Volthoom looked behind him and saw the closing door, in front of the door was Chrysalis holding a young nymph, she looked about 4 years old, she was very similar to Chrysalis but with a lighter shade of green. Beside the queen was a 5ft 6in young adult, it appeared to be male but much like Volthoom had an androgynous figure, but while Volthoom's figure leaned more toward the female end of the spectrum, his was more neutral, he had a very short dark green mane in the form of a buzz cut and green slitted eyes.

Volthoom didn't care about the compromise position he was in, actually, he quite liked the effect he was having on the blushing young adult since he had quite a round ass and wide hips, so he was giving quite a show to the visitors. While Chrysalis had a teasing smile the young nymph looked around confused.

“While I appreciate the show, we just came to wish good morning for my mother,” said Chrysalis just as Volthoom let go of Phyllia, who got up, smile and approached the trio.

“Hello Pupa,” said Phyllia to the young nymph, who reached out for Phyllia, so the Empress picked the nymph.

“Morning, granny,” said Pupa as she hugged Phyllia and looked at Volthoom curiously.

“Pupa, Thorax please introduce yourselves to Lord Volthoom,” said Chrysalis get the attention of the two changelings.

“It's an honor to meet you Lord Volthoom, I’m Prince Thorax,” said the young adult before he bowed to show respect.

“Hi! I’m Pupari… Pupar… Prince Pupa,” said Pupa, who tried to pronounce her full name.

“Her name is Puparium,” said Phyllia as she sat on the bed with Pupa on her lap.

“Yeah that, thanks, granny,” said Pupa.

“Hello my name is Volthoom,” said Volthoom as he sat beside Phyllia and looked at the little prince.

That was an interesting quirk of changeling culture because gender was optional for changelings many gender-specific words lost their purpose. One such example was “princess” and “prince” since the former came from the latter it was easier for them to just use the prince for every young royal.

The use of more female-oriented words such as “queen” and “empress” were remnants of the language of the flutter ponies, but these and their male counterparts were considered synonymous as far as the changelings were concerned. Aside from those two, every other rank below queen was the “male” form used as a unisex title.

Princes were the ones that would take the place of a queen if she died, the birth of a prince was a rare event, there was no more than two possible successors per hives. The only exception was the imperial hive that didn't have a clear successor since one of the queens would take the place of the Empress, besides any prince born on the imperial hive would eventually become a queen later and start their own hive –one of the reasons why Phyllia rarely had children nowadays–, but all royals are ageless.

A prince would become a queen regardless of its previous gender, a gender that had no bearing in the title, but such a succession to this day only happened once, when a dragon attacked a town on the edge of the Empire and Queen Thysania was killed defending her hive. Needless to say that Phyllia killed the severely injured dragon and demanded compensation from the Dragon Lord Torch. From that day onward dragons learned to never underestimate a changeling, especially a queen.

“You are pretty,” said Pupa as she looked at Volthoom silver hair and eyes while Chrysalis and Thorax sat on nearby chairs.

“Thank you little one, you can call me uncle Vol if you like,” said Volthoom as he placed his hand on her head and gave her a bit of energy after he ruffled her mane a bit, which cause Pupa to giggle because she tasted many positive emotions.

“I like him,” said Pupa as she looked at Phyllia, who instead of answering just learned on Volthoom's shoulder and also noted that now he was almost the same height as her. Pupa looked at the two when suddenly she had a look of realization and asked, “Is he your mate?”

“You're so cute,” said Volthoom while Phyllia just nodded to Pupa but also agreed with Volthoom.

“I’m not,” said Pupa as she pouted and tried to be serious, which made her look cuter. Volthoom just started to gently scratch behind her ear, eventually, she gave in and started to laugh. So she jumped on Volthoom's chest as he fell backward, “wrestling” –more like tickling– the little prince.

The others just looked at the scene and smiled, then Volthoom stopped when he felt a small wave of happiness and remembered of the other two visitors. So he sat up and made sure Pupa was comfortable on his lap.

“While I don't mind a visit, why did you come here this early?” said Volthoom as he gently scratched Pupa’s ears, who decided to just accept the gesture and relax.

“Well, if you don't mind, I have a request,” said Chrysalis and Volthoom nodded. So she got up, walked behind Thorax before she placed her hands on the shoulders of the prince and asked Volthoom, “I want you to train him.”

That surprised the prince in question and Phyllia while Volthoom just raised an eyebrow and silently asked to elaborate.

“He has always been rather shy and meek, even for a prince. I want him to be more assertive,” said Chrysalis as Thorax shifted uncomfortably because he was the center of attention, which caused Chrysalis to sigh.

Instead of answering Volthoom looked at Thorax, he made sure to observe the prince beyond just the physical realm. After a while, his horn glowed with a chromatic kaleidoscopic aura before a silver ring materialized near his horn and it shot toward Thorax, but stopped and floated in front of the prince.

“Put this ring on, I just want to confirm something,” said Volthoom while Thorax looked at the ring with a bit of apprehension but decided to trust him. When the ring was on his finger it shifted through many colors before it settled on a combination of indigo and violet, so Volthoom added, “Just as I suspected. He has a very powerful affinity with Compassion and Love. He would make a fine guardian and light smith, he can join the training but that's for him to decide.”

That actually surprised Chrysalis who didn't know about the hidden potential in her son while Pupa looked at her big brother with stars in her eyes, she didn't understand the specifics but she understood that her brother was going to do a super cool training.

Thorax looked at the ring for the first time in his life saw what he was capable and he thought about his duty as a prince. So with newfound determination, which causes a hint of green to appear on his ring, he said, “I would be honored to join the lightsmith training.”

“Does this means big bro get cool powers?” asked Pupa, which caused the others to smile at her innocence.

“By the way have you told Pupa she is going to be a big sister?” asked Phyllia as she remembered yesterday's events.

“I’m going to be a big sister?!” shouted Pupa excitedly almost jumping of Volthoom's lap.

“Oh dear,” said Chrysalis to herself.

Late afternoon of that day

Volthoom was going through the last exercise of today’s training, which wasn't as physically demanding as yesterday since they focused more on the mental aspects. Volthoom gave a training ring to each recruit to practice how to make and use constructs. Similar to the ring he gave Thorax this morning, a construct shaped ring with limited charge.

Much like Chrysalis, the other queens wanted the older princes to join as well, Volthoom didn't reject them but made it clear that it was their decision, not their mothers'. In the end, not all of them joined.

There were currently ten princes in the Empire, five of which were too young to train. From the five remaining four joined the training, Thorax included. The four princes that joined were in the front row while each recruit, princes included, had to use their ring as they tried to maintain simple 3D shapes orbiting around them while they were doing some katas. The goal of this exercise was to keep a clear visualization while fighting.

Ironically the most successful of the princes was Thorax, his introverted personality allowed him to develop his visualization skills further, but he was having more trouble with the physical aspect of the exercise.

Besides the oldest prince from Chrysalis’ hive, on his right, was the oldest prince of the Empire, currently, and the first prince of Dana’s hive, Prince Hedy. She was a bit taller than Thorax, being 6ft tall, had a modest figure but a very athletic physique, her light yellow mane was tied into a ponytail while her eyes of the same color were focused on the task at hand.

Hedy was the second most adept when it comes to keeping the shape and integrity of constructs, no surprise since she had more time to develop that particular set of skills compared to the other. Physically she was the second most gifted, again because of time and dedication.

Beside Hedy, on her right, was her brother and the second prince of Dana’s hive, Lyca. He was the same height as Hedy, had a slender and athletic physique, short mane and eyes that were a shade darker than his mother. He was the most physically gifted of the four princes in training, but he was the third when it came to visualization.

Beside Lyca was the last prince in training, Ambly the eldest prince of Arachne's hive, she was very similar to Thorax having androgynous but also somewhat tomboyish figure, having hair and eyes a shade lighter than her mother, so she was somewhere between magenta and deep red, she was the youngest of the four.

That, unfortunately, had the side effect of her having the least developed skill set, both physical and mental, but she was highly competitive and wouldn't let the fact she was younger stop her. She has a one-sided rivalry with Thorax, courtesy of her mother’s rivalry with Chrysalis.

As they finished the katas Volthoom's connection to the plants –the few that existed on the desert on the surface– through The Green told him that the sun was setting, so he looked up and saw the light on the cave’s ceiling that partially simulated the sky outside become dimmer. So he dispelled the training rings and ended the exercise.

“That will be all for today. If everything goes according to the schedule you will forge your own focus by the end of the week. See you all tomorrow,” said Volthoom as he projected his voice with the help of magic.

The recruits then left, some going to the barracks and some went to the city. The princes remained in the courtyard and went to the queens that were observing, today all royal were present –all the queens and princes plus Phyllia. Aside from the ones he already met personally Volthoom saw the two queens he had yet to meet.

Mantis was the shortest of the queens being 7ft tall, beside her familiar black skin she had teal colored eyes, “corset” and a somewhat messy long mohawk, but her most noticeable was the serrated scythe-like blade on the end of her tail. And Cepha was a normal looking queen, but her skin seemed shinier, her tail was smoother and it ended in two half-moon blades back to back, she had gray eyes, gray “corset” and gray mane that reached the base of her tail and was decorated with small rings made of coral, but the most noticeable thing about her was that wore a pair of glasses with a red frame giving her a more “cute nerdy girl” vibe. The fact that she was reading a book only helped that image.

Out of all the hives Cepha’s was one of the two that was located in the coast of the continent the other being Iso’s, so changelings that lived in these hives adapted to live partially on the water. Cepha's hive was located on the west coast while Iso’s was in the east. They even had contact with the two underwater kingdoms that existed on these oceans.

Not far from Queens were the younger princes, they were around Pupa’s age, so they were either playing or just watching the training. Much like Pupa, the others were younger versions of the queens but with different colors since their unique features would only appear when they reach adulthood.

Poly was Mili’s only child and she had an amethyst color. Remi was Cepha’s only child and he had a gray color a shade lighter than his mother. Thely was Arachne's second child, Amby’s younger sister and she had magenta color. Acan was Mantis’ second child and he had an indigo color.

Watching over the younger princes was Sibylla or Siby for short, the prince who declined to joy the training, she was older than Amby but wasn't as proactive as the younger prince, she still took her duty as prince seriously though. She had a cyan colored mane, eyes and “corset”, similar to Mantis, she also had a modest and elegant figure and also like her mother she had a scythe-like blade on her tail's end.

Today like most days all of them were wearing casual clothes since they didn't have any duties to attend to. Volthoom noted that a guard was informing Phyllia of something as he approached the group followed by the princes that were training.

As they approached the ground the younger siblings immediately went to speak with their older siblings/cousins. While they were having their fun Volthoom went to speak with Phyllia, who seemed to be troubled by something.

“What's wrong?” asked Volthoom when he noticed a worried looked not only on Phyllia but also on the other Queens as well.

“We just received information that something is affecting the changelings and the doctors can't explain it,” said Phyllia with a worried tone as she offered a bottle of water to Volthoom.

“Can you describe it?” asked Volthoom having his suspicions.

“Changelings all over the Empire are experiencing some changes on their bodies, but it's only apparent in their default form. Although these changes don't seem to present any health hazard, so the possibility of being a disease isn't very likely. Either way, we are unsure it means,” explained Cepha as she closed her book and looked at Volthoom before adjusting her glasses.

“Could you be more specific? I may have an idea of what is going on,” asked Volthoom hoping he was right while he opened the bottle.

“Um, the color of the chitin and sometimes the eyes are changing, their horns are either changing shape slightly and/or they have new ones growing and their wing seems to be changing shape as well. All these changes are occurring at a steady pace, but the speed seems to vary from individual to individual,” explained Cepha once again adjusting her glasses.

“Volthoom, do you know what's going on?” asked Chrysalis worried especially because of her condition.

“Yes I know, don't worry it’s nothing serious. Actually, I surprised that this didn't happen sooner,” said Volthoom before drinking some water from the bottle.

“Uncle, please tell us, we need to know what is going on. We need to calm the citizens down,” asked Dana.

“Very well, but I think it's better to explain this to a doctor as well, so he or she can be informed,” said Volthoom.

“We can speak of this in Dr. Sciens’ office,” suggested Arachne and the others nodded in agreement.

“Hedy! Lyca! We are going to visit Dr. Sciens, you two watch over your cousins while we are away!” shouted Dana to her children, who were playing with some of the younger ones and were a fair distance from the queens. But she and her fellow Queens thought it was better to let their children play and/or relax in this closed park for a while, besides they could teleport if needed.

“Ok!!” shouted Hedy and Lyca having heard their mother.

With that done all the Queens and Volthoom left the courtyard and went to Sciens’ office, it was a rare occasion, to have all ten Queens and the Empress in one place. They reached the office without trouble, so Phyllia knocked on the door. One of the nurses opened the door, she was startled when she saw the group, but she took a deep breath and managed to calm down.

“Your Majesties,” said the red nurse as she stepped aside and bowed.

“Hello Mary, there is no need to bow. By the way is Dr. Sciens in?” asked Phyllia as she and the other entered the waiting room of the private clinic of the castle.

“Yes but he is busy right now,” said Mary with an unsure look, she had a duty as a nurse but she didn't want to keep the royals waiting.

“Is he with a patient right now?” asked Chrysalis.

“Yes, I hope you understand,” said Mary nervously.

“Oh Mary, you know we don't mind waiting,” said Apis reassuring the nurse.

“Yeah, besides it's admirable that Sciens take his duty as a doctor seriously regardless of our status,” said Vesp agreeing with her younger sister.

“Where is Maya?” asked Arachne not seeing the other nurse.

Mary shifted and fidgeted nervously at the attention but she remained quiet.

“She is the patient with Dr. Sciens, isn't she?” asked Volthoom but it was more of a confirmation than a question since he could feel Maya’s life force on the clinic near the doctor. Not longer after Volthoom said that the door of the clinic opened, then the doctor and the nurse came out.

Maya was slightly different, her chitin was dark green instead of black, her eyes and mane were gaining hints of cherry, her horn was a light yellow –interestingly another possible color for cherries– and the blade on her tail now has an almost metallic green. Sciens on the other hand just had a hint of blue on his chitin while it was a shade lighter.

“Your Majesties,” said Sciens and Maya at the same time while before the doctor continued, “I apologize for the delay but a patient takes priority.”

“It's ok Doctor, we actually came here because Volthoom may know what’s going on,” said Phyllia much to the surprise of the doctor and the nurses.

“I just need to confirm a few things first, do you mind answering one question?” asked Volthoom and after a few moments later Sciens, Maya and Mary nodded. Then Volthoom asked, “Since my return, have any of you felt as hungry as before the wave of energy engulfed the Empire?”

All the changelings stop to think about the question, while they felt hunger it was never as bad as before Volthoom's return, some changelings even managed to stay the last two days without feeding. The doctor seemed realized first that the changes started when Volthoom was released.

“It seems you figured out. Those changes were meant to happen sooner or later,” said Volthoom with a smirk.

“I don't get,” said Ophis as she tilted her head slightly.

*Sigh* “He means that he is partially responsible for those changes,” said Dana as she too realized when the changes started.

“Not exactly, my return just triggered the metamorphosis,” clarified Volthoom.

“‘Metamorphosis’? What do you mean by that Lord Volthoom?” asked Cepha as she adjusted her glasses.

“When you and the flutter ponies became the changelings the transformation was incomplete. To complete the transition it was necessary for you to consume a great deal of energy not unlike a caterpillar before becoming a butterfly, the changelings as they are now are chrysalises. That was the reason for that ravenous hunger from before, it was just your bodies trying to get the energy they needed,” explained Volthoom and got the attention of Chrysalis. Both of them noted the irony of this analogy.

“So all changelings will go through these metamorphoses?” asked Mantis as she pondered how this might affect the Empire.

“Yes, but some changes might be just internal and/or almost unnoticeable. Once the metamorphosis is complete then the subsequent generations will be born already ‘complete’, so you don't have to worry about this happening again,” explained Volthoom.

The ones present felt relieved that it wasn't as serious as they suspected, after clarifying a few more details about the metamorphosis they Phyllia went with the doctor to announce what they learned to the rest of the Empire.

“Since we are all here, I need a favor,” said Volthoom since he figured that it was best to ask now since the queens of the second council were present.

“What do you need?” asked Apis, Vesp and Ophis at the same time before childishly glaring at each other, which caused the older ones to sigh at the antics of the three youngest queens.

“I need to go to the Sacred Pool of the West, so I think it would be better if I went with a queen of the second council,” said Volthoom, which caused Ophis to celebrate with a little dance while Apis and Vesp pouted.

“Well, we better get to our hives to make sure everything is ok,” said Dana as she Cepha, Mantis and Ophis got up and went back to the park to pick their children.

“Don't worry, tell Phyllia I will be back later tonight,” said Volthoom as he got up and follow the queens the exited the clinic.

“Well, we better get our kids as well,” said Arachne and the others agreed. Soon only the nurses were left on the clinic and since it was getting late and the doctor would be busy explaining the details he learned from Volthoom to the Empire the two decided to close for the day and go to their home.

After leaving the clinic the queens went back to the park to pick their children, except for Apis and Vesp who went to their homes while Iso just went to help Chrysalis with Pupa and Ophis went because she was just accompanying her aunts to get her cousins.

Once there everyone left the park to their respective homes, Dana and Cepha did a teleportation spell to teleport their group back to the Western Capital of the Empire. They appeared on the second biggest city of the Changeling Empire, it had a more modern look than the main Capital in the south.

The city was located beneath a small desert with a fortress on the surface acting as a military outpost, it was also where most species and kingdoms in the world think that the entirety of the “Changeling Kingdom” was located. That created the illusion of a far smaller and less powerful country on the outside.

“Ok, we better go home. See you later,” said Dana as she, Hedy and Lyca went to their home, their own section of the tallest tower, which was the place where all four of the queens lived.

“Yeah, we better go as well,” said Mantis as she, Siby and Acan went to the skyscraper palace as well.

“Ok, if anyone needs me I will be with a friend on the seaside,” said Cepha as she and Remi went in another direction, west to be exact toward the coast.

“See you tomorrow then. Bye!” shouted Ophis as she waved her right arm to Cepha and Remi, then Remi waved excitedly at his cousin.

After that only Ophis and Volthoom were left, so she motioned for him to follow her as she went in the opposite direction of Cepha, toward the continent and going deeper into the cave.

As the pink queen and Volthoom went past the edge of the city into a path similar to the one in the south and soon they reached a similar lake with a similar island with a similar tree.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” asked Ophis.

“Indeed,” said Volthoom as he looked at the tree that was similar yet different from the one in the south. While one in the south looked like a silk tree this one looked like an oak tree, but the difference was more than superficial since the energy flow was far different.

“Why do you need to come here anyway?” asked Ophis as she looked at the luminescent multi-colored leaves of the tree.

“I assume you were informed of the origin of the trees, both the one here and the one in the south,” said Volthoom and Ophis nodded.

Volthoom decided to test his wings so he flexed the muscles on his back, which caused his wings to beat rapidly making a distinct buzzing sound. With some effort he reached the island, then he touched the tree and like the other one from before it opened itself. There he saw the fragment of his ring, which was absorbed like the others and darken the Phantom Ring and his skin further.

“Four down, one to go,” said Volthoom to himself.

“What?! I can't hear you!” shouted Ophis when she thought she heard Volthoom.

Author's Notes:

The inspiration for the names:

The Queens

Thysania: moths (Genus Thysania) a group of moths commonly known as Ghost Moths or Witch Moths, the name comes from from the Greek θυσάνος (thysanos) for “fringe, tassel or bristle”. She was Ophis mother.

Mantis: mantis(Genus: Mantis), it also means "prophet" in Latin.

Cepha: horseshoe shrimp(Class: Cephalocarida) it's from the word Cephalo meaning “head” and it’s used in a myriad of scientific names.

The princes:

Dana’s 1st prince and daughter
Hedy: butterflies (Order Hedylidae) is a group of “moth-butterflies”, Hedy is also the short version of Hedwig and other names with the German word hadu meaning "battle, combat"

Dana’s 2nd prince and son
Lyca: butterflies (Order Lycaenidae) is the second-largest family of butterflies whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies

Mantis’ 1st prince and daughter
Sibylla: mantis (Genus Sibylla) is a type of mantis with thin prothorax and spikes on its head, also a given name in Greek, German, Swedish, Roman, French, Italian, Polish and English from the greek Σιβυλλα (Sibylla), meaning "prophetess”

Mantis’ 2nd prince and son
Acan: mantis(Genus Acanthops) also known as Dead Leaf Mantis, the name comes from the Greek ἄκᾰνθᾰ (ákantha, thorny plant) which is separated in ἀκή (akḗ, “thorn”) +‎ ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”), Acan is also the The Mayan Deity of wine and celebration

Arachne's 1st prince and daughter
Ambly: spider (Order Amblypygi) commonly known as whip spiders or tailless scorpions and it can be a short form of Ambrose.

Arachne's 2nd prince and daughter
Thely: scorpions (Order Thelyphonida) commonly knows as whip scorpion

Cepha’s 1st prince and son
Remi: crustaceans (Class Remipedia) these blind crustaceans have paddle-like feet that they use to swim, from the Latin word remus meaning “oar” or “paddle”

Mili’s 1st prince and daughter
Poly: millipedes(Order Polyxenida) from the Greek πολύς (polús or polýs) meaning "many" or "much"

The nurses:

Maya: from Mayate the Spanish name for the Green Fruit Beetle(Cotinis mutabilis)

Mary: from Marybug translation of Marienkäfer german name for Ladybug, the Lady part refers to Lady Mary.

Also, here is some extra information:
Average adult ponies and changelings–5~6 ft
“High breed” ponies, changelings and changeling princes–6~7 ft
Princesses, changeling queens–7~8 ft
Celestia and Phyllia–9 ft
Here is an approximation of the size difference between a Queens and average changelings:

In real life, horses are measured from their front hooves to the withers, which is the ridge between the shoulder blades right where the mane ends.
Ponies' size in real life is between normal horses(14hh/56in/142cm or taller) and miniature horses(9.5hh/38in/97cm or shorter).
My method for their size as anthros is to consider the ponies average height the same as humans, then more or less scale the difference.

If you are curious about the Empire, it looks something like these. The green dot is the Capital of South beneath the Badlands and the green line is the edge of the "Changeling Kingdom" from the show. Remember that almost all the Empire is underground, also there is no "South Luna's Sea" on this map –if you recognize it– so the "North Luna's Sea" is just "Luna's Sea" and there is no Arimaspi Territory.

Equestria's size would be something similar to the US, culture-wise it's a combination of the US and UK.