"Sorry again for putting you in this position. I had no idea that any of this was going to happen," you apologized, forcing yourself to frown more than you really felt like doing, if only to try and portray a sense that you were actually sorry.

"Now, when you say 'this position', are you talking about the fact that you sent me out to find my brother, whom I reconnected with and discovered a new method of feeding our species while also growing stronger, only to return to the hive and get thoroughly beaten down by Queen Chrysalis, for which you are also responsible for making significantly more powerful? Or are you talking about the actual, literal position I am in right now?" Pharynx asked, growling in irritation as he recalled just what it was that you had done to him... that, and point out how he and Thorax both had been restrained in the dungeon with a special application of slime that seemed intent on humiliating them, with Pharynx positioned face down, ass up, while Thorax was oddly contorted so that his his head and shoulders were against the floor, while his back side had been lifted up so that it was straight up in the air, kept like that with his legs spread and gooed down to his sides.

"... both?" you snorted out, trying not to laugh as you thought about it more. From your understanding, the prisoner dungeon also served as a sex dungeon, seeing as prisoners were often drained of love, and love tended to go with lust, so... yeah, it sorta made sense to see them bound in such precariously vulnerable ways.

"Well we appreciate your concern. It's nice of you to be thinking of us," Thorax stated as cheerfully as he could from his peculiar position.

Sighing at his brother's naivety, Pharynx said "He's really not concerned, he's just saying what we want to hear." Stopping to think it over, he then added "But... he did want to keep us alive. That's why he stopped Queen Chrysalis from killing us, so... thanks."

Shrugging, you said "Still, my fault that all happened in the first place, so it's the least I could have done."

"True... so, what's the reason you came here? Re-" he started to ask, only to pause as he looked over your shoulder, his lips sealing. Glancing back, you remembered that you were still being followed by Chitin, who was disguised as Vespa.

"Oh, that? Don't worry about it, that's Chitin, he's just impersonating Vespa," you stated, giving your best reassuring smile.

"And why is he impersonating Vespa?" Pharynx asked.

"Because I had to knock her out when she discovered Ap was undergoing metamorphosis," you answered, keeping the most casual tone you could.

"Apocrita is... what has been going on since I left? I thought fighting an army of the undead was going to make me be the one with the interesting story, but somehow you're finding a way to outdo me," Pharynx grunted, not the sort that felt he needed to be the center of attention, but certainly feeling like you were almost unfairly stealing the spotlight.

"Pretty much just that, but I'll give you the quick rundown. I fucked Ap, she started undergoing metamorphosis, Chitin disguised himself as Ap, I could have escaped the hive with the Pony Avengers, came back for Ap, Chrysalis revealed that I had babies on the way, Vespa became my replacement guard, my kids hatched, Vespa found out Ap was in a cocoon and was going to kill her, so I knocked her out, Chitin replaced her, and I just recently learned that Chrysalis is moving the hive to attack Canterlot... oh, and I've been having dream talks with Moonpie on how to stop things and recently learned that despite being a larva, my daughter, Pupa, is a total badass and makes the rest of you guys look like a bunch of pussies," you summarized the events of things since Pharynx left.

Pharynx merely stared at you for a moment, totally unsure of what to say in response, but Thorax said "Congratulations on your kids hatching. Sorry we didn't bring a gift."

"Thanks, that's very ki-... wait a second... MOTHERFUCKERS!" you shouted, stomping your foot down. "We didn't have a baby shower or get a single fucking gift congratulating us on our babies' births, from anyone! We've got a whole hive of Changelings and nobody did anything? I'm ordering a round of executions!"

"Over baby gifts!? You're mad! By the hive, he really is worse than Chrysalis!" Thorax exclaimed, struggling to get free, but to no avail.

"He's just joking... mostly. No executions, but there likely will be some repercussions for this," Chitin chipped in, taking a step forward to better join in on the conversation.

"Yeah, and you're near the top of the list. You're supposed to be one of my best friends," you whined, crossing your arms and turning away from the disguised Changeling.

"I thought the free medical care was enough," Chitin replied.

"Oh please, you do that because it's the only thing that justifies your existence to the rest of the hive at this point," you grunted.

"That... was cold," Pharynx spoke up, looking between you and Chitin. You knew that Chitin knew that you were just blowing smoke, even if it was marginally true, but you supposed that to others, it just looked like pure, unrelenting dickishness.

"I don't think I'd ever heard Queen Chrysalis speak about any of us that way before," Thorax stated, shaking a bit in a mixture of sorrow for Chitin and fear of you.

Rolling his eyes, which again caused Vespa's weird blind eye to roll, Chitin said "Lets move past this already, no point in explaining how Anon shows his affection through being a jerk, best to just live with it and move on."

"Right, so... why exactly did you come down here again? I feel like we got sidetracked," Pharynx inquired, his mouth set into a hard line as he looked at you. You think he was trying to issue a proper glare, but now that he was a rainbow moose-bug, it was a hell of a lot harder to be intimidated by this guy. Shame, considering he was quite the badass when you first saw him... then you learned more about Ap and realized how badass she was... then you met Vespa too... then you spoke with your daughter... you almost wanted to apologize for how low down the list Pharynx had gone, but he didn't know, so there was no harm here.

"Right, about that, I was wondering if... you knew any way to stop the invasion of Canterlot..." you answered, realizing how stupid it might have sounded.

Pharynx blinked at you for a moment, just dumbfounded by your inquiry. "The only thing that I had planned was to join my brother in offering a new and ever lasting method of feeding our hive, then, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but then providing us with an opportunity to live peacefully with the rest of Equestria and the other races that live inside of it..." Pharynx admitted, almost ashamed of what he had just admitted to.

"Wooooow, that hippy-dippy love exchange you and your brother did changed more than just change the outside, huh? Course, you did admit that you cared for your brother before during the game of Deception," you teased, grinning as Pharynx only let his frown deepen.

"You did? That's so sweet of you. I always knew you loved me," Thorax joyfully remarked, trying to turn his head to better look at his brother, but his antlers only allowed him to turn his head so very much.

"Shut up. I'm starting to feel like this was just a part of Chrysalis' torture for trying to go against her, choosing to humiliate me this way," Pharynx growled, showing a hint of the hardened elite he was before, but still lacking the extra edge his fangs gave him before.

"Just saying. You did actually get more powerful, even I can tell that, but unfortunately your perpetual bro-love power up pales in comparison to my Ego," you declared proudly, unable to hide the smile on your face.

"What does ego have to do with any of this?" Thorax asked, a sweet, innocent foal to the horrendous ways. Man, you were a sadist, because part of you was already scheming up all the ways of making this guy whimper from your cruel mind.

"It's the name of his penis... among many others," Chitin answered for you.

"Gross," Thorax complained, trying to squirm away from you.

Snorting once more in frustration, Pharynx mumbled "Regardless, whatever power you gave her doesn't seem to be enough."

Despite the urge to press on with tormenting Thorax for your own amusement, and further cementing in your mind that you were probably more evil than the tyrant queen, your attention was now solely on Pharynx. "What was that? You think my dick isn't enough? Cause I'll tell you what I told Strong Words, whip it out and we'll go to Chrysalis right now to-"

"That's not what he means!" Thorax interrupted, apparently unwilling to let you continue with whatever new thing he was sure you'd say to disturb him. "He just means that Queen Chrysalis was in here earlier, asking us about our metamorphosis," the green moose followed up.

"Why would she do that? Is... is my love not enough for her? I power her up to take on two super-Changelings without breaking a sweat, and she still wants more?" you pondered, now feeling self-conscious about things. Here you were, being told you were the greatest thing since sliced-bread on this planet, at least for Changelings. And that was if the bread cooked itself, sliced itself, murdered your foes for you, then toasted itself and slathered its body in jelly before hopping into your mouth. But now you were being told that... what? Chrysalis still wanted more? This was a blow to your pride. A blow to your ego! And that worked on multiple levels, and not the fun sort of blowing either!

As much as Pharynx seemed to be amused by your pitiful face as you thought it over, he sighed. Like, excessively loud, just to get your attention. "We talked about it after she came by and... we don't think that's what she's looking for. Rather, it was more like... she wanted to know what it felt like, to willingly give your love to somepony else. If it hurt, if it felt good, what was she supposed to expect," Pharynx explained, his own face scrunching up in confusion as he remembered what had been said between the queen and the brothers.

"What she was supposed to expect?... so, she's... giving her love to somebody?" you asked, starting to put the pieces together, but feeling like someone stole a few when you weren't looking. You knew you did that whenever friends tried to complete a puzzle.

As if recognizing something, Chitin turned to you, eyes widened, he said "Think about it, if she were to be trying to obtain a power like this, it would come from her giving her love to somepony else. The only thing I can possibly think of is that, due to your actions, she's starting to develop an unconditional love for you and your brood that she won't possibly be able to stop herself from giving. She might be aware of it and is curious as to how it may affect her. After all, her body has been undergoing such an unending state of change with your foreign love, I wouldn't be surprised if she was concerned what negative effects this might have."

Nodding your head in understanding, you said "Yes, yes, of course, it all makes sense... she's afraid she's going to become a gay moose as well."

"Anon!" Pharynx hissed, still far less intimidating than it usually was since he lacked his harsher appearance.

"What!? Okay, so I didn't need the 'gay' statement there, but let's be honest. Can you really imagine how shitty she'd look if she was a rainbow moose-bug?" you asked, not willing to concede on the argument. Pharynx opened his mouth to protest, but paused, very visibly thinking it over before he slowly shut his mouth. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Perhaps you and her need to have a discussion as to what she thinks is happening and what she wants to do about it?" Chitin suggested, nodding his head to the exit.

"Yeah, seems about as good a time as any," you groaned, stretching as you moved to head for the exit.

You and Chitin only got a few steps away when Thorax said "What about Apocrita?"

Freezing, you turned back to look at him. "What about Ap?"

Nodding his head as best he could from his position, Thorax said "Well, we're talking about what sort of effect sharing love has on Changelings, right? Didn't you say that you love Apocrita and she loves you back? Maybe that's going to affect her as well."

"I think fucking her into becoming a queen is effect enough," you chuckled, shaking your head as you looked to Chitin for back up... but only found contemplation on his, or rather Vespa's, face.

"No, he... he's right," Chitin mumbled, slowly turning to face you. "Think about what I told you. Her cocoon is vastly different than those in the past. A reflective surface that seems to shimmer all colors, instead of the typical black. We assumed maybe it had something to do with your love alone, but what if... what if her sharing love with you has altered her metamorphosis as well?"

"That's absurd. When it happened to us, it was instantaneous. Poof, new bodies," Pharynx pointed out.

"Because you were just exchanging love. She's doing that, while also feeding on Anon's love. We've seen what Anon's love can do for Queen Chrysalis, so this... we might be looking at something all new here? Anon's love, plus this love sharing..." Chitin explained, trying to make it easy for everyone to understand.

"What you're saying... is that she's going to become a gay moose?" you asked, earning a round of groans from them all. Despite your joking, you were seriously wondering what to expect from her right now. Maybe you needed to stop by and check in on her before you addressed Chrysalis. Shame you didn't get to talk to her in the dream the last chance you got.

Vespa blinked her good eye slowly, tired as she lay on your bed as she had for the past several days. She'd stopped trying to struggle and break her bindings, because every time Anon and Chitin came by, Chitin would vomit up some mucus onto the ropes to strengthen them, making her efforts pointless. At this point, she'd just taken to staring up at the cocoon that her daughter was inside.

Her feelings were mixed. On one hoof, there was the obvious sensation of hate and disgust, that her child would fall so low as to end up like this. Sure, she would have given her much pride if she emerged as a queen and took over the hive, but the fact she had left her cocoon where it would be so easy to find? Relying on others to go ahead and keep her safe instead of properly hiding herself away like any forward thinking queen would? She'd shamed herself and Vespa.

But then... she loved her. Despite all the denial and venomous comments, Vespa could not deny that she loved her daughter. It was her greatest shame. That she would have any such emotion for one of her offspring, love that was rightfully belonging to Queen Chrysalis. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but look at her, from the moment she was a drooling little larva, to the day she emerged and stand as an elite guard, and see this wonderful Changeling that you knew would do the hive good.

Vespa wanted to sigh, but with her bindings, all she could do was exhale through her nostrils noisily, eye shutting as she tried to get some rest. One thing she did not expect to agree with you on was... your bed was really uncomfortable. Like, for an elite that lived comfortably in a craggy crevasse, somehow your mattress was even more irritating than it. How did that even work?

Her eye didn't stay shut for long though, as she heard something. Looking to the door, she expected to see you and/or Chitin walking through it, but noticed that it wasn't open. Then, her gaze shifted, looking at the only other thing potentially capable of making noise, and the shock was so great, even her blind eye seemed to widen, as if it'd be able to take in the crack slowly growing through the reflective shell of her daughter's cocoon.

Author's Notes:

You know, there's something else I want to say. Something minor, something joking, something... I dunno what, but let's be honest. There's only one thing anyone's really going to be focused on in this chapter, right?... gay moose...

Okay, I still got that in there. But yeah, you can see it. All hail the coming of Queen Apocrita! May her rule be long!... or at least not immediately murdered by Chrysalis.