“Well.” Doug stares at Chrysalis, not actually moving yet. He clenches his teeth even as he smirks. “I have to say, if this is a plot to get into my pants? It’s pretty obvious.”

“Oh?” Chrysalis flashes him a sly grin, the tiniest hint of red poking out between her lips. “If what it takes is a cunning plot, then Rainbow Dash must be the most devious of us all.”

Doug snorts, his bluster gone, momentarily forgetting how high up he is to let go and rub at his forehead. “Okay, you got me there.”

“Oh, I’ll do far more than get you.” Chrysalis takes the opportunity while he is distracted to hook a foreleg back and on the opposite side, almost like she is going to toss him off again. Once he has a secure - if somewhat confused - grasp she rolls over and flies upright. It’s awkward with him riding on her belly, but she’s endured worse. “Besides, it’s not like you normally wear pants.”

Doug sighs, long and loud. Her barrel isn’t much softer than her back, tough chitin all around. He warily looks down; it’s uncomfortable, he might slip, but his boots against her thick flanks seem stable enough. If top-heavy; her head comes up to his waist.

“You’re much more reluctant than I imagined.” Chrysalis cocks her head to the side and regards him curiously. It bothers her that she doesn’t have a perfect read on him. Where is this reluctance coming from? The duel between Shining Armor and the Storm King? No, it started earlier than that. “Ocellus reports you as eager, often initiating with her before her stores of love would demand. You’re at the top for frequency, especially for a herd of your size.”

“Do you keep reports on every stallion in Equestria?” Doug quips, chuckling as he shakes his head.

“And the mares,” Chrysalis responds guilelessly. The corners of her muzzle twist upwards in her trademark grin, exposing her vicious fangs, tantalizing despite their sharpness. “Though I only pay attention to the ones that… intrigue me.”

It might be harder to attune to physical signs than to emotions, but that doesn’t slow her in the least. She notes the twitch of his mouth, the swell of his chest, and how he perks up considerably. Stallions love compliments and assurances of their prowess, but this is different. He desires… desire? She grins as one hand goes to his waist and hooks under his armor, though he still has a bit of a grimace.

“Does it still bother you?” she asks, nodding toward his crotch. Her tongue pokes out again, wetting herself in preparation. She can taste him already, his body unwashed after their day-long trip through the desert sun and the stress from her trial. Another deep inhale does nothing but deepen her craving, filling her with his salt-tinged scent.

His mouth pulls tighter, teeth chewing on his tongue. Did he bite himself? “Not as much. I… guess I need more practice riding bareback?”

“Done.” She matches his smirk as his armor’s undergarment drops enough to expose himself, his hand keeping his erect member propped up and away. Her hoof reaches up, gently cradling first one tender orb and then the other. Small for a stallion but just as potent. His breath catches as she closes the distance, neck having to stretch down to better view him.

“There doesn’t seem to be any swelling,” she states clinically, giving him a sharp pinch on the inner thigh and watching that side contract.

“You’re being very… professional about this,” Doug says from above, his other hand steadying himself on the back of her head.

“You expected me to rush in?” Chrysalis demands haughtily, but her smirk gives away her jest. Her hoof slowly climbs his shaft, an inch at a time, finally resting on his hand. He shudders even at her light touch. “You’re fine, if sore from the unpadded contact.” Her smirk widens with her challenge. “Unless you don’t want me to continue testing?”

A stroke of her hoof draws another sharp inhale. The hand behind her head grips into her mane, locking her in place. But he doesn’t mash her forward, not yet. It feels unnatural, not immediately taking what she wants, especially with one so obviously willing.

“Sweet Celestia you’re tempting,” Doug groans out. She grins at the admission, yet it frustrates her that he doesn’t lower his cock and take her then and there. A low whine in the back of her throat poorly conveys that desire, judging by how he fails to meet her challenge. “But why would you want me? I’ve already got…”

He pulls his hand away, counting with taps on her withers.

“Six with Ocellus,” Chrysalis answers, watching his face. She can sense that craving again, that desire for her enthusiastic participation. Her hoof moves slowly, not to stimulate but to keep him at attention. She finds her smile has fallen, replaced by that ever-present malevolent glare. And the frustration at that neutralizes just as quickly. “It is the most of anyling, including myself, since we joined.”

“Yeah.” His crestfallen look surprises her. She expected the opposite reaction to being told he is the most virile. “But that’s because she’s, well, not with foal. It’s just been nymphs.”

Chrysalis wishes he didn’t bring that up. Her and Celestia’s original bargain required those changelings who were not with foal to either leave Equestria or renounce Chrysalis to swear allegiance to Celestia. She doubts the eldest alicorn would have held Ocellus to that bargain. And none of her brood would betray her. Yet… the likeliest would have been Thorax. And Ocellus has been spending a lot of time with him and Pharynx. Coincidence?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. She hides her evaluation of her former infiltrator and asks sharply, “Have you not seen her grubs?”

“Err,” Doug stalls, briefly grimacing. “Not since you all transformed last week. Before that they all looked, well, the same. Hard to tell apart with you raising them collectively.”

“I prefer the uniform appearance,” Chrysalis bluntly confesses. “We had a unified purpose, a singular goal, and together everyling worked toward it. Now? We are fragmented, for as much as our wide distribution is by design. Our fracturing is clearly evidenced by their differing colorations, as much as they delight in their new colors and individuality.”

“You don’t approve of the new colors?” Doug runs his fingers through her thick mane, smiling fondly. His hand continues traveling back, his tall form bending over hers. “I like your new look.”

“Mm.” The burst of happiness is short-lived, even as he rubs the spot closest to her stored foal and eggs. She rewards him with a fast pump of her hoof, eliciting a light moan. “None of the greens are sharp enough, to say nothing of the pastel pinks and blues. Ocellus is a prime example.”

“She… She’s alright.” Doug scratches at the back of his head, then returns to her mane. “Honestly? I’m with you there. I don’t care for the pink or blue. I liked her original black, even if it was hard to pick out of a crowd. But you can’t be doing this just because Shining Armor gives you, I dunno, blue grubs.”

“I am not that superficial,” Chrysalis spits out. Despite him being absolutely correct. His growing brood with Ocellus all match her pinks and blues with some blending; if she could get the same? “But the grubs do inherit characteristics from their sire. A unicorn such as Shining Armor produces more thaumically gifted ‘lings. Those from a pegasus, even one such as Bulk Biceps, fly better. Useful traits, of course. But yours?”

She meets his eyes, hers glinting with anticipation. Her hoof pulls down on his shaft, skin receding and exposing that engorged head in all its glory. She relishes the pulses and twitches, so easy to please even without an intimate understanding of his reactions. She lines him up, ready to plunge in, his grip on her loosening. He wouldn’t stop her; no, he wants her, too!

“Yours are… tenacious.” Her smile at the word persists, even with his aura of apathy. And she can feel the same reaction from him, his pulse quickening in her hoof. “They are not the strongest nor the fastest. But they do not give up. They keep staring when others get distracted. They do not complain, they just push harder. And that perseverance will be mine.”

In an instant Chrysalis envelopes his cock, lapping at the sweet bulb pushing out of him. She can already taste his excitement, the singular drop tantalizing her taste buds. Her teeth gently rake down his shaft as she takes him farther, all the way to the hilt in no time at all. Her snout presses against him and still she pushes, moaning with delight. There is no need to bob her head while she deep-throats him; her tongue coils around and strokes, a constrictor rhymically squeezing, drawing that life-giving seed out of him. A lesser stallion would have shot his load then and there! Yet he endures, enlarging with a few shuddering pulses.

“Sweet Celestia,” Doug groans, nearly collapsing. Fingers twist into her mane, gripping tight and searching for any kind of support. He can only stare at the long fangs that brush against his belly. It’s exhilarating, that rush of danger, that at any moment she could clamp her mouth together and neatly bite him off. He can barely hold on, not swimming but drowning in hedonistic pleasure.

“Your Princess?” Chrysalis says as she withdraws, lavishing his tip with one last flick of her long tongue. His needful moan is music to her ears. “She could be marinating in my belly and you would think nothing of basting her with your seed.”

She grins as she goes back, only to find him going limp as if he had been thrust not in a cold shower but the frigid waste of the Frozen North. She frowns; the only way his erection could have disappeared faster would be if she had actually severed him.

“Why?!” Doug pleads, wrenching her head up to stare at her. She could easily fight him off but doesn’t, meeting eyes flitting between anguish and rage. “Why would… why would you even joke about something like that?!”

“Are-” Chrysalis starts haughtily, only for him to cut her off.

“And don’t even tell me that it’s true,” Doug chokes out. He tears his gaze away from her to stare at the sky, avoiding her look. “Shit, it probably is. I completely forgot we were flying for a moment.”

Chrysalis fumes with an angry snort at being denied her prize. “Are you so foalish as to think I would actually devour the Princess of the Sun?”

“Well,” Doug says before sighing to himself. He shakes his head unhappily, releasing his tight grip on her. “No. Not the Princess.”

“Then the prince protests too much, methinks,” Chrysalis retorts with a wry sneer. She swaps forelegs, one of the holes on her left side the perfect size to constrict his erection like a ring. There would be no repeats of him losing interest, not when she-

She frowns as she presses her decidedly not-holed leg against his flaccid member. It bends to the side easily. She hates how her transformation throws off her proprioception! She never has this problem when she copies another form.

“I don’t think it works like that,” he helpfully advises. That or he is contesting her retort, but from his grin she doesn’t think it’s that.

“Silence.” She glares at nothing in particular. It would be unbecoming to be forced to tease him back to full readiness, even if she is no longer queen. Even as his excitement slowly returns. “But it is more than mere physical characteristics that I desire from you.”

“Oh?” Doug’s voice has lost any trace of the animosity he projected earlier. That eagerness returns, and it isn’t solely because of her stroking hoof. “Why else?”

“Because you believe in us.” Chrysalis glumly sighs as she lowers her head, stopping inches away from his tip. “Shining Armor and Cadance profess the same, but I can sense their hesitancy. He has not forgiven me for what I did to his Cadance. Yet you? You have embraced Luna as a part of your herd despite her near calamity. I do not believe it is the lack of doubt that I sense from you. Am I wrong? Am I misreading you?”

By the end her sneer has progressed further than she wants, openly daring him to contest her claims. She pulls it back, finding it easy to release her condemnation, that hostility she feels for any who might oppose her.

“No,” Doug says after a few second’s consideration. “You’re right. I do believe in the better you. And in Luna. I even have hope for the griffons, if you’ll believe that.”

She grins, and a laugh that might have been mocking at his naivete instead comes out optimistic and cheerful.

“I desire that hope,” she purrs, resting the tip of his now-erect penis against her lips. But she doesn’t engulf him just yet, resisting the hands digging into her mane and pressing her forward. “You would help me and mine find meaning, a worthwhile pursuit, to be more than broodmares and petty laborers.”

She starts low this time, the base of his shaft, not needing to move as her long tongue stretches. She enjoys his shudders even if she cannot partake of his belly-filling lust, though he would certainly be filling her belly.

She grins up at him, smacking her lips in anticipation. “I would reward that hope.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Doug starts, only to cut off with a low moan as she dips down.

She takes him halfway, bobbing up and down against the protrusion of his head. Every time she passes the thin valley he clenches in pure pleasure, his quickening breath only spurring her faster. But she denies him, if just for a moment, pulling away before he can release. She looks up, waiting until he recovers and meets her gaze.

“For that confidence in me? That hope, that belief? I would reward you in any way you desire.” She motions to his cock with a short nod of her head. “If you do not wish this?”

She pulls away, only for his hand to lock her in place. She grins at the confirmation of his - and her - intent. And what a glorious intent it is!

“You would help me build a new nation, a new people, from the ashes and destruction we have wrought. A culture based on achievement and greatness instead of deception and theft. And such a monumental task deserves an equal reward.” She stares into his eyes and swears, solemnly and sincerely. “I shall bear a thousand of your young. For as long as you join me, I shall join with you. A progenitor of our race.”

She gives into the hands pulling her toward him, relishing how he forces her muzzle open and pierces into her. Lips cover teeth as he thrusts, his warm and hard shaft ramming along the length of her tongue. It takes no time at all for him to reach his limit, the teasing and denial too much for even his alicorn-tempered endurance.

She pulls back as his cock twitches, keeping his head locked between her teeth. Her tongue lines up against his tip, catching the first surge of seed as it releases. It tastes wonderful, full of potential, and her whole body vibrates with excitement. The next two pulses spill off the sides, tempting her to swallow him in his entirety, but she has much larger plans than a lustful meal.

She withdraws as he finishes filling her, maw gaping wide to show him the seed she has taken. He stiffens, the simple sight enough to get him ready to go again, but she doesn’t close her mouth and swallow like his mares. Instead, to his gasp of exaggerated horror, she lets the seed flow down her tongue and past her lips.

But not to be blown away in the wind, but to her other set of lips. Her bright green aura catches the glob of white and slips it inside her sopping nethers. The saliva mixed in makes it easier to maneuver, a rush of ecstasy spreading through her as she pushes deep. A crude method, but effective, and she swallows the rest once his seed is safely stowed away. It would not take long to guide to a waiting egg. Or perhaps two? There is certainly enough.

“The first of many,” she says breathlessly, settling on one. For now. She wonders what the grub will be like. Will it copy her coloration completely? How adept would it be at shapeshifting, at flying, at magic? More importantly, will it share her ruthless drive and their unyielding tenacity? So many possibilities, and her eyes sparkle at imagining them.

“You’re incorrigible,” Doug pants out, adjusting and packing himself away.

“Would you have me be any other way?” Chrysalis asks demurely, licking the last of him from her fangy grin. She actually means it, too, if he did ask.

“Yeah, no,” Doug agrees, though with a note of trepidation. He shifts as she rolls back to a normal flying position, not straddling her like before but sitting with both legs off one side, one arm looped around her neck. “What… How do you think Shining Armor will take this?”

Chrysalis scowls, but it’s short-lived. “Cadance was eager for me to join with you,” she starts, keeping her acid reserved. “Because he cannot see beyond my past. If he desires to lay with me beyond for a foal? I shall. But he will not be terribly heart-broken. Now be quiet.”

She leans back, resting her head on his shoulder, not for his support but for hers. Because who wants to be reviled? In the past, she embraced the infamous image because she must. But now?

Now, things will be glorious.

Next Chapter: Ch. 25 - Spirited Response, Part Five Estimated time remaining: 28 Hours, 16 Minutes