The Changelings of Manehattan

Mother rested in her cabin as the day crawled on by. Several times she tried to get some sleep. It should've been easy since she hadn't fully recovered yet. However, shortly after she lay down, she soon learned that sleep would be eluding her for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't just the anticipation that left her feeling restless, her own body seemed to have gotten tired of waiting. While the sensations that had nagged at her over the course of their journey had been mostly absent while she was still recovering, they now returned with a vengeance. It was almost as bad as that night in the camp. At least this time she wasn't stuck dealing with feedback from the hive mind bombarding her senses and leaving her wits scrambled.

Regardless, she still had several episodes throughout the course of the day where she felt like she might go mad if she didn't soon have something to fill her cravings. The first time they became unbearable, she had run out of her cabin, determined to take the first stallion she could get her hooves on. Fortunately, the camp had already been warned well in advance about her potentially volatile state. She had been unable to catch any of the elusive equines, and her children managed to subdue her before she ended up hurting someone.

The second time she had tried to leave, she had been met with a door that refused to budge. They had trapped her in her own room! She pounded on the door in her frustration. She began to yell and scream, and shout vague threats anytime she thought she heard hoofsteps pass nearby. When that got her nowhere, she fumed as she paced around the room in angry circles. It only served to wear her out and leave her in a bad mood.

The third time it happened, she was determined to find some semblance of relief as she lay on her back and attempted to relieve herself on her own. She reached for the place between her hind legs and rubbed experimentally at her entrance. When that did nothing to help, she tried massaging her abdomen where the itch felt strongest. That didn't help, either. The spot that needed tending was just too deep for her to get at. She eventually resigned herself to rolling on her side and weeping softly as there was nothing left for her to do but wait.

Mother's hunger was beginning to peak for a fourth time when she heard the telltale creak of the opening door and the scuffing of hooves as they made their way through the darkness. A toothy grin stretched across her face as she took in the unmistakable musk of a male's scent. That stallion sure took his sweet time getting here. Greengrass must've finally be ready to deliver on his promise. That didn't mean she wasn't going to savor the hunt.

She slowly stalked her prey from the shadows. The only thing left to illuminate the room was the scarce moonlight that stole its way in from the edges of the crude building. The stallion's face was still obscured by the shadows, and he showed no sign of having seen her yet. She carefully approached as she continued breathing in his scent, his grassy musk driving her mind and body wild, addled as they were by her long suppressed libido. She coiled up on her hind legs, ready to pounce as she waited for just the right moment. The stallion shifted into the moonlight just as she made her move, his face becoming visible just as she reached him.

A chill ran down her spine and Mother skid to a halt as she found it wasn't Greengrass, but Clover that stood before her. The one who had protected her hive when it was invaded, the one she had decided would be her mate, and the one who had almost killed her during her last attempt. He must have returned to finish the job. Escape. She needed to run away, but Clover was currently standing between her and the room's only exit. She seized up as she realized there was no escape for her. Even if she somehow managed to slip by him, she vividly remembered how fast he was. If he intended to take her life, nothing was going to stop him.

Mother flinched as she watched him reach towards her, sure that her life was about to come to its abrupt end. When she felt him carefully take hold of one of her hole riddled hooves, followed by the soft sound of sobbing, her fear began to make way for confusion.

"This is all my fault," he said, breaking the silence as he lifted the other hoof to rest atop hers. He took a moment to trace the cracks that ran up and down her leg before speaking further. "I never wanted to hurt you," something cold splashed against her leg. "I should've realized what you had done sooner. But when I saw her again. Saw the mockery somepony had made of my dear Luna, I couldn't stop myself."

He was actually crying, the changeling queen realized as she looked into his eyes. His sorrow was palpable as she watched the tears stream down his face. She actually found herself feeling bad for all her scheming, for hurting him while in pursuit of her own goals. "I regret doing that," Mother said as she looked down at her cracked chitin. "It's just... You were... I couldn't just give up when you weren't drawn to my first form. When you clearly didn't find it attractive, I had to try something."

"I did find it attractive." Clover seemed to get lost in thought as he stared off into the distance. "I don't know how it happened, but you looked just like... no... forget it. She died a long time ago."

"Who did?" Mother asked as she stared into his glazed eyes. Wherever his mind had wandered off to, it was far from here.

Clover blinked rapidly, his eyes coming back into focus as he did. "Please..." He softly pleaded, "forget I said anything."

She nodded slowly. Whatever it was he had started to say, he clearly didn't want to talk about it. "So," she said instead. "Why did you come back?"

A short laugh escaped his throat. "Spectrum," he said.

"Spectrum?" She asked. She wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"That changeling you had following me around. I had to call him something," he said. "It took a while, but I was finally able to weasel out of him what you've been trying to do. I wish you had just asked. I would've preferred to just give you what you were after, before somepony had gone and done something foolish."

Mother's heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat as she heard those words. She could've just asked this whole time?!

"It's actually kind of fascinating," he said as he began to trail off again. "That your kind seeks to strengthen itself by mating with other species. Now that I know that, it actually makes a bit of sense why you would come after me. However, I should let you know," he continued, making her stomach lurch for a moment. "Your progeny probably won't inherit the strength that draws you to me."

Why wouldn't her children get stronger by adding his strength to their own. Clover was nothing if not powerful. "Why do you say that?" She wanted to know why he thought that.

He gestured to himself. "I'm not as strong as you think. Not really," he said under his breath.

"Then how..." She started to ask, but was cut off.

"It has to do with the magic I wield. What I really am," Clover said as he gestured to himself. "I'd be just like any other unicorn without it."

Mother didn't understand and she said as much. "Then... what makes you so different? How are you so strong?"

"It doesn't matter," he quickly dismissed without explaining further. "The point is, what are you going to do now? What do you want to do if my seed won't give your daughter the power you've been seeking?"

Mother fell silent as she thought things over. If what he said was to be believed, then there was no real benefit from mating with him specifically. She could just as easily get the same results from Greengrass, who had offered himself earlier that same day and had already shown himself to be quite the asset. Also, if she took Number 47's recent shifts in personality into account, her daughter would likely grow up being far more curious than she herself was and possibly be a bit of a rebel.

Any need to think on it further was pushed out of her head as her instincts made up her mind for her. Nature still demanded that she pursue the strong, and with a specimen as strong as the one that stood before her, the time for thinking was over. Mother leered at him and licked her lips, taking a moment to feel out the edges of her fangs as she pressed up into him.

Clover was caught so off guard by her sudden advance, that he ended up tripping and falling onto his back. The changeling queen now stood over him, saliva dripping from her fangs as she lowered them towards his neck.

She hesitated for a moment as she realized what she had just done, the position she was now in. The thrill of subjugating a strong mate, along with the burning desire to sate herself, was being tempered by her recent brushes with death at the hooves of the same creature she now had beneath her. She looked down at the stallion and still felt a measure of fear as her eyes locked with his. She had always pictured her mating going differently, with her chosen being strongly bound after being heavily sedated by her children. Those same children standing by and watching as she propagated the next generation of the hive. Instead she found herself with a willing participant, who just looked back at her before giving her a small nod and leaning his head back, exposing his neck to her.

Was that consent? It was a foreign concept to her. Her and her children had primarily been living as ambush predators. Even the idea of another creature willing to leave themselves to her mercy was a strange concept.

She leaned in closer. The smell of sweat in his fur filled her nostrils even as she felt the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest. She opened her mouth and meticulously raked her needle-like fangs through his coat as she sought a place to sink them into. She settled on a place just above his shoulder and slowly sunk them in, relishing in the sensation as they slid into place.

The venom that filled the bite of a changeling queen was different than that of her children, she knew that. Whereas the bite of the hive's drones carried a paralytic effect, hers existed only for this moment. It took a moment, but she could feel the changes in her mate as the powerful aphrodisiac pumped into his body.

Clover's breath caught in his throat for a moment before he eagerly began to suck in air. Mother grinned when she felt the beating in his chest quicken, but what really got her excited was when his lower body finally reacted to the bite. She watched eagerly as the organ between his legs began to firm and stretch as it reached out towards her. She had never felt one of those inside her, and this was the only time in her life it was necessary for her to do so.

She held on as long as she could while Clover's length finished growing to its full size. It brushed up against her belly as she felt it begin to throb. She carefully repositioned her nethers over the flared tip, catching a glance of the stallion's face as she did so. A deep blush graced his features, along with the expected flare of passion that started to radiate off his being. He had remained silent since she pushed him down, but he was now starting to breathe heavily due to the venom that coursed through his veins.

Mother groaned as she pushed herself down on top of him. The experience was unlike anything she could've imagined. As she pulled him into herself, the itch she couldn't reach no matter how hard she tried was finally starting to feel relieved. Furthermore, feeling the pulse of another creature pound away at her insides was empowering, and she eagerly drank in the sensation.

She let out an involuntary gasp when she felt his body shift beneath her, along with the feeling of movement deep inside her. Wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her body with every motion and before she knew it, she was moving in time with her partner, further intensifying the sensation flowing through her.

Things came to a head as Clover began to speed up. It wasn't long before he was moving so fast that she had trouble breathing. Mother's sex-addled mind didn't have the time or the energy to focus on anything else except filling herself, the need that had been eating away at her was finally being satiated.

Just when it seemed like there would be no end to the feeling, her mate tensed up before making one last thrust inside her. A rush of warm fluid shot into her insides, triggering her instincts. She clamped down hard and spines slid into place, ensuring that her mate could not escape until the job was done.

Her mate must've been startled by the sudden change and sharp jolt of pain. He spent a panicked moment attempting to pull himself out without success. For all he struggled, the only reward the stallion got for his efforts was to get pulled even further inside.

Mother tingled with the sensations that were racing through her body. Invigorated as she was, she wasn't quite done. She needed more. With Clover still locked inside her, she leaned over to the other side of his neck and bit him a second time, harder than she had before. His response was instantaneous as this second bite invoked a second burst of seed to instantly explode out of him. With how deeply he was lodged inside of her, every last drop of the life-giving ambrosia went right to where she needed it the most.

She collapsed on top on him, exhausted but finally satisfied after waiting so long to get to this point. It wouldn't last forever. Content as she now felt, the changeling queen began to relax. Her insides finally released her mate, allowing Clover to pull himself free. He winced as he finally cleared her entrance with an audible slurp, the length of his stallionhood lined with tiny, bloody pinpricks. A memento of their recent coupling.

Clover didn't make it much further than that as Mother felt the need to latch onto the nearest source of warmth. Her entire body felt like it was glowing, and that was before she started drinking in the love she was able to pull from her partner. She peeked a single eye open at the stallion in her grasp. Some of the tension that had been ever-present within him seemed to have taken its leave as she felt him relax.

"Mother!" The panicked shout of Red Cross came from the other side of the door, along with the sound of a struggle. "What's happening in there?! Are you all right? Number 47 won't let us in!"

Mother softly smiled as she looked down at the stallion now sleeping in her grasp. "I'm alright, my child," she said. "Everything is just perfect."