Volthoom and the four princes that recently became lightsmiths approached the rest of the royal family. All of them were near the statue of a changeling queen, she was in her “battle form” and looked just like the other queens before their metamorphoses. Because the statue was the natural color of the stone it wasn't possible to know her colors. Her mane was a single braid coming from her helmet, her armor was similar to a greek armor, she was with a sword in each hand and a spear strapped her on back.

On the base of the statue was a small shrine with a painting of Thysania in her default form, which showed her mane with light gray and dark gray stripes that reminded everyone of a zebra. Beneath the painting was a gray gemstone, the last remnant of Thysania. One of the oldest funeral rites of Empire was to cremate the body and turn the ashes into a gemstone, this was what happened to the fallen queen.

Phyllia and Ophis were kneeling before the shrine, to anyone outside of the Empire it might look like they were praying, but they were actually diving into the memories of the Hivemind. The astral network that connected the minds of the changelings, it also stored the memories of all changelings that ever lived since the birth of the changeling race. The closest comparison would be the Khala from StarCraft that connected the Protoss or the Infinte Circuit ftom the Warhammer thatt connected the Eldar, mental libraries that anyone could access, as long they had the necessary permission level and only the Royals could give the permission. Of course, as a precaution, most of the knowledge was transcribed into books and scrolls and made available to the non-changelings.

The Royals noticed Volthoom's arrival but stayed quiet as Phyllia and Ophis paid their respects to Thysania. While he was waiting he looked at the other queens.

Dana much like Hedy and Lyca also acquired butterfly like features, her chitin was now cream colored instead of black; her eyes, hair and corset became bronze in color; her hands and hooves were also bronze that faded into cream color at the elbow; her wings were now similar to her Hedy and Lyca’s, but hers were like a mosaic or stained glass that shifted ever so slightly, it had hues of red, blue and yellow separated by black lines; her ears also became leaf like feelers; like Apis and Vesp she now had a fluff collar, but hers was white; her tail became slightly longer and with a glass like blade in the shape of a butterfly sword, ironically.

Arachne’s original colors and wings remained, but she became slightly taller now being 8ft 4in, her tail became thicker on its middle much like Apis and Vesp’s, her horn became sickle shaped as did her tail blade with the interior and tip of her horn pointing back, however one of the most unusual features that came with the metamorphosis, she developed a secondary pair of arms just below the main ones, they were about ⅔ of the size of the originals and the hands only had three fingers.

But Arachne evolved one of the most useful abilities that she and few members of her hive had, the ability to produce silk infused with energy before she could produce it from either her tail, wrists and mouth. Now, however, she could produce it in greater quantities from the palm of her hands and wrists –all four of them–, the tips of her fingers –all sixteen of them–, her mouth and tail. Her and few other that developed similar mutations became a great help to the Empire's economy and military.

Interestingly Arachne developed the ability to weave a thin filament of ultra-resistant silk from the base to the tip of her tail blade that would act as a hot wire cutter.

Mantis was still going through her changes, her chitin now was dark teal, small spikes were growing on the sides of her forearms and the tip of her horn now had a V like tip not unlike a rhinoceros beetle. Cepha also was still going through her changes as well, she developed small blue rings on her black chitin, but her most drastic change was that her tail had a pair of crescent moons back to back and near its base was two ribbon-like extensions that were about half of her tail length.

Chrysalis also underwent some changes, however, her visible changes were not from her metamorphosis –so far– but from her pregnancy. If Volthoom had to compare to a human it looked like six months pregnant so far, but she was bigger than the average human so it was actually bigger than it seemed.

Changelings, unlike most beings, didn't have a set time for their gestation or the incubation of their eggs, it really depended on how much energy it was available for the mothers and if they needed they could halt the gestation process to conserve energy, essentially an extreme version of Diapause. The shortest pregnancy time that he knew so far was about a month, but after the metamorphosis, it might shorten and after that, it takes a week of incubation for the eggs, in which they would grow further before the nymph was hatched.

However normal changelings could keep the egg inside their bodies instead of laying it, this would cause their bodies to absorb the shell and at the end of the incubation period, they would give birth to a live young. The only natural exception was the queens because unlike normal changelings who more often than not had one offspring per gestation the queens could have anywhere between dozens and hundreds at once, so they lay their eggs when they became developed enough and then let them finish their growth in specially made nurseries. Aside from that, only artificial methods resulted in a clutch of eggs, such as artificial insemination or being a surrogate mother.

Anyway, the only queen left was Mili so far didn't show any signs of metamorphosis as well, not far from them was Siby, whose only visible change was her ears that became feelers like Iso’s, but she let them hang in front of her face as well and the younger princes. Some of the younger princes just underwent a color change since the unique features only show near adulthood.

“I take that the forging was mostly successful?” asked Cepha as she adjusted her glasses. She had her tail blades stabbed on the ground, which allowed her tails to act as an anchor for her to sit on in a manner similar to a chair, it is a very useful ability. All other queens were “sitting” while they waited for Phyllia and Ophis to finish.

“Indeed, two hundred and three successes to be exact,” said Volthoom as he anchored himself and “sat” beside Cepha. Then Remi who was sitting beside his mother looked at Volthoom, it was clear that the younger ones were bored, but they could feel it was not the appropriate moment to complain.

“I see,” said Cepha as she saw Thorax sit beside his mother and show both her and Pupa the ring on the base of his horn. Ambly also showed her focus to her mother before informing her what was going to happen tomorrow. Hedy and Lyca also sat beside their mother before showing a small marble each, their foci.

“Tomorrow we finish the forging process. After that it's just a matter of training those that failed and assigning the new lightsmiths their new duties,” said Volthoom as he thought about the assignments for the new lightsmiths.

“I suppose it's up to their Grand Master then,” said Cepha coyly.

“Must you call me that?” asked Volthoom.

“As far as everyone is concerned you are the head of the order of knights, which the lightsmiths are part of since you trained them. It will be your job to make sure they fulfill their duties and responsibilities,” said Cepha before she stopped to think about something. Then she asked, “By the way, what is the name of your order?”

“Um, I’m not sure yet,” said Volthoom before he noticed that Chrysalis and Thorax sat beside him, then he felt something pulling his pants, he looked down and saw Pupa and Remi, Remi remained the same color while Pupa chitin became dark green. Both of them stretched their arms up while looking at Volthoom.

Volthoom sighed before picking them up and let them sit on his lap where they got comfortable as they snuggle with him.

“Do they usually take this long?” asked Volthoom as he petted Pupa and Rime.

“Yeah, they should be finishing soon,” said Chrysalis as she rubbed her belly.

“They are growing nicely,” said Volthoom as he saw the small developing auras inside Chrysalis.

“Thank you, no matter how many times I do this I always find it to be enjoyable. By the way, can you tell how many I am carrying?” asked Chrysalis as she remembered Volthoom's abilities.

“Um, about thirty,” said Volthoom while looking at Chrysalis.

“Well, good thing I was restraining myself at the time otherwise there would be more. The only part that I don't like is being stuck in one place laying eggs,” commented Chrysalis.

“Really? I don't have problems with that part of the process,” commented Cepha.

After that they talked for a while before the others joined the conversation, eventually, Phyllia and Ophis finished. Cepha picked Remi and Chrysalis picked Pupa. Eventually, they all teleported to their homes, except for Ophis because she went with Phyllia and Volthoom not wanting to be alone tonight and Arachne that went with Chrysalis.

Next Morning

Volthoom woke first from the shared dream he had with Phyllia and Ophis. As he opened his eyes and saw both Phyllia and Ophis resting their heads on his chest, that was nothing out of the ordinary. No, what was out of the ordinary was the fact that they were using Volthoom's breasts as pillows.

Last night Volthoom assumed a more feminine form because he –more like she for now– felt like it. Frankly after been in a formless shape for so long she no longer her a concept of gender to bind herself to, that and the gender flexibility of the changelings made gender distinction pretty much useless. Besides, nothing wrong with doing something different for a change.

Val –as Volthoom preferred to be called when in female form– was brought out of her thoughts when she felt Ophis stir, Val looked down at her right and saw Ophis’ pink eyes looking at her. Before Ophis could awake completely Val kissed her, this caused her to awake in surprise before returning the kiss.

As their forked tongues were intertwining Phyllia woke as well and the first thing she saw was her granddaughter making out with her –currently female– consort. Feeling left out Phyllia gently pulled Val and as Val and Ophis lips separated it was possible to see their tongues coiled around each other. Once uncoiled Phyllia did the same thing.

“That's a great way to start a day,” said Ophis as she saw Phyllia make out with Val. Not getting an answer from them Ophis pouted childishly, then she smiled when she had an idea.

Val pulled back and moaned when she felt Ophis suddenly but gently bite her right nipple. Val looked down and saw the smug look on Ophis.

“That was for ignoring me,” said Ophis to Val.

“Sorry for ignoring you, but you didn't need to bite me,” said Val before she sighed and sat up. Phyllia and Ophis tried to coax Val back to the bed, but she said, “I too would like to just lay here with you two all day, but I have an appointment with Dr. Sciens and after that, I have to help finish the forging process of the rest of the lightsmiths.”

The two sigh and while Ophis just laid back down Phyllia also sat up before getting out of the bed, then together with Val they took a quick bath before putting on their clothes. Today Val was wearing a white sports bra and shorts while Phyllia wore just a casual dress a few shades lighter than her chocolate colored chitin.

“We will be going then,” said Val.

Ophis just covered herself, waved at them and then covered her head since she was feeling lazy today. Phyllia hugged Val and leaned her head on the taller changeling’s shoulder as they walked in a comfortable silence.

“Sorry about that, honestly I don't know how Ophis, Apis and Vesp can be that childish,” said Phyllia.

“It's fine, besides she pouts just like you did back when you were confused during my first few lessons,” teased Val as she remembered the first few lessons she taught to the flutter ponies, they were very expressive since they worn their hearts on their sleeves.

“I did not,” said Phyllia to Val, but by her tone, she didn't mind at all.

“Of course you didn't,” said Val before kissing Phyllia and after that they enjoyed the silence until they reached the office of Dr. Sciens.

The check-up didn't take long, it seemed that most of Val’s organs with similar functions ended up merging and the result was that now she possessed a biology similar to the changelings albeit far more efficient. Val had two set of nervous systems that worked on slightly different principles and chemical reaction, her brain had more complex and compressed networks of cells, it worked more similar to a computer than an actual organic brain. Interwoven on her chitin was cells capable of doing photosynthesis, essentially if you excluded her brain she had at least two of each internal organ and system working efficiently.

After her checkup, Val and Phyllia teleported to Val’s workshop. When the couple arrived there was already some lightsmiths waiting for Val and while they were surprised at the fact that Volthoom was in a female form they didn't say anything. Val also noticed the presence of many guests, probably here just to watch the final steps of the process, and among the guests was Chrysalis, Arachne and Thorax.

“Good morning, I hope those that wish to embed in an item didn't forget the said items. We will be doing those first and then the ones that wish to have the foci embedded in their bodies later. To the forge,” said Val as she projected her voice with magic.

All of them followed Val to the forge, before starting she stopped to talk with Chrysalis, Arachne and Thorax, she also offered chairs for the guests. She also noticed another changeling with them, he was slightly shorter than Thorax and even had a similar pattern; but where Thorax was orange he was amaranth colored, which was the glass like blade on the end of the tail and its segments, horn, wings, hands and hooves; deep violet where Thorax was wine colored, which was the corset, elytrons and the segments on the tail interlock with the amaranth ones; gray with a hint of purple on the torso where Thorax was deep green; lastly his second eyelids were blue violet.

“Hello Chrysalis and who is this cute fellow?” asked Val as Chrysalis sat on one of the chairs, Val noticed that she was slightly bigger than yesterday. Then Val also noticed that this mysterious changeling was also a lightsmith with a ring on the base of his horn just like Thorax.

“With all due respect ma'am, I’m not cute,” said the changeling as he stood behind and in-between Chrysalis’ and Thorax’s chairs with his back straighten like a soldier.

“Hello and thank you. This is Pharynx, one of my best warriors and also the eldest from his brood, which happens to be the same brood Thorax is from,” said Chrysalis as she rubbed her belly.

“Don't mind him, he takes his duties very seriously,” said Thorax from where he was sitting, which was at Chrysalis’ right.

“I actually found that quality quite endearing about him,” said Arachne from sitting at Chrysalis’ left.

“Agreed,” said Ambly licking her lips as she looked at Pharynx from her seat at Arachne's left.

“Well, I don't mind you visitors, but are you sure it's ok? The forge can be quite dangerous after all and what about Pupa?” asked Val.

“Oh Volthoom, you worry too much, Pupa is with Mili and I’m sure that Thorax and Pharynx can protect me if something happens, besides I came with Arachne since she is here to support Ambly,” explained Chrysalis.

“Dear, she just wants to make sure you and the nymphs are safe and there is nothing wrong with that,” said Phyllia to Chrysalis as she sat beside Thorax.

“I see. Well, I better get going and call me Val when I'm like this,” said Val and Chrysalis nodded before Val went to guide the recruits.

“Until later Val,” said Phyllia and she waved at Val.

Val went to the place where the anvils were and like yesterday she instructed them to pick a hammer. After the items were placed on the anvils with the foci above the item it was a simple question of hammering them together. The foci almost melted into the items and unlike yesterday the foci didn't resist, so it was far easier and faster them yesterday.

Hedy and Lyca were on the forefront of this stepped and after about an hour they were the first to finish their foci, both of them chose spears. Hedy finished few moments before Lyca and her spear was longer than she was tall and it looked like a Chinese spear, more specifically a Fangtian Ji with a straight dagger-like blade on one end of a pole of wood and on each side of the dagger was a crescent-shaped blade, the marble that was Hedy’s focus was embedded between the blade and the shaft. Lyca’s spear, on the other hand, looked more like a glaive, but like his sister the silver marble like focus that emitted a faint rainbow colored light was between the curved blade and the shaft of the spears.

As they were about to pick up the spears started to float on their own, at first the princes were alarmed but it didn't take long for them to notice that they could direct the movements of the floating spear.

“Impressive, isn't it?” asked Val.

“Master, what is this?” asked Lyca as he moved the spear on the air by moving his hands.

“The foci have your blood, so it's only natural that you can control it even if it isn't directly connected to your body. The foci are alive, they are not sentient but they are capable of making decisions in the name of the survival of their host,” explained Val.

After hearing about the symbiotic relationship between the focus and their host the princes thanked their teacher. It was almost afternoon when this group finished and in the end, there were many weapons like swords, daggers, maces, whips bows and more, but there was also armors or personal items like shields, vests, gauntlets, belt buckles, masks and more.

After that they took a break since it was time for lunch, nowadays changelings could survive just with food just as fine as they would just emotional energy before, eating food or absorbing energy were options. Naturally because of her strong connection to the Emotional Spectrum Val didn't need to eat, but she still did occasionally.

Naturally Val spent lunch with Chrysalis, Arachne and Phyllia, they took great pleasure in feeding off of Val’s love, Chrysalis was practically gorging herself in it, which was not unreasonable since she had thirty nymphs to feed, Thorax was practically blushing as he witnessed his mother make out with Val as she absorbed the love "flavored" energy. Phyllia, Arachne, Ambly, Thorax and Pharynx just needed to touch Val for a while and they had more than enough energy for the day, but now Val was radiating so much love that it was feeding the nearby changelings as well, but that ended when Phyllia cleared her throat, which caught Chrysalis’ attention.

At this point, Chrysalis was sitting sideways on Val's lap while she sat on the chair that Chrysalis was sitting on. Chrysalis didn't even bother to get up and just put her arms around Val's neck while leaned her head on Val's shoulder.

"Careful there, if you eat too much you might end up laying the eggs either later tonight or tomorrow morning," said Val after she managed to free herself from Chrysalis' lips.

"I don't care, you taste sooo gooood," said Chrysalis licking her lips while salivating, almost drooling.

"Thanks, I guess," said Val not sure if it was a good thing or not.

“Believe me I know how good it tastes and feels, but now is neither the place nor time for this Chrysalis,” said Phyllia as looked at her daughter in Val's arms.

“Sorry mother, I got carried away,” said Chrysalis, but instead of getting up she just made herself comfortable. Then she asked Val, “Can we stay like this until the break is over?”

Val just nodded, Chrysalis was facing Val's left and her head was resting on Val's right shoulder.

“I never understood why flutter ponies and changelings were so affectionate. If I remember correctly…” said Val before trailing off. Val’s right arm was around Chrysalis’ back and her right hand was resting on Chrysalis belly, which Val started to rub in circular motions, then Val used her left hand to gently scratch Chrysalis behind the ears.

This caused Chrysalis to tense at first but then she relaxed and started to make a clicking noise with her tongue –a sound that changelings make when they are happy and relaxed, kinda like a cat purring– and her wings started to tremble enough to produce a gentle hum. So Val said to Phyllia, “Oh, she is just like you when you were expecting Wind Rider.”

“No she isn't,” said Phyllia trying to deny it, but by the slight darkening of her cheeks, she wasn't being very convincing.

“I distinctly remember a certain flutter pony coming to my temple and asking for an ear scratch. Also, you were rather clingy during that time as well, always close to either me or your mate at the time,” said Val to the blushing Empress. Then Val sighed before saying, “While I don't mind it always confounded me how your species could be so open when it comes to affection.”

All the while Pharynx continued to stoically stand guard and Phyllia was trying to get her blush under control. No matter how long it had been Volthoom still made her feel like she was a young flutter pony near her crush, Thorax was also blushing but he was also curious to know what felt like to be in his mother's place and Arachne and Ambly were just chatting.

After a few minutes, Chrysalis eeped when she was jolted out of her sleep, which happened when she felt herself being lifted by Val, with one of her arms right beneath Chrysalis's wings and the other under Chrysalis' knees.

“Ok, those that want to leave don't forget to come back here the day after tomorrow for your assignments. The second group, please follow me to the infirmary,” said Val before leaving the forge while carrying Chrysalis bridal style in his arms.

Phyllia just shook her head before following Val and not long after the others followed as well.

Chrysalis was covering her face with her hands in a futile attempt to hide, it was the first time in her long life that she was being handled like this. She was the first to admit that she like most changelings tended to be rather “clingy” –as Val put it– especially during pregnancy, so it was normal for her to have two or three lovers –more often than not with the father of the brood among them– during those times. However, because of her status and her size none of her previous lovers ever treated her like Val, the closest would be her sisters when they had a roll in the hay.

“You don't have to carry me, I can walk just fine,” said the still blushing Chrysalis trying to sound firm.

“Nah, I don't mind the extra weight, besides I can tell you are enjoying,” said Val in a teasing tone.

“Are you calling me fat?” asked Chrysalis in a low and dangerous tone when she heard “extra weight” from Val.

“Perish the thought!” said Val in an overdramatic tone before pulling Chrysalis closer and say, “Besides it just means more of you to hug and pamper.”

However Chrysalis didn't have much time to process what she heard as she was gently lowered on a chair, she looked around and saw that they arrived on the infirmary. She saw many beds on both sides of a long room and she also noticed that beside each bed on the wall was a square outline, probably a door to a cupboard or something similar.

“I hope you don't mind waiting a little bit longer. After this we can spend the rest of the day together since I will have free time today and tomorrow,” said Val.

“I would like that,” said Chrysalis as the others arrived.

From there the ones that wanted to have a focus embedded in their bodies were instructed to lay on a bed and Val opened a control panel on the wall near the entrance before pressing a few buttons. Then after that all the square panels beside the beds lifted revealing a space inside the was occupied by an automaton.

The automata also known as golems had a featureless humanoid shape and were about the size of an average changeling, they had a transparent skin, which allowed their insides to be seen, their insides were filled with cords, gears and rods of metal, but the most discernable characteristic of their bodies was a glowing sphere in the center of their chest and it was also possible to see cords imitating muscles on the limbs. These were the intelligent golems made by Volthoom using a combination of magic and machinery powered by a core of emotional energy for the purpose of acting as medics.

From there on it was just a simple question of telling the golems where the recruits wanted the focus to be implanted and wait for the procedure, in Val's opinion it was quite a spectacle to see their hands morph into surgical tools after administering anesthesia. Like always a prince was the first to volunteer, Ambly had her coin like focus on the center of her horn where the blades of the axe like extension came out of, but in the end many lightsmiths had a focus in places like the chest, horn, back or palm of the hand, back of the neck, shoulder and more.

After making sure everyone was ok Val dismissed them and allowed them to return to their homes, many had to leave with the help of a friend since they were under the effect of anesthesia. That ended the forging process for this batch of lightsmiths, Val hoped to train at least another one, but they will be the first and the last line of defense against what would threaten the Empire.

Now Val had the rest of the day free.

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the slow updates and pacing, but I just write the ideas as they come and for some reason when it comes to this fic I imagine more of Volthoom's day to day interactions than anything else. I just wanted to get the process of making a focus out of the way first.

Anyway, the changelings using their tails as chairs is something I got from Medusa from Soul Eater, more specifically an ability/technique called Tail Snake.

Hedy and Lyca's weapon of choice was based again on Gloxinia and King, both from Nanatsu no Taizai(七つの大罪, Seven Deadly Sins).

The golems/automata were inspired by a combination of the Clockwork Droids from Doctor Who and the NS-5 from I, Robot.

At the moment I have more ideas for my other fics, so I'm going to focus on them for a now, however, I might post smaller intermissions/interludes between chapters. Also, I might try to write a sex/clop scenes in those intermissions/interludes, but no promises.

Anyway, I would like suggestions for a name for the Order of Knights made up of the lightsmiths, put the suggestions in the comments below. If I see an name that I like and found fitting I will mention it on the author's note of the next chapter, but you have to explain the reason and meaning behind the name. And please, no inappropriate or insulting names.