"What do you mean you're keeping him?" Ember hissed, snarling slightly as she watched Spike gently run a hand down the cheek of his newest slave. They were standing in one of the Crystal Palace's many guestrooms, the unconscious bug Spike had just dragged in from the wastes laying in the bed, eyes closed and breath uneven.

The Emperor sighed. "Ember-" he started, but she cut him off with a snarl.

"You told me I was going to be the only one. That no one else did anything for you." She growled, stomping towards him with her arms crossed over her chest. "What, are you just going to abandon me and move on to a new slave? You're gonna leave me for everyone else 'cause I'm not good enough?"

Spike's eyes widened. "What?! Of course not!" Spike shouted back, eyes widened and hands raised defensively. "You are still the only dragoness for me, but he's different."

"Different how?" She snarled.

"Ember. He saved my life." Spike sighed, shaking his head. "And... he's going to die if I don't do this. I can't let that happen. From now on he's going to be joining you as a concubine. End of discussion."

Ember clenched her jaw, and balled her hands into fists. She thought she was going to be the only one... She shifted her vision from Spike to the newcomer. Her glare softened slightly as she observed his state. What little of him she could see was covered in bandages, particularly his left arm which had been joined by a sling wrapped in a sling. Apparently lifting the heavy form of Spike out of the ravine he had fallen into had dislocated one of the poor bug's arms.

Her features only softened more as Spike returned his hand to his cheek, rubbing the carapace gently. "Please Ember... between you and me... I don't think the poor guy has anywhere else left to go."

She closed her eyes, letting out a slight sigh. "Fine... but if you think I'm going to like him you're dead wrong." She said calmly, shaking her head.

"Thank you... that's all I can ask." Spike said, a weak smile coming to his face, which she mirrored.

Ember grunted as she collapsed to her knees, the guard holding her up being brought down with her. The other stopped, turning to her as she panted, her breath heavy. The blood pooling from the side of her head only prompted the both of them to panic slightly. They were in a dark hallway, the battle just behind them still raging, judging from the sound of clanging metal.

"The Emperor is going to kill us," Double Diamond said, turning to his friend as he desperately tried to pull Ember up into a standing position.

"Why?" Feather Bangs asked, cringing slightly at the thought.

"His personal slave got hurt on our watch, and the only way we could save her was to touch her! And the other one! Don't you know he behands anyone who touches his slaves?!" Diamond cried, gritting his teeth. "But if we put them down and just run he's going to double kill us!"

Feather Bangs cringed slightly, letting out a sigh. "Catch 22." He said, shaking his head. "Best we can do is hope that he doesn't punish us too harshly."

"T-Thorax..." Ember grunted, raising her head to stare up at Feather Bangs. The pony flinched at the sound of her voice, staring down at her wide-eyed.

"Is he... ok?" She quietly said between pants.

Feather Bangs nodded. "Y-yes ma'am. I have him right here. We need to get him to a doctor though, quickly. And you as well."

Ember grit her teeth, growling as she forced herself to stand up. Her muscles burned, every instinct in her body screaming at her to just lay down, but she knew she couldn't.

"Fine... Let's g-go." She said, taking a shaky step forwards. Double Diamond and Feather both looked at each other before nodding. They knew their fears would have to wait.

Garble wrinkled his nose at the strong smell of copper emanating from the Hive's throne room. The source became evident once he stepped inside and was greeted by a rather brutal sight. The corpse of Chrysalis was crucified from her throne, burn marks surrounding her now empty eyesockets and her body covered in countless slashes.

Garble shuddered slightly but shook his head. "She probably deserved it," he said quietly to himself as he began walking further into the room. He paused as he turned back for a second before tugging at the leash in his hand, causing the one attached to him via a collar to stumble into the room blindly.

It was the nude form of a female changeling, her arms bound behind her back, her mouth shut by a bridle, and her eyes covered by a blindfold. He chuckled as he watched her struggle to regain balance after that particularly hard tug, not to mention the vibrator currently buzzing away in her snatch keeping her constantly shaking and bouncing from one leg to another.

"A new toy I take it?" He heard a voice say, prompting him to quickly turn his gaze over to the side of the room. Spike was standing there, facing the wall with Pharynx at his side, bloodstained arms clasped firmly behind his back. He hadn't actually looked at him yet, but he seemed to already know.

"Her? No. She's going to be a get-well-soon gift to my sister. Ocellus, I think she said her name was. Before I stripped her bare and shoved a gag in her mouth of course." Garble laughed darkly as he dragged the helpless changeling closer to him, giving her chest a firm grope. The changeling let out a muffled screech, followed by sobs. The buzzing in her twat coupled with the rough treatment of Garble pushed her to cumming against her will.

Spike rolled his eyes. "I wish you wouldn't be so openly abusive with your slaves around me. You know I find that... distasteful." He slowly said, turning towards Garble.

"Eh, she's gonna learn to love it. Like all the other changelings we've captured. It's either that or starve." The general hissed darkly. "Of course, I can only speak for what the others are going to do to them. You know I prefer ponies."

Spike grimaced slightly, shaking his head. Suddenly, he stepped forwards, putting a hand on Pharynx's shoulder as he did.

"Garble, I want you to meet the new captain of my royal guard." He said firmly, looking down at the changeling. "Officially he will be under your command, but I want him to be able to act independently if you understand my meaning."

The other dragon gave a shrug. "Hey, no skin off my back. The guy earned it if you ask me. No more changelings means more time at home with the girls for me." Garble said nonchalantly.

Spike nodded. "Quite. How did things go invasion-wise?" The Emperor sighed, turning towards the Queen. "I definitely had some long-earned catharsis on my end."

"Overall pretty well, casualties were minimal and we overwhelmed them in a matter of hours. Shock and awe tactics and all that. We do have a couple of small pockets of resistance in the lower reaches of the hive and unfortunately, a rather sizable majority of the Hive fought back and had to be put down, per your instructions." Garble said rather grimly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Pharynx grimaced slightly, turning over to Spike. "You aren't going to be driving my race extinct are you?" The changeling asked, furrowing his brow. "The vast majority of them deserved it but..."

"I will put Governor Silverstar of Appleloosa in charge of putting together several breeding camps to insure that doesn't happen. He fancies himself a rancher so I'm sure he'll be quite proficient at that." Spike said, nodding slightly. "Make no mistake though, I will be taking steps to ensure the changelings never threaten my Empire again. You understand of course."

Pharynx immediately nodded. "I have no issue with that," Pharynx responded without hesitation.

Spike returned the nod before turning his attention back to Garble, who was very obviously gritting his teeth at something.

"I do have some news that is likely going to 100% piss you off though, so I thought I would cushion the blow first with that," he said, before noticeably gulping. "Ember and Thorax came under attack while escaping the Hive."

Spike's eye twitched. "What?" He hissed, stomping towards him.

"I know that sounds bad, but they are both ok. Ember took some pretty bad blows, but two Imperial Soldiers stepped in and rescued the both of them and got them out of there. They are under the best medical care we have available. The medics even said if they used healing spells now Ember won't even have scars after today but-" Garble flinched when Spike raised a hand. It was quiet for a moment before Spike rather firmly put a hand on his shoulder.

"You did a good job today Garble," Spike said, with a sigh. "Take a vacation. You've earned it."

Garble let out a deep exhale he didn't even realize he was holding after Spike walked past him and left the room. He brought a hand to his chest and panted slightly, shaking sweat from his brow. He took one last glance at the mutilated body of Chrysalis before he shuddered and walked out of the room, dragging Ocellus behind him as he did.

Spike stomped through the Imperial war camp towards the medical tents, a crowd parting for him as he did. Pharynx stayed close behind him, aggressively eyeing all of the soldiers as he passed them, making sure they knew his place at the Emperor's side. Part of him rather rightly believed that if he did stray too far from the Emperor he would likely find himself being grabbed by a victory-drunk Imperial soldier. To poor results for them.

The new royal guard captain took a couple of moments to observe the carnage surrounding the Hive as he walked. There were mounds of changeling bodies piled around the structure. They were currently in the process of being burned as pyres, all the while other changelings were being dragged from the Hive in chains. Thankfully most of the civilian population of the Hive, medical drones, breeders, workers, and carers, had surrendered immediately when the dragons broke down the shield and were spared from rather brutal deaths.

That didn't spare them from the Empire's cruelty, however. His eyes caught sight of a hastily constructed raised platform in the center of the camp, where a line of changelings was being auctioned off to the soldiers who hadn't had to opportunity to capture their own changeling slave, and even more were already beginning their long march north to the center of the Empire, where they would no doubt be sold off to the empire's civilian populace for domestic matters. Thankfully, the Empire had a policy of forbidding the splitting up of families when the children were still young, so that meant any breeders would still have their grubs and nymphs when they were inevitably sold.

However, through it all, the changeling couldn't bring himself to care that much. Every single one of the bastards now in chains had been involved in the torment of his little brother at some point. And he knew for a fact that were the tables turned the changelings wouldn't have hesitated to do the same to any ponies or dragons they got their hands on. This might even be a net positive for them. Imperial rules banned permanent damage to slaves. That likely meant the days of punching holes into the legs of changelings for the slightest of failures were over. And they'd always have food in the form of love (or lust) from their masters. No more mass starvation amongst the hive. Small blessings.

Phayrnx turned his gaze ahead when he and the Emperor finally reached the field hospital, entering a rather large and private tent. Immediately his eyes locked onto the two Imperial soldiers inside, who were standing at attention off to the side, sweating bullets. One was an all-white earth pony and the other was a yellow and brown stallion. Spike immediately locked his eyes on them and stomped toward them. The two glanced at one another for a moment before turning back to the dragon towering over them, who was still coated in the queen's blood.

Finally, after a couple of moments, Spike bent down and pulled the two into a rather firm hug, that looked like it was killer on their spines. The two stallions gasped as they felt the air shoved out of their lungs before Spike set them both down. "I will not forget this soldiers. Ask me for anything and I will provide it to you. Noble titles? Your own private castles? Personal harems full of the best mares and stallions available? A mere snap of a finger away." He said his gaze full of determination.

The two stallions looked absolutely flabbergasted as Spike turned away from them, stomping towards the room's other occupants. Pharynx smirked slightly before following after the Emperor.

Two beds had been set up in the middle of the tent, surrounded by a small group of doctors. Spike was quick to push past them, followed by Pharynx of course, and rush to the side of Ember, who was sitting up in bed. The dragoness was nursing the side of her head, which was wrapped in bandages, with an icepack. A similar bandage wrap sat around her left thigh as both areas glowed with golden magic.

Ember laughed slightly as Spike approached. "Hey Spike, I'm trying to convince the doctors here to leave the wounds alone with their freaky magic. Care to order them to stop? I think they'd leave behind some cool scars." She chuckled with a wink.

Spike instantly furrowed his brow and turned to the Doctors. "No scars. Period." He hissed. The doctors all nodded.

"W-we were aware, my Emperor." One of them quietly said with a gulp.

Spike then turned back to Ember, looking her over this way and that. "Good to know the blow to the head didn't give you brain damage at all." He sighed, rubbing his brow with his index finger and thumb.

"Oh yeah, a helmet coupled with a thick skull. Does wonders." Ember said knocking the non-wounded side of her head with a fist. "Doctors do say I have a bit of a concussion though, so I'm probably going to need your help staying awake."

Spike shook his head when she winked. "Only if they clear you." He said pointing a thumb at the doctors before turning his gaze to Thorax, who was currently laying on his back in the other bed, a breathing apparatus secured firmly over his face. Pharynx sat on the bed next to him, a hand wrapped around his brother's.

Spike stepped forwards, kneeling next to the bed and taking Thorax's free hand into his own. "Do you think..." The Emperor trailed off.

"That he'll survive? Yes. My brother may not look or act it, but he's a tough son of a bitch." Pharynx responded, closing his eyes and exhaling.

Spike nodded slightly, reaching a hand up to Thorax's chest, running it along the new branding. Spike snarled, turning to the doctors. "I want this gone, do you hear me?"

One of them nodded, giving a salute. "Of course my Emperor, we will have the best medical spells possible at our disposal once we get him back to the Empire."

"Good." Spike hissed, shaking his head slightly. There was an attempt to stifle a laugh next to him, prompting him to turn his gaze to Pharynx who was staring at him with a slight smile. "What?"

"You're perfect for him. You know?" Pharynx said shaking his head. "He needs someone like you to take charge and keep him safe. He always has. And I wasn't there for him when he needed it most."

"Neither was I." Spike sighed, turning to Pharynx. "But he is safe now. And I am going to make sure he doesn't ever receive so much as a tiny scratch for the rest of his life. Which, if I have my way, is probably going to be eternal."

Pharynx blinked twice, staring ahead before he decided to move on from that. "So... what now?"

"Aside from getting my Thorax and Ember back to the Crystal Palace?" Spike asked. His face darkened. "First and foremost, Sombra escaped. I am going to have to dedicate a sizable chunk of my resources to deal with that. But my main concern from now on is going to be the Resistance. I am going to rip those Celestia-loving terrorists apart piece by piece, have every last one of them branded and shoved into the most depraved form of slavery I can find, and personally torture their Starlight clone to death in the slowest way possible. And you saw first hand. When I put my mind to it, I'm actually quite good at that."

Pharynx nodded, sighing slightly. "If your dragon hasn't already dealt with them that is," he said turning his gaze northwards.

"I know for a fact that Twilight and Starlight escaped him, even if he did burn the rest of the resistance to ash. Those two have a pesky habit of always escaping. I was Twilight's slave for most of my life, so I've seen it all firsthand. But they won't avoid me for long." Spike snarled, his eye twitching as he spoke.

Pharynx grit his teeth slightly. "I agree with you about Starlight, I want her dead just as much as you do. But... the Twilight..."

Spike's eyes narrowed slightly. "Choose your next words carefully."

Pharynx merely shook his head in response. "Ignore me." He said tightening his grip around Thorax's hand. "She lied to me about saving my brother anyway."

Spike nodded before reaching a hand up, delicately caressing Thorax's cheek. "Mark my words Pharynx. The resistance's days are numbered. I advise you to forget about any positive memories of them you might still be carrying."

Got this one out quick huh? XD