Four days later, afternoon

Volthoom changed over the course of the last few days, his body had fully developed, his body technically was that of a queen but he preferred to be addressed as male, except when he felt like taking a female form –the advantages of being a shapeshifter– his skin was dark gray almost black now, a effect of absorbing almost all the pieces of his broken Black Ring, now only one piece remained.

The default form of the Spectrum's acolyte was that of a dark gray 10ft tall changeling with a female looking but still androgynous figure, flat chest and wide hips, he had a muscular yet slender body since he trained constantly, but he could assume a more female or male form if he wanted. Also, he had his mane in a ponytail and was wearing a light gray shirt and long blue workout pants.

But Volthoom also had many unique features. His “corset” and back had thin glowing lines that constantly shifted colors, but he could control its intensity and colors; thin elytrons over his longer and wider but foldable wings giving him a wingless look with a dull silver back; his tail was probably around one and a half times his height and ending in two small arrow-like blades with a slit in the middle separated by a small gap, the blades themselves seemed to be a strange combination of glass and metal that was silver in color, that same silver that was present on his hands and hooves before fading into the almost black halfway through his arms.

Volthoom was in the courtyard doing some katas, in front of him were many rows of warriors of many species that were chosen to train with him, all of them doing the same katas as Volthoom. Most of the changelings that trained to be lightsmiths underwent their metamorphoses quicker and were fully turned by now. Since the hunger was an attempted of their bodies to evolve, but they never manage to gather enough energy. However when Volthoom came back and flooded the Empire with more than enough energy to feed its population of changelings that changed.

Something noticeable about all those that were training was the fact that they had rings with the symbol of the Phantom Corp on them. These were modified replicas of the Phantom Ring since all of them are lightsmiths in training, capable of tapping on two or three colors at the same time, the difference was that these rings didn't have an additional charge and needed to be fuelled by the user channeling energy through their bodies.

Volthoom believed that they were ready for him to guide them through the process of creating their own focus/conduit of the Emotional Spectrum. They wouldn't be as powerful as Volthoom’s or even a Lantern from DC Universe, but they would still be very powerful and used by the elite of the Imperial Army. After a few more sequences they stopped.

“That will be all for today,” said Volthoom much to the surprise of his students as he dispelled the training rings before he announced, “today is the day you will forge your own focus, so here is what you will do: First, you will go to one of the Sacred Trees and pick one of its leaves, but you can only pick one and you can only do so with the tree you had a stronger connection, otherwise your focus will be weak; Second, once you have the leaf head to my personal workshop located on the southwest region of the Empire. You are dismissed!”

The lightsmiths in training bowed and left to accomplish their task, so Volthoom went to the bench were Phyllia sat every day. There she was with Apis, Vesp, Ophis and Iso, the other queens were probably spending time with their younger children since the ones training were old enough to be left alone. Then the Empress gave a bottle of water and a towel like she did every day since Volthoom started training, but unlike before she had a thoughtful look on her face.

“Are you sure that they are ready?” asked Iso as she saw her nieces and nephews leave with the other recruits to accomplish their task.

Looking at Iso it was possible to see the changes she underwent –and probably was still going through– since now her chitin was a deep blue; her horn didn't change color staying the same black, but it became longer and more jagged like a tree branch; two more horns were growing beside the original, one above each eyebrow and now they were about a third of her original horn's size; her ears were longer, blended well with her long shoulder length hair and were holding her mane in a ponytail; her wings were as long as she was tall –her height didn’t change so far– and her tail became slightly thicker.

“Not all of them, but the tree will not give up a leaf to those that are not ready,” said Volthoom as he opened the bottle of water and drank its contents before he teleported it to the nearest trash bin.

“Oooooh, so devious,” said Apis in a teasing tone as she got up and walked around Volthoom inspecting his fully developed body. Only to trip almost fall, but she was by Volthoom when he put his right arm around her waist.

Unlike Iso Apis already finished her metamorphosis, now she was taller being 8ft 6in and the second tallest queen –much to her delight since she was the youngest queen, even younger them her niece, Ophis– and one of the more unique; her horn didn't change just as her skin remained black; her ears, on the other hand, became longer like Iso’s, but hers were hanging in front of her much like the feelers of a bee.

But Apis was part of the group the underwent very drastic changes in a small amount of time. It was evident by the many yellow stripes all over her body in an almost floral pattern; the thin blade of her tail became like a needle, the tail itself became slightly thicker than her hips on its middle and had yellow rings around its length; around the base of her neck she had a very fluffy collar of black and yellow fur like plumose that was open on the front and equally fluffy "cuffs" on her wrists and ankles; all of that only made her semblance of a honeybee even stronger.

“Thanks for the save,” said Apis still not used to her proportions.

“No problem my little bee,” said Volthoom as he smiled while using the nickname he came up for her, which caused her to blush. The sweat on his skin giving it a shinier look and the towel around his neck just gave him a more athletic look in her eyes.

“Eeeeehh, that not fair. I want some attention too,” said Vesp as she got up and hugged Volthoom's left arm, pressing it against her breasts, which he noted had gotten bigger.

Even before the changes, Vesp was the closest to Apis and if wasn't for the fact he knew they were born four years apart –the smallest age gap between two queens by the way– he would have thought that they were twins. The fact that she underwent changes similar to Apis’ wasn't a surprise either.

Vesp was now 8ft 5in tall; like Apis her horn didn't change, but her skin became a dark gray similar to Volthoom's; her ears became longer like Apis and Iso’s, but she let them hang like Apis’; also like Apis she gained stripes, but hers were orange and more jagged; also like her younger sister her tail became thicker on its middle with a retractable stinger on its end, but unlike Apis she seemed to have interlock half rings on the length of her tail, which caused a zigzag pattern to form on its sides and she also had the same fur collar and cuffs, but orange and dark gray instead, all in all, she now resembled her namesake just like Apis resembled hers.

The only way the resemblance to their namesakes become even more apparent was if they closed their second eyelids, which became black and would stand out against the colored lines around their eyes. Both of them also had two pairs of wings that resembled their respective namesakes. Nowadays they were quite fond of showing off their colorful chitin, so they either use very short strapless tops or no top at all –today they were using the former to not distract the recruits too much, but they have to learn to ignore distractions anyway.

Whatever Volthoom was about to say was interrupted by the wave of “bittersweet” mixture of many feelings coming from Phyllia and Ophis. So far neither of them underwent any visible change, but that can change at a later date. The two colorful queens noted the seriousness on Volthoom's face when they looked at where he was looking and they saw their mother and niece looking at the distance without focusing on anything in particular.

Vesp let go of Volthoom, approached her niece while being careful not to trip and sat beside her on the bench. Apis instead knelt in front of her mother after Volthoom let go of her. And Iso, who was sitting beside her mother, hugged her.

“What's wrong?” asked Vesp to Ophis and Apis to Phyllia.

Ophis just looked at Vesp and just leaned on the shoulder of her aunt while Phyllia just sighed and just caressed the head of the youngest Queen being mindful of her sensitive feelers.

“Nothing is wrong my child. It's just that today is her anniversary,” said Phyllia and at first Apis was confused but then she remembered the previous years when her mother and niece would have their eyes full of longing.

Suddenly Apis and Vesp had a look of realization, they were so excited with Volthoom's return and the lightsmith training that they forgot that today was the anniversary of Thysania's death. It pained the sisters to see their mother and niece like this but they never knew Thysania since she died two centuries ago, almost a century before Vesp was born.

“Do you want me to accompany you two? Thysania's resting place is not too far from the tunnel that leads to my workshop,” asked Volthoom.

“There is no need to do that. You have to finish the training of the lightsmiths,” said Phyllia as she looked at Volthoom.

“I will be in my workshop then,” said Volthoom before his horn glowed with a teleportation spell and Phyllia nodded, so Volthoom left Phyllia and Ophis with Iso, Vesp and Apis.

Volthoom's workshop in the southwest region of the Empire

Volthoom appeared in a flash of light in one of the deepest parts of the Empire’s underground network, behind him was a tunnel that led the main network and back to the Empire, but in front of him was his workshop.

This wasn't a normal forge, this was a place where Volthoom forged many components for the inventions that he had been introducing to the Empire. It was easy since they already developed a degree of magitek. The magma had many magical properties that helped him shape the crystals charged with the energy of the Emotional Spectrum. Because of that, this place was ideal to forge a focus for a lightsmith. So he entered the ancient facility that was carved into the stone.

This place existed long before the Empire, actually longer than recorded history. Volthoom theorized that it belonged to a lost civilization, from what he could read from the rocks something happened that destroyed whatever advanced civilization and either made the current species of the world regress to the stone age or completely wiped them out and allowed the current species to flourish. He could only guess what happened during and before this "Great Cataclysm".

Anyway, while Volthoom was inside the facility he reached his forge, in here there was many anvils and tools for forging, the forge itself was open and near a cliff, it was possible to see the river of magma below and the natural ceiling of the cave. So he just pulled a chair, sat on it and waited for someone to arrive not bothered by the intense heat.

It didn't take more than half an hour for Volthoom to sense that presence of the first group of soon to be lightsmiths arrive at the entrance of the cave, probably via teleportation. He looked at the open and waited for them to find this place, being able to sense the energy in the environment and use that to find him and his forge was also part the test.

The first two to arrive about a minute later was Prince Thorax and Prince Ambly, no surprise since they were closer to the Sacred Tree of the South. Not far behind were a small group of warriors, among the ground one of the warriors approached Volthoom and bowed.

“I'm sorry master! I wasn't able to get a leaf, I failed you,” said the warrior, a normal male changeling without visible changes in light yellow training clothes with magenta eyes and mane in a short mohawk.

“There is nothing to apologize for. Acquiring a leaf was a test, it only means that you just need further training. Don't feel ashamed of yourself not everyone can reach their potential quickly, it will simply take more time and dedication,” said Volthoom to the changeling warrior.

“Hai! I won't disappoint you,” said the warrior with renewed confidence.

“You are dismissed, but you can stay to watch the forging process,” said Volthoom and the warrior nodded, so Volthoom motioned to a chair in the back. As the warrior sat Volthoom got up and approached the group while observing the princes’ changes.

Prince Thorax already underwent his metamorphosis, now he was taller being 6ft 6in, he kept his androgynous figure, his chitin became deep green, his “corset” became wine colored, elytrons of the same color as his corset grew over his new foldable wings covering his back giving a wingless look like Volthoom, his second eyelid became dark rose colored and the segments of his longer tail alternate between deep green and wine colored rings ending in an almost see through glass like blade with a hint of orange that was also present on his hands, hooves and longer smoother curved horn before fading into the deep green of his torso.

Prince Ambly, on the other hand, was still undergoing her changes, she was now 6ft tall, her chitin was gaining hints of red, her horn didn't change shape but near its tip four extension came out with two pointing upward and two pointing downward giving it the look similar to an axe and half of a stylized spider, the same happened to the blade at the end of her longer tail.

The changelings of the group now had many different colors, some remained black, others had two shades of a single color, others had multiple colors, some kept their jagged horns, some became more jagged, some became smoother, some grew additional ones, a few had elytra and/or had their tail become more glass-like. All in all, the default forms of the changelings now showed greater variety and diversity than before.

“Just pick a hammer and place the leaf on the anvil. Before you start hammering the leaf and shape it into your focus you must have a clear image of its form. You could make something small like the rings we used so far or some other form of jewelry. You could make your focus an item or a weapon, so you need to make it into a small component to embed on the chosen item,” explained Volthoom as he showed a small button-like object being affixed on the end of a staff as an example.

“Or you could have your focus embedded into your body making it almost impossible to lose it,” said Volthoom while he tapped at the ring embedded in the base of his horn before he added, “but be warned, the last option can be quite painful.”

All warriors nodded, Ambly being the eager one picked a hammer and brought down on the leaf placed on the anvil, but a shockwave of energy pushed her back and shredded her training clothes. The hammer she was holding was sent flying, but luckily Volthoom caught it.

“Let me finish! To reshape the leaf you must pour all your energy into the hammer before striking the leaf. If you don't do that the leaf will resist. If you falter and your resolve waver all progress will be lost and you might even die from either the feedback or exhaustion,” said Volthoom as he offered a blacksmith apron to Amby.

While there was a hint of fear in their eyes their resolve didn't waver, which was good since more often than not if the resolve of lightsmith waver it meant death. Volthoom wasn't being needlessly cruel, a lightsmith must stand even in the face of the inevitable. To get the leaf meant that their bodies were ready to channel the energy necessary to make the constructs, the Trees wouldn't give them the leaves otherwise and to reshape the leaf of the Sacred Tree meant to test their resolve.

“Before you start the process you must give some of your blood to the leaves to make sure that only you can use it,” said Volthoom as he picked a knife not far from where the hammers were and offered it to Ambly.

Ambly took the knife before approaching the anvil while the other members of the group also took a knife each. They looked at each other before nodding and cutting the palm of one of their hands. The multi-colored blood of the changelings and the red blood of the non-changelings fell on the leaves, only to be absorbed by it like a sponge.

With that done they used a healing spell or tied a piece of cloth around their hands for now. All of them with the hammer in hand poured their energy into it, which caused it to glow a multitude of colors before being brought down. The sounds of the hammer hitting the leaf were like bells accompanied by flashing color, each strike created a unique combination of colors and sounds, a truly synesthetic experience.

Many others arrived during the forging process, the first warrior that failed explained to the others what was going on, those that failed decided to watch while those that had a leaf joined into the cacophony of sounds and colors by starting to forge their own foci until all anvils were occupied. Even the really small blocks he set aside for the fairy ponies and changelings to use along with the smaller hammers were being used to shape the smaller leaves they brought.

Volthoom just watched, he could see the look of concentration on each one of them, to them, the flashing colors and sounds didn't matter, what mattered was only to bring the shape they were visualizing into reality. The scene reminded him of a fantasy setting where many blacksmiths worked in a mighty city that acted as a forge.

Soon enough Ambly dropped her hammer and looked at the bright chromatic fire burning above the anvil, without hesitation she reached into the fire, grabbed the object in its center and pulled, which caused the fire to dissipate. She opened her trembling hand and revealed a coin with the emblem of the Phantom Corp on both sides.

Ambly smiled and she turned around to walk away when her legs gave out, but before she could fall a hand shaped construct caught her and gently lowered her on one of the chairs, courtesy of Volthoom. He approached the prince to look at the first focus made in the Empire while another soon to lightsmith took her placed and poured his blood before bringing the hammer down.

“I assume you plan to embed it on something,” said Volthoom as he knelt before the exhausted prince and looked at the object she was holding. It looked like a coin or a button, so he speculated that it would be part of something else.

“Yeah, I chose the third option,” said Ambly as she breathed heavily.

“It could be very painful,” said Volthoom warning the prince but neither praising nor chastising her decision.

“I know, but I trust you,” said Ambly before passing out and drop the recently crafted focus.

Volthoom picked up the coin, but the moment he touched the focus it attacked, bolts of energy pierced his hand and shredded his skin. He ignored the pain and soon the focus stopped its attack when it noticed that Volthoom was only trying to return it to its wielder. Volthoom just placed the focus in the pocket of Ambly's pants before creating a glowing line on the floor that led through the forge’s exit.

“I need one of you to take her to the infirmary. Just follow the line and once you get there a medical automaton will be activated. Just place her on a bed and return here because many others will join her,” ordered Volthoom.

“But what about you, Lord Volthoom?” said a gryphoness with dark gray fur covering her lower torso and feline legs; grey feathers covering her chest, shoulders and arms; her forearms that ended in dark gray avian claws –technically talons– and point raptor’s beak, both of them yellow and green eyes. She was wearing long form-fitting orange pants and sports bra.

The worried gryphoness looked at Volthoom's hand just as it was engulfed in chromatic flames before they disappeared showing an unblemished hand.

“She is just exhausted and needs some rest since the process of forging a focus is quite draining. Can I count on you to take her to the infirmary?” asked Volthoom to the gray gryphoness, who nodded and carried the Ambly away.

This continued until the sunset and even when the moon was in the night sky –not that it was visible from here– and in the end, most of them were successful in crafting their foci. There were some failures that resulted in injury, but Volthoom managed to prevent any death from occurring.

In the end, there were two hundred forty-three successful foci, each one belonging to a lightsmith. Volthoom waited for an hour after they finished to call all of them outside of the facility, where they all stood before Volthoom.

“For those that succeeded, congratulations. For those that didn't, it just means that you need further training. For those that want to have your focus embed into either an item or your own body come here tomorrow with the item you wish to use, the rest is dismissed tomorrow. We shall meet again in two days on the new training camp for your assignments. Dismissed!” said Volthoom with his voice being amplified by magic for all of them to hear, it was also possible to hear and feel the pride in his voice.

After that, all of them left, either going through the tunnels or just teleporting with the help of a friend that didn't participate in the forging. Volthoom, the princes and some warriors went through the tunnels and emerged a fair distance from a city, but on the new training ground for lightsmiths. The training camp itself looked like the courtyard/park on the Imperial Palace, but with a big dormitory not far from the tunnel's entrance that would be used by future recruits and lightsmiths that wish to live here.

Once out the crystals on the ceiling that were emulating partially the night sky illuminated the group showing the new appearance of the two oldest princes and like Thorax they already finished their metamorphoses.

Hedy and Lyca became taller, now being around 6ft 10in and 6ft 9in respectively, both kept their slender and athletic physiques, their horns bacame smooth and slightly longer, but remained curved and point, their main wings became longer and wider like the wings of a butterfly as did the secondary smaller pair of wings, that made them look like the flutter ponies of yore, but that's where most of their similarities ended when their hands and feet became black that faded into their main color halfway through their forearms giving the impression that they were wearing gloves and boots.

Hedy’s chitin was light cream color while her corset became a mixture of shades of yellow and white; now she had feelers just slightly longer than her original ears with plumose on each side giving the appearance of a leaf; her second eyelids became red with hints of blue; her wings have a unique pattern of yellow and white section separated by black lines; the blade on her tail became a straight jian like blade seemingly made of glass with a similar pattern to the wings.

Lyca’s chitin, on the other hand, became dark cream in color while his corset became a mixture of shades of light blue and light red almost light brown, with the same occuring on his wings but with additional black lines; his feelers just slightly longer than his original ears with pectinate extensions on each side giving the appearance of a comb on both sides; his second eyelids became dark yellow with hints of purple while the blade on his tail became a slightly curved katana like blade seemingly made of glass with a similar pattern to the wings.

All in all quite a beautiful pair of princes, luckily their tail blades were dull and retractable, they could sharpen them by using either magic or by creating a very thin layer of resin to create edges on the blade, besides this ensures that the blade was only sharp when they wanted it to be.

They walked on the road illuminated by the floating crystals until they reached the edge of the city. The warrior said their farewells to the princes and their teacher before going into the city while Volthoom and the Royals went through another road that led to a park where he could see the queens gathered.

They were around Thysania's resting place.

Author's Notes:

For Hedy and Lyca just imagine an anthro version of the reformed changelings with butterfly wings. I used Gloxinia from Nanatsu no Taizai(七つの大罪, Seven Deadly Sins) and a Venezuelan Poodle Moth as inspirations. Incidentally, did you know there is G1 villain call Hydia? I just found out.

For Apis and Vesp, just imagine an anthro version of the reformed changelings with bees and wasp features. I used Q-Bee as a inspiration. Their design would be somewhere between Q-bee and the anthro changeling from before.

Thorax is more or less an anthro version of himself on the show with the colors a bit shuffled, but without the additional mandible like horns and those diamond/capsule like shapes on his chest, for now.

For Ambly's horn and the blade just imagine more or less the spider-man symbol cut in half.