Time slowed to a crawl as Tempest's momentum carried her downward. Her hindleg arced through the air, her hoof poised to deliver a monstrous spinning downward kick straight to the cragadile's face. As her hoof slammed into the creature's head, a resounding *CRACK* echoed throughout the entire swamp, making the three onlookers wince. The impact was so hard and so severe, that it shoved the entire beast's head straight down into the dirt it was crawling on, bouncing its jaw off the hard surface and rattling its reptilian brain.

Anon, unfortunately, was thrown about like a ragdoll from the impact, but luckily wasn't severely injured as almost all of the force transmitted into the cragadile's jaw and not his leg. In fact, the beast was so startled and shaken by the impact, that it released its hold on his leg, allowing Anon to fall out of its jaw and land on the ground beside it. He quickly crawled away as Tempest gracefully landed beside him.

Unfortunately, however, the cragadile was far from beaten by the single impact, and managed to shake its head of the dizziness clouding its vision. With a new, much more purple target in sight, it charged toward Tempest, its jaw opening wide to swallow her whole. However, just as it came within reach, Tempest juked to the side, easily dodging its jaws and compressing her legs like steel springs. With a force that downright scared the three stallions watching her, she used her new position to leap at the cragadile and deliver a downright devastating blow against it's cheek with her hind leg.

It was only two kicks, but the absolute monster of a cragadile was sporting a spiderweb of cracks all over its head and face. It tried to whirl on Tempest once more, it's jaw wide open yet again as it tried to catch her off guard with a surprisingly quick counter attack. However once again, the creature simply had no chance against the force of nature that was Tempest. Jumping and spinning in place, she kicked a hindleg out once more, the backend of her hindhoof colliding with one of the cragadile's largest teeth. The impact sent a shudder through the entire beast's body as its tooth was snapped clean out of its jaw and sent flying through the air until it impaled itself in a tree.

Just as Anon managed to scramble his way to Dusk, Javelin, and Echo, the cragadile wailed in pain and scurred away, it's tail as far between its legs as it could muster. With the threat neutralized, Tempest turned around and casually walked back over to the group of males, an uninterested look in her eyes as she moved.

She arrived to find all three stallions staring at her with wide-eyed expressions while Anon panted on his hands and knees. There was some clear tearing in his pants, but no obvious signs of severe bleeding. She gave his leg a swift and non-intrusive once-over before deciding he was alright and refocused on the other three stallions behind him, her eyebrow raised in irritation.

"What?" She asked.

"H-how... how did you..." Javelin muttered.

"You broke its bucking tooth off..." Dusk shook his head in disbelief.

"How the hay can you even kick that hard?" Echo questioned, his eyes wide in awe.

"Practice. Focus on helping your prince, or did you all forget that he's your responsibility?" Tempest ordered, frowning at the three of them.

"Hold the buck on. You bucked off when he was attacked. Don't you even start trying to talk shit." Javelin defensively replied, taking a step toward Tempest.

"Guys, please don't." Anon muttered, rolling onto his back.

"Anon's right, let's focus on him right now." Dusk spoke up, moving to Anon's side to check his leg more closely.

As the stallions nodded in agreement and moved to help, Tempest sat down beside Anon, just out of reach if he did try to touch her.

"To answer your accusation, I knew it was a cragadile the second he went under and away from us. They always drag their meals onto dry land if they hear themselves being chased. I saw this outcropping of land while we were walking and assumed that if there was anywhere nearby that it would drag him to, it'd be here. I knew it would take a substantial hit to break its grip on his leg, so I needed to get some height so my kick would hit hard enough." Tempest explained.

"How did you not shatter your hindleg on that spinning down-kick?" Echo asked, still clearly in awe.

"Practice. Lots of practice." Tempest smirked.

"Heh, and here I thought you said you weren't going to be saving any of us earlier," Dusk chuckled, as he finished checking Anon's leg, "All good. Just some bruising but you'll be fine." He reported, allowing all eyes to shift to Tempest.

"No, just the three of you." Tempest replied, matter-of-factly.

Though she received a glare from Javelin, Anon, Dusk, and Echo laughed at the response.

"Looks like she does like you, after all, Anon." Echo teased, patting Anon's thigh.

"Enough to not let me die, at least." Anon weakly chuckled.

"You guys are being entirely too casual with this." Javelin rolled his eyes.

"Ah, relax, bud. We're all good. Luckily nothing's broke. Maybe we'll all try to keep quiet while we wade through the rest of this swamp now, huh?" Anon joked.

At Anon's words, Tempest smirked, "Almost like I'm not just talking out of my flank, huh?"

Though Javelin quietly seethed at her taunting remark, he bit his tongue and focused on helping get Anon to his feet.

"Any of you guys see my rucksack? I think it fell off somewhere back over... there-ish." Anon noted, pointing vaguely in the direction they'd come from.

"I saw it fall off. I got it." Echo replied, taking flight to go retrieve the rucksack.

"You sure you're good, Anon?" Javelin asked, his voice awash in concern.

"Yeah, I'm good bud. Thanks for coming after me." Anon smiled.

"Ahem." Dusk muttered.

Anon snickered as he reached out and scratched at Dusk's ear, "Thank you too, Dusky. Echo as well. I appreciate all of you. Course, I also can't forget the one who literally broke a cragadile's tooth to save me." He began, glancing over to Tempest.

She eyed him curiously for a moment as Anon let go of Dusk's ear, much to the batpony's disappointment.

"Thanks for the save, Tempy. I knew you weren't all bad." Anon offered.

Anon was prepared for several reactions from the the broken unicorn, but he most certainly did not expect a slight blush to color her cheeks.

"Just... don't do dumb crap like that again. Next time I might not be so quick to help." She muttered, turning away and taking a few steps toward the edge of the spit of land.

Anon, Dusk, and Javelin eyed her curiously as she walked away, a mixture of feelings in all of their chests as Echo came flapping back in, Anon's rucksack in his forelegs.

"Alright, got it," He announced, dropping the ruck sack at Anon's feet, "What's the matter? You all look like you've seen a ghost." He noted, glancing in Tempest's direction.

The three continued to gaze after Tempest for a few moments before Dusk suddenly chuckled, "Oh, mare. That didn't take long at all." He chuckled.

"There's no way, right? She can't possibly..." Javelin muttered, walking off in his own direction.

"What? What are they talking about? Anon?" Echo questioned, tilting his head to the side.

"Uh... good question, Echo. I'll let you know when I find out, myself. Thanks for bringing this." Anon replied, glancing curiously at Dusk and Javelin before picking his rucksack back up.

"Don't mention it. Let's get out of here before another one of those cragadiles shows up." Echo replied, nodding toward Tempest's direction.

With that, the group pressed on, readorning their gear and heading through the swamp. The rest of the day proved to be utterly uneventful, as the entire group barely said a word, lest they draw the attention of something hiding out in the swamp again. Javelin took the lead, using his map and navigation skills to point them in the correct direction as the sun continued to tick higher and higher into the sky.

The stops were frequent, as the hot temperatures and humid, damp environment made all of them sweaty to a fault. Sweat foam formed on all of the equine's backs and under their gear, while Anon's clothes turned a few shades darker from all the sweat soaking into them. Lines of white started to form around his armpits and in his pant legs as the heat continued to sap at his water reserves. Before long, the entire group was running low on water, a fact that was luckily easy to remedy since Javelin could simply purify the swamp water with his magic. With the group running low, they eventually took a moment to stop and fill their canteens with water. One by one, they approached Javelin to purify their water, until all of them but Tempest approached. Though there was still quite a bit of animosity between them, Javelin only hesitated for a brief moment before purifying her water as well.

Though the going was rough, they made good progress through the tough and foreboding swamp. Eventually, even the sun began to fall in the sky, and the heat that came with it gradually relented.

Celestia let out a quiet sigh as she lowered the sun to the edge of the horizon. The blood orange rays of sunlight cascaded over the land as the dark of night slowly took hold of the skyline. Standing just beside her, Luna's horn ignited as well, and the moon gracefully rose in the opposite orientation off in the distance. Together, they smiled at a job well done for what could have been the millionth time.

"How was your day, sister?" Luna asked, giving a curious glance to Celestia.

"About as boring as you'd expect. Politicians, nobles, taxes, the works." Celestia snorted in mild amusement.

"I take it you barely thought of any of it as the day progressed?" Luna intoned.

Celestia let out a heavy sigh, "Indeed, you are right. I couldn't focus on a damn word any of those nobles or politicians had to say. I'm fairly certain I absentmindedly signed about a thousand bills that will raise taxes on the nobles for the forseeable future. I do recall some of them being very disgruntled when they left..." She admitted.

Luna leaned in and tenderly nuzzled her sister, "Thinking about Nonny, weren't you?" She asked.

Celestia returned the nuzzle and draped a wing over her younger sister's back, "Can you blame me? I love him dearly and yet, I can't be with him when he's going to pursue that which would give him life equal to ours. None of us can. It's like some kind of cruel joke."

"It's true that we could have told him to wait. Had him stay here for a few more years until everything was settled in Equestria and Twilight was back... but you know he would have hated every second of it. Our Nonny can be a little impatient." Luna chuckled, wrapping her wing around Celestia's back, their feathers intertwining.

"No doubt due to his mortality. You, I, and Chryssi can afford to be patient. We have literally eons of time. Nonny... well, he probably has it in his head that if he doesn't do this now, he'll never be able to. We certainly didn't help in that department. Oh, I just wish that we could be there with him, to watch him as he completes this journey. I was there for yours, for Cadence and Twilights... but not my own husbands..." Celestia sighed, heavily.

"Now now, sister, remember that what's truly important isn't the moment he takes that leap, but all the infinite moments after it. Besides, he's not drinking the elixir all the way out there, he's bringing it back here so we can make sure it's safe." Luna reminded her, squeezing her with her wing.

Celestia pursed her lips in thought for a few moments, "True, but there is still the journey itself... and what that means to him, Lulu. Much like how both of us had to discover our talents and ascend to alicornhood through our own journeys, this is Anon's journey. It just... I just feel like we should be a part of it." She admitted, hanging her head slightly.

Luna deftly leaned in and nuzzled her sister's chin with her cheek. Celestia's sinuses immediately filled with the scent of lavender and she couldn't help but sag into the contact, her wing squeezing Luna tighter.

"It'll be alright, sister. Our Nonny is a strong, independent stallion, remember? He doesn't need us to baby him." Luna teased.

Celestia chuckled before planting a loving kiss on Luna's muzzle, "How do you always know exactly what to say to cheer me up?" She asked.

"Nopony has known you as long as I have. I'd hope I've learned what makes you tick by now." Luna chuckled, before returning a loving kiss on Celestia's lips.

The two alicorns kissed back and forth for a few moments, their tongues slowly making their way out to meet in the middle. Celestia initially took charge, teasing and tasting Luna's lips, before withdrawing and allowing her little sister to prod her lips with her own velveteen touch. They both hotly breathed through their nostrils as the heated passion between them increased, only to fizzle out as they heard a voice from behind.

"I knew I felt a spike of lust out here," Chrysalis chuckled, both a snoozing Artemis and Dawn held in her magical hold, "Am I interrupting something?" She teased.

Luna and Celestia let out a small giggle at who'd caught them, "No, not at all, Chryssi. I'm sorry for taking so long to come back inside. I was just venting to Luna. Here, let me take the twins from you, you must be exhausted after tending to the little ones all day." She offered, grasping both foals from Chrysalis's hold with her own magic.

"Oh, it's nothing I haven't endured a thousand times before. To be honest, if you want to make it up to me, just give me a little of what you two were just doing and I'll be more than happy." Chrysalis tittered, sauntering up between them.

"I think I have the energy for an hour or so of fun. Lulu?" Celestia smirked.

"I'm afraid that I have my duties to attend to for the night. You two will have to entertain each other in my absence... not that you ever have an issue doing so." She chuckled.

"Oh, and here I was craving blueberries tonight." Chrysalis joked, before nuzzling the lunar alicorn.

"Mayhaps you'll have some blueberry in the morning, if you satisfy Celestia well enough. How does that sound, Love?" Luna impishly questioned, a predatory smirk growing on her face.

"Satisfy her? My little Moonbeam, I promise you, I will ravage your sister until she can only moan my name for all to hear." Chrysalis grinned, licking her chops with her long, dexterous tongue as she glanced over to Celestia.

Feeling a distinct heat rising not just in on her cheeks, but in her nethers as well, Celestia excitedly gulped before clearing her throat, "As excited as I am for that, I do have to ask if you were able to reach any changelings that could help out with that task I mentioned earlier." She explained.

Chrysalis nodded, "Ah, yes. Of course, I almost forgot. I asked around and received a couple volunteers. Come and meet them, won't you?" She replied, turning tail and walking toward the bedroom entrance.

As she departed, Chrysalis flicked her tail up, tracing Luna's neck and wafting her scent straight into her muzzle. Luna quietly gasped as she was treated to not only the scent of an aroused and hungry Chrysalis, but the delicious sight of her winking, drooling slit. It was almost enough to make her forgo her duties for the night and pounce on the changeling queen right then and there, but through centuries of practice and experience, she managed to control herself and take to the sky, flying around to her observatory.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Chrysalis walked through the bedroom, the former setting the twins down on their bed so they could sleep.

"You know, that was just evil." Celestia teased, glancing over her wither.

Chrysalis shrugged, "Eh, it'll give her motivation to get her flank back here. Apologies if I seem like I'm picking favorites today. I love you and you are certainly no downgrade but for some odd reason I've just had an itch that I want Luna to scratch today." She apologized, quite genuinely.

Celestia giggled, "It's quite alright. I can be the same way sometimes. For now though, I'm just glad to have somepony discreet to handle this. I know Twilight and Cadence are grown mares but I can't help but worry. Maybe I'm overreacting but I can't help it. Twilight and Cadence are like daughters to me and the way Twilight wrote that letter... it just doesn't feel like it was her writing it." She admitted.

Chrysalis nuzzled her cheek, "I understand. That's why we're sending a couple changelings to check up on them. Nopony blames you for caring."

Celestia returned the nuzzle and gave a grateful nod to the changeling queen before opening the door to her bedroom with her magic. Upon doing so, she was greeted by two familiar faces that instantly made her smile.

"Ocellus! Pharynx! It's good to see you both." Celestia greeted, smiling at the pair of changelings.

"Princess Celestia! It's wonderful to see you too." Ocellus beamed, her wings buzzing in excitement.

"Princess." Pharynx greeted, curtly nodding at the sun diarch.

"My, you've gotten so much bigger already, Ocellus. You're practically fully grown." Celestia noted, sizing up the drone.

"I sure am. Must be all the love in the air around you ponies all the time." Ocellus beamed.

"Just don't overindulge. Wouldn't want to get fat." Pharynx replied, giving her a sidelong glance.

"Just because it's going to your flanks doesn't mean it's going to mine." Ocellus rebutted, blowing a raspberry at her elder sibling.

"Wha-hey!" Pharynx barked, his cheeks turning slightly green in embarrassment.

"Ahem, children." Chrysalis cleared her throat, giving both drones an unamused look.

"Sorry about that, mom. Pharynx is just being his usual argumentative self, as always." Ocellus rolled her compound eyes.

"I am not being argumentative. I am being practical. For this mission to succeed, we need to be completely perfect in our disguises. The Crystal Empire has means of tracking us if they find out we're not ponies up there, you know that right?" Pharynx shot back.

"The Crystal Empire is also not our enemy, nor are any ponies up there on the lookout for changelings. Remember, this is only a wellness check. It isn't a full blown infiltration like we used to do. If things go the way they should, you'll only be up there for five minutes." Chrysalis explained.

"Aww... I wanted to see the Empire." Ocellus whined.

"Ocellus, you're free to travel to the Empire whenever you wish." Celestia chimed in, some slight confusion on her face.

Ocellus vigorously shook her head, "Oh, I know, Princess. It's just that with the therapy centers Thorax opened, and me helping him at two of them, I'm usually too busy to go anywhere else. I could only come here to help because mom asked me to."

"Ocellus, you don't have to run yourself into the ground to help others. It's a wonderful thing that you're doing, and you have not only mine, but the gratitude of every pony you've helped since Tirek's invasion as well. In fact, how's about this, after this little 'mission' is complete, I'll personally grant you a week to go explore the Empire to your hearts' content? I'm sure Chryssi and I can find another changeling to fill in for you while you're gone." Celestia offered, genuinely.

Being able to sense the honestly of the solar princess's words, Ocellus found herself utterly touched by the gesture, and brought a hoof to her chest, "You would do that for me, Princess?"

Celestia quickly nodded, "Of course I would. This is a personal favor that neither of you have to do, so I simply cannot express my gratitude enough."

As Ocellus practically vibrated in place, Pharynx scratched his chin in thought, "Can all three of us go for a week?" He inquired.

"All... three of you?" Celestia tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"He's referring to his brother." Chrysalis clarified.

"Thorax?" Celestia replied.

"Yes. Not that he needs to know it was my idea, but he works hard, and I know he's really wanted to see the Empire ever since the Crystal Heart was restored." Pharynx explained.

"Aww... I would love for the three of you to spend some time together in the Empire once this is finished." Celestia nodded, a motherly smile on her face.

Chrysalis nodded beside her, "Agreed. Now, as for the specifics, we have some concerns about Twilight Sparkle. As per usual, this information must stay between us. Noling, and I mean noling can know about this. Chances are, we're just being paranoid... but if we aren't, then it would mean that Twilight and her friends could possibly be in trouble. The elements of Harmony would be completely gone and useless to Equestria. I don't have to tell you how serious this would be, were that to be the case." She explained.

While Pharynx nodded in silent acceptance of the task being thrust upon him, Ocellus nervously gulped. Try as she might to hide it, the potential seriousness of the situation made her ever so slightly weak in the knees. Vague memories of Tirek and how close he'd come to killing her brothers threatened to weed their way into her mind, but they were quickly forgotten, as she felt a chitinous hoof lift her chin.

"Ocellus, I promise you that you won't be put into danger like that again. You have my word." Chrysalis assured her, a gentle kindness behind her eyes.

Ocellus smiled up at her mother before lunging forward and wrapping her forelegs around her chest. The hug was tight but controlled, and made only that much more loving as Chrysalis returned the gesture.

"If you're having second thoughts, there are plenty of other changelings that can do the job. You don't have to potentially put yourself in harm's way again-" Pharynx tried to suggest.

"No, no. I'm fine. It's fine. I want to do this. Can't stay cooped up in the past forever, right?" Ocellus cut him off, giving a half smile to her brother as she released her hug.

Pharynx held her gaze for a few seconds before shaking his head and chuckling, "Alright, alright. Let's go get ready. There's a few disguises I want us to try and it's probably for the best if we get out of mom's mane."

"Right. Let's go Pharynx," Ocellus nodded, before turning to Chrysalis, "Thanks again, mom... love you." She smiled.

Chrysalis felt both her hearts warm at the gesture, and quickly nuzzled Ocellus once more, "Love you too. Now, go be safe, both of you." She chided, glancing over to Pharynx, who was pretending to gag.

"Uh, come on, Ocellus... and, uh... love you... too... mom." He awkwardly called over his wither as he exited the room.

"Love you too, honeybug!" Chrysalis teased, making the changeling general blush while Ocellus giggled after him.

As Celestia closed the door with her magic, she let out a chuckle, "You know, that whole interaction was just adorable. I love that they're calling you 'mom' now."

Chrysalis shrugged, "Well it's only proper, after all. My title of 'Queen' was surrendered over a year ago and I did lay every last one of them."

"I just wish Pharynx wasn't so embarrassed by it. It's adorable but he seemed like he was in such a rush to leave." Celestia giggled into her hoof.

Chrysalis smirked, "That was probably because he could sense my lust for you right now and wanted to get out of earshot before we started bucking like animals in front of him and Ocellus." She purred, leaning in to Celestia's ear, "Now, if I recall correctly, I do have a promise to keep to your sister..."

Celestia moaned as Chrysalis nipped at her ear, her sharp fangs adding just the right amount of pinching pressure mixed with the heat of her breath, "O-Oh? A-and what's... Faust... what's that, Chryssi?"

"I want her to hear you moaning my name from across the castle..." Chrysalis whispered, before tackling Celestia to the floor.

The night was filled with their lusty purrs and throaty moans until Luna came back.

Author's Note

And so the journey continues! Things are moving quite swimmingly for our protagonists and dare I say, there might even be a little attraction there?

As for Chryssi and Celestia, I've always loved the concept of the drones calling her "mom". I just had to do it here, especially after the last story.

Also I imagine that Luna will have a difficult time doing her duty knowing that there's an open invitation there... especially if she hears them once or twice throughout the night.