ever~. “Talking like that... I can’t believe it...”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t enjoy it,” I smiled coquettishly, only for him to look away from me with a pouty frown. His emotions didn’t change from the honey-like flavor of his love for me, though. If anything, they pulsed even more strongly from where the Crystal Heart floated. Aww, he was just the cutest, wasn’t he?

My body practically screamed at me to not let this moment go to waste and my mouth was already salivating, demanding me to take just a nibble. It couldn’t hurt, right? I wouldn’t take much, so it would barely even affect the Crystal Heart (or Amore, for that matter). The temptation was just too big to resist, and, before I knew what I was doing, I was already taking a bite out of those deliciously succulent emotions.

One ‘little’ nibble became two large bites, then three, four, five... six... until I was actively pulling as much as I could take and then some. The distressed hum from the Crystal Heart went all but ignored as I feasted on Amore's love for me and the light of the shield in the distance started to gradually dim as a result of my insatiable hunger.

I... I have to admit, I might have been getting a teensy, tiny bit more hungry than I thought I was. It was no wonder my self-control dwindled to nothing in the face of a veritable feast floating right there in the sky, radiating emotions practically everywhere, leaving me a little bit... tipsy... from how powerful they actually were.

No, not tipsy, I thought a bit deliriously, bloated would be a better word for it. Downright drunk, even. My beautiful Snowflake gave me a concerned look as I struggled to breathe in as my stomach protested vehemently against me. The haze surrounding my mind was, while absolutely wonderful, making my vision swim from side to side and... up and down... back and forth... going loopy and woozy... and... ugh... swimmy and stuff...

F-fuck, which direction was s-straight, again? Was there even such a thing as straight in this universe? I feel like... like... throwing straight up...

Before Amore could say anything to me, a little dribble of watery honey escaped my muzzle and I quickly clamped my mouth shut with my hooves, desperately giving the wobbly figure in front of me an urgent look as I began to sway unsteadily around on my legs. Thankfully, my special somepony (yeah, no, that sounds kinda weird... coltfriend, maybe?) was quick to find a barrel full of dirty linen in need of washing, dumping it out in a careless rush to empty it of its content and setting it in front of me just as I couldn’t hold back anymore.

“What the..? Ara, what happened there?” Amore asked, rubbing my back as I moaned pathetically at the stomach cramp currently causing me most of my discomfort (the mind-splitting headache induced by my overfeeding was only a minor inconvenience, I swear). I didn’t even need to look into the barrel to know that it was already at least halfway full with the softly glowing watery syrup-like substance of mixed emotions. Mainly love, though. “How much did you draw from the Crystal Heart just then and there? Don’t tell me you lied to me about...”

“Nuh...” I mumbled, shaking my head slightly. That proved to be a big fucking mistake, though. My head felt like it was just moments away from exploding. F-fuck... I’m such a stupid dumbass. “Not... not starvin’. I... urgh... I‘m fine...”

“Ara, this does not look like ‘fine’ to me,” Amore admonished me and I moaned again, my stomach emptying even more out into the quickly filling barrel while I tried to get the world from spinning around so much. I was failing at that. Spectacularly so. “You spaced out there for a moment and then you go and do this. What am I going to do with you? Can’t you be honest with me for once?”

“I didn’t... didn’t lie,” I sighed, feeling like my stomach wasn’t straining against my chitin quite so much anymore. That’s something at least, right? Fucking hell, I'm lucky an overdose of love can't kill me. Not as far as I know, at least. “We still have plenty of honey jars left. There's nuthin’... Ngh... n-nothing to worry about...”

“And how many of those did you plan on feeding on instead of reserving them for your larvae?” he asked, gazing at me with a raised eyebrow as I dared to look up at him despite my shifting vision. I must look so pathetic to him right now, clutching the barrel for dear life like this. “Arachne didn’t lie, did she? She told me you haven’t been eating enough.”

“Arachne worries too much...” I stubbornly grumbled, heaving one last time as I filled the barrel up to three-quarters-ish with watery changeling honey. I still felt like I was full beyond capacity, but at least my stomach was calming down. How I even filled that much without equal amounts of water in my stomach was beyond me, but... I did feel kind of lightheaded, to be honest. Kind of like I was near dehydration, now that I thought about it. That would also explain the headache and nausea, I suppose. I’m just going to chalk it up to magic and be done with it, I couldn’t screw up the necessary focus to care right now.

Maybe I can actually die of an overdose, this sure doesn't look like a healthy reaction to me. That's one way to end up like a shriveled husk, I guess...

Amore accepted a pitcher of water from one of the ponies around us, making me sip from it slowly lest I started heaving again. The water did help a little bit, thankfully. Not nearly enough to make all of the aches go away, but it was a start. My vision wasn’t going merry-go-round anymore, at least.

Note to self: love sucks. Stick to lust, seriously. You can't go wrong with good ol' lust.

“Ara, please tell me the truth. I just want to help,” he whispered, concerned. “Why did you draw so much from the heart?”

“I...” I hesitated, looking away from him, a heavy feeling of reluctance settling over me. I can’t make him worry, I just... can’t. Fuck, I’m such a pathetic, stupid idiot. Here I feared taking what I needed from the heart would inevitably weaken the shield and then I go and do this. It just happened and I... “I got lost in the moment. I'm sorry, ‘more.”

“That didn’t look like ‘lost in the moment’ to me, Lovebug,” he sighed. I raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the ‘Lovebug’ part but had to admit that I kinda liked him calling me like that. Ara was fine in the nickname kind of way, but as a term of endearment, it lacked that certain ‘something’, if that makes any sense. “That looked like you lost control of yourself because you were starving yourself on purpose. And don’t you dare try to come up with another lie to explain that away, Ara. I know what I saw. Brightly glowing eyes and uncontrollable drooling do not count as ‘lost in the moment’.”

“I’m fine...” I grumbled, glaring at him defiantly. He returned my glare with an even fiercer one while everypony around us ‘conveniently’ ignored us in favor of... yeah, no, they were totally listening in on us and I couldn’t even really fault them for their curiosity. Before I could say anything else, I let out a startled cry as I rubbed the point where he bonked me over the head with his hoof. I was about to open my mouth to complain to him when he did it again. “Ow! Stop that, damnit!”

“No.”

“Gah!” I yelped again, huffing angrily as I went to retort, only to be hit again by him. “For fuck’s sake, stop that or I’m going to...”

“You’re going to do what?” he challenged me and I growled, momentarily ignoring the way his emotions got spicier by the minute in favor of slapping his hoof away before he could hit me again.

“Fuck you, I’m fine!”

“No, you are not fine, Ara!” he yelled and I hissed back, yelping once more as he used his magic this time to tug on my ear. “And if you continue to act like a damn foal, I’m going to treat you like a damn fucking foal!”

“I’m not a foal, you asshole!” I shouted back, about to hit him back only for him to restrain my legs against me. “Let go of me! Ow! This is fucking abuse! Stop it!”

“Ara, you are going to tell me what’s wrong right this instant or else..!” he warned me and I spat at him with a dark glower.

“Fuck. You.”

Amore’s eyelid gave a twitch at my continued stubbornness and he let out a frustrated snort of hot air as he wiped the slightly sticky spit away from his muzzle with a grimace. “Ara, please, be reasonable.”

“I am!” I grunted, squirming around in his tight grasp. Had this been any other type of situation, I might have been turned on by the display of roughness, but as it was, I was in no mood to comply with the dickhead right now. “I am the most reasonable person to have ever lived and I’m fine, so let me down already!”

“You aren’t being reasonable at all, Ara!” he shot back, stomping his hoof as his scowl darkened even further. “And you can’t honestly tell me you are fine while... while bickering with me like a stupid idiot! You are being an utter moron and don't you dare lie to me! You were starving yourself on purpose!”

“Fuck you, I am not lying! I was just... making sure I had enough honey to last us through winter. I have to make as much honey as I can for my brood, I can't let them starve...” I argued back while kicking my hind legs weakly against his magical grasp, knowing that I was more than likely causing a scene right now, but I didn’t care. At this point, I was pretty much arguing for the sake of arguing and I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to back down. Not when it meant having to admit that I was the one in the wrong here. Besides... “Now, let go of me, you’re the one that is marehandling me, asshole!”

“Then stop LYING TO ME!” he roared and I let out a shocked meep, shrinking in on myself as I, for the first time, saw him genuinely furious with me. Even his emotions felt ‘hot’ to me and burned me as soon as I tried to taste them. “You’re always deflecting the subject when you’re uncomfortable talking about something, for fuck's sake! Why won’t you trust me?! Am I really the bad guy here for wanting to know more about you? About how you feel?! Is it really that hard for you to approach me when you have problems?! Do you genuinely think I wouldn’t want to listen to you?! Tell me, Ara! Tell me what the flying fuck I did wrong that you don’t trust me!”

I gulped thickly, a horrified feeling coming over me as my ears splayed back against my head. He thought I didn’t trust him..? But... I didn’t want to make him worry, I... I was fine. For the most part, that is. It wasn’t like I was unused to the feeling of a little bit of hunger, I was far from starving myself ‘on purpose’, as he made it out to be. I needed the honey for later, that was basically like foresight, right?

...right?

Was I... was I wrong? I didn’t want to bother him with my ‘needs’ when it clearly made him uncomfortable thinking about anything remotely sexual. I mean... I could survive without lust, as much as the thought made me inwardly cry, but... I didn’t want to force him into anything. I wanted it to be something special between us if we ever actually came around to do, well... that. He deserved at least that much from me.

“Please,” he begged, his angry scowl replaced with a beseeching plea to confide in him as he set me back down on the ground with his usual gentleness and care. “I love you, you dumb bug. Please, just talk to me. I can’t go on like this, not knowing whether or not you would actually come to me when there’s something bothering you. You are the first being that I’ve ever considered marrying and... and I don’t want that to be taken away from me. I don’t care if I’m selfish right now, I want you to confide in me so that I can help you! Isn’t that what relationships are for? To be there for each other even when things get tough? Please, Ara... please, let me help you...”

“...you want to... marry me?” I asked in disbelief. Despite feeling like shit due to everything that happened earlier, I felt better than ever as he uttered those words. My heart couldn’t even decide whether it wanted to leap straight out of my chest or stop beating altogether. It was such a strange feeling, to be honest. “Actually marry me? As in... until death do us part? As in ‘marry’ marry, wedding and all of that? Being husband and, uh... sorta wife? I’m not dreaming, am I? Please tell me I am not dreaming.”

“No, you’re not, and... that’s kinda what marrying implies, doesn’t it?” Amore gulped and fidgeted, rubbing his leg in what seemed to be discomfort or... uncertainty? Or was it hesitation? It was hard to tell when his emotions were... all over the place, I guess. It was almost like he was... nervous... “To be honest, I never thought I would get this far.”

“What?” I mumbled, confused. “Why wouldn’t you..?”

“Ara, I’m a stallion,” he told me and looked at me like that would have been enough of an explanation. At my continued uncomprehending gaze, he dragged a hoof through his face and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘Right, I’m an idiot, I’m talking to an alien here’ (which kinda tempted me to give him the stink-eye, but it was somewhat true despite the fact that I was technically born on this world, too). “Okay, let’s put it like this, then. How many mares do you see around us?”

“Amore, I’m not stupid, I can count,” I grumbled and answered anyway. Mares kinda outnumbered stallions a lot around here (not that there was a lack of stallions, to be honest). I could already guess where he was going with this and it didn’t sit right with me. Not one bit.

“Alright,” he said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Then there’s the fact I’m a noble. As in, a lord and... I can see you know where I’m going with this. Ara, I was prepared for the inevitability that I wouldn’t ever get to choose whom I wanted to marry. Not with my mother having arranged for... for Gold Bar and I...”

“You don’t have to say it,” I sighed, slowly embracing him as I leaned my head against his shoulder, my gaze wandering downwards in anxiety and... a feeling I couldn't quite describe in an accurate way. It felt light, if anything. Something similar to hope, maybe? “Did you mean it when you said you would..? To be fair, I got the feeling you were about to break up with me for being so... difficult and perverted and... and dumb about keeping my worries to myself. I wouldn’t even have blamed you for that, to be honest...”

Amore shifted his head gently so that it rested on top of mine, his breath tickling my ear and mane ever so slightly. “I would never,” he reassured me. “How often have I told you that? I love you. I know you know that, despite you being surprisingly oblivious to some things concerning love, what with being an empath and all that.”

“Just because I can smell and taste emotions doesn’t mean I have to understand them...” I chuckled weakly.

“Don’t I know it...” Amore muttered in mock agitation with his pleasant posh noble-y voice. “Since I met you, I couldn’t imagine a single day where I didn’t have you around making inappropriate comments and being generally shameless with the things that you do on a daily basis. It has honestly become a challenge keeping myself from doing anything unbecoming of my station, it’s driving me insane.”

“You keep pretending that it actually means something,” I hummed, smirking at him. “Everyone has needs, my love. Trust me, what you are doing to yourself is, in the most simplest of terms, torture. Why would you want to neglect your own body like that? Heck, I've never even seen you masturbate since I've gotten to know you. That's like... the most basic of basic reliefs you could give your body from all the stress that must have been building up for who knows how long. Do you not crave at least that much? Or do you not do it because you think it isn’t proper to do such things for whatever reason? What? Did your mother tell you you aren't allowed to play with yourself like that or what?”

“Ara...” he warned me and I huffed to myself. I bet he was going to say something along the lines of... “Let us worry about making this little ‘Empire’ of ours liveable first and then marry before thinking of... that. I am not quite... ready for that, yet. There are times I want nothing more than to give in to your demands, and then, there are times I'd rather hide away from that part of my body... I'd rather we take things slow, okay?”

...wait, what? He... he wasn’t outright saying no to me? I... this was definitely a first, I have to say. How surprising... “Wait, wait, wait! You were serious about marrying me?”

“I mean... yes. I wouldn't ever lie about something like this, Lovebug. I meant it when I said you were the first and only one so far that I have ever felt these kinds of feelings for. You make me happy, Ara. Genuinely happy, so I would like to, uh... consider it?” Amore said, coughing awkwardly. “When there’s nothing trying to, you know, kill us? And if you would have me... we can figure out everything else after that.”

“Yes!” I exclaimed, grabbing the back of his head and drawing him into a ravenous kiss. I felt my coltfriend (yeah, no, that didn’t sound right, either) deepen the kiss all by himself while everypony around us started stomping their hooves enthusiastically in congratulations.

“You are still going to give me an honest answer about why you would starve yourself like that to me,” he whispered softly after we broke the kiss, leaving me no choice but to look up into those damn eyes of his as he held me still. “You can rely on me, my wonderful Lovebug. I promised to always be there for you and I’m not about to break my vow to you because you can’t bring yourself to confide in me for whatever reason.”

“I... damnit, you and your damn adorable, lovable eyes,” I grumbled with a pout, unable to resist their charm. He really had far too much power over me with those pools of golden amber. “How can I not say anything when you call me your lovebug...”

“You call me your Snowflake, so fair play and all that,” he chuckled, bumping his muzzle against mine, a bright smile on his face. “Or Arachne did, anyway.”

“Well, you are my special Snowflake, after all,” I hummed, smiling widely myself. “I’ll have to start calling you like that, as well.”

“At least you’re willing to talk to me now,” he huffed good-naturedly. I rolled my eyes, giving him a quick peck as I resigned myself to ‘talk’ about my worries and difficulties with him. Or how I saw it: make him worry over something that wasn’t at all worth worrying over, in my opinion. It's not like I could eat his emotions willy-nilly whenever I wanted. Right?

Evidently, my opinion sucks and should not be trusted according to multiple, traitorous sources. So... talking it was.

And talk we did. Quite lengthily, even. The conversation soon shifted away from me ‘purposefully’ starving myself (and I had to admit, I... kinda was doing just that, if I was absolutely honest with myself) to my brood and when we could expect them to hatch or even mature into fully-fledged changelings.

One thing was for certain, though. Amore didn’t leave me to my own devices anymore after that day. As I had already predicted, he was massively worried for my health despite my reassuring him I wouldn’t drop dead as soon as he wasn’t within eyesight of me. I could take care of myself (apart from recent events making it exceptionally clear that I was perhaps a bit too overzealous in my own worry about not having enough food for my brood). It’s just... it was hard for me to confide in someone else that wasn't me (Arachne and Shadra didn’t count in that regard), feeling like I would be too selfish bringing up my own needs above those of everypony else. I was trying so hard, perhaps too hard, to distance myself from my old narcissistic tendencies that it made me afraid to reach out for fear of reprisal.

I really need to start listening more to Arachne and Amore. Their concern was entirely justified as I had proven by my ‘hungry craze’, as Shadra later called it. Apparently, it was not good to keep yourself at a minimum requirement of sustenance for a changeling queen (or any other creature, for that matter), who would have known? It was a lesson I had to learn the hard way and I vowed to never let it happen again. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, losing yourself to your own hunger that you became a mindless slave to your body as soon as the first source of food crossed your path. I mean, I was kinda asking for it, but still...

I had been a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off at any time. Had it happened just a bit earlier, the shield might have even faltered entirely. I need to be more careful from now on and trust in Amore.

His love for me was far more abundant than I had previously assumed. So much so, even, that the Crystal Heart was back to its usual bright shine after my stupid little stunt (or blunder, really), almost having recovered immediately from being drained so much. It does go to show how good of a pony he truly is. Not just him, for that matter. Everypony around us was willing to pitch in to help me out. I couldn’t even tell why I had been afraid of taking as much as I needed from the Crystal Heart in the first place.

Maybe I feared my own greed, I thought grimly. If I couldn’t control myself and accidentally hurt somepony, I would never be able to forgive myself.

It was clear to me that a good amount of the positive energy stored in the Crystal Heart was easily replaced in the short term. In the long run, something had to change, one way or another. Even if it was just a nibble here and there, if an entire hive starts to feed off of the Crystal Heart, I doubt it could recover quite so easily.

It would remain a last resort in cases of emergencies and otherwise only be allowed for those 'lings that couldn't find a special somepony to feed off of. That is, if we can't manage to build up a stockpile of changeling honey.

We do need to allow the Crystal Heart to build up enough energy for my little master plan (I still need to figure out the specifics for that, but I'm cautiously optimistic for now that it will work... hopefully). Until then, though? I have to think of my own survival first. Like I should have done from the very beginning.

Anyway, the way Amore kept ‘hovering’ over me almost caused me to paralyze him with my venom as I was about to go check on how the eggs were doing in the hive nursery. I apologized profusely to him as I quite literally couldn’t stop myself from hissing at him every time he came so much as a hoof length into the range of the entrance. That was the only place that Amore had to admit was a pony-free zone despite his concern and curiosity to see what it looked like.

Perhaps one day I will be able to suppress the primal urge to protect the hive at all costs so that he may step hoof into the nursery with me. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to have him in there, my body just insisted that he didn’t belong there and that’s it. If we ever find a way to make sure that it is his sperm that fertilizes my eggs, I would very much love to show him his kids before they emerge as fully-fledged changelings. I was already robbing him of making memories of his ‘foals’ during their foalhood, I wanted him to have at least that much.

But, alas, I was getting way ahead of myself here. We did get a bit more intimate with each other, much to my (and Shadra’s) happiness. While it wasn’t outright intimacy just yet (in the sense of getting very naughty with each other, that is), it was a step in the right direction. And we only ever did that type of stuff behind closed doors (and during the night when everything was too dark for even me to see every detail) because a certain idiot was too shy about his perfect body. I don’t know where he got it from, but being lean and tall is sexy and not whatever it was that he was insecure about. Not everyone has to be the broad and buff picture of 'peak' masculinity, seriously.

I actually preferred him being the slender, tall, and somewhat athletic kind of guy. He had plenty of defined muscles showing through his silky soft coat, so he had that going for him, as well. Sure, he was the slightest bit pudgy around his stomach, but that made him look kind of cute in a way, so who cares? Same thing with his mane, actually. The length was just right, in my opinion. Not too short like some other stallions (or most of them, really), and not too long that you would mistake him for a mare. Okay, maybe from the right angle, he would look like a (very) pretty mare, and my dick kinda approved of it... very much. He did have a slight femboy air around him, so... yeah.

I refrained from mentioning my body's opinion and instead reassured him that he was manly (or stallion-y) enough for me. Not that it mattered all that much to me, I loved Amore for his personality first and foremost.

Besides, I could imagine him looking all pretty and gay all I wanted in my head, right? It's not like anyone would ever know (aside from Shadra and Arachne). He was like the best of both worlds in one body while still being male. That’s entirely the fault of his prudish noble lord nature and the color of his mane and tail, though. Yep. Definitely.

Eh, even then, it made him way sexier in comparison to the other stallions, I have to say. What can I say? Cute and sexy works for him really well. And the fact that he had a feminine side to him made him that much more appealing to me. He was sort of similar to me in that regard.

What can I say? Fem is superior in all the right ways. It's a shame ponies don't have make-up yet. A touch of make-up makes everything look sexy, even the subtle kind. Even men. Stallions. Whatever.

Anyway, as much as he doubted my reassuring words, it did leave him in a far happier mood than the one before we had that little 'talk' (which just basically boiled down to 'Ara, why do you even like me?' and me telling him he was being a stupid head for his 'insecurities' and that I didn't give a single fuck as to what he looked like... or what was between his legs, for that matter). I loved him for his damn lovable personality, not just for that juicy dick and ass. But try telling that to him when he always finds new ways to be insecure about his body.

That kinda reminded me of Shadra before she got over her own internalized problems with her sex and gender. She was probably just as skittish about accepting her body and desires as Amore was about his.

Anyway, aside from our steamy make-out sessions behind ‘closed’ tent flaps (for some reason, those stupid things refused to stay closed for any length of time... not that I had much of a problem with that~), we were steadily making progress with those soon-to-be crystalline streets. Arachne kept checking them at least three times a day for the correct geometrical form even as ponies were digging out a groove next to her, connecting one marker with the next.

Only when she gave them the signal to go ahead did they start digging out the space where we would later fill in the crystals to make the path to and from the Crystal Heart and the Crystal Palace. It should (hopefully) be able to channel all of that energy (without collapsing after one discharge, that is) and focus it to do... something... that would surely make the umbrum wish they never stepped a smokey hoof in this world. I was certain it was going to work, it had to. Otherwise, I would be at a loss as to how to save this world from their influence and I’d rather not think about that possibility at all if I could avoid it.

While things were progressing rather smoothly, not everything was going as well as it could be. We had to ration our water supply for a week or two because the latest hit and run to the mountain yielded less than the usual amount of snow and ice due to an untimely intervention from our 'kind' neighbors. Thankfully, everypony made it back safe and sound into the shield, which didn’t make the voices become any less loud for us to find a (feasible) alternative. And I wish I could have given my ponies an answer to all of our problems, but so far, we have yet to come across an underground source of water that was safe to drink from.

Despite my wishes, the expedition team did go back down into the cavernous depths below to find a solution, only to come back missing two unicorns and an earthpony while the rest got off easy with scrapes and bruises (and a broken bone or two) from having to escape the ever-hungry worm monster living down there.

The ‘funeral’ was perhaps the worst one yet as I had to take the verbal abuse of a grieving mother who had just lost her significant other. While I kept my face devoid of emotions, I later cried myself to sleep in Amore’s arms, feeling like a monster. I could have stopped them from going, I could have put my hoof down and told them 'no' in no uncertain terms, but... I ultimately caved in when they argued that it was the only way to ensure our survival. That they would all come back, having found what we so desperately sought, and that we would celebrate their victory for what it was. A triumph in the face of adversity, spitting the umbrum in their faces.

Look at how that turned out to be. Instead of celebrating a win, we were left to mourn their loss for the thing that it truly was. A huge failure and a setback. There was no winning against these insurmountable odds, we had to face that truth. As much as it pained me to admit that, I had to be realistic here. Not everything could go our way, it was as simple as that.

And yet, for some unfathomable reason, they insisted on trying again. I don’t know why or how they even knew with such certainty that they could do it, they remained adamant and resolute in their conviction. The leader of the underground expedition force insisted that they were this close to finding an underground lake and... I wanted to believe them. I desperately wanted it to be true, but... what would it ultimately change? What would it cost us? Was the risk worth everything if we had to put ourselves in outright danger each and every time? Was it worth risking ourselves being eaten alive for a little bit of water? Water we didn’t even know was safe to consume?

As it turns out, it was. It was such a massive gamble, but it did pay off in the end, much to my surprise. I've got no idea who even came up with the harebrained scheme, but somehow they managed to collapse a part of the caverns right on top of that damn worm, trapping it underneath a massive crystal and tons of rubble, immobilizing it completely.

And, as we later found out, it was the only worm of such a gigantic size down there. The thing apparently preyed on its rivals until its competition ceased to be just that. I swore that we would keep the population of 'crystal earthworms’ in check from that day onward to make sure none of them could ever grow to the size of the behemoth we left down there to starve to death.

I wasn’t even remotely remorseful to watch it finally die after a full month of it hanging on to a tiny little thread of life. It had caused enough heartache to my ponies and I don’t care if I sounded cruel with this, but watching it suffer made me rest a little bit easier, knowing the deaths it had caused were, at last, avenged.

So much for trying to be better, I mused. I guess I would always have a little bit of vindictiveness in me. The thing that really mattered, though, was that I never turned my vengefulness on those I swore to protect. I’ll take any verbal abuse if I have to as long as I don’t become a monster to them, hurting them on purpose.

I didn’t have a massive bleeding heart like Amore had and... I think that was okay. I could be plenty of ‘good’ in other ways, really. And I didn’t have to extend that kindness to every creature out there, that was just not feasible (as much as I wished it could be). Certainly not that worm and most definitely not the umbrum. Some creatures were simply beyond my ability for compassion, that was more Amore's thing.

To be honest... he was far too good for this world (and, perhaps, also too good for me, but I was a selfish bug and could care less about whether or not I ‘deserved’ him). He might keep me on the rightful path, and I was very much grateful to him for that, but some things I felt I needed to be ‘cruel’ about, if only to make myself feel less shitty about not feeling shitty over the suffering of other creatures in the world.

I’m not a friggin’ saint. Far from it, even. Nor did I want to be. I'd rather not fall into that 'holier-than-thou' mindset if I could avoid it. Besides, I was a regular hypocrite on far too many occasions for me to count them all, I wasn't really anything better. I was happy the way I was right now, there was no need for me to get overzealous over not being 'good enough' and all that crap. Perfection does not come with being the pinnacle of virtue, in my opinion.

There’s only one pony in the world that could claim to be perfect the way he is (prudishness included) and he was all mine. If anypony else wants to have him, they could kindly take a hike and search for another pony like him. I'm not letting go of what is mine, only over my cold dead body. And even then, I would find a way to claw my way out of the grave once more if I have to.

Anyway, around the time the worm finally ceased being a nuisance was also the same time my first clutch of eggs began to hatch, the moderately large larvae slipping out of their rather thin and elastic 'eggshells' all around me (if anything, those were actually more like clear-ish organic plastic foil, to be honest). Which... kinda put me into a precarious situation with a problem I hadn’t even considered until now.

“How do I actually feed them?” I muttered, holding one jar of honey against my chest with a foreleg while I gazed at the twenty-five chambers each currently housing hungry stark white larvae in them. Almost stark white, I should say, seeing that they had little black spots where I guessed their hooves would later grow in when they pupate.

That’s another question for later, though, I thought with some minor apprehension. I was more worried about getting them to that stage in the first place without, you know, having to watch them starve to death because I was stupid enough to not think of this situation beforehoof. I couldn't just nurse them or stick a bottle into their mouths. The first one was literally impossible for me to do since I had no teats and the second one was also out of the question since they were far too fragile for that.

Arachne pointed out as I opened my muzzle to ask my faithful Princess for advice and immediately felt it scrunch up in distaste at the idea she kept insisting was completely ‘normal’.

Shadra commented and I hummed in agreement.