Apis guided Volthoom as they exited the city and headed south to the sacred pools.

When they arrived they saw a small lake filled with a black oil-like substance and in the middle of the lake was a small island with a single black tree with leaves of many colors.

“Here we are, those are the Sacred Pool of the South,” said Apis and Volthoom nodded while carefully looking that the tree.

“What do you know about that tree?” said Volthoom.

“Mother said that it was just a sapling when she found this place. The leaves of that tree produce emotional energy and is one of the factors that helped us survive this time of hardships,” said Apis.

“I see,” said Volthoom before he used his ring to fly near the tree when he got closer the tree glowed before a hole opened in its center. In there was a fragment of his former black ring.

Like the other fragments, it fused with the Phantom Ring in his horn and the Black Lantern symbol on his horn pulsed as the fragment darkened the ring and his skin. Once he had his fragment he flew back to the margin of the lake. Now there were only two pieces missing.

“Now we can go back,” said Volthoom to Apis.

“What was that all about?” asked Apis curious about what just happened.

“That tree is the source of that black substance and also it grew around the fragment of my Black Lantern Ring,” said Volthoom as they stopped when he saw a boulder.

“So you are saying that the pools come from the sacred tree and it grew because of the piece of your ring?” asked Apis just to make sure as she saw Volthoom pull back his arm before he punched the boulder.

“Pretty much,” said Volthoom as his fist broke the rock, cracks spread in all directions before it fell into pieces.

“Why did you punch that rock?” asked Apis.

“Just testing the muscles and bones. The bones are very durable since they took the properties of dragon bones, the muscles are not quite there yet and the skin still weak,” said Volthoom to both himself and to Apis while he lifted the hand he used to punch and it was bloody with the skin torn and bones exposed. Before Apis could panic the hand was engulfed in a chromatic flame, then it disappeared only to reveal that his hand was fine, so he added, “the phoenix regeneration seems to be functioning adequately.”

“You can regenerate like a phoenix?!” asked Apis alarmed after she came out of her panicked state.

“No, but I can heal almost any injury. Don't worry I won't suddenly burst into flames and become a pile of ashes,” said Volthoom in an almost teasing tone. That information was a relief, Apis really didn't want to be the one to explain to her mother why Volthoom turned into a pile of ashes.

“Out of curiosity, what are you capable of?” asked Apis as she and Volthoom resumed their walk toward the city.

“You mean this body or my powers in general?” asked Volthoom as he flexed his developing wings to get used to the new muscles.

“Both, I guess,” said Apis with a shrug.

“Ok, as you already know I have an energy/flame regeneration, that can if necessary recreate almost the entirety of this body barring completely destruction of all vital organs. My bones and muscles are as strong as that of a dragon and my reserves of magic can match an alicorn, unfortunately, I have yet to learn how to control it,” explained Volthoom.

“Wow, that's cool,” said Apis.

“And that's not even counting the extra organs that I incorporated into this design,” added Volthoom rather proudly and with a smile on his face, which showed his sharp fangs.

“Well, now I’m also curious,” commented Apis.

“Unfortunately most of these organs will only activate when this body is fully developed,” commented Volthoom before he continued the explanation of his power, “anyway, with this ring I can create hard light constructs, I just need to visualize them in my mind. The fuel is emotional energy and it gains different properties based on the emotions used, which is represented by different colors. It also provides life support and flight.”

“Is that why you glowed like a disco ball?” asked Apis while she tried not to laugh.

“Despite the way you described, yes that's why,” answered Volthoom disgruntled with the comparison, which caused Apis to giggle. After she had her fun he continued, “when you can use and combine all colors you can use white light that represents life, this gives the additional ability to control living matter –that's how I created this body by the way– and tap into the energy field that permeated all life, The Elemental Forces.”

“What's the difference between the Emotional Spectrum and The Elemental Forces?” asked Apis since she knew about the former since it was what fed all changelings, the metaphysical placed where emotions come from and was channelled through living beings, but she barely knew about the latter, all she knew was that it had great importance during the flutter ponies’ era.

“The E.S. permeate only life capable of feeling emotion, it’s more evident in sentient life capable of complex emotions and thoughts. The E.F. permeate all life and allows to connect and guide different types of life forms, a different elemental force for a type of life and ironically they also have colors as names. One example is The Green, the energy field that connects all plant life,” explained Volthoom and while he tried to shorten the explanation it still ended up a little lengthy.

“Like the flutter ponies and breezies’ connection to the Valley long ago,” said Apis with a look of realization and after she did some thinking she asked, “out of curiosity, what are The Elemental Forces? Aside from The Green, I mean.”

“Well, there is The Red connecting all of the animal life, The Blue connecting all aquatic life, The Gray connecting all fungal life, The Clear connecting all microbial life, The Metal connecting all inorganic life and The Black or The Rot that represents the lack of those force a.k.a. death. Some creatures may have a natural connection to multiple forces and all of those forces can be indifferent, hindered and/or helped by each other, which is represented by the interaction between living beings,” explained Volthoom but he saw that Apis was getting a little lost.

So Volthoom decided to finish his explanation just as they entered the city, “The Black and the Black Darkness of Death like The White –the combination of all elemental forces– and the White Light of Life are two opposites yet interconnected forces that have a place in both the Emotional Spectrum and The Elemental Forces.”

After Apis heard all of that information she started to think about the powers of the inhabitants of the Empire, most of their non-magical esoteric abilities could fall into one of these categories. So lost she was in her thoughts that she missed when they return to the palace.

Apis only came back to reality when she bumped into Volthoom and almost fell backward but Volthoom managed to catch her before she could hit the ground.

“Are you ok?” asked Volthoom as he held Apis in his arms and she just nodded while she looked into Volthoom's silver slitted eyes.

“Oh my,” said a voice not too far from them, they looked and saw Mili with Firefly on her right shoulder, Firefly was covering her mouth with her right hand and Mili was doing the same but with a look of mock surprise on her face.

“What mother would say if she saw one of her own daughters trying to seduce Lord Volthoom?” asked Mili overdramatically while Firefly fell from her shoulder as she laughed, but she instinctively used her wings to keep herself in the air.

“She would say to not hog him all to myself, to be nice and share,” said Apis as Volthoom helped her up, which caused Mili to pout at her younger sister's answer but otherwise didn't react.

“Anyway, mother sent us to tell you that the warriors are gathered in the courtyard,” said Mili to Volthoom, who nodded.

Mili and Apis motioned for Volthoom to follow and he took this opportunity to map the castle using his “sonar” after that was just a question of memory. They arrived in the courtyard after a few minutes and there were many warriors.

Volthoom could see changelings, ponies, diamond dogs, griffons, zebras, goats, minotaurs and even breezies in the group that was about to train.

“This is going to be fun,” said Volthoom.

Afternoon of the same day

Volthoom was panting, but he was much better than most recruits that were about to pass out. He was merciless both on the recruits and himself since he wouldn't make them do anything he wouldn't do. It was better this way, so he could weed out the weak ones.

Today it was just physical training with just two breaks for them to rest and eat, Volthoom had to make sure that their bodies could handle the stress of channeling huge loads of energy.

“Ok, that's enough for today. See you all tomorrow morning,” said Volthoom after he recovered his breath, he made sure to not use the Emotional Spectrum to refill his energy reserves since he wanted his body to adapt. The only response that Volthoom got was groans and moans of pain and exhaustion from the recruits. He was sure that by the end of the week the ones that haven't given up will be lightsmiths.

The courtyard was an area that was much like a park but it was closed off from the public and was between the castle and the barracks, also it was a place where the castle staff could come to relax and sometimes ogle the guards training. Seated on a bench was Phyllia as she waited for Volthoom, she was wearing a long, brown sleeveless dress with a floral pattern, when she saw that the training session was finished she offered a towel she brought with her and a bottle of water, which he accepted gladly.

“It reminds me of the days you trained the flutter ponies to be guardians of the Valley,” commented Phyllia since she saw most of the training.

“Yeah, but back then it was impossible for me to get tired. It might sound strange but I’m glad to be able to feel this soreness,” said Volthoom as he carefully flexed his right arm.

Phyllia smiled at his attitude, but then she looked at him more carefully, his body was slightly more muscular and he was a few inches taller.

“Did you just got taller?” asked Phyllia.

“Yeah, I going to be at least as tall as you by the end of the week,” said Volthoom confidently.

“Well then, I better enjoy being the taller one while I can,” said Phyllia before she leaned down and kissed Volthoom. After they explored each other's mouths a little bit they pulled back.

“Sorry about the dress,” said Volthoom as he noticed that his sweat was on the dress.

“Don't worry, besides it's the perfect excuse for us to take a bath together,” said Phyllia as she motioned for Volthoom to follow.

“I can't wait for that, it has been ages since I had a bath,” said Volthoom not bothered by how others could interpret this phrase out of context, which caused Phyllia to giggle.

“Bathhouse or my private bath?” asked Phyllia since changelings had no taboo when it comes to nudity, unlike most races on Equus who have at least some, so it wasn't uncommon for them to socialize in bathhouses.

“Might as well get to know the staff,” said Volthoom.

Phyllia then guided Volthoom through the castle until they reached the entrance of the bathhouse, once they entered the locker room between the entrance and the actual bath they took off their clothes and picked their bath towels.

The Empress teleported their clothes back to her –and now Volthoom's as well– room just they took a quick shower to remove most of the dirt and sweat before going to the areas where the baths were. Once he got there he was surprised to see most of the queens there, he saw Apis, Vesp, Arachne and Chrysalis.

However that wasn't all, with them were two other queens that he hadn't met personally yet, but he knew their names. Both had the familiar black skin of the changelings, one had a cream colored “corset”, eyes and neck length mane, she was slightly taller than the other queens, while the other had a pink colored “corset”, eyes and shoulder-length mane. It was Dana and Ophis respectively, two of the queens from the second council.

The bathhouse had pools of varying sizes to accommodate anything between a large group and a single individual. Around them were many other pools that were occupied by staff members on break, in a particularly big circular pool Apis, Vesp, Arachne, Chrysalis, Dana and Ophis were seated on that order clockwise.

As Volthoom and Phyllia got closer the queens were looking at Volthoom since it was the first time seeing him since his rebirth, except for Apis who saw him this morning.

“I didn't know you were a herm,” commented Apis.

Volthoom instead of answering slowly lowered himself into the water between Chrysalis and Dana, it was neither too hot or too cold it was just perfect.

*Sigh* “When was the last time I felt water against my skin?” asked Volthoom more to himself than the other.

“Don't worry dear, he just had a long day,” said Phyllia to Apis, who pouted at the fact she was ignored, as she sat between Chrysalis and Arachne before she turned to the two visitors and said, “Hello Dana, Ophis.”

“Hello mother,” said Dana.

“Hello grandmother,” said Ophis at the same time.

Dana was the oldest queen born from Phyllia and was intrigued by Volthoom since she was the only queen beside her mother that was a flutter pony at one point in time. Of course, she was just a filly back when she was converted but she met Volthoom once, his radiant form was among her oldest memories.

“Greetings Lord Volthoom,” said Dana, which caught Volthoom's attention because he felt a spike of nostalgia.

“Have we met before? Personally, I mean,” asked Volthoom as he looked at Dana.

“Yes we have, but I was just a filly back then. I was named Wind Rider,” said Dana.

When she said that name, memories of a green flutter pony filly accompanying Wind Drifter as she visited his temple few months before the fateful day he went to the north to confront Sombra.

Volthoom only knew about the queens because he observed the mindscape, but he refrained from searching memories unless it was truly necessary since he just had to wait for an opportunity to free himself he just kept himself informed about the goings of the world.

“You have grown little Rider,” said Volthoom as he placed his right hand on her cheek.

“It’s good to see you again Uncle Vol,” said Dana as she nuzzled his hand and called him by the nickname that most foals used when referring to him, then he let a little bit of love flow into Dana to show her he cared.

“Hey don't hog him all to yourself,” said Ophis from behind Dana.

“Sorry,” said Dana.

After that Ophis introduce herself, not that she needed, they spent time just talked and got to know each other better. They even asked for the servants to bring a tray of drinks for them to toast, but then Chrysalis requested a non-alcoholic drink.

“Why?” asked Vesp since Chrysalis was the type of person that liked a good glass of wine.

“I’m pregnant,” answered Chrysalis and soon after she was being congratulated by her sisters and niece while Phyllia requested non-alcoholic drinks for all of them. Because changelings were the type to have an open relationship it wasn't uncommon to have single parents but it was expected to at least to inform the other parent.

“You don't seem surprised,” said Chrysalis as she looked at Volthoom.

“White Light of Life remember. I can feel the life force of everything around me including the small sparks of the newly conceived brood inside you. I knew you were pregnant the day I was freed from my prison,” explained Volthoom.

“Oh yeah, sometimes I forget you can do that,” said Phyllia as she remembered a few times that foals tried to sneak up on Volthoom to surprise him. Then she remembered a fun fact so she turned to Dana and said, “incidentally he was the one that informed me I was pregnant with you.”

“Why you didn't say anything?” asked Ophis curiously while Dana didn't show much surprise at the information her mother shared.

“I only tell when I’m asked to,” answered Volthoom simply.

“Wait, you weren't pregnant when you went to your mission. Who is the father?” asked Arachne as she guessed that the father had to be an Equestrian.

“It's Shining Armor,” answered Chrysalis.

“That colt,” snorted Volthoom, which caught the attention of the others.

“Is something wrong?” asked Chrysalis a bit worried.

“No, it's just that he had so much potential but he didn't manage to live up to it, unlike his sister who is on the way to achieve said potential. It saddens me to see the bloodline of my friends waste its potential like this,” explained Volthoom.

“Who were your friends?” asked Chrysalis, she knew that Shining was powerful but to learn that he hadn't achieved his full potential was shocking. That meant that said potential was passed down to the brood she was carrying right now.

“Clover and Starswirl,” said Volthoom, much to the shock of the queens.

“I never knew that old Swirly had foals,” commented Phyllia since she remembered meeting the old unicorn and his apprentice when they accompanied the King and Queen in some visits to the Valley.

Moments later the drinks arrived, so they toasted to Chrysalis new brood. They spent the rest of the afternoon on the bathhouse, good thing that chitin didn't absorb water like skin, so they could stay for as long as they wanted without getting wrinkly. In fact, changelings could technically live underwater if they wanted.

“Do you wish to inform Shining Armor of this development?” asked Volthoom out of curiosity since Shining was an outsider and possible enemy.

“Only if the opportunity presents itself, otherwise don't waste time or resources. Besides he wasn't even that good, I don't know what that princess saw in him,” said Chrysalis as she remembered her time with Shining Armor. Despite being the Captain of the Royal Guard he could be such a nerd at times, she didn't know how Cadence put up with him.

Not long after most of them left the bath since they had other engagements today, that only left Volthoom, Phyllia, Dana and Ophis on the pool.

Phyllia just pulled Volthoom to her lap since she was bigger and hugged him from behind while she nuzzled his head with hers since she wanted to enjoy that for now. While Volthoom's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance at being handed like a child he let Phyllia have her fun, besides it was quite comfortable.

“So I hope you have been treating my mother well Uncle,” said Dana when she saw their interactions, she kinda expected that since she knew her mother really liked Volthoom, even back then.

“I’m kinda jealous that you found such a good mate grandmother,” said Ophis as she sat beside Phyllia, on the left side, while Dana approached her mother.

“Don't be jealous, you know that I don't mind sharing and I’m sure Volthoom won't mind either,” said Phyllia as she stopped nuzzling Volthoom to look at Ophis and Volthoom nodded.

After that, they relaxed for half an hour before they got out of the bath, dried themselves, said goodnight and teleported back to their rooms. When Volthoom arrived in the room that he now shared with Phyllia he just fell face first on the bed, feeling tired.

The bed shifted when Phyllia laid beside him and pulled him into a hug. Volthoom turned to face away from her and got comfortable while she hugged him from behind.

“Goodnight,” said Phyllia only to noticed that Volthoom was already asleep, so she closed her eyes as well.

Mindscape, Dreamscape

Phyllia opened her eyes and found herself looking at a beautiful city seemingly made of metal, stone and crystal that stretched as far as the eye could see.

She seemed to be on the top of a very tall tower as she looked at the pillars of green light that reached out into the skies.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” asked Volthoom behind Phyllia, while he may not have pleasant memories of Oa he had to admit it was still a sight to behold.

Phyllia just nodded without turning around as she continued to take these sight in.

“What is this place?” asked Phyllia as she turned to see Volthoom, who was in his changeling form, sitting on a green throne.

“This is Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corp,” said Volthoom.

When he saw the confused look on Phyllia's face he explained what the Green Lantern Corp was, which lead into a very lengthy explanation about the Lantern Corps in general, the Elemental Forces and many other aspects of the DC multiverse, all the while he changed the scenery to show her what he was explaining.

“Wow,” said Phyllia once again feeling like a filly in class.

“Ok enough of that, how about something more personal,” said Volthoom as he changed the scenery to a beach at night.

Volthoom laid in the sand and looked at the alien night sky while Phyllia did the same. They don't know for how long they laid there, but it didn't matter since time is relative in any Astral Realm/Plane, which included the Mindscape.

Eventually, Phyllia rolled over so she could straddle Volthoom and she placed her hands on his chest to keep him down.

“I'm so tempted to mate with you right here and now,” said Phyllia.

“If that's what you want, while I'm not against it I would like to wait until my body is fully developed and I want our first time to be in the Physical Realm/Plane,” said Volthoom.

Phyllia reluctantly nodded and laid her head on Volthoom's chest. In response, Volthoom just hugged her. After that Volthoom managed to convince Phyllia to get up and help him, so they spend their time perfecting his skills over magic, skills that were passable but lacking.

An unknown amount of time later their shared dream started to crumble.

Real World, next morning

Volthoom opened his eyes and saw the chocolate colored eyes, now he was facing Phyllia. Volthoom just gave a peck on the tip of her muzzle and she instinctively wiggled her nose and looked at its tip. It was cute, which caused Phyllia to just pout when she saw Volthoom's teasing smile. The Empress tried to keep a serious face but ended up just giggling.

“Good to see that some things stay the same,” said Volthoom as he remembered times in the Valley when he just felt like teasing Wind Drifter like these, she and Wind Rider would do the same face when he gently poked the tip of their noses. While Rider would just giggle, she was a foal, after all, Drifter would try and fail to keep a serious face and ended up giggling like her daughter.

Phyllia sighed but smiled, it was a silly habit but for some reason, it just made her happy. She held Volthoom's hand with hers and intertwined her fingers with his. She was about to relax when she noticed something strange, so she brought their hands into her field of vision.

Volthoom's hand kept his original number of fingers, while Phyllia had four fingers Volthoom had five. This caused her fingers to perfectly fit in-between his, although she liked the way their hands fitted like lock and key as well as the feeling of his hand enveloping hers, which reminded her of the days in the Valley.

After their introspection, they decided to get up and take a quick shower, while Volthoom went to the bathroom Phyllia went to the closet to pick a new set of clothes. When Volthoom returned after he dried himself with his towel and his long mane with a quick spell he saw a simple shirt and pants similar to the ones from yesterday.

“I assume you decided to postpone the request for my new wardrobe,” said Volthoom as he looked at the clothes that Phyllia left for him.

“Yeah, because you are going to grow and change over the week I thought it would be better to wait until then,” said Phyllia and Volthoom nodded before she went to the bathroom.

While Volthoom waited he decided to do something he should have done on the first day, he concentrated and not long after a familiar black sphere became visible in the center of his chest. Then he reached into it and pulled the Travel Lantern. After he saw that he could still access the Lantern without trouble he stored it back inside before the black sphere disappeared. Maybe he could try dimensional travel at a later date.

After that he decided to test another thing, he concentrated again and his body was engulfed by a chromatic flame before it disappeared showing his original human-like form. He stood before the mirror to inspect his form, he noted that shapeshifting was not that different from shaping constructs in his mind before the materialization, the principle was the same but applied to his own body.

Volthoom repeated the process to test his shapeshifting powers, he changed his form to that of a griffon, a zebra, a diamond dog, a horse and a pony of either gender. To push himself further he changed himself into many similar sized alien species from his memories, which were a lot. Then he decided to do one final test, so he returned to his changeling form before he assumed the form of a breezie, he noticed that the size difference impacted on his reserves of magic, so he went back to his changeling form.

“You are pretty good with shapeshifting. It normally takes years for changelings to reach this level of detail and very few have the concentration and magic to compensate for the size difference,” said Phyllia as she entered the room with a towel around her mane, she liked to take care of her mane in the traditional way.

“It's not that different from making constructs,” said Volthoom as he turned to face Phyllia, who sat on a chair in front of a vanity mirror.

“I see,” said Phyllia as she started to use a brush she took from one of the drawers on her mane. Volthoom then approached her after he put on his pants.

“Please allow me,” said Volthoom as he mentioned for her to give the brush. Phyllia gave him the brush and he started to brush her mane. Not long after he finished brushing her mane he gave back the brush to Phyllia and she put it in front of the mirror. Volthoom out of curiosity picked a few strands of Phyllia's mane and sniffed it.

“Oh, having naughty ideas?” asked Phyllia coyly while Volthoom noticed that Phyllia's mane was actually a combination of many shades of brown.

“Nothing like that. Your mane, eyes and chitin remind me of chocolate, even the different shades on your mane remind me of different types of chocolate and I like chocolate very much. At least I remember that I like chocolate,” said Volthoom, the last phrase more to himself than Phyllia.

“At least I know now that I look delicious to you,” said Phyllia as she looked into Volthoom's silver eyes that were reflected in the mirror. He leaned down, hugged her from behind while he rested his head on her right shoulder and nuzzled her a little bit.

“It’s ironic if you think about it,” said Volthoom with a thoughtful look.

“What?” asked Phyllia as she nuzzled Volthoom back.

“Almost universally, changelings are considered deceitful parasites, but with our empathic and telepathic abilities plus the hivemind it's almost impossible for changelings to deceive one another,” explained Volthoom.

“Yeah, it's quite a dichotomy isn't? Their ideas and the reality about us,” said Phyllia and Volthoom just nodded. They enjoyed the comfortable silence and each other's company.

The moment was interrupted by the sound of the double door opening followed by the sound of two pairs of hooves.

“Oh my,” said a voice that Volthoom didn't recognize.

“Morning granny!” shouted a child like voice.

Author's Notes:

For those that are curious about the names of the queens, here are the inspirations.

Dana: butterflies (Genus: Danaus) also means “wise” in persian
Ophis: moths (Genus: Ophisma) also means “serpent” in greek